Today proved that no matter how crappy things are going, surround yourself with good friends, delicious food and wine and it will improve substantially.We started with a visit to the dental office (oy) followed by some contractors at the house (ugh) and then too much work to possibly finish in one afternoon (seriously?).But tonight I headed over to Mere's for dinner with some people I knew and some people that I didn't and laughed to the point of loss of breath several times. In this photo is some guy named McHale (ok, ok, it's really Michale -- you know, Michael, but Russian) who apparently Mere invited, although she only knew him through Twitter. Don't judge. At one point she only knew me through twitter, so this is perfectly acceptable among our set. But this guy? Let's just say he's way more entertaining than I am at dinner parties.This is a photo of him showing us that he has the ability to lick his elbow and how much that impresses the ladies. I'm just gonna leave you with that. And I'm gonna say that the look our resident lesbian gave him when he said this almost sent red wine out of my nose.Oh. And the part of the evening when Nicky said: "Isn't dinner good? Meredith really knows how to beat the meat." That was good, too.*Insert Beavis and Butthead laughter here.

Busy, busy Sunday. This is Beret. He is the exact same age as Memphis and Merlin, and he was the only other collie puppy in Merlin's obedience classes eight years ago. He's a "smooth coat" collie, which explains his short hair.We were going to take the boys on a hike this morning for some photos, but Merlin hurt his foot/leg/shoulder yesterday at the dog park, so he had to stay home and rest. But man, Beret still had an amazing time. Lots of sniffing and running and even getting his feet wet in the river. He's so well behaved, and his moms are amazing with the training. My favorite bit today was learning that while "down" means lay down for our dogs, they use the word "crash." I like that a lot.After the hike, Beret did come over for a few studio shots, and Merlin joined him to say hello in a couple. Man, you would not believe how fluffy he looks next to this guy. He should be the Dyson spokesman.

Look at this kid. Sooo happy it's fall and cool and cloudy and there are piles of leaves everywhere to play in. I totally get that. This is my favorite time of year, by far. The first few fires in the fireplace, glasses of red wine, jackets and scarves and BOOTS... seriously, this is the best.During this shoot, I wanted some photos of Colin here throwing leaves, so I asked him to throw them at me (which apparently is Game of the Year among the 3-year-old boy set). At the time this seemed like a splendid idea. However, now that Jamie has been pulling dirt and leaves from my hair, jacket, scarf etc. all evening, I'm thinking that game works better when you get a shower before your night out on the town. Nothin' but romance around this joint, I tell ya.

Seriously good day over here. It started with a productive day at work, some new music, picking up some concert tickets, got my hair done, met up with some girlfriends for a glass of wine and then met up with some more friends over at Republic for some BBQ ribs and catching up. In between all of this, I stopped home to feed the dogs and found a few packages in the mail -- one of them being this book!I have found this new vendor that I wanted to test out for my clients, and so I made myself a book of the photos from the Middle Brother tour last spring. It is SO PRETTY. I love buying myself presents.

Oh hey, look! It's Trouble.We are getting a new fence in the backyard, and while the posts settle in and dry in the concrete we have this temporary fence up to, um, "keep the dogs in." But as you can see, they are already "researching" the perimeter. Wish us luck, people.Also, randomly, did you notice I said "concrete" up there and not "cement?" One of the few tidbits I retained from my long and horrid days working as a copy editor is that "cement" is the powder that you mix with water. Once the solid mass has formed, it becomes "concrete." So there ya go. A little lesson from me to you.

Today was INSANELY busy. I worked over at vita.mn for just under 10 hours before heading out to meet some clients and then to meet a super old friend down at First Ave. Wait. Super-old as in, I've known her since I was 4. Not like she's 96 years old or something.She was in town from Chicago, and I took her down to The Depot for drinks. I always have a blast seeing her.But. I forgot to take photos today! So I got home (late) and made Jamie's mother's dog, Rafie here, pose for me. He is an amazing model and I love his expressive eyes. And you should have seen Memphis glaring at me while I used him as a model. She's a jealous girl, that one.

Today Jamie turned 26. Or something like that.We had cupcakes (lots and lots of cupcakes) and there were presents (check out that new watch on his wrist... so awesome that I am coveting it) and a wonderful dinner at Tilia. There were also brand new Puma's and a Ben Sherman tie. Uh huh, a hipster birthday bonanza! Lucky guy.I've had the last five glorious days off, and I gotta head back into the office bright and early tomorrow morning. Man. Wish me luck.

Tonight we caught Explosions in the Sky over at First Ave. They are the masterminds behind the music to the greatest television show ever made. See what I did there? I didn't just link to the show, I linked to where you can buy the first season of it, so that if you have made the horrible life mistake of not watching this program, you can correct that right now.Sadly, the concert was not as good as the television program. Now, that's not to say it was bad. It sounded great and pulling off live music with no vocals for more than an hour is tough. They did a fine job. But I was glad it ended when it did (never a good sign if you don't want more). Part of the problem might have also been that I was female -- one of maybe five ladies at the sold out show. Also? I was sober. That, too, might have been a contributing factor for thinking the show was "fine" and not "amazing, dude."I would link to more photos (I did edit a full take), but I didn't like them very much. So this is what you get.