April Excitement

I cannot believe April is HERE!!  Where did March go?!?!

Looking over my calendar, here are just a handful of things I am excited about for the month of April:

~ SPRING BREAK - 10 glorious days off of work!  Am I doing anything special?  Well, if you count the appointment I just booked for my "lady" doctor special, then YES....100% YES.  I may also book a massage & facial later that week so all my body parts feel the love! {This closes the TMI portion of this post}

~ SASHA GOES TO THE DOGGY SPA - Holy crap she stinks!  Which amazes me because she is mostly an inside dog.  We couldn't afford to send her in March, so the 1st day of vacation I am taking her to be pampered.

~ SPRING CLEANING - This one I am not looking forward to so much, but it has to be done.  I usually deep clean thrice {oh yeah, I said thrice} a year, so we can do general maintenance the rest of the time.  I guess by doing it myself, I can justify using the money I would have spent on a maid to get a facial & massage.

~ TITANIC - Oh no, not JUST Titanic, but TITANIC in 3D!!  True story - this movie came out when I was in high school and I saw it at LEAST 5 times in the theater.  I cannot wait to see it 15 years later!  Bonus - I have somehow managed to talk Gary into going with me...he only agreed because he thinks seeing the boat sink in 3D will be awesome.  And you wonder why I love my husband!

**What are YOU looking forward this month??**

National Puppy Day

March 23rd is National Puppy Day!!

How can I NOT celebrate a day where I can ooh and aah over sweet, cuddly puppies?!?!

There's just something about puppies that makes me smile and want to start talking in this crazy, high pitched voice that only appeals to....well....puppies...and creepy guys....but we'll stick to puppies for the sake of this post.

PERFECT!

Let these adorable puppy pictures welcome in a great weekend for you all!

I didn't do it!

Those eyes!!!

I've got your nose

Hey you guys!!!!!!!!

Have I told you lately that I love you?

Just the 10 of us

Of course, I had to show you 3 of my favorite Sasha puppy pictures!

Run, Forrest, Run

AAAHHH!!!  I ran for the first time in over a year today and I feel A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

I started my day with a good, healthy breakfast of 1/2 cup hash browns sauteed with mushrooms and 2 eggs, some strawberries and grapes.

That held me over for about 4 hours until I had a salad very similar to last night.

Today's salad had less bacon {boo!}

I MAY have also indulged in a very rare midday treat:

Leftover Nutella from a baking project

It's not every week that I can enjoy such a sweet treat on a Tuesday afternoon!

The whole morning/early afternoon I did laundry and sat on my butt watching Hart of Dixie and Biggest Loser.


I was BORED out of my mind.

So I knew what I had to do.

Get up.

Get out.

And GOOOO!!

I planned on walking my normal mile route, but something inside of me wanted more.  So I went with it.  And probably freaked Sasha out...poor dog didn't know what she had gotten herself into.

Out of my mile, I probably jogged half of it total.  Yay!

Then I came home and did strength training for 15 minutes.

I cannot say loud enough how proud I am of myself!!  Not only did I feel a fire inside of me to do something active, but that fire pushed me to do something I was uncomfortable with.

Watch out world, here I come!!

Feeling good after my workout, yo!

I'll leave with pictures of Sasha pre AND post walk...I do not think she has moved in the hour we've been home!

  

Keeping Man's Best Friend Healthy During Winter

I love my dog Sasha more than anything, so making sure she stays healthy is one of my top priorities.

Living in California means we do not have to deal with snow, but the temperature can dip pretty low and we sometimes deal with a lot of ice in the Central Valley.

I'm Sasha...Thank you for reading Mom's blog!

Here are some tips from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals  on how to keep your pup {and felines, if you are a cat lover} healthy & safe until Spring:

1. Keep your cat inside. Outdoors, felines can freeze, become lost or be stolen, injured or killed. Cats who are allowed to stray are exposed to infectious diseases, including rabies, from other cats, dogs and wildlife. 
2. During the winter, outdoor cats sometimes sleep under the hoods of cars. When the motor is started, the cat can be injured or killed by the fan belt. If there are outdoor cats in your area, bang loudly on the car hood before starting the engine to give the cat a chance to escape. 
3. Never let your dog off the leash on snow or ice, especially during a snowstorm, dogs can lose their scent and easily become lost. More dogs are lost during the winter than during any other season, so make sure yours always wears ID tags. 
4. Thoroughly wipe off your dog's legs and stomach when he comes in out of the sleet, snow or ice. He can ingest salt, antifreeze or other potentially dangerous chemicals while licking his paws, and his paw pads may also bleed from snow or encrusted ice. 
5. Never shave your dog down to the skin in winter, as a longer coat will provide more warmth. When you bathe your dog in the colder months, be sure to completely dry him before taking him out for a walk. Own a short-haired breed? Consider getting him a coat or sweater with a high collar or turtleneck with coverage from the base of the tail to the belly. For many dogs, this is regulation winter wear. 
6. Never leave your dog or cat alone in a car during cold weather. A car can act as a refrigerator in the winter, holding in the cold and causing the animal to freeze to death. 
7. Puppies do not tolerate the cold as well as adult dogs, and may be difficult to housebreak during the winter. If your puppy appears to be sensitive to the weather, you may opt to paper-train him inside. If your dog is sensitive to the cold due to age, illness or breed type, take him outdoors only to relieve himself. 
8. Does your dog spend a lot of time engaged in outdoor activities? Increase his supply of food, particularly protein, to keep him, and his fur, in tip-top shape. 
9. Like coolant, antifreeze is a lethal poison for dogs and cats. Be sure to thoroughly clean up any spills from your vehicle, and consider using products that contain propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol. Visit the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center more information. 
10. Make sure your companion animal has a warm place to sleep, off the floor and away from all drafts. A cozy dog or cat bed with a warm blanket or pillow is perfect.

Another thing Gary & I have to do is make sure Sasha is getting enough activity during these months.  She is an inside dog while we are at work, so she's not able to run off extra energy during the day.  We try to make up for this by taking her for regular walks to a local park where she can run around and by dropping her off at Doggy Day Care {aka my parents} to run around their huge yard at least once a week.

I'm such a lucky dog!

***Please note, I am NOT a dog expert, I just happen to have one of the sweetest, most loving dogs ever living with me, so I do my best to be a good dog mommy!  Ask your vet for REAL advice!!***

****Any other suggestions as to keeping your animal healthy & safe this winter?

Loving Life {Trying the Blogger iPhone App}

We've been taking Sasha for walks everyday this week...she is loving us for it until we're about 10 minutes in. "Okay, mom, I'm ready to go home now!"

We also had 2 free dinner coupons for Chevy's, which we used last night. Only had to pay for this beauty right here!
So worth it! Gary and I both got the carne fajitas...a bit spicy for my taste, but delicious nonetheless!

Gary's on his last few days of vacation, so we're spending the next few days vegging.

Weekend Recap - Trying New Things

3 day weekends are the best!  Especially when you are under the weather...it's one more day to recover.  Luckily, getting lots of sleep from Friday to Saturday was all I seemed to need.

Neither Gary or I wanted to stay inside on Saturday, so we headed out to Modesto for some window shopping...well, that was the plan.  I got 2 new plates at Cost Plus World Market. I also got THIS for later that night:

I am only halfway done with it...so good!

Then Gary dropped me off at Ulta while he went to Best Buy.  I was in there for over an hour just browsing, until I found these 2 beauties.

I have always wanted to try the crackle polish trend and figured since I had a 20% off coupon, this way a great time to try it out.  I'll let you know what I think once I actually get around to painting my nails.

Shopping makes me hungry, so we stopped off at BJ's for lunch and an Irish Root Beer.  For those of you who do not know what an Irish Root Beer is, I feel sorry for you.  It's root beer mixed with Whiskey and Bailey's Irish Cream.  I've made them at home a few times, but nothing beats one from here.

"Adult" Root Beer makes me a happy girl!

After we devoured lunch, we walked around the mall in a food coma before heading off to the new Sunflower Market for some grocery shopping.  WOW!  They had a great variety of organic produce, specialty cheeses, and overall healthy food.  I found this, which I am using in a pumpkin cake this week.

I ran into a bunch of current and former students while there, which is always nice (only because I had my hair and makeup done).

Yesterday, I decided I needed a little "me" time, so I took a few hours to do some shopping around town.  I ended using a gift card my mom & dad got me for my birthday at Dress Barn to get some pants, a sweater and a purple top.

This morning, my whole breakfast was made up of things I have never tried before.

I found the tea at Cost Plus and I think I may go back and stock up!  It felt like I was splurging on a coffee shop drink.  I seeped the tea bag for about 7-8 minutes and added a splash of milk.  The GF waffles I found at Safeway.  I rarely have waffles, so layering them with Justin's chocolate almond butter was a treat.  I love the Justin's line of nut butters.  I have tried about half of the flavors and have yet to be disappointed.  After that, I just added some chia seeds and half of a sliced banana.  I ate it while checking out all the blogs I love to read!

I'm not the only one who enjoyed their morning.  Our sweet Sasha turned 5 today!

In addition to her regular breakfast and TWO treats, I cut up 2 apples for her to enjoy.

 You can tell she is excited because she is looking right at me.  We always make her sit, shake our hand and do the "look at me" command before eating.  When she get something exciting to eat, she sits and look at us right away, trying to make the process go quicker!

The way she ate was really cute.  She would go get an apple, then take it to the grass, chomp it down, lick the juice off the grass, the go back for another.

I spent most of today prepping my meals for the week. There are some really good ones, so stay tuned.

 As a preview, here is a picture I took while prepping one of my meals.  Can you guess what veggie this is?

 What did you do this weekend?  Do any of you celebrate your animals birthday?


Happy Halloween!