thank you.

I wanted to take this chance to make an official update that I am back in my house, there are no longer any fire threats in Diamond Bar, and it feels absolutely amazing to be back at home.

I really want to thank my aunt for housing my entire family, being so gracious, and making us feel at home... when our own home was in danger. Thank you to all my friends who called me, sent me phone texts, IMs, and Facebook messages just to make sure that I was safe. A blessing in disguise: I rekindled with some old friends who came out of their way to check up on me once they heard the news... so, thank you so much for all the love and support.

And I cannot--and, I repeat, cannot--thank everyone enough in the blogging, Etsy, and crafting community for being so supportive. It was comforting to talk to others dealing with the same, many who I've met through California Crafters Club of Etsy (cccoe), and even getting convos and replies to my post from those far from the fire, smoke, and chaos.

I am hoping other families are feeling the same comfort as I am. Because I never realized how sweet "home sweet home" really is.

I couldn't ask for anymore right now. Though, I've been staring at these bad boys for the last 15 minutes:

Strawberry Swirl Itty Bitty Bites by TheFetchingHound on Etsy.

I don't know about you, but I am very close to ordering some.
Nom, nom, nom!

In other good news, this also means I'm back into business! Send some love to my shop!

xoxo,
Steppie
http://steppie.etsy.com

P.S. Since most of my belongings were packed in boxes already when I returned home today, it called to really clean out my room and get organized. And I must say, it feels damn good.

update on the firestorm.

I went to bed last night at 3:30am after catching up on my Grey's Anatomy with the excitement that I would be waking up the next morning with an exciting trip to LA to visit the Felt Club and Ghetto Gloss' Silverlake Art & Vintage Show. Within an hour, my plans for the day had completely changed. At 4:30am, I got a knock at my door from my mom telling me that the fire was closer.

Yesterday, all we saw were heaps of black smoke stirring up into the sky from the mountains across from us. But when I woke up at 4:30am this morning, spurts of blazing fire were visible from our house. And it only called to deal with the idea of a mandatory evacuation as a likely reality.

We spent the next couple hours packing our cars with more necessities, and waited until the sun came up. When it did two hours later, the sky looked clearer but before we knew it, more smoke was looming over The Country Estates, and we were put under a mandatory evacuation. We got out of Diamond Bar at around 8am this morning, and we are all staying at my aunt's house in Hacienda Heights.

We've basically spent all morning watching the news with all the stations focusing on the fires in our city and with our housing community constantly being labeled as "in danger." And even though the fire was within a mile of affecting the houses on our street, the fire has so far been under control thanks to our dedicated fire fighters. Eight hours later, we are still hearing the positive news that no houses in Diamond Bar have been affected.

Let's just hope it stays this way until this is all over.
And boy, do I hope it will be over soon.

To all other Southern Californians affected by the firestorms, please be careful and take of yourself and your family members. You will be in my thoughts as well.

xoxo,
Steppie

P.S. An awesome photographer, former coordinator, and awesome friend Louis Trinh of Tikko Studios has amazing photos of the fire that affected his city of Chino Hills. I'm glad to hear him and his family are safe, and I recommend you take a look at his blog.