Sorry folks, if you are waiting for the results of the contest... I'll definitely post them soon, I had a very. unlucky. day. today.... Please understand!

Gosh, where do I begin? Time for some venting!

I woke up ready to roll and work on my freelancing web stuff, when I noticed my music wouldn't play. I realized my secondary data harddrive was flaking out. Now, if you followed my rants from last week, you'll know that last Thursday my primary harddrive had failed. As if that wasn't bad enough, today, this Thursday, my secondary drive fails! Come on now, can't a hardworking girl get a break? I just rebuilt the main drive! I didn't even get a chance to back up the data drive to the new main drive yet and it fails! Gosh... I guess there is a techie saying that goes like, when one drive fails, the rest go down with it. So I ended up spending half the day running around and buying a drive enclosure and doing data recovery.

As I was in the heat of rsyncing and copying files over, things really started to get hot. I mean, literally. Because my apartment building was on fire!

Whoa! I walked out into a cloud of smoke, so I ran with my two bunnies and caught up with E as he was heading home from work. The flames were from the opposite end of our building. Very fortunately, no one was hurt. We were evacuated for a while but homes were for the most part okay.

Did I say no one got hurt? That was a mistake. My poor bunny, Baby, as he was hopping outside on the grass while we were waiting around, got his paw caught on something, I'm not sure what. His paw started bleeding. :( We took him home when it was safe again and washed him up and patched up his little hand. He's all sulking now...poor Baby!

Man what a day! And I'm still backing up my data. That drive is full of value I cannot afford to lose. I'm running out of drives to back up to and to fail on me!

It seems that everytime I prepare a full list of things to do, those things never end up getting done... I'd like to live a little less spontaneously sometimes, please?

Sorry for being a drama queen in this long rant! *sigh* Better things to come, promise!

So I was just pondering what to talk about next here, when E came out of the pooper and showed me the back cover of Condé Nast Traveler magazine's July 09 issue. I gasped in amusement to see the most unexpected of relationships displayed in gorgeous Annie Leibovitz photography on shiny cover paper—my former boss, Sally Ride, and Louis Vuitton. In an AD. Together.

Say what? Let's double check the wording... No, I'm not seeing things. It truly is Sally Ride, and those truly are LV bags. And Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell too from Apollo 11 and 13, respectively.

Photo Credit: LOUIS VUITTON/ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

It's part of Louis Vuitton's Core Values Campaign, with this particular 'value' commemorating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Check out some videos and really stunning photography of the astronauts chatting in the middle of the California dessert at Louis Vuitton Journeys. The motto is "Some Journeys Change Mankind Forever".

Whether or not I'm a fan of LV, this is a pretty impressive campaign that brings together some rather unexpected elements—astronauts (very smart people) and expensive handbags (often bought by less smart people).

Sometimes I still think about what an opportunity it was to have worked for this woman for her company, Sally Ride Science. I mean, she's only the first American woman in space, and like, I only worked there for like, five years [/sarcasm]. Do check the company out if you have kids and you want to keep them interested in math and science. They have great programs and really fun science festivals all over the US of A!

I love my bunnies! Bobo showed so much excitement today when I brought her some green lettuce. Look at that noming!

I hope you all know about the Renegade Fair going on this weekend at The California Market Center in Downtown LA!

And it's FREE, FREE, FREE! Tons of indie craft vendors will be there! So if you're looking for a birthday/graduation/anniversary/anything gift, be sure to head over to Downtown LA's California Market Center and check them out!

I checked them out on Saturday, it was full of fun goodies. My former place of work, The Urban Craft Center, will be there doing hands-on demos as well! So don't miss out if you're in the area!

happy independence day!

I'd like to wish everyone in the States a Happy Independence Day today! I hope your days are full of joy and good food and good beers and good friends!

In addition, I think today should be extended to celebrate personal independence for all of those in the world who are lucky enough to have it. Independence Day shouldn't just be about America's liberation from Great Britain; but rather, it should be about recognizing and valuing the freedom to make our own life choices. There are many in the world who do not have such priviledges (but we should fight for that to change). Being in a country like the US, we have the freedom to run our own private businesses, choose our own homes, make our own money (and keep it). We can make independent choices to live a life we choose. So to that, happy independence day to everyone!

E and I decided to celebrate our 4th a little earlier to avoid the mobs and crowds. We drove down to San Diego on the 2nd for the night, and then the next morning we took a day trip to East San Diego to Cuyamaca and Julian and their neighboring towns.

What fun! In the morning we went to row a boat in Lake Cuyamaca. Some cute little duckies greeted us as soon as we boarded our boat.

Then we stopped by Julian for some derishous apple pie at Mom's. Mmm...apple crumb is the way to go, I tell ya.

So derisssshoouuusssss....

Next, we stopped by Pine Hill Egg Ranch on Route 78 (map) for some fresh eggs. I wonder if it's possible to hatch chicks from them... They even have a drive-thru to buy eggs! Check out the price differences from my visit in November 2007 to this visit in July 2009. Times sure have changed. Still a great deal for fresh eggs though! Sometimes the jumbo ones even have double-yolks.

Our last destination was Stone Brewery in Escondido to wind down with some refreshing beeah. Ah...

All in all, a great day trip!