Happy Birthday to Cris!

I realized not too long ago that we talk about Reilly (Mitch's best dog friend) all the time on the blog, but we never mention Reilly's mom, Cris.  And since today (Oct. 14) is Cris's birthday, it seems only appropriate that I take a few minutes to share with you just how incredible she is.

Cris was Matt's friend first.  She worked with Matt when we first moved to Savannah, seven years ago.   But I stole her.  She's my friend now. (I like to steal Matt's friends and keep them for myself.)  About five years ago Cris and I realized that we both needed a roommate, so we moved into a house together.  I'm pretty sure that all of our neighbors thought that we were lesbians (Particularly the old lady next door, Alma, who I'm pretty sure had sex with Elvis.  Remind me to tell you later about how Alma made me pick figs for her.).  Cris was a great roommate.  She's an even greater friend.

Cris is an actual counselor, and she's a great listener, and she gives great advice.  She's honest and loyal and smart and not afraid to stand up for what she believes is right.  She's open-minded and kind and caring. Cris is more dedicated--to her work, her friends, her family--than anyone I know.  For almost twenty years she's worked at a camp hosted by her church, Camp Moja,  a summer camp for people with developmental disabilities.  Cris is also super organized and adventurous, which means that she's always thinking about and planning her next adventure, whether it's UniverSOUL or kayaking or skydiving or attending random festivals or joining a fantasy football league. 

I think the only bad thing I can say about her is that she has terrible taste in movies.  (Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Cris?  Really?)

The cool thing about being friends with Cris is that it's fun regardless of what's happening.  Of course it's exciting to go to the soul circus, but it's just as fun to sit with her at Taco Bell and talk, or to wander around Target buying things we "need." 

[all pictures stolen from Cris's Facebook page]

It's cheesy to say, but Cris is one of those people who makes everyone around her better.  I'm so fortunate to have been able to steal her from Matt.

Happy birthday, lady!

A Perfect Day

What a week it's been!  This time last week I was frantically cleaning the house and running errands so that I could relax and enjoy birthday/spring break.  And after an incredible birthday celebration I got to hang out with Caitie and her daughter Phebe for a few days (and now we're relaxing at Matt's parents' lake house--more on that later). 

I hadn't had that much time to just hang out with Caitie--stress free--since we were roommates in college.  Those days were pretty glorious: roller skating around Harrisonburg, stalking professors, ganging up on our other roommates, sitting on the sidewalk waiting for cute boys to ride past on bicycles, eating freez-e-pops, skipping class, and lying on her ridiculously comfortable bed watching the "I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so--scared" episode of Saved by the Bell.  You get the picture. 

But we're grown-ups now, and being a grown-up is sometimes less fun than roller skating past a professor's house trying to catch a glimpse of her new Chinese baby.  Now we have real responsibilites and slower metabolism and stressors and bills, and even though life is still good, it's rarely as carefree as it used to be.  But this week?  This week has been like those days on Grattan Street. 

After waging war on pollen and these supposed allergies, I woke up yesterday able to breathe through my nose.  I took a bath, painted my toenails, cleaned the house, blogged, and waited for Caitie to get up.  Then we shopped and lunched and shopped some more.  I bought my one millionth hoodie:

And then we went to Forsyth Park on what might have been the most beautiful afternoon of the year.  Phebe came, too.  And I took 600 pictures of her.

Look at that FACE!

After people-watching and Phebe-watching, we met up with Matt and got ice cream at the Forsyth Park Cafe. 

And then?  Then what did we do?

UNIVERSOUL CIRCUS!

We had really good seats--so good that I was kind of hoping that one of the tigers would attack the trainer, because I could get good pictures of it.  But we don't always get what we want.  (I felt really bad for the tigers and elephants in the show.  I did not feel bad for the troupe of trickster poodles, which was probably Caitie's favorite part of the whole circus, because it was really obvious that their trainer loved them.) 

Meow!

The only disappointing part of UniverSoul was that the cage of death jumper guys from last year weren't part of the show. Good thing there's YouTube.

 When I called Matt during intermisison to tell him that we hadn't seen them, he responded, "Yeah, because they probably died."  Hopefully not.  (They're not being mean to tigers, so I'm more worried about their safety.)

When we returned home, Matt had dinner ready (we use chicken instead of shrimp), and then we all ate and talked and drank too much.

To sum up:  baths, beautification, shopping, lunching, parks, pups, pictures, ice cream, circus, pasta, wine, friends, and husbands.  It doesn't get much better than that.

UniverSoul Circus, etc.

You ready to be jealous?  Tonight, Caitie and I will be attending the UniverSoul Circus. 

Matt and I went last year with some friends, expecting it to be awful, but discovered that it is. . .AWESOME.  F'ing awesome.  Except for the elephants.  That part was disturbing.  There were shovels involved, not to mention animal cruelty.

So this year I'm taking Caitie.  She's in for a treat!

In other news:

•  I am about to wage war against pollen.  I have learned that Sudafed only works when paired with two glasses of boxed wine from Target. 
• We're heading to Matt's parents' lake house tomorrow.  I'm excited to relax and visit and eat my body weight in cheese and crackers.
• I want to go shopping.  I'm thinking Gap hoodie.  What would you recommend?
• I need to finish our taxes.  There's something about owing the state of Georgia--the same state that has furloughed me for five days--about nine hundred dollars that's making me drag my feet on filing.  Hey, Georgia!  You know what would make it easier to pay you that nine hundred?  Oh yeah!  The money from those furlough days! 
• It's gorgeous outside.  Methinks we should visit a park today.
• Lost and I have a love-hate relationship.  I think I'm ready for it to be over.  Truth be told, I only cared about what the numbers meant, and now that I know that, I'm satisfied.  The rest is just for fun, except that it seems to bring more stress than fun.
• And speaking of fun, I'd highly recommend Hot Tub Time Machine.  It's an exercise in lowered expectations, and I loved it.  But I should tell you that I hated it so that you will love it.
• Still don't care about Tiger Woods.
• And, finally, something delightful stolen from Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish.

Happy hump day to you!