Bouncing back

It's been a couple weeks since the lizard incident and I'm almost fully recovered. Yes, all my trips into the laundry room lately involve me frantically sprinting in and out. But I'll be fine. Gift baskets aren't necessary. The best way to bounce back is to start blogging again so here goes...

The week of the 11th was a pretty lazy one. Chris was in real estate classes and Lacey, Brutus and I were mostly unproductive. Brutus wasn't the biggest fan of Lacey since she liked to sneak up and swipe at him. She's a playful kitten, and he's an old man. But they eventually learned to tolerate each other...while asleep.

I was able to check one thing off my list - cleaning the office. When we moved in, all of the suitcases and random stuff ended up in that room. It became a giant storage closet. So one rainy day I finally tackled the project. Lacey was nice enough to help by pouncing onto everything I attempted to put away.

After a couple hours, the project was complete. Having that room cleaned out was a weight off my shoulders. Felt so good to be able to check something off my list.

Office Before:

Office After: 

Yes, everything on the wall is crooked

That Friday we went to the our standard Friday night bar, the Irish Pub. Every Friday we meet up there with some people we met through the Meetup group. We're practically regulars and it's always a good time. The beer is cheap, the locals are friendly and the karaoke is very...memorable. That night, a local woman did an eardrum shattering performance of Madonna's Like a Virgin, complete with gyrating on the mic stand and putting the mic up to her crotch. Guess she thought it wanted to sing. Her boyfriend noticed me taking a video of her performance and insisted that I put it on youtube. I declined. For now.

Not a virgin

Saturday morning was a harsh reminder once again that alcohol is poison. There is a reason they made an entire movie about hangovers. They are a real bitch. Luckily, I discovered a way to ease the pain: Bojangles' cajun filet biscuit. I'm normally anti-fast food but Chris was raving about it and my grease levels were dangerously low. It made me feel a lot better...until an hour later when it made me feel a lot worse.

Grease fix

I also spotted an exciting new addition to the neighborhood: Trader Joe's! They opened last week and I can't wait to check it out. I love suburban grocery stores. So big and clean and full of food. The Trader Joe's I shopped at in New York was small and always packed with people. The wait in line was always a minimum of 20 minutes followed by a 5 block walk home carrying heavy bags of food to squeeze into the fridge I shared with two messy roommates. Life is easier these days.

That afternoon my foster duties were complete and I took Lacey back to the Humane Society. It was so sad to have to say goodbye to her. She was such a sweet, affectionate, playful kitten. And she constantly followed me around the house. I love 'em needy. I wanted to keep her permanently but unfortunately she was a long-haired kitten and Chris and I were both allergic. Zyrtec worked great for the allergies but it'd be pretty expensive for us to be on it for the rest of her life. Plus, Brutus was terrified of her. He's a real man's man.

I spotted this pretty girl at the shelter and felt like maybe it was fate that I adopt her. I think it would be hilarious to have a dog and a person with the same name living in our house. The confusion! The laughter! Chris disagreed.

Doppelganger

That night we tried out the cast iron pizza pan I bought on Amazon as a gift for Chris completing real estate school. Cast iron pans are awesome - it made our best pizza yet. Now he uses it for all kinds of meals- roasted potatoes, bacon and eggs, stromboli - it does it all.

12 pounds of delcious

And then on Sunday: KITTENS!

to be continued

Animal House

I have always been loved animals. I have one dog, Brutus Sebastian Francis Rose, and I've been thinking about adding a brother or sister to the mix. So, while casually browsing Craigslist (for hours each day), I noticed that a lot of people advertising stray dogs they found around town. I started wondering why I never see any stray dogs. After each craigslist session of ooh-ing and ah-ing, I'd whine, "I wanna fiiiiiind one."

It's probably time for me to get a job.

Another thing I wanted to do is foster an animal. Fostering involves volunteering to take a dog or cat into your home until they are ready for adoption. Today I called to see if they needed any animals to be fostered and the foster manager told us to come in before closing and pick one up. So after Chris' class we went in to see what animals were available. We ended up picking out an adorable black kitten named Lace who has an upper respiratory infection (basically a cold, not contagious to non-cats). Food and litter were provided so we made a stop at the Petco around the corner from the shelter to get a litter box and a toy.

On our way home after Petco, Chris spotted a dog running on the train tracks up the road from the shelter. We were feeling all humanitarian-like (animalitarian?) so we parked the car and set off to save it. We soon discovered it wasn't one dog but a pack of dogs and a couple puppies (awwww). Unfortunately none of the pups would let us come near them and we weren't dressed appropriately for dog wrangling. I'll have to call the shelter tomorrow and have them rescued or I may have to create Hotel for Dogs, the sequel. (If you haven't seen it, don't).

Lacey is now home and all set up in our empty guest room. She's very affectionate and very playful; you can barely tell she's sick. She acts more like a dog than Brutus does! We have her for three days until her medication is finished. It's nice having a new addition to the house. Chris goes to Real Estate classes during the day so now I'll have two animals to keep me company. She's definitely gonna be tough to bring back this weekend.

Puppy Love

Every Friday I walk dogs at the Humane Society. Actually, there is very little "walking" involved. These pups are so excited to be out of the cage that they could run for hours. It's quite a workout. All the dogs are so sweet and just want someone to take them home. If you have the time and space in your life for a shelter dog or cat (or guinea pig), please consider it. Go to petfinder.org to find your new bestie.

Friday 10/1 - Bowled Over

Friday was a big day. Not one but TWO things on the agenda. Whew.
First up was volunteering at the humane society. When I moved down here, one thing that was important to me was getting back into volunteering. In high school I volunteered frequently and even started a clothing drive for the homeless. But once I got to college, I discovered the wonders of alcohol and it was all downhill from there. Once I graduated and became submersed in corporate america, I just didn't have the energy to do anything after work (except of course, happy hour). And weekends were a time to decompress from the stress of the week. (Drink). So, since I finally escaped the cubicle, I wanted to use my free time to try to contribute
to society.

A couple weeks after we arrived, Chris and I signed up to volunteer at the Greenville Humane Society in the areas of pet therapy and dog walking. Pet therapy involves taking puppies to nursing homes and assisted living facilities to spend time with the residents. I've always loved working with the elderly so I'm eager to get started. For now we haven't been scheduled for pet therapy but they had an available slot for dog walking on Friday from 4-6.

Dog walking was fun. Some of the dogs were so excited to be outside they barely noticed me and some didn't want to walk, they just wanted to be held (my kind of dog - I like em needy). I'm still impressed that I didn't take an entire litter of miniature pinchers home with me. It's sad to read about how the dogs ended upthere but gratifying to know that they're in a better place now.

After dog-walking we headed to the bowling alley for our second attempt at a "meet-up", this time at a bowling alley. When we arrived there was a group of people our age standing in the lobby. I quickly discovered that this was not one of those swanky Manhattan bowling alleys with leather couches, crystal chandeliers and cocktail waitresses that look like Kim Kardashian. No. This was the bowling alley you went to for a birthday party when you were 11.

The first words out of my mouth were "Is there alcohol here? Hi, I'm Zina." Thankfully the answer was yes. Once we'd done our introductions, rented shoes, and put in an order for a pitcher of Miller Lite, we made ourway to the reserved lane. The first person I met was a woman named Christine. When I mentioned I'd moved down with someone else she perked up and said "ooooh, you got a husband?" I pointed at Chris and jokingly said "Nope, I moved down with him. We're living in sin." She looked horrified. I decided to ease my way out of the conversation by moving towards my seat and saying, "Well, feel free to help yourself to some of our beer!" Turns our she didn't drink. I'd be willing to bet that Jesus told her not to. After that awkwardness I was concerned how the rest of the night would go. But everyone else was friendly and easy-going. And despite bowling the worst games of my life, it was a fun time. Met some new people, shared some laughs, downed a couple pitchers. And got to watch Crystal's head nearly implode when someone mentioned being Jesus for Halloween. Ah, memories.

After bowling, some of us headed to a bar called The Irish Pub for a few drinks. Inside was a small dive bar and outside was a large area with corn hole, a sand volleyball court, and a karaoke stage. We sat outside and drank and talked about life in Greenville.

It started to get chilly so eventually we moved inside. It was the right decision. Inside was where the older locals were and the locals are who I love. No matter what city or town you go to, you can alwayscount on the locals at the dive bar for entertainment. Towards the end of the night, I casually asked one of the them if he'd ever eaten at the food truck outside. He informed me that he didn't eat at that truck because he'd been to Iraq and once you've been there you won't eat food made by Middle Easterners because he didn't trust them. I decided it wasbest not to mention that they were in fact Brazilian.

Oh Greenville, we'll get along just fine.