Random Trip and Weekend

I thought I’d do a mostly random recap of my weekend with a few pictures from my trip to Oregon included.

First, my randoms from my trip…

That’s the room I stay in in the condo my grandparents rent. Well, where I stayed before I got sent to the couch so my mom and aunt could sleep up there. It’s a nice room, that door goes out to a big balcony that over looks a stream…

And there’s a full bathroom right behind where I was standing when I took the picture.

That’s the large lake that’s pretty much right outside the condo’s door. There are a ton of restaurants and stores around the lake. And there’s a town square-like place where they have a farmer’s market, show movies, and hold other events.

Just don’t feed the water fowl.

Who are these fetching people? That’s my uncle, aunt, and mother. This picture has been hanging in my grandparents’ house for as long as I can remember. I always thought it was so funny growing up.

I arrived back in NY bright and early Friday morning after a fairly bumpy red eye flight where I got elbowed by the video game-playing guy next to me for the whole flight. After some squeezing onto the Long Island Railroad I was greeted by this shining face.

The great greyhound hole digger!

It’s something he’s started since it’s gotten so hot outside. I guess it’s cooler in the hole? Needless to say my parents aren’t pleased.

Here’s a zucchini and cucumber from my parents’ organic vegetable garden. I’m very proud of them. Too bad I don’t like zucchini or cucumber.

This was my gorgeous view at the beach this morning. Unfortunately it was hot as hell at the beach. There was no breeze and it was so sticky.

I also got attacked by flies the entire time. I lasted a little less than 3 hours before I threw in the towel (haha…).

This is the clear coat nail polish, Seche Vite, that my aunt told me to buy to fix my nail polish absorbing dirt problem. She said it was only available online, but then I found it at Target today. Score.

And finally here’s my latest attempt at applying the OPI Shatter nail polish. It’s really hard! I love how my thumb looks but my index finger looks awful. There has to be a trick to it.

I’m using my parents free laundry facilities and then packing up to head back to NYC tomorrow. It’s been a real vacation, but I’m actually excited about heading back to work and a normal routine tomorrow.

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Taking Zach For a Walk

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Christmas 2010

One of my goals for the weekend was to get the pictures that have been sitting on my camera on to my computer. Most of them were of this past Christmas so I thought I’d post some of my favorite here…

The Montauk lighthouse lit up for the holidays.

 

A cake shaped like a tree…

…gets transformed into a beautifully (if I can say so myself) decorated Christmas tree.

My mom and Sophie waiting to open gifts.

A surprised? skeptical? annoyed? brother.

The first roast chicken I ever made.

Me and Zach. Not sure how long I had been without showering at that point. Just keeping it real.

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Zach!

My parents have a new dog, have I mentioned that? He’s a Greyhound, is name is Zach and he’s completely adorable. When I was at their house for a week at Thanksgiving I got to spend lots of time with him.

From the moment he saw me walking towards him and my dad at the train station he just ran towards me. He really, really likes humans, no matter who you are. When I’d be walking him he’d try to run across the street if he saw a person.

He’s pretty much totally adorable.

He does like to whine a fair bit, I think he needs to man-up a little.

I even made some videos of Zach for you to enjoy!

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Candy Cane

Today my parents put our Basset Hound to sleep.

We got her the summer before 5th grade so I was 10 years old and that makes her, or made her, 14 years old. That’s a long life for a Basset Hound and I think it was a great one.

That summer we had dog sat for my aunt and uncle’s dogs and finally my parents said we could have dogs of our own. On the same day we got Candy, the Basset Hound, and Whitney, a Sheltie who died when I was in high school.

As my dad pointed out Candy was the first animal we ever had from the time it was born until it died.

The woman at the place where we got her said her show name should be something with “MM” because those are my mom’s and my initials. That was the summer, or maybe year, that M&M’s candy debuted the blue color so we named her M&M Candy Blues (since Basset Hounds look so sad).

But we also called her Candy. And I called her “Candy Cane” or “Tootsie Roll.”

There’s a picture my parents have of Candy sitting on my lap, curled up when she was just a tiny puppy.

She was a really great dog. She liked to bark, but really she was just shy, she would never have hurt anyone.

Before seventh grade my parents moved into the house where they live now and before we moved in we stayed at my grandparents’ house. One day Candy got out of the yard and the only reason we knew is because we saw the tip of her white tail over the fence.

Another time she escaped from my parents current yard and someone driving by yelled “There’s a dog in the street” and I went out and carried her back inside.

Surprisingly Basset Hounds have very poor skills at finding their way home. They also can’t go swimming because they’re too chest-heavy.

When I was in college Candy was diagnosed with cancer. She had the tumor removed and came home all giddy and hyper on pain pills.

In recent years Candy has really aged. She went deaf and then blind. But she was still happy. Her tail was always wagging and she still ran around.

But in the past few months she’s lost weight, slept 99% of the time, and just isn’t the same dog we used to know.

So it was time and it’s better off for her.

But I will always miss her. And I will always remember what an amazing dog she was and how much she brought to my family’s life.

One of the funniest things she used to do was lie down somewhere where she’d be in the center of attention. So if we were all watching TV she’s lie in front of the TV or on Christmas she’d lie right in the middle of everyone so you were stepping over her while exchanging presents and looking at her over everyone else.

Good bye Candy, I love you.

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In Short Bursts

Sorry I’ve sucked. Here’s what’s been happening.

Amarillo is the craziest place I’ve ever been. They have every fast food place imaginable. But we only ate in local restaurants and although I ate a lot of meat and a lot of crap, I didn’t gain any weight.

Sunrise in Amarillo is quite pretty

And it’s the flattest place I’ve ever been

And they have some of the strangest art I’ve ever seen

(And yes, I do think that I was the only person in Amarillo wearing a Burberry jacket, animal-print flats, and skinny pants.)

Oh, beers are $1.75 and movies are $2.00. It’s pretty much heaven.

I went to the orthopedist today 😦

Not a fan.

Apparently my ankle and calve muscles are tight and they’re squeezing(?) my achilles tendon and that’s what’s causing the inflammation.

So no running. Instead of running I get physical therapy.

I went to the gym today and I did the elliptical. It sucked. I’m trying to be positive though, at least I’m lucky enough to be able to go to the gym, to walk, to move, to have a job that provides maringally good insurance, and the money to pay the co-pays for physical therapy.

I’d really like to be running now. Things at work are crazy (good, but crazy) and tomorrow my parents are putting our dog to sleep (post on her to come tomorrow).

So there’s a lot going on.

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Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful day in NYC today. Warm and sunny. Totally un-November like. I didn’t get home until almost 1am last night (this morning) so I slept in until 10am. I’m paying for it now, I’m totally exhausted, but it was nice to get the sleep.

I went to see An Education today.

I would highly recommend it. I thought it was great.

After the movie I ran some errands and then came home and did my Bikini Ready Fast DVD.

And then I made kidney bean enchiladas for dinner. Yummy.

My parents got their Greyhound today. His name is Zach.

Sorry for the crappy picture. My family is bad at these things and I finally got them to send a picture from my brother’s phone.

Isn’t he cute??? I can’t wait to meet him. Two more weeks!

Apparently the little monster

is being very possessive of my mother (her human), but hopefully she’ll get over it.

I’m just killing time before Mad Men now. Last episode of the season 😦

This will be a crazy week. I’m having dinner tomorrow night with my friend Becca and her mom who are in town visiting. Then I leave for Amarillo, TX (work trip) on Wednesday afternoon and fly back Thursday afternoon. I probably won’t be home until 1am or so Friday morning.

And this has been a weird post. I was kind of at a loss of what to say.

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