Lippy Stuff

Dear Bosco,

You are now 11-weeks old. I wish I could add the word 'months' onto the end of that 11 because I am oh-so-tired and you are oh-so-full of energy. You are just a bit more than either of us bargained for. Don't get me wrong...you're adorable as all get out, but you can also be as ornery as a tired toddler hopped up on sugar.

We've started referring to you as our baby barracuda. Can you guess why?



You really like to chomp on things with those teeth. We try to keep them occupied with toys and bones, but you quickly lose interest and turn your attention to more interesting things to destroy like couches and rugs.

When you're not busy chewing on things we are doing our best to teach you important dog things like sit and down and how to walk on a leash. You're almost too smart for your own good and picking up on things faster than we can teach you. Yesterday you went for your first walk around the neighborhood and you seemed to have a pretty good time, except for when those big trucks would roar by or those scary dogs barked at you. You've already learned which one is your house, and it's really cute how excited you get when you realize we're close to home.

Clearly you are becoming more comfortable with us as your "pack" because you are starting to let loose more of your attitude. Information we read on your breed indicated you might be a strong willed dog and that we would need to be experienced dog owners and confident leaders. I think they should have used stronger adjectives to describe your potential personality. At this young age you are already trying to assert your dominance in our pack and we are having to learn a whole new definition of "firm" with you.

This doesn't mean you aren't a good dog. You are a wonderful dog...you're just stubborn as hell. But you're also sweet and cuddly and love to give puppy kisses in the morning. I love your puppy kisses. You're also really cute when you come bounding across the yard at me, your ears flopping every which way and your too-big-for-you legs going in every direction. When you run you look like your back end is out of alignment.

Neither one of us has ever had a puppy this young, so please forgive us if we aren't doing this right. We're trying our best to be patient with you and understand your little puppy brain can only do so much. And even though sometimes we wonder what the heck we got ourselves into, we really love you and have lots of hopes for your future doggy life.

Love,
Your pack leaders

We survived the first night with Bosco much better than I expected. He slept through the night in his crate (in our room). Matt took him out around 6am to potty and then we got to cuddle in bed with him for a couple of hours. OMG! Every day should start with puppy cuddles!



He is quite the sleeper. Seriously, this little dude can sleep through anything. I, on the other hand, did not sleep so great, mostly because I like to worry. I spent the night worrying if he was going to sleep through the night and is he healthy and what about that little ball of sleep I wiped from his eye. Oh my. It's going to take some time to get used to having a healthy dog. I think I'll feel much better once he gets his last round of shots and gets the all clear from our vet.



We are starting to see bits of his personality already. He's one determined little guy. Once he found the handle to the hose reeler in the backyard there was no keeping him away from it. Even physically removing him from the area proved pointless. He'd play for a minute and then run right back to it. And whoo boy! He does not like it when you stop him from doing something he wants to do. I'm definitely going to need human training for this dog.



Stubbornness aside, I think he's going to be a really great dog. He's super sweet, likes to cuddle and give kisses and is unbearably adorable when he pounces on his toys. He also seems to pick things up pretty quickly. He's starting to respond to his name and has already figured out the back stairs, which means potty training is in full swing.



Right now he's zonked out by the couch. Which is the only reason I can actually type this right now. Keeping up with him is definitely going to keep us on our toes. But come on...look at that face. He's totally worth it.

So, life's been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. We spent a week in Boston/New England, came back and then 3 days later rocked until we dropped at ACL Fest. So yeah, busy. I have a TON of pictures to share with you and can't wait to get them posted, but that's going to have to wait because right now I have to share THIS with you!



This is Bosco, our new Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy. He's 10 weeks old today and quite the bouncy little fellow. We've been searching for just the right puppy to add to our family and I think he's going to be the perfect fit. Just look at those paws. That's going to be a Matt sized dog right there.

Rest assured there will be many more Bosco pictures to come.

We're hoping to have something fun and exciting to share with you this weekend, but until then, enjoy the cuteness.

Day 3 down, and ACL 2010 is over. Well, technically The Eagles are still playing, but three days in the sun, heat and ragweed and a lackluster lineup for this evening had us heading out the gates around 7:30pm. Oh, and I'm old. If you've paid attention to my previous posts you may be noticing a theme.

True confessions? Today was not awesome. The fact that my allergies were in overdrive certainly didn't help, but the lineup was disappointing. There were, however, a couple of surprises. We caught the last half of Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Wow, talk about energy. That guy can PLAY the trombone. We also caught Portugal: The Man, which was pretty darn good. Oh, and by caught I mean we laid down in the shade near the stage and snoozed a bit. Seriously, three days of this is exhausting. Not to mention the fact that we biked there and back each day.

My favorite show of the day was the White Rabbits. I picked up their latest album earlier this year and it quickly became one of my favorites. I was super stoked to see them on the ACL lineup, and they did not disappoint live. The only disappointment was the crowd's lack of enthusiasm, but I'll cut them some slack since it was Day 3 and an early show.

I'll be uploading pics this week (not tonight...tonight I drink a cocktail or two) and will share them once I have them up. And until next year, rock on!

Day 2 is over. Whew. I think I'm getting to old for this. Today's favs were Broken Bells, LCD Soundsystem, Temper Trap and MUSE. Matt and I saw Muse at ACL back in 2006 when they were lesser known and played a much smaller stage, and a thousand OMG's, it was the best show I've ever seen. Hands down. All I can say is if you ever get the chance to see them live DO IT. And while I know I said I would wait until after the weekend to post pics, I had to share one from the MUSE show because it was just that awesome.



I had to sacrifice the Deadmau5 show to get close for MUSE, and I have to say I think I missed a freaking awesome show. Sadness. And while I got some sweet shots of MUSE being so close (thank you, Mr. Stool), it was packed so tight I could hardly move. That kind of killed my MUSE buzz, because for me MUSE = DANCE!!! Such are the first world dilemmas of ACL.

And finally, weird incident of the day. I got hit on at the LCD Soundsystem show, and I'm pretty sure he was under 18. It's getting harder to tell these days. And that's the second reference to me being old. Anyhow, this dude's gaze was super intense. I felt like he was trying to bore a hole through my face with his laser stare, and at one point it kind of looked like he was leaning in to kiss me. Dude seriously needs to learn the difference between "sorry I bumped into you" and "I want to randomly hook up with you". It reminded me why I had to perfect the "back the hell up off me" vibe, or as my dad liked to say during my single days, I "intimidate men".

Being a woman at any festival type event is extra special when nature calls. Unless you can hold it all day (and if you can may I please have your super power?), you're going to have to break down and use one of those disgusting port-o-potties at some point. Here are a few things I've learned to help make that "experience" more bearable, as well as some other general festival going tips:

1. Take disinfecting wipes to clean off the toilet seat in the port-o-potties. Even if you don't sit, it will help you feel like you're picking up fewer cooties. You can also use them to clean off your hands. If you can't find a travel pack of them, take a few out of the big cannister, fold them up and put in a plastic baggie.

2. Toilet paper. Take it. You are almost certain to pick the port-o-pottie that has no toilet paper because pretty much none of them do.

3. Hand sanitizer. Need I say more?

4. If you wear contacts, take your glasses, a lenses case and solution. You never know when your eyes are going to crap out and reject your contact lenses, and you don't want to have to be led around by a seeing eye person the rest of the day.

5. Water bottle. Hydration is key to surviving any day out in the sun, so take a water bottle and refill often. It also saves you money on buying water every time you need a refill. Also, YAY! Save the planet!

6. Last, but certainly not least, SUNSCREEN. If you're going to be out in the sun all day it should go without saying that you need to put on sunscreen. Apply 30 minutes before going out in the sun, and reapply every couple of hours. Use SPF 30 or higher on your body, and I recommend Neutrogena Age Shield Face sunblock for the face.

Hope these tips help you like they've helped me. Have fun out there!

Well, day 1 of ACL Fest is over, and I decided that tomorrow I will be bringing a stool for me to stand on so I can actually see the stage. What stool, you may ask? Why this one:

Let me tell you, being short sucks, and being short at a concert kind of makes you wonder why the heck you forked over so much money to stare at the back of people's heads. Hopefully this should help me get my money's worth.

My favs of the day were Spoon (AWESOME!), The Black Keys, and Miike Snow. I could have used a dance partner for the Miike Snow show (Andrea T???). I'll post pictures at the end of the weekend. Although Matt had to take most of the pics today since, as previously mentioned, I couldn't see squat.

I caught Matt experimenting with accessories. I'm not sure if polka dots are really him, though.

It's hard to believe it's only been three weeks since we said goodbye to Abi. It feels exponentially longer than that. It's impossible to put into words how her loss has impacted me. Believe me, I've tried. There's just this nagging, lonely emptiness; an emptiness I didn't see coming, that hit me like a freight train barreling down the tracks. I'm not sure what I expected this to feel like. I honestly didn't really allow myself to think about it. I couldn't. If I had there would have been no way I could have made such an impossible decision, one that needed to be made for her.

These three weeks without her have shown me a lot about myself. She made me a better person. Maybe to some that seems silly, but loving her and taking care of her opened my heart. In many ways I'd say she saved me from myself, forced me to keep my heart open in times when I could have easily sealed it off. She got me out of bed in those time when I felt like I couldn't go on. I'm so thankful I had her in my life.

Now it's time to move on. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have this ache in my heart for her for a long time. That's just how it goes when you open your heart to love. But Matt and I are ready to experience that happy puppy love again, and we can't stand the emptiness in our house when we come home from work every day. No, no dog will ever replace Abi; it would be impossible to do that and we would never try. However, we're ready to hear the pitter-patter of puppy claws in our house again, so we hope to be sharing pictures of our new family member sometime in the near future. Stay tuned.

After everything we'd been through last week Matt and I needed to escape the emptiness of our house, so we packed up and headed to a nearby state park for a spontaneous camping trip Friday night. We arrived at the park after dark and took the first, most secluded spot we could find. Little did we know that our "secluded" spot was two spots over from Loud and Stupid.

Matt had recently acquired a 2-person camping hammock, a hammock made from parachute material and designed to sleep 2. We decided that the cool evening would be the perfect time to try it out. After setting that and its special mosquito net up, we settled into our hammock to relax. We chatted for a while and must have drifted off (in spite of Loud and Stupid over there), because the next thing I knew Matt sat straight up, which is quite a feat in a hammock, and screamed "What the hell!" I instantly bolted awake, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly I felt something moving underneath the hammock, and heard growling just to the left of my head. I freaked out. Which made Matt freak out even more.

What happened next is both funny and terrifying. Imagine the two of us, taco-ed up in a hammock, Matt whipping his windmill arms trying to hit whatever it was that was "attacking" us while I screamed at the top of my lungs, swinging my arms with equal furry. We're both blind and unable to reach our glasses or a flashlight. All the while something is growling at us from the dark and moving around under our hammock. Additionally, I'm thinking in my head, "Hey, I'm screaming like I'm being murdered and NOBODY is coming to see if we're OK. We are screwed." At just about that point Loud calls out to his dog to "get over here". Jack-ass left his dog off leash in the middle of the night and he'd wandered over to our site, presumably to sniff out the armadillo we'd seen earlier. I'm sure this incident lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. I have never felt such an intense fear in my entire life.

It took us both a good hour to fall back asleep, what with all the adrenaline coursing through our veins. That and the fact that every sound we heard now felt like a threat to our humanity. I still feel a bit traumatized from the whole experience even though I know we were never in any real danger. Fear that intense tends to leave a mark on you. I'm a bit nervous about our next camping experience, and I can promise you there will be no scary stories around the campfire.

This is not an award I would usually get. Most days I'm a fairly externally passive person. Yes, I may talk a lot of shit when I'm alone, but when the rubber meets the road I'm more than likely going to do whatever I have to do to smooth things over. Meaning I will let you take that parking space I was waiting for but you stole like a douche bag while I curse you out from the non-confrontational safety of my car.

However, today is not one of those days. Today I am exhausted, physically and emotionally, and I have nothing to give to anyone or any situation that demands my energy. Today I don't have the will to fight the Inner Me that wants to let you know you stole my parking spot and would you kindly move. And so today, Inner Me will get to have her way.

On the way back from a team service project this morning, my coworkers and I decided to stop for coffee. This particular coffee shop is notorious for its limited parking, but what do you know, we found a spot right as we pulled up. I waited for the oncoming traffic to go by before pulling into the spot, and just as I was about to pull in this guy pulled around the corner and whipped into my spot. The only available spot. And then he just sat there in his car.

I was pissed, and proceeded with my standard non-confrontational cursing-from-my-car, WITH my coworkers in my car, while I searched for another spot. But there was none. And that's when I snapped. Inner Me was all, No, Dude took my spot. I can't take this today. I want my spot. I do not want to have to walk 2 blocks for my coffee when I had a front row spot. Inner Me decided I shouldn't take this, so Inner Me whipped back around to the spot. Dude was still sitting in his car! Inner Me parked behind him, got out of the car and knocked on his window. After a brief but polite conversation Dude acknowledged the shitiness (his words, not mine) of his actions and offered to move. Oh yes, Inner Me got her parking spot.

My coworkers were a bit surprised by my actions, but nobody was as surprised as I was. Very very non-standard behavior for me, but I have to admit I do not feel bad about it. I promise I was totally polite to him. He was also very kind to move. And it made me think that the next time I experience someone taking out their bad day on me I should maybe cut them some slack. Who knows what they could be going through?

Today we said goodbye to you. It has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do. So much harder than there are words to express. You've been a part of my life since I moved out on my own, and you are so intertwined into my life and who I am that it's hard to picture myself without you. As Matt pointed out, he's never know me without you. You have been my ever-present shadow, and I have loved you every day.

The truth is, you left us a long time ago. And when I was crying today, deeply mourning the loss of you, I realized I was grieving the you we hadn't seen in a very long time. None of this was your fault; you were just born this way. And in spite of everything that lead us to this day, you were still the best dog I could have ever imagined having in my life.

I remember holding you as a puppy in your kennel at the Town Lake Animal Shelter each day, hoping you would get to know me while I waited that long and tortuous week until I could take you home. I remember how scared you were of me and everything when I first brought you home, how long it took you to open up to me. I was so afraid you'd never open up to me. And then one day I threw a stick for you and you played with me and I knew we would be just fine. You always loved sticks...the bigger the better.

I remember the first time you caught a squirrel. I was terrified your "dog instincts" would kick in and you'd rip it to shreds. Instead you played with it just like you played with your stuffed animals, tossing it straight up into the air and watching it hit the ground. Repeat. I'm sure it was the worst day of that squirrel's life, but you certainly had fun.

I remember teaching you how to swim, and I remember that once you learned there was no keeping you out of any puddle you could find. I also remember all those orange training floaties you hid along the bank of Red Bud Isle, in just the spot I couldn't retrieve them without getting in the water. Punk.

I remember your knack for injuring yourself right before I would leave to go out of town. You put me through hell worrying about you. But that's what we do for those we love. We worry and worry and walk through fire for them.

I remember how much you LOVED to run. And run. And run. Running was who you were. It was one of the things that defined you. And when you weren't able to run anymore it broke my heart. You were a dog who lived her life fully. You put your whole life and joy and energy into everything you did, and I loved watching you be happy. It was when I saw that you could no longer do the things you loved that I realized I had to let you go.

My goal in caring for you was always to give you the best life I could. You depended on me 100% and that is the least I could give you. I wish we'd had longer, but know that I loved you with my whole heart. I will always love you, my Angel Girl.







Abigail Otis
12/12/2002 - 8/26/2010

For a couple of weeks at least.

For the last few weeks we've been taking care of our friend's chickens while they were away, and wow are chickens the easiest animals in the world to take care of. It's pretty much feed, water, shovel poop out of coop 2x's/day, with a total daily care time of 10-20 minutes. How much easier can it get? And you get free eggs! Abi requires at least 3-4x's that amount of care and there is no free food after all that work. Somebody's getting the raw end of this deal. It's a good thing she's so cute.

Here is a picture of the hens, Lucille, Pat and Job.


And here is a picture that explains why we don't have chickens of our own.

Why is this blog called "Lippy Stuff"? To answer that question, we have to go back a bit.

In my last semester of college my hormones decided to conduct a final assault on my body, and by doing so 1) turned my hair from board straight and easy to manage into just wavy enough to be a funkified mess if I don't do something about it every day; and 2) turned my face into a pock-marked wasteland. It was awful. At the age of 21 and about to enter the professional world I was dealing with what most people dealt with at 15. I had to do something about it. After trying every dermatological antibiotic available, I was left with the dreaded Accutane.

If you're not familiar with Accutane, it is a horrible, horrible drug with some of the most horrendous side-effects I've ever seen in a medication approved by the FDA. With that said, I also consider it a miracle drug as it completely cleared up my acne, so much so that people who meet me now cannot believe I ever had to be on it. That's how great my skin looks now.

The worst side-effect I experienced from taking Accutane was dry, chapped lips. I'm not just talking a little chapped, or even dry cracked lips. I'm talking stranded in the desert for a week straight with no water parched. My lips would peel off in layers. It was gross. Horrible. Disgusting. To help with the dry gross grossness of it all my doctor recommended using Aquaphor Healing Ointment. And oh, the bliss of putting specially formulated petroleum jelly on my lips. It made a HUGE difference.

The only problem is, ever since the Accutane experience, I must have some kind of lip ointment on AT ALL TIMES. If my lips start to get dry and I have nothing readily available to put on them, I will stop whatever I am doing until I find something, some kind of lip ointment, anything, ANY LIPPY STUFF WILL DO! You could say I'm a little bit OCD about it, but it's not my fault. The drugs made me this way.

OK, I've got to let something out here for a minute.

Over the last year Matt has really gotten into road cycling. He commutes to work 2-3 days a week when the weather is good, and typically goes for a long ride on the weekends. About 6 months ago I decided to join him and was fortunate to have a friend loan me a bike for a while. I decided I really enjoyed the sport, but that I needed my own bike, one that fit me better and didn't have down tube shifters (whoever thought that was s good idea?). So, for the last couple of weeks we have been looking around for a bike for me.

I'm a small person with a small frame, so we've generally been looking at women's road bikes, assuming they would fit me better. However, have you seen women's road bikes? They are hideous, painted in shades of purple, pink, and sky blue with decorative swooshes on them that I can only compare to patterns I've seen on yoga clothing. What makes manufacturers of women's bikes think I want a sparkly purple bike? I find it hard to believe any market research would have led to this outcome.

The first 10 speed I ever had was lavender and pink. I thought I was pretty hot stuff riding around on my Huffy Sweetheart bicycle. And I was...for a 10 year old. However, I am now 30 years old and would like something a bit more sophisticated, thank you very much. When I'm on my bike I want to feel tough, powerful, like I can conquer any hill that comes my way. Call me crazy, but pink flowers don't really inspire awesomeness in me.

My original intentions were to just find a men's bike that I liked and maybe put a women's saddle on it to make it more comfortable. But yesterday we went around to some bike shops so I could test out different bikes, and as sad as I am to admit it, I really need a women's bike. My shoulders are very narrow, even for a woman, which means my grip is narrower and a women's handlebar is just so much more comfortable. Women's bikes feel like they fit my body better. It just frustrates me that I'm going to have to sacrifice style for comfort, and only because I am a woman. Bike manufacturers need to get their proverbial heads out of their proverbial asses and realize women want to kick butt just as much as men do. Make us a bike that can help us accomplish that.