Andrea: 5 Manolos

We're at the airport. Max's crate passed muster, and he actually seemed relatively calm when he got into the crate. I still cried when we drove away from the cargo place, but I'm confident he'll be OK. Our bags are checked, we're through security, and we're on our way to Hawaii.

I would have gone completely insane over the past few days without the help of my friend Andrea, so this post is devoted to her and her awesomeness. I've rated her various actions/accomplishments using Manolo Blahniks as a rating system (instead of stars), as a nod to Andrea's sense of style and her slammin' shoe collection.

• Three out of the four nights we were in San Francisco, Andrea and Deena take time out of their busy schedules to have dinner with us, show us around the city and give us yummy gourmet chocolates. (4 Manolos)
• Andrea takes time out of her busy work day to meet us for lunch and introduces us to yummy Vietnamese food. (4 Manolos)
• Andrea gets up at 4:30 in the morning to pick us up to take us, all of our shit, and our dog to the airport. (5 Manolos)
• For our trip, Andrea has put together a little gift bag with chocolates, saltines (for the pregnant lady), organic applesauce, pistacio nuts, raisins, protein bars and napkins and utensils, plus a funny postcard. Everything is labelled and adorable. (5 Manolos)
• Andrea goes online and does all kinds of research about the guy at the cargo place that was a complete dick to us, including getting the name and titles of all of his supervisors and their phone numbers, and finding the specific requirements for dog kennels. Her advice is, "never go into a fight unprepared." (4 Manolos)
• Andrea gets up at 4:30 in the morning for the second day in a row to once again take us, all of our shit, and our dog to the airport. She is unfailingly chipper and gracious, as ever. (5,000 Manolos)

Deena was also a wonderful hostess, hanging with Jason and me for delicious pizza and taking us around to see cool parts of the city. (5 Fender Guitars) (she's a rock star). Sara, my mom's college roommate, put us and the dog up in her house for 4 days, could not have been more welcoming, and generally made our stay here comfortable and easy. (5 Tropical Fish) (she's a SCUBA diver and is big into coral reef preservation).

I'm not sure what I did to deserve such wonderful friends, but I sure do love and appreciate them.