Anniversaries, Wedding, and Birthdays, Oh My!

Action packed few days, full of practically every kind of commemorative affair you could think of:
8-6....my b-day.
8-8....our first anniversary.
8-8....also our friends' wedding.
8-9....Milo's 2 Year Gotcha Anniversary. It would have been for Achilles also, but he left us before we could commemorate this special day with him. Instead we commemorated the second month of his passing.

Thursday was my 35th birthday. I had a great start to my birthday morning, with a beautiful sapphire and diamond necklace as a gift, and a long walk with my Belov-Ed and my Golden furbabies. Then it was off to a loooooong work day.

Yesterday was our 1 year wedding anniversary! :-) 08-08-08. I love that date so much. My original plan was to surprise Ed with a trip to NYC to watch the Yankees vs. Red Sox series as his anniversary & birthday gift. But then after buying tickets and prepping for the trip, we found out that some friends of ours were getting married yesterday, so I've put off the gift trip until the end of September.

That meant we spent this weekend of our anniversary celebrating the nuptials of another couple. At first I was rather, umm, dissatistied with the turn of events, but then I figured how cool it was that on our 1st anniversary we got to enjoy an open bar, a 5 star cocktail hour, one delicious gourmet dinner, and a kick ass band to dance the night away with! All in all, not bad. The only thing that sucked was the fact that this wedding took the ENTIRE weekend. Rehearsal and dinner on Friday night, wedding ceremony and reception last night, and post-wedding brunch today. Ed was a groomsman so we had to attend ALL the festivities. Jeezaloo! I think we got 8 hours of sleep total this weekend.

Last year, since we didn't have a wedding ceremony & reception here in San Diego, my dear friend Anna hosted an amazing party for us before we eloped to Italy. We froze a giant wedge of our cake from that party and enjoyed it for dessert tonight, since last night we were at our friends' wedding. We were both surprised at how well the cake kept in the freezer. We even shared a little bit of frosting with Milo, Laverne & Shirley. I don't know if the girls knew what to do with themselves they were so excited at the new taste of sweetness and sugar.

At last night's wedding, our friend's wife Sandra asked me what one word I would say described our first year together as a married couple. I thought about it and replied, "FUN." Because that is what being with my husband is. It is laughter. It is teasing. It is compassion. It is tender. It is sexy. It is intellectual. It is challenging. It is FUN!
He looked delicious in his tuxedo.
And I couldn't stop mooning over him all night long. I love him so much.
We had a fricking ball at the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. I worked so late at the office and ended up arriving pretty late. I was thirsty and tired. Drank some wine waaaaay too fast, made fast friends with waaaaay too many people, and before I knew it, I had decided to feed off my liquid courage and stumble my way up to the stage to give a speech. WTF!? All I remember is seeing Ed realizing what I was about to do, and then dropping his head into his hands, shaking his head, and saying, "Oh no, oh my God, oh nooooo, she's going up to give a speech!" The speech was kind of a blur for me, but I'm told I didn't drop any f-bombs, didn't say "balls" or "vagina" (don't ask!), and didn't embarrass myself. Whew! Here we are before I encountered Mr. Pinot Grigio 2005.
Today was Milo's 2nd Gotcha Day Anniversary! It was August 9, 2007 when Ed drove up to Orange County to pick up Achilles from a foster home, and then out to an eastern part of San Diego county to pick up Milo from his foster home. He brought the Golden duo to their forever home and we've never known love like this before. Look close and you'll see Captain Morgan sitting on Ed's right shoulder. Our little family just two years ago....
Milo and Ed on that fateful day exactly 2 years ago. Milo Da Bear was a little on the heavy side, but we worked with him to achieve the svelte figure he sports these days. :-)
At one point, about 4 months after we adopted him, he went to the groomer's and got a real short cut. That's when I could tell how much weight he had lost. In this photo he had lost about 13 or 15 pounds. He is now at a great healthy weight (knock on wood!) between 72 and 75 pounds. That is perfect for his height and frame.
Milo's role in my life is inexplicable and immense. After Nick's death and after Achilles' death, he was the canine angel who licked away my tears and made sure to always remind me of the importance of savoring every precious moment in life. You never know when a moment will be your last.
The most mellow, easy going dog we've had in our family thus far. I like to call him "Mellow Yellow," he's just such a soothing soul. In rescuing these older, or elder, dogs, we never know how much time we'll be granted with them in our lives. We lost Nick after 20 months, and Achilles after 22 months, which officially makes Milo the dog who has been a part of our lives the longest. Happy 2 Year Gotcha Anniversary my sweet, sweet Golden boy. Mama loves you SO much.
To celebrate Milo's 2nd anniversay with us, we treated him to some filet mignon. I don't usually give our older doggies beef because it is a bit hard on their digestive systems, but some occasions call for special treats. Filet mignon is a more tender cut of steak, so it is a bit easier on their tummies. It is steak I didn't finish from dinner on purpose because I wanted to save it for my babies. Sauteed it up some more with some of his standard fresh veggies and a very little bit of oil, mixed it in with his kibble, and Milo Da Bear went to town!


After he was done, he stared at me for quite some time, as if to say, "That's it!? That's all there is? Don't you know it is my 2nd anniversary!?????" Yeah, I'm sure you can see he is starving.


We didn't forget about our Golden Girls, but we wanted to give Milo some peace so he can leisurely finish his special dinner. Here's Ed playing goalie, keeping Shirley and Laverne from bum rushing Milo's food dish. They were losing their minds! The girls inhale their dinner and immediately want to run over to Milo's food dish. Boy could they smell the steak! They were licking their chops and prancing all about. Do not fret though, they didn't suffer. Trust me. They got some steak as well. They just didn't feel they got their "fair share." They were a bit miffed since it was their two week anniversary, and felt maybe they should have been given like double or TRIPLE the amount of fileg mignon that Milo received.
Then tomorrow is Ed's birthday. So pretty much since Thursday it has been a non-stop party in this house. I hope you all had a non-stop party weekend yourselves. Can't wait to catch up with my Blogistani peeps!