Houston!

Most stylish wedding ever by blog-goddess.

First crawfish (aka crayfish, crawdads) experience! Yum! And it's not even crawfish season.

Texans are proud of their kolaches. Not bad. A doughy/bready outside with breafast goodies inside. I liked the hot Texas Polish sausage kolache. Don't know what makes it "Texas." Probably bigger than the regular sized hot Polish sausage.

october-endings

Muse concert at Nassau Coliseum. This is why Manhattaners stay on Manhattan. After finding out that the Long Island RR (LIRR) was out of commission that weekend and it would take a series of subway, bus, train, and cab to get to the concert, we decided to rent a car. And then it took ~2 hours to go the 27 miles. However, we arrived right on time, just before the opening act! Fun concert and best light show ever!

Halloween. Great holiday to roam around the streets of NYC. Just about everything is amusing.

I'm Mike Tyson and P is Don King in case you couldn't tell. :)

MILTON, GA. - It's the second day of camp. A dozen dogs are lined up in cages in the Canine Assistants classroom, waiting to get matched with the children they'll go home with at the end of two weeks. If all goes well, the dogs will love and protect these children for the rest of their lives.

Ever since the dogs were 3-day-old puppies being carried around in baby slings to get exposed to new sights and sounds, these specially bred retriever mixes have been prepped and trained for service. Now, at 18 months old, they're ready for their biggest test.

After two years of waiting, Billy Ma, 11, has traveled with his family from Ohio to the service-dog headquarters north of Atlanta. Some children wait five years or longer for an assistance dog. Billy has been placed on a priority list because he suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a muscle-wasting disease that affects mostly boys.

The matching process is a little bit of science and a lot of art, trainer Chris Casatelli of Canine Assistants explains. The organization compiles personality profiles of the recipients based on information from the children, their parents and their doctors. They look for dogs with similar dispositions and see how the pairs interact.

But as the trainers tell the families, the dogs hold the cards. Ultimately they are the ones who decide on the families with which they go home.

"A lot of times you can just throw all the personality profiles out the window and a match just happens right in front of you," Casatelli says.

A Big Dog Chooses Billy
At 68 pounds, Polar, a fair-colored Lab/retriever mix, is the largest dog of the bunch. Billy is one of the smaller children, short for his age because of the steroids he takes. He walks slowly, bearing his weight on his toes, with his chest pointed out – hallmarks of his disease -- and falls down frequently.

But when they meet, none of that matters. Unlike other dogs who pace around his wheelchair or seem excited or distracted, Polar is fixed on Billy.

Plus, he's strong enough and has been trained to wear a leather harness that Billy can grab onto to steady himself. As long as Billy doesn't try to ride Polar like a horse, the dog will always be able to bear his weight.

"My first thought was, 'Wow, this is a big dog for this little boy,'" says Casatelli, Polar's trainer. "But then when you see him walking with his balance harness, and Polar's very gentle and taking his time and going slow to accommodate William's slower gait, you just know he's picking up on what he needs."

With Polar's help, Casatelli hopes that Billy will be able to continue walking on his own.

Billy's parents want the dog to go to school with their son and assist him with tasks, such as picking things up from the floor. Above all, they want the dog to be his friend and help him stay connected to the world.

"Because of his muscle weakness, he cannot do like other children are doing, like running around and playing," Billy's dad, Steve Ma, says. "Maybe with the dog, they'll want to be around him more."

Getting Comfortable With Polar
A day after the match is made, Billy and his parents start to bond with Polar. They're nervous because they've never had a dog. Back at the hotel, Polar defecates on the carpet. The second night, the dog falls out of Billy's bed.

Their comfort level rises as the days pass. Billy's mom holds open Polar's lips and Billy brushes his teeth with poultry-flavored paste. They get used to having a dog under the dinner table, and Billy knows the gentle tone to use to get Polar to go to the bathroom.

On a group trip to Target, Polar dutifully plods alongside Billy's wheelchair while the boy examines video games, Legos and more toys. Other service dogs walks by, but aside from a casual glance, Polar keeps walking.

The only time Polar reacts is when Billy and his dad come upon a display of colored bounce balls and take some out to play with. When a ball bounces near Polar, he gets scared and starts to run.

"Are you OK?" Billy asks Polar, reaching down to pet the dog's fur. "No more scary balls."

A clerk tells Billy what his family already knows: he has the prettiest dog in the store.

Billy is looking forward to training and playing with Polar back in Ohio. But they still have a lot to learn about each other.

One day, toward the end of camp, the boy is sitting in his wheelchair and Polar puts his paws on the boy's thighs.

"What does that mean?" Billy asks Casatelli.

The answer comes quickly.

"That means 'I love you.'"

www.pawnation.com

Puerto Rico

Roadside food trucks serve the best food. This is pollo asado with yuca and corn.

Some lady saw P eying her hat. So, she gave it to him. And, he wore it. Everybody was jealous.

Outside el Castillo de San Cristobal in Old San Juan. Appropriate for Columbus Day weekend!

Looking out from inside the castillo. This was used to keep an eye on any invaders.

And then there were other interesting things from trucks:

Alternative to "wholesome."

Just so weird!

The main reason I wanted to go to Puerto Rico was the bioluminescent bays. It was well worth it. While we had something like 15 kayaks with the company (ie, 30 people!), slowpoke paddling in pitch black darkness, and 1 kayak flipping over and dumping its people in the water, the experience was like none other. There were a million stars in the sky, and billions of little buggies lighting up the water! These bugs light up in response to movement -- so streaks of water would illuminate with each paddle stroke, and your hands and feet would illuminate if you wiggled them in the water. Amazing.

memory lane in AA

Newly renovated Big House with box seats.

SITTING in the alum seats has it perks. 1) You don't get so tired standing up during the whole game unlike those silly students, 2) got real close to the field!

mj in her new mini. Who are those bozos in the back?

i heart virgos

The crew gathered together again in NYC to celebrate #31!





In trying to navigate us around the city, I encountered a toothless, er... 2-toothed bus driver. He commented on the tank I was wearing, which was designed and given as a gift by W in honor of the weekend - it read "I heart virgos." He says to me, I'm a virgo, do you love me? haha ok, yes, so where does your bus go?

I was slightly amused since this was the first comment I had gotten on the tank, and returned to the group to announce that 1) the tank top got attention - the bus driver was a virgo! *exclamation!* and 2) not the right bus. At that moment, the bus driver had just stepped out of his bus and overheard the conversation, and was feeling pretty tickled with the whole situation of us being virgos and all. But then fiance P pops out, who is wearing the T-shirt version of "I heart virgos" and gives the driver a come hither look. Guy is stunned, and not only then denies that he's a virgo, but pulls out a TATTOO of the taurus sign ON HIS ARM!!!

Caught in a lie! Good thing he had proof in form of permanent ink...

surroundings

We awoke one morning to find this spectacular web complete with gigantic spider right outside the front door of our California home.

For scale.

During birthweekend (more on this later!), I spotted this on a cruise around Manhattan.

nuggets

As discussed on Sarah & Vinnie this morning:





What's funny about Joaquin Phoenix is that he's trying to reinvent himself as a hip hop artist, but while doing that, he decides to make a movie out of it. Like, to add onto his filmography. Hm.

(And yes, I still listen to the San Francisco morning talk show even though I live in NYC now. Actually perfectly timed so that I can listen to them during my sleepy morning work hours. I even tried to win an iPad this morning.)

STEP UP 3D

Yeah yeah yeah. It's a girl's guilty pleasure. So why not go with a couple of girlfriends?

It's like how Brandi Carlile put it during a concert I went to. In her case, she was referring to country music.

IT'S JUST SO BAD. AND BY BAD, I MEAN GOOOOOD.

I genuinely liked the first installment of Step Up. Sure, it had a typical storyline and was pretty predictable, but it was a believable movie and had all that delicious dancing. I know of 3 movies with the same storyline now (Step Up, Save the Last Dance, Fame), but that definitely does not mean that there aren't more.

Step Up 3D, however, tries out a slightly different storyline, but as a result, has some of the worse writing ever. We, along with others in the audience, LAUGHED wholeheartedly at some of the lines. I have to commend the actors for being able to deliver what they were dealt. And the 3D and sound effects, which were supposed to enhance the dancing, were actually injustices to the movie. It made the dancing look fake, but those dancers can darn well do those moves shown in the film.

Given all that, as long as you go in expecting a bad bad movie, as in so bad it's good, you'll have a great time. Cheese, attitude, and phenomenal dancing are ingredients to an awesomely bad and fun movie!

Nice to see some familiar faces:

Legacy and Twitch from SYTYCD

Silent guy from Glee, Harry Shum Jr.

One last observation:

Am I right?

pool play

For the past 2 years, the Sis has helped organize an Amazing Race around Palo Alto for her firm. Her AR team thinks of tasks that are creative, well-planned, and rather complicated, pretty much equaling what you see on TV. They have made it a wildly popular event.

This year, they filled a fountain full of pool toys for one of the tasks. Of course, this always takes more toys than you think it will to cover the entire surface. They ordered 100s and 100s of toys. The Sis brought all this home after the Race was over, and we decided to dump it all in our pool. Looks like so little, but there were so many!

There's nothing funnier than a pair of 30-year-olds acting like 13-year-olds. But look at the diligent gathering of balls and rubber duckies with the noodles. THAT, my friends, is the caliber of play of 30-year-olds.

blossoms

P brought back some squash blossoms from his garden so that I could recreate the pizza as seen on Saveur's front cover. I substituted the cheese with creme fraiche, as Scala's Bistro prepares it.

L+P & S+J Wed

High school gals

The WHOLE high school gang

Newport Beach, CA

July 4

Really just a picture of us at S&J's wedding. :) I think the bride and groom are in the back somewhere.

New Jersey

July 10

NY Philharmonic in the Park

A more uppety crowd attended this event, although not all normal concert antics were lost during this classical music concert. The group in front of us was entirely toasted. And there was a tremendous problem with women keeping their boobs in place. One women had hers just half covered (vertically), unabashedly waved her arms around, moving in all sorts of positions as if she had a full T-shirt on, and well lost some coverage briefly and gave us a show. It was inevitable.

i'm fancy

Outside: High of 85 degrees F, humid.

Inside: Feels like 65.

I have an office full-zip sweatshirt, scarf/shawl, and socks (Qantas airplane socks, really).

Today, I'm wearing everything. I'm wearing a yellow dress (thanks, E!), have the shawl over my shoulders, sweatshirt over my legs, and socks. I look ridiculous.

I don't leave my office wearing all of these things. Thus, it takes 30 seconds of preparation to remove all cover-up articles, though I keep the shawl.

Blasting the AC is such a waste of energy!

enjoy!

Ringo

http://www.dailypuppy.com

SYTYCD

So much fun, so amazing. If you don't watch the show, this season they paired past, top dancers with newly casted dancers. Alex, the Asian guy, is the newbie and is a trained ballet dancer -- you'd never know it from this performance (aside from praps the storyline and the splits he does standing up). I was cheering for Alex during the performance in a manner very much like the choreographers and judges at the end, but in my own living room... alone. ;) Sometimes I just can't help myself.

good TV night

On top of getting a tattoo on the show, crazy man Kasey on The Bachelorette delivers the most ridiculous lines I've ever heard.

• "I want to guard and protect your heart." (It gets old and gross after he says it about 1000 times.)
• "I’ll be able to show her my tattoo… then I’ll be able to see her heart, and she’ll be able to see mine."
• "It’s definitely easy to write something from the heart to a woman like Ali. I’m very excited for her to hear my heart and to hear my words, and to put them together so that I can make her smile."
• "I got this tattoo to be someone. To be a man for Ali. To be a man for that woman."
• "I’m a dreamer. I’m a believer. I love to love. I love to give. I love to share."

I want to throw up with all the cheese.

Then I watched Glee, where in stark contrast, Sue Sylvester delivers these types of lines. Of course, she has professional writers, but goodness, are they good.

• "For me, trophies are like herpes. You try to get rid of them, but they just keep coming. You know why? Sue Sylvester has hourly flare-ups of burning, itchy, highly contagious talent."
• "That’s what they said about a young main in Chicago in 1871, who thought he’d play a harmless prank on a dairy cow of one, Mrs. O’Leary. He successfully ignited its flatulence and the city burned, William. That young terrorist went on to become the first gay president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln."

powering through heat and humidity

This visit with the Sis and R coincided with an excruciatingly hot and humid weekend. Thus, food consumption was reasonable.

Menu included:

Friday: Spotted Pig (burgers, pig ear), Billy's Bakery, People's Pop, Lombardi's (clam pie), Rice to Riches (overpriced due to over-marketing, but good pudding!).

Saturday: Levain (everything on the menu), Le Pain Quotidien, Blue Hill (amuse bouches almost the best things). Can this really be everything?

Sunday: Shakeshack shakes, Papaya Dog (overrated), Magnolia Bakery, Momofuku Ssam, Momofuku Milk Bar (wonderful cookie made with everything including coffee grounds and potato chips), Pinkberry.

Saw Behanding in Spokane with Christopher Walken. I had no idea what the play was about, but based my decision entirely on the presence of Mr. Walken. It was a pretty safe bet! I don't think I've ever seen Walken in something I didn't like, and this play seemed to fit right into his personality. Foul language and stupid humor (the play's about searching for a hand severed 40 years ago!). Enjoyable and easier to get tickets for than Fences!