Hail to the Hills of Westwood!

Oh, we've had a fabulous weekend. Friday night Tim went with his boyfriend Ed to see MacGruber. I went over to mom and dad's house to watch the Twins beat the Brewers half to death. As an added bonus, we texted smart ass messages to the Wisconsin, Brewer-lovin' cousins and then giggled at our cleverness. I also brought over the furminator for a test drive on the family cats. Verdict: their fur came out in clumps, and they seemed quite happy to be groomed (except for Chuckie, but that was more that he doesn't like me looking at him. I picked you out and brought you home, you ungrateful 16 year old jerk!)

Saturday night we had a play at the Freud Playhouse at UCLA. Knowing that I also had a work event on Sunday morning in Bel Air, Tim and I opted to book a hotel room and stay in LA overnight, saving ourselves (or rather, me) an extra two hours of driving and minus four hours of sleep. I got a great rate at the W Hotel in Westwood, which is known for being pretty swank and celebrity friendly, and we headed up early to check in. We found street parking, which made our LA-hearts happy, and then as we were checking in, the front desk person asked if we wouldn't mind being upgraded to a suite. Well, TWIST MY ARM WHY DON'T YOU! So, we went from a basic "studio" room, apparently near the elevators, to a corner suite on the 8th floor. The hotel room was bigger than our old apartment, and totally swankified. Once we got in and settled, we decided that it would be foolish to waste this hotel room by going out to dinner, and so we ordered room service! When I called, the first thing they said was "how can I help you Mrs. Ford?" Umm... you know me by name? WOW. (Can you tell that we're used to budget traveling?) We ordered a burger and fries and I laid around in a plush, borrowed robe and we were happy as can be.

Around 7 we headed out to walk over to the theater. Tim stopped to take a quick picture of me and my Baby Sequins belly outside of Royce Hall.

We are very proud to be having a 100% Bruin baby. As I told Tim, we won't force Sequins to go to UCLA, but we have lots of happy memories that we can't wait to share with her. And of course, if she tries to apply to U$C, we will disown her, and consider our parenting a total failure.

We saw "How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying," which was great. Reprise, the theater company that puts on these productions, does a really bang up job. We wandered through campus on the way home, grabbed some snacks for the morning and then returned me to my plush bathroom in time for SportsCenter.

Here's our 8th floor view of the Hills of Westwood.

This morning we were up and at 'em around 9, and off to the home of Sherry Lansing for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Future Fund luncheon, where the agency awards college scholarships to graduating Little Sisters. It's really great program, with speeches from some of our biggest donors and stories from the girls themselves. There's usually a pretty healthy dose of tears throughout the audience. This year, we also had Eva Longoria Parker as our celebrity speaker, and she was darling. With both Trena and I pregnant and unable to do very much hauling, Anja was glad to have Tim around, and he was quite the Helper Helperton, putting out gift bags and cleaning up afterwards.

When the luncheon was over, Tim and I headed to UCLA to buy Sequins her first Bearwear. I have long looked in the little kids section and made cooing noises over all of the baby clothes, and finally, I had an excuse to buy (and buy I did! Though in all fairness, this is the first thing I've bought for the baby, other than books.) I may have gone a little nuts, but I got things in different sizes so that she'll be covered all along the way. Plus, IT WAS SO CUTE! I started crying a little in Ackerman. Yes, yes, I have lots of hormones. We also realized that Coach Wooden is turning 100 a few days before Baby Sequins is due. Maybe they will end up being birthday buddies! Worse things could happen.

Here's a shot of her loot, laid out on the UCLA quilt that her great-grammy made for her.

So now, after a lot more driving and a quick stop at the grocery store, we're home and vegging.

Business as usual in the Thiel-Ford household.