Under Bed Battle

I'm actually still amazed that Mia can get under the bed. She's at 40 lbs right now and nearly as big as Zoe. She mostly low-crawls on her side and it totally cracks me up when she's frantically crawling down there.



Mia has figured out that she can take a toy and run under the bed where Zoe won't chase her- she just start barking.



Zoe can get her front paws and head down there to harass Mia.



Mia didn't back up far enough & Zoe gets a leg on the toy.



I love her little crinkled nose.



No toy- they are just barking at each other for no apparent reason.



Zoe's face is so gray!



Zoe did get under there a few months back and got herself pretty stuck...I had to slide her out on her side.



Gotta love the up-close action shots...

Photos taken January 22, 2010

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Headed down to the South Island to start our big road trip and adventure.

Puppy Mischief

All in all, Mia hasn't been TOO destructive in the puppy phase, but there are a few items that come to mind.



She LOVES to roll- roll around on the carpet, roll around on our clothes, roll around in the grass. This was the stickiest grass I've ever seen & wouldn't come over even with brushing! I had to pick each piece off individually.



This was mostly my fault. She broke her ceramic bowl & I'd been feeding her out of this until I could buy a new one. Some days I feed her in her kennel & I must have forgotten the bowl in there when I put her in that night. Needless to say, I she threw it up the next day & I was finding plastic pieces around the house for about a week.



She likes cardboard. We were on our way to puppy class a few months back & stopped for dinner. I had no idea she's rip into the box. Luckily she didn't damage H's brand new jacket.



I left her in the car with some Christmas presents while I was running errands one day & she ate the corner off my grandparents gift!



THIS....THIS was the biggie. One night she snuck away into our closet and starting digging.



I harassed H because it happened while I was away and he was watching her. About 2 days later, I found her in the closet on MY watch and she was eating more of the carpet. We were going to have it replaced anyway because of the stains from Zoe being sick, so it's not THAT big of a deal.



She's a mess, but we love her to pieces. She's tons of fun and hasn't destroyed anything too valuable yet.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Starting off our first full day in New Zealand with a wine tour.

Sticks & Dogs

I love weekends when we can take the dogs to the park together because I get to take the big camera out for some better shots.



Mia is doing much better about not running INTO Zoe or charging full speed ahead AT her...they run beside each other now, Mia still occasionally barking and lunging at Zoe.



Dueling ears!



She runs like a maniac out there!



They have both really been into sticks lately, so I really like finding good ones to throw.



Mia is still quite the bouncer- she gets several feet of air sometimes.



Zoe usually wins the stick toss and Mia is just happy to run round chasing her.







They will both sit for about half of a second before launch.



Great form if I do say so myself...



I love the little bow-pose that both dogs do when anticipating something exciting.



Mia finally got the stick.



These GIF animations crack me up & are tons of fun.

Photos taken February 6, 2010 Mia 8 months old

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: 17 days of vacation!

Valentine's Day

Several weeks ago, I received an email offering a very special Valentine's Day Lobster Lovers dinner at Cova. We decided to make reservations for the location on Washington to celebrate our 3 year anniversary (the previous Thursday) and enjoy some yummy food.



We took Mia to her last puppy class on our actual anniversary, and we thought this would be better than a crowded restaurant. We had 5 PM reservations & had the place all to ourselves for the first part of our meal.



The menu looked and tasted fabulous! Although they don't typically serve full meals at Cova, they do an amazing job with all their specialty dinners and classes.



It turned out to be a beautiful day & a few people were enjoying the patio before the sunset and the winds picked up to about 20 mph.



We'd killed a bottle of wine at Max's and were well into our 2nd bottle by the time the main course arrived. It was such a nice break from the uber-busy we have been lately. We just sat and visited for hours over wine and dinner.



It was well after dark when our dessert arrived, but it was delish too. I think as spring brings nicer weather to town, we'll be hanging out on the patio at Cova more often (especially since Corkscrew is closed for renovations).

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Only one more day of dealing with loan applications, estimators, contractors, insurance quotes and paperwork!

Max's Wine Dive

Sunday afternoon, we headed down to the Houston Home & Garden show to check out ideas and look at some products for our new house. It was pretty much a bust- there were a few interesting vendors, but it mostly reminded me of an infomercial. We had some time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we decided to stop into Max's Wine Dive on Washington Ave.



Max's is actually one of the older wine bars in Houston & has been around for several years. We'd always drive by it, but decide to go somewhere else. I think it was the general formal feel to the place & lack of comfy looking chairs. I'm glad we stopped in though, because I was pleasantly surprised. They've got tables, a bar, a wall booth, a full service menu, some interesting music on the jukebox and a really diverse crowd.



They do have a few outside chairs, but nothing that looks inviting to lounge in for more than 30 minutes. The selection by the bottle and by the glass was pretty good, and they offered to open up any bottle we'd drink at least 2 glasses.



Since they are open on Sundays and are open at 11AM on Fri/Sat/Sun, I think we will add it to our list of stand-by places to chill out. It wasn't too crowded late-afternoon on a Sunday, but I was told it gets packed in the evenings.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Another beautiful day here in Houston & I'm so excited to pack for vacation!

Cooking Queen

Some of my running buddies have been doing this prepared meals thing for a few months & it sounded perfect for me. It's organized so that once a month, 15-25 women get together & pre-make 10 meals. I was sad I didn't have my own cute apron...



There were 5 stations & each group had about 5 women that prepackaged a single meal & then we put that meal in large, labeled Ziploc baggie and into our cooler before moving on to the next meal station.



It's really a LOT of women in the kitchen bustling around a top speed and going through about 427 baggies every 5 minutes. We did all 5 stations and packed up 5 meals, then took a quick breather to clean and re-stock each of the stations with meals for round 2.



So I got 10 meals for 4 people for $150 and about 3.5 hours of labor. I still need to add sides, but I'm excited about the variety and having everything all measured out already that I can just pull out of the freezer without much thought.



For my first meal, I tired the pork chops with bacon and sage.



Any meal that starts with bacon is going to turn out alright...it was hard not to eat these while the rest of my meal cooked.



Just tossed a bit of salt and pepper on the pork chops- we had 6 total.



Cooking lesson 1- don't drain and save the hot bacon grease in a plastic measuring spoon.



Throw in the sauce ingredients for a few minutes & dinner is ready!



I was really happy with how our first meal came out & how much easier it makes cooking if I don't have to browse through cook books, make a grocery list, run to the store, measure out everything, put all the ingredients away, and then wash all the measuring devices.



Later in the week, I cooked the chorizo on the stove & then threw it in a crock pot for the day over some chicken breasts. It wasn't my favorite, but wasn't too bad either.



At the last minute, we invited H's mom over for lunch after church. I was able to pull of a gourmet meal of London Broil in less than 30 minutes.



And last night, we had the maple encrusted salmon- very yummy and super easy! I'm trying to cook as much as I can before we leave & before we move, but I will be signing up for more dinners in the future.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Home alone tonight- going to play with the puppies and get lots of packing done.