Monday, August 29, 2005

In fond memory of the F150

Well, we made another purchase and this one came much earlier than we expected. Scott and I have been talking about trading in his truck for an SUV since we moved out here. We were thinking that with the MINI, we needed a more practical car for the dog, especially since I would be driving it when he is deployed. A couple of weeks ago, I read a very good review of the 2005 Nissan Xterra, and we test drove one on Saturday. We went home liking it, said we would do some research and look into our finances, and the dealer would get back to us.

On Sunday, we decided to go see what the Nissan dealer down the street from us had in stock. We were just going to look. Well, we ended up going home to get the truck and have a trade in appraisal done, and then having the car that met the exact specs that we wanted brought up from the San Diego dealer's lot, and we went home driving our new Xterra.

We really like it - obviously. They have gotten so much bigger and sturdier than when they first came out. It's dark gray (called Knight Armor) and 4x4 with an Off Road package. The back is so cool, because there is no carpet and it wipes down easily, for muddy dog moments. There is a hidden storage compartment in the back, which is seamless, so we could even fill it with ice and keep our beverages back there :-)

Scott is going to dearly miss his F150, which has been good to him and brought us cross country. Who knows, we may see it again - apparently it is going to find it's way to TJ, Mexico and is going to be sold down there! I'll post a picture of the new car when I get a chance...

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Mission AIRPORT, accomplished

I have drive to the airport and back, all by myself, and without rolling into any other cars. Mission accomplished.

I had to go back to DC for a work meeting this week, and I decided that I would try to drive the 40 miles to the airport myself, rather than take the shuttle that I have used the past 2 times. I was a little nervous, because I still don't feel like I know my way around, and because of the big hill I had to tackle on my way home from the airport.

I made it home - but I think I got lucky. I was fortunate to have a red light at the bottom of the hill, and when it finally turned green, I made it to the top of the hill for my next red light. So maybe I didn't achieve anything, but my mission was still accomplished!

Saturday, August 20, 2005

PBR - no, not the malt liquor...

We've had the opportunity to do a couple of things these past 2 weeks.

First, we went to a Professional Bull Riding Tournament (PBR). It was actually lots of run, and this is so much more of a big deal to people than I thought. The one we went to was part of the PBR network, which is the national competition that is shown on TV. Everyone was decked out in their Western wear (hats and boots), and there were rodeo clowns and all. The overall winner of the night was the first to "ride" the bull in the bull's career, meaning that the bull threw every rider off and this was the first 8 second ride of his career. It was also neat to be a the DelMar racetrack, which is where Seabiscuit became famous. We need to get to a horse race one of these weekends.

Last weekend we finished off our bedroom (painting and putting the new furniture in), and treated ourselves to an evening out at the Carlsbad Art Festival. There were vendors selling art, photos, and other craftwork. Nothing really caught our eye, so we came home empty handed.

This past week, Scott was out in the field for a training excercise, and I had my first taste of being home alone with the Bear. He had his ups and downs, and Tuesday was the worst. I had to give him a bath twice that night beacuse he found a muddy hole with about 2 feet of water and tried to go "swimming". I also had a traumatic experience at the dentist that afternoon - 1 piece of advice, don't get a deep cleaning if you don't have to. It is miserable!

I've finally got some pictures to post! This new computer has taken me a while to actually break in. Here are pictures of my mini (which I am still thinking about putting bonnet stripes on), you can see the front of our house, and one of my silly husband!
Talk to you all soon.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Pirates - oh my

Friday, Scott cooked a wonderful meal for my first night back home from VA. Truly experimental, but it came out great - homemade guacamole, homemade pepper salsa, breaded pork, yum. The best part was the homemade (well, not the wine) sangria - I am addicted to this stuff!

Saturday, we went to see the Pirates of Penzance. We knew nothing about the play and what it was about, but the actors were very good and very funny. We saw it at a place called the Moonlight Theater, and they have shows all summer in the evenings in an outdoor ampitheater. It reminds me of a very small Wolf Trap. So we brought a bottle of wine and dinner, and sat on our blanket watching a play.

I'm glad we are finally going out and trying out some of the things this area has to offer. I am still feeling rather homesick and unsure about liking it out here, but we have our good days and our bad days. There is a bull riding rodeo this weekend that we need to check out!! yeehaw.