I'm currently sitting in Kirsten's den, with a teeny dog on my lap. Kirsten has gone to bed already, so I just thought I'd spin out a quick entry on here. I'm feeling like little cool details may slip away if I don't record them. Plus, I'm not super sleepy just yet, and a little writing is always the perfect thing to help me wind down.

Being at Kirsten's house is really cool. She is the bomb, her parents are super nice, and all her animals are so cute. Cuter than... pie! Which is not that cute. But you know what I mean, right? I mean that they're very, very cute (in case that wasn't clear)!!

Driving here was pretty nice, too. It was gorgeous. Grey clouds hovered over the lush green hills of the Angeles National Forest as I left town. It was so cool to see the clouds that low! Purple and yellow wildflowers spattered the hills in such an stunning way that I wished I could take a picture of it all. Alas, I was driving, which made things difficult, as it was too hard to hold the camera (oh yes, I did try!), and there was no good place to pull over. Oh, well. At least I got to see it!

The first picture of the day was at the gas station I stopped at off the 5 (I'll post it later). It was green, foggy, and drizzly. When I got out of the car, I realized only then how COLD it was outside and scrambled into my sweatshirt as fast as I could. It spattered rain off and on as I travelled north, entertaining myself all the way with the comedic stylings of Lewis Black. God, that man is funny!

I made great time, too. I left at 11am and got to Paso Robles exactly at 2. Of course, I'd given Kirsten an estimate of 3:30 or 4 (thinking I was leaving later than I ended up being able to). So when Kirsten didn't answer her phone, that was a little scary. Then she called and all was well! She and her puppy, Erik, met me at the park.

"Just meet me at the park," she'd said.

"Okay, how will I know where the park is?" I asked.

"It's big? With a green field," Kirsten said, not really sure of what I was asking.

When I saw it, I realized why -- it is the only giant green field with a big kiddie playground on it in town! Driving down that road, it was kind of hard to miss!!

Erik barked when he met me, then barked again once we arrived at Kirsten's house. He was like, "My god, she's following us!" Prissy the rat terrier seemed excited to see me, and we've only grown closer since that first meeting! (She is the one asleep in my lap right now.)

Later, Kirsten and I had a fun time sprinting across the street from a bank parking lot in order to visit a pet store. We're both goofy and like to visit pet stores for no good reason, really. So we checked out all the animals, pet a beautiful bull dog named Princess, as well as some poodles, ogled the rats and fish (baby green spotted puffers - squee!), and then saw a very interesting enclosure! Baby chicks along with 2 ducklings and one gosling. They all looked similar, but had very different bills. They were so cute! I got to pet one, I think it was the gosling. Adorable fuzzy fluffness right there. Hard to get much cuter than that. I hope whoever buys them gives them good homes, and doesn't get tired of them after Easter...

After the pet store, we had an amazing dinner at the Chinese buffet Kirsten took me to. And I'm not just saying it was amazing because it was the first real food (i.e., not applesauce, plain pasta, or yogurt) food I'd had all week after catching the flu last weekend (more about that another time perhaps). It was fantastic food! We talked about all kinds of stuff, including weird animal stuff that got us creepy looks from strangers. That's when we decided maybe it was time to head home?

We watched the results show of American Idol (I was quite pleased!), and watched part of the Spongebob Squarepants movie, too. Before we started the movie, I changed into my pajamas. I did not realize that this is FORBIDDEN; poor Erik freaked out, barking himself silly, and got so startled he peed on Kirsten's blanket! "OMG! Who is this person?! It can't be Meg, this person is wearing COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CLOTHES! What do I DO?!!?" Heh. Silly puppy.

I was ready to conk out, so we headed to bed and saved the rest of the movie for today. In the middle of the night, I had to use the restroom. I was so proud of myself for not waking the dogs when I went in there. But on the way back to my room (immediately across the hall from the bathroom, lucky me!), Erik saw me. In the wee hours of the night, there's just this silhouette of a big ol' dog and he growled! I was afraid he'd wake the house, so I darted fast as lightning into my room! He ran to catch up with me, but I was too fast, and he only barked twice at the closed door. What a nut!

Today was a fun day, too. Kirsten and I did the horsey chores together, feeding hay, raking, scooping poo. It was nice to be out and about and working, first part of the day. The view from her house is so scenic, too. I love that it feels so rural out here. It reminds me of Smallville (clearly, I've been watching that show too much - thanks, Netflix!). We also played with her miniature horse by chasing him around a bit. It was fun, and he seemed to want us to keep chasing him, even after we decided it was time to go in!

I also pet the week-old kittens and their "mom," Hobbes. Another cat actually gave birth to them, but Hobbes got a false pregnancy and began nursing them, so they're her kittens now. And boy are they precious!! So soft, too. They're awesome.

Kirsten and I watched the rest of the Spongebob movie (hysterical! I love it! highly recommended!!), then went on over to San Luis Obispo for a few hours. We walked around, browsed books at Barnes and Noble (the magic eye book, and a book called "Bad Cat" with tons of crazy cat pictures were the most fun finds of the day), and generally just had a very pleasant afternoon there. We searched for Bubble Gum Alley, but just like Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books, it is elusive and difficult to come across if you don't know where it is. Maybe next time. C'est la vie.

After we got back, we decided to ride Noki, Kirsten's giant horse. He's a Percheron, and is similar to a Clydesdale. His feet are huge, and he's the biggest horse I've ever pet... or ... (drumroll, please) ridden!!!! That's right - I got to ride him this evening. He was a little unsure if he wanted people riding him, but really, Noki was so good! I loved being able to ride such a gargantuan yet gentle creature. It was phenomenal! (I did get pictures, and will post them when I get back home.)

I tried taking a picture of the full moon tonight, but the picture doesn't do it justice. Huge, orange and bright, hanging just over the horizon. It was incredible, as were alllllll the stars in the clear sky tonight. It was so beautiful out there!

And now, I think it's time to call it a night and see if little Prissy wants to go to sleep with me. She's been napping on my lap during this entire entry. My back is aching a little from trying to hold my posture in such a way that she's not falling off of me. Also, she's been farting intermittently all night! Ew! But I couldn't bear to put her down on the floor -- that's how cute she is!! Dangerously cute, I tell you; she could take over the world with her charm!

Okay, that's it for now. I'm sure there'll be plenty more soon enough! Good-night!