What to do on the first morning of a 4-day weekend

1. Wake up and watch Gray's Anatomy in bed with a cup of coffee lovingly brought to me by my husband.
2. Eat breakfast and read some of the really good thriller/mystery novel that I am reading right now.
3. Play on Facebook/Twitter for a while, finally upload some pictures I have been wanting to upload forever.
4. Catch up on the phone with my sister & watch a cute video of Natalie she emailed me this morning
5. Go through our new BBQ cookbook and pick out a yummy lamb recipe to cook for Easter dinner on Sunday, email picture to family members who are coming over so they can see what we'll be having.
6. Play with photos I've taken recently - fix in Picasa, email to family & discover cool Flikr uploader that makes it super easy to upload the pictures so the more technologically advanced family members can grab full size versions of the pictures if they want to print them.
7. Explore various cheap MP3 sites to find which is the best one (check out www.mp3obsession.com/reviews) and then buy some new music for way less $$ than it would cost on iTunes (think 10 cents/song vs. $1.29). I picked www.mp3panda.com and have already downloaded a few songs that are successfully playing in my iTunes if you want to check it out.

All that and it is not even Noon yet. You gotta love it!

Come on, Watch Idol with me!

Wow, it's been almost a year since I posted anything to my blog, that is just pitiful. Let's reflect on why I haven't posted....well, sometimes I just don't know that I have anything relevant to write about. I mean, not that a blog really needs to be relevant, actually usually they aren't. But I guess I thought mine should be. Also, I didn't want to write anything that might offend anyone so maybe I was afraid to write? I really don't know. I maybe thought I didn't have anything to say, which is funny because I ALWAYS have something to say, I always have an opinion, but apparently not one I wanted to write down. I am done being frozen in fear (ok that may have been overdoing it), but I am done with my "bloggers block" and I am going to start writing because, why not? It's fun. I'll write about whatever the hell I want to write about and I won't obsess over if it is relevant or if I am offending anyone or not, whatever.

So, tonight I am going to write about American Idol, because that is what I am watching and that is what is relevant to me at this moment.....

but first I have to write about Jack sneezing because he just sneezed 3x so hard that he actually made the coffee table move forward. GEEZ!

Ok, back to Idol... First of all, I have to say that I don't really know Usher at all, I mean they say he is this revolutionary, all super platinum selling artist and everything, but I couldn't tell you a single name of one of his songs if you held a gun to my head. When they were doing his little promo video package I did recognize one song that is super dance clubby, but that was it. I mean I have HEARD of him, but that is pretty much where it starts and ends. I guess it is because I don't spend a lot of time (or any time at all) in dance clubs. And all of that is really strange to me because I love this week, I love R&B/Soul week, I love R&B/Soul music, so I feel like I should know the celebrity coach and that person's music quite well...but I don't. Seems to me they should have like Aretha Franklin or Al Green as the coach this week. If Usher made R&B/Soul music I would know it, so what he makes can't be that. OK, that was a fun logic circle.

I think Chivan needs to fix her eyebrows. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why her face looks so strange and I feel like I have narrowed it down to her eyebrows. I am not sure what is wrong with them but I just feel like if they fixed them then she would not look so strange anymore. By the way I know I spelled her name wrong, I just know I can't possibly type it right and I kept trying to type Shivan but it kept coming out Chivan...it looks like Chicken, I think that will be my nickname for her from now on, Chicken. That is much easier to type. Wow, she did not sound good on stage, she sounded better in her package with Usher. She is having a seriously off night. And WTH is she wearing? OMG. I don't even know where to start, the red slash across her rib cage makes it look like she got attacked by a vampire or monster or something and those boots, YUCK. Kara's hair looks great tonight though, she is finally not wearing her bumpit. That is a nice change.

Is it just me or does Andrew Garcia sound EXACTLY like Maroon 5? Seriously. He is doing a song by Chris Brown, isn't that the guy who beat the crap out of Rihanna or Alicia Keys or someone? I do follow Us Magazine, but only for people who I know, and I don't really know Chris Brown or Rihanna or Alicia Keys...not enough to pay close attention to their stories, so I don't really have that straight. Anyway, my point is that if he beat the crap out of that girl they shouldn't be doing his songs on Idol, that just seems wrong to me. Regardless of all of the stuff I just said, Andrew did great. He sounded the best he has sounded in many weeks. Good for him. But I still think he sounds exactly like the lead singer of Maroon 5.

WOW, Katie is rocking Aretha. She is having a really good week. Now let's see if the judges agree with me. Ok, Randy is sort of with me...wow he just called her a young Christina, that is a huge compliment. What is with the judges always wanting her to do current stuff? That is just silly, she should sing good songs that she sounds good singing, who the hell cares when the song came out? Simon didn't like it, surprise surprise.

Lee is already famous, it just isn't even fair to the other contestants (except Crystal) that he is even in this competition. He is ridiculous.

And then there is Crystal, they should have just ended this competition in week one and awarded her the crown because it just seems so obvious that she should win it all. She is 1000x better than all of the other contestants. I am glad that they didn't end it in week one though because I am enjoying watching her every week. But if she doesn't win I'll be really surprised.

OK, hope you enjoyed watching Idol with me, now it is time for me to go to bed (because I am apparently old and boring now and 10:30 is past my bedtime). Good night.

Follow me

If you like my blog, click on that button to the right to follow me (I love getting new followers). And, I just added a fancy, schmancy new gadget so you can "subscribe" to my posts so you will get a notice on your Google home page or wherever when I add new posts. Click on the Subscribe To Posts to get that. Pretty cool!

The Hummingbird Whisperer

It is no secret to my family and friends that I totally love birds. I have 4 birdfeeders scattered throughout our relatively small backyard that I am pretty good about keeping filled up (yes they are empty right now, but I swear I will fill them tomorrow...or maybe even this evening). On April 9th I looked out my kitchen window and saw a small bird in the middle of our grass. I assumed it was another bird that had flown into our glass wall (stupid, stupid idea the previous owners of this house thought was a home improvement). We have only lived here for 6 months and have already "buried" 4 dead birds who flew into it and fell to their death...one of them ended up impaled on our rose bush, (YUCK). But this one was still moving! So I ran out there to see if I could save it and, to my surprise, it was a hummingbird. I had never seen one sitting still before, they are always hovering and flitting and flying around. This one was trying, unsuccessfully to fly away, something was wrong with one of its wings.

At Jack's request, I let it be to see if it would "shake it off" and fly off on its own. But 15 minutes later I went outside and it was still scooting along the ground trying desperately to fly. So I did what any logical, bird loving person would do...I squatted down next to it and scooped my hands underneath it and picked it up. It didn't even try to fly away from me or anything, it was like it knew that I was trying to help it. It was amazing. I figured it was hungry because I didn't know how long it had actually been down there before I saw it, so I walked over to a flowering orange tree in our backyard that I always see hummingbirds feeding at and held it up to one of the flowers. Damned if it didn't start eating from the flowers!!! It ate like it was really hungry and it guided me around to keep on moving it from flower to flower by reaching its little head out toward the next flower it wanted to eat from. I felt like I should be in a Disney princess movie or something as I held my cupped hands holding this hummingbird up to the flowers to drink their nectar (think Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, who all had a special way with woodland creatures). By the way, did you know that hummingbirds have crazy long tongues?

I am obviously not equipped to rehabilitate an injured hummingbird, so wonderful Jack did some Googling and learned how to make an appropriate little box for it and what to prepare it to eat. We also learned that if those poor birds don't eat every 2 hours (for the juveniles) they will die. So it seems that picking it up and feeding it was 100% the right thing to do. After our little feathered patient was safely situated in her temporary home I called Yvette (my step-mom and a fellow bird lover) for some advice on our situation. She just happened to have a number on hand of a local Hummingbird Rescuer because this exact same thing happened to her last week. Seriously, I am not lying, how bizarre is that? So I made a couple of phone calls and a volunteer from a group called "Project Wildlife" met me a couple of hours later just down the street from my house. She examined it and told me that it is a juvenile, less than a year old! She had a bunch of ready made hummingbird transporter baskets and she took it from me to bring it to her home where she would rehab it and then release it back into the wild. How great is that?! I actually got to save a hummingbird.

You might be a crazy cat (and dog) lady if...

You write two page emails to your pet-sitter giving them instructions and information about your furry children.

Before I copy and paste said email into this blog in its entirety I need to give one short, but very important, disclaimer. When this new pet-sitter, who is a friend of ours and is my aunt's best friend, came over for her "orientation" walk-through I was not here. Though she has been to our house once before, she had never pet-sat for us before. I was off walking Buffy at the beach and didn't get back in time to be here to do the walk through with her. Jack did it on his own and when I asked him a bunch of questions about what he told her it seems that he left A LOT of very important points out of the walk-through (like where the cat box is...she was going to be staying at our house and watching the animals for 4 days...imagine the smell if she had not ever cleaned the cat box). Also, I had left for Texas on Tuesday morning and Jack did not come out until Thursday, so I wasn't available to have her come back over and do a walk-thru with me. So, I composed the following email on Wednesday night from Texas (brace yourself, it is kinda long):

Hi Dina,
I am so sorry that I missed you the other day. I am usually the one who gives the "pet care tours" of our house, so I thought I would help my wonderful husband out by supplementing the tour he gave you with this note since when I quizzed him about what he told you it seems he left a few important things out (like introducing you to Spike!). First of all, THANK YOU so much for staying at our house and taking care of our babies. Spike and Buffy are our 4-legged, furry little kids and I am so glad that they will be in capable hands while we are away. Since I can't entirely remember what Jack said he went over with you I am just going to cover everything I can think of and sorry if I tell you stuff that Jack already did. You can use this as notes in case you forget anything.

First the important stuff! Our pets love to be loved! Spike loves to be picked up and held against your shoulder and kissed on the head and petted. He is so super sweet and he loves hugs. He is also a little sneak attacker sometimes so you do sort of have to be aware around him. If he lays on his back and coos at you with all 4 paws in the air, this is only an invitation to pet his stomach if you want your arm attacked. With a normal cat this would be fun play, but with Spike it is only fun if you are wearing hawk gloves or 3 sweatshirts to protect your arms. He doesn't mean any harm, but he doesn't know his own jaw strength (he has no front claws, only back ones, so it is mostly teeth you have to worry about). Really, he is usually very very sweet, but I always like to give a disclaimer to just be aware around him, his mom was a completely feral cat and I think some of the instinct is still alive and well deep inside him. Buffy is the sweetest, happiest dog on the planet. She loves to be around you and she loves to be scratched on the chest. When you pet her head and she lifts it up she is not trying to lick or bite you, she is trying to redirect your hand to pet her chest instead of her head. She is a girl who just knows what she wants and works to get it. Do not say the word "Walk" unless you intend to at the very least go up to Bunny park with her (middle of our street) because as soon as you ask her if she wants to go on a walk she will start doing little dog pirouettes and get super excited. She is a dog who is pretty sure she is not a dog but a person. She will occasionally choose to spend time in the backyard by herself watching birds and barking at gardeners, but usually she wants to be where the people are. She is allowed on the furniture so it is ok if she gets up on the couch with you. We actually selected a fairly sturdy couch based on specifically it being able to handle her (how is that for planning your world around your pets?!). Buffy doesn't like her paws being touched much, so if you notice her being sensitive about her paws that is perfectly normal for her. She will shake though (but only with her right paw, she doesn't know how to do a left shake), that is a trick she knows and is proud to show off...for a treat of course!

Hiding places/sleeping:
Spike has many hiding places around the house: dining room chairs, the basket of blankets under the end table in the family room, the baskets in the master closet (they are full of my clothes..and cat fur), on either guest bed (and under the comforter on the bed in the room you are sleeping in), and he also loves sleeping on just about every piece of furniture in the house. He does not usually sleep on the bed with us at night (but not because he is not invited, he just doesn't for some reason), he usually prowls around the house and sleeps down on the couch in the family room or living room. He loves to lay on your lap while you are sitting watching tv in the evenings and be pet. Hopefully you will get to experience this, it is one of his favorite times for cuddles. Buffy loves laying on the couch in the family room, on the rug in front of the back door (to keep an eye on things and catch some rays), on the floor in the hallway outside the office, and on the floor in our bedroom. In the evenings she very much likes to be up on the couch with you, so if she is pushing around and looking at you and looking awkward, it is because she either doesn't think there is sufficient room and she wants you to make room or she doesn't know if she is invited and she wants you to invite her up to the couch. At night she will usually sleep at the very back of the walk in closet in our master bedroom. We figured out that she has claimed that space as her dark cave at night. It is pretty funny. She may choose to sleep in the guest room with you at some point and she may even jump up on the bed (if you are comfortable with that). She actually spent a night in there with Mel and Keith when they were visiting (and we were home and in our room!!!). She has a very special relationship with them! :)

Poop:
...ok, this is just details about Buffy's pooping habits and how to clean out Spike's litter box and is pretty boring, so I skipped it for the blog...

Food:
Buffy's food is in a tall container (I am sure Jack showed you and he will probably have it marked) and she gets one scoop in the morning and one in the evening. If you have trouble finishing a meal, she will usually be more than willing to help you out with that also :). Her food and water bowls are the big ones on the iron stand right next to the kitchen "pass through" counter. Spike's food situation is a bit more complicated than Buffy's. If he starts being really obnoxious and howling and knocking water glasses off of nightstands (I highly recommend taking a water bottle with a lid to bed rather than an open glass for this reason) around 5am it is because he is telling you it is time for you to get your lazy ass out of bed and feed him what we affectionatly refer to as "First breakfast". This consists of one scoop of dry food in our master bathroom. The food is on the counter in a cute little container and he has a food and water bowl on the floor in there as well. You can do this and then stumble back to bed knowing that the beast will be sated for a little while at least. Then, when you get up at a more decent, human hour, he will remind you again that it is time for "second breakfast", this consists of one scoop of food from his dry food container down in the kitchen. His food bowls are located near the window in the breakfast nook. Don't worry, he won't usually start bothering you for 2nd breakfast until you actually come downstairs, or are very close to doing that. And you can feed Buffy breakfast at the same time as you feed Spike 2nd breakfast (she is so much lower maintenance when it comes to food!) Then, for dinner, please feed him some of his wet food. I usually give him approx 1/3 of a can or so of his wet food (Jack should leave it out, but if not, it is in the bottom shelf of the pantry. Both of them eat dinner in the kitchen at their bowls. Right before bed they also both get treats. There are cat treats and dog treats in our bathroom either on the counter or in the cabinet just to the left of the left hand sink (in the cabinet next to the vanity area). One treat for Buffy (they are pretty big) in the master bedroom and a good shake of treats for spike from the treat container on the bathroom floor (can't remember what brand they are). Buffy also has lots of those little chew bone things in the bottom of the pantry, feel free to give her one of those now and then. She will take it and go sit at the back door and wait for you to let her out to go eat it. It is pretty funny :)

OK, I am very tired (it is later here than there) and I think I have covered everything. If you have any questions at all please don't hesitate to call either Jack or me on our cell phones. My number is x, Jack's is x. Thanks again and we'll see you soon! Ali

Rock Star Techno-Genius, I am

Yes, you heard me right, I am SUCH the Rock-star Techno-genius. Today, the ad agency I work for was working on an RFP for a very large account that we are hoping to get. We needed some old TV spots that I produced for Sea World back when I worked at GSD&M to include as advertising samples from our team. Well, the only way I have those tv commercials is on old-school VHS tapes (I bet a lot of you don't even have a VCR in your house anymore, do you?). So, about a year and a half ago, I ordered a DVD Recorder/VHS combo machine because I wanted to convert all of our old family movies from VHS to DVD. Today I took it out of its UPS packaging (yes I had never even removed the UPS bag from around it!) and took it upstairs and hooked it up to the tv in one of our guestrooms. It only took me about 5 hours and about 10 DVD-R's but I figured out how to use it. And I am proud to say that I successfully created a dvd with 6 spots on it, all as their own title/file. Then I copied them to my computer, figured out how to convert them from VOD files (the file type that they are when they are recorded from VHS to DVD) to mpg files (the file type you need to have them as in order to do anything with them on a computer). THEN I uploaded them all to Flikr so that my co-workers in Austin, Texas could then download them and put them on our reel for our presentation! To some of you this may not sound very impressive, but it was a completely new thing for me and I learned it myself from scratch and am quite excited about it. Now I just need to use this newfound skill to get those old family movies over to DVD!

Random day-to-day crap

Well, I suck, it has been forever since I added anything to my blog. Either my life hasn't been exciting enough for me to write anything, my life has been too exciting and I haven't had time, or I just don't know how to do this correctly and how to judge what should and should not be blogged about. I am going with option #3.

I have decided (yesterday) that I am going to commit to 2-a-days....workouts I mean. I was inspired by my new twitter bff Ashton Kutcher to do that because he said he is doing that to get ready for having to be shot shirtless in an upcoming film. Of course Ashton Kutcher doesn't have to work 40 hours a week for an advertising agency and he has loads of time to work out, but nevermind that...if he can do it, I can do it! So, yesteday I did my Malibu Pilates in the morning and walked Buffy in the evening. Today I have sat on my ass in front of my computer all day and done absolutely nothing in the way of exercise. It is currently 4:03pm, which means I have to find a way to get my 2 workouts in sometime between right now and when I go to bed. Unless sleeping counts as working out (oh I WISH it did!). I am also journaling my progress in this handy little daily calendar I bought at Staples. I love my lists! I am recording if I exercised, what my weight is, if I took my vitamins, etc. It is sort of my accountability for the day. I got it on March 3rd and filled it in every day for about 6-days and then forgot about it for a week and now I am back to it. I am backfilling in yesterday because I want credit for my 2 workouts yestreday, dammit! Then I am going to fill in my category spaces for the rest of the month so all I have to write is yes and no on any given day, that is not too difficult, I should be able to handle that (one would hope).

Jack is making us yummy steak and asparagus for dinner tonight, sounds good! Kinda like a date at home, you gotta love it. Maybe there will be a pretty sunset to go with it. There has been a lot of marine layer lately which has made for some pretty unimpressive sunsets. OK, I guess I better stop blogging so that I can go and do at least one of my two workouts that I need to get in today, ugh. I am going to try to start blogging more often though so I get in the habit of doing this. I can't promise that it won't be mundane every day crap like this one because, really, this is my life. I am not like a Rock star or a famous movie star or something glamourous like that so what do you want? I usually sit in front of my computer and work for 8-10 hours a day and then I eat dinner and watch TV...not too exciting. But hopefully I will be able to find some fun, interesting random things to write about and that is what I will blog about. Clearly (judging by this paragraph) I am VERY good at continuing to write lots of words even though I have ABSOLUTELY nothing at all to say. So, there you go. OK, really going to go work out now...really....seriously....ok bye....now, really bye.....c-ya.....really this time, bye.