How much is that doggie...?

I have to introduce you to my favorite dog of the whole show... Ron the Rottie: I was walking around and saw this Rottweiler just chillin' between his owner and handler, who were talking to each other and ignoring him completely.


I asked if I could take a picture and got to meet Ron


Shortly after this picture was taken, I put my hand out for him to sniff so I could pet him. He licked it. Then he licked my wrist. And then up my arm, and then LICK LICK LICK LICK alllllll over my nose and face! His owner was horrified, but I was giggling madly with my arm over his shoulders laughing, "It's PERFECT! I love it!" hahaha

I heart Ron...

Kickin' the bucket... no, not that bucket!

I was lucky enough to go to the Westminster Kennel Club show last week. My preferred dog didn't win, but then, I really couldn't pin down just ONE dog that I wanted to win! :-) I had a WONDERFUL time and met at least 100 different dogs. Some were too buys working, some were sacked out, some were being silly, and one decided to lick me all over. Wow, what a dog fix! (I have to have those regularly or I go into cataplexy... luckily, there are a LOT of dogs in my neighborhood!) And yes, the pun was intended...

ANYWAY - I'll probably do another post about my ginormous dog fix later, but one of my friends reminded me of how lucky I was to be able to go to this show. And I realized that I'm kinda going through a bucket list of sorts.

So, I decided to start writing it down, and realized that sports are a large part of my life. And music. And traveling. And doing stupid things. And doing things for others. I think this is the start of something. I've already checked off the things I've already done at least once, but that doesn't mean I can't do them again!

I'm sure that my list will grow and change, but here it is so far, in no particular order...

• Go to the Olympics:
• Summer - (Atlanta 1996)
• Winter -
• Go to Westminster Kennel Club show - (2010)
• Attend something amazing and historical on the Mall in DC - (Bill Clinton Inauguration, Jan. 1993)
• Run a marathon - (Baltimore 2003)
• See a Broadway show (on Broadway) - (Spamalot, Lestat (awful!), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Equus)
• Go to the Stanley Cup finals
• Go to the World Cup finals
• Go to Wimbledon (the whole dang thing!)
• Go to the Super Bowl
• Go to the World Series
• Sing the Messiah in a choir
• Jump out of an airplane for no good reason
• Play "Rhapsody in Blue" in concert, preferably at Carnegie Hall (Guess I have to finish learning the piece first!)
• Hike the Appalachian Trail
• See Elton John and Billy Joel play together
• Go to Ireland, Scotland, Wales
  
• Go to Australia & New Zealand
• Take a cruise
• Go to Canada
• Visit every continent
• Start a charity/non-profit
  
• To help runaway teens
  
• To help shelter animals
  
• To feed the hungry
• To clothe and house the homeless
• To support our military personnel and their families
  
• Shake hands with the President of the USA
  
• Have a beer with Russell Crowe
• Ride a roller coaster in every state that has one
• Go back up Laan Tau and stay in Cabin #18
• Record a song with my nephew
• Stop crying at the ASPCA ads with Sarah McLaughlin's "Angel" playing... sob sob sob
• Get a house with a huge yard so I can have about 10 dogs! (From the shelter, natch!)

p.s. Pics from my doggie weekend are here

There's SNOW business like SNOW business like SNOW business I knowwwww....

Snowzilla, snowpocalypse, snowgasm, snowbama, whatever you want to call it... It's HERE!

Here in DC, we've had a LOT of snow this year, and right now, we're going through the BIGGIE! A local newsman (Pat Collins, NBC4) is stationed three blocks away and measured about 16" of snow at around 9am this morning. (p.s. upgraded to 23" at 12n-ish) Aaaaaaand, we're expecting another 10-12" when the "big" snow falls this afternoon. FUN!

No, I really mean it! FUN!!!!

DC is not equipped to handle this kind of snow, but it's doing OK, considering. The Metro is limited to the underground stations and there's no bus service since we hit 8" accumulation, but the road crews have been working all night and have gotten the main roads fairly clear. Well, they're still covered, but the snow is all nice and smooth... for the most part. ;-)

Started out the day yesterday with a 1/2 day working from home, then went and braved the grocery store. Not sure why since all the shelves were empty!

Got home, took a shower, and then went down to join Daphne and other friends at Nanny's. I walked in and asked "Who are all these people and WHY are they crowding up MY PUB????" I guess a few other people had the same idea. Regardless, we had a great time and chatted with friends, watched the Caps game (#13 in a row, woohoo!) at Aroma, and went down to Murphy's to see her boyfriend play. I was planning to get "stranded" at Daphne's house last night, but... I wanted to wake up in my own bed!


So I decided to take the metro and trudge the four blocks home. I started trying to walk through the 8-10" of unshoveled snow on the sidewalk, but ended up walking in the street (toward traffic so I could see it coming), along with a LOT of other people. And that was a piece of cake! Well, except when the snowplow came by and I had to jump to the side - and straight into the thigh-high snow! But it was fun, and I got home feeling like I'd had a hard-core work-out and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the pillow.

This morning was an early awakening when Calypso (aka Pyschokitty) wanted to get under the covers with me because the snow had started up again in earnest and was clicking against the window. Sure is nicer to have a snuggle bug on a snowy day vs. being stuck alone, by myself, and all by my lonesome in a 4BR house with no other living creatures! (i.e. 1996 snowstorm from hell aka "When Giggles loses all of her marbles"). And then my sister called because texting takes too long. :-) After a bowl of tomato soup and a cheese sandwich (Mm Mm Good!), I'm debating right now over staying at home and sleeping or getting my butt off the couch and going for a walk, or maybe even checking out the Official Dupont Circle Snowball Fight in, surprisingly enough, Dupont Circle.

Actually that last one sounds like the most fun... not necessarily to participate, but to go down and get Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee while taking pictures. YUM! And it's all on the metro, so all I'd have to do is walk to and from the metro again.

Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzz OH! Wha-huh? Oh sorry, snoozed off there for a sec... so maybe it will be option #1 after all!

Have a safe and warm weekend, Giggles OUT!

NOTE: These are all pics from my phone. I took a lot of other pictures with my "real" camera and as soon as I can find the cord, I'll upload those and post them as well.

Stress management 101

My friend Daphne is having a bad day. Someone (who we shall call "Miranda") drove her so crazy that she punched the phone. So, being the friend I am, I tried to help... via gmail chat:

me: Sounds like you need to go outside, find a park, raise your arms above your head as you face the sky, screaming your lungs out. Or go throw darts at Miranda's face...

[about 15 minutes later] Daphne: Hey, it worked!

me: Which one?

Daphne: The first.

me: Screaming is always good - less destructive too. Of course, the homeless people in the park might think you belong there...

Daphne: They high fived me

me: LOL - excellent! you're making new friends! LOL

Daphne: yeah. They agreed Miranda's a bitch.

me: bwahahaha


And my work is done...

Coffee and sunshine

It was supposed to snow/sleet/hail this morning, but it is really more of a cold rain. I'm OK with it, but I was among the thousands of people hoping for a huge block-all-roads type of storm so that we didn't have to go to work today. BUT, it's not all bad: I only work 1/2 days on Fridays anyway, so I just have to go in for four hours and then I'm done! And this way I don't slip all over the place... much. ;-)

But today started off extra nice: My normal commute is cross-the-street, take-the-bus-to-the-end-of-the-route, stop-at-Corner Bakery-for-coffee*, walk-three-blocks-to-the-office. It can be made into a bad commute by watching the bus fly by my stop as I'm stuck on the other side of Connecticut Ave because the light hasn't changed. Today, the light changed and then the bus pulled up to the stop RIGHT as I was walking across the street! PERFECT! I scrambled on, and waddled through to a seat in the back (trying not to hit anyone with my bags), and waited until the metro stop when everyone else gets off (just about). Then I slipped over to the empty seat and got comfy. I read my magazine since I didn't have time to pick up the Express, but it was good because I finished it - and I'll get a new one this afternoon anyway!

Then I get to the end of the route at McPherson Square, and I'm walking across the square, headed to the Corner Bakery. Another passenger had gotten off the bus from the front door and so was walking straight toward me at an angle and we almost ran into each other. I stopped and let her go first with an "Oops!" and a giggle and she walked forward, but turned back to say, "You're so pretty!"

I was a bit stunned because that's not something you hear too often after letting someone pass in front of you, but ... and this is key ... I smiled and said, "Thank you!" Sometimes, you've just got to take a compliment, eh?

So yes, it's a gray, rainy, cold morning, but I got a little sunshine this morning. And it's going to be a good day. It might not be like last summer in Kitty Hawk, but it sure feels nice anyway!

*Best coffee in town, I do not lie!

UPDATE: Edited to clarify that the picture posted above is from my vacation last summer in Kitty Hawk, and here are more of them. Yes, I took it. And yes, I really want to be there now. REALLY!

Random Thoughts

So, is it wrong to eat Ben & Jerry's "Everything but the..." ice cream while watching "The Biggest Loser"?

word play

I was just revising my profile name back to Giggles and I noticed that one of the labels in my last post was "materialistism"... What a great word! I guess it means that I like "stuff" AND I have a tendency to make lists? Both true. But really, what it's all about is that I love a good typo... it gives one the opportunity to create a new word. I have a friend who used to give me great typos all the time, but she found spell check -- and I realized that she thought I was making fun of her when I came up with definitions for the words she created. I wasn't, honest!

The Washington Post used to have a columnist named Bob Levey, and he had a monthly neologism contest: he would provide a definition and invite readers to submit the new word to which the definition belonged. I loved the contest, but never won. My sister won, twice, but we came to the conclusion that she was good at coming up with words from definitions, whereas I am good at creating definitions from messed-up words!

Amazing really, considering I was more a math major type! :-)

OK, back to work...