Had a really awesome weekend. Friday night got together with Stu and Tiff and all of us went shopping at Washington Square. Stu and I set a new record for shoe buying - 10 minutes from store entry to store exit. Came out with some pretty nice dress shoes, too. Dinner at Newport Bay and some games back at our place and the night was a success.

Saturday we woke up to the neighbor’s dog barking. Again. Still. I’ve talked to the guy about it before (it’s a reasonably new dog, just been here a few weeks) and he said he’d take care of it, but it seems that any time they leave their house and the dog gets put outside, it barks… and barks… and barks… for hours at a time, no end in sight. I left the guy another note; hopefully he’ll get this together. I’m going to play a “three strikes, you’re out” sort of thing on this - one more time and I’m calling the cops. That dog barked from 8:00a until at least 10:00a.

At 2:00p, though, Stu and Tiff came over again and we went to a catering tasting at Premiere Catering. Tasty, tasty, tasty. We’ll definitely be going with them for the wedding food. The preliminary menu is looking like:

• Bruschetta with spinach and artichoke dip for hors d’oeuveres
• Fresh green salad with assorted dressings
• Fruit kabobs
• Assorted breads
• Chicken piccatta with raspberry sauce on the side
• Top sirloin with a brandy/vermouth reduction sauce
• Pesto ravioli
• Ginger/plum ravioli

It’s going to be the first wedding I’ve been to where I’m actually stoked about the food.

We went home after that and we all got dressed up because that night we had tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show, Varekai. Amazing. Astounding. Beautiful. As usual, Cirque put on a fantastic show and we all loved it. It was Jenn’s third Cirque show and she liked it better than the last ones; it was Stu and Tiff’s first, so it was a fantastic introduction for them to the world of Cirque. I can’t wait until they come back.

Sunday morning I woke up with another of my recent headaches. I think this one was more sinus-related, and with Spring here I don’t doubt it. I’ve started back on the Allegra so maybe I can pass on some of the symptoms. (I’m sure this would have been much worse already had I not taken allergy shots, but the shots didn’t 100% cure me, so I’ve got to supplement.)

Anyway, Sunday was spent lounging about nursing the headache - napping, watching some TV, and playing Playstation 2. I’ve been having a fabulous time with the 24 game - they really got that one right. It’s a total blast and it’s all I could have hoped for in such a game. Not too difficult, not monotonous, all the characters with the real voices… definitely worth the time and money.

And now it’s Monday. No headache, which ties in with a theory I’m working on: Before going to bed on Friday, I had a couple of wine coolers with the gang when they were over and Saturday I didn’t wake up with a headache. No drink on Saturday night and Sunday there was a headache. Had another wine cooler last night before bed - no headache. I’m curious if the alcohol is slowing my brain down enough to relax so I can sleep. Not that I’m going alcoholic with it or anything, but I’m curious if that’s the case.