Hello there!

How are you doing? Things are going well, we take it?

Life has been rather uneventful here in Rhi & Benner Land. Rhianwen is still working at Warner Brothers, where she rules at legal assisting and redlining contracts. Benner has started working at Trader Joe's, where he rules the dairy fridge and stocking eggs.

It has been getting sunnier and warmer 'round these parts as of late. Of course what we call "cold" 'round these parts is what we used to call "warm" back 'round the parts we used to live in. Seriously, if it's a degree or two colder than like 65, we're total wimps. I don't know how we ever lived in Philadelphia given that we seem to not only enjoy the warm weather, but depend on it for happiness.

Oh! Here's some news: Benner got glasses today! Over the past few years, he has had increasingly nagging difficulty when reading. It wasn't anything he couldn't easily tolerate, but some times were worse than others. A recent trip to the optometrist revealed that Benner is far-sighted, and seeing as how he is a writer and needs to be able to read and stare at a computer screen, we thought glasses would be nice.

So, Rhianwen and Benner set out to pick out some glasses. Benner wanted a very nondescript (and maybe a little nerdy) pair, but Rhianwen insisted on something a little more stylish. In the end, they settled on this nifty little pair.

Eh? Whaddya think?

In other news, our friends Roxanne and Aaron got engaged and are to be wed this fall. Hooray for them! Anything else to report? Hmm, not really...

What's going on with you guys?

Stan Fran visits Los Angeles, and all is well...

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of hosting one of Rhianwen's oldest friends in LA:

CHRISTINE! WOO! Christine marks our fourth East Coast visitor out in LA (after Jen's parents, Rhi's mom and our unforgettable friend Adam), and she made the trip with her brother Tony (shown here, often referred to as To Fro) and cousin Valerie. As a bonus, Christine's cousin Dave lives in LA too, so it was one big Buglione fest!

We kicked off our time together at the Warner Brothers lot. Rhianwen met up with the Buglione crew at a taping of Ellen DeGeneres taping. Rhi was so thrilled to be hug Christine, in the flesh, in Los Angeles!

Then came Ellen. It was Rhi's first time in the studio as an audience member and she wasn't quite sure what to expect. There was a lot of clapping and dancing, and a lot of energy. There were some great laughs, particularly in the opening act where Ellen had audience members play musical chairs blind folded. No matter how many times she sees it, Rhi still thinks it's fun! The guests that day were Meredith Vierra and Olivia Wilde from "House."

After the show, Rhi gave a mini tour of where she works and they all headed out to dinner at one of the best mexican joints known to LA: Don Cuco's! We enjoyed yummy margaritas and muchso queso! And here we are enjoying ourselves:

We had a slight pause in our vist as Rhi and Benner flew home to Philly to be with Benner's family in celebration of GM and GP's 50th Wedding Anniversary. Thankfully Rhi was able to book a super early flight back on Sunday to spend some more quality time with the Buglione posse. After 3 days of sleep deprivation and a 6 hour flight, Rhi was greeted by Dave and Christine with coffee in hand! We swung by Dave's to freshen up before heading to Orange County to visit the acclaimed Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Jack!

It was a great day. We enjoyed the pace of hanging out, touring their "so California" backyard and garden. Notice, if you will, the firepit that Uncle Jack made himself, with his own bare hands:

We even got to pick our own grapefruits from the tree. We stuffed ourselves with the delicious and filling taste of an authentic Italian dinner. We drank wine while Aunt Bobbi's fiesty dogs threatened my sense of security. LOL, no I'm serious. I'm surprised Aunt Bobbi still has all her fingers. Seeing Aunt Bobbi interact with her dogs is something you can't fully describe. You have to experience it for yourself.

Oh, and Aunt Bobbi has a princess-and-the-pea bed. I rightly gave it that name, since it's the height of ten mattresses stacked on top of each other. Which is ironic because Aunt Bobbi is under five feet tall, and seeing her climb up there is like watching someone mount a horse.

That night was Oscar night, so we retired to the sofa for wine and M&M's. Hours later we emerged from the house and faced the hour long drive back to LA. Our motivation: In N Out burger! I couldn't let Christine go back to Philadelphia without tasting the magical, dilectable, satisfying scrumptuousness of an In N Out burger and fries. Also, they gave us hats.

Which may or may not have been a good idea.

Oh Stan Fran, we miss you already and are so happy you came to visit us in the sunny LA. Lots of love and kisses!!!! Mwah!