Well it’s the weekend and Goliath and I are cuddled up on the couch while Drew sleeps in this morning…we’ve had a pretty good weekend so far, although today we have to do TONS of laundry. And grocery shopping. And I should probably throw away the bowl of fruit that has now molded in our refrigerator. Gross.

Friday night we fostered another puppy – a beagle! – for the rescue. I went to go meet transport around 9 and they took out several crates and Jen started handing out dogs. There were three beagle puppies that made the trip, two girls and a boy…and we got the cute, chubby boy! I was very pumped. But yeah they were all caked in each other’s urine and poop and I’m pretty sure they’d never had a bath, so needless to say the aroma around them was quite palpable. We got our adoption folders and meds and then headed home. Little puppy pooped again in his crate on the way home, so he was not a happy camper. I had to stop at KFC to pick up dinner for Drew and he howled through that entire process and I’m pretty sure the cashier thought I was severely harming this dog what with the barking and the strong feces smell wafting out of the car. I just sat there giggling thinking about how other people my age were probably out drinking with friends all fancied up in going out clothes while I sat in my car in my worst clothes with a 5-pound puppy in the backseat that had been howling nonstop since we started driving, trying to convince some teenager at the KFC that I wasn’t an animal abuser. Life is so funny sometimes.

Once we got home, I took him immediately into the bathroom and gave him a bath. Poor puppy, he had it everywhere, in his ears, all on his tail, in between his toes. He actually seemed to enjoy the bath, and he was too small to jump out of the tub, so it didn’t take long at all. I took his crate out to the patio and then dried him off and set him loose on Goliath. Who was so sweet with him! Little guy was walking around sniffing everything and slipping on the wood floor and Goliath was tailing him sniffing his butt. We took them out for a walk and Goliath only pounced on him twice! Otherwise a good short walk and then back inside for playtime. We sat in the back room and played fetch with Goliath and the little one went around smelling us and timid playing with Goliath. Goliath was so good…Drew and I were irrationally proud of how well he did. He just laid still while his tail threatened to orbit right off his body while little one swatted at his face and puppy jumped back and forth. So cute. We decided that since the little guy was so gentle and cute and curious, we’d name him Curious George.

We played with Goliath and George for a couple hours, then came back to the family room and watched an episode of the West Wing while they chewed bones/slept, and then we went to bed while Drew played video games. Of course once we got in bed they wanted to play like crazy so I had to manhandle Goliath in my arms so George could curl up in the crook of my knees and then we fell fast asleep. Around 6 everyone started moving around, so we got up, went outside, ate breakfast, took our meds, and I settled on the couch so we didn’t wake Drew. They played while I dozed a bit, then I really needed some more sleep so I took Goliath back to the bedroom and curled up with George on the couch. Only a couple minutes passed where I thought I might murder him because he would not settle down, and then finally he did, so we got a couple more hours in before we had to get up to get ready for the adoption event. It was a short visit with George, but he’s a sweet puppy, I know he’ll make some nice family an amazing pet. A young couple took him home yesterday to foster him, but I think they’ll end up adopting. But either way he won’t last long – people love beagles and puppies go so quick! So it was really, really nice.

Here’s a picture of George…isn’t he so cute??? His tail really never stopped wagging.

Oh! And speaking of pictures of dogs, Meghan finished her painting of Goliath and we all LOVE it! Isn’t he the cutest dog in the whole world?? Yes.

Can’t wait to hang it! Oh, also need advice…I have been crushing on this dress for a few weeks now and can’t decide whether or not to buy it…never bought anything from Boden before but I have to say I’m really loving their catalogs! Somehow I got on the list…they’re kind of like Banana Republic meets Anthropologie, which as you know is right up my alley. Anyway, what do we think?

I actually used it as inspiration for our wedding colors, so now not only do I think it’d be a cute dress for work (it’s jersey! hello washable!), but it’d also be a cool thing to wear to the rehearsal dinner or something over wedding weekend. So hmmm…

In other news, I’ve started writing a few essays recently and it got me thinking again about writing a book. As you know it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to write a book, and for the past several years I’ve had the vague notion that this book represents the essence of me and all my thoughts about life and relationships and struggle and happiness that I would want my kids to know. I have the benefit of having a great relationship with my mother now that we’re adults, but I didn’t feel like I knew her very well while I was growing up. And maybe it’s a fool’s mission or just an entirely self-centered and pompous idea that I should put down my thoughts and that someone else should care about them, but, hey, what can you do? I still feel an intense need to write them all down. I also keep thinking back to around 4th grade when we had some family history project and my grandma wrote 10-12 pages front and back on a legal steno pad about all of my ancestors and Swedish traditions and I pored over those pages and became fascinated about all of the people that came before me who I was connected to – and they all had lives and lovers and children and they were fighting for something. I don’t have those papers anymore but I really wish I did, but instead I have to settle for my grandparents’ stories over holidays about what it was like to grow up during the Depression and how no one could ever find any carrots and how they still got married even though my great, great grandmother died shortly before the wedding and the rest of the family was a little judgmental about them going forward with their plans.

And so I feel the need to document – not the fact that my mother had 3 children and my aunt had 5 – but the stories I’ve encountered and the emotions that have sustained me. Is this a crazy idea? Am I the only one who thinks like this? Well if I am I don’t care…writing is fun! And it’s neat to find out what you think about things after only writing down the words. And on that note I’m off – hope everyone’s having a fantastic weekend! Get out there and smile.