The two handsomest fellas in the world.

Maybe that's what Britney meant about her baby being her religion.

Sarah Smile:
Have you ever tried to meditate with a puppy around?

Therese:
have you ever successfully meditated with a puppy around?

Sarah Smile:
He keeps sticking his tongue down my ear.

Therese:
*laughs*

Sarah Smile:
But I figure all that giggling is almost as good for you as meditating.

Therese:
*smile*
it totally is.

Well, HELLO and GOOD MORNING to you too.

"What the hell?" said Nick.

Something large and furry stepped on my face, danced around on my hair on the pillow, finally coming to a rest with a wiggling, full body cuddle between Nick and I.

Two facts registered through the sleep fog.
It was three AM, and this was NOT Luca.



I opened my eyes and thought fast.


My bed? Check.

My house? Check.

My dog? No.


Somehow the neighbor's dog Kylie (yeah, that Kylie) had gotten in. Perhaps we left the door open, but Kylie is one hell of a smart dog and it wouldn't surprise me if she figured out how to open our kitchen door.
As Nick escorted her out, and Luca hovered nervously, no doubt worried that his friend's bad behavior might reflect on him, I searched for the Dulce and Mau. (Kylie's a sweetheart, and I would have let her stay, but she has a hard time resisting the urge to chase the cats.)

I found Mau in his new favorite perch, sleeping on a stack of purses in the closet. He only bothered to open one eye to view all the chaos. I expected to find Dulce clinging to the ceiling, but luckily she was only mildly ruffled by the tornado of dog that had blown through.



As we all dropped back into bed, Nick said, "sorry," assuming he'd left the door ajar earlier. But as he and Luca and I all melted into a sleepy pile with Dulce on top like a cherry, all I could do was smile.

Alternate dog obedience commands I'm teaching Luca.

Instead of "shake" and "gimmie a kiss," I tell him "act like a politician!"

Instead of "get in your kennel," I use "serve five to ten!"

Instead of "get in the bathtub," I comand him to "repent, sinner!"

He looks surprisingly good.

But the funny thing about My Nick completely shaving his head is that Luca won't stop licking it. Especially when poor Nickel is trying to sleep.

Hee, hee.

Within a couple of blocks.

I have this theory that there is far more fascinating things within a few blocks of one's house than one realizes, until you walk around it on foot.

Driving doesn't count.

You're never going to find flowers growing through cracks in the sidewalk while you're driving.

You're not going to talk to the fat old dog who seems so anxious to prove that he's still tough and intimidating that you reassure him that you'd never come in his yard, mostly just to soothe his feelings.

You're not as likely to wander down a sidestreet, following a yard sale sign on a whim, and finding a pair of gold(ish) elf slippers, which fit perfectly, for a mere $0.50.

Or to notice that plastic duck statues in the neighbor's yard are the size of labradors.

Or make the aquintaince of a nonsensical little blue that sprawls over the side of a hill with no rhyme or reason, just like houses in your dreams.

Or that half of the oranges on a neighbor's tree are plastic. What exactly are they trying to do? Show off?

Or that Luca is always happy when he recognizes home, but seems entirely turned around and confused that you're approaching the house from a different direction that whence you left. "How did the house get over HERE?"


What's within a couple blocks of your house?

Don't worry, Luca minds Dulce better than us.

My Nick - *laughing* "Luca, stop trying to hump me. Luca, knock it off. Luca, where's Sarah? Let's go find Sarah!"

Sarah Smile - *laughing* "I hate you so hard right now. Luca, where's Dulce? Where's your kitty? Let's go find your kitty!"

Animal Testing

Sarah Smile - "Ooooooooooooo, wet puppy! Did you just have a bath?"

My Nick - "I used your body wash on him. So now he smells like citrus."

Sarah Smile - "So now his mandarin and lime scent will make us feel energetic and optimistic? You know, more so than before?"

Let's party, Martha Stewart - style!

Text from My Nick* - Martha Stewart just said that she would be celebrating Sat. night because her probation will be over.

Text from Sarah Smile - Let's get smashed on mint julep martinis and tole paint the dog with silver polish.



*He's at home today, recovering from his long work trip, which basically had him working for a month straight.

It's ART, people.

My Nick - *out of the blue, excited* "Hey. Luca's asleep. Let's write on him!"

Sarah Smile - "Ha! I love you."

My Nick - "Let's draw a penis. On his penis."

Sarah Smile - "Did you swallow the chloraseptic spray?"

Rudolf loves Luca

Who missed Nick more? Me or Luca?

Tough to say.
Also, who did Nick miss more, me or Luca? In Nick's own words, "I missed you too of course, but you're not a puppy."

At any rate, on Sunday we went up to the last stage of the Tour of California race in Long Beach, to spare ourselves those last agonizing hours of Nick-less-ness.

On a whim, I stopped off to see my Gramie Darlin' and her dog Roxy. Gramie and Roxy are the perfect pair (next to Luca and Nick of course). They're both adorable, tiny, and charmingly ornery.

As we got to LA* it started to rain and the traffic slowed. Partly because it's LA and gridlock is it's natural state, and partly because no one here knows how to drive in the rain, and I passed a total of three accidents before the traffic thinned out.



I amused myself by taking pictures of myself in the rear view mirror with the flash on, so that I look shiny.
See?


And then I amused myself by filming this very boring vlog. No really, it's shaky and toward the end I actually bore myself, but my hair looks good, and I figure there can never be too much public footage of that.



Once we got up there, there aren't many pictures, mostly because I promptly plastered myself to My Nick's side, so close that any pictures I tried to take of him would have come out blurry. But I do have this picture, taken while Nick was taking down the booth, of Luca and I. I was trying to get him to stand up and put his head there behind the cut-out, but he was having none of it. So I tried to stand on my toes and take a shot, while Luca rolls his eyes at me.


After all, he is a teenager.



*I should specify that I have a rather liberal interpretation of the geographical term LA.
Pretty much everything from past San Diego, north to Bakersfield, is LA in my mind.

Mystery solved!

Now, we all know that Luca has an extra dose of cuteness.
But I figured out where he keeps that little dash of special.

In his cheeks, like a squirrel!

Which is why when you pet his cheeks, or he lays on them and they get all squished, the cuteness just squeezes out of him, and make your heart explode.

See?

What's a day without pictures of Luca?

He's good company. And that's a good dog.

Meanwhile on the All Luca, all the time channel....

I know he seems a bit hyper here. He'd been inside all day, and other than to pee, he wouldn't go outside, so we had some playtime indoors. Afterwards, he crawled up on the couch and snuggled with me.

How you know your dog is spoiled.

When you find yourself outside in the rain standing over your rain-averse dog to shield him while he does his business.
That's when you know he's spoiled.

But that's ok.

I wouldn't want to pee in the rain either, I guess.
And I defy anyone to resist dat widdle face.

(photo credit to Nick)

Luca and I learn us some culture.

Luca was fascinated by the didgeridoo, until he got too close. I think since he can hear tones we can't, that it was starting to hurt his ears. When we got too close he started to shake his head as if he was trying to shake something out.
So we moved on, walking through San-Diego-in-February's version of snow, cherry blossoms.
We sat on a bench and ate a fruit bowl. I liked the pineapple, Luca liked the honeydew melon. Then we went to look at the fish, and Luca was so excited I think he was about to jump in to play with them. I don't think he would hurt them, but I figured it would be generally frowned upon if he were to chase them. I caught him before he got more than one paw in. He's heavy.
We went over to the organ pavillion to wait for the concert to start. We split a banana and a roast beef sandwich. Luca played gargoyle.
He fell off the pedestal and I caught him. He's very heavy.

Luca loves children. And everybody loves Luca. Every book I read about Great Danes told us to expect a lot of attention when walking a Great Dane, but I had no idea how right it was. I spent most of the day explaining what breed he was, how old, what his color pattern is called, his wonderful temperament, how much he eats, a detailed history of the breed, and a quick lesson in genetics. My inner tour guide was on cloud nine.
During all that, Luca would bond with the little faces right at his level. Parents would marvel at how gentle and soft he is. No, literally soft. His ears are like velvet.
It was like walking a celebrity on a leash.
The concerts in the Balboa Park organ pavillion are one of my favorite things to do in San Diego. (You might remember this time that Nick and I went.)
Luca couldn't figure out quite where the music was coming from at first, since the pipe organ is SOOOOOO big and sounds like it's coming from everywhere at once.
He seemed to enjoy it.
But after awhile he started shaking his head again like his ears hurt, so we went to Old Town and greeted more people. And then we went home, fell on the couch and snuggled Rudolf.

Obligatory Puppy Pictures.

I think three people went and bought Great Danes after meeting Luca on Sat.

He's getting so used to people wanting to pet him, that if someone passes by without telling him what a pretty boy he is, he looks perplexed and gives me a look like, "What happened? I'm still cute, right?"

Obligatory Pet Pictures

Dulce's snake face.
(No, really, we're not horrible people, she tolerates this. It's like petting, and anything that's sorta like petting is alright with Dulce. Especially from Nick. She was purring like mad as I took this.)

Dulce keeping an eye on Luca.

Luca was cold after his bath, so I wrapped him up and we watched bullriding on tv, and counted how many times the announcer said "get it done."