This was last weekend, April 17 and 18...

SATURDAY

I went on my first 10K ever!!! It wasn't for any kind of cause or anything. Just a bunch of walkers, enjoying walking for fitness, out on the trails. Misti and I went together, and we both bought New Walker Packets. Apparently, when you do a bunch of 10Ks, they stamp your little booklet, and when the booklet is filled, you can mail it in someplace in exchange for a really cool pin and a little patch, too. How cool! I love earning prizes of any kind!

Also great was the fact that Bobbi let me borrow Loki for the day! I was so excited!! As you all know, I love my Loki-dog, and it was very cool to spend the day with him. He could have been a little better about the whole pulling thing, but other than that, he did great out there. Bobbi packed practically an entire duffel bag of things he might need out there in the wild. It was as though he was leaving for a few weeks rather than a few hours. It was very cute, and very sweet. When Bobbi handed me the bag, she said, "I know you won't need all this, but you know how weird I am." She is so funny, and one of the sweetest friends and dog-owners I know. I felt so honored that she let me take her precious guy out for the day, especially since she's never let anyone do that before. Yay, I am special!

The walk started out all strange, totally alongside busy roads with lots of cars. To top it off, the map they gave us was unclear, and we got a little lost. We would have gotten hopelessly lost had it not been for the other walkers, who were all very kind and helpful.

By the end of the walk, Loki was dragging behind me for a change. I think we were all feeling it at that point. Loki even pulled me over to a shady spot under a tree and laid down as if to say, "Yeah, we're stopping NOW. Enough of this walking nonsense!" which totally cracked me up.

I eventually convinced him to come with us so we could officially end our walk and get our stamps. Then we sat on a bench and had our lunch, and talked some more. I love all the interesting conversations I always have with Misti. She's so insightful and has such a cool perspective on things. Most of what we talk about is spiritual and/or personal in nature, so is not stuff I feel comfortable repeating here. Suffice it to say, though, we always have cool stuff to talk about and Saturday was no exception.

After lunch, we took Loki home, then headed over to Misti's house. Later, Misti, Steve, and I all went out for sushi near their place, and .... oh my GOD. The BEST sushi I've ever had in my LIFE!!! It was really amazing. We sat at the bar so that we could talk to the cook, Teddy. He's a really cool guy and sometimes even invents new rolls just for the hell of it. Misti said The Lion King roll that he makes is excellent, so I got one, and it was SO good. Then another woman at the bar saw our Lion King rolls and wanted one, too. She also just raved about it. It was amazing. I don't even remember what was in it. It was delicious, though. Anyway, usually I don't eat a lot when I go out for sushi, but that night, I packed away three whole rolls all by myself. It was awesome!

When we went back to Misti's place, we watched The Craft. I'd never seen it, and Misti and her friend Melissa had said that it was just one of those movies you've got to see. So we watched it, and it was crazy. It was kind of funny and definitely cheesey, as Misti had promised it would be. I enjoyed it, though, and I'm glad we watched it together. I started getting ready to go home afterwards, because it was pretty late. Misti and I talked as I put my shoes on, and we both agreed it had been an incredibly fun day. Then I headed home, sleepy and feeling great.

SUNDAY

The next morning, it was time to be up and ready for more activity! It was the Earth Day Fair in Stockton that day. The plan was for Misti and I to head out there together to meet up with Melissa, and help her with her massage booth. Melissa is a certified massage therapist trying to promote her business. She had flyers, sing-up sheets for her mailing list, and a relaxation basket to raffle off. Misti and I brought a massage chair, so that Mel could give chair massages all day. Shortly after we arrived that morning, Misti and I spent some time putting together a huge canopy tent. It was awesome. I was very proud of us for getting it all set-up together. We make a good team.

The morning started out slow, so Misti and I walked around trying to hand out flyers. Some took them, some didn't. It was kind of odd. Then Misti and I needed to use the restroom, so we set out to find one and ended up having one of the most bizarre bathroom experiences of my life!

Misti and I ventured into the women's room, only to find that there was NO toilet paper and no soap. Misti said, "Let's check out the boys' room!" As we headed next door, another girl showed up and eyed us questioningly. I told her the situation, and she said, "Oh cool, I'll follow you guys."

"HELLO!" I shouted into the men's room. No one responded, so Misti went in, and lo and behold, no paper in there either!

We stood around for a second debating what to do, and then we decided we'd use the womens' restroom anyway. Now, it was very strange, because the bathrooms were just in their own little building outside. And inside the restrooms, there were stalls but NO DOORS! Who designed this?! So, since there were no liners for the toilet seats either, all three of us decided we'd sort of crouch over the seat. Now, when you hold that position, that means you lean forward a little, right? So, we all did this at the same time, all leaning slightly forward and that's when we realized -- we could all see each other's faces! Misti said, "I feel like a horse!" which cracked me right the hell up! We totally looked like horses in our stalls, with only our heads poking out. We all peed while giggling about feeling like stabled animals, and the other girl said, "Now what?"

"Just shake a little," Misti said, as she twisted back and forth. We all shook ourselves dry, then went on our separate ways. Misti and I laughed about how weird it all was the entire way back.

Back at the booth we all stood around not doing much of anything, as no one really came by. There was live music on a stage on the other side of the circle of booths. I said, picking up a handful of flyers, "I'm going to go hit the drum crowd!"

And I did! I wandered over to the music area and handed out alllll the flyers I'd taken with me. I saw some cool booths in the process, too.

I came back and Misti and Melissa both massaged my back and arms at the same time (woo, tandem massage!) as I sat in the chair. It felt freaking great! I was glad to demo because not only did it feel amazing, but it did bring interested folks over, as I'd suspected it might. When the first real customer came up, I took over sitting at the table and greeting everyone who came by. I guess all my sales experience finally paid off, because I wasn't at all afraid to talk to any and all strangers walking by. That was a fun realization to make! I tried my darnedest to sign up as many folks as possible for the raffle basket and for a massage. I handed out lots of flyers and business cards, and let Melissa just stick to the massaging, which is hard enough without having to worry about everything else. I had a blast signing everyone up for stuff, even though I was slightly worried I might be stepping on Melissa's toes. All worries were banished, though, when Misti left to go get lunch, because Melissa said, "Are you leaving Meg here?"

"Do you want me to?" Misti asked.

"Yes, please!" Melissa said, putting her arm around me. "Don't take her away!"

So I stayed and continued helping and it was an all around fun time. In fact, at the end of it, Melissa said I was such a superstar (her words) that day, that she was going to give me a free massage just for helping out! AWESOME! Even better? Misti is a massage therapist, too, but currently only gives massages to family and friends out of her home. And the night before, she told me she'd give me a massage as a birthday present!! Hooray! Two free massages offered to me in the same weekend, and I've never even had a professional massage before! I'm incredibly excited, in case that wasn't already obvious!!

Another funny thing that happened that day was the appearance of Skipper the Rat. Apparently, he was some kind of mascot for, I'm not sure, the police? Or something. It was all very surreal. Skipper was all about the comedy, so when he realized we were running a massage booth, he laid down on the ground, and pointed to his back. Not willing to let a potential joke die, I ran over and rubbed Skipper's shoulders for a minute. Misti and another lady had me pose for a photo op, as everyone around us laughed. Crazy times, dude.

  

Also, since this is me we're talking about here, the day wouldn't have been complete without a bit of dog rescuing. I don't know how to explain it, but that always seems to be the way it goes with me. I am a magnet for dogs in need!

Anyway, there I was, chatting with a guy who had two English Bull Terriers (I prefer to call them Spuds Mackenzie dogs, but that's beside the point.), trying to repress my desire to kidnap them and keep them for my very own. So, so astonishingly cute. I was giving him tips on how not to create a monster ("I want her to guard my house, but not to be aggressive with people," he said. Sorry, dude, it doesn't go both ways, and by the way, PLEASE choose the "not aggressive" part over the "guarding the house" part! I think I made some progress with him), when this little Yorkie runs up from nowhere. I reached down to pet him and he seemed perfectly friendly, so I picked him up. I said good-bye to the Spuds owner, and looked around. No one was looking frantically for a dog. Hmm. Off I went to see what I could do. I asked a few people I passed if it was their dog, but no luck. Then I found the announcer woman with a microphone to see if she could announce this missing doggie for me. She said she would, but before she got a chance, the owner found me, so I told the announcer lady nevermind. The owner was quite happy to have her dog back (he'd broken one of those long-lead leashes), and thanked me many times.

I headed back to the massage booth where Misti said, "What happened? All of a sudden, I look back over, and you're carrying a dog! And I'm all, 'What is she doing with a DOG?'" I told her the whole story and she laughed and said I ought to have business cards, offering my dog training skillz, since I always seem to be running doggie errands wherever I go.

Well, it turns out that was not the end of it. See, Yorkie Owner Lady had another dog with her, a little fat rat terrier named Emma. She seemed to be trying to simultaneously walk the Yorkie on a leash and convince Emma to follow her. I decided to go over and see if she needed help. The woman seemed convinced that Emma would just follow us, but instead she ran up to a very large dog. An Irish Wolfhound, if I'm not mistaken. The wolfhound seemed taken aback, but HIS owner made the situation far scarier by then yanking the wolfhound's leash super-hard. Why do people do that? That makes dogs nervous, damn it! Not to mention me! Loose leashes, people. Loose leashes.

Anyway, I scooped up the very tense and very heavy Emma who then attempted a re-direct bite on me, but was unable to turn around because she was so very, very fat. I felt very thankful for that, and then much better once we were about ten feet away. Emma calmed down in my arms, and as it turned out, the woman only lived across the street. So off we went, all the way around the pond and across the street to her house, where we dropped off the dogs, and walked back to the fair together. It was really cool, and she thanked me many times. We wished each other a Happy Earth Day and then went our separate ways.

I was only back at the booth for a short while before seeing another family with two cute dogs. I went to say hello and surprise, surprise, ended up in a long conversation with this woman about dog training. They'd just gotten their eight month old puppy the day before, and the young girl had a lot of misconceptions about dog training ("When he jumps up, just knee him!" she told me. "Uh, why don't we try this instead?" I asked, as I showed her how to just turn away, then praise him for having all four paws on the ground). I gave them a bunch of tips and even gave them some alternatives to the evil prong collar they had strapped around the older dog's neck. The little girl was excited to talk to me and said, oh so discreetly, in a loud whisper, "Mom, let's have her come over to train the dogs!"

"Well," the mom laughed. Then she paused, turned to me and said, "Actually, would you do that?"

"Sure!" I said, then explained that I was not a certified trainer, but I'd be happy to show them what I know. I decided just to go for it, especially after Misti pointed out how much fun I have working with dogs. I mean, why not? I gave them my numbers and a few more tips, and said how great it was to meet them. They were really cool people!

Then it was time to tear everything down and head back to Melissa's place to drop all the stuff off. After that, the day wound down, and I eventually ended up back home, tired, exhilerated, and filled with complete adoration for not only the Earth Day Fair but my awesome friends, Misti and Melissa. We really had a fun day together, and it truly was a kickass weekend!!!