I can totally love her better!!!

So where we live it's really easy to look into each other patio. Of course this is weird & invades privacy but sometimes it's hard not to look....especially when there's a crying poopy :(

Awhile back I was walking by & saw the cutest black puppy wagging her tail & yearning for attention. At the time I figured she was put outside to take a poop (since there wasn't a dog house) but day after day I realized she was always out there to greet me. Then I soon noticed that she was out there all the time. It never failed in the morning I would leave for work, she was there. I'd come home from work, she was there. Eventually I added her to my list of pups (what?) that I'd give treats to before leaving for work. Just so you know, she love bananas wrapped in bacon. So eventually I met her (Mercedes, but to be fair she looks more like a Chloe so we'll call her Chloe) owner. I told her how I was greeted every morning by Chloe & how friendly she seemed. Unfortunatly, Chloe was sick :( She had a skin disease that her vet didn't know how to treat & suggested that her owner put her down. Of course, this devistated her owner & I immediately offered information on our awesome vet, Dr. Sid. He's based out of Loma Linda & is very well known for going above & beyond for his patients. He's even performed surgeries w/out charging the owner if they couldn't afford to pay. He's awesome. Just not very personable but that's a story for another day. This story is about Chloe. So about a week passed & I saw Chloe's owner again. Turns out she only had Scabies, which is easily treatable & curable! Thank you Dr. Sid!!!! So Chloe had to take her medication daily & since Scabies if very contagious she had to be left outside for about a month or so until she was completely healed.

Fast forward to today. Chloe had an awesome recovery the medication worked right away & she was healed within a month! However, she still spends her days & nights out on the patio :( I do have to add that she now has a dog house but that can only protect her for so long. Every morning I'm on the verge of tears & anger. How could they let this poor pooch stay outside when it's over 100 degrees & when it's raining w/high winds? I know not everybody cares for their animals the same (yes Paul, I know) but I do know that animals should not be left outside when the weather is terrible. So I've been on a quest...yes a quest to somehow rescue her from living among her own feces & instead smother her w/love & long walks. My ice breaker was a bag of pig ears. I bought them for Oscar & Sadie but they were so over that. Apparently my dogs have turned into prissy little things that refused to put Ugh pig ears in their mouth. So my plan was to offer the pig ears to the owner & then slyly ask if I could take her on a walk. That way, even if it was only for an hour, she could have a bit of freedom. :D

So this morning (after day dreaming about my master plan & how I'd bring her home & bathe her since she probably smells like poopy) I got the poopies ready, grabbed the pig ears & we headed out. Of course they were full of excitement since we were GOING FOR A WALK! I walked straight over to their house knocked on their door........& was greeted by her boyfriend. Uh ok, I wasn't prepared for this curve ball. I stuttered, handed over the bag & muttered something along the lines of um yeah, ok, yeah, uh-huh, you don't know me I know your wife, pigs ears, my dogs, no likie, ok bye.

Yeah....that didn't go as planned. So I felt defeated. Ok fine. Today wasn't the day that I'd rescue little Chloe. So I started to walk away & noticed that the whole patio was cleared & cleaned. The patio chair & plants were put on top of the patio table......along w/Chloe's food & water bowl!

:( OMG now she doesn't have water?! I really didn't know what to do. So many times I debated w/myself whether I should call Animal Control to report the owners but could never bring myself to do it. But now here I am standing there freaking out deep down inside. So I decided to think about what I should do via walking the dogs. After walking Oscar & Sadie around for about 5 mins I decided to head back & in hopes of not looking like a total nut would just ask if I could take her along for our walk. That way I could take her home & give her water. YEAH! That would be my new plan.

"don't freak out, don't freak out. I'm sure this isn't weird. Would you feel weird if somebody asked to walk your dogs? well yeah but this is different. I don't let my dogs hang out in their own feces & take away their water."

Ok after about 10 mins of that nonsense running through my head I finally knocked on the door......& ta da! It's the girl I know. Thank god! I'm sure her husband thinks I'm a nut. So I apologize for being weird (ha!) & explained I was going for a walk w/my dog &....she instantly knew where I was going & she was like, "oh! you want to take her?" THANK GOD! "yeah! if you don't mind." well in fact she didn't mind & she actually asked if she could come w/us. Sweet! Now I can see if I can sway her to give Chloe to me. Hmmm....

But that' not what happened. Instead I found out she's a really great owner & really loves Mercedes. She's just busy (which I understand) & she's been trying to train Mercedes not to pee in the house (hello white carpet) & not chew on her hair clips. :/ Come down to it she can't be trusted alone which of course most puppies can't be left alone so I told her everything we did for our dogs. Crate training, Petsmart training, long walks to burn off their energy & alot of discipline. After a long walk & talking endlessly about our dogs, family, movies, neighbors you name it we talked about it we decided to meet up more often for walk dates :) So I'm really happy to report that Mercedes is actually in a really nice, loving home. But she has to earn the right to be in the house by potty training & discipline classes. I really hope she (Carmela) begins class soon so Mercedes can hang out w/the rest of the family. Here's to many more positive visits, walk dates & hopefully she can learn not to try dominating my dogs by jumping on their back. Hmm Oscar didn't like that :/ Oh well. Oh & you know I'll post a pic as soon as I get one ;)Then you can fall in love w/this adorable this crazy, loving, will lie down in the middle of a walk if she's tired poopy like I have.

Until then enjoy some pictures of my precious poochies :D

Now onto my next rescue......la la la

How do I love thee....

No not you......my husband *enter obnoxious girly laugh here*

With our busy work/gym schedules & with school right around the corner Paul & I decided to have a "date" night. Usually during the weekend we're so busy meeting up w/friends & family that we don't really make time for us. When it is just the two of us hanging out we're stuck in front of the t.v. or meeting at the market to shop for groceries. Ahh how romantic. Ha! So "date night" has now begun. :

The "rules" are simple. We swap weeks, we have to do WHATEVER the other person plans & it can be planned for any day/night.

I started off date night & I have to say it pretty much rocked. After work this past Saturday we met up at B.J.s for dinner. Since I started working out I've been craving their buffalo chicken pizza nix the chicken, just had to throw that out there. Anywho, the pizza had nothing on the awesome conversations we had & how sweet it was to get lost in our own little world. During dinner our attention turned to the table next to us. There were two couples that sat by us w/their babies. The babies were probably 8 months to a year & it was really interesting to see how each parent reacted to their cries & how they "showed" them off. While observing (ok staring) at the couples Paul said, "I can't wait until that's us" aww it made my heart melt. It's funny because that's one of the many reasons why I first became intrigued w/Paul. On our first date I noticed a bracelet hanging from his rear view mirror that said "Paul Rules"......I later found out that he volunteered at a kid camp & one of the campers made it for him. How could I not love this guy? But don't worry this baby making machine won't be in order until at least 2 years.

Afterward we drove to Redlands & went to Golden Spoon (!). Little did I know by picking GS it would spark alot of memories. Way back when Paul & I use to work by that location (before GS existed) & met at Wal-Mart located directly across the street. Stories of when we first met, dated & alot of crazy adventures we've had together. So there we were enjoying our lo cal frozen yogurt laughing & thinking how crazy these past 5 just flew by.

Wango Tango : June 15, 2002

After eating our yummy yogurt (note to self : do not order the graham cookie crumbs...they taste like sand :/) we headed home. It was funny how something as small as the idea of a "date night" brought us closer & helped us enjoy each others company w/out the stress of where should we go? What should we eat? What do you want? What do I want? The simple rules of our date night made it easy to just go out knowing the night was already planned out. Awhile back a mentor of mine let me in on the secrets to a good marriage :

1.) Never go to bed angry.

2.) Never give your car to one another w/out gas. (sounds weird but so true!)

3.) Never leave the house w/out knowing where you want to eat dinner.

After hearing #3 I had to laugh out loud because Paul & I have, on more than on occasion (ok almost every time) get frustrated w/each other over dinner plans. It was explained to me that the woman should always choose. Sound silly? Well his voice of reason was that it's a mans natural instinct to take care of his wife & make her happy. Whatever she wants to, whatever food she wants to eat if it'll make her happy then he's more than happy to do it. That's why you see men do things they don't want to do but if it'll make her happy.....he'll do it for her. So true. How many guys do you know that will iron his wife's clothes, bring you white chocolate macadamia cookies "just because" & walk the dogs before leaving work, even though she leaves an hour after him? Not many. But I know of one & that's enough for me.

July 30, 2007

Ahh, how beautiful. Through the craving of buffalo pizza, frozen yogurt & starting off date night in the end the night was filled w/laughter, love & wonderful memories. It's true. It's the little gestures that go a long way. Hmm can't wait to see what Paul has planned. ;)

The Kingdom

There's been so much hype about this movie that it literally makes me sick to my stomach. Keeping in mind I haven't seen the movie (since it releases next week) to truly make a fair judgement on the acting, special effects or whatever other awards directors/screen writers strive for when making a movie. That's not really what bothers me. What bothers me the most is that once again Americans are taking a serious situation & are trying to turn it into a money making machine. We're at WAR. I don't really know how dense you have to be to realize that :

1) This is still happening. Day to day people are losing their life for a war that many are against.

2) How can you not think this is going to be upsetting?

Now I admit, I haven't watched The Kindgom to see the true intent of this movie however, I did have the unfortunate chance of catching a preview. We were waiting for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry when The Kingdom preview began. I really didn't know how to feel at the time. It was more jaw dropping than the excitement of "We need to see that movie!" we were barely 10 seconds into the preview before I started bawling. If you know me you know that I can cry at the drop of a hat. I won't let you cry alone & the mere mention of animal abuse can make me a hysterical mess. But that wasn't the case. It wasn't tears from an over emotional person they were tears from a person who unfortunately knows this isn't a movie. It's my life. My brother has & will go back to that hell hole & to know that somebody saw this as a opportunity to not make a documentary but a blood bath movie (w/of course a supreme cast of A Lister's) made me sick to my stomach. Right along w/the sad realization that 9/11 is slowly losing it's meaning & how only 6 years ago thousands & thousands of lives were effected. How was it remembered this year? It wasn't. It was globalized as history in the Rap world as two artist released their albums on the same day. WTF?! It has only taken us, as Americans 6 years to "get over" what made us come together as a nation.

I can't say I'm surprised. Along w/other historical moments in time I suppose 9/11 had to become a mockery w/the other events. I hate it when I see a blown up version of the Titanic at local pumpkin patches & carnivals. "Weee!! Let's slide down to our death kids!"

I can't wait to see what they come up to "commemorate" 9/11. Land of the free......give me a break. Nothing is free.

On a side note

Scales at Target lie like a dirty, dirty carpet. I stopped by Target Monday night to see how much I weigh (along w/spending money on a bunch of crap I don't need) the scale read 135. After Cycling I decided I'd reweigh myself......141 lbs. WTF?! 3 days into this dieting/exercising crap & I gained 6 lbs :( oh well here's to counting calories.

Cycling is my nemesis

Today was my first class of cycling since July. I've always known SHE's hated me. Since class one (even though it was so long ago it feels like only yesterday) I left w/a sore ass & some weird cramp between my legs. The instructor told us to make sure our seats were properly adjusted to ensure we wouldn't get any cramping.....but the instructor adjusted my seat. How in the world did I cramp up? I knew then.....SHE was against me & my will to work out.

The class is an hour long & equals to riding over 4 miles. You would think w/the up beat music this hour would pass by kinda fast. But SHE wouldn't allow that to happen. Instead when we're asked to ride off of our seat the constant beating not only comes from Justin Timberlake singing Sexy Back but from my thighs beating w/a constant pulse screaming, "Please stop! Give up! Flabby thighs are in!" but I don't give up. I'm not going to let HER win. That's what SHE wants. SHE wants me to fail. Instead I pushed myself harder & the more pain I felt the harder I peddled & peddled & peddled until finally I heard those glorious, glorious words, "& now we're going to start cooling down" oh thank god! I made it! The stretch was the best part. Knowing I did the class (w/30 mins of tread glider before class) made me walk away w/shear confidence. I can do this.....SHE can't scare me off. Hmmph! Until we meet again.....kiss my soon to be toned arse.

How to poop out a poopie :D

A little late but oh well :)

On Sunday we took the poopies (yes, not puppies, not dogs, not oscar, not sadie POOPIES) to the dog beach. With the summer "officially" over I couldn't believe we didn't visit the beach once :( Last summer we went every other weekend to Laguna Beach. It was so nice to have a family day w/the poopies. We would walk along the shoreline, around town & always stop for lunch. There are so many good restaurants in town it was hard to pass up a good Provolone sandwich or spinach & artichoke dip. But it wasn't about the food! At least entirely. It was about spending the day together & doing what Californians do....hang out at the beach :) So w/the days ticking by we decided to head out to a new beach. The Dog Beach in Huntington beach. Not only are you allowed to take your dogs off of their leash (!) but it was full of dog lovers. yay! Our kind of people. Along w/getting lost (nothing out of the norm) we also learned that :


1. The only parking available is meter parking. Which is actually pretty awesome considering parking is at least $10 in Laguna.

2. You have to climb over rocks to actually get ON the beach. Oscar (with his stubby legs) climbed over the rocky mountains like a trooper!





3. Three hours go by way too fast when you're having fun.

Enjoy our day via pics & remember if you decide to head out...take alot of quarters :)

Sandy-kins :D

Our very own Cabana boy

Oscars new B.F.F.

The Jackson Clan Chhooowwww!!!!

The weather was perfect. Oscar & Sadie had a blast running around w/the other dogs, chasing the pigeons (is that a bird?!) & playing catch w/mommy & daddy. Oscar was so happy that he kept running up to me & jumping against my leg (total sign that he's extremely happy). I'm sad that we didn't find out about this beach sooner but que sera, sera. We'll have to start saving up our quarters & make up for lost time next summer. :)

As you can see it's the perfect way to poop out a poopie.

Diet + Excercise = Long days

It's officially day one of dieting & exercising. I have to say that today wasn't that bad. I resisted cheating on more than one occasion & stuck to my 100 calorie per pack snacks. Don't get me wrong it was hard. Hard to resist the pretzels & white cherry snow ICEE at Target, fast food for lunch & Doritos on sale :(
However, I'm determined to start working out (again) & sticking to it. That's the kicker. Sticking to working out & eating good. The first 2 weeks are always the worst. Watching people eat what I wish I was, instead of a Lean Cuisine makes it a long road. But, I have to keep in mind I'M on a diet not them. So it's up to me to stick to my guns so that one day I can enjoy a bag (or two) of Doritos & not feel as though 5 lbs form instantly on my stomach. Speaking of lbs. my goal is to lose at least 10. 15 if I'm feeling spunky & keeping it off. I currently weight 135. For my height the "ideal" weight is 130. Yeah right.
I was on the tread glider at L.A. Fitness for 40 seconds & I thought I was going to pass out. How pathetic. I stuck to it & lasted for 20 mins & went to an Abs workout class that lasted an hour. I wanted to give up SO bad. I saw a lady give up 30 mins. into the class. She put away her weights, mat & I wanted to scream, "take me with you!" but instead I focused back on the class & on all the other woman (yes all woman) who stuck it out.
To be honest I almost didn't make it to the gym. Among, my fear of showing up & looking like an out of shape goof ball I couldn't help but see the glowing lights to Target & the vision of me sitting on the couch vegging out sounded like a perfect escape......but I fought the urge & instead made it & stayed for a full workout. And on top of staying I even rec'd a shoe compliment (a woman after my own heart). With everything said & done I have to admit.....I feel pretty damn good. Pretty damn sore, hungry, tired good :) Can't wait to fight the snack demons tomorrow.

wonderful moments in time

It's moments like the one i'm about to share that really made me want to start a blog. So of course I was a stressed out bride-to-be with only weeks to go until the wedding (keeping in mind that it's already happend) we'll get more to that later. Anywho, so Paul & I are movie fanatics (one of the many things that brought us together) & w/that we decided to have each table at our fab wedding to represent a famous movie couple. Each table would be named after the movie & each guest would have a quote w/their name cards. After stressing about what quotes to use Paul (wonderful, wonderful Paul) said he'd take care of it.......& he did.

COLD MOUNTAIN
ADA :Isn't there some religion where you just say I marry you, three times, and then you're man and wife.
Inman: I marry you, I marry you, I marry you.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
Sally Albright: You see? That is just like you, Harry. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you
Harry Burns: It is so nice when you can sit with someone and not have to talk.

THE LITTLE MERMAID
Prince Eric: Ariel? Oh. That's kind of pretty. Okay, Ariel
Ariel: I've never seen a human this close before. Oh - he's very handsome, isn't he?

CASABLANCA
Ilsa: Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By."
Rick: ...Here's looking at you, kid.

AS GOOD AS IT GETS
Carol: Have you ever let a romantic moment make you do something that you knew was stupid?
Melvin Udall: You make me want to be a better man.

MOULIN ROUGE
Christian:The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
Satine:Your going to be bad for business, i can tell.

TITANIC
Rose: I'll never let go. I'll never let go, Jack.
Jack: I'm the king of the world!

PRETTY WOMAN
Edward Lewis:I'd really like you to stay. I don't want to be alone tonight
Vivian: In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight

These are the quotes he chose. I immediately cried after reading the first one. Now, I'm not sure if I cried because I realized how great Paul truly is, because I didn't have to worry about this anymore or because I realized that the wedding was approaching so quickly. But I do know this, it was one of the best personal touches we added to the wedding. I called Paul after reading the quotes (he emailed them to me) & he said, "are you crying?......I'm the MAN". :) yes, yes he is.

I'm officially a blogger ;)

What a corny title. Oh well. I've wanted to write for quite some time now & what better time than the present (wow the cornyness continues).
Hopefully I come up w/witty stories to share along with (I'm sure) pearls of wisdom. ha! ha! After seeing other bloggers capture their life one blog at a time online I became inspired to jot down my own & hopefully print them out & preserve for a million dollar book deal ;) or not. ok I'm at work right now so I can't be too insightful but, I look forward to writing more very soon!

xoxoxo