This will FOREVER be my favorite Christmas movie.

So last week at this time, we were in Seattle...

I don't really know where time goes lately. I say that all the time, but I totally don't get it. Last weekend totally crept up on me, and then it was over before we knew it. We flew up to Seattle Friday morning--early. We ended up leaving here at about 6:30 to get to Long Beach by 7, to get on our plane by 8. I was sad to see that Long Beach has totally destroyed their airport in the last couple months. I was only kinda half-joking when I said it looked like a concentration camp...With all the barbed wire, cement barriers, and dirt in the outside line for security...it seriously feels like a third world country. Of course, the gate was wrong on the boarding passes I printed out at 11pm the night before, so we ended up in the wrong place anyway. So weak. Seriously--how much changes at LB airport between 11pm and 6am the next morning? Really? Anyway, security took FOREVER (which is another rarity for LB), and we basically walked onto the plane from security. PHEW. The flight was nice--Free TV on Jetblue always rocks. I slept a TINY bit, and before we knew it, we were in Seattle. We trekked over to Enterprise to pick up our car, and encountered MORE stupidity.

See, I booked our car on Hotwire, and I somehow scored a Compact rental for $11 per day. Considering our car insurance covers us on rentals, that's HELLA cheap. I was stoked. So we walk into the stupid office, and there's about 20 people in line in front of us. WTF? I've never seen such absurdness. So we waited. And waited. And finally it was my turn. I get to the counter, and the guy doesn't act like anything's wrong. He pretends to care about my insurance coverage, and then says for us to go outside to pick up the car. At that point, he still hadn't really told me what I was getting yet, which was weird. So we're standing out there, and there's a million people driving around, sitting in cars, trying to get situated. So we lost track of my guy. So he comes driving up...in this mothereffing car:



A mothereffing Mercury Grand Marquis. I assumed it was for someone else...I told him once upon a time I drove a 1979 Caprice Classic, and it was a nightmare...and then he tried to hand me the keys. Um, what? I sort of lost it. I was like, dude, I don't know this town. I'm not driving around downtown Seattle in an effing GRAND MARQUIS. Plus? THAT'S NOT WHAT I RESERVED. He kinda gives me this ohshit look, and tells me they don't really have anything else, but they did have a nice Volvo sedan for $5 more per day. I was about to go off on him and tell him that he really should just GIVE me the Volvo sedan for what I'm paying, considering you can't fulfill MY RESERVATION...but right at that moment, some guy from the back comes driving up in exactly what I reserved--a Ford Focus. Sooooooo, thank GOD I didn't have to drive that shitty GM around. I would've killed someone, I know it. Anyway, we start driving toward the city, and all is well. The Focus was...hilarious. I felt like I was driving a...junior car or something? It had all these stupid messages come up on the dash--I even got a TROPHY picture for driving, and STAYING in what they call Eco Mode? I don't even know what that meant. But yay for me?

We got to our hotel, and it was flippin GREAT. Just a couple blocks from the Space Needle and Seattle Center. And the best part? It was a completely remodeled Four Points by Sheraton. Everything was super clean and nice and SOOOOOOO unlike the Four Points we stayed at in Leominster. We got to our room and just chilled a bit, waiting for Ali and Andy. They got there about a half hour after us, and we decided to explore a bit and find ourselves some late lunch. We ended up at Dick's Burgers on Andy's recommendation, and man. I'm kind of craving one right now. Cheap and easy. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring a bit. It was cold and grey out, totally perfect for Seattle. We visited Seattle Center--saw Key Arena and the HILARIOUSLY AWESOME fountain at the Center. We called it the Grunge Fountain--because naturally, it played Seattle's grunge music, of course. Nirvana ran into Soundgarden ran into Pearl Jam--JUST while we were standing there. HA.

We decided we didn't want to risk walking to the venue for the concert that night just in case it was pouring rain when we got out. So we drove down toward Benaroya Hall, found ourselves an overpriced parking garage, and began wandering around Pike Place. We walked through the market, and man, I wish we had a kitchen up there, because that place was AWESOME. Underneath the market was more shops--sort of like a mall? We spent a lot of time wandering around in there, and then decided to grab dinner over at Ivar's on the water. It. Was. Cold. And windy. We ate some clam chowder and Ali fed some of the bread bowl to the birds, which was semi-terrifying. We finished up there, and decided we needed some drinks. Andy figured we could totally grab some drinks in the bar at the Fairmont Olympic--since it's right next to Benaroya. Man. That place was SWANKY. We ordered some drinks, and hung out there for awhile. The waiter was SO awesome--he totally even gave us happy hour prices even though we GOT there when happy hour ended. It was the start to a completely badass night.

I was so excited for the Ryan Adams show, I could hardly contain myself. We got to Benaroya Hall semi-early to check out the merch. No posters :( We bought some badass RA shirts though, and then before we knew it, it was time to go inside. Even though our seats weren't super close, they were flippin awesome--In the first tier, toward the back, and we had CHAIRS. Not even foldout seats! It was wayyyy comfortable. Especially because you really don't have to push around or even stand at an RA show. The opener girl seemed like she went on and off stage SO QUICKLY. And then before we knew it, Ryan was onstage. This tour's setlists have been fucking TO-DIE-FOR, so I can't say my hopes weren't high. He came out playing Oh My Sweet Carolina...and it melted me. There's nothing more perfect to me than just Ryan's voice and a guitar. BEAUTIFUL. And the setlist went like this...

Oh My Sweet Carolina
Ashes & Fire
If I Am A Stranger
Dirty Rain
Sweet Lil Gal
Lucky Now
Crossed Out Name
Invisible Riverside
Everybody Knows
Firecracker
New York, New York
Let It Ride
Two
Carolina Rain
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Jacksonville Skyline (Whiskeytown)
Winding Wheel
The End
Encore:
Avenues (Whiskeytown)
English Girls Approximately
Why Do They Leave?
Chains of Love
Withering Heights
Strawberry Wine (metal version)
16 Days (Whiskeytown)
Come Pick Me Up

It. Was. PERFECT. Like, The ONLY song I was really hoping for that he didn't play was This House is Not For Sale, but shit. He played 3 Whiskeytown songs. ENGLISH GIRLS APPROXIMATELY? I was sure I'd never ever see him play that in my LIFE. He made up this hilarious song called Psychic Cheetah on the spot...And to shut some girl up about playing Strawberry Wine, he did it, only sort of metal sounding. The best part about seeing Ryan play a show is his music, but the second and almost as best thing is the banter. OMG. We were DYING from the shit he was talking about. Pure. Comedy. He really could be a stand-up comedian if he wanted to. The entire show was just...heavenly. The songs seem so different when it's just Ryan and a guitar. Some are far sadder. Some sound more fun and soulful? It's crazy. I can't even tell anyone how much I love going to see him play. And on top of that? By far, that was the BEST crowd at a show EVER. I don't know if it's because people really just respect Ryan and are REALLY stoked about his comeback...I think the fact that it was just him and two acoustic guitars also had something to do with it. But man. SO much love in the room. The fact that Ryan sort of plays up to the crowd too--with the banter--makes it even more intimate. It's ridiculous.

What was totally ridiculous was the traffic after the show. The show was part of Seattle's City Arts Festival, so there was a lot going on downtown. And on top of that, the viaduct was closed, so traffic was sort of all over the place. We were only about 2 miles away from our hotel, but it took us a good 45 minutes to get back :| So not good. But didn't matter. We were riding a high. And then...we went to bed. LOL.

Saturday morning, we woke up and walked over to Queen Anne for some breakfast at a place Andy used to go to when he lived there called Mecca Cafe. It was a complete hole-in-the-wall, but holy shit it was good. Their breakfast totally hit the spot. We chowed, then walked back toward the hotel, stopping at Easy Street Records to look around. Soon enough, Ali and Andy were taking off on their trek home to pick up Muffin. But our day was totally not even done--We decided to hit up the Experience Music Project. I always pictured this place to be a lot like the R&R Hall of Fame...and right now, they have a big Nirvana exhibit for the 20th anniversary of Nevermind...so I guess this was as good a time as any to visit. The Nirvana exhibit was pretty sweet. I kinda felt like it was missing...a lot, though. It didn't really touch upon a LOT of things, and it felt like some of the pieces were shallow....But they did have a lot of guitars, Kurt's clothes...letters. It just felt like it was missing something, and it didn't even really discuss anything about Kurt's death, which bothered me. Anyway, we saw the guitar cyclone and then the Hendrix exhibit. But everything else there was just reallllly weak. They had a DUMB Battlestar Gallactica exhibit (What? This is a MUSIC museum?) and then another exhibit on Horror Films that ALSO felt really flimsy. For $18 admission, the whole thing was kinda weak on the MUSIC. Oh well. Live and learn. We grabbed some coffee and then walked back to our hotel. We grabbed some sushi for dinner at a place in Queen Anne that was just...meh.

Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast at the top of the Space Needle. We totally lucked out on this being the nicest day we had while visiting. There were high clouds, but it wasn't raining, and it was REALLY quite clear at the top. The food was delicious, and the service was awesome. But the view made it worth everything. It was expensive, but now we can say we did it, ya know? Totally enjoyable.

We went back to the hotel and hung out a bit before we drove over to our Seattle Underground tour. That was later in the day, and I will say, it was pretty sweet. We got to go underground where Seattle USED to be, before they filled in everything to make it higher ground. It was pretty crazy to think that people lived with having roads 15 feet higher than storefronts for some time. That was pretty fun. Once that finished up, we walked around downtown some more--we checked out the Gum Wall, and the first Starbucks at Pike's. We settled on having dinner at McCormick & Schmicks, and walked out into a pretty nice rain. We were pretty soaked by the time we got back to our car about a mile away...but it was fun.

And Monday morning...we came home. The weekend went by entirely too fast. And now it's over! So sad!

This week at work absolutely FLEW by. Lots of shit went down...and I still have entirely too much work to do before November 9th. But I'll get there, I suppose.

This weekend is already going by too fast...I cleaned most of the house today, and tomorrow I've got a field trip for Photography class out at some farm in Norco? Thank GOODNESS we can drag Pooter with us, because I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing with my camera. LOL.

This ALWAYS makes me laugh. Especially when I'm watching it with Erin at work.

A 1, 2, a 1, WHHEEWW.

I have to admit--this is my standard ringtone on my phone for the sole purpose that it ALWAYS makes me happy.  From the way Ryan sings it, to the awesome guitar.  Also, the argument about Morrissey that Ryan has with David Rawlings on the album version is probably the cutest thing ever.

Today was supposed to be like any other day when I went to bed last night.

Tonight, everything will be different forever.

So Gina woke us up last night at about midnight, and she was hacking and coughing and heaving, and she eventually threw up. I honestly didn't think anything of it. Jeff and I had been woken up a couple times with her doing this the past couple of days, and ya know...I wrote it off with her age and maybe she was choking on her phlegm or something. But last night was different. It didn't stop. She heaved all night. I somehow slept through it, but Jeff woke up and picked up the barf at one point. And I guess that's when he realized something was wrong with her. I don't really know. All I know is that it continued all night. Jeff slept on the floor with her most of the night, and things seemed worse when I woke up to go to work. I took a shower and fed PJ, and Jeff called Dr. Yasso to see how quickly we could get Gina in for an appointment.

I headed to work, dropped PJ off at my Mom's and figured I'd just pick both of them up at Mom and Dad's tonight after dinner at my 'rents' house. Right?

Jeff got an appointment at 10:30, and apparently by that time, he could really tell something was very wrong with Gina. She didn't eat breakfast this morning (which, if you know Biggie, you know that's NEVER an option. One must ALWAYS eat breakfast.) and she wasn't drinking any water. She was panting and heaving still. She didn't want to go outside to go to the bathroom.

Dr. Yasso is off on Wednesdays, so Dr. Ashley was there. She did a physical exam and I guess that's when concern came up. She noticed that the benign tumor on Gina's leg was much bigger, but also that the area where her spleen is was swollen. She told Jeff she'd take some x-rays and an ultrasound...Jeff told me that he could tell by the tone of her voice that this wasn't good. That's when he called me at work, and honestly, I'd sort of been dreading what tone he'd call me with. I could tell he was tearing up. I told him I'd be there as soon as I could.

When I got there...I walked in and could tell that nothing was good. Dr. Ashley had just gotten the x-ray of Gina's spleen back. It was enlarged. And...sort of out of place, because it'd been pushed up and aside by the tumor. The spleen was pushing on her stomach, which was now pushed up against her spine. This was causing her to throw up and heave...but the worst part was...her heart was enlarged now too. Everything about her organs was turning into a mess.

And that's when it was brought up...to let her go. Dr. Ashley said they could also try to stabilize her as best they could, but when I asked her what the best case scenario was with stabilization...she told me at most, a few days. She said if Gina was a younger dog, she could try to operate and remove her spleen...but she said the odds of Gina making it through the surgery were practically impossible...

And that's when I sort of lost it. We didn't really have any choices.

Jeff decided right away...He didn't want her to suffer. At this point, they had her in the back on an IV to get liquids in her, but she was in shock. And when they brought her back into the room...I couldn't believe the difference just a few hours had made with her. She was ashen, and she couldn't walk. She could hardly keep her head up, but you could just SEE how much pain she was in. Everything came rushing back to me at once.

How the last few weeks were probably the best ever with the dogs. The guilt I felt about the way my relationship with Gina started and how we treated each other. About that time that Gina pooped in Angela's shoe in the duplex in Orange. How much she's changed for the better over the past 5.5 years. How I no longer recognized the dog we brought home from his parent's house in 2006. How proud I am of how far Gina's come in that short period of time. How I could TRUST her. How somehow, over the past couple of years, I'd figured out just how loyal she was. How...somehow, she'd become the EASY one of our two dogs. How EVERYTHING was going to be different. TONIGHT.

Seeing her lying there, killed me. She was in so much pain.

Jeff and I scrambled--He called his Mom...I called my Mom. Jeff called Chris. He was going to try to come and say goodbye, but he was all the way up in Playa Del Rey and was gonna try to figure out what to do with the kids...I told Mom we'd call her when we figured out a time Chris could get down here...So we could all meet and say our goodbyes.

I was there for probably 40 minutes. And then, as I was sitting there on the floor with her, she sort of choked, and started shaking uncontrollably...

And that was it.

I was shocked.

I still don't understand what happened, or how it happened so fast. I'd convinced myself that Gina was going to live forever, somehow. That she was probably going to make it incredibly hard for us toward the end. That it would probably be her legs that would go first...and we'd have to make the decision for her...

Now, all I can think about is how I don't want to wash her blankets. I don't want to clean the nose prints off of my car windows. I don't want to put away her bowls or the Senior Formula food we fed her. I'll still worry about tripping over her if I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I'll miss having to lift her up into my car every morning to take her to Mom and Dad's. I'll miss the sound of her toenails clicking on the pergo. I'll miss the smile that she gave when she was happy...which was luckily much more often, these days.

It's still not real. I know it takes years to really get over losing your dog. Gina was special. She didn't come into my life under the best of circumstances, but we worked it out. She did, and I did. I was finally starting to feel like the two of us were on the same page. Like we'd come to a mutual respect of each other. That we were a family. And now she's gone.

I know she's in a better place now, and I'm incredibly grateful that she didn't seem to be in pain for too long. I'm also incredibly grateful to her for not letting us go through with putting her to sleep. I know both of us would somehow feel some tinge of guilt over the situation at some point in time...even though we both knew it was the right decision anyway, but it was almost as if she just made that decision for us, after all three of us could be together there at the vet's office. That she didn't want us to have to deal with it.

She's my other doggie angel in heaven. I hope she's able to run and be free, whereever she is...

I love you, Gina. Probably more than you ever knew. I wish it didn't take us so long to be friends, but I am so thankful for the time that we were...

HA. Right.

Anyway, I don't even know where the weeks go anymore. All's I know is I wake up every morning, and before I know it, I'm going back to sleep again.

This past week has been a BLUR.

Sunday night, Jeff and I left PJ and Gina with Mom and Dad and headed up to Universal Citywalk to go to KROQ's annual Christmas shindig concert. I can't say that either of us were terribly excited about it...which really does make me sad. It was just a strange night. We got to the Citywalk, grabbed some quick dinner at the new PINK'S HOT DOGS THERE, and got into the Gibson RIGHT as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros were taking the stage. We really couldn't have timed it any better. We were literally in the last column of seats, stage left, of the mezzanine. I HATE SITTING AT THE END OF AN AISLE. ESPECIALLY at KROQ shows. I swear to god people--YOU BOUGHT TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW, RIGHT? You didn't buy tickets to buy beer all night, AMIRITE? I mean, I don't get it. WHY would you go to a show just so you can spend $100+ ON BEER? People (I guess especially a lot of KROQ listeners) are complete idiots.

Anyway, about the show. Edward Sharpe was pretty awesome. I really dug their hippie-vibe. I've come to really like that album, so their set was satisfying. I can't really say the same for many of the other bands, though. It was just... a weird night. After Edward Sharpe was Broken Bells, and I'm sorry, but I can't get behind James Mercer in another band that's not The Shins. Dull. Ugh. Next up was The Temper Trap, and it was just...strange. They're nothing like I pictured them. They played pretty tight, but it was just...also dull.

I think the only real surprise of the night was Neon Trees. And while they're really not my cup of tea...they were...spunky? Again though, NOTHING like I was expecting. It was almost a trainwreck, in my head, because I just could hardly put it all together. I was most excited for Florence + The Machine, and they (she) did not disappoint. I kind of feel toward her like I once felt toward Tori--VERY talented, VERY bombastic, and weird to watch. It was like a herd of fairies hit the stage with giant synths and a HUGE percussion set. People went BATSHIT for Dog Days Are Over, though. After that, Black Keys were up, and it was a VERY awkward transition. Once I got over that, it was all good, except I felt like they just ripped through their set as fast as they could, which was weird. They played lots of the new album, so I was stoked.

At this point, we were almost positive there was going to be a surprise guest...so we waited. Next up was Brandon Flowers, who just...bored me. Him without The Killers just seems wrong to me. I guess some of his songs are alright, but again, not really digging it. How sad.

Vampire Weekend was...EH. I think I've decided I just really don't like them. And I was almost appalled by the number of people there to see them, freaking out. I find almost every song of theirs incredibly irritating. Doh?

And then there was Phoenix. THEY CLOSED THE SHOW? What? That didn't even make ANY sense. Zero. They have ONE album. TWO singles. WTF. And I'm sorry...but we just couldn't take it anymore. So we went out to get a drink, and it looked like everything was closing down, and we started doubting that there would be a surprise closer...and there wasn't. Phoenix played 1901, and that was that.

SO underwhelming. Really.

But thank GOD we had tickets for Mom and Dad and us to see flippin' Roger Waters do The Wall at the Pond on Tuesday night. I've read nothing but amazing things about what he's done with it in the almost-30 years since he tried to do it originally, and I was truly, genuinely excited about this show. Especially because my parents were going, I think. My Dad was once like me...he loved concerts. He loves Pink Floyd. He saw them on the Animals tour, but not after that. Dad was pretty baffled about the age range present at the show--I kept telling him that hi, they ARE one of the most influential bands EVER, LOL. Anyway, after a RIDICULOUS security search, we got inside. Our seats were up toward the top right of the Pond, but being high up was supposedly good for this show.

There was no opener. There's no way you could've opened for what was to come, anyway.

They started playing In The Flesh, and holy SHIT. The fireworks, the plane crash. OMG. I was immediately absorbed.

Say what you will about Roger. The Wall is his. It's his masterpiece. I'm so glad that he was finally able to accomplish the type of show that he intended with this album, because not only did it do it justice, it added a whole new level of meaning to a modern time. The isolation...fear...self-hate...It's almost a new anthem for today.

I completely lost it when he played Vera/Bring the Boys Back Home...The clips of children, being greeted by their fathers coming back from war...It was haunting. And then...Comfortably Numb. I know it wasn't Gilmour singing or playing guitar...but him singing from atop the wall...while Roger was below, against the wall, while it was twisting and turning and contorting...I bawled. That song...Is still so applicable, after 30 years.

The visuals were absolutely heartstopping. I couldn't even get over it, and I didn't want it to end. Roger has turned into a showman. Who would've believed it? Someone who had such HATE for what he was doing when he wrote it...Who would have thought that something so beautiful and haunting and seemingly IMPOSSIBLE could come from him at this point, at nearly 70 years old? Not me. This put every single baby-boomer act I've seen recently to shame. Rod, you're YOUNGER than Roger. Eagles? Hi, no. Roger Waters is a true artist, and his reinvented interpretation of what could be considered his own autobiography was absolutely stellar.

Seeing the wall--that they'd literally built the entire show--fall to pieces at the end...was beautiful and insane.





I don't think there's many artists left out there that hold a candle to Waters' talent. It's sad, but true. And the juxtaposition of shows for us this week just sealed that deal for me. I get it now, how my Dad just kind of stopped listening to new music. Somehow...it's hard for me to allow that new stuff to hold a candle to songs/albums/artists that go so much deeper within me/my past.

Man.

ANYWAY. ALI AND ANDY AND MUFFIN SHOULD BE HOME TOMORROW AFTERNOON!! And it's almost Christmas. And I'm so excited to spend time with everyone in the next couple of weeks. Chris, Lauryn, Amanda, and Nathan come in on Christmas Eve too! So we'll get some quality time in with everyone, hopefully.

I feel like all I've been doing for the past two weeks is chasing puppy pee/poop around the house and working. It's gonna be nice to have some time to have fun....

How on earth is it already December 12?

Today marks one week of puppy ownership for Jeff and I. Last weekend, after we threw up Christmas decorations in our house, we bit the bullet and headed over to the Irvine Animal Care Center for a Rescue Adoption Fair.

I felt like I'd been mentally prepared for owning a puppy for at least the past 4 years. Holy shit, was I wrong.

I don't really think there's anything except experience that could prepare you for the insanity of picking up a puppy. So we walked around the fair, and I fell in love with this little girl...



She was sitting in the middle of a lot of craziness--in a pen full of about 8 other dogs. They were all going ballistic with all of the attention being given to them, but there she was, just sitting there in the middle, with the most adorable little eyes. She was definitely a mutt. I wasn't really sure of what kind, though. She sort of looked like a chihuahua, crossed with an australian shepherd, crossed with a jack russel or parsons russel terrier? I picked her up, and she was as sweet as she looked. There wasn't really any other dog there that day that I felt that connection to. I looked at Jeff...because I knew how hesitant he was about the whole situation, and he said ok. We sat down and filled out the adoption papers, and then the lady told us we could take her home. Today.

Um, what?

So like, I know a bit about rescues. They normally do home checks and interviews before just handing their dogs over to you. But apparently today was some sort of...blowout. I guess it's the holidays, and yadda yadda. This...sort of freaked both of us out. Everything happened really fast, and it got real REALLY fast. We asked the lady if we could run up to Target and pick up a few things before we took her home with us, and she said sure. So we ran over to the Spectrum...and the reality started sinking in--We were getting a PUPPY. HOLY SHIT. We picked up a bed...puppy pads, a leash and collar in her size, and headed back to pick her up. Holy shit.

We drove home, and she was pretty good in the car. Just a tiny bit antsy. She cried a little bit. So here's our baby's background: They found her in Mexico, in a box, with what appeared to be her sister, abandoned on the street together. The rescue was called, because they do a lot of work with shelters in Tijuana, and they're trying to revamp their entire shelter system down there. Apparently a vet in Mexico checked her out before they sent her over here, and that's when the rescue came into the picture. She'd only really been here for about a week before the adoption fair, so no one knew a whole lot about her.

Obviously...not the most ideal situation. But I wasn't going to say no, just because she had some holes in her history. But the lady in charge gave us a bag of pills, her charts from the vet in Mexico (EN ESPANOL. QUE?), and what little paperwork she had of her shot history, and that was all we got. A tiny puppy, and a tiny packet of papers.

Next step? Introducing her to Gina.

I can't say I didn't have a deep-seeded terror about this step of adopting another dog. It's sort of why I wanted to go through a rescue--to make sure that it would be OK with the two of them before we actually GOT the dog in our possession. But there we were...kind of stuck with her very quickly? So we went to Mom and Dad's, where we'd dropped Gina off that morning...and brought them both in the front yard together. Gina, of course, wasn't thrilled. I don't blame her. But her reaction was so much better than I could have expected. She really has made more progress in her sociability than I'd ever expected her to. Sophie and Reagyn saw us from the front window, so we took the baby inside to meet everyone.

While I think Jeff and I were still terrified of what was really becoming reality, my parents pretty much fell in love with her. Lauren and Pooter did too. Lauren brought us the crate that they'd wanted to use for Koda, but never got her to like...The dogs played, and for the first time, I thought that it was all going to be ok. We intended to go to Old Towne Orange for the tree-lighting ceremony, so we put the puppy in the crate, and left. I felt sort of sick, but I know it's something we're going to have to get over...As we drove to Orange, it started POURING rain, so we skipped that, and headed to Acapulco for dinner for Dad's birthday.

We got back, and the baby was in her crate, kind of sleeping. She wasn't crying at all, which shocked me. We wrapped up at Mom and Dad's, and took her home. Lauren and Pooter suggested we name her something either music related or baking-related...but we seriously couldn't think of anything.

At our place, Jeff had the first freak-out about what we'd just done. I will admit, we could've planned for this better. But I honestly wasn't even intending to bring a puppy home THAT DAY. But here we were. So we set up as best we could with her and Gina. We went to bed, and to our surprise, puppy walked straight into her crate and pretty much went to sleep. She woke up at 5:30AM crying, so we took her outside, and Jeff fed her and Gina breakfast. That's pretty much when the diarrhea started.

Since then...it hasn't stopped. It's been a week. The poor thing pretty much eats, and then immediately has to get rid of it. I feel horrible for her. With our adoption fee, we get all of her shots paid for, surgery to get her fixed, microchipped, and apparently two months of free service at the vet that this rescue uses. The problem? It's in effing CITY OF INDUSTRY.

So Wednesday, I gave up and decided that her going diarrhea 9 times a day was probably not right. We read up on the medication she's taking--Flagyl. It's apparently to treat Giardia in dogs, which is pretty much a bacteria in her intestinal track. My problem with this was that it's supposed to STOP diarrhea. And um...well, it was out of control. So something else was probably not right. I drove up to Industry, and the vet was really nice. Not in the nicest part of town, but whatever. They did the test for Giardia first, and of course, she didn't see it come up on the test. Shit. So the doctor took a stool sample and said she'd send it to the lab and let me know Thursday if another infection/bacteria/protozoa came up. Greaaat. In the meantime, she gave me a different medication to give her--Albon, which apparently also cures bacteria issues.

Of course we get the poor puppy from Mexico who has Montezuma's Revenge. LOL.

It's been one week now...and she's still got the runs REALLY bad. I'm not really sure what to do about it. Some people say puppies are just sort of nervous in general, and it could be that. We saw Dr. Yasso (our vet) for Gina, yesterday, and she mentioned that sometimes the bacteria doesn't come out in the exact stool that the sample is taken from, so it may need to be done again. Regardless, we're still giving her drugs for it, so I hope she feels better soon. I've been working from home a lot this week, TRYING to pottytrain her, but it's the effing hardest thing in the world when she literally can't hold her poop at ALL. It's just not natural for her to be going this often.

I sort of had a meltdown about it all on Tuesday night. I honestly did not believe the reality of adopting a puppy would be THIS hard. Waking up at 5:30 every morning with her has been hard. Getting work done at home while chasing diarrhea at home has been HARD. I can say that Gina has been abso-fucking-lutely AMAZING about this transition, though. I don't think I could have wished it to go any better with her than this has. When I think back to the month we got Gina in 2006 from Jeff's parents, it was under such sad circumstances...and I hated it so much. And we had soooooooooo many problems. From her anxiety to her aggression toward other dogs...I don't know when it happened, but we've somehow worked her out to be a happy, well-adjusted dog. She's 14 now, and I'm so glad that Jeff and I have been able to give her the life that she deserves.

So the more I think about Gina, and how much progress she's made in the almost-5 years we've had her, the better I feel about our odds of raising this puppy successfully. I know it's not going to be easy, and I know that the challenges are going to be COMPLETELY different from where we started with raising Gina, but thinking about that success makes me feel a lot better. I felt really...weird, this week. I had a sense of guilt, for bringing so much more chaos into our house (like we needed it, right?), maybe a tinge of depression, about HOW we're going to get through raising a puppy right now. I'd really even lost my appetite. But this weekend, I think I've come to the realization that Jeff and I are totally capable of this. We've both had dogs all of our lives. The puppy period is over before you know it...and pretty soon, you just end up with a loving, happy dog. And you forget how hard it was to get there, because then everything is just NORMAL. And the way it should be.

It's been a week, and last night, Pooter and Lauren said she was bigger than she was, even on Sunday, when they saw her last. THAT'S how fast it goes.

We're also incredibly lucky to have freakin supportive family like my parents and Pooter and Lauren around. Tonight, we're going to Acoustic Christmas, and Mom and Dad are going to watch her while we're gone. And Tuesday night we've got tickets to see Roger Waters' The Wall, and Pooter and Lauren said they'd watch her then--they're even happy about it because it means that puppy can wear out Koda and get a lot of playtime in at home.

We're calling her PJ. You can all probably deduce where that came from, but I like the fact that it totally fits her.

So away we go? I think we can do this...

This month though? Holy crap. Ali and Andy are coming home next week, driving, and the're bringing Muffin. I can't wait until all of them get to meet PJ. And before we know it, Christmas will be here, and then...well, that's life, right? LOL.

For SURE, the only best answer to this question is Ryan Adams' cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall". I mean, even the Gallagher brothers agree on that. I don't think they agree on anything.

So we went to Urgent Care this morning. I'm glad we did. It seemed really un-crowded, and everything went as smoothly as I guess it could have...

Anyway, first the doctor gave me a knee stabilizer. Let me tell you. This thing is like a prison for your entire leg. It's supposed to stop your kneecap from being able to move back and forth, and mostly, it just keeps you from doing anything normal. Like putting your leg in the car, or going down stairs. Plus, it has this horrible velcro on it. Part of the middle is currently digging into where I scraped my knee from falling yesterday, and that just feels awesome. The back part has a giant metal stint that goes all the way up to my thigh, and pokes me pretty much non-stop, plus, it's covered with the non-soft end of the velcro, so I'm pretty much expecting to have a rash develop there from the stupid thing rubbing on me constantly. Plus, with pants on...it falls down. I guess I don't have it on tight enough, but seriously. FML.

So then after I told him what happened, and what I was feeling, he sent me straight to radiology for an x-ray, to make sure no bones are broken. The x-ray tech guy was really nice, and while it was sort of painful to bend my leg into the position he was x-raying, it was over pretty quick.

This all took about an hour. After that, we were led back into the Urgent Care room, and Dr. Park came back in and said the good thing: No broken bones. The bad thing? Torn lateral-collateral ligament (LCL). He said it can go a couple ways. He said sometimes, in young people, they heal within a week, if they're not strained too badly. If they are, I have to go back to my Primary Care doctor (yay, HMOs. UGH.) so that I can get a referral to an orthopedic to have surgery.

Eff my life.

So he offers crutches, except I know Dad has a pair at home, so I declined them. From there, Jeff and I headed to the Filling Station for breakfast, for at least SOMETHING decent to happen today. Yay for breakfast.

Then we get home, and Dad brings by the crutches. I probably should have asked for some lessons, because what the FUCK? I don't get crutches. I'm pretty sure these are too short for me. I obviously can't bend my leg and carry it behind me, like I see most people in crutches do...so I try to put it in front of me. But I fell like an effing hunchback. I'm leaning over WAY far. So Jeff just went back to get another pair that's hopefully taller.

And the stairs? Seriously, FML. Up isn't so bad, but coming down? I don't know how I can do it with this stupid stabilizer on.

All of this makes me just want to cry. I can't drive. I can hardly walk. I feel trapped. Lauren already offered to drive me to work this week. But like, I feel like I can't do ANYTHING. I have two tons of laundry to do that Jeff is going to do for me...but this. Just. Sucks. Beyond words. I really hope it heals this week, because the last thing I want in the world is surgery. UGH. Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up.

Seriously. If it's not our house that's falling apart, it's me.

Today was Mary's 30th birthday party, and because she's awesome, they booked Holiday Skate Center for 2 hours of awesome skating and pizza--straight outta the 80s.

All was going REALLY well. I was helping Jeff learn how to skate--he was doing...ok. He took a couple of gnarly falls, but seriously, it felt so GOOD to go rollerskating again. This was one of my FAVORITE things to do, growing up. Skateway, Family Fun Center...that was where we'd wanna be as kids. And it came back to me like riding a bike. Totally cake, right?

So first there was the game of Red Light, Green Light. I guess stopping is not my strongpoint. Because I started going a little too fast when he shouted "green light." And then I tried to stop.

And I literally faceplanted onto the skate floor. Chin and all. I could feel the blood rush to my knee and looked down, and I ripped my jeans. Shit.

It kinda hit me like a ton of bricks. I guess I am officially 31 now. I sat down on the side with Angus, and took note of my wounds. Yep--that's gonna be a huge ass bruise on my knee. I guess good thing it's not supposed to be 100 degrees this week?

Anyway, I got my shit together, and got back out on the skatefloor. And then it was time to play some other game. Something with gigantic dice? Sounded fun. So I was in the center of the rink, waiting. I turned to the right, in this weird way...and next thing I knew, I was in a pile on the floor. I had somehow fallen without even really moving. And this time...I honestly felt like I possibly broke something. I landed REALLY weird--like, my right leg was bent, and sideways, and I literally thought that I'd look down and see part of my bone sticking out of my pants, that's how bad the pain was.

It wasn't, thank god. But like, the pain went all the way from my butt to my ankle. I swear I heard something either crack or tear? I don't know. All I know is, I can hardly walk, and this isn't bruise-pain. This is like, legitimate joint-maybe-I-tore-a-muscle-or-ligament pain.

Everyone came over to see if I was ok, and it was incredibly embarrassing. I took off my skates, and called it a day. I can hardly walk though. Every step is pure pain. I'm HATING the setup of our house right now. I'm hating that the bathroom is on the second level and the TV room is on the first level. I basically have to crawl, or do the one-leg-step up the stairs, and it's sort of a nightmare. But the pain is pretty similar to the time I completely ate it snowboarding when my knee turned bright blue. And it's the same knee.

I'm figuring I'm probably going to need some sort of x-ray. I'm currently debating on whether or not to wait until Monday, or if I should just bite the bullet and go to Urgent Care tomorrow. I'm leaning toward tomorrow, because this pain is like...bad. And I'm scared. I hate our insurance website, though. It just took me a half hour to find an Urgent Care under our HMO. Why would it be listed under providers, when it can just be on the front page of the website, right? Makes COMPLETE sense. Not.

I'm really hoping this is something that I can just wear my knee brace for and it will heal by itself. But I can't say I don't have a bad feeling. I'm icing, and elevating it, but it's not really killing the pain.

I guess at least I didn't break my arm. That would have far worse ramifications for me than if I tore something in my leg, as far as being able to work goes.

I'm destroyed. I have NEVER gotten this hurt skating before. I am officially an old coot. Crap.

I am listed on IMDB, along with some of my fellow Wipeout contestants. And I only just became aware of this today, after some of my other fellow contestants were discussing this on Facebook...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4029811/

Except my name is spelled Jennifer "Helwig". It correctly calls me the Cake Decorator, though. But my popularity has somehow increased 53% this week? Vicky's has increased 377%. How the HELL DOES THAT HAPPEN? What creates those popularity rankings?

The internet is a strange, strange place. Who puts all this information into IMDB? Certainly not me.

I feel like the termites are swarming onto my skin. But they're not. I think I'm just a hypochondriac.

Agh.

I just found peacoats on-sale at Chadwicks, AND they make TALLS. This does WONDERS for my sleeve length choices. And it will actually maybe NOT BE TOO SHORT! So. Time for a poll.

Poll #1617085 Peacoat Choices
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

Which color should I order?

I'm really WANTING to like the purple one, but I'm not sure if the plaid is too 1992-I-♥-Grunge? Not that I didn't. But ya know.

Also. I'm REALLY mad at Project Runway right now. WTF TONIGHT?

BEST TYPO EVER TODAY IN A PROPOSAL.

This includes consulting time on site or at our offices reviewing and anal sizing documents and making critical connections.

I can't stop crying. This is better than having ASSES as the title of a slide. SO MUCH BETTER.

So I get to work this morning, and the first thing I usually do is eat my cereal. So what do I do today? I pick up my bowl filled with milk AND cereal, and proceed to dump a large portion of it onto myself. My pants and top were pretty freakin covered. Good thing milk dries kinda clear? Not a good way to start a Monday...

Anyway. I'm sort of super-excited for this week--It's kinda one of those get-shit-done kinda weeks. This morning I called this plumber that I found with really good reviews on Yelp, and I got us an appointment with him tomorrow afternoon at 4. Deep down...I'm both excited, and terrified of his visit. We have multiple problems. The garbage disposal is definitely not hooked up correctly, which will probably be cake for him. The upstairs toilet runs pretty much constantly. He'll probably think that one's cake too. But then there's the downstairs bathroom.

Yesterday we hit another revelation with the bathroom, and now I'm just confused as fuck.

So all this time, I've been pretty convinced it's the shower that's been causing the leak under the tile. It was seeping up out of the tile the first week we cleaned the shower after we moved in. It took quite some time to dry out...then dried out for good. That is, until I washed Gina in that shower a few weeks ago. And it did the same exact thing then. Water seeped up out of the tile across the entire bathroom.

Yesterday, Jeff used the bathroom, then noticed a hardcore leak. This time, coming out of the toilet tank--where it connects to the stand. It was visibly dripping water out of there. So now...I have no idea. We use that toilet pretty much every day, all day. I have no idea why just NOW we'd notice that it's leaking. It HAD to have just started getting that bad. I'm deep down hoping that it's just the toilet causing this leak. Cause I guarantee that'll be FAR cheaper to fix than um...anything to do with the shower. I don't think I can stomach that right now.

In other news, Jeff and Dad were able to install the overhead storage hangers in the garage on Saturday. I can't say I was any help, but it literally took them all day. It was apparently a huge pain in the ass because the studs in our garage are um...not easily located. And maybe even covered by a layer of "masonite" (according to Dad). I have no idea. I'm just praying they didn't puncture anything important. Nothing bad has happened yet, so we're hoping it's all good.

Saturday I wandered around with the Angus all afternoon--first to lunch at the Blue Frog, where we had delicious coconut cake and sandwiches. Then, as we were driving to my office to grab some boxes for their big move, we found a dog running in the middle of the street. Naturally, we had to stop. Of course, she didn't have an address on her tags--just a phone number. Fabulous. So I called. And called again. No answer. So we sat in Pitcher Park with the dog, hoping the owner would eventually get our message. Turned out she wasn't far from her house at all...but the owner dude was working in the backyard and his mom left the back gate open. He didn't seem concerned that his dog was running down the middle of the street? Whatevs.

We did a box roundup at my office and then from Pooter and Lauren's, and then Angus headed home. I decided to treat Jeff, Dad, and Mom to dinner at the Magic Wok since the boys worked so hard all day...and I did not. LOL.

Also up this week? Eye doctor! Hooray. I haven't been since I switched to Jeff's insurance last year, so I'm hoping it's better than my old crappy insurance. I know I get an annual exam and a new pair of frames paid for every two years, which is better than I can say for good ol' ghetto Gallup insurance (which only paid $60 annually toward an eye exam. Have you SEEN prices in California?! LAME.) I'm pretty excited about getting some new frames. I broke my absolutely favorite pair of Nicole Miller's a few weeks ago, so I'm hoping I can find a pair that makes me just as happy for 4 years.

I still need to get my struts replaced on my car. I called Dave about it last week...but I'm getting the vibe he doesn't want to do it. I'm pretty sure he outsources balancing and stuff like that, so that could be the reason...I'm thinking, if this leak doesn't derail us this week, maybe I'll just do it at the dealer. It's about $200 more, but I'm pretty sure it's not overpriced there, from what I've been reading online...so we'll see.

OH! And lastly. I applied for my passport last week. How sad that I don't even have one yet. I figure...they're good for 10 years. Prices go up next week. And dammit, Jeff and I better do at least ONE cool trip in the next year. Maybe this will push us to do it. Heh.

I literally can't stop watching this video. It's single-handedly making my day.

Back at Sunday night. The more I look at this icon, the more true it becomes. I swear. If you guys aren't reading my favorite new blog, Hyperbole and a Half, you're seriously missing out. I can't say how much I identify with Allie. Especially with all the um...hyperbole.

I'm pretty worn out. But I feel like I got a TON of things done this weekend. Yesterday was Lauren's shower, and seriously, it was awesome, and about so much more than my stupid cake. Which...People loved. I, however, did not. Turns out my heart palpitations on Friday were called for. Everything was actually going really well, until I broke out the fondant. I think I was a bit over-confident on this, seeing as how I've only done one other cake with fondant before--A ONE LAYER CAKE.

And like, thinking back to my first TIERED cake...well. Here's a picture of that.


The horror. My problem with that one too was...I was overambitious.

So anyway. I feel like the stacking part went mostly ok on this go around. Everything felt really solid, and I even put the cakes in the fridge to get hard before I covered them (that's what she said).


Yum to the filling I made!


I even got the cakes pretty even!!

So I rolled out the fondant for the bottom tier. And like...I didn't feel like the circle was big enough to cover the cake. And I was right. It wasn't. Mostly. It's really freakin hard to roll out a perfect circle. I have a new appreciation for pizza makers. So like, one side covered fine. The other side? Notsomuch. So I had to pull and tug on it to cover. Which then made that side's fondant pretty thin, and it even ripped toward the top. Crap. I tried doing damage control with shortening, but it was not helping. I was getting defeated. This was not going well.

I somehow managed to get both the 10" and the 8" completely covered and then managed to get the dowels in correctly. But I could tell this was going to be a disaster. It was hot in the house, so the fondant kept drying out--plus, I had the windows open. That crap is WORSE than Play Doh. Once I had the green on, I figured I could do SOME damage control by covering the flaws with some of the flowers. Thank goodness. But then I started tracing the flower patterns I made onto the fondant. I'd bought an edible black pen to trace them, which was a horrible idea. The black was SO thick. And when I stuck them onto the cake, it melted off and made black marks onto my beautiful green fondant. So eventually, I said "screw that pan, I'm freehanding this shit." Which...was probably a better idea. I knifed out the rest of the flowers without it, and they looked way better AND didn't have a horrific black outline that smeared over everything.

My other blunder was that I think I didn't roll out the flower colors thin enough. The flowers just looked SILLY. But I somehow banged out enough to look decent, and this is what came out:


From that angle, it doesn't look terribly bad. But then there's this one:

BLARRRRGH.

Anyway. I couldn't get the cracks along the bottoms to come together at ALL. Ace of Cakes makes that part look SO EASY. It. Is. Not. And then in the end, my beautiful cakes started getting...lumpy. I think it was just too hot. I don't know. But everything just started looking more and more depressing. I slapped on some white outlines on everything (mostly to cover up that stupid black marker), and called it a day. It was time to conquer my cupcake bouquet. Cause I KNOW how to rock that.


Boom. My brother liked these so much, he decided they could be his photography models. My cake? Heh. He took one pic. It's bad, I know.

Anyway. I hauled the cake over to Mom's when I was finished, for fear that the ants would eat it to death overnight since fondant is a no-go in the fridge. I was pretty right about that. We had an infestation yesterday. I'm SURE they would've found it and eaten it. So at least I thought ahead on that?

We got everything to the shower, and of course, my pieces were a centerpiece. Oh joy.


It looks better from far away?

Of course, everyone was awesome and told me that it was FABULOUS, and that they couldn't wait to eat it. Yeah--cause it was sort of an eyesore! But then one of Lauren's friend's daughter pretty much made my day when she decided to stick both her finger AND her nose into it. Yay. It made the messiness seem far less messy.

So then we cut it up for consumption, and I will say, it tasted damn good. Strawberries soaked in buttercream=yum. And holy crap, the fondant was even good. If you guys ever want to purchase fondant, buy Satin Ice. It's the best flavor I've tasted EVER. And pretty much everyone agreed with me, because they all ate it.

It's a good thing I made as much as I did, because HAD there actually been 50 people there, it would've been completely consumed. We had 3 cupcakes leftover, and some cake, and that was it. What a relief.

I'm so glad I don't have to stress out about that anymore. The shower was freakin BEAUTIFUL, and it would've been pretty perfect, had my camera not taken a nosedive into the wood deck lens-first. While it was on. Now I get to add Camera to the list of things I need to purchase. UGH. Can I just win the lottery already?

It felt so good to fall asleep last night. And what was I thinking the other day, saying how our 'hood had quieted down now that school's out? So last night, at like, 2:30AM, there was some sort of domestic...dispute. Or maybe just some crazy lady in the middle of the street, SCREAMING at this guy about how "F-YOU...(something about her son that was totally incoherent)BLAHBLAHBLAHEFFYOU". At first I thought she was drunk, but then I realized that it was a serious fight. I was about to call the cops, since it went on for about 5 minutes, but I figured they'd get there, and they'd be gone. And I was right. How crazy. I'm glad I've never had one of those fights with anyone. But again, I think it probably takes an ounce of craziness...and I'm not sure I'm there yet. LOL. Hopefully I don't ever get there.

I cleaned the whole freakin house today. And it seriously felt good. It was pretty much covered in powdered sugar and dog hair, which is just not a good combination--especially for ants and allergies. And I realized that I really haven't taken ANY pictures of our house now that it's put together and sort of awesome and us. And now I don't have a camera. DOH. I'm gonna have to get on that. LOL.

This week: Back to the GYM (holy crap, has it really been a month?!?!), take a couple of our posters into Michaels for frame quotes, call Dave about doing struts on my car and um...getting Lauren and Pooter all moved out on Saturday!

So like, I'm pretty sure I'm going to bail out of the office here in about a half hour. I can't even believe how dead it is here today.

Especially considering I worked two full days this past weekend because I HAD TO TO GET MY WORK DONE.

It's sort of a relief. Cause I'm tired. And all I can think about right now is the fact that I have Lauren's wedding shower cake to make for tomorrow.

I probably made this project much harder than I should have, but shit, it's for Lauren. I want it to be the most awesome cake I've done so far. So on her invitations, it has this cute little stacked cake in pink and orange, with cute flowers and butterflies on it. I figured it would be cool if I could make that a reality. So when Lauren's friend Crystal asked me to make it...of course I said yes. So Wednesday night I made the buttercream. Last night I made the 2 10" cakes, 2 8" cakes, and cupcakes, and tonight, it's decorating time.

I'm a bit intimidated, because this is the first REAL decorating job that I've used fondant for. I know that most people use fondant as like, their crutch, to hide the fact that they can't really decorate with buttercream very well. But that doesn't make me feel any better. I'm currently worrying about a bunch of things. For example, the fact that the sides completely fell off one of my rounds when I took it out of the pan last night. I think I let the batter sit too long, waiting for the first cake to cook...but seriously. Not what I needed. I'm glad I can cover it with buttercream and THEN fondant, but still. It makes me mad that it happened. Also. I have a bunch of things to cut out of the fondant--freehand. I made stencils for myself, but still, that's going to take me forever. Also? The fact that ANTS SEEM TO BE TAKING OVER OUR HOUSE. I need to find more and better ant traps. Cause this shit ain't funny. I'm currently decided that I'm not even going to CHANCE leaving the cake out at our house tonight--I'm taking it to Mom's. If I had to wake up and see my masterpiece covered in ants...I would die. I know they're going to smell that sugar in the fondant from 5 miles away. And I can't put it in the fridge. So shit.

But mostly I'm afraid about whether I've dyed enough fondant to COVER the cake. That's something I haven't had much practice doing, so hopefully I measured it right? Or that I can stretch it out and make it work...UGH.

So much stress. Mostly I just want it to be amazing because I want to impress people, but it's also just about satisfying myself. Sometimes I think I'm too much of a perfectionist to decorate cakes. And like...when I take on one like this, it's a whole other full time job for a week! I wish I owned a bakery that had all the supplies I need. So I wouldn't have to make last minute runs to ABC Cakes to buy the RIGHT color of dye. Or a fondant mat. Or having to worry about freakin ANTS.

Wish me luck, people. I need it. Ack!

Because you know what I did the other day?

So I was cleaning out my olllllld desktop computer. I took it all apart. Pulled out both of my hard drives. I connected them to my laptop and went through to see if there was ANYTHING I still wanted on those hard drives, cause I planned to reformat them and eventually toss them into an e-waste drive at work.

I'm done. I went through the whole fucking thing on both of them. And then I'm hitting reformat.

It seemed to take awhile for a 60 gig HD, but whatever, I thought. I left, came back like, two hours later...it was done.

What happened tonight?

I turned on my external hard drive.

It. Is. EMPTY.

I REFORMATTED MY OWN FUCKING 500 GB EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS. I THOUGHT I pressed reformat on the drive that was the shitty old school hard drive...but NO. I somehow fucking chose my external drive I use every day.

Itunes is gone. My music library is gone. ALL MY PHOTOS ARE GONE. MY RIPPED VHS TAPES ARE GONE.

I have no idea what else is gone.

I guess at least I have general backups (I can get my pics from FlickrDown...I'm trying to pull my Itunes off my Ipod right now...I burned my tapes to DVD...)

BUT STILL. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WAS EVEN ON THERE, OMG.

I am truly an absolute idiot sometimes.

I literally just pulled out my earphones from my ear at work, only to realize that the earbud (ya know--the ones that you can change according to your ear size?) was STILL STUCK IN MY EAR.

I kept trying to pull it out...but it wasn't coming out. The bud was stuck in my ear. I started having a panic attack--seriously. I started thinking about my cousin Kevin, who, as a kid, had to go to the hospital because he stuck a seed into his ear too far and it got stuck...

Thank goodness for real friends at work, like Erin, who truly aren't afraid to stick their finger (and then nail clipper...) into my ear to save my hearing AND my ear bud. OMG.

Panic attack averted. Also, no trips to the ER? Maybe I finally need to toss these headphones. I would if they weren't so comfortable...

Cause I've been inspired by Rolling Stone's list....and feel like there was SO much good music put out these last ten years, here's my personal Top 20...I don't even know where the last 10 years went. WTF!?

And holy crap, I was able to rank them.
( My Top 20 albums of the 2000s... )
It's weird...I'm noticing that there isn't much from the past few years on here...And I'm not sure if that's cause they haven't necessarily STUCK on me, or if really, there just hasn't been as much good stuff coming out. I think it's the latter, which makes me feel like maybe I'm getting old and crotchety? I dunno. LOL.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEARS, KIDDOS!!!

Chris and Lauryn had baby #2 today! A BOY!!



Nathan Murray. Adorable, as expected.

We're gonna have to make it out to DC to see them soon...

Today was...LONG. Much to update about. Maybe tomorrow. SO excited to have a nephew now! ONE OF EACH!!

I feel like I've been totally absent lately. I guess I kinda have been. I totally don't even feel like it's August. I have no idea where July went. The other night, we were at the Angels game, and there was an advertisement for Napoli Bobblehead night being on August 11. I looked at it and in my head, I seriously thought, "That's weird--why would they be advertising something that's so far away?" And then Jeff told me it was tomorrow. WTF.

So I guess first things first--Ali and Andy got MARRIED!!!


That was a bunch of pics that mostly Jeff took of the weekend...I know they're sorta blurry. It's ok--I think Ali's photog pictures are gonna kick ass anyway.

The trip was...in one word? Crazy. It started with our departing flight, which, apparently got bumped up 2 hours sooner than we'd originally booked it for. Yet JetBlue neglected to really inform us. They sent us the check in reminder the day before, and LUCKILY, Lauren actually READS those things, because otherwise we would have been scrambling to get our asses to the airport in time for our flight. Luckily, we found out the night before, and all was fine. We got out of Long Beach without a hitch, and when we landed in Portland at 8pm, it was freakin ONE HUNDRED AND SIX DEGREES.

We knew they were having a heatwave, but um, that's like being on the sun. Especially when not many place have air conditioning up there (i.e., Ali's house, our hotel for the wedding). We exited the airport and headed to pick up a rental car at Enterprise. We were totally sweating our balls off in the parking garage, and after loading everything into a nice Dodge Caravan, we found out that the um, latch, on the hatchback, didn't work. Fab. We scrambled ourselves into a new car (a Kia Sedona--it was alright), and got our asses over to the Phoenix Inn in Tigard. It was WAY nice to be in the AC. Ali, Andy, and Muffin came by the hotel, and we had a late night dinner at Muchas Gracias (if you ever find yourself in Portland, eat the Muchas Gracias fries--they're TATOR TOTS that are DELISH. Good find, Angus!)

We woke up sorta late on Thursday morning and Andy picked up Kelly at the airport (who had the worst travel nightmare ever...I'm amazed she made it), and then we decided to go get our nails done. We piled into the van, and Dad dropped off Ali, Me, Angus, Kelly and Lauren at this nail place by Ali's house. It was pretty crowded for a Thursday morning (who are those people??!), and we were maybe a bit insulted by one of the girls, but dammit, our nails got done. They did a pretty bad job, though...LOL.

Thursday night was when most of Andy's fam arrived, and we decided on a semi-rehearsal dinner at Spaghetti Factory. They got us all in totally last minute, and it was way fun.

Friday rolled around, and it was picnic time. We had to check out of the hotel that morning, and then roll around like a clown car for the rest of the day. It was truly ridiculous. We had all of our luggage, 7 people, Ali's wedding dress, and random other wedding items in our car, and we had to roll out all the way to Forest Grove. It was sort of torture, as we ended up putting more stuff (food for the picnic) on our laps on the way there...but we somehow made it. We got to the picnic site, and poor Ali sort of had a meltdown when we came to find out that none of the picnic tables were put out for us and they were still locked up. After a short discussion with the park ranger, we came to find out that the site we were at wasn't really the one she'd reserved, and that one was $100 more. Ali was pretty beat up about it...but $100 later, we had the picnic tables unlocked, and all was well with the world again. We had a shady area (though it WAS full of bees), and a kickass lake to swim in. Oh, and a pinata too! Everyone slowly made it over to the picnic, and it was sort of awesome. We even took Muff swimming (with a puppy lifejacket! It was adorable)! We were pretty screwed up, timewise that night. We ended up hanging out at the Pub at the Grand Lodge (where we were staying) and having some dinner/drinks. You guys, seriously. The McMenamin's Grand Lodge was SO AWESOME. It's probably the coolest hotel we've ever stayed at--totally kitschy, with lots of quirkiness. However, the service left much to be desired...which I'll bring up again later. But yeah. The food was fab. And the hotel was fab too, except for the fact that oh, it was bloody HOT and we didn't have AC, and the fact that we had to use shared bathrooms (it's sort of European--no rooms have their own bathrooms except for like, two of the suites). Ali gave us a grab-bag of AWESOME goodies, and we all bailed to our rooms...I worked on the ending to my speech for a bit, and then crashed pretty hard...

Saturday morning we woke up and much was to be done. We started moving a bunch of stuff for the wedding out of Ali and Andy's suite and over to the Children's Cottage next door, where the reception was taking place. Thank JESUS, the Children's Cottage had air conditioning. We declared we were not going to leave the building all day, and were just going to hang out there. Man. It was SO cool in there. So we did just that--we got everything moved. The boys decided to go out and play some frisbee golf, and we hung out putting things together to set up for the wedding, and waited for the hair girl, Allison. She totally kicked ass and got everyone's hair done amazingly. We got everything set up and pretty much ready to go by like, 2 o'clock. We kicked ass.

And then before we knew it, the flowers came, and then it was time for Ali and Andy to see each other and then we took wedding party pictures (in the DUNE BUGGY, even!!), and then it was time for the ceremony!! It all went by really fast, just like our wedding...but it was so much fun. The ceremony was really beautiful, and totally Ali and Andy. Everything went off without a hitch, and then it was time for a few more pictures and cocktails...which led into the grand entrance and first dances and then our speeches...and then dinner. Dinner was upstairs, where, apparently there IS no AC. It was SERIOUSLY BROILING, you guys. We were sitting there, dripping with sweat. I don't think I've ever felt that baked in my life. It was insane. We hardly ate anything, and then bailed back downstairs as soon as we could. We melted as soon as we got there. It felt so nice...

Then the party began. We danced SO MUCH. It was freakin awesome. It was a lot smaller than our wedding was...but it didn't feel like it at all. We partied SO HARD.

And then...it was over. And it was time to cleanup. Total sadness.

But the true sadness was the staff at McMenamin's. Ali'd mentioned that she was weary about their service, but man. They totally proved themselves to be losers. Basically, there were three people working the wedding. Luckily it was a buffet, so no one needed to be served. But NONE of the cocktail tables were bussed--the entire night. And to make things worse, there wasn't a single trash can in sight. It was awkward. We tried to help clean up...but...couldn't? It was a mess.

We got everything of ours out of there, loaded a BUNCH of leftovers and other random stuff into their friends' Kari and Justin's car, and then we hung out outside until about 2am. We caught up with Daniel and his girlfriend, Sofia, and then called it a night. I was so sore, it was ridiculous.

Sunday morning we got up and met everyone for breakfast downstairs in the Grill, and said our goodbyes to a lot of people. We checked out of the hotel, and then headed over to Ali and Andy's, where they opened up presents and we ate a bunch of the leftovers (namely: CAKE! YUM!). We hung out there all day and baked...and then headed over to our new hotel at the Phoenix Inn in Beaverton. I was SO SORE when I went to bed, I could hardly move.

Monday...I don't even remember what we did? We were pretty much destroyed. Oh yeah--after Kell and Matt and Pooter and Lauren left to the airport, the fams headed up to Washington Square Park and we checked out the botanical gardens. It was sort of a hike...sort of a walk. It was hot, again, the theme of the week. We bailed out of there and then went walking around NW 23rd...cool area, where we went to happy hour at another McMenamin's and had beer and tot-nachos. And then we found our heaven--A Moonstruck Chocolate store. Where we had the most ridiculously delicious milkshake ever. Oh god. That made our day. We admired the delicious chocolate, and basked in the AC.

We were pretty messed up, timewise, after that, so we spent most of the night at Ali and Andy's just vegging. It was definitely getting cooler...of course because the trip was pretty much over.

So the last thing I REALLY wanted to do before we left Portland this time, was visit the Waffle Window. It was sort of on the way to the airport, so we decided to meet Ali and Andy there before we left. After a few mis-turns, we made it, and you guys, I wish this place was next door to my house. OMG. It was to DIE for. Their waffles are a bit...bizarre. I had the Three B's (bacon, brie, and basil) waffle, and holy shit. It...was...a party in my mouth. Who knew bacon belonged ON a waffle with BRIE and BASIL? I think I'm gonna have to make multiple trips back. It's too bad it's not a full-on restaurant and just a window...because wow. It's amazing. And Ali and I didn't get a chance to eat their chocolate covered waffle. Or the Berry Bliss. Next time...

We walked down Hawthorne a tiny bit, then we were off to the airport. We were pretty delirious...It felt like we were gone a really long time. I can't believe it's all over and done with now. My wedding AND Ali's wedding--DONE! It seems like we've both been planning this for so freaking long...to have them both be over is...weird. It's a bit of a relief, but still, weird.

Now onto other things, I suppose. It's mostly back to the grind, but seriously, we really need to figure out what we're doing on the house-hunting front. I think our window of purchasing power is slowly closing, since it seems like the market is picking up...plus...the tax credit ends in December. So yeah...we've got about 3 months. ACK. We'll see...

I'm freakin excited. I feel like you feel when you're a kid the night before you go to Disneyland! SO EXCITED.

Tomorrow's our flight to Portland. It got bumped up about two hours earlier from when we were originally scheduled, but oh well--it means we'll be there a bit earlier than before, which is sorta nice, I think! Because we get to see Ali and Andy and MUFFIN!! Seriously. I just want to get outta here already.

Granted, this is a logistical traveling nightmare, in a way. There will be 7 of us going to the airport tomorrow--Me, Jeff, Mom, Dad, Lauren, Pooter, and the Angus. Our plan is to take Chitty and only have to park one car at the airport. The question in my mind is...will we FIT? I'm not sure. Chitty fits 7 pretty easily, but with luggage? I don't know. We might need to take another car or have Dizzle follow us to the airport or something. Plus...Sometimes Chitty has been known to stall on the freeway, and it terrifies me deep down. I'm sort of having anxiety about it.

So then when we arrive in Portland? We were originally supposed to arrive around 9:30...but now we're gonna be there at about 7:45...which, is not good, because we're also supposed to be taking Kelly home with us from the airport. First, I'm not sure how long we'll have to wait for her...and second? Will we FIT in our rental Tahoe? I honestly don't know. I'm pretty sure Ali and Andy can meet us at the airport if need be...but ugh. Logistics.

Besides all that, I'm freakin EXCITED. I can't WAIT to spend time up there with everyone...can't WAIT to see Ali and Andy and our niece, Muffin! And THE WEDDING!! OMG!! FINALLY. I've been so done with work already this week. It's been boring beyond belief, and it makes it that much more sucky.

It's tonight, guys. 8pm/7pm CST on ABC. You'll hopefully get to witness some of this...on your television.

And if you miss it, ABC is awesome about posting entire episodes the next day on their website:
ABC's Full Episode Playyaaaaaa!

I seriously can't believe the day has come. It seems like such a long time ago now, that we were at Downtown Disney, trying to impress the producer's...Wowza! My dream of competing on a game show has now come true! And while I'm a little bit nauseous thinking about how many people across the country and online will be watching me and people I know eat shit...I'm also uber excited to see it finally play out, because I don't even actually know WHO won the money. I know the top 4...but that's it :) So it's gonna kick ass! WATCH IT!!

Sorry I've been blabbering about this for months, guys. It's just sorta exciting :) I'll be done after tomorrow, I promise!!

So this is probably the extent of airing I will get on Wipeout on Wednesday, you guys.

It's horrific. But the Johns actually spoke of my appearance, so I suppose that's freakin awesome. But seriously. I'm pathetic! I'm pretty sure that's the only reason they used me for a clip!!

http://www.tv.com/video/23437/Episode%20209%20-%20Clip%202?o=tv&tag=video_list%3B0%3Btitle

Can't embed it here for some crappy reason. So embarrassing, you guys. OMG.

(PS: Sorry for the annoying commercials. But go watch Blake and Melia after me. They kicked ass!)

ETA: I can't believe they caught me blowing my nose. Like seriously--I ate SO MUCH pool water before that--It was right after the balls! I seriously could hardly breathe, and that was about where I was trying to decide whether to keep going or not. I felt like I was having a panic attack, I was shaking so bad! Man. Totally ridic. Just totally, totally ridic!