Being a night owl is only a pain in the ass when you have to get up early the next day. Like today! It's nearly 1:30am; I'm doing laundry, the dishwasher is running, and I have to teach in seven hours. So, I'll get 5 or 6 hours of sleep. That's pretty good. The annoying part is when I start waking up every half hour starting at 5am. I get absolutely scared out of my mind that the alarm won't wake me, and I'll be late. Or worse, I'll sleep right through my entire morning, and everyone will be like, "Where's Meghan? I wonder what's wrong??" Meanwhile, I'm snoring and drooling on my pillow. This is my big fear, people.

I just need to chill out, I guess.

So, this weekend promises to be filled with all kinds of cool adventures! Joe and I are heading to an as yet unexplored-by-us city for a few days, and I am really looking forward to it!

Speaking of weekends! I still want to write about last weekend. Okay, so I wrote a bit about Saturday here, in case you missed it during all the UCLA hullabaloo.

So, Sunday! Sunday was an awesome day. I spent it with Beth and Victor, and I had so much fun with them! We walked over to the market to get picnic stuff, then headed to the park, where we settled under the shade of a tree. The weather was beautiful, even a little on the too-cool side in the shade! The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and some near-by kids were practicing tight rope walking! A black and white dog chased a tennis ball near-by, a game which Victor decided looked like great fun and attempted to join. The dog was not as willing to meet new playmates and seemed confused about the strange smiley creature crawling after him and his tennis ball. Victor seemed quite displeased at being picked up and carried back to our picnic area every time he went after the dog. Luckily, my oatmeal animal cookies (crackers?) saved the day, and soon Vic was sitting on my lap happily munching away. He loves to share whatever someone near him is eating. It cracks me up! He is a true Taurus, with his great love of food (just like me!).

As we ate, a man sat down a little ways away from us, and put something down next to him in the grass. That little something soon jumped straight up in the air, and when I took a second glance, I realized it was a bird! Beth said it looked like a quail and sure enough, she was right!

"What is that?" Beth asked.

"A quail," he replied.

"Is that your pet??" I asked him.

He said, "Sort of. I mean, I got it at China Town yesterday for a dollar twenty-five. It just eats seed and water *, so.. so far, it's been pretty easy!"

I turned to Beth and said, "Well, I can honestly say I've never seen that before!"

How funny!

We then took Victor to the kiddie section of the park where he played with (and sometimes tried to eat) sand, as well as socialized. He crawled over to say hi to many kids and adults, proving to be quite the social butterfly. It was very cute to watch!

Meanwhile, Beth and I chatted away about all kinds of things, and shared many family stories as well as theories of parenting. I really love having a friend who enjoys talking and sharing stories as much as I do!

We talked into the night and even shared a pineapple pizza together. When it had gotten fairly late, and Victor was conking out for the night, Beth and I said good-night too. We hugged and I headed home.

As the rain spattered down on my windshield, I felt grateful to have had such a beautiful day with such beautiful people.

Joe was watching DVDs of The Family Guy when I got home. After kissing him hello, I snuggled up to him on the couch and we spent a long time just cuddled up, watching t.v. together. What a great day!

~~Meg

* I found out that he is mistaken. Wish I'd known that when he said it! Well, if I ever see another person with their new pet quail in the park, I'm prepared!