Living with Cliff Huxtable

WE GOT A PUPPY!!!

The good news is that he's amazingly well-behaved and predictably adorable. The bad news is that Mark and I can't stop speaking like high-pitched freaks. We keep using that weird dog voice ("Oh, you want some WAH-ter, DON'T you? Yes you DO!") that used to be a constant source of overheard enjoyment for us. HA! Listen to THOSE people- don't they know they're speaking to a dog?! It shouldn't last long though; we're still in the first week. Give me a couple more days and then smack me.

Anyway, his name is Cliff Huxtable (Hux, for short) and as most others are, he's obsessed with Mark and Colleen. He watches Mark like a hawk, standing at attention every time he attempts to leave the room. There's a lot of wrestling, soccer and running and I'm pretty sure Hux'll be invited to Mark's bachelor party. As for Colleen, they tend to bond in a different way...laying on CoHo's queen size bed, with the air conditioner blasting and Gilmore Girls on a constant loop. Wait, sorry. Sometimes it's The Secret Life of an American Teenager. If I walk into the room, they coolly acknowledge my presence, but neither makes much of an attempt to socialize. It's cool...I had a feeling CoHo was going to be the cool aunt. Can't wait 'til my kids like her better too!

As for temperament, this dog is straight up Bekka Bryan. He enjoys short, sporadic bursts of energy and then crashes, staring at you like you're a freak for still being on your feet after five minutes of movement. When he senses that a meal is about to be served, he races to his bowl, literally inhaling his food before we've even put the bag away. He hates the heat and drags ass, glaring at us every step of the way and laying down in defeat when he thinks we've pushed him too far (which means that we've walked a foot). He's also pooped in Mark's bedroom twice. Just kidding, Bek! That one's all Hux! But yeah, they are two fabulous peas in an iPod (I don't know what that means-- I just wanted to substitute iPod for pod!) and I'm pretty sure they're going to be best buds. IF Bekka can handle lying around watching Gilmore Girls.

He's a great, great dog. And I can finally rest assured that if I'm ever trapped in an elevator with a pregnant woman about to give birth, everything will be okay. Cliff Huxtable will know what to do.

In other news, I'm going to go ahead and give Jersey Boys two enormous thumbs up! What a phenomenal play--- great acting, an intriguing story and exceptional music. Highly recommended. And in what I can only imagine was a celebration of the largely male cast (or the fact that the ladies room overflowed), Deanna and I were also allowed to use the men's room at intermission. Weirdly excited at the prospect of a shorter line and a new adventure, I awkwardly announced, "Oooh, yes! I have my camera- I am TOTALLY taking a picture!" As older people politely ignored my lack of bathroom etiquette, one guy quietly goes, "I get what you meant. You want a picture in front of the door, under the MEN sign." And he took our picture. Some people just get me, you know?

This was also after, in response to an elderly woman bossily directing us to the quite obvious bathroom line, D loudly retorted, "OH, Ya THINK?!" This prompted a steady stream of stifled twitters from all the ladies in line, and an accelerated pep in my step as I attempted to distance myself from the one person at the play who was going to take on an ancient female usher.

In short, I'm fairly certain we were a hit at intermission. And the play was excellent!

Other things that are new with me: I'm 90% moved into Mark's, but am still spending most nights at Fairfax on an air mattress. I got a little promotion at work and will now be devoting half my time to working in corporate sales. And the nail biting is only half-successful...I should have added "cuticles" to my thoughts when he was blowing bad images out of my head.

Oh, and I'm adding nuns to my list of things that make me uneasy. I saw one on the T a couple days ago and, for some reason, thought that she was going to smile at me and have fangs. Maybe I'm just scared of costumes. Sometimes a nun is just a nun, I guess.

Haaaaaappy Friday!!!