I have a gift

so it's Thursday...I'm stoked about another long weekend, dang two in a row, this just doesn't happen. Yes, I'm taking tomorrow off for a day of luxury - my first ever spa day and I'm excited, as if you can't tell. One of the things I'm doing is a hot stone massage...I've been told it's heaven, I'm hoping the stones aren't too hot:)

Updates and such:
I took/dropped off the kit-cat I had rescued at Jessica's on Monday, and although I miss the little booger, she and her family are in love. Her son (allergic to all dogs, long-haired cats)...hasn't had a reaction yet, so hopefully we're in the clear and he can stay. Apparently this weekend he's getting a cat tower and walking vest, yes he's going to be a walking cat, which is all the rage. I myself have seen a few people of late walking their cats in my neighborhood. I'm all for it, it's a great way to let your cat be outside and safe at the same time. They've (Jessica and Family) named him Grady, sound's like he's a keeper.

*story time*
On my way home from dropping Grady off at Jessica's, I had a missed call and upon checking my voicemail there was a message from a lady stating that she was the owner of the cat and is desperate to get her back. I'm all 'wait her back, so obviously not her cat, since I just de-manned the one I found'.
I called her back though, mentioning that I found a boy kit-cat - sorry - she said she moved up here from Georgia about a month ago, and today (monday) she's moving from Sugar Run into her home, she told her son (about 10yrs) to go check the mailbox area to see if there was a found cat sign, and he saw Grady's picture and thought it was their missing kitty. Her name's Josi (yes, that's my babygirl's name) and she's got the biggest doe eye's you'll ever see. Nope, sorry I found a baby boy, sorry.
Our (the fur-kids) day was a little off, and around 9:30pm we went out for our nighttime potty, yet they hadn't pooped this afternoon, so instead of just a quick pee by my jeep we crossed the parking lot to go to their poop island, and lo and behold, who's sitting about 10 feet away from us - a cat is all I can tell; hey it's dark out...but I know, ok feel that I know it's the lady's missing cat. I took the furkids and threw them inside, rushing back out and the cat bolted when it saw me approaching...I called out it's name "here Josi" hoping that it was her...and she stopped running away from me and then ran towards me. I sat down on the ground and the little girl, with the biggest dang eyes I've ever seen, curled up on my lap, and I knew it was her then, I mean seriously those eyes. I called her Mama, and she was there within 10 min to pick her up, her kids piling out of the car, everyone so excited to be reunited:) She had turned her keys in about 3 hours before...I mean the chances of this happening are too slim, that clearly this was God's work unfolding before us.
So I found one little guy a loving forever home and reunited a little girl with her's all in one day...apparently I have a gift with cats:)

Tuesday, I got my hair did after work...which takes awhile so I was home after 9 and then Wednesday after work we (Deezel,Josi and I) took a nap - too hot to walk - took a quick/short walk when it kinda cooled down a little, then I made dinner and got stuck watching the RNC - I tuned in during Rudy's speech and stayed for Palin's - then it was definitely bedtime.

I'm feeling very thankful of late for all of life's blessings

This and That

so time flies by so quickly...

Emily and Jack and I and Deezel and Josi like to take walks, I like to coo at Jack's little feet

he has the cutest little sweaty:) feet

Recently Emily, Greg and Jack were road-trippin it to Wooster for the weekend and I tagged along for the ride to and fro...carsickness and back ways do not mix well.

I stayed at Clete and Chris's with my nephews for the weekend - I know I've said this before but dangit they grow up fast. I had some pictures, but alas I accidently deleted them:(

The car ride both ways, was an event all to itself...consisting of delaying parades, trying to keep the little man from crying, and "don't try this at home" attempts to stop the crying:)

Overall I'm glad at any chance I get for spending time with family and friends.

Here are some pictures of the sandwich I was raving about - Sourdough bread, pesto (North Market), tom, mozz and spinach...and yes I made them two nights in a row, in case any smartypants out there notices the plating differences

and I rescued/found a kit-cat about a week and a half ago...I have put up found signs in the area, but nothin...more than likely his family packed up and left and gave him the boot, sad I know and tragically this happens alot. Fortunately for him he ended up on my porch, and has been staying at chez Carmi for the time being. I took him to the vet to get neutered (he has forgiven me, I think...) and to get vaccinated, dewormed, his ears cleaned and nails trimmed. The works, I guess you could say...I had already put some flea/tick med on him on Day 1 of his stay. Given that he ran up to my dogs and has since established himself in charge, I think that wherever he lived before, he lived with dogs...maybe. The point is on Monday (sept 1st) he's going to Jessica's ( a friend from work) to live, yea! saving one lost soul at a time:)

the vet put him at about 7-8 months, isn't he a cutie-pie? I'm going to miss him but I'm already at full capacity...I do have to admit that I had no idea that cat-nip would drive the little guy so crazy, who knew?

This past weekend, my Dad came down and spent the night, Friday into Saturday, the 22nd-23rd. I filled up his time with dog based events, and he was happy to spoil his granpuppies, and daughter...Friday we went to the Dog Days Festival in Westerville, Deezel and Josi being the mini-celebrities that they are prevents me from getting to to many booths to score some goodies, so Thanks Michele for stocking up Josi's backpack and my bag too, or else I probably would've left empty-handed...except for the bag of dogfood that my Dad got at DJ's Feed Store, to say that Deezel and Josi love this stuff is an understatment, I usually put it as a garnishment on their boring regular food and they go to town with tails wagging, I like it because it's good for them. It's probably like when your kids (real ones) say no to cookies, they'd rather have the carrots, or something...the point is I like it because it's healthy they like it just because.

On Saturday, my Dad, Josi and I headed downtown for the 5K Dog Jog and man was that fun. She and I made it through the race, running yes, although we did stop to walk, once or twice...Josi needed to (wink, wink) and I felt I should oblige her. It was a fun and relaxing time to spend with canine like minded people. Next year, if we train harder, we can be contenders:)

Sunday, I slept alot and had lunch at Easy Street Cafe on Thurman St. I like it, there are lotsa greek based dishes...yum.

This week has consisted of work, and dividing my time between walks/cuddles with the furkids, and giving kit-cat some attention too. I did manage to get over to Kathryn's for dinner on Wednesday, and discovered another wine to crave. I like Yellow Tail in general, normally going for the Shiraz, we'll she had the cab-merlot blend and it was delish. My favorite though is still Layer Cake Shiraz, but it's real difficult to find locally...however they do have it at Mohawk a restaurant in German Village.

Allright, I'm done typing for now...ready to embrace the long weekend with open arms!

what I've been up to

so, last friday - Emily and I had a girls night. She made White Pizza with lotsa cheese; it was delish and appeared to be simple to make. The jist of it is pizza crust, olive oil, shredded cheese (whatever you like, she used an italian blend) and plenty of herbs, I'm sure you could play around and add / subtract what ever you would prefer...I liked it just the way it was.
After taking a walk with Jack(Emily's baby boy) and Link and Bailey (Emily's yorkie furkids) we settled down to watch P.S. I love you. Going back to walking; I couldn't get over how fast their (Link/Bailey) little legs were moving; I'm used to dogs with legs as long as mine, it was like they were sprinting - cute.
Back to the movie, it tugs at your heart - be sure to have some kleenex at the ready - there is humor too though, and eye candy:)

I went to my first ever Spin class on Sat. morn with Kara - a friend of mine from the Bucket (a restaurant), I liked it - the seat was the most uncomfortable thing about the class, it's not like I need an XL bike seat, but dang it, it blows.
I did sweat buckets though, and Kara and I decided to do the extended spin on Sunday - if we were too sore then plan B was to lift instead.

After spin class and lunch, I took a Saturday nap - I love naps, doesn't everyone?
I went down to German Village and ate at the Mohawk Cafe - a favorite spot for dinner. Usually I go with the hummus gryo and a glass of the Layer Cake Shiraz - yummy
Upon arriving home, I tuned into the Olympics and got Michael Phelps winning his first Gold, yea!

Sunday I woke up not feeling too sore, so we did the extended spin class - did I mention the seat is killing me...and whew that class was tough, tough, tough. I got home and did some pushups and abwork, stretched real good and took the furkids to sit outside in the grass for awhile. They love to sit outside and chill - occasionally barking at passing dogs, because you know they have to defend their yard:)
I went to Katzinger's deli for lunch and fell in love with my sandwich. Thick,crusty,Sourdough bread, mozzarella, pesto, olive oil, and tomatoes all grilled to perfection, I'm going to attempt to replicate it at home - given that I do have the best pesto ever (from the NorthMarket) all I need is bread/tomatoes and mozz cheese, and I thought that I would add fresh spinach - here's to hoping:) otherwise I'll have to eat there again soon, yes it was that good.
I took a lovely evening walk with Deezel/Josi; the weather was beautiful this past weekend. Then I settled down to watch an hour or so of the Olympics and got sucked in to the point of no return - and holey moley I'm glad I stayed up till midnight because the men's 4x100 relay was unbelievable - I mean I was cheering and clapping. The way Lezak crawled through the frenchie at the end didn't seem possible. Very glad to catch it, not very glad in the morning when the alarm went off - ughh Monday morn - back to work.

Work was uneventful - my Mom stopped by though bringing a Roebeck's smoothie for me which I stuck in the freezer for after my run/walk workout with Josi. We headed to Swickard Woods, to do some trail run/walking - mainly to get out of the sun and into the shade. Monday's workout was walk 1 mile, run 3min / walk 2min (repeat 10x) then walk cooldown mile. My legs are sore today, especially after the weekend of spinning. We made it through and upon returning home, I think we were both glad for air-conditioning. I sucked down my smoothie while stretching, very important, well just because and also because my right knee is very sensitive, and if I don't stretch real, real good then it quickly becomes quite painful.
I told myself that I would only watch the Olympics for about 1/2 hour and go to bed early for goodness sake, yeah, like that happened - swimming and diving are my favorites, so after this week I should be making it to bed much earlier, hopefully. It was great to see the US winning so many medals last night:)

Random Friday this and that

so here's a bit of this and that for a lovely Friday afternoon rambling session:

-I've been extra sleepy this week at work due to the new getting up early schedule. I suspect it has to do with still going to bed late...as I'm sure we can all agree there it just not enough time in a day. Still I find myself really wanting to take a nap when I get home and really it's too dang hot outside for the furkids that I probably could, and I really love naps, but instead I take about 1/2 an hour to get them ready to go and embrace the heat.

First the socks and booties, then Josi gets her backpack on, buckled and loaded with water bottles, poop bags and such, then Deezel gets his swamp cooler on (a vest that you get wet, then as the vest dries and the water evaporates it helps him keep cool) so he can hang with the girls. Then collars and leashes, and we're ready. We did all this yesterday only to have it ran about 10 min. into the walk, bummer, so we high-tailed it back home. They both love playing in water (creeks, especially muddy ones, lakes...) but neither of them have a fondness for rain. But I do , I love running in the rain, warm summer rain, not cold winter rain there is a difference.

-Things I like to do-

Going to get groceries, I just like to look and compare everything, I always spend too much though.

Loading the dishwasher, making everything fit just so...don't ask me to empty it though.

Washing clothes, sorting and making piles...I seem to forget about them after they go in the dryer though.

Listening to the O.A.R. cd - Any Time Now; yes I'm late jumping on the bandwagon...but I can't get enough of them. I always knew about the 'that was a crazy game of poker' song, but recently I took a trip and borrowed my brother's ipod, which had the 'Hey Girl' song on it, and now I'm in love, that song just grabbed me, so I downloaded the whole CD and it's been on play for two weeks now, I think I need help...

I went over to Emily's last night, she and Greg had a music meeting, so I watched Jack for a minute or two. We took a walk, but I stayed close to the house because the sky looked like this

I was pretty sure it was going to open up on us, but it didn't and it seems as though the fresh storm air did Jack good, since he slept all the night through last night. Emily has taken to calling me the baby whisperer:)

Yea! the Olympics are here, swimming/diving and gymnastics are my favorites - how about yours?

Early bird me and humidity

so, since my brother's hours changed from 7-3:30 to 9-5:30, I've decided to change mine too. Now I'm the early bird, yea...not really, this getting up early idea is no fun so far, I guess it will take a little time to adjust, I hope, and with my dear friend Mr. Tim Hortons I should be just fine. And thankfully (fingers crossed) Deezel/Josi have pooped for me at the ungodly hour I let them out, so all Caleb has to do is a quick pee break before he leaves, because let's face it; we all know how your whole day starts off bad if your dog doesn't poop in the morning, right?

Last night, Josi and I did our training run and let me tell you, it was way too humid to do so. We, alright I (but if she could sweat, I'm sure she would have been drenched too) was a big sweat, no scratch that, a big glistening ball and Josi took panting to another level. Even with her swamp cooler on (a vest to keep dogs cool) and frequent water breaks, I thought she was going to pass out on me. Then after about an hour of laying in front of the fan, she was back to being her rotten self, just ask the cat.

so much to say

so, last Monday after Miss Josephine and I did our running workout with Deezel joining us for an extended cool-down, I went over to Kathryn's. After girl-talk and a large piece of vanilla with a cheescake center cake we watched 'Must Love Dogs'. Very good I must say, but then how could you not like John Cusak, I've been a fan of his, well, since forever. I loved Mother Teresa, I think she stole the show, that and the fairy-tale ending...

then on Tuesday, I worked a shorter day than usual, due to Caleb being out of town for the week. He went up to Wooster for the week to work with my Dad and Cy(brother), and for some friend time before starting his new job, today actually. Back to the point though, he's my help when it comes to working and having dogs, meaning he lets them out to potty so I don't have to come home for lunch. So, with him gone, I got home a little early and chilled w/ a good book, waiting for it to cool down, and for Emily and Jack to come over for an evening stroll/walk. I really like Emily, she's awesome, and Jack is too adorable. We had a nice chat, turns out she went to college in my hometown, yea! , she comes from a big family too, and loves sunsets. And she gave me the coolest tins with loose tea, since I love tea...and Tim Horton's coffee, but I drink tea more; black,green, red, white I drink it all.

Wednesday was a blah day for me, My Mom came to the rescue and let the furkids out for a potty break, yet when I got home from work, I felt a little, okay a lot drained. The furkids and I stayed in for the evening...they snoozed and chewed on some bones while I read and did some yoga, I even took a bath. Felt guilty though like always when I don't get them out for their nightly walk-abouts...but not guilty enough to go on one. You need a night off every now and then. Besides I got up early Thursday and went for a short 2mile walk before work, guilt it's a horrible thing, but then again it's horrible not walking your loved ones too.

and Then Pedicure Thursday arrived.

which became Ped/Mani Thursday

I've had acrylic nails before, but this was a first for me with the Ped/Mani, and I loved it. I've held off on getting a Pedicure because I always thought, 'who would want to touch my feet' but overcoming that notion, letting go and allowing myself to be pampered was a little easier than I thought, maybe a little to easy, as I can hardly wait till the next time. And the Manicure, although I threw that in, I don't really have nails (I do tend to bite them), I thought why not, maybe I'll stop biting them and actually grow them If they look to PRETTY to mess with. So far, it's working... and thanks to Susay for again letting the grandfurkids out, saving me gas and time.

Friday, I was up early to get Deezel/Josi out for a walk, knowing that they wouldn't be getting an evening walk. I had plans to hang with Jack, while Emily and Greg went to Dinner/Movie. I got home on the earlier side and relaxed for a minute, making treats to put in the freezer, where my Mom will pull them out of later (yes, she's letting them out while I'm baby-sitting the little tyke) and take all the credit, no wonder my furkids love her...

I got to Emily's and met, Link and Bailey

now, talk about cuteness, Bailey is up front, while Link is chilling on top of the cushion, Kind of hard to see, I know...sorry, I'm sure I'll be posting additional Link/Bailey photos.

Jack and I had a great time, he was very chill and fun to watch. He ate a little bit, took about 1/2 hour nap, ate a little bit more, played peek-a-boo

and accompanied me around the yard while I was kicking the ball for Bailey, which Bailey loves, and I do mean Loves. Then Jack ate a little more,

yes, he's a good little eater, then we took an evening stroll before bedtime, and before I knew it, he was changed/burbed and asleep. I flipped through the 'Real Simple' catalog (which I highly recommend, or you can go to www.realsimple.com too) and then Emily and Greg were home. They had a great time and really liked the Batman movie and I was really glad that they had a nice evening.
There was alot of heat lightning on my way home, I like it, that and storms, especially when they wake you up in the middle of the night. I know some people are scared of storms but I find them relaxing in a way, I know, I know, but then I also like pb and dill pickle sandwiches, eating dinner/lunch food for breakfast, think that spaghetti is better as a leftover, capers on my cheese pizza, salsa on my eggs, and dipping my fries in frosties...who knew?

Saturday was a complete recovery day, lounging arond till noon, going for a short walk with the rottens (too HoT), going tanning (yes, it's bad, but I need some color, yes I do), gave myself a facial, took a bath, started and finished a book, did some yoga, blah, blah, blah...

On Sunday, I took a long walk in the AM before it got too hot with the furkids, did some more yoga, and threw in lunges, push-ups and abs. Then went to lunch at the Easy Street Cafe with Mike, it was really good:) and yummy. I had a Greek Burger with Curly Fries, I am a sucker for seasoned curly fries w/ mustard, no ketchup, only if it's the only thing available.
Caleb got home, yea!
I took a nap on Sunday after lunch and then another long walk with the furkids, of course. I had an english muffin w/ pb (as soon as the muffin is toasted you have to put the pb (Jiff) on so that it can melt) with a huge glass of oj for dinner. Then watered the plants, spent some cuddle time with Deezel/Josi, showered and went to bed...dreading the early morning wake-up alarm.

5K's, nephews, and excitement

so, I've started a 6 weeks to a 5K running program...with 5 weeks before the race. I know, I started it a week late, but at least I started it. I'm now into week 2 and it is going well, and I have a great running, actually the best running partner

yes, none other than my spunky girly girl, and since she's going to be running in the actual race w/me, I see no reason why she should get to skip out on the training. After all I'm doing this for her, and to fit into my jeans again, and for her...

What about Deezel, you say? Trust me running in a 5K is definitely not up his alley, he would much rather go to the event and make it his personal goal that everyone, and I mean everyone stops and pets him. Or he would be just as content snoozing on his couch, happy to have it all to himself, not having to share it with a certain someone that doesn't respect his space...

and tend's to wegde herself in, no matter what. And that green shirt on Deezel, that's so he'd stop licking a spot on his front leg, ahhh...the things I put him through.

Hmmm...let's see, this past week or two has just flown by.

Clete and Chris, my brother and sister-in-law, came down not to long ago with my nephews for an impromptu lunch at my Mom's. We grilled out, brats (ewww) and italian sausage, with saurkraut and peppers, baked beans, fresh fruit, potato salad... typical but good cookout food.

I love my nephews, Noah and Ben...they are growing up too fast.

Noah is 3

and Benjamin is 1

they don't live too far away, but far enough that I only see them every few months.

This past weekend, I was down in Kentucky for an overnight...attending my Mom's Family Reunion. Lot's of fun, yet we couldn't stay for the main event on Saturday because of a prior obligation back here in Columbus, but Friday evening story time was a good time. I get car-sick really easily, like too easily so I was ready to get out of the car, getting there and getting home. And even though I was only gone for the night, don't you just love getting home, I do.

A special Thank you to Caleb for his first official dog-sitting night...he survived and so did they.

Things I'm excited for:

-Pedicures with Kathryn and Gina (I haven't ever had one, but would love too)

-Possibly going to the Ohio State Fair, again something else that will be a first for me, and besides who doesn't love fair food? (according to my Mom, I went when I was little, who knew, Oh, well I'm not counting it, because I don't remember...)

-This 5K DogJog with Josi

-Friday evening, I get to watch Jack (Emily's baby boy), can't wait...while they go out to a movie, yea!

-oh, and my brothers new job, it's artsy fartsy and perfect for him, congratulations Caleb