Bear - our pomeranian mix

A few weeks ago, I ordered a DNA Breed testing kit for Bear. You take a cheek swab from the dog, mail it into the company, and they test it for specific breed DNA. There are about 50 or so breeds on the list, and we figured Bear fit into those (everything we ever thought Bear "might" be is on the list).

We got the results over the weekend, and they were surprising!
The results come back with different breeds, listed as Level 1-4.
Level 1 means that over 75% of your dog is from the breed listed. Bear did not have any level 1 results.
Level 2 means that each breed listed represents 34-75% of your dog. I thought surely Bear would have lab or golden retreiver here. Bear didn't have any level 2 results.

Now it gets interesting!
Level 3 means that each breed listed is 20-36% of your dog. Bear came back with 2 breeds - English Springer Spaniel and Pomeranian (WTF)! Maybe that's why Bear gets along so well with little dogs, he's one at heart.
Level 4 means that each breed listed is 10-19% of your dog. Bear had 4 breeds - German Shepherd (which Scott was sure Bear had in him), Golden Retreiver (which we knew, and the shelter said that his mom was a Golden), Saint Bernard (WHAT?), and Siberian Husky (again, WHAT?).

The results came with a little write up of the temperment and common health conditions of each breed listed.
So, Bear is truly a mutt in every sense of the word.

Our first family picture

Tonight, we went to our 4D ultrasound. It was neat, and I think my parents really enjoyed being there. Mom keeps reminding me that when I was born, there were no ultrasounds.
So, Baby Z is still a girl - so that's completely confirmed now.
She has a very strong jaw line - definitely Scott's jaw and chin. Isn't it amazing how you can see things like that this early on?
She has very big Angelina Jolie lips - where did these come from?
We were able to see some hair, not a whole lot yet. But we know she's going to have some hair when she is born.
Her head is down, so we've got that going for us.

Her eyes were closed the whole time, but my mom thinks she's going to have a little bit of asian in her eyes. My dad says he can't really tell at all, but that's just my mom's gut feel. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Oh, and it seems like she had long legs.
Baby Z - Can't wait to meet you!

Fruits and Veggies - is it possible to eat too much?

For over a year now, everytime we went into Costco and walked down a particular isle, I would enthusiatically say "Look, the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer!". It's not that it's just fun to say, but it has always looked like a pretty cool product.

One weekend, there was nothing on TV and an infomercial for the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer came on. Of course, I watched the entire thing (I'm having Magic Bullet flashbacks, which is also a great product), and my desire to own this juicer immediately doubled. So I asked Scott if we could get one for my birthday, but with my birthday being more than 2 months away, I asked if we could get it early. And I promised that we would never have to buy apple juice or orange juice ever again. Thus, I am now the proud owner of a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer Deluxe!

I really like this product. So far I have made:
1 - Carrot, Apple, Pear juice
2 - Carrot and Apple juice
3 - Pineapple, Grapefruit and Strawberry juice (definitely my favorite so far)
4 - Carrot and Cucumber juice
Naturally, I like the ones with fruit in them since they are sweeter. But I also figure that this is a good way to increase my fruit and especially veggie intake. And the juicer came with 2 recipe books, and rather than waste all the pulp that goes with juicing there were ideas of putting it into muffins, or making breads or cakes. What a great idea - what better way to make a carrot cake, right? So my next project will be to make bran muffins with the pulp.
BTW - The info on the box says that Jack is over 90 years old - wow, he looks amazing. If I look like that when I am 90, this is totally worth it.

I hate to sound like a sales pitch - but it also is pretty easy to clean, and it is quiet. The only thing I don't like about it is that the spout only fits our shorter glasses underneath. I would prefer to put a taller glass to catch the juice or use one of my little pitchers. So what we have been doing is holding the pitcher underneath the spout with one hand, and feeding the food and using the juicer with the other hand. And it's up on our 3 inch cutting board to add a little extra height.

Right now, I am drinking concoction #3 from above - and decided to eat the pulp straight out of a bowl. It's just grapefruits, pinapples and strawberries - and it's all mashed up and mixed together - pretty yummy. If you freeze it, I bet it would make a great sorbet like dessert. But then it makes me wonder - is it possible to overdose on fruits and veggies? This means that my breakfast conssisted of an entire pineapple, one grapefruit, and 7 strawberries. Hmmm - maybe no more juice for me today... good thing I didn't do this on the morning of my glucose test last week (still awaiting results)!

Where the ocean meets the pine trees

Last week, we went on our Big Sur Trip.
Check out our picture page, The Z's Story for more pics from the trip.

We started out on Thursday morning, and drove on the highway for a bit, then cut over onto the PCH to do the scenic route. We drove through Santa Monica, Malibu and some other towns. We then found ourselves in Oxnard, which is where Scott spent about 2 weeks on a business trip. He remembered a good deli from that trip, so we stopped and had lunch there. After eating, we got back on the road and headed up through Santa Barbara and reached our first night's destination - San Simeon.

We stayed at the San Simeon Lodge, a motel of sorts, with a beach view. The web site said it was one block from the beach, but it failed to say that the street you have to cross is Highway 1... I think next time we will try to stay in Cambria, or at least across the street at the Best Western which is on the ocean side of the street. We did walk across though, and saw some people surf gliding (I don't know what else to call it), and although it was a windy day it was pretty out there. For dinner we went into the town of Cambria, and ate dinner at Mustache Pete's (very good food), and had desert at Linn's. We had a NYC flashback, where the desert was more than our dinner! But it was an awesome desert!

The next day we started with breakfast at the park/pier, and then toured the Hearst Castle. It is an amazing house - and I can't imagine having that much money to build whatever my heart desires. I'm dreaming about hitting the lottery...

After the tour, we drove up to Big Sur. It's a spectacular drive, and was lots of fun to do in the mini. Highway one curves around the cliffs and I'm glad Scott was driving, because I probably would have been driving 20 mph. We had lunch at Nepenthe, where you definitely pay for the view. We stayed at the Big Sur River Inn, a little place with motel style rooms, and no TV so that you can bee "one with nature", plus the wi-fi they advertised didn't work for us at all. I didn't think it would be bad, but we got a little bored in the room at night. We hung out at the bar the first night, and went to sleep fairly early the second night. It's amazing how dependent we have become on background distractions like TV and internet.
It was amusing listening to the bartender talk about the classes he was taking at the Esalen Institute. This is a school with spiritual retreats and workshops, and the home of hot springs that are only open to the public between 1am and 3pm. Maybe that's why the hotel rooms don't have TVs, they want you to go check this out! Scott keeps saying that the area was very "granola", and I think he is basing it on the conversations we heard at the bar that night.

The next day we started out with breakfast at Deetjen's (Mark recommended this as a place to stay, but they were booked). The food was good, and we told the waitress that we were looking for a good place to go hiking after breakfast. She recommended Point Lobos State Park, and also suggested that we park on the street and walk in to save on the parking fees. What good advice, and this was my favorite part of the trip. I felt pretty good walking and hiking, considering the buddha belly that I am carrying, and some of the best pictures were from this hike. After hiking for a few hours, we did the 17 mile drive (kind of dissapointing, not worth the money to drive through a rich neighborhood), and then headed onto Monterey, and Carmel for dinner. We weren't terribly impressed with those towns, either. They just seemed very touristy, and I guess that is not what I was looking for on this trip. We did have dinner at the Hog's Breath Inn, which was owned by Clint Eastwood at one point in time. I don't recommend it for dinner, but it's a very cool setting to grab a beer and sit at the outdoor fireplaces. On the drive home, we got back to Big Sur just in time to pull over on the highway and take in a sunset.

Sunday consisted of the drive home - again winding back on Highway One for some last minute pictures, and then cut back on the highway to save time and get home before dinner time. Mom stayed and watched the pooches while we were gone (thanks mom!). What a great weekend...

Happy Birthday, daddy to be

Happy Birthday, hon!
It's strange, it feels like this may be our last year where the focus on birthdays are on ourselves. Going forward, I'm sure the birthdays will be about Baby Z and planning parties (I'm sure we won't forget to celebrate those, the way we forget to celebrate Bear and Chewie Bdays). So even though this is a low key birthday, just you and me celebrating tonight - know that I love you and have enjoyed being a part of your life and birthday celebrations for the past 5 years (even the one in which you were in Iraq).
I think the funniest birthday was in DC, when we all had a surprise get together and Charles was there before us. He tried to play it off saying he was meeting a date there that night - what a coincidence (plus no date showed up)... I think it took you 15 minutes to figure out this was your party! Then Billy called, and you couldn't figure out how he had such good timing to call you when all your friends were there to say hi. My silly husband...
I love you, forever.

Aging - Now, I really feel old

This morning, I pulled out about 5 white hairs (I believe the term is grays, but they are just nasty, white strands of hair that seems to be sprouting from my head). As if I wasn't already having to come to terms that I am no longer in my 20's and can party anytime I want with little to no hangover the next day (plus being pregnant puts your life in perspective), I have to deal with these white hairs!

Newsweek pointed me to a radio show that did a good job at explaining the banking and housing crisis in everyday language. As much as we hear about this in the news, and as I did my taxes for 2008, I wondered what could be in store for us and the economy in the near future? I found these clips highly educational!

This American Life radio show
Bad Bank
Giant Pool of Money

Uneventful and pretty boring

Scott keeps saying - when are you going to update your blog? Well, usually I wait until I have some brilliant thing to say, or updates to post, and things have been pretty boring as of late. But you are right - what kind of journal is this going to be if I write every 6 months (it's starting to sound like my Little Orphan Annie diary that I had for 12 years and only filled a quarter of the pages).

The end of February was our month of purging the things that have been accumulating in the house. We were able to sell our coffee and end tables on Craig's List (finally), which leaves us with my old college Ikea end table and bench serving as temporary fixtures (temporary will probably turn into 2 years). We decided to move the office into the "guest room" and make the office the nursery. [SIDE NOTE: This reminds me of my freshman year of highschool, when I so badly wanted to make a lot of friends at my new school. There was one very interesting boy named Tim who was in a couple of classes with me, and we struck up a conversation. He told me that he worked after school at a nursery sometimes, and I said "Oh, how nice, you work with babies!". He looked at me very strangely, and said "Uh, no, I work with plants." We did not become the BFFs that I was hoping for.] We measured the desk and the full size bed already in that room, and realized that there is no way in hell they will both fit. So we sold the bed, too. And guess what's coming back - of course, my college futon! I have a feeling that VA Tech will follow me for the rest of my life.

At the end of Feb, we had another yard sale (our second). It was a success, although we didn't have as much "good stuff" as last time, so we didn't make as much as last time. But overall the experience was the same (people lining up outside our house at 6:30 waiting for the garage door to open), and almost everything worth buying was gone by 8am. But the proceeds gives us some play money to start working on building that built-in entertainment center in the living room that we have been talking about for some time. And then, I guess we will need to get a new coffee table and end table eventually (and Scott still wants his sectional sofa). It's just a matter of priorities, and finances - can we get this AND all the baby stuff done before July? I sure hope so...

As far as my pregnancy, there is not much to tell. I haven't had any strange cravings, but it does seem like I want anything that comes on TV. Especially donuts. And Scott is being so cute, that every time I say "hmmm, that looks good" he tries his hardest to go out and get it for me. He calls them his pregnancy runs. He has gone out twice searching for chocolate donuts, and once for ice cream (which I think he wanted, too - thus the "ok, I'll be right back").

I was concerned that I may not be gaining enough weight, but my doctor said that I am doing good and she's happy with my weight. I lost about 5 lbs around the holidays, and I asked the nurse what I should count as my starting weight - before the 5 lbs, or after the 5 lbs? She said I had to start counting before the 5 lbs, so all in all, I've gained about 2 lbs so far. The doctor said I should gain about 1lb. per week going forward - putting my total target gain at 24-25 lbs, which she said is great. Given all the donuts that I have been eating, hopefully I can stick to that!

Last night we went to look at cribs, and I can't believe how expensive baby furniture is. We did find one crib that we liked, which is a convertible crib: crib into toddler bed, into full size bed. But you have to buy the rails separately, and just a quick look online made it seem like the full size rails run about $150 or more. How much are those cheap metal rails for full size beds? Can't we just use those and screw it onto this headboard? Maybe we should have kept the rails from the bed we sold on Craig's List. [SIDE NOTE: This makes me think about how expensive maternity clothes are. Thank heavens I don't have to buy a work wardrobe. But then again, when you have to buy pregger clothes, you have too - what choice do you have? So they can get away with charging whatever they want, huh?]

I have started to feel the baby move - it's a strange fluttering feeling in your stomach - a little like gas bubbles or like the nervous feeling you get before a big event. It's kind of neat, and I am now feeling it very often - maybe every 15 minutes or so. Scott even was able to feel it the other night - my doc said he is very patient to have sat there long enough to feel it. Yes doc, I've got a good one!

Throw that Chinese astrology chart out the window!

Today, Scott and I went down to La Jolla for our full anatomy ultrasound.

We started the day with a nice lunch in La Jolla, then headed to the hospital for the appt at 1pm.

Everyone is so nice in the perinatal dept - makes me want to switch careers so that I can go work with these super friendly, cheery people. I think one of them was having a birthday today, because they were all in and out of the room, eating cake and laughing hysterically.

At the beginning of the appt, she was going over what she would look at today, and getting situated. After asking us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby, it did a somersault apparently (Scott saw it, I didn't) and she said, "Oh, I think I know what you are having, but I'll wait until we got to that part of the exam". Suspense, and my, she has some sharp eyes. I just see a blurry TV screen.

So we went over the head, brain, heart, lungs, umbilical cord, kidneys, arm and leg bones, etc.

Everything looks good as far as they can see, and Baby Z weighs 8 oz. (about half a pound).

Just for fun, they took some 4D ultrasound pictures - that was pretty neat.

Then she said - and here we can see that you are having a girl!

The room was silent for about 10 seconds, then we said "Oh, a girl!".

I was so sure we were having a boy. The Chinese Astrology chart said that we were having a boy, and even if I was wrong about the month that we got pregnant, the next month said it was still going to be a boy. Plus, I just had this gut feeling. The Chinese Astrology chart claims to be 95% right, so I guess we fall into that 5%. Oh-oh, maybe we shouldn't rest easy yet about our 1 in 7000 chances of having a baby with Downs Syndrome...

Anyway - it's slowly sinking in, and we are going to have to get used to calling Baby Z a "she" instead of a "he" as we have been for the past 1.5 months. But we are happy, and now the girls in the house (Colette, Chewie and Baby Z) are going to outnumber the boys in the house (Scott and Bear) - that's how it should be!

Maternity pants - it's official

Well, a couple of weeks ago I noticed that one pair of jeans was starting to feel tight and that it was more comfortable to not button it. I went to Target and got a Be Band, which is just a cotton/spandex band that holds up your pants if you don't want to button them. It works ok, and now I am wearing it with 2 pairs of jeans that I can't button anymore. I was hoping that I could just go the entire pregnancy with just buying a couple more of these bands and not having to get maternity clothes. I work in PJs all day, so I thought I could get away with it.

Yesterday, I went shopping with the girls to Motherhood Maternity, and gave in and got my first pair of maternity jeans. Seeing Sarah (who is about 27 weeks or something like that), I realized there is no way this band/jeans combination is going to last if I get much bigger. Everyone says that these maternity clothes are going to become my favorites and that I'll want to wear them long after I've had Baby Z, but I just don't see it right now. Maybe I'm in denial about gaining weight, but right now there is nothing nice about having no zipper, and a band attached to your jeans that you can hike up to your boobs.

I saw the movie Juno again a few weekends ago, and I must say it was much funnier now that I can relate to some of the things she says. There is one part where her mom sews a band onto her jeans. I just can't bear the thought of cutting my jeans up - in the hopes that I will fit into them again shortly after July 27th. I guess we'll see....

First trimester down, 24 weeks to go

The other day Kara asked me when I was going to start putting pictures up on Facebook, so that everyone can see how I am progressing. I told her that I would start putting pictures up when there is some evidence that I am pregnant! My body must have listened to me say that, and decided it was ready to start pooching out. Just yesterday, I felt like my stomach was pooching (and not because of the junk food I ate), and today it feels a little funny - kind of like something hard is expanding upward toward my belly button.

So far, I would say that this pregnancy has been pretty uneventful, which makes me pretty lucky I guess. I have not had any morning sickness, and have felt pretty normal most of the time. I haven't had any strange cravings, but I did experience a meat aversion for a number of weeks. Just thinking about it or the sight of meat made me cringe, and I found myself eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. That and the lack of drinking may have been why I actually lost 5 pounds at Christmas time. Since Christmas, I seem to be keeping a steady weight, and am still holding steady at the weight that I was the majority of 2008. The doc says that I will probably see myself gaining weight in the next couple of weeks.

The most annoying side effects of Baby Z have been sore boobs, break outs (luckily on my back rather than my face), and when I wake up at night (almost every night) it takes hours to fall back asleep. And of course, I miss sushi and wine. Last night I had a couple of sips of Scott's wine, and it tasted so good!

I've been doing some reading on hypno-birthing, and am looking into the Hypno Babies program. I must say, I am terrified of labor. But I just have to keep thinking that it is going to be hours of my life (yeah, like 36 or something like that - eek), but once I get through that we have a new family member to love. I found a Chinese Astrology chart, and according to it we are going to have a boy. We'll find out soon enough, we have the ultrasound on Feb 20th, and we'll be able to find out if it's a boy or a girl. We are defnitely going to find out - I'm a project manager for pete's sake, I need to start planning!

You can't play the Mom card - no fair

I am very fortunate in that I have not experienced the common pregnancy symptoms. No morning sickness, no nausea, not even peeing a lot. Watch, once I put this in writing, all hell will break loose.

One thing that I am going through is some strange eating behavior (for me, at least).
Normally, I hate fruits and vegetables. I mean, really hate them, and I don't eat them. But lately, I'm on a fruit kick. At least it's a healthy kick, right? It's almost likely I'm thirsty, and the only thing I really want to eat is cold fruit - apples, melons (and I'm normally not a cantaloupe person), cherries, clementines. And not just a little - like half a melon in one sitting!

But lately, I am also just not that hungry. Especially at dinner time. The thought of Scott making a nice dinner is really a shame, because all I really can eat before I am full is one salad plate of food. Even rice - one helping, not my usual 5. And when Scott suggests going out to dinner, I have been telling him to pick the place because there is really nothing that I am dying to eat (except sushi, go figure). And he hates picking a place to go eat - so I still usually end up picking the place.

Last night, after Scott named about 15 places to go, I decided on Fudrucker's. Once we get in there, nothing really looks appetizing. So I settle on the Kid's Cheeseburger Meal (because I want something that is less than a 1/2 pound of meat). BTW - Adults get screwed when ordering a kid's meal at Fudrucker's. Even though it says it comes with a cookie, drink and fries - they make you pay for the drink because you are an "adult". Whatever. Even with this being a kid's size meal, I manage to eat about 3/4 of the burger before being full. I even shared my cookie with Scott!

And I also made the mistake of telling Scott that I skipped breakfast that morning. I was just too busy at work, but at least I had a whole glass of OJ. And he says to me, which I think was kind of mean, " If you don't start eating better, I'm going to tell your mom that you're eating like crap. She'll knock some sense into you". That's low, and not a card you pull out of your pocket too often. I see how the next 7 months are going to be...

BTW - Where did the whole pregnancy is 9 months long come from? They lie - it's really 10. Another advertising gimick to get women to think this isn't going to be that bad.

Baby Z - the beginning of the story

Well, after a number of weeks of letting the news sink in and digesting it all, we are ready to share the news! We are expecting Baby Z in July (July 25th to be exact)!

Highlights, thus far:
- After a week in DC, I came home and told Scott that our family will be growing. I'm sure he believed me, but we went out and got a pregnancy test anyway (my third), just so he can see the proof with his own eyes.

- Phone call to Mom and Dad Z: After calling them Bema and Papa the entire call (and they didn't catch on), we told them that August would be good time for them to come visit. We will need a baby sitter by then. Bema, voice rising: "A baby sitter? For a baby? For a baby!"

- We gave Mom and Dad Y bibs that say "I love Grandma" and "I love Grandpa". They unwrapped them, said "That's nice" with confused looks on their faces and started to put them back in the bag. Since they didn't catch on immediately, we had to go on and say "Guess what!?"

- First ultrasound, Scott comes with me to the appt. The doctor said that the ultrasound is next, and I start pulling up my shirt to expose my belly. Little did I know, that's not how the first ultrasound is done. Hey, this isn't how they do it on TV!

- We told the family on our trip to DC for Christmas. I gave my mom a framed picture of the ultrasound with a note that said "I can't wait to meet you in July". There were lots of tears and hugs, and it was a great Christmas.

- Erica telling us Leo's birth story (before we told anyone we were preggers), and she said anyone having a baby in July needs to watch out, the hospital is full of residents and interns waiting to stick you and poke you and get some practice in. As soon as we told everyone, she says "The residents aren't really that bad!". I'm scared.

A season of friends and family for Thanksgiving

November completely flew by. Not that we were exceptionally busy, but it just seemed to have gone by in a whirl.

Tricia came to visit around the middle of the month. It was great to see her, to show her where we live, where we hang out (not often enough), and the things we do out here (nothing too exciting). I always think it's strange, with some friends you could go years without seeing them or spending quality time with them, yet the friendship always feels the same. Different things are going on in our lives, our priorities are different, but hopefully our friendship will never be different. We ended up at our favorite vineyard out here, South Coast, and finally joined the wine club. After 3 times of nearly filling out the paperwork and dropping it off, we finally gave into the temptation.

Immediately after Tricia's visit, I had a work trip in DC. I got off the plane, got into my rental car, and got a voice mail from Tricia saying that it was supposed to snow that night. Coming from a weekend of frolicking in the vineyard in shorts and flip flops, to cold weather was not what I had in mind. But the work trip was ok (some of it felt like a big waste of time, but overall the change of pace was good), and I made it back to the warmth of CA safely.

I should say that I luckily made it home! Everyone knows I am the queen of last minute when it comes to airports, and I did not leave enough time to catch my flight. I came up to the rental car return facility with 35 minutes until take off, and missed the exit ramp for National. So I proceeded to circle all the way around the facility one more time, return the car and run to the shuttle bus. I then sat in the shuttle bus for about 10 minutes while the driver had a smoke (the nerve) and made it into the SouthWest terminal at 20 minutes to go. I had a bag that I normally check - loaded with 3+ 0z. of lotion, shampoo, conditioner, makeup, etc. It was a TSA nightmare. But I decided that the cost to replace all of the items TSA was going to make me throw out was worth not having to spend one more night in this 30 degree weather (of course, mine was the last flight of the night to SAN). I put the bag on the belt, and proceed to set off the metal detector. My belt was not friendly, nor was the 3M employee badge I still had hanging from my belt loop. I take them off, go through the detector, and shockingly grab my bags that TSA did not choose to open or enforce the "no liquids or gels" rule. As I am putting my shoes back on, I hear "This is the last call for Colette Zelesnikar at gate B10". I grab everything and run like a mad woman to the gate. I got there as soon as he was shutting the door, and he let me in. I sat down (in a middle seat, of course) sweating, and as I cooled off I realized my pants are kind of loose. Oh no - I forgot my belt and my 3M badge on the security belt. The next day my faith in TSA was restored. I called lost and found at BWI, and when I said I left my belt, the lady on the phone proceeded to describe my own belt to me and happily said she would Fed Ex it to me (with my Fed Ex account number, of course). So I got to keep my lotions and shampoo, and got my stuff back in a matter of 3 days. All in all - a successful trip.

We wrapped up the last 2 weeks of November here at home (home sweet home). Scott's high school friend came to visit for a weekend. Scott and I ran the Turkey Trot again this year, which I definitly tried to weasel my way out of running a number of times. We had my parents over for Thanksgiving. Then Eric finished out November with a weekend visit. We have had a lot friends and company - all things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season. Next stop: Christmas in DC.

An election for the history books

Yesterday's elections were historic and I am so glad to have been a part of it. All day, I spoke to coworkers and clients on the phone, and everyone had a buzz of excitement in their voice. I have clients in Florida, and they all made sure to go out and vote, knowing that their state would play a big part in the elections. All day, everyone talked about the importance of voting (no matter who they were backing) and I am amazed how polite everyone was to each other (even opposing Prop 8 sign holders on the same street corner). I also think this has forever changed how campaigns are handled. I truly hope the young voters of today become the well-informed, active voters of tomorrow. If they can teach their children in the years to come that their vote counts, democracy will thrive and grow.

Last night we went out to watch the election results. We started the night at Pizza Port, our first time there, and had some great grub an grog. We then headed to the Village Pub, where the final results came in and we saw McCain's speech, and listened to Obama's on the drive home. I must say, the Village Pub had about 10 people in it, and I couldn't think of a better place to end the night. I really like that bar. They had John Stewart (with the volume turned up) on one TV, and CNN on the other TV. I thought it was funny when the final projections came in, that someone said "turn it to Fox news, let's see if they are saying the same thing!". Of course they were, and we all knew the election was over. And personally, I thank God it's over - this has seemed to be the longest 21 months ever, and I'll be glad to stop hearing the Countdown to Election '08 now.

On a sad note - it appears that Prop 8 has passed, installing a ban on gay marriage in CA. I am very surprised with this outcome. I truly believe that this has passed because of homophobic ideas and a lack of understanding that marriage does provide legal rights that everyone should be entitled to. If you can't have a legal marriage, then you can't have a legal divorce. All gay couples do not choose to have civil unions, or the equivalent of pre-nups when they decide to move in together - and if straight couples don't have to think about these things in their relationships (they can just get married), why should gay couples have that extra burden put on them? In the back of my mind, I hope that some of these YES to Prop 8ers end up with gay children, and in the future realize what they have done today.

Happy Howloween!

Almost another month has gone by, and it's already Halloween time.

My mom and I went to see the So You Think You Can Dance tour at the end of Sept.

That was a lot of fun, although slightly on the cheesy side. I was hoping that they would have some new dances, or some things that were not done on the show - but it really was just a 'greatest hits' tour. They threw in some little skits and funny introductions to the dances, but ultimately, if you have recorded your favorite dances it would have been just the same as being there. I must admit though - seeing them perform in person really shows you how talented these folks are. Joshua's jumps were so high, and Katie is just an amazing dancer all around.

Then at the beginning of October, Scott and I went to see James at the HOB in San Diego. We went a little early to eat dinner at the restaurant, which was really good. Their happy hour specials are worth checking out. The opening band was Unkle Bob, and when one song came on Scott said he knew it. I thought he was smoking crack because I have never heard of this band, and they are not the type of music that Scott would listen to on his own accord. But lo and behold, we looked them up on YouTube a few days later and saw that their songs were used in Grey's Anatomy, and they did have some radio play. So Scott - you are turning into a well rounded musical aficionado! Then James took the stage, and it was such a good show. This was my first time seeing them in concert, and I am glad that they got back together for this tour. Tim's dancing was adorable, and it sparked my attraction to bald heads again. I told Scott he should shave his head again, it was a good look for him. Scott asked if I was as into James in their heyday as I am now (I couldn't stop talking about him, looking up vids on YouTube, etc for about a week), and come to think of it I wasn't. I guess I am a late bloomer in this arena, too.

Saturday, Chewie had a howloween party at Muttropolis in La Jolla. It was just for Brussels, and it was fun. She looked adorable (she didn't win any contests), but I think she had a good time. It's neat to see how different BGs can be - she was not the biggest one there, definitely not the smallest one there, but I do think she was the fattest one there. So Chewie's diet continues. After the party, we had dinner with some of the members and their dogs at the restaurant next door, and it's nice to also see that Chewie is not the most spoiled of all the dogs there. I didn't see it, but Scott said that one person took his plate off the table, and put it on the ground to let their dog eat the scraps and lick the plate. In public - how horrific!

Looking forward to a fun Halloween night - and maybe we'll even go out since it falls on a Friday this year. We don't have any costumes - but a couple of beers into the night, I'm sure it won't matter anymore.

And BTW - a note to anyone who actually reads this - go out and vote on Tuesday!!!

Fall is really here

I am having a hard time accepting the fact that this year is flying by. I can't believe it's already October, when it seems like yesterday that I was looking at one of my projects that had a target completion date of July and thinking that is so far away and we still have plenty of time. Needless to say, that project did not complete in July and we are still working on it...

Today, I purchased our Xmas flights to DC - we are already planning Xmas!

I haven't written in a while, and that's because August was a very busy month for us, and Sept had Scott on another business trip for 2 weeks. And now finally all the fall TV shows have started (it's amazing how little things like that can make me happy). Although I was pissed when I found out that Moonlight was canceled. That was my favorite show last year, and it even won a People's Choice Award for best new drama - how can they do that? I hope another network picks it up.

August was the month for weddings:

We went to San Francisco for Charles' wedding. We went a day early and got to tour the city and rode the ferry, typical tourist stuff. It was Scott's first time in San Fran, and I think he really enjoyed it.

We then went to NY for Katie's wedding. We spent a week up there, and spent a number of days at camp on the lake. It was a good trip, other than the bug bites, the wasp sting, etc. We took Chewie with us, and she is a great traveler. She stayed in her bag, didn't make a sound the entire trip, and even weathered the delayed flights, missed connections, and minimal potty breaks very well.

We ended the month with a fishing trip with my dad and his Anglers Club. It was a neat experience, although Scott was the only one who caught a fish (again)!

Then, Scott was in Riverside for a 2 week work exercise. Now it's October, and we are having a heat wave - it was 100 degrees in some North County areas yesterday. Hopefully you can understand why I am having a hard time believing that fall is here, and it is so strange to see all the Halloween items in the stores. We have a Halloween party for Brussels Griffons later this month, so I have to start getting Chewie's costume ready...

What a great weekend!

It was truly a great one - nothing out of the ordinary, but just felt really great.
I think it's mainly because Scott came home on Thursday night, and we had a 3 day weekend to catch up and relax, and do nothing at all.

On Friday, we went to see the new Batman movie. A lot of people had been telling me that it was excellent, and it was. Very dark, full of action, yet it did seem long. About 3 times, I thought it was almost over, and then it continued on. I wonder if Heath Ledger will be nominated for an Oscar for this role? I think he deserves is.

We met a very nice couple who just moved to this area last week, and they told us about a lagoon in Carlsbad that "allows" you take your dogs and let them go swimming. We took them on Sunday, and I think Bear loved it. He drank a lot of salt water - but it was worth it seeing him swim in the deep water and enjoying himself. Chewie did step into the water, but I don't think she liked it much. We are going to be taking her to NY this month when we go visit Scott's family, and we'll see if we can get her to go into the lake. Maybe we should buy her a little puppy life vest and just throw her in. but it seems strange that someone who has only lived here one week is telling us cool places to hang out.

I did something different last week - I went to a belly dancing class through my meetup group. It was fun, although I don't see myself going to any more classes. It is very hard to do - but it seems like you are just shaking your hips and doing rolls for 1 hour. I need something that's a little more stimulating for my brain, involving footwork and remembering the sequence of a dance. But the belly rolls that she was teaching us are hard - you have to separate your lower abs from the upper abs, and move them independently of each other. My big tummy just moved in one direction all around!

On Thursday, my folks and I went to the Del Mar race track. That was fun, too. I did place some bets (just $2 bets) and won on almost every bet I placed. On one, I more than doubled my bet (to a whopping $4.60). Maybe this is what we need to do: start betting thousands of dollars, and if we double our money it's a better day than if we were at work...

Becoming more social, but I am still such a geek

A couple of things have recently made me take a look at my life (and our life as a family) and do some soul searching. Three years ago, we picked up and moved our entire life to a new and strange town, knowing only 2 people (my parents) in our new city. I have found that as I get older, it is harder to make friends. I am no longer single and going out as often, which really did open up the door to meeting lots of new people and friends-of-friends. We are thirty-somethings (although I am still in shock about that, and is the term DINK *Double Income No Kids* still being used), and it seems that most people our age have children and the types of things they do is very different from the lifestyle that we live. They have to deal with babysitters and being home early, having to plan outings in advance, and I am in a way not looking forward to making those kind of sacrifices yet. Moving here and working from home was also not an ideal situation for me, as I didn't meet coworkers and establish those types of relationships which has always led to some of my closest friends. I also think that while Scott was in the USMC, I was in a way afraid of making friends in this area and getting too settled because the job would have us moving in 3 years. I just didn't really make any kind of effort at all.

Well, Scott got out of the USMC and we thought that deployments and long separations were behind us. As it turns out, Scott (not happily) got assigned to work a ship excercise which has him gone the entire month of July. In comparison to an 8 month deployment, this is a walk in the park - but I miss him none the less. But I am actually doing ok without him here (I miss him like crazy, though) and I am using this as an opportunity to try to find the person that I was before we moved out here.

First, back in college I was always a little bit of a tomboy (I liked hanging out with the guys and spent all nighters PC gaming instead of studying). So for my Bday, Scott got me an Xbox 360. I forgot how addicting these things are, and maybe it's a good thing that I don't do drugs because maybe I have a personality prone to addiction. So far, I have purchased (all used, being the frugal person that I am) Guitar hero 3, DDR2, and The Orange Box (which makes me think back to my Doom and Quake days). All 3 games are so much fun and it's amazing how the hours just fly by as I work on perfecting my score. I am still such a geek. At least if we end up ever having sons, I may be the cool mom who plays games with their kids (1 hour limit per day FOR KIDS, I have already decided - that's why it's going to be in my bedroom hee hee).

Second, I have decided that I need to become more social and start meeting people in this area. How is this truly going to be our home, if we don't have any close friends? I came across Meetup.com, which I think is truly an amazing idea. For those of you in different towns, take a look and see if your area has any groups. This is a site where you can find people with common iterests and they plan activities (called Meet ups) and it's a great way to meet new people. I always thought of myself as a pretty shy and conservative person, but then I think about how much fun I had when I took a chance and joined my first Dewey Beach group house. Again, I found myself alone, and joining a group of complete strangers who became my good friends. I found a North County Happy Hour Group - which tells you a little bit about my interests - and met 2 friends at the first happy hour. So far I have been to 3 Meetups and had fun at each of them. On Sunday, I plan to go to a Meetup for Brussel Griffon owners (that's Chewie's type of people). They are meeting at a vineyard in Temecula and have arranged for everyone to bring their dogs and an area to let them play while we do a wine tasting (how right up my alley is that, huh?). So I hope that Scott comes home to a new group of people that we can hang out with and get to know. It's about time that we start becoming a part of this community. When Scott gets home, we can look for some hiking or other team type of activites to join in (that's more his type of thing, where as I just want to socialize).

18 days until Scott gets home - I am missing my best friend...

Water Bottle Woes

I just read an article about water bottles and BPA. That's the stuff that has been on alert in baby bottles for a bit. I don't have babies, so I thought I was in the clear on this issue - but alas, it has crept into our lives...

Last Christmas, it seemed that I became water bottle obsessed. I got 2 water bottles (3 if you count the replacement that we had to buy because Bear ate the top to one), and a travel mug for xmas. Scott has had his nalgene bottles for awhile, and I thought it was a great way to get me to try to drink my daily allowance of water (the Hydracoach was really great for that).

Well, it turns out that depending on the type of plastic used to make your water bottles (and pitchers, and Tupperware, etc) you may still have the potential of BPA being present.
Here is a good article, and there are links that you can follow to give you even more information.
Basically, if you look at the bottom of your water bottle, there is a number in the middle of the recycle symbol. Try to avoid plastics with a #3, #6 or #7 (of course, all of our water bottles are #7). This does not mean that all #7 plastics have BPA, but there is a chance. Look for brands that say BPA free. The best plastics are the ones with #2, #4 or #5 recycle codes.
If you have #7 bottles and don't plan to replace them - basically, don't put anything hot in there, don't let your water sit in it and then still drink from it, and don't put them in the dishwasher. Heat seems to release BPA into the contents...

Here are a couple that look good - time to replace all of our water bottles! And I am drinking my required ounces daily, for the most part! Here's a trick to calculate how much you need to drink - basically, take your weight, and half of that number is how much you should be drinking in ounces (for a person with average activity levels).
Camelback - now BPA free
Nalgene - now made with a new Titan material that is BPA free
Klean Kanteen - I think I'm going to go with these - they don't hold odor either...

Starting to feel more like home

The first year here, I hated it. I think it was in anticipation of Scott leaving for Iraq, and all the massive changes that we went through those first months (newlyweds, moving, intro to the Marine Corps life, working from home, learning to drive a stick shift if I want to go out...). I remember our only true big fight out here, which ended with me yelling "I want to go home" and running up to our room for the rest of the night.

We have come a long way since then. And now this really does feel like home, and I can't imagine moving anytime soon. Of course, it all depends where our jobs take us, but as long as I can stand this job I have the luxury of moving anywhere and keeping it. That is a convenient things as Scott continues his soul searching for his true calling.

Kara asked me the other day how the job planning was going, and that she didn't want us to move, since they are trying to get back here in about 2 years. I said "We just got our backyard done, we're not going anywhere anytime soon!" And I truly believe it, because we are enjoying our house so much more now that the yard is not a disaster.

Just last summer, I thought of this house as a place to live and nothing more. I was not attached to it, and I didn't even like it. I was getting tired of it - and we actually talked about renting it out and moving into another house that we liked better. But now that the yard is done, we have eaten almost every dinner outside. And Scott comes home most of the time to me sitting outside reading or playing with the furry kids. I think Chewy loves it out there, and Bear is coming around. I think it might have changed the acoustics because he barks a lot more when he hears people walking behind the house. He barks in the wrong direction though - maybe the sound is bouncing off the walls in a different way. And he can't dig holes anymore! That is the best part.

So, last time I went home, everyone thought that we should do our yard ourselves. We considered that for about a week - and I am so glad that we didn't go that route. We got one company to come and do the pavers, and another to put in the turf. The entire job took about a week (3 days for the pavers, 2 days for the turf) - with lots of jackhammering to remove the old concrete, and sawing to put the pavers in. We kept the sprinkler system live so that we can water down our fake grass, and they put in a new drain in the pavers and moved the sprinkler valves to the front. Overall, I think they did a great job and this project would have taken us a year to finish - if we ever actually finished.

So as we slowly get the house fixed up, I am starting to feel like this is home. I am getting more used to the area, I can drive with confidence, and I love being able to eat dinner outside all year long. What more can someone ask for? Well, maybe for the Weinsafts to come back! Here are picks of the yard, and of K&K's latest visit.