{Not} Living Vicariously

Duck Hunting Dog

I so wish I'd had my camera with me. You'll just have to believe me when I say how astounding it was.

My dog hates the water. I say it is because her breed is from Africa and the desert. She will tolerate a bath because I am stronger than her. She also knows it will end more quickly if she doesn't fight it. She will wade in the water to get a drink. However, never by choice will she go more than ankle deep. At least not until yesterday. We were out for a pre-dinner walk and found ourselves off the beaten path by a shallow lake. As no one else was around, we had water on three sides of us, and Aaron and I were on the fourth, I let her off her leash to run around and explore. She rooted through leaves, sniffed on some trees, and went up to the water for a drink. Then she went in the water. Next she bounded through the water pausing at an island about 15 feet out. Finally she took off swimming after some ducks. You could have knocked me over. My dog swimming by choice. I guess she was trying to contribute to the Thanksgiving dinner. Luckily for me, she didn't catch them. We already had our menu planned.

I hope you enjoyed some lovely weather on your Thanksgiving as well.

Wag that TAIL

Aaron and I found a new hobby some months ago. We became geeks (well we were already geeks, we just became open about it) and joined the ranks of geocachers. Our team name is WagThatTAIL and we have been having a great time finding caches in TN, CA, and KY. For those of you who have not been exposed to geochaching, it is scavenger hunting using a GPS system. There is a website -- http://www.geocaching.com/ -- where people load in coordinates and clues to a hidden item. You download it to your GPS unit and go off to find the item, usually signing a log. This is us after we found our first one:

We are fairly new to this having only found 35 caches at this point. I do have goals though. By the time we hit 50 I hope to have established a cache or two ourselves. I will also say that my favorites are the ones where you actually go on a hike to find the item. And I do want to mention that I have my brother and my father both members of www.geocaching.com as well. Go Team WagThatTAIL!

Being good to me

Last night I went for a massage at Massage Envy. It was so wonderful. I have been wanting to get into a regular schedule of massages for quite some time now. With everything going on in my life I have a perpetual know in my upper right shoulder (which has actually been a pinched nerve for years). When it moved into my lower back last week though, I knew I needed to take action. However, one of my issues has been convenience of location. Well with this chain Massage Envy opening up, affordable and convenient, I made an appointment. They were professional, courteous, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of my time there. They have memberships as well. Guess what I asked for . . . for Christmas?

Yummies

Last Friday, Aaron and I went to Cafe Margot for a belated anniversary dinner. For the foodies out there, this was an amazing event. I only wish I'd had my camera so I could truly document how enjoyable the evening was. To start with, I actually did my hair and makeup. Since I usually am a wash and wear type of girl, this alone should have been recorded. Aaron was properly complimentary of my efforts. Then we went to our dinner.

We started with an Artisan cheese plate of Nevat with Honey and Rosemary Roasted Grapes. Wow! I need to try roasting grapes at home . . .

For our First Course I had a Pizza with Merguez Sausage, Chick Peas and Mahon while he had a Bourride. Definitely worth tasting, both of them . . .

For our Second Course I ate the Pan Roasted Magret Duck Breast with Polenta, Kale and Cipolline Onion Demi. Aaron enjoyed the Grilled Cobia with Fingerling Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts, and Garlic Bread Crumbs. Oh my . . .

Then for Dessert, he tried a Madeira as he'd never had that before. We did not like it alone, yet once the desserts of Chocolate Cappuccino Brownie Torte and Mascarpone Tart with Apricots and Dried Cherries arrived, the Madeira tasted much better . . .

Unfortunately, I can't recall the wines we drank at dinner. Which is a pity as they were quite tasty as well . . .

We will definitely be brown bagging our lunches for a while as we did spoil ourselves. However, it was our first anniversary, we are recently engaged, and we deserved to treat ourselves. So yummies it was.

Gift registry 1.0

Since we've been asked, since the second week of our engagement, when and where were we going to register, we decided to finally start. We had narrowed down our choice of stores to three: Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's, and Home Depot. We had also identified target items and patterns for ourselves. Yesterday, we went to BBB. They were extremely pleasant to work with and offered all sorts of suggestions as to how to think about registering. However, after two hours, we had barely scratched the surface. Part of the problem is we don't know where we will end up living and don't know how many bedrooms or bathrooms we will have. We solved that, sort of, by deciding to only concentrate on the master for now. Yet, we don't know what colors/patterns/styles we want to surround ourselves with in those rooms. We have a lot more deciding to do there. On the plus side, we know a lot of what we want for the kitchen. So we were able to get a great start on that room. Just goes to show what happens when you have two cooks getting together. Luckily we don't fight over favorite brands! As for finishing, let the fun continue later.

Update on Wedding Plans

Okay, venue is set. We have booked our place and set the date. What next on the list of 1001 things I'm told I must do? I have gone wedding dress shopping, made some preliminary decisions. We have chosen our color palette for the wedding. I have started identifying keywords to describe my ideal wedding style. We have started looking at gift registries and I have taken suggestions on patterns I must check out. I'm getting advice on which stores have good return policies and which ones like to make your life difficult. And the guest list. Definitely working my way through a guest list. What am I forgetting? They do tell me this is supposed to be the fun part.

Smokin' Fry

I'm not a huge documentary watcher although I have found a few that I really enjoy. I had been wanting to see Super Size Me for some time and finally got around to watching it recently. Let me preface this by saying that in a general way I do try to eat healthy. I am a lifetime WW member, have been since 2002. I enjoy eating most things and try to keep the unhealthy eating in moderation. Having said that I love McDonald's french fries. For the most part I actually prefer a steak fry to a skinny fry and am not a huge fan of the waffle fry at all. Curly fries are fun at times, but usually I choose a steak fry. Unless I'm craving McDonald's fries and then nothing else will satisfy. I definitely try to keep my McDonald's eating to a minimum. And now that I've seen Super Size Me (which for me is not anti-McDonald's, it is anti-fast food) plus the DVD extras, I'm not sure when if ever I'll eat there again. Which is all due to the DVD extra Smokin' Fry. I am still so disturbed by the image of the 10 week old McDonald's french fries that I can't stop thinking about it. I'm sure other fast food fries are the same. They don't tempt me. Sigh.

Halloween 2008

I have been a bridesmaid three times in my life. I have three very pretty dresses, that no matter what anyone tells you, I do not see wearing again in everyday life. However, last year for Halloween I repurposed one dress as a costume and was the princess who kisses the frog. This year I repurposed another dress and went as the winner of a beauty pageant: Miss Terious. And my escort was Mister E, also the winner of a pageant. Here is one picture of me in my costume, along with my co-worker Morgue-Anna. If I can get a decent picture of me with Mister E, I'll post it later. Now I just need to decide how to repurpose that third dress for Halloween next year.