Mother's Day 2013

I unknowingly celebrated Mother's Day this year! No, I don't have children unless you count my four-legged furry friend. I mean, he is like a son to me, so sure, why not?

Mr. X ran errands and then picked Tyler and I up and took us out to a late lunch in Annapolis, MD. The weather was perfect. We were all matching, it was sickeningly cute. I wore a Holtby t-shirt, Mr. X wore a Laich and then Tyler had his little puppy Capitals jersey. Needless to say, we got a lot of attention with it being a Playoffs game. Unfortunately, us being decked out in some Caps gear didn't help the cause. We're going on to a game 7 which start tonight at 8:00pm! I would love to go to the game but Playoffs tickets must be super expensive! Anyway, we walked around downtown Annapolis looking for a good outdoor restaurant to eat at and ended up picking Buddy's Crabs & Ribs. We got their ribs for our appetizer and Mr. X got a burger since he isn't a big fan of seafood. I wanted Maryland blue crabs but the worst happened, they ran out! Can you believe a restaurant that specializes in crabs and ribs actually ran out of crabs? That's like Popeyes or KFC being out of chicken! Actually, that happened to me at Bonchon before, go figure. I was a little sad until I saw Seafood Extravaganza which had everything from crawfish, clams, mussels, oysters, crawfish snow crab legs to crabs. I figured they'd bring everything out but the blue crabs but low and behold, I had two. The meal was way too much for me so I didn't end up finishing but it did satisfy my craving. We also drank tasty peach daiquiris as well while people walked by commenting on the Capitals and how cute and well-behaved Tyler is. We ended our day in Annapolis by stopping by an ice cream parlor and walking around main street. Tyler loved being out and about.

For the Capitals game, we decided to watch it at our favorite bar. It's our favorite because we met there, it's like Cheers because we know everyone and they take good care of us. To end our night, he groomed Tyler! He got the works, haircut, bath and nail clippings. Mr. X can be really sweet without even trying at times..it's quite a breath of fresh air. :)

Pursuit of Happiness {Friends}

All you need is love! Yes, I quoted The Beatles. They were a great band, you can't blame me. I have a good group of friends and one of my best friends is miles away in another state. Distance doesn't have sh*t on our bond. I wish I had recent photos with them to share but unfortunately I don't. They've helped me out of ruts and are just amazing individuals. They'll laugh with me, cry with me (ok so the guys won't do that but they'll at least lend a shoulder for when I need to cry) and run around and do childish silly things with me. I try to surround myself with positive people because in all honestly, no one needs negativity in their lives. I'm the annoying optimist trying to brighten everyone's day in the most awkward way possible. Some people get it, some people don't. Some people like it, some people don't. All I've got to say is, "well, that's your loss."

Here's a playlist of songs for our short Spring!

My friends can be super silly and creepy too! We had a lot of fun with this photo even though more than half our group is missing.. :):)

Also, the Captials are in the Playoffs playing the Rangers in the first round..again!! The series is currently tied. I don't like that at all. Hopefully [knock on wood] the boys are able to knock the Rangers out of the series this year! Lets go Caps!!!

Cinco De Mayo Weekend 2013

 

I wasn't quite sure how this weekend was going to pan out since my weekends with Mr. X are relatively short. He did end up coming home earlier than usual on Friday so that was a nice. He tried to be home before I got home from work but things didn't quite work out in his favor so he didn't get to surprise me. Our Saturday was spent running errands for his Truck. I can't believe how attached Tyler is to Mr. X, he's developed separation anxiety with him which I used to have to deal with but now he just takes me for granted. Bad dog.

He stops barking and whining immediately when Mr. X comes into sight.

After that we stopped by to visit a friend at James Hobans Irish Restaurant & Bar. I love French onion soup so I got that, a yummy dirty martini and we had some tasty shots from our friend. I really enjoyed the decor and atmosphere. It was a little too loud to carry on a conversation though. One of my other friends joined us later and we took the party back over to my usual spot, Public tenley to meet another friend. My bartender friend, Brad, made us a delicious breakfast shot. It tasted like waffles and syrup and we chased it with orange juice. Yum!

We didn't really get to go out for the actual Cinco De Mayo so I opted to make empanadas at home. They actually turned out pretty good. I didn't make the dough myself though, I cheated and opted for ready-made pie crusts. I was doing laundry and making the bed and came out and Mr. X had already stuffed his face with five empanadas. I love getting his approval since he's such a picky eater. :)

Life and such so far..

[source: molly jacques]

I haven't been updating as much. I'm still trying to figure out what direction I want to take this blog and how personal I want to get. Sometimes things happen in life and it constantly tests you. It can be discouraging to work hard for something and then have someone take it away whether it be a life, possession, career or anything really. So as you know, I've recently moved. Everything was going splendid with a few exceptions but overall, happy. There was the most recent incident that once again made me lose faith in humanity a bit. I've been home, alone and sick for nearly a week. The one day I go out of my apartment to take out the trash, I find that my car had been broken into and my in-dash navigation stolen, right out of my car. I'm sure you can imagine how devastating, violated and discouraging that made me feel. It made me feel even worse to find that the same predicament affected some of my neighbors even going as far as having their entire vehicle stolen. Really, who does that anymore? Especially steal a stereo. I don't feel safe anymore and I now I'm even more weary of strangers. It was very hard to cope with especially with my boyfriend being gone during the week. Moments like this, you just have to put your life into perspective and most importantly, you have to look out for number one and count your blessings. I'm still trying to pick myself back up and it's strengthening to know I have people that love me. 

[source: captainpittsburgh]

Current Obsession: IKEA Hacks

Mr. X and I are obsessed with this home office/bedroom storage set up that was featured on IKEA's Home Improvement Project. The only downfall we found was that they don't list what products are used and we ran around Ikea asking employees and having them think we're crazy. After more research into the Ikea catalog, I think we found out what pieces were used. The Micke desk and Malm dresser, placed together and topped with wood. We really want to do this for the spare room since he always wanted a home office. We'll see how handy we end up!

Tyler's Story

My good friend recently rescued a dog from a shelter in NY. It's so touching to hear stories of people saving other people or animals.

I'm not sure I ever shared Tyler's story. When people see him they think he came from a breeder or pet store. The truth is, I'm not even sure of his true background but I am very glad that I have a healthy little pup.  A few years ago I had been wishing, dreaming and hoping to get a dog. I've always wanted a dog but my parents never got us a pet besides a gold fish. Oh wait, my mom had parakeets too. I wasn't too fond of the parakeets. They talked a lot. I also didn't take responsibility for the birds as they were my mom's pets, I didn't want them. I guess I can see now looking back why we never got a dog because as kids, they're not really the ones going to be taking care of them, the parents are.

Fast-forward many years later when I was in my early twenties I decided that I should finally get a dog. Some of my friends had dogs. I've watched their dogs from time to time. I thought I was comfortable to have one on my own. So I looked and looked and ended up receiving a little Yorkshire Terrier lovingly named, Nala. She was very tiny at just 9 weeks old. She was quiet and curious. Unfortunately, I didn't have her for very long. She came from a pet store and had developed distemper and I was advised from the vet that she would not get better even though some days she gave me hope because she was a happy curious puppy one day and lethargic and had to be hand-fed the next. That was my first experience owning a pet of my own. It was heartbreaking and even though I didn't have her for very long I was instantly attached. I mourned her for what felt like months, imagine if I had her longer.

After that experience, I decided that I would never be interested in a dog from a pet store again and did some research and learned about puppy mills, backyard breeders and the sort. After many months went by, I began looking for a Yorkie again. I ran across an ad in Kijiji (eBay's Classifieds) for a 3 month old Yorkie.

He looked simply adorable! The owner is a college student and I'm sure you remember the days of being broke and certainly not having time for raising a puppy! I guess the owner bit off a little more than she can chew as she was a psych major. I responded to the ad right away and picked him up after his vet appointment on a Friday. Not just any Friday, it was Black Friday. Many of you were camped out in front of Best Buy or throwing elbows in the malls scouring for sales while I was in DC picking up who is now the love of my life. The owner got him when he was about 10 weeks old so she had him for about 5 weeks until I came along. There was an asking price and it didn't seem all that sketchy as she is a college student, not sure if she worked or not..but she had all his vet records for me and I was pretty much compensating her for the time and money she had invested in the little guy. 

When he first came to me, his name was Roger. I didn't think that was a very fitting name for him and frankly, the person that got him for me as an early Birthday present really wanted to name him Sylar after a character from a TV show called, Heroes. The name became fitting as he would tear apart his toys starting from the head and removing all of the stuffing. I'm not sure why but people had a hard time saying Sylar or maybe they refused to believe that was his name and would call him Skyler or Tyler. My dad for one had a hard time then finally I just decided to change his name to Tyler after my dad had finally gotten Sylar down. He was proud of that accomplishment since he has a heavy Laotian accent. 

Tyler has had many moves with me, has loved many people and continues to do so. He's always there to greet me when I come home and he's always ready for treats. It doesn't take him long to learn new tricks and he loves being able to run around with kids. He used to be a yapper but grew out of it. The only time you'll really hear a sound out of him is if you tease him with food, he'll grunt, if he's excited and playing he may have a playful whine/bark, he cries a lot and he thinks he's a watch dog and will bark and run away when he hears someone at the door.

Here is a gallery of Tyler's first moments with me:

Mistake number one of a dog owner, placing a pee pad IN his crate. Lol. I was afraid he would have accidents in there. I didn't fully trust him or know his limits yet. I did that for the first couple days and then realized it was a silly thing to do because the point of crate training is to have them eliminate outside and certainly not in their crate. I'm not sure if that's why he never got used to the pee pads or built a hatred for them that way or not. He always tore those things apart almost to spite me.

Simple Soy Glazed Grilled Salmon

Sometimes you just want to eat healthy and clean. It definitely makes you feel better. It's been really cold outside and frankly I wouldn't know how to grill a salmon if I tried. I imagine it would crumble and fall into the charcoal or you'll need to layer them over foil but I like the grill marks. So, I turned to my Cuisinart Griddle. It's fairly easy to clean and fits well in your kitchen whether you want to keep it neatly tucked away in a drawer or sitting among your spices on the countertop.

Mr. X was away on the truck so I started to cook. One night I decided, I want grilled salmon, grilled asparagus and brown rice. It would be a simple dinner yet healthy and would leave me satisfied. I started off by marinating my salmon fillet pieces for a few hours.

Marinade

• Soy sauce
• Brown sugar
• Vegetable oil
• Water
• Half a lemon, juiced
• Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

You just have to eyeball it but the salmon really soaks in the flavor. Just grill the salmon fillet according to size and enjoy!