Pico Reporting for Guard Duty

As most of you know, Steve and I have a little bundle of joy in our lives. Our fur-baby, Picasso (aka Pico) is a "miniature" (not!) Dachshund, and pretty much rules the house. Pico is one of the most loving dogs you will ever come across. If someone broke into our house, they would probably leave out of the pure annoyance that is Pico wanting his belly scratched, or begging for treats. This is the most food obsessed animal I have ever seen in my life.

We have had Pico since he was 3 1/2 years old (he is now 8 1/2) and we noticed just how bad the food obsession was when we ordered pizza one day. Of course, he does the typical begging, whining, crying, and finally grabbing the nearest toy and throwing it up in the air to distract you from how cute he is in hopes of getting a taste (which would never be enough). Steve put the pizza box on the floor and suddenly the maddness took him. He will actually guard the pizza box! He will sit on top of it, stare at it, knock it around ~ whatever it takes. Here is photographic evidence of his obsession:

And finally... falling asleep "on duty":

How can you not love this dog??

Heart Healthy Walk

Hello friends, family, and avid readers!

I am participating in the American Heart Association's annual heart walk on November 3rd in Houston. If you would like to donate to this worthy cause (and get a tax write off in the process), please follow this link to my donation website!

http://heartwalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=221163&supId=193909550

I am walking in support of my Grandmother, who had a pacemaker put in ealier this year. As heart disease is the number 1 killer in the United States, I am sure we all know someone who has been touched by this awful disease.

Farewell to a friend

As many of you know, we have had the same beloved family pet, Rex (also known as Rex the Wonder Pup) since I was in Jr. High school. His exact age is among debate with the family with each person remembering "exactly" when we got Rex, but all the dates are different. Since this is my blog, we will go with my memory which brings Rex to the Blessitt clan when I was in the 7th grade (making him 19 years old in November). I got a much anticipated call from my mom on Friday last week that, like Grandpa, Rex finally made his peaceful transition home. This has been a rough year!

Let me start by saying that Rex was a cool dog. He was always a hair shy of wild, and was known to bite a person or two if they caught him off gaurd (sorry Melanie!!). He was also the sweetest dog you have ever seen. He was certainly a scrapper to say the least. I will miss him a lot. He really taught me a lot about loyalty and love. He was the first pet we ever had to last the night (note all other pets were of the swimming persuasion), and he would bark incessently if he was not close to the family. The neighbors loved him (NOT). He was always up to something.

I remember a few years ago, Dad called me at work and said, "You will never guess what your dog just did." My response was always, "Which dog?!?" as we had several with "attitude." Dad informed me that about 8:30am he opened the door in the garage and saw Rex trotting up with a fully wrapped Subway sandwich in his mouth (backstory - we lived across the street from the high school) and handed it to my dad like, "Open this please". I asked Dad what he did and he said he opened it and gave it to the dog. You had to admire the ingenuity it must have taken to convince some poor kid walking to school to part with such a coveted lunch. Funny dog.

Anyways, when we sold dad's house last year, Steve and I were unable to take him with us to the apartment, so my mom begrudgling allowed him to stay in her back yard. This turned out to be hog-heaven for Rex, as mom is easily trained to provided people-food, many treats, and a bed inside on a cold, wet, or pretty much any night with a pitiful face. In the past few years his health has really deteriated, so his passing, like Pawpaw's was a blessing. We will miss the old boy for sure.

Happy Birthday!

I had a great birthday this year! As I posted before, I turned 31 years old last week. I thought it would be kind of a downer, but I think I have had one of the most fun birthdays ever (although it's hard to beat last year's big 30th bash). I ended up celebrating twice with two wonderful friends.

The Melting Pot ~

I made reservations on Thursday for Steve and I to go to The Melting Pot, which is an awesome fondue restaurant. I had never been before and have heard so many wonderful things from friends. One of the downfalls of sharing my birthday with Steve is that he would must prefer NOT to celebrate his birthday, where as I love birthdays. So every year we go through the same thing where he wants to go home and I want to go out and one of us is always disappointed. This year he wasn't really excited about fondue, so I let him stay home and took my BFF Monica instead!! It was fabulous! We ended up having the four-course dinner and martinis. We talked, laughed, and enjoyed some wonderful food. We have decided that it should be a birthday tradition (as her birthday is 4 days before mine). Here are a few photos:

Friday~

Not only did I have a great celebration Thursday, but I also met up on Friday with my friend, Winnie, to celebrate our joint birthdays (her's is October 2nd). We went over to the Edward's complex and had dinner at Cafe Adobe. After dinner we went over to what used to be Jillian's (but is now Dave and Busters) to play a little skeeball. We decided that we should be pro-skeeball players as we brought our game faces! After we spent all the money we could stomach on skeeball, we sat out in the courtyard area people watching. In that area you see all kinds of different people. We had a blast. We decided to finish off the night at Red Robin for some killer cocktails. Here are a few pictures:

All in all, my 31st birthday was great fun. Steve got to spend his time at home, which he finally decided wasn't so great after all. Age really is just a number. I am going to have a fabulous year!