Lucy's first walk!

Lucy got her third and final set of vaccinations this morning, which means we can safely take her out to public places now! And so before lunch, the To family went for a nice walk around the canal by our house.

When we first got Lucy, she reminded me SO much of Indee... in how she looked and in her mannerisms. I kept calling her "Indee" for at least a week (and still do sometimes when I'm not thinking). As Lucy is growing older, I'm seeing more and more how she has her own personality, which in many ways is very different from Indee. One such difference is how Lucy is a lot more adventurous than Indee. The first time Indee went for a walk, she freaked out and tried to scamper back up the driveway into our house. We decided to carry her down the block and start our walk there, but Indee proceeded to scamper up EVERY driveway, in desparate hope that it would lead to home, until we finally reached our house.

Lucy, on the other hand, has been itching to venture past our fence for a long time and was SO excited during her walk. She trotted and sniffed, chased little animals and marked her territory, like a seasoned pro. And when we finally returned home, she was so tired she barely made it to her water bowl for a drink before konking out in the middle of the kitchen floor for a long nap.

I'm excited for my new running buddy! ... except, I think we're going to have to work on her endurance.

look at the proud dad with all his camera gear!

this is how we play tug-o-war...

she's either lazy, or... doesn't get the game?

i love how she falls over "dead" at the end. :)

a fair weather fan

I am tired of this cold and gloom. Having lived in San Diego for so long, I have been so spoiled as to expect "winters" that last a month and then dissolve into the usual warm, sunny flip-flp weather that has become my climate norm. But this is not so in Sacramento (my poor flip-flops are gathering dust and cobwebs). And while I know it could be MUCH worse, I am a wuss when it comes to cold, so please, just be sympathetic.

Cold weather debilitates me. This is one of the reasons, if not THE reason, why I don't enjoy skiing, even though my dad is a fanatic and we grew up visiting the slopes numerous times each season... On swim team, as a kid and even as an adult, I was always the last one in the pool (or in the ocean, when I was triathlon training), negatively anticipating that moment of icy daggers puncturing each inch of my flesh (let me exaggerate). My coaches would always be yelling at me to get in, succeeding only after threatening me with extra laps, or pushing me in, which did happen on several occasions.

And so in my first Sacramento winter, I have been a shivering ball of misery. Yes, we do turn on the heater, but I can't control the climate outside, which has been gray and prickly for some time now. Perhaps I am like Superman; depending on the sun to give me life, energy, and initiative to venture out of the house. I've even stopped running(!) because I am waiting for the sun to shine.

I realize, though, that the sun can't always shine, and it's irresponsible of me to put all things on hold until it does. I am a fair weather fan. Literally, but also metaphorically. And so today, I decided that I would bundle up, brave the elements, and face my storm... and run.  I have to get used to it sometime...

lost

Wayne lost his wedding band last night somewhere between puppy class, Circuit City, and home. He's bummed, but it's not his fault. It was slightly too big for him, and the winter cold that shrinks the blood vessels in his fingers didn't help. He's accidentally flung it off on a few occasions, but he's usually cognizant of its absence and proceeds to retrieve it. This time, though, I guess it just slipped off and he didn't know. He's notified the managers at both PetSmart and Circuit City, and we'll wait a week before purchasing a new one.

Secretly, or maybe not so secretly, I'm not too upset, because 1. his ring was an inexpensive tungsten band that we purchased on amazon, and 2. now we can find one that fits better--size-wise and style!

as promised...

... a picture of Lucy with rice on her face, after stuffing herself silly on the jook I made for her. :)

"please, sir... can I have some more?"


and this is Lucy playing with the new (stuffed) lemming I got her. I love how it looks so real! (I think... I've never actually seen a live lemming).

"You, Mom? RUN?!"

confession: I haven't run in a long time... a really long time. I blame the cold and the dreary weather, but I know I can really only blame myself and my lack of discipline.

I had a little conversation with Lucy today that was pretty convicting. It went something like this:

Me: Hey, Lucy. I see a clearing in the rain. I think I'm going to go for a run!
Lucy: You, Mom? RUN?!
Me: Yeah... why do you seem so surprised?
Lucy: I don't know... I've just never seen you exercise before. I mean, MoMo's mom does a lot of yoga and goes to bar method classes, so I can see her being physically fit. You just kind of sit around and stay home a lot. I just didn't know you were into stuff like that...

Ouch. But you know what they say, kids and puppies say the darnedest things, but also speak the truth.

So I laced up my shoes (took me a while to find my running hat; it's been so long), and went for a quick 3-miler--nice and short to start out with... and turn this thing back into more of a habit than an aberration.

picture (im)perfect

I just got my new drivers license in the mail... it's alarming.

"Kittens", Inspired by Kittens!

hahahaha, Angela just shared this hilarious clip to me!

sick puppy. :(

Lucy is sick. The vet suspects that she has a urinary tract infection and has prescribed some antibiotics for her to take for two weeks. In the meantime, though, Lucy feels the urge to pee every 10 minutes or so, but the poor thing has nothing to relieve. She's also been vomiting, and so to soothe her stomach, I made her some jook with poached chicken. The bright side to all this for Lucy is that she LOVES her new diet! She ravenously polished off her dinner and kept asking for more.

We got pictures of rice sticking to her face after her meal, but it's on Wayne's camera, which he shot in raw something something, and I don't understand, but he says I won't know how to get the files and he has to do it. ... so later I will post cute pictures of Lucy with rice on her face. :)

a sometimes stalker.

I have a strange fascination with beautiful people. Wayne can attest to that. While on our honeymoon in Maui, we attended a luau where I spotted "J. Crew Family". J. Crew Family was the name I gave this gorgeous young family that consisted of Dad, Mom, 6-year-oldish son, and 4-year-oldish daughter... all blonde-haired and blue-eyed, tanned and beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes of them! I just loved watching their family dynamics, trying to decide which child looked like which parent, wondering where they were from, making stories up about them. I kept asking Wayne to stealthily take a picture of them, but he wouldn't resort to stalking, like I so blatantly had already.

(However, upon returning home and reviewing our photos, I found a picture of the back of J. Crew Dad that Wayne had inadvertently taken while trying to capture the buffet spread. He is in the white linen shirt on the right. Too bad you can't see the wife and kids.)

Today was another instance in which my stalking tendencies manifested itself. Sam's roommate is getting married this summer, and out of curiosity, I asked if the couple had a website, so I could see what they look like, since I've heard so many stories about them from Sam but hadn't actually met them. So Sam gave me a web address, except that it took me to this pregnant woman's website who was tracking her monthly progress with pictures and blog, etc. And even though it was clearly the wrong site, I couldn't help but take a gander, and spent a good 15 minutes looking at photos of this unknown-to-me woman's pregnancy and her new baby, Ella Claire (who weighed 6 lbs 7 oz at birth and was 20 inches long). The woman is young and really cute, Asian (Indonesian? based on the sound of her last name)! She sports a belly button ring even through her pregnancy and her nursery looks like a page from Pottery Barn! Creepy, I know, but I couldn't help it. It was all just so fascinating to me...

I think I have too much free time.