Minne-cation

It's been two weeks since we posted last - golly sakes alive! (It might just be me, but saying "two weeks" always reminds me of that scene in Total Recall when Quaid gets to Mars in his drag outfit and the robotic head he is sporting starts saying "Two weeks. Twooooo weeeeeeks..." like a crazy person....Anyone else? No?...hmm.)

Anyhoo, since the last post we went sailing on our friend's sailboat to Kemah and watched fireworks one Friday night - was absolutely lovely!! I got to see the Red Bull "Art of Can" exhibit at the Galleria Mall with Beth and her 7-yr old daughter Syd the Kid - pretty neat exhibit! ...aaaaand, I found out that I am going to be sent to Japan for work at the end of August. Yippee!!

For Japan, I'll be visiting the Japanese Control Center in Tsukuba, about 50 miles (?) or so northeast of Tokyo. If I'm lucky, I'll get to climb Mount Fuji at the very end of the climbing season before I head home on Labor Day (apparently it is only "safe" to climb Mt. Fuji during July and August due to inclement weather) It's not a technical climb, so it shouldn't be too hard - as long as I don't get altitude sickness at the 12,000+ feet height. The climb will be about 7-8 hours overnight, reaching the over-crowded summit just in time to watch sunrise from the top. I have heard it is amazing!! A few hours climb down and then back to Tsukuba and then home to see Mar the following day. I'll keep you all posted in case this climb actually goes down.

In the more immediate future, Mar and I will be making the 1200-mile drive home to MN for two back-to-back weddings, on Wednesday after work (we're bringing Sammie and some friends are watching The Kirbster while we're away). Charlie's friend from high school, Greg, is getting married this Saturday and he's a Groomsman. The following weekend my friend Melissa is getting hitched on Friday and I am a Bridesmaid. In the middle of all that wedding fun (rehearsals, appointments, etc) we will be doing homework, watching class (yay!) and traveling to and fro from my parent's house to Charlie's parent's house.

Here is the day-by-day itinerary (just because):
Weds: Leave TX, drive as long as we can without crashing the VW into a tree (Sammie drools on the backseat and leaves her fur everywhere)
Thurs: Arrive MN, if we're lucky we'll get to go to the first wedding rehearsal & dinner (Sammie experiences Minnesota beauty for the first time)
Fri: Homework, helping Faithie with her fabulous Faith Turner Photography debut booth prep, Charlie has poker with his Iraq dudes (Sammie plays with some family dog friends)
Sat: Faithie booth support, Greg wedding and partay! (Sammie chills with my parents and barks at deer and other creatures - especially the moles!)
Sun: Dinner with Grandma and my family, homework. (Sammie gets cuddles from Charlie's mom)
Mon: Pay a visit to see Charlie's Dad (and tell him how great his Oak tree is doing in the backyard :), see Aunt Jeanne & Uncle Gene. (Sammie gets her first dip in a lake, a REAL lake!)
Tues: Charlie gets his peepers checked from the doctor who did his eye surgery in twenty aught one (i think), homework. (Sammie wonders what "peepers" are)
Weds: Second wedding rehearsal & dinner (Sammie wants to be in the wedding too)
Thurs: Mani/Pedi for Jaime, dinner with Charlie's whole family (siblings, kids and Mom) (Sammie meets the Marshik family, look out kiddies!)
Fri: Melissa wedding and partay! (Sammie 'ills with Tank the dog, no biting please)
Sat: We start the 1200-mile trek back home. (Sammie drools on the backseat and leaves her fur everywhere)

It will be great to see the family, for sure, and some friends along the way. But as you can see, another one of our "vacations" is jam-packed with responsibility. Somewhere in there Charlie is going to rewire his mom's basement (he's amazing, isn't he?) and I'm going to spend some time with my family (including nephew Bubs!).

Mmmmmm Sausage

Charlie and I had a good 4th of July weekend hanging out with friends and spending time together (imagine that!), even though it rained almost every day. We even got to visit a local farm/grocery store out in Alvin, TX...I think. It is called Froberg Market and we got some cheap, delicious, locally-grown vegetables including a firm, deep purple eggplant, some hot peppers, bell peppers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes (the non-killer kind) and green onions.

Yesterday Charlie made some delicious stir fry with our leftover freezer meat (circa 2007, time to GO!), some of the fresh veggies and some quinoa. It was tasty-riffic. However, it was not as tasty as the homemade smokehouse sausages we got at the Froberg Market. There is a little snack shack next to the market building where they're smoking up fresh venison/pork sausages - we had the jalapeno-cheddar kind. Oh my goodness, it was muy delicioso!!

We'll definitely be headed back for some more fresh, local produce and some nummy snausages.

Back to School!

...and it sure is fun! This summer we are in a class together. Here is a screen capture from our first lecture:

Should be fun!

Weekend & Dock Dogs

This weekend was our last weekend o' freedom, since school begins on Weds for Charlie and me. It was a good weekend! Yesterday we took Sammie to the dog park nearby where a young, big, furry dog chased her around at full speed for quite some time. Yessssss! Wear that baby out! Her friend Cosmo was there (our friend Erin, too) for the first time at said dog park and so that was a good experience (I hope) too. We did the dog park stuff for a while, then planned on doing some quick landscaping and then hitting the neighborhood pool.

On our way home it was pouring rain, so we nixed the pool, but went to get some dirt for the backyard anyhoo. Charlie worked diligently outside with the dirt (fun fun fun) and I ...I don't remember what I did (probably not much :). We hit the grocery store and got some grub, Charlie made fajitas, we had some ice cream and hit the sack.

Today I woke to Charles Raymond making his famous pancackes with bananas and chopped walnuts, with blueberry syrup. Mmmmmmm! They are so tasty!!! I contributed a fruit bowl with strawberries, peaches, yogurt and chopped walnuts and we sat down and had the breakfast. Afterward we took Sammie to downtown Houston so she could see what the city life was all about...she is a city girl. So many tasty...I mean "interesting" birds to chase...I mean watch. Good stuff!! There was a "Dock Dog" competition happening at the relatively new Discovery Green Park right across from the George R. Brown Convention Center. It's a nice setup they've got there - some fun art, neat lawn areas for events and concerts...all in all I was impressed that H-town could come up with and execute something that nice. Not bad!...there are even some trees!! Anyhoo, Charlie got and forwarded an email to me about this dog thing last weekend. It's the kind of event where an above-ground platform is lined up with an above-ground pool and a dog will run off the end of the platform and jump as far as they can into the pool. It's a distance competition. I've always wanted to see one live, so I took the chance and ran with it! Sammie was not impressed with the jumping dogs, but I sure was. One jumped 21 feet, all to chase a tennis ball! ...which brings me to a funny part of the day.

The guy whose dog won the "semi-pro" (really, how "pro" can your dog be?) competition would throw a tennis ball for his dog to jump after. Some people threw fake ducks, some threw other rubber toys. This guy, for some reason chose the tennis ball. His throws, however, weren't all that great. One particular time - the winning time, I believe - was when the crowd that had gathered around the poolside (kids, families, dogs, you name it) pulled in tightly. He chucked the tennis ball all the way across the pool, Rover jumped and BING!!! the ball ricocheted off some little kid's forehead and bounced out of the pool area. I was laughing so hard. So was this kid's Dad! The little boy was fine, but he did not think the incident was as funny as everyone else did. Ahhhhh, good times.

After hours sweating in the sunshiney dog-ness, we took Sammie home, had a 30 minute nap, ate Sushi Coast (delish!) with some friends and are now getting ready for bed.

Great weekend! I hope yours was worth it also :)

Dog Therapy

A couple of days ago Charlie and I came home after a happy hour with some friends at Boondoggles. We weren't gone long, but this particular day we had both been away from home for extended periods of time and the pups were stuck inside for most of the day. I immediately let Kirby outside for potty and Charlie went to our bedroom to let Sammie out as well. After a few minutes of "no Charlie or Sammie", I wondered what was happening that could be more interesting than seeing ME after being cooped up in our bedroom for a few hours. I went to the bedroom and what do I find? Sammie, sitting patiently at the door with little black tail a-waggin', and Charlie standing over her trying to hold back his smile and laughter.

What could be so funny? Well, after being worried about the "kids" being stuck inside all day, without parental guidance, Sammie decided to show me how she could take care of things her own way. She ate a good portion of the Cesar Millan Book about Dog Whispering. Cover and page pieces were strewn everywhere! ...take THAT dog therapy guy!!

I guess she has some not-so-repressed feelings about where we can take our dog-whispering techniques and where we can stick 'em...

Too bad I owe my friend a new book now :)

What up? Big J in da House!

Okay, so I don't have much to report, though it's been two weeks since my last posting.
Sammie went to the vet today - nothing special. I'm working a night sim - nothing special.
Oh yeah! Charlie started his brand new fancy-schmancy NASA job on Monday. He's especially SPECIAL now!! We had lunch on Monday and I was happy as a clam to see him :) Awwww yes, I like that guy...even still!

So You Think You Can Dance is still my fave show, although this season isn't proving to be as good as last season for dancing talent. I think Will or Joshua could go all the way. Will has the traditional dancing vote, Joshua has the popular vote methinks. We'll see how it goes! ...new episode tomorrow, woohoo!










Other than that, I've made two more baby blankets with another one or two in the makin'. It's pretty fun and each day my sewing improves. Soon I will have to put the ix-nay on blankies as summer school/wedding season is upon us! Peace.

Sex & The City Girl's Night

FINALLY! After a few weeks of being in the theaters, the shuttle mission landed and the ladies got together for S&TC! There were ten of us who showed up to the party, all decked out in style (some of us looked less "stylish" than funky...ahem, ME). We had cosmos, some fun appetizers and did our gift exchange - I ended up with an awesome white clutch and some sweeeeeet gold-bamboo necklace, gold earrings and a gold bling ring -BLING! Fabulous! Everyone looked so amazing, it was so much fun. The ladies are all pictured below in their outfits and their newfound gifts. It was a rule that you had to wear the gift that evening, even if it didn't go with your outfit...can you pick out the gifts in these pictures??

We hit the movie at around 8:30 - we went to the AMC nearby and we were plenty overdressed. All the teenagers were jealous though, I could tell. I could read it in their eyes...hidden beneath brand new ballcaps with the stickers still on (now THAT'S fashion).

The movie was great, I truly liked it and it was a solid end to the S&TC saga. Afterward we hit the Fox & Hound for one last Pineapple Upside-Down Cake martini and then to home we went! Overall, it was a good night with fun people, yay!

J'aime Blankets!

Faithie asked me to make my nephew a blanket fashioned after one she saw online, gosh, months ago. I was still in school at the time, so I didn't make time to construct a baby blanket. However, after school ended, I conjured up the spirit of sewing and craftiness to build her my first attempt at a baby blanket.

Cool thing, the blanket has clips on all four corners that keep the blanket in place on the stroller, car seat, etc. Well, my first version did not since I couldn't find the clips, she's using velcro "zip ties" to secure the thing. I have since ordered clips that I hope will work on my next attempt. It's made of 100% cotton print on one side (red boxes) and bright red fuzzy fabric (100% poly) on the other side. One side funk, the other side soft.

It was really fun to do and I'm glad to see little Noah enjoys it :)

If I can get the clips in time (before school starts in a couple weeks), I'd like to make another version for another friend of mine who just had a baby...stay tuned! I really dig doing something other than baby blue and baby pink colors - I like going a bit more hip and trendy. Let's see if I can accomplish that. Of COURSE I'll still use the traditional baby colors as well. I am just really glad Faith asked me to make her a red one.

ps: "Hi. I'm the Cutest Baby Ever." (matter-of-factly) MAN that kid is squishably soft and cuddly!

Milwaukee

Charlie gets to be in Milwaukee/Chicago this weekend for Greg's bachelor party. No fair. Well, fine, fair. But still stinky-esque. I get to work on console on a Friday night, overnight. Mind you, I use the term "work" very loosely. As you can see, I am updating my blog. I am looking forward to Sex & The City night with the ladies tomorrow night, if the shuttle lands like she's supposed to. We're getting all dolled up - I expect 9 to 12 ladies total - having apps & drinks at mi casa, then to the AMC we go for the movie. You know the drill. Girls dressed up = super fun for girls! Krunk City, USA. Holla!

Random: I got a personal phone call from the League City mayor candidate today - the runoff election is tomorrow and I promised Charlie I would do my civic duty in his absence (GO VOTE people!). I talked to the guy and even though I'm not well versed in the politics of our little region, I mentioned this other dill-hole who is running for city council and the guy said "Yeah, we need to get rid of that guy." That's almost a won vote right there. Well played sir, well played. So, we'll see how that all pans out tomorrow.

Sidebar: Mom, try that Sangria!

As you were gentlemen, as you were.

Birdies!

When we planted our holly trees outside of our bedroom window, I was just so happy to have something green to look at I didn't think I could be any happier...until about a week ago! A bird had built a nest in the tree closest to our living room and magically placed 4 eggs in there (where did THEY come from?). Three of the four eggs hatched and little furry, ugly baby birdies emerged. Earlier this week we noticed that one of them was not slated to live in Houston this time around, but there were only two left. I took some pictures of the remaining two before nature had its way with them also, keeping in mind to stay away from them so the Mom would return...so cute! (Charlie asked me why I didn't try jamming a worm or some bugs down their throats, they "look hungry". I told him I didn't feel like purging into a baby bird beak, that's not my style.)

Yesterday, unfortunately, I came home to find a little birdie napping eternally on my patio. Looks like someone fell out of the nest and a dog happened to drag it onto the middle of the patio for display. It was in "good" shape (meaning in one piece), so Kirby probably didn't have a snack of it, but it would never wake up and fly to safety. I was so sad :( Charlie reminds me that this is how nature works and sometimes things just don't work out so perfectly the first time around. So, one bird out of four possible remains. I hope he survives and comes back to build a nest in that same tree!!

...on a side note (speaking of killer dogs), Sammie found herself a scrumptious little morsel of a young armadillo a few weeks back. She chomped him good. He seemed like he was kinda hurt, but mostly just stunned. She did draw blood from his side-tummy-armor but all of his appendages were attached and functional. Charlie donned the garden gloves and scooped up the little guy and placed him back into the forest. Yes, we hate what the armadillos do to our yard, but I just couldn't see myself hurting this one little guy. He wasn't there the next morning when we went to check on him, so he either escaped with his life or nature took care of the process.