Meat-free Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

My Memorial Day has been relatively unmemorable. Our first night with Haruki went really well, but I still woke up feeling sleepy. And I neglected to mention yesterday that my neck is doing some weird spasm thing, so lifting my head to check on Haruki during the night was painful. Pain in the neck+sleepy means Nikki naps. And that's exactly what I did--with Haruki by my side, of course!

She seems to have really bonded with me, and I have to say that it makes me feel really, really good. When I was younger I never wanted the responsibilities of taking care of our family dog, but I was still sad that our dog (Annie) seemed to like my Mom more. Maybe Annie could sense that I was only greedy for love and attention rather than a top-notch caretaker.

So, I promised an explanation about Haruki's new name. At the shelter she didn't answer to her original name, which was "Tula." I also didn't love the name, so when we decided to foster/adopt her we thought about changing her name to Lula--similar enough to make the change easier for her but still more pleasant to my ears that "Tula." But, the bf--perhaps subconsciously remembering that I recently read Haruki Murakami's 1Q84--liked Haruki better. "Ruki" for short. And I agree. It's pretty freaking cute and really seems to suit her.

And yes, I know that Haruki is a masculine name, but she's a strong, hard-core dog that doesn't need some girly name. (Besides, she has a hot pink leash, and that's plenty.)

Right now Haruki is resting on her bed while I blog and the bf tends to some of the new trees we planted in our yard. After he's done with that we are going down to town to have dinner outside at Whole Foods with our friend Adam. He's leaving for the UK tomorrow and won't be back for several months:-( That's sad. But the excuse to eat dinner at Whole Foods is always appreciated:-)

*What are you doing for the holiday? Is it totally shameful that I'll be eating tofu and kale from Whole Foods instead of having a rib fest bbq today? Do you think our servicemen and women fought for vegetarians' freedom as well as those who eat like real Americans?