Friday Funday

Sam was feeling a little left out that I took Monday off to spend with my Mom so I compromised and worked my butt of Friday morning so that I could take the afternoon off. We ended up taking Hunter to the Dog Beach in Huntington Beach where he got to play off leash in the waves and make lots of new four-legged friends. Here are some of the highlights of our afternoon.

Hunter has always loved the water, especially walking in the surf

We taught him to dig in the sand while we were making a sandcastle

Coming up to investigate what Mom was doing with her phone

Playing tag with some new friends

Ready for a good night's sleep!

Up All Night

Last night, Hunter woke up in the middle of the night (which he did Tuesday & Wednesday as well).  I had Sam take him to get a drink of water, but Hunter wouldn't relax and go back to bed.  Perhaps it was because he had too much energy- we didn't have time to give him his walk Thursday night, and I had slacked on Wednesday because we had our private puppy lesson.  In any case, I asked Sam to take him out to go potty, and 45 minutes into the not-going-back-to-sleep fun, Sam took him out. 

Hunter came back in and still wouldn't settle down.  So we left him to play on the floor at the foot of our bed.  Suddenly, he goes completely berzerk.  He starts barking like he has never barked before, comes tearing around the corner of the bed to me, and then frantically tries to claw his way out of my arms as I try to console him.  When we offered him his bone (he chews his Orka bone every night before bed) he backed away as if he'd never seen it before. 
We tried to get him to lay down, but he kept going to the end of the bed and barking.  After 30 minutes of him being a complete mess, I took him out to the couch and we got 2 hours of sleep before finally getting back into bed.

Needless to say, I am pooped today and headed home early from the office.  Time for a nap!  And please keep your fingers crossed that this was a one-time thing!

Reunited!

Sam

Comes

Home

Tonight...

YAY!

His plane lands at 6:58 PM

Life as of Late

I miss blogging... not that I assume anyone is waiting with baited breath for my next post, but I feel a little guilty that I've fallen off the face of the blogosphere.  I do still keep up with reading blogs by my friends and those that I've stumbled across and enjoy reading, but there seems to be a lack of energy to keep up my own.  The goal is to change that!

Although I am busier than I have ever been, I am also incredibly happy.  I love my job.  I know I said that I was going to take my time and find the right fit during my job search, and boy did I hit the jackpot.  My boss is amazing- he cares tremendously for his employees on a personal level, he wants to build his business up and take us to the next level, and he is always open to sincere feedback.  Our management team is phenomenal- I love both our HR Manager and our Tech Manager to pieces, and I have really enjoyed myself during all of our out-of-work social events.  Our new Sales Manager is really great as well, he likes to have a good time, but he is very professional and his number one priority is preserving our company's dignity and the relationships we've built with customers.  And our technicians and office staff are top-notch as well.  I would be happy to have dinner and hang out with any of them!  I feel incredibly lucky to work with these individuals and I am thankful (almost) every day for the opportunity I have to be a part of the success of this business.

I am completely smitten with our puppy, Hunter.  Sam is 100% right when he says that seeing Hunter's face and how overjoyed he is to be around us is the best cure for a bad day.  We are still working our way through puppyhood and I occasionally want to tear my hair out (like this morning when I walked out of my bedroom to find a huge mess from Hunter pulling the fake mulch out of the faux potted palm tree in our living room) but on the whole he is an incredibly well-behaved little guy.  We've graduated from Beginning and Intermediate Obedience Classes and last Saturday we began the 6 week Advanced Training Course.  My goal has always been to have him pass the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Test and possibly have him certified as a Therapy Dog.  I had a great experience finding myself and through therapy while I was in college, and I might have considered it as a career had I not been so far down the path of Communications...  I would love to be able to give back to someone in need to give back.

Our home is good.  Sam and I decided to resign our lease and will be staying another 18 months... our longest time living in one place since we moved in together.  And I couldn't be happier about not moving.  Especially with his overnight call starting on June 3rd, I want to be in a place I feel safe and comfortable and where I know the area. 

School is almost over... I am taking my last class toward my Marketing Certificate at UCI this summer.  The course started this week and will finish August 19th.  It's going to be a whole helluvalot of work, and I'm wondering what I got myself into.  I keep reminding myself that I'll have a LOT of time to study while Sam's getting his footing as a second year resident, but this is going to mean reallocating resources from my personal life and professional life toward my academic life- an process that always worries me. 

More to come soon, this time I really mean it!

Out of Town Guests

Some stars aligned this past weekend.  Sam has been in Spain with his family since Tuesday, Nonna & Papa had to be at LAX on Saturday afternoon, Dad had plans for his annual boys golfing trip at Northstar, and Mom was off work (almost) for the summer.  Time for a (partial) Family Roadtrip! 

My paternal grandparents and mom came down to visit on Friday.  Nonna & Papa hadn't been down to visit since Sam and I moved off-campus last June, so they were overdue to see our new living situation.  I was really happy they arrived early in the afternoon on Friday, and lucky that I was able to take the afternoon off and spend time with them.  We spent a lot of time relaxing and playing with Hunter, and just enjoying each other's company.  On Saturday, they got to watch some of Hunter's obedience class before heading up to LAX to pick up my cousin Ali.  She was moving into her new housing at UCSB where she is transfering in as a sophomore. 

Mom bought some new hanging plants for our patio after we finished up at Petsmart, and then she treated us to pedicures at this relaxing little nail salon I found with Amy in the fall.  She and I continued our time together meeting her good friend, Lori, for dinner.  They hadn't seen eachother in at least 6 years and it was really fun hanging out.

Sunday we drove up to Manhattan Beach and met Margaux for lunch at The Strand House- OMG it was an AMAZING view and the food was excellent.  (Note: I had, and really enjoyed, my first ever lobster roll.)  After lunch, we met up with Carrie who was fresh of the plane from her adventures in Europe and it was so good to see her.  Obviously with today's technology we'd been able to see eachother via video chatting, but we hadn't done it as often as either of us would have liked and I was love overdue for a hug.  That evening we Skyped Dad and Max, and stayed up late talking about life lessons and being the person you set out to be when you're young over a bottle of lovely Wente wine.

Monday I took the day off of work and we shopped and lunched at Fashion Island.  It felt a little like we were pretending that we were wealthy Newport Beach socialites, and there were plenty of them out and about!  After lunch we ran a couple of errands and then headed home to do the last of the cleaning and packing.  Sam and Justin were able to FaceTime us from Sam's new iPad and I'm very happy to report they are having a grand time in Mallorca.  Then, the weekend was over.  Hunter and I dropped Mom off at the airport, called Dad to let him know she was on her way, and then went home and didn't quite know what to do with ourselves.  In no way am I projecting my emotions onto my dog, but Hunter was pretty subdued and bummed that our house guests were gone. 

Thankfully, Ryan arrived last night for his weekly 2-night visit and he will be with us until Sam gets home Thursday night.  I am really glad we've been able to see him so much these last couple of weeks, it is almost like being back at UCSB senior year... only now we head off to work instead of class, and our afternoons aren't filled with beachtime.  I suppose we're officially grown-ups now.  :-)