Girly-Bits

No, not me. I got married last year. In fact our anniversary is coming up. And we’re going to spend it in a very romantic way: framing out a back porch cover. Sexy! Actually, we’re both pretty excited about it. And nothing says, “let’s do some construction work outside” like Dallas in July. We’ll both probably be hospitalized. But enough about me. My friend Leah’s only son got married last weekend at a beautiful resort in Phoenix, where the bride is from. I think Leah looks stunning. And I think it’s cute the way her son kind of looks like a little kid in the picture. A very large little kid, but still. His last moments as his momma’s boy. Oy vey. The setting was gorgeous. And I love the fancy little sofa out there for having cocktails. That’s just so Leah. Congrats Nate and Elizabeth!

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Ah, at last the dressing room is done… other than finishing the hanger changes. Above you see the right side of the room from the door. The curtains hide all the shoe racks and hanging stuff that isn’t so cute to look at. The folding screen hides the treadmill, but if I whisk that away, the treadmill unfolds for, ahem, daily use. Well, more or less.

This is the left side of the room. It’s so anal, I just love it!

This nook houses all our financial files.

Finn is investigating the pandan storage ottoman. It holds my dirty clothes. I’m maximizing my space!

Even my jewelry has a little home. These jewelry organizers fit in the shallow drawers and slide out very handily. My satisfaction is complete. Many thanks to the patient Mr. Hall who did all the work of putting up the elfa and the curtains.

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Friday evening, I flew in from San Francisco and ran to Martha and Bryan’s house. Actually, we stopped at Kavala first and got some hummus and chicken souvlaki. We sat out on their back patio and drank wine and ate Greek food. I’ve never had friends in the neighborhood, just a couple of blocks away, where dropping by for some wine on a Friday night was an option. I hope they never move! Les said the fact that my foot is in focus in the above picture means that I didn’t move it at all for at least 60 seconds. Maybe I’m getting more Zen in my old age. Or maybe I was just falling into a stupor. Take your pick.

Saturday, we went to Ikea for some finishing bits for my closet, including curtains, lamps, storage ottomans, and galvanized storage flats. I ran out of my new hangers… so I only changed one side of the room to the fabulous “huggable hangers”. The rest we’ll have to do next weekend. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll hang the curtains and I’ll be able to post some pictures. My dressing room is now truly magnifique!! We stopped at the Ikea cafe for lunch where I had a Caprese salad:

Strangely, it was labeled “Typically Swedish”. Um, I don’t think so. Les had the Swedish Meatballs which strangely weren’t labeled “Typically Swedish”.

After a hard day of shopping and hanging clothes, we did another round of Zen Sushi. We had the Ika Sansei salad again, plus summer rolls and gyoza. The gyoza dumplings were incredible. You can see them below. Then for sushi we had the dragon, jalapeno and spider rolls. Last time the dragon rolls were so loaded with chinese mustard that I felt like I was on an episode of Jackass every time I ate one. But there’s nothing like blistering hot horseradish mustard to get the endorphins going.

Now, we’re about to watch There Will Be Blood. I keep hearing about how at the end Daniel Day-Lewis says, “I drink your milkshake”! I can’t wait to find out what the hell that is about.

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That is how I love the Acqua Hotel in Marin County. My last job, although fairly glamorous in many respects (fabulous office, no real work to speak of), was a sea of Hampton Inns and PF Chang’s when traveling. My current job, at which I slave away and am happy to do so, has quite fabulous travel benefits including the most lovely hotels. The Acqua Hotel is one of them. I wish I could take a picture that does my room justice, but I can’t. Suffice it to say, the incredible decor, the lakefront view, the soaking tub… well, they make me very happy. Above is the hotel from across the lake. Below is a bit of the mossy rocks that line the shore. Sigh….

I was on my own this evening, so I walked across the parking lot to the Robata Grill and Sushi (I know… squeal!) for dinner. It was a very traditional sushi bar. No Jalapeno rolls to be found. Which actually is not a plus for me. I don’t like giant rolls and I don’t like meaty rolls, and that’s what traditional places tend to have. But I disemboweled my spicy tuna rolls and cut my giant veggie rolls in half, and had lots of wasabi and Sauvignon Blanc.

Ah…. the good life.

Added:

While in downtown San Francisco, I get to stay at the Palomar Hotel. A few doors down is Annabelle’s Bistro, where we always eat. It’s just superb. This time, I had seared tuna, and we shared some molten chocolate cake. Yum.

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So Saturday we began our attempt to create a fabulous dressing room for me ala the picture in my last post. I thought it would just take Saturday… and then I’d spend Sunday mulching the flower beds.

But no.

The reality was quite different. Above is my old Ikea closet. There was also a couch across the room. We thought we’d remove the couch and old closet and replace them with two new closet units. So…. last weekend we moved the couch out through a guest room window through the backyard and into Les’ office window. Yeah, our friends must really love us to help us with something like that. Then, Saturday morning, other friends came over and moved the Ikea closets through a guest room window and into their truck. Yeah, our friends must really love us to help us with something like that.

Unfortunately, after the closet and the couch were gone, the room looked like this. Ack.

So, then we went and had our new closets planned on the computer. Very high tech.

Mr. Hall is building one wall, which is mainly short hanging and drawers. The other side is mainly short and long hanging, with a section of sliding shoe racks. Very cool. Unfortunately, we only got half way done on Saturday. On Sunday, I spent about eight hours bending over, picking up clothing and hanging it up on new special all-matching hangers. My buns are going to be very firm. We finished the other side on Sunday after much to-ing and fro-ing and cursing on the part of Mr. Hall. Next weekend, we’re going to get curtains to hang in front of the closets, plus some lamps and ottomans, etc. to make it a little more cozy.

But Saturday night we treated ourselves to some delicious Zen Sushi.…. Above is the delicious Ika Sansai Salad, which is seaweed tossed with marinated squid. Mmmmm. Add some Cajun Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll and a little Sauvignon Blanc… well, let’s just say my buns really deserved it.

The full reveal of the completed dressing room shall be next weekend. In the meantime I head for San Francisco tomorrow. A woman’s work and all……

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My sweet husband has a birthday on Monday, so we went to our favorite restaurant, Hatties, for a wee celebration. We had prosciutto wrapped roasted figs and fried green tomatoes as appetizers. The birthday boy had the butcher-block pork chop with apple glaze, Hattie’s spoonbread & braised greens, Martha had pecan crusted catfish, Bryan had pulled-pork on grits, and I had the halibut on bok choy, pictured below. Philip just had a whoooole lot of wine. We topped it off with some fried banana pie that was the best thing ever. More food pix here.

Then we went home and Les opened his presents. A new camera, a new motorcycle helmet and an Academy Sports gift certificate so that he can buy some ammo. Don’t ask.

Today we’re re-doing my dressing room. We’re tossing the icky Ikea closets and installing all new open closets like this:

Pictures of the process may be forth coming.

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Les and I were thinking about the last pictures we’d taken of Nick.

I love this one from Christmas of 2004. Nick always hung out along the top of the sofa.
But definitely the best time in the last few years was when we’d take him to the dog park. He would patrol the perimeter with great authority for half an hour, then spend some time harassing complete strangers to throw the ball for him… you know, just for four or five hours. Then he’d bark at all the great Danes and German Sheperds, just to make sure they were aware of their place in the greater scheme of things. Which was basically:

Nick
Mommy
Daddy
People that throw you balls,
Angus and Finn who never let him play with them
All other dogs, especially ones that are so uncouth as to smell of your bottom
And men with large feet.

In that order.

Here he is either screaming “What bloody git put me in this ridiculous girl’s jumper? I want to know NOW”! Or “Ball, ball, can you throw the ball?, Where is the ball? Did you take the ball? What do I have to do to get the ball back? Ball? Ball? Ball?

But this is last official pic of him… 12/16. He’s just gotten a terrible ferret-like haircut, and seems suitably embarrassed.

I’d give anything to see him in that stupid haircut one more time. And course, it marks the end of a huge part of my life. For seventeen years he was the constant while the jobs changed, the cities changed, the friends changed, the men changed. But Nick was always there, ready for a new place and a new city. I feel that a part of my youth is gone, and there is no one who knows everything about me like he did. Maybe that’s the real question. Who am I, without him?

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How about Rocky? He’s an abandoned Yorkie who needs a home. He reminds me of someone special…..

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Just thinking… should I get a dog? Should I get a new dog? No… but maybe I should get a dog. Do you think i should get a new dog?

The Cons: The house is mighty quiet in the mornings with just two big dogs hanging out. They don’t even move when we get up. It’s really a nicer way to start the day.
Also, when we travel, it’s harder to find accommodations for three dogs.
Les would have to house break a puppy, and we’d be getting up, etc, during the night.

The Pros: I want a PUPPY!!!! There’s a part of me that has love that can only be directed at a small furry baby-like creature. Call it misguided maternal instinct, but I’m lonely without some furball to come home to. Plus, I just miss Nick like the devil. I get up in the morning and place my feet carefully on the floor so I dont disturb him in his bed. And of course, he’s not there. The bathroom door gets pushed open while I’m taking my shower. Oh it must be Nick coming to find me. But of course, it’s Finn or Angus. I come in the door from work and want to go check on him… but he’s not in the bedroom.

Maybe if I had something else to focus that attention on, I would get over Nick’s death a little quicker. As it is, I burst into tears every time someone mentions him. Which is starting to scare people and I really have to stop it.

But maybe it wouldn’t help at all. I just know that Les wants me to be happy. And preferably to stop crying all the time. Maybe my new dressing room will cheer me up. Or a present. Yeah, a present… like a new puppy!

Added:
And a special loving thank you to all the friends, neighbors and passersby that stopped to leave a kind or encouraging word. All the “dog people” at work have been just as thoughtful. And Martha brought by a rose to plant by Nick’s headstone. It’s nice to know that there are alway good “dog people” to understand the hurt.

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This picture is from Christmas 2004. I got Nick the Christmas of 1990. I was 27, and I didn’t know anything about dogs. I brought him home and let him sleep next to my pillow. In the morning, he promptly walked to the foot of the bed and peed. The first time that I threw a ball for him was the beginning of a lifelong love affair. He’d pick up the ball and drop it at your feet over and over until you’d throw it for him. In all the years that he was able to fetch, I never once was able to wear him out. For 17 and half years he was a feisty, furry, cock-eared little bugger. He slept at the foot of my bed, and sometimes would get under the covers if it was cold. His bark was so loud that people always thought that he was a German Shepard. He moved with me 10 times in 5 different cities.

In the last couple of years Nick had really slowed down. Arthritis stiffened his legs and back, but he’d still toddle around, with one ear up. When Les and I moved in together, I was glad that Les worked at home so that Nick had someone to look after him during the day and when I was traveling. For the last six months, Nick wasn’t really able to go for walks, so we’d put him in a little cart and roll him around so that he could get some fresh air.

Today, Nick went to sleep for the last time. I hope that he’s somewhere with an endless supply of tennis balls and treats and a nice warm comforter to snuggle under when it’s cold.

Night Nick… I’ll miss you always.

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