Elizabeth & Brendan

This past weekend had us traveling…again. Poor Eli spent another weekend being boarded (don’t fret as he has gotten plenty of attention since we got back and will get spoiled this weekend if the weather is nice. who is joining us at the dog park?)

Brendan left for his annual day of italian meats and NCAA basketball (not kidding) on Thursday and I cuddled with Eli (see related post here).  Then on Friday I drove down to the city to stay with Erica since we were going to New Jersey on Saturday for Little Rhody’s baby shower.  (Convenient for the shower to be on the same weekend Brendan was down since it saved him from having to get up at 6:00 am for a ride back to Boston.  And judging from how he was on Sunday, it wouldn’t have been pretty.)  I left work around 5:30 and hit some traffic getting on to the Pike and stopped at Charleton.  But other than that it was smooth sailing and I got to the Upper West Side around 9:30/10:00.  I was weary about the parking because I have had nightmare situations.  Erica told me of a dead-end street that usually has spots so I tried there.  No luck.  So back to West End Ave. and a few blocks  was pulling out of a spot.  Score!  My parallel parking skills have been improving now that I have been driving more so it was not embarrassing for me to park.  But then I had to figure out how to get to Erica’s apartment from where I was.  I look up and realize I am across the street .  Double score!

I go in and sit down with a glass of water and we begin chatting.  Erica being a gracious host offers me a bottle of wine.  I select a red.  The only problem with her red wines are that an ex-boyfriend bought some and she knows one is worth about $100 and she is saving it for a special occasion which I am, apparently, not worthy of.  Whatever.  So she pulls at two bottles of wine (identical year and type) and we Google it.  $100 each.  Okay so we found the expensive wine but let’s just check the next bottle of red since it is from the same vineyard.  $115.  Next bottle: $125 and the final bottle: $165.  About $600 of red wine.  And none we can drink.  After totaling it all up Erica replied, “Now I know why Brandon wanted me to ship the wine back to him.”  We ended up drinking a really nice bottle of wine and I told Erica “Don’t worry.  When you come to my place, no wine is more than $20 so we can drink it all.”

More on the shower and the rest of my girls weekend to come…

I don’t know when these were taken but this is how exciting it gets at our house.

We were away last weekend (more about the associated travel later) and Eli was boarded from Thursday to Sunday. As a result, he was super-clingy this week. This weekend B and I will be headed to NY for various committments and Eli will once again be boarded.

B headed down to NY last night so I was alone with dog and feeling guilty about leaving him yet again. So I decided to sleep in the spare room as he is allowed on this bed. So he got a treat he has only had a few times before, sleeping on the bed with me/us. And to be honest, I had a great night’s sleep and it absolved some of my guilt.

Today the pupster had to get all of his vaccines at the vet. I decided I couldn’t handle the anticipation of him getting injected (plus I am crazy busy at work) so Brendan took Eli. Apparently, Eli took it like a champ and barely reacted. Or at least that is what Brendan told me. Because of the timing of the appointment, Eli couldn’t go to playgroup; however, he had a long walk to the vet and back and then Brendan played chase with him in the backyard. Hopefully he is tuckered out a bit and will be fine until 5:00. This happens on the weekends sometimes so I think he will be fine but of course we will what awaits me when I get home.

I am just glad the shots are over and he was okay with them.

Eli has had some GI issues which cause Brendan to get up several times a night and us to worry about coming home to an “accident”. There have been a few of the latter.

Also, we had a rock hit the car while I was going to work one morning causing a nice 10 inch crack. We visited the tax person and that was not very pleasant and was a bit shocking.

Hopefully this weekend will be an improvement of things.

On Saturday, we ventured out in Somerville to a dog park. Eli goes to day care and plays with other dogs so we thought he would like the exercise.

As we walked down Putnam, you can hear the dogs and Eli was getting all excited. So we go in and Eli starts to sniff around and get familiar. He was very shy at first. He hung out near the fence, watching the others play. (There were a few big dogs we think intimidated Eli.) Eli would sniff a dog if said dog was off on his own near a fence. Then every once in awhile Eli would walk out to the middle of the field. You could tell he wanted to play but was just a bit shy. Eventually after about 10 minutes (during which time he hammed it up to other owners for pets) he got into the mix and started to play. And man, can the dog run. We never realized how fast he could go. So we let him run to his heart’s content with the other dogs for awhile.

The best other dog was “Dexter”. Every few minutes you would hear someone yell “Dexter!” and turn to find the dog humping yet another small dog. It was pretty funny – not just for the obvious but because Dexter was dressed in a monogrammed coat and his owners were mortified.

So while I was enthralled with “Breaking Dawn” (the last book of the Twilight series) on Sunday morning, Eli was roaming the house. After it being quiet too long, I called Eli and he came downstairs. I was proud that he came so quickly (we have been working on coming when called).

Later that day I went upstairs and found out why it was so quiet. Our lovely dog jumped up on the bed (no no number 1) and chewed up my glasses beyond repair (no no number 2).

Here is what used to be my glasses.

Friends Keith and Jen went to North Conway and stopped by an animal bakery. And they bought Eli a treat – a cannoli to be exact. I guess humans could eat it but I would rather stick to Italian.

Here it is. I love the decoration and detail.

Then Eli attacked and the cannoli had no chance.

Thanks Keith and Jen!!!!!  Eli loved it!!!!!!!

Because it has been awhile.  Here is an old video and some new pictures.

Eli running around with Pig.

This is what you get when you are trying to eat on the couch and won’t let Eli near you.

Eli while watching The Strangers.

Eli and Flea.

So we have blogged a bit about how Eli loves his Pig and really owes Alett (and Toffee and Riley) a big thank you for giving it to him.  And lately he has been back on the Pig bandwagon as he has been playing with him and carrying him.  Even just the other morning, Brendan though Eli was coming to wake him up but instead, Eli went upstairs got Pig and ran downstairs.

Here is video proof of his excitement over Pig when compared to his rope bone.

Then this is Eli taking Pig to bed after that little game.

And then some grainy video of Eli going up the stairs.