It’s 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, and instead of having my usual glass of red wine and a few crackers and olives, I am tucking into bed for a nap.

Yup, you read right: a nap.

We are going to see Joel McHale at Pechanga tonight!

The 8 p.m. show sold out, and they added a 10:30 p.m. show, and that is where we will be in a few hours.

But first….sleep. Sweet, restorative sleep.

Rain is drumming on the roof. Wii is uncomplainingly and reliably babysitting the kids. Most of the emails and all of the phone messages are answered.

Earlier today, I drove up to Riverside for a baby shower. I saw several rainbows on the way, which I think is a wonderful omen for Baby Girl Schultz. She will be the first girl born into this particular family in over 70 years! Needless to say, there was a lot of pink at the shower.

On the way home, I saw fellow writer’s group participant Lisa Musick’s husband Kurt Musick’s paint company truck.

At the exact moment I saw him, I saw a rainbow, and I saw a couple walking across the Rancho California freeway overpass walking a dog dressed in a full-on leather jacket.

I wished Kurt Musick and I had been walking instead of driving in our separate cars so I could tell him how I know his wife, and we could ask the couple about the dog dressed like a biker. But this is So Cal, even if it sometimes feels like a little village, and we drive everywhere, and he doesn’t know me anyway, so we drove on and now I’m ready for my nap.

Seriously? Where did January go?

We had our 11th anniversary in January and this weekend we are enjoying my gift from Scott, tickets to see Joel McHale at Pechanga. (His show SOLD OUT so they added a late show beginning at 10:30 – quite late for our little corner of the world.)

We will have to find somewhere to have a casual dinner before the show. I wanted to check out new(ish) The Collective for some wine tasting, but Scott reminded me that I get a little sleepy after even a small glass of wine, especially for a show that STARTS at 10:30.

(Ten thirty is practically three a.m. when you have little kids.)

So what else has been going on while I’ve been busy forgetting my Wordpress password?

* I attended the Paloma del Sol homeowner association’s annual meeting. I mailed something in several months ago and forgot all about it until I saw my name on the ballot. I was running for “District Delegate” and it wasn’t immediately clear what my role would be. (Luckily: minimal.) The whole process is really fascinating. I learned that River Springs Charter School is taking over the newly-constructed, never occupied office complex on the corner of Margarita and Pauba in August. Also, Paloma is getting a ginormous 50-foot T-Mobile cell phone tower disguised as a fir tree.

* I started writing for a fantabulous new local site, Taste of Temecula. Read it! Follow on Twitter. (And of course if you don’t already, follow me too.)

* I’ve been doing a lot of yoga. I did more yoga in the first ten days of 2010 than I did in all of 2008 and 2009 combined. I discovered a well-kept secret: Erica Myers-Russo’s weekly classes through City of Temecula Parks & Recreation. You’ve heard of “hot yoga,” right? (Yoga done in a room heated to Barstow-in-August temps.) Well, in January, her class is more like “cold yoga” (we wear layers), but trust me! We do yoga OUTSIDE, in the streaming sunshine, under the bright blue sky, and in April, it’s going to be glorious. Even in January, just the fact that you can do yoga outside at 9:30 in the morning is so remarkable that it’s worth it for novelty value alone.

* I’ve been reading, and writing, too. My favorite reading spot at this time of year is the comfy view chairs at the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the Pauba Road library in Temecula. For writing, there is my hardy little group. Love them! We meet at Murrieta’s own gem, Eclectic Books. Coffee…tea…used books…new books….jewelry….handcrafts…postcards….open mic night…and my favorite “Bad Tinka” painting by local artist Katinka Clementsmith.

So it’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason. I’ve been busy. More than one person has said to me: It’s DAILY Temecula! Write!

To them I say: Fine, I’ll write. But you’ve gotta hold up your end of the bargain, and READ.

XOXO,
Juliet

winter in Temecula: Old Town civic center is on its way!

I am curling up with my glass of Mount Palomar 2006 Meritage (if it says “produced and bottled in Temecula,” does that mean the grapes were grown here?) and starting out fresh with a new home for Daily Temecula.

Welcome!

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Juliet