it's a cel-e-bration!

Hi y'all! I hope you've all had happy and satisfying holidays. I definitely have. I only have a sec now (but hope to find some time to write tomorrow), but just wanted to give a shout-out to a few peeps who are celebrating personal holiday-style today.

The first, my dear, dear love, the K-Bear, Caleb, K-lip--mommy's baby tulip, CornNibblet, Kipper, the Kippopotamus, Kibbit, PunkinPie...aka my #1 dog. As in, I am hangin' with my literal dog. It's his birthday! He's 12 years old today! I first met him when he was but three days old, on New Year's Eve 1995. He looked like a blind hamster. The next time I met him he looked like a little old man puppy. The next time after that he came home with me. We've been inseparable since. He is full of 100% pure sweetness and love. We've so far commemorated the day with Happy Hips treats, Canine Carryout treats, my famous "dog casserole" (contains no actual dog), pig ears, and extra-big and frequent walks in the park. Happy birthday, baby boy.

Here's us holding paws:


Here's when he was taste-testing my homemade dog treats (he gave them two paws up, way up, btw):


Here's the picture that was featured on Dozen's website a while back when he was enjoying a doggie cupcake (speaking of Dozen, it's their 1st birthday today!):


And, I have a really cute picture of him on xmas, but I don't have a way to get the pictures out of my computer at the mo'.


And, another person celebrating today is my pal Kara. She just graduated! I'm actually heading out in a minute to celebrate with her. Woo hoo! Congrats, grad!


Also, last but not least, yesterday was Nowlzie's birthday! (she and the k-bear are both Capricorns). Tonight is her bowling birthday party. I so much wish I could be there, but alas, it's in Brooklyn.

I hope she is having this much fun:

and...

The only thing that would make Friday better was if it was illegal to work on Fridays.

This morning at work my computer couldn't connect to the network. I had such high hopes for a little while that I'd have to be sent home 'cause you can't do anything without a computer. But, thanks to our handy IT guys, it's fixed. Um, yay.

But, it's actually kinda flying by. I just checked the clock, and was kinda surprised that it's already afternoon. I like that in a Friday.

As I mentioned (um, bragged), yesterday I went over to Kara's for dinner. She made three amazing dishes that completely personified summer. The first was an Arabian Stew. (I'll have to cajole her for the recipes). The stew was chock full of all the beautiful summer veggies. I think it was a variety of tomatoes and red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini and squash, onion, cliantro, lemon cucumbers, figs--or maybe dates?, and...not sure what else, but it was amazing. A little sweet, a lot gorgeous. It was almost too pretty to eat. But, I soldiered on. And, I got a snack pack with plenty for lunch today, and a snack (okay, a full meal) later.

We had this with this really interesting carrot hummus-style dip. I know it had carrots, sesame seeds, green olives, harissa, scallions, red peppers...again, not sure what else except 100% pure deliciousness and love. Served with some wheat flatbread.

And, for dessert, a summer fruit crumble-tart-type thing. Blackberries, peaches, plums, apples? I don't know, but it was all amazing and completely full of the very best freshness of the summer. If you ever get a chance to try Kara's cooking, Do Not Pass It Up, Fools! Yuh-um. Thank you, Kara!

In other news, it was very nice to see Zeke's paws, and to get to hang in the central air yesterday evening. Me + central air = TLA.

And, speaking of paws, I got some especially cute ones from Nowlzie yesterday with The Biscuit attached. So, folks, I give you your Paws of the Day!