Summer in the South

Before we began the sprinkler romping this morning on our walk I was overcome by the scents all around me.


Now, my sistah will tell you, scent is not my strongest sense.


In fact, it's definitely at the bottom of my list.


But today, on every block, Tulip and I came across blooming honeysuckle and magnolia blossoms.

And they smelled divine!

Remember...

Remember those long, lazy days of summer when you were a child?


Playing all day, slip n slidin' across the yard, running through the sprinkler for hours?


Today Tulip brought all of that back to me during our walk. Here in NOLA it is nice and warm, and many people have automatic sprinklers to water their grass. On our walk this morning, Tulip decided she was hot and wanted to romp in the sprinklers.


So we romped through all the sprinklers on the path home.


And then she got in my bed. Not just on my bed, IN my bed.


Wet.


Oh, to be a puppy and that carefree :)

And its over

Today, we shall eat cake. A skull and crossbone covered, black frosted cake, because LAB IS OVER FOR THE YEAR!!!!


So head on over for a slice, or feel free to grab a skeleton cookie :)

Polka Dots

I love polka dots.


I like big polka dots, I like small polka dots, I like black & white polka dots, I like colored polka dots and my very fave polka dots are color-on-color polka dots (ie white on white), which are actually quite hard to find. Anyways, I love them.


This year it was pointed out to me that the seats in my car are basically polka dotted, to which I replied: 'what's life without polka dots?'


Silly as it sounds, I feel that this question is something I try to apply in my daily life. Polka dots, to me, are happy, bright, and cheerful things that are not ultimately necessary for maintaining life, but one could argue that what they symbolize is vital for a meaningful life.


A new but dear friend had the sweetest, most thoughtful present made for my birthday involving polka dots. Thank you for being you and don't ever let the haters get you down or try to change you: you are wonderful and amazing and GOING TO MED SCHOOL IN THE FALL!!!! I am so proud! Better get your polka dotted party hat out, once exams are over, we are going to celebrate across the town!

Have you ever seen a Chateau by the sea?

This weekend I did. And while the Chateau itself wasn't quite what you imagine when you think "Chateau"-(how often do you think tropical birds upon check in and chateaux, together?)- the weekend was amazing! For this weekend was AMc's FIJI formal in FL and it was one of my very favorite formals, and yes, my very last one.

First hint that the weekend was going to be great: we didn't ride on the bus. And we had sandwiches from Refuel to kick off the drive. So basically, we got there faster, more comfortably, and with better food than the kids on the bus.

The rest of the weekend pretty much went like this: eat, party on the beach, Harpoon Harry's, party on the beach, sleep, head down to the beach, lay by the pool all day with AMc, music provided by the very hospitable KA's from Alabama, get ready for the formal, dinner, formal, go-go dancer bar, off-franchise coyote ugly, party on the beach, sleep, drive home, see the nug. It was action packed and totally great.

A wrap up by the numbers:

Hours saved not riding the bus: at least 4, and probably more

Hours I spent with shoes on after arrival: maybe 4, including the formal

Fraternities at the Chateau this weekend: 3 (Pikes from UGA and KAs from 'Bama

Hours spent at the pool: a lot

Minutes spent at the beach while the sun was up: maybe 30

Hours spent at the beach once the sun was down: quite a few

Brownies consumed instead of meals by our room: at least 12, with brownie snacks as well

Bottles of H2O personally consumed: probably more than anyone else in our group

Bars danced on: 1

Times needing rescue from said bar-top dancing because of scary female admirers: 1

Navy boys met: 4

Hats stolen, then returned of course: 5

Drunk AARP members who complimented my dress at dinner: 3

Times I heard the word 'agressive': 3849573849 more than I ever needed or wanted to in my life

Minutes I was able to coax AMc into the hammock for the whole weekend: approximately 30, he's apparently not a hammock man

Like I always say, AMc, you are my fave date ever, thanks for taking me!

Happy Birthday Mama!!!!!

I hope you have a hap, Hap, HAPPIEST of Birthdays!!!!

You are the very best!

Full Monkay!

This past weekend was Easter. Which means eggs to decorate, Cadbury eggs to eat, complicated lessons to teach the 3 year olds at church, and a long weekend. Long weekends used to be something I lived for: extra days to sleep in and spread the work over, or do something new and different. Since the addition of the little nugget into our household we have developed a sort of understanding for the way parents feel on the first day of school each August: sadness, wihsfulness for more time with the sweet dear, and a big dose of relief that you will not be the sole entertainer of the little one 24/7. That's pretty much how we felt after this weekend. Our dear little Tulip was a dream on Friday: cuddly, sweet, played well in E's office, didn't bite us, ate on her own, and went to sleep when we wanted her to. As I said, a dream. Then came Saturday, and Sunday. And Monday. To her credit, Miss Tulip is in the midst of an uncomfortable medical situation (which involved McVet and I being up close and personal over her lady bits-not exactly the dream up close and personal time with McVet...) and is being a champ about it. I mean, she let us apply hand cream to her lower abdomen. Needless to say, it was a little rough, and I think she was equally glad to see us off this morning and retire to her crate with Chicken. And her Baby. And Rope. And Headless Hippo. And Lion.


Through the difficult times of the weekend we did perfect her preferred (as determined by us) cuddling position. We call it Full Monkay (which must be said with Olga's accent from her ypga classes). And it involves Tulip being the baby monkey to my tree. She is such a cutie pie most of the time. And McVet taught me how to brush her teeth, which she loves. Because the toothpaste tastes like Kong Paste.

Tomorrow is someone's special day...

and I am not talking about Uncle Sam! Any guesses who will be the most feted and celebrated tomorrow and in the days to come? I'll give you 3 clues:

1: A first edition of this book could make you the best gift giver ever in her mind

2: The Fourth of July is one of her very favorite holidays

3: She is as beautiful and lovely and amazing as a bouquet of parrot tulips

Happy Birthday Eve Mama!!!

It was my birthday, and did we celebrate!

The best birthday weekend ever just wrapped up. It was amazing. I mean, rock your socks off, holla atcha boy, neon-filled, rollerskating fabulous, fancy dining, sorbet making, ice cream cake eating, staying out all night then getting breakfast, amazing.


Thank you for everyone who made it so fabulous: the Tulane Baseball team for pulling out a killer win over LSU on my birthday eve, Melvin for my birthday cookie (and even Jared for eating most of said cookie-saved me some calories for later in the weekend!), Gabi for her amazing rendition of Bonne Aniversaire, E and A for possibly the best dinner of my life on my birthday night, M and Gma for their birthday calls, my parents for singing happy birthday every time we talked, my neurobio of disease professor for making our exam the morning after my birthday easy (haha, that was one wish that definitely didn't come true this year, maybe next exam...), Joe for taking my afternoon Admissions shift, T for making the party playlist (nice inclusion of MJ!), everyone who came and rollerskated the night away (particularly those who rocked the 80's, costume wise!), the flowers, the cupcakes, the Sucre delicacy, T, A, and R for the amazing rollerskating show-particularly during "male-skate," Rekha for coming out even though she had studying to do (I know you are going to dominate this physics exam!), Charn for introducing me to her frenchman, my anatomy TA's for coming out and for their amazing Aorta card, T for making sure we hit all of the birthday hot spots and time goals, plus a few extra and providing breakfast :), Rebecca for coming out and being a huge sport, and for letting us borrow her car Saturday and Miss Tulip for behaving like a lady and sleeping until 2 on Saturday.


Most of all I would like to thank my most amazing sistah, for planning and executing the most wonderful birthday weekend ever and especially for partying like a champ in a HOT outfit :) You are the blue lamé headband to my gold lamé leggings-one just isn't complete without the other. Everything was awesome: the decorations, the wrapping, the ice cream cake, the candles, the noisemakers, the confetti, the pink bangle and white jacket, the strawberry stuffed french toast, oj and hash browns at brunch at my fave, and the birthday poem!


Sometimes you go through a period of time, be it a moment, an hour, a day, or a year where everything is just great. Not necessarily perfect, because perfect is boring, but so great you look around and marvel a little more than usual at the world. That's how the past 6 days have been, like letting go of a bunch of brightly colored balloons to float in the sky: something marvelous that you will never get back, but so wonderful you want to do it again next year!

party party party!!!

Everyone loves a party.

Especially a party revolving around chocolate!

Last night my mama had a chocolate party and I wish I could have been there, everything looked divine!

And most important of all, the company looked lovely! I'm so proud of you mama and it really looked amazing! The cups below look just like the ones she had, except of course my mama's were cuter!

A whole new meaning to the phrase "stank eye"

The nug got into an accident yesterday. A pretty serious one, which involved getting whacked in the head by a stick/log so hard it sounded like a baseball bat connecting with a pitch at the major leagues. And then there were her cries of terror. Which were seriously alarming and continued for a couple minutes. Horrible. Luckily, McVet has called me from the back office at the vet, so I was able to catch another vet from our practice before he left, so he stayed and saw Miss Tulip. She couldn't open her eye and was still wimpering. And her nose was starting to bleed. We thought our little Tulip had met her end, needless to say, Em and I were more than a little upset. The vet was really nice (no McVet, but then, few are) and gave her a pain injection, eye drops, assurance that she was likely not seeing a bright white light, and sent us on our way. Which was straight to Petco for some soft treats. Because you see, before the whack, Tulip thought she was dying because she is teething and is generally pretty miserable. So it was a double-downer of a day for her: teething and serious whack. So she got cookies at Petco and was much admired by everyone there, which made her feel much better. Then she was pampered all night long with cookies, big healthy edibles, puppy beef jerky and her fave, snausages. And then she got to sleep on the bed, without even an attempt at keeping her in the crate. Oh, and she may have gotten a little amuse bouche of canned dog food. I'm pretty sure in the end it was the best night of her life!


And to the one who whacked her: we don't blame you at all, these things happen at the dog park, and Tulip still loves playing with Miss Lou!