lifestyles of the rich and famous

Kona

Saturday V picked me and the kids up to go to VA to pick up the cutest puppy in the world and rescue him from a rural West Virginia shelter and give him a life of happiness, fun, and love. The pickup was in a parking lot at a mall in VA. We all stood around in nervous anticipation as the transport van unloaded one dog after another and sent them home with their happy new owners, until we were the only people left standing there. The puddle of car-sickness vomit in the road behind the van, a gift from some poor nervous mutt who didn't take well to the 3 hour journey, lent itself well to the atmosphere of uncertainty mingled with excitement that we were experiencing due to picking up a dog that will be a 15 year commitment but that we had never seen in person.

Finally, the last of the carriers was pulled out of the van and inside I could see the adorable but timid face of "Chimmie" as the shelter had nicknamed him. In almost painful slow-motion, oblivious to the fact that we were nearly jumping out of our skin with the overwhelming desire to see and hold him, the volunteer helped the little guy out of his tiny carrier and into V's arms. He was so soft and sleepy and cuddly! We drove over to Angie's to pick up the crate that she so awesomely let us borrow, have a Polynesian lunch, and quick trip to the store for food and supplies. Anyway, to make a long story short, this is the cutest, sweetest, most well behaved pup in the world. V named him Kona, like Kona coffee, also Kona means 'golden coast' in Hawaiian, and if there's one thing V loves more then this puppy and good coffee, its Hawaii! Oh yeah and sports.

It was so cool of V to include me and the kids in picking up the pup, they were so excited, but at the same time I almost wish I wasn't there, because somehow it makes me feel more attached to the little guy, and kind of like I'm his adoptive mother, but really I am just some chick who will come visit and pet him, like everyone else who stops by :(

Sunday I went to the last night of the DC Film Festival. It was awesome and everything was free, including parking, thanks to Monica who was working there and had an 'all access pass' so to speak. I met up with Monica, Ryan, and this Morrocan rapper who does a style of music called Reggaeton, and was the subject of one of the films in the festival. We watched a french movie called Housewarming that was quirky and funny about a lawyer fighting for illegal immigrants who decides to remodel her house using illegal immigrant labor. Hugh Grant made a cameo appearance at the end, it was so weird!

After the movie we all went to the afterparty at Lucky Strike, a super-chic bowling alley/bar in DC, that we also got into free thanks to our VIP connection! Bowling was free for the night and somehow I broke 100 points, woohoo. Trays were carried around with things like chicken wings with different types of sauces, some kind of chicken eggrolls or something, deviled egg quiches with bacon, onion rings, barbeque chicken pizza, veg pizza, french fries, homemade ptoato chips with cheese, vegetable steamed dumplings with sweet and sour sauce, deep fried macaroni and cheese with marinara, etc. Some guy there showed me the trailer for his movie, a gory horror flick about two white-trash chicks (often in lingerie) (funny tangent- I was swinging at the playground with Jake when he started talking about how when he grows up he will buy a house on the beach. But not Ocean City, because there is too much 'white trash' there. I stop swinging for a moment and ask him if he actually knows what white trash is, to which he sheepishly replies, 'I don't know, I thought it was, you know, trash and stuff, scattered around....' ) who get sucked into a cult of women who eat other people to absorb their soul, or life force, or something, and after giving me some useless bowling tips he later invited us to a party across the street with other filmmakers which we decided we were too cool to attend. haha. But seriously I am a good girl and he was obviously hitting on me so of course I declined his invitation. I also got to hang out with the director of a film (Music is My Life) that won first place in three different film festivals, a super nice guy who invited us to the Atlanta film festival which will also be showing his film. Then we ate at a kabob place which actually had mostly indian food but was cheap as hell! for a plate with rice, palak paneer, chana masala, naan, and a side of raitha and a bottled water it was only $6.99! The whole time I missed Kona.

The end.