Better safe than sorry.

As a former traffic patrolman and office fire marshal, whistle and all, I take safety very seriously. Living in Los Angeles, on the third floor of a building located in a tsunami hazard zone, you can imagine how the recent news of an impending earthquake on the west coast could effect my beauty sleep. Better safe than sorry, I spent the better part of my day putting together my very own emergency kit. Just in case.

After sending in my W-2, putting the finishing touches on a few belated birthday cards and painting my finger nails a lovely shade of putty – Commander in Chic, specifically, I made my way to Target. And seriously, what is it about Target that makes you entirely forget your purpose, browsing the aisles for hours, filling your cart with things you didn’t even know you needed? Maybe that’s my problem – the cart. Next time I won’t grab a cart. In any case, after trying on everything in my size celebrating five years of designer partnerships, I set out to tackle the task at hand. As I knew this would happen, I came equipped with a list, grabbed a coffee and refocused my attention.

If you’d also like to sufficiently freak yourself out while educating yourself in the case of a natural disaster, I’d suggest checking out this site. Or this one. Or this one. While to me, those emergency kits sound more like crime scene investigation materials, if you’d like to follow my lead – my emergency kit consists of the following, all packed neatly in a clear storage tub hidden beneath my nightstand.

·      flashlight

·      bottles of water

·      chewy granola bar variety pack

·      first aid kit

·      sparkly band-aids

I figure if the time comes when an emergency kit is necessary, I’d like something to cheer me up, and I think that sparkly band-aids could do just the trick. I just hope I don’t use them in the mean time, or eat the granola bars.

UPDATE: granola bars consumed - 5

photo credit - red cross logo