Rigby!

Best. Valentine. Surprise. EVER!!! I woke up on Thursday so excited for my surprise. The time flew by, and at 1 we were in the car on our way to, as Mike said, “pick out my surprise.” As we went up the 405 and then changed to the 118 freeway, I could not figure out what we were going or what we were doing. We pulled up in front of a ranch house in Simi Valley, and he said, “We’re here!” I was like, wuh? Then he said, “We have to go in and pick out your present!” And my present, people? Was a PUPPY!

I have wanted a dog for, oh, forever. Growing up, we weren’t allowed to have dogs. My dad is allergic to them, and I am allergic to cats, so we were doomed to birds and fish for pets. When I moved to New York, my dog lust kicked into high gear. There are little dogs there EVERYWHERE. Living by myself, I really wanted a little critter to come home to every day. But, the flip side of it was that I lived alone – that would have been really unfair to the dog. When I would have a bad day at work in NYC, I would always walk by this one pet store on Lexington to look at the puppies. Of course, when I was in front of the pet store, I would call Mike and tell him about every single one of them! So it was no surprise to him that when I moved back to Cali, my doggie fever reached epic highs. He agreed that we should get a dog, but I didn’t think it would be so soon.

We walked into the house and I saw the two most adorable Maltese puppies ever. I ended up picking the girl, and after getting information about food and care, we were on our way. She is the cutest little thing! She only weighs two and a half pounds. She’s 10 weeks old. We decided to name her Eleanor Rigby, as in the Beatles song (Rigby for short). Every day she learns something new, and she gets more confident and happier to see us. We have two steps in our apartment, and she used to be afraid to use them, but now she bounds up and down them like it’s nothing! Of course, she slips and stumbles down them half the time, but that doesn’t stop her. She loves to play, and she will play with everything from her toys to Mike’s sock. We just gave her a bath and she looked like a little Chihuahua when her fur was all wet, although now she’s nice and dry and her fur is so soft and fluffy again. Her FAVORITE thing to do is lick Mike’s face. When he’s sitting on the couch, she’ll climb up his stomach and stand on his chest and lick like crazy. Mike said, “I had no idea I was so delicious!” She cracks me up all the time. My fear is that I am turning into one of those people. You know, the one who takes a million pictures of her pet, like it’s her child. While it’s true that I HAVE, in fact, taken many pictures, lots of them are silly. When this dog sleeps, she is out. I have taken the liberty of posing her in many compromising positions! Hee. These pictures are my favorite that I’ve taken so far. I love having a puppy! Now if I could only get her to poop outside…