Howl-o-ween

Hunter is both fortunate and unfortunate to have become a member of our family.

One the one hand, he is incredibly spoiled: lots of toys, plenty of food and water, always the center of attention, sleeps in bed, gets to cuddle whenever he wants, etc.

On the other hand, I love accessorizing him for the holidays.

Spoiler alert: I totally want to find him a mini Santa costume for Christmas!

Anyway, I certainly wasn't going to be dressing up to hand out candy tonight because my only G-rated costume is a pirate number that's several years old and has seen better days.  And Sam's working tonight, so I knew he wouldn't be around to dress up either.

Anyway, Hunter lucked out because I didn't see many masculine costumes and decided to buy him this discounted t-shirt to use as his Halloween costume.  Pretty much the week after I did that, PetSmart moved their costumes and there were some really cute ones (the frog and the ladybug were to die for!) but I couldn't justify spending more money.

Next year though, I might have to try to find that ladybug costume because I totally try to keep with the red theme for this little Ruby Cavalier!

So Happy Howl-o-ween Goblins & Ghouls!

Dan is coming to town!

Sam's cousin, Dan is coming to stay with us for two nights starting Sunday for a job interview here in Orange County.  Dan has been living on the East Coast with his wife, Rachel, who is a fellow blogger.  Hopefully he will get it so he and Rachel will move down here and be close to us.  (I definitely wish Rachel had been able to come along on this trip, it has been too long since we've seen her!)

Sam has been lucky enough to not have call this week, except for tonight and Sunday night, which is the worst possible timing for Dan's visit.  C'est la vie, non?  So with Sam out of the house, I am working on finishing some housework tonight and cleaning our kitchen, living room, and guest room.  Too bad there isn't another Giants game, I suppose I will have to settle on reading some Harry Potter before bed instead.  :-)

Here's hoping the Giants can pull off another shutout tomorrow when their in Detroit!

World Series Kick Off

GIANTS WIN WORLD SERIES GAME 1

Our Panda Owns Your Tigers, Detroit!

#OrangeOctober

Blown Away

Weekend Recap: San Diego was amazingly fun!  We actually kicked off the weekend in Irvine at Bacchus, a wine cellar.  They recently got a chef (well recently since I'd last been there) and the flat breads were awesome.  Emily and I kicked things off with some sparkling wine, and Matt enjoyed a beer.  We watched a big of the Giants game while we ate, and it was a really nice evening.  Sam worked late and then grabbed a bite and a drink with the Ortho department, so he met us later.

Saturday, we drove down to San Diego while listening to the Carrie Underwood album Blown Away.  I have to say, I'm not typically a big country music fan, but she is amazingly good.

We checked into the W Hotel downtown, and grabbed a bite to eat at the new Counter in the Gas Lamp.  How cool is this, they actually have Adult Milkshakes with alcohol in them... Sam tried the coffee one which is made with Kaluha.

We took advantage of the tasty bar in the lobby and pregamed the concert a bit.  Then Matt introduced us to this cool Ubber App where you can hail a town car.  We used it on the way to the concert and were pleasantly surprised to see a LIMO pull up.  What?!?  Matt said that he's never had that happen before, but we enjoyed our good fortune and journeyed to the concert in style.

Emily and I definitely were enjoying ourselves at the concert.

I have to say, Carrie puts on a great show.  Her props are unbelievable, and she had great costumes and her voice is as good live as it is on CD.  This was one of my favorite parts of the show- she and the band got into this floating plexiglass thing and floated over the crowd while they jammed.

And she is very humble and sweet, made sure to tell us how much she likes San Diego several times during the performance and even told us to drive home safely.

After the concert we checked out a neat dueling piano bar.  Definitely another high point!  And we capped off the night with a town car home.

Sunday morning we met Matt & Emily in the lobby and took an impromptu detour to Temecula.  We had missed out on Ponte during our Wine Tasting trip with them in January 2009 so Emily and I did a little tasting while Matt and Sam hung out.

I bought a great bottle of Cream Sherry for the holidays when my family is in town.  It will take a LOT of resolve not to drink it before they get here.

NLCS Game 7

Hunter and I are deeply focused on NLCS Game 7 tonight and as I start this post, we are in the bottom of the 6th with San Francisco leading Arizona 7-0.  In history, the greatest comeback in game 7 is 4 runs, which has only happened twice in history.  Odds are in our favor.  Also, only once has a Game 6 winner failed to win Game 7 at home, the Mets lost game 7 to the Cardinals.

We are also baking... yes, I am sharing some pumpkin muffins with Hunter as I wait for Sam to get home to make our Chicken Taco Salad.

Last night when we got home from San Diego (post to follow with a weekend recap) Sam really wanted me to make him a batch of Nonna's pumpkin bread, which I have turned into a helluva lot of pumpkin muffins and a loaf or two.  The recipe calls for +5 cups flour, and +4 cups sugar... it makes a helluva lot of pumpkin yumminess.  The weather has finally cooled off and I think Sam is starting to feel the holiday spirit creeping into the air.  Granted, I did decorate for Fall just before October, but it was 100 degrees last week!

I will say this, I had intended to start Harry Potter Book 4 tonight (I am rereading the series since I bought myself all the books for my birthday) and this game has me completely enthralled.  GO GIANTS.

My Dad is actually at this game tonight at AT&T Park.  Boy, does that make me miss living in the Bay Area.  My sports teams are all up there, no football or baseball love happens down in Orange County.

It's nice to have Mom on the phone though, we've been calling back and forth throughout this amazing game!  Who could believe the amazing bottom of the 4th inning where the Giants scored and scored and scored?

Baseball isn't my sport, don't get me wrong.  There are too many games to follow and the season seems never-ending.  But, that said, I do love the Giants and I really love #OrangeOctober because baseball playoffs are a thing of beauty.  For all the Torture Baseball Fans out there: Don't stop believing!

Sandy Eggo

Tonight, Sam and I are headed to San Diego with Matt & Emily for the Carrie Underwood concert.  Matt bought tickets several months ago and they are generously taking us along for our first ever overnight trip together.  I am so excited!

Matt booked us rooms in the W hotel, which I have always wanted to stay in, and this is going to be our first vacation not spent sleeping on couches reliving our college glory days since our trip to Tahoe in February.

Let me see:

• Nice, comfy hotel room
• Sleeping in
• Night out with friends

I am so excited!  Pictures to come!

Walking Dead

No, this is not a reference to me being overly exhausted.  Quite the opposite, I have been feeling much more energized since I started taking the hypothyroidism medication.    The title of this post refers to the AMC Zombie series based on the comic books.

I am not much for watching TV shows the night they air because I am generally trying to spend quality time with Sam or Hunter if I'm not working in the evening.

Tonight, however, I decided I was going to give it a rest because I worked two hours extra last night expanding on some web page additions that a co-worker had started.  Sam is working late, so I have no obligation to entertain him.  Thus, with this time to myself, I am catching up on The Walking Dead season 3 premier and playing fetch with Hunter.  Good Lord, this puppy loves to play fetch.

And don't think it's all play for me tonight, I am also in the process of washing our sheets and drafting our holiday letter.  Last year we didn't send our letter out everyone, but complaints were lodged and this year the situation will be remedied.

So now, enough blogging and back to holiday letter drafting and laundry!