Torrey Pines Torture - Chunky Legs in Motion - part chetyre (that's "4" for you non-Russian folk)

We did it again, Bear and I. We walked the entire way up the Torrey Pines hill. Twice in one week now, we must be nuts! Our legs didn't hurt after Tuesday, so we decided to give it another shot. This time we got to the top, and kept on going. Two and a half miles up, and two and a half back. It was a hard, awesome walk. At one point, I thought, perhaps, my chest might explode...but I quickly recovered after a quick rest stop. The trail we were on led right to the world famous Torrey Pines Golf Course, home of the 2008 U.S. Open. It was beautiful, and lush and green up there. And COOL! Thank goodness!


This says it all!

One of my favorite bumper stickers

Good timing on this picture.

For My Brother

"Mom likes you best"

You know I am the one on the bottom. Dork.

A romp in the park

Just a few pictures from our fun day at the dog park.

A View From the Top

Bear and I did it today. We made it to the top of the Torrey Pines hill. It didn't seem like a hill, it seemed like a mountain. But we did it! It was a milestone in our training process, that's for sure. We will have to come up this same way when we do our 60 mile walk in November, so the more we train on it, the easier it will get. Right? I mean, that's what I keep telling myself...seriously, it's got to get easier, right?

It felt great to make it all the way today, and I'm actually excited about doing it again. Well, kind of excited...maybe...we also passed the 100 mile mark in our training a couple of days ago. As of today, we've "officically" walked 113 miles training miles. Yahoo. Only a couple hundred more to go. Makes my feet ache just thinking about it!

Precious Puppies!

I had the pleasure of going with Valerie today, to help her pick out a new addition to her family. Visiting with a new litter of Golden puppies has to be one of the best things ever! Oh, the choices...she is getting her new puppy from Willow Creek Goldens, the same place I got my boy Kona, and Valerie got Kona's brother/litter mate, Joey. I've got to tell you, Hubby is lucky I did a "pinky swear" with him when we got Kona, "Three Kids, three dogs...no more of either, agreed? Agreed!" Without those words echoing in my head, there could have been trouble...Here are just a few of the over 100 pictures I took of the sweet, sweet babies!

Proud Momma Bella and her babies.

Off to the vet for a health checkup and shots...Shots?!? We don't like shots!
I am pretty, oh so pretty!
Just plain pooped.
Simply gorgeous!
A sweet puppy pile.
Time for a little rough and tumble.
Two peas in a pod.
I'm ready for my close-up!
Another beauty.
I love to snuggle!

Happy Sunday!

Sunset on the bay

We took a little drive last night, in hopes of plotting out a course for more walk training...I brought my camera with me, and was so thankful that I did. The evening was perfect, the sunset glorious, and inspiring.

...I'd like to thank the Academy...

My wonderful friend Curt, of While Walking Duncan, very graciously bestowed upon my humble little blog, a Brillante Weblog Award. I was both surprised, and very honored with his gift, and will do my best to live up to the expectations of having a Brillante Weblog, whatever they may be.

There are a few rules that go along with accepting this award, which include the following:

1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

First two rules....check.
Rule 3...might be tough, not sure if I regularly read 7 other blogs (especially that Curt hasn't also nominated.
Rule 4 will be easy once I figure out what I'm going to do about rule 3.
Rule 5, see rule 4.

Ok, so here goes...

I hereby pass on this award to the following...please follow the above rules, or just relax, have fun, and enjoy the kudos.

1. Valerie's MyBooBear - Sweet, fun, and adorable, Joey and Val romp through life with a sense of adventure that I can't live without.
2. The "Queen" of blogging April's Reign -April has a sense of humor that is unsurpassed, and somehow she manages to make even the smallest of daily happenings funny. She is full of fun, insight, and wit.
3. Chris from Diet Coke Rocks! - Chris tells it like it is and makes every day seem like an adventure. Her blog is just plain ol fun to read. Colorful and crazy, I don't go a day without checking in to see what she's up to.
4. Coffe Bean's The Righteous Buzz is a blog that is more than entertaining, it's educational! Coffee is open and honest, and enlightening. She is raising awareness, and helping to open the world's eyes to Spasmodic Dysphonia.
5. Chris & Mackenzie's Mackenzie Speaks cracks me up on a daily basis. Posts through the eyes of a Golden, translated through a caretaker. Too friggin funny.
6. Anniessa's Ramblings are witty fun. Flaming Nachos? Gotta love them. Anniessa just needs to carve out more time to blog! New job you say? Eh, the police will understand!
7. Alicia's Brown Eyed Blues is warm, wonderful and full of great pictures. Alicia has a wonderful way with a camera, and catching the cutest expressions...and knitting, don't forget the knitting!

Well, there you go! Done! And much easier than I thought. Hopefully no hard feelings to anyone I didn't mention. I know most of you have probably already recieved awards like this before, but I hadn't, so it was kinda cool for me to do this. You may not be interested in doing all of the rules, and certainly nothing is set it stone...I just wanted to let you all know that you are appreciated!

I think I've seen this guy...

Hands Free Safe Drivers - Watch more free videos

Through an amateurs eyes - a review of "The Dark Knight"

As you may know from previous reviews, I am not particularly a "super-hero flick" fan. Although I did really enjoy Iron Man, mainly because of Robert Downey, Jr., of course. I also recently saw Hancock, with Will Smith, but didn't get a chance to review it...been just a little busy, and by the time I got around to it, I figured it'd been out so long, no one would care...(I did like it though....Now that I think about it, maybe I actually AM a "super-hero flick" fan...)

Anyway, I was a little apprehensive about seeing The Dark Knight, basically for one reason....Heath Ledger. I love Heath Ledger. I was heartbroken and angry when he passed away. Heartbroken because we'd lost such a wonderfully talented actor, and angry that he'd been so reckless with the prescription drugs that took his life. I loved, LOVED him in Brokeback Mountain, A Knight's Tale, The Patriot, to name just a few. His portrayal of Ennis Del Mar, in Brokeback, was incredible, and in my book, ranked right up there with the best of "forbidden love" stories - The Bridges of Madison County, The End of the Affair, The English Patient, to name just a few. So you get the picture....I love him...always will....

I did not, however, love this movie, but I certainly did enjoy it. Christian Bale was great as "The Batman" - except for when his voice got deep and gravel-ish when he donned the suit - it was hokey. (By chance might the suit have been a little tight? No, that would have made his voice higher, right?) Anyway, Michael Caine as Alfred was wonderful, as expected...as were most of the other supporting characters. I did discover that I am not a Maggie Gyllenhaal fan though, I do like her brother, Jake. There is just something about her in this movie that struck me a little strange...almost like she was trying too hard. Oh well...another thing was the background music. Composer Hans Zimmer did an awesome job on the music, but to me at least, it seemed strangely familiar. Not from the previous Batman movie, but more like the music in the background of one of Pirates of the Caribbean movies, or The Da Vinci Code...it was just a little too familiar.

As I mentioned, I didn't love the movie, but that doesn't mean that I didn't love Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. He was superb. In my eyes, he was the one that made the movie, he was fantastic, he really was. Each line delivered was precise, and spot on. His voice was creepy, and calm, in an eerily perfect way. His makeup and hair made him look sad, lovable, mean and heartless all at once, and it made me love him even more. He was awesome. He deserves every award he will get for this movie...it's just such a huge shame that he won't be there to accept them.

Overall, I'd give this movie an "A-" ~ Heath Ledger gets an "A++"

Quicky car update

As I mentioned earlier, it's been 2 weeks since the car was stolen. Up until now, the only information that we have gotten was that the car had been located somewhere in Mexico (we assumed TJ), by a Mexican Federal Highway Police Officer, on the 14th. They did an inquiry on the car, and "at the time of inquiry, the vehicle was in custody." Those were the exact words that came to us on a little piece of paper in the mail. We called our insurance company, gave them the news, and they said they would handle it from there. They said they would send an agent to locate the car, and let us know the current condition...

Well, that conversation took place a week ago, and here we are, still waiting. Hubby called the insurance agent today asking for an update, and was told that the car was not located in TJ after all, but rather in Rosarito Beach, roughly 20 miles south of TJ. They haven't gotten an agent down to look at the car yet, but figured they should have all of the information they need in about a week. A WEEK! It's already been two weeks! They've had the car in "custody" for 10 days! And it's going to take another week? I think our insurance agent ought to hop on that little gecko friend of hers and go check it out for herself. Heck, I could hitch-hike down there and back in a matter of an hour or two....OK, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit, I'd probably have a tough time hitch-hiking anywhere...(I don't call them "Chunky Legs in Motion" for nuthin) But, you get the picture.

What's taking so long? Get down there, check out what's left of the car, cut us a check, and lets be done with this bull-pucky. The P.O.S. rental is gettin old!

I've had better mornings...a rambling rant....

Ever have one of those mornings when you get up, and within just a few short minutes you figure that you probably should have stayed in bed? Yeah? Well, welcome to my morning...

I drug myself out of bed...later than I should have, and stumbled into Bear's room to roust her out of bed. We were due for a 5 miler this morning, and she was having no part of it. "Mom, I'm SOOOO tired, and my back hurts." OK, so I'm on my own today...no biggie...I trudge to the bathroom, back to the bedroom, by now all 3 dogs have heard me, and are ready to start the day with running, jumping, barking, and all that fun stuff that I have NO energy to deal with this morning. I find my walking cloths, grab my shoes, and head to the living room. I grab my water, backpack, and protein bar, mmm - yummy breakfast (I'd MUCH rather be having Chicken Fried Chicken, 2 eggs - over medium, hash browns, and pancakes, with a large glass of Ice Tea, please! - And I wonder why I'm "plus" size! Ha!) I get all of my stuff together and head out to the driveway and get into the P.O.S. rental car that we still have. (Nothing new on the stolen car...it's been two weeks today since it was taken, and a week since we heard that it was sitting in an impound lot somewhere in TJ, and yet, here we are, still waiting for some new information....)

A few minutes later I find myself at the lake. I sling on my backpack, and hit the little buttons to get the music going. I know I cannot walk without music today. I wait for a second, hit the buttons again, and nothing...I take the backpack off, check out my IPod, looks OK, put it back into the backpack, hit the buttons, nothing...hmmm, I'm not in the mood for this today...jiggle the wires a little bit, because, you know, when anything electronic isn't working it always helps to jiggle the wires a little, right? Nothing. Frustration...OK, let's try this again...power off, power on, jiggle. Power off, power on, and HEY - wait! Did I just here music? Well, yes, I did, thank you very much. So it sounds a little scratchy, and it's only coming from one speaker, but it's music! Yahoo! On goes the backpack and off I start walking...without stretching. Bad, bad, bad. I walk about 1/4 mile...wow, my left shin is hurting...crap, I realize that I forgot to stretch....better late than never, right? Wrong. Too late. My shin feels like a rubber band that has been pulled to the breaking point. NOT GOOD. I decide to try walking a bit further...come on now...I'm supposed to be walking 5 miles today. The music starts to cut in and out...scratchy, mumbled, and finally gone altogether...the shin is killing me. I'm at the 1/2 mile marker. I'm done. I turn around, in shame, and begin hobbling back to the P.O.S. rental. In silence. I should have stayed in bed...

I manage, at last, to get back to the car, shin in agony, and mad at the world. I loved that backpack, and now it's let me down. I could have walked farther if I'd had my musical inspiration, I just know it...

I get home, call the Hubby at work to tell him of my disappointment - with the walk, with the shin, with the backpack, and he comes back with a stroke of brilliance..."Have you check the batteries Honey?" Uh, hello. Batteries? Nope, can't say that I checked the batteries....

Sooooo......the new batteries are now in, the backpack sounds perfect, the shin still hurting...and I'm heading for a nap. Have a delightful day!

Brotherly love

Although Jack and Kona aren't biological brothers, they are in our home, and their hearts. I thought these sweet pictures were worth sharing with you. I took them yesterday, after we had to put a booty on Kona's paw to help heal a torn pad. How sweet are they!

Tackling Torrey Pines

Today Bear and I took another step in our training....hills. When you are training for a walk such as the 3 Day, hills are an important part of your training. As much as I'd like for the entire walk to be on nice, flat, even surfaces, that just isn't how it is. We decided that with just under 18 weeks left in our training, it was time to tackle a big hill. Torrey Pines State Park offers just such a hill. We decided that rather than trying to do the whole hill today, we would stick with our schedule and just walk our 3 miles for the day(Tuesdays are always our "light" training days), and see how far that would take us. Well, it took up nearly all the way to the top of Torrey. I know it may not sound like much, but when you are huffing, and puffing, chunky legs rubbing together with each step, and you make it a mile and a half up a steep hill, let me tell you, it feels like you've concurred Mt. Everest! Next time we'll go all the way...I hope. It was a bit foggy this morning, but here is a little of what we saw today...

Torrey Pines State Park

Looking back from about half way up. The pink arrow shows where our car was.

Back at the car, finally, the pink arrow shows how far we walked today.

Our lake adventure

I stepped out of my little box for a change, and went on an adventure with the dogs. We went to Calavera Lake with our friends Valerie & Joey, and Judy & Rina, both members of the Golden group. We all had a blast, and the pups are pooped. We couldn't have asked for more fun!

Valerie, AKA the "Dog Whisperer"