Mr. W wanted to have a weekend or at least a day of zero plans in order to get over the stress and jet lag of traveling, so that’s what this past Saturday was supposed to be. Except that Mr. W made breakfast plans with his male best bud for 8am on Saturday morning, so I was up, showered, and out of my house to meet Mr. W earlier than when I normally leave for work. My efforts were immediately redeemed when Mr. W and I walked up to the outdoors seating patio of the restaurant to see a very excited 3 year old golden retriever wagging his tail off at us, pulling on his leash and squeezing through the metal bars to jump on my shoulders to give me a hello kiss on my chin. “Hi, Buddy!” I laughed. When I walked around the gate to hug Buddy’s owner, Mr. W’s friend, Buddy growled. “You hear him growling?” Buddy’s dad asked. “He’s jealous.” I bent and hugged the dog, who again left salivary claim wherever his big happy tongue could reach. “I hugged you FIRST!” I told his bright golden head and floppy ears. I hadn’t seen Buddy in a few months, do dogs remember you? I usually run up to him and hug him, then play catch and tag and tug-of-war with him in his back yard until he slops up his entire water bowl and then drops into an exhausted and content nap. His parents say he gets really excited to see me, and I’d said that he’s just a happy dog and is excited to see everyone, and they’d said, “No, not like THIS,” but maybe they’re just being nice?

Anyway (man, it’s hard not to get off on a tangent when I’m talking about animals), Saturday was spent napping with a brief stepping out to lounge in Mr. W’s neighborhood jacuzzi. A new neighbor of Mr. W’s joined us with his 8-month-old little girl, who was the happiest tiny thing ever. She just loved the water, and kept trying to stick her tongue in it. And then she’d splash it with her teeny hand and burst into delighted squeals and giggles. She’d look at us with big blue eyes with her mouth wide open in a huge smile, as if to say, “Hot water is the greatest thing EVER! How can you NOT be excited?!” The little girl and her family just moved to Orange County, CA from Oklahoma when her dad was offered a great transfer opportunity as an athletic director for a local Christian private school. “How can anyone afford to live here?!” the dad exclaimed, describing his first thoughts upon moving to Orange County. After the visit to the jacuzzi, Mr. W and I took his teenage daughter to the movies and we watched Spider-Man 3. I think the black Spider-Man suit was more becoming on whatever stunt-double played Spider-Man than the suddenly-sissy blue and red suit. And someone had said that there were too many villains in this movie and too many sub-plots, but I enjoyed them all.

Sunday, Mr. W and I ran off to San Diego for a champagne brunch at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse, a great seafood restaurant that childhood friend Vicky and her boyfriend introduced us to, and then to Sea World. My bailiff had told me that Sea World, in partnership with Anheuser-Busch, had a beer tasting/beer pairing section. We found it. I had never drank so much beer in my life, and I don’t like beer, but I did find one that I do like. It’s a new product from Anheuser-Busch called “Peel,” and it’s juice-flavored beer, made with real juice. Surprisingly, it contains 1% more alcohol than regular beer, bringing it to 6%, but you don’t taste the alcohol. It’s more like a wine cooler. The flavor I sampled was blueberry-pomegranate. YUM. The beer introducer warned me that it had more calories and carbohydrates than all the other beers, and I pouted. Typical. But then he explained it’s higher by like 3 calories a serving, so I felt better. At the end of the beer tasting, he asked what my favorite was, and I said it was the Peel, and he said that Peel’s target audience is women between ages 21 and 40. Typical, again. I’m right there in the middle. I didn’t know I was so stereotypical. Oh, well. On the drive back, Mr. W and I discovered a delicious Italian restaurant by the water and I had a great if significantly oversized calzone. Half of it is going to be another meal. Or two. I had so much fun that day that I can’t remember the last time I had such a great time on an outing.

I saw so many animals this weekend that last nite, I actually DREAMT I was having a threesome with one. I can’t recall what kind of animal it was, but it was thankfully not a marine animal. (Like that makes beastiality any more redeeming.)