Meet Baby Frank

I visited the zoo for a short while yesterday, and was thrilled to be able to see "Frank" a baby western lowland gorilla. Frank was born last September and just recently has been allowed out for viewing.

He is adorable, to say the least.

Nearly wordless Wednesday - a day late...

What can I say, I've been busy!

Start of the swine flu? Maybe....

Thanks for sending this to me Alisa!

The Gate Keeper

I can't quite recall when Kona started taking over the "front door guard" position, but I'm pretty sure it was early on in his young life with us. He loves to lounge there when I am plinking on the computer, working at the table, and just about any other time nothing too exciting is going on in the household.

He alerts me to any approaching strangers, stray kitties in the yard, and basically everything going on it the world outside his perch. He is very well behaved while standing his watch at the front door, other than the occasional, "Hey Mom! I'm really bored" bark...I can walk out to our mailbox, with the door wide open, and he sits, or lays casually, as he does in these pictures, for as long as it takes for me to walk to the box, pick up the bills (does anything else ever come in the mail these days?) and talk to a neighbor or two.

He is SUCH a good boy!

Honored

I was honored with two blog awards this weekend. The first one came from K & S of Dugan's Barkery. The purpose of this award is to serve as a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through our posts. The goal is to seek the reason why we all love blogging, so as we pass this on, we ask that you share the reasons you love blogging, and how it has impacted your life.

The reasons I blog are pretty simple. I enjoy writing, taking pictures, and combining the two to share with my family and friends. I find it comforting to have a central place to pour my heart out about things, and I thoroughly enjoy the feedback I get from my readers. I suppose that's it in a nutshell.

I would like to pass this tag on to all of my blogging buddies who would like to share thier reasons for blogging.

The second award came from Chris of Diet Coke Rocks! If you've never checked out Chris's blog, stop by and take a look. She is a hoot - and totally tells it like it is. The award she passed on to me is called "The Passionate" Award. For this award you are supposed to tell about 5 things, besides your blog, that you are passionate about.

Here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Write 5 things you are passionate about apart from blogging.

3. Tag 5 people on your list and let them know you tagged them.

Pretty simple right?

OK, here goes...

I'm passionate about...

1. My family - that's an easy one, no need to explain.

2. My dogs - they actually fit into the "family" category too. I love them so much, and I couldn't imagine a household without fur on the floor and furniture, and a fresh pile of poop in the back yard. (Just tellin it like it is folks...)

3. My friends - I wouldn't say that I have a lot of friends, especially good friends, but the friends I do have are very near and dear to my heart.

4. Helping to find a cure for Breast Cancer. I've walked in two of the 3 Day, 60 Mile Susan G. Komen walks, and helped to raise over $11,000 between the 2 years I walked. I hope to walk again in 2010. (I didn't get that "Pink Ribbon" tatoo on my ankle because I don't care...)

5. Photography - one of my absolute favorite things to do is take pictures. (I bet you couldn't tell! Ha ha!) I never leave the house without a camera. You just never know who, or what you'll run into when you are out and about, and I don't want to miss a good opportunity for a picture. (And as I've mentioned many times, I just know that the day I leave the house without a camera is the day I will run into Brad Pitt in line in front of me at the 7-11 getting all of those kids of his slurppies. Oh, how I'd hate to miss that!)

There you go. Those are the things I could think of off the top of my head. And actually I'm proud of myself for not having listed one food! Because I'm passionate about 1. Chocolate, 2. Peanut Butter, 3. Fried Chicken....and the list goes on and on!

OK, I would like to pass this little ditty on to:

1. K & S at Dugan's Barkery (right back atcha Girlfriends!)

2. Val at My Boo Bear

3. April at April's Reign

4. Curt at While Walking Duncan

5. Kim at The Chit-Chat Room

Day Tripper

Yesterday Bear and I loaded up the pups, and along with Val and her Boo Bears, we headed to Lake Henshaw for a day of fun. It's about 50 miles away, but because of the twisity-turny roads, it took us about and hour and a half to get up there. It is a dog friendly lake, and we all had a blast! The dogs wore themselves out swimming, chasing ducks, and just running around in the wide open space. It was a delightful day indeed!
"This Frisbee isn't nearly as fun to catch as those ducks would be...."
"Here ducky, ducky..."

"Did you see those ducks? We nearly got um! Yahoo!"

"Throw the toy again Mom!"

"Anybody seen that tennis ball?"

Jack on the run!

Jill loves the nice warm sand. Mom didn't, at least not in Jill's nice, long fur!

"Ducks across the lake...hmmm, can I make it that far?"

Jill and Kona taking a cool dip.

Three ducks, five dogs...ducks still win.

Almost there!

Kona give up after a L O N G swim.

Silent contemplation

A spurt of energy

"Seriously, what are you waiting for? Throw the ball Mom!"

"I didn't catch the ball, but look at what I did find!"

Sleeping while sitting up. This girl was pooped!

My handsome big, red boy!

"Look at all these chew toys!"

"Are we home yet? I can't hold my head up any longer!"

Butterflies

Last week I took a trip to our world famous San Diego Wild Animal Park. Once a year they have a special display of butterflies, and I went with my photography group to see them. They were gorgeous little flits of brilliant color, and although not easy to photograph, (because they rarely stay still) I was able to catch a couple decent snaps

Spring Duds

I went and splurged a little on myself this morning. I really didn't need anything, but you know, as I've said in the past, it can't always be about "need"...OK I'll admit it, it's been a while since I did any "fun" shopping, and I was in the mood. Fortunately, and for a change, I found some cute spring/summer stuff that fit nicely, and looked decent.


I think I am officially ready for summer to start! Betcha can't tell I like bright colors!

A Slew of Movie Reviews - Through an amateur's eyes

I’ve been lame, really lame, about keeping up with my movie reviews. Not that it probably bothers anyone but me, but for some reason it does. I’m kinda anal like that. I start a project, and no matter how much times goes by, I don’t like to just forget about it. I guess I consider my movie reviews like an unfinished project. Actually 9 unfinished little projects, but who’s counting…

In an attempt to get all caught up in jiffy, and am going to do an extremely condensed version of the most recent 9 movies I’ve seen (that I can remember…) Ready? Ok, here goes, in no particular order:

Knowing- starring Nicolas Cage. Pretty decent in general, a couple of good spooky parts, although I hated the ending…B-

Sunshine Cleaners – starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Not the “feel good movie” I expected it to be, but very good. It dealt with some dark issues, suicide included, but it was enjoyable….B+

Duplicity – starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. I was disappointed with this. Although I really enjoyed watching these two favorites of mine, I think the story was wishy-washy at best, kind of hard to follow, and not all that exciting…C

The Reader – starring Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, and David Kross. Wow! I knew what to expect with this, and was still impressed. Kate Winslet certainly deserved the Oscar for this one, especially after doing some of those scenes with the “young” Michael. Great film, not for the kids…A-

The Pink Panther – starring Steve Martin. Not my type of humor. I thought it was a stinker. ‘ Nuff said….D

Doubt – starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. Very powerful flick. No chuckles here, but really thought provoking….B

Taken – starring Liam Neeson. Former spy uses his skills to get his kidnapped daughter back. Very predictable. It was ok, but nothing memorable…C-

Slumdog Millionaire – starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Anil Kapoor. Won best picture of 2008. I saw this after it won the Oscar, so I had high expectations. I was not disappointed. Loved it! A

Gran Torino – starring Clint Eastwood. This was the story of a disgruntled Korean War veteran who sets out to reform his young Hmong neighbor who had tried to steal his car. In spite of the political “incorrectness” of this movie, and all of the horrendous racial slurs, I did enjoy this movie more than I thought I would. Clint Eastwood played the perfect old grumpy neighbor and the supporting cast was impressive….B+

So, there you have it. Nine movie reviews, in a nutshell. A big nutshell…

Wordless Wednesday (because basically I'm lazy right now...)

An Evening Dip

It's not often that the pool is warm enough in the evening for us to swim in, especially in April. Today was another exceptionally warm day here, and the pool water warmed up to 84 degrees making it absolutely irresistible. After a delightful chef salad for dinner, we put on our suits, I grabbed my new little Olympus waterproof camera and we headed outside.

It was cool, refreshing, and perfect!

Aren't we a lovely bunch!
Oh, what a face!
Pickle and Bear being silly

It's hard to smile with your eyes open under water!

Kona wanted to join us, but he wasn't invited this time. The pups had their pool time earlier today.