Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Couch Maiden

My mom fell asleep on our chaise lounge today.  Mosey was snuggling with her but ran off right as I got out the camera.


Monday, March 30, 2009

Office Perks

Got a free massage today at work.  A massage therapist came in and gave those who signed up a 15 minute back massage.  Felt good!

Don't I look relaxed?

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Annie Liebovitz I'm Not


Yes folks, that is the picture I took for the day.  A blurry up-close picture of my dog's healing wound.... For posterity's sake.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Our Stowaway

We are packing for our trip to Scotland and Mosey knows something is up.  He's not about to let us leave without at least trying to come with us.




Thursday, March 26, 2009

On the Mend

Mosey is feeling a lot better today.  We were pretty worried about him last night.  He was really out of it.  We woke up several times to make sure he was breathing.  Jason was tired this morning but feels ok about his test.  He was home early and we took Mosey on a walk up the hill behind our house.  


 

No More Dog Park

Today Mosey was attacked by a dog at the big dog park.  His neck was ripped open (ok, so that is true but a bit melodramatic. What can I say, I'm a dog mom) by a border collie with an unfortunate predator instinct.  The aggressor's human mom seemed to think it was Mosey's fault that her dog picked up my baby by the neck and shook him not once but twice.  Therefore, I believe I am too upset to ever go back to the big dog park.  So there you are, today Mosey lost the thing he likes the most but at least he didn't lose his life.  We went to the vet and got him stitched up.

Mosey gets especially snuggly when sick or at the vet and today was no exception. 

Here he is after being fixed up.

He is heavily drugged, so now that the terror has worn off, I find him really cute.

      He should be ok.  Jason has a test in the morning and it is really late now so I hope he can sleep.  It is always upsetting when something like this happens....

Monday, March 23, 2009

Spring!!


Ahhhh..... I love the smell of orange blossoms! I didn't realize how much so until I moved here. That first spring, every time I wasn't in a hurry, I would take the 'back roads' through the orange orchards with my windows rolled down and my head dangerously hanging out the window. It was so clean, fresh and sweet smelling, it made me happy every time. This spring, all I have to do is go out on my back patio. My blood orange tree is blooming! Yum!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Torture


Jason rigged up this torture machine for Mosey while I was grocery shopping. He strung a kong from the ceiling with fishing line and filled it with irresistible treats. Mosey's job was to try to get them out. It gave Mosey lots of exercise as you can see from this video...


It was a beautiful day today. Here is a picture of the mountains.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Arroyo Canyon

Today we woke up to a foggy overcast day. It was cold (comparatively) and not very pretty. We decided to go hiking at Arroyo Seco anyway. I am so glad we did! When we got into the mountains above Pasadena, the clouds and fog gave way to sunny blue skies and perfect spring hiking weather.




We wandered along the beautiful creek and had a grand time!


Mosey is much more comfortable in the water.


He even retrieved for a while in a bitterly cold pool as you can see in the video below:



So far we think that this hike is our favorite in the area. There is water,


trees,


wildlife, other dogs for Mosey to sniff,


and a good time to be had by all.

Clean and Drive


Jason and I cleaned the office today and rewarded ourselves with a drive to Yucaipa to try to find a trailhead. We never found the trailhead but we did find this nice vacant lot full of flowers. Beautiful!!



Thursday, March 19, 2009

Prune Happy



I pruned our tomato plants today. Hopefully this will help them start bearing again. Probably not, I don't actually know what I am doing...

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

As I Was Driving


I was lucky enough to get my camera out in time to take a picture of this fellow.


In case you can't see well enough, here is a closer picture.


Man: "Honey, I have some bad news. I bet the car at poker night and lost. But I did win this lamp!!"

Wife: (silence)......BANG!



Curse the Girl Scouts!

It is because of them that I cannot stop eating these thin mints..... -scowl-

Monday, March 16, 2009

Hockey!

Today I saw my first professional hockey game! Jason is going a rotation in family medicine right now, and his attending invited he and I along to a hockey game with the clinic. It was the Ducks vs. the Sharks.


I was expecting something like a baseball game where I spend most of the time walking around looking at the food and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" while only occasionally glancing at the field. Au contraire! I couldn't take my eyes off of the rink! It was very exciting. Here were are being excited.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Holy Jim Falls

Today we went to Holy Jim Falls. It was a really nice hike and we enjoyed being outside and around fresh running water. Mosey had a good time going with us and posed for a picture very cooperatively.








Why no picture of the falls? Huh. I don't know. I guess that wasn't the highlight of the trip.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Ratatouille and Cutie


At Trader Joe's they had fresh ratatouille for sale. I wasn't sure how to use it but luckily for me they had it sampled that day. They put it over some tricolors noodles and it was excellent. I did the same thing tonight and it was even better! Yum!

This morning after I got out of the shower, I found Mosey like this:

Friday, March 13, 2009

Pho


I love pho! Pho is Vietnamese noodle soup. I always get the vegetarian kind. The best place to get it around here is Adong restaurant. They have lots of vegetarian options.

I think Jason should like it to but he says it is "girl's food'. Oh well..

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Due Again??


I can't believe it has already been 6 months since I went to the dentist! Actually, it has been more than six months but just barely. Today I went in to get my teeth cleaned and make an appointment for some fillings that I neglected last time I came in. I got a different dentist this time and he seemed to be in a hurry. When he was checking for stickiness in my molars, he missed and jabbed his tool into my gums. He told me that if he hurt me while he was cleaning my teeth, just raise my hand to let him know. I had that hand up almost every tooth! It was very disconcerting to see the suction tube sucking up bright red blood out of my mouth. I made an appointment to get my cavities filled but made sure I specified that I wanted the other dentist. My gums are already swelling up.....

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Lily Tree


I was walking to get a sandwich at Subway today when I passed this beautiful tree! I had never seen a tree like this before... It looks like a lily tree! Anyone know what it is?

Monday, March 09, 2009

Monthly Meeting


Tonight I took my two new lia sophia advisors with me to our monthly lia sophia meeting. The sky was beautiful when we arrived but unfortunately, this is the best picture I could get. It doesn't really do it justice.

California Bounty

One thing I will miss about California when we leave is how many things you can find growing all around you. Not that it is green where we are, but there are lots of hot weather fruit trees around. Here is a bowl of fruit that were handpicked by me or a friend near my house.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

New Sunglasses


I lost my favorite pair of sunglasses so I had to resume wearing a pair that my great aunt gave me. They were stylish, don't get me wrong, but didn't flatter my face as much as my other ones. Then Mosey sat on those and broke them so I have been without sunglasses for a few months now. I hadn't realized how much I depended on them! I really missed them! So today, I went and bought somemore! Do you like them?

Friday, March 06, 2009

Ciao Antoinetta!

Today I was sitting at school when in walked my Italian teacher from Italy! I hadn't seen her since I left almost 6 years ago (has it really been that long?). She is interested in getting a group from Italy to come take ESL classes in my department. Isn't that exciting? Here we are in my office.

It turns out that I worked with several other people who studied at the same school as me but different years. Here is a picture of Odette Ferrera, the Director of Adventist Colleges Abroad; Dr. Norma Alban, my Spanish teacher; me, the Director of English as a Second Language here; Raquel, who studied at Villa Aurora and is now that school registrar; Jankel, who studied at Villa Aurora and is one our school bigwigs; and Antoinetta, Director of Italian as a Second Language at Villa Aurora in Florence Italy.


What a small world huh?

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Junk Food

It has been a pretty stressful semester. On top of which, my schedule doesn't allow me to go home for lunch very often. I haven't got the motivation to pack my own lunch so I usually end up eating this:


We just got a vending machine at school and this is what my lunch has looked like for the last 3 days.... Ugh.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Ernie Maxwell Trail

Today Jason and I were itching to get outside. Jason found us a nice trail to hike and off we went! There was still snow on a lot of the trail but it was easy hiking because Mosey pulled us the entire way. Here is Jason resting.


I emphasize Jason because Mosey never rested. Here I am with Mosey at the end of the trail before we started back.


It was a wonderful day!