The title of this entry is based on my Ya-Ya name. Want your own? Go to the website for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and click to enter the flash site. Click on the word Ya-Ya, then mouse over the word Ya-Ya and select the Name Generator (thanks to Moonness @ OD for the site and the fun).

Well, we all know I'm a shopaholic, but mostly it's just tech-toys and books. Ah, books. I didn't think I'd have time to read this weekend, as we were driving down to LA to visit with Fuzzy's brother and his family. They were doing the Disneyland thing, after a week in Phoenix, and extended their time in SoCal so we could meet them for brunch and hang out for a while. We made good time getting there, mostly because we did 90mph down I5. Still, it's a gruelling drive, and I'm one of those people who can't read in a moving vehicle. Which meant I got to play DJ. Oh, joy.

We stayed at the Doubletree in Orange. I have no idea why I picked them – it might have been the promise of warm chocolate chip cookies at check in (which, yes, they really do provide). As a hotel, it wasn't bad, except that the espresso bar is /only/ open in the morning, and the bed was horrible. A cement slab with a sheet over it would have been softer. Really.

And Sunday we had lunch with B. & L. and L's sister P. and the kids, the oldest of whom, at 13, is now as tall as Fuzzy. We did the requisite spoiling of said children, treating 13 to a cd, and 10 to the Harry Potter DVD, and 7 to $15 worth of earrings at Claire's. $15 of cheap earrings gives you about a thousand pairs, all of which had to be dangly enough for 7 to wear, non-dangly enough for L to let her wear, and with catches that both L and 7 could work with minimal effort.

We chose not to rush home, and took 101, where we couldn't do 90 for long stretches, and instead were stuck at a mere 80mph. Poor us. But we had fun, even saw a whale breech and then do a classic tail-slap in the waters of Santa Barbara.

There are details…like the story of the homeless woman in the bagelry before we left, and the lake Fuzzy's now in love with, and the fact that our pet-sitter freaked out because we forgot to tell her about one of Cleo's tricks, but those will all be separate entries.