Pugsley: aka, the Sausage.
Lori: Loves Pugs. Writing. Food and Fashion.
Friends are people who pack picnics with salad, sandwiches and bottles of wine just for the two of you..
Friends are people who've been in your life for decades and remain constant fixtures through the good times, and the bad
Friends are people you’ve never met who read your blog and take a few minutes out of their busy day to post a comment or send an email offering words of comfort and support..
Friends make calls to talk you off the ledge when they see you teetering on the edge of it..
Friends are people who lend an ear when you just need them to listen
Friends are people you don't have to worry about offending with your offbeat sense of humor..
Friends are people who hope for the best but prepare you for the worst..
Friends are people who aren’t so consumed with their own lives that they forget to ask you about yours
Friends are people who don't always make it all about themselves, on their time and only when it's convenient for them
Friends are people who are there to celebrate your greatest loves, and to help you mourn your greatest losses
Friends are people who may not understand or relate with what you are going through, but are there to offer up their support even if they don't get it, because they care about you and they want you to be okay.
Friends are people you worked with 5 jobs ago, who still make an effort to keep in touch, even if it’s only through Linkedin or Facebook.
Friends are people who never lie, criticize, or judge.
Friends are people who pop their heads into your office and ask you how your day is going, how your dog is doing, or invite you out to happy hour once in a while
Friends are people you lose touch with over time through no fault of anyone or anything other than life changes taking you in different directions, but somehow they still make the effort to connect from time to time...
Friends are new people that come into your life with a fresh perspective on things reminding you how broad the spectrum of possiblities are..
Friends are people who remind you that you can never be too early and that it's never too late.
Friends are people whose lives are running on a completely different course but they are still able to find some common ground.
Friends are people who see you making mistakes but realize it's something you need to learn for yourself…. so they sit back quietly on the sidelines and instead of saying, "I told you so" when it all falls apart, they are there to gently help you pick up the pieces and move on..
Friends are people who understand when you don't want to talk about it and know you well enough to not take it personal when you want to be left alone. They know that you know that when you are ready, they will be there waiting in the wings.
Friends are people who let you walk your own path, but are there to shadow you on your journey..
Friends are people who have moved on to new cities, new jobs, new spouses, but somehow they always find their way back to you at the most ironic of times...
Friends are people who have your back in every situation..
Friends are people you don’t see or talk to for months or years but when you finally reconnect, you’re able to pick right up where you left off like no time has passed between you
Friends are people you can curl up with on the couch, with a big bowl of popcorn or hot blueberry tea, watch a movie together and not have to say anything at all..
Friends are people who let you into their homes and their lives, trust you with their children and with their pets..
Friends are people who know how to sit you down and tell you like it is when you need to hear it.... but also know how to hold it in when you don't.
Friends are the friends of your friends who make an effort to include you in social gatherings..
Friends are people you've dated and it didn't work out, but they still stay in touch because they liked you as a person, and because you meant something to them.
Friends are people you can laugh and cry with…
Friends are people who offer to drive so you don't have to.
Friends are people who have seen you at your best (fancy gowns, and shiny updos, toasting the town) and at your worst (black mascara running down your face, head in toilet bowl holding back your hair).
Friends are people who don't make you afraid to trust them.
Friends are people who can tell when you're happy or sad just by looking at your face or hearing a certain tone in your voice..
Friends are people who allow you to see the world in a different way just by being the unique creatures that they are..
Friends are people who let you be yourself and love you just the way you are even if they don't always understand or approve of your choices..
Friends are people who know all the answers to those annoying "How well do you know me" internet questionnaires
Friends are people who would never lead you astray or set you down a path of destruction
Friends are people who would tell you if the guy you are seeing is seeing someone else
Friends are people who invite you to play in their golf league.
Friends are people who accept your lifestyle even if it doesn't reflect the same way they choose to live their own lives.
Friends are people that visit you in the hospital, dance at your wedding, and pay their respects at the funerals of your loved ones.
Friends are people with busy lives, but they always show up when it matters
Thank you.
Posted by Lori in Friends at 09:55 PM permalink Comments (5)
One of my best friends in life lost her beloved dog of 15 years today. It probably goes without saying how much my heart goes out to her as she had to say good bye to her best most loyal friend in the world. Please send some good thoughts out for Jules and for her baby Chelsea to aid in her journey to the bridge. I am lighting a candle tonight to help shine the way...
Rest in Peace sweet Monkey. You will always live on in your Mama’s heart.
-----
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. Her bright eyes are intent. Her eager body quivers. Suddenly she begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, her legs carrying her faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
Author unknown...
Posted by Lori in Friends at 10:29 PM permalink Comments (3)
Posted by Lori in Friends at 12:01 AM permalink Comments (4)
two is simple
two is sweet
two times to tickle
two little feet
two needs hugs
two needs sleep
two needs to laugh
two needs to weep
two is funny
two is when you speak
two times to pinch
two rosy cheeks
two more tricks
two more treats
two times to love
two cakes to eat
~ Love, Aunt Lori
Posted by Lori in Friends at 06:25 PM permalink Comments (2)
How crazy and totally random is this... haven't seen one of my best friends in forever back on the East coast because we keep missing each other -- but we both happened by pure coincidence to be in San Francisco this week. We managed to sling back some Mai Tai's and Tonga Tarts at the Tonga Room in my hotel. Traveling back home tommorow, 8:30 AM flight. More trip details to follow. 18 hours to Pugsley time!
Posted by Lori in Friends at 03:45 AM permalink Comments (1)
There is only one person in the world who will understand the significance of this picture so I’ll have to tell the story behind it to authenticate. Here’s a hint – it’s about this shirt that I stumbled upon in my closet the other day and I had to snap a quick picture of it to show him.
So, ten years ago I was working for an internet start up company, in this little Hamlet of a town with a population of about 2800. An average summer workday would consist of a morning walk with my work buddies to the local gourmet coffee shop for a freshly brewed Papua New Guinea or Costa Rican to start the day. We would linger there and discuss last night’s Seinfeld episode. We’d return to our desks and somebody would always be playing a Dave Matthews CD really loud – usually it was the CEO who dressed in shorts and walked around the office barefoot all the time. Pugsley would come to work with me and hang out in my cubicle lying at my feet snoring, sometimes he would sit on my lap while I worked, and sometimes he would lay on the sofa in the front office. Sometimes I would write notes to a coworker who sat down the hall. I would roll the note up and tuck it into the double curl of Pugsley’s tail, tell him where to go and he’d deliver the note for me. Then my coworker would write a response, stick it in his tail and Pugsley would trot back to me like a little messenger boy. It was the best of times.
Around 11:00 some of us would go into the parking lot and shoot hoops against the beautiful scenic backdrop of the Northwestern CT. hillside. Sometimes we would have sponge fights, using packing materials from the warehouse to sneak attack from the other side of our cubicles. Email and AIM was brand spanking new and even though we sat inches away from each other, we were constantly chatting online throughout the day.
Lunchtime was another walk across the street to a local diner for a California burger with fries cooked well done and a swamp water at 12:30. Back to work ‘til 3:00 then a short walk down the road to STOSH'S ICE CREAM parlour for a large waffle cone or frozen yogurt. By 4:00pm we were drinking beer at our desks, but only when the CEO was buying.
It was the best job I’ve ever had. It was a time that can never be replicated and one I feel very fortunate to have experienced. We had way too much fun but we also worked really hard and were highly productive in that environment. Hmmm. Eventually we got VC funding and took the company public, which created a lot of change and not nearly as much fun. We all had a stake in the company in the form of stock options which we were convinced would make us all very wealthy. Well, that didn’t happen, at least not for me. I got just about enough to pay off my credit card debt and buy a new car. So life doesn’t always work out the way you wanted it to, and I didn’t get rich.
But what I did get was a life experience that I wouldn’t trade for all the BS and shifty corporate games that became of it. I got hands-on job experience and knowledge that I have taken with me to every job I’ve had since. Cool. But I’ve saved the best for last. It was the friendships I made there that enriched my life. Some of them will be friends for life, others not. There are those who I no longer talk to and those I wish I still talked to. There are those who we let months or years go by without seeing or talking but we can still fall back into friendship like it was yesterday. Everytime. They know who they are.
I am a bad friend.
I’m terrible at keeping in touch and I’m not writing this to offer any excuses, just calling myself out. I let months and even years go by and it’s not that I don’t think of them, it’s not that I don’t care. Life has a way of getting away from us. People go through major life changes, have babies, have relationships, end relationships, people die and get sick. The bottom line is there were people I used to work with who would give you the shirts off their back. And did.
One of my very favorites was a 17 year old boy who was interning from a local prep school. We sat next to each other and for some reason clicked and struck up a friendship right away. Imagine me in my 20's and a teenage prep-schooler running about town. We ruled. Others would wonder what was up with the two of us hanging out all the time. Like we were having some kind of secret affair, an older woman and teenage boy. It was so NOT like that! So when people would mock us, I’d just laugh and tell him, "Yea, they’re just jealous of our youth and good looks" That always made him laugh. How I miss that laugh.
He used to wear this shirt to work, this Banana Republic shirt that for whatever reason, I became fixated on and had to have one of my own. It was a men’s size medium casual button down shirt. It also happened to be his favorite shirt at the time.
I didn’t know WHY I had to have it, but I just did. I searched all over local BR stores but to no avail, for he had purchased it in San Francisco where they sold different products. It was something in the colors, 4 different shades of green dark olive, medium olive, sage, with bluish aqua green stripes running through the plaid. I liked the way it draped and hung. The way it smelled....like sweaty 17 year old boy.
Eventually the boy went off to college and became a man. I was so sad and disenchanted when he left. Who would I eat California burgers and drink swamp waters with in the summer? Who would I go to Tori Amos concerts with? As a parting gift, guess what the boy gave me?
Yup. The Shirt. Tears were shed.
So he went off to college and I went off to uncertainty. After college, I heard he moved to NYC and I worried when 9/11 happened because I knew he worked for one of the companies whose headquarters were in the Towers. When he got in touch to let me know he was okay, I cried at his recounting of the horrific things he had experienced. Two years later I went to visit him in Hells Kitchen and then we lost touch again. And then he resurfaced by way of his own blog believe it or not :)
Who would have thought that 10 years later we’d both have blogs and be able to keep up with each other’s daily lives through them? I read his words now and am so impressed, like a proud big sister of the man he has become. A caring, thoughtful, sensitive, funny, intellectual man. We’ve become these whole other people who are so much different yet so much the same.
So, I was thumbing through my closet the other day and happened upon “the shirt”. Then it finally dawned on me why I wanted it so bad. It wasn’t just the ultimate coolness of the shirt, it was what the shirt represented, a friendship, and it reminded me of my friend when I wore it.
I still wear it today, but only with my Banana Republic, J. Crew, or Gap Khaki’s -- you know to keep it in the family. It’s probably been washed about sixty times since I took ownership, but I swear that when I bury my face deep into the soft muted green fibers and gently inhale -- it still smells like 17 year old boy.
Posted by Lori in Friends at 07:36 AM permalink Comments (10)
It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
It's been a while
Since I first saw you
It's been a while
Since I could stand on my own two feet again
And It's been a while
Since I could call you
But everything I can't remember
As fucked up as it all may seem
The consequences that I've rendered
I've stretched myself beyond my means
It's been a while
Since I could say I wasn't addicted
And It's been a while
Since I could say I love myself as well
It's been a while
Since I've gone and fucked things up
Just like I always do
And it's been a while
But all that shit seems to disappear when I'm with you
But everything I can't remember
As fucked up as it may seem
The consequences that I've rendered
I've gone and fucked things up again
Why must I feel this way?
Make this go away
Just one more peaceful day
It's been a while
Since I could look at myself straight
And it's been a while
Since I said I'm sorry
And It's been a while
Since I've seen the way the candles light your face
And it's been a while
But I can still remember just the way you taste
But everything I can't remember
As fucked up as it all may seem to be
I know it's me
I cannot blame this on my father
He did the best he could for me
It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
And it's been a while
Since I said I'm sorry
~ Staind
October has been a busy month for me. There's been something going on almost everynight. One birthday after another. The partying has been relentless, but I'm game. I've been spending a lot of time at our new hang, Koo, a neo Japanese place. We love it there. The food is awesome, so is the atmosphere and the bartender and owner seem to like our little mischeivous gang. Each time we have a birthday, they give us free champagne and make fancy desserts. Friday night we'll be going to the big Koo Halloween Bash. I'm sure I'll have lots of cool pics to share from that event. For those of you who voted in the Halloween Costume Poll -- I will be wearing the costume that received the most votes. ***Hint*** I'll be selling cookies!
Here are Pics from Lisa's Birthday...Happy Birthday Lisa!!
Posted by Lori in Friends at 09:05 AM permalink Comments (1)
Meet my new God daughter Morgan Emily
When she cries, I sing her Pink Floyd songs and she settles down.
Momma loves her baby
And Daddy loves you too
And the sea may look warm to you Babe
And the sky may look blue
Ooooh Babe
Ooooh Baby Blue
Oooooooooh Babe!
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Posted by Lori in Friends at 08:03 AM permalink Comments (8)
This weekend we celebrated the fair Juliette's birthday with a Ladies lunch @ La Saliere. Shopping and Pyschic Readings. Followed by too much Sushi and Green Tea Martini's @ Koo where I had the best Spicy Tuna Roll of my Life. And the Kootini's weren't bad either.
Happy Birthday Jules!
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Posted by Lori in Friends at 07:22 AM permalink Comments (4)
The following is an excerpt from a recent IM conversation
with Nicholas:
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Posted by Lori in Friends at 07:28 AM permalink Comments (2)
This is my friend Toni from Kentucky and her adorable son Brennan! She is one very interesting, clever, hot-mama and has another boy, Christian. She is married to a Professional basbeball player, Chris who used to play for the San Francisco Giants but he is now a pitching coach. We all work together for a sports company and I think they are great people, salt of the Earth! I keep trying to convince Toni that she should start a blog so we can all read about the exploits and daily life of a baseball mommy. Won't you all help me convince her to contact Cherry. If she does, I will also get a free skin out of the deal ;-)
