Elizabeth & Brendan

Brendan got his grill – the grillmaster. The directions said 40 minutes to assemble. It took closer to 3 hours. But after much cursing, the grill was ready for use!

Here is Brendan with my lovingly made burgers.

Then Eli wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

Here is Brendan and Eli chilling on the deck in my new red, plastic, awesome adirondack chairs.

Then Eli wanted to try out the Heineken Premium Light.  The dog has taste.

Here is Eli during the unpacking process.

Eli can be much like a 1-year-old child.  He has an understanding of what certain words mean, he tries to talk but his language is not really understood, we have to take care of his poop, etc.  You get the picture.  Well yesterday we were over at the house doing things and there was this really big box (grillmaster grill!!!).  Eli was having a grand ol’ time, not playing with his bone or his toys that were brought over but the box.

Here is Eli with a piece in his mouth, trying to run away from me.

I find it interesting that on this Friday (June 18), we were cleared to close on the house while one year ago on that Friday (June 19) I was told I have cancer (which I then met up with Kristen and JB and said “I have cancer.  So let’s get drunk.”  And thanks guys for taking the commend seriously and getting drunk.  The night ended in a dive bar with the entire bar singing along to Baby Got Back.)

To celebrate just how far we have come, Brendan and I cashed in a christmas gift and went to erbaluce for dinner.  (We both wanted what we got last time but branched out.  I got the steak and Brendan got the poached lobster)  And in talking, we both never thought that 1 year later we would have a dog, be buying a house and Brendan at a new job.  And while I am still technically “in treatment” and still finishing up the reconstruction, we are doing tremendously well.

And we have to thank you for all your support, cupcakes, well wishes, food, babysitting, prayers, etc.  We couldn’t have made it to this point without you.  And I am serious.

We have been taking Eli to the Dog Park the last few weeks and he loves it. I love it because then he is tired and we can go out for a long stretch of time without guilt.

Eli loves to run around with the dogs and is usually one of the fastest (no lie – I will get it on video). However, Eli prefers to be chased rather than doing the chasing. So if no one will chase him, he will half-heartedly chase another dog or go get attention from some owners. He can get intimidated at times (varies on dog size and aggressiveness) but he is doing better.

The other day, an owner was playing fetch with her dog. She would throw something, the dog would chase, and then Eli would chase the dog and the object. By the time the other dog got to the object, he was disinterested in the object and interested in Eli. Well after this happening at least 10 times, the owner got annoyed. I felt like she wanted to play fetch without disruption. Um, sorry. You are at a dog park. What do you expect? You want me to tell my dog not to play with your dog? How?

We also tend to go 8:30-9:00 and there are quite a few dogs there. Once we went around 11:00 and the crowd is so different. And the dogs are more aggressive (at least this day). We realized that we prefer the early crowd and not this young, fast, later one.

Aah, the politics of the dog park.

Because Kristen asked, here is more Eli. (disregard the mess that is our life, we are in the midst of packing)

Eli playing outside.

Eli watching Brendan leave.

Eli watching Brendan come home.

Since the last post was on the sadder side, here is a pick me up.  ELI!!!

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.