Jingle Bell Run

Today my friend Kerrie and I ran 5k in the Jingle Bell Run. It was fun! When we registered we received a Santa hat and a jingle bell (that we attached to our sneakers) so we were very spirited (along with everyone else) during the run.

We came in #4 and #5 at 39.03 (that was Kerrie) and 39.05 (that was me)! In reality we came in 166 and 167, but 4 and 5 in our age group... Dreadfully the 40 - 44 age group had way better timing than we did.

We did see two ladies in the run (who actually passed us) and I pointed out to Kerrie that they were us in about 30 years... One of them was wearing a fanny pack (hopefully that won't be me in 30 years).

When I came home I attached my jingle bell to Cali's collar... we now have a jingle horse in the house... or a reindeer. Turn up the volume and listen closely:

An Evening with Anthony Bourdain

Last night we had an opportunity to go see Anthony Bourdain speak at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center.

You can go here and learn/learn more about him. He talked for two straight hours that seemed more like 45 minutes. He was engaging, funny, crude, rude and told it like it is when it comes to food television, cooking in restaurants and travel.

My favorite part was of course when he got to the travel part. He did touch on a few points about traveling that are very true - I think he might have delivered it as advice. He touched on points such as:
1 - be thankful that you are traveling with an American passport
2 - be grateful for the opportunity to be away from the day to day routine
3 - observe local customs
4 - be respectful
5 - eat and drink what you are offered, because it's through food and drink that locals share their history.

Of course he had very colorful stories to tell with each of the above points. It was an awesome night. And the fact that we were able to share this experience with our good friends Kerrie and Eric (who are also in the food and beverage industry) was even better!

Picture Time!

Cali is so sweet how she curls up in a little ball and sleeps. Look at her feet... she's holding her back foot with the front food (which she has as a little pillow underneath her head!). So cozy.


We went to Trader Joe's last week. That store is so neat! #1 - they have awesome prices on beer and wine. #2 - they have neat products like lemon grass, peppermint, spearmint tea and candied ginger and the best dark chocolate covered espresso beans ever.

Due to fact #1, we purchased an amount of bottles that they gave us a box to transport them in. When we got home, we put the wine box by the trashcan (as usual) and Pellet took it over:





Then Cali came along and they started playing tug of war with the box (which is not conducive) so the box disappeared.

No Title Post

We are two weeks into November - what is going on? Where are these last months of 2010 going? I guess the fact that it's 60 degrees outside at this moment makes things a little more tolerable in coping with how the days are flying by right before our eyes.

I had to take Pellet to the vet on Saturday. I'm not going to elaborate on this subject because it grosses me out (hence why I have not taken a picture, which is very unlikely of me). His diagnosis: sebaceous cyst. Basically he had this lump on his back for a long time and Friday afternoon it decided to erupt - leaving a wound that looks very similar to a gunshot.

He's not in pain or uncomfortable, but it is quite odd to see him walk around the house with this gunshot-looking sore. He's on antibiotics for 14 days (that will bring us to the end of November... aaahh!!).

The good news: he's lost weight, he now weighs a light 97.5 pounds! So proud of him!

Cleaning

This weekend I cleaned my house. Not cleaning like dusting and vacuuming (I do that every weekend) but cleaning like dusting, vacuuming, ironing, taking apart the fan in the living room and running the glass globes through the dishwasher, along with the glass globes from the dining room light fixture and all the glass globes throughout the house that I could reach (with help of the ladder of course).

Cleaned every nook that had a spider web. Cleaned the oven and the drawer at the bottom of the drawer (which was quite gross... I don't think I've ever cleaned that). Another thing that was quite gross was the cover over the fluorescent light in the kitchen - talk about greasy! Not to mention laundry, mopping and sweeping outside.

I guess because seeing the nice clean floors and shiny surfaces throughout the house (brighter house, may I add) wasn't enough, I spent this afternoon cleaning out the cabinets underneath the bathrooms (why do we collect so many bottles? I found an empty rubbing alcohol bottle at one point).

Just like pulling weeds, I find cleaning almost therapeutic. Back-hurting, labor intensive cleaning. Yesterday I cleaned with music blaring and I sang along. Today I cleaned in silence. Call me strange - I'm OK with that.

Fur-Children Parenting

I think Norm and I might be failing at fur-children parenting. Pellet and Cali have been out of control in the last few weeks - what has happened?? Are we slacking? Apparently...

They have been doing things like:
- getting on the bed at 5am for no reason at all
- jumping on the window screens
- getting on the couch and knocking over the pillows
- jumping up on people constantly
- getting on the bed on the guest room the minute I open the door
and worst of all: POOPING BY THE FRONT DOOR!!

We are certain Cali is the one pooping by the front door - in the middle of the night. So we started logging the time we fed her (maybe we were feeding her too late?) and the last time she went out and whether or not she had an accident the following morning. Here is the chart:

As you can tell, she finally stopped having accidents - so we stopped logging. We decided that she had to eat in the 6 o'clock hour (although if you really pay attention to the log, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to why she was pooping - notice 10/22 and then notice 10/27...).

So what did Cali do last night and the night before? POOP BY THE FRONT DOOR. And what time was Cali fed last night and the night before? at approximately 6:00pm. And what time did Cali last go out last night and the night before? at approximately 11:00pm.

I don't get it. All insight and possible solutions are welcomed.