February....

Where did February go?  Hard to believe it's almost Spring here, I noticed my daffodils starting to bloom already and we are really ready for it.  Nothing really huge or blogworthy happened last month.  It started out snowy, we got snow for almost 3 weeks (weekends) in a row.  Always seemed to start snowing on Friday around 4:30 pm, just in time for the weekend, sigh.  Which gave us John plenty more time to play with Morgan in the snow...

 

We had a nice, quiet valentines. Traditionally, we like to make a special dinner at home instead of going out, so we did that this year.  John made a pork tenderloin and I was responsible for dessert, so I made homemade butterscotch pudding with a whisky whipped cream.  I wanted to do some kind of red and chocolate dessert like choc covered strawberries but he has been hinting around about butterscotch, so I went with something non-traditional.  We were not supposed to buy each other presents this year, but John surprised me with this (click link below) when I got home from a business trip after getting stuck in the Northeast when they had that big storm (a whole other story):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hcFCP0edwQ

I will have to figure out how to get videos on here, but that's for another time :)

He had the video on our computer desktop, and since we don't have a video camera, I knew he must have gotten me a Flip since I had been wanting one. I am looking forward to making some videos, I think we will use it alot on our trip this spring.

John went to Pinehurst for a guys weekend, and I decided to visit the new modern art museum in Charotte with a few girls.  No pics were allowed inside, but it was a gorgeous building and I am excited that Charlotte is getting more cultural venues like this.


.

 

  

Afterwords, we went to Basil Thai which was delish!  We did not realize Black Eyed Peas were playing that night, so uptown was really busy and we were lucky to get in without a reservation, but I will definiately return there.  Two amazing new restaurants just opened up in our neighborhood, Loco Lime and Cuban Pete's.  It's nice to be able to walk to dinner down the street and have such great places nearby, definitely a plus to our neighborhood.  We went to Cuban Pete's on Friday night and they have a great selection of sangria's, I had one called the Floridian with grapefruit, oranges, and white wine.  My favorite thing about Loco Lime is this green salsa that they make, I would love the recipe, but I can't figure out all the flavors: avocados, lime cilantro & tomatillos but there is also something really spicy that has a bite at the end (jalapenos??) and the texture is creamy instead of chunky like most red salsa's.. it's really good! 

The main reason I did not blog much last month was the Olympics! I love the Olympics and I watched as many events as I could.  There was so much drama this year! Vonn and Mancuso, Ohno getting DQ'd,  quadruple jump in men's figure skating, and the Aboriginal ice skating costumes are the first one's I can think of.  Of course it got off to a somber start with the Georgian luger, but I thought it was a great Olympics all in all.  I know I am in the minority here, but I like the winter ones better than the summer.  Now what to do with myself every night at 8 pm....

Weekend Snow

It started snowing yesterday late afternoon and this morning when we got up, everything was covered in snow (barely an inch but still a very big deal for Charlotte).  Usually we go to the gym on Saturday mornings, but of course it was closed due to the weather, so we decided to take Morgan to the NS dog park.  I love seeing her run around and she has never played in snow much, so I think she had fun.  John loves to wrestle with her, so I had fun watching them roll around in the snow.  Here is what snow in Charlotte looks like:

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 I'm glad I picked up fresh flowers this week so at least it brightens things up inside a bit!

MMMMmmm Bacon!

John picked up a pork belly the other day and decided to try yet another new thing on his smoker.  Turned out pretty good, definiatly had a nice smokey flavor.  I added some to black bean soup I made last week, and John has been eating it for breakfast or adding it to turkey sandwiches.  Morgan loves bacon so she can hardly stand it when we are cooking it.  She starts huffing a little bit and I think we both always give in a feed her a bit.  These were taken right after it came off the smoker:

 

  

Sarasota Weekend

Last weekend, we escaped Charlotte for a little warmer weather down in Sarasota and visited Paul and Retta. Russ flew in from San Francisco and we all had a great time and stayed pretty busy. The past two trips we have gone on, I have gotten food poisoning (never had it before in my life and then at 28 I get it twice in one year, both times on vacation, go figure), but I managed to stop my streak here thankfully.

On Friday morning, Retta and I went shopping and then we met up with the guys to do a tour of Sarasota and the neighboring keys. The first stop was to grab some lunch at The Salty Dog on Siesta Key. We were fortunate enough to get a table outside on the water. Their specialty is “The Salty Dog” which is a fried hot dog:

I am not that adventurous, so I stuck with a grilled grouper sandwich, but apparently the Salty Dog is pretty good if you are into hot dogs.

Here are some pics of us at lunch:

 

Afterwards, we drove over to St.Armands Key and drove around the famous St.Armands Circle. Note to self, next time we are here, and John wants to play golf, just take me to St.Armands and I will do just fine! The shops and restaurants looked great so it would be fun to spend an afternoon here.

We headed over to Casey Key to take in Nokomis Beach. Something about the sand on this beach was different, it felt like I was walking on a bed of flour, it was so soft! There were a few people in the water, but most were just out enjoying the day. The temps have been so cold in FL that this was the first sunny day in weeks.

After Nokomis, we drove down to Venice Beach to walk around the town and check out the huge banyan tree. We had to take the obligatory sit in the tree pic

 and then John and Russ took it a step further..

Venice Beach was really pretty too, we took a walk out on the pier this time instead of walking in the sand. There were people out on the beach looking for shark teeth with cage like contraptions on the end of a metal pole because I guess this is one of the top beaches for finding shark teeth.

We headed to dinner after Venice Beach and went to Philippi Creek Oyster Bar. I had peel and eat shrimp, yum! It tasted so fresh! It was a treat to get seafood twice in one day.

On Saturday, we took in the Ringling Museum. Sarasota was home to John and Mable Ringling (of the Ringling Bros Circus). You could spend a full day at this place if you took in everything, there is an art museum, theater, rose garden, the Ca d’Zan mansion, and the miniature circus. Since there was an all important Michgan State basketball game on at 3:30, we decided to just do the miniature circus museum and the Ca d’Zan mansion. I have had an appreciation for miniatures ever since my grandmother and mom made a dollhouse for me when I was young. This was not just a regular dollhouse you buy at Toys R Us, but a real, homemade dollhouse. This thing had wood siding, shutters, window treatments, wallpaper, electrical work (I could actually turn on the lights!), furniture, small paintings for the wall, a wooden staircase etc. I still have it and I will always treasure that dollhouse. I also love homes. Especially touring historic homes, I love imagining the people that lived in them, what their lives were like, how they used the furniture, etc., so both of these activities were right up my alley.

The miniature circus was really impressive and my pictures hardly do it justice. The detail was amazing. It was created by a master model maker over a period of 50 years! The replica starts with the trains that transport everything to set up the circus and goes through all the stages of set up to the final circus tent. Here are the pictures. They even had an area for the restrooms!  Please click on them to enlarge.

Check out the restroom!

The detail did not stop at the miniature museum. Next we toured the Ca d’Zan Mansion which the Ringling’s built between 1924-1926. The home was styled in a Venetian Gothic manner and had very intricate design detail work that you don’t find on homes of today.

 

We had a wonderful time! There sure is alot to do in that area and we look forward to future visits!

PS Not sure why my pictures are all over the place, I uploaded and "easy picture" option on blogger and apparently it is not that easy.

Morgan

Morgan is having a rough start to 2010. A few weeks ago, we noticed she had a patch on her leg where the fur had fallen out. We didn’t think much of it, because she had a similar thing in the summer and I took her to the vet because I was convinced she had ringworm. Anyway after several tests and lots of money, our vet told us it was nothing to worry over, and a few weeks later, everything was back to normal. So I thought it might be a similar thing. But the patches started spreading and when we picked her up from daycare after Christmas, she had patches on her neck, by her ear, on all of her legs… pretty much everywhere except her back. So, we went back to the vet. More tests. This time she was diagnosed with demodectic mange. Mange! I could not believe it. I always thought mange was something that homeless dogs got, or dogs that were sickly. Not spoiled dogs like Morgan. We feed her premium dogfood topped with EVOO, bathe her regularly, and keep her in a clean environment. But apparently there are several types of mange and the kind she has is something that all dogs carry, it just becomes inflamed during certain times, like if they are stressed or have a weakened immune system. Since Morgan is still young, the vet said it was really common in dogs under 1 ½ since they are still developing, so that’s probably why she got it. It is not something that humans can get, nor can she pass along to other dogs.

The bad news is, it is expensive to treat and it takes a long time to heal, and sometimes never fully heals. The treatment we are trying (Promeris) is supposed to take 8-12 weeks. Even though I know that she can’t pass it to other dogs, I am still nervous to take her to the dogpark because I don’t want to have to explain that she has the “non-contagious” form of mange. I know if someone would have told me that I would have been thinking “yeah right, get your mangy dog away from my dog!” Anyway, I will spare you a picture of mangy Morgan and will post more when she is better!

Christmas in Colorado

Wow I cannot believe it's already 2010! I have been a bad blogger, mainly due to a crazy December, traveling back to CO for a week, and then getting really sick for a week. But hey, I hope to do better in 2010.

We went back to Colorado this year for Christmas and had a great trip! We were both expecting bad delays, weather problems, etc. but everything went smooth for once. After arriving in Denver, we went straight up to Keystone where my parents had gotten a townhouse. We got skis and settled in and then watch the Broncos/Raiders game. Unfortunately, the outcome was not what I wanted, but we still have a little chance in the playoffs.

My mom informed us that santa came early with one present for each of us....


That's right, we all got matching jams. I am wearing mine now as a matter of fact, thanks mom!

The following day, John took an all day ski lesson and I went directly for the slopes. I have not skiied in a few years, but used to go pretty often so I am an ok skiier. My quads were so sore though, I even did ski conditioning for 6 weeks leading up to it, but wow, I was sore. The next day, John showed off his new skills, and we were all able to do some runs together. He really learned quickly and was shreading some "nar pow" before the day was over. * I learned that this is what all the CO kids are calling it.. narly powder I guess, right Jules?




We went out in Keystone village that night. They had live reindeer with Santa and we took some pictures, but I think that picture ended up on someone else's camera. Santa would get really surly if you got on the wrong side of the reindeer, so I didn't want to complicate things by switching people to take multiple pics.



We left Keystone right before a snowstorm, so the drive down was pretty bad. When we got back to my parents, I started baking. I had just watched "Julie and Julia" and I love that movie, but it really made me want to cook, so I made a few different things. Then I started making stuff for Christmas dinner, so I think I got my fill for a while.



Christmas dinner itself was wonderful, my grandparents and uncle came for the day and we ate, played games, and watched football. The following morning, I got sick to my stomach several times. By about 10 I had a sharp shooting pain on the right side of my abdomen, so we went to the ER. I got admitted, thought I was having an appendicitis. After a cat scan, they determined no appendicitis, but I had really swollen lymph nodes around the appendix- mesenteric lymphadenitis was my disagnosis. I was in a ton of pain, so they put me on a morphine drip and sent me home with some vicatin and anti nausea medicine. It's been almost a week, and I am just now feeling better, that really took alot out of me. Hey, I know know of a great way to get rid of any extra holiday pounds, just go ahead and get mesenteric lymphadenitis, you wont be able to eat for like a week.

But, aside from that, we had a wonderful visit! Ready for the 2010!!