Of Hounds and Harleys

So where in the heck have Smokey and I been? You know how life gets in the way - and I say that with a happy heart. I'm a very blessed person - my life is amazing - God has given me the mindset to make good decisions. But I digress. So, on September 11th and 12th, a good friend of mine and myself took the 2 day motorcycle safety course. HARD!!!! If you've never ridden a motorcycle before, good Lord, there is alot going on! I came in second in my class and received my license that day. The hubs was brave enough to let me practice on his Harley, and I realized, I WANTED his Harley :) So, 2 weeks later we bought a second bike and we've been riding together ever since. Aren't they beautiful?!??!?!?!? And of course we need to give Smokey some picture time! He is looking for those pesky little squirrels. And this is Jacey - my last foster. A bounce back. I always find it interesting that I never see the behavior that they were bounced back for. If I were in the market for another houndie, ooooooo, I would have snatched her up!

We head to California next week - to see the family. Then party time in Vegas! I promise to keep everyone much more updated in the future :)

Am I really this lame????

I know, I know...absolutely no excuses. I need to sit down this weekend and post pics of not only the hounds and other dogs that I've fostered over the past few months, but we had another 80's rock band reunion this year. I'm hoping the videos of me singing will be available soon - everyone needs a good laugh. Smokey is doing very well. We just fostered a Puggle - yes, a freakin' Puggle - for a week - and Smokey was glad to see her go. It wasn't that she was a pain - she actually could have cared less about Smokey - she just brought an energy to the house that even the cats hated. I get Dash tonight for a week of babysitting - a fellow brindle boy that sadly is goofier than Smokey! Like Trina and Gyeong, this is a busy babysitting time of year - plus I foster for my all breed group so it makes it even trickier. I'm contemplating fostering a really nice Australian Cattledog named Bailey - you can see my other group at hhk-9rescue.org. And yes, human vacations are on the horizon!!!!! Several of us Greyhound owners will be headed to Vegas in October - man, it's gonna get wild. But I digress....promises of updated pics this weekend...

Of Greyhounds and cigarettes...

I know, I know, it's been since the "worm foot" incident that I've posted anything. And I don't have pictures of Smokey right now, but I promise to post them soon. Just wanted to get evryone caught up on what's been goin' down. Well, the biggest thing is - after 30 years, and a pack a day, I quit smoking cigarettes! Yes, its shocking even to me! I love smoking - seriously, I'm a true addict and I loved it - I still want one every day - my addicted little mind thinks of ways to condone smoking. But I worked so hard - and I can say with true sincerity, I will never smoke again. I still miss those damn things! Argh! Smokey is doing great. He'll be 8 this year - totally blows me away. If you look on earlier postings I talk about a foster named Lola - I will be getting her back this weekend. Something about snapping at the kids - I say, get rid of the freakin' rug rat! Just kidding :) I actually like kids, but I like animals better. So, once Miss Lola shows up, I'll get some more pictures up. I need to also post some pups from the other rescue group I am involved with - I love my mutts, my pound puppies - they mean just as much to me as my Greyhounds.

It was Trina's idea...and oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's start this off with a beautiful, serene picture of Jamaica - because that's where this blog will end and begin today. Ahhhhh, isn't that nice? Keep this image in your mind... Thanksgiving is an awesome holiday, isn't it. This year it was just me, mom and Robert. So that meant way less cooking, not dressing up, and sitting at our tv dinner stands watching football! How can that be a bad thing? And of course, Smokey is ever present watching us eat...

We are babysitting the fun and fearless female, Lulu. She is in one of my previous blogs - I LOVE HER. She is the only hound I would babysit for the holiday. Here she is with Smoke in the backyard after a nice run!

And of course, this is the "after" picture :)

And to the thing Trina thought would be cool and awesome! So, apparantly I was standing in contaminated sand one of the nights we were watching the sun set in Jamaica. Those of us on the beach were getting tore up! I had 2 bites on the top of my left foot that were still there when I got home from the trip. So, just to give you TMI, I always wash my feet when I shower - the tops, the bottom, in between the toes -- ya know, ya gotta do it, man - when I dry them, I admit I don't tend to look at them. But this past Sunday I looked down and saw something totally freaky! I mean, I couldn't even have sex with Robert I was so freaked out! I went to the doc that Monday and she told me I was bit by something alright - a damn infected larvae from the contaminated sand! And there was a WORM in my foot! The soil was contaminated by dog and cat feces - and it dawned on me, I saw a couple of strays on the beach and I actually fed a stray cat at one of the restaurants. I flipped - and you know, Trina being my scientist friend, she was one of the first people I contacted. And you know Trina, what grosses out the regular person, as a scientist and researcher she was like "awesome, Lin" - its one of the reasons I love her, man! So without further ado...oh yeah, and give me credit for the awesome pedicure...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

It was Trina's idea...and oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving!

Every 'Ting, is Gonna Be Alright....

Just look at this sunset. I have to tell ya, living in Cali for 12 years made me realize how much I love a sunset on the beach....but do you know where this sunset is?!?!?!!??!?!?

So, Robert and I have been married 10 years on September 25th. I personally felt it was the perfect reason to take a pretty decent vacation. I asked if he would go to Europe and that was a no go. We had been to Antigua and loved it, so we decided to hit the Carribean. I researched it to death - that's what paralegals do :) And to be quite honest, not many people raved about Jamaica, so I dropped it from the list...so I checked out Turks & Caicos, St. Lucia, Aruba, you name it. But ya know, the Carribean is gonna be gorgeous no matter where you go, right? One of my attorneys raved about this resort in Negril - but I was way skeptical - but she is a world traveler and I respect her opinion - so, what the hell did we have to lose, right? Let me just say, its the PEOPLE of Jamaica that make it worth the trip. I have never met such happy people - thrilled to be alive - grateful for everything they have. And the service and treatment we got was second to none. We stayed at Couples in Negril - I highly recommend it. Without further ado....

A beautiful sunset from Rick's Cafe. Yeah, its a tourist place, but well worth the hour or 2 you spend there drinking and watching the guys diving, watching the "lifeguards" sitting on the side of the rocks burnin' one, and the sunsets from there are awesome.

They had lots of free things to do. We did the catermaran, which seriously, is just the most awesome Booze Cruise you can take :)

I could post a million pics of the sunsets, views from every direction, but I won't bore you. Just wanted to show a teeny bit of the amazing time Robert and I had celebrating our marriage :)

Happy Anniversary Baby, I got you on my mind...

Before I get into anything, here is an amazing sun rise from this morning in Kill Devil Hills, NC.

So, Robert and I used to live in Los Angeles. Had we stayed there, I don't know that we would have gotten married. I mean, Cali is a common law and community property State - and we knew we weren't going to have kids, so why bother, right? But, we couldn't take the "life" anymore and decided to head East - to Richmond, where one of my brothers lives. So of course, my Catholic guilt combined with moving to what I considered the Bible belt, prompted us to run off to Vegas. We were married on September 25, 1999 - and drove across the country the following Friday with our stuff and my cat Grimmy and landed in Richmond. This past Friday we drove to the Outer Banks to party and relax for 4 days. I LOVE the OBX. My family has been vacationing there for 25 years - and its the last place my entire family vacationed together before my Dad passed away. So I have very sentimental feelings for it.

But without further ado...here is the wonderful man I married sitting in some big honkin' chair in Manteo! (And for those of you who don't know Robert, he's 6 ' 4" and about 230 lbs., so this chair is huge!)

It was raining in Virginia when we left - but once we got to Chesapeake we didn't see any rain again until Saturday night - which, hey, by 9:00 p.m., we were headed back to the condo. It was overcast and low 70's on Friday which was perfect for us!!!!

Saturday was partly sunny but really windy (duh, its the OBX) so thats when we headed over to Manteo and walked around. By Sunday, it was rockin'! We probably met every local in town - we tend to attract the alcoholics and the drug pushers, but hey, whatta ya gonna do! Or really, what does that say about the way we look that we would attract those kinds of people, ha,ha. But we had a great time - we're thankful that after 10 years of marriage and being together for 15 years, we still enjoy each others company and we are still madly in love.