Vegas, baby!

Angela, Arianna, Olga, and me! Ready to head out on the town Saturday night!

Vegas is one of those ideas friends banter around and around, and until somebody comes in from out of town or until somebody gets married, it rarely happens. And yet, this past weekend, we made it happen without any of that. A couple of months ago Angela, Arianna, Olga and I were having lunch and saying it sure would be nice to get away. The other three all teach middle school together and I think the thought of anywhere without preteens was intoxicating. So we made a plan. Quick and simple. One hotel room, food, alcohol, and fun.

Whereas with this Europe trip I've been planning for almost a year, I took the opposite route with Vegas. I Googled pools at strip hotels. And then I modified my Google search to family friendly pools at strip hotels. (Apparently pools are the hottest clubs now, and after getting an eyeful of the club, er pool, at the MGM, I'm glad to say we enjoyed our quiet family friendly pools at the Excalibur where yes, you could drink, and where I didn't feel like I was in a bad spring break movie).

We took in the sights, had some drinks, talked and talked some more, laughed, danced, and ate. We ended up at the Bellagio buffet Saturday night, and yes, the dessert was by far the best part of the meal. Though the Kobe beef wasn't bad either. However, while I'm proud of myself for trying it, I don't think I'll stop by for another round of caviar any time soon.

We caught the Bellagio fountains show at the top of the hour, we had frozen drinks somewhere along the strip, we laughed at girls in six-inch heels and then rubbed our own feet when we got back to the hotel Saturday night. Oh, and we rode the monorail a few extra times because the AC was high and there were benches.

We also threw a few dollars in the slots as we passed through each new casino. None of us won anything until Angela sat down at a video poker machine, put in a dollar and promptly won $50! She cashed out and celebrated!

All in all, the perfect Vegas weekend. We got their Friday after 9pm and left Sunday before 2pm. Just right in that it was too short, none of us wanted to leave, especially after our bottomless champagne brunch at the Rio. But alas, all good things are much too short and remembered much too fondly. Here's to the next trip!

The Wibbs

Marianne Wibberly & me (Cormac Wibberly is just over my shoulder)

When I went to film school at UCLA I took advantage of every opportunity that came my way. Screenings, extra classes, guest lectures, everything, even the free fair each August that might yield some useless flyers and a couple run ins with classmates. And I'm fortunate that as an alumnus, I'm still able to take advantage of some of the cool opportunities that come about. Last night was one of those very cool things.

A few months ago on Twitter I began following @dottiehudson, the account that belongs to The Wibberlys. The Wibberlys are writing partners who are also married. They've written movies like NATIONAL TREASURE, I SPY, BAD BOYS 2, and CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE. Big, billion-dollar grossing movies. They (though I think the account is mostly updated by Marianne) tweet about anything and everything. I follow them and occasionally I favorite a tweet. Then a few weeks back they tweeted something about their USA television series COMMON LAW. Ang and I were big fans of the show and sad to see it get cancelled after only one season. Marianne mentioned they were gonna just start shipping copies of the DVD out to fans. I favorited that tweet because I thought that was a really cool thing to do and the next thing I knew we were Twitter friends and I had a copy of COMMON LAW show up on my doorstep from Amazon.

Cormac, Hal Ackerman (UCLA), Marianne

Fast forward to last night. I was excited to be able to head back to UCLA and see The Wibberlys be honored with an award, enjoy a screening of NATIONAL TREASURE (which holds up really well -- I saw it 10 years ago when it first came out and it was just as enjoyable this time around), and then hear Cormac and Marianne speak about the film after. The only bummer of the night? There were just 10 of us there for the screening. The thing about people no going to things in LA? Totally true. UCLA couldn't even fill a theater with film students for this event. Just crazy.

But, that meant that we had a nice intimate evening with the screenwriters. No mikes, I just loudly asked my question from a few rows back, and then we held court in the reception area as they shared stories of Jerry Bruckheimer and their college days and what it's like to be married to your writing partner. And best of all? I got a huge smile from Marianne when I whipped out the COMMON LAW DVD and asked her to sign it.

Sometimes we meet people we've admired and they fail to meet our expectations. And then sometimes we meet people and they exceed those expectations and it turns out to be just a fun night. One more adventure for the books. I'm glad last night was one of those nights.

Pepe Update - He Lives!

My really bad picture of Pepe from last night, see his paw on the white fence on the left hand side

Yesterday afternoon a friend asked about Pepe. I had no news to report. He had apparently seen the cage and marshmallows and by now stale Kashi bar and taken the first path out of town. Or so I thought.

Fast forward eight hours. It was quarter to eleven last night, pitch dark, and I was lying in bed reading. I hear a noise and couldn't determine if it was on the street or behind our house but I wasn't concerned. I grew up on the busiest street in Howell. Without air conditioning. I can sleep through almost anything. But then the noise got louder. Almost a purring. And yep, there he was. Pepe.

He walked by on the fence just outside my window. The fence that separates our side yard from the neighbors driveway. He walked the fence like he owned the place. Then he got down, on the neighbors side and proceeded to have himself a grand old time.

The motion light came on next door but no one seemed to investigate. I don't know the neighbors more than to wave hello and they have indicated to us numerous times they don't speak English. Which is a lie since I heard the husband speaking almost perfect English on his cell phone last week. But anyway, they are quite neighbors and their dog never barks. We love them.

So Pepe had himself a night. From just my listening in, he seemed to jump down on their car and onto the trash cans (I am totally guessing, I actually have no idea what he did). But I did see him on the roof overhang at one point. He made lots of loud grunting and tick-ticking noises while he was purring. Then he proceeded to walk along the top of the fence three more times. I checked the trap when it got quite but he wasn't there. I'll try some new bait today.

So Pepe lives. And lives well, I might add. No I'm not going to set out water and food bowls for him like a friend suggested. Yes, I still want Pepe to leave. Mostly because it's a bit disconcerting to have him prowling around outside my bedroom window at all hours of the night. Also because I know he's not a good house guest. Also, because I'm almost out of marshmallows.

So close!

In less than a month Angela and I will be in Paris. And then in London. And then in Paris again. It's so exciting it's hard to even comprehend. But then again, it's kind of sad too because in just over a month our trip will be over. I can't even think about that right now.

We've been doing a lot more planning lately. Almost every day we discuss things we've read or people have told us (shout out to Heather G for her awesome blog post just for Ang and I the day after getting back from Europe!). Several of Angela's co-workers are going to be in France the same time as us so while we're not meeting up, we're discussing plans and sharing tips and purchases. I know it seems like all we do it plan, and how much can there really be? But let me tell you...

A couple of weekends ago we hunkered down in our Corner Bakery and did some major work on London. We get in on Sunday morning and we leave Tuesday night so we need to pack a lot in to a short amount of time. And we have to leave some free time just in case we can sneak in a last-minute play date with George.

So that weekend we figured out our plans for London. We ordered Oyster cards to ride the Tube with which are conveniently delivered to your house for free. We bought tickets for one of those big red double decker sightseeing buses you hop on and off of so we could get the full-on tourist experience. We reserved a table for high tea at Fordum & Mason where it looks like we'll not only have tea but a full on meal and then belly up to a dessert cart. We bought tickets for the London Eye and for the Tower of London. We planned routes to get from our hotel to each of these places and planned to visit not only Baker Street but the famed Hamley's toy store (it's a good thing we'll be seeing the grandneighbors six days after we land stateside!).

We've also done a few things to make our lives easier over there. We've opened our beloved Rick Steves' travel guides and snapped pics of each page on the historic walks and made Evernote files so that we can look at our directions and maps on our phones (for free, meaning no data charges, with Evernote Premium) and not call too much attention to our touristy selves. We've also Mapquested our walks and our train rides all around both London and Paris, taken screenshots and saved those too. We're probably over prepared but it feels right, and it's fun to trace the routes on the maps and dream about where we'll be.

Oh, and we've also secured earlier dates for our Global Entry interviews! In just two weeks! So hopefully we'll be able to breeze through customs with an eye scan and a song.

We have a bit more day-to-day planning to do in the upcoming weeks. We bought two more suitcase locks this week to secure our backpacks on the Chunnel as well as our roller bags. We've gotten directions on how to navigate the Montreal airport for our Air Canada connection (shout out to amazing cousin Doris!). Oh, and we've got a pant situation.

We've realized, thanks to several friends, that jeans might be too casual at some places in Europe. Yes, we're dressing up our top but our bottoms will still need to be in pants that look decent with Nikes. So...we're on a pants hunt. When you're our size, that's difficult to say the least. If you're wide you shouldn't also be tall is the mantra of most designers in America. So...that will be our next few weeks. And a skirt or pair of crop pants might get tossed in the duffel as well. Such first world problems, I know.

So, lunch at the Eiffel Tower booked. Tea in London booked. Shuttles from the airport arranged. And each night, I still close my eyes and see those twinkly lights of Paris. I cannot wait.

Pepe 1, Humans 0

Just a little update on the Pepe situation.

Pepe is still king of Abbey Place.

With no movement on his part to eat the Kashi bars put in the trap Thursday, Angela did some research and discovered that raccoons have a sweet tooth and like marshmallows. (Hence, the pest control expert's desire for me to whip up a batch of Rice Krispie Treats). So Saturday we traipsed to Target, bought some marshmallows, and sweetened the pot so to speak. You can see above how I laid out a little trail of marshmallows and then put a few more in the back of the track thinking Pepe would scarf them down and go searching for more.

But no.

Monday evening the marshmallows were still there. Right where I'd placed them. The landlord called to check in (a surprise in itself) and suggested moving the trap or putting eggs in it. A) I don't know where to move it to exactly. The side yard isn't much bigger than the picture above shows. B) I'm not making Eggs Benedict for Pepe. He can just move along, which maybe he's done. Or so we thought...

This morning I peered through the living room window, on my tip toes, to see down to the yard and I couldn't find any marshmallows. Maybe something was trapped! But no, the trap wasn't sprung. So on my way out this morning I went to the back yard. And this is what I found:

Pepe, or some other mischievous yard creature (yes, we have back yard gnomes, the backyardigans, but they are usually lazy and don't leave their picnic table), had very nicely put all of the marshmallows into the cage for me.

Yep. All the marshmallows and the Kashi bars are now in the back of the cage. Not chewed on or eaten at all. So helpful.

I think Pepe is telling us to take our food and shove it. He doesn't need our help, nor does he want it, to get out of town.

So we'll see what happens tonight. I'll leave the food out there. We have the trap for 30 days and maybe, just maybe, that was Pepe's parting shot. Maybe we can have the basement entrances sealed up tight and say goodbye to our little raccoon adventure. Or maybe not.

The Pepe Saga

This is Pepe. He is our raccoon. And when I say ours, I mean he lives in our house. Allegedly, if you want to be precise. Under the house. In the crawl space. In the crawl space that was boarded up and blocked by several bricks. Apparently Pepe is quite strong.

Pepe came to visit almost four weeks ago for the first time. Well, that's when he made his presence known to Angela and I. We were eating nachos, watching TV and he walked across the top of the fence outside the living room windows, stopped and peered in. For some reason I yelped, jumped up and shut the window. We have screens. We have bars. But I thought Pepe might still come in. The photo above is our first interaction with Pepe. It was still light out, just barely, and he walked back the way he came and disappeared. I did not follow him. Angela didn't either but to be fair she was on crutches and in an arm cast.

This is the next night when we saw Pepe again. This time he paused in the second window and waited as I took about 10 photos. I think he knew I was getting the light just right. Then he climbed down the end of the fence and strolled down the sidewalk like he owned the place. And frankly, after seeing his paws and claws, he does.

This is the last time I took a photo of Pepe. It was a couple of nights later, much earlier in the evening, and he looks like he groomed himself for the photo shoot. He looks good. He watched me for a moment and then headed on down the fence to the sidewalk. After that we didn't see Pepe for almost a week. I'd tweeted and Facebooked about him and we concluded that he must have known his five minutes of fame were about up and was heading elsewhere. Maybe north for the summer. This turned out not to be true.

Last week Pepe showed up again. This time I didn't even bother to get up and shut a window or snap a picture. He came by a few nights in a row and I placed a call to my friendly pest control company. They assured me they could tango with Pepe.

Fast forward to this week. After several other phone calls and landlord dealings, the day had come to find Pepe a new home. For the night at least.

It's bright and shiny and very close to his old home. (Look close and you can see the teeth/claw marks on the crawlspace window!) And when the two grown men who came to set it up asked me for a Rice Krispie treat (apparently a favorite of southern California raccoons) because they had brought a trap but no bait even thought I was told this endeavor was costing THOUSANDS of dollars, I smiled to myself. Pepe might just win this one.

And so last night I baited the trap with a broken in two Kashi blackberry breakfast bar. I don't keep Rice Krispie treats in the house. And apparently that bothers Pepe because he chose not to partake of my offerings last night. No one did. Not even the cat that overnights behind the grill and spends the early sun moments washing her fur like she's prepping for her own photo shoot.

This is what I found this morning at 6am.

Unsprung trap. Kashi bars still where I threw them. And no Pepe sighting last night. It's possible he can read and knew what all the hoopla was yesterday when the big red truck arrived and the two grown men stood around talking about how he might like living in Malibu. I don't think Pepe wants to live in Malibu. I think Pepe likes it here on Abbey Place. I mean we have nachos and dry crawlspaces and that pretty great fence. And no one will force you to eat the Kashi bars.