Today I feel like this song, Broken:

Between my knee, my car, my finances, and my heart.....this song has been on repeat in my head oh, all week now.

A sign?

Our last night in New York, we walked (pretty far) to dinner. I was walking with LB4, my super awesome rep from San Francisco. We were chatting, she has a beagle puppy named Cooper. I had told her about Charlie before, and she was making me laugh with awesome stories of Cooper's shenanigans. We were stopped at a red light at the corner of Central Park and something. LB4 grabbed my arm just as a little, tiny beagle puppy ran at us and jumped up at me. I looked at the owner and said "Can I pick him up?" she said yes, so I picked up the little ball of fluffy awesomeness. The little thing was all lovey on me, licking my face and making the same yelpy-whiny noises Charlie used to make. "What's his name?" I said, mid cuddle "Charlie" I damn near dropped the little guy. I teared up a little bit, kissed the little puppy head and put him down. I thanked the lady and we crossed the street. LB4 looked at me. "It's a sign" I didn't think much of it, but since that day, I've been yearning to pet every single dog that crosses my path, and I do, almost every day. Yesterday, I met Preston, a super sweet rescued greyhound. He loved me about as much as I loved him. To the point when it was time to part way, he just leaned on my legs and ignored his lady. It's time. It's past time, I think. Sure, thinking of my little perfect Charlie still can make me cry, but it's been three years, and I'm starting to think that if we don't act soon, we may never get another dog. I'm standing strong on our criteria: no puppies, male dog, rescue dog, hopefully mutt. Ok, truth be told, I really REALLY want a beagle or puggle or pug or bull dog, but I know getting a mutt is the best thing. Now, to convince VonSis and VonBroinLaw that we should do this. That's going to be the hard part.

Stupid is stupid

Saturday afternoon, I'm heading to my part time gig. It's way down in Lincoln Park, so I'm taking the El. The Brown line, to be specific. Normally, I park on the north side of the Rockwell stop, but the other day there wasn't any parking, so I headed over to the south side of the stop. I found a good spot, gathered my stuff and headed to the stop. Of course, right as I'm about to cross, the gates go down and the lights and bells start their thing. That's when I see Stupid Asshole (here after referred to as SA) in his stupid blue car. SA is on the other side of the crossing, but I notice him because he's in the wrong lane. As in the on-coming traffic lane. As in the lane that doesn't have a train gate. SA is thinking he's going to go around, beat the train. Shit. I look at him he looks at me I look at the train that's right there he looks straight ahead... I scream "DUDE!!!!" and throw my hands up in a very clearly STOP kind of way he decides to cross And gets hit by the El train. I would have been stunned except for the car bumper shrapnel that came flying under the el train at me and my legs. Thank God I was wearing jeans. I smell burningness. I see the car is not where I had been when it tried to cross, but on the other side of the road. I see the people on the train all going to that side to see what's up. I don't know if he's hurt or worse, or if anyone on the train is hurt. I'm kind of standing there, refusing to look down at my legs. I don't think I'm hurt, but I don't really want to know, so I'm not looking. All I'm thinking is 'I have to get to work' I start to walk back to my car, and I encounter a police officer. "Did you see what happened?" "Yes. Yes, I did" "Are you ok?" "Yes. Yes, I am. Some pieces of bumper came flying at my legs but.....I have to go to work." The cop asks me to go around to the other side, where the accident was. Ok, I'm not going anywhere anyway, as the trains are still held up. I get in my car and drive back around to the other side. Here, I can see that the driver - clearly not hurt - has run off, and left his car and his passenger behind. His car is 10 shades of messed up. The gate that he decided to go around ended up going through his back seat windows when the train spun the car 180. There's glass and car parts and burning stink everywhere. And people. There's lots of people. No one had been close by when the accident happened, thank God, because they might have been injured too. There are police and fire men, EMTs and reporters. I'm seeing all of this with the sparkly clarity of shell shock. I'm texting my boss. I'm going to be late. You are too. Trains aren't running. Car hit train. I saw the whole thing. I'm talking to the people, and I become The Girl That Saw the Whole Thing. The trains start moving, so I decide I'm going to get my stuff, and go to work. This is still all I'm thinking about. The cop who had first stopped me approached me again. He asked me for my statement. He said the passenger said some huge line of bull shit that made no sense. "Did that happen?" "No. No, this is what happened." I gave my statement. Now, I'm mad at SA for being such a SA. Really really mad. The cop thanks me for my statement, and now wants to address the bumper shrapnel that I'm pretending didn't happen. "Can you show me your legs?" I just sigh and lift up my jeans legs one at a time, expecting the worst. of all the gd days to not shave my gd legs.... Thankfully, there were no plastic shards sticking out of my legs, just a few scratches and scrapes. gd it, there are now some tears in my jeans, now I'm really mad!! The cops take some pictures of the scrapes and scratches, and thank me for my time. Nothing major on the injury front. And I go to work. Now, on to getting the sights/sounds/smells of the impact out of my brain. Think that might take some time. And for that, I'm really pissed. Stupid asshole.

The ABC's of me......

Acts strangely Behaves badly Comforts readily Divulges frequently Exclaims heartily Fawns guilelessly Gives selflessly Hugs whole-heartedly Interacts readily Jokes indecently Kisses softly Loves romantically Moves slowly Naps religiously Opines honestly Pines quietly Quiets rarely Remembers vividly Sings lovingly Trusts sparingly Understands, basically Vents wildly Works it occasionally eXplains briefly Yearns internally Zeros in pleasantly

Gentle reminder

*AHEM* It's October 1st. This is a gentle reminder There are a few people out there. four, I think Who have agreed/promised me a baked good featuring the aliens from Toy Story. Preferrably with the cute little alien mouth forming the "oooooh" as in "Oooooh, the claw!!!"

Better gets to bakin' people. You have 27 days to complete you mission - give or take.

I'll try to post pictures of what I get. Because, you know, there should be four different baked goods. Ok, maybe three. I just know one's from an artist, another from a Canadian, and yet another from 1/3 of the Tricycle of Awesome.

Anyone else want to give me some baked goods with the Toy Story Alien renderings on them?

P.S. - no fondant. Fondant is crap.

Anyone?

I need a name for my new snow white Persian cat......

What happens...

in Vegas stays in Vegas. Well, kittens, unless I'm there. Sooooo Today's tale is one about the wedding. But first, a little back story. The bride - Toni - is one of my favorite friends. Sure, I was John's friend first, but Toni will tell you that she has stolen me, and I now belong to her. So, Toni is pretty bad ass. Like WAY more bad ass than I am even! I'm pretty sure she could kick my ass, that kind of bad ass. Even though I'm about four inches taller than her. She's Chicago South Side Italian, if you know what I mean. I adore her. Ok. Enough back story. SO, the wedding. John and Toni, in all their popularity, had to change the venue for the wedding THE DAY OF THE WEDDING. They found out that their first location would only hold 20 people, no exceptions. Um, well, this doesn't work for the more than 20 people that showed up to see them happily wed. It took a while, but a new location, an accommodating location, was found. A flurry of texts and phone calls ensued. I was amused as I played my penny slots. Oh, boy. Here we go. I even had to call the usually very calm, cool, level-headed John back at one point. "What's up?" "We didn't hear back from you!" "Ok, well I got all of the texts....new place....blah blah blah...didn't realize I had to call back." "Well, ok. I can't keep up with who knows about the change and who doesn't." "It's fine. Do you need me to call people? Do you need anything else?" "No. Sorry. It's been a stressful day." Get to the new venue nice and early. It's hot. There's misters along the wall. Laura and I sit by the misters. I, like a queen, sit and wait for people to approach me. As it should be. Crowds and crowds of people, all over this little parkway. Some trashy, some not. Our group? Not trashy. The bride wore a lovely floral summer dress. The groom looked awesome. There was a hat, perhaps a fedora. Our turn! I go to enter the chapel. I stop. Huh - where to sit? John looks up, says "Well, Von, I think you're just going to have to stand in the middle!!" I opt for John's side. yada yada yada get to the vows. Time for John's vows and ring. The preacher laughs as Toni puts a blinking plastic ring on John's finger. "Okay....." he says. The blinking plastic rings were my idea. Bride and groom are getting tattoos instead of rings. Not ring tattoos, ala Pam and Tommy, but some kind of symbol that means something to only them. I think it's cool, and bad ass. John says "I DO!" really loudly and really happily. Toni's turn. On goes the blinking plastic ring. Preacher reads some vows, do you Toni blah blah blah..... and she nods Um, what?!?!? Is my bad ass friend going to cry?!?!? Preacher stands there - prods her for a verbal answer. "I do!" all squeaky, because she's crying. That's it - I lose it. Like lose it. I'm a blubbering romantic in general, but at the one wedding where I expect it to be no tears good time, I was blind-sided. I was, and am genuinely happy for these two.