6.20.2008

Friday Shorts

TGIF. This has great meaning for me this week. After two weeks away from my desk, this week seemed VERY long.

But, I survived. My boss decided to "get back at me" by scheduling a 2 week vacation starting July 2.

Here's what's going on this weekend for me:

Tonight, I will be chilling and watching baseball. G-men vs. the Kansas City Royals... I don't think there is a less attractive game for sports fans

Really looking forward to Saturday. We're heading to the city to catch Pete's cousin, Anthony's flick. Check it out, http://tinyurl.com/6ocbrs - I had no idea he was doing this but it was his dissertation project to get a PhD degree. Now I know two people who have created documentary films!

Saturday night my SF pals are coming out of the woodwork to hang out (let's face it they want to escape foggy SF) to have dinner with Pete and I. We will check out the new "hotspot" in Danville, http://tinyurl.com/5jy6wd - only wish Ayelet could be there to join us. She is definitely my new restaurant partner in crime. Alas, she will be in Barcelona - I shouldn't feel too bad!

Sunday is a belated Father's Day celebration with my family. I'm sure my mom will create a masterpiece lunch for us and it will be fun to catch up with everyone.

My foot seems to be healing, which is very good news. After all, walkies with Lucy are a requirement, not an option.

Have a great weekend, all!

6.19.2008

Bermuda


Bermuda is beautiful. It was the first Caribbean island I had ever visited. I must say it is quite a beautiful place... pristine, clean and you can definitely get a sense for the British influence.

We cruised here from NJ. I enjoyed the experience for the most part, except for the rough seas due to storms off the Atlantic coast. I have a tendency to get sea-sick and the 2nd day of cruising was pretty painful. BUT, we made it and I really enjoyed hanging out at Hamilton Beach, where, yes, the beaches are pink... guess it is cause the consistency is coral rather than silicon.

I must say, do not make plans to stay here for a week. I really feel like you may run out of things to do. The beaches are beautiful but there isn't much else to offer. I didn't make it to Hamilton, the capital, so unless there is a plethora of fun stuff there.... Bermuda is a 2 or 3 day trip max. Unlike places like Hawaii or Mexico where you can find good hiking and other areas to explore, I felt like Bermuda was a bit limited.

BUT, as I said, it's beautiful, pristine, clean, and everyone you meet is ultra polite and fits that "island relaxed" style.




6.18.2008

The Best Auntie ever...

Ayelet is just wonderful. While I was away missing Lucy like crazy, she sent a bunch of pictures and a link to her blog entry. You can read her entry below.

My Lucy Adventures

I have a house guest this week and it's a very different guest than I've ever had. I am sleeping with this guest and it's so strange. Her name is Lucy and she is the cutest Boston Terrier around. Sheila and Pete are on a cruise and I've adopted Lucy while they are away. I was only supposed to have her for the weekend but after talking to the dog walker on Monday, I decided (with Sheila's consent) that it would be best to keep her here until Pete returns on Thursday.
When I went to the school performance on Thursday night with Amy, I saw that I had a text message and it was from Sheila. She asked if I could stop by and see Lucy on my way home after the show. So I did. Lucy was so excited to see me. I think she was just sad and so I took her on a short walk and spent some time with her.

On Friday night, I went to see Sex and the City in the city and got home after midnight. It was a really fun evening. The next morning I went to get my haircut in Emeryville and met Jackie. We picked Lucy on the way back and she went wild. We managed to get her in the car and to my house. It was a beautiful day so we went to sit in the backyard and watched Lucy explore. I thought it would be great to send Sheila and Pete some photos so I went to get my camera. I heard Jackie saying: "Oh my, Lucy just went through a hole in the fence." I rushed out and we both ran up the hill and there she was on the other side.

My property is adjacent to 4 others, which means that I have 4 different fences. And what I discovered on this Saturday was that there were some major gaps that Lucy can escape through. Jackie is an angel. We started to evaluate the situation and I headed to the garage where I found some miscellaneous items that we could use to keep Lucy on my side of the fence. The first gap was easy. I had an old fireplace screen that was gathering dust in the garage. It fit perfectly and we wedged in a way that it was very secure.

The second gap was much more difficult as the ground was uneven. We started carrying large rocks up the hill. It was hard work and these rocks were heavy. I found 2 boards in the garage and the second gap was now gone but it was more of a make shift solution. And then, when we sat down and were so proud of our handy work, Miss Lucy jumped through another fence. It's funny now but frustrating when it happened. We were lucky to find some chicken coop fence that we can secure. I also found some rope in the garage and so we were making some funny designs.

We sat down again feeling good that our Lucy would now be safe. But we were so wrong. We missed one area and in seconds, she was in the neighbor's yard. So we got up again and managed to secure the fence. What was funny was that she has been to my place many times and never "escaped." Even though we didn't end up on a walk, we both felt we had a good work out especially after playing with Lucy for a while. She got under our skin and made us laugh. I was so grateful Jackie was there to help me and spend time together.

Mark showed up and we headed out to dinner. Lucy was at the door looking at us with her big, brown eyes and both J and I felt unbelievably guilty. Mark shook his head and said: "she's a dog. She'll be ok." But when we looked back, she was leaning on the door giving us a sad look.
She is a dog and everything was ok when we got back home. We hung out and watched a movie. Lucy was a fun date but I don't think she could read the subtitles. Sleeping was not easy. She snores! And she decided that I should get up at 5 am, which I didn't. I let her out in the backyard when I got up. And that is when I was grateful that we fixed the fence. Lucy rushed up the hill and started barking. I wasn't sure what she was barking about. And then, I saw it: a huge deer. If we didn't know there was a gap, Lucy and the deer would have been together. It's nice when life comes together!

We went on a fabulous walk on Sunday morning to the reservoir and then had breakfast outside. We were both exhausted.

I am now waiting for the dog walker to show up and take her on a walk.

I'm Baaack!

Phew! Where do I begin? I got back last Friday but I'm still trying to re-acclimate myself to life on the West Coast.

Two weeks of jam-packed days on the East Coast and I found myself absolutely exhausted.

I ended up sleeping most of the weekend away and I am still finding my eyes shutting around 8:30pm each night.

I'll have to blog the fun stories and experiences from my trip. For now, I just need to ease back into it slowly.

I've definitely fallen off the wagon with regard to my "diet" and I'm having a really difficult time getting back to it. I start off well in the am but somehow in the afternoon I get the urge to snack on no-no items. If diet were the only factor involved, I must be the mot infertile person at the moment. I am not supposed to eat seafood, that's pretty much all I ate while I was away. Drinking like a bottle of wine every day could not be good either.

I can't seem to bring myself to do yoga either.

Next week I will be good... Already looking forward to fun this weekend.