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Better late than never, right? Hey, it's still Monday where I am...so here goes.
I was contemplating what to do for my "I" post...I mulled over several different ideas yesterday...I came up with Illustration...Imagination, Illumination, Idiosyncrasies, Ideology....you name it, I'd thought about it...but nothing struck me as the right thing to post about, UNTIL I woke up this morning at 3:48am thinking of my new friends across the world, Simona and Marco - the Italians! Of course! The timing was perfect! Why hadn't I thought of it before! Today was the perfect day to tell you about my new wonderful Italian friends!
Simona and Marco, (if you don't already know these incredible blogging buddies), are Mom and Dad to three gorgeous Golden pups, Paco, Milo and Maya, in Asti, Italy. Over the last couple of months, Simona and Val of My Boo Bears had become very close, and Val invited Simona and Marco to come and vacation here in San Diego, and stay with her. Simona and Marco decided to come, and I got the benefit of meeting them, since Val is my neighbor and lives right across the street!
Simona and Marco arrived in San Diego late the evening of Oct. 23rd...just in time to rest up and come over for our Halloween party the next night. It was perfect timing! I'm pretty sure they thought we were all crazy that first night, but they seemed to enjoy themselves and get a kick out of all of the crazy people they met that first night.
The next day, as we recovered from the party, Val, Simona and Marco headed just north of San Diego, to Encinitas, a lovely beach community, to a fantastic beach house Val and rented for the week. Together, along with Golden Samantha's family, who also made a long trek to come and visit (from the Bay area), they spent a wonderful week exploring, sight seeing, and relaxing in the gloriously perfect fall weather. We all got together for a delicious dinner at a swanky restaurant mid week, and had a wonderful time chatting about (what else!) our Goldens! Between all of us we have 10 Goldens! Incredible!
On the following Saturday, Halloween day, Simona and Marco joined us at the Golden Costume parade and party I'd organized for our Golden group. They got a kick out of seeing so many Goldens in costume - there was literally every size, shape and shade you could imagine! I was sure to give them a special introduction to the group - and I was just so tickled that they came to the meetup. What a pleasure it was to have them join us! KBL, another blogger buddy, Golden group member, and wonderful friend was also there, and bought Simona and Marco some raffle tickets. It was so cool when Simona's number was called first, and she got to pick a special gift to bring home to her fur babies! 
The entire day was a blast, and I felt truly honored that they took the time to come to the meetup.
The next morning, Simona and Marco headed north to Los Angeles, to visit with even more blogger buddies! They spent two and a half days seeing the sites of LA, everything from Universal Studios, to the Hollywood sign, to the famous streets of downtown. They thoroughly enjoyed their world wind tour!
They arrived back in San Diego Tuesday morning, in time to return their rental car, take a quick swim, do a little site seeing, and have a nice dinner before their evening flight home.
Take a little swim? Yup! That's what I meant about glorious fall weather. Our pool was 74F. and Simona decided it was warm enough to take a swim with the dogs. Where else can you swim on Nov. 3rd without freezing your buns off? It was so fun seeing her enjoy herself so much! 
After her swim, we headed out for a bit, as I mentioned yesterday...to the Cabrillo National Monument, and the tide pools.
It was a fast, fun afternoon, and the only thing that could have been better was to have been able to have more time to spend together!
The visit wound up with an awesome dinner, and long, warm hugs goodbye. 
It was a visit I will never forget, with new friends that I look forward to spending many more vacations with!
Così lungamente per ora i miei cari amici, spero di vederlo ancora presto! (I know, my Italian is terrible!) Ti amo tutti!
If you'd like to see what other bloggers are doing for A-Z Mondays, be sure to stop by Jen's blog here.
My, my, what a busy week! Here is a brief (OK, maybe not so brief) overview of everything that's kept me busy this week!Monday - Bear's 23rd birthday. She and I spent the morning together, with brunch out, and an early movie. We saw "Law Abiding Citizen" with Gerard Butler, and both of us really enjoyed it. After the movie, Kona and I went to our regular VA visit, and had a grand time. We met up with some of our other Golden friends, and a Golden Doodle friend, Caleb. (Kona is on the right, I'm taking the picture.)
Monday evening my parents joined us for a casual dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown San Diego. After dinner Bear went out with some friends to continue her birthday celebration. 
Tuesday was the day we had to say goodbye to some wonderful new found friends. Simona and Marco (Mom and Dad of Paco, Milo and Maya) from Italy had been visiting with our friend Val, just across the street, and we were able to spend some brief, but very fun time with them. I haven't said much about their visit because I have been so busy and don't want to rush through the post about them. They are such wonderful, sweet and warm people, I just fell in love! Meeting them both, and instantly making a connection reinforced my belief that the world is basically a wonderful place, with fantastic, warm and loving people in it. I will post more about their visit very soon, I promise. But in the mean time I wanted to share these few pictures from their last day here in San Diego. We did a little sight seeing, I took them to the Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma, and visited the tide pools. It was a lot of fun, and a nice way to spend the afternoon.
Tuesday evening we got together with another blogger friend, Milo, Laverne and Shirley's Mom, and we had a wonderful dinner at an Afghani restaurant close by. It was great food, but the company is what made the evening so magical. It was the perfect send off for our new friends - and an evening I'm sure we'll all remember!
The Four Blogger Buddies!
A last hug with Simona and Marco, our new found friends from Italy!
Wednesday was AJ's 17th birthday. He is such a great kid - low maintenance and very easy going. I made a special birthday dinner for him, including his favorites - bone in rib eye steak, cheesy hash brown potato casserole, and marzipan cake. He was tickled with his presents, and it was a pleasant evening. 
Can you tell what his other nickname is?
My parents came over to celebrate with us, and the only bummer was that my Dad wasn't feeling well. I mean seriously wasn't feeling well at all. Shortness of breath, very low energy, minimal appetite...all red flags...I began to worry.
Thursday was another movie day for me. Yay! Two movies in a week was a real treat for me. I went to see Michael Jackson's "This is It." I thought it was really great. I'm not the biggest Michael Jackson fan, and I know a lot of people have very strong feelings one way or the other about him, but I went with an open mind, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't think anyone can deny his huge talent.
Friday started off with Pickle getting her wisdom teeth removed, and ended with my Dad going into the hospital. Needless to say, I've had better days. Pickle was in quite a bit of pain, but never complained once. (She still hasn't!) What a strong girl she is!
Here she is on the way home from her oral surgery - glassy eyed and puffy-cheeked.
My Dad's breathing was becoming more labored throughout the day, and when his doctor called to give him some test results of procedures he'd had done earlier in he week, he decided it was time to get him into the hospital. Trouble getting a deep breath, fluid retention, etc. are all big red flags, and it was time to do more than just sit around. In he went, where they've been giving him oxygen, and adjusting his meds ever since.
Saturday Hubby and I got rolling pretty early and decided that it was time to get the rest of the Halloween stuff put away. We took our time, arranged, sorted, and threw out some stuff. We made a run to the donation center, returned some stuff to Home Depot, and made a stop at the recycle center, where we turned in all of the bottles and cans from the party and got back $31.00. Not too bad! By the late afternoon we were ready to get everything back up into the attic, so with the help of our neighbor, "The Tall Guy" and another strapping young teenage boy in the neighborhood, all of the bins and boxes got put up and stored away until the next party.
Saturday evening it was time to go to visit Dad in the hospital. Pickle was up for a little change of scenery, and I thought it would be nice to take Kona with us too. Pickle was funny and made herself a T-shirt that says, "I know my face is swollen..." on the back it said, " I just got my wisdom teeth removed." She wore it to the hospital, and got a kick out of the reactions she got.
Poor thing, the swelling has really kicked in today, and she looks like a chipmunk! Still not one complaint from her though.
And finally, today....Sunday. Again Hubby and I got an early start, and with AJ we loaded up all of the left over wood from the Halloween sets we'd made. We borrowed "The Tall Guy's" truck and took a VERY full load to the dump. They weighed the truck going in and coming out...We got rid of exactly 1,200 lbs. of stuff! Incredible! Thank goodness for neighbors with trucks! It felt great to get everything in the back yard cleaned up and back to the way it is supposed to be.
Shortly after our return from the dump, I decided it was time to get the pups some long missed exercise. Val and I got in our cars, and both headed down to Fiesta Island. It was a beautiful day to be out and about with the dogs, and they all really enjoyed their walk and swim. At first it wasn't my intention to let them swim, but once we were there, there wasn't much stopping them. They ran and swam and ran and swam some more! It was a nice treat for them, and Fiesta Island is such a great place to take them this time of year - all of the weeds have been mowed down, and there aren't many fox tails around. 
Heading back towards the cars...they were done!
Of course giving them all a bath once we get home isn't the most fun thing to do when you are tired, but seeing them have so much fun, and wearing themselves out was totally worth the work we had to do once I got them home. Thankfully Hubby helped get them all cleaned up, and we were done in no time.
This evening we'll be heading down to the hospital again, and hoping to see some improvement. Please send good vibes this way.
Have a great week!
As you know, I have 3 children. As of today, all 3 of my children have had their wisdom teeth removed. Bear had hers removed about 8 years ago, AJ had his removed earlier this year, and Pickle had the honors today.
She is one tough cookie, but even with her being as tough as she is, this kind of stuff isn't fun.
She had a bit of trouble coming out of the anesthesia, she was uncontrollably shaking and cold, and tears streamed down her face out of confusion as she came out of the general. All of you parents out there know how hard it is to see your children in pain. Today, for that few minutes, it was really, really hard.
She is a heck of a trooper though, and she has been good as gold since she's been home.
Here's hoping she heals quickly and with very little swelling...because, you know, swelling isn't cool for a 15 year old...
Kona knew just what to do! He is a great therapy dog...even at home!
Here are the last few...I tried to get at least one picture of each guest, but after it started getting a bit late, and the drinks were flowing...well, you know how that goes! If you were a guest, and don't see your picture on one of the 3 posts, please forward one if you have it. I would love to add it to my collection!
Hubby in his full regalia.
More of our guest pictures!
The next day, as we recovered from the party, Val, Simona and Marco headed just north of San Diego, to Encinitas, a lovely beach community, to a fantastic beach house Val and rented for the week. Together, along with Golden Samantha's family, who also made a long trek to come and visit (from the Bay area), they spent a wonderful week exploring, sight seeing, and relaxing in the gloriously perfect fall weather. We all got together for a delicious dinner at a swanky restaurant mid week, and had a wonderful time chatting about (what else!) our Goldens! Between all of us we have 10 Goldens! Incredible!
The entire day was a blast, and I felt truly honored that they took the time to come to the meetup. 
After her swim, we headed out for a bit, as I mentioned yesterday...to the Cabrillo National Monument, and the tide pools.
It was a fast, fun afternoon, and the only thing that could have been better was to have been able to have more time to spend together! 
It was a visit I will never forget, with new friends that I look forward to spending many more vacations with! 
