BRIT, bulldogs, and all the margaritas

This was a busy week. I had testimony Wednesday and received 330,000 new pages of documents in the case on Tuesday 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave for lunchtime yoga.

Needless to say, I have still not gone to yoga this week.

I worked pretty much every minute of Tuesday, putting Cora in front of the TV to watch Moana while the big kids were still at swimming so I could keep reviewing. Moana went in to watch with her and I heard her explain from the other room, "See Winston! That's the ocean!! And that's Pua! He gets lost but Moana goes to find him." I will prefer Cora's version of Moana forever.

Winston would also prefer #MorePua.

I worked until nearly 1 a.m. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and was back at my desk by 7 a.m. to finalize my thoughts and exhibits before going on the record at 9. Tara has another job she had to be at by 6, so I needed to be home by 5:30. When it became apparent that would not be happening (which is as rare in this job as my working till 1 a.m.) I texted nearby friends to see if they wanted to bring their kids to our pool to swim while watching my children do the same. My beer fridge is your fridge, just please, come over!

[Unrelated, but I love putting $2.99 TJ blooms into cheap glass bottles scattered around the house; they make me happy, even at 1 a.m.]

I pulled up at 6:30 p.m., still on the phone with a colleague, going on 12 hours in my 3" heels and favorite fancy work dress, to find a party happening at my house with my 3 supervised children. All was well in my corner of the world. Or at least it was as soon as I made a pitcher of margaritas and poured a BIG ONE into my new giant yeti cup. We ended up eating dinner at one of the friend's houses- after a quick scan of my pantry I contributed canned black refried beans, chips, and more margarita.

It was lovely and then I came home and took a bunch of selfies with Winston and made James wonder when I might start paying him half the attention that I pay our new dog. #ThisIsMyFourthBaby

Thursday was a much more relaxed day. I actually managed to exercise for the first time since Sunday, but after I went to pick up the kids from James's pool- still in my super sweaty Orangetheory clothes, Landon suggested that maybe we needed tacos at our favorite happy hour taco place. I'd already had my official post-testimony margarita the day before, but did it count if it wasn't frozen and from a restaurant? Suddenly unsure and NEVER one to go back on tradition, I pulled into the R Taco parking lot. I paused for a moment to look in dismay at my sweaty (and possibly inappropriately tiny) Lulu running shorts and tank, grabbed a semi-sheer tshirt I'd originally worn to yoga two weeks ago and threw it over the top and we headed in.

I texted a picture of my beverage to my friend who put margaritas in my head at 2:45 that afternoon and then 10 seconds later, she walked into the restaurant with her family! Meant to be. James called at 7:30 to say he was on his way home and excited about the balsamic vegetable pasta I told him I was making. Oops? (Except not. Though we made the pasta after the kids went to bed and it was super good, esp. with shredded carrots, mini balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced cherry tomatoes, and kalamata olives added to the mix.)

And the reason I was talking with my friend about margaritas at 2:45 Thursday afternoon is because she and I were at our kids' Camp BRIT presentation!

Landon and Claire both LOVED BRIT camp last summer and even though we're only doing 3 camps this year, they both requested this one be included, even over zoo camp! (And they love zoo camp.)

It's such a great camp and the kids learn SO much, I'm not even mad that it's an impossible Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., kind of faux childcare.

They pressed and identified plants and flowers, made field notebooks, sewed botany bags, met with experts in the field and learned that plants are an exciting part of science and research too. It's really great.

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Claire's group sang a song about plants growing towards the sun for energy, which was wonderful, and then we got to see all their work. I had to head back to work, so Tara met us there to take the kids home afterward (and then on to swimming, before I grabbed them and we accidentally ate margaritas and queso for dinner - it takes a village!).

This morning we all took Winston to the vet for his first appointment! We have his vet records from his foster mom and he's up to date on all his shots, etc., but we wanted to start a relationship with a local vet before any problems arise down the line. We also wanted to check-in and make sure we were doing our skin fold cleaning, allergy managing, and general bulldog loving okay.

I'd asked our neighborhood facebook page for recommendations for a vet with a lot of bulldog experience. Not 10 minutes into our visit our new dog doctor mentioned that he does the check-ups for Lonestar Bulldog Club Rescue fosters in the area -- "that's where we adopted Winston!!" I yelled out, like this was the single greatest coincidence in the history of the world. "Great!" he said, wit a normal level of enthusiasm several rungs lower than mine.

Winston did great, probably reassured by the fact I had CLEARLY found him a really spectacular bulldog vet. He's lost 5 lbs, bringing him down to 60, only 2 lbs. off his 58 lb. goal weight. The vet thought he looked very healthy and happy, was impressed with his calm demeanor, and said his skin folds looked beautifully clean! We walked out with a self-satisfied bulldog and a bottle of ear solution so we can add an ear cleaning regime to Winston's weekly toilette.

Now James and the kids are at his pool. Cora is at her school. I'm working from home and Winston is snoring SO LOUDLY on the floor next to me. It's a testament to how much I adore this dog because I find his snoring endearing, whereas when James does it I punch or kick him immediately.