Weekly update: Chloe

How upset does Chloe look in this picture? We took her on Wednesday, 12/10 to get "fixed". She was pretty good on the way down because I think she was happy to get out of the house. Once I took her out of the carrier bag (it's this really cute purse looking cat carrier), she did NOT like it. She crawled into my arms and hooked her claws into my jacket. She started shaking a little. Poor thing. :( I went to work and then was able to pick her up at 5 PM. The cone on her head is small, but go figure, she HATES it. When we were chilling at home, she kept trying to go under the counch, but the cone stopped her. She was not a happy kitty. Last night, we took off the cone to see if she would try to suckle her belly (she has done that for comfort ever since we "took" away Bertoli). She tried once, but it was too sore for her to do it. Hooray! So last night, she slept by my side of the bed without a cone!! One good thing (well, pertaining to getting up for work) about her is that when my alarm goes off, there is no way I can possibly press "snooze". When she knows I've woken up, she does her morning clawing on the bed spread and her cute little meows so that I will lift her up and give her a morning cuddle. I guess that's what I get for baby-ing her the first few months of her life. For Christmas, though, I think I'm going to buy her a kitty bed to sleep in.
Other than that, I saw twilight again yesterday and it was just as cheesy as the first time! Today, I am going shopping in SF with two of my girl friends. Nick and I get to go to my work's Christmas party tomorrow at the Westin in Fisherman's wharf. It should be fun, I hope. (Hey, a free dinner!) Other than that, we are enjoying our lives together!

On Saturday, Betsy treated me to a fun wreath making party in Montera (which is a little North of Half Moon Bay). It was a beautiful sunny day by the beach. There were all sorts of pine tree branches, and holly berries, and babies breath, etc. How to make a wreath? Well you grab all sorts of different tree branches, berries, etc and bunch them into 8 tiny bunches about an inch in diameter. After putting all 8 together, you clamped them onto a metal wreath frame using a metal clamper. I had such a good time. I was telling Betsy on the ride home (as I've told Rachel a month or so ago) I really want to find more friends that love doing artsy activities like these. I have fallen in love with homemaker activities. I also bought the Jane Austin collections book from Costco that has 7 of her books (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, etc). The great thing about it is that after I'm done, the book can be used as a decoration in the house.
I love the holidays!

Thanksgiving weekend!

What an exciting Thanksgiving weekend!!It started out with having Thanksgiving dinner (at 2) with Nick's family. Betsy and Bob made a fantastic Turkey dinner. I was able to use my kitchen-aid mixer for the first time ever to whip up some mashed potatoes. That mixer is AMAZING! After stuffing myself fully, I had to go back to the house to take a nap. That night, I drove down the hill to sleep at my parents house because Rachel and I were going to attempt BLACK FRIDAY!At 4:20 AM, Rachel and I were awake and ready to set off for our long day! We were outside of Walmart about 4:50 and decided to wait in the parking lot til we could at least see the end of the line. When we finally got in about 5:10, we ran straight for the toys. After fighting the crowds, we did not find much. All I bought was a $2 DVD! We then headed to Target to stand in line for the 6 AM opening. We were able to find a couple of things in there, then it was off to Stanford mall. We stayed there for 2 hours before we headed to Costco!! I bought one of Nick's presents there (which he's already found and looked at.. and loves!. Then we headed over to Toys R Us!! That was where the rush was. We stood in line for an hour to buy one item. Rachel and I were so tired that when something funny happened in front of us, we had unstoppable giggles! From there, we went to Marshall's, then it was back home to decorate the tree!! That was such a fun day that by the time I got home at 6, I wanted to pass out... but ended up going to a movie with Nick! :)On Saturday, we took Chloe to the vet for her shots... and ended up having to pay for all different stuff that cost us $270!! Animals sure are expensive. That night, Nick and I went to "Plaid Christmas" with my family. That was a great way to start off the Christmas season! Yesterday, Nick and I started building our coffee table for our living room. I love doing projects together. Overall, this was a great weekend, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the holiday season!! (as I am sitting here drinking my gingerbread latte)

RIP Bertoli

Today is a sad day for Nick, Chloe, and I. We had to put down Bertoli. On Friday, I took him to the vet to see what was wrong and I why he wasn't walking. It turns out that he had low bone density.. his pelvis was one third the normal size. Also, he had a slipped disk, most likely from play fighting with Chloe. Finally, he had a bad respiratory/sinus infection. The doctor put him on antibiotics and said that if he doesnt get better in a few months, he would never walk again. Yesterday, Chloe and Bert were messing around and he somehow got really hurt. We tried to pick him up but he let out the most painful yell I've ever heard him do. Today, he was having difficulty breathing and he couldnt move his lower body, so we made the decision to take him to the humane society today and put him down. It was painful to leave him there and I swear that he had tears in his eyes too. It's for the best and it would have been selfish to keep him alive and in pain simply because I loved cuddling with him. The positive side of this all is we still have Chloe. I wonder how long it will take her to realize that he is no longer around. :(

Happy Birthday Rachel!!

Happy Happy Birthday, you 29 yr old fool, I'm such a lucky girl, to have a sis like you!! P.S. Rachel doesn't smile in many pics with me (the goof ball) so this is the best I have... and yes, we are glowing!

Sick Bert

Unfortunately, Bertoli is still not well. He refuses to stand on his hind legs, although we have seen times where he'll try. We are definitely going to have to take them both in for shots, but we also have to take him in for X-rays. I hope we can find out what's wrong so we can get him fixed soon! He has been like this for two months now. The last time we went to the vet, she couldn't find anything. We can't afford to spend $275 for them to say "I don't know what's wrong with him..." So this must be what it's like to have children.

Anchors Away

Happy Birthday to me! Nick and I are headed to the Bahamas for a 5 night cruise!! We are doing the red eye flight on Friday, January 23, to Jacksonville, Florida so we can get there 4 hours before the ship leaves. Then we are headed to Nasseau, Half Moon Cay, then back up to Jacksonville to fly back on the night of the 29! I am so excited for at least 3 reasons: 1) Nick and I are going on a vacation, 2) I have never been east of Utah, so I'm even excited to fly to Florida, and 3) I was "forced" to get my passport yesterday because I'm going out of the country!! There's only one thing I dread about this trip..... I have to buy a swimsuit. Any ideas where I can get one for cheap?!