Life Lately

We just launched our new website at work, and I have been intensely busy trying to get it prepped so I haven't blogged very much.  Here are some of the moments of life I've captured.    Stay tuned for a legit life update!

The boys sleeping, coming home from class late sucks!

What Hunter does when I have to work late at home

Keeping cool at the Dog Park- such a great photo of him!

Sitting with Mom

Hunter's First Run

Just after our run

Life has been hectic lately to say the very least.  Sam has been a wonderful help and does his best to take over caring for Hunter and cleaning up around the apartment.  Honestly, I don't think I would be nearly as successful juggling the launch of my new career, passing my classes, and maintaining my sanity if not for Sam.  

Things at work are picking up- we are looking forward to launching our new website in the next couple of days, I am working on our social media and preparing a Business Case for funding requests to throw a social media launch ribbon cutting ceremony.  This is all extremely rewarding, but it has meant a lot more time devoted to work while I'm at home.  Hunter has been quite a trooper, often times curling up in my lap (where he is now) or at my feet while I finish up documents or emails from our "home office" aka guest bedroom.  

Unfortunately, he's been taking his lacking interactions out on our furniture.  Hunter likes to chew exactly the same spots on my parents old dining room table as our first family dog, Brandy, liked to chew.  And he's starting to gnaw on the leather couch's corners and our chairs.  Sam attributes this to his boredom and I attribute it to attention seeking.  

Catching his breath

The cure?  I decided that at almost 7 months (he will be on May 1st) it's time Hunter started learning how to run with me.  Granted, I know he's still a baby and he won't be able to go for long distances or times, but we might as well start getting him used to it now.  

Today was day one: As long as Hunter didn't trip me I was going to call it a success.  It was a SMASHING success.  The little guy LOVED running and was outpacing me almost the whole time.  Also, while we were running he was so much less interested in stopping every 15 feet to sniff and smell.  I did let him to his business before we started running, so that probably helped, but we really didn't stop once while we were at jogging pace.  One time Hunter did dart in front of me as we were passing another dog, but I kind of saw it coming and was prepared to side step and redirect him.  

Just before he climbed into my lap

Best of all, when we got home he was SO much better behaved.  Not that Hunter's a bad puppy, but like our trainer says, he gets very frustrated when he doesn't get his way.  Example: I moved our laundry basket because he figured out that he could steal underwear out of it.  He barked and barked and barked until he figured out how to beat my system.  Tonight, he made far fewer attempts to misbehave and seemed to be seeking much less playtime attention.  Yes, he wanted to cuddle in my lap but that's completely different than chewing on my shoes or the couch.  

End result: I am going to check with the vet that we're not endangering his joints and ask about restrictions to how much vigorous activity is ok at his age, but running thing is likely to become a part of our weekly routine!

Long Beach Neighborhood

The houses in Long Beach near where we were invited for Seder Dinner are so beautiful!  Sam and I love this neighborhood.

Seder Dinner 2012

Passover 2012 kicked off with a wonderful Seder Dinner at the home of the Drs Nageotte in Long Beach.  Ryan carved the Seder Turkey, Sam was the "youngest child" in the reading of the Haggadah, Steve did the bar tending, and I found the afikoman.  :-)  

Neutered

I dropped Hunter off to be neutered earlier this morning.  Sam and I had gone back and forth on the subject for a while, but finally we decided the lowered risk of testicular cancer, the diminished urge to hump my leg (which started last weekend), and the low likelihood that we would be able to handle a litter of puppies even though I really would love a whole bunch of little Hunters running around at some point.

So he went to the vet and I went to Sherman Oaks in LA to meet with my Social Media Mentor, Raleigh and work on my company's social media plan.  I love our meetings.  Raleigh is such an authority on the subject of SM and she does a wonderful job teaching me the tricks of the trade.  I am hoping to extend our training sessions beyond the 6 we have contracted so that I can continue to work with her to launch our blog.

Right now we're cleaning up our existing SM platforms: Twitter first, then Facebook, and finally Linkedin (although it's not as important).  Then the blog.  And the blog will probably take a little more time to get going.  Right now, Raleigh gives me a book and a couple of handouts each time we meet so that I have things to work on at home and can come back to her with questions and make productive conversations.  She says I have a great voice in my writing (ironically I had many people tell me that while reading this blog, so I'm glad that is coming out in my work).

After my meeting (OMG we had the best lunch at Sweet Butter on Ventura Blvd), I headed back to OC and picked up the little puppy.  Unfortunately he was not doing so well and was screaming from the back office while I was up front trying to pay my bill.  I carefully tried to get him settled in, but every time his incision bothered him we had another round of screaming.  I ended up having to take him with me to our friends' housewarming party (where Sam met us) where he sat on my lap the whole night without moving.

Sam even decided we could let him sleep in bed with us tonight, so without further adieu I better join them!

Mint

Sam joined Mint.com a while ago, and he has been... suggesting... I join for some time as well.  I finally broke down and did last week.  So far I'm setting up budgets and getting a handle on the way things work.  It's odd because I pay most of my bills in the beginning of the month but this month I won't be getting paid until next Wednesday and again two weeks from now.  This means I am likely to have a negative balance most of the month.  Awesome!  Not that I'm someone who really worries about these kinds of things, but I guess it would be nice to see less RED and more GREEN on my freaking screen.


The nice thing is that it got me to sign up and enroll with Smith Barney so that I can actually view my account with them.  Prior to this I have been incredibly hands-off with my finances... I mean really that account isn't something I really think about.   And that is a pretty negligent thing, because that is where I am supposed to be managing my retirement (which at this point is really quite pathetic) and my life savings.  Ooops.  I guess it's time to start thinking about these things a little more now that I'm trying to be an adult.  


Growing up isn't what I thought it would be!

Web Design

I am signed up for yet another class this quarter with the UCI Extensions Program.  Only two more to go before I earn my Marketing Certificate.  This time around I am enrolled in "The Web As A Marketing Tool" and I was blown away tonight at the first class.  Our instructor is a really cool guy who actually petitioned the Extensions Program in 1999 to have them add a Web Marketing class to their program.  Long story short, they asked him to write the curriculum and then teach the class.  He's been doing so ever since.

He talks a MILE a minute, and has a great set of tools for us to learn this quarter.  He believes in very light grading and an emphasis on our being able to apply our learning on the job.  Very cool!  I am going to work on our new (almost ready-to-launch) website as my final project which is exactly what our instructor intended us to do.

On that note, our website is going to be ready to launch at some point later this month.  I'm dying for it to go live so that I can share with you guys all my hard work.  We're already planning edits and revisions to the Products & Services section on the Telephone Systems page, so hopefully I will be able to polish and fine-tune them during this class.

And now off to bed- Sam and Hunter were already tucked in before I got home from class!

Game of Thrones

Sam is back- THANK YOU SWEET JESUS!  I try to make a point of regularly appreciating him, but when he is gone for a week it really makes me realize how much I rely on him.  Last week was stressful professionally and personally, and I would have really liked to have Sam's level head home to calm me.  Obviously, I did make it through the week, but Hunter and I were very happy when he returned.  

Unfortunately, Sam was returned to us in worse condition than he left us in and he said he was very happy to be home with us.  He's lost his voice, has a bit of an upset stomach, and seems to be suffering from general malaise.  I have gotten immersed in Game of Thrones on HBO, so we spent the day watching the first season on DVD.  We also had family nap time on the couch and took a trip to the store for supplies.  I am making Three Bean & Pork Chili in the crock pot for dinner.  Mmmmmm.  Tapioca pudding for dessert.  Mmmmmm.  I am very excited- it's one of my favorite crock pot recipes and I have been craving it for the last few days.  If only we'd bought bread bowls... next time!

Hunter seems to be over his ear infection, but I'm going to ask the vet to take a look in his ears when I drop him off to be fixed on Thursday.  And three cheers for sleeping through the night last night!  I think Sam was really pleased that we have him back on his schedule, although poor Sam was up a few times in the night himself.  He's been doing pretty well in his private obedience classes- Kate is such a genius!  We've been working on Hunter staying calm around large dogs; something he's had trouble with since being run-over by a Great Dane 5 weeks ago.  Yesterday, the German Shepherd rescue of OC was at Petsmart and we had the opportunity to let Hunter practice being calm.  The best part was that when we left, he actually was calm for me when I put to practice Kate's training.  Woohoo!