Bondi's Terrible Tuesday

What a TERRIBLE Tuesday Mr. Bondi has had.

It all started when Joe got up this morning for work. This is usually my Bondi's favorite part of the day: As soon as Joe gets out bed, Mr.B promptly jumps up and snuggles up next to me. Bondi is a great little spoon.

This morning, just as soon as Bondi got all comfy, we were both seriously disturbed by a CRASH. BANG. BOOM that was Joe's "man closet" coming out of the wall and falling to a disastrous pile on the floor.

See, Joe & I had a slight *closet space* issue and I was sick and tired of having an apartment that looked as though the dryer exploded my wardrobe into the living room because I had no room to hang my clothes. So I made kindly requested that Joe get this nifty little contraption, and once we Joe installed it, we I affectionately dubbed it the "man closet".

It looked something like this last night, except with a big Australian flag hanging on the wall above it and a PBR Snowboard serving as a shelf - very manish.

Well, apparently it was installed wrong or Joe was too rough with his hangers this morning or SOMETHING because this morning, it looked like this:

This was clearly very upsetting to Bondi, because he started shaking violently and would no longer be a good little spoon.

After Bondi worked up the courage to go inspect the situation (see above) and determined that everything was a-ok, I finally got him settled down for our ritual morning cuddle, during which time I snooze the alarm clock no less than 3 times before getting up. However, I Bondi was rudely interrupted by the freakin' fire alarm testing. No kidding.

During this lovely process, the fire alarm in the apartment goes off for 3 seconds every 3 minutes for 2 hours. Let's just say I picked a terrible morning to work from home.

Mr. Bondi absolutely hates fire alarms. And despite the fact that he could and would kick your ass if you tried to hurt me, he is a slightly neurotic and emotional dog. Between 9AM and 11AM, I found Bondi in the following locations:

The bathtub. No joke.

The closet. Tail between his legs.

Under my desk by my feet.

Bondi, not even tempted by his *favorite* Chicken Jerky Treats, aka Doggy Crack.

When the fire alarm stopped, Bondi was still shaking for a good hour and wouldn't touch his food. He didn't pep up until we got into the car. He *loves* car rides and is a great co-pilot... I swear he sits in the front seat just like a little person.

BUT... but.. but.. Bondi's Terrible Tuesday was not over. We had a stop to make at the Car Wash. Vaccum cleaners - he's not a fan.

And here's Bondi in the wayyy back of the Subaru, hiding from / trying to ignore the scary vaccum cleaner.

 

Oh Bondi...

PS- While cleaning the car, I found my long-lost camera!! Yayyyyyy! No more crappy Blackberry pictures :)

hello november

Hello NOVEMBER!

So November is the month of Thanksgiving, and on that note.. I am so thankful for my parents!!! Specifically, I am so blessed to live just minutes away from my parents, especially because they live in an amazing home on beautiful Lake Sammamish.

Here's a pic my mom snapped from their balcony ... "Mutual of Sammamish" or something :) How pretty is that????

So that's the view I get to enjoy when we have family dinners on Sundays, or afternoons on the boat in the summer. Which reminds me...

I remember last year on November 1^st Joe and I went waterskiing/wakeboarding on Lake Sammamish. It was the last day my folks had their boat on the water so we wanted to take advantage - one last time for the "summer" :) except the only problem was it was raining and the water/air was DAMN COLD.

We had the glassy lake all to ourselves, and not gonna lie, it was pretty BAD ASS!! Nevermind that we were both BLUE afterwards and it took several glasses of wine in the hot tub to recover. It was an adventure. And I love an adventure...!!!

Anywayyyy, photos from this weekend coming soon. I would've loved to parade Bondi around in a sexy dog costume for Halloween, but he gives me this "please just kill me" look whenever we play dress up.

See?

(Bondi as a peasant / nun / devout Muslim)

OK, that's all for now. Weekend tales to come.

PS- I just installed internet in my apartment. I can't decide if this is a good thing. I am in front of a computer all day long for work, so I really don't need to stare at a screen (except maybe the TV for Grey's Anatomy / Private Practice / Daily Show) when I get home. However, I'm sure blogging at So Say I is not in my job description. Hmmm...

More Thumb Drama... Boo!!

WARNING -This post is full of pretty boring, angst-inducing medical crap.

So this week has been pretty stressful. As I mentioned earlier, I was bit by a cat and got a nasty infection in my hand. Now it's been about six weeks and I've already taken three full courses of antibiotics (a different one each time). Still can't bend my thumb so on Tuesday I go to my GP Dr.F at Lakeside Family Physicians for the umpteenth time.

Dr.F is really young and I don't think he's firing on all cylinders. First Clue: He told me initially dogs' mouths are dirtier than cats' .. I've never heard this and it may or may not be true but it's pretty irrelevant since stats show you are 10x more likely to develop an infection from a cat bite than a dog bite. (Sad that I know this...)

Another Clue: The second antibiotic he prescribed was Doxycyline, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic not generally used for the treatment of the cat bites... not to mention the fact that I've taken Doxy several times before (which I told him) so it's unlikely to be very effective. My body probably says, "Oh, that again." Stupid, if you ask me. And as I expected, it didn't work.

Anywayyy... so I go to the doc Tuesday and he pretty much says everything is fine, despite the fact that I still can't bend my thumb much and it still hurts like a MOTHER when I bump it on anything. Later in the day I call and request they fax my records to an infection specialist who I'll be seeing from hereon. Lo and behold, Dr. F calls - presumably to cover his ass - and says, "On second thought, we better get an MRI since you're still having pain." Good idea.

So Wednesday I go get an MRI. Let me tell you, NOT. FUN. I've had these before but this was by far the worst, as I had to lay on my stomach for 90 minutes with my arm above my head. Oh, and about half way through they had to inject me with contrast... it only took three stabs for the nurse to find a vein. Fun stuff.

Wednesday afternoon I get a call from Dr.F and he sounds very concerned. He tells me my MRI doesn't look so good (he actually used the word "SCARY") - the infection is in my bone, joints and tendons. Figures. He refers me to a hand surgery specialist and tells me they will want to operate. WHAAATT???

Yesterday, I go see the surgeon. He is surprised at how good my thumb looks clinically, considering how bad my MRI looks. He schedules me for surgery that same day. He explains this is necessary because if the joint is infected, each day that goes by you are losing cartillage. Apparently, in this surgery they open up the thumb, irrigate the joints, try to get as much bacteria out as possible, and do a bone biopsy to culture the bacteria that is causing the problem. This allows them to determine which antibiotic will be most effective.

The surgeon also refers me to an infection specialist (the one I originally made an appointment with) to review my post surgery antibiotic treatment options. I meet the specialist just before I'm supposed to check in for surgery. I ask him if there is anything I haven't tried that might let me avoid surgery. He reviews my history and tells me I can try CIPRO. It has a "pretty good" chance of solving the problem. I obviously prefer this to surgery. He consults with the surgeon and we come up with a plan:

I am going to take CIPRO and Bactrum (two heavy-duty anitbiotics that can get into the joints and bones) for 7 days and reevaluate. If my thumb improves I will continue for the full course. If not, I have to go off of the antibiotics and let them get out of my system (this takes a few days) so the surgical biopsy culture can be accurate.

Long Story Short - My thumb has ~7 days to disinfect itself (please work, new antibiotics!) or its off to the operating table for me.

Wishful Wednesday.. thoughts on Halloween

So I'm a little late on this Wishful Wednesday from Kelsey at The Seattle Smith's ... but as I always say, better late than never!

"I Wish" ...

I was 6 years old and going Trick-or-Treating,

and my costume would be...

 this "Sexy" Pirate Wench.

photo found here.

Okay, just kidding. I picked this costume because I just want to say, WTF???? What is wrong with our society that we are marketing a "Pirate Wench Child Costume" to our youngsters??

Actually, the Consumerist (if you don't read it, I highly recommend...) did a story on this, urging online retailers to remove costumes described as "sexy" and displayed in children's categories. The Examiner also did a piece on the trend of sexing up children and tweens with borderline whorish halloween costumes that leave little to the imagination. Definitely worth a looksy:

"Halloween is a great time for kids to dress up and live out their fantasies and lately girls have been able to live out their dream of really hot and sexy and naughty... Wha? Wha??!! Halloween costumes have gotten out of hand. Gather any group of parents and you'll quickly hear about how the choices of costumes have gone from witch and princess to sexy witch and pouty porn princess."

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm all for sexy Halloween costumes!!! But I am 25. Not 6, or even 12. Come on, Culture/Society/Parents, etc. - Let's not encourage our little girls to wear "sexy" costumes. They have many, many years ahead to do that.

On that note, I know lots of people bitch about how women use Halloween as an excuse to dress as 'sluts' ... but I'm going to refrain from judgement on this one. I say, once you're an adult, you can make your own decision on what to wear... and if you want to dress as a Playboy Bunny, go riiight ahead. (I'm sure you won't hear MEN complaining.)

I myself dressed as a "Dead Baby" last year... not too "PC" but I didn't have to worry about seeing a hundred other girls wearing my costume.

This year, I think I'm going to dress as a Jellyfish. Wear white.. hang some streamers from an umbrella or something.. I don't know. We'll see how that turns out.

And in closing haha.. I would just like to say, what has this world come to?? Sexy DOG Costumes?  Seriously?

 

photos found here.

I'm not gonna lie. I might have wanted to get one for Bondi :-)

Show Us Your City - Seattle!

Sorry for the brief hiatus. I've been in Atlanta for a tradeshow. Now I'm back, and Jax at The Roaring Twenties is was hosting a "Show Us Your City" bloghop, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to rant about Seattle a bit. Better late than never!

Seattle is most definitely home to me. I grew up on the "Eastside" (read: Microsoft suburbia) and promptly returned to the Emerald City upon finishing school in North Carolina.

When people think Seattle, they think coffee and rain. My pitch: Yes, it rains. But the summers are GORGEOUS!! and in the winter when it's raining in the city, it's snowing in the mountains. That means great skiing/snowboarding about 45 minutes away. Can't beat that!!!

This past summer, we actually had multiple days of record heat (100+) but not the nasty humid kind you find on the east coast. This past winter, we also had LOTS of snow in the city ... which was great for skiiers, but terrible for NW drivers. It usually never sticks, so just an inch or two on the roads, and people are abandoning cars on the freeway. No joke.

Some pics:

Here's one I took from a boat we chartered for my friend Jeni's bachelorette party.

Here's one I took of the Space Needle during Folk Life Festival last spring.

This is the view of Elliott Bay and the Olympic Peninsula from the roof of my apartment building in Belltown.

There is so much I could say about where I live. But Belltown most certainly deserves its own post. Anywayyy... I could go on and on about how much I love Seattle... but instead, I'm gonna go off on a tangent and tell a little story about a class I took in college: Rap and Hip Hop Music Appreciation.

Believe it or not, this was a full credit course that pretty much involved listening to and discussing rap/hip-hop for a few hours each week on Friday. Oh, and our final grade was based on a group assignment to record in studio a rap or hip-hop piece of a given genre. (Yes, rap has 'genres' haha).

I forget the categorization of our assigned "genre" but it was defined by the musical stylings of 'artists' including Lil' Kim, Sir Mix Alot and company. Or whatever. For our final project, we came up with was a rap/song with a "story line" about an Airline that "serviced" its passengers. I sang the hook. The lyrics included "Destination: Cloud 9" etc. You get the idea. Not something I would play for my parents/children.

What was I saying? Oh yes... this class. One of our first "assignments" was to write a rap about our home town or city. I can't remember all of the lyrics I came up with, but here's a sampling for your amusement:

I'm from the 206-

Home of the 747,

Microsoft & Starbucks.

Seatown is just like heaven.

... something about "where the air is clean"

... something about "people love the green"

....{{insert some other terrible lines here}}...

My favorite part:

People always saying

"Yo, does it always rain?"

Well we're lying when we say

"Uh YEAH like every day"

Cuz we chill and keep it real

without traffic like LA

And if you came you'd never leave

So stay the f*ck away.

Anyway, no worries - not quitting my day job to try and make it big in the rap industry anytime soon :)

Wishful Wednesday: Vacation

I wish I was going on vacation tomorrow,

and I would want to go to Costa Rica.

Nevermind that I just arrived in Atlanta, where I'll be spending the next few days. I'm thinking VACATION... (thanks kels!)

I've been wanting to plan a trip to Costa Rica for awhile now.. I think it's the ideal vacation destination, because Costa Rica has the whole white sand beach thing, scuba diving.. and MONKEYS!!!!

See, how cute are they??? :)

I hear if you stay at a beach resort, sometimes they have tame monkeys that will come try and steal your drink from you if you're not paying attention.. and then they get drunkyyy!! What a RIOT:)

I think I'd totally opt for chillin' in hotsprings with the snow monkeys in Japan, except that I'm not a huge fan of the whole *freezing my ass off* thing. Islands are supposed to be warm and tropical. DUH. But seriously, these Japanese Macaques are pretty freakin' cool!!

Which brings me to my ALL TIME FAVORITE island: Australia. I totally would've picked Australia, except a vacation just ain't gonna cut it. I need lotsa time Down Under.

I lived in Australia for six+ months during my junior year of college, and it was absolutely Heaven. On. Earth. I lived in a "flat" with six other students from Duke.. and I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty Real World - esque. Check out the view from our place:

The view is of Coogee Beach, a suburb of Sydney. Everything about Australia was amazing, and I would love to go back. But like I said, I need more than just a week or two. Luckily, Joe had an amazing experience in Australia during college also, so I have no doubt the two of us will be headed back there someday, hopefully sooner than later!!!!

FUNNY FACT: Bondi, my dog, is named after Bondi Beach in Australia. Bondi Beach is right next to Coogee Beach. I wanted to name my dog as a tribute to my time in Oz. However, I couldn't see naming my dog "Coogee"... sounds to much like "coochie"... Can you image, "Coochie, COME!" :)

Anyway, that's all I got for now. To join in on Wishful Wednesday, check out Miss Kelsey's blog at The Seattle Smith's~~~

My Boy and His Toy

My boyfriend Joe is the easiest person in the world to shop for, not because I have excellent taste (though I like to think I do!) but because he's just like a "tween" at Christmas time, except all year long.

Right now, off the top of my head, I know just a few of the many things he needs wants include a new baseball mitt, a brown belt, and "speed sticks" (these badass Rossignol skis for 'shredding' in chunky Washington snow conditions.) I know this not because I'm incredibly perceptive, but because he's mentioned these these things to me several times.

I don't mind that he does this, because it makes it quite painless for me when it comes time for buying Chistmas/Birthday gifts. And it is kind of cute... invoking this whole, excitable little boy thing...

That is, it WAS kind of cute, until he starting obsessing over a remote control helicopter.

A commercial for an RC helicopter would come on, or he'd see one in a store, and exclaim "OOoooh, I WANT ONE!" At first I thought he was just playing. Hahahah... very funny.

I thought, surely he can't be serious. Surely, this grown man does not want a plastic, made in china, remote control operated helicopter. Flight lessons - sure. RC helicopter - no sir.

But he kept mentioning this 'remote control helicopter' thing. Over. and over. and over. Oh yes, people. He was serious. He truly, madly, deeply wanted a remote control helicopter.

Poor Joe. Several gift-giving occassions have come and gone, and Joe is still without his his dearly beloved toy. Somehow I just can not bring myself to buy this for my 28-year-old boyfriend. Well, apparently he grew tired of waiting, because a few weeks ago he announced that he had finally gotten that closet organizer on Amazon, and oh - forgot to mention - cough.cough. an RC helicopter [pictured below].

Are you kidding me? :)

Joe has become incredibly anxious waiting for his RC helicopter to arrive. We have had 3 packages delivered and each time he collects one and it is NOT his toy, he returns with a dejected - you kicked my puppy - look that cracks me up. He has informed me several times now that he has "already escalated a complaint with PayPal" hahahahahahah SERIOUSLY!!

Fast forward to this past weekend. [This may seem off topic, but stick with me]. Joe is seriously in a hurry to get out of the apartment, as we're supposed to be watching the Idaho-Hawaii game with friends and Joe doesn't want to miss kick-off (again? oops..) This is the super annoying kind of rush factor, where he stands behind me, arms crossed, while I brush my teeth, put on mascara, etc. (And by the way, I am super fast. He doesn't even appreciate just how fast I am. We're talking no hair straightening - just a ponytail, no multiple outfits, no eyeliner, etc. 15 minutes from coffee to the car. MAX.)

So, even though I'm annoyed at having been so rushed, I get ready in what has GOT TO BE record time. We're finally leaving the apartment. Down the elevator we go. Elevator door opens, and who do we see but the Post Man with a big canvas bag of packages.

Joe's eyes light up like a little boy's on Christmast morning. "Hey man. I hate to do this to you, but do you mind checking to see if you have a package for me?"

Nevermind that the world is coming to an end because "we're already behind schedule" blah. blah. blah. Joe patiently waits while Mr. Postman goes through his ENTIRE canvas bag of packages, slow as a snail on codeine.

Five minutes later, there is No RC Helicopter and one very sad Joe.

So there's no real end to this rant, but I will keep you posted on any funnies that occur when the RC helicopter finally arrives. (I'm thinking there will be a few.)

And before I go, I have a question - is it very terrible of me that I have such an "OMG. Seriously?" reaction to my boy's obsession with his toy? Is this just a boys and their toys thing??