#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!

#18 - Elk at Estes State Park

This shot is from a little further distance than the one below. We had our binoculars on and listened to the male bugle - pretty amazing! There is one bull per harem - approx. 12 females.

This is Lui & me up close and personal with the elk (closer than Lui would have liked!). The male wasn't too far away but he kept his distance while keeping an eye on his ladies.

#17 - Butterfly Pavillion

One of the sightseeing activities we did just outside of Denver was a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion. We were able to walk around in a room where the butterflies lived, it was warm and humid.
The Butterfly Pavilion imports pupa from all over the world. They attach them to a cork board behind glass so we got to see butterflies emerging.

Twice daily they do a butterfly release. Above is a cage of the butterflies that had hatched since the day before. Once a worker opened the cage, some flew out but others stayed in; in one case, a newly hatched butterfly's wings were still too wet to fly so the worker picked it up and placed it high in the tree where it's wings could dry without anyone bothering it.

One of the butterflies that flew out got too close to this little girl - it landed on her mom's forehead!

This was one of my favorite butterflies. I loved the contrast when the black and white butterflies landed on all of the colorful flowers - highly recommend this place!