I would like to recognize Eclair!!!

Eclair had one of her bet nail trims EVER today. She didn't even start whining until we were on the last 3 toes (mind you she only has 16 since all her dew claws are removed) YEAH ECLAIR
Here she is enjoying her treat sized lamb hide. Actually, now that I look at her pic, she's already devoured the entire thing.

lazy weekend

Well folks, last weekend I sent my husband off to Santa Barbara to see Jim, Jeff, and Bryan. He had strict orders to wear sunscreen, which he listened to after the sunburn in Coronado, and take pictures. Unfortunately he didn't take ONE! UHHH what to do with him....so all I really have to show you are the internet shots of the courses he played. Those crazy men played 36 holes of golf in one day. Luckily, after the experience, Dominic says he would stop next time at 27. And to answer the question which is currently plaging you...YES they got carts the whole time. This means that they didn't have half the exercise they could have but I guess the cart had to stay on the path so they still got some.

The first course was Glen Annie.

Please just admire this clubhouse for a second....it blends right in with the scenery and has a modern asthetic at the same time...oh I wish he has REAL photos...

and a course shot, this is 18
At the second course, the Sandpiper, they played a twilight round

Dominic got home yesterday around 4 and we had an early dinner and just caught up on TiVo the rest of the evening.

Now, what did I do???? What does a good wife always do while her husband golfs?? SHOP! I headed to my favorite spot, walnut creek and enjoyed a full 9hrs of shopping. I even picked up a little surprise for Dominic, a one size fits all silicon pot lid. That poor man is forever grabbing the wrong lid and getting it stuck on the pot, won't ever happen again! and it's dishwasher safe so I don't have to hand wash lids anymore....PS, we could use another one...

I also scored some more reuseable bags

Mary got the pink one for me for christmas and I just love it. They all have carabeeners so you can buckle them to anything and they open up into a good size bag, probably carry about 2-3 regular plastic grocery bags worth of stuff. Best of all they easily fit into my purse so I should never need plastic bags again!

Please don't be surprised if you get a bundle of these as a gift this next year, I just love them so much I want everyone to have one.

So, as you can see all we did was spend money this weekend...guess we'll be eating in all this week to make up for it!

We're thinking about you Nick!

Dominic's uncle Nick had surgery this week and we've been thinking about him so much. His situation brings up organ donation for the second time in less than 2 weeks, my grandfather donated skin and tissue after his passing. Please everyone consider checking the organ donor box on your driver's license and be sure to let your loved ones know about your choice. This really is the gift that keeps on giving and the number of people that one individual can help is just awesome! WE LOVE YOU NICK!!! GET BETTER SOON

inspiration

If we all did this how successful we would each be..and how much would we be encouraging others to be successful??? oh the possibilities

a game of cat and mouse, err rat? and another wine run

As many of you know already we've been battling some roof rats for the past several months and I think we've finally rounded the bend and MAY be coming to an end....from the looks of our yard yesterday the neighbor cat may be helping. Check out all that fur this must have been some fight!

Rather than sit around we decided to spend another weekend enjoying all that california has to offer and headed back up to lodi. Hey, our stash is getting VERY low. We went to the visitor center next to Wine and Roses (for anyone interested, this is where we're going to stay for the upcoming Harden-Rooney wedding and they have a great restaurant, check out that brunch menu) The visitor center has a great little overview of different ways wine is grown and the tasting room boasts wines from many of the wineries in the area. One of our tastes led us to retry Jessie's Grove which we found better, but still not near as good as some of our favorites. Many of the color flower shots are from the drive to this winery. We also headed to Housley's Century Oak and of course Jewel. We were running low on our favorite Viognier and had a shipment to pick up. Now for the pictures, the sign on the first one says 118 years old...that's a zinfandel stump

These are baby grapes...just wait until early fall they'll taste scrumptious

more things i NEED

Oh how I love this kitchen...please note it's the size of my current kitchen, living, and dining rooms combined ;)

Fun on Vacation

Since I just couldn't bear to have my entire vacation revolve around depressing topics, I decided to head straight from Iowa to Washington and enjoy a few days with my sister and niece before coming back to Cali. We had a great time relaxing and going through the trinkets we'd brought back from Iowa. Then headed to a little known garden with beach access and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. Can anything get more beautiful than the Pacific Northwest??

Incase it's not obvious, Hailee likes to do EVERYTHING just like her grandpa...what a copy cat :)

On the last night we set up the parent's firepit and roasted marshmellows. This must have been Hay's first time because she was quite enamored by the roasting process but not with the marshmellows, as you can see she preferred the homemade chocolate chip cookies She proclamed herself the marshmellow man and distributed them to everyone.