Dear Ellen: How Bizarre

Dear Ellen, OMFG. I can't waaaait to frakkin tell u about what happened on Friday. You'll never believe it... I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something super super insanely cool last week... I GOT TO INTERVIEW AND PHOTOGRAPH ANDREW ZIMMERN!!! Can you believe it?!! I know, kind of random... but it's true! And 3 days later I'm still glowing like a brand new CFL. So Friday morning I got the assignment (it's for a magazine). We arranged a time and place and then I was nervous ALL DAY. A good nervous though, and if you can believe it, even more nervous than when I met Kathy Griffin (shh don't tell her)!! I was hoping to eat something really weird with him, but we didn't have time - so I will have to eat something "bizarre" in his honor and live vicariously through his food spirit. I'll do it soon though, promise, and I'll show you the pics. I admit that I definitely have some psychological food issues that I need to deal with, so baby steps first. It'll be fun, he definitely made me really excited about trying something new. 🙂 The interview went really well I think. I had prepared 12 questions with a bonus "tums or pepto" question at the end - the 12 questions consuming most of my day to get the wording just right so that I could try to convey to him that "i get it", and ask intelligent questions. Obviously the man is very interesting, but did you know that he is also really laid back, down to earth and an incredibly genuine person? He is, and I am so thankful for this rare opportunity. I left the interview completely high off of excitement, completely forgetting to take his photo (which was one of the main reasons why I got to do the interview) and I realized this after I had already walked 4 blocks to the train station, went inside and was standing at the platform waiting for the next train to come. I swear to the gods the stars must've been aligning or something because when I realized I had forgotten the photo, I literally ran mach 5 back to the hotel as fast as I could, emailing him on the way, hoping that he would get it in time. Just as I walked into the hotel lobby, the elevator door opened and he walked out. *SNAP* *SNAP* I got the photos, and I even managed to get one of him with you too! What do you think? I heard you guys are buddies too. I'll have to tell you what he told me next time we see each other... hehehe. See, I know good peeps when I see them;  it didn't surprise me at all to find out that you run in the same circle. 🙂 Here's the pic! I had a dog photo to show you this week but I think I'll save it for next week. 🙂 Project DOG had a big week too, we reached 1,000 fans on Facebook!!  And we're well over 6,000 fans on Twitter now.  I can't believe how fast the Facebook grew, it really amazes me how people are still catching on. Hopefully someday I'll be like Andrew, traveling the US and/or world dog-friendly style, exploring new places, meeting different dogs and sharing their stories, all for the love of fur.  I'm getting closer for sure, yay! Other exciting dog news, two breeds were also crossed off the roster - a Toy Fox Terrier (purebred) and a Boykin Spaniel (rescue).  We're still missing a bunch of breeds, but I'm hoping that things will pick up in the next few weeks. I keep thinking of "theme" songs when I write these letters lately... here's an old one from 1996, haha. I was never a huge fan of this song, however i know all the words (not by choice). You'll remember it when you hear it. Hope you're having a great week! Kira