Poor Sophie the Boston

She loves playing fetch. She zooms for the toy. Well, her nail got caught and ripped off 95% of the way. Bloody paw. Cast on. She hates it. Poor thing.

Scared to go down the stairs with her ouchie paw. Caleb refusing as well out of solidarity.


Modeling her cast.


This isn't the first time it has happened. The difference is that this time, I wrapped it myself with $5 bandages from the pet store. The other times? $200+ from the pet hospital.

Before: 2007 when her nail ripped off again.


H+P for Miss Sophie

Happy Birthday to one of my besties

Kim and I met years ago on a random website. I didn't like her when I first met her because she seemed stuck up. Turns out she was just quiet, well, at least on the night that I met her.

We've grown close over the years. Her and Corey are like our family at this point. So when she had the babe, naturally I already love her like she is my niece. She is so.dang.cute.

Aline, Kim, and I were able to get together and catch up, with our husbands as well, to celebrate Kim's birthday that just passed. She looks so fantastic for 39, seriously.



Aline's creation!


Super moist red velvet cake - good job Aline!


Aline also brought this wine. LOVED IT. A riesling.

Don't bother reading this post

It's seriously that fucking boring.

- Ran 4.5 miles with Dip, total 5.19 including warmup and cooldown. The sprints felt good.

- Lunched with a business colleague today. By end of business day 2 new client meetings set up by him. Awesome.

- Mourned the fact that I'm missing Real Housewives of OC premier. Seriously considering ordering cable again.

- Made appointment to try Reformer Pilates next week.

- Home to leftovers from Sunday for dinner, walked the dogs, yoga, watched The Women on dvd.

I need a life.

Wishlist

In no particular order:

1. Netbook. I'd like to wait until the prices come down though.



2. Clarisonic facial brush, or something similar. My skin seems to get rough patches and always in need of exfoliating. Any recs? I don't want to pay the Clarisonic price.

3. Hot Tools 2 inch curling iron.

4. A good hair dryer. Any recs for a good one under $75ish?


5. A red Dala Horse. I've wanted one for about 3 years now.

Me and 22 men

An American Girl in Italy, 1951

I don't know why, but I love this photograph.

Today's professional luncheon reminded me of this picture. I was one of 5 people in my profession that was invited to listen to a talk on a current estate tax topic that was given by a bank that we routinely do business with. I didn't realize it was going to be such a small group - 23 people. During the talk, I counted. Guess what? I was the only female. I wouldn't say I was uncomfortable, but I was certainly surprised. The only other females were the 2 ladies that checked me in when I arrived.

Has something like this ever happened to you?

Dinner and a Movie, plus some

Sunday was a great domestic day, but you probably don't want to hear about how I vacuumed the couches or hand dusted the floors on all fours.

I'm a horrible cook, but sometimes I like to give it a shot. I attempted Turkey and Dumplings in the slow cooker. This was my recipe: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=804965 . Not too bad. I should have used less water to make it thicker and added more veggies (next time fresh rather than frozen but I wanted to use it up). The recipe called for frozen biscuits and I managed to find reduced fat ones.

Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 7
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 414.3

* Total Fat: 14.4 g
* Cholesterol: 45.2 mg
* Sodium: 2,151.2 mg
* Total Carbs: 46.1 g
* Dietary Fiber: 5.0 g
* Protein: 29.8 g

I was kind of proud. It was tasty. =)




I'm also on a new kick of booting margaritas for November (cry cry), but finding new wines to try. I took some friends' advice and picked up 7 Deadly Zins from Lodi Vineyards and I really liked it!


Mr10yt and I rented Grand Torino. I liked it, he thought it was stupid - said the idea was good, but the acting was horrible. I'd watch it again, but I love Clint Eastwood.


**Stop reading if you don't give a flying f-bomb about my fitness progress.**
All is good!
10-miler on Saturday, and a weights session tonight with my trainer!
Warmup 5 minute sprint @ 7:40 per mile pace. Holey shit.
- step up alternating side lunges for 1 minute, then bicep curls, then jungle arms with medicine ball; 3x
- chest press with abs engaged and elevated legs, then 10 lunges on each leg; 2x
- tricep pushdowns with abs engaged, then prisoner squats (20); 2x
- 3 sets of inclined pushups
- back extensions with oblique crunches
- ab work
All followed by 30 minutes on the bike.



That's it for now! Day 2 of NaBloPoMo DONE! Bitch please, this is easy.

Hear me gab every day this month

About totally random crap.

I'm excited.

As part of National Blog Posting Month, I'm going to try to blog every day for the month of November. You can read more about that here.

Thanks to Nanners and Ann Marie for the idea!



Other stuff I'm doing:

Health and Fitness Holiday Challenge. From November 1 through December 31st, I'll be participating in a fitness challenge. Lots of counting, tracking, exercising, and keeping myself insane in general. Good times.


Annnnd because I can be obsessive compulsive, I am also doing a Sparkpeople challenge on my local OC Spark Team. 30 workouts in 30 days. No sweat!


Here's to November being a great month. Trying to make myself a better person, inside and out. Learning to love myself more each day.

Huntington Beach Halloween

The 10s usually don't celebrate Halloween aside from passing out candy. This year, we were fortunate enough to join some dear friends in Huntington Beach for the occasion. HOLEY MOLEY! I have never been to a neighborhood that threw street parties like this!





How much candy do you think they bought? My 6 bags certainly wouldn't have been enough.


This was a neighborhood. I couldn't believe it.


One house went all out. Haunted house. Thriller playing on an outdoor movie screen with a real theater. Monsters dressed up going around spooking people waiting in line. Graveyard with actors. BOOZE!













Beautiful sisters Diane and Tiff. Tiff and Joe were our hosts.


Always a great time with our friends.


Diane's son Grady would trick people who came up for candy. You couldn't even tell he was there!


Christine, Tiff and me. Thanks again for a great night!

Gimme Pretty

Do you ever feel gross and ugly? I've been needing a haircut and some good hair products. Truth? I've been using Pantene, Vo5, Aussie, and other shampoos and conditioners that were either really cheap or free (for real free after coupon). I'm also sick of my lipsticks.

I took the day off from work and decided to take care of myself today. I found a stylist close to home at Carlton Hair and she was SO COOL. I got some hair products, a black cocktail dress, and some makeup. YAY for pampering days!

MAC Lipglass in PRRR


MAC Lipstick in Dubonnet (she's so gorgeous)


Back of hair. I LOVE how she took off so much of the weight. She cut about 6 inches off.


Front:


The rest of my stash: Joico shampoo and conditioner with some bonus reconstructors (the store I went to didn't carry Kerastase!), Bumble and Bumble thickening hairspray, and Morrocan hydrating mask. Thanks to the Fashion and Beauty Nesties for all your great recs and review!

Come To Jose

I had a Come to Jose moment tonight at the gym. Yes people, I know it's Jesus but I have a hard time using His name like that. Flame away. Just like some of you might think I'm off for saying holey moley and holey crap. I know it's "Holy" but for the same reasons I can't bring myself to spell it out in that context.

Anyway, I had a Personal Trainer (PT) tonight. He asked for my food and exercise logs for the past few weeks. I try to be super honest to myself on these logs just so I can see my food intake reality.

He said that my 2000 calorie meals consisting of chips, salsa, 20oz margaritas, and buffalo wings with ranch sauce will not be conducive to reaching my goals. Well DUH! In a month of exercising and trying to watch my food MOST of the time, I haven't lost a single pound. No significant change in how my clothes fit either. So disappointing. Onward.

So, my November goals are:

- no chips and salsa
- margaritas in moderation, no more than 2 drinks at a time
- no buffalo wings
- bye bye ranch sauce
- less red meat
- less processed and packaged crap, more fresh fruits and vegetables
- white rice, potatoes, and white pasta in serious moderation
- 20% fat, 50% carbs, and 30% protein as a guideline
- aim for 1500 calories a day, more or less depending on activity
- lift weights 2 to 3x a week, cardio 5x a week
- track my food intake every day

Bye bye:


Thanksgiving is right around the corner. God help me.

For my own record, tonight's workout:

15min precor warmup
Strength:
- circuit set of side skating with cones, then high step up lunges, then squats with 9 pound kettle ball shoulder lifts; repeat 3 times
- standing position lateral pull downs on machine with heels up, butt tight, and core engaged
- circuit set of 1-bent-legged stand with bicep curls while core engaged, then 1-bent-legged stand with shoulder press; repeat 3x
- circuit set of shoulder rows, then tricep extensions; repeat 2x
- ab work on bosu ball
Cardio: 30min on stationary bike.

Total time: 1:30
Calories burned: 700

Go D!

Roommates everlasting

Sophie and Caleb have been feeling a little neglected lately. They are my two little dogs, and they make the best roommates ever. I heart them so. Here are some recent goodies from my phone.

Caleb doing yoga. Child's pose. Namaste. And yes, that's my bra in the background.


Happy to be on their way to the dog park. Caleb is happy even though he looks terrified. He generally looks like that. Some friends have nicknamed him "Worried". Thanks Auntie MBOC for the sponsorship to our favorite park!


Dog park = happy and tired dogs. Must be nice. Hey! You can see my missing up, down, and left arrow keys.


Practicing for Halloween. Sophie's dress is so snug.

Cheers to good drinks and food, and to even better friends

It's no secret that Mr.10yt is gone for work a lot. That leaves me with no cable, 2 overgrown rats, a lot of gym time, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, good times with friends. Well last week I got lucky!

I imposed on a dinner event with Claire, weezermonkey, Mel, Ashley, StarL, and Nanners. Luckily, Claire offered to drive to Yucaipa, CA for the dinner. We were surprisingly early so we stopped for a few bites and more than a few drinks at Border Grill.





Mango mojito? Don't know. I think this was drink #4 for me in a 1.25 hour span. Yikes.


I'm the loser on the right who wore work clothes. I want Claire's legs and dress.


Then we made it over to Josie's for the rest of the clan! DineLA was extended by a week, lucky us. Luckier me because I had never been to a DineLA dinner before. I was so excited. These are Weezermonkey's pictures but she said I could use them.



How lucky we were to be able to celebrate Mel's birthday eve with her! She looks no older than 19, no? She don't crack, so she says. She's apparently right.



I won't share all the food pictures because I don't want to steal the Monkey's thunder, but I had a cocktail, soup, and steak, along with some other goodies. They were phenomenal.

The amoos boosh


I had the butternut squash soup to start


My entree


It's always a kickass time filled with juicy stories and tons of laughs when we get together. I just wish we could do it more often. Thanks for having me ladies. xoxo

My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

I love my friends and clients sometimes. Some of them can read me like a book. Honestly? I cried like a moted F-bombing baby when I got these in the mail from a certain someone. That was after my heart started racing. I couldn't say thank you enough. I don't remember the last time I got myself a luxury item, I kind of stopped doing that a few years ago even though I splurge every now and then for certain gadgets.

Truth? I got some Tom Ford Whitney knockoffs from QT Sunglasses for like $11. I wanted the real ones but I was too cheap to buy them. I left them in my car when it was really hot, and the paint/plastic melted a little bit, so I pushed it back into place but a piece peeled off. I wore them anyway, and one day I took them off and they scratched my face right below my eye. Knockoff FAIL.

So imagine how I felt when I got these in the mail. I'm going to wear these indefinitely.


Obligatory EMO-let's-pretend-this-isn't-a-self-portrait picture:

Book Club Coolness in Texas

A lot of people may think book clubs are lame and boring. Excuse you! Not when they are done OC nestie style! Thanks to Marshy who offered to drive me and Yahpee to Texas for the occasion!

Amber hosted this month's book club "meeting" and chose the book Handmaid's Tale. I enjoyed it. I love that I'm reading books that I would have never chosen for myself.

Best part about book club is that we get a chance to see our friends and enjoy each other's company as well as good food! Wahoo!



Our eats!


Amber made these apple treats - how cute!

Plastic surgery

Earlier, I blogged here about having unrealistic physical goals. My good friend weezermonkey pointed out that most celebs have plastic surgery, and pointed me to www.goodplasticsurgery.com to see how a LOT of celebs have gone under the knife to look oh-so-perfect. I assumed that a lot of magazine photos are photoshopped, but oh brother I never thought some celebs had work done. I was secretly pleased to know that most people aren't perfect, even the ones that I thought were naturally born looking that way.

These are some doozies. Do you believe it or not?

Most people get their lips plumped, not reduced, right?


Laura Ingalls, huh?


I personally think that aside from the breasts, everything else is real. Agree or not?





Gorgeous either way, IMO.


Color me shocked. "Real" Housewives, indeed.


Is it really possible to get a gum reduction?


Nooooooo!