Never judge a book by it's cover...

Lots of things to be thankful for this past November.  Thankful for being alive.  Thankful for the small handful of friends I have.  Thankful for my family.  Especially thankful for the people that judge me, condemn me, who run my name into the ground, because they show me who I NEVER want to be.  There is a lesson learned in every life experience.  Which is why I say, "Never judge a book by it's cover."  You need to read through every chapter, every page, every line, every word, to even REMOTELY understand someone else's book of life.

What would life be like if we could see the soul of each person, rather than what we wear on the outside?

I'd hope that my soul is healed a little bit more now than if you 

took a snapshot of it a year ago.

Here are some of my recent favorites....the reason my soul is healing. 

Can't believe these two were born in the same hospital, in Japan, three days apart.....

Lily Bean and Cailintje

There is something purely innocent about the laughter of a child.

I wish we could all experience that innocence in our adulthood.

xoxo

What would I do without my Roo?

Us with my lovely parents.

And to say goodnight.......

Isn't that the damn truth?

Sunday update

Lots has happened in the last couple weeks.  I'm just trying to play catch-up with everything. So here goes a quickie update:

My wonderful Dad turned 77 years old.  

We celebrated his birthday with close family and friends,

Mom's homemade Indian cuisine, 

and tiramisu cake.

I brought Tango and Cailin up for the festivities. It was loads of fun, 

almost a mini-vacay for me.  I needed to be around

my family at the time, and this was perfect.

My Dad and his granddaughter.

On cloud nine.

Can you guess who she's got wrapped around her tiny little pinkie finger?

This weekend, I unfortunately had to work starting Saturday....but I had Friday off, so I called 

my friend Maggie up, and we went out to lunch in Little Italy in downtown.

There's this fabulous place that specializes in crepes called Fabrison's.  They also have fantastic

coffee as well. It was the perfect place for me and Maggie to grab a bite to eat.

Here's some shots:

Our mocha lattes.

Maggie had no idea I was taking this shot.

Healthy-choice crepes:  egg whites, mushrooms, spinach, brie, and roasted red pepper sauce.

Mouth-watering-AMAZING.

See?  We were hungry.

After lunch, we walked through Little Italy to go back to the car. 

The only downside to downtown, is the parking. I HATE the parking.

And the one-way-streets.  I could really do without those too.

But, we walked off all that delicious-goodness, through Little Italy.  

Found this cute fountain and decided to take a couple pictures there.

The Little Italy Sign

It was a fun day.  I think Maggie and I both needed it.

Now it's Sunday night, and I'm anxiously waiting for The Walking Dead to finish recording on my dvr

so I can sit back with some leftovers, and relish in the new season premiere. 

Yeah, I'm a zombie nerd.  bite me. 

Onto another week!  Til later........

Fall is upon us....

It's finally October.  My favorite month of the year, and it's finally here.  Fall leaves, the orange and black decorations, the colder weather....October has definitely shown it's face the last few days.  While I could do without the colder weather, I love this month regardless if it's sunny or raining.  I'm sad to say goodbye to bikini season, hot sunny days, pool parties, summer cocktails.....but I'm more than willing to welcome this fall.  Because after fall, comes winter, and after winter....comes the new year. And God knows, I need something good to happen soon, and usually that happens at the beginning of the new year for me.  So yeah I'm waiting impatiently for something good to happen to me....and soon.  

In the meantime, work's been good.  Life has been good.  I find it amusing that people are so quick to assume my life contains much more than it really does.  

My normal routine doesn't vary far from: 

Waking up, walking Tango, getting Cailin to school, me to work, picking her up from school after work, walking Tango again, making dinner, watching tv, going to bed.  

Lather Rinse and Repeat.  

My life is very mundane, but for right now, I like it that way.  Occasionally I enjoy going out with my friends to lunch, which I've made it a point to do more often.  Finding a couple spots in San Diego I probably never would have, if it weren't for them.  (extremely thankful!)  I haven't been out to a bar in over 3 months.  I drink very rarely now....a glass of wine maybe once a week-and it's usually on a day that entirely calls for it.  My adult-time has completely vanished, whenever I hang out with my friends, it's usually playdates or meeting up with friends online to play Call Of Duty a couple times a week(which is something I'm totally addicted to and blame a lot of people for). 

 Doesn't sound so exciting right?  

I'm okay with it.  

This mundane, "boring" life with an occasional "let's grab lunch at this place i found!", is something I'm totally okay with. I like routine, and schedules, and plans.  This is something I can handle for the time being.  Don't need anything else thrown on my plate.... while this life I speak of may sound boring to you, it keeps me busy, keeps my mind off of the nasty things in my life, and makes me happy to look forward to every day.  

With that said, it's time to make some dinner for me and the boogerbutt.  She requested "soy-sauce"chicken, rice, and corn.  Yes... my 4 year old requests dinner menus.  She also requested that we watch The Lion King (which I bought today at TARGET-super excited!!!).  So that will be our lovely little night in.  Or as Cailin likes to call it, "It's a girls club night mommy!"

Well......onto  "Girls Club Night".......  :-)

Brilliant

I'll admit, when Lady Gaga first came out....I wasn't the biggest fan of hers.  I have SO much more respect for her now, then I did back then.  

I mean, it's Tony Bennett!!!  And Lady Gaga!!!

Brilliant.  

What happens when you're not looking....

Where do I begin?

Okay.  Tuesday SUCKED.  

I was scheduled for a doctor's appointment....showed up, packing a migraine that felt like it was trying to pry itself out of my head.  Lucky for me, my previous doctor through Tri-Care refused to give me migraine meds (even though I'd be diagnosed with migraines for the past almost 10 years.).  So my new doctor was seeing me that day.  I had cold sweats, a fever, couldn't barely keep my eyes open because of the fluorescent lighting, the echoing in my head, the whole nine yards.  She immediately gave me medication and sent me on my way.  Tuesday was mainly spent cuddled up on the couch with my Roo, under a blanket, with the fans turned on really high, and the lights off and curtains closed.  I was miserable.  Took about a 4 hour nap, picked up Cailin from school, and did the same thing all over again....except it was now with a restless 4 yr old and a 75 lb dog that wanted to play....not lay on the couch and vedge.  Whatever, I dealt with it.  That's what I had to do.   Went to be super early, passed out.  

Wednesday.  

Wednesday SUCKED bad.  

Was scheduled to work from 7:30-5:30.  Luckily my co-worker Julie took the last hour of my shift so I didn't have to stay that late at work....but once I got into work at 7:30 am, after dropping Cailin off at school, things didn't seem right in my head.  The room was spinning, I felt like I was going to throw up every ten minutes, and I'd run to the bathroom waiting for it, and nothing.  Just spinning.  Then...the pain kicked in.  My migraine gave me a short break on Tuesday, and decided to return, flashing me the finger, on Wednesday morning.  I couldn't work the rest of the day, so I checked out early and went straight home.  Fell asleep under two blankets and my 75 lb dog, for the next 4 1/2 hours.  I would've slept longer if I hadn't sent an alarm to go pick up Cailin at school.  Woke up and felt fine, just groggy and a little out of it....drank some water and took off to get my booger at school.  When we came home...it was like reliving Wednesday evening all over again. I was tired, physically weak and drained, and all I wanted to do was lay down.  So I told Cailin, "Mommy is going to lay down on the couch and watch tv.  You go play with your toys, but if you see Mommy sleeping, please wake her up. okay?"  Cailin smiled and said "OKAY!"  I didn't think I'd fall asleep..........but, sure enough, I did. 

I was only out for MAYBE 3 minutes.  

I woke up to the sound of my dog licking himself.  He's a 75 lb pitbull mastiff mix.  He makes LOUD noises when he's drinking, eating, licking, sneezing, snoring, breathing.....etc.  He woke me up to the disgusting sound of him licking himself.  

So in my groggy haze, I sit up and look at him.  He looked like the happiest dog on the face of the planet.  

I look to his left, and there's Cailin with a roll of paper towels, on all fours on the floor, trying to clean something up.  

"What are you doing baby?"  

The look on her face screamed, Oh shit.

"Nuffing."

"Don't say nothing, Cailin. What are you doing? What happened?"

"Nuffing mommy!"

I stood up and examined the damage.  My daughter had spilled her entire Trix yogurt (bright red and hot pink yogurt, btw) all over my carpet and my dog.  She was attempting to clean up the carpet while the dog was enjoying cleaning himself up.  

All this happened in the 3 minute blink I took.  

If I hadn't been so out of it, and so groggy in the moment, I would've laughed and taken a picture to post on here.  I was not in my right mind, and completely skipped that part.  

Cailin saw my confusion for a moment, and picked up her spoon (still covered in red/pink yogurt) and said, "Look mommy!  I'm painting Tango!"  and proceeded to rub and fling the spoon full of yogurt onto my white dog.  "He likes it mommy! Look he's so pretty!"

*headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk*

The carpet cleaned up fine....Tango-Roo, however?   He's white.  He stained.  Half a box of baby wipes later, and he looked semi-clean.  But he was a happy dog.  Who wouldn't be after licking all that yummy Trix-goodness off themselves?

Sucked to be him though.  He got to tag along at work with me today, so he could get a bath and I could really get him clean.   Tango does NOT like baths.  He especially doesn't like coming to my work and seeing me play with other dogs.  It makes him extremely jealous, but then he makes up for it by giving me lots of kisses when we get home.  Awwww, love/hate.  

And THIS is what happens when you let your guards down for just a minute.....the kid might get into some wonderfully colored yogurt, the dog might have an amazing snack (along with some horrible godawful gas later), and you might just have a story to post.  That was a crazy 48 hours to experience.  Let's hope that doesn't happen again anytime soon.

9-11-11

If you asked me what I did yesterday, I would have to stop, think a minute, and get back to you on that answer.  If you asked me what I was doing on 9/11/2001, I can tell you everything in very graphic detail. 

  I woke up that morning, a senior in high school, ready to start my day.  Showered, dressed, kissed my mom goodbye, hopped in the car and drove to my friend Kasia's house to pick her up on my way to school.  I remember my mom not really responding like she normally does to me saying goodbye to her in the morning....she almost seemed too quiet, but I assumed there was something on the television she was watching that had hooked her attention.  I shrugged it off and went on my way.  Turned on the radio in my car, and all I heard was the radio-newscaster's shaky voice stating "Someone has bombed the World Trade Center."  The rest was very staticky, and I kept trying to change radio stations to see if anyone else was broadcasting the same news.  

Not one radio station was playing music.  

I heard different stories via the radio: "Someone bombed the World Trade Center."  "They think they've planted a bomb at the Empire State Building."  "Evacuating the White House ASAP."  etc.  

I paged my then-boyfriend Brian, with "319-911"  (319 was code for me)  He called me on my cell phone and all I could get out was "I think someone bombed a building in New York.  It's really bad....Look at the news for me, I'm on my way to school." 

Picked up Kasia, and it was a very silent ride for both of us to school-all that was on the radio were these airings of speculation of what was happening.  Once we parked, I ran into the lunch area where the lockers and tv's were above the lunch tables.  I remember thinking in the back of my head, "Crap, I have to get to class....running late!"but once I made it to the lunch area, nearly a 1/4 of the school was crowded on top of tables trying to get a better look at the news.  The bell rang to signal us to all go to our homerooms.  Nobody seemed to hear it.  I then knew, that it was worse than a bombing.  Something was just not right. 

When I finally made it to my homeroom, the teacher had the news on the tv in the classroom.  It was silent.  Someone in my class was crying and excused herself.  I couldn't believe with my eyes what I was seeing.  Two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC, and the first tower had just fallen.   The only thing running through my head was, "Oh. My. God. the people....."  We were excused early from school....I went home, and spent the rest of the day watching the news with my mom....it was surreal.  I even remember how hard it was for me to sleep that night after seeing all the images on tv.

Every anniversary of 9-11, I say a prayer for all those innocent lives that were lost.  I say a prayer for all those who signed up for the military the day after it happened.  I say a prayer for the families, the children, the parents, of everyone that perished that day.  The terrorists may have struck us in the heart that fateful day....but we are a resiliant nation.  We fought back.  This is a war that can never be won-we are not winners.  We are fighters.  That day, the terrorists thought this would crush our country....and they were right about one thing.  It did hurt us, it did crush us.... but they were wrong thinking it would defeat us.  They had no idea that day would gather us together as ONE nation united to fight against the violence that impaired our country.  

10 years later...and we still remember. 

To the families and friends of all that perished that horrific day.....

our deepest condolences for your losses.

May you find the strength to carry on, while keeping the memories

of your loved ones in your hearts.  May one day, 

you find peace.

You have our complete assurance:

We Will Never Forget. 

Coffee....

My dose of liquid sunshine.

Oh Starbucks, how I despise thee.