Tonight’s wine blog is brought to you by one of my sturdy standards: Penfold’s Koonunga Hill, a 2008 Shiraz from South Australia. It’s one of those wines that’s like a favorite sweater–you’re comfy in it and you know you don’t look totally horrible in it. I’ll be lazy and copy its description from the bottle: “Opulent red berries, spice and violet characters are beautifully captured in this Shiraz. Oak adds subtle cedar and vanilla nuances, while fine tannins round out the palate”  Spicy, oaky, cedar and vanilla? Yup. But violets? Someone was drinking a biiiiit too much when they wrote that description.

On to the random!

• This Saturday I’m attending the baby shower for some of my 2008 of my clients. I’m thrilled to be a able to attend and also thrilled that I get to buy baby girl stuff for baby Z. 
• Remember in my last wine blog when I was car shopping? I ended up with a red 2010 Toyota Rav4 that I luuuuuv. I also got it randomly through a car broker and for anyone shopping for a car, do it through a broker. No, do it specifically through Vladamir. It was so painless and easy and not only did he do the negotiating for me, he delivered it to me and we signed the papers in my driveway. Shout out to Vlad!
• I tend to get obsessed with songs and play them over and over and over again. Last month it was the Double Rainbow song, a few months ago it was ELO’s “Mister Blue Sky“. Tonight it’s Florence and the Machine’s “You’ve Got the Love”. The video is kind of Diamonds-are-a Girl’s-Best-Friend-from Moulin-Rouge precious, but her Lady Gaga leotard (gagatard?) is a bit too trashy for this song, in my opinion. Love her voice though. And her hair. 
• Today was the first day of fall. And that means the countdown to Halloween.  Which in turns starts the countdown to Thanksgiving, which then leads me to my favorite time of year: Christmas! I’m happy the entire month of December because my house is sooooo sparkly. As I’m waiting for all of that Christmas stuff though, my husband and some friends of ours are working on what is hopefully going to be a fabulous Halloween Party. Surprisingly enough, entertaining on a personal level stresses me out a bit. I’d rather work or party, not both. But I’m taking one for the team this Halloween season. 

• I have to brag on my little brother a bit. His bluegrass-rockabilly-punk-folk-whatever-you-want-to-call-it band, Cletus Got Shot, is currently touring Belgium and Holland. Turns out there is quite a contingency that loves Americana folk music over there. Anyway, Mark, my brother, can’t transport his current bass that he had made out of a car gas tank, so he makes THIS. Apparently, it sounds pretty good too.

• Speaking of bands, my husband’s band, Just Off Turner is going back in the studio this weekend to record a new 6 song EP before their European tour at the beginning of the year. And my drummer husband almost cut the tip of his finger off with a razor knife on Monday morning. I was a good wife and held his (other) hand as he got stitches. I don’t know how his Frankenfinger is going to fare in the recording studio this weekend. We’ll see.
• My husband is going to be touring western Europe from January to ? and I’m planning on going to India in February. I’m crossing my fingers and praying that he is done with his tour in time to join me. With the way wedding season in LA runs, February is pretty much the only time I can do this. I’m terrified that I’ll get sick or hurt and he won’t be there to hold my hand or my hair. I guess that job will just have to fall to a band wife who’ll be traveling India with me. Lucky her.
• I love cats. I love Ikea. And I love people who come up with crazy ass ideas and then carry them out. If THIS is not the most random thing you’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is. (and side note: how cute is Tim? Meow.)

• I lied. I do have a more random video than the one above. These are some of my buddies, and instead of BBQ’ing and hanging with us over Labor Day weekend, they locked themselves in Jackson, Matthew, and Manny’s apartment and had a 55 hour Bond-a-Thon. James Bond. And they made a time lapse video of it. Randomest, yes?