One of my friends tells me she loves that my nickname is Bacon, because she knows a guy with a weird obsession with bacon. His dog is named Bacon, his email address is baconbacon@somethingsomething.com...The funny thing to me is the nickname is sticking even though I *don't* even eat bacon, let alone talk about it very much. Although, the day after Mols and Trav left, I decided to have a veggie BLTA for dinner in honor of my nickname. It just seemed fitting, since I'm always so sad when they go. And, yesterday Travis left me the cutest voice mail saying "Hi Bacon! Love youuuuuuuuu," among other chatter. It made my day and makes the questionable pronunciation of my name worth it in every possible way.

Molly and Trav's visit was so much fun. When they arrived on Wednesday, we went to the mall for lunch and to buy a replacement Sniffy (his favorite blanket which was forgotten at home). He enthusiastically chose one that is a light tan/brown color, much like his dingy, once white version at home. Then, Auntie Bacon took him on a little shopping spree at Toys R Us to buy fun things to play with during the week and to take home. We purchased a beach toy set, among other things, and hightailed it over to Golden Gardens to spend the rest of the afternoon happily playing in the sand and water. It was wonderful.

We spent the rest of our time on activities like going to the zoo, where we got to watch the giraffes up close as they crossed from their feeding area back to their houses. We shuffled our way through the huge crowds at Pike Place, admiring the street performers and hitting people in the heels with the stroller. We went for walks in the neighborhood, out for coffee, and took shopping trips to places like Trader Joes. Trav and I practiced lots of animal sounds and invented something called the Monkey Run. We blew bubbles and kicked a ball around the backyard and played in the rain, splashing in puddles and shaking trees so more water fell on us. He liked taking out the recycling, helping me put laundry in the dryer, and dancing on top of the dryer once he hit the button to turn it on. We had dance parties to the move it! move it! song at the end of Madagascar, and Trav perfected a seamless transition from the stall into the snake. Molly and I watched the second season of Weeds and giggled our way through the cheesiness of Dirty Dancing. Molly's friend, Meghann, very graciously offered to babysit one night, so Mols and I went to a cute little bar in Wallingford for cocktails before going to see Becoming Jane.

Last Saturday afternoon we had a bowling party at Sunset and invited everyone over for drinks and appetizers at my place after. The bowling was lots of fun, and, yes, I scored higher than a 52 this time (after a couple of cosmos even!), although, sadly, I did not beat my new bowling nemesis this time either. But, one day soon I will. Oh, yes, I will. Em and I practiced some of our interesting rapper dance moves in between turns, a la Flight of the Conchords. Trav helped me bowl a couple of times, crouching down to watch the ball as it made its slow roll down the alley to hit a couple of pins. He was thrilled. At my house, I made the tasty watermelon punch, and we had a fabulous time hanging out on the back patio, talking and laughing into the night. There were some funny moments that I truly wish I could explain here, but, really, you just had to be there. Maybe I need to start video taping my life for blog purposes.

The whole evening was a great combination of old and new friends, and I loved getting to spend time with so many of my favorite people all at once. A few peeps stuck around late into the night, so friend Marcel went out and purchased fancy bottles of champagne and delicious brownie bites for us to enjoy while talking, getting slightly drunk off said champagne, and watching episodes of Flight of the Conchords. I had the best time, and we all know that everything is and should be all about me, Me, ME!

Life has lost some of its color and seems a bit dim since Molly and Trav left. Of course, I've also got caught up on much needed sleep and have returned my apartment to some sort of order, but, man, how I wish they lived here. That would make me happier than I could even imagine.

For all you Trav fans out there, here is a link to a picture slide show titled Zozo: A Nephew in Progress.

Em and I are still obsessed with Candy Mountain and are now thinking we need to buy one of these t-shirts, probably this one. Of course, one of us will get pink and the other blue so we're not totally matching.

Today is Keith's Liberation From the Cell Phone Party. He accepted a position at his super company that no longer requires him to be on call all the time, i.e. constantly attached to his celly, so we're going to smash a cell phone pinata to celebrate. Congratulations, KeiNote!