Tired of Snow

Its a hard life for dogs in my house. Mogley is catching on to the ways of the Munchie and he's quickly learning how to be a spoiled rotten house dog, just like his brother. Here he is, nice spot on the carpet, a nice, firm Munchie butt to lean his head on and his pink flamingo that he so proudly gutted, all over my house. Oh how I love toy stuffing all over my house right after I cleaned. Precious, just precious.

Merry Christmas

No these were not taken during Christmas. No these were not taken a month ago...back in the days when I was excited to see snow. These were taken this morning, March freakin 31st, right before I put my head in the Microwave and hit START.

Most Awesome Veggie Peeler Ever!!!

So I actually got this for Xmas from the Kener family White Elephant Gift Exchange, but I have never actually used it. I was in need of a Veggie Peeler last night and remembered that I had this fabulous little tool. I would like to give credit to Anthropologie for having such fabulous people with even more fabulous ideas that are able to make me smile and be totally content to do a chore as awful as Vegetable Peeling.

Organized Chaos

I live in a bungalow built in the 1940's. Bungalows in the 1940's have small kitchens. Mine really isn't as bad as some, but I'm still trying to find ways to organize it better and have more counter space. If we ever win the lottery, I'll fix it up, hell I'll knock it down and build a new house, but until then, I'll work with what I have. One thing taking up my limited counter top space was my knife block. Not anymore! I found this cool magnetic strip at Ikea and not only does it look pretty cool, but I gained like 7 inches of counter space. Woohoo! Goodbye knife block.

Daily Puppies

Couldn't you just die from all this cuteness? I admit, I'm completely obsessed with my 2 puppies, and I'm okay with it. I know, I know Munch is not a puppy but I find it logical and sane to call him things like Muffin and Monkey so really, what's the difference?

Mondays Can be Good Days

So yesterday, was a good day. I've had my eye on these shoes for a while now, but I haven't been able to bring myself to buy them due to their insanely large price tag. They are one of those shoe brands, kinda like Dansko, that NEVER go on sale. Anyway, I ran into a local boutique type store yesterday afternoon and noticed a small rack of shoes on sale. Low and freakin behold, they had one pair, in the color I have been eyeing, in my size, 50% off. I'm never this lucky. After I stopped feeling nauseous and dizzy with excitement, I grabbed the box and bought them. Can I just say they are super cute and soooooo comfortable...even Garrett said he liked them which is odd b/c he usually has no opinion whatsoever about my shoes. Yippee Skippee! Thank you Baby Jesus.

Little Red Riding Hood

Robin and I just signed up for the Little Red Riding Hood Century ride today. I'm pretty excited about it. Its one of only two women only metrics in the U.S. This year it all goes down June 7, 2008, which is the same day of the Deer Valley ICUP race but oh well. There are plenty other mountain bike races for me to do, right? This will be a fun day of pink and girls, no boys allowed. 104 miles of beautiful, scenic northern Utah. I can't wait! Here is the link if anyone is interested in checking it out. http://www.bbtc.net/index.php

Bunnies and Candy and Baskets, Oh MY!

I hope everyone has a nice Easter Weekend! Its too bad my work has no LOVE for Easter cause I'd sure enjoy a 3 day weekend. No such luck. The story of my life.

Dominance is a Bit*%

This is his "On Guard" Post, the couch with his polka dot blanket

Last night, while Munch was on the job, aka the bodyguarding of ME and GARRETT, he started a fight with Mogley. After a good water gun squirting, he backed off. The frustrating part is Mogley always comes back for more, no matter how awful and hurtful Munchie is to him. If Mogley was a human, he'd make a damn fine alcoholic. At first we thought Munch was just trying to establish his dominance, but now we think he's just being an asshole.

I Heart Doggie Daycare

So Very Tired

So Very Spunky

Mission Freakin' Accomplished! Mogley was completely worn out when Garrett picked him up from his first day of Daycare yesterday. Garrett said he was passed out next to a lady on the floor when he went to find him. They had to physically pick him up to get him out of the play area. He came home, ate his dinner and passed out for the rest of the evening. He literally would not get up for anything. It was awesome for us and Munch. I didn't yell "ENOUGH" or "STOP" or other things that I am not proud of one single time. We will definitely be Camp Barkalot regulars. I get so excited when I find little things like this that help make my life just a little bit easier. Munch was loving all the attention, with no Doodle to intervene. I danced around the kitchen and sang to Munch, he would jump up all wiggly, paws in the air as if he was dancing with me. He just looked so happy, like maybe today bacon and cheese would fall from the sky. Garrett just stands there and nods his head, wondering how many glasses of wine I could have drank already. A regular day.

Doodle Daycare

Today , Mogley goes to Daycare. This should be interesting. Today is his trial day, a day to see if this place "fits" him and to see if his fun is worth my money. Not that its a lot of money...if you buy the 20 day book, its only $10 a day, which is like 4 Dead Guy Ales from the liquor store, my new favorite, very expensive beer, so he better have the best day of his life and appreciate it. Garrett was slightly bummed this place didn't have a doggy webcam so he could possibly see him run across his screen perhaps once during the entire day and I was like, Is it worth an extra five dollars a day to see a flash of our dog on a webcam...a dog we see ALL THE TIME. He was like NO and we all moved on.

The doggie daycares really make me laugh. The first and last time we took Munch, we were like 2 parents, scared to leave their child at preschool, deathly frightened of what he might say or do to the other children. We know the real Munch. Not the crazy, funny noise making bundle of cuteness the employees first see. We know the ticking time bomb he really is. One dog looking at him the wrong way and he's so over it and totally loses all composure he once had. Yep, that's my Munchie. I think he gets that twinge of bi-polar behavior from me. One minute I'm driving along in the car singing along with the radio, the next I'm screaming horrible things at the lady in the car next to me, wishing horrible ways for her to die a slow and painful death, all for causing me to get home 2 seconds later b/c she forgot to use her blinker to turn and I didn't have a chance to go around her. I have issues too, and I'm working on them so I shouldn't give Munch shit for losing it on a dog that wouldn't stop sniffing his butt. Right? Anyway, he spent most of his daycare stint in Doggie Timeout. Shocking. His cuteness got him an invite back but I decided not to waste my money for him to stand in solitary confinement all day, pissed off at the world, when he could be laying at home on his corner of the couch, waiting all day to go bizerk over the mailman...thinking about the day he'll finally get that bastard.

Fueled entirely by Coffee

St. Patrick's Day was pretty non-eventful in my house. Garrett and I got in a good run followed by pizza and Guiness. Good night, just not a fun filled night of green like I secretly hoped. Oh well, maybe next year. I'm sure I'll get my fill of Irish pub crawling when we go to Ireland in August. In the meantime, enjoy these super cute pics of Mogley.

In a Nutshell

Another weekend, come and gone. Again, another weekend with dreadful weather. At this point, I'm used to it. Saturday morning, however, was gorgeous. Garrett got up really early and went backcountry skiing with some guy friends. I couldn't fall back to sleep after he left...thank you honey, you know how I love to wake up at 6 am on Saturday morning...Not. Its not that he tried to wake me...well, by not trying I mean asking me where a hat was, what else he should bring, where his ski pants were, where his pearl izumi shirt was, all with lights blaring and dogs having their ritual morning scuffle. Anyway, I laid in bed for a while with Munchie, watching ABC Kids (can I just say there is not anything worth watching in the wee hours of Saturday mornings). After about 3.5 seconds of "That's So Raven" I got my ass out of bed.
The weather was perfect outside, a nice spring like day. I hurried up, got some running clothes on and headed out the door. I had a great run, 1 1/2 hours of good exercise. After that, I made a trip to Ikea. I was just killing time. I did buy a magnetic knife holder thingy and stuffed Poodle for Mogley, in memory of his mom.

After that I went to the bank and Harmons, where I was accosted by Girl Scouts, armed with boxes of delicious fat and calories. I bought 4 boxes, I am such a sucker. Anyway, just as I was leaving Harmons (with lunch for my husband...aren't I a good wife), he called to tell me he was almost home. Perfect timing. Garrett spent the next few hours working on his current most valuable possession...a broken Saeco coffee maker (see Sidenote).

**Sidenote time** Every Thursday, Garrett and some guys from his work, go over to the UPS damaged freight auction. After a couple weeks of bringing home garbage, really, Garrett has been discouraged to buy anything. I mean the broken table top, old ass cooler, ginormous bike box and dirty backpacks have all been terrific purchases honey, but you're cut off. He has been telling me though, that if he finds a Saeco Coffee Maker (new they cost $1600), he was going to bid on it. Well he did and he won. Lucky me. So, it is now his mission to fix and use this thing, even though it seems UPS ran it over with their truck first. He's completely obsessed...at least he's driven to do something....ahem, basement, ahem. **End Sidenote**

So, Saturday afternoon, the weather caught us off guard and turned to crap. It snowed long and hard. Poor Mogley wanted to go outside and play.

Just when our yard was completey snow free, the snow started to fall. Damn.

Anyway, we then decided to take Mogley up Millcreek Canyon. He had so much fun, running around like a madman, covering himself with snow. It was a really good training day for him. Next year, we would like to take him backcountry skiing and hiking, so he needs to be well trained and actually listen to us. We took a bunch of treats and worked on come, sit, and stay while other people and dogs were around. He did pretty good, anything for a liver treat. Yum. Everyone thought he was so cute and playful, I must agree.

Sunday we got up and skiied most of the day at Solitude. With the exception of a few lazy employees at the ticket window, we had a really fun day. Garrett and I did a lot of hiking to find the good snow and boy did we find it. It was a lot of work for me to keep up, but it was totally worth it. The powder was up to my thigh...it was so much fun. I feel like I ski so much better with my new setup...its probably just in my head but I'm much more confident and daring these days. After skiing, Garrett of course messed with the coffee maker, it even required a Home Depot trip. We went to dinner with Joe and Robin at Citris Grill. That place is always good, its one of our favorites.

That's it...In a Nutshell.

Everyone Loves an Irish Girl

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!!! Did you wear green today? I know I did...and Garrett. Salt Lake City doesn't celebrate quite like the lovely people of Houston, TX so I had to make my own green beer...isn't it pretty? My last St. Patrick's Day in Houston was a lot of fun. I spent all day at an outdoor bar, right outside the parade route, covered in green from head to toe (literally, my toe nails were green), drinking green beer and downing green shots. That would never happen here, no way. The good old days are over...unless I move back to Texas of course. It's hot and humid, but those Texans sure know how to have a good time.

Rain on my Parade

Stretch it out Dude...Munchie loves Sunshine

Rain, Rain and oh yeah, more rain. That is the weather pattern here in Salt Lake City. It's really kind of depressing. Its gorgeous all week and just in time for the weekend, its crap. I'm pretty much sick of cold, snow, rain, dirty cars, dirty paws, etc. Winter is sticking around like an unwanted house guest. That bastard has drank all our beer and eaten all our food and I want to kick him the hell off my couch. Seriously, Good Day Sir....and don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Run For Your Life

This is Munch...trying to escape the beast.

So Close
Don't let that cute face fool you...he's crazy.

Munch is having a hard time adjusting to the addition of the Pirahana Puppy to the house. He can't even sniff around the yard these days without a maniac Doodle pummeling him to the ground. Munch usually makes a run for it, but unfortunately for him, the Doodle is usually not far behind...strategically planning his attack on the once content, and care free Munchie. I totally don't feel bad for Munch though. That's life. He'll live. Now he knows how we feel. We all have crazy doodles waiting in the shadows, hiding behind snow piles...just there to make life slightly more complicated.

IF YOU CAN SEE THE THIGH, THE SLITS TOO HIGH!!

For all my friends/family reading this that are not living in Salt Lake City, please keep in mind these are totally real. For all those living in Salt Lake City, we are used to this crap by now. There's nothing like a drive into Southern Utah...seeing the giant billboards promoting clothing stores like "Knee Shorts" and the neighborhoods promoting the houses as having "room to grow." These are posters found on the BYU college campus, a guide to grooming and modesty if you will. Mormon insanity at its finest. I'm still laughing. My favorite is "The only THONGS I want to see are on your feet." hahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa. Wow, all I gotta say is wow.
http://sha.byu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5230&Itemid=5609

Groundhog Day

Do you ever feel like everyday is Groundhog Day? Life can be so repetitive sometimes. Every day seems like a repeat of the day before, excluding weekends. Every single morning, the alarm goes off and the sequence of events that are my day begin to pass by. Garrett stumbles out of bed, feeds the Doodle, gets in the shower. By this time, I have managed to find the strength to turn on Fox 13 News, hoping to hear a news story that sparks my interest enough to wake me the hell up. Can I just say, never the case. Utah has such lame news sometimes, seriously. Top Headline: Winecoolers and other cheerleader drinks have been moved from Grocery Stores to Liqour Stores. Seriously, that is not news. Anyway, back to my day. So Garrett gets out of the shower after approx. 4 minutes (I admire and am very envious of this amazing superman like ability he has). He gets dressed, always asking me what shirt he should wear. Then he comes and sits on the bed by me and Munch, still burrowed away under the covers, kisses me and tells me to have a good day. Well if I wasn't quite awake, the sound of a diesel truck in the driveway of a house with little to no insulation will do it. Tick Tock. 6:45 am, my turn to stumble to the bathroom. I wash my face, brush my teeth, try and make my hair look somewhat respectable, put in my contacts, all the while thinking about what clothes I'm going to wear to work. Find clothes, put them on. Drag munchie out of bed and make him and the Doodle go to the bathroom. Tick Tock Doggies, mommy has to go to work. While they are doing their business, I grab 2 pieces of fruit and usually start the dishwasher. I then lure the doodle to his cage with a treat, put munchie on the couch and then I'm off to work, its 7:15. The next 15 minutes are spent in some sort of a sleepy haze cause I can't usually even recall my drive...scary I know. Well, its 7:30 and I'm at work. Log in. Get some coffee. Spend the next 4 hours doing mindless work that pays my bills. Lunch time. Yippee. I used to run everyday at lunch but the Doodle has changed up my routine a bit. I usually run home (sometimes stopping at the grocery store first for dinner things), let the dogs out and try to pick up the house a little. I actually hate going home a lot. I try to accomplish way too much and am usually exhausted and somewhat stressed out by the time I'm heading back to the office. 4 more hours of mindless work. Then, the best part of my day. Garrett comes to my work when he gets off and we work out. Sometimes we run, sometimes we do the eliptical, sometimes we lift weights...we really have a good time, and I'm usually just thrilled to see him, unless of course he has managed to piss me off at some point in the day...usually not, but it has happened. Then we go home, let the dogs out, I take a shower, we make dinner and have a glass of wine, eat, walk the dogs, watch some tv, bed. Alarm goes off. New Day, here we go again. Oh boy.

The Happiest Place on Earth

So, this weekend, a couple that Garrett and I are friends with flew to Disneyland for the weekend? The dude was not looking forward to the torture that awaited him in Anaheim, California. He told Garrett, sarcastically of course, he was off to the "Happiest Place on Earch." It really just makes me laugh that Disneyland still has that slogan. Its usually stifling hot, you wait in long lines all day, you spend gobs of money on food, tickets and souveneirs for the kiddos...all to take pictures of people dressed as our favorite disney characters (which by the way...these people are probably not right...dressed in mega hot costumes in the dead of summer, all to hang out with small children...you decide). To me, "the happiest place on earth" involves a swim suit, sand and a pina colada with a cherry on top.

Mr. Sun

Mr. Sun,

Sun,

Mr. Golden Sun,

Please Shine Down on Me.

To Storm or Not to Storm...View from our Porch 3/4/2008

I am the COUPON Queen

Can I just say that I L-O-V-E Coupons. Nothing makes me happier than saving money on things. Why pay full price when there are coupons to be found? La La La. If you have time to buy things online, you definitely have time to Google some coupon or promotional codes. Sometimes they don't work, but most of the time, they work fabulously! Like today for example. Being the bedding whore that I am, I needed to finish off my bedding extravaganza and move on with life. I still needed a bedskirt (for the downstairs ensemble) and a white duvet (for my bedroom). I need the duvet b/c I 'm tired of taking my down comforter to the dry cleaners all the time...it will be so much easier to just wash a duvet. I need the bedskirt b/c the split box springs we got are neon blue...not cute. Get to the point. Anyway, I found both of what I wanted at JCPenney Online. And...both were on sale of course. So, I added up my basket and my order total with shipping and tax was about $122.03. Thats really not a bad deal for a nice duvet set (with shams) and a nice bedskirt. Well, that wasn't good enough for me. I knew there were deals to be had. You can only use one coupon at these places so you really need to find the best of the best. My first coupon find was free shipping...not too shabby. That brought my order total to $106.78...nice savings. I also found a coupon for 15% off which made the total $106.00. Getting better. I kept searching, just in case. Then I hit the motherload of coupons. 30% off!!! Usually these coupon codes are too good to be true and don't work. This one did. It made my total $86.49. Hallelujah! I saved $35.54...that totally pays for the bedskirt. See what a little "research" can get ya. This makes me happy. This makes my day. I am the Coupon Queen.

Poor, Poor Mogley

This week, the first week in March, is both a happy and sad week for our little Mogley. In happy news, he turns 4 months old today. Happy 4 Month Old Birthday Mogley! In somewhat sadder news, this will also be the week that Mogley loses his manhood. That poor little guy has no idea.

Notice his new cowlick on the top of his head. What is that about? Garrett thinks it gives him character. I think he looks ridiculous. I wonder if he's going to get a poodle fro like his mom? Yikes, I hope not.

Garrett and I had a really good weekend. We certainly can't complain. Friday, when I got off work at noon :), I finally went and bought most of my bedding for my guest bedroom. I'm super excited about it. I ended up buying the Nora duvet and shams from Pottery Barn. I decided to go "bright and cheery" to make the basement bedroom not so "dungeon-like." I bought white sheets, a nice fluffy down alternative to go in the duvet and a white quilt. I think its going to look fabulous!! Now all I need is a bedskirt and its done...well the bedding part. We decided we are going to paint the room green. Actually the same green as the picture. I found out what color that is so that is the next project. My parents are coming to visit the first week in April so I'd like to have it done by then. Garrett and I need deadlines. We're not lazy, we're just not motivated.

So after my bedding buys, I gave the house a major cleaning. It sorta needed it. The best part is, we've managed to keep it looking pretty clean the entire weekend. Yay. I know I shouldn't clean so much, but I just love coming home to a nice, clean house...not a disaster zone. Friday night we went over to Pete and Hilary's just to hang out. Joe and Robin joined too...just like old times. It was fun...we haven't done that in a while. The dogs played, Garrett and Pete argued, the girls chatted and large amounts of alcohol were consumed. Just like old times.

Saturday Garrett and I decided to pass on the resort lift lines and crowds and headed out into the backcountry for a fun day of skiing. I'm really liking my new gear, its so much more comfortable and light than my alpine stuff. Skinning up the mountain is such a great workout. Its a lot like snowshoeing, only you don't have to hike back down once you've made it to the top. You take off your skins, put on lots of clothes and ski back down to the car. We both had a really good time. It was cloudy out and you could see the storm about to come in over the Salt Lake Valley. It was really cool to see. Saturday night we met up with some friends for dinner at Red Rock. Can I just say that their Steak Sandwich is one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. Garrett and I are not big steak eaters AT ALL...in fact we rarely eat it, I certainly don't buy it. We heard that Red Rock made an awesome steak sandwich so we couldn't resist. It was so good. I totally recommend it.

Looking out into the Salt Lake Valley from Little Cottonwood Canyon...check out the storm rolling in

Our new Black Diamond skis...aren't they pretty?

There we are.

Another View of the Storm

Sunday we went up to Snowbasin for some early morning skiing. We had a lot of fun...especially the first couple of runs. The snow was really nice at first but then the wind picked up. All the new snow was getting blown off so it made things a little difficult. We didn't care...we just went home. We get so spoiled living here. To most people, yesterday was probably a great day of skiing. Living here, skiing every weekend, you just get picky. When we got home, we took the dogs to the dog park. Yes they acted like maniacs. Yes they got muddy and gross. Yes they jumped on people. Yes they had a Blast. I love taking them there. They have so much fun and it totally wears them out. We had some plans to work in the basement, but we bailed and lounged around the rest of the afternoon. Good Weekend. No complaints.