Hellmouth Opens Under Capitol Building as Earthquake Rocks DC

Twitter reaction shortly after the quake.

When I moved to California in 1999, all my friends and family in New Jersey chided me, "Sure the weather's nice, but oh, there are all those earthquakes in California! Have fun falling off the face of the Earth when The Big One hits!"

Cut to today, when my Facebook and Twitter feeds begin blowing up, "EARTHQUAKE!" Funny, I didn't feel anything here in San Diego.

Then I realize it's all my East Coast friends. I quickly discern a 5.8 earthquake hit Virginia and was felt as far north as Martha's Vineyard.

Aww, it was so cute to see everyone freaking out. By far the "Best East Coast Reaction to the Earthquake" award goes to Brian Iwanicki: "The first thing I thought...WTF am I turning diabetic and about to pass out?"

Hahaha!

I'll take my earthquakes in exchange for 72 degrees and sunny every day. Now, dear friends back East, you've got crappy weather AND earthquakes to deal with. There may (I say may lightly, as I know many of you were freaking out over this little baby quake) have been a tad overreaction from folks who aren't as hardened as we West Coasters. Having said that, I think this picture sums the event up nicely:

Source: Unknown. Irony: Well known.

Oh karma, you are a bittersweet beeyotch.

An Unexpected Weekend in Palm Springs

The requisite stop at the Dairy Queen in Hemet, Calif. 

Here's how it went down at 5 p.m. on Saturday night:

John: Let's go to Vegas.

Me: Love the idea, but it's a 5 hour drive. You just had surgery.

John: Let's go to Palm Springs.

Me: Call the kennel. I'll book the hotel.

We dropped the dogs off, jumped on the 67 North, and settled in for the scenic 2 hour back road trip to one of my favorite hotels in the world: La Quinta Spa & Resort (just down the road from Palm Springs).

Well hello, beautiful. It's been too long.

Because we booked so late, I was worried we'd get stuck way in the back of the grounds (but honestly, there's not a bad room in the place).

Imagine my delight when I found out we got on of the original casitas from the 1920s! (You really should take a moment to read La Quinta's history.)

Our little stand-alone hacienda was right next to Frank Capra's bungalow, where he wrote Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night and It's a Wonderful Life.

But as cool as that was, it didn't match up to the spa day I had planned.

We booked a spa package room, so on Sunday John hung out in the Relaxation Spa Garden while I got a facial and massage.

We then drove over to Shame on the Moon in Rancho Mirage for dinner with good friends, then headed back to San Diego.

Such a fun, spontaneous weekend!

Comic-Con 2011 Panel Wrap Up: Glee, Big Bang Theory, Game of Thrones and More!

Did you miss Comic-Con in San Diego this year? I was there, sucka! Covering all the hottest panels  for Tea With Lemon.

Glee panel? Yep.

Big Bang Theory? Up close and personal.

Supernatural, Fringe, Game of Thrones? Close enough to smell the sweat of anticipation from the cougars who filled Ballroom 20 and Hall H.

Over a period of 4 days I wrote 13 articles. Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them!

Josh Jackson (Peter) and John Noble (Walter) share a laugh.