I had an AWESOME time!

My weekend was great. In the infamous words of Frank the Tank, “I had an AWESOME time!” With work’s flood of documents trickling down, I enjoyed my time in the O.C. with Laura, Wrigley and Chumley. Our little sleepover was exactly what I needed.

Wow, ok, what to say about Laura? Well, let’s just say that I’m so happy I didn’t listen to my sister and to Ed! My sister especially thought I was taking my life in my own hands, and both were convinced this was some sort of serial killer, Internet plot with Laura playing the psycho lesbian lady killer. Ha! They made me promise I’d call as soon as I arrived to let them know all was well. I even had a code word to use with Ed in the event of an emergency. He is too cute!

Well, it couldn’t be further from the truth! First of all, she is T-I-N-Y!!!!! And I mean that in the most beautiful way possible. So, if by some crazy chance she had come at me wielding a sharpened knife and hollerin’ like a banshee, you know what I would have done? I would have laughed. That’s right, bust out laughin’! I could take on three Lauras, let me tell ya. No, make that five! She is slender, petite and gorgeous, but more than that she’s got such a warm soul. My grandmother says that some people just have a comfortable, old soul. Not old as in old age, but old as in a vintage spirit and a soft heart. That’s Laura.

I love how she loves and how she treats her Wrigs and Chums, and I love that she was so sweet and good to my geriatric puppy, Achilles. Our pets can be challenging at times and it takes a certain type of person to always see through the challenges straight through to their beautiful hearts. Wrigley-Wrigs is all love, all energy and ALL puppy. Her patience with him during his “toddler-hood” is beautiful to see. My Achilles’ challenges are that he is so old and getting around, in and out of cars, up and down stairs, etc..., is always an event. He tires easily even though he so wanted to romp around with Wrigs. Laura’s patience and love transferred easily and immediately to my baby and it warmed my heart.

Laura shined through her blog comments about my sweet Nick. Losing my sweet Nick is the most difficult death I’ve had to deal with in my life. I used my blog to expel currents and currents of emotion, and Laura was there with her generous comments (even if she was in another city) and with her blog full of Wrigs and Chums’ stories. They were very healing. I didn’t always reply to all the comments, but they always resonated. All of my loved ones have been crazy wonderful since Nick died. Laura also became a deeply important person through this process, and the crazy thing was that we hadn’t even personally met yet! And now we can say that we are no longer “strangers”!!! Nick knew I needed a connection and he sent me Laura. I’ll always be grateful. Thanks Nick and thanks Mr. Internet!!!

I say it so often, but it is so difficult to find truly good female friends. It really is. Guys approach their friendships so differently. I can write a novel about it, but I won’t. (At least not right now.) The biggest complaint I have is the intense jealousy and judgmental approach that most women have towards their relationships with their girlfriends. Laura turned out to be so great in person and I had such a good time, but more so it was such an easy-going time. It was truly very, very cool. We talked, and talked, and talked, and talked....and of course, we had some wine. :-) Ok, maybe not just some wine. Maybe we had more than some wine. Again, in the immortal words of Frank the Tank, “Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!” The wine definitely was more than just “so good”. Hee hee. :-)

Achilles had fun on our ride up to Laura’s house. He hung out in the back seat with his plushie and his Kong full of treats. I pulled over on the side of the highway by Camp Pendleton to see what I could do about the sun blasting him full in the face. I opened his window, folded my workout towel over the glass and then closed the window. Voila! Achilles’ very own terry cloth curtain to shade his adorable face. Of course, in the process I nearly got run over by crazy speeding bullets, otherwise known as SoCal drivers on the I-5! An 18 wheeler drove by and kicked up all kinds of debris and rocks. A bunch of it nailed me on the backs of my legs and arms. Ouch!!! It was all worth it though. My Achilles no longer had to squint. :-)

We arrived to all kinds of excitement from Wrigs. He and Achilles actually met first by the side gate. Very cool and respectful approach at first, and then Wrigs was all about trying to lick him through the gate. I loved it! We decided to give Chums his space and not bum-rush him with squeals and love. He was very well behaved unless someone made a sudden move. Poor thing! He must think his entire world was crashing down on his head. Not one, but TWO dogs, and not one, but TWO women, all kinds of hustle, bustle, activity and chatter. I don’t blame Chummy-Chum-Chums for being grumpy!

We spent the afternoon getting to know each other even more, as did Achilles and Wrigs. At one point we realized it had been a little too quiet for a couple of minutes. We look over into the kitchen and there is Achilles in the pantry with his head BURIED in the dog biscuit box!!! Wrigs is standing right next to him with his paws clicking away on the tile, just thrilled to bits that he had a buddy-in-crime! Boy, it was one of those times you want to kick yourself over and over for not having your video ready. Dammit! It was so hilarious. I don’t know how much Achilles ate, but Ed said that judging by the size of his CRAP on this morning’s walk he must have had a good 6 to 10 biscuits. Jeezaloo!

Saturday night we went to birthday dinner for one of Laura’s friends. Normally, I’m comfortable in new social situations, but I was a little fluttery about meeting everyone at first. Nothin’ to worry about though. Everyone was really chill, very nice and welcoming. The birthday boy, Dan, is a deep sea fishing fan, so he got lots of cool fishing “things”. Laura’s sis, Beth, was there and it was great to meet yet another Cubs fan out here. (By the way, she owns a sparkly green Cubs tank top that I simply MUST have!!! I’ve already begun scouring the Internet!!!) Her sis also has a sweet little doggie, Chloe. I like big dogs myself, but ya know, it is impossible not to love a little dog that is so affectionate and adorable. I told my own lil sis that a dog similar to Chloe might be one she could adopt. She’s in the market for a doggie at some point soon.

Later on Saturday night called for more vino, petting our puppies, watching SNL, snoozin’ on the couch. It was awesome. Sunday morning we took a walk with our pups to the corner bagel shop. Wrigley was so excited and it was infectious. The boys were so good at the bagel shop and we were so proud of them. On our way back the sky turned gray quickly and it looked like it was going to storm. You’ve never seen two Chicago to SoCal transplants more excited!!! It never really storms in Southern California and every once in a while we crave the tempestuous, dark energy of a thunderstorm. No offense to all the poor folks trapped in the Midwest storms this past week, but it really is an incredible sight to behold and to experience.

For me, one of the absolute coolest things we did this weekend was really doing nothing at all. Laura suggested matcha tea iced lattes after our walk, and then she pulled two wooden rocking chairs out to her front yard/driveway. We sat there with Achilles, watched the sky and chatted. Poor Wrigs had to wait for us inside because we were afraid he’d run into the street. We saw Lola the Golden Retriever from next door. Another moment when Laura’s soft heart shined...Lola’s parents are out of town and the dog walker had not yet arrived to let Lola out. Laura was so worried and actually she called the dog walker lady. It was funny because when she arrived she must have thought we were sitting there staking her out to be sure she’d come to let Lola out. Ha! (We kind of were actually!)

We spent some time at Beth’s house getting to know Chloe the dog and Cosmo the Amazon parrot. Cosmo was so much more well-behaved than our Max was, like night and day. Cosmo actually sings “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and other songs. Animals never cease to amaze me. A run to Pet Smart and lunch at Baja Fresh and then it was time for us to go home! :-(

Gosh, it was so bittersweet. I just can’t explain it. Pulling away from Laura’s driveway I actually had tears in my eyes. I know you think I’m crazy, but I couldn’t help it. It was such a sweet trip for me, for Achilles and for the memory of Mr. Triangle Face. I so look forward to more.

Achilles was a bit turned around last night when we got home. I think he may have been looking for Wrigs because he was kind of wandering around looking in the different rooms even though Ed and I were in the family room. It was so cute! Milo followed him around. I wish you could have seen how cute they looked when they greeted each other at the front door! If there was a way for us to read their minds I think it would go something like this,

Milo, "So, uh, where were you with mommy all night long?”

Achilles, “Oh, yeah, that. We went up to the O.C. to hang out with Auntie Laura. She lives close to where my foster mama lives. It was cool, you know, nothin’ major, just hangin’ out. Met a cool dude, Wrigley was his name. He had a wicked fun box of toys and he didn’t mind sharing. Oh, and you wouldn’t believe the GI-NORMOUS box of treats in the pantry!”

“Oh yeah, what kind of toys? Did you bring me any? I was left all by myself, ya know. Daddy said I couldn’t walk to the dog park until you got back today with mommy.”

“Oh, sorry about that, Lil Bro. I think mommy and daddy want to take it easy on you until you do away with some of your baby fat. Mommy said she couldn’t take you to Auntie Laura’s because you’d have Chums the Cat for lunch. Not cool, Lil Bro, not cool. Chums was pretty mellow, I didn’t mind him. You should learn from me and just leave the kitties be, ya know? Hey, but that cool dude, Wrigley, gave us presents! We got a really neat Hurl-a-Squirrel and a Super Rope. Which one do you want?”

“Harumph. I’ll take BOTH actually. Thank you very much. Remember, I was the one left out of all the fun! Hey, so any pretty ladies up there?”

“Yeah, there was Lola, the girl next door, but she’s too high maintenance. I don’t think I can hack the drama. I’m still lookin’ for Ms. Golden Right, but until then I have my mommy. She loves me somethin’ fierce.”

“She loves me too ya know, you just can’t hog her all to yourself all the time. Not fair!”

“Settle down, Lil Bro! Quit whinin’ like a baby. I think I heard mommy blabbin’ about having a vacation day with you here soon. She said she didn’t want you to feel left out. I think you get to go to the plaza and have Joe’s BBQ with her. Just the two of you. Lucky!”

“Cool! Welcome back home, Big Bro! Let’s go over by daddy and lick our privates now.”

“Ok, let’s!”

Again, ya’ll must think I’m crazy, but I really do make up conversations in my head for my dogs. I loved having Achilles to myself for a while, but man did I miss my Milo Bear. He really does look like a bear! Ed was walking him the other day and a little old guy said, “I see you’re out walking your polar bear again.” I still can’t stop laughing at that comment! Milo’s fur grows straight out from his body and it stays that way like porcupine quills. That combined with his giant block head and Eskimo eyes makes for a truly good lookin’ Golden Polar Bear!

By the way, Milo really has claimed both of Wrigley’s toy presents. He chased the Hurl-a-Squirrel in the dog park last night. Later he made sure to keep both the Hurley and the rope right under his paws. We got a great picture but I don’t have my memory card with me right now. I’ll have to post it later. Both dogs had a great time at the park with the gaggle of other doggies. After dinner, Achilles just CRASHED. He was one tired puppy. I made rigatoni with spicy turkey sausage for dinner, so the aroma filled the whole house, but did Achilles make one move into the kitchen? Nope. He was fast asleep by the kitchen entryway. It was so cute. He had a full weekend, poor little guy.

Ed, my other baby doll, felt very neglected so I made sure to give him extra love and attention, which means a giant salad and an even more giant plate of dinner. Yum. Boys! They’re so funny. Those of you who know us will gasp at this, but we had dinner at the dining room table!!! Wonders will never cease. Ed is slowly coming around and warming up to the idea of NOT eating dinner at the coffee table every night. It was soooo nice.

This morning I taught spin and it felt so good to feel my muscles burn and flex. Things have been so good so far in August, knock on wood. There are the few family issues, but I guess everyone has those demons to deal with. Ari will be one year old this Friday and I’ve never even held her. Gosh, that so upsets me. :-( S and my dad have tried talking to M a million times this summer to let this stupid grudge go, but no luck as of yet. *Sigh* S is going to the big birthday bash in Baltimore, so at least I’ll get hijacked photos and video. There is always a silver lining I guess!

One final funny note, I told Ed how much I liked the Pinot from Saturday night....what was it called? Oh, that would be the Menage a Trois Pinot!!! You should have seen the smirk and gaggly eyebrows on that man’s face. Dirty birdie!!!

Laura, if you’re out there today, thanks for everything! Achilles and I miss you and your pack like crazy! Until next time...