I really love my new Mixer! (Pictures)

I am so so happy I bought my KitchenAid Mixer! I was a cooking machine this weekend! For my first use of the mixer I wanted to try something really challenging. So I attempted to make a Cheese Souffle. I know they are hard and if they don't rise that basically means you failed. lol. I was actually surprised at how easy it was to make the souffle. Using the mixer to beat the egg whites helped immensely. Final result?

Success!!! My souffle rose and it was delicious!

Here is a picture of the final product.



Sorry it's so dark. But look how high it got!

On Sunday I was bored so I decided to try something else. I made biscotti. I'm not really a fan of biscotti (which is like a sin when your Italian), but my mom has been begging me to make it for a while now. This was pretty labor intensive and took a long time to make! I wasn't sure what I was doing the whole time either. I felt lost. However the final product looks great and my mom loved them! Yay! I didn't think to take a picture though. I am planning on making chocolate biscotti soon and I will make sure to take a picture then!

This weekend I heard that Santa would be at Petsmart and the money would be donated to charity. I just had to take my dogs. The Santa was really creepy looking, but I still love this picture! My dogs were terrified of Santa!

Here they are



I initially had no plans this weekend, but it ended up being jam packed and a lot of fun. I love weekends like this when I just went with whatever I felt like doing. It was really nice and I was still able to relax.

Snapshot of my weekend

This pretty much sums up my weekend. Lots of sun and fun. One day at the pool with my pups and the next day I was at the beach all day. It was the perfect lounge in the sun weekend.

Bonus, I got very little sunburn!! SCORE!

Welcome Summer!

This past weekend was really lovely. I got out of work at 1pm on Friday (thank you summer Fridays!) and spent the day just unwinding and relaxing after a crazy week.

Saturday it was cloudy so my friend and I decided to hit the outlets. I got the cutest pair of Cole Haan flats for half off!! Did you know their shoes are made with Nike Air? It makes them super comfy.

For lunch we ate at this new restaurant called Bobby’s Burger Palace. It’s actually a restaurant chain by the food network guy Bobby Flay. Let me just say that I don’t really eat hamburgers but I am obsessed with these!! I had the best burger there! I can’t wait to go back and try a different kind.

After we ate the weather cleared up so I got my dogs, went to my friend’s house and went swimming with my dogs! They have never been in a pool before but they swam so well! It was the cutest thing ever. I think they even liked it. They kept on going to edge of the pool looking like they wanted to jump in. I would take them and put them in the water and they would swim right to the stairs!! I wish I had a camera. It was adorable.

That night a bunch of us headed out. We went to a club that is near the boardwalk and while I don’t really go to those places in the summer because of the traffic and, no offense, bennys, I had a blast. There was a great crowd and not too many people that you felt like you couldn’t move. Everyone was just having a good time and dancing like crazy.

Now I know some people have a problem with Benny’s, I do on occasion like when I’m stuck in traffic for an hour to get home which is five miles away, but they know how to have a good time. They just want to have fun and enjoy the summer. I only get mad when they are stereotypical and act like they OWN the Jersey Shore. That gets annoying. The only downside of the night was the fact that we parked about a mile away from the place to avoid paying for parking. My shoes that I wear all the time decided to fail on me that night and I got huge blisters that are still hurting me.

Sunday was an amazing day so a few of us hit the beach. The water was FREEZING but you got so hot that you didn’t even mind it. I still haven’t bought new sunscreen so I was forced to use a bottle that I found on the bottom of my closet. Not the best idea. I have sunburn in random places now. Like on the right side of my neck, the top of my left thigh, my feet (I always forget that part) and my forehead. lol. Nowhere else did I get burned. So now I look like a freak but that’s okay. Hopefully it will even out soon.

I feel like the summer has officially started. I’m not taking into account this crazy weather we are having today. Thunder and hail storms in June??? WTF.

Relaxation was the theme

According to my doctor everything is on track with my foot. I still have pain but it is much less that it was last week. You know what I hate though? When you wait in a doctor’s office for 45 minutes only to see the doctor for a grand total of 2 minutes if that! I was so pissed I had to wait so long just to hear that everything is okay and see you next time. I’m happy there was nothing wrong, but still lets not make me wait so long next time kay?

This past weekend was pretty low key. Spent some time with friends, took my dogs to the park, watched some movies, all in all it was pretty nice. You should rent Taken by the way. It was really good.

I wanted to go out at night but I was afraid because I wouldn’t be able to stand for a long period of time and the places my friends wanted to go there has very, if any, limited seating. However I wasn’t to upset, because next weekend is when I really want to be able to go out. Better to rest up my leg this weekend and prepare for next.

I really cannot believe next weekend is Memorial Day. I am so excited. It should be filled with BBQs, seeing old friends, and hopefully, if the weather is good, drinks at a bar on the beach. Plus the three-day weekend is much needed and I can’t wait to sleep in for 3 days! Well I don’t really sleep in anymore, but sleeping til 8:30/9 is a win in my book.

Do you have any plans for Memorial Day?

Serendipity

I kinda got a dog this weekend! It wasn’t planned or anything. On Friday I came home and there was a dog in my house. Turns out the woman who gave us our one dog Sammy just couldn’t handle the amount of dogs she has at the moment. She asked my mother if we could watch over him for a while to give her a break, aka keep him. She’s a breeder and not a lot of people are buying $1200 dogs at the moment.

At first I was really mad. My mom is such a pushover and anytime a person asks for a favor, even a big one like this, she does it. That’s why this woman asked my mom. I had every intention of making my mom return the dog today.

However, I kind of fell in love with this dog.

First of all this woman did not take care of him. He’s only a few months old and I don’t think she ever gave this dog a bath or a cut. His hair was super long and all matted and mangy looking. He smelled like stale smoke and his ears were so dirty that we actually thought he might have mites. I brought him to my aunt’s house and she helped clean him up. It took almost 2 hours just to cut his hair it was so bad. Then we gave him a bath and cleaned out his ears.

He looked like a totally different dog! What was once white hair that looked almost gray was sparkling. He no longer smelt like a bar and his ears looked healthy and there were luckily no bugs present!

Over the weekend we really bonded. I took him to the park and to the beach and he just became my shadow. Everywhere I went this dog followed. When I would leave he actually started to cry. My mom told me he would run from room to room looking for me! How could I give him up?? Plus, I was defiantly NOT giving him back to the lady.

Now the dog is officially mine and I am obsessed. It killed me to leave him to go to work today. So far though he has been so good! No accidents in the house, yet, and he is super quiet. He is a total mush and will lay on your lap forever.

P.S. I named him Winston! As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures from my new camera I will post a picture!

How much is that doggy in the window?*

My best friend has been on the hunt to adopt a dog lately. That is ALL she talks about. She is constantly on pet finder looking for a dog to adopt. This past weekend we even went to the local SPCA to look at the dogs.

Here’s the thing, there are thousands of dogs that are in need of a good home. My friend however is being extremely picky about which dog she should get. I get that she wants to get a dog she will love and it’s okay to be a little picky but she is taking it to the extreme.

She wants a smallish dog that is weird looking but cute. Meaning she wants a lap dog, that doesn’t look like a normal dog that you would see on the street. She hasn’t found a lot of them, and the few that do pass her strict standards have already been adopted.

It’s been a week of searching and she is about to throw in the towel. I told her that if she was going to give up that easily then she shouldn’t get a dog, because they are a lot more work then searching the internet for hours on end.

I get where she is coming from but at the same time, I know there are so many dogs out there that are stuck in pounds and stuff because they aren’t cute enough. When we went to the SPCA I was immediately drawn to the 2 dogs that everyone else seemed to be ignoring. My heart just breaks for them. If I had a better job with hours that meant I could take care of them properly I would have totally adopted them. Unfortunately I am stuck at home and my mom is busy taking care of her own dog.

One day soon I will be able to get another dog, and you better believe I will be getting the “reject dog.” Because all dogs deserve a good home, even the ugly ones.

*If you are thinking about getting a pet, ADOPT one don't buy one!

Six Things

Since this is my last post for a while I decided to post the 6 things that make me happy. Miss Merry tagged me to do this a while ago and I figure now it the perfect time.

1. My dog. He provided me with great comfort after my other dog passed away. Seeing his little face every day makes the whole thing a little less hard.

2. My family. As crazy as they are, I love them! Even though I don’t get along great with my one brother, I know he’s always there for me. My mother, who even though loves to criticize me, I know deep down she’s only doing it because she wants the very best for me.

3. My friends. Especially my best friend. She is the sister I never had and I know I can always count on her.

4. My upcoming vacation. I haven’t had a real break from work since May, so this is long over due.

5. Traveling. I hope to be able to do more of it soon!

6. Taking pictures. I love capturing memories. I love seeing the emotion. That one moment in time will forever be remembered.

I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays! I am looking forward to a new year and new beginnings!

I will miss you

Today my dog had to be put to sleep. He was very old and it was his time.

I will miss you my puppy!! I love you.

A walk in the park

This weekend was so beautiful that I decided instead of just walking my dog around my neighborhood I would take him to the park nearby. It was so pretty with all the leaves changing color and everyone out with their families and loved ones. I, being an idiot, didn’t think to bring my camera. Oh well. If I go next weekend you better believe I will have my camera. Anyway. A few things that I noticed about my dog:

He is very afraid of small dogs. He’s only 10 pounds and little dogs freak him out. Oh he’ll bark and act like he’s not afraid but as soon as the dog comes close he’ll try and run away or jump into my arms.

Even though he is afraid of small dogs, he is not afraid of large dogs. One of the biggest dogs I have ever seen came up to him and he was FINE. Better then fine. He didn’t try to run or cry. Instead he walked right up to him and sniffed his butt. A true sign that he wasn’t afraid. So why in the world is this 10-pound dog afraid of little dogs, but not a dog whose head was the size of his body?

My dog cannot just walk straight. He is all over the place. He zig-zags, jumps and runs around me. It’s hard to keep the leash in check and make sure that I don’t get tangled in it.

He also skips. Seriously. When people notice it, they think he is limping and hurt. But he is actually skipping. It is the cutest thing. I need to buy a video camera so I can record it.

Lastly, even though my dog isn’t very well trained and barely listens to me, when we are out in public he behaves really well. A little boy came over to pet him and my dog actually sat down and let the boy come over to him. Usually he would just jump up on the boy, or run away depending on his mood, but he just sat and acted so well.

Other than my dog walking adventure, my weekend was pretty laid back. Visited with some friends, caught up on some movies and just relaxed. It was very nice, even if it was a little boring at times.

Can I add dog walker to my resume?

Last weekend I decided to get my dog out of the house more. Since I work so late the only time I can really give him a good walk is on the weekends. For the first walk we only were out for about 30 minutes. You would think we were gone for 3 hours. My dog didn’t know what to do with himself. We were halfway home and his tongue was basically hitting the floor and was panting like crazy. He’s only 10 pounds!! There is no reason he should have been so tired. This makes me more determined to try and walk him whenever I can. Plus added bonus, its good exercise!

Speaking of walking. When I go to work in the morning I always have my ipod in. I get bored easily so listening to music on the train helps the time go by faster. Plus if I put on some easy listening I can usually fall asleep for part of the ride. I don’t take it off until I get into the office. It was weird when I took my dog for a walk because I didn’t take my ipod with me. I felt a little naked without it. It was like I didn’t know what to do with myself. After a while, I relaxed and realized how not listening to music makes you really appreciate your surroundings. You take your time, you notice what’s going on, and you can really take in the beauty of the day. I know I’m sounding lame right now, but seriously who does that nowadays? Really stop to take in what is going on around them. Being a commuter, you basically power walk to your office and plow people down that are going to slow. I am defiantly that person who gets pissed when someone pauses to look at something. But now I see the other side of it. So while I will still be listening to my tunes on the way to work, on the weekends when I walk with my dog it will not be allowed.

Also I feel like if I took it my dog would feel ignored. You know when someone has your headphones on and it is so awkward trying to talk to them and/or you feel like your annoying them? Well I didn’t want my dog to feel that way. Which I know sounds stupid, but I would feel bad if I did that.

What do you think?

Is it bad that I am really offended by the fact that my dog pees in front of my bedroom door? Granted he is really old and can’t really control his bladder anymore but the damn dog only goes to the bathroom in front of my door. I would say like 3 times a week I wake up in the morning to find a big puddle in front of my door. A couple of those times I’ve stepped in it. He’s even pooped in front of it! What the hell?? Nowhere in the house does he do this, I am the only one who gets the pleasure. What do you think; does my dog officially hate me so much that he is taking measures to show me??

What a dog I have!

I wasn’t planning on writing again until after I take my class tomorrow. But than something happened and I couldn’t help writing. I have a dog name Sammy and he is about 2. Today he peed on my bed!!! Not while I was in it, but he peed in my bed while I was out. Mind you, my dog is trained to go to the bathroom outside and never goes inside the house anyone. That is until today when he PEED in my bed! I was sooo pissed at my dog, I almost killed him. But after a while I couldn’t stay mad at him anymore. He is just so cute and he slowly crept toward my with his most precious face and I just melted. So the sucker that I am, I forgave my puppy. Than I was telling my friend what happened and she told me that maybe he was feeling neglected by me since I am never home anymore. And that I felt guilty! I am seriously a sucker. But that could be true, I mean I leave my house everyday at 7:30 am and don’t get home til after 8:30 pm. So that could be true. But than again he still has my mom and my brother to cuddle with before I get home. Yes they both work too, but they get home hours before I do. Well either way, my puppy did pee on my bed. Thankfully, it was just the sheets and it didn’t touch the mattress. Also I thought you might want to see my puppy so I took a few pictures to share. Enjoy!