Dog Walking Etiquette

I don't really know if there are actual Dog Walking Etiquettes out there but I think it's pretty common sense. When I walk Sasha around the neighborhood and I see another dog already walking down the same path I'm about to take, I take Sasha down another path because I know dogs get excited when they see one another and Sasha is not always that good at staying calm. Or if I see another dog coming, I tend to pull Sasha away from the other dogs and to the side. I think these things are just common sense but I guess common sense is not that common.

Usually when I walk Sasha in the morning, I take my purse and whatever else I have with me so that we can just go straight to the car after our walk. So this morning I had my new LV purse and Sasha's bag with me while walking her. At the very end of our walk I see this guy come across with his two little dogs. I sensed that Sasha was going to get excited so I pulled her back a bit. I was expecting the guy to pull his dogs to the side as well so we can both pass but instead, he just stood there like an idiot. So Sasha was calm but one of his yappy dogs start barking and that made Sasha excited. I tried to pull her and while pulling her, I totally slipped and fell on my knee while scraping my new purse. The good thing is Sasha totally calmed down after I fell. It's like she sensed I fell or knew something wasn't right. I was afraid she was going to bolt. The guy just stood there and did nothing. Still stood there with his stupid dogs. I was furious. I wanted to yell at him and say "Next time pull your dumb dogs to the side!"

My dad is back from Taiwan which means lots of homemade dinners to come. I can really use some home cooked meals. My mom made dinner tonight except she made brown rice rather than white rice. Yuck. I hate brown rice. I told her to make sure to get me white rice tomorrow because I just can't stand brown rice. I know.....I sound like a snob.

There's a store at Fashion Island called Shabby Chic that I absolutely love. I haven't been in a long time but I want everything in that store. I was reading Hygge House Blog today and she was talking about a store she loves in Santa Monica that has a lot of shabby chic stuff and how the owner now has a blog. I went to the blog and find out that she's the owner of the store I love in Newport but that the flagship store is in Santa Monica! I must go for a visit. I want to turn the guest room into a shabby chic room. It'll probably take me awhile but I'm quite excited about that prospect.

Thank god it's Friday tomorrow. Mark will hopefully be able to come home tomorrow night but most likely not until Saturday morning. It's been a long week without him and Sasha and I really miss him. Lots to do this weekend to get ready for our trip next weekend. Yippee!

One down.....

I finally booked our rental car for Maui today. Yes...I have been procrastinating. Originally, I was going to book a convertible like we had last year but they were all out of them at Thrifty so I had to think about another option. I went online to try to find rental car coupons because I refuse to pay full price and found a great deal for Hertz. I looked at all their cars and they had an Infiniti FX35. Mark and I saw his car in the neighborhood over the weekend and it's pretty sleek. I figured why not....might as well rent it and test it out. When we had the convertible last year, it was hard to get our luggage and Mark's guitar in so hopefully, we will have way more space this year in this car.

So that's one less thing I have to worry about on my list. Hotel done, flight done, car done. All there is left is activities but we can plan that once we get there. Hopefully there will just be a lot of laying around on the beach and snorkeling by the hotel.

Disneyland, QVC, Project Runway and more....

This pretty much sums up my 3 day weekend. Mark and I took Friday off and went to Disneyland. It was nice to be there without the weekend crowd but it was REALLY REALLY hot. It really sucked the energy out of the both of us by the end of the day. Mark was a trooper going from ride to ride with me....I know he was getting really tired by the end of the night even though I wanted to go on more rides.

We went to Napa Rose for dinner and it wasn't as good as I had remembered. My food was lukewarm and the soup I got tasted like it came out of a can. Needless to say I was quite disappointed.

Saturday afternoon, Mark and I caught up on some Project Runway episodes. On one of the episodes, they had to create an outfit for Diane Von Furstenberg and the winner would get their outfit made by Diane and be part of her Fall 2008 collection. Leanne won and made a gorgeous long silk dress. Mark said I should get it because it would be a rare item (limited quantity to be made). I showed my sister the dress and she said that the dress would only look good on really tall people. She said the shape of the dress is "picky" and I would have to try it on first. I wish I could try it on first but I can't! So I'm still debating whether or not I should get it. Although Mark will probably say that my opportunities are way gone.

Sunday morning.....I was flipping through channels and happened to stop on QVC. They were showing some jewelry by Tacori so I was interested to see what they had. I normally don't watch QVC but I was sucked in because they said that after the Tacori special, they were going to be debuting a Hello Kitty jewelry line that is made just for QVC. I've been wanting Hello Kitty jewelry for some time now because I love Hello Kitty and the jewelry pieces are way too cute and EXPENSIVE. So when QVC said they were going to debut their Hello Kitty line, I just had to wait and see what they had in store. I was sucked in! I was thinking they were going to have a few pieces but they ended up showing quite a few items and most of them were way too cute and the price was way too good to pass up. I was a frantic woman calling QVC to put my order in. In the end, I was able to purchase a few things and two of the items I wanted are on the wait list. Here are pics of what I got (both purchased and on waitlist). I can't wait to get them!!! Super cute items.
Oh...and the Hello Kitty debut sold out in 45 minutes. It was madness I tell ya.

We got all of Sasha's proofs back today. Mark and I will need to see what the best options are. There are too many pictures we both like so we may end up getting the Photo Box that will come with 50 5x7 photos. We were originally thinking about getting the Coffee Table Book but we'll see. Sasha isn't feeling so feel right now and Mark is gone for a week. Her stomach is bothering her so I have to keep an eye out tonight.

I've been dealing with a couple of investigations at work that has taken up a lot of my time and mental strength the past month. I'm looking forward to going away in a couple of weeks and getting some much needed time away from work with Mark.

Our Baby

Sneak peeks are in from Sasha's photo session. Some of the pictures came out really cute. Some of them really captured the essence of the bear. I can't wait to see the entire collection.

I'm pretty tired right now and fighting to stay awake so I can watch women's all around gymnastics competition. Michael Phelps just won his 6th gold medal....amazing. I just don't bother watching his races anymore because I know he's going to win. No one even comes close to him....

I'll write more tomorrow. I can barely think right now.

Olympics & More....

I have neglected blogging duties for a long time so this one will be long. I am super excited about the Summer Olympics and wish I could take 2 weeks off work so I can stay up all night and watch all the events. This past weekend I pretty much parked myself in-front of the TV and watched tons of Olympic events. How exciting was the swimming relay Sunday night? I don't like the events of the Summer Olympics as much as I do the Winter ones but there are some must sees. I love gymnastics, diving, swimming (Michael Phelps...hello) and badminton. Don't even get me started on the events I don't think should even be an Olympic sport but that's another topic.

Sasha had her very first photo shoot this past Saturday. If you have a dog or cat and want to have their photos taken....please check out Grace Chon. She is really good with dogs and her work is amazing. We can't wait to get our pictures back....she got some really good ones of Sasha. I was afraid Sasha would get antsy during the shoot but she actually did really well. She behaved herself and posed for almost 2 hours. It was really hot outside and towards the end she was panting pretty hard. Proud of my baby girl and we'll have photos soon to show.

Mark and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary a week ago. I can't believe a year has already passed. I'm lucky to have met such a wonderful guy who loves me unconditionally and it's been truly a great year with him in my life. Mark planned a really nice weekend for us and would not tell me what we were doing until the Friday of our annivesary weekend. He booked us into a new hotel in West Hollywood called The London. This is the hotel where Gordon Ramsey's new restaurant is. The hotel is really nice and modern and close to a lot of our destinations. We started off by going to Pink's Hot Dog since Mark had never been. We waited in line for at least 40 minutes but it was well worth it.

Saturday night, Mark took me to a restaurant called Musso & Franks. It's an old landmark restaurant by the Pantages Theater that is a bit creepy inside. The dark and old and the food is just so so. At least we can say we've been but I don't think we ever plan to go back. Part of the reason we went is because we went to watch Wicked again. Some of the characters had different people playing them than from the first time we went but it was still really good. I just love that play so much.

On Sunday, we went to see Steph at her new store, Fashionology. I made a sweatshirt at the store and let me tell you..it's not as easy as it looks. But maybe it's because I wanted to put lots of rhinestones on my sweatshirt so that took awhile. They have some really cute designs in the store and I'm hoping they'll start carrying adult size t-shirts and pants so I can go back and make some more. After that we went to Tiffany's to finalize ring styles and then went to The Farm for lunch. Love their Lobster Cobb Sandwich. So delicious. We had dinner at Gordon Ramsey's new restaurant Sunday night and let me tell you....the portions there are for pint size people. It was tiny! The food was pretty good and I hope he changes up the menu every season. I was hoping Gordon Ramsey would be walking around but no such luck.

Overall it was a wonderful weekend and I'm glad the two of us got some quality time together and even though we didn't travel far....it seemed like we were away on a mini vacation. Thanks honey.

I had to lay someone off at work today and it's not easy. It's tough with the economy today. It's someone's livelihood you are dealing with but I have to remind myself that it's just business. All I can do is try to be fair and that's that.

Ok....back to the Olympics. China just won gold medal for men's synchronized diving. Amazing. They are so good in this event. I think beach volleyball may be up next so I better use that time to take a shower so I don't miss men's gymnastics coming up later on tonight.

Happy 8-8-08

We will never experience this day in our life time and it is considered to be a really really lucky day for Chinese people. Today is also the opening day of the Summer Olympics. I'm taking a break from watching the Parade of Nations. I love the Olympics and look forward to watching it the next 2 weeks. Hope you all had a wonderful 8-8-08.

Chicago

Greetings from Chicago! I'm here for an annual HR conference....my first time and I'm a bit amazed at the number of people that showed up. It's quite interesting to see all these HR professionals from all over the world here.....as one instructor said...."This is your safe house....away from all those crazy employees, your nothing is ever good enough boss, and me me me managers." AMEN! I've been having to wake up at 5:30AM everyday to make the shuttle to take me to the conference at 6:30AM. I am completely beat. Not to mention all the walking I've had to do from one end of the convention center to another. By the end of the day....I'm completely pooped out.

Tonight, for the first time since I got here, I ventured out into the city. My hotel is right on Michigan Avenue which is where all the shops are. I walked to an Italian restaurant a block away and almost got lost. People are use to walking here. A block for them is like 5 blocks for me. I left my hotel about 8PM and thought it should be a quiet evening....was I wrong. When I got to my restaurant, I thought it was a Saturday night rather than a Tuesday night. There were a ton of restaurants around me and even more people hanging out. It really felt like I was in the city....I think I can live here.

I plan to do more sight seeing tomorrow after my conference ends. For now I have to get some shut eye....

Happy Things

A few things that made me smile today:

1. Clean house and fluffy bed



2. Sasha bear looking so happy



3. Sasha's June "Treat of the Month" package....the colors are so pretty this month



4. Sneak peeks from American Crafts...just love their paper and letter stickers!

5. This man who tries to make me laugh and smile at all times....thanks honey

June Gloom...

is the weather we've been having around here. It gets sunny around mid-day and then the clouds roll in early afternoon. Kind of makes me feel glummy too. I know I know....Mark says that my last 2 posts are a bit depressing and they probably have been because I'm a bit down lately. I think I've just had it with work. It's always one thing after another. A past freelancer is threatening to sue me for defamation which is completely outrageous. It's things like this that makes me wonder if I can be in the HR field. There are days when I seriously just want to tell everyone to go f$%^ off. It's unbelievable the amount of crap people make up or in their mentally challenged heads think up. *sigh*

Here are a few pictures of Sasha right after we picked her up from Sparky's. She's so fluffy and clean I love it.

Here's a couple of her with her head out the window....

We spent Saturday running some errands, taking a nap in the afternoon, and watched Kung Fu Panda. Such a cute movie. If you haven't seen it you must go....it's a lot better than I thought. Jack Black did a really good job with the voice over and all the kung fu fighting stuff made me miss watching Chinese kung fu soap operas.

We spent Sunday cleaning up around the house and running more errands. I took Mark to Gyu-Kaku for Father's Day dinner...yum o! They were out of any kind of potatoes which was a bit disappointing but we had more than enough food to go around. Here's what Sasha got Mark for Father's Day. We figure dad likes to listen to his music on his nano and this way he can listen at work too.

Mark is traveling again this week. He left today and won't be back until Thursday. I got to go to the Japanese market tonight to pick up a few things for dinner this week. I think I'll make some udon tonight. I even bought instant microwave rice! It was on sale =)

I'm leaving you with a couple of layouts I did last weekend. I want to play with my new Studio Calico kit.....will need to wait for more pictures to be printed.

Friday Night

So happy it's Friday. It's about 9:30PM and Mark is totally passed out next to me. He's had a long week so he's absolutely exhausted. His body is needing to catch up on sleep. I was going to watch Steve Carell on Larry King but they're having a special on Tim Russert instead. Sasha is out on the balcony hanging out and I'm just browsing through scrapbook sites to see what is new.

I've been thinking a lot lately about quitting my job and doing something completely different. I just don't think I'm cut out for the corporate world. I love hotels and have always been fascinated with them so I was thinking maybe I can go into hotel management. Of course I'd have to start from the bottom but it might be ok. I really want to move but I don't think Mark is too keen on the idea. I told him we should move to Toronto so I can learn the bridal shop business or I'd love to do some event planning of some sort. Lots to think about.

I took Mark to Shinsengumi for dinner tonight but I don't think he liked it much. He only liked the beef skewers, asparagus wrapped in bacon and the grilled gyoza. I was a bit disappointed at the place too because I thought it would be much better. The one down in Fountain Valley is definitely a lot better. I think it has more selection and more beef type skewers.

Back to scrapbook browsing....more tomorrow.

Words to Live By

I have been totally unmotivated at work recently. I feel a bit disengaged and robotic. I do the work that I need to do and that's pretty much it. It's like the passion I once had is now gone. A lot of it has to do with my boss meddling in everything and not letting go and being clear on our responsibilities. The whole situation has actually gotten me down for awhile and I've been looking for something to bring me back up.

My fried Kris sent me a link to this site today. This lady is quite interesting and below is a post she had on her site:

"Please go out there and do. Live. Don’t be the same as yesterday. Don’t live vicariously online. Don’t use language that has no meaning or talk ideas you don’t really live. Don’t hide. Don’t copy others or live their ideas or life. Don’t fear doing your thing. Don’t fear doing. Instead of reading a decorating magazine, paint that room. Instead of thinking of baking, do up a cake. Run, walk, bike. Put that self help book down and pick up yourself.

Let go of the snark, your worries, your anger and fear and give into possibility, action, joy and life. Do. Do some more. Stop thinking about you. Stop blogging about just you and your kid and your pet. There’s a world out there to connect to, really connect to and email doesn’t count. Being of use is more important than being popular. Think about the lady down the street, the person at the drive through, the man fallen in the street, about politics, the environment, healthcare, another country and then do something about it. Never stop at thinking.

Dream big, work harder. Have lots of fun, lift a finger, do something for someone else. Cheer your friends on. Cheer yourself up. Celebrate as much as possible. Enjoy everything. Right now. It’s OK to want more and do more but be present with where you are or who you are with. Don’t rush the situation - even if it’s bad. Move on when you can. Don’t settle. Try everything you can and get over everything holding you back.

Go outside. Go outside yourself. Make a difference, make some change. Don’t complain about someone unless you’re talking to that someone. Don’t complain about a situation you’re not willing to make better. They don’t have it better and you don’t have it worse. Don’t make excuses. You’ll never see possibility if you do. And you’re smart and worth more than settling for a life of complaining and limitation.

Hope. Hope more. Give someone else hope. Get healthy and contribute to a healthy environment. Think about everything you do, you buy, you say. Only be lazy on Sunday and even then, be conscious. Rest is useful, giving up is not.

Live with a light heart. Play more. Remember what it’s like to be seven. Remember to listen to a seven year old because you just have more words and life experience, not necessarily more wisdom. Have more questions than answers and don’t put everything into words. Sometimes just feel things and be. Be quiet more often, listen harder, talk exactly as you mean to.

Strive for your best and not what you think someone elses’ best is. Follow through. Don’t let others’ down. Don’t let yourself down. You are better than your circumstances. Ask for what you’re worth. Make magic happen don’t wish for it. Don’t envy others’ lives, envy yours. Live it fully. Teach by example how to live well, how to be treated, how to be kind, how to be alive.

Do. I can’t stress that one enough. Take action on your life. Make the change. No more sulking, waiting, thinking, reading, talking about. It’s time. You’re ready."

Wow....this really makes you think. I want to print this out and post it in my office and read it everyday to remind myself to live a little more, do a little more, and think about myself a lot less. I'm also reading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. He is the professor at Carnegie Mellon who has cancer and gave a series of lectures called "The Last Lecture". I just started and I can't stop reading it.

Mark is suppose to be home tonight but I think he missed his flight due to late meetings and bad weather. He's suppose to be back now around midnight.....actually I just checked with United and he won't be back til 2AM. Must have been some delays in DC or Texas. Poor Mark....he must be exhausted.

Ok...back to my book.

Time Flies

Today marks 10 months since Mark and I first went on our first date. It's hard to imagine it's been 10 month already. Time really flies. I'm lucky to have found someone as caring, loving, funny, and sweet as Mark.....he's truly one of a kind and he should always remember that.

Mark is currently away on travel so Sasha and I are alone til tomorrow night. It's always a bit scary for me to stay at home alone even with Sasha here. I'm so use to having other people around it's strange when I'm alone.

Here's a couple of pictures of Sasha from over the weekend. One is of her and the newest layout I made for her and the other is her hanging out on the balcony outside our master bedroom. She has been loving it out there lately. I think maybe it gets too hot for her in the room so she likes to go outside and cool off. She can spend hours out there at a time just hanging out.

I better go get ready for bed. Sasha looks like she wants to play for a bit before the night is over.

More Catch Up

It's Sunday and we're trying to be productive today. I've done 2 loads of laundry today already and cleaned up the kitchen a bit. We bought a juicer on Friday so I'm super excited because now I can make freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. There's nothing like a glass after work. We also got a mini chopping machine so that I don't have to chop up all the tomatoes and onions when making bruschetta.

Dinner was super yummy at my mom's last night. I think I had 2 bowls of rice and 2 bowls of soup. My sister gave me her rice cooker so I don't have to buy a new one. Now I just have to go to the Japanese market or Korean market to pick up a few things to go with my rice. I have to be better about eating right and exercising. Half of the year has already gone by and I need to really push myself to be better.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Mark and I went to Santa Barbara. I love it there. It's far enough where you feel like you're truly away but close enough to drive to. We stayed at the Inn of the Spanish Garden and one night at Santa Ynez Inn. I love the Inn of the Spanish Garden. I will absolutely not stay anywhere else while I'm in Santa Barbara. If you ever stay there, you have to try their double chocolate chip cookies. They are SO GOOD. The reason we stayed 1 night at Santa Ynez Inn is because we decided to stay one more night in Santa Barbara last minute and I thought we might as well be close to the wineries. Mark liked the place but I was ok with it. It had an old Victorian feel to it and I was a little bit disappointed with the room. It was still nice overall to just get away from work.....I feel like we spent some really good quality time together. It's rare to have that kind of time together so it felt nice.

Here's a few pictures of Sasha from last week. It really shows some of her few favorite expressions. She got to spend most of the weekend with her parents so I think she's pretty happy. She's currently lying next to me under the table hanging out. So cute. We're going to head to bed now.

Catch Up

I have been so bad at updating my blog so here's a big one....the last time I blogged was about the two Davids being in American Idol finals and I really thought David Archuleta was going to win after their performances but the fans sure pulled through! David Cook was crowned American Idol 2008! WOOHOO! Mark and I waited patiently last Wednesday night for the finale and I gave out a scream when they announced David Cook as the winner. I was so surprised. Can't wait for the album to come out to see what he's got for us.

This section of the blog is for Kris Kishi......I promised her several weeks ago that I would post the contents of my last Studio Calico kit for her to see how it came packaged and I just never got to it so here it is Kris! I'm amazed that they have their own box and everything is neatly packed into their own bags.

Here are a few layouts I worked on a month ago. I have way too many kits that I have not touched so thought I'd bust them open and create some pages with them. I love these kit clubs because it doesn't require me to do too much thinking about what to use when I'm scrapping. My "scrap space" is still the floor of the guest bedroom but hopefully that will change soon =). It's not too bad because all my stuff is in the closet and I can easily get to them. Only thing is I have to scrap sitting on the floor which is a killer on my back.

I will post more updates later on tonight. Going to go try to find some lunch and clean up around the house. Going to my mom's house for dinner tonight.....can't wait....I'm craving some home cooked Chinese food. Still need to go find that rice cooker.....

Finals Baby!

I can't believe next week will be the final week of American Idol. *sigh* It's been a good season and these two really rocked the stage all season. Really loved this performance by David A. Love this song and maybe that's why I liked this so much. I think it was fresh even if some of the judges didn't like it.

David Cook....amazing.....loved loved loved this performance. I really think he's going to win it all. He's got the package that will sell records. It will be very surprising if David Archuleta wins over him. He's also very good but just does not have variety in what he sings. I didn't get to vote tonight but I'm pretty sure the 2 Davids are going to the final round.

Say A Prayer....

Say a prayer for Mark tonight. He's going from Washington DC to Toronto in a car. I have no idea who the driver is and what company this car driver works for. I just know that he has gotten into a car to make a 10 hour drive fro DC to Toronto. This all stemmed from him forgetting to take his Passport with him and United not allowing him to get on his flight to Toronto even though the Canadian Consulate said it was ok. Canada was ok to have him go but the US wouldn't let him. What kind of jacked up system is that? And wouldn't you think the government should have some way of pulling up your Passport if you forgot it or if it got stolen? I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight.......I'm worried sick.

I pray for Mark's safe arrival to Toronto.....until then.....I can only have faith that God will get him there safely.

Happy Mother's Day

It's late so this will be a short blog. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. Hope you all had a wonderful day with your family. My sister and I took my mom to The Grove and had brunch at The Farm. I've never been and it was quite delicious. I had a Lobster club sandwich and OMG....to die for. Just enough lobster meat combined with avocado and arugala......so delicious together. Next time I'd get it without the bacon. I know....me.....saying I don't want bacon in my meal. It just tainted the taste of the lobster. After lunch we just walked around...there were way too many people there. I was so tired and my feet hurt from my shoes so all I wanted to do was get in the car and go home.

For dinner we went to Hide Sushi....one of our favorite sushi restaurants. The wait is always at least an hour long and today was no exception. We actually had to wait a long while for our food to come out and eventually got a discount on our bill because they messed up in the kitchen and one of our dishes came out uncooked. The sweet Japanese lady was so apologetic....bowing and all. Cracked me up.

Here's a couple of pictures from yesterday. Mark and I went to our very first wedding together. My friend Jennifer got married in Anaheim and it was such a sweet wedding. Simple and nice. Then there's a picture of me and my baby.....she got me a pink Nano for Mother's Day. I love it!

Mark is traveling again this week. He left today and won't be back until Wednesday. I don't like staying home on my own because I'm keenly aware of every noise. Good thing I have Sasha here with me. Ok....more tomorrow. I have to go to bed. I can barely keep my eyes open.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Hope everyone had a few drinks today to celebrate. I know I did =) We had a party at work and lets just say my afternoon was a bit of a blur. Gotta love working at an ad agency. I still have a lingering headache so I should head to bed soon. Today was one of those days where I wanted to be left alone. I didn't really want to speak to anyone and everything just annoyed me.

Something did happen today that made me have a bit more faith in God. Not that I lost my faith in him but it confirmed that he is watching over me in some way. I will elaborate more once things fall into place. I just have to say that things have a funny way of working itself out.

Looking forward to the rest of the week because I should be getting a few packages in the mail with some new scrapbook goodies. Like I need anymore stuff....but who can resist a good deal right? I just like knowing that I have stuff coming because it always brightens my day at work.

Almost 1AM...wish I could stay home tomorrow to scrapbook.

Weekend Recap

Can you believe the weekend is already coming to and end? It's Sunday night and I'm waiting for the pizza delivery man to show up. We usually order pizza and wings from this pizza place across from our community but I wanted to try something different. I found a place called Beach Pizza that had some good reviews....we'll see how good it really is.

It was a busy weekend for us but I feel like we spent some really good quality time together. Saturday we went to Lexus Santa Monica to pick up Mark's new car that had to be redone with a few things. The car looks really good now with the new window tinting and the spoiler. We did notice a couple of bubbles on the front window tint and may take the car back tomorrow to get them to redo it. They're minor things but come on...it's Lexus....they can do a better job than that. After going to the dealership, we took Sasha to have breakfast with us at Bread and Porridge. They have outside seating so we were able to take her with us. I had the CA omelette and was a bit disappointed with it....think I'll stick with the pancakes next time.

We took Sasha to 3rd Street Promenade after breakfast and as usual, she loved it. She gets so much attention at the Promenade. People keep coming up to her to pet her and take photos with her. Sometimes I think she gets annoyed with all these people wanting to pet her. After the Promenade, we took her to Venice beach to Cold Stone's for some ice cream. Mark got her a vanilla ice cream and boy...did she love it. We didn't give her the whole thing but she loved what she had.

Mark took me to dinner Saturday night because it was our 9 month anniversary. We went to Ivy by the Shore and I had their special Linguini with Lobster. It was delicious! I highly recommend getting that dish if you are ever there and they have that special again. Here's a few pictures from Saturday.

Today we went to dim sum with my mom and sister. My mom took us to a new dim sum place where they don't wheel the carts around for you. They give you a menu and check list and you mark down what you want and they bring it out for you. I still like the place where they wheel the carts around. It's just not the same without the carts. This place was very popular though...we had to wait a good 40 minutes before sitting down to eat. After dim sum, we went to 99 Ranch market for some much needed shopping of good old Chinese snacks and food. I told Mark I was shrinking inside from the lack of Chinese food I've been getting lately. I actually wanted to buy a rice cooker while I was there but couldn't find one I really like. Maybe I'll check out the Japanese market.

Mark was getting really tired by the afternoon but he was a good sport about driving my mom to open houses around the neighborhood. He's a good guy.....can't ask for a better boyfriend. He's also a talented musician so if you're looking for new music...check this out.

Ok...off to do some laundry. Here's a few pictures from our morning walk with Sasha. It was such a nice day today. When we walked her again in the afternoon, Mark let her off her leash. She did quite well. She wandered off on her own but always came back to us or stayed close when we called out to her. I'm always afraid she'll run off when she sees other dogs but I think she enjoys the freedom. We'll have to let her off the leash more often and see how she does.