The Peanut Gallery: February 2009

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Michelle's Birthday

My big sista, Michelle, celebrated becoming a year older and wiser...this year with a baby girl, Maddy! I joined Michelle, Sean, and Maddy along with some of their college friends at Paddy O'Coynes for brunch. It was delicious! A fantastic pub with great Irish fare. Afterwards, we walked down Pacific Avenue to do a little shopping and enjoyed a cupcake - yummy! Happy Birthday Big Sista! Cheers to you!

Michelle, my big sista, and her little girl, Maddy (my favorite niece)

Maddy and her pacifier

Maddy showing me her squinty eyes

Maddy's cute little pig tails

Can she be any cuter?

Maddy getting really sleepy

Maddy ready for her post-brunch nap

Michelle is such a cupcake :)

Michelle "sharing" her cupcake with Maddy - ew, gross!

Maddy is loving the taste of sugary frosting

Maddy spitting out the frosting

Maddy playing with her pacifier

Monday, February 23, 2009

Bulbs starting to bloom

The tulip and daffodil bulbs that I planted in the flower beds in our front yard poked through the soil starting in January and continued to grow in February, but this morning I noticed that a few daffodils started to show their buds and bloom! So exciting...so below are some pics of the early blooms. With over 600 bulbs and a variety of colors (yellow, white, pink, peach, red, purple), I cannot wait for March and April when they are all out showing their colors!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Lucy's Debut to the Dog Park

Lucy made her debut at the off-leash dog park this weekend. It was the first time she has been there since her knee injury and surgery last October. We have been walking her nearly every day since January and recently I started taking her on runs. Lucy's strength is back and you'd never guess by looking at her run or play that she had knee surgery. Lucy's energy level has also been improving...so much to the point that even after a 3 mile run or walk, she still is dying for attention and running around the house with energy. The weather was really nice this past weekend, so we thought it would be a good fun outing for the entire family.

Lucy loves car rides and she especially loves it when we roll the windows down for her to stick her head out. Lucy loves having the wind fly through her ears and to sniff all the smells. I think Lucy started to figure out where we were headed about half way because she started whinning incessantly. Lucy is normally not a vocal dog...she rarely barks and only really whimpers and whines when she is excited or sees other dogs. By the time we pulled into the parking lot at Ft. Steilacoom Dog Park, Lucy was whining the equivalent of "Are We There Yet?" for the last 10 minutes of the car ride. She was SOOO excited to get out there and play.

Since it was such a nice day, there were other dog owners with the same idea....I'd guess there were over 100 dogs there. Almost too much stimulation for Lucy to handle. Weather permitting, we happily take Lucy to the dog park weekly.

Lucy going after a Husky, she makes her daddy (a loyal Cougar) proud!

Lucy showing her teeth for the Husky

Lucy found a golden retriever/yellow lab to play with (we think this dog reminded Lucy of her boyfriend and best friend, Roscoe, so she was instantly drawn to him)

Lucy running around

Lucy LOVES being chased...here she is in a dead sprint away from a cute little beagle

Lucy trotting after the beagle

Monday, February 16, 2009

Vivala Tennis Tournament

I entered in a tennis tournament over President's Day weekend with Jodi, one of my teammates from my Women's 3.5 Tennis Team. We have never played together in any USTA league matches or tournaments, but have practiced and played together in recreational and fun matches. I thought we were going to be a pretty strong team because our skills really complimented each other. I have a strong serve and really good at volleys, overheads, and net play. Jodi has an amazing drop shot and fantastic groundstrokes with great top spin. We cover the court really well together.

This tournament was at Valley Athletic Club in Tumwater, WA. Our first match was Saturday, Feb. 14th at 3 PM. There were 28 women's doubles teams in the 3.5 draw. Our first match was in the Round of 32 and we won 6-4, 2-6, 10-4. Our second match was later that evening at 6 PM in the Round of 16. We won 3-6, 6-1, 10-3. Our third match was the next day on Sunday, Feb. 15th at 12:30 PM in the Quarterfinals. We won 3-6, 6-3, 10-5. Our fourth match was later that night at 8 PM in the Semifinals and we won 7-5, 6-7, 10-8. Our fifth and FINAL match was the next day on Monday, Feb. 16th at 3 PM. Though we had such success in winning 3rd set tiebreakers this tournament, we barely lost in the final match...6-2, 6-7, 10-5. It was a very hard loss to swallow considering we had the chance to win the match in the 2nd set tiebreaker...we were up 6-2 in the 2nd set tiebreaker and had 4 match points, but just couldn't pull it off. Then going into the 3rd set 10-point tiebreaker, we were mentally shaken and our opponents really stepped it up and made some amazing shots.

All in all, it was a good tournament and I am proud of how far we made it. However, I am really competitive and winning it all was SOOO close, so the loss took me a few days to get over it. But with that said, it just motivates me to improve, especially when the match is close and we have a chance to close out the match.

Jodi and I after winning our Semifinal match - exhausted, but excited to play in the finals!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Heart Day

For the second year in a row, we are so lucky to have a furry, four-legged Valentine, our little Lucy. To celebrate last year, we made a stepping stone with Lucy's paw print for our yard. This year, we celebrated by baking some homemade doggie cookies for Lucy to hand out to her doggie friends. It was surprisingly, very easy and very similar to making sugar cookies. The dough was simple and only had four ingredients: organic and natural peanut butter, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and milk. I rolled out the dough and cut out in small heart shapes, baked in the oven for less than 10 minutes, and that was all! Lucy loved tasting the dough and having warm cookies fresh from the oven. Actually, they smelled really good and Clark thought I was baking him homemade peanut butter cookies. Given the ingredients, we didn't think it would be gross, so we tried them. They weren't bad, just very bland because they didn't have any sugar or anything sweet. Lucy LOVES peanut butter, and she LOVED these treats. We packaged them up and delivered them to all of her favorite doggie friends, but one in particular was very special. Lucy wrote a Valentine and asked Roscoe (the cute yellow lab that lives across the street) to be her boyfriend. We have never seen Lucy bond so well with another dog and we think they truly are doggie soul mates. A couple times last week, Roscoe jumped over his front fence and ran over to our house (he knows where Lucy lives)! When we take Lucy on walks, she runs over to Roscoe's fence and sticks her head in there to see if he is around. It is too cute to see their budding relationship and courtship.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lucy is our Valentine

Lucy and Daddy Dog sharing a homemade doggie treat

The work zone - my first try at homemade peanut butter dog treats

On the baking sheet

4 hours later...150 homemade heart doggie treats

Lucy wrapped her Valentine treats in special packaging

Clark got me purple tulips (one of my favorites) for Valentine's Day

Some new Valentine's Day decorations for the house

Valentine's Day decor for the front door

Valentine's Day welcome mat

Lucy says "Will you be my Valentine?"

Monday, February 9, 2009

Lucy's First Boyfriend

Lucy has her first boyfriend. At first, we thought it was just a good friendship, but over time it developed into a crush and after more time, we have recognized that what Roscoe and Lucy have together is special. Roscoe is the adorable yellow lab mix that lives across the street. He was also adopted from the Humane Society, so they share a similar background and upbringing. Roscoe loves to fetch tennis balls. However, when Lucy and Roscoe get together, it is absolute madness. Lucy chases Roscoe. Roscoe chases Lucy. They wrestle and "neck" each other. We have even witnessed Lucy kissing Roscoe (she licked him on his nose).

When Lucy is going for a walk, she runs across the street to see if Roscoe is in the yard. When Lucy lays on our bed upstairs, she has a prime view of Roscoe's house and we can always tell when Roscoe is outside because Lucy will go from the silent, well-behaved dog that we love to whimpery and whiny Lucy. When we aren't looking, Lucy will even jump up on the loveseat in front of the window in the living room to get a better look down the street at Roscoe's yard. Roscoe has even jumped over his front yard fence and ran down to our house to see if Lucy was outside and available to play. Too cute.

The lovebirds - Lucy and Roscoe