Slow Down, Rocket

Boy oh boy.  Work was sure crazy since I got back from Texas.  This last week it finally felt manageable.  In the meantime, my inner organizational fairy has turned into a nasty sort of sprite and has decided that it is better to kick it into high gear for the move.  I'm freaking myself out with the amount of time I have left.  "Why, Becca," a rational person may begin, "don't you have almost two months left?" To which I reply, "NAY!"  When I calculated it, I took out work hours, and then completely cut out the days where I do Craft Night, Volunteer, or have other obligations or errands in the evenings (because, hey, you know I still LIVE here).  Which sometimes leaves me with two work nights a week, plus the weekends.  Now, that would be fine, minus the fact that I'll be on puppy-duty next weekend and not in the least bit able to pack, organize, or clean as hard-core as I have been going.

I should let up.  I've done something to my back.  I didn't tweak it.  It's just this general achey sort of all over pain.  Perhaps it is the pain one experiences from working out?  I wouldn't know.  It's a deep pain where even sitting on the couch up-right typing this hurts.  I was working hard yesterday sweeping, dusting, organizing, packing, unpacking, repacking, evaluating, pulling things to be sold on Craigslist or Etsy or Amazon, stacking, piling, re-cleaning because I inevitably made a mess... and that was all after a full morning of running errands with J to get supplies for a garland I want to make and beads for a top-secret project I've been gladly assigned to and grocery shopping.  Last night I was so wired (AND sick with food poisoning - I curse you forever Chipotle) that I couldn't go to sleep until 2:00 AM so I just stayed up working on my secret project.

This morning I woke up and could barely get out of bed.  Of course my inner-jerk insisted that 7:30 AM was the last I'd see sleep.  I immediately got pissed off at how dusty my room was so I hobbled around sweeping, spraying, and dusting.  I wasn't kidding when I said my nice inner fairy turned into something more sinister.  Back off, lady!  I'm in pain!  But she's not satisfied, no.  After a trip to the dog park (to wear them out so we could get even more stuff done!) I set on listing more books on Amazon and revamping my Etsy page.  I've learned the hard way: take photos with natural light.  Your products look so much better.  That took me a few hours.  Feel free to check out my new stuff:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PhysicksAlchemy

I added some of my story on my new About page:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PhysicksAlchemy/about/

Do you like the picture of Lily on my About page?  I haven't shared it on my blog yet.  Here is a better version of that picture.  She sometimes doesn't realize her tongue is sticking out.  It is so funny.  Silly Lily.  It is a very accurate portrayal of her personality.  She is so bubbly and loving.  Everything is automatically the best thing ever.

She reminds me of Einstein.

 

 

 

See?

Here is another one of my favorite pictures of her.  I was working diligently on my computer a couple of months ago and she was not satisfied unless she was on my lap.  I really love the Photobooth option on my laptop because I can get a lot of candid pictures of the animals when I am cuddling with them.  This picture was an example of perfect timing. 

I am giving her a hug and hiding my face at the same time because I didn't look so hot.  God, she is the cutest.

Lily doesn't usually sit still long enough for cuddles, but today is an exception.  Sundays are dog park days (though we -and they- miss our friends that we used to meet up with regularly) and it wears them out.  It makes for a slightly calmer household.  Whenever I sit down, Ruby is right by my side.  It's like she and I have magnets in our bodies or something.  We're copacetic creatures.  She finds a spot that maximized body contact.  J knows that she sees herself as my BABY.

Ruby making herself as tiny as possible and sitting right next to me.  I had to hold my laptop above her to get this photo, but you get the idea.

My other cuddle monsters.  Oops, aim was off, got too much floor.

That's a better picture.  Lily had her front leg around Tashi at one point.  Tashi surprises me.  Now she gives Lily kisses.  There have been some changes in her demeanor since she lost her companion.

I think I am going to take a cue from my pets and take the rest of the day easy.  I hate feeling like I have no weekend when I get back to work on a Monday morning.  And I have obligations on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evening this week.  Sigh.  Plus, it is getting hard to type.  I went to lay down and animals shifted around me...

The Emerald City

About two weeks ago J and I went to Seattle for a long weekend.  Instead of writing a long missive (like I have for San Fran) I decided to let the pictures do most of the talking.  It was a whirlwind visit.  Flying from the East Coast to the West Coast twice now in four months has given me a new appreciation for folks who do the LA to NYC commute on the regular.  It is rough.  We couldn't have done the trip without J's dad.  He flew down to Miami to take care of all of our fur babies while we were crossing the country. 

For dinner our first night in town we went to The Brave Horse Tavern.  I'd seen it on Unique Eats.  They have communal seating, which is something a misanthrope like me would usually detest, but their Wisconsin-style cheese curds and dill-pickle dipping sauce helped me get over that quickly.  J liked the artisinal beer selection.  Look at my dopey face.  Can you tell how much I liked this dish?

Another picture of the glorious cheese curds and an excellent pretzel.  I didn't care much for the pimento cheese spread, but J loved it.  They have plenty of other spreads to try.  We happened to get another soft pretzel at Schultzy's Sausage the next day.  I can never get enough soft pretzels. 

J and I in front of Pike's Place Market.  I could have spent hours there.  Just down the hill I ran into one of the adjunct instructors from my department back in Miami.  Go figure!  We also saw a couple with an Italian Greyhound and a French Bulldog.  I usually don't approach pet owners but I had to ask this couple and they were kind enough to answer our questions about how the Frenchie and Iggy got along (we've always wanted a Frenchie!).  Their dogs (both boys) were so loving and gave me lots of kisses.  It helped with the hole in my heart I had from being away from my girls.

The famous fish throwers.

Gorgeous flowers for a really reasonable price.

Amazing selection of produce.  I loved getting all of the samples.  We only saw a small portion of the Public Market and I could have spent hours there.  Maybe someday!

My first chowder.  Probably my last.  I'm sure it was excellent.  The place was packed despite the drizzly weather.  This is actually a scallop chowder.  I just don't like creamy based seafood dishes.  

 

 

 

View from the 73rd floor of the Columbia Tower.  It is cheaper than the Space Needle and higher up.  It is a little odd to be walking through a business skyscraper on a weekend.  Everything was eerily quiet and we weren't quiet sure we were headed in the right direction (we had to take two sets of elevators up). 

My only complaint with the Columbia Tower is that you cannot get a 360 degree view.  But it is still spectacular.  I never realized how big Seattle is.  This pictures don't really do it justice.  The mountains are incredible.

Me looking over Puget Sound.

The Famous Fremont Troll (seen in movies like 10 Things I Hate About You).  I had to see this guy before we left.  It was sort of in an odd location (in the midst of a neighborhood).  He wasn't as big as I was expecting him to be, but he isn't as cute as I expected him to be either.  Right before we found him we stopped at a place called Pie.  I had an amazing Rhubarb Raspberry hand pie.  Across the street I popped into a used book store called Ophelia's books.  (This particular trip was a reading success for me because I finished two books!)

From Fremont we walked all the way to Gasworks Park.  It's a pretty neat park that has some old industrial complex/buildings around it.  That's me way off in the distance.  I added this picture because it epitomizes why Seattle is called the Emerald City.  Living in Miami, I had forgotten what spring looked like.  But I realized that after 21 years of living in Wisconsin, I had never seen a prettier, more story-book spring than a Seattle spring.  It looked like a fairy tale come to life.  Fall might have a run for it's money for my favorite season...

Another view of downtown Seattle.  This is from Gasworks Park.  The Space Needle is on the right side.

Gasworks Park and some of the structures there.  It was pretty nippy noodles outside, but there were still plenty of folks playing.  The sky was over-cast, but all in all, we had excellent weather for our trip.

I need to finish Part 2 of my San Fran post and post about my experience swimming with manatees!  I have been busy volunteering at a local branch of my library in addition to taking steps and making decisions about our future (with J, of course).  I've also been dealing with a very sick cat.  Trini has lost all control of her bowel movements.  We clean up after her and not five minutes later there is another puddle on the floor.  This involves baths and drying her with a blow dryer.  It is particularly messy because she has also stopped using her back legs entirely and she chooses to drag herself everywhere.  Often times this leads to a puddle and then an extensive trail of urine through the apartment.  After she is cleaned up then the floor needs to be mopped.  I've made an appointment for her for a day that I had my own doctor's appointment.  I am dealing with a lot of emotions on the matter of my life-long companion (19 and a half years old!).  One emotion I feel in particular is frustration.  For the last five months I have been in and out of the vet explaining how she has been rapidly and steadily declining (losing weight [6 lbs or less], urinating out of the litter box, hiding) and they insisted on tests, ultrasounds, and medications.  They are excellent vets and I have been very pleased with every other situation we've been in, but I feel that the story of Trini has been unnecessarily prolonged in an undignified way.  I feel terrible for her but on the other hand J and I are exhausted.  After working full time, volunteering, and caring for my husband and fur-family I don't really want to blog.  I'm taking the time to do this on a Sunday because it is the best time for me to do it. 

(Please note, I almost never get comments on my blog, but I did turn off my comments on this post because I've talked about Trini ad nauseum to the people in my life who know about how much I care for her [J, my parents, my Gma F, a handful of friends, my coworkers] and that last paragraph was all I am going to say on the matter until we have a discussion with the vet.  Thank you for respecting my wishes.)

2013

2012 has been a full year.  In March I had my 1 year anniversary at work.  I feel like I just started yesterday, then again, there are other days that make me feel like I've been there forever.  In August, just after starting our second year in Miami, J and I added little Lily to our family.  She has been absolutely wonderful.  Ruby and Lily fight like sisters, but snuggle like best buds when they are worn out.  They care for each other and we are so lucky to have such wonderful creatures in our lives.  Joe's family came to visit us in the spring and a college friend of mine came to visit in the summer.  This year I created my Etsy store and made a couple of sales (thank you to all of you who supported me in that endeavor!).  I continued volunteering and taking classes at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens.  I clocked over 100 hours of volunteering in the last year.  I also took an online writing class.  I have been struggling the entire year with sinus problems and I have been in and out of the ENT's office with no results.  I did find out that I am allergy-free, go figure.  I challenged myself to watch classic movies, something I had never really done before.  I am also proud to say that I have completed my goal of reading 75 books in a year.  We hosted our first (small) Thanksgiving and in December we traveled to San Fransisco.  I also started doing free-lance work for a local start-up.  Our holidays were very low-key, which is fine by me.  For Christmas we went out for Chinese food and for New Year's Eve we stayed home and I finished my 75th book.  We celebrated 12:00 am New Year's Day with some sparkling white wine cuddled up with our puppies.  Today J is watching the Rose Bowl (Go Badgers!) and I am trying to tick things off of my to-do list.  Today is also a special day because it marks our seven year anniversary of being a couple.  We went on our first date (mini-golf) on January 1st, 2006.  We're going out to dinner tomorrow.

2013 should be a year of change for us.  We've been taking steps to challenge ourselves in our careers.  J is applying to jobs and Ph.D. programs.  I have been applying to Master's programs in Library and Information Sciences.  We'll see where the year takes us.  We won't be adding another animal to our menagerie.  We have our hands and arms (lovingly) full with our four fur-balls.  But we inevitably end up hosting creatures of all kinds (to babysit for friends, to foster until permanent homes are found).  A move should be in our future, but we don't know where to.  It is hard for life to be so up in the air, but it is, so we just truck on with the daily stuff until then.  I have challenged myself to read 85 books in 2013.  I might have to adjust that number if I get into graduate school.  I'm going to take a short break from Etsy to continue my free-lance work.  Hopefully I can also fit in some volunteer work at a library in addition to Fairchild.  I want to learn how to drive stick-shift.  I've been meaning to learn since we got here and I just need to buckle down and do it.  J's car is stick-shift and it is silly that I don't know how to drive it.  One of my biggest goals is to finish one of the various stories that I have started in 2012.  If it is short enough, I will try publishing it as a Kindle single.

I have been meaning to write about San Fransisco, but I need to edit pictures to go with the post and I was busy with commissions, free-lancing, and finishing my own holiday gifts.  I've been able to recharge my batteries the last two weeks by taking a step back.  In the meantime, here are just a couple of pictures from our trip.

On our first day of the trip, J and I woke up early and walked around Fisherman's Warf.  That is the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, you can't really tell though.

Who parked my truck here?  This is my dream vehicle (okay, aside from a sweet blue Prius).

Everyone who reads this blog knows what a soft spot I have for The Addams Family.  I was really happy to see this game when we went to the penny arcade.  I spent my best $5 of the trip there.

Me in front of Lombard Street, the world's crookedist street.  What a beast to walk up.  This is only two thirds of the way up the hill.  We had walked another horrible hill the previous day and the day after this will always be remembered as the day I almost died on a hike up a hill in Muir Woods.  Brutal.

The worst $0.25 I spent on my trip.  This thing was creepy.  It just belly laughed in the most horrible way possible.

This one is for my mom.  She kept texting, "Did you go to the bridge yet?"  I went to the bridge.  But it was after the horrible hike, so I decided not to walk across the whole thing.

Thanksgiving Weekend Picture Post

I am really overwhelmed with work, personal projects, and the holidays right now...  So here is another picture post instead of a lengthy description of my holiday weekend.

We had J's friend over for a semi-traditional American Thanksgiving.  She has treated us to traditional Chinese food on more than one occasion and this was the least we could do to return the favor.  Ever since J and I started going to one another's family functions I have been in love with his Grandmother's Sage Stuffing.  I asked him to ask his mom how to make it - and for his first attempt at stuffing, he did an excellent job!  He also wanted to do most of the food on a grill, so we grilled potatoes instead of mashing them.

Our table for three.  We skipped the turkey (see the last post) and aside from stuffing and potatoes we had steak, vegetarian squash tart, salad, and grilled corn.  I was the only one who wanted the pumpkin pie, though... More for me!

A better view of our feast.  We sent our friend home with a ton of food and we still have leftovers.  I guess that's the American tradition- overkill.  (She liked the sparkling cider.  Personally, that is always one of my favorite family traditions.)

J and I went on a day-date on Saturday.  We decided to go to South Beach.  We hit up Bolivar again (we went their on a food tour with my in-laws).  We've both been craving their fried plantains and we decided to give tapas a try.  I've never had tapas before, but I think that it will be how J and I dine from now on.  We had a lot of fun, got to try a lot of different things- all wonderful, and it was reasonable ($40, tip included, for two people).  By the way- we did not touch the ketchup, the sauces (in the background) were amazing!

The purpose of our SoBe trip was to visit the Wolfsonian Museum.  We've been wanting to go to more art museums, but sometimes it is hard to justify the price.  This one was free for us.  It was a pretty small museum and had more of a "design" aspect than a straight-up "art" aspect.  It was neat, but we don't have to go back.  Me with the Wolfsonian Museum's famous "Wrestler" statue. 

J in front of the "Lo and Behold" or "Miro y Ve" fountain.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

It wouldn't be a blog post by me if I didn't include my babies.  This is an older picture that J took when walking the dogs.  Now Lily is as big as Ruby.  They are a funny duo. 

What a doll.  I like the way she crosses her paws.  You can tell how much bulkier she is than Ruby just by her paws alone.  This was after a particularly trying day at work a couple of weeks ago.  (You can tell because my hair is frazzled.  It likes to do that when I'm stressed.)  I love coming home to a full house.

Lily loves everyone.  Equally.  And she doesn't take the hint.  Tashi is an opportunist though, so if she thinks she'll get some nice cuddles out of it, she'll stay.  Lily is in her new sweater that we bought her last week.  Ruby has the same one in red.  I don't know WHAT we will do with them when we move to a colder climate.  They are wusses.

Saturday was a good day.  We had our day-date, went to the dog park, and then I came home to my Etsy package.  I had been spying on this little creature for several weeks and I decided that because I've made two sales (plus the ones to my mom) that I would treat myself to an Etsy item.  She's custom made and all the way from Australia.  You can't really tell, but she is sitting on a half-shell.  (You should check out the artist's work- she's great: http://www.etsy.com/shop/scarletsbones?ref=search_shop_redirect)  It has been a long time since I have ordered something online, so I was anxiously waiting for her arrival

 

 

So, that's my holiday weekend in a nutshell.  (Minus the top-secret holiday preparations for work and family/friends... and the two loads of laundry... and the massive cleaning on Thursday... and the grocery shopping... you get the picture- I just gave you the highlights.)

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with your loved ones.  I am glad that J and I were able to host our first successful psuedo-Thanksgiving.  We had fun.  I don't know what we'll do for Christmas, but honestly, I'm not even ready to think about that.  Now, I'm off to pull my laundry out of the dryer.  Fun stuff!

Picture Post

I have been busy with work and preparing for the holidays.  J and I will be hosting a guest for Thanksgiving and we want to show her a semi-traditional dinner (sans turkey because -hey- we're not the best of chefs and what is the chance of finding a heritage, free-range, ethically treated bird down here for less than $25 and how the heck can three people eat something that big anyways...).  I'm a bit nervous because she has had us over for traditional Chinese food twice now and she is an AMAZING cook. 

I have also been working on Christmas gifts.  I submitted some stuff to Ramble Art Festival down here again this year, and some sold.  I'm not sure how much because I haven't picked my things up yet, but it did take me awhile to pull everything together.

Instead of writing a long missive on what has (or hasn't) been happening in our lives, I figured I'd do a picture post.  I'm not the best photographer and I'm using J's camera (some of these are from his iPhone).  So please, disregard the quality.  I make no claims to be an artful blogger.  Just an honest, and hopefully sometimes funny, one. 

My Halloween costume inspiration.  Every year J and I watch something for Halloween.  The last two years we watched Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas.  This year, in honor of my Classic Movie Challenge, we watched the first season of The Addams Family television show (circa 1964).  They are a loving family through and through.  Gomez and Morticia are sickeningly romantic (they'd take that as a compliment).  John Astin is my favorite incarnation of Gomez, but Christina Ricci is my favorite version of Wednesday.  I loved Wednesday as soon as I saw the movie as a kid (circa 1991).  I have always had a soft spot for Cousin Itt, though.  In college I had The Addams Family comic day planner.  I wish I would have kept it.  That dark humor oddly brightens my dull Miami life.

 

 

 

 

This isn't my best costume ever, but it was just for work.  People kept saying I looked cute.  They didn't realize I was in costume.  All I could think was, "Wednesday would be mortified."  The only thing I had to do for this costume was braid my hair.  I guess I have a dark wardrobe if no one noticed the difference.  :)

What do you see in this picture?  I see three sunbathing cats.  Sassy puppies.  For the record, their mommy doesn't let them lay on top of the couch cushions like that.

My lovely Lily.  I wish a camera could do justice for her beautiful hazel eyes.  I adore her so.

I took these pictures a couple of nights ago when Trini and I were lounging in bed, wasting too much time on the Internet.  I have had her since I was seven.  This is what 18 years of friendship looks like: love, slight annoyance, and complete understanding of one another.  She is experiencing some difficulties lately due to age.  Her one eye is completely covered in a cataract (and the other one is going too).  She used to keep it closed all of the time, but after a couple of visits to the vet we seemed to ease the irritation for her.  Now her legs are giving out to arthritis and she doesn't move much.  She tries hard to make it to the litter box, but sometimes she doesn't realize she's in it and she misses.  My mornings are messy, but I would do just about anything for this cranky old broad.

Happiness is warm puppies.  My lap, and my heart, are always full thanks to a house full of animals.

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving Weekend!

Since September...

I haven't posted since September... yeesh.  In my defense, J has been working diligently on his thesis and I have been trying to help around the apartment in little ways (planning meals, cooking dinners, cleaning, keeping a watchful eye on animals). He's finally done with writing and he'll be defending his thesis in the beginning of November.  I'm incredibly proud of him.  Aside from working like crazy for school, he is an excellent puppy parent, an avid runner, and he's been working on side projects like his blog: http://www.wxnotes.com/blog/

Our animals have been keeping us busy.  We've been taking the dogs to a new dog park that was recommended to us by a fellow UW-Madison graduate.  Sometimes we meet up with her there on the weekends.  We've started Lily in Puppy Classes with the same trainer that worked with Ruby.  We keep them busy because happy dogs are tired dogs... but that also makes for tired dog owners who'd rather relax than blog.  Guilty. 

I haven't been lazy though!  I have been working hard on my goal of reading 75 books in 2012.  I am currently reading two books (60 and 61).  If you want to keep up with what I am reading, you can check out my Shelfari account.  (http://www.shelfari.com/beccaf)  There is no doubt in my mind that I will meet my goal, but despite my fast reading pace, it still takes a lot of time to read that much.

I also was able to go home for a week in late October.  My mom and dad paid for my ticket to come home so that I could celebrate my second cousin's wedding.  It was really beautiful.  She and her mom did some cool things for me when I was planning my wedding so I would have been disappointed to miss hers.  Aside from the wedding, I was able to spend good time with my family.  My mom and I hit up a Wisconsin farm-stand and I bought goodies for the girls at work.  I also indulged in New Glarus Raspberry Ale and cheese curds.  I was able to get all of my favorite food stops in: Kopp's for Red Raspberry frozen custard, Bluephie's for Ooey Gooey Pasta (with two of my best buds), Noodles, and The Comet Cafe.  It was a really good trip.  I was dying to get as far away from Miami as possible for the last couple of months.  I needed a reality check: somewhere where people are nice and there are a few of them who care about me.  Sometimes it is hard living so far from family and friends- even if it is an adventure.

Going back to Wisconsin helped also get me back into my creative groove.  One day my mom and I made a pumpkin still life that was inspired by some of her home decorating magazines.  I miss having a crafting buddy.  I always did my scrap-booking and card-making with her.  I hate doing those things alone- so I haven't done them in years.  We made a lot of elements for my wedding together and making those pumpkins was a fun activity.  When I came back to Miami (after I was sicker than a dog for two days) I pulled out my crafting supplies and started on some new projects.  I'll add some pictures below.  You can see more at my Etsy site.  And speaking of Etsy- I made my first "outside" (as in someone I don't know) sale two days before my trip!!  Someone in Nova Scotia bought some magnets.  I jumped for joy!

Current projects I've been working on:

The first altered Moleskine journal I made.

Another altered journal.

Another.  I'm sort of addicted.  I have to wait and see if these sell before I buy more journals to alter.  I don't want to end up with too many sitting around like some of my other crafts. *See footnote*

A Fairy Ornament that I decided to try.  The idea came to me when I was trying to sleep and after I thought of it I couldn't actually fall asleep because I was so excited to try it out.  It finally gave me an idea of what to do with all of the bits I've collected/found over the years.  This one is sea-themed.

This one is Halloween-themed.  I wanted to do one in colors that reminded me of the holiday.  Please don't judge my photo styling.  I'm not a photographer and I was trying to get the pictures taken while there was still some natural light outside.

Where my ornaments are currently residing: on the wine bottles that we don't drink. :)

On Monday I go back to work.  I know I'll have a lot on my desk.  I was supposed to go in to work the two days after I got back, but I was sick on Thursday and worse on Friday.  I got up and took a shower at 7:00 AM both days.  On Thursday I was exhausted from traveling and had a headache/sore throat, so I didn't even bother getting dressed.  On Friday I woke up feeling even worse, but I figured I really had to go in since it would only be me and one other office member.  I pulled on my clothes, told Joe that I might be home early, drove about a mile, and then pulled into a gas station so I could get sick all over myself.  I called my co-workers and explained that I would not be in, I needed a shower and different clothes, and then I went home and got sick three more times.  It was, by far, one of the worst days of being sick/having a migraine in my life.  I couldn't keep anything down: water, saltines, Sprite, or medicine.  I just iced my head in bed until 1 AM when I finally fell asleep.  On Saturday I still had a bit of a headache, so I took it slow in the morning, but by Saturday night I finally felt better.

I should go get ready for my first day back at work since the 17th.  Besides the work I have to get a campus parking pass and schedule an allergy test- a tale for another day- so I'm sure tomorrow will be crazy.  But I kind of don't want to get up to make my lunch right now.  I have two tuckered puppies cuddling my feet and I don't want to disturb them.  They look so angelic... then they wake up.  :)

 - - -

* I went a little crazy with the magnets I was making.  I liked repurposing magazine pages and it was so easy to put the magnets together that I made more than I needed.  I personally like the painted ones best, but I can't make too many at a time without getting a headache from the fumes.  When I was meeting with another Etsy crafter (http://artzazzle.blogspot.com/) she mentioned that it would be cool to leave crafts like geo-caches.   I used to geo-cache with my mom and I loved the idea.  I'll save the geo-cache idea for when I live in another city, but I decided to leave some gift bags around town of some surplus magnets, my business card, and a note that reads, "Surprise!  A gift for you or someone you love.  Just a little way to brighten your day."  I hope people find them and enjoy the fun that is finding a little secret. Who knows?  Someone will probably find it, hate it, send me an e-mail telling me what a jerk I am for some inane reason, and then instead of making their day better they'll ruin mine.  (I've been living in Miami too long; I expect the worst of people.) *

Lovely Lily

I haven't posted much lately, and for that I apologize.  Work has been really hectic and then we had to leave town to go get Lily.  Despite the tropical storm, things went off without a hitch.  We lost power for a short while and work/school was cancelled on Monday.  Today was rough- I am fighting one of the worst migraines I've had in awhile, but I did want to post pictures of my second fur-baby.  I will write more about her personality and our story of the first couple of days with our little Lily in the near future.

Ruby in July

Adorable and Tired

Beautiful Blue Eyes- those won't stay like that.  Lily is very cute, very soft, and very affectionate.

All my girls in one picture.  (Ruby in the background, moping, Tashi, Lily, and Trini)

It is taking Ruby a little while, but gradually she is warming up to Lily.  Lily follows her big sister's lead.