Surf Dogs

We have been here almost 3 years, and we have finally taken our kids (Chewie and the Bear)to the beach. On Sunday, we decided to drive down to Del Mar, where they have an off-leash dog beach. This is going to have to become a monthly family outing - it was a lot of fun.

Bear was a little hesitant of the waves at first. But once he got used to it and started seeing all the other dogs in the water, he really got into it. Scott was playing catch with him, throwing the ball out into the ocean and Bear would run after it, jump the waves, swim out to the ball, and bring it back. A couple of times the wave would catch the ball and start bringing it back to shore (now it's behind Bear), but Bear didn't realize it so he just kept on swimming out to where he thinks the ball is. I got a little freaked out, just imagining my dog continuing to swim out in the Pacific in search of the missing tennis ball. But Scott was able to call his name, throw another ball and get Bear to start swimming back.

I was a little hesitant of Bear taking a run for freedom and not being able to get him back. But he was great off leash. He didn't get too far away from us, and would turn around every now and then to make sure that we were still with him. It did take a bit of chasing to get him to put the leash back on and go home, but that's how kids are when you tell them they need to leave the park...

Chewie on the other hand kept us on our toes. I thought she would stay right by us, but she turned out to be the runner. She would head up to anyone and anything that caught her eye, with no regard of how far back she was leaving us. Fortunatley, she tires out quickly and we can catch up with her. At one point, she found a shady spot and dug a hole in the sand and lied down. I had to pick her up to get her back into the water to cool off. She is not a water lover - she saw a wave coming and would run away from it. I think I used to do that when I was little too.

Once we got home, both dogs passed out and remained stationary for the rest of the day. What a great way to tire them out! The 90 degree weather that we had this past weekend didn't help, either. Each year seems to get hotter and hotter, earlier and earlier...

Scott said that Bear was eyeing the kids with boogie boards - I'm sure he was thinking "That's a really big chew toy, I want it".
Next step - surfing lessons for theBear .

Out with Patrick Swayze, Hello Matt Damon (now 35 years old)

After about 10 months of not cutting his hair, Scott had started to look like the Dirty Dancing version of Patrick Swayze - brown waves that move when he salsas.
It got on his nerves.
Now - I am married to the Matt Damon version (much sexier, hon) and my adorable husband turned 35 years old last week.

Scott didn't want to do anything special for his birthday, which was good because I was starting to run out of ideas for surprise get togethers. So we opted to stay at home and have me attempt to cook him a nice romantic dinner. For those of you that know me well, this is a very generous gift as I don't like being in the kitchen much.

Menu:
Artichoke dip as a starter - I forgot the bread, so had to ask the birthday boy to stop at the store on his way home without trying to spoil the surprise menu.
Blue Cheese crusted Fillet Mignon - Scott likes Blue Cheese, so I thought this was perfect for him
Spinach and Onion sauteed
Chocolate Lava cake - which did not come out exactly as I hoped it would, but it was good and we have been eating leftover cake for dessert every night since.

On Saturday, my parents wanted to celebrate Scott's birthday with us and we ended up at the Greek American Family Restaurant in Encinitas. We ordered the flaming cheese dish, and went through 2 bottle of wine. That's a first for the 4 of us. They didn't have the Tilapia, which is what Scott really wanted, but it was a good night out none the less.

Happy Birthday - and many mooooooooooore!

The world of Podcasting

In the past month or so, I have discovered Podcasts (and ebooks).
I mainly started listening to these with the idea that I could listen to them at the gym. I have ended up mainly listening to them while I am working, and not at the gym (that's another topic, entirely, see below).

Podcasts are kind of fascinating. I have started listening to:
The LOST podcast with Jay and Jack
The Dawson's Creek podcast

Those that know me know that I love D.Creek, and I think it's intersting that this podcast is aired by another D.Creek fan. What's more intersting is that this just started airing last year (even though the show has been off the air since about 2003). That means that there are other D.Creek fans who still love the show, and there are other D.Creek fans who actually listen to this even though the show is in syndication. Amazing, and see, I am not the only freak. Although I may be 10 years older - but hey, it's keeping me young!

I have also realized that I cannot listen to something well, and do anything else at the same time. I'm not counting mindless listening to the radio or humming along to a tune while you do chores. I should have known I would have this problem when I noticed that I cannot talk on the phone and have anyone else talk to me at the same time. I can only listen to one person at a time, and usually the one who is louder wins. But while I have this podcast on - I notice that I stop typing, then I sit back in my chair, and then I realize 20 minutes has past and my screen saver is whirling around. And when I notice that I have been able to keep tying and get some work done, I have not listened to a word of this podcast and must rewind the entire thing. Those people that work and listen to eBooks, how do you do it?

Anyway, I have found another mindless way to pass the time, and I need to start listening to these at the gym - that is my March resolution!
Also , does this mean that any old Joe Bloe can air a podcast? Will there someone in the universe who will listen to any silly old topic that someone wants to talk about? Hmmmm, maybe I can start "A day in the life of Chewie and the Bear"...

A walk in the clouds

This past weekend, Scott decided we needed a weekend away. He just got back from his 2 week business trip, and had a 4 day weekend to enjoy. I didn't have a 4 day weekend, but we decided to kennel the dogs and spend the weekend in Temecula wine country. We have been meaning to do this for a couple of years, and finally made it out there for a tasting.

We stayed the night at the South Coast Winery, and their villas were very nice. I loved how they were each separate rooms with no sharing walls. This means that you had no neighbor's walking heavy above you, or loud neighbors next door (like we do at home most nights...). There was a bottle of wine for us in the room, and Jacuzzi tub.

We started Saturday out with a wine tasting, and it shocked me how Temecula wine country has turned into the bar scene of he SD area. It was packed, and you had to fight for a place up at the tasting bar. There were people drunk, and loud, and just hanging out. Granted, I had a buzz going after our 5 tastings (and the 2 extras that she gave us), but I don't think I would just hang out in there. There is a separate area with tables for Wine Club members, which we were considering (and still are), and I could see myself hanging out there for a few hours on a nice day. If we actually lived in Temecuala (which we did find our dream started home out there 3 years ago), we would definitely be part of the wine circuit.

We then headed over to the restaurant for a little appetizer and a bottle of wine. After relaxing for a bit, we headed back later that night for a superb dinner. Scott had the Lamb chops, and I had veal and beef riggi's. It was excellent, and worth the drive out here for a nice dinner out (more reason to become a club member).

Sunday was our tour of the winery, and it has sparked the dream of having a vineyard in both of us again. We learned a lot from the tour guide, and ended the tour with a tasting and tips about pairing wine and food. We learned that the sweet wines I like (like the white Germans that we always buy) go really well with spicy food. Scott knew a lot of the workings of the winery because of his Gallo experience, and I think we should start looking for jobs or ways we can become active at the wineries in Temecula (it's not that far of a drive).

On our way back home, we stopped at one other winery for a tasting, and in comparison to where we just were, it was on a different scale completely (small, with 2 people working the tasting room, and nothing fancy about it at all) and the wine was not as great in my opinion either (I didn't say, let's buy a bottle to any of them). Maybe I was wine'd out by this point in the weekend, but I wouldn't want to go back there.

The man who owns the vineyard for South Coast bought the land only due to his father's pressure to buy it. It sat there for years, and he saw the movie "A Walk in the Clouds" and thought that his land looked a lot like that setting. So he went out and tested the soil and now has this thriving vineyard (the largest in Temecula).
I think I'm going to go out back and test our soil now :-)

Jan, Feb, March - oh my!

I bought this little planner (pocket size, really) so that I can keep track of the things that are happening, the things that I need to do, etc. I am managing to write things down in it, but then forget it on my desk and end up never taking it with me. But it's a start, and I have 10 more months this year to perfect the idea of keeping a planner (right now, I just know that I need to go to work at 7am, and then my Outlook calendar keeps me in check).

But it's nice to see the things that we have done, and the things that are coming up this year. Now, there is no excuse for forgetting to put key events in Scott's Xmas letter. I will proof read his letter with my planner in hand.

After our great trip to NYC, I got sick - the worst sick I've been since moving here. I blame it on the East Coast weather, which is why I am even more adamant about not moving away from SD :-) It knocked me out for about 2 weeks, and I spend a good number of days in bed.

I was still slightly ill, but recovered enough to head over to a NFL Playoff game (to watch the Giants win) and then we headed to the House of Blues to see Social Distortion. It was a sold out show, and I was glad to see the mix of demographics in the audiense. I didn't want to be the oldest in the crowd (which we definitely weren't since this band started when I was 2 years old), and we weren't the youngest either (since they can still sell out every show). It was great, and Scott really liked them. I wasn't sure how much he would enjoy it, since he didn't know them too well, but he is now a big Social D fan.

They have Reastaurant Week here in SD, which they also had in DC and we used to love it. Basically, restaurants put together a fixed price 3 course menu, so that you have the opportunity to dine at some really nice places for a reasonable price (although one of our restaurants still came out to a $200 dinner with wine). We ate at the Hotel Del, 1500 Ocean Restaurant. It was very good, and we each had a wine sampler which I think was the best part. We each left dinner that night with 3 glasses of wine, and I have a new favorite Chardonnay. At the end of the week, we went out with some friends to Pacifica Del Mar, a seafood restaurant in Del Mar. It was highly recommended, and the food was excellent. My only complaint is that I thought it was going to be right on the water - but the pictures were deceiving and we were actually off the 101.

We decided to throw a Superbowl party at our house, and went all out with over 100 wings, pizza, lots of munchies, and Giants decorations. I think it was our balloons and good mojo that sparked the win. Way to go Giants!

The week after the game, Scott left for a 2 week business trip. You know, 2 weeks seems like nothing now, and it's actually kind of a nice change of pace to have 2 weeks to myself (with dogs, who slept on the bed with me of course). I lost 4 lbs that trip - I think it's becuse Scott wasn't home to cook for me. But by Wed of week 2, I was definitely ready for my hubby to come home. while Scott was away, I drove up to Santa Monica to meet up with Tricia who was in town for the Grammy's (I know, how do you get her job, right?) and I caught up with Steven, who I hadn't talked to since our wedding. Needless to say, we had lots to catch up on!

That pretty much takes us right into March, and I can't believe how fast time is flying! We ended the month of Feb with my parents over for dinner, and Scott made his (now becoming a fav) lamb stew. My parents then left for a trip to Alaska, and I can't wait to hear all about it when they get back.

Having a planner is coming in handy - and it is making me plan lots of fun things for us to do! We've got Def Leppard coming up this summer, and hopefully many more fun things to come.

Happy New Year! a little late, I know

I know, but better late than never, right?

To catch the 1.2 people who read this blog up to date - we spend New Years in cold New York city. It was soooooo cold, but a very fun trip! We got to see lots of good friends and family, we ate spectacular food, and overall it was a great way to bring in the new year (although no one wanted to play Singing Bee with me).

Day 1 and 2:
We had a very easy and drama free trip for San Diego to LaGuardia. Poor Keith and Kara just got back from their cruise that day, and this was their second trip to LGA which was the most crowded I have ever seen it. That's what you get for flying on a holiday, huh?
The next Day (New Years Eve) we toured around Queens and Garden City. We then celebrated the New Year at Casa de Weinsaft. Kara made an amazing dinner that night (which I still need the recipe for).

Day 3 and 4:
On New Years Day, we recovered from the night before, and then headed out to see Jeff's apartment near Mid-town. It was very nice and very small. Just yesterday, Scott and I were in a hotel room (I will post details of that shortly, not to worry), and said - Man, I think this hotel room is just a little bit smaller than Jeff's apartment. We concluded that as a single person, we could live there and get rid of all of our earthly material possessions. But married, no way in hell would we fit. That night we headed to Chinatown and had another great dinner with Bryan.
The following day consisted of walking around NYC, and finding the Saltena place in Queens. Mixed into our sightseeing was Keith's cupcake break - yummy, although when did cupcakes get so popular? We ended the night at Gotham Bar and Grill for dinner, another great meal.

Day 4 and 5:
The following day was the coldest day that I have experienced in about 3 years. It was miserable. And of course, that's the day that we walked all over the place in NYC (Pomme Frites was our wonderful break!). We had real coal over NY style pizza for lunch at Lombardi's, and ended the night in Brooklyn for dinner at Peter Luger. OMG, this was the best steak I think I have ever had, although it might have been the 2 drinks in me altering my perception. This was totally our kind of place, and we took the T-Bone home for the dogs to enjoy. They are big Peter Luger fans, too.
The next day we flew home (again, hassle free) and recovered from the trip and picked up the doggies from the kennel. Then, it was back to work and the start of 2008.

We'll have to see what kind of surprises 2008 has to bring - although it's been a very low key year so far (knock on wood).
Happy New Year!

Christmas came and went

Well, Merry Christmas.
It seems to have just come and gone in a flash. All the preparation, and the high hopes for "traditions", gone in just one day.
It was hard to get in the holiday spirit this year (as you can tell by my t-shirt). Scott says it's because it's so damn hot here (it was 75 on xmas day), but I think it's because we are getting older and that magic of Christmas is just gone. It might also be the fact that we are away from our families, and although I love you honey, us and the furry kids do not make a large and exciting family.

What was a very nice treat for me this year was that I got 2 whole days off work this year. SoftMed was a grinch and only gave us the 25th off, but 3M gives us both the 24th and 25th off! A 3 day work week is so nice, but I do seem swamped with trying to get everything taken care of and covered while we are out all of next week. There is only one site that I feel that I am leaving high and dry, since they are going live the week that I get back to the office - but I think they can handle it and they will be fine. If everything is not perfect for go-live, I really don't care too much - they will be little things anyway...

So we started the holiday season with getting a tree, and decorating it. Bear and Chewie had their fill of some ornaments, which you can clearly see the next morning on their bathroom breaks. I thought I was doing so well with Xmas shopping, and my goal was to get everything in the mail before Dec 15th. Well, although everything was purchased, it was the boxing and packing up that took us longer than expected. So after 3 trips to Postal Annex and 1 to USPS (and the equivalent in shipping costs than the total presents), we finally got everything packed and shipped only to learn that most things would arrive the day after xmas.

I really wanted to bake some bread (I got these adorable mini-loaf ceramic pans) and make some cookies (I actually bought a cookie press), but these did not get done in time to mail out to family. I finally made the bread on xmas eve, and guess who ate 2 whole mini-loaves of bread... Bear of course. I was pissed. So these cute ceramic pans will wait until next year to be given to a human. Another tradition that was not fulfilled this year was our snowboarding on xmas day. I woke up late, it was 75 degrees, and it just didn't seem worth it to make the trek out there. Oh well...
Scott's xmas letter this year was just not very funny - I really married more of a comic than comes across in the letter. And we missed some key highlights of the year! We went to Vegas (Scott's first time there, you think he would remember it and all those boobies), and he went sea fishing with my Dad in June. The summer was not entirely a boring job hunting summer.

We did have a very nice xmas eve with my parents and their friend Rich. It's very sad, he was all alone on xmas so my parents invited him over. He brought pictures of his grand kids to show us (they are in NC), and he was wearing a very festive red vest. Mom made a pork dish that was excellent, which is a traditional Bolivian dish. Who knew we had Bolivian traditions?! Needless to say, I have never had this pork dish at xmas.. so much for traditions, huh? It's funny - I am completely 100% my dad's daughter. We gave each other the same thing - a wine decanter gadget that decants as it pours out of the bottle. So we did a taste test and this thing really works! I love it!

Scott and I exchanged presents xmas morning - Santa was good to us, not so much to the naughty dogs. We then proceeded to chill the rest of the day and actually found an open grocery store to make my lasagna for dinner that night. Overall, a great xmas!

Now - onto 2008, and I am totally looking forward to our trip to NYC to ring in the new year with the Weinsafts. Woohoo!
Happy New Year everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My husband is making me update this blog. I am not doing thus under my own free will (those of you who know me, if I was doing this on my own this post would not show up for another 2 weeks).

We had a great Thanksgiving and the had a good past couple of weeks.
We started out Turkey day with the Oceanside Turkey Trot (5k). This was our second year running it, and my goal was to run the entire race without walking. I met my goal (it was not fun, considering we hadn't really trained in the weeks leading up to it), but we got through the whole thing in 36 minutes! That is great for me, and Scott's calves were sore the next day because he's a trooper and ran at my pace the entire way.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house (just for a lowly 4 people and 2 dogs). My parents came over and we had a great meal:
Smoked turkey breast, smoked on the outdoor grill
Honey Glazed ham
What is becoming our traditional stuffing (Scott calls it dressing)
Mom's whipped sweet potatoes
"Healthy" mashed potatoes - really, it's cauliflower
Colette's favorite Oceanspray cranberry sauce (jellied, of course)
Pumpkin cranberry bread
Pecan and pumpkin pie
Overall, a great time, and we finished off the evening by watching "Mr. Brooks", which was a very good movie to my surprise.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we went to LA to watch the Ohio State/Michigan game at our friend Eric's. It was a good weekend and we even brought the dogs. Billy and Amy had the baby over the weekend, but hopefully we'll get to meet her in the next week or two. It seems as if everyone we know is popping out babies this year.

Chewie got a new crate, and it lasted less than one week. She ate through the zipper on the front, so I had to sew it up, and now the only way in or out is through the top of the crate. Somehow, she still managed to get out of it last night. Scott is now calling her "Chewdini", a fitting name.

Well, it's time to bring out the "Ba humbug" t-shirt, and see what the rest of the year has in store for us.

Happy Halloween!!

As much as I think that my life if very ordinary and ho-hum, a lot has been going on in actuality.

First and Foremost - my wonderful husband's job search has come to an end! He has decided to play professional poker, and is going on tour starting in Nov. When he is not doing that, he is going to spend his days at the beach surfing :-)
Seriously? Seriously.
No - he is working for L-3 Communications as a defense/military contractor. He is working on base (again) and doing logistics/planning (again), but this time he gets to go to work as a civilian, and he can grow facial hair to his hearts content. He actually is clean shaven at the moment and is growing a nice head of hair in. Just this past weekend he complained about how "conservative" he looks with hair - but I think he's just getting used to it. All these month of hard work growing it out will pay off one day, and he'll find himself looking like Sawyer from Lost soon enough (speaking of Lost, I can't believe they are making us wait until Feb to start the new season!).

Next, on a sadder note - there were some "wicked" wildfires here in San Diego last week. We actually drove right into the fires in Ramona/Julian one day (out of pure stupidity). We were going to Julian to look around, buy some pies, etc, and as we were driving there we did see a huge smoke cloud in the distance. As we continued to get closer we knew it was a fire somewhere, but the roads were not closed. We kept driving, and we were about 10 miles from Julian when the smoke started to get very thick. People driving started to turn around, and people were pulling over and getting out of their cars. We thought we could continue to plow through, especially since we were so close, but then the car filled up with smoke and you could not see more than 1 foot in front of the windshield. Scott says that about 10 feet away there was a blaze - but I missed that. I think I would have freaked out if I actually saw fire. So we managed to turn around and then headed home. It wasn't until we got home that we learned the true gravity of the situation, and we were right there at the start of the Witch Creek Fire. For almost a week, every station has 24 hour coverage of the fires, the evacuations, and the disaster of it all. I must say, NBC San Diego is my favorite news station out here, and they did a great job.

Just to mention some of the things that we have been doing lately:
I just learned how to link URLs to my blog, so watch out!
We went to see the "Last Comic Standing" tour at Pala Casino. Very funny, although we wee bummed that Jon Reep was not on tour - we'll have to catch him later.
We went to see Colin Hay at The Belly Up - he is great, and puts on a wonderful show.

A big congratulations to the many people in our lives who are having children!
It seems like everyone is pregnant right now...

Here is a pic of our fat little devil - Happy Halloween!

Have you ever shot your gun in the air and screamed?

We have been trying to get out and about and do more things around here.
Since we are trying to stay in this area, and my big excuse for not wanting to leave has been "But I want to be close to the beach", we have tried to go to the beach more often. I do like it. Scott is trying to get into surfing and has bought his first surf board. He's not a Point Break surfer yet, but I'm sure he'll get there.
Talking of Point Break - we really liked the movie Hot Fuzz.

In the past couple of weeks, we have gone to see "Mama Mia" downtown, and have also gone to "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Moonlight Theater. It's kind of like Wolf Trap, but on a much smaller scale. The shows were excellent, and I really miss doing things like that. We are heading to a Padres game on Monday - so we really are trying to keep busy and entertained.

I can't believe fall is already here, and we are starting to train for the Thanksgiving 5k again this year. But what I'm really looking forward to our stuffing, yum!

Where is the time going to?

I am sitting here waiting for a phone call from someone at work, and I have a feeling that it is not going to come. But you know how as soon as you start doing something that you probably shouldn't be wasting your time on during working hours, the phone rings... and there you go, the phone just rang!

Anyway - The most exciting thing in May was Scott finally had his last day of work at USMC! He was able to take leave starting on May 15th, and we promptly went on a week vacation to Upstate NY to visit his family. Although his brother in law, Mike, is in Iraq right now, the family was once again intact.
On a sadder note, a week after our visit, Grandpa Major passed away. So Scott was back on a plane, and this time for a much sadder reunion. The family is doing well though, and everyone is back into their daily routine.

June - What a June! I had a birthday, and I am feeling slighly older. I think it's mainly due to the 10 lbs that I put on since Thanksgiving, but I am definitely feeling like I am well out of my 20s now.
Our good friends Keith and Kara moved away - so so sad. So we tried to see them as much as possible and had many dinners and "So you think you can dance" nights. But it didn't feel like goodbye at all - maybe it's because I know we will keep in touch with them and these are friends that we will surely have well into a ripe old age. They just happen to live a little further away now, that's all!
And Scott is winding down to his last official day in the Marine Corps on July 30. Kinda scary, considering he doesn't have a job lined up yet, but overall I am feeling fine and confident, and we won't be eating ramen noodles for at least another 2 weeks or so - so things are good!

I'll post some pictures shortly, and keep everyone updated. I think I have a pic of Scott with a beard somewhere around here...

Yard Sale Mentality

On Saturday, we had a yard sale. It was one of the strangest things that we have experienced out here.

I put an add in the paper to run on Thursday and Friday. We made signs, and have been collecting things to sell in our garage for the past month. We then got little price tag stickers and spent Friday night pricing all of our items. I must say that we were very organized for this yard sale. I went into it thinking that if we at least made $28, I would make back what I spend in the add.

The sale started at 7am on Saturday morning. I am not a morning person, so Scott was out of bed at 5:30 and getting things ready. He came up to wake me up at about 6am and said that we had stalkers in the front of our house. Of course, I didn't believe him - so it was finally that statement that got me out of bed and peering out of the window. No one was there - ha, I knew he was kidding.

Scott put the garage door up at about 6:45, then came inside to get his cup of coffee. When he went back outside, there was a man in our garage already looking at all of our stuff. When I came outside 5 minutes later, our entire set of pots and pans were already sold and the man was loading them into his truck. Over the next hour, a mass of people (mostly Mexicans, I think) came and bought the majority of our things. They really wanted to bargain, and we got talked down on most of our things. I found it odd, but the main tactic seemed to be for them to make a pile of things and say "If I buy all of this, how much will you charge me?". We added everything up individually, and normally lowered it by about $5, and that seemed to make them happy. Our best sale (although I think we could have gotten more money for it) was our 27" TV, the TV stand, and an old microwave for $80. Very quickly, we watched our belongings drive away...

People also came up to us and asked us if we had specific items. One person asked if we had any sleeping bags, and if I had found Scott's sleeping bag in the garage, it definitely would have been sold. Another person came looking for lamps, and another person asked for clothing. We didn't intent to sell any clothes, but when asked I immediately went upstairs and raided the closet for shoes and clothes that I could get rid of. Selling things is so addicting!

Overall, we made over $400, which is amazing! By 10am, people were just trickling in and we decided to shut down early at noon. It is strange though - they really just wanted our electronics and junk. All the nice thing that were in unopened boxes (picture frames, music boxes, wedding gifts) they couldn't care less about. They really wanted things like Scott's old suitcase that went around the world and had a 2" layer of dust on it. I wonder if we go to the flea market next week, if we will see all of things for sale for twice as much as we sold them... Oh well - I think we are going to have to this at least once a year to clean house!! It's so refreshing!

Latest updates

Scott has been bugging me for a while to update my blog. He said that there are so many things that we have done lately that it needs to be posted. OK - here goes.

First, I do want to say that I am horrified about the shootings at VA Tech, and that my thoughts are with Hokies everywhere, especially those in the Burg.

At the end of March, we went on a trip to Vegas with our friends Keith and Kara. It was a lot of fun, and it was also Scott's first time in Vegas. We stayed on Freemont, in the Golden Nuggett. It was so much nicer of a hotel than I imagined! I guess I was expecting an old hotel, since it was in the old part of town, but it was really nice and they just revamped the pool and put in a shark tank with a water tube slide. I did go down the slide - totally under duress. We gambled and lost a little - nothing too severe, but we are eating Ramen noodles for a couple of months :-) We also went to go see a show called Fantasy at the Luxor. Kara had a friend in the show, who hooked us up with tickets. We were in the second row, and yes, we saw lots of boobies (16 to be exact, over and over again). But it was a very funny and well put together show (we had no idea what to expect when we sat down). I must say that the grand finale of our trip was getting a bit tipsy at the pool bar while checking out of the hotel, and then going for dim sum at Ping Pang Pong! We had seen the billboard for this restaurant starting about 50 miles outside of Vegas, so we had to go see what it was all about. Overall, it was a great trip, and we need to go back again before we leave SoCal.

Scott had his Birthday last week - the big old 34! He didn't want to do anything special for his birthday, so we went out to dinner on Tuesday to Claim Jumper and got him a fattie steak. He asked "Are there going to be people waiting for us when we get there?". I didn't plan anything for your Birthday today, sorry hon. But notice the key word - Today. On Friday we went downtown to pick up my friend Kelli from the airport, and then moved onto Karl Strauss where his surprise party was waiting. I think he had a great time, and it is always wonderful to see him actually surprised and taken aback when things like this pull together. I must say - Kara and Keith went above and beyond ensuring that Scott had a great Birthday, with presents, balloons, and a cake. And of course, their company!! Kara and Keith - you have become such wonderful friends - I am really going to miss you a lot when you move this summer :-(

Scott went to a job fair this weekend, and things are looking ok on the job front these days. I think Scott was able to practice his interviewing skills, and feels much more comfortable with it now. I knew it would only take a couple of times for him to start feeling normal, and less nervous, during interviews. But as the weeks progress, I'm sure there will be more job hunting, interviews, and I'll keep you updated on our progress.

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...