Our Tricky Dog

I just added a new list to the blog: Atti's List of Tricks. We've been teaching her a few new ones lately and decided we should record everything she can do -- I think we're at 25 to date!

This makes us wonder, is she especially smart or are we just a little obsessed with teaching her tricks?

Anyone have any suggestions for the next trick we should teach her?

This fence wasn't built in a day

...but not much longer.

My cousins adopted a puppy a few months ago. With the nice weather and the increased energy of the pup, my uncle decided a fence would be an appropriate addition to the yard. Since Shiloh had some time on his hands, he volunteered. Here he is with the finished product. He did a great job. Everyone agrees that it has made life much easier.

Great Idea

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2008/03/27/tatton.virtual.vietnam.memorial.cnn

This is a video about a new website: http://www.footnote.com/. Essentially, it is site that is telling the stories of those killed in the Vietnam War. You should really check it out.

Why do they always do that with the money, before the end of the night?

Apparently that was on my mind last night. I have been sick for the last couple of days and have been having some very strange dreams. Some time in the middle of the night, last night I woke Shiloh up with my sleep talking:

R: Why do they always do that with the money, before the end of the night?

S: What?

R: Why do they always do that thing with the list, before the end of the night?

S: What?

R: Nevermind, forget it.

S: Are you asleep?

R: No.

S: Well then, what are you talking about?

R: I don't know, shut up, go to sleep.

I have a vague recollection of this conversation. I remember waking up, having just spoken, to Shiloh inquiring about my comment. I remember thinking that what I said made perfect sense, but as I repeated what I said, it became very difficult to put my thoughts into words and it was clear that I had been talking in my sleep. For some reason, I didn't want Shiloh to know this. I am so pleased to know that I was so polite in my half-awake state. Sorry Shi, I take back the "shut up".

On the road again

Last weekend, two of my VA friends joined me on a road trip up north. I was throwing a bridal shower for Katie, a good friend of mine from high school, and at the last minute I decided to invite Megan and Julie for a girls weekend to New York! It was a great idea.

These girls are hilarious!

The 5 1/2 hour drive up was so funny. A game of truth or dare revealed so many secrets that we had to declare, "what happens (or is said) in the civic, stays in the civic." We had a fine dinner of rest stop white cheddar popcorn, Cheeto's and doughnut holes, topped of with our beverage of choice. I haven't had road trip with my girlfriends since high school, and apparently, I was long overdue.

The next morning I did a quick drive through of New Canaan - it doesn't take too long - and dropped the ladies at the train station. I sped to my house to pick up some goodies and favors for the shower and then headed to the Read's house. My mom made some delicious snacks and breakfast casseroles that were perfect for the event.

The shower was great. Katie looked beautiful, and so happy. It was great to catch up with friends that I hadn't seen in years. Our friend Kara was throwing the shower with me, I haven't seen her since her wedding. I'm so glad people have showers so I can see all the people that I never get to see.

I was tasked with running the "get to know you" video of Jimmy (Katie's fiance) and making a hat of ribbons from all of the gifts for her to wear. I have to say, it turned out pretty well!
After the shower I drove down to NY with Kara (she lives in Manhattan) to meet up with Julie and Megan. I parked up on the upper west side, near the temple, and took the subway down to Chinatown where the ladies were shopping their little hearts out. I have been completely spoiled by the spacious, clean and well scheduled D.C. metro. I waited for an express train for about 10 minutes, with no idea how close the next train was. So then I gave up and jumped on the train that would stop at every stop. While I was waiting in the station I overheard a conversation that involved, Provo, Utah and BYU. Turns out this crowd was in town for a qualifying race for some of this summer's marathons. Sure enough, they were Mormon. Crazy Mormons, they're everywhere. We had a good chat, and it was nice to have a distraction from my heightened nervousness.

When I met up with Julie and Megan in the extremely crowded shopping district of Chinatown. Megan had her heart set on a blue bag with a braided handle, so we looked in every shop with no luck. Along the way, both Julie and I found bags that we thought were fun, so we tried our hand and bartering the sales guys down to a price we liked. Some of us were more successful than others. Megan never found her blue bag with braided handle, but did find a great white bag that will be perfect for summer.

We then head down south to the tip of the island, we stopped at Ground Zero, which has changed so much since I was there last. They have a memorial set up with pictures from Sept 11 and the days following. There is still a large hole, but it is not nearly as deep as it used to be. I am excited to see what the progress will be in the coming years.

It was just a few more blocks to Battery Park so that Megan could see the Statue of Liberty, so we marched on.

These poor girls had walked so much that after going to the park, we hopped in a cab to find the gelato place that Julie's friend had raved about. It was just a little hole in the wall, and (because it was the end of the day) there wasn't much selection left. However, the gelato was fabulous! I had grapefruit flavored, which I highly recommend.

***

Since we were just a hop, skip and a jump from Little Italy, we decided to have pizza. We came across L'asso, a cute little restaurant with great magazine reviews in it's windows. Unfortunately, we would not have given it such great reviews. We had two kinds of pizza, one of which was from the recommendation of the magazine reviews. Our conclusion: no flavor. The waiter did recommend a different kind -- maybe we should have listened to him. Or maybe we have poor taste.

After dinner we jumped in another cab (soon to be the resting place of my phone) to head up to Times Square. On the way there, we passed Macy*s, who is having it's annual Flower Show. The windows are all decorated with mannequins dressed in clothes made of flowers and plants. I'm sure we squealed and then asked the cab driver to let us out early. The windows were amazing. They never fail to impress.

We decided to go into Macy*s to buy Megan a scarf and hat. I stepped into the revolving door and Julie stepped into the same section of the door. "Ok," I thought, "This is different, but kind of funny." On my next step I was shoved up against the glass of the revolving door as Megan pushed her way in the compartment. We could barely move and Julie (being smashed between us) was bounced between us like a pinball. When we finally managed to move the doors far enough to let release us from the enclosure, we spewed out onto the floor into a pile of laughter - what a sight we must have been to all of the shoppers!

When we left Macy*s we convinced a pedi-cab driver to take the three of us to Times Square for $15! We ended up paying him $20, because it was so much fun! I totally recommend taking a ride next time you're in town.



We spent a bit more time wandering through Times Square before we made our way to the car. To our delight, we happened across the infamous Naked Cowboy! Julie got up close and personal and Megan and I snapped pictures as fast as we could.



It was on our walk to the car that I realized my phone was missing... we went back to L'asso in hopes that it slipped out of my bag as we ate. No luck. So we left the big city sans phone.

The drive back to DC the next day was beautiful. It was amazing how many creepy men we came across. ew. Megan and Julie did so well away from their husbands and babies - I was so relieved that the only tears shed were tears of laughter.

It was a great weekend, these girls are a riot.

March 27 UPDATE: Our amazing cab driver (that drove us from L'asso to Macy*s) found my phone in his cab and dropped it off at a local Verizon store. I should have my phone again by this weekend!