Maisie, You're a Fiiiirework!

Those are the lyrics to that ubiquitous Katy Perry song, right?  ; )

What a great holiday weekend we had.  I did so much that I wasn't sure how to best recap, so I decided to break it all down in two categories:  1) activities and 2) what was eaten during said activity.
My friend Curtis (aka CPH) accompanied me through most of this...

Friday night
Activity:  CPH is the grilling expert amongst our friends, and he came over to clean my grill in anticipation of all the use it would get in the next few days.  I said it wasn't necessary, but he insisted (and I'm glad he did).  Maisie kept me company out on the deck while CPH scrubbed his little heart out like a gay Cinderella.

Food:  We ordered in Indian and it was delicious!

Saturday day
Activity:  Breakfast, followed by a trip to Sam's Club to stock up on the necessities for Sunday's BBQ.  Maisie remained at home in her crate and chewed up a blanket to show me how very unhappy she was to have been left behind.

Food:  We went to one of my family's favorite breakfast restaurants in Evanston (a nearby suburb) since that's where Sam's Club is located.  I had eggs scrambled with sun-dried tomato, smoked turkey and goat cheese, with potatoes and their famous apricot cheese "flakey" on the side.  So tasty...

Saturday night
Activity:  CPH received a smoker as a gift from his brother and decided to try it out on the freshly cleaned grill.  We sat on the deck sipping champagne (none for Maisie) and enjoyed the beautiful night while the smoker did its thing.  The strangest part of the evening was that as CPH prepared the chicken for smoking, I said he could give Maisie the raw gizzards and neck (it was as gross as it sounds).  But shockingly, she refused to eat them!  This is a dog who eagerly devours grass, sticks and even occasionally poop in addition to her steady diet of raw meat...yet she turned her nose up at actual raw chicken parts!  I still can't believe it.

Food:  Smoked chicken and corn on the cob...check out the chicken, it was fantastic!!!

Sunday
Activity:  My 3rd Annual "3rd of July on the Lanai" Party!  As the name implies, I have hosted this party for the last three years and (if I do say so myself) it's one of the best parties of the summer.  It's extra fun for me because I get to hang outside with a big group of friends and Maisie at the same time.  About 25 people attended and Maisie mostly just chilled with everyone, happy to be included (she was tethered the whole time so she couldn't wander too far, as she always is when outside on the deck).

When she needed a moment not surrounded by people, she just stepped outside our circle of chairs.

Though sometimes her fans tracked her down for more scritches and loving!

 

She was such a good girl during the eight-hour(!) party, though I eventually brought her inside because she was so tired (as documented in my previous post).  Good thing I did, because fireworks started shortly after that.  Maisie was pretty freaked out, but thankfully the Thundershirt seemed to help somewhat and I didn't feel the need to add a Benadryl to the mix this time.

p.s. there are more pics of Maisie's weekend on the blog Facebook page,  
go"like" it if you don't wanna miss out on all the Maisie bonus extras! 

Food:  Burgers and hot dogs...prepared with love (at least, I think that was love) by Grill Master CPH!

Monday
To celebrate the actual 4th of July, Maisie and I went to the dog park.  She was filthy afterwards, so we walked down to Soggy Paws and I gave her a bath.  Later, CPH returned (as did Craig and Brandon, two more of my fabulous gays) and we enjoyed our last evening of the weekend out on the deck.  Along with Maisie, who (based on the look on her face) may have been attempting to seduce them.

   "hey boys..."

Food:  There was just a bit of food left over from the previous day's festivities.  Take a look...

So we grilled again and enjoyed the remains of all the incredible side dishes people had made for the party (and more of the delicious corn on the cob).

All in all, it was just a really great weekend...perfect weather, plenty of relaxing with friends and a lively fiesta to boot!