#25 - Two dogs are better than 1.

Here the dogs are on their bench in the living room enjoying raw hide bones. Sometimes Tobey likes to drop his bone right in front on Lola then chase her around to get it back.

Below is a pic of both dogs in one bed. They are both snugglers (sorry for the tight cropping but it's right next to the toilet - the dogs are currently staying in the bathroom when I'm at work, at least until the kitchen gets done)!

#24 - Lui turns 35!

Went out on Saturday for Lui's b-day (which was really yesterday)! Here are friends, Marissa & Tony.

Hit Joe's Crab Shack for drinks and appetizers, followed by Shamrock for more drinks then Garlic Jo's for dinner - SO good! Here are Autumn & Kevin, Lui's long-time pals.

After dinner we tried out 333 which was too crowded so we opted for The Harp where we danced for hours and the live band sang Happy Birthday to Lui - so much fun!!

#23 - Lola, L-o-l-a, Lola, Lalalala, Lola

Can you guess what her name is? :) Just picked her up last night and things are going well. Found her at the Animal Shelter in Orange on Saturday. She's about 6 y/o which I think will be a good match for Tobey who is 5 y/o. She already knows "sit" and is a snuggler - fell deep asleep wrapped in a nice, warm, fleece blanket. Can't wait to spend the long holiday weekend getting to know her better!

#22 - Loews Hotel, Santa Monica

The plan for last weekend was to take a trip up the coast and end up somewhere near Santa Barbara. We only made it half way there - Santa Monica! Neither of us had been to the Santa Monica Pier so that was fun to experience together. We rode the carousel (got a 2 for 1 coupon - just $5!) and had dinner at Bubba Gump's on the pier. The weather was perfect and the accomodations were spectacular! I think it needs to be a new tradition to take a (small) trip away from all the craziness just before the holidays start. Cleared my mind, refreshed my outlook.

#21 - Mission Inn 5K Run

Was my second year on our company's corporate team - and the second year I walked it (maybe some time I'll take up running, maybe). I actually didn't sign up to participate this year (mostly because I cherish sleeping in on the weekends when I can) but a couple of people dropped out so Lui and took their spots with the promise of bloody mary's, screwdrivers or mimosas when it was over. My co-worker, Jen, is on the far left. Must have been from lack of corporate participation but this morning when I got to work I had a 2nd place metal on my desk from this event!

#20 - THEY'RE HERE!

I thought/hoped these lines were only temporary, a short-term side effect from sleeping the wrong way like the stripe I recently had over my eye and down my face the other day from a hard night's sleep face down on my pillow making me look like a KISS band member wannabe (see blog #5 for first mention of neck lines after 30). Well, I was wrong - looks like they are here to stay. No matter what time of the day I see my neck in the mirror, there they are. The picture taken below documeting gravity's effect on my body was taken with my head looking straight, no up or down tilt - it's real, it's raw, it's WRINKLES!! Wonder what other "joys" my 30's have in store for me...

#19 - Mighty Ducks

Not the best pic (especially since I'm getting rabbit ears!) but I had to post a pic from our seats at the Ducks vs. Stars hockey game. We were just to the right of the Duck's box, pucks and people would smash against the glass right in front of us - exciting! Ducks lost...boo.

On another sad note, we had tickets to go to the Raiders vs. Chargers football game yesterday but there was NO parking. We drove around for at least a half hour and finally found a lot but it closed just a couple cars ahead of us - if we were just 5 minutes earlier, we could have made it. So Lui decided we should go to Old Town San Diego - we did and had a great time. Lemonade from lemons - nice!