A sunny day in Seattle complimented by crumpets

Today Tim and I decided to drive to Seattle. We haven't been over there in a while and since it was a great sunny day, we figured, why not? It was Bella's first trip to the Seattle scene and boy, she did not know what to do with herself.

She LOVES people and there are so many people down there, I think she was just overwhelmed. It was hilarious. She didn't even jump because there were too many people around so she couldn't figure out who to peg. We got a lot of attention... everyone wanted to pet her and talk to us about her so it was a bit of a slow go as we were walking around but she loves the attention so all in all it was a great adventure.

Sitting outside of the crumpet shop. Bella was a little cold sitting in the shade so she was hiding between Tim's legs.

Crumpets apparently are messy...

And another shot where you can see Miss B... I really love these crumpets. Their tea is amazing as well!

And a shot of Bella and I... I was trying to cuddle with her to keep her warm. She was definitely shaking!

And a close up shot... aren't we cute?

We started walking around the market and the park... where we warmed up in the sun. Bella was so distracted here. It was hard to get a picture because everyone kept walking up to her. In fact, I snapped it right before two ladies came over to talk to us.

I always love going over the bridge to Seattle to Pike Place and to the crumpet shop (which is of course at Pike). It's such a neat area and one of the reasons that I love living here. I am also glad my parents came out last August and we discovered the crumpet shop... mmm...

The beginnings of the birthday weekend

Today marks the first day of the beginning of my birthday weekend. I took off Monday-Wednesday to just enjoy time off with Tim who also took those days off from work. We don't really have anything major planned other than a trip to Canada for a little trip at the beginning of the week. This weekend will be mostly low key as Tim has a test tomorrow for work stuff.

A few days ago, Tim told me that the bakery in town that we have gotten my german chocolate birthday cake from had discontinued it. I was SO disappointed. It is the best testing cake ever- natural (of course), not to mention now it is just tradition. So I said to go and get the type of cake we had for our reception. It is equally as good, in a different way.

Well, the first surprise happened this morning when Tim got home from work (he works 24 hour shifts so he worked from 7am yesterday morning to 7am this morning). When he walked in the door, I had a funny feeling that he was up to something. He went up to take a shower but was acting very funny... like asking me if I could get him a drink of water WHILE he was in the shower. Um, that just seemed weird so I said that and told him that I didn't want to (ok, that is bitchy but I was starving and fairly grouchy, I will admit it). Plus it just seemed weird.

So we go downstairs for breakfast and I look in the fridge and see a big white box. WTF?

IT'S MY CAKE!!! And not just ANY cake, it's my german chocolate cake! YES!!!! Apparently Tim was tricking me the whole time. He claims that I am hard to surprise so he has to trick me to do it. I am not complaining, I LOVE surprises.

So after that, we had a leisurely day. We took Bella on a small 3 mile hike (which is actually a mile over the amount she is supposed to walk at one time because large breed dogs-especially boxers- are prone to hip dysplasia). We then went and bought fresh salmon and potatoes to make for dinner... of course the part I was most excited about was the cake! We never eat the cake right on my birthday, it's more fun to eat it for a week.

Bella and I after the hike. She is growing so much. She makes me look like a midget. Maybe someday I will be rid of the stupid glasses.

And another one. She was giving me a kiss and we tried to capture it. And YES... I am wearing hiking pants and a fleece. And I even have hiking shoes. I never would have believed it either. It's ridiculous.

Tim "prepping" the cake with fresh organic raspberries- yum!

And, voila! MMMM.... It was amazing. Happy birthday weekend to me!

Enjoying the warmer weather

I was going to title this post "It's finally spring in Washington" but I figured I would totally screw up something in our weather pattern by jinxing us with that title. We have had a great string of spring days- sun, 60s, and even some 70s. It's been awesome. Even the animals are loving it. After a nice walk with Bella today, I decided to take a couple of shots at all of the animals (it's also proof that they all really do get along)...

Tyson, Bella, and Calvin. Bella and Calvin are pals. Tyson is a bit more skepitcal of her. But then again, I have determined he is just a grumpy old man type of cat who is just an ass to everyone unless he decides at any given moment that he doesn't want to be. Usually this only happens with Tim...his favorite person in the whole world.

Bella looks like she is up to no good... and no, she is not starving. She is just still growing so much that you can still see her ribs. She eats like a horse (and the "right" amount) but she grows so fast that she hasn't really filled out yet.

Bella given her buddy Calvin a hug... or tackle.

This looks like more of a nice hug. By the way, believe it or not, Calvin usually instigates these instances by batting her in the nose. It's pretty funny.

Tuckered out puppy after a long walk and playing with kitties and toys. She was passed out and snoring but the camera click woke her up. Still an adorable picture.

Happy Earth Day

Anyone who knows Tim and I would probably call us tree huggers. Ok, you do. BUT, whatever. It's how we live and we like it. We use organic everything (hair products, makeup, some clothes, laundry, soap, etc), we sleep on organic sheets, we eat organically, we recycle. We are currently looking into sustainable, eco-friendly items in which to renovate our house. Replacing items that are ok already isn't really "green" per se; however, the items we are talking about replacing (like carpet) are definitely not eco-friendly as they are and are actually quite harmful if you do the research (unless of course you get the "green" carpet... ours is not this).

I could go on about that forever but I try not to get on too much of a soap box about that on this website. The point is that even though today is the "official" earth day, I feel like every day is an opportunity to help the earth, even if you just recycle one thing.

I always feel bad because I feel like there is more that I can do to be even MORE green that I'm not doing. There are extremists out there and I am not one of them. However, I do think that the things that I DO do make a difference and I hope that if people aren't already, they start to adopt certain green habits. They are easy to pick up and what do you have to lose?

I saw a stat the other day that if everyone just bought 100% recycled napkins, 600,000 trees would be saved just from that. Think about how we could impact this earth if we all just took these little baby steps. I certainly try to do my part and hopefully today serves some sort of purpose to inspire other people to pick up little habits as well.

Happy earth day to everyone out there!

Growing like a weed...

Bella is growing like a weed. We took her to the vet a week ago and she's put on about 5 pounds since three weeks ago. She is now four months old and weighs 23 pounds. Not a huge gain but she has grown so much. Now I think it's time for her to put on some muscle to go with the bone growth. We're done with all first year shots now and just are waiting a few more weeks for puppy kindergarten to start which will be GREAT to try to tame the awesome boxer trait of "boxing" at every single person and dog she meets. It's actually kind of cute but as she gets bigger, it probably won't be a good thing. I realized this the other day when she started to do that and then I held her down but she proceeded to make a little toddler cry. I felt HORRIBLE. She wasn't even close to him, but it just intimidated him. At least she is a friendly dog... she wants to play with anything and everyone.

So far, hardly any more accidents. We have had two since the first week when we had about 6. She's been awesome in that respect. And it's a good thing too because apparently she has a sensitive digestive system. Ugh. I won't go into details but we have tried medicine that didn't really help but was supposed to "re-set" her and we tried a food that was supposed to help and nope, no luck. Now we are back to where we wanted to be on organic natural dog food with a natural probiotic to help aid her poor sensitive tummy since nothing else has worked. Hopefully this will work. It's been a challenge but apparently it's fairly common with boxers. At least we haven't had any accidents in the house... if we had poopy accidents, I'm pretty sure we would have had to tear out the carpet by now judging by the messes she's made outside. Ick.

We trained her to ring a bell anytime she goes outside and she has been great about that. She just runs to the door and jumps up and rings away. The two accidents we had involved her being extremely tired and forgetting to ring the bell (and us not watching her sniff away). Oops.

So... so far, so good. She has been a great puppy. I just can't believe how fast she is growing! She is so much fun though and we get so many compliments on her for her looks and how friendly she is to other people and to kids especially. It's been a lot of fun.

See some more current pictures below.

She has decided that she likes to pull every single toy along with her whole bed and all blankets out of her "house" (aka crate) right in front of us to get us to play with her. This was the first day she did it and it totally cracked me up.

Chewing on her bone along side her bed.

Here you can see how much longer she has gotten.

April 15 came and went...

Anyone who is an accountant understands the significance of the day April 15, even if we aren't all "tax" accountants. Anyone who works in public accounting reap the benefits of April 15... generally it means shorter work days, not working weekends, and a total shift in the attitude at the firm as a whole. It also usually means time off on the 16th and a "after busy season party" on the 15th. This year was no exception for our firm.

The week of the 15th was fairly relaxed for us. We had our after tax season party in downtown Seattle and took off the 16th from work. It was great. Of course for us "audit monkeys" (as my friend Jill so affectionately puts it), our busy season isn't technically over. This is no exception for me. I have still been fairly busy working but the lack of weekend work has made me more than happy. Plus, it's better to be busy than out of work in this economy, right?

See pictures below of after busy season party. Tim was there... but he apparently was designated photographer for the four pictures that were taken with my camera. Four is better than nothing.

Group shot. Someone had the brilliant idea that Washington red apple shots were a must. Fabulous.

"Maybe it's maybelline..." Nice action shot.

Group shot of us all prior to red apples.

And again. Cracking up at who knows what.

All in all the night was a success. Who can really complain about celebrating the end of working long hours?

Hoppity hop hop...

Happy Easter to everyone out there. It wasn't a great weekend for Easter egg hunts since we got all of our nice weather out of our system last weekend. Or WE didn't per se, but Seattle did.

This weekend we were stuck back in rain and cold. Next weekend we are supposed to be back to sunny and warm. That sounds great given that we are working no more Saturdays. Nor are we working much towards the end of this week since April 15 symbolizes the end of busy season. It's really more the final end for tax people but we (the audit people) keep busy through May-ish. But expectations shift a bit so it's a lot easier even if we are still busy. And we all celebrate "the end" by getting the 16th off and the "after busy season" party on the 15th .

Tim's working today and I'm just taking it easy. Since it's raining and I want no more exposure to creepy stalker dude, we aren't going on any walks today. We did go to the pet store which Bella was definitely all about. She made friends with a little french bulldog who was about her age (but much, much smaller). She also got new toys.... one of which was a turtle who she beheaded in about an hour after we returned home. It was hilarious to be quite honest.

We also worked out some at home. I decided that I need to get back in shape (this is my post-busy season 'get back in shape' kick that happens every year after not doing much for the prior 3 months). Bella apparently likes the floor exercises. Actually she likes to attack me while I am doing them. And then we wrestle and I throw Rupert (her new bear toy) and she gets him and then attacks kitties and then promptly remembers I am trying to do crunches so attacks me. And, repeat. Her little cycle cracks me up. Again, one of those times I wish I had a video camera in the house.

We have also been drinking a lot of tea and reading. It's been fabulous. It has been by far the quietest Easter I think I have ever had. Back home in Missouri, we'd always have tons of family over and it would just be a crazy day. I love that but I loved this quiet, relaxing day as well. It was wonderful. Hope everyone out there had a fantastic day as well.

Stalker.

I had a really creepy experience on Friday afternoon.

Tim was working and I was wrapping up our time at the client from hell (yep, finally). We leave fairly early and I am in a great mood. We have made great progress and I feel fantastic about where we are in the process. It's early and it's sunny so I go home to take Bella on a walk.

We go on our normal walk... through this little woodsy section of our walk which is a little boardwalk through untouched wetlands and woods. We get to the middle section close to the exit where there is an opening and a gazebo. We stop to let Bella go potty.

I look up and this dude is walking towards me. He yells, "Hi, remember me... we met the other day."

Um.... thinking, thinking... nope, pretty sure I have never seen you before in my life.

"Remember, I had two rottweilers?"

Um, nope. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a great memory for remembering people. That coupled with the fact that I have not had time to go on many walks around our house lately (unless it's been a rare chance with Tim), I KNOW that is not accurate that I have met him before...or even seen him for that matter.

At that point he reaches into his pocket...

As my heart rate doubles, I'm thinking, HOLY.HELL, GET ME OUT OF HERE.

He pulls out a camera.

"Can I take your picture?"

WTF?

Um, I guess. What the hell else am I supposed to do? I was caught off guard and at that moment in time yelling "NO!" and running away didn't seem totally appropriate.

He says that "his wife loves puppies at this age so he wants a picture of the puppy." My loyal , protective dog (ha!) is going nuts with the new person, wanting to play with him. We need to work on her protective skill. And by the way? His wife? He made a point to mention her about 100 times. I thought it was just a little weird.

So he takes the picture, tries to get me to tell him my name (no fucking way... sorry mom for the f-bomb), continues to small talk while I walk (aka: half jog) away.

I have had interesting experiences before but to me, this was just creepy. I'm pretty good at reading people and when things like this have happened before, it really isn't weird to me. But this? This just scared the shit out of me for whatever reason.

So at that point, we cut our walk short.

We turned around and walked on the streets home (by houses... you know so I wouldn't be alone in the woods with creepy stalker dude).

On the way home, on one of the main streets I see him AGAIN. He is taking pictures of us in front of us down the road. He sees that I see him and he HIDES. BEHIND. A. FUCKING. TREE. BUT CONTINUES TO TAKE PICTURES.

Before: Weird. Now: TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT.

We turn down the closest street we can to take a side route home. I assess that this guy is not in the best shape in his life and the puppy and I can surely out-sprint him if it comes to that. So we do. And we go into the house the back way, shut all of the blinds, and call it good. Meanwhile, my legs feel like jello and I am contemplating whether or not that night I should sleep with one of my samurai swords (aka: one of the knives in the set we have in our kitchen). I also was thisclose to calling the cops. Honestly. That might sound ridiculous but I did NOT like the feeling I got about this guy. And if somehow my hunch was right, well, then I probably helped someone somewhere. Except for I didn't call. Because I didn't want to deal with it. And I convinced myself that I was probably off base or too sensitive or something. Maybe I should have.

And, I keep telling myself that I overreacted on the one hand but on the flip side, I know I have never been so creeped out in my life. It was just weird. If nothing else, it was a small dose of what it must be like to be a celebrity and all I can say about that is thank god I am not famous. That? That would SUCK.

In a state of awe.

The past four days people in Seattle have been walking around with perma smiles on their faces. You might think they have just been smoking a ton of pot (which in some cases may be true) but in all reality, we are all high on bountiful sunshine. We have had highs in the upper 60s/low 70s for the past four days and cannot seem to get our minds around the fact that even though it snowed last week as an April fool's day joke, somehow mother nature felt guilty enough to give us the equivalent of the best of southern Cali weather. And what. the. hell. Um, we'll take it.

Of course it may not be so much as an "I'm sorry for the snow" but a "buckle up bitches, enjoy the tease." Later this week we are supposed to return to 40s/50s and rainy and this morning I even heard the potential for rain/snow mix at the beginning of next week. I'm skeptical they can ever predict out but the point is that this nice weather won't last and won't probably be back until, um, July. Regardless, we have made the most of it.

Over the weekend we took Bella on her first hike. It wasn't really a "hike" hike so much as a very challenging 6 mile walk that we ran part of the way. She was a little trooper and loved it. Sunday while Tim worked Bella and I did errands and played outside some more and yesterday we got even more sun/outdoors time in. It has been fabulous. This weather makes me miss Arizona so much. I love the sun and warmth. Today I am even wearing short pants and shoes with bare feet. It's getting crazy. Tomorrow we'll be back to boots and sweaters.

Below are some pictures of a playdate Bella had with her cousin Buck a couple of weekends ago (on another rare nice day). It wasn't as warm as it has been the past few but it was still sunny! Bella had a great time playing. She ran and ran and ran for two hours straight and then just passed out. It was too cute.

Chasing buck through the backyard.

There are chickens that live next door to Tim's sister. Bella couldn't figure out what exactly they were (and no, his sister doesn't live in the country). She actually just lives in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in Seattle. We love it over there. There is so much character.

Bella and Buck fighting over a monkey.

Bella and Buck attempting to be nice and "share" the rawhide.

And on Sunday- Tim getting ready to leave for work and Bella saying goodbye.

Amused

Yesterday I was driving through town after leaving Trader Joes with Bella in the car. We pass a gas station and hear tons of honking. We both jump.

We look over to see a range rover who has tried to drive out of the gas station with the pump still in his SUV. The other patrons at the gas station tried to warn him of this via honking. BUT he didn't listen, the pump flew out and hit his range rover. He jumped out and stood there looking at the damage on his car (we were stopped at a light and got to witness this whole event).

All I can say is seriously? You don't realize you haven't taken the pump out?

I try to be fairly tolerant of most people but come on. What an idiot.

Happy April fools day!

It's the first day of April and guess what that means?

IT SNOWS IN SEATTLE!!

You think I am joking but I kid you not. It literally snowed today. Big white flakes. I think mother nature is playing a huge freaking April fool's day joke on us. Unbelievable.

To say I am ready for summer would be an understatement.

A word on power outages

Seattle is known for its power outages. If it gets windy here, the power is most assuredly going to go out. I'm not sure why this is... if it's older lines, lines that aren't underground, high winds, cross winds, I don't know.

The other day the power was out for about 4 hours. I was walking Bella through the park by our house and saw the pole bent at 90 degrees. My first thought: I guess that explains the power outage. The power guy saw Bella and walked over to pet her and say hi. I then took the opportunity to ask when the power would be back on and his response was, "oh in a few hours." Perfect.

A few hours later the power is back on. It really doesn't matter a whole lot to us when it's off because our stove/oven is gas and so is our heat. So we just light some candles and talk or read and can still cook dinner just fine.

HOWEVER what is not fine is when we go to bed at 11pm and then at midnight we hear BRRP BRRP BRRP as loud as possible. W.T.F. We just went to bed? How the HELL is the alarm already going off?

Ooops.

We forgot to reset the clock to our normal wake up time and just hit the "set" button without considering the power outage and the fact that the alarm would be reset to midnight. Too bad we don't have a secret video system in our house. I bet it was hilarious to watch us both shoot up straight in bed with almost simultaneous heart attacks.

Certainly something is wrong about this picture...

Back at the client from hell today and we walk down the block to get lunch in a nearby mall that has a ton of various restaurants, upscale shops, etc. I am wearing a fairly heavy sweater and am still freezing.

I notice at all of the shops, the clothing items displayed are shorts, flip flops, sleeveless tees. Um, excuse me?

Did someone not inform these stores that it is still winter in Seattle until about, July?

I have never understood this about retail. How come spring clothes start to come out in December and fall clothes start to come out in July? Just the mere thought of wearing shorts right now makes me want to go hide under a pile of 10 blankets until we finally get appropriate "shorts" weather on about July 12th, when it hits 70 degrees...which if you would have asked me a few years ago when I was living in Phoenix was NOT shorts weather and was still sweater weather. Bizarre.

Bella update

Yesterday we took Bella to the vet for her 13-14 week shots. She handled it like a champ, didn't even whimper. In fact, she was totally infatuated by our vet (Dr. Debbie, who is also our cats' vet). Dr Debbie is the best vet I have ever been to and I have seen my fair share in the various states I have lived in. She spent an hour with us talking about Bella, checking her out and just visiting. She said that everything looks great and that Bella is one of the most well behaved puppies she has seen (We know! We only had accidents for the first two days we had her... since then? Accident free...yay!) Dr Debbie said that being accident free like this so far is basically unheard of in a puppy Bella's age because she is the equivalent of an 18month old baby. But so far, so good and we are most definitely not complaining. Also, Bella has learned in just a few days simple commands like sit, stay, and of course her name. And she actually listens. She has started to chase the kitties... ok, she has continued to want to chase the kitties... but now they are comfortable and are antagonizing her trying to play so we are now letting her chase them a little bit. It's rather comical.

We also enrolled her in puppy kindergarten which starts in a month or so (my mom finds this quite amusing). It will just help to socialize her and to give us some tips on making sure we are training her right. I'm looking forward to it. I got the recommendation of the place we are going to from my friend who has a mastiff (that apparently was a horrible puppy and this place was awesome for him). I guess in a couple of months we will have to have Bella spayed as well. Poor girl!

Today I went home at lunch to take her out and since we finally saw the sun in Seattle for the first time in about 2 weeks, Bella got to go on her first "official" walk (also helps that she has had time to get used to the leash by just doing short walks). We walked in the sun through the park and she made several new puppy and people friends. She is very friendly to everyone she sees. She has been fairly unwilling the past few days to go outside to go potty unless she absolutely has to because it has been so cold and rainy. Since boxers are very heat/cold sensitive (they don't have much of a coat), she would just sit and shake due to the cold weather. Today she kept looking at me like, "What the hell?! This is actually fun... and warm! Why haven't we done this before?!" It was way too cute. She is such a great puppy. I'm so excited that we ended up with her.

Bella and Tim at the vet. She was distracted because there was a puppy outside she wanted to play with.

After yesterday's day full of activities, she was one pooped out puppy. We had a blanket out because it was FREEZING last night. She was chewing on her bone for about 2.5 seconds and when we came back into the room this is how we found her... snoring loudly... and she was out for the remainder of the night. Dr. Debbie wore her out (and we did too- it helps us to be able to sleep through the night!)

The big news: Miss Bella Kaleigh Jones

So... drum roll please... our weekend plans.

On Saturday we had a flight scheduled at 8am to fly to Boise Idaho. Why you ask? Well, Tim and I have been interested in getting a boxer for several years now. We like these dogs for several reasons 1) They have high energy which fits our active lifestyle 2) They are smart 3) They don't shed a lot 4) They are very loyal and protective 5) They are great with kids 6)They are so dang cute.

We looked at breeders in Washington and weren't very happy with the results. We wanted a breeder that raises good dogs but isn't in it for profit, that doesn't sell to puppy mills, that genuinely cares about the dogs, and that raises them in a healthy manner. The breeder that we found that we had high hopes for just happened to be located in Boise. She is an amazing lady. Boxers are known to have some heart issues and all of her dogs that are bred have had extensive heart checks and have come back clear. She sells to no puppy mill states, she turns down people and keeps the dogs herself if she can't place them in good homes, and she is just a genuinely nice lady that could care less about the money she gets from breeding as she cares more about producing quality boxers (as she too has struggled finding reputable breeders). Not to mention- all of her dogs that she breeds are champion line boxers which means that all her puppies come from the best boxers. She is absolutely amazing.

We found her a while ago and it turns out she had a litter that is now 6 weeks old. We kept talking and were very comfortable with her and decided we would fly to Idaho to see the puppies, to talk about if we wanted one, to see if one clicked with us, to see how the puppy parents were, and to make sure we clicked/felt comfortable with the breeder in person. The puppies aren't old enough to go home but at least we could see them in person while we had some free time and consider it. Then additionally we would have a few weeks to plan/prepare if we did end up deciding to get a puppy. So at 10am Saturday morning we landed in Boise and started our adventure. Crazy, right?

We got to her house and were greeted by her adult boxers. Once we were inside a little puppy ran up to us. This was a puppy from the prior litter (born December 19) and was 12 weeks old. The breeders husband had decided to keep her as he wanted a little girl to call his own. She was adorable and stuck by our side the whole time.

Shortly after we got there, we played with the 6 babies (4 boys and 2 girls). 2 of the puppies had already been placed in homes (and one is going to Washington to be a service dog!!) They were adorable.

We continued to chat with the breeder and we kept remarking how the 12 week old puppy was so cute and so loveable. The breeder mentioned that puppy was actually going to be placed in a good home because her husband had decided that morning that he did not have patience to potty train. Tim and I looked at each other and knew that we were hopeless at that point. She, Miss Bella, had already picked us. An hour or so later, we got to meet her parents. They were such great grown up boxers. About an hour after that, Bella was passed out on my lap and we knew that we couldn't say no. We loved her from the second we saw her and bonded with her right away. The breeder saw this too and gave us a special deal on her. She was going to raise the the price since as she grew, her coloring/head shape (all things that go into the pricing of boxers) had really developed in a way that makes her a very expensive little girl. But the breeder gave us what she would have charged originally, which was much, much less than we expected to pay based on the looks/personality of her.

The next step was figuring out a way to get home. Fly or drive? An 8 hour drive back to Seattle versus an hour flight? Seems like a no-brainer but we didn't know if we could fly her. We called the airline and for $100 they said we could. Done. So we had to run to petsmart to find a carrier that fit her. This was not easy. Even though she is still just a baby, she is 20 pounds and is not tiny. We finally found one and busted it to the airport for our 5:30 flight. We had some issues getting the rental car back (there was no agent- WTF?!) so by this point it is 5:00 and we are sprinting through the Boise airport, literally.

We get to the counter and we are 5 minutes late. They have given our seats to people flying standby. UGHH! They tell us they can put us on standby for the 7pm flight that night, which just happens to be the last flight out. That doesn't sound promising. Eventually they just give us tickets for the flight, thank god. We have two hours to kill and spend it outside in the 70 degree sun with Miss Bella. It felt really nice.

Getting on to the flight, a huge thunderstorm decided to come through Boise. Miss Bella was not a fan. She cried running to the plane (as it was a small plane we had to walk out to). BUT, we got her in, under the seat, and she slept through the whole flight without a peep. We got back to Seattle around 7:45 and we booked it to Petco to load up on supplies since we were so totally unprepared. We had NOTHING. We did NOT expect to come home with a dog that day. So with 5 minutes to spare, we checked out at Petco with all our puppy gear in tow. Of course, Bella had to leave her mark too and peed right by the register right as we were walking out (and right after I had taken her outside)... thanks, Bella!

We get home and feed her, make her go potty, introduce her to the kitties and put her in her "house" to sleep. She passed out, as did we and we were only up with her once that first night. Sunday was a bit overwhelming. We were all getting used to each other and she was getting used to her new environment so there were a few accidents. Also, she cried all Sunday night and we were up with her twice. Monday was much better. Only 1 or 2 accidents. And yesterday?? ZERO accidents and she slept for 7 hours straight last night. She is such a good puppy so far. She learns so quickly and is so sweet and cuddly. She's been so good with the kitty boys as well (who have mostly just been curious about her- not mad, no hissing really).

So, now we have our newest little addition to our family. We already love her so much. She is going to be a great dog. Her name was already Bella (which we loved) and we named her middle name after her mom, who she looks just like (the reverse brindle coloring). We have a vet appointment today for a checkup and some shots so we'll see how that goes. And, guess what? I even have pictures:


Tim playing with the little 6 week old puppies. They were so cute. Definitely pooping monsters though.

Miss Bella hanging out by Tim with the little puppies. She played so nicely with them.

Me with a little girl puppy, punk. Bella is right behind me. I'm telling you, she stuck right by us the whole time.

Tim with Bella's dad, Archer. Notice Bella between his knees.

And Tim with Miss Bella as we were getting ready to head to the airport.

Miss Bella at home in her "house" with her little monkey friend. She will whine at first every night but at the same time will "cuddle" him which makes him squeak. It is so cute.

Playing with Mr. Monkey.

Trying to figure out what all this bone fuss is about. Shortly after she discovered how much she loves chewing rawhide bones we got from Whole Foods (yes, the dog will be organic too, what can I say)

More cuteness.

And even more cuteness. I couldn't help it, I think she is just adorable!

Here you can see how big her paws are... she will probably be 50-60 pounds. Not too large but not too small either.

And Tim getting her to play tug of war.

New phone...finally

Friday night after work, Tim and I drove down to tmobile...together. Of course, this time I showed up as an authorized user on the account so he didn't even need to be there but it was our date night so we were together anyway. Isn't that what everyone wants to do on date night? Go to the stupid phone store?

We were fairly quick though. After about 10 minutes, I decided just to get a blackberry. It's not a google phone or an iphone or anything totally fancy BUT I swear, this thing is still so much more technologically advanced than I am. I am finally, several days later beginning to figure it out.

All I want is a phone that texts and calls. This does that but apparently many other things too which I am just learning about. Who knew phones had all of these capabilities? It's pretty sweet. I totally just dated myself technology wise, didn't I?

Where I am not

I am back from the client from hell. For a least a week. Oh, don't worry, I'll be back there in due time.

Why? Oh, because the client is still the client from hell. I had high hopes, but nope. No improvement this year. So even though I worked my ass off to wrap up ALL of my other work and solely block out the next three weeks of my schedule, due to the lack of organization and any other thing positive you would expect from a client, I am now back at the office for the remainder of the week. One would think this would be a positive thing; however, it just essentially means that now I am fairly light in work and in approximately 2.5 weeks once the client gets their act together, I will be completely and utterly slammed.

I only know this from experience. And that? That is not a fun experience. UGH.

Since I am fairly light at work for the remainder of this week, it was a great time for my poor phone to die. Fabulous. Yesterday I think was it's last full day of life. I have had it for two years so I knew it was about time anyway. So I leave work fairly early to go to the tmobile store. To get to the tmobile store you have to go through the "Microsoft district" which you want to avoid from about 4:30-6:30 no matter what. This was my reasoning for leaving early to get to the phone store.

I get there and I am told that I cannot do anything with the account. Why? Because even though Tim has added me as an authorized user FIVE SEPARATE TIMES, it still doesn't show me as an authorized user. So I bitch at this lady for about 30 minutes on how this is just ridiculous and a total waste of my time... especially on one of the few days I can beat the horrid Microsoft traffic. I call Tim but he's working so he can't call corporate AGAIN to get me added. Meanwhile, this lady proceeds to imply that Tim "just must not trust me and keeps removing me from the account."

At that point, I almost blew a gasket. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A CELL PHONE PLAN NOT A F-ING CAR OR HOUSE OR SOMETHING MUCH MORE COSTLY AND RELEVANT. I asked her what the issue was. She said, "Well, only one person can be the authorized user on the plan meaning that if you cancel your coverage, you are liable for $200." At that point, I really lost it. I said, "We are seriously unable to do ANYTHING right now because of a $200 liability? I will pay you $200 right now for you not to be such a stupid bitch!" Ok, I didn't say that last sentence but I seriously contemplated it. I had already bitched her out enough and didn't want to add insult to injury. I did tell her how ludicrous the whole situation was and it was too bad she was willing to lose a long time customer over $200. Of course, I didn't end up with a new phone. Currently I am texting on my phone by contorting it into all different forms so that I am able to see the screen and if I am able to receive calls I can only hear people if it's on speaker phone.

Tim called corporate last night and had his own bitch session with them on how they need to get their shit straight and add me FOR THE SIXTH TIME.

We have incredible plans for this Saturday which I am not willing to disclose yet (although I can barely contain my excitement both due to the plans as well as to the fact that it's the first Saturday in three months I'm not working!) Hopefully I will be able to get a phone today or Sunday. I think I may just drag Tim with me... just in case.

The Big Dance

I filled out my brackets again this year... in about 2.5 seconds. I have not been following college basketball as much as I would have like this year but that never stops me from filling out a bracket.

My final four?

KU versus MU and UNC versus Duke. How cool would that be?

Of course, I have Kansas winning the whole thing, against UNC although I have been following college basketball enough to know that Kansas will probably not have a repeat year like last year. Oh well, I love March madness, regardless.

Fitting quote of the day

I get new quotes that are updated daily on my home page. Today it seemed rather fitting. I wish I could say this to my staff...and the client... and then fly to Hawaii. Is it a bad sign that it is only 9am? I need a nice stiff drink of motivation, please.

"Goodbye. I am leaving because I am bored."
-George Saunders

Happy St Patricks Day!

Yet another holiday I have never really gotten into though I do love guinness and black and tans when I go to Irish pubs, or hell, really anytime. Not really sure if I have any irish in me or not but since I don't know we'll just go with I probably do.

I just remembered that it was St Patricks day when I was driving into work and nope, I am not wearing green. Hopefully I will not get pinched today although I am not totally confident. My client is so chaotic (and yesterday spent an hour of my time talking about his worm farms...swear to god) that I would not be surprised to get pinched.

It's also our boys' two year birthday today. I can't believe it's already been two years. How does that go by so fast??

This is Calvin. He is the smaller of the two brothers. Also the more needy, cuddly kitty. He also has some sort of sinus issue, which is actually more cute than problematic. He is also very ticklish on his hips. He does not like to be tickled but it is quite funny to do so. He is honestly more dog like than cat like (he cannot jump). He screams when we leave.

This is Tyson. He is our exotic shorthair kitten. He is definitely more the cat. He chases strings, jumps like you wouldn't believe and is not as "soft" as Calvin. He is slightly bigger than Calvin but he actually looks skinnier, I think because he is all muscle. He is also very cuddly too, but in a different way than Calvin. He likes to curl up in the nook of your left arm and sleep.

They are such good boys. They follow us everywhere and are very social with us and whoever comes to our house. I love them and am so glad we got them. Happy birthday boys!

Unsure of which state I live in...

On Sunday, I woke up around 7am (which, quite frankly is "late" considering I have been getting up at 4:30 am...groan). It was raining outside. No big deal. I get a text from Tim asking me if it's snowing. He's on his way home from work in south seattle and it's snowed an inch in an hour down there. Look outside again. Nope. Rain.

Fast forward an hour later. We have quarter size flakes and are on our way to an inch. You have got to be kidding me.

Three hours later. Dumping rain. An hour later. Back to snow. Then more rain. Then, is that hail?

At about 1 or 2, the sun comes out. It is completely blue skies. What in the hell is going on?

Two hours later. Cloudy. Looks like it could pour. It does. Then the wind picks up. Wind gusts hit 45 miles an hour. There are talks of power outages locally from the high winds. The weathermen talk about more snow. And rain. And wind. Oh, but possible sunbreaks. Huh?

Um, could someone please tell Seattle to a) make up its MIND? and b) STOP SNOWING. It is NOT supposed to snow here and plus it is almost spring. This snow thing three times a week is totally overrated.

Tea mania

I drink tea every day, without fail. I love it. I also love it hot. Scalding hot. Warm sucks. There is nothing better to me than a nice, hot cup of tea. Some people like coffee, I like tea.

Tuesday I decided to work from home. I did this because a) I can b) I had no clients this week c) This week was solely a catch up so that I could have a clean state before starting the client from hell next week d) I had worked about 14 days in a row, most of those days were 12-14 hour days and I needed some time away, even if I was still working e) The client from hell starts next week and I'm not even kidding you, every. single. person. at work has some sort of disease (aka head cold) that makes them sound like they are 2.5 seconds away from dying. If you remember March of 2008 and the posts I made last year, you will recall that it was the worst month EVER. Part of this can be attributed to the client from hell coupled with having some sort of illness (cold, flu, whatever... it sucked). So this year I was determined to not be sick for this client. Why? Because I am determined to make this client from hell 420% better this year. If I am not sick, this will be much easier.

So I worked from home.

I was pumped because I got to my hole-y, comfy jeans all day, I had my hair in a pony tail, no make up, was doping up on Vitamin C as a preventative measure, was on track to get everything done by the following Monday before going out to the aforementioned client, and I had my favorite mug filled with nice hot tea. It was perfect.

So I sit on the couch, have my mug in my hands and am trying to log in to my computer. Next thing I know, my tea spills. On my INNER THIGHS. Ok, I don't know if it's just me, but is that not one of the most sensitive parts of the body? And then to dump scalding hot tea on that part of the body? I honestly have not ever felt pain like that. Brazilian waxes are close, but I have to say this was worse. And by the way, I have also heard that Brazilian waxes are worse than labor. I find that hard to believe (and someday I will testify as to whether or not that is true). If it is true, then since this was worse then a Brazilian wax, it was likely the worst pain I will ever feel.

I couldn't even scream it hurt so bad. My eyes just filled with tears. And I even had jeans protecting me!

Luckily, I live with a paramedic. Who has treated many people for burns, including a two year old that pulled off a pot of boiling water off the stove on top of her ok (ok, this was not THAT bad). So he is prepared. He looked at it and got me some burn cream and bandaged it up for me.

Three hours later, we looked at it together and he said, "I should have taken you more seriously... that's actually a really good 2nd degree burn." NO SHIT.

So now I will probably have two lovely scars... a huge one on my left inner thigh and a smaller one on my right inner thigh. And once again, my theory of accounting being a dangerous profession holds true, I guess especially if you love hot tea!

My worst war wound above... there is a dime size spot on my right inner thigh. The one above actually looks like an elephant from one angle or a squid from another. Maybe it can be my "faux" tattoo since I am sure I will have a nice white scar once the red/blue puffy nastiness goes away. This picture above actually doesn't do it justice.

The burn cream and sterile pads that come courtesy of having a paramedic husband. Once again he saved me.

And after I'm all bandaged. Please disregard my white pasty, chicken legs.

Alaska- February 2009

I have finally uploaded the pictures from the Alaska trip... of course, I found it quite funny that there are zero (yep, zero) pictures of PEOPLE. Tim and I were there, we saw friends, I had friends from work there... but zero pictures of people. Go figure.

All in all, the trip was a lot of fun. We got to see and do a lot (minus me having to work some and having crazy elevator experience). It was a fun week but at the end, we were ready to be back in Seattle. It was nice to get back to warm weather. And by warm I mean 30 and snowing not 5 and snowing. Although, by the way, AGAIN Alaska natives kept telling me how lucky we were to come during a warm front. I just don't know why they don't get that 5 degrees in the morning, 15 degrees in the afternoon is. not. warm.

A view from Anchorage from along the coast.

Snow camels?? Really these exist?

A POLAR BEAR!!!!

A very wintry looking road.

Picture of the beautiful mountains surrounding Anchorage. Ok, seriously, Tim wanted to hike while we were there. I told him to have a nice life because if I went with him, I would turn into an ice statue. It was FREEZING. The day that we could have gone, however, it was blizzard like conditions. The roads were horrible... we saw a flipped car. In Alaksa, that seems like it would be pretty rare since people up there are so used to snow. So lucky for me (and Tim) I did not hike and subsequently did not turn into a snow/ice statue.

More of the beautiful mountains surrounding Anchorage.

Next time I will take pictures of people. Although, if Tim wasn't there, there wouldn't be any pictures at all so you can thank him for what's above.

All is ok now...

Thanks to everyone out there for the well wishes and thoughts that you sent my way for my family!

My mom was released from the hospital at the beginning of the week. All of the tests came back ok. She may have to do some follow up but everything seems to be ok for now...Phew. It was quite scary. Hopefully it is the wake up call she needs to slow down life, even just a little bit (she is probably the busiest lady I know...)

Trying to think happy thoughts...

Yesterday afternoon my mom was rushed to the hospital by paramedics. She was admitted last night and at this point we are not sure how long she will be there.

If everyone out there could keep my family in your thoughts, it would be much appreciated.

At this point I am not planning on flying back to Kansas City until I know more, which won't be until later today or tomorrow. Then I may or may not fly out there, depending on what we learn from the doctors. It is such a helpless feeling to be so far away and unable to do anything. I am hopeful that everything will be allright.

Babies and more babies

I am at that age where it seems that most everyone I know has gotten married and are now starting families. It seems very weird to me since I do not feel ready for the whole kid thing yet but it is so exciting to experience it vicariously through and with my friends. The latest baby news is that one of my best friends, Wish (my roomie from college of 4 years), just had her first baby, a boy, named Peyton two days ago. AND today is her birthday.

Congratulations to Wish, Josh, and little Peyton. I cannot wait to meet the new guy, hopefully this summer in KC! And happy birthday, Wish!

At which point I sat in a corner and cried...

I am back from Alaska...for almost a week, actually... It is quite the shocker that I actually made it back.

I am being melodramatic.

Back track. To the Thursday I was up in Alaska. Everyone was in town at this point... all of the audit team, Tim, etc. I spent the day trying to solve a $2M problem that turned out to be insolvable. By the end of the 12 hours that day I'm pretty sure that everyone wanted to kill each other...there were two of us who had worked on the problem non stop but 4 people had been involved with no resolution. I had plans that night with Tim and some friends so as we were leaving, all I could think was "I cannot wait to just relax and laugh tonight and to not think about this anymore."

I get back to the hotel to meet Tim and am excited to just go see everyone. We have a room on the 6th floor. I get on the elevator and the next ten minutes felt like 20 years of my life.

I got stuck on the stupid elevator. It started making weird noises, it wouldn't move, the outer door opened but the inner wouldn't. I'm sitting there thinking, "This seriously happens??" I pick up the emergency phone. Doesn't work. At this point in the day, my cell phone has died because I hadn't charged it the night before. Bad move by me. The elevator continues to make noises and shake but it wouldn't go up. Or down. I actually yelled at people to help me. This was ridiculous. I also tried to pry open the doors. Equally ridiculous. So I sat down in the corner and couldn't decide if I thought the situation was hilarious or if I just wanted to cry because it was so fitting after the events of the day. I was seriously freaked out.

I mean, you always hear about this happening but I didn't know it really did. And who knew that when it does the emergency phones don't always work?? I was shaking so bad... seriously freaking at out at this point. But I just sat in the corner, shaking, on the verge of tears and was just glad that I didn't have to pee or something. I mean, what else can you really do?

10 minutes later...

I start to move... hooray! I jump up and the elevator stops at the third floor. The 3 button is not pressed but I don't give a shit... I just want to get off this stupid thing. I start to make a move but I am not quick enough. The elevator tries to eat me and I am forced back inside. 5 more minutes of sitting in the corner...

FINALLY after what seems like 20 years, I get to floor six. My legs feel like jello to walk because I am pretty shaken up (which subconsciously feels stupid to me since I am not claustrophobic but I did not know that it was so scary to be trapped in an elevator!) I get to the hotel room and Tim opens the door, all excited to see me and to start our night out. I collapse into a huge ball of tears into his arms. Poor guy. He has no clue what is going on. I cannot stop bawling. It was ridiculous.

Eventually my tears turn into laughing much in part to my wonderful husband who knows how to make things feel better... and I start to see how humorous the situation really was. We get ready to go out and have a great night out with good friends, good food, good drinks (even though we walked two blocks to the restaurant and I was pretty sure by the time we got there we were going to be human ice sculptures-it was FREEZING). Sidenote: how do people seriously live in Alaska? I kept asking my friends up there. I just don't get it. It is SO COLD.

Did I mention by the way that we stayed at the nicest hotel in Anchorage? It's called the Captain Cook and it is widely known as the nicest hotel up there. It is definitely nicer than the Hilton or Marriott we have stayed at up there before. I guess my advice is just to stay on floor one or take the stairs. And watch out for elevators. Apparently you really can get stuck in them. Who knew.

Annual trip, take 2

It's the end of February and everyone knows what that means! It means I am HERE:

In Anchorage, Alaska. Once again, it is quite balmy up here for this time of year (I'm told, anyway). It is about 20 degrees outside. When we wake up, it's about 5. I freeze my ass off but apparently I'm told it is "warm." Again, like in December, not buying it.

It is very beautiful up here, however, not to mention since December, this city has gained about 5 hours of light a day. For the past two days since we have been here it has been sunny. You can see for miles and the mountains are just gorgeous. Flying in yesterday was absolutely unbelievable.

Tim is headed up tomorrow for his first time ever in Alaska along with another co-worker. We will all be here through Saturday. We are participating in Anchorages' Fur Rondy event. I'm not exactly sure what this is, other than it is an annual event held every February in Anchorage. I think it is just a winter celebration... there are reindeer races, dog races, snow covered streets, etc. We are participating in an outhouse race. I'm serious. We have coupled with our client to build an outhouse, come up with a theme/story, and then we race a couple of blocks. Whoever has the best theme wins and whoever wins the race also wins. It is going to be a riot. I can't disclose the theme here... look for pictures to follow. I think that Tim might even be pushing the outhouse (the outhouse is built on skis so that "pushers" can push it down the street, with someone inside of course).

I am hoping since we are staying through Saturday we can see a little bit more of this beautiful state. I especially hope to see one of these (again):