Btw, thank you for waiting until Tuesday for my Epic Weekend In Pictures! Monday 29th will probably be my last vacation burning day for a little while. This weekend was definitely interesting and amusing. I'm happy that as things continue to reopen and more are getting back to work, it's certainly going to start making my Weekend In Picture editions more Epic - and easier, lol. This past Father's Day Weekend I was able to get Awesome Girlfriend Megan on Campus in Vernon, and we laughed a ton. We laughed a ton because of our new niece named Ally.
A couple weeks ago, our besties Jasen and Brendan adopted an adorable kitten from my friends at Father John's Animal House. Adorable gray and white kitten who they named Ally. After adopting her, the boys realized they had to help Jasen's Dad with a project in Connecticut on Father's Day Weekend. I'm sure even more pressure to not blow off a Dad helping project when it's Father's Day Weekend, right? They asked if Meg and I would mind kittensitting. We were psyched! Awesome Girlfriend Megan is a diehard cat lover, and has fostered I'm betting over hundred kittens over the years. This is definitely her wheel house. It was interesting. Even though during normal times I'm the Pet Of The Week guy, we typically only have my Pets at our radio station for 45-60 minutes. During that time we get some playing done, then it's mainly working hard and fast to get pictures and videos with them, then record and edit them in time for our 3:45 Thursday Adopt A Pet Of The Week feature. I had my dog Lindsay from age 5-16, and had my cat Pepper from age 9 until I was 26. I've been taking care of dogs and cats before, but it's been awhile for me. Plus having a kitten in my care for a whole weekend, I was slightly nervous going into the weekend, believe it or not. Fortunately I kept saying all weekend to our besties "Don't worry bros, we got this, as long as I have Awesome Girlfriend Megan by my side!"
Friday afternoon, I came home from work and let Ally out of her crate and started her off in my bedroom. My place is only a one level, one bedroom condo on Campus, basically like a studio with a bedroom. Just bedroom, then kitchen, then living room. Pretty basic and a little small, but perfect size for me living alone. I had the door to my bedroom shut so she could just start exploring around there. She was of course very timid and skittish at first. Ally had met me the previous night, and I think she remembered meeting her Uncle Steve. She started to occasionally kiss me, while walking laps around my bedroom exploring and getting situated, seeing what kind of mischief she could get herself into. It was great for me to be able to watch her in action and see anything else I might need to try to kitten proof. I didn't worry about it ahead of time, because in my experience I think there's always at least one thing you're going to miss anyway whether it's kitten or kid proofing your place.
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Before Meg arrived, I got braver and opened my bedroom door. At first Ally was too nervous to even leave my bedroom. It was so adorable. I then would crawl on my hands and knees to try to lead her out of my bedroom all the way to my kitchen (what all 7 feet probably?) Little by little, each hour she would make a few more steps of progress. It was so fun to watch her growth in such a short time. I was on my deck for an hour on the phone with one of my radio besties, and Meg was home by then able to play with Ally during that time. My friend J said "Stevie, have fun with the kitten, hopefully she keeps getting more comfy there at your place." I looked inside and said "well, she's now perched on top of my couch - I think she's starting to take over." We let her play all over my place running wind sprints while she was exploring. Then it was time for me and Meg to relax and unwind watching television on my couch. Ally then would experiment jumping on the couch and letting us pet her. She was liking that. We knew Ally was social, but didn't want to be a lapcat or on top of anyone. She then after awhile, fell asleep on the arm of my couch while leaning into me. Totally amazing and adorable. Meg and I went to bed shortly thereafter and decided, look, wherever she wants to sleep and is comfortable, we'll let her. Maybe our bed, maybe our couch, maybe under our bed, anywhere is fine with us.
Within 30 seconds of us getting into bed, we heard the bell on her collar and she jumped up into bed with us. Just 3 hours earlier she was too scared to jump all the way up. Then, within 5 minutes, she kept jumping up into bed, and then went to each side to test out each angle of how she could jump her way up into bed with us. By night time, there she was, parking herself on my arm and starting to sleep. It was awesome. I had Meg on one side, and our cute little kitten niece on the other side of me.
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The next morning, around 6am Meg got up to feed Ally. She loved that. Then as if flipping a switch, she turned into play / attack / hunt mode. Biting our hands and feet nonstop. Tickling and hilarious. I swear Meg and I just spent hours in bed laughing with her. Talk about chicken soup for the soul. Saturday I ran into my stylist Jen who can typically be found at Pro Cutters in Franklin. She's been my stylist of choice for over 6 years! I'm so happy salons and barber shops can now open up again in Jersey! Saturday afternoon Meg and I swung by to Father John's Animal House. Garret asked if I could announce their raffle winner live on Facebook, and I said absolutely we want to help. It was so amazing to see my Father John friends in person for the first time in over 3 months. Then Meg and I went to the Cottage. We were able to see our friends in person for the first time in 3 months, after 3 months of our Virtual Happy Hours. We wanted to thank our dear friend Vince who worked so hard (thanks to his wife Penny, his IT,) on helping us all stay connected. Our friend Teresa was ready to jump in, but then once we had the option of seeing people in person, we jumped on it. When you're out in person, you can have conversations without microphones getting muted from feedback on Zooms calls etc.
So much easier! Then Saturday night Meg and I grilled a couple of our world famous burgers for a couple of our besties, Brad, Steve, and Sonnie and Kelsey. We had a great time with many laughs.
Sunday was Father's Day. Typically a rather low key day for me with my Dad being in Boston and me being here. I was able to give my Dad and godfather JDawg awesome Whiskey from Orange County Distillery when I saw them last weekend for Father's Day, so that was a plus. Meg and I had our first farewell Sunday beer out somewhere for the first time in 3 months and it felt great. Then of course the magic of running into your friends spontaneously can't be beat.
Monday was a vacation day to burn. My run at Trinity Rehab in Sparta was a major success. I'm now running at 90% of my body weight on the Alter G Treadmill. LOVE it. These past few months marked my return to the treadmill after not being able to do it for the past 3-4 YEARS. It feels great to slowly but surely get back into running again. I ran a 5K in 26:05, which is where I was years ago when I did that one 5K granted on 100% of my body weight, on the road, at 26:12. We'll take progress!
Overall we had a fantastic weekend. I hope you had a great weekend too. Thank you for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures.
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