Last night Karina the Russian and I decided to hit the town. We got all dolled up together and she offered to drive, which was perfect because my car is not registered due to my bad habit of buying clothes & groceries instead of a new windshield which it needs to pass inspection. So I decided I didn’t need to bring ALL of my keys, just my house key. Since I was wearing jeans I just stuck the lone key in my pocket and off we went.

As anyone who reads this blog is probably aware, good times always happen when the two of us are together. We get to the club, walk in front of the VIP line, don’t pay a cover, say “hi” to all the peps (it’s Salt Lake, you are bound to run into people you know wherever you go) and start having a good time.

Somehow, during the “have a good time” part of the night, my key managed to travel somewhere outside of my pocket (shocker!). I ended up spending the night at Karina’s and it wasn’t until we were sitting at breakfast that it dawned on me to check if I still had my key, which of course I didn’t. I called my sis to see if she still had my spare key, and she didn’t. I start freaking out until Karina asked if I left my porch door unlocked. I say “yes, but it is on the second story and there are bushes all around it.”

Did that stop my beautiful, resourceful, cat-like, Russian friend? Did it detour her from thinking she could do it, even for a minute?

Of course not.

Lessons learned today would include the following:
1. Make sure someone reliable always has a spare key to my place.
2. When going out find a more reliable place to put house key (like a purse perhaps?).
3. Lock balcony doors from here on out at all times.
4. I would be completely lost without Karina, never loose her as a best friend.

Blogfully yours,
Summer

K to the R stories, Out and About

I asked Karina the Russian what we will tell our new adopted son Bodie the cat when he grows older and asks where he came from. Her response was simple and too the point.

Karina: “He has two mothers and possibly one Dad! It’s like a typical Salt Lake City family! First mom and dad are a strong religious couple then they split up and mom becomes a non-lesbian.”

Logical enough. Just so long as he knows he is loved. That’s what’s really important.

Blogfully yours,
Summer

K to the R stories

A few weeks ago I went running for boobies with Karina the Russian. Saturday it was time for me to collect on going to her charity run by dragging her to my charity run…at 7:30am. The Squatters Chasing Tail 5K Fun Run for the benefit of UAATA (Utah Animal Assisted Therapy Association). I have helped with the marketing and PR (pro-bono) for the run for the past 4 years.
The turnout was amazing, their best numbers to date! Which is awesome because this is the one event that keeps them funded for the year. All participants in the “fun run” were welcome to bring their dog(s) with them. This was a little hard for me this year because I no longer have a dog. I also ran into my ex-sister-in-law, which was a little awkward, but it was nice to see her.
Karina and I chose to take advantage of the “fun” in “fun run” and walked the course. After the run they give out awards and have a raffle. There was a gentleman trying to find homes for some kittens he had found. Karina took one look at a beautiful white kitten, named him Bodie and we took him home.


Karina, Bodie and I went to the pet store and bought all of the essentials. We joked about him being our first kid together. We took him home, gave him a bath (he stunk! It was a necessity) and showed him the lay of the land. I’m a little nervous about his health, we won’t know how healthy he is until later this week when Karina takes him to the vet for his first time. I hope he is healthy…I think it would seal the deal of me never having a human child of my own if my new feline child doesn’t make it!

Blogfully yours,
Summer

K to the R stories, Out and About

The time of year that all single women dread is coming up; “The Holidays.”

I dwelled on this thought a little too long this weekend. I let my mind wander to the huge family Thanksgiving dinner as well as the Christmas celebrations with all of my relatives. The thought of being the only single one there, while my sisters and cousins all chase around their kids, makes me want to stay home and pull my fingernails out instead. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my family. I just don’t know if I have the energy to fake a smile and say the obligatory lines of “yep, still single. No, not really seeing anyone either. Yes, one day I’m sure I will find him. Yes, I realize I’m not getting any younger. Here is some salt, can you please rub it in this open sore?” Smile and repeat with the next well intentioned relative who is just trying to be nice.

Then there are all of the work related parties and New Years. New Years! I haven’t been single on New Years in over 10 years! Somebody shoot me now!

Of course I called up Karina The Russian to listen to me bitch.

Karina: “Summer, Christmas is not about being with someone with a cock and balls! It’s about being with someone you love. I will be your date! You don’t need a stupid man!”

Me: “Yeah but you are dating someone now so you are going to want to spend the holidays with him. Which I totally understand.”

Karina: “No, he is not my family. YOU are my family. We will make cookies and drink wine and sit by the Christmas tree and stare at the beautiful lights!”

While I was fishing for sympathy, I also told Sarah how I woke up feeling really low. She told me next time I felt that way to drive over, climb in bed with her and we would watch movies and drink wine in bed.

Basically I’ve decided to quit bitching for the time being because really I’m incredibly blessed to have such amazing, beautiful, understanding, supportive friends who are always there. They get me. They understand that wine and friendship can get you through anything, including the holidays.

Blogfully yours,
Summer

Emotions get the best of me, K to the R stories, Loved One(s)

My darling BFF, Karina the Russian, has met someone and has fallen, once again, in love. Truth of the matter is, he is actually a really decent guy and as of today, I approve of him. She has told him however that entering into a relationship with her is also entering into a relationship with me. She and I have learned from several past relationships that full disclosure is the best way to go. So she explained to him that boyfriends have accused us of being lesbians when in fact we are the ultimate non-lesbian couple. Putting it into a Russian analogy, which always has to do with food, she explained to him that she is the wine, I am the cheese and he can be the grapes.

I asked her via text message if she would mind if I told the internet about our new relationship and she said “Hell yeah!” I told her I would be putting her wine analogy in, to which she responded, “Yes, but its got to be that French wine, with that French Cheese and the big grapes!”

Apparently, without my knowing it, I have graduated from a non-lesbian couple to a very high class non-swinger relationship. The relationship may be sex-free, but at least I’ll be well fed.

Blogfully yours,
Summer

K to the R stories

The other day I was discussing with my BFF Karina the Russian how certain smells can evoke memories, some painful, some pleasant. The specific one I was referring to was of course a painful memory. An old boyfriend of mine, who turned out to be a royal scumbag but started out as a prince (as they always do), used to make me coffee every morning while I was in the shower. He would bring me a mug, along with a small plate of my favorite cookies, Pecan Sandies. I bought a brand of coffee that must have been similar to what I was buying back then because when I brewed a pot last week it took me back.

Karina: What type of cookies? Sandy…Mandy…pecan-y cookies?

Me (laughing): Close enough.

Tuesday Karina called me up incredibly excited and told me I HAD to come over for breakfast because she had a surprise for me. Of course I would never say no to free food so I said I would be there but I would probably have to finish getting ready at her house. When I got there she told me to go finish putting my makeup on in her bathroom and she would bring it to me. You should have seen the huge smile on her face as she brought this in to me!
Of course I started to cry (I am seriously such a sap!). She told me not to cry cause she had more and bustled off to bring me this:
Then she squealed and said she forgot one more thing and ran off to the kitchen. She came back with this…to help keep me healthy.
When I got to work I discovered that she had also put 2 granola bars in my purse. Now if I learned anything from my PB&J experience, it’s that the way to show a Russian how much you care, is with food. Today I learned that if you do, they will never stop showing their gratitude back.

Blogfully yours,
Summer

K to the R stories, Loved One(s)

On Thursday Karina the Russian sent me the following text message:

“I am walking this sat 4 breast cancer at liberty park at 8! Come with me to SAVE THE BOOBIES”

I think I should recruit Karina to work in advertising, I mean how can anyone say no to that? I knew I certainly could not. So I woke up early, helped Karina get her two kids ready, layering them in more clothes than was probably necessary, and we took off. Here is Pasha, half awake but looking stylish AND warm.

We met up with the rest of the employees of Karina’s salon including Kate, who I found out we were walking for, an amazing survivor of breast cancer.

Before the walk there was some announcements, thanking sponsors, and a group stretching session. I felt a little silly reaching for the sky and bending to touch my toes but man it felt good! There was pink everywhere! Pink balloons, dogs wearing pink shirts or ribbons, pink banners and they even gave out pink Vitamin Water to participants. It made me super relieved that I had thought to wear my pink hat that has been collecting dust in the closet.
It was freezing outside but it felt good to know that I was participating in a very worthy cause. The Russian kids were not sharing the same enthusiasm for being up so early and walking around the park instead of playing in it. I guess telling them we were walking to Save the Boobies just didn’t have the same impact on them so shortly after we finished our second loop we decided to excuse ourselves to take the children home. This was actually kind of convenient cause we didn’t have to deal with traffic. I decided that kids are an excellent thing to have around at times, although, yes…I do feel slightly bad for not finishing the walk…slightly.

*Some of you may have noticed that my Blog title has changed. Those of you who link to me from your blogs (thank you and I love you!) will need to update the title and url to blogfullyyours.com. I will have a new lovely designed mast head in the upcoming days that I am also very excited about. Yay! I have my own blogging identity! Let me know what you think.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

K to the R stories, Out and About

Gather around children, its story time. Today we will be hearing Karina the Russian Finds Her Soul Mate

On my lunch break last week, I got a call from a bedazzled Russian, my BFF Karina. She proceeds to tell me this long drawn out story about a man who came into the hair salon where she works to buy some hair care products. She tells me that she doesn’t know how to explain it, but they just connected and she is certain that this God of a man is her soul mate and immediately starts telling me her schemes to find out who this man is because they are destined to be together and get married and live in big beautiful houses and travel the world and and and. I just laugh and go along with her story and tell her, yes I am sure he is everything you imagine him to be and more. No sense in stomping on the girls dream, I mean she is 100% convinced at this point that she has just met her soul mate and who am I to be the one to tell her that in my jaded experience, they just don’t exist. In all actuality, I envy her passion for love. The girl falls in love every other week and somehow manages to be excited each time. She loves the butterflies so much that she creates them out of thin air. I on the other hand am so afraid of being hurt that I can barely manage to admit to liking a boy , yet alone liking a guy enough to let the butterflies in. Anyway…I digress….

About 10 minutes after I get off the phone with the head in the clouds Russian, I get another call and I know what I am going to hear before the words even come out of her mouth.

Karina: He called me! He called the store and said that he felt like we just had this amazing connection and he has never met someone so beautiful.

Me: Of course he did! He IS your soul mate after all!

Karina: Then he told me that he doesn’t know what to do because he has a girlfriend and she is great and pretty and they have been together for like 6 months but he just was blown away with me and our connection you know?

Me: Uh huh….

Karina: Then he says ‘don’t hang up on me or anything, but I think my girlfriend would think you are beautiful too and we have never done anything like this, but do you think you would like to hang out with us together some time?’

Me: Are you freaking kidding me? He did NOT say that!

Karina: Can you believe it?

Me: Just so I am clear, basically what you are telling me is that your soul mate is a swinger?

Karina: That would be correct.

Me: So what did we learn today?

Karina: That all men are dogs and dogs DO NOT go to heaven.

True story. I couldn’t make something like this up.

K to the R stories, Lessons Learned, Loved One(s), Random

I ran out of coffee about a week ago. My best friend Karina the Russian instantly recognized that this was going to take it’s toll on me and insisted that I wake up 10 minutes earlier so that I could come over to her place, which is only 5 minutes from my apartment, for coffee. Last week I came over twice. She made me eggs with sausage and toast made of hotdog buns one of the mornings.
On Friday we had a movie night and sleepover complete with pajamas and facials. After our second glass of wine she confessed that she had sent her 2 kids to stay with her mom for the weekend not because she needed a break, but because she had no food left in her house. That is a truly sad thing to say, but we find it better to laugh about being broke, you never cry about it. So we raided her kitchen and found some Russian cookies that tasted like Animal Crackers and dipped them in some sort of Russian chocolate hazelnut spread. The very last of her food.
On Sunday I needed to go to the store to pick up a few items and decided that Karina and her kids (which she calls “our kids” as in “Summer, your daughter is out of control can you do something about that” or “Honey your children miss you! Where have you been?”) needed food more than I did. I bought them some essentials like bread, peanut butter, milk, corn dogs, juice boxes and some Mickey Mouse shaped cheese (yes I do consider fun shaped food an essential). She was completely floored when I showed up with the food. I told her that I just did it so that when I came over there I would have something to eat. We celebrated the new food by sitting on her porch and having a juice box and fresh peaches. With Karina you celebrate everything. It’s part of the reason I love her.
This morning I went over for coffee and my amazing Russian friend had gotten up early enough to get herself and the kids ready then made coffee and a peanut butter and home made jelly sandwich for me to take for lunch and one for breakfast as well. I almost cried right then and there.
In this world there are few things more important than friendship. Although Karina and I have only known each other for a year and a half it feels as if we have known each other forever. It’s funny though, so many people do not understand friendship. Both Karina and I have dated men who have accused us of being more than friends. Like the only reason to do something nice for someone else is because you have hidden motives of lust. Idiots. They must not have ever had a best friend. Because if they had, they would know that it’s just what friends do. Best friends look out for each other, they tell each other that they love them, they lift each other up when they are down and they make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just to show how much they care.

Emotions get the best of me, K to the R stories, Lessons Learned, Loved One(s)

Urgh! I have a sickening confession to make. It’s horrible and some of you might think differently about me after I tell you. I don’t know if I should even confess it. In fact it should probably remain my deep dark secret. But then where is the fun in that? Besides we’re all friends here right? Me and my good ‘ol friend the world wide web. You’ll keep my secret right? Right. OK so here it is. I missed a boy. I know! I’m such a sap! Totally disgusted with myself. I have been so good at keeping emotions out of relationships but the tricky little bastards crept in uninvited! Yuck! Don’t tell me this is the start of more…feelings! Gross! Who needs those? They only complicate things and make you…well…feel! I can’t go around with all these feelings. I mean it will really put a kink in my tough girl man eater image that I have worked so hard to create. Plus confessing that you have feelings or miss someone is also confessing that you like someone and that is like the kiss of death for me because in 2 weeks from now you’ll ask how things are going with the guy I was missing and by that point either he or I will have moved on and I’ll be all “wait, who are we talking about again?” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want that to be that case but if my track record is any indication then well, you know. But the worst part of these icky missing him feelings is that they just kind of hit me. He went out of town and then I’m riding on tracks with Karina the Russian and I turn to her and say “I know this is going to sound strange, but I miss him.” and then she starts taunting me singing “you miss a boooy! You miss a boooy! Summer likes a booooooy!”
Stupid feelings. Stupid yucky gross feelings.

Emotions get the best of me, Just me, K to the R stories