"No sheep, cattle, or swine"

For those of you who have never been to Canada, a word of caution. You may not bring any of the above items into - or out of - the country. You can thank me later when this post saves you the trouble of hooking up a cattle and transporting it to the border only to find you're not allowed to take it across. You are very welcome.

If you're wondering, I drove from the east coast to Michigan today. My mom's best friend, "K" is staying out with her family in Maine, so I drove up there last night, and she hitched a ride with me today. We left this morning, and about 13 hour later pulled into my parents' driveway.

I immediately ran in the house to be greeted by my little white angel - my puppy, Ella. She has been staying with my parents for the past year, because my job had me traveling so much I just could not keep her myself. And I was NOT about to lose her in the divorce. So I have come and gone, and each time she watches me with sad eyes, wondering when she's going to get to come with me. Well, my friends, Ella is about to be introduced to Boston. Or, should I say, Boston is about to be introduced to Ella? Her superior, large and in-charge attitude makes me lean towards the latter.....

But, like usual, I digress. Back to the main story here...when "K" called this past weekend to ask if she could ride with me, my immediate response was YES! I'm so used to driving all alone - it would be so nice to have the company. And, she'll even be riding back with me to help move my stuff from Philly to Boston. How awesome is that!?! But, before I drove up yesterday, I did warn her that my license plates are expired, so we had to be very careful (don't worry - I called State Farm and they're working on getting me registered in Massachusetts). She didn't seem too worried. When I arrived last night, I said, there's something else you need to know before we drive home. I received a speeding ticket in the state of New York a few months ago, and haven't paid it. There could possibly be a warrant out for my arrest. Her response was simply, I wish you could have told me this BEFORE I agreed to ride with you. She quickly forgave me and put an extra credit card, checkbook and bond card in her purse. Just in case.

We had such a great time. The weather was beautiful. The company was even better. We talked non-stop the entire ride. Well, we did stop briefly to sing along with "We've only just begun" by The Carpenters. Good times. I mean, who doesn't love the sweet, harmonic sounds of The Carpenters on a Tuesday afternoon?

You can all be relieved (probably obvious since you're reading this post) to know we made it without any hitches. No tickets. No arrests. Although we did have to ditch the swine we were carrying in the trunk. That was a close call.