Thursday 7/9, Eric didn’t come up after work so I was on my own with the pups. I took them up to the park and we went around and it was very warm. At home I fixed the leftover risotto from two nights before. I think I spent most of the evening updating this and posting. Probably read my wedding mag and went to bed.

Wednesday 7/8, Brought Brizo and she shit on the carpet 30 minutes after we arrived and she'd already gone on our walk so I was baffled. Peggy wasn't pleased. Luckily I cleaned the carpet and the spot is gone. Off work a little early so I could make it home to drop off the dogs and head to my dr appt. Eric got there before me and vacuumed the whole house including the stairs, emptied the garbage and recycle and picked up stuff for dinner. We left for my appointment and got there a little early but they were running behind so we waited and looked at mags. The dr didn't have much to say about my neck but recommended physical therapy and some neck exercises. We stopped at the store on the way home and picked up a few things for dinner and Eric got started on it when we got back. I took the dogs out and talked to Beth again and they got a new grill. Back in the house I got the computer out and was looking at stuff and dinner was ready in no time, Garden burgers with cheese, lettuce, avo, grilled onion and yellow pepper and tomato. Plus he broiled some asparagus with balsamic. It was good. We watched that damn Wipe Out show and I kept looking at stuff online. I took the dogs out one last time and got ready for bed and looked at my wedding mag and fell asleep before Eric got up there.

Tuesday 7/7, I left Brizo at home again, but almost went back and got her since I could hear her running around frantically upstairs and I felt terrible. After work she was very excited to see me and ran around for a while. I went outside with the pups and talked with the neighbors, Beth and Jake, for a long time about the neighbors, crack sellers, and dogs and she wants to foster for Ginger. Eric came out and we all talked forever then back inside and Eric started dinner and I vacuumed upstairs and took the dogs out again and she told me she had already turned in an application. We ate dinner and watched Old School though there were quite a few interruptions with taking dogs out and talking to Janna. I still love Luke Wilson. It was 10 by the time it was over so we got ready for bed and hit the hay.

Monday 7/6, I discovered Brizo is an escape artist and has now figured out how to get out of the kitchen by pushing the fireplace screen out of the way, and still managed to knock it completely over even after I put a 60lb bag of dog food in front of it. Susan came over after work we talked at home for a bit then took the dogs up the hill for a walk and Brizo was good with her eliminating and I gave Susan a thumbs up when she did. She did the same when Castor did his business. We talked about her and M and how that's going and then about relationships and power / control. We went home where Eric had whipped up a shepherds pie with cornbread and it was so good. I had two helpings and wanted a third, but refrained. Mom called and we talked for a few minutes. We watched random tv and Susan went home after the freeway cleared. I went upstairs and showered and got ready for bed and Eric wasn't far behind. Read Martha Stewart Weddings and turned in.

Sunday 7/5, Castor was moving about in the middle of the night and finally Eric took him out super early (like 5) and thought he was constipated but it turns out his tail is just super sore so it hurt if he laid down wrong or if you touched it. Eric stayed up reading outside and cleaning so I went back in to go to sleep and eventually did. I was the last one up and everyone was already dressed and putting stuff away and I was sawing logs. I got up and going and we had everything cleaned up and put away in about an hour with the cars packed and everything. The load was a lot lighter on the way back. Josh rolled out first then the three groups said bye and loaded in and we all left. We stopped at Zeke's on the way and had lunch and Brizo peed which was good and seemed to be better than the last trip. K and I shared a burger and it was goood. We took a new way home from Monroe and it was so much prettier than the regular way and I think I'll be taking it from now on. It's slow going but beautiful and hardly any traffic. We made it back, unloaded the car, said bye to K and relaxed. We had a kind of lazy day and eventually took the dogs to the park and walked around then kind of ate whatever for dinner since we both weren't all that hungry and there was stuff in the fridge. I talked to Dad and Mom about the trip out and the house. I think we went to bed semi-early.

Saturday 7/4, Mosquitoes outside and we were all up before 8, ugh. A group went in to get coffee and Eric brought me back a scone and that was very sweet. Chrystol stayed upstairs with me and was lazy and K too so I didn't feel so bad that I didn't get up until 11. Finally took Brizo out and she did her business and I was sooo happy. I think she finally gets it's ok to go outside. Suited up and went and sat on the deck. Eric, Schuyler and Tim all hiked up the mountain and I was so proud of Eric and so not proud of myself for ditching out and being lazy. We spent most of the day on the deck and down at the swimming hole for a little bit after the boys got back. We had hot dogs and chicken thighs for lunch and everyone snacked. The girls started playing asshole and I eventually went upstairs to take a nap. Me, Tim and Brizo napped for a while until Jake woke me up. After our nap I took Brizo out and she was a good girl. We all ended up outside and the badminton was being set up and I was enjoying sitting in the shade with Brizo when Kay-See suggested ice cream and Tim was in too, but I got sidetracked by Amos' and chatting with them about the neighbors and lawn and bfs. Soon we were on our way though and told Tim all about the interesting people he was about to see. It took a while to get our ice cream but Tim and I both got birthday cake and it was worth the wait. We sat outside and I dared him to ask several people if they were "floatin" but he didn't until K got back from the hardware store. We drove back and everyone started to get ready to go out and eventually we were on our way after securing the dogs. We took 3 cars in and noticed the festivities in town before parking and going over to Gustav's to check the situation. We walked around and stopped in shops and broke off from one another. We decided to get dinner and found Josh and Co at a table then moved to another table then Eric, Tim and Josh's crew wanted Mexican and left but didn't want me to be mad. I told everyone earlier in the evening that they could eat where they wanted but I was having Gustav's and everyone thought my feelings would be hurt if they left, it was so bizarre. It irritated me more that they were all making a big deal about it. Anyway, C&S, Sos and Jake and K and me had a nice dinner and talked about music and how Schuyler and K don't have a desire to play piano anymore but I think they should. After dinner we started exploring again and ended up at the Das Sweet Shoppe and I got three chocolates and we sat outside on the bench and ate our treats. The other group came up shortly after and they got some treats too. We headed back to the cars and drove home. It was nice out but the bugs were still bad when we got back so a couple of us went upstairs and K fell asleep while Chrystol and I hung out. Lena was trying to put Kaya down so eventually we went outside and joined the camp fire and the bugs were better. Stories of college and strippers and celebrities was had and slowly people filed out and eventually I went up and it was probably around midnight. Castor was acting a little weird.

Friday 7/3, Eric was up at 5:30 and I stayed in bed until 6:45 and took Brizo out and I think she peed outside. I started getting ready and called Eric - no answer, so I hoped he was taking Castor for a walk. I took Brizo up to run off some energy at the park. She squatted a few times and lots of praise was given and we only did one lap then back home. I continued getting ready and Eric finally showed up and he'd been out getting some food and cleaning his car and walking Castor. We started packing up the car and it was going to be a tight fit but I knew we could do it. K showed up right after he left to get gas and was thinking about driving but decided against it and we packed her things in too. Off we went at almost 11 (eek, late). We hit traffic in Monroe and stopped at DQ for a little lunch and blizzard action then traffic continued through Sultan and it cleared up from there. We stopped at the top of Steven's to let the dogs out and Brizo peed and puked and we kept on. She did fine in the car, I think she was just feeling a little overwhelmed. We made it to the property and unpacked and got some stuff out on the deck and Eric mowed the lawn with Castor following behind. Brizo got sick two more times I think from the anxiety of a new place, heat, and car ride. Poor thing. Josh, Lena, Kaya and Tim showed up and got settled and it was just us for a while hanging on the deck in the sun. I hung in the shade. Brizo mostly stayed upstairs because she was freaked out. Chrystol and Schuyler showed up and it was a surprise because they were supposed to be in Guemas. So that was fun. It was cooling down and food was being made for dinner. We all ate and hung on the deck and swatted mosquitoes. Lastly Sos and Jake showed up with the dogs but I was upstairs when they arrived. Eric brought Brizo in and eventually I came out after K helped me get all the beds and sleeping bags set up. I took Brizo out and I think she peed, don't remember. The boys were playing catch and Chrystol was hula hoop-ing so we hung with her but again, the mosquitoes got bad so I ended up back inside. K, Lena and I went to the store to get water and see the grocery, but when we got back from our leisurely drive we didn't have plates so K and I went back out and picked up forks too and we didn't want to get out of the car, just wanted to keep driving the country roads. After dinner all the girls were inside as Lena was trying to put Kaya down and we started playing the Boy Game and it was so funny; we were all dying. Sos went back outside before we finished then we did an all girls round and Chrystol was the most likely to turn tricks for money, Lena was the most into anal and best at giving bjs and Kay-See was the most likely to cheat and have an std. We were dying then all went outside to sit around the fire because the bugs had died down. We talked for a long time and made smores. I don't know how late we were all up but I think we made it to bed by midnight or 1.

Thursday 7/2, Woke up to Brizo running around and jumping on the side of the bed to wake me up so I put my hand down to pet her and she went crazy licking it and was a wiggle worm. I put her on the bed with me for a few minutes but she wanted down so I put her down. At the post office before work she puked all her breakfast up on my seat. Huge, massive, brown piles of puke. And I had one and a half napkins to clean it up with. Sick. I put a little water on it and put my sweatshirt down and drove that way. Looked up carsick dog remedies when I got to work; usually to do with anxiety...and eating too close to a trip. Noted. A couple messages going back and forth with LPC and I clarified my “tickles” text and he had assumed it was “reciprocal flirting” then added “From Kay-See apparently” so that was funny. Then he was flirty some more and I kind of deflected and told him he knows I get a kick out of it. I talked to Jen for a long time toward the end of the day about problems with financing and some obstacles that were going to make this process more difficult and expensive. Mom and Dad called and I told them and Dad suggested paying cash for it and then selling it back to me in 6 months when the dust from my refi settles. At least it's an option. After work I went to get more dog food and talked to Court for a while about her trip in August and about the pups and her official baby news. I already knew a few weeks ago but she's now let the cat out of the bag so I can acknowledge on here that I know. I’m guessing a girl. At home I started kind of getting things together and Eric and I went to the store and scrounged for dinner. I called Kay-See to see what time she'd be over in the morning and had to push for 10. Did some laundry and other stuff around the house until bedtime. I think we stayed up semi-late considering we had to be up early in the morning.

Wednesday 7/1, Brizo got sick twice at work and a little on the ride home. Ish, need to get to the bottom of that. I relaxed at home and Eric had called saying he wasn't coming up so I really took that opportunity to veg. We went outside and kept relaxing then I made their dinners but wasn't hungry myself. I talked to Jen about my mortgage options and they're not great, but it looks like I should at least be able to do it, so we'll see. Have to actually get the house first; kind of an important step. I called Dad after that and talked it out with him and he had a few good suggestions and ideas so I decided to convey to Jen the next day. We also talked about Eric moving in and how it would outweigh anything negative. It's financially a great idea and also we have way more fun and get along more than we ever disagree or get into arguments. For every one bad or negative there are 100 good or positive things so he helped put that in perspective. I eventually ate some dinner and talked to Eric and ran ideas by him and he's game for whatever and is excited that I'd give him the garage to do what he wanted with it. We talked for a really long time and he thought it was only 8:30 but it was actually 9:30. I talked to Kay-See after that and we discussed plans and the house. Updated this with the Belize trip entry which took about an hour to finish and proofread through then posted...finally. It's only a month and a half later. Got ready for bed after taking the dogs out and crashed.

Tuesday 6/30, Brizo pooped and peed while we were out for our walks, yay!! I know it's like a kid, but seriously, this is so exciting. She also peed in the backyard again in the evening. Such a relief. After work on the drive home she puked three times, which was great, and was basically the medication I had given her earlier that morning. Gross and weird. At home I cleaned things up then took Castor up the hill to the park for a nice mile walk and some alone time. Talked to Sos who knew the news about Court now but I pretended I didn't know even though she knew I did. Back down and fed the pups and tried to give Brizo her meds, but it didn't work and I ended up frustrated. I ate some more leftovers and Eric redhead had written about the baby and something cryptic about likening me...forever. And then something about even 10 months down the road. Don't know. I called him but he didn't answer, so I took Castor out and when I got back in I had missed his call and voicemail and a 'poke' text from LPC. When it rains it pours. I barricaded Brizo then went over to K's because Kyle is leaving Wednesday for Berlin, again, and we were supposed to have a little goodbye thing. Ky wasn't there so we gossiped about LPC and Eric and we wrote "*tickles*" to LPC and we both died waiting for a response. Only got 'poke poke' back. We were disappointed in his creativity. Eric called AGAIN so we chatted for a minute then I told him I'd call him on my way home. Called Josh to invite them over to Plain for the weekend. Continued gossiping and found a hot Serbian, Alex, on facebook that's friends with one of K's coworkers. It was funny. We talked about her and A and how she doesn't know what's going on there. We ate blueberries and lemon cookie thins, yum! I left at 10 and called Eric and told him to come home too. I called other Eric but no answer. At home I took Castor out and B was very excited and went to the bathroom when I took them both out back. Got ready for bed and showered and Eric came home. Went to sleep after talking for a long time in bed; 11:30.

Monday 6/29, Brizo's first day at work. Peggy wasn't supposed to be in but she was for part of the day and got to meet B. On our morning walk Brizo peed which elated me and later in the day she peed again and even when we got home she peed again outside in the backyard. It was an extremely good day. She seems to all of a sudden have caught on to what I want her to do. Work went well with her and home we went afterward. Alix was coming over and I had talked to Monique to set a time for later in the evening to see the house and that a backup offer was currently pending and might not go through so I had a chance of getting it if I ended up liking it. Eric and I tried to help Alix find a job and we sat and talked in the living room. I had leftovers for dinner then Monique called to meet her so we all loaded up and went over. I really loved the house and all the potential it has. It's a U shape with a great courtyard in the back and nice yard for the dogs. It's so light I love it. Anyway, I left telling Monique I would call Dad and let her know about potentially putting in an offer and down payment and all that. At home I called Dad and he ended up calling me back later and said he could give me the 20% and then we looked at it together online over the phone and I told them all about it. They thought it was a great idea and are behind me 100%, which at first I was nervous that they weren't. Tried to get a hold of Jen but unsuccessful so I sent her an email and two voicemails. The rest of the night was spent looking at the house some more online and laying in bed. Eric and I finally got down to business and had a nice time. Went to bed tired but thinking about the house.

Sunday 6/28, I got up and Eric was already up and I had some breakfast then sat down on the couch and Eric went to go to REI and take Castor for a walk while I stayed home with Brizo and we fell asleep on the couch and she curled up in my nook, and there we slept for a while. Eric got home and I knew I needed to get a move on. I thought Mom was going to look at open houses with me, but she bailed to go to the Sounders game so I got ready and took off with Castor by myself. I went to see the one I've been looking at for a while by Robinswood, and the upstairs was ok, but the downstairs felt disjointed and needs work. The realtor was super nice and I stayed there for a good 45 minutes chatting it up with her about rescue dogs, Ginger's, adoption, housing market, etc. I finally left but I think she really thought I was interested, but I didn't love it. I took Castor to the park and it was empty. No one at the dog corral and didn't see anyone the whole time we were there. Walked him down and around the pond then back up. We stopped at another open house on the way home and I liked the property of this one more but again, house needs a lot of work and the basement feels unusable even though the ceilings are like 12 feet high. Home we went and I managed to convince Eric to help me get my bookshelves put back into place so he did that and I started organizing briefly before having to leave for Brizo's doctor appt. She has an infection in her ears and possibly some where else so antibotics were given and luckily I already have all the ear stuff from Castor. Everything else looked good but she needs booster shots in a week. I got her a new bed and some pee pads and waited for her checkup to be done. We went home and Eric was making dinner and C&S weren't there yet. We had wrapped the present earlier in the day and laughed because we put the bow on and it was all janky. Hilarious! We crack ourselves up. They arrived and we talked and ate and played with Brizo and watched AFV. I needed to go to the store so Chrystol went with me and we picked out cookies for dessert (Brussels) and I got the rest of my groceries and we waited forever in line because the two guys were speaking Russian with each other. Chrystol occupied herself by reading the tabloids. Back home we busted out the cookies and I cleaned the kitchen a bit then C&S took off for home and I took Castor out. We got ready for bed and I told Eric I couldn't stop thinking about that Lochmoor house so I was going to call Monique in the morning to find out about it. To sleep by 11 or so.

Saturday 6/27, Eric got up earlier than me, but I was up and at em early too. Eric took charge of the garage and made two trips to the dump and one to goodwill so now my garage looks much better. I cleaned bathrooms, did laundry, changed sheets and did a general cleanup. I wanted to go drive that car, but was talked out of it by Eric and if I'm serious about buying a house I need to not have that debt anyway. Sos called and asked if she could come over and meet Brizo so I took Castor out quickly and she arrived shortly after. We sat in the living room talking about the dog and about some things at home. Eric got back and we all chatted for a bit then she took off. We both got dressed and Eric made some delicious little soft tacos with green peppers and onion and brought them to me in the living room. We went out to go see an open house and though it was cute, it needed too much work that I'm not interested in and it's not any bigger than my current place. We went to the park down the street with the pups and walked around and let them off leash in a big field and they both seemed to enjoy it. It was cute. We went home and I think I fell in and out of sleep on the couch. When I woke up Eric was leaving to go get groceries to make a dish for Josh's bday event later that night. I got up and I took Brizo out and she peed on the neighbors patio and I was so elated I praised and petted her forever. Progress slowly. Eric got back and was making a phylo, asparagus and potato dish. We hung while that finished and I did some things around the house and soon Jake and Sos arrived and off we went to W. Seattle. We were the first to arrive and we started getting the food set up and snacking. Josh had a friend from home, Mike I think, and he seemed nice. We all sat around eating fried rice, chips, fallafal that Sos made, short ribs, kielbasa and some delicious meat Jake grilled. I was stuffed. We sat around talking and Kaya brought me into her room and wanted me to play with her. After dinner Tim wanted something sweet so I looked up Bakery Nouveau and him, K and me took off to find it. Tim bought 6 cookies for all of us to share, but first we had to stop at the store to get wine and couldn't find the one Lena wanted so some random motorcycle looking guy said a certain one was good. He said if it wasn't good that I couldn't blame him cause I didn't know his name, so I playfully referred to him as "Ken" and he seemed to like that. We bought the wine and took off back to the house. K left almost immediately and Rock band was being set up. I was the only one who didn't join in, but it was fun watching. Everyone got into it and Eric was the best singer. He sang "Creep" and it killed it for me. Mike loved it when Eric would sing and by the end we were all singing along with SP's "Today" so that was fun. We all left around midnight and couldn't believe we'd been rocking it for two and a half hours. Drove home trying to convince Jake that he'd have fun if he came to Plain, but I don't know, for some reason he seems to not want to go. They left when we got there and Eric and I stayed up for a little bit and eventually went to sleep.

Friday 6/26, Left work early again and went home to find an excited Brizo. I hung at home a bit and did some stuff around the house then Eric got there and we talked then I asked him if he wanted to go up the hill and walk the dogs. We went up and left Brizo off leash for most of it because she does better without and we just wanted to enjoy walking and not be in training mode. We did one lap around and she was sniffing and into being outside more than prior trips. On our second walk around she started acting all weird and making circles and wouldn't come to us and she squatted and pooped and it made my day. I praised her and petted / itched her for a good two minutes telling her how good she was then breathed a sign of relief and said that it literally made my day. Eric thanked her for taking the pressure off and that now he'd be able to enjoy his night because I'd be in a better mood. It was so exciting, the first time she willingly eliminated outside. Yay! We finished our walk and went home where we ate leftovers in the kitchen then Eric called on the Audi for me and got some more details and I wanted to go drive it the next day. It’s such a good deal and exactly what I want (manual, white, tan interior, way low miles). We got ready to go out for Ky's going away thing at Chapel. We left and picked K up at her place and walked over. Ky and about 4 friends were there and they were out on the patio so we sat down and talked and Eric ordered a cheese plate and K and I just had water. Didn't really get to talk to Ky, and didn't really talk to the other people, but the three of us had fun chatting and eating. We stayed for an hour and a half or so, but K had to run the half RnR marathon in the morning and I didn't want to leave the dogs at home by themselves for too long so we said our goodbyes and made plans to meet up on Tuesday. K and I checked out the hot bartender as Eric was paying and she made a dirty joke, but I don't remember it now. Walked back to her place, then to the car and went home. I think we pretty much went to bed after Eric took Castor out and I got Brizo all set up upstairs.

Thursday 6/25, Woke up with no messes to clean up. Got off work early again, no messes to clean up there either. She was acting a little weird and standoffish when I got home and was sitting on the stair case. Odd. We went to Pogacha for happy hour and Sos called to say Josh had called her and invited her and Jake for a bday party on Saturday so I kept that in the back of my mind for the weekend. We ordered too much food and ate a ton but also brought a lot home. We hung out when we got home then Eric went to bed early and Alix called and was having a hard time with the job / no car situation and Mom and Dad's lack of interest in helping her. Eric went downstairs because I was being loud so I went down and got him after I hung up. We talked about solutions because then he was awake and told me to invite her over the next night for dinner. We finally went to sleep.

Wednesday 6/24, Apparently she pooped in the night and Eric cleaned it up. She was so excited he was there she was following him up and down the stairs and all wound up. He blocked her upstairs and left. She came over by my side of the bed and I put my hand down and pet her as I tried to fall back asleep. She just stood there wanting more pets, it was so sweet. It's amazing how quickly the affection has come. She licked my hand after I stopped. Eventually I fell back asleep and when my alarm went off she was up too. I took her down right away and sat outside with her and put her on her leash and let Castor out, all to no avail. I put her back in the kitchen and watched her, but nothing. I was late getting out of the house but no messes to clean up. Eric was at my house because he had to do some stuff at BC and I had asked him to take out some meat when I talked to him. He also exclaimed, “She knows how to go up the stairs! She wouldn’t stop following me!” like I didn’t know, because he’d gotten home so late. When I got home Brizo was so excited and had been up on the bed with Eric and I could feel her little heart beating like crazy. I asked Eric if he minded if I took Castor up to give him a proper walk since he hadn't had one after work in a while, so I put my shoes on and off we went, just the two of us. Susan called on my way up and I talked to her almost the entire time. I got an update on her and M and told her about Brizo and it made the time fly. We did a mile and a half and Castor seemed content. Kass had called while I was talking to Susan so I called her after we hung up and she was just leaving work with Etta and I told her about Brizo and a little about her story and she can't wait to meet her. I hung up with her as we got home and Eric was making dinner: steak with lots of veggies. It was all very good, but I felt bad because Eric felt so awful. I did a lot of cleaning up in the kitchen and eventually we went upstairs where I asked him if there was more wrong and he said no, just that he was tired and felt shitty. He fell asleep before the end of IAC, but totally called Lou Diamond Phillips winning. Took Castor out one more time and Brizo peed when I took him out, luckily on a pee pad. Went to bed, I was so tired.

Tuesday 6/23, I was getting dressed quickly to then take her downstairs and she started to pee on one of the mats so I scooped her up and took her outside but unfortunately after sitting there forever she didn't pee and just wanted to go back inside. I finished getting ready and took her out two more times. I went up to quickly brush my teeth and when I came back down she had pooped in the dining room. Frustrating. She had been outside three times and the minute I'm not with her she does it. Cleaned it up and off to work. I got off work early and went home and she was so excited she followed me from one end of the house to the next and jumped on the backs of my legs, it was so funny. She used two pee pads so I knew it would be a while before she'd go again since she only seems to go twice a day. I did some stuff while waiting for Eric to get there and he pretty much took off as soon as I got there so I left too. We went up to Robinswood and I got her to understand the concept of a leash a little better and she followed very well. We sat on a bench and then on the grass and soon K texted that she was on her way over so we walked back to the car. She got sick on the way home and I think it's because of that carrier so she won't be riding in it anymore or I'll have to figure something else out. I cleaned that up when we got home then she threw up again, I think from the jostling or something. K arrived and we ate chips and talked about the dogs in the kitchen. I had my eye on her like a hawk to get her outside to use the bathroom but surprise surprise she never did. We ate salad and drank Fresca and ate a little enchilada and then had licorice while sitting on the couch telling stories. The dogs were both really good and sat nicely while we visited. K took off a little after 8 and I took both dogs out and no luck with her. I cleaned up then sat on the floor with them and watched tv. Brizo actually came to me and stayed when I pet her. I brushed Castor for a little bit then at 9:40 decided to take him out and barricaded her in the kitchen while I was out for 5 minutes. Sure as shit when I got back in she had peed on the mat by the door. For heaven's sake. I was a little frustrated but threw the rug in the wash and went up to get ready for bed. She climbed the stairs after me and was I delighted. I climbed into bed and played on my computer and watched the news for a little bit then turned in and both pups were sawing logs.

Monday 6/22, Woke up to no accidents. Got dressed and took her downstairs and she started to squat on the kitchen floor again so I scooped her up and put her outside and left her out there for a minute and soon enough she squatted and peed and I kept telling her "good potty" and as soon as she was done I opened the door and she bounded in. Things were looking up. I corralled her in the kitchen for the day and put pee pads all over and her little bed and off to work. I got home a little early from work but Eric beat me and cleaned up the poop but no pee. We went to the pet store and got a little carrier for her and a harness and a pillow and toy and I got a screaming deal because the girl likes me. We went up to the park and did one time around and she was exploring a little in the grass and on the trail, but mostly Eric carried her. When we got home she started to squat again in the kitchen so Eric went outside with her and soon enough she went out there again and we gave her lots of praise and rewarded her by coming inside right away. Eric got to work on making enchiladas, which he's never made AND didn't even use a recipe, and they were DELICIOUS! Like the best ever. But while he was doing that and Brizo was glued to him in the kitchen I went upstairs to put clothes away and vacuum and clean the toilets. Fun! Dinner was ready and we sat in the living room and ate while watched IAC, but only half watched because I was cleaning the kitchen up. We had ice cream. Getting ready for bed upstairs and Brizo pooped on the floor so I put all my bathroom rugs on the floor so if she had an accident at least she'd pee on them and not the new carpet. We went to bed and I slept a little better than the previous night and she slept through the night again, yay!

Sunday 6/21, We woke up around 8:30 and I needed to get gas and wanted to take Castor for a walk. I took off with him so Eric could wash his car because he wanted to take me to breakfast at 14 Carrot. After I got gas I realized Castor had a dr appointment and needed to be dropped off at 9:30 so I parked and we walked on the little trails along 56th for 40 minutes then I took him over and got him checked in and off I went. At home I started getting ready and my phone rang and it was a woman, Patty, who had seen my application and had gotten two rat terriers earlier the night before from a puppy mill bust and wanted to know if I was interested. I was, so she did kind of a phone interview and it sounded like the girl puppy and her little bf were in pretty bad shape and stressed. I got off the phone and finished getting ready and we set out for Eastlake to meet S&C at 14 Carrot. Sos called while we were parking and was asking Eric if he could watch the pups at the end of July and I was listening to that then there was a big noise at my window and Chrystol had thrown herself on it and scared me. Eric got off the phone and we started chit chatting and I told them about the dog and soon we were seated at the best seat in the house (front window). We ordered and talked and ate when the food came. Eric bought me breakfast, yay! Soon we were on our way to the Ballard Market after picking S&C up at their house. We parked and walked over talking about how Brandon is interviewing with the MI police dept to become a cop, which is hilarious. We strolled through and ducked into a few shops then over to one of Eric's friend's stands and he makes hilarious shirts and I bought a wife beater with a bear-shark on it. He gave me a deal too. We walked over to All the Best so I could get a collar and leash for my potential new dog. We looked at all the nice things then needed to get going and headed over and found the place. Ginger was there and Patty introduced me to the pup and she'd just had a litter two months prior and was still a bit overweight from the experience and her and her little bf were so scared and cowering under a bench in the backyard. It was so sad. There was no way I could leave her so I told them I'd take her and wrote a check. I talked to Ginger a bit and she said they'd adopted out 6 dogs the day before at the event and asked me why I wanted a rat terrier and not a fox terrier. Eric and I took off to go get a tag made for her at Petco and soon were back to pick her up. Patty gave me some diapers and wished me good luck. I felt terrible leaving the little boy behind. We wrapped her in Eric's sweatshirt and I held her in my lap as we drove over to Goodwill to show S&C. They thought she was cute then we took off for home and she perked up a little with the window down. We went to QFC and All the Best so I could check on food for her and pee pads. Gail was so helpful and gave me some tips and off we went to pick up Castor from the dr. Luckily everything checked out except he's got another lump that I need to keep my eye on, sad. Home we went finally and we put Brizo down and she gravitated toward Eric's sweatshirt and followed us around for the most part in the house; except the stairs, she doesn't know what they are. We hung for a couple hours then it was time for me to go to Mom's for Father's Day so I left Eric in charge and took the delicious salad he made and headed over. I arrived first and showed pictures of her. I went up to talk to Alix after E&E arrived because it's always so awkward with them. Downstairs we waited for Josh and Amy and they came shortly after and dinner was served up. I mostly talked to Alix and we sat in the family room and ate. We had dessert and I was eager to get out of there and so was Grandma so I took her home and gave Toto his meds and took off for home. We relaxed when I got back and as I was doing some stuff in the kitchen she squatted and peed for the first time. I cleaned it up and noted that she at least did it in the kitchen. We went up and prepped for bed and I showered. I didn't want to leave her by herself overnight but I also didn't want her to pee all over so we put pee pad all around her bed and tucked her in and hoped for the best. I slept like shit.

Saturday 6/20, Eric came in at like 1 or something so I let him sleep until 9 then woke him up by taking a picture of him because he had white fuzz on his beard. He had taken a benadryl before bed so he was super out of it, but I had lots to get done so I was persistent and got him up. We dressed and headed to Home Depot to find a storage organizer for the garage, which ended up being a 6' long steel looking thing. We went home and I started moving stuff around and recycling and Eric went back to pick the thing up. We busted ass because we had to leave by 11 or so and ended up getting a lot done, and as much as we could without getting the dump and Goodwill stuff out of the way. It was about 11:15 when we finished so we took off for Federal Way to this adopt event, but first we had lunch at Taco Time. I went into B&N and got Kaya a couple books for her birthday then over to Petco where I met Ginger but noticed the lack of Boogie. She showed me some fox terriers but that's not what I want, plus they were 2 and boys and I wanted an older dog and a girl so I told her I'd keep checking the site and we took off for home, with a stop at the bank. We went home and dropped Castor off and we were going to go to the farmer's market but realized it was almost over so we went to Costco instead to get movie tickets and I got a bunch of fruit too. Plus, their rotisserie chicken salad is amazing, sooo good. We went home and Eric offered to wash my car, inside and out, and I took a nap after looking at some more dogs online. He woke me up and I got ready because we needed to roll out for Kaya's birthday party. We found Josh and Lena's place fine and were the first ones there. We talked and watched Kaya paint on the sidewalk and play golf. Hakim and Carmen showed up and Kay-See so the party was growing, then lastly Sos and Jake. I had a hot dog then K and I shared a hamburger. Eric and I left at 7:15 for the Eastside to go see Hangover. We laughed all the way through that, of course and talked about it all the way home. I took Castor out when we got home and we watched tv for a little bit then went to bed.

Friday 6/19, Ginger emailed me that she didn’t know if Boogie was still available but to come to some pet event the next day. I emailed her back that I would be at the event and started formulating plans in my head for the weekend. Some work colleagues came over after work so I stayed until 7:15 them headed home with Castor because he was bored and hungry. I talked to Mom and wished her a happy birthday and talked about her day. I wasn't really hungry so I ate a bowl of cereal and called it good. I talked to Eric who was with S&C and told him I had a bunch of info to tell him and to call me, but he never did so I had to tell him in the morning. I think I just watched tv and went to bed at 11.

Thursday 6/18, I asked Peggy about having another dog and she said it was fine so I had the go ahead to turn in my app and all the required documents and items. I rushed home and finished it and talked to Jake to confirm their address then sent it off. I called Eric several times with no answer so finally Castor and I went up the hill for his walk and we did two miles and Eric finally called. I asked him if he was in the ER again since that's the only time he doesn't answer his phone. We got home a little after 7 and Eric arrived shortly after that and off we went to the store so I could get some stuff and he got supplies for dinner. Same as the pork chop night, except mashed potatoes and a different marinade with chicken. I was excited. We got home right at 8 and watched IAC but Eric watched baseball upstairs for the second half of it. Went upstairs and typed out some more of Belize and Eric finally came up at 10:30 or so and climbed into bed and I was so tired I started going to sleep but my neck still hurt from earlier so Eric got up and got some ibuprofen out of my purse. Asleep I went.

Wednesday 6/17, Mom called while I was at work and asked if I wanted a bunch of furniture so when I got home I immediately thought about how I was going to clean out and organize my garage. Susan called while Eric and I were in the midst and wanted to know if we wanted her and Michael to bring over some Chinese and hang out - yes please! We continued taking some stuff out then ended up upstairs cleaning up there a bit until they arrived. They brought three delicious dishes and we gathered around the dining room table and had a nice meal and talked about their trip to SF and my upcoming dog adoption and how to broach it with Peggy. We moved to the living room and watched some WoF and continued talking until after Jeopardy started and traffic died down so off they went. Eric and I watched our terrible show and later I walked Castor up to the fire station since he didn't get an after-work walk. We went upstairs to go to bed and I updated my Belize blog a little; it's taking me forever to get it all typed out.

Tuesday 6/16, Eric just beat me home and we sat in the living room talking for a while about living arrangements and the possibility of him moving in if I buy a new house and the pros and cons of it all. Castor was antsy so we took off for Robinswood and took him to the little corral. I talked to Sos and Jake and told them about Plain and they said they might be in for next weekend. We took Castor down to the dog corral and there was a woman with a rat terrier and she gave me some info on him and wished me luck. Some other dogs came and Castor kind of followed him around and kicked his feet up. We left after a while and drove around looking for the houses for sale and eventually home. Eric made a turkey, pesto, pasta concoction while I was upstairs cleaning house like a crazy woman. I got a lot of stuff put away though and that felt good. Dinner was very good and we watched IAC then upstairs where Eric was falling asleep because he took a Benadryl for his allergies.

Monday 6/15, Eric came over and we decided to go to the park to take Castor for a walk and when we got up there I was talking about getting a small dog because then I wouldn't have to worry about getting a bigger car for now. As we were discussing it this woman with two small dogs came over and the tiny one was all over Castor and she told me she got him through Ginger's Pet Rescue and told me their back-story and thanked me for adopting and not buying Castor. Her little dog was hilarious and digging and ripping plants out of the ground and chewing on the dead sticks on a bush and rooted out a batting glove out of a bush. He was hilarious! She told me about another park then we said bye. We let Castor run loose on the baseball field then walked around a couple times and back up on the field and to the car. We drove into Newcastle and stopped at the store for spinach and pork chops and chips. At home I noticed the under priced house was off the market while Eric made a delicious dinner of pork chops on a bed of fried potatoes and spinach, soo good. We watched I'm a Celebrity and I looked at dogs online and picked one out that I want. We'll see...

Sunday 6/14, I was awoken by Eric who brought me breakfast in bed, yay! Pancakes, two enormous ones. I ate most of them but let Eric finish them off. We talked for a long time and I told him I felt disconnected from our relationship and he was really surprised and knew that I was upset the night before about everything but didn't want to deal with it. We worked it all out and he apologized and we just laid in bed talking forever. I finally got up at 11 because I needed to get ready to go to the Seattle Wine Awards. I was out the door a little after noon and told Eric I'd call him on my way home. I went to K's and picked her up and we drove down and found a parking spot a couple blocks away. We were a half hour early and were put right to work up at the video and media center. We checked in the wineries and got them squared away to each do their video. It was mayhem for a while but settled down then got crazy again as people showed up for their videos. K saw her dreamboat, D*n O'Neil or whoever and he was with Peggy so then Peggy introduces her and takes all these pictures with her and R*n, and the next day R*n posted a picture of K and D*n on his twitter page. K was dying. Anyway, he kept coming in and chatting with us and hanging out and was giving us his schedule for his spin class and I told him I don't exercise, especially all the way from Bellevue to Seattle. Later he told me he didn't like my attitude and called me "Bellevue". Heh. I also made fun of him when him and K were talking about the St. Patty's Day Dash and I was all "Don't you know who I am?" mockingly. It was funny, and he was a good sport. K and each got some food and got to mingle for a little bit and check out the cute vintners. Everyone knew who we were from the video room so when we were out there everyone was like "Hey!" or "Good to see you're done!" or "Hey girl!" it was funny. We got more food. Then Christopher brought us more cookies and I ate like 3 1/2. Craig came and sat with us and would chat us up and when Peggy came in he told her it made him sick watching all the guys flirt with us. I laughed. Things started winding down at 6 so we kind of went out to hang out then decided to take off. Said bye to D*n again and Peg and Christopher and walked back to the car with K's broken heel. I dropped her off and called Eric, stopped at the store on the way home. Glad to be home, stripped down and put on comfy clothes. Talked Eric into watching Garden State and he thought it was ok, but didn't like that it was a romantic comedy. We went to bed a little after 11.

Saturday 6/13, I woke up semi early and Eric got up first then I met him downstairs and asked if he wanted to go to the bakery so we loaded up the car and took off. I got a brioche and turnover and both were delicious. We drove by a house I was interested in and it's in a great neighborhood and way under priced. We wound our way over to Robinswood and took Castor to the dog corral and he was glad to be the only dog in the ring and Eric played fetch with him a few times and he loved it. It was a nice sunny day and Castor laid in the shade. We drove home and I asked Eric if he wanted to go with me to run a few errands and he didn't and instead wanted to go hang out with C&S and I was irritated by that, but whatever, I knew I needed to get over it. He left and I went down to pick up my print at the framer's and it looked good. I went to Loehmann's and tried some things on but didn't buy anything. Back home where I had a little lunch and ended up being lazy for a while, including watching Sarah Marshall and falling asleep half way through. After that was over I took Castor out to lay on the grass and I brushed him and he wiggled his way down the hill. I called Kay-See to see if she still wanted to hike, but she didn't so we planned to see a movie instead. I relaxed some more and called Eric to see if he wanted to go but he knew C&S wouldn't want to see it so he said no. This irritated me too, especially since I know he wants to see it. I took Castor up the hill for a walk then back home and K showed up. We were both hungry so we went to Chipotle and K got her meal for free and we sat outside talking about her boy escapades for the week. We booked over to the theatre and I got in for free because of my coupon and we found decent seats. The movie (Hangover) was hilarious and we laughed through the whole thing. We talked about it all the way home and she left when we got there. I took Castor out and I knew Eric was there. I got ready for bed and we talked a little but I was pissed and didn't want to go into it so I told him we could talk about it the next day. I told him he missed a good movie.

Friday 6/12, Eric was home when I got there and seemed to be in a good mood earlier when I talked to him on the phone but his mood seemed to have nosedived. He vented about school and work and living situation and I listened and occasionally provided my two cents. It was a bit of a downer and I was already tired so I was kind of blah. Big Josh invited me over to hang out with him and Hakim and Carmen but I was exhausted. Eric wanted to go over to C&S' so he took off shortly after and I felt fairly melon collie. I watched Tudors and finally finished Season 2 then was feeling like I should exercise Castor a bit so we went up to the park and walked around and a few people told me they'd seen coyotes and sure as shit I'd walked right by one and when I turned the corner and looked back there was one scampering through the tall grass. Castor has a terrible nose! I texted Eric and walked Castor up by the ball field and back to the car. I stayed up fairly late and played online and watched tv I think. I woke up around 1 and Eric still wasn't home which made me wonder if he was even going to come home, but eventually he did.

Thursday 6/11, I rushed to get home because I was supposed to meet LPC at Seward Park at 6. I showered and got ready and asked Eric if I was one of his exes if he would be sorry he broke up with me once he saw me. He said yes and that I always look good. He had brought a bunch of stuff for dinner so I grabbed some bread and gave him a kiss goodbye and hit the road. Traffic was awful and I ended up being 20 minutes late. Whoops. I saw him practicing tricks with Murray and announced my arrival. Murray was hyper and jumping all over; he's very energetic! We hugged and started walking, and pretty much talked about our dogs the whole time. We discussed briefly drive-ins and gas station fare, but otherwise not entirely thrilling conversation. We walked the loop and finished by 7:40 or so. We talked for a while by our cars and hugged bye and I headed home, called Eric on the way. LPC texted me asking me to guess who was moaning and that he only said because it’s in bad taste. Eric had made lamb and turkey meatballs and I had some when I returned. I think we watched tv for a while then I left for Neighbours at 10:30 to meet Susan at our secret spot. We showed up at pretty much the same time and walked over to find a hilarious barricade for all the Thursday night traffic they were expecting. They had done some more remodeling and the side stage on the west side was gone and new stairs by the back bar. We went upstairs right away to see who was there and spotted mostly the bald, black-shirt wearing guys and Polio girl. We went down to dance at our old spot and Von Trapp surprisingly played almost all good songs throughout the night. A Cure song came on so we decided to get some water and I went to my favorite bartender bf and he totally remembered my name and asked where I've been. I couldn't remember his name, but now I know it's Mike, not Joe like Susan thought it was. That's a different bartender! He said he knew it would be a good night because I was there. Ooh. Back on the floor we noticed two hot hat-wearing boys, who couldn't have been more than 21. One blonde, one brunette. The blonde had a lip ring which I liked and I shot him sideways glances all evening but didn't really get anything back. They danced low to the floor so they were usually hard to spot. Susan's lurker bf was there and all the trannies, including Margo, and Blondie Bear dancing up on the side stage. We had a good time dancing and some girl and gay guy asked if we would come up on the stage with them and dance in a conga line or something. We didn't. A little before 1 we decided to take off as we were both tired and felt we'd had a pretty good run. Back to our cars and home where I found Eric asleep and quickly got ready for bed myself.

Wednesday 6/10, Eric came over after work and he asked me if there was anything I wanted to do so I thought we could go to the mall and see if I could find that mascara. We went to Sephora but they didn't have brown then we went to Nordstrom and looked at shoes and tried some on and I almost got some blue espadrilles but thought better of it. We walked around and stopped at Specialties where I found out the wheat germ cookies are the worst for you, shocker! We left and went to the park and walked around with Castor a couple times and admired the gardens and Eric told me all the crazy stuff they do there just by looking. We went home and watched I'm a Celebrity and ate leftovers. We probably went to bed after that.

Tuesday 6/9, Emailed a bit with LPC deciding to role play at the park. I'm not sure if he hasn't checked my facebook status but I'm in a relationship and he's talking like he doesn't realize that. Maybe it's part of the role playing and he's starting early. Eric texted saying the baby will be here tonight or tomorrow. After work I talked to Sos who said she would come and Eric was at home and we ate some hummus. I talked Eric into going for a walk so we went up the hill and walked around for a while talking about work and parks and the new program he wants to enroll in. At home I ate some hummus and took a shower and got ready for our UPS reunion night. Sos was there at 7:30 and we took off talking about relationships on our way to pick up Kay-See. Grabbed her, found parking easily and went into Palace at the same time Hakim and Carmen were walking up. JP showed up shortly after then Big Josh and his friend Tim, I think, and we waited in the bar for our table. It took a while and to comp us they gave us two lavender and chevre fondues that were really good. I sat at the far end with Josh, Tim, K and Sos and JP would occasionally chime in on our convo. Usually something smartass, but who would have it any other way? There was a couple going at it in front of the restaurant and we were all enthralled and Hakim went out after they came back in and pretended to be making out with someone. Josh was making me laugh talking about how the guy was telling her he liked her belt because it was the only way she looked like she had hips and that she was a tree trunk. We had a huge table for the 10 of us and our volume was probably over the top but we had fun. K and I had some of JP's asparagus and we shared our dinner with each other. We were there for a long time, until like 11, and eventually started rolling out. Sos and I said our goodbyes and off we went talking about dinner all the way back to my house. Eric was asleep when I got there and I let Castor out the back and got ready for bed and to sleep.

Monday 6/8, Emailed with LPC about dog walk and catch up - scheduled for Thursday. Talked to Eric and joked that I'd roped him into going to dinner with AL and Grandma and he was like "You got me!" but I didn't realize he thought I was serious. I left work at 2:30 to go sign closing docs and that took 45 minutes or so then I was out of there to go to Grandma's. Her and AL were both on phone calls but hung up when I got there. I wished Grandma a happy 94th and we discussed Grandma going to Hawaii in September. We were off to All the Best for some DGP for Toto and some other treats then to Maggiano's because Grandma loves Italian. We were there early and started right in with bread then an enormous pupu platter and some lemonades. I saw Andrew and called him over and we chatted for a second and told me Sam is moving to the East Coast in two months then he said he'd see me later. AL and I shared gnocchi and Grandma got the half order of spaghetti and it was still enormous and she didn't even put a dent in it. We ordered dessert and it was a lemon pie with blueberry compote and it was really good and it was on the house for Grandma's birthday. Andrew came over and talked to me again and said he was happy for Susan then AL asked him if he used to be her sweetheart and he said yes, but that it was a long story. We packed everything up, and there was a ton of it, and headed out. Everyone was so nice and the sous chef came out and asked how our meal was then the manager so we had all kinds of attention. We stopped at Walgreen's on the way back and then back to Grandma's where I said my byes and called Eric on the way home. He was there waiting for dinner and apparently he was actually going to come which is why he texted me halfway through dinner asking me what the deal was. I felt bad because he'd showered and gotten ready but I didn't think he really wanted to go. He still got to eat a lot of leftovers and we watched that damn I'm a Celebrity before going up and talking for a while in bed. Lights out a while around 11.

Sunday 6/7, Up around 8 and Eric was feeling frisky and was like, I had to sleep on this bump all night and didn't sleep very well so I was like "What bump" and went to feel and he grabbed my hand and put it in a secret place that made me laugh and push him in the chest. We messed around for a while and finally showered off and got ready. I went and got gas and a card at PCC then home to grab Castor and out the door to brunch for Grandma's birthday. I was first there so I walked Castor around the parking lot and business park behind Newport Bay. Everyone else arrived and they changed everything so it wasn't the same and that was kind of disappointing. Brunch was still fine and my frittata was very good and Grandma shared her bacon with me. After brunch we said bye and I told AL we could go to dinner the next night for Grandma's birthday. I took Castor to Bellevue park and we walked around a mile and a half then home so he could have some water. I stripped down and I think I watched Tudors and hung out and maybe tried to take a nap. It was a lazy day. I talked to Courtney for a long time and she told me something secret, but big but I have to wait a month or so to find out for sure. Everything with her and Pat seems to be good and she's still talking about coming up to visit in August, yay! I talked to Sos next and I told her about dinner on Tuesday with the other UPS peeps so she said she'd check with Jake. I tried to pull myself out of laziness so I took Castor up to Robinswood and we walked around and explored some trails and it was really nice out then we drove around looking at some nearby neighborhoods. I went to the store and picked up groceries then home and that's when I watched Tudors and Eric came home. He made some fajitas and I had one even though I wasn't hungry and had had moo shu for dinner. We flipped through the channels but nothing much on. I started typing out my Belize blog and we went to bed not much later.

Saturday 6/6, Aubs called at 8:30 asking about ticket vendors and the trustworthiness of various outlets and I'm glad she called because I needed to get up and going. I got my workout gear on and headed up to the park at the top of the hill and did two times around with Castor then up to the meadow where I let him run around off leash and down the trail and back out for one more time around. Went to the vet and picked up his meds and asked about him getting sick and they told me meds have a side effect that makes for an upset stomach. Would have been nice to know beforehand. Stopped at PCC for milk and returned art portfolio then home. Ate breakfast and had more net problems and called Aubs to check AL's flight and it had just landed so I hit the road. Picked her up and since I wasn't in a gigantic hurry to get home we stopped at a place by Ikea to get a mani for her and pedi for me. It was really nice and my toes look infinitely better; Chels would be so proud. We went to MI and stopped at the store so AL wouldn't have to do it later then I walked her up to Grandma's and hung out for a few minutes and headed home to see Eric. I was tired and hungry and he offered to take me out to lunch so we went to Cascade Garden and I got moo shu pork, which was very good. We went home and I was still feeling exhausted so I pretty much crashed out for three hours. Called K and told her I'd be coming out for the night's events. I started getting ready an hour later and did my smoky eyes and hit the road by 7:45 to K's. I was the first to arrive so I got to park in the garage and went up and we were both hungry so she made a mini pizza for us to share then got out nuts and dried fruit and chocolate chips. I ate too much, but what else is new? Mandy showed up then Beth and we had girl talk for an hour or so then took off for Knee Sock Society or Factory or something and it's where the old pizza place used to be and is somewhat exclusive or something. We had to wait outside while the guy figured out a table for us. We had to sit at two separate ones but that was ok. I told K what I'd found on the net the night before and she was exploring all the possible scenarios then I told her about LPC and an impending "Karrah date" for reminiscing and dog walking. I ordered some fingerling potato fries that were good with coriander ketchup. I loved the painting on the wall which showed an angel and man like french kissing. I took a sneaky picture of it (no cameras allowed). We were moved to the lounge where we had more girl talk and gabbed about our worst kissers and sleeping partners though I really only had stories for the former. That was fun and we were laughing hysterically. At 5 to midnight we decided to scrap dancing because K had allergies and it was late so we paid and hit the road back. Got my stuff up at K's then down to the car and home where I found Eric still awake. We talked and watched tv, but mostly talked for a long time and went to bed by 2 maybe?

Friday 6/5, It was much cooler so Castor got all his walks in, yay! I got off work early and to celebrate we went to the park and walked around for a while and it felt good to exercise and also to have Castor getting some exercise. At home I watched some Tudors and sat down and read all the correspondence between me and LPC up to the point where he dumped me and I was in shock reading a lot of it because some of it was, not filthy, but not G-rated either. I kept putting my hand over my face and groaning in mortification over some of it. Reading it all over again made his light shine a little less brightly, which is a good thing. I watched the Toto "Africa" video over and over and texted him that it reminded me of him. He was karaoke-ing. I found some interesting / hilarious stuff in my computer that I made a mental note to tell Kay-See. I had to look up on wikipedia what one of the terms meant and I was slightly shocked. I stayed up until 1 listening to music and looking at stuff online and didn't want to go to bed, but finally did.

Thursday 6/4, It was another scorcher with the temperatures hitting 90+. Yikes. No walks for Castor during the day. I read all my entries on this thing from the time I was seeing LPC and my affinity for him died a little as I relived the brush offs and lame way he dumped me. Oh well. At home I relaxed and looked at stuff online for a minute then the f-ing internet went out. I went up and tried to fix it multiple times with no success. I laid on the floor reading some back issues of Paste and eventually gave up and took Castor out. I made his dinner and looked over my loan documents and determined I can't afford it and need to look at something else. I was still really irritated about the net and finally just yanked the tv cable and plugged it into the modem. I talked to Eric and vented and was in a bad mood, for which I feel bad. We discussed bagging going over to Leavenworth if Deb and Don are going. I half watched IAC then took Castor on a walk up to the fire station and it was getting so windy and cooling down and it was wonderful! When we got back he was licking a lot, weird. I updated this a bit but still need to transcribe everything from the Belize trip which will take forever. Went to bed after 11 but was awoken by Castor going crazy licking the floor and knew he was either anxious or upset stomach. I tried to calm him and sat on the floor with him forever and was so tired and annoyed and he just kept doing it then I heard his stomach gurgling and then he puked. All over my new carpet. I haven't even had it a week and the biggest pile of puke I've ever seen right in the middle of the floor. Ughhhh. It took forever to clean up then I let him out and he did his crazy eating plants thing but no more puking so I made him come inside and he drank tons of water then we went back up and I did some more cleaning and went back to bed. It was well after 12:30. Bahhh.

Wednesday 6/3, Karen posted the recipe for the "Panty Rippah" so I changed my status because I love that phrase then LPC texted me like "Panty what?" so I told him and he told me to stay away from those. I returned the frames after work and Peggy let me leave early which was nice. I tried calling Eric on the way home to tell him Peggy gave me veal and I didn't know what to do with it but he didn't answer then when I got home I heard the tv on and knew he was there. He was already prepping something else so he scrapped it and made the veal. First we hung out on the couch then he started it and it was actually pretty good once I got over the fact that it was a baby cow. I won't go out of my way to eat it again, but it was at least good. I cleaned up a it then suggested we take Castor to the park and let him get in the water. We went down and there were some other dogs and he absolutely loved it. He was all over the place and trying to fetch other dogs' balls. Eric threw him a big stick over and over. He didn't want to go but we left after a half hour or so. I got some good pictures and video. At home we relaxed and watched I'm a Celebrity off and on. I gave Eric a benadryl for his allergies and he was out by 10. He kicked me in the face in his sleep because I was laying the other way on the bed. He didn't even wake up, which told me he was super asleep. I went to bed not long after.

Tuesday 6/2, Jen called me and told me to lock, so I did. LPC and I had some messages going back and forth with some more minor flirting and made plans to get together next week to take the dogs to the park. Went home and Eric was there, which I knew because I sent him a provocative text earlier in the day. We sat on the couch and he told me about his day and interviewing some guys and I suggested we go out and see the Up Front gallery. We took off and I still like the cake painting but I was looking for the animals, though she didn't have any there only the ones I don't like. We looked at some others then headed out and talked about trucks and how I'm going to haul around my 4 dogs when I get them all. Eric is against Dodge and prefers a GMC or Chevy. We stopped at Safeway and picked up a pizza and headed home with it. Eric got it going and I went up to clean my bathroom and called Kay-See to see how she felt about me bailing on dancing and she was bummed but said she understood. I finished up and went downstairs and the pizza was almost done and we watched tv. I'm a Celebrity was on so we watched that then I took Castor on a walk up to the fire station and let him sniff around for 20 minutes or so since he didn't get an after-work walk. I headed upstairs and played on my computer until Eric came up and we messed around for a long time and it was good and we showered off and went to sleep, probably by 11:30.

Monday 6/1, Castor started limping again on our morning walk and it got worse in the office so I called and they told me to bring him in (now 87lbs, yikes). On my way to pick him up the dr called and wanted to do an xray because she thought it was broken, so she did and $200 later, no broken anything, he just must have snagged it and put him on some meds and gave him an anti-inflammatory injection. Went to get some more frames, but grabbed the wrong ones. At home Eric was there cooking dinner and Castor needed to go out so I took him and walked around a bit. Fed him and noticed Eric had cleaned up and taken the garbage out, thank goodness, and gave me an update on the bed fixing. We had dinner, chicken thighs in a peanut sauce and rice and broccoli and carrots, and I told him I wanted to go cruise the neighborhoods for mid century modern houses so off we went. We found one I've been eying online, but it looked different in person then down to a little greenbelt that butts up against Phantom Lake and we walked around there with Castor for a while and out on the docks and talked about getting some kayaks to cruise around in. More exploring in the car and we both found one we really like and I found a couple more that I liked but none with as much potential as the first. Headed back and stopped at DQ on the way and both got a dipped cone and laughed at the pretend rockabilly guy and his Bellevue-d out gf eating their blizzards while leaning against his p.o.s. truck. Back at home we watched I'm a Celebrity and Eric was getting so mad about SP and was saying how he would punch him in the face and that they must be acting because no one could be that over the top. I brushed Castor and cleaned up the kitchen and we went upstairs for bed. Eric was actually tired before me finally and we talked for a while then went to bed.

Sunday 5/31, Eric was up early again and I got up at 8:30 and we took Castor and got gas. I ate some breakfast and Eric started putting the new lights up so I went up and started organizing and cleaning and helped him when he needed it. Both lights look so good, I'm glad with my choices. We started putting the rooms back together and I told Eric to be gentle on the bed, but he wasn't, and it broke. It made me really upset, more so that he didn't listen to me, like I was just talking to hear myself. I know the bed can be fixed, it's just a hassle and needs to be welded. We finished doing some stuff then he took off for Schuyler and Chrystol's. I was semi glad to be able to be by myself and cranky for most of the day. I got dressed and headed out with Castor stopping at the park to take a spin around the pond. We drove by the house I looked at and the sign was still up then over to an open house for a mid century modern with the owner showing the place. Very nice, totally finished and she gave me lots of tips on getting real estate that's not on the market and also confirmed the brown house had been taken off the market after an offer. Next we drove down to the frame shop so I could get a print framed and the thing is going to cost me 4 times what I paid for it. Hit the grocery store then home to eat some lunch and Castor had some too (scrambled eggs). I started cleaning and rearranging and organizing and got a lot done but decided I needed some stuff so I took off to Office Depot to see if I could find anything. All I got were some magazine storage racks. Back at home I continued cleaning out the 2nd bathroom and decided I needed an art portfolio case for all my old posters and also found a bunch of old RH, Blur and Verve promo posters so I wanted to see if I could find frames for them. I also found a photograph of Beck Susan gave me a million years ago that her friend had taken when she worked for the Tower magazine (I think) and it's like a proof or something and has the date on it (May 1, 1996) and I wanted a frame for that too. I ended up making two trips down and when I got back I put the pictures into frames and sized up spots to put them. Eric called to say he was on his way so I said I would make dinner and got that going and kept organizing until he arrived 40 minutes later. I was still feeling weird and eventually brushed it off and we had a nice dinner. We played with Castor a little but after Eric had let him out he was limping a little, so that was weird. We went upstairs and looked at pictures online then I got irritated with him again and decided it was time for bed. He was irritated with me for being irritated, rightly, so I shut up and went to bed. He stayed up late again.

Saturday 5/30, Eric was up at like 7 even though he claimed the night before he was going to sleep in until 9. I got up at 8 and called Sos and she said she'd be over 9-ish. Eric got back after running 6-7 miles and when Sos showed up he decided to come too for a walk / run in the park. We walked around once then ran around twice and headed up the trail to the top of the hill. We walked and talked and finished the last lap to the cars. We told Sos we'd be over in a little bit. At home I showered and got ready and soon we were off to Sos' where we picked her and Jake up and went to the farmers' market. Eric bought me a little apple pastry and we looked around and I found this woman who paints animals and I wish she would have had the goat one because I would have bought it. She's painting another one and I'm going to try and swoop in on it. Sos bought some oysters and veggies and we agreed to come over later for a bbq. Eric got some Hawaiian fare and I had a few bites and a pass-o-guav before we went to PCC. Picked up a few things there then over to the butcher where we got some bacon burger patties and the cute butcher guy flirted with me. Mmm. We dropped them off and headed home and I was exhausted so I laid down. I was irritated because I couldn't get the internet to work and finally did and Eric left me alone and fell asleep on the couch. I stayed upstairs for a long time and finally joined him on the couch and he started waking up and made a salad. I wanted to go out so we got in the car and went to the Humane Society to see if I could find Moose, but he wasn't there. There were some other cute pups but most of them were young and I need older. I talked to Dad briefly who wants me and Eric to go over and mow the yard but I told him I'd have to check about Auntie Lauryn and dancing. I called AL and she won't come in until Sat morning, so I had the clear there, now just have to talk to Kay-See. We went to Costco home but they had a lot cleared out and not much to look at so we headed back south and stopped at Whole Foods to pick up dessert in the form of cream cheese brownies and ice cream. Back home to pick up Castor and over to Sos'. We had a nice evening sitting outside and playing with the dogs in the yard and in the stream and Castor went crazy after going in and was running all over the place and trying to play with Duke. Dinner was good and the corn on the cob was good. We had dessert and started wrapping it up around 9. Castor hadn't had his dinner so we took off and fed him. I was tired so I climbed into bed and Eric went downstairs to watch tv and stayed down there late while I snoozed away.

Friday 5/29, Kay-See said she'd come over and help me move all my stuff back upstairs then texted that a cute 22 year old wanted to come over and help too so I said great. I got home and looked at the new carpet and it looked great and smelled great too. I started moving some stuff and trying to organize and dust and got fairly far before Eric called to say he was on his way up and actually beat K over. He started assembling the bed frame and I continued bustling about. K showed up and her little friend was indeed cute and apparently worked as a mover for a summer so he was getting things up the stairs no problem, except he was a little rough and not so ginger. Cute though. Pretty much everything was moved quickly so we sat in the living room and talked for a long time. Eric joined us then by 7:30 they took off. We took Castor up the hill and walked him around a couple times for a little exercise. Back at home we fed him then went to Chipotle for dinner and the place was hopping, considering it was 9. We ate then over to the store so I could grab some things then home. We got the mattresses on and made up the bed and climbed in shortly after.

Thursday 5/28, I rushed home and was helping Eric move stuff until he hurried me into the shower and to get ready. Finally ready, headed out the door and up to get flowers then into Seattle and stuck in traffic. Finally made it to 15th (Smith) and it was after 7. Sat down by Susan and chatted and she was less than enthused with some of the attendees, but I guess that's how it is. I ordered some mac and cheese and talked with Julia, Michael, Michael (works there now), Kay-See and Ky, who I haven't seen forever. Chrystol and Schuyler came and had some food too and I briefly talked to C. Bills were paid after 8 and Susan was ready to get out of there and go home so we all wrapped up and headed out where C took some pictures and then the four of us walked down the street and split off. On the way home we stopped at the store so I could get some stuff then home. We finished moving everything and set up our bed downstairs. We went to sleep pretty early-ish because we were exhausted.

Wednesday 5/27, Got home from work a little early again and met Eric there. We started right in with moving stuff and organizing and I've got so much shit upstairs it's not even funny. We did a lot of damage by quit time, which was around 7. A few things left to do Thursday but most of it should fit in my bathroom. Eric got started on dinner and made some guac first so I wouldn't die of starvation and it was sooo good. I ate a ton and finally dinner was ready and I put more guac on that: Turkey patty, tomato, lettuce, onion and asparagus. We ate and watched tv and went upstairs early again because I was so tired. I fell asleep a little after 10.

Tuesday 5/26, First day with Katie, interesting. Nice new car, that's for sure. Got off work early and stopped by All the Best and got Castor some new lamb food (wet and dry), some more glucosamine and more enzymes. Went home and started strategizing moving everything from upstairs to down, yikes. Eric showed up and asked if I wanted to take Castor up to the park, so we did and did two times around mostly talking about Dad and Bill. Back at home Eric had already eaten and I was semi cleaning and taking things from upstairs so eventually I ate some pasta salad. I had a ton then some ice cream. We kind of watched tv and I started falling asleep by 9:30 so we got in bed and Eric watched tv while I was asleep by 10.

Monday 5/25, Thank goodness for an extra day off before heading back to work. We were up fairly early again and Mom texted their status all the way over from Leavenworth. They arrived shortly after 9 and I had been bustling about trying to clean and vacuum and brush Castor. We sat and chatted for a minute then set out for breakfast at Brown Bag. All our breakfasts were enormous and none of us finished. I told them stories about Belize and we headed out to find Costco Home was closed. Back to the house we looked at pictures and videos but everyone was falling asleep so we went up the hill to go walk around the park for a while. Castor loved it. We decided to hit DQ on the way home and all got treats and sat outside in the sun. Dad wanted to see the house I had been thinking about but it was too close to when we needed to take them to the airport so we went home, picked up their stuff and headed out. Got to the airport quickly and dropped them off with hugs and kisses. We went home and relaxed and I think maybe fell asleep watching Deadliest Catch or whatever. We woke up and set out for All the Best to get Castor some new food, but they were closed so we went to Safeway so Eric could pick up groceries for a surprise dinner. I walked Castor around the parking lot with a hanger looped through his collar since we hadn't grabbed his leash. Eric started on dinner when we got home and I paid bills. There wasn't really anything on tv that either of us wanted to watch so we mostly talked and when dinner was ready (pasta salad with mozza, cherry tomatoes and marinated delicious chicken, parsley) we sat and talked and ate. I think I had three helpings, yum! Took Castor out and Eric ended up falling asleep earlier than me as I uploaded pictures to facebook. Took Castor out again because I think he had to crap.

Sunday 5/24, We were both awake by 7 and Eric went for a run while I stayed in bed and looked at stuff online that I'd been too tired to look at the night before. Eric fed Castor and took him out and I made it downstairs to have breakfast and back into bed. Eric finally motivated me to get up and dressed. I called Dad and it didn't sound like they would make it over today then I knew that the open house was happening for the one house so I called Mom and scheduled a time for her to come over and we went over to see it. She thought it would be a great project and thought the property was beautiful. She dropped me at home and we decided to go to Chipotle for lunch and that was good then back home where we both took turns falling asleep. He woke me at 3:30 and soon we were on the road to C & S' for an afternoon of fun. We hung there and Chrystol showed me the dress she made and we chatted as she finished the belt. We went in the back to hang with the boys and sat there for a while and I told them my idea to clean up Amergris Caye with locals and animal stuff. Eric wanted to try Cafe Flora so we packed up and headed over at 5:30 or something and got a table right away. I got the french dip and it was really good, everything seemed to be really good. Eric and I shared a rhubarb and lemon baked dessert, yum. We walked around Madison and looked in all the shops then back to the car for a drive around and eventually back to theirs. I was so tired I sat on the couch and couldn't stop yawning. Chrystol suggested a neighborhood walk and then we could go. We set out and thought up things Schuyler could serve at his cafe and the "Alabama Sausage" and "Ebony and Ivory" (served with ice cream, mashed potatoes or rice) were my favorites. We headed home and I fell asleep on the way and Eric took Castor out as I crawled into bed and started going to sleep.

Saturday 5/23, Neither alarm went off. The guy who came for our luggage accused me “You were still asleep!” finger wagging at me. I told him no and to give us 5 minutes then he could get our bags. I left one last monster entry for the log and Kass to find when she woke up. We said bye and headed to the front desk where Anders checked us out and we learned one of the Scots was going to be going with us because he was too terrified to fly then had all this paranoia about the boat and brought an entire backpack full of empty bottles in case the boat went down. Weirrrdd. So we took off and just as we were getting in the boat K spotted a baby spotted sting ray, so beautiful. Then on the ride in we saw all these dolphins feeding, such a good sendoff. Made it to the dock and situated then these three loud black ladies showed up and were saying fuck every other word and telling one of the guys working there to give her a dollar. Finally we were allowed to board and it was pretty full then we stopped at the Caye Caulker and even more people got on so that ride felt like it took forever. Got our bags into the taxi, to the airport, dropped off the Scot, went to check in. The girl wouldn’t let K go standby even with stitches and bloody gauze and said it would be $50 to go standby. We went thru and didn’t have to pay the departure tax, yay! Found a nice seat and nice view of cute guys. Waited for a while then Karen found me and we talked about the night before and Jodi using lots of pickup lines, then how fun it was meeting them. I boarded shortly after and left K. Read and listened to music for short two hour flight. At Houston customs and immigration were so painful and took forever and it made me worry for K not being able to make it to her Seattle flight. I called Eric when I got to my gate and we talked for a long time then I told him I needed to get something to eat. I got a pulled pork sandwich because I was in TX, then a Starbucks cookie. Boarding was shortly after and I sat next to a weird girl who left her pillow on my seat so I threw it on the floor. An old lady was watching me write in my journal updating this and said it was fascinating which was very cute and that she wanted to watched me the whole trip. Finally finished updating! I talked with Betty Joe through the rest of the flight and she was very nice and going to visit her daughter for the summer in Gig Harbor. We landed early and I called Eric. He was waiting down at the baggage claim and was all sexy stranger with his hair cut and his beard shaved to almost nothing and he was all role playing and I was like "Stop it, I feel like I'm cheating on my boyfriend and going to get caught". I went to baggage claim and learned I would have to jump through all sorts of hoops to get reimbursed for my cds, or not at all. We got my bags and went to the car and drove home in the beautiful sunshine. When we got there Castor was so excited to see me he kept trying to jump on me, which he hasn't done forever. He wouldn't stop leaning into me, it was so cute. I stripped down and showered and Eric stood in the bathroom and talked to me and I told him stories. I showed him pictures and he took me to DQ where I got a dipped cone. Mmm. He cleaned most of my house while I was gone and washed all the rugs and blankets and changed the sheets. So nice. Then there was a beautiful bouquet sitting by the bed. I was pretty tired so he took Castor out and helped me get all my medicated lotion on before bed. We got down to celebrating my arrival and went to bed.

Friday 5/22, We had to be at the dock at 8:30 so K set the alarm for 8 and we headed down to get fitted for our gear. Jodi gave me a mask with a pink tube and he called me Miss Pink and I thought it was cute that he gave me a nickname. We all loaded onto the boat and off we went a little after 9. We had to make a few stops to pick up other people but soon made out way out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Kass was joking with Jodi about his sexy gf calling him but he couldn’t talk because he was at work. Then we noticed how enormous his feet were and vowed to get a picture of them, though none were as good as our first opportunity. So we get to HC and I’m having second thoughts about the snorkeling because I’ve never done it before and I’m scared but before I know it Jodi was putting on my flippers and telling me my feet were as big as his and I scoffed and he laughed then Kass told him we were taking pictures of his. Then Kass asked him where she could smoke her stick a weed and Jodi told her to pipe down and that he’d meet us at Fido’s later. The next thing I knew Jodi was helping me slide off the front of the boat into the water. I got used to swimming and dipped my head under water and the underwater thing wasn’t bad at all. I saw fish and it was sooo crazy. I didn’t appreciate the barracuda very much though. All I kept saying was, “Those are dangerous right? Right?!” Jodi was soon leading us all over the reserve as a group and the fish and creatures we saw were amazing and like nothing I’ve seen before. Amazing. You can’t see this shit on tv. The currents in some spots were strong enough that I’d look around and would have moved considerably without trying at all. Scary a little. Swimming over the coral was the worst part for me because I didn’t know how close I was so I just didn’t kick a lot and stayed on the surface with my whole body. Stu and Al were taking tons of photos with their underwater cameras and soon Jodi pointed out a turtle and I freaked and was trying to get in Stu’s shot but don’t think I succeeded. That was the highlight along with the Spotted Sting Ray that was beautiful, and again, like nothing I’ve ever seen. Also when Jodi pointed at the Blue Razzle Dazzle fish and Major General fish. He fed fish and the eel (giant) and it was pretty hot how he knew all the fish and nooks and caves. Soon we (after an hour) were back getting on the boat and dried off and ate pineapple and had water pouches that tasted like pool water. We were there forever waiting for some divers then took off for Shark Ray Alley. I decided I didn’t want to get in once we got there so me and K stayed and took pictures and helped the guy throw fish in the water to the yellow eye jacks or grouper or whatever. Scuba Steve held a sting ray after Jodi showed him how to do it. Soon everyone got back on the boat and Chels picked at the peeling skin and reapplied sunscreen, apparently it didn’t really work. We made our way back and went to the bathroom upon returning. We all hung at the beach and ordered lunch after jumping in the pool with K and Al. Quesadillas because they were so good. Jose called Kass greedy cause she never tells him when she’d go smoke. Down at the beach we all hung out and talked for the entire afternoon. I was burning more and only mildly suspected it. I checked in and confirmed things with Anders who said he didn’t charge us the $25 round trip ferry price. I changed my fb status to Lyrical King’s “No shame in my game” and everyone commented and “liked” it. Made me laugh; especially Ryan Sween*y. Troy came in, the Jodi look-alike with huge dread concealing hat, and asked me how I was as I was walking by him and I said “good” and he was all “I can see that” then was chatting me up and introduced himself and did the penis finger handshake thing and I just played dumb like I didn’t feel it, but inside I was like “You wish Troy!” Back outside we made plans with the others and they were all bailing except Karen. Eventually we headed up to the room to start getting ready for the evening and decided to take the golf cart, all 5 of us. At 5:30 we needed to be leaving. We headed out with Dwayne saying he’d meet us at Fido’s at 10:30 / 11. We were taking a lot of pictures and made it through the first few big puddles fine but then 3 of us decided to get out and walk around it so we wouldn’t get bogged down, but then K slipped and punctured her arm and there was blood everywhere. She turned white immediately and we got back on Marty with her arm wrapped in a towel and hit the first resort and saw a couple leaving and asked them about it and the guy got out and said she’d def need stitches. K kept saying she was going to pass out and when we tried to move her she finally did, then there was another problem. The staff were jerks and refused to give us a clean towel and also that the bar was closed so they couldn’t give her any water or juice. They instructed me to go two resorts down to their beach bar so off I went. They were such dicks. Luckily the people at Journey’s End were nice and helpful and got me on my way. K was cleaning up when I got back and Chels had cleaned it out as best she could with the limited resources and they had called a water taxi to take us to a dr. Karen helped me get K out to the boat and I told the guy the situation and he vowed to take care of us and when we got to the dock said don’t worry about the fare and we’d figure it out later and sent another guy to take us to the road and get us situated with a taxi and a good doctor. The guy took us around the block to the clinic and came in with us to verify that the doctor was in and asked us if we wanted him to wait while we went in, we said it was ok. He stayed until the doctor took us back to his office. The nurse / assistant was less than enthused but doc was great. I’ve never been in a clinic in a third world country and soothing tells me this one was way above par. He said he’s the only master doc on the island and that when he moved there 20 years ago there were only three golf carts and one old school Land Rover, crazy! Anyway K had to get 2 stitches and a tetanus shot and he didn’t even numb the area when he did the stitches and she was such a trooper, did great. She paid and it was $75 total including the meds for 10 days and we were out of there to go to Fido’s and realized we were just around the corner and Kass caught us just before going in cause they were at Island Perk and spotted us and had bought K a little skirt so she went in Fido’s bathroom and washed up and changed and we all went and hung at IP and bitched about the Las Terrazes staff and the whole ordeal. And about the old crazy skinny lady with the enormous fake tits working behind the counter. They were closing up so we went across the street to Fido’s to get something to eat and all got appetizers and continued to laugh and talk about the crazy evening. I knew K wanted to go home so I went to check the ferry schedule and there was one leaving at 9 and the guys only seemed to mildly remember me but it was only a couple hours earlier that they’d given us a ride. I ran back and saw Jodi on the way in and he was all “Heyyy, where’s da crew?” so I pointed and he said he was smoking so I told him I’d tell Kass and ran back in. We finished and laughed a bit more at Chels trying to order a waiter with a sense of humor. We took off and when we were paying they didn’t charge us for the ride earlier but they knew who we were so I guess they were just nice guys. We boarded and were the last ones and the guy asked how the patient was doing. He dropped us then I ran into the office to get a key cause the girls had it and saw the taxi guy at the bar as I returned it. Stu and Al were on Steve’s deck with Martha and they yelled to us to come over so I made sure K was situated then headed over with the pineapple. They asked about the evening and I told them and Steve was worried it was Karen but I told them the whole thing and they were appalled at Las Terrazes and said we should write reviews on tripadvisor etc and Martha said she would have made such a scene and knocked on every guest’s room until help was given. All were shocked at the treatment, given how helpful all other experiences have been. K came up and we started talking and laughing and of course the conversation turned back to poop and the log and modern medicine and other stuff and eventually pick up lines and Al left the night with two great ones. We talked about vinegar and the chemistry of how it helps burns and asparagus and Steve agreed about oaty cheerios making pee smell. We said good night and how great it was to meet them and hang out and bid them good bye. We got ready for bed and finished packing up some final items then talked until we both drifted off. Probably 11:45.

Thursday 5/21, I had been stirring and thinking about going into town to get the cart and some fruit so as soon as we were all up I suggested it as I sat on the lanai eating raisin bran like every other morning. Chels got bent out of shape about plans and needing to leave within the hour so she ended up staying there while the three of us made arrangements to go in. The bitch in the office, Maria, was giving me all kinds of attitude but we knew we were fine and vowed to tell Dwayne so he double wouldn’t love her. We boarded the boat with the Mom of the lady who was married to the guy we hate, but we didn’t figure it out until a half hour into it. When we got off the boat we told her we would give her a ride to wherever she needed to go, but she insinuated she would just hang with us and like she was doing us a favor. It was hilarious. We went to Island Perk and got drinks and I looked at swimsuits again but decided I didn’t need anymore even though they were like $12. Next we went to Mambo Chill and Kass got a skirt, or maybe that was the other time, and soon we were on our way to the orange shop, closed, so we went back up to Front St to get coffee at the liquor store and then a gift shop for more and other spices and a pirate book for Jen. Back on the cart and over to the orange store where I got a bowl with a turtle on it and wanted more but restrained. We needed to hurry so K could take the resort ferry at 1:30. We stopped at 2 fruit stands: 1 for papaya (huge!) and one for 2 pineapples. We rushed down and Patricia and K caught it no problem and the driver put the fruit in the cooler. Kass and I looked for chocolate covered bananas without success then started the trip back and stopped at that beachside bar that kind of sucked and wasn’t even close to being as cool as Kali’s. We didn’t have any problems and made it through the puddles which were still pretty big. When we got back K was down at the beach and Chels was in the office on the phone sorting out bills. We got our suits on and headed down by K and soon C came out and we were all talking and laughing and saw Dwayne come up and he was to be working the bar for the evening so that would be fun. I went up to the room at some point and ate almost all of that papaya by myself. K helped at the end. Back down at the beach I was sitting at the bar with Chels when the neighbs all came home from their all day excursion to the ruins. They were all exhausted and seemed to be regretting the trip, plus it was Karen’s bday – fun! Stu had the idea to order two pieces of cake and to sing so that was set for a later surprise. In the meantime we all sat down at the bar talking and laughing and taking lots of pictures until it started getting dark. We all decided to get some dinner and got our orders in and then I went up to take a shower. When I got back down we sang and ate cake and soon after our dinner arrived. Stu and I talked for a long time about his ex-wife and other relationships and I have a better appreciation for him and think he really is a good guy and so smart. He started getting all sentimental on us saying how glad he was that we were there and it was refreshing to not have more married couples in the resort. It was nice. People started trickling out but we were still having a blast especially watching Chels and Dwayne and pretending to hump the stools and post then turning around like nothing was happening when Dwayne went to look. Karen was really fun and we all stayed down until like 10:30 or something. I confirmed with Anders that we were going to do the scuba trip the next day and all our neighbs decided to do it too. Stu told Kass he thought they got off on the wrong foot and wanted to apologize or something and she sing song-y said “I don’t know what you’re talking about” so I think he felt better. We headed up to bed and yelled good night to each other again, like the prior night, and went up to find ditcher K in bed watching “So You Think You Can Dance” and I almost died it was so ridiculous. The guy with the umbrella killed me. I cut up the pineapple and ate almost all of it with the other girls helping just a little. We watched for a while then we all trickled off to bed and I read a mag for a while.

Wednesday 5/20, We woke up to the sound of Steve machete-ing open coconuts, Kass yelled out the door. We are all up. We decided to drive into town so we got ready and hit the road. It had rained a few nights prior but the road was still filled with lots of holes and crazy big “puddles” or tide pools. We were doing fine and trudging through until we got to an enormous one and totally got stuck. Chels and me were trying to get the strewn-about boards under and pushing and almost had it then three locals rolled through with no problem and bailed out and got up to their calves in the disgustingness and lifted the whole damn thing out. Another couple guys came up behind us as we were rolling to town so we let them go first and we followed their path. We stopped at Beach n Kitchen again and rinsed off with the hose but the lady rubbed Chels the wrong way. We used the bathroom and washed hands and ordered breakfast; I got the French Toast and it was sooo good. We rolled out of there and into town. We hit Mambo Chill, Island Perk where there were a few cute expats without shoes. I got the brownie and we all shared. We cruised town for a long time and went as far south as the paved road goes. We went to Ramone’s and donated $20 each to the Humane Society and he was super appreciative and got our emails. I noticed the Barely Legal dvd on top of the tv – laughed. We went to the store but the guy tried to rip us off but we made him start over and came out much better. We hit the Greenhouse then locked up Marty on a side street and headed for the Island Ferry. It was a much different experience but we got there safe and sound. I think we sat at the pool for 20 minutes and talked and cooled off then had to get ready, which we did in a jiff then all of us were off for dinner, etc. We took lots of pics on the way in and all the neighbs were laughing so hard and Kass was being really vulgar. When we arrived Marty was gone and we started to freak, but someone had just taken off the brake and moved it across the street and down a ways so off we went. All of the neighbs except Steve and Martha took off for Sunset while we went to check out a local spot – Shelly’s, but it was closed so we vowed to meet up with them there in a half hour to try again. We drove around and ended up in he ghetto. Kass didn’t seem to care but I was like “Can we turn around yet?” We finally did on some back road by the airport that reminded me of the sugar cane fields by Na Pali where bodies get dumped all the time. Girls needed a lighter then we cruised town and eventually met back up wit S & M but Shelly’s was still closed so we found another local spot, Coco’s and sat outside, sad to see the baby kittens and dog tied up. Chels fed him and found water. We all ordered and Kass and both got yummy chicken with some bbq flavor. We were there for a long time and some guy yelled out of his van “Lucky guy!” cause Steve was surrounded by 5 women. We talked about his work and not crossing picket lines – crazy. Kass was baffled. After dinner we all loaded up and drove past where the chicken drop was supposed to be (no blowing in ass apparently) but no one there so we drove over to Wet Willy’s and found them all there with Al and Stu hitting on girls, but I could tell they weren’t getting very far. We started dancing and Kat was showing everyone her stripper moves and I was thoroughly impressed. Kass wanted a chocolate covered banana so five of us girls took off in search, found them at the store and bought the last ones then took ridiculous pictures with them. We danced and laughed and took pics then went outside after the bad songs started. A group of 4 23-year olds came over and had no idea how to hit on girls. They were insulting us and then one said San Fran is really right wing and Jacksonville, FL is more liberal and Kass and I just sat there like “Is this guy joking?” but he totally wasn’t. Finally after enough insults Kass had had enough and we took off to yell at the girls for leaving us over there with them. Some JT was played and that got us in the mood again. I saw Stu talking to red shirt (one of the idiots) and I was like “Of course Stu made friends with the idiot”. We eventually decided to go to Fido’s for live music and Stu and Al told us they would meet us over there. As we were leaving some guy grabbed Kassie and pretended he was going to throw her off the dock and she went off then security chased him down with their sticks. First time anything sketch happened, which is interesting considering how forward men are. We walked over and found everyone and got some tables and watched some white rasta fari play and sing and sang along with Sublime. Kat was ready to go and wanted to catch the 10 ferry and we were hoping to score a deal so we headed over and Kass was the negotiator and bargained it down from $13 to $10, yes! We loaded on and saw the annoying Southerners from the water taxi, ughh. Of course Stu made friends with them as well. We made stops and one scary in the dark with a girl who didn’t speak up when everyone asked who was getting off there. Apparently TI was filmed at the Captain Morgan’s resort, Court will be so excited. Finally we were dropped off and we all meandered to our places and yelled good night to one another across the courtyard and pool. Us girls probably talked for a while and got ready for bed and fell asleep.

Tuesday 5/19, I woke up at 7:50 and wrote in this for 30 minutes then got up and had some cereal on the lanai with K. We decided to stay put for the day and took our time getting ready to hit the beach. Steve had a coconut and shared with us and I was bitching about pooping so I was like “gimme” because Cory and Filipe told me the juice acts as a laxative. He gave me some meat, though it wasn’t all that sweet. We headed down to the bar but the girls were getting lounge chairs. I sat with Steve and Karen at the bar until they left then checked email and got a hilarious Belgium Rose reference from Eric and a comment from LPC on my status. I got a fruity smoothie from Chels’ bf who called her his gf and said give her anything she wants. Laid down then out in the water on the yellow floaty things and tried to avoid jelly fish in the sea grass even though we didn’t see any. Back on shore Chels and Kass ordered lunch and Kass got a really good quesadilla so I had a triangle then K and I went up to the room and made ourselves lunch and I had a quesadilla with leftover stuff and it was pretty good. We went back down and I laid under the umbrella some more and wrote in this and listened to music and we did that for a few more hours. We were thinking about going to one of the other resorts for dinner but as the night went on we decided on Mama Caribe’s because they were having beef kabobs. Everyone got burnt except me so I went down by the pool in the shade and K eventually joined me as we waited for the neighbs to come home. Finally we saw the bikes roll off the dock and knew they’d skipped the ride home. Steve came over and talked to K and me for a while and told us Martha had brought us some coconut empanadas – how sweet. Karen came over and we talked about AA and the bartender a few resorts down she made out with last time. We went up and got ready and went to MC’s, which as empty so we got the royal treatment and didn’t have to pay for dessert and Chels got her fish at the lower price. We stayed in there and laughed and talked for a while. Headed back home, sat on the porch and eventually Al came out and chatted with us and we talked about poop forever and showed him the poop log. Stu came out for a little while, but was too grossed out so he left. K went to bed and we all stayed up for a while then to bed.

Monday 5/18, Woke up just before 8 and Kass had slept 14 hours. We sat outside eating our breakfast then Chels got upset by something Kass said and it started all this morning drama, unfortunately. We decided to take the golf cart into town and started getting ready then found Chels and she wasn’t going to come so we took off for the 7 mile adventure. The ride was insane and now we all know why the staff thought it was so hilarious that we wanted to drive it. It took us about 45 minutes but we stopped 1.5 miles north of the bridge at Beach N Kitchen and had a little breakfast, each getting the breakfast burrito and sharing an order of French Toast – it was all delish. Back on the road we drove the rest of the way in and hit the gas station then made our way over to find the French Bakery where we each got a treat (apple turnover thing) then off to find the wine shop where Kass picked out a few South American reds and we vowed to be back for cheese. We kept driving south exploring and saw some fun places then turned around to go to Mambo Chill because I wanted to get a tunic to cover my burned shoulders and neck. Kass helped me pick a white one with some maroon stitching then found these cute headbands and we started trying a bunch on and I got 2 – a pink design and a yellow skull. Next we went to the jewelry shop and my ring was gone which I was semi-relieved about then over to Island Perk for a drink. I got a chocolate milk and we looked at some semi-cute guys at the bar and a lady with huge collagen lips. Back in the cart we went to the Greenhouse and did our shopping and they had a shitload of fruit and veggies. Some guy yelled at us “Charlie’s Angels!” as we drove away from him and we all laughed hysterically. Another fellow just asked us a string of questions, “Do you want to go to the beach? Do you want to have dinner? Would you like to have a drink? Do you want to come over to my house?” etc. He blew his proverbial load. We went back to the wine shop and Kass picked up the cheese and back on the road we went for home. The “road” was a little better because the water had mostly evaporated from the rain the night before. K had her legs up to tan and asked us to warn her if there were any people coming and after we passed 2 guys on the side of the road selling necklaces and said hi she was like “Thanks guys!” and we were like “Oops, sorry!” her “It looks like I’m birthing back here!” and Kass told her not to worry because those same guys had seen Chels peeing on the side of the road the day prior. We made it back and unloaded all our stuff and got ready to hit the pool. Karen and Steve and later Kathy, all came down to talk to us. We hung for a long time then I think I checked my email and wrote to Eric and updated my status to “Everting curry!” then realized everyone would misinterpret it and think I was talking about my dinner or food preference or something. Back up at the casa Kass and Chels seemed to have made up and we all ended up out on the deck talking about poop FOREVER and I know the boys heard some of it but no one really cared. We talked about going out after dinner with them. We started making dinner: guac, salsa, chips, quesadillas with tomato, sour cream, butter and salt and pepper (from Mama Caribe’s), green peppers and onions. It was all really delicious and we all ate a ton including a bunch of baguette and brie. We put aged white cheddar and low fat regular cheddar on our meals and stuffed ourselves. We started cleaning up and noticed the lightening getting closer and closer and Duane walked by and told Chels “Good night to make a baby” and we all giggled. All of a sudden the storm was upon us, and we remembered our neighbors were down a few resorts playing pool, and we weren’t sure how they were getting home in that mess. The girls all disrobed and ran out onto the lanai and were getting soaked and Kass decided to take a shower (since the shower is mostly salt water) and was slipping and sliding all over the place. They were all laughing hysterically and letting all the rain and wind in, bah. I was a grinch and wanted to keep it dry in there. It wasn’t that bad. I was tired and started getting ready for bed and we all laid in the dark talking and all drifted off without bidding each other good night.

Sunday 5/17, Woke up at 7:50 – almost slept 12 hours. Very good sleep. We had some breakfast and decided to go on a walk down the beach. We saw crabs, lots of different fish and a couple beached manowars, ouch. We didn’t walk very far because the beach got garbage-y quickly, ick. Walked back and sat on the end of the dock and interrupted the couple trying to hump in the water. It was really nice sitting out there. A hammock would have been better. Into the office to check email and Kass was on schedule but couldn’t find Chels and was pissed – next email – she found her – on their way. Good. I asked the front desk guy about golf cart rentals and bakeries and grocery stores, and got the dl on all of it. Even a French bakery for Kass. We went and got the room all packed up and got ready to take the 10am water taxi in, but stopped to ask Anders to make sure to get the fridge stuff. He’s my favorite. We went out and boarded the boat and went in and headed to find the bakery. It was so fucking hot and K could feel sweat in her butt; me down my back. I was getting hungry and cranky and super hot so I was extremely upset when the bakery was closed (Sunday). We kept walking and tried to find Ruby’s and when we did it was a little disappointing and my donut was stale – K’s cinnamon roll was better. We kept walking and stopped in every place that was open to get the AC. We found a couple really good shops that ended up being owned by the same British woman (born in Italy, raised in UK, lived in LA for 10 years, moved to Belize). Mambo Chill was the best and I got some earring and vowed to come back with Kass. We went to a little jewelry place where I found some rings I loved but didn’t buy – specifically the white agate one. Next we went to this shop that was having a crazy sale and I got the cutest red and white polka dot bikini for like $18 and a pink long dress for quite a bit more. We went back across to Fido’s and had some lunch while checking out the cute real estate guy at the next table who I’d seen in the Cuban place earlier while walking down Front St. After we finished lunch we started walking down to the ferry terminal / dock and out of the Cuban place jumps and yelling is someone and I thought it was a local, but nope, it was Kass and Chels who had taken the plane over from Belize City and had already rented a golf cart, which I told her I didn’t know if it was a good idea or not. We went to the store and got a bunch of stuff then raced back to the dock where our taxi guy was and we told him what was up and gave Kass as much direction as I knew and we took the bags and groceries and headed to the taxi. Everyone on the boat was giving us a hard time so we told them what was going on and they all laughed. We got back and told Anders about our adventures and he gave us the key to our new room and we went and explored and marveled at the view – superb. We semi unpacked and went out to sit on our new lanai, beautiful. K went down to the beach and I waited upstairs outside and eventually saw them pull up with Anders in tow. We got them upstairs then we all trickled down to the pool and the couple next to us, who ended up not being a couple at all, asked us where we were from so we started talking to them and learned they were in the room next to us and there was a whole group of them: Stuart (we called him Stu or Stuey, even though no one else did), Steve, Al, Karen and Kathy. We all ended up in the pool talking and laughing and bonding. Karen and Kathy are sisters and 20 months apart, like us, and Karen was the older one. It was hard to keep the two sets of sisters straight. Soo funny. We stayed down there for a long time swimming and hang out and laughed when Stu dropped his chicken wing in the pool. Eventually we went back up to the room except Chels who was asleep by the pool and stayed that way for another hour or so, despite both groups of us yelling down to her from our decks. We got ready to get something to eat and went to Mama Caribe’s and the three of us all shared our dinners but K didn’t like hers – too sweet. Kass ordered the chocolate cake for dessert and we polished it off and went back to the room. It got dark shortly after so K and I went out on the lanai and played several rounds of the boy game and laughed at the results, especially Schuyler and all his sexual prowess. Eventually Chels woke up and was famished and asked if it was too late to get food and I said it was probably close to closing then looked at my watch and it was 7:30. 7 f-ing 30. We thought it was after 9. The waiter brought Chels’ food and we sat laughing while she ate then we saw our neighbors coming back from the bar and they started coming up on our stairs and were like “knock knock” and sat down (Stu & Steve) and we started talking and eventually Al joined in too. Chels was stuck with Stu most of the time while K and me chatted with the two other boys. Everyone was annoyed with Stu by the end. We had a good time overall and eventually called it a night by 10:30 and climbed into bed.

Saturday 5/16, Arrived and both of us were sooo tired. Found Starbucks and got drinks and chocolate cake. We wandered looking at all the places to eat and found our gate. Went back to get food and I found cheap veggie bagel and it was like $2 while all bad stuff was super $$. Only in Texas, I guess. K found some food then we sat at the gate and ate, waiting for our next flight and checking out the cute / aloof guy close to us. Finally boarded and I slept for most of the 2.5 hour flight. K sat next to the fat guy this time, heh. Walked off the tarmac through immigration, got bags, changed into slippers, through customs and out to the taxi waiting for us with a sign. Talked to the driver most the way there through Belize City to the ferry terminal; Belize City not that attractive from the route we took. Bought our tickets and waited watching 12 hours or some shit in the air conditioned terminal lobby then the loud guy came in and asked K about her bag and apparently one of her sunscreens exploded and leaked everywhere. Time to board, we lined up outside and the captain called down to us “You two – come up here!” and I was like “Us two?” and he said yes and again I was like “Us?” and him, “Yeah!” then the bitch who was trying to cut in front of us was like “Is there room for three?” and I was like “Beat it” but he allowed her to come up too. Damn. Then these irritating Americans came up too and I hated them and I think K took a picture of their buttcracks. Luckily we got the good seats. Off we went and it was so cool, took pictures and it was amazing. Loved it but totally got scorched. Arrived on Ambergris but our guy wasn’t there to meet us from Belize Legacy so we called and he arrived a minute later. He took our bags and took us to the store and we picked up a few things to eat then went to the BLR dock and loaded up. K and I strategized how to be first in line to check in. Off the boat and first in because I’m young and nimble and got it figured out and in 4C – Garden room with peek-a-boo view of the sea. We settled in and I discovered my cds and dvds were gone and I think someone at the airport stole them. We ate a little then decided to go lay out even though I was already burned from the ride in on my shoulders and neck. We grabbed our stuff and found a nice spot on the beach. I read and listened to my ipod and K fell asleep. We were out there for a while then decided to go back up and shower. At some point we checked our email and facebook after the power came back on (5pm). We asked the front desk if we could get a room with a view or upstairs room and they told us they could move us the next day and to just pack our things and they would get everything moved for us. So accommodating. We showered and got ready and decided to go to Mama Caribe’s and split a dinner and got the Achiote chicken with Belize spices; it was really good and we ate all of it. K was really out of it and it was hilarious. We got dessert and while we were waiting for it I was really out of it. We laughed. Dessert was delish (lemon meringue) and our waiter said we should go out but we were way too tired and had no way in; he said he’d make sure we could get a ride in on the staff run. V. sweet. We went back to the room and got ready for bed and put on Monster in Law and both did some reading and passed out by 8:30. Both slept like babies.