What are you going to be doing?

Earlier in the day…

Moe: “Hey Claw, I am going to wear my ‘Cocktails’ tshirt today. You should, too.”

Claw: “Oh that’s a good idea. I will make sure mine is washed.”

Moe: “Cool. So I will see you at the party in a few hours.”

Claw: “Yeah, perfect. I miss you. I can’t wait to see you.”

Moe: “I miss you, too. See you soon.”

Meet Hank…the cutest yellow lab in the world.

The lens must smell like other dogs and that’s why they are so interested in it lately.

Maggie is a chocolate lab, but you really can’t see her cute face.

Hank and Oscar going at it for hours on end.

Drew Cutler, Tommy and Steven Daigle in his glasses.

Noel and Tiffany…who is done with chemo! woohoo! We were also celebrating the completion of their backyard. It was one year ago that they started and it looks amazing. Congrats on all the hard work!

Moe and his little brother Wes who just moved here from Boston to go to SDSU.

Meet our extended Long’s Drugs family. (Back row left to right) Dan, Mikel, Noel, Emma, Moe, Train, Chad and Eric. (Middle row left to right) Tiffany, Zimmer, Alicia, me and Claw. We all either worked at Long’s in PB in the late 90s into the 2000s or we were roommates/significant others with people who worked there. It is a much much larger group but many people have moved away. You will notice that Tiff is holding a photo of Melissa and Matt…we miss them sooo much.

Watch what Claw is doing to me.

I finally had to go to the other side.

Pyramids! The last time I was involved with one of these with Emma (who weighs 4 pounds and is always on top), Moe and Claw it was in the lobby of the W Hotel downtown on my birthday last year. Rich was there, too as well as Puma Swede and Nikki Benz. I need to find that photo. It’s priceless.

Tiff and her boy Hank.

After the party we went back to Tommy’s where I discovered this amazing suitcase with a vintage jacket inside! It took a few minutes but I managed to talk Tommy into letting me have it. Despite his “Getting Kicked out Kegger” back in May at the house he squats in, he still lives there. It’s full of weird surprises!

Tommy slept in today and did not make it to the races with his Daschund Denny. Denny did not like to be put in the suitcase one bit.

We went to Fiesta and when the drama started happening is when I checked out. Gay guys and their drama. Jesus.

One of my very favorite things to do in San Diego is the annual Wiener Dog Races. The first round is mostly dogs that have no idea what’s going on with the occasional sprinter who has been training. The winners of today’s races go onto compete again at the Del Mar Race Track on September 6th…the winner of it all gets to ride on the Wienerschnitzel float in the Holiday Bowl parade. One person drops the dog into the corral and then when the door opens the idea is that your Daschund is smart enough to listen and look for you at the other end of the track. Supposedly if your dog shits on the track they are immediately disqualified, but I have no proof of that. Today’s goal with Payton, Oscar and Bailey was simply to finish. They were all amped and ready to race. Well, actually I don’t know that for sure since I don’t speak dog, but they were all starved by their owners so as not to slow them down during race time. None of them have participated in the races before, so really it would be a miracle if any of them actually won. It would be especially miraculous if Payton won since she only has vision in one eye.

Payton’s owner is Steven Daigle from Big Brother #10. He recently moved to San Diego from Texas and I just loooove him. Oh, PS he also does gay porn now Payton arrived in her warm up track suit.

Oscar, owned by Eric, is one of those dogs who becomes consumed by the squeaky toy. He destroys it immediately and barks incessantly until you give him a new one. Or until you slap him. JK.

Bailey is just a sweetheart, owned by Claw.

Zimmer was feeling left out so I took his photo with the fish eye lens as well. Good boy, Zimmer.

Eric arrived earlier than us so Oscar raced a little bit ahead of us. I was not prepared so I missed his first race. sorry!

So cute!

Jenn was the one releasing Payton.

So embarassing.

All kinds of folks turn out for the races!

OK Payton and Bailey race #1.

Jenn and Zim dropping them into the gates. On your mark! Get set!

Hahahahah poor Payton is lost looking for her Dad with her one eye. Bailey is cruising to get her little bite of ham.

Payton: “Hey are you my Dad?”

Payton: “Well, have you seen my Dad?”

Poor little thing. Jenn finally had to grab her and take her down to Steven. We were all dying laughing.

Claw brought Lunchables for Bailey to snack on. Lunchables. Yes, Lunchables.

Don’t think for a second that this is my first rodeo. Of course we had cocktails.

Between races Zim and I did a little sightseeing.

Umm, excuse me. Get yer fucking mutant Daschund out of here. Look at the size of that thing! How unfair to race one 3x the size of the other normal ones. Christ.

I love this shot. BLISS.

Bailey is actually rubbing herself in Steven’s nasty chewing tobacco spit. He is from Texas, after all.

OK Oscar, race #2! Second place! woohoo!

Emma and Zim dropping the girls again.

lol look at Emma’s hands. She thinks it’s Top Chef or something I guess. HANDS UP!

Steven was screaming her name at the top of his lungs this time. It was so funny with his accent “PAAAAYTON” She heard him though!

Go Payton, go!

Who cares if she ran to someone else, she made it to the end.

So cute and so curious.

Their fat little paws kill me.

Which way to McGregors?? It’s time to eat.

Jack and pickle juice. It was not even noon. oh gawd.

Weird looking skull beer foam.

The waitress had 2 different colored eyes like Bailey!

It was a perfectly fun start to a perfectly fun Saturday.

I stopped in at Small Bar to say hi to Dusty, Michelle and Lindsay before Dusty and I met Rich at Brass Rail.

Rich likes to go to this empty ass place on Friday nights and dance with young girls. What a weirdo. This is Amanda, our friend Lisa’s uber hot daughter. She is a little fag hag in training for sure. Love her!

I only stayed for one drink and went back downtown to Neighborhood. This looks like an ordinary wall of kegs, right?

It’s actually a secret door to a secret back room.

I don’t really know if it was an office or a super VIP section, either way…I didn’t have the balls to charge in there. Plus I was waiting in line for the restroom.

Anyways, I thought it was pretty sexy and deserved to be blogged about. It’s very Scooby-Doo!

Our old friend Zimmer was down from LA…I haven’t seen him in a long time. Claw, Emma and Noel were out…I love that they moved downtown and we see each other all the time now! We have big plans to hit the wiener dog races in the morning so I went home pretty early.

Ryan and I flew to Orlando for the week for a wedding/event video conference. He had submitted a “Love Story” type piece and was hoping to win an award for it. Sadly, he didn’t place and we suspected that it might be a bit political…a lot of the winners were old time members of the organization and were also the ones speaking at seminars during the week. His piece was really good and was definitely comparable to the winners…oh well, maybe next year. During the awards dinner they could not get their shit together! Amazing that a conference for techie geeks had so many issues with their audio and visual devices. It was embarassing to be honest. They redeemed themselves with the informative seminars and the tradeshow floor was decent. We got to play with some gear…I am definitely ready to start shooting and editing my own videos. I have some really funny ideas that will surely make you all laugh. But that’s going to be another site/blog that I start.

I finally got the Canon 7D with a lens that I have been salivating over all year. It is pretty much changing the way videographers shoot and that was what a lot of the seminars were covering. How and why to shoot video with a DSLR.

The conference was at the Dolphin hotel on Disney property. Let me tell you if you are considering going off birth control you should spend some time in Orlando in the middle of August. Good gawd.

Even though I rented a car so I could get myself to yoga everyday we pretty much ate at the hotel. The second night we had steak at Shula’s. Check out this fancy wine dispenser…

I had the WaterBoy cocktail with watermelon and some other foo foo stuff. It was actually too sweet. I always like to try new cocktails before the meal starts, but often they are too sugary for me.

After dinner we went to the “dance hall” to watch a bunch of middle aged nerdy videographers dance to the “Cha Cha” and other ridiculous songs that suck. We were both fascinated by the giant video monitor and were just bouncing some cool ideas off each other about video production. Ryan and I work really well together and are both excited about our future and the super secret project.

The last night we went to BlueZoo, a Todd English restaurant. I had the most incredible cocktail: Level vodka infused for weeks with gobs of Bazooka Joe bubblegum, lemon juice and egg whites (I never knew that was used in drinks to give it that frothy texture!) It literally tasted exactly like a piece of Bazooka Joe gum.

Ryan ordered the shrimp that was rubbed in BBQ seasoning and served with grits.

As you can see I gave it the LTP award.

I decided to splurge and order what the waitress said was one of their oldest signature dishes: Cantonese Lobster. She made a point to say that it was lightly tempura battered but in fact, it was heavily battered. I ended up picking most of the meat out of the breading. It had a decent flavor, but honestly the breading was overwhelming and let’s face it…lobster should just be served plain or with butter. There’s a thorough review of it on yelp…I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Kind of a neat shot I think.

Thursday rolled around and I reached my 30th day for the yoga challenge. I had only completed 29 classes. My choices were to double up a day while I was in Orlando since Monday was a day in flight…but the seminars were important and the studio didn’t offer an early class except for Wednesday. I finished the 30th class on Friday back in San Diego. I am not going to lie, I am a little bummed that I couldn’t actually accomplish my goal, but 30 classes in 31 days is still not bad. A personal goal is a personal goal and when you don’t complete it…it’s definitely a bummer.

I met Claw, Emma and Noel at El Vitral for breakfast. None of could decide what to order so we got an assortment of weird stuff as well as some deliciously cheap mimosas for just a buck! I saw an item on the menu with a Spanish word that I had never heard of so when the waitress explained that it was a Mexican truffle, I simply had to try it. She brought me a little bowl of it so I could sample it: huitlacoche …a fungus that comes from corn. Tasted like pureed mushrooms really. Not really truffly, but they would be amazing in an omelet.

I ordered the shrimp tacos because they were serving Egg Beaters in all of their breakfast dishes instead of real eggs because of the recent salmonella outbreak. Booo. My tacos were below average. The shrimp was that small tiny pre-frozen kind that doesn’t have a ton of flavor. I wouldn’t recommend them at all. Claw had the shortrib tacos and they were great.

Noel ordered something called “Pan Frances Relleno” which was basically cream cheese stuffed in French toast. It was really really yummy, but could have used slightly less cream cheese. I would never have thought of doing that but I might try it at home one time.

After brunch we went to J Bar (it’s actually called J Six Restaurant and the rooftop bar is called Lounge Six but everyone calls it J Bar) to catch some sun outside by the pool. Well, I went home for a while and they were pretty tanked when I arrived a few hours later.

Travis also happened to be there. Travis’s feet were burning on the ground without his flip-flops on. Travis also looks like he moved into his gym. Holy shit.

Later that evening I went to Chris’s sisters wedding reception at one of my favorite places to eat in San Diego: Phil’s BBQ! They have an event center behind the restaurant that is actually really nice…they have a fireplace, a very comfy lodgy kind of feel to it. And of course the food is incredible. The pork ribs there are the best I have ever eaten (prolly b/c I haven’t been to Texas yet) and the cornbread is great. I had actually never had it there, but will be ordering it by the sheet from here on out.

Sigrid and Tyson who loves to show all of his teeth now that he has his braces off.

Gretchen and Lindsay

Back by popular demand: THE VAGINA DANCE. (Ok, long story…for another day)

Goofy silly Kim and I went home around 11pm. I have an early flight at 6 am and haven’t even finished laundry or started packing. Ugh.

I have definitely been slacking on my already less than blogging blog.

On Friday night I went to the Best of San Diego event in Pt Loma with Sara and Jessica. I had just done 2 yoga classes and was freaking starving so the crowds at each station were no bueno. My stomach was eating itself and I was a bit cranky. I have to say the older I get the less I like crowds and festivals and such. Lines of people pushing to get a tiny little morsel of food and a splash of wine? Meh. The best thing we ate was Rubio’s gourmet  tacos with the cheesy tortilla and bacon. (Just like at the Food and Wine Festival last year.)

Here we have the worst of San Diego…. I mean what the hell people? There were trash cans everywhere!

I know it looks like I am a lobster… I can assure you that is NOT the color of my skin. It was the lights I swear!

On Saturday am I almost died during yoga. Holy crap it is not easy to do a class after doing 2 the day before. I won’t be doing that again anytime soon. It’s borderline insanity, but I am so close to finishing the 30 classes in 30 days.

Becky and Justin renewed their vows today! They ran off to get married in Vegas almost a year ago and wanted to have a proper reception for family and friends. I was not the photographer… they used a guy named Sebastian who has been in our friend circle for quite some time that I had never actually met. We talked shop for a little bit. Nice guy. Single Dad of three. He’s kinda cute actually but 3 kids is a deal breaker lol

They had a taco cart set up… they were delicious and the dog thought so too. She was soooo sweet.

I almost died when I saw this plate of fried cheese! It reminds me of a place where I grew up called Shady Glen that you can actually order cheese like this.

Cool shot of a window sill full of votive candles.

I hadn’t seen Alicia in a while…it was great to catch up with her… We used to work together at a photo lab years and years ago (about 15+) and she, too, is an ex-NA employee who is learning how to live life at a more leisurely pace with less stress.  

It was an early night. I am happy to be back in San Diego!

I went to yoga on Wednesday evening before heading to Bullhead City, AZ to see my family. I developed a wee crush on the instructor…he had amazing energy and a rocking body. I couldn’t decide whether to fixate on his abs or the unbelievable sunset during savasna. His name is Dray and he is probably the most motivating and helpful teacher I have had yet. Plus he touched me a lot. Hehehe. If you are in the Summerlin area and interested in Bikram yoga, you most definitely need to take his class.

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On a side note before I came here this week I googled “bikram yoga las vegas” and found this site: http://www.bikramyogalasvegas.com/. Sounds legit…I start searching for rates and class times and see “If you love Bikram you will love the Venus Beginner class.” Hmmmm. I call them up….

Imposter: “Thank you for calling Vegas Hot Yoga”

Me: “I am reading on your site that you offer a Venus class or something. Is this actually Bikram yoga?”

Imposter: “Well there are a lot of the same poses. It’s Bikram inspired and we ….”

Me: CLICK

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I arrived in Bullhead City at my sisters house around 11pm and waited for the rest of them to show up. It was about 199 degrees. Luckily their neighbor has a key and turned on the AC for us. We all settled into bed pretty early because we had a long day at the lake tomorrow. I got the twin bed with the Little Mermaid sheets. lol

We got a fairly early start and headed off to Lake Mohave, part of the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. Casey and Lola were ready to get their swim and their fetch on.

Casey is 13 years old and hasn’t been feeling that well lately. Cathy debated on whether to take her to the lake at all because she was in rough shape last week, but we told her that she would be ok and if she started to show signs of discomfort one of us would bring her home. She apparently freaks out at home if you leave her there because she knows that everyone is at the lake having fun without her.

It was hot and both dogs were having a blast running in and out of the water.

Her face looks so cute all smooshed up when she nibbles her legs.

We took the waverunners out for a few rides.

It’s not very easy to film another waverunner when you are on a waverunner going 50 mph. My niece Melissa was driving and I was in the middle and her friend Christina was on the back. I kept stressing at every fast turn that Christina had fallen off the back and then I would look to check and then tense up and almost lose my grip and fall off. It was fun, but Melissa is a bit too crazy of a driver for my old ass. (I know that’s ironic coming from someone who bungee jumps off bridges in New Zealand.)

We kept making the dogs get in the water as the temperature was approaching 110 degrees.

I love this video for some reason! She looks like those polar bears at the San Diego zoo.

Lola is definitely not the most graceful of dogs. She’s a bit of a spaz and doesn’t really understand the concept of “catch” yet. She’s sweet when you get to know her though. Err…I mean when she decides that she finally trusts you.

There’s pretty much two options here…sit in the shade or sit in the water.

I chose the water most of the day. I want to be sure that I absolutely look like Magda before this summer is over.

Blaine apparently eats shit all the time when he’s on the Sea Doo. Boys!

A wet towel helped the heat a little bit.

A quick afternoon nap in the blazing heat. I asked Cathy “So is this what you guys do every day??” I could get used to this for sure!

When we returned to the house the neighbor Connie had made some yummy pineapple Jell-O shots….

So here I am doing Jell-O shots with my underage niece Melissa and her friend Christina and my other niece Jessica.

Christina, Melissa and I hadn’t had enough of the sun so we went to the community pool.

Melissa discovered a weird trick at an early age (don’t ask  me how) that she can blow bubbles out of her eye sockets! Whaaaat? eww!

And to really gross you out here is a video of an underwater fart. Classy, Laura, real classy. This had already gotten like 50+ bunch of views on YouTube before I even posted this blog. Awkward.

Happy Birthday Blaine! We had some amazingly delicious food at the Harrah’s buffet. (Insert sarcasm font here)

In the morning I got up really early and headed back to Vegas for another round of yoga with Dray. When I got out of yoga class I saw a text from Melissa telling me that Casey was in rough shape and they were bringing her to the animal hospital to be put down. I started crying. I know it’s not my fault but I couldn’t help but feel guilty for talking Cathy into taking her to the lake when she didn’t want to. All I can say is that I am so so happy that Casey was able to spend her last day with her family doing exactly what she loved… swimming and playing in the water. They are all pretty devastated. Melissa is leaving for Spain for the next semester and is relieved that she was able to say goodbye. I received a text from Cathy a bit ago that said “Driving thru desert with frozen dog in a cooler. Is this my karma 4 making u take Scooby to be euthanized or has my life been reduced to a Nat’l Lampoon movie? lol” (Scooby was her other dog that I took to be put down 14+ years ago because Cathy couldn’t handle it.)

(On another sad note…Moe and Noel had to put Grizzy down last Friday. I am so happy that I was able to snap some photos of both Grizzy and Casey during their final days with us.)

Hug your pets today. Life is short.