Chewie updates

Our little girl is getting big, and she is such a little devil. I think Bear is scared of her, sometimes!

Chewie got fixed at the end of February, and she did wonderful. She wore the cone for about 24 hours, and looked so adorable! She also had 4 teeth pulled, poor little thing. They said she was looking like Jaws, with adult teeth already all the way in her baby teeth right next to them. But by Day 2 she was a little devil and running around and hopping over gates. The vet said to keep her calm with no stairs or jumping for one week - it was impossible.

Yesterday, Chewie got her first grooming. I kind of miss her old hair - I even asked Scott if he was sure we got the same dog back. She just looks so old, and dare I say MATURE! But underneath it all she is still the same Chewie - who woke me up by howling in her crate as soon as Scott left for work.


Bear, on the other hand, is doing great, although I can tell he is suffering from Big Brother depression. He is much more docile, and he hates it when she runs after him and pesters him. the other day, he was trying to get away from her and he ran into something and split the side of his eye open. It was bleeding and looked nasty for about a day, and now it looks pretty touch. He looks like Poochy Balboa (our version of Rocky).

It's starting to get hot out here - it was 80 degrees yesterday. It's time to get the puppy swimming pool!

It's been a little dreary out here

Well, the past 4 weeks have brought much rain to the SD area. Although it seems like it has rained the majority of the days out here, it beats the 9 feet of snow that some areas of the country are getting. I have no complaints about rain.

We have had a busy past couple of weeks:
We have remodeled out downstairs bathroom, and I must say that it looks great. I think we should think about careers in general contracting. When we get done with this house, we will definitely have some good experience under our belt! The bathroom is now a deep red, has all new fixures, and we call it the "Rome" bathroom.

Chewie still provied daily entertainment, and furstrations for poor Bear. But she is a fat little monster now, and she has learned to go out of Bear's doggie door, and also to scale the baby gate that used to keep her confined to one floor of the house.

My friend Carrie came to visit for a weekend. It was great to see her and catch up, and it's also a little sad to think how different our lives are now, in comparison to those days that we saw each other every day in the old Bell Atlantic building. We are both married, living in different states, and have just been though career and life changes - with many more to come. I think I am just starting to feel old now, and this aching in my knees only reinforces that fact.

We did go snowboarding one more time with our friends Keith and Kara, who push us to our limits and past them. I think that is what we needed, and hopefully we will get at least one more day of boarding in before the spring weather catches up to us. We did make the drive out to Big Bear one weekend, but remember what I said about all that rain...

I had a very short (1 night) trip to DC for work this month, and I do not miss the constant travel that I used to do for SoftMed. It looks like there may be more frequent travel in my future, but it shouldn't be too bad just yet. Our company was acquired by 3M, so there are some changes in my immediate future. I am still finding out what all of those entail.

I think the most significant change that we are looking to make is Scott finding a new job. He was working on his resume yesterday, which is always the hardest and most tedious aspect of the job hunt. Don't worry honey, in a month there will be so much activity that time will fly by! So we are seeing where the job hunt will take us, but I have no doubt that we will find ourselves together and happy (just hopefully not cold the majority of the year!).

Come Here, Girlfriend

It cracks me up to hear Scott say this to Chewie. This seems to be his greeting everynight when he comes home from work, and he picks her up and says hello. I love seeing his interaction with her, and it puts no doubt in my mind that he is going to be an excellent dad one day.

Chewie, on the other hand, has become our little monster. She lives up to her name, and has all 3 of us (Bear inlcuded) crying out in pain when her sharp little teeth bite into us. She is so just so darn cute though, and with a swat of a hand(or paw) we can send her flying. But she always come back to try to get one more nibble at us.

Scott has been wanting me to post our snowboarding adventures. I think he would also love it if I posted pictures of my black and blue, swollen knees.
On MLK weekend, we rented a cabin at Big Bear and spent the weekend there with the dogs. The cabin was an adventure (we had 5 blankets on the bed), and we have discovered that the dogs do not like snow. They have been Californiazed. Bear would pick up one paw for 10 seconds, then switch paws, then switch back - too funny.

Scott is really picking up the boarding. Me, not so quickly. I still spend more time off my feet than on them, and if I don't fall getting off the chair lift - that makes for a good day. We did get helmets which saved our lives on these trips, and I am surprised that the helmets are still in one piece. But it is a lot of fun, and we are planning another trip next weekend. Maybe we'll be tackling the blacks be the end of the season!

Happy New Year

Well, our New Year celebration was very uneventful. Actually, one of our more mellow ones - but at least we were awake at the stoke of midnight.

On Thursday the 28th, we headed to LA for a couple of nights. We started the weekend off with a George Lopez concert. Scott likes to say he was the only gringo in the audience, but I'm sure there must have been at least one other. At the very least, the opening act was as gringo as you could get and he was very funny. George of course was hilarious, and once the girl sitting in front of us got kicked out in the first 10 minutes for being loud and rude, we enjoyed the rest of the show. She seemed to get very irritated when George made a comment about Taco Bell. Maybe she works there, but she was very offended and let everyone around her know she was offended.

We spend Friday at Universal Studios, which was a lot of fun. We then met up with my friend Adrian and his fiance, and Eric and his friend for dinner and drink. I somehow ended up drinking way too much and had a horrible hangover the next morning. Scott said that I fell asleep in bed sitting up with all my clothes on, holding a glass of water. I'm a talented drunk - there were no spills! We were your typical tourists on Saturday, then headed home for a relaxing rest of the weekend.

The hotel in which we stayed at was very nice, and infested with Storm troopers. Yes, Storm troopers (oh yeah, and lots of Rose Bowl parade band members). But Scott rode the elevator with 2 storm troopers, and I felt that of all places to be in the galaxy, this was definitely the most intersting. I will post a picture soon of a car that was parked in the lot - R2D2 was watching the car while it's driver was checking into the hotel. Strange, but it was a very neat experience. Apparently, there were hundreds of Storm Troppers in town, since George Lucas was the Rose Bowl parade grand marshal.

Happy New Year, and may the force be with you...

Christmas #2 - another success

We had a great Christmas. This is our second Christmas since we got married, and I think we are off to a great set of traditions.

We started the season by getting our Christmas tree at the same lot on El Camino.
The guys there are nice, and they had a big selection of trees to choose from.
We bought a new stand this year, which is exactly like our old one that we threw away, and just as difficult to screw together. The tree is on the side table in the living room, where we attempt to keep the lower branches and ornaments out of dog reach.

We decorated the tree with all of our ornaments, and we got some new ones this year from Scott's mom. We decided that the Outdoor Santa ornament is going to be the first one we hang each year. We even wrote it on the bottom of the ornament so that we don't forget. It's the ornament that we got from Scott's mom the year that we got engaged, appropriate me thinks. Then we decided that the last ornament to be hung should be the Xmas pickle. The piano again holds all the cards that we received, even the one from our realtor.

Scott wrote our annual letter, and we got most of our cards in the mail by Dec 15th. That is a great accomplishment. It was a challenge to take the picture this year, though. Bear was not cooperating, and when we finally got a decent picture, it came out blurry. So after about 20 tries, we got one that isn't great, but we are at least all looking at the camera.

We baked cookies this year, and although we baked in complete silence because we were both in bad moods, the cookies came out great. Last year we didn't bake any cookies, which explains why we have 3 full bags of sugar in the pantry just waiting to be used. We need to remember not to buy any more sugar for the next 2 years...

We had Xmas eve dinner with my folks, and the meal was excellent. We had ham, a new recipe for sweet potatoes, a modified version of our mashed "potatoes",and of course white rice... :-)

And what is becoming my favorite Z-tradition, we went snowboarding on Xmas day. This year we went to Mtn. High, which they advertise as the closet mountain to us. It was a good day, although we never made it off the green slopes. Scott is doing great and can carve his way down the hill now, but I can't seem to get comfortable on my toe edge. So I just C-turn all the way down using my back edge. Inefficient, but it gets me there. By the time the sun started to come down, it started to get cold and icy, so we called it quits and went for hot chocolate. Today, I can barely walk and my arms won't go past shoulder level, but it was a great time.

Merry Xmas, and here's to a wonderful New Year!

Doggie in a mousetrap

So, have you ever heard of those mousetraps that you put down, and they are just flat with lots of glue? The objective is to have the mouse run on it, get stuck, then you throw it out.

Well, we put one of these traps in between the counter and the fridge, since we though we saw a mouse in the house. Of course, Bear couldn't get his big toe in this spot to save his life. But Chewie on the other hand, not so bright.

Maybe it's because we give our dog's peanut butter and the glue is Peanut Butter scented.
Maybe it's because she is becoming a little monster and runs around the house like she owns it.
Maybe it's because she's little and just doesn't know better.

But yesterday I hear Scott yelling for my help, and when I come into the kitchen he is holding the mousetrap and Chewie's front paws are glued to it. He peels her off, and puts her down on the floor, and she gets stuck to the floor. It is hilarious. She pulls really hard, uunsticks one paw, then puts it down and gets stuck again.
So we had to wash her paws and ended up having to cut all the hair with glue off. I was looking at her this morning, and she still has lots of glue on her right paw. I guess it will eventually wear off.

Chewie, the purchase of the month

Well, we have added a new member to the Zelesnikar household. We picked up a little Brussels Griffon, and have decided to name her Chewie. She is a 5 lb. puppy, who is about 4 months old. Bear doesn't really know what to do with this new addition, but he is handling it very well so far.

We started the morning at the store in Escondido, and they had a Brussels that was already sold. They said that they have a wish list that I could put my name on, and one of the girls suggested that they call the other store in Carlsbad to see if they had any Brussels. They did, put her on hold for us, and we went to go take a look.
When we got there, they brought out a little black and tan Brussels, who was very tiny. We played with her for about a half hour, and were trying to decide if we wanted to take her home. We weren't in love with her, but I was seriously considering it. When we asked for more information and the price, they took us by surprise and said that there was another Brussels in the back who was recovering from kennel cough. They brought her out, and Scott's attitude perked right up. I knew then that this was the little puppy that we had been waiting for. She also has a little shaved part of her leg, where they have her an IV when she had pneumonia. I don't know what it is - maybe we are just suckers for little dogs that have been sick.

Anyways - we decided to take her home, and now Bear has a little sister. I have the feeling that she is going to terrorize him once she gets used to the house. She was pretty calm and sedate all weekend, but is now starting to perk up and want to play a little more. She seems to like biting Bear's tail and then running away.

I was really looking for a boy dog - but I am so happy that we got her. It is so much fun to be able to buy pink items and dress her up. I got her a little pink carry case (that looks like an Uggs bag, with fake shearling), and I got her a little sweater. She is so cute!! As much as I hate to admit that I have a little purse dog, I am really enjoying this...

My first 5k - woohoo!

Yes, I actually put on a pair of shorts and sneakers and went running.
This summer I got the brilliant idea of running in the Oceanside Turkey Trot 5K. It was Thanksgiving morning, and the slogan was "Move your feet before you eat". I thought it was a great idea, it would give me a goal to work towards and would maybe make me loose some weight.

So of course, I didn't train as much as I wanted to. I went running maybe once a week since Scott got home. But as much as I didn't want to run this anymore when the big day came, we went out there and did it. I did walk a little bit each mile, but got through the 3.1 miles in 39 minutes. That's a record for me!

Scott got me the cutest little running shorts, and I want to continue running. It would be nice to do another 5K (with the goal being not to walk at all), then do a 10K, then maaaaaybe work my way up to a marathon. I heard the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego is awesome. We'll see - baby steps...

James Blunt night

Last night we went to see James Blunt in concert. It was a really good show, and it was not as mellow as I expected. Most of his songs are on the mellow and slow side, but he threw some fast paced songs in there, and he is a highly entertaining performer. And the best part of the show is when he wipped out "Where is my mind" by the pixies, with a set background behind the band of a blazing fire. This definitely makes me think of James Blunt in a new way - not only do I think of him as a person who must constantly be high (with a last name like Blunt, it was destined), but he also has great taste in music and he must have a little bit of an alternative rock side.

I though for sure we were going to be the youngest people in the audience - I had images of what a Celine Dion concert audience is like, and pictured us right in the middle of it. But we were not the youngest or the oldest in the crowd, which was conforting. We got general admission tickets, which worked out fine. We were pretty close to the front (it was not a packed house by any means), and there was an opening between the heads so that I could see almost the entire stage. The only drawbacks were:
- Someone near us had very bad BO
- Someone farted, and everyone around us looked like they were going to pass out
- Scott had a screaming teenage girl standing behind him. He fondly refers to her as "yeti".

All in all - a good night, a very easy commute and we had Chick-Fil-a for dinner in the car on our way there! Yum.

Scott is home - an overdue post

Well, this post is way overdue.
The only person who reads this is Scott - and he knows that he is home, so I don't know why I keep bothering...

Recap of the past couple of months:
Sept - Tricia got married, it was a beautiful wedding. Go figure, on the same weekend, Scott got home. We were both massively disappointed with the timing for a couple of weeks, but in hindsight it all worked out fine. I left for DC on Thu afternoon. Scott got into CA on Fri afternoon and my dad picked him up from the base. Scott then spent the weekend at home (without Bear), and then came to pick me up at the airport on Sunday. Our reunion was much more emotional than I thought it would be. He brought me flowers, and all sort of emotions that have been pent up for months came flooding out when we saw each other. It was great.

Oct - Scott and I finally went on a honeymoon trip. We went to Venice, Rome, Athens (for just one day) and Santorini. It was an amazing trip, and we saw way too many things to list here. I am posting one of my fav pics from the trip.

After getting home, we have just been getting into a daily routine. Scott started his new position, and things are starting to calm down with work. Bear is an absolute spaz now that Scott is home. Maybe he thinks that his playmate is home - but you can see a differene in his behavior when he is alone with me during the day, and he does a 180 when Scott comes home.

Overall - things are good (minus these allergies that I can't seem to get rid of).
We have some concerts planned for the winter, and Scott's parents are coming to visit in a couple of weeks. The rest of the year should go by quickly, and I can't believe it's almost the holidays.

I am such a geek

Guess what Kara and I are doing on Sunday?
I know you will all think I should be in highschool, but we are so excited about this! I'm sure all of you other children of the 80's secretly wish you could trade placed with me.

We are going to LA for the day, and we have tickets for a taping of RockStar Supernova. How fun is that? We have to be there at 3pm, so we are going to drive up a little early, get some lunch somewhere, and then go to the MAC store to have our makeup done "Rocker" fashion. We also have to go the store and buy some rocker clothes.

So we will see:
Dave Navaro - who is awesome
Tommy Lee - I adored Motley Crue
Jason Newsted - we all know Metallica rocked
Gilby Clark - Kara and I were both like - who? We looked it up and he played in Gn'R for a bit apparently, and was also in Slash's band afterwards
JD Forune - the winner of last season, who I am guessing is coming to make a guest appearance and hopefully perform. I guess there is no chance of INXS being there, they would have hyped that up.

So I will definitely fill you in on how the day pans out, and where we stood and such. I'm not that excited about being on TV, I'm much more excited to be going to see some live music performed, even if it is these relative nobody's. I am really missing the live music, going to see band play scene. In SoCal, who would have thought that I would have problems finding places like this around us?

Rock on...

Long overdue for an update

I know I have not been good at keeping this up. I think it's because I email Scott regularly, and he is very up to date on what is going on our lives. But it sounded like he missed the blog, so I will try to do better.

Right now - work totally sucks. I am so busy I want to cry. Another PM is going on vacation for a month, and I have "the wonderful opportunity" to take over all of her projects. So my workload has doubled. AND there is a client who is driving me crazy and making all or our lives at SoftMed hell. They are going live this week, but I don't see them going away anytime soon. And I think it is completely manipulative for client to call managers and Directors when they feel they are not getting their way, or to just complain. It is the equivalent of being whiney and a tattle tale - and no one ever liked those kids. I guess this is what they grow into. To top it all off, the PM who is going on vacation is coming back in August and switching to part-time hours. So I'm sure she won't be getting all her projects back...

In June, I celebrated my birthday, and Bryan came to visit. It was wonderful. And we had many great nights out and many great meals.
On the downside of the birthday weekend:
I broke my new sunglasses, expensive sunglasses
I got into a fender bender in the Mini, and the old hag who hit me is denying responsability and lying through her old rotting teeth
We have to cover 50% of the damages to both cars
The car is going to be in the shop for 4 weeks. I will not remember how to drive a manual by the time I get it back...

We got our new granite countertops put in, and the sliding shelves. How quickly the excitement of home improvement wears off. I promised to keep the counters clean and clutter free since they are so pretty now, but the piles of mail are back again. My weekend project: to vacuum and clean the counters off. Organize, organize, organize.

I have decided to sign up to run a 5K on Thanksgiving. I bought a sports watch with a stopwatch and everything. I found this 8 week beginner training program on the internet, and am starting on it this week.

OOH, and one of the best presents that I got for my B'day: the Magic Bullet. For all of you other infomercial geeks out there, this thing is awesome. I now have a reason to look forward to making the stupid protein shakes that I should be drinking. It's such a fun gizmo, and Scott: watch out, cuz Margarita are served when you get home!

BTW - I love my husband, bald head and all. I got to see him on a Video conference last week, and it just made me miss him so much. He's so cute! Can't wait to rub your bald little head, honey. 2 more months to go...

Addicted and pathetic

Ok - so I am picking up some bad habits now that my husband is not home.
Drugs, Sex, alcohol, rock and roll - just kidding.

I am addicted to those stupid PC games that you can download from the internet. For the past couple of months, I've been downloading the free trials or web versions of these games. You know what they are: BeJeweled, Collapse, Mah-jong. Don't even pretend that you don't know what I am talking about.

So these trial versions allow you to play for an hour, and then they expire and you have to move on to another game or buy the full version. The games were not entertaining enough to pay $20 for them - so I didn't mind when they expired, I just moved onto the next game. These kept me entertained when work was slow.

Well, these games have gotten much better. And I have gotten much more pathetic.
I have now found a game that I cannot resist, and have actually downloaded the full version of the game. But - I fell for the marketing ploy. If you sign up to buy at least 6 games, they are only $8 each, rather than $20.

I bought my first full length game 2 days ago - Wonderland Secret World. It has 4 characters and you need to navigate them through levels and find all the friends and save them from the aliens who have kidnapped the town. It is very similar to Mario Brothers (I know, retro, huh?)

I have had this game for 3 days, and I am on level 33, and I was up until 3am last night playing this stupid game. I just couldn't stop, and couldn't will myself to go to bed. I have a bruise on my hand from leaning too long on the keyboard and desk. I need to go buy one of those gel keyboard wrist pads now - I am turning into a geek. I always knew there was potential for this - but I now understand why I cannot live alone anymore.

This weekend - I will return to the land of the normal. My friend Kim is coming to visit, and we have a b-ball outing planned. Wonderland - until next week.... level 34 awaits.

Happy 1st Anniversary!

Well, we made it through our first year. Actually, this year has seemed to fly by pretty quickly. And I am more in love with my husband than the day that I married him. This is a rough 1st anniversary since we are not together, but we have done so much in one year, and there are so many more things to look forward to in the years to come.

One year ago, we kissed under a rainbow and promised to be the most important thing in each other's lives.
We then packed up both of our apartments, closed on my condo, and loaded up the pickup truck with some clothes, food, and Bear.
Then we had a great trip cross-country, managing to take in the sights of Lake Erie, the Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, and the Flagstaff ER.
We stopped and saw Carrie and Chris in Colorado, and had our first house guests in CA when Bobby and Tracy stopped by.
We moved into our very first house.
We went to Billy and Amy's wedding in LA, and have caught up with them and Eric a couple of times.
We met my dad's side of the family, who live in LA, and Scott had a cake made in his honor to welcome him to the family. Sadly, we all met again at Aunt Katie's service.
Scott was able to meet my grandfather, and we had a lovely service when he passed away, out at sea.
We got to go snowboarding on Christmas Day in California.
We spent a weekend on Coronado Island (or is it a peninsula?)
Scott's sister, Theresa came to visit as they made their way to New York.
We went to New York for New Years, and celebrated Mark's wedding in DC. What a great visit, and a time to reunite with old friends.
We had countless great dinners out, and went to see the Lion King in San Diego.
We drove up to Santa Monica to see the Barenaked Ladies, and had a sighting of Kelly Kapowski.

All in all, it has been a great year full of exciting, happy, lonely and sad memories. The year has been complete, and full of love. I love you honey.

Bear's first shoe

I was going to write how nice Bear has been lately, and how well behaved. I thought that maybe he had finally grown up since he turned 2 years old. Last night, I even took him to my parent's house, and he did great.

Until - Bear got his first shoe.
I was rather impressed at the fact that our dog has not gotten into any shoes. No destroyed tennis shoes (ok, the flip flop doesn't count), no pee or poop surprises in the shoe, nothing. He has gotten wallets, credit cards, glasses - but no shoes. The one complaint of all dog owners in the world - my dog destroys shoes - and Bear has managed to stay away from shoes for 2 years. Or rather, we have managed to keep him away from shoes for 2 years. Until today...

I though Bear was being really good, being quiet, and even letting me get some work done on the computer. When I finally take a break and go to see my surely sleeping dog in the hallway - I find him on our bed, surrounded by the pieces and the strap and buckle of my only pair of work shoes (notice, no strap nor buckle in this picture). And he looks at me, as if to say "hi - look what I found, this is really nice. Why haven't I ever seen a leather shoe before?" I'm guessing he also learned how to open doors today, because the bedroom door is always, always closed.

Man - we had such a good track record.

Big Love or Big Trouble

I have started watching the new Showtime series called Big Love. It's about a polygamist family with one husband and 3 wives. They live in a suburban neighborhood, and have 3 houses next door to each other. They have taken down the fences in the back of the house, so all share one huge back yard. The wives make a monthly schedule and have their own "nights" with the husband, and he spends each night in a different house depending on who's night it is.

I wouldn't call this a good show, but it has sucked me in for some reason. It is rather interesting to see how each person in this relationship feels about the life they are living - from the husband, to each of the wives, even to the older children who are old enough to know what kind of family they live in.

I think most people have the notion that polygamy is a sick way to take advantage of younger girls. They have been viewed as sick perverts, and the show definitely is playing on that idea with some of the characters. But the main family is not like that, and they are trying to show that they are normal people with human emotions and problems. The husband is trying to keep his business afloat and his family happy and secure. The wives are trying to raise their family and keep their separate identities and personalities within this relationship.

But this show has made me think that Polygamy is just more trouble than it's worth. We all know how women can get jealous, catty and emotional. Sometimes women can also be downright irrational - I think I've only gotten like this once or twice :-)
I call this my "Ness". It's my moodiness, my bitchiness, my stupidness, my laziness, etc. And to think this poor guy has 3 Nesses to put up with, and you can see how it is running him ragged. One is contantly spending money and running up credit card debt, one is complaining that she needs a new car, one has more loyaty to her father than to her husband, and one is just trying to keep everyone from hating each other. I know I can give Scott a run for his money sometimes, can you imagine if there were 3 of me? All complaining about different things? I don't know - maybe that's why you never hear about women having more than one husband. They are just way too smart to get themselves into the kind of trouble and headache that being married to more than one man holds.

Ryan -vs- The Bear

Last week, I had the pleasure of babysitting Ryan, a 6 month old little angel. I noticed that evening, that I was very relaxed and had a nice quiet evening. Man, taking care of Ryan is so much easier than taking care of Bear. I know that this won't last, and once Ryan starts to crawl and walk he will most likely give Lori a run for her money - but right now, he is such a pleasure to watch.

If you put Ryan down in one spot, 30 seconds later he is still in that spot. If you put Bear in one spot and tell him to stay, 30 seconds later he is nowhere to be found, and most likely has one of your belongings in his mouth.

When Ryan starts to cry, he either needs a diaper change or needs to be fed. Then he stops crying. When Bear barks at you, he maybe wants to go out or maybe wants to play - but most of the time he will continue to bark at you for no reason at all, for about a half hour until he gets tired.

If I leave a cell phone, sunglasses, remote control, keys on the table - Ryan doesn't care that they are there and will leave them alone for the most part. Bear can grab these items, not matter how far back on the counter or high you put them, and will take them out in the backyard and destroy them.

Ryan doesn't jump on the couch. Bear jumps on the couch, and even pushes you over if he thinks you are taking up too much of his space.

When you put Ryan to bed, he only takes a couple of minutes to fall asleep. When you put Bear to bed, you can hear him ripping up his bedding and his new thing is to pull the carpet up and away from the wall.

When Ryan has an accident, he has a diaper on and you just go change it. When Bear has an accident - which he was doing a lot when Scott left home, you have to clean up the carpet and eventually steam clean the thing.

When you go outside with Ryan, he sits in his carrier and enjoys his surroundings. When you go outside with Bear, you end up with muddy paw prints on your shirt and many holes in the backyard.

This list can go on and on - but overall, I think Ryan is the clear Low Maintenance Winner. Or could it be that we just ended up with Satan's spawn as a dog.

Strange thoughts

I find myself counting the strangest things, now that Scott is gone. I go through my daily life and routine, and wonder how many of these things Scott's going to miss.

For example:
- how many bottles of hand soap will I go through before Scott gets home?
- how many tubes of toothpaste will I have to buy before Scott gets home?
- I wonder how many bags of dog food will Bear go through before Scott gets home?
- how many bottles of cascade will I buy before Scott gets home?

I have been doing this for the past couple of weeks, but only realized it today when I was washing my hands in the bathroom and the bottle of soap is getting low. And I don't think these things about the smaller items that I buy often. I don't think "How many cartons of milk will I buy" - it's more those things that last a while and that we don't replace all the time.

Since we've moved into this house, I think we have gone through 2 bottle of soap in our bathroom, and maybe 3 or 4 in the kitchen. I wonder how many items will I,just me (one person), go through in the next 6 months? I'm strange, I know.

I am heading to the post office to mail my first package to Scott. I hope I don't have any hassles about the way I packed it, and I hope I did everything right. I ordered a bunch of flat rate boxes from the post office, and they delivered them to my house. I think I have enough boxes to last us 10 years.

Hon - I thought of somthing for your B'day present - so be on the look out for my package and I hope you like it! I miss you sweetie.

What do you do?

I am currently reading Jimmy Carter's book "Our Endangered Values". This is a book that Scott bought and started before leaving, and now I have gotten quite a bit through it. He makes a lot of good points, that I agree with, but he doesn't seem to be offerring any solutions to the issues that he points out. It doesn't seem productive to me, but it is making me think about my beliefs and opinions. Maybe his solutions are yet to come in this book.

So what do you do when your husband is doing something right now that you morally disagree with? And I have had this opinion for a long time now, but reading a chapter in this book has put my thoughts on paper and backed it up with facts.

Part of me thinks - well, he doesn't have a choice but to be doing this. But really, he does. It was his choice to joing the military. And it was the American people who made the choice to put this president in office, and re-elect him. And it was my choice to marry Scott, and become a part of all this.

So what do you do?
- I guess right now we don't have a choice that Scott is deployed, but he does have a choice when he comes home. So I deal with the days and nights right now, and just hope that the time flies by quickly. I would be very interested to take a poll of the younger people in the military and see if they know and understand the history of the US, the treaties that were made by previous presidents, and see if they really understand what they are all a part of and what it could potentially do to this country. I bet they don't have a clue.
- We all have a choice to educate ourselves on current events and public policy. I admit I am not very up on it, but reading this book has sparked my curiosity and I will continue to read about it and form my own opinions.
- We all have a choice to vote for the people who are in office, and vote for the people that will represent you and your beliefs
- And I guess we all have a choice of what country we live in and what we support. This may be a little drastic, but I do have concerns about the future and American sentiment throughout the world. Maybe buying that vineyard in Canada isn't too drastic of a thought, if we can just get the Canadians to stop hating us.

As soon as I actually make up my mind...

OK - On Saturday, I ended up hanging out at the pet shop for about an hour, SAD - I KNOW! But there was this really cute little Chia Rat in there, who was literally the size of my hand. They said she was the runt of the litter, and that they don't expect her to get over 8 lbs. I just watched her, and tried to play with her (she was more interested in looking at the other dogs and barked a little when a spazzy one came up to her). She was so cute - yet seemed so delicate. So I went home that night debating whether or not I should grab Bear, take him to the store that night before they closed, and be done with dog hunt.

I got home, and then thought - I really need to think about this. I will think and sleep on it, and on Monday I will take Bear in to the store and have them meet. All weekend, about every half hour, I changed my mind.
- I really want this dog, and it seems to be "THE" dog that I am looking for
- I really don't want Scott to miss the puppy stage (not the poop, but the cuteness), and I want him to feel like he was a part of this
- Bear really needs a friend because I just don't really make good friend material these days
- What if Bear eats it?
- I've looked at every add for months, and have not found another dog with this personality and size, and it may not present itself again soon
- I don't want Scott to come home and have to meet our new dog. It doesn't seem fair
AND THEN AGAIN - What if Bear eats it?

So today, I finally decide - OK, I'm getting it. If Bear and "daisy" get along, I will bring it home and it won't be bad. I finished work up early, and even decided to shower before 5pm. I then called the store, and they said she was sold on Sunday.
Of course - that is how my life works. Always.

As much as I like to say I am done looking - you know I will not stop. I'm addicted to the Pets section in the classifieds. SAD - I KNOW.

And they are off

Today was hard, but not as hard as yesterday. Watching Scott pack and knowing that this was his last day here was really tough for me, and I found myself moping around and tearing up a lot. As much as I wanted to be in a good mood, it was hard to be in a good mood knowing that the countdown was coming to an end. We ate such fatty and horrible things all weekend - but my consolation was that this was our last In N'Out burger together, our last pizza together, our last Hawaiian plate lunch together - before he left!

This morning we got up bright and early, and I drove Scott to base where they loaded buses to take them to Riverside to fly out. They are going through Maine, then Ireland, then into Iraq. It was kind of nice seeing all the families and the dogs out there, and sad to see some of them with no one there to see them off. I held up ok, I think. I figure: Scott takes such good care of me and doesn't let me get into stupid situations, that I know he's going to take care of everyone and himself out there. I just hope the time goes by quickly and they return with the same enthusiasm that some of them had as they boarded the bus. There were a few that were not deploying for some reason or another, and I was surprised to see how emotional they were to say goodbye to their team and not be there with them. It's not all relief when you find out you can't go - I guess. I wonder if they feel like me - saying goodbye to someone that you see day in and out and the mystery of what life has in store for you without them.

We had a good weekend though - We started it off by going to Roy's Restaurant (Hawaiian Fusion) in La Jolla. The meal was amazing, probably the best meal I have had since we moved here. We are going to have to keep this place in mind and try it out on special occassions. On Saturday, Scott did some repair work and cleaned out the garage. I can finally park my car in the garage - woohoo! We BBQ'd our last steak - no way am I grilling on my own, I'm sure I would set the dog on fire. On Sunday, we took the dog for a bath at Petco, saw an adorable Chia Rat (Chihuahua/Rat Terrier) which may become a part of this family in the next couple of weeks, and went out to dinner with my folks. Monday night was spend with Scott on the phone with his entire family and friends, call after call after call....

I forgot to mention that we saw Eric, Billy and Amy on Thursday night in Laguna Beach. It was nice to see them, and they wished Scott a safe and quick deployment. I think these are the friends that Scott is going to have for the rest of his life, no matter what county, state, or planet we all end up living in. It's nice to see him feel so at home with them. People you can just be goofy with.

Here are a couple of pics - one Scott took of me as he was packing with his 50 lbs. of gear, and one that was taken right before he got on the bus this morning.

Honey - I'm going to miss you like crazy - I love you.

What a week..

This week seems to be lasting forever, although many things have happened. It's a strange feeling.

We had a pretty chill weekend. We started out by getting together at our friend's house for a goodbye party to Virgil, who deploys to Iraq next week. But it really felt like a goodbye party for Kara, who left the following day for Spain. She is over there for a 4 month study program, and I am so jealous. On Sunday, we went to see my grandfather in the nursing home, and he didn't look good at all. We all knew he was in the last leg of his life, but it was a shock to me when my mom called and said that Grandpa passed away on Monday morning. All I could think of was - I am so glad that I got to see him the day before. And I hope he knew that we were there with him that day, if only to say goodbye.

My parents and I had made reservations to go whale watching on Tuesday, and we decided to still go. It was nice, and I would have been happy just getting out of the house and getting on a boat for a couple of hours. But we did see some whales, which was cool. These are the CA Grey Whales, and they are on their annual migration to Baja. We followed 2 whales for about an hour as they kept moving South.

I wanted to also attach an article that Scott sent to me. I know it sounds like something I would tear out of my Newsweek and force him to read, but he was the one who brought this home one day. I thought it was interesting and it's a good piece to spark conversation - I will allow ours to remain in our kitchen, only for Bear and the Cookie Monk to know what was said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein24jan24,0,3682678.column?coll=la-util-op-ed

Happy New Year!

Wow - I have been keeping this blog for a whole year now. This year, I think I am going to use this more as a place to write to Scott, and keep him updated with the things that I am doing and thinking. I am going to write the things that pop into my mind, and the emotions that I am feeling - even if I know that Scott won't want to hear/read them. I would hope that he would feel comfortable telling me things that I know he wants to protect me from, and tell me things that I don't even want to hear - but I think I need to in order to keep myself sane while he is gone and keep things in perspective. Otherwise, I will become even more bitter than I currently am - and honey, I know you know the extent of my bitterness and I am really trying to keep those feelings at bay. I love you and as pissed off as I am at this situation, my love for you will not change.

Scott flew back to CA today (we were in DC this past weekend, more details to come in the next paragraphs), and for some reason it made me very sad to say goodbye to him. It's almost like every day that comes to an end is just one day closer to the time that he leaves. I'm going to have to work hard to not get down, and make the best of this next month. We might as well get this hurdle over, and move on with the rest of our lives which will hopefully not include any more time apart.

We had a great Christmas and New Years. We started the festivities on 12/23 with dinner at Aqua Al 2 (Thanks Kelli and Chris - the meal was amazing!) After dinner we went to the San Diego Civic Center to see The Lion King. What a great show, and it's neat how they stuck to the dialogue that was in the movie. The costumes were the best part - and seeing them all parade into the stadium onto the stage was wonderful. We spent Christmas Eves with my parents, with a whole lot of good food and quality time together. We then went Snowboarding at Big Bear on Christmas Day. Kinda strange to be out in snow (man made, of course) when it's warm enough to be out there in a T-shirt. We came home with lots of bruises.

On 12/30 we flew to upstate NY to spend a few days with Scott's family. There were 21 people in the house for 3 whole days - cozy, but fun. I can't believe how fast the kids are growing, and Megan is absolutely adorable. We took Jordan snowboarding, and she was getting the hang of it by the end of the day. Scott got really good, too - I guess it's just going to be me on the bunny slope next time. I need to work on my toe side - it intimidates me so much. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone in NY, knowing that the next time they see Scott will most likely be this time next year. Of course there were tears, and Theresa also had to say goodbye to Mike as he heads to training until March in AL. We drove him to Bingamton on our way out of town - so it felt like we were stealing him from his family. We then went to DC for my cousin Mark's wedding - which was an entire weekend affair. The rehearsal dinner was on Fri, the wedding on Sat (which was beautiful and interesting, as it was a Jewish ceremony), and then brunch on Sun. I had not idea that Erica's dad was an NPR show host, of "All things considered". I am not an NPR junkie, but I am now very intruiged to listen to his show. He was very captivating to talk to, and thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. Of course, Scott was the popular guy at the wedding. Everyone wanted to talk to him about his work, his upcoming deployment, and of course tried to get him to talk about his opinions. You're captivating hon, face it!

This year, I am not going to make any resolutions. I have some good intentions, which I am not going to commit to writing, and will do my best to follow through with them. I think we have a lot of challenges this year to get through, without the added pressure of resolutions. But I am confident that at the end of this year, Scott and I will be a stonger couple, and hopefully better people individually as well. Happy 2006!

Meet Juanita Yoshida Zelesnikar

The other night, we went to Dave and Busters, the Chuck-E-Cheese for adults. I rock at the first person shoot em up games. I kicked Scott's butt on Ghost Machine and made it up the ranks so much faster than he did - ha! I need to buy one of these machines for our dream house.

There is another game in there called the Gene Machine. It takes pictures of 2 people and spits out what your kids will look like. This is kind of scary, but it was so much fun. Our friends (who are both very fair, and blondish) ended up having two children which they named Pedro and LaFonda. It's amazing how race has nothing to do with what your children will look like! We have fondly named our daugter Juanita Guadalupe Yoshida Zelesnikar. I'm just glad this child didn't get my egg shaped head - which I swear is not like that in person!

A little visit, and off to Sea World

Last weekend, Theresa and her family came to visit (Scott's sister). They are leaving their assignment in Hawaii and moving to upstate NY. I just can't imagine the shock their bodies will go through from living in Hawaii's climate for 3 years, to deplane into 6 inches of snow. I don't think I want to ever leave California after only 6 months here. I like having the option to go to cold weather and snow when you want it - not having Mother Nature force it upon you. We are planning on going snowboarding for Xmas - that's what I mean - go to it when you want it.

It was nice seeing everyone, and the kids gave Bear a full weekend. Actually, I think Bear behaved wonderful with the kids. He was so gentle and patient with then, even with the tail pulling, the teasing, and the occasional kick - which Jessica got in biiiiig trouble for. It's amazing how much I often say I hate the dog, I'm tired and frustrated with him - but when someone does something mean to my dog I go into protective mode. "DO NOT be mean to MY dog". But all my fears about how Bear will react with little kids have been alleviated. Once we break him completely of the jumping on people, he will be perfect with kids.

We went to Sea World on Saturday with everyone. It was a good day. Our only regret was waiting until the end of the day to get on the roller coaster, which got us completely soaked and frozen. We drove home in wet clothes. The neatest part of the park was being able to touch and pet the animals - like dolphins and sting rays. The shows were entertaining - here's a pic. I wish I went to Sea World as a 5 year old, and had the brains to look up the job posting for Sea World on the internet and base that on what I chose to major in school. I think I am going to push my kids to pursue their interests as careers very early on. Hmm, you like playing with legos, that's what architects do!

BNL is still the best

On Tuesday, Scott and I drove up to Santa Monica for Barenaked Ladies concert. It was the best BNL show I have ever been to (and this one makes 5, I think). The show was amazing - it was their Xmas concert. They did a lot of xmas songs, in the BNL style, of course - as well as some of their classic hits and one new song that is coming out shortly on the new album. These guys are just so much fun to watch live, and they had us both smiling and laughing throughout the whole thing. Once of these days, I would really like to be up front for one of their shows.

The opening band was a group called the LeeVee's. They were hilarious - they get together every holiday season and perform songs they have written about Hanukkah. We ended up buying one of their CDs as a present for a gift exchange we are doing some friends this week. The band then went out in to the hall and signed autographs, so she's getting a copy signed by 4 band members! That's a keeper! And it makes no sense, but we are exchanging Xmas gift this week with our Jewish friends. And this was their idea!! AND, Kara want to come over to help us decorate our Xmas tree!

While standing in line for autographs, guess who walked right by us and hung out waiting for her friend to come out of the bathroom? Tiffani Amber Thiessen!! Saved by the Bell, in person 2 feet away from us. I was kind of shocked that in the 10-15 minutes that we were standing next to her, no one said anything or approached her. Then again, neither did we. But that was kind of neat, right after Scott said during dinner "I wonder if we'll see anyone famous?".

And I really like the Santa Monica Civic Center. It was small, a great place to see a band perform. And we were able to park at the Center, walk down a few blocks onto Main Street where there were lots of little shops and places to eat. We then walked back to the Center for the show. It is neat how it is such a walking and small community, and it was 2 blocks from the beach. This beats driving to the metro, taking the metro to MCI, fighting the crowds and waiting in line for any type of food, and having seats so far away you only see the color of shirt the band members are wearing.

Overall, a great BNL experience - see you next year!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi everyone - I wanted to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, and thank you for being such a huge part in our lives.

Here are some pics of the airshow that we went to down at Miramar (these are the Blue Angels, not the Hell's Angels as I always want to mistakenly call them), and really cute pic of the boys at Billy's wedding. The wedding was beautiful.

I'll write more soon - and Scott is finally getting back from 29 Palms next week. It'll be good to see him (I miss you, hon).

Welcome to the Kirby family

Ok - Yes, I am a sucker. Anytime an infomercial comes on TV, I always end up believing that this is the greatest product invented, and that I have to have one. Fortunately, my lack of motivation of actually picking up the phone and ordering something usually wins. Except for that one late, lonely night that I ended up ordering the Double CD set of 80's Monster Ballads - although it is a rockin' album.

Well, as cliche as this is going to sound, I had a vacuum salesman come to the door last week. Actually it was a woman, who said that they are doing a promotion and will vacuum and shampoo one room in my house for free. This is a promotion, and there is no obligation to buy anything - they just want to spread the word about their product and cleaning services. Then Joe, a really nice college guy looking to start his own business comes in and cleans the stairs. This vacuum is amazing!! In hind sight, amazing might be exaggerating a little, but it is a really good and multi-functional vacuum, shampooer, sweeper, and hardwood floor buffer. So 3 hours, a trip to go pick up Bear at the kennel, and $1600 later, I was welcomed to the Kirby brand family. Scott wasn't at all surprised when I told him I bought a vacuum (I have been eying the Dyson for months) but when he heard how much it cost - I could hear his eyes pop out of his head. Oh well, maybe this will be the motivation I need to try to have a sparkling clean house!

This darn PC

Ok - so when I bought this thing, I thought it was the coolest damn thing on earth. I would load all of my pictures on here, be able to edit videos that I take with the digital camcorder, store all of my MP3 files and learn to use my ipod... Endless possibilties, right?

Last week, the thing crashes. I am not doing a single thing - it' is basically just sitting there with the desktop up and no applicatons running. All of a sudden, I hear a pop and the thing turns off. Then it magically starts up again, then before Windows even boots up, it shuts itself off then starts back up again. I watch in horror as this cycle continues 5-6 more times. Then I turn it off, let it rest for a little bit, and try again. The cycle starts over.

I had to completely do a recovery on the harddrive, meaning that I lost all my pictures (which of course I deleted off my camera when I transfered them to the PC), and didn't have a back-up. Thanks to Brian who helped me find a way to get all the music that I had on the iPod back onto the PC - but still - I am pissed!

I have learned the lesson of backing up. The stupid eMachine didn't even do this in the 4 years that I owned it. Hmmmmmm....

Coronado - an island or peninsula?

This past weekend Scott and I decided to take a weekend for ourselves and have a little getaway. Scott was out in the field all week, and I was out most of the week in DC. We had to kennel the dog, and decided to let him stay the weekend and enjoy ourselves.

We went to Coronado Island for the weekend (which is really a peninsula). I cashed in tons of points and got us a nice room at the Marriott resort and spa for the weekend. It was right on the water (bay side, not beach side), and backed up to a trail that allowed us to walk along the water, walk to restaurants and bars, and a little shopping area. I booked us both appointments at the spa - thinking that Scott could use a massage after a strenuous and sleepless week in the field. Little did we know that the masseuse would be a large lady who liked to use elbows on his back. The poor thing looked more weary coming out of the massage than going into it!

All in all, a very nice weekend, and the dog got to spend a week at doggie camp. He was very well behaved the night we brought him home - but now he's back to his usual antics. We did get him into a 6 week group training course that starts this Saturday - so we'll see how that goes!

And they go round and round

I had another great time this trip back to DC (although the monthly meetings are starting to get old and pointless, and this flight is way too long to do every month). I came in a couple of days early to stay with Tricia, go to a Nascar race, see my family, and go out to dinner with friends. Other then the work stuff, it was a very productive coupel of days!

The Nascar race was in Dover, Delaware - the Monster Mile. Tricia was able to get great tickets, which allowed us to go into the pit area and our seats were in the suite. Nothing beats watching the race from an air conditioned room with free food and beer! So this Nascar experience was completely different from any other race I had been to. There was no tailgating, there was no paying $20 to park in someone's lawn and then walk a mile to the track, and there was no sitting in the sun wishing the race was 100 laps instead of 400. I still think the greatest part of the race is the flyover by the airforce planes. Another very neat part was being in pit row. We were there for the first part of the race, and were there when they yelled "start your engines"! We stayed there for about 20 laps or so, and got to see a tire change from right behind the stands.

Here are a couple of pics, and thanks to everyone for another great trip home (yes, VA is still what I call home).

So you wanna be a rock star?

Is anyone else addicted to Rock Star INXS? Scott and I are completely addicted, and we find ourselved having conversations about the show during dinner. Is this what married life is?

I do not want the show to end - what are we going to do on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednnesday nights now? We are going to have to fill the void with something productive, I guess.

Here are our thoughts on this - Scott and I actually agree:
Marty is going to be the big winner. (JD is too "fly by the seat of his pants", and Mig is too nice for them)
Jordis, Suzy, Mig and JD will all get record deals or start their own bands.
And honestly, if INXS chooses someone that they end up not liking or working well with, they can just fire them!

I do think Marty will win, but Mig is my favorite.

On to more practical topics! I am volunteering with our local humane society, and this past weekend we had a pet adoption at PetSmart. I was in charge of a little chihuahua mix, and he is so darn cute - I am tempted to adopt him myself. He is older - maybe 7-8 years old, but he is well trained and so cuddly. He sat on my lap in the car, and he seemed to really bond with me. He wouldn't walk with anyone else unless I was with them, and he kept looking up at me asking me to pick him up. There was one couple that was interested in him, and hopefully they go to the shelter and get him. Otherwise, maybe we'll take Bear and see how thy interact with each other. :-)

Labor Day weekend

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.
Here's a guick recap of what we did:
- we did not buy any more cars this weekend! yippee!
- we went to the "conert on the green". This is an annual orchestra concert at my parent's community. It was fun, and they played the exact same songs as last year. There was one song, that as they were ending I wispered to Scott "I think they are going to play Tomorrow from Annie next", and sure enough...
- we went to the San Diego Zoo. Scott says it was much more impressive when he was little, but we had a good time and it was nice to get out of the house and do some major walking
- we broke in our new patio fire pit. I love this thing. We took down the gazebo siding on our back patio, and now we have firewood for at least 5-6 burns :-)
- Bear got his first ride in the Xterra, when we took him to the dog park

Stay safe everyone - and I'll talk to you soon.

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...

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!

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.

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.

On my own...

Yes, I am a true slacker, and now don't apparently keep my word. Sorry - here's an update for you!!

Well, hills still scare me - BUT - I was able to drive all the way to Balboa Park and back. I even got on the highway. It was a madhouse - stop and go bumper to bumper traffic, so I did stall once on the highway because I forgot that I was in 2nd gear once. Any I thought I was leaving DC traffic behind.

I was in Silver Spring this past week for work, and had a great opportunity to catch up with my family and friends.
To my uncles and aunts - it is always great to see you and thanks for dinner. Please take care of yourselves, and don't stress out about walking the dog, you will all be fine. Just go on walks after the sun sets to keep it a little cooler.
Miss Tricia - I hope you had a wonderful birthday - it was great seeing you all.

We'll see what this weekend has in store for us - not much I'm sure...

It doesn't fit!

Ok - I've been a slacker, and thank you for everyone who's pointed that out to me!

Here are some answers to the questions that I get asked:

• No - we have not ventured out and gone into San Diego yet. We hope to do so in the next couple of weeks. Maybe dinner this weekend :-)
• Yes - I am getting the hang of driving my car, and I have ventured out alone. I need to get quicker at shifting, apparently I am the grandma on the street in a mini cooper.
• No - we haven't finished unpacking yet. There are still boxes everywhere, and once we buy some furniture, maybe we'll have a place to put all the crap that is still in boxes!
• Yes - I am slowly adjusting to working from home. It's a lot tougher than I thought it would be, and to all of you who think this is a sweet set-up, really it's not. You go absolutely stir crazy. I think I am driving Scott nuts, because I am ready to go out when he gets home, and I'm sure he just wants to chill out and drink beer on the sofa.
• I am going home at the end of July for a couple of days - home being VA. I'm not used to it out here.

Well, we did buy one piece of furniture. We have a 91" cut out in the living room for an entertainment center with shelves, and we bought this really nice one from a guy outside of LA. We went up there to browse, placed the order, and went up on Sat to pick it up. On Monday we brought it into the house and started setting everything up - and the darn thing is about 97"!!! I needed a stiff drink after that realization. So now we have an armoire to hold the TV that takes up a little more than half of the cubby hole, and the 2 shelves have been put next to each other and are serving as a china cabinet in the dining area. What were we smoking when we placed this order - and I took a picture of the catalog page and right there in front of us were the measurements and yup -too big!! So now people are going to think that we are strange and are trying to match every single piece of furniture in the whole house - really we're not, we're just stupid.

Another big purchase as of late - I got my own digital camera for my B'day (thanks, honey) and I gave in and bought a new PC. It's still in it's box as I wait for the office furniture to come in - but I can't wait to get that media center all set up.

On Sunday - we went to LA to visit my great aunt for her Bday. Every year they do a family reunion of sorts - and it was so nice to meet and see some of my extended family. These are relatives on my paternal grandmother's side - so a whole new world. They even got Scott his own cake and welcomed him into the family - we are so lucky to have such wonderful family who love us. I think all the little old ladies got a kick out of seeing him wear his uniform to the reunion (they requested that he do so!).

I guess it's official - I passed!

Well, I guess my name change is official. I got my new Social Security Card, but the one very important name change that really sealed the deal for me was - the new credit card. That means that now, I am really going to be known as Colette Zelesnikar, and every time I buy something I must now remember to sign my new name. It's hard letting go of a name that you had for the past 29 years.

AND - the big event of the week - I successfully got myself to the DMV, parked my car in the lot, and got a new CA driver's license!! I had to take a vision test and a written test, but thankfully no driving test! The DMV was actaully not too bad - I made an appointment, and they shuffled me through an assembly line of sorts. Total, I was there about a half hour.

On the drive home, I did stall twice. I was at a red light, and the cars turning left in front of me (onto the freeway, so a crowded intersection) blocked me in, so when the light turned green I couldn't go anywhere. I had to wait until my left lane was empty to try to go around the stupid car blocking the intersection, and as I was trying to go around it - I stalled. So I was then the idot blocking the entire intersection - because no one could get around me. I calmly started the car again and tried again - then stalled AGAIN! I'm so glad no one started honking. I started thinking, oh no - I broke the car, or something is seriously wrong. Then I realized my problem - I was in 2nd gear the whole time. But I made it home the rest of the way without incident - whew.

Earthquakes and McDonalds

My first earthquake!! Sunday morning about 8:30am Scott gets up and I lay in bed listening to him go about his morning routine. I hear him open the door to the garage, let the dog out, and put food in his bowl. He then puts on the coffee, as I try really hard to get another wink of sleep out before starting another poopy day (literally). Then, the bed starts shaking, and I think that the dog must have really gotten into something this time. But then I realize that the doors and windows are making noise too - then it just passes. I get up and ask Scott if he felt that shaking, and of course, he says no. Later that night, we find out that it was an earthquake in Palm Springs, and we could actually feel it out here. Pretty cool. Survive an earthquake - check.

Today, I drove (in my mini cooper) through a McD's drive through!! I did stall once, just as I was leaving window #2. But overall, a good trip - and I think I can do this by myself next time. Scott starts working on Wed, so I have to be able to go get food by myself soon - tuna sandwiches just won't cut it every day.

And now, what is the deal with McD's in S. CA? McDonalds - the icon of America. As you drive through any state in the US, you can see that familiar and loveable building from a mile away. The red roof with the yellow beams, the golden arches towering over the building like a light beckoning for you to come in. Sometimes if you are lucky, there is a Playland right outside, with the purple and the yellow plastic tunnel slides teasing you to come in and relive you childhood days. Well, Southern California apparently doesn't believe in this clever method of advertising. I see not familiar buildings, no red roofs, and no golden arches. Instead, they hide their McDonalds in spanish architecture or blend them into the details of the surrounding strip malls. I hate it - I ave to look hard to find a McDonalds!! I might be walking distance (but I do need the driving practice) from one, and not even know it because it's walls are terra cotta and it has a spanish tile roof!! Get with it, please, So Cal - for the love of those of us who can't seem to look at our surroundings because we are trying to look at the road, concentrate on pushing in the clutch, and not accidentally shifting into the wrong gear (because apparently I can't look at the shifter when shifting - but then how do I know what gear I am in!). Things are so much more complicated now.

Sick and Tired

Well, sorry for the long pause between postings. I came down with the flu or stomach virus - not a pretty site. So in between trying to unpack and working every day this past week, this sickness did not come at the most convenient time. I'm still getting over it, but I feel so much better than I did on Thursday!

This past week I was able to get a little driving in - I went to the cable office to sort out our high speed internet, drove home from my parent's house one night, and drove to the Chinese take out place. Scott say's I'm doing better than he expected, but I am still a little hesitant to go out by myself. Hills still freak me out - hopefully I'll get there soon. I see a trip to McD's by myself coming up soon!

Motoring

I am now the proud new owner of a Mini Cooper. I got a dark silver Cooper S, with a white top and sun roof. I will get the bonnet stripes put on later, since they are just decal work that can be done in about an hour (who knew!). It is a used car - but with only 4000 miles, it was almost new and fully loaded. It's got:
The premium package - dashboard computer, cruise, sun roof, Xenon fog lamps and headlights...
The Sport package - super charger, premium wheels and run flat tires, Dynamic Stability Control, etc.
Cold Weather package - which I won't need at all here, but it's got heated seats and other cold weather stuff.

It is a standard, so starting tonight Scott is going to have to teach me how to drive a stick shift. Yes, that means that I did not test drive the car, but Scott did and I totally trust his judgement. Motor on!

Day 9: The final day

We woke up pretty early and started our trip to Sedona. We made it out there and it is absolutely gorgeous - we need to come back and stay a weekend. It was so early when we got out there that the stores weren't even open, and we had to walk a couple of blocks to find a coffee shop that was open. We then tried to find the church that is built in the rocks, and we must have passed the turn off for it, because after driving about 10 miles or so we ended back on the highway. I figure we'll check it out next time we are here with more time, so we decided to take a back road onto the highway that takes us to I-40, rather than backtracking to Flagstaff. Well, I found out that what looks like a straight shot on the map, is actually a switchback back and forth up and down mountain ranges, and it took us about 2 hours to get 60 miles from Flagstaff. Damn maps!! But we drove through the town of Jerome, which I do want to see next time too - it's supposed to be a town that hippies overtook in the 70's and is now a very bohemian town that many singers (like Springsteen) go out of their way to hang out at.

We then got on the highway and made our way to Oceanside. We stopped at the AZ/CA border to get gas, and it cost $2.99 for a gallon of 87 octane!! Robbery. Plus, it was 103 degrees, and Bear was panting like you wouldn't believe from just walking to patch of grass to pee. We went through some intense fog when we hit the 15, and stopped for our first In and Out burger as CA residents for dinner.

We went to my parent's house to pick up the keys of our new house, and then made it over to 520 Dakota Way. We walked in, and it was exactly like Scott envisioned (I thought the place looked bigger on the Internet, but it actually does fit all of our belongings). Bear went to check out the backyard, loved it, then did a circle of the entire place. He then came running down the stairs, couldn't really catch his grip on the wood floors on the first floor, and came running/sliding to what he thought was the open sliding door to the backyard. I have not seen him do anything funnier - he comes full speed and crashed into the closed sliding glass door. He stops, looks up at me in a dazed way, and then walks very slowly around in a circle. I open the door for him and he cautiously noses the air and makes his way outside. I'm sure this will never happen again!!

We then had our very first house guests - Bobby and Tracy. We still didn't have any furniture, so we all slept on the floor in our respective bedrooms, but it does count as houseguests. They brought us a housewarming present of a shower curtain and hooks, so we were all set!! Thanks guys!!

The next morning we were entertained once again by the marvelous Bear. The four of us are hanging out in the kitchen chatting and waiting for the movers to come, and Bear decides to snatch his jar of Peanut Butter off the counter and make a run for it. He bolts for the backyard and goes right through the sliding screen door. Off it comes, and we now have our first home improvement/repair project to work on.

The movers came and brought everything in, and now we are sitting around mountains of boxes in every room. We have started unpacking the kitchen and living room, and I think we are really making some headway. I'm sure this will take weeks, though!! I'm glad to say that we are here and making this into our home - thanks to all of you who have called and written to check in on us. Please come visit!!!!

Day 8: ER in AZ

Well, we did no traveling today, but it was an eventful day none the less!

This morning started out with sitting in the ER for Scott's split lip. Can I just say, ER rooms are not very efficient.
Bear was of course acting up as usual, and he head butted Scott in the chin, driving his upper tooth into his lower lip bed. It started bleeding and looked pretty nasty. So we ended up at the ER at the Flagstaff Medical Center waiting around for 2 hours, for them to treat him for a human bite. They gave him a tetanus shot, and told us that they can not stitch wounds that are inside the mouth or on the lips - it will cause an abscess that will immediately get infected. So now we know, don't waste time going to the ER unless you have a wound outside of your mouth. But it does look pretty nasty (swollen and purple along his lip), and I am glad that we went for them to take a look at. At least no one thought that his new wife was beating him up - but Scott thinks that makes a better story... They told Scott to avoid solid food for a couple of days and sent us on our way.

We then went to eat lunch in downtown Flagstaff at a restaurant called Monsoon's. It was kind of like a Thai/sushi place with a modern flair. Of course, Scott didn't stick to liquids as he was told, and then ended up splitting his lip again on a chopstick as we were eating. But we enjoyed our meal of unusual sushi, soup, spring rolls and salad and started making our way to the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon was amazing. I have never seen anything like it - and all the way there I kept looking for a mountain or something that indicated that we were getting close. I just figured that in order to go way down into the ground, we had to drive way up onto a mountain first. But we came upon it, and I think it's neat how you don't even really see it through the trees until you are coming on to the edge. For some reason, I also thought it was going to be a huge hole in the ground, not a winding gorge. Maybe I was thinking of something else entirely, but I thought it would be round and look like a huge crater where a meteor struck. I pictured us on the rim of the round hole, with a metal railing separating us from the deep fall into the middle of the hole. Isn't the Grand Canyon what they were driving to in the movie "Starman"? And didn't that alien ship come up and take him away from the hole in the ground? Maybe I was too little when it came out to really remember the details.

We did some light hiking, drove part of the Desert View Drive, and stopped to look at the Market area. I would really like to come back and actually camp at the ground and spend all day hiking. I wanted to take one of those steeper trails that take you down into the canyon - but we didn't really have time. Next time - good thing we got one of the National Park Passes that are good all year.

We are now back at the room relaxing and spending time with our stupid dog. We were so mad at him this morning, that we just left him in his crate all day at the hotel room, and didn't come back until about 8pm. He's actually behaving for the most part right now. One day, maybe he'll grow up.

We want to make an early start tomorrow, and try to hit Sedona and Jerome if we have some time. We then are on the last leg to Oceanside, and we will see our new house for the first time. So exciting!!

BTW - thanks to everyone who is reading this and posting comments. The Erie frog question is finally answered!! Thanks!

Day 5: CO / Day 6: NM/ Day 7: AZ

Day 5:
Today, we headed out to Denver to visit my friend Carrie. We left Casper, WY in the morning and took out time heading out to CO. We stopped by Target, and the mall in Casper - an obviously small town mall, but with some interesting things. Scott has been looking for a western shirt for a while, and he finally found one at the mall. It is blue and white striped(like most of the button down shirts that he owns) but with a little western flair to the buttons and the design. Very cute. Oh - and we went into a pet shop at the mall (that's our thing, we are always checking out the pet shops to play with the puppies) and there are very stange people, and animals at this place. There was nothing cute here at all (except 2 bunnies, which I think were meant for food, not pets). The place was full of boas and pythons, and there was about a 3 ft. alligator for sale in an aquarium!! And people were in there in awe looking at all these gross things. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.

We stopped for lunch at Arby's, and the manager was a hoot! There was a bit of a backup at the register because it looked like a baseball team had finished up a game and went to get lunch afterwards. She was on the only register, and she kept yelling at everyone who worked in the store that they were leaving her hanging and that she wanted to fire all of them because some customers were waiting about 10 minutes for their orders to be filled. Scott thinks it's her that should have been fired.

We then ended up in Denver to visit Carrie and Chris. They have done a great job with their house and it is so nice. We had a great cook out, and lots of wine. A perfect end to a great day (minus the 3.5 mile walk that we went one around the park - you know I hate to excercise!)

Day 6:
After a great breakfast at Carrie's, we went through CO Springs, drove through the Air Force Academy and saw the house that Scott used to live in, and stopped for lunch at the Pizza Hut in Pueblo, CO. So much for not eating chain food. There was a lot of fog all throughout CO, and when we got the border of CO and New Mexico we drove through a hail storm. It was so freaky, and it was coming down so hard that the ground looked like it was covered with snow. Once we got through that storm, the weather turned beautiful!

We made it to Las Vegas, NM - and our first stop was Montezuma Hot Springs. I really wanted to find a natural hot spring, and this was exactly what I was looking for. Basically, it was a hole in the ground (well, many holes since there were 4 different pools) with hot water in it. They were right by the river which was ice cold, and Scott was daring enough to do what "they" say you should do - go into the hot spring and then jump into the river and then back into the hot spring. There was one pool that was so hot that I could not get into it. But it was great, and we met some interesting people at the pools.

Then we checked into the Comfort Inn - showered all the icky algea off us - and then tried to find something for dinner. Since it was about 9:30pm, and this is a small town, we could not find anything. We ended up at a mexican restaurant attached to the hotel accross the street. We felt completely out of place in there - but when we were paying the owner started to talk to us. He said that Scott was the first white guy to come into the place in months, and that they are really hurting economically. He said a year ago, the place would have been packed and the highway busy all year round. Now, he says that there is not much traffic going through, and that everyone is feeling the effects of "that Bush". Too funny - and they were really impressed with my $4 tip - and even told me that I needed to come in there more often. I really hope things pick up for them. Oh - and he knew I spoke Spanish because he says that I look latin. I don't get it.

Day 7:
We left Las Vegas and headed to Santa Fe. We stopped along the way to check out the Pueblo ruins of Pecos. It was very interesting, and it made me feel very sad to see the effects of the Spanish invasions and to think of how the Indians must have felt about being forced to convert to Christianity.

In Santa Fe, we walked around the plaza and shops (fortunately, we did not buy anything!) and had lunch at a great Mexican restaurant called Coyote Cafe, on their rooftop dining area. We then headed west to Arizona, and had time to drive through the Petrified Forest National Park, and took some great pictures of the Painted Desert here. We then went on to Flagstaff, and are staying the night here at the Comfort Inn. We wanted to just chill and catch up on emails and such - so we ordered Chinese Food to the room and are wrapping our long day. Tomorrow - The Grand Canyon!! Good night...

Day 2,3, and of course 4

I really am trying to update this every day that we are on this trip, but with some of the motels that we are staying in and the slow dial up connections, it's just not worthwhile.

Day 2 - We started driving pretty early, and we passed Chicago. We kept on going and drove through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and made it to the border of Iowa. We ended up staying in Davenport, which is one of the Quad Cities.

I really wanted to try to not eat at any chain restaurants the entire trip, but sometimes that is just not possible!! We had dinner at the Lonestar Steakhouse, which was pretty good. We spent the night at a Motel 6 - my first time at a Motel 6. Very easy and convenient because we know that they allow dogs, but we probably drove up to 5-6 places to see if they allow dogs before finding the Motel 6. It was a decent room, but the standing circular shower just cracked me up.

Day 3 - This was a really early start for us! We were on the road before 8am, and we really wanted to make it to Rapid City, so we just kept on driving and driving. We drove through Iowa and into South Dakota. We did stop at a great rest area that looks over the Missouri River when we came into South Dakota. We took some pictures and then got back into the car to keep driving. We stopped for dinner at a very very small sketchy little town Kadoka, but dinner was really good! I had a Buffalo burger and fries at Jigger's Restaurant. Driving through town, we didn't see anything that looked like it would pass a Health Inspection, but then we saw this place which looked ok, and it had a police car and a bus in front of it. If cops and tour buses stop here, it must be pretty decent, right? We made it Rapid City at about 9:30pm. We stayed at a Red Roof Inn, again, another pleasant surprise of a motel.

Day 4 - We got up in the morning and headed out to Mount Rushmore. They advertised a breakfast speacial - where you can dine with the presidents for $3.95. It sounded great, and would be pretty so we headed out there first thing in the morning. Mount Rushmore is spectaculiar. We got some great pictures (look for postcards in the mail from us!) and then headed out to see Crazy Horse. At first, I was not really interested in coming here at all, but when we got there and saw the place and the plans that they had, I was really impressed. It is totally privately funded, and they refused $10M from the goverment to work on the project. I find this admirable, and I'm glad that they are standing their ground and not loosing focus of what they are doing and why. Considering Crazy Horse was shot in the back by and American soldier, I think they are going about it the right way. Scott said he thought I would like this because he knows that I don't go for government funded projects as much as private organizations. I thought that was funny, and it's something that I didn't even think of until he said it. He's right - I guess I did marry someone who knows me well!

We then went for a wine tasting near Mount Rushmore and got a couple bottles of wine (Prairie Berry Winery). We then ate lunch in Hill City, SD. Again, another buffalo burger - I can't get enough of it! Then we drove to Casper, WY. We took some little back roads which were incredible - and boring (a little 2 lane road). But we saw lots of sheep, cows, buffalo, and antelope. Very neat. There's not much going on in Casper, so we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant called Bodiccelli's in downtown Casper, and then saw Episode III. Amazing.

Now, we are headed to Denver!!

Day one - Wed May 25 - Erie, PA

On Monday afternoon we started out treck cross country. We first went up to NYC to visit Bryan, Mark and Erica. We had a great dinner at a Tapas restaurant and then spent the night in Bryan's new condo in Brooklyn. It's a great place.

Tuesday took us to Binghamton for lunch, then to Rome for the night. It was nice seeing Scott's family (my family now!!) and it was a bittersweet departure this morning.

Today, we officially started out trip. We went from Rome, across the state towards Buffalo, and we ended up in Erie, PA. We are staying in a very small hotel room (with the dog) and are just starting to wind down for the night. The dog is driving Scott nuts right now. He's just acting up now for some reason.

We drove on Rt 5, which pretty much skirts Lake Erie. It's so pretty, and there are so many vineyars and grape orchards all over the place here. We passed a Welch's plant, so we figure that most of the grapes around here end up in juice and jam. We went out to dinner at a great restaurant called the Smuggler's Wharf. Dinner was great and we got to see the sunset on the bay over the pier.

Tomorrow we are going to try to make it to Chicago - and if we are making good time we might try to pass Chicago and spend the night in the next city that looks interesting.

BTW - What's with all the statues of frogs in Eria, PA?

Happily every after?

Scott and I woke up on Sunday, and we felt like there is nothing different at all about our lives. It's kind of funny how for 6 months we have stressed out about the one big day - and now that it's all over, it seems like nothing has changed!!

Scott said - well, I guess that means we had our stuff together! I guess he's right.
It is strange saying - this is my husband. I wonder if I'll ever get used to it. I never did switch from boyfriend to fiance. This one might take just as long! And getting used to signing my new name is strange, too!

We closed on my condo and just this past Monday we closed on the new house in California. We are officially home owners!! Next: the drive....

Marital Bliss...

The big day arrived, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Highlights of the day:
I was so relaxed, and I have never felt to calm and confident that I am going the right thing, with the right person, for all the right reasons. I love you honey!!
The timing of the ceremony was incredible. It rained before the ceremony, but as we were walking down the aisle the sun came out. Then as soon as we walked up the aisle to the tent, the sky grew dark and it poured rain. Someone was looking out for us that day.
Although the rain did put a little damper on things, the result was a full rainbow out in the fields with the Blue Ridge Mts in the background. We got some great pictures.
The end of the night with the sparklers was as amazing as I hoped it would be.
And last but not least, all our wonderful friends and family who came out and celebrated with us - we love you, and thank you for all your support and love.

I will get pictures up on here as soon as I can figure out how to link them to this website.
What a wonderful day, and a wonderful start to our new life together.

It's the Final Countdown

I can't believe it's a week away!! I have been a mix of emotions the past week or so.
I started out very calm, and had the attitude that we've got time and everything will be fine.
Then, it switched to a frustrated feeling, and that I am completely done with this wedding thing and everything that isn't done yet doesn't really matter. I told Scott, if he wants programs, a seating chart, and table card, then he has to do them because I am done.
Then, I got really stressed out because these things have to get done, and now there isn't enough time!! We still had to get our parents and attendants gifts, etc. I ordered them, now it's just waiting and hoping that they arrive before the wedding.

Now, I think I am a little calmer, we still have a lot of work to do, but I am in complete disbelief that we are a week away. This week is either going to fly by, or it's going to drag on like you wouldn't believe. We still have to do:
Seating Chart and the pictures and names of all the tables
Out of town baggies
Buy a slew of things (most importantly a Guest book)
Wash and put ribbons on all the guest favors
Do programs (if we have them at all)
Put together the CDs for all the music for the ceremony and breaks

My goal is to have all this done by Wed morning - but who knows if that's really going to happen. Tricia is great and is coming over to help on Tuesday night. Maybe that will force me to get my act together and at least have everything printed out.

This past weekend was Scott's bachelor party, and the girls took me out to dinner on Fri night, and then on Sat night. What wonderful friends we have!! And what a headache I had after Saturday night!! But on Sunday, Scott was so cuddly and sweet, and he seems really excited to be getting down to the BIG DAY. He is so amazing. I really lucked out in finding him.

Oh well - it's 6 days away!!!!!!