Breakfast of Champions

I've posted before about my love for breakfast. I think it's something that was instilled with me since I was young. I always had breakfast in the morning. My Dad would wake up early in the morning and make be breakfast EVERY morning before school. After which he would go straight back to bed. He would actually wake up at 6:30 am, cook me breakfast, then go right back to bed. He was retired so he didn't have to get up to go to work or anything.

My new favorite breakfast meal is greek yogurt. Greek-style honey yogurt from Trader Joe's to be exact. I sprinkle it with some granola and a little bit of honey for some extra sweetness (I have the world's biggest sweet tooth). I prefer Greek yogurt to regular yogurt because it's creamier and thicker. If you haven't tried it, you should.

One good thing

that came out of the Vegas fiasco, is that I discovered a new shampoo and conditioner that I now love. We slept at Ed and Jen's house that night. Since we were supposed to be staying at a hotel in Vegas, I didn't bring any shampoo and conditioner to use. I was planning on just using whatever stuff the hotel had so I had to use the shampoo that Jen had in her spare bedroom. It's Herbal Essences Helio Hydration. It smells so good and makes my hair so soft. Last week I went to my favorite (Target!) and bought myself two bottles.

To sue or not to sue

After last weekend's road trip to Vegas fiasco, a lot of people have been telling us we should sue the rental car company and/or Jeep. I don't know though. I don't want to be one of those people who sue for no reason. As long as we aren't liable for the car and the company compensates us for what was lost in the fire, I'll be happy. I have to admit, the thought of suing is pretty appealing. We did miss out on a Vegas vacation. We could've potentially been hurt in the fire or ran over or hit on the freeway as we ran away from the burning car. And the thing that bothers me the most is that I didn't get to see my uncle one last time. My uncle has been very sick for the past few months and it's getting down to the end for him. He's been in the ICU for a week and a half now. That weekend we would've been in Vegas would've been the last time I would've seen him alive. That lost opportunity right there is priceless.

Happy birthday, Max!

Max turned 7 today, although he is a puppy at heart. He's the world's biggest baby and I just love him to death. Today The Boy and I are going to take Max to the park to let him play and by play I mean with other people. Max doesn't like to play with other dogs. He prefers people. I bought him some new toys and some special doggie treats for him to enjoy later.

The Boy says I spoil Max too much. It's true, I do. It's hard not to. I can't help myself. My poor guy has been through a lot the past few years. What can be so hard on a dog, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. A little over 2 years ago Max suffered from Fibrocartilaginous Embolism or FCE. Basically, it's like a stroke to the spine. He lost use of his back right leg for a week or so. It was horrible to watch him deal with it. Normally Max is a happy go lucky kinda dog, always wanting to play and run around and eat. When this happened, all he did was lay down for days. He didn't want to play fetch. He didn't want to eat. He just laid there. He was depressed. Not even food got him excited. His leg would drag behind him when he walked and so that started to get scratched up and bleed. We had to keep it taped up until he was able to raise it off the ground when he walked. It was a sad sight to see him walking around with his leg dragging on the floor after him. I just wanted to follow him around and hold his little leg up for him. Slowly but surely, he began to regain use of his leg. It's still a little bit weak. He falls down a lot and sometimes his leg shakes when he's standing, but my little guy is a trooper! Within a week of his injury he was back to wanting to play again. It broke my heart, because we weren't supposed to let him walk a lot, let alone play, for a month or so.

Flash forward to June of last year. We had taken Max to the dog park to play fetch. Keep in mind that this is one of the first times I'd taken Max to the dog park since the whole FCE thing. I'd been wary of bringing him to such a big open space to run around in. I didn't want him to over exert himself and hurt his leg. I finally thought his leg was getting to be strong enough to go to the park. We had been there, playing fetch all of 5 minutes, when Max jumped up for the ball. He starts to walk back to The Boy and I when I notice he isn't using his back right leg. Yes, the same leg that was injured due to the FCE - the same leg! He wouldn't put it on the ground. He just kept it raised and was limping around on his other 3 legs. I was so scared. I didn't know what to think. Was it the FCE again? The Boy picked him up (which is not easy as Max weighs about 100 pounds) and we took him to the vet right away. The vet examined him and knew right away that Max had torn his little doggie ACL and would need surgery. He had the surgery 3 days later.

As my little guy gets older, I worry about him more and more (Yes, I'm a big worry wort). His leg is weak sometimes and all of the injuries he has had makes him more susceptible to arthritis. He walks with a limp too. He moves like an old man sometimes. The Boy says I worry too much, but Max is my baby. I'm his mom. I'm supposed to worry.

Let it burn

We never made it to Vegas. 30 minutes outside of Ontario this happened:


We didn't get in an accident or anything. We were just driving along on our merry way when the car started to slow down. At first we thought it was a flat tire cause we heard a popping noise when the car started to slow down. We tried to pull over, but the car wouldn't move. Then the hood popped open and flames started coming out of the front passenger side of the hood. We all got out of the car and ran to the side of the freeway. Some truck drivers stopped and called 911 for us. The CHP and the local fire and police departments came out too. They were all super nice and very accomodating to us. They really did all that they could to help us out. They called rental car companies for us and gave us rides.

Thankfully everyone got out safe AND it was a rental car, so nothing was lost. We got all of our stuff out safely, too. Unfortunately our trip got ruined. We were stuck in Hesperia with no car and all the local rental companies were closed. We have a friend that lives in San Bernardino and we called him to pick us up. We spent the night at his house and he drove us home the next day. According to the CHP on site, Chrysler jeeps are prone to catching on fire. Keep that in mind if you ever plan on purchasing one or if you're renting a car and they try to give you one - don't take it! The car we had was a Patriot and we were told by the company that it was only 4 months old. So a brand new car caught on fire for no apparent reason. This was NOT good times.

Viva Las Vegas

I'm off to Vegas for the weekend for a birthday celebration. The Boy's friend, Choco, is turning the big 3-0! I'll try to post a recap as soon as possible. Wish me luck! :)

and as a a side note . . . Cheena still doesn't wear her engagement ring.

Lazy days

The last week I had off from work was nice. Made me want to never have to go back to work. Here's a quick run down of what we did:

Went to the gym every day - EVERY DAY! The Boy is a monster! He pushes me so hard at the gym. It's funny sometimes. I'll be doing weights and he'll want me to do heavier weights and I won't want to. One time there was this older lady working oujt next to us. She had a personal trainer and they were doing the same exercise we were doing, but the old lady ywas doing about 15 more pounds than I was doing. The Boy kept saying to me, "See that old lady? You want here to beat you. She's doing more than you. Don't be a wuss. She's beating you."

Did some shopping. Checked out the Nordstrom half yearly sale and bought a dress.

Ate at 3 Square Cafe in Venice and Jinky's Cafe in Sherman Oaks, two places I've been wanting to try

Ate at a bunch of restaurants in LA that I miss, such as California Roll Factory, Zankou, and Toast

Picked up some red velvet cupcakes from Crumbs AND Buttercake Bakery (I LOVE LOVE LOVE red velvet cake. I liked the Crumbs version better.)

Watched a whole lot of basketball. The Boy loves him some Lakers.

Went to a Midnight showing of the Sex and the City movie with Lana, who had won tickets that were only good for the Friday Midnight showing. Good thing I didn't have work the next day! Loved the movie!

Overall, it was a relaxing, very chill week. I'm just sad it's over.