Laguna Beach 2019

A few weeks ago, we went to California for the weekend. Yep, the weekend! We had originally booked a trip in June using airmiles, but we had to cancel that trip because I ended up subbing for the final month of the school year. In order to avoid incurring any change fees, we had to rebook the trip in and out of the same airports, so we rebooked the trip for October, with plans to drive from Los Angeles to Albuquerque for part of the trip to attend the hot air balloon festival there, which is a long-standing bucket list item for us. Well, I was fortunate to begin my new reading specialist position in August, but that meant we had to cancel the trip planned for October. Since we had initially "cashed in" the airmiles way back in January, we only had a few months left to use them, so we looked at the calendar and decided to go over Veterans' Day weekend, since I had a three-day weekend. Kind of a long way to go for only three days, but we had a great time!

We flew to LAX on Saturday, November 9 (with an empty middle seat between us – always a bonus!) and arrived around 10 am. We rented a car, which was a Mercedes SUV, because it was only $5.00 more than a regular sedan. Honestly, I will never understand car rental pricing! There were two places I really wanted to visit on Saturday, so we headed to Griffith Park and Venice Beach after picking up the car. At Griffith Park, we were finally able to see the merry-go-round when it was open – we've been there a few times before, but it was always on days when the merry-go-round was closed! It was awesome to see it in action and to imagine Walt Disney there with his daughters as he dreamed up visions of Disneyland. After Griffith Park, we went to Venice beach because I was determined to get a photo of the rainbow/Pride lifeguard tower. As you can see, it is just beautiful and totally worth the insane parking (or lack thereof) that we encountered!

top: when we left home
bottom: when we landed in California

By that point, it had been a pretty long day for us, so we decided to go to our AirBnB in Laguna Beach, which was amazing! Once we settled in, we decided to wander around Laguna Beach and grab some dinner before calling it a night.

On Sunday, we just drove around. That might not seem exciting to some people, but we love to be in the car and so we just explored the coast and admired the ocean and asked ourselves repeatedly why we don't live in California! We spent a good chunk of time in Huntington Beach, which is truly one of my favorite places on earth, and I was reminded how much happiness I derive from a good stroll down memory lane! That evening, we decided to drive over to Downtown Disney to do some shopping, which may not have been our best decision because it was insanely busy there, but was fun nonetheless!

A Place for Fun
A Place for Knowledge

On Monday, we checked out of our AirBnB, and spent the morning exploring more, but rather than sticking to the coast, we drove inland a bit. California is such breathtaking state! We stopped again at Downtown Disney for a short time, then drove to Hollywood to see the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and finally ended our trip taking in the scenery from Mulholland Drive. Our flight home was the red-eye, so we landed around 6 am and after a quick stop at home, I went to school for the day!

While I would certainly love to spend an endless number of days in California, this three-day weekend was a perfect getaway. We hadn't really traveled anywhere in over six months, so three days of beautiful scenery and relaxation was wonderful!

Happy Tails to you!

Steven Page 2019

Last fall, we had the good fortune to see Steven Page when he came to Washington, D.C. and it was one of my favorite shows ever. I am so in love with his voice and I have been since the age of 19! (You can read that post <HERE>.)

Well, imagine my excitement when I discovered that he would be in our area in both October AND November this year!

On Monday, October 14, we saw him in Annapolis at Rams Head on Stage and it was a fabulous show. We had seats that were pretty close to the stage and whoever had bought the other two seats at our table never showed up, so we had the table to ourselves, which was fantastic! Not only is he an incredible singer, but the guitarist and cellist that round out the trio are amazing, too! It was great to hear some BNL songs intermingled with his solo work, but honestly, as I've stated before, I don't really care what he is singing…I just love his voice more than anything!

Less than a month later, we saw him perform again, this time at City Winery in D.C. on Sunday, November 3. This show was even better than the Annapolis show! First of all, we had seats right up front at the stage, which were at the same table we sat at when we saw him there in 2018. Second, we purchased a VIP package to attend the rehearsal and sound check before the show and meet him! YES! We met him and it was fabulous!

I certainly hope he comes back to the area again because he really does put on an awesome show and I will never, ever tire of his voice! It is the greatest!

Happy Tails to you!

Riley

We have been considering adopting another dog for about six months. In fact, we had found a dachshund that we were very interested in back in April while we were out of town, but the rescue would not keep her for us until we got back. I was pretty disappointed; I look at Dachshund rescue sites all the time and wish I could save every homeless dog, but for some reason, that particular dog jumped off the screen. When that didn't pan out, I took it as a sign that maybe the timing wasn't right.

Fast forward to last Friday, when I was scrolling through available Dachshunds. The minute I saw her picture, I wanted to know more. As I read through her profile, she sounded almost too good to be true, so I sent it to C, and we decided to fill out an application for her that night. In addition to the application, I sent an email to her foster mom to let her know how interested in her we were.

The rescue organization had named her Sadie, so all correspondence throughout the week referred to her as such, but we knew we'd be re-naming her because we just lost our own Sadie in 2017 and we wanted her to have her own identity.

I spoke with her foster mom on Sunday afternoon. The conversation went very well, and she told me that the rescue organization had already chatted with our vet, and that as a result, they would not be contacting any of our other references. Have I ever mentioned how much we love our vet? She is the BEST! On Tuesday evening, we had a home visit, and then we received an email that we had been approved to adopt her!

Her story: she was found wandering on the side of a highway in Alabama, suffering from neglect. The rescue organization that ended up with her is in Tennessee, and they took care of her immediate medical needs, including having her eyes examined in hopes of corrective surgery. What they discovered is that there is no surgery to help her, as her retinas have become detached, but despite being blind, she learns her environment and is able to navigate with ease. They determined her age to be ten years old, she weighs about ten pounds, and she is a miniature black-and-tan dapple, which is the spotted pattern on her. I love all dogs, but I am a serious sucker for old dogs. Old and blind? I'm powerless against their charm. That's how we got our first rescue dog, Molly! She was old and blind, too!

We were prepared to drive to Tennessee to get her this weekend, but in a lucky twist of fate, there were three other dogs being transported for adoption from the rescue to the D.C. area yesterday. Let me just say that I cannot even get over the logistics involved with transporting four dogs across several states – the leg of the transport that ended with her in our arms was leg 11 of that drive. Leg 11! These people are so generous and kind…I received updates throughout the day and we knew she was in the best hands as she made her way to us.

We were excited and nervous to meet her…would Ginny like her? Would she like Ginny? Would it be ok to have another dog in the house with my mom living here? To be honest, our greatest concern was Ginny. She's been an only dog since February, when my mom's dog, Ava, passed away, and she has developed some separation anxiety that she never exhibited when there was another dog in the house, so we are hoping this helps her not feel alone. She has not been the same dog since Maddy passed away – let's be real, none of us has been the same since Maddy passed away – and we are hoping she will grow to love this new friend.

Speaking of Maddy, we went to the restaurant we ate at right before we discovered she had passed away at the kennel. We have avoided that place for 14+ months because we just couldn't bring ourselves to go back there because it was associated with the worst day of our lives. We decided yesterday that we needed to go there for some closure, and happened to get seated at the same table where we sat that morning. We toasted her and told her we were adopting this new little girl in her honor, and I shed some tears, but it was the perfect thing to do.

Up until we left our house to get her, we were still debating her new name. For some reason, the name Riley came to me, and it just clicked. We knew the transport would not arrive until about 8 pm, but we arrived at the meeting point a little early just in case, and we didn't have to wait long before she arrived. There was another car there as well, who was transporting the other three dogs on the next leg of their journey, so we chatted as the dogs were handed off. When Riley was placed in my arms, I cried such happy tears!

I sat with her in the back seat as we drove home, and she was so good! After such a long day, being in so many different cars with so many different people, I thought she might be a little squirrelly, but she was calm and quiet the whole way home.

When Ginny met her, there was no barking or growling, just cautious approach and interested sniffing. Actually, when she first saw I was carrying a dog, I'm not entirely sure she didn't hope for a split second that it was one of her sisters, but she quickly realized a stranger was in the house.

We let Riley wander around the family room and kitchen, where she will spend most of her time, to get to know her way around, and become familiar with us and with my mom. When it was time for bed, we took her upstairs along with the bed her foster mom sent with her, and we put her dog bed at the foot of our bed. As much as I wanted her to sleep in our bed, her foster mom told me she didn't like sleeping in a human bed (maybe due to her blindness) and was perfectly content to sleep in her bed on the floor. After exploring our bedroom for about 15 minutes, she climbed in her bed and went to sleep and we didn't hear a peep from her all night!

We had a pretty quiet day today, just letting her get used to everything and letting Ginny get used to her. So far, so good! I think they are going to be great friends in no time. Ginny seemed a little annoyed with us last night, but we are just making sure to give her extra love to reassure her she is not being replaced!

When Maddy died, I was sure we would never get another dog. I did not think my heart would be able to take it.

What I realized once again is that there are so many dogs who need homes. And if everyone who ever lost a beloved friend refused to save another, what a sad day for homeless animals that would be.

So we took another chance. Because we are in a position to care for a little old dog who is blind, who just needs a safe and cozy place to sleep and a family of her own!

It will be interesting to see how things develop between her and Ginny in the coming weeks; she also has a few little health concerns, so I will be happy once we take her to see our vet. In the meantime, we are just going to love her as much as we can while she adjusts to her new life!

Happy Tails to you!

Take Care of Each Other

I don't even really know how to start this post, but basically I just wanted to say that it is so important to check in on your family members and friends.

Without going into specifics, it has been a very stressful few months. I was completely overwhelmed. And I knew it. I was getting only a couple of hours of sleep each night. I was stressed and worried all the time. But even though I knew it, it took my husband and my best friend pointing out that I was acting differently to help me see just how unhappy I had become.

I kept telling myself things would get better, but the reality was that things just seemed to get worse and worse. So after a draining, tear-filled day, followed by a lengthy discussion during which C reassured me that the world would not end, I made a decision to take something off my plate. I had spent weeks worried that I would disappoint people. That people would think less of me. I have never been good at admitting when I don't have everything under control and I was feeling immense pressure to just keep going. Now that I have some perspective on things, I don't like thinking about how miserable I would have been had I continued down that road.

I have learned that it's ok to take stock of your situation and decide that a change is needed. That your well-being is more important than any potential judgment you might face from others. That people will surprise you with their care and kindness when you finally admit that you can't actually do it all on your own.

I cannot thank C and my best friend enough for recognizing what was happening long before I did; it took concern from these two amazing people in my life to admit that things were not good. C proved for the gazillionth time what "for better or for worse" looks like in action and made me laugh every day even when I felt like I didn't have the energy to crack a smile. My best friend joked that she was worried that I was turning into a "grumpy unicorn" and constantly checked in even though she also has far too much to do in her own life. C helped me make the decision, and once it was official, my best friend was the first person I told.

Because of their support and love, I am much happier now!

So I guess my point is…check in on your family and friends. If you notice they're not quite themselves, don't accept their "I'm fine" response because we're conditioned to accept that stress is just part of daily life. You never know the positive impact you might have! I am very fortunate to have people like C and my best friend to look out for me and I am doing my best to look out for all of the people in my life.

It's so important for us to take care of each other!

 

Just a sweet picture of my
most loyal - but silent - supporter
:)

Happy Tails to you!