Payment in Fish

Isn't it great to have a hairdresser who asks to be paid in sushi rather than cash?

Of Girlfriends, Good and Bad

I love and adore my girlfriends. Unfortunately, they are mostly spread all over the country, quite literally, from the West Coast of California to the East Coast of Massachusetts and Florida, and they are also placed at several locations in between. Most of my girlfriends enjoy a good phone conversation as much as I, so we have been able to keep in touch very well, but what I really love is when they come to visit me, and stay in my house, and we get to spend lots of uninterrupted time together. We talk, enjoy drinks and good food, shop, sometimes cook, and always say we want to see each other more often.

So when Alyson said she was coming to visit, imagine my joy! My glee! My songs of praises! I set about planning how to arrange the guest room, tried to decide what welcome amenities to welcome her with, and decided I wanted to maximize our every moment together by arranging for babysitters and just hanging out with the two of us.

But, friends. I seem to have turned into a Very Bad Girlfriend. I was terribly distracted by the aforementioned Distraction, who will, from this point forward, be known simply as "A." He is not crazy about being blogged about and certainly would not enjoy having his picture posted here, but don't let that fool you into thinking that he is not delightful and adorable and handsome and sweet and ... oh. There I go again. Getting all distracted.

So Alyson patiently waited for me to arrive home late, she helped me make the guest room bed, she forgave me for leaving her flowers in the car and for leaving her gift ... I forget where, and she plunked down in my living room with with me and a warm drink and listened to every tiny, dull, detail of my Distraction.

Alyson is a Very Good Girlfriend. And I love her. Do you think she'll forgive me and visit me again someday?

Distractions

Did you know that Nate celebrated his sixth birthday on March 30? And did you know that we held multiple birthday parties? And that we had much fun? Oh, you didn't? Why? Because I am a bad blogger, that's why.

But I also have a dozen red roses blooming here on my desk. And that's a story for another day. Or another blog. I'm not sure yet. But suffice it to say, I have been happily distracted.

Back to the business of Nate's birthday. Tomorrow. I just made the unfortunate discovery that, in my happily distracted state, I have neglected to upload any photos for two weeks. For those of you who know me, you know that is simply unheard of in my life.

But thanks for your "Where are you??" messages. I'm here. Sort of. Just in an altered state.

Eggs by the Sea

I don't know about you, but I've never had the chance to hunt for Easter eggs on a spacious lawn overlooking the ocean! When we planned our trip to San Diego, we didn't know that we'd be able to stay and attend the Easter egg hunt at the Hotel del Coronado, but a change in plans made that possible.

The boys were dressed in camouflage and greens, which is probably not the Easter attire of my dreams, but none of the other kids seemed to mind and I didn't catch any other parents glaring or sneering at me, so I think we were okay.

Although they enjoyed the candy they found in their eggs, they were quite focused on finding gold coins, which were hidden in a very small number of eggs. You see, if they had found a gold coin, they would have received a large and fabulous prize from the large and fabulous prize display on the tables there.

I don't know if the boys don't actually believe in the Easter bunny these days, or if they were blinded by the shiny prizes and the sunny beach, but they didn't care if they saw Mr. Bunny. He was pretty cute, though!

Is the Easter bunny male or female? Both? Or neither? That's kind of a fuzzy one, isn't it?