Here are pictures of Toby having fun with the balls.  They are just the right size to fit into his mouth.  They are also very durable!

So I decided to frame them up and hang it in my kitchen. Click on the photo to see a larger image.  The colors were very soothing and the entire picture matches very well with my kitchen wall.  I don't like anything too girly in my house and this is just the right hint of girliness that I can handle.  Instant art for less than $5!  Can't beat that!

I will frame the other two cards and hang them over my fireplace. :-)

Occasionally I like to dig up old pictures and remind myself how far I've come.  In this case, I dug up pictures of Toby when he was just a 4-mo old pup!  I was living in Brentwood at the time and when I used to take him for walks, people on the street would tell me to feed him more!  I wanted to tell them that he's just a growing boy, like a gawky teen!  Look at him now!  Such a handsome boy!  That's my baby...yups.
Click here to see Toby's baby pictures.

It's raining in LA this weekend...it even hailed yesturday morning!  Normally, on lazy Spring-like Sundays in Southern California, I like to spend some quiet time out in my little backyard.  It's a small but cozy space of my very own.  I really love English gardens but have long given up on keeping flowers in the garden  (in ground or potted) since Toby came into my world.  So I can only mimic the feel of an English garden through the use of outdoor furnniture and accesories.

Call it narcissistic...but I wanted my caricature on a stamp!  I thought of making my own stamp by getting a rubber stamp kit.  But they all cost close to $100!  And the details of my caricature drawing is too detail for me to carve it out of stamp material.  So I searched around on the internet and found this wonderful site that will custom make your design into a stamp for a very reasonable price!  Impress also carries all kinds of wonderful craft supplies and craft ideas.  The stamp designs must be printed out onto paper and mail it in to them by snail mail.  I ended up ordering two stamp sizes plus $40 worth of art supplies! 

As part of my spending spree at Impress, I purchased some shrinky dink paper and wanted to make some charms from my stamps.  I got the type you can have to draw or stamp on.

The stamps are too small and so the shrinky dink came out all curled up after the baking.  And the stamp ink didn't seal into the plastic. I think I will get the shinky dink that I can injet print onto...

Happy Valentine's Day!!  This is Toby and his daughter Abby relaxing in my backyard.  Notice that they are holding paws! :-)

Yes, Toby is a daddy.  Toby and his ex-wife Summer (a very smart 55lb-Golden Retriever) had 6 sons and 1 daughter back in early 2004.  Below is a picture of Toby watching over his kids...probably wondering what the chubby, wiggly creatures were!

Astronaut Greg Jarvis had strong ties to Hermosa.  He lived in Hermosa and worked at Hughes (now Raytheon) as a satellite engineer.
 Apparently, he was bumped off two other shuttle missions only to be assigned to the ill-fated Challenger.

These fruits all came from the same tree!  I visited my parents' house last weekend and went to pick some limes from their lime tree.  To my surprise, amongst the familiar green football-shaped limes hung these large, round, orange fruits!  My parents had seen the orange fruits but never cut one open to taste it.  Do limes and oranges come from the same tree?? Not to my knowledge...but then again, what do I know about citrus?  I peeled one open and the inside looks like yellow orange slices.  I tasted one slice and undoubtedly, it's NOT an orange!  Maybe it's just not ripe enought...of course I had to check the internet.  Turns out that when limes are left on trees they will ripen orange!  Growers just pick the limes before they completely ripen, before they lose their tartness and to distingush them from lemons!!  I really like the ripe limes, they are much juicier and they are still very sour.  I'll ask my parents to leave the limes until they turn orange. :-)

Emergency surgery was needed.  The patient suffered a major laceration from a vicious dog bite.  After stabilizing the patient by containing further loss of stuffing, the patient was placed on the operating table.  Quickly, surgical instruments were gathered and prepared (the needle was threaded, the scissors were laid out.)  It was quite an emotional ordeal, his attacker/bestfriend had to be restrained in another part of the facility throughout the operation.

Resting comfortably in the recovery room post surgery.  The operation lasted about 5 minutes, without any complications.  Scarring is reduced to a minimum.  He is expected to make a full recovery.  His attacker/bestfriend is anxiously awaiting for his return in the waiting room.  Everyone was quite relieved and send their best wishes.

This blog is for BW, I am sure this is a typical day at work for you...

In honor of my new floor, I invited a couple of friends over for dinner,  Tom and Maggie along with their two dogs, Stella and Mia.  I got to play Martha and made a four-course dinner with semi-formal table settings and all!  The menu was as follows:

Starter: Miso Soup.
Appetizer: Spring salad with sake-ginger-garlic dressing.
Main Course: Grilled crispy boneless chicken thighs with lemon-salted rice. (The "crispy" part was accidental, but turned out to be pretty yummy!)
Desert: Chocolate eclairs
Wine: Pinot Grigio (brought by the guests, they knew it was going to be chicken...)

I even had sliced lemon in the water glasses!  I think it went over well...Tom and Maggie ate everything on their plates and bowl. :-) **very proud of myself**

As you look at the picture on the left, you may be wondering what the funny looking black and white thing in the middle of the table is.  It is actually my edible center piece. 

Here it is.  It's an edible topiary.  I saw this strawberry topiary on TV and was very impressed with the concept of art combined with food.  I also like the idea of an appetizer in which guests can take at will.  Strawberries are still very expensive this time of the year, so I decided to go with blackberries and mozzarella balls.  I stuck the cheese balls and blackberries on toothpicks and stuck the toothpicks into an apple.  I know, mine doesn't look anything like the strawberry topiary.  But that's because I made the thing in 5 minutes, right before the guests arrived.  If I had more time, I would stick the toothpicks completely into the apple so that no apple would show.  Then the entire thing would just be a black and white sphere.

Mozzarella balls are pretty plain in taste and so will go well with most fruits.  But one tip, don't put the topiary back into the fridge once you put the mozzarella balls on.  They will dry out and harden in the fridge!

My guests thought the topiary is a cute idea.  But I ended up eating 70% of the berries and cheese!  It was so yummy!

Obsessed?  Or just curious?  Heh, maybe a little bit of both.  Kim introduced me to this new Altoids gum and I'm hooked!  It's a sour apple chewing gum and it's as curiously strong as their other minty products. 

Click on the image to see a close up picture of the tin.
Notice that on the front of the tin it states "ABOUT 20 PIECES."  Does this mean that they will likely short-change you most of the time? Hm...

Here's what the little critters look like...yummy. Yes, only 3 left in this tin...but never fear, I have many more tins (see above pic.)  Word of caution, not for the faint-hearted, it's VERY sour!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it...

Only one month of 2006 has passed and I've made so many huge life changes!

1. Got wood floors...

2. On new asthma preventative medication that has virtually eliminated ALL of my allergies (trees, pollen, smog, etc), including my asthma. (I have yet to encounter a cat, so I don't know if I'm still highly allergic to them.) I am amazed that I have been an allergy sufferer for decades, thinking that that was just the price I pay for living in Southern California!!!

3. Transitioned into a new program at work...I also moved to another building and office!  New boss, new co-workers, new parking lot, new drive route, new lunch places to eat.  I still manage to drive to one of my favorite Japanese restaurant (Taiko) for lunch at least once a week.  I miss all of my old co-workers whom I had spent the past five years working with.

4. Growing my hair out...still working on this one.  Success is still to be determined.  I've had the same hair length for years, thought I'd try something new. 

5. Switched to using an electric toothbrush.  One day over coffee with four co-workers I discovered through idle chat that 3 out 4 of them use electric toothbrushes!  I was resistant at first...but couldn't help but wondered if I was missing something.  So I gave it a try, bought a cheap little $6 electric brush to start with before diving into a $100 investment.  So my first time using it, I was a complete dork!  I used a huge gob of toothpaste like I normally do on my regular toothbrush.  Well when I started the electric brush 80% of my toothpaste fell into the sink!  Mental note, don't use so much toothpaste.  Then I had to resist the urge to move the toothbrush in a circular motion like I do with the regular brush.  After using it three or four times, I am hooked!! My teeth feels soooooo clean!! NO trace of plague!! I can't stop running my tongue over my glossy teeth.  I've noticed a drastic improvement in my teeth color too!  No going back to the old brush now!  And my dentist will be happy when he cleans my teeth at my next appointment. :-D

Wow, if this keeps up, I can't wait to see what else will happen to me in a few more months!

In other news...my beloved Manhattan Beach is tainted due to a massive sewage spill!! So much so that they are considering removing ALL the sand and rebuilding the beach with "fresh" sand!  The other option mentioned was to wash the sand with chlorine.  So sad, I will have to take Toby down to Hermosa Beach until they decide what they'll do to Manhattan Beach.

I guess I can work on some craft projects too...I have a few I'm dying to try...it involves a stamp and some shrinky-dink!  Can't wait to show everyone once I finish it.