Look for HCFG and I on the Great Lawn, we’ll be the ones having a really good time!

Hope to see you there!

We’ve all had our share of fair-weather friends who disappear at the first hint that you might be in trouble. Which completely stinks, by the way. I just hadn’t realized that there are also foul-weather friends as well. What I mean is people who are there for you when your life is falling apart, but subsequently go into hiding when things starts to go well again.

I’m talking about people who can’t be happy for you. Or in this case for me. It’s amazing how many of them are out there. Who knew?

When you get involved with a new person, especially after a long dry spell, people are very supportive. You hear things like “Go for it!” and “I’m so happy for you!” and “You deserve it!” Most people mean it, a few folks say it to appear nice, and some individuals wish you would simply shut up already. I’m very grateful for those who genuinely care. As for those other people? They tend to piss me off.

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Two years ago I dressed as a trampy tavern wench, and marched in the West Village parade with Deni and her dog, Rosie.

Last year I trick or treated with my neighbors and their dogs. The dogs were in costume, respectively Dracula, Darth Vader, and Easy Rider, (complete with sunglasses.) My friends and I were all in street clothes. I absolutely refused to dress Ally da Pup in costume, she would have died of shame. Ally must retain her street cred after all!

I had fun both times, they were wonderfully silly and surreal nights. As Halloween should be!

Now I need your help! Please make suggestions on what costumes HCFG and I should wear this year. We will be wearing the costumes twice as we’re going to the parade again, (no marching this year!) We’re also invited to a Halloween party the night before that.

I can’t wait to hear your ideas, so let ‘em rip, guys and ghouls!

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Lisa: “So now we have all our stuff, what shall we do? It’s still an hour until the walk.”

Shannon: “How about breakfast? We can relax a bit and eat before we go.”

Lisa: “What a great idea! I love having smart friends.”

Shannon: “Not so smart, just more awake.”

We laughed.

Shannon: “How about this place, the food looks pretty good.”

Lisa: “I’ve got twenty bucks on me and I’m not afraid to use it.”

Yes, we’re definitely more entertaining when we are awake!

After breakfast we listened to a few speeches and then the race began. 40,000 people cheering, and confetti flying everywhere. And signs, lots of signs.

I’m walking in support of_____.

I’m walking in memory of_____.

My sign said:

I’m walking in support of:

My Mom
Shannon
All My Blogger Buddies

I noticed this year there were a lot more men walking. Also more people of color. The other thing I saw was how many children were walking in memory of their mothers. So terribly sad yet somehow uplifting at the same time.

We crossed the finish line, high-fived each other and hugged. Another year, another good time, and another chance to give back.

Every year Shannon and I talk about how much we LOVE doing this walk. And we’re going to keep doing it because it matters. Thank you again for your wonderful support. I adored taking you all with me!

Oops, I mean Dude!

Got to get my New Yorkese back. Actually that sounds kinda L.A.. Whatever.

Anyway, I had oodles of fun in Texas. I’ll tell you about that soon. First I’m going to share a little mini-adventure that happened before I left town. I was getting ready to pack but first I needed to take Ally da Pup over to the dogsitter’s place. This was not her regular lady, Jan, but a friend of hers who took care of Ally over Thanksgiving. Per our discussion I called her before we left the apartment. She sounded like death warmed over, coughing and hacking. I wasn’t thrilled she hadn’t told me in advance she was getting sick GRRRRR but whatever. Anyway, I knew Ally staying with her wasn’t going to work. I had gone to lunch with my pal Deni of Last Girl on Earth fame that day, and coincidentally she had offered to take Ally for the long weekend. Ally and Rosie The Wonder Dog are friends and we knew they would have fun together. I was very appreciative but I declined as I didn’t want to bail on my dogsitter at the last minute.

Guess who got the first phone call?!

Bless Deni’s heart, she immediately agreed to help. She and Last Guy were at a party and she walked outside to make arrangements. We got it all resolved and I promised to email her the rest of the info. It was getting late and I had a 6:00 a.m. ugh plane. Ally and I then went over to Annie and Hudson’s place to ask yet another favor. Annie graciously agreed to feed Ally breakfast, take her on her morning walk, and keep Ally entertained until Deni and Last Guy could get over to her place later that morning. Hudson was thrilled to have his BFF come visit.

Ally and I are lucky to have such good friends!

We came home and I updated my 5 page, double spaced Miss Type A here Ally care list. It details all her info as well as a bajillion emergency numbers. This took a while, as did packing all her stuff. I can’t send Ally off as a houseguest without her coat, galoshes, dog treats, and a squooshy toy! I finally got it all done then it was time to pack my stuff. I think I slept a grand total of 2 hours before I went to the airport. Good times.

Deni wrote about Ally’s visit as did Rosie. Check it out on their respective blogs!

In the meantime, here’s Ally and her friend Rosie watching an off-camera Deni intently. I’m guessing she had treats for the pups. Don’t they look adorable?

Stay tuned for Part 2…

Well actually we both did.

My friend Annie came over with her dog Hudson. We wanted the dogs to hang out and see how they got along for an extended time period. Annie and I both travel often and we may end up dog sitting for each other in the near future. The plan was for all four of us to hopefully chill, then have some food delivered.

Hudson is a toy poodle. He is a puppy that bounces. Like he is on springs or something.

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Hudson is also a typical nosy puppy. He must see, sniff, lick, and bite everything.

Ally da Pup, despite her name, is an older dog. She is usually pretty laid back. Except when it comes to HER turf. Ally is a terrier mix and quite spunky.

I was a bit nervous.

Hudson comes bounding in my apartment and runs over to Ally. He then tries to bite Ally’s paw.

“GRRRRR,” says Ally.

Hudson immediately shifts gears and jumps in Ally’s bed. Ally is so not loving this.

Off Hudson goes to grab a teddy bear. He quickly gets bored and tries to grab the teddy bear Ally has in HER mouth.

“GRRRRR.”

(I’m thinking quietly OH SHIT.)

All this goes on for a while until Hudson bites Ally several times in a row.

“GROWL! WOOF! GRRRRR!”

Ally lunges at Hudson with fire in her eyes. Hudson immediately gets in the submissive position, (on his back, paws in the air.)

“ALLY, NO!”

Ally sits back, Hudson is chastened but a bit more respectful. Until he forgets and bites Ally again a few minutes later.

But now that the alpha dog has been established, so the two pups are BFF. They run and play the rest of the night. And they have an awesome time.

Dogs RULE.

Lisa: “I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers.”

Neighbor: “Or for ice cream on a hot night.”

Lisa: “Or for rich gooey chocolate.”

Neighbor: “Or for strawberries with whipped cream.”

Lisa: “Or for pretty much anything else either.”

Be sure and check out Se7en’s blog cause he has his own version of the trip AND he was the one with the camera!

Where was I? Oh right, I left you in Memphis. Anyway, I think I skipped Arkansas. Which was probably on purpose as it was not my favorite state, (although the people were really nice.) And I must admit I did have a major fondness for a Super 8 motel that was not only dog friendly but had an actual dog run. OK, so it was a big patch of grass but still! I also had my first Waffle House meal there, making me a fan for life. All right, enough disclaimers, I am still not a big fan of Arkansas. Boring scenery, too many 18 wheelers, and endless construction. Anyway, as we were driving through we hit a major flash flood. When I say major I mean the kind where you can’t see two feet in front of you and it’s scary as hell to be driving. I was behind the wheel and I finally had to pull off the road for a bit until it eased up. We were all nervous, especially Ally da Pup. She hates two things, the car and thunderstorms. Talk about a double whammy for the poor baby! We finally got back on the road but it still wasn’t great driving. At that point we stopped at McDonalds for some food. We took turns going in to get food and do our thing. Se7 went first and then it was my turn. I decided to sit in the backseat with the pup to calm her down. She promptly put most of her body across my lap. Se7 drove as I ate my burger with one hand, and cuddled Ally with the other. Sigh.

We were all happy to get to Memphis and get out of the damn car!

The next morning I ate at my first truck stop. The motel, (although clean,) was kinda in a crappy location and there was a truck stop right next door. Se7 convinced me we could get a good meal there and off we went. The food was quite tasty! I had oatmeal and sausages, Se7 had homemade biscuits, eggs and bacon. All prepared by one highly overworked short order cook. I thought it was funny that there were a whole lot of guys giving me a “what the hell is this woman doing here?” look. I was surprised at how many healthy choices were on the menu as well. I guess it makes sense when you’re sitting all day you don’t always want fattening food. Plus a lot of the truckers were middle aged so I’m sure they have to watch their cholesterol. Afterwards we wandered around. They had showers, Chinese massage, and a store that sold everything from electric stoves to dvd players. Who knew?!

Around Nashville, we got off I-40 and took a different route. We wanted to see a different part of the country without spending a lot of extra time in the car. Plus there was a blogger we both wanted to see. Off we drove through Kentucky via the Blue Grass Parkway. What beautiful country! All those gorgeous rolling hills and lush green scenery. The whole state looked like one big picture postcard. It was so stunning you almost took it for granted after a while. The best line was when I said, “Se7, you’ve got to see this panorama coming up, it’s amazing!” His response? “Eh, you seen one panorama, you’ve seen them all.” We laughed very hard.

Next stop, West Virginia. Not too shabby in the scenery stakes as well! And we finally met our friend, the lovely Nanner. She headed out to our Holiday Inn Express with her charming son, Nate. I went to take Ally for a quick walk and ran smack dab into both of them coming out of the elevator. I knew them right away and I think they knew me! It was like meeting an old friend although it was my first time, (Se7 had met Nanner when she came through New Orleans a few years back.) We had a delicious meal and then went to Nanner’s house. She had a terrible fire last year and has been rebuilding ever since. What a tragedy for her, especially since she lost so many precious possessions AND several of her beloved cats. Anyway I’m happy to report the house looked wonderful, and it was so great to see all the progress in person! What a fun evening that ended much too soon, (Se7 and I had driven an extra long amount to make up for our play day in Memphis and we were exhausted.)

We had a hard time getting going the next day as the fatigue was catching up with us. We finally hit the road knowing we were going to see New York that night. More driving, and while the scenery was beautiful we were anxious to get there already. About an hour out of New York, we told the pup that she was almost at “Ally’s house.” She was so excited! It was practically the first time the whole trip that she looked at us as we drove. She usually had her face buried in the back cushions, or against her teddy bears. Or both. Poor baby. We hit some traffic at the George Washington Bridge but finally got through it. Se7 was thrilled since we were on the upper level and you can see much of the city. He had coincidentally just seen a documentary about the bridge and told me lot of fun trivia. We finally drove to my street and thanked our higher powers since we found parking in front of my building. I was beyond jazzed as the last thing I wanted to do was drive around the block for an hour. I parked the car and turned it off as Ally danced in the back seat. That was one happy pup as she finally walked on “her” street. I was too tired to dance but I knew how she felt! We let her do bidness, unloaded the car, and went upstairs. We then decided to go to a local diner as I had no food in the apartment. As we walked out the door it started to rain. Whew, dodged that bullitt!

We had a bite to eat, came home and collapsed. Ally was already passed out in her bed sleeping very hard. We weren’t too far behind her.

To recap: we drove 3000 miles roundtrip, spent 2.5 days in the car each way with a tranquilized unhappy dog, experienced only one major fight, saw gorgeous scenery, ate fattening food, met cool bloggers, hung out at Elvis’s place, and had one hell of a good time! Maybe we’ll even do it again sometime.

The End.

Long pause.

Lisa: “Oh, you walked in the bathroom?”

Se7en: “Yup. Ally gave me a dirty look though.”

Lisa: “She’ll get over it.”

(The finale to my big adventure will be posted in a few days!)