Doggies

Every year our community pool closes the outdoor pools for the winter but has one last bash to close out the season: doggy day at the pool! This was the first year I could take Marshall and what an event! They had a large bucket full of tennis balls and frisbees everywhere. Big dogs were swimming in the lap pool, some of them didn't even get out, they just swam around with balls in their mouths. Other dogs took big leaps off the side of the pool to catch balls. There were dogs everywhere and Marshall was in loving every minute of it. At one point we heard some dogs barking and it was a pack chasing Marshall around in circles while he cut and run. The pool water was nicely heated and quite warm so once Marshall got in the pool he didn't get out. He tried to collect every ball he could see and realized he could stand on the bottom of the pool and walk himself around upright. We were one of the last to leave, Marshall was really enjoying himself.

Later in the day we had a doggy photo shoot with t-shirts and a fun birthday party for me. I have lots of adorable photos to post but the cat appears to be jealous of all this dog talk and she won't let me type anymore. All I can see is her back end, cat owners you know what I mean. I'll post a slide show tomorrow.

This beaver is too busy

Yikes! I invited a bunch of people over to our house tomorrow to shoot photos of doggie t-shirts and to celebrate my birthday and we are scrambling to get everything finished. The house is torn up from painting and the various projects I'm working on so we're trying to wrap it up. Hopefully I will get everything done tomorrow morning and will start a relaxation process. I just framed about 8 large photos and several small ones and started on putting a logo on the dog t-shirts. Then I spilled water all over everything so I think I need to chill out for a while. I just realized it's 9pm.

Tomorrow is doggie day at the pool, they let dogs use the outdoor pool and water park before they close it for the season so I'm taking Marshall and Napoleon for a day at the pool. Then we're meeting a bunch of dogs at the park to take photos of t-shirts and then we're hosting a BBQ for about 14 people. I stayed up late last night watching a dumb movie (Zodiac) and ran a bunch of errands after work today so I'm fried. I'll post cute pics if I have time tomorrow. I'm so busy I think my 35th birthday will pass almost unnoticed. Sweet!

Have a great weekend!

YOGA YOGA YOGA

Sorry for the delay in posting this week, don't worry, I am not having a mid life crisis due to my looming 35th birthday. I've just been busy and tired. I started back up with swim class this week (butt kicker) and signed up for yoga (total butt kicker) so I'm a little fatigued today and the week is only half over. You might be surprised to hear that Bill is the reason I signed up for yoga.

He has talked up this great yoga class he used to take and how he really wanted to get back to it so BAM! I signed up for the class. Occasionally I get motivated to do things when other people go on and on about something. This is how I got into triathlon. I had no interest in it whatsoever and then my friend kept going on about wanting to do the Danskin triathlon and after a year or two I decided to start training and was quickly addicted to the sport. She never did do a triathlon. I don't talk to her much these days.

So Bill better hang on to his yoga mat. I'm in it for the head stands baby! Just kidding, I just want to stretch and relax. I promise I will not get obsessed and start some yoga related business. Yeah right! Who am I kidding, like I can control myself. Enjoy the full moon tonight. HOWL.....

Hot Seat

Today was the first day of class at the university which is always an entertaining day. My office window looks out onto campus and I get to watch guys skateboarding down the middle of the road and bicyclists dodging pedestrians on cell phones. Everyone is on a cell phone, last week I saw a set of twin girls sitting at a table together each talking on a cell phone, I sincerely hope they weren't conference calling their mom. Most of the conversations I overhear are kids calling their mom. Then you have the lost people, after swim class I heard some people talking outside of the shower and hoped they didn't barge in on me, nothing scares a lost freshman more than a naked lady in a shower.

I trained a student worker today, if you don't know this already, universities are run on cheap student labor. I have had more bad student workers than good and sometimes they just aren't worth it but I think I did alright picking at least one of my students. We'll soon find out!

So there is a photo of our new dresser, all we need now are some new lamps (the current ones I bought at Kmart several years ago for $8 so we're getting new ones) and some throw pillows and a non-cracked bed frame and we'll be set. We're going to get a 2nd dresser for the other side of the room and I think I'll put two photos up over there. It's starting to look nice around here, except that damn gold wall! After work today I went straight to the paint store for samples and hope to remedy the gold soon. Why did I do that to myself?

Our yard is looking pretty nice, I didn't spend as much time out there as I did last year but it has held up nicely. A little wild looking but fine. Last year I obsessed with it since we were getting married out there. I am afraid the frost is coming very soon and this will all be dead shortly. It was 45 degrees this morning, Cassie queued up to be let out this morning but she got a cold burst of air and turned back around to eat breakfast in the warm house. This caused me to re-evaluate my plans to bike to work and I opted to drive the Jeep with heated seats instead. Kind of weak but it feels so good to sit on heated seats!

What a fiasco

Oops! It's 9:30 pm and this is what our living room looks like. Bill is putting together a dresser we bought at Ikea this morning and we just realized why the furniture there costs less... it comes in 400 pieces! Actually we're pleased with this dresser, it's made of wood (not particle board) and it feels solid and is modern looking so when Bill gets it put together sometime in the next few weeks we should be happy with it.

I screwed up this weekend. We went to Fall Festival (arts and crafts event) in Corvallis and Bill was not having any of it. I left feeling very irritated and frustrated as arts and crafts are my thing and I really liked some of the stuff there so I decided to cheer myself by working on painting the entry way. This sparked a new idea: paint the 2nd floor wall a different color, a bold color, a GOLD color to feature the art we hang there! So I went out and bought a quart of gold and Bill painted it up for me under the conditions that we would not change it for at least 1 month because he could tell this would be bad. I could have died as he started painting, it's hideous! Now I have to beg him to change it to ivory (the rest of the entry way will be ivory) or paint it while he isn't home. I almost can't stand to look at it.

We spent almost the entire day at Ikea today and found some great stuff but I really didn't get anything done that I wanted to get done this weekend. We bought a bed frame that I love but when we got home there was a small crack in the frame so I don't know if we did it by strapping it to the top of the Jeep or if it was that way to begin with. Either way, we have to drive it back up to Portland to exchange it. I might feel better once Bill assembles the dresser. We probably should have waited until the rains comes to start on all this stuff and we should have went camping instead of shopping.

Fall Festival

Good grief I was busy this week. I had a bump in web sales and shipped a bunch of custom orders from the women's triathlon we attended and phew! I need some rest. I also had a busy week at my full time job with meetings and software upgrades so dude, I am done! We are going to stay in town this weekend and paint the entry way of the house and check out Fall Festival a local arts and crafts festival that is great for stocking up on Christmas presents. Some of the art there is amazing so I will be highly tempted by the sight of it. The only thing that will keep me from splurging is we are going up to Portland to see the new Ikea and will try to buy a bed frame amongst other goodies. I'm dizzy just thinking about IKEA! I've been without one since I lived in Seattle many moons ago.

Just to share with you my depression, which I'm sure everyone enjoys so much when I do share these things, last year Bill bought some art for me at Fall Festival for our future baby's room. It has been sitting in the closet since then. We'll avoid that artist's booth this year. I might have to put that out of my mind by getting a coat rack for the entry way from an artist I know that recycles steel and makes it into art. I hope she's there and is stocked up! This could be an expensive weekend!

I'll post pics from Fall Festival and painting updates (how thrilling!) this weekend. Have a great weekend!

Oooohh la la

Normally I'm not the type of person that brags about watching foreign films but I happened to have lucked into a good pick on Netflix and wanted to share it with you. "After the Wedding" was one of the better films we've seen, here is the review:

To save the failing orphanage he runs in India, Danish transplant Jacob Petersen (Mads Mikkelsen) returns to his homeland to meet a self-indulgent businessman named Jørgen who's offered a generous donation -- and who represents everything the noble-minded Jacob abhors. Complicating matters further are the unusual strings Jørgen has attached to his so-called gift. Rolf Lassgård co-stars in this Oscar-nominated emotional powerhouse of a drama.

Loved it! Well acted and a compelling story and no it isn't a chick flick wedding movie.

I also lucked into a good book pick "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clark. I was speed browsing through the discount section at Borders and had this book in my hand when a clerk spotted me and insisted I get the book. She was right, I love a well written book like I love my dog (well almost) and this one is good!

The book is set in an alternate 19th-century Britain, during the Napoleonic Wars. The story is based on the premise of magic returning to England after hundreds of years of desuetude, and the tumultuous relationship between two fictional magicians of the time. The story incorporates historical events and people into its fictional alternate reality.

I have been falling behind on sleep between movies and reading and everything else. But doing well without the fertility drugs. We got a fertility monitor last month, it tracks your fertility levels throughout your cycle (I would recommend this to anyone trying to conceive) and last month the thing was all lit up with high fertility levels right from the start. This month the poor thing is stuck on low. I guess the drugs do work. Putting that out of mind now and getting ready to fill some fabulous tribabe.com orders! Cheers!

Dogs and cats wearing t-shirts

Let's all have a good laugh at Cassie. She looks totally adorable in this brown t-shirt with pink trim. And yes, I have gone overboard!

How about a dog in a t-shirt! I just ordered up a bunch of samples of these dog t-shirts from American Apparel and plan to outfit all the dogs we know in "South Town Homies" t-shirts.

I just need a way to tie these t-shirts in to triathlon and then I'll be set. Any ideas? I added the t-shirts to my web store under Beasts. We'll have more pics next week. This is the most fun I've had with my web business in months. Doesn't Marshall look like a super dog in his new top?

I put each of the animals in a t-shirt last night so they were equally humiliated. Cassie attacked Bree because she wouldn't walk in her t-shirt and the dog took the opportunity to smell the cats thoroughly while they were catatonic in the kitty tees. Fun times! woo ho! I think we need to get Bree a larger size, she's wearing a small here and she looks a little uncomfortable. Don't worry, I only had her in it for a few minutes. I don't know if I'll let the cats outside in t-shirts but I will let the dog run amok in the park with his on. Fun!

Charlton Lake, Oregon

I couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend! We loaded up the car around noon on Friday and borrowed a friend's canoe for a weekend camping trip at Charlton Lake (near Waldo for Oregonians). When we arrived on Friday we were the only people there so we decided to camp near the lake rather than canoe our gear across the lake. We thought some friends would join but we weren't 100% sure if and when they would come, they have young kids so it's always a maybe when it comes to trips like this.

It was cold at the lake on Friday evening, it was in the 50s and the temp was dropping with the sun so Bill gathered wood and made us a cozy fire while I cooked up pasta. We managed to stay awake until 9:30pm in case friends showed up, but the darkness got the best of us and Marshall and I tried to snuggle into my sleeping bag for a snooze. We woke up with the sun Saturday morning and Bill made us another fire. I sat near the fire and read a book and did some yoga next to the fire when along comes Milo, Marshall's best bud and Sequoia, the king of the dogs. I guess our friend's have arrived!

We spent the morning chatting and everyone got set up and we took turns canoing on the lake. I couldn't stand just looking at the beautiful clear blue water so I put on my wetsuit and jumped in the lake for my first open water swim of the season! Better late than never! It was COLD but I managed to swim across the lake and back, Marshall met me about half way and settled on my feet for a draft. Bill did the swim without a wetsuit BRRRRR! so we decided to warm up from the swim with a mountain bike ride around the lake. Stacey geared up with us and off we went, only we got lost right away and took directions from a dude on a cross bike out on some retched trails (he had no body fat and huge calves so why we took directions from him for a "killer ride with awesome descents" is beyond me). We were out riding for over 3 hours and by the time we got back I was DONE!

I basically went to bed after we ate dinner but I heard the guys went on a late night canoe ride to look at the stars. We had great clear weather all day Saturday so we completely lucked out. Sunday morning I went for a hike with the dogs for some alone time and then spent most of the morning throwing rocks in the water for Jesse dog to fetch while the guys played disc golf in the woods. Of course they had to try their hand at some water obstacles and sank a few discs in the lake which Bill was elected to retrieve. Brrr!

It was a perfect weekend, now we're showered and home and ready for some couch cuddling. Relaxation achieved!

My Big Deal

I'm in a hurry so these photos aren't great but I finally finished the pillows for the living room and the mirror in the dining room, I think. The mirror isn't as dramatic as I wanted it to be. I painted it 3 times and I think the problem is that it isn't big enough to be a focal point for a dining room. Don't tell Bill, he's had enough of it I think. We got the mirror at Ross for cheap and an additional discount of 25% off because it had a few marks on it that I painted over.

I custom ordered the fabric for the throw pillows from Joanne's at 50% off. How you can discount special order fabric I'll never understand but I'm not going to argue! You can see in the photos that we painted the living room beige and the dining room kitchen "meditative blue" and we kind of agonized over the blue. I like it though, it's different and the shade is bright but not overpowering.

My whole deal with the house is I don't want it to look all chicked out so brown and blue are good colors I think to compromise on. Bill would definitely go with dark and heavy colors and I'm into many colors so we're working it out. The house is a bit of a mess since we're leaving to go camping here in about 5 minutes. We're taking half a sporting goods store for two days so we should have plenty to do while we are gone. I've got two new books I want to recommend but I've got to go! Have a great weekend!


Here is our living room before we moved in...

Behaving like a proper adult

Our bedroom before painting, nice but boring. Bill wanted to paint it brown but we compromised on taupe. Here is the after shot, I took this last night around 6:30 pm so the light isn't great but you can see the huge change in color. I think we will pick up an affordable bed frame at Ikea as a birthday gift for me. I'm turning 35 for crying out loud, I should have a bed frame like a proper adult.

We put up black curtains and it's harder for me to get out of bed in the morning now that it's so dark in the bedroom. I need a few more pictures to hang in the bedroom so my goal for the weekend while we are camping is to take some photos that can be printed as black and white to hang up. I also need to make some throw pillows for this room and then it will be done. Maybe new lamps too. Bill hates it when I get going like this but everything I buy is either on sale or from Ross or some discount store, at least I don't buy everything from Crate and Barrel. His life could be so much worse!

We should have the kitchen and living room ready to photo by tomorrow, we're just finishing up the final touches. I am making covers for the throw pillows on the couch and painting a mirror for the dining room so I'm the hold up. We were gone Monday (mexican dinner at a friends that ended with drinking rum out of a pineapple) and Tuesday night (pizza and beer) with friends so I'm behind on projects. Dang friends! Quit inviting us out, we're trying to get stuff done! Just kidding. The rum in the pineapple was totally worth it.

Down dog

No I am not pregnant and yes I am sure. And we're taking at least one month off from fertility drugs. I am upset but instead of freaking out I'm going to have some fun this month and think about something else for a while. Like doggy t-shirts! I just ordered up a batch for my South Town Homies and will feature on my web site in a few weeks. K-ute!

We had a great time last weekend and we're going camping this weekend with the hippies so I will drink some beer, ride my mtn bike and wear my wetsuit for the 1st time this summer for some lake swimming. Sweet! We're going to take a canoe (Keanu for my mom) and a bunch of dogs and have fun. I'm going to plan some other fun things for the next 30 days, I already have a girl's weekend at Hood River to look forward too so I'm well on my way to focusing on other things.

The Dr. said a break is fine, probably good for me even, so no worries. My only problem is my 35th birthday at the end of this month, perhaps we should forget about that too! Yes, let's all forget about it. Poof! Gone!

Escape from the Gorge triathlon

We had a long but great weekend of triathlon-ing. Saturday we were up at 3:50 am to drive to Federal Way, Wa for the Subaru All Women's triathlon expo. This looks like a great event, the lake is nice, the bike course is closed, and the sponsorship is excellent. Racers were carrying around bags of free goodies and everyone seemed happy to be there. We had a great sales day for tribabe products and loaded up the car for the return trip to Oregon around 4:30pm.

Saturday we stayed at the Motel 6 in Troutdale outside of Portland. Bill loves to treat me to resorts and this was no exception ;) We were up Sunday at 5am to drive to Cascade Locks for the Escape from the Gorge triathlon, a qualifier for the popular Escape from Alcatraz. If you aren't familiar with the Columbia River Gorge, it's one of the windiest places on the planet and is world renowned for wind surfing. Swimming, biking and running here is not easy any day of the week.

This race has the triathletes load up onto a stern wheeler boat for a trip out into the middle of the Columbia River for a 1.5 mile swim. They had to shorten the swim this year because the kayakers who lead the swimmers wouldn't paddle out that far due to the conditions so they only swam 1/2 mile. Bill was bummed, he was hoping to gain an advantage on the swim since he hasn't been running (at all) for the past 2+ months. Out on the bike they faced hills and wind, the course was shortened here too because the race director did not secure a permit for the entire bike course. The run is 8 miles, including stairs, so the one leg of the race Bill was weak in was kept to it's original distance.

No matter for him though, he came in across the finish in the top 10 and won his division for a slot to Escape from Alcatraz. He is a confirmed genetic freak, I think he held 7 minute/mile pace for 8 miles with no run training. Anyway, he's thrilled to be doing Alcatraz since I won't let him sign up for an Ironman until our lives are settled. I'll look forward to watching that event, I swam in the SF bay once for a triathlon and I will never do it again. Too cold, nasty, and shark infested for me. Anyway, great event despite the problems, I would recommend it for a unique triathlon experience.

I might be a little bit pregnant or not!

We're off for a weekend of triathlons but I wanted to share a quick update on our fertility status before I go to bed.

Yesterday... I took a pregnancy test that shows two lines if you're pregnant and one line if you aren't. Problem: one solid line, one very faded line. What the heck is that supposed to mean? I had to call the Dr. this morning since I was out of progesterone which was prescribed to me last week when a blood test indicated that I didn't have enough progesterone to sustain a pregnancy. I told the nurse about the test result and she said to come in immediately for a blood test for pregnancy. So I dropped everything at work and ran off to the clinic.

Friday afternoon the nurse calls and says, "We have your test results but they are inconclusive. Your levels aren't high enough to confirm a pregnancy but they are also not low enough to deny a pregnancy."

By the way, I had to leave a meeting to take the call which I did since it was Friday afternoon and I needed an answer on the prescription before the weekend. So I'm standing in the hall of my office building whispering to the nurse, "I thought you can't be a little bit pregnant!?"

She said, "Well, it could be too early so you don't have enough of the hormone or we are getting a skewed result because of a hormone surge which would mean you are not pregnant."

She called in a prescription for more progesterone and told me not to test again for pregnancy until next Friday. HA HA! That was exactly what I wanted to hear.

Before anyone gets their hopes up for me, my friend took Clomid and had the same thing happen only she wasn't pregnant. These stupid fertility drugs are supposed to make you pregnant but I think all they really do is make you wonder if you're pregnant. I feel like someone must be kidding me with this stuff. Either way, pregnant or not, this is starting to get funny to me. Who knew you could maybe be pregnant but not be sure. Didn't they use rabbits or something back in the day? I'm going to go find some rabbits and see what's up doc!

I Can Only Blame Myself

This should be a photo of our new dining room but the house is destroyed again while I prepare inventory for the race this weekend. You can see the wall color though, the blue is the dining room and the beige is the living room. It looks nice when it's not a complete mess in here! I am really excited about these fleece lined pants and the capris I have in inventory now. I wear these black pants everywhere, they are so soft and warm and they lay low on your waist but the drawstring holds them in place so they don't show your you know what. They flare at the bottom too so they don't look at all like sweatpants. You can find them as well as the capris and panties in my web store under bottoms.

I also have some long sleeve hooded tees that I know are going to sell like crazy, I'll put a pic up later. I'm washing them right now so they are pre-shrunk. I can't wait to get to the triathlon on Saturday, at the last event I sold out of capris so I think I am doing a decent job with choosing new products.

I need to go lay down, my temp is through the roof today and I'm a bit worried about it. Friends, I tell you, I need a break from this fertility stuff. I'm planning a girl's weekend to Hood River Oregon in early October so that is something fun to look forward to. Yeah girls!

Strange Obsession

Bill moved the stove so he could finish painting the kitchen and found the final resting place for Cassie's toys. She steals my hair thingies in the middle of the night, takes them downstairs and drops them in the dog's water and then stashes them under the stove. She does the same to the ring from gallons of milk and uses those to play hockey. Bill counted 45 toys under there. Strange cat. She fits right in with us.

Bill and I are both obsessed with getting the interior of the house painted. He has 3 rooms almost done and having things almost done makes me crazy! He won't let me paint so I made new covers for the deck chairs and painted a mirror silver to go with our new dining room wall. I'll post pics when he's done but he's not done yet grrrrr. Just joking, it's been fun to watch the house change.

Part of the reason why I haven't been feeling well is I have a nasty case of acid reflux. When I first moved to Oregon six years ago I started drinking wine and local coffee daily and also had blended smoothies for breakfast. My stomach was whipped out by the combo and I had to stop everything and now I can only have those things infrequently. I am starting to feel that way again so I'm watching what I eat and hoping it blows over like it did last time. I think stress might be playing a role in all this so that is another reason for us to consider a time out on the baby making. Once we're settled I think will be able to relax more. When Bill starts working I will reduce my hours a week down to 30 and I think that will help me tremendously.

We're getting ready for a busy weekend, on Saturday we are driving north to Federal Way, WA for another all women's triathlon and then on Sunday we'll be down at Hood River, OR for Bill to race in the Escape from the Gorge triathlon. After this we will likely take some camping trips before the rain comes. I am really looking forward to some hiking and biking and relaxing in our beautiful state.

One Year Wedding Anniversary

It's been one year since Bill and I were married in our back yard in Corvallis, Oregon. Our ceremony was small, with immediate family and local friends in attendance and most for the wedding was done by those same people. It was warm that day for Oregon, in the mid 90s when we are typically in the mid 80s but it was a lovely day still.

We honeymooned later near Cancun and spent the first year of our marriage mostly apart while Bill attended graduate school and completed an MBA.

We spent our anniversary at home, working on home improvements, fixing up the yard and hanging out with the animals. We went to a birthday party at a friend's and Bill spent the evening participating in a fantasy football draft with the south town homies. We had planned to go to the coast to the spot where Bill proposed to me but we were tired from working and I am sick from fertility drugs and had no stomach for clam chowder. Not exactly a romantic weekend but it was real, we were glad to be home and we'll do something special when I feel better.

I am a little melancholy to be this sick from the fertility drugs and we might have to take a break from them for a while. Since Bill is job searching I feel very unsettled and perhaps there is too much pressure on me right now while all of this is going on. I'm not totally decided on it, I tend to cycle through periods of strength and weakness, but I think we might wait until Bill finds a job to continue our family making. No fantasy life here folks. Just a lot of work and hope. And love.

Entertainment

Napoleon is a dog about town. Seriously, I don't know if it's his lack of knees or his fun personality but every time we hang out with him we're always entertained. He's Marshall's buddy, Bill plays disc golf with Napoleon's dad and they live a few blocks from us so we run into them frequently.

Yesterday we were down at the river, Bill and Marshall went for a down stream swim while I rode the mtn bike. They probably swam about 3/4 of a mile, not too far but enough to make me nervous given the current at certain sections. Bill also went for a bike ride with his buddies yesterday morning while I stayed home and cleaned. Yes, he does have all the fun right now. That's OK though, he's about to start painting the interior of the house for me again. We have the living room done and I LOVE IT so I can't wait for him to finish.

Today is our anniversary but we are celebrating tomorrow with a trip to the coast to the location where Bill proposed to me. I promised to buy him some clam chowder, last time we bought some to share and I basically ate all of it, it was SO good. They serve it with garlic bread, I can't wait! MMMMmmmm!

I got some slightly bad news Friday, my Dr. called with the results of my progesterone test and she said it was borderline. High enough for me to have ovulated but if I am pregnant than I will have to take a progesterone supplement which she wanted me to come pick up immediately. Of course I got a little freaked out by the message but I got it in time to pick up the meds before the long weekend. Another bend in the road.

I'm going to post something sappy tomorrow to celebrate our wedding!