On Nicer News

My Granny is famous, again!! She's the one all the way to the left, if you haven't met the infamous Lil yet.

FYI, I've been informed that this is the THIRD time she's been featured for one of her forward thinking contributions to society. What a lady!

If you'd like to read the article in the NY Times, click here

Buster Brown 6/11/95 - 6/19/07

Sixteen months ago, during a trip to San Francisco, we found out that Buster was in the first stages of kidney failure. This past weekend, he went through the final stages. This morning, we had put him down.

Lately, he had become unresponsive to his aggressive drug therapy, and was becoming more and more selective about what he would eat. About two weeks ago, he stopped eating entirely. Then he stopped drinking. On Saturday morning, we started him on IV fluids (500 mL under the skin, four times a day) to continue to filter his system. The docs told us that either he would show a remarkable turnaround immediately, showing that he was simply extremely dehydrated and just needed fluids, and would start eating and have more energy... or he wouldn't show any change, which implied that his system was up to something more serious.

Our vets told us, after these last 4 days of his hunger strike and IV fluids, there was nothing else to do.

We greatly appreciate your condolences, but we are not ready to talk about it, since even thinking about it breaks us apart, so please don't call or email quite yet. We know that many of you know Buster, and thought you would want to know.

We are going to miss him. A lot.

New Favorites

This man is my new favorite person.

He sang Nessun Dorma yesterday, and it literally made me cry. I'm such a sap.

No New News

Dear Diary,

It's been a while, hasn't it. Have you missed me? LOL. I've certainly missed you. I'm sorry that I've been ignoring you, it's just that things have been so busy lately, that I just haven't had the time.

Work's been good. Keeping me busy. Very busy. Too busy. But at least I still like what I do. And who I do it with.

And the weather's been getting better. It's nice that the summer if finally coming. I like all of the hot weather and rainy nights, but I'm afraid Z might melt. He has already installed the Air Conditioning and complains that my side of the bed is cooler than his side. If I was a good fiance, I'd probably switch out the winter weight goose-down comforter... maybe I'll do that this weekend.

I can't! I'm going to be out of town (again!) These three day weekend getaways are no fun. It's great to be able to do whatever I flew cross country to do in person, but spending a brief 36 hours in one place, and two very long stays in the airport can be absolutely exhausting! Plus, I don't have enough time when I get home to catch up on my GH before the work week starts up again. Boo hoo for me, I know. At least now we have 2 DVRs, so I'm not in as much of a rush to delete my episodes.

There is nothing really happening on the wedding front. When we were in Boston, I picked out wedding bands for us. I think Z will really like the one I selected. It's cool. And will look wonderful on his hand. [sigh!] We have to wait until September for him to check it out. For my ring, Leo had a great suggestion to match my engagement ring. It's going to be beautiful. And sparkly. We like sparkly.

We've started to work with a few caterers, but they've been a bit slow to respond. And we think we've gotten a DJ who we like. The next big exciting things will be doing the tastings with the caterer, and figuring out my bouquet. But those decisions won't be happening yet. Do you know what flowers are in season in October? So far, I have: Mums. Hydrangea. Roses.

I can't believe tomorrow is June. June is officially Summertime. Very exciting. Unlike this post.

Have a great weekend.

xoxo L

The new season of my favorite trashy british show, footballers wive$, starts a new season on 6/6. I'm thrilled. It's like Desperate Housewives, but with swearing and excessive drug use.

Since the last season, they've been keeping me entertained with a brilliantly similar spin off, with different characters who are only very loosely tied to any actual Footballers. It's been very interesting, but it's just not the same.

And Zeke is thrilled because tomorrow, a second DVR arrives. So he won't be forced to overhear every wonderous details.

Big Miz Graduates

We're so proud.

The Week of the Registry

Our first registry gift arrived today!!!

I got a wonderfully unexpected package delivered to my desk at work.

But Zeke won't let me open it until we're together.

How mean is that!

While I understand the concept of togetherness... and I understand that these gifts aren't just for me... it's going to be cruel and unusual punishment if I have to endure 6 months of unopened boxes speaking to me from under my desk.

It's times like these I wish we had a protected vestibule. Or x-ray vision. Because this whole unopened box thing is tough.

I've crossed the edge of domesticity

Who would imagine that slow-cooking could get even easier?
Our exclusive All-Clad Deluxe Slow Cooker comes with a
removable cast-aluminum insert for stovetop browning
before slow-cooking.


Did anyone else receive the email from Williams-Sonoma today announcing this brilliant new product?

You can BROWN on the STOVE using the crockpot INSERT. Wow.

It was added to the registry immediately!

How many is too many?

So, we may have gone a bit registry crazy. We now have 4 active registries.

The problem is that no one store has everything, so we end up looking at different places. And since we can't exactly register for only ONE thing, we end up adding more and more to the list. I don't even know what it all is anymore.

It's almost like we've registered at a different place for each ROOM. Luckily, we only have three rooms in our place.

While we love our doublestuffed condo, we are really hoping to get a new place within the next year or so (pending the fact that someone out there wants to buy our place). Since I've moved in, there is not a single crack or crevice that can hold another item. So it's a bit of a stretch to imagine or plan where all of these new items will go.

But see, that's the most fun part about the whole registering thing! Not only are we registering for imagined social events to be held in the distant future, but we are also selecting items that will adorn a home that we don't yet live in. It's almost completely make-pretend. So when we find something that we like, it's not like we can say "Oh, that will look wonderful in the guest bedroom" or "Won't these linens will look wonderful in the kitchen?" (since we don't have those rooms yet!) Instead, we say "We can find a dining room that has someplace wonderful to put this delightful [insert registry item here]."

So just think: any gift we receive will dramatically effect what type of new house we go out in search of. Are we mod? or are we country? Will we have dark woodwork, or more of a clean, white motif. What type of kitchen will we look for that can embrace our red La Creuset dutch oven AND my stainless steel Cuisinart? Decisions, decisions.

But big, life altering decisions aside. You know how much we both love new toys :)

While I love the electronic registry, here is one thing that I don't get. There have been a few things that we've either found in the store, or found online, and when we try to add it, the option to add to our registry is invalid. Shouldn't there be MORE available online than in the store. For once, the internet has baffled me. Why should I have to leave the comfort of my couch to go shopping?

A note to all of my newlywed friends and family: What is the one thing you registered for that you would recommend? And is there anything that is still in the box, months, or years later?

Veils.com

Has anyone ever tried to research/buy a wedding veil online? I tried last night and I was shocked by the results of my search.

Are there really people who wear such monstrosities? I hate to pay $100 for something I'll wear for 45minutes, but still, I can't say I trust the online establishments I've found so far.

And are these models supposed to be selling me the veil? I can't even SEE the thing.


.

And this one, the model looks like she is going to a funeral marking the end of her single life.

I think I'm better off just going to a store and spending the extra few bucks!