I was reading Mo Pie's new entry this morning - now conveniently located at Diaryland. I totally hear you, Mo! About the hand-coding, I mean. It does become cumbersome after a while. There are times it becomes such a burden, I don't bother writing anything. I have often considered moving the journal to an easier site like Diaryland; I even temporarily used my Blogger account, just to see what I thought. It was nice. It was convenient. It was easy. But, in the end, I came back to hand-coding. There's just something about it; I don't know what it is. Must be a control issue.

  Anyway, we're finally getting a break in the rain. After three major storms in a row, the California coast is supposed to be dry at least through this coming Sunday. That's good news for all the road-work folks who've been trying to clean up the rock and mud slides which have closed pretty much all the major highways between here and SB, and the people whose homes and businesses have been flooded. It's very good news for the rescuers trying to find survivors who were caught in that major landslide in La Conchita. God, how horrible! It seems like there's been so much bad news lately. So much tragedy. It's starting to get to me - that and all the rain. I've got cabin fever like mad. I've got to get the hell outta Dodge before I go nuts!

  Which is why I've planned a weekend trip to Santa Barbara with my friend Jewel! Weather and roadways permitting, I'm heading out of town on Saturday and meeting up with Jewel for a day of shopping, fun, and girly gossip. I really, really need this! I imagine she does, too. I've already mapped out my plan of attack, and made a list of the places I definitely want to go and shop/eat/drink at:

1. Lane Bryant (Have you seen their pretty new stuff?)

2. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (Must. Have. English Breakfast Tea Latte!!!)

3. Rock's (Blossom martini, here I come!)

4. Borders (I've got two $20.00 gift certificates burning a hole in my pocket! Yes, we've got a Borders here in town, now, but the SB store is much bigger!)

5. As Seen on TV (You can find anything here, I swear!)

6. Limited (can't buy anything, but I can look . . . and dream)

7. Banana Republic (ditto)

  I don't know what else we'll do. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is right downtown, so if it's still raining, or even if we just feel like it, we can hang out there. If it's not raining, maybe we can visit Stern's Wharf. Or the Mission. Or something equally fun. Dunno. Don't care. So long as I get out of town!!!