September 22-24, 2006

This weekend was jammed packed with things. On Friday night I picked up my friend, Shani and we went to Bunkers to meet up with a bunch of people. We saw Wrinkle T play there. It was a really good show. It was the first time, though, in a long time that I closed out a bar. Shani and I went home after that. I had to get up pretty early for a Saturday morning to go pick up Shani so that we could meet Becky and her mother at the Ren Fest. It was a cold rainy day, so not the best day there that I have had. I felt guilty being at Ren Fest, because I wanted to be home with Leyla. I was supposed to spend Saturday night at a wedding reception with the guy I am seeing, but I was so tired from being at the Ren Fest all day that I opted out. On Sunday, I had church (or was supposed to). I got there in time to set up for the service, but then I got a really bad migraine. I left and went to my parent's house to rest, before I went over my budget with them. I then had to do the fun task of discussing my budget. My parents are awesome, though, because they are going to be helping me get back on track bigtime! I then came home and the guy I am seeing came over to hang out for a while. I had to go to training all the following week, so we kept it an early night.

September 14-17, 2006

Well, this weekend started on Thursday. I met my date at Bonfire restaurant for dinner. It was a nice place to go, because we could talk for a while before the dueling pianos began. We were both exhausted, so we ended the night early. Friday night I decided that I needed to hang out with Leyla, because I had not been home with her since Sunday due to being TOO busy! We just played. She must have missed me a lot, because she just wanted to lay by my side and chew on her rawhide. If I moved, she moved. On Saturday, I did cleaning before I went out on another date. We went to see "Black Dhalia". It was a really good movie (don't believe the critics)! I thought it was a little graphic at times, but it was good for portraying the story. We then went back to his house and watched "Secret Window" which is another good movie, but is a little weird. Johnny Depp is always good, though, so it was worth watching. If you like movies with a twist, see this one! Sunday, I had to get up and be at church by 7:30a.m. to set up for our first weekly service. It was a huge success! We had 200 people in our adult worship and 50 kids in our youth worship. It was fun to see all of the people, including some people that I knew back in high school. I got home in time to watch overtime for the Vikings game. What a good ending! When I got to work today, one of the guys told me that he was going to follow my pickings, because I told him that the Vikings would win the last two games. Lets see if I am right about the game this Sunday against the Bears! Well, I have another busy weekend coming up! If you want to check out a really good band, Wrinkle-T plays at Bunkers on Friday night. I am not sure what time they go on, but they will be on for two sets (about 3 hours). I will hopefully see some of you there.

Puppy Mills

I was on a date last night and I happened to be reading one of those adds in the bathroom stalls. It was about puppy mills. Since I bought Leyla from a breeder, I have been trying to learn more about puppy mills (everyone would ask me if the breeder we went to was a puppy mill, which it was not). I get really angered when I hear about people who abuse animals (and children, of course). I don't know how someone could be so concerned about money that they would let puppies live in such terrible conditions. After reading about puppy mills, I watched Secret Window. In that movie they talk about how some places do not have laws about inhumane treatment of animals. I realized this a year ago when I was doing some research for a friend and found out that Minnesota and the state this friend is from have different laws about what constitutes cruelty to animals and different sentencing guidelines. I wish that this would be an issue that would be address by law enforcement so that people who have puppy mills or who are cruel to animals would be treated the same in each state and crimes against animals would constitute some jail time.

Graduation

So Leyla is officially a graduate of Puppy class. She even got a certificate of completion and a milkbone that was about 3-4 inches long and one inch wide. She loved hiding and then eating her bone. She pranced around the house trying to find the perfect spot for her bone. The best place she found was in between the pillows on my bed. Anytime I went to check on her, though, she would have to go back and check to make sure I did not take her bone. I love that they even gave them caps with tassles (the red thing by my hand) for the pictures (no we did not get to keep them). I will get a group picture soon, so I will post that as well. We will now sign up for our Intermediate class hopefully next week. I am so proud of my graduate (even though I had to miss the 1st half of the Vikings game)!

September 8-10, 2006

This weekend was a REALLY good weekend! Friday was just a night with Leyla. We hung out and played with some toys. Saturday, I had to get up early (for a Saturday) so that I could get ready for my date. I went over to his house about noon so that we could drive to Ren Fest together. We spent most of the day there, leaving around 6. It was his first time there, so we saw "Puke and Snot" and "The Tortuga Twins". When we were leaving, Tuey the Juggler was performing, so we watched him. We then went back to his house where he cooked me a really good dinner. Then we just hung out with his roommates dog, Cookie, and watched a movie and television. I was so proud of Leyla when I got home, because she did not pee all night (until she saw me). I did not get home until 1, so it was over 13 hours (drive time) that she was home without going outside. When I got home, I made sure that I played with her for over an hour and then we went to bed. Sunday, I got up really late and hung out with Leyla until I had to leave for a special service at church. My old church, Bethlehem Lutheran, had a ceremony for my new church, Jacob's Well. I did not realize how emotional this was going to be for me, but when I saw my pastor (of my new church) and his wife crying, it hit me. I am actually switching churches. Even though the new church was launched by one of the pastors at Bethlehem, I never in my life thought I would leave Bethlehem. I have mixed emotions, because I am really excited about this new church, but my old church was a home away from home for me for all of my life. It will be a revolving door between Jacob's Well and Bethlehem and when I eventually get married, it will be at Bethlehem (Jacob's Well is a moving church, so it does not have one building it uses). So, when I got home today, even though it was after 5, I had to take a nap, because I was so emotionally drained. Tomorrow (Monday) is Leyla's last puppy class and then she graduates. We will start up our next class on September 19. Anyways, that is all for now. I am sure with the primaries being this week, that I will have more to write about soon!

Branded

So, this did not take long. I am reading a book called Branded: the buying and selling of teenagers by Alissa Quart. In her book she discusses how youth today are caught up in brand names. She talks about how ad execs focus their marketing on teenagers because they are the most susceptible. I was looking back at my own upbringing and realized that this has been happening for years. My family shops at Target not Kmart or Walmart (not really "brand" names, but...). I find myself becoming snobbish about Walmart and Kmart, because I think Target is superior. I also am more likely to like Ann Taylor Loft or The Limited than Dots, because they know styles. I wonder what would happen to our economy if we stopped paying attention to brand names and only purchased generics? Would the world stop functioning? Would our country become one of the poorest instead of one of the richest? Food for thought.

New Image

I was looking at other people's blogs and I noticed two things, more opinion (which I like) and brighter background. I was feeling like my blog was TOO dark, especially with Puddin' being black. He kind of blended in, so new image. As far as opinion, everyone knows that I have a lot of them. I don't know how I will incorporate this into my blog, but I am going to try. I think that it will speak more about who I am. So, this means that if something comes up that I feel like venting about (in the media or everyday occurance) I will probably be just writing about it more. Tell me what you think.

September 3, 2006

Today, I decided to just hang out with Leyla since we will not have a full day for just anytime in the near future. I also found out that I am not able to get clinical hours for my current job, so I have to either volunteer or pick up a second job that provides counseling. So even less time for me and Leyla. Leyla and I slept in rather late (10:30-10:45). We then took it easy until we went over to my parent's house. We decided to introduce Leyla and Puddin' earlier instead of later. It worked out a lot differently than I had anticipated. Leyla was scared of Puddin'. I guess two things came into play...Leyla is used to being the only puppy at my parent's house and getting all the attention and two, Puddin' is older than Leyla was when she left the kennel, so she is used to being around other puppies (including Leyla's brothers). Puddin' kept jumping on Leyla's back. I had to move from sitting on the floor to sitting on the couch, which worked until Puddin' figured out how to get on the couch. Then Leyla figured out that Puddin' could not move on the stairs as fast as she could so she would run up the stairs to get away. Puddin' would follow and she would run back down the stairs and back on the couch (I was on there so it was safe). Puddin' also likes to try and hump Leyla every chance she can get. Leyla did warm up eventually and began to pounce on Puddin' when he was not looking. Leyla was also very gentle and calm with Puddin' (that was part of the problem-she would not fight back). So here are some pics and a video (will come later). Enjoy!

So Puddin' looks like his eyes glow, but besides that, you can see that Leyla has chosen the higher ground (and she is bigger).

August 31, 2006-September 1, 2006

I am doing this weekend's entry different and doing Thursday and Friday and then will have Saturday through Monday be separate. I had a date on Thursday. It was really cool! We went to see The New Congress play at Bunkers. It was cool, because it was different and the music is a jazzie soul type of music. When we were leaving (he had to work today), I ran into a old friend of mine, Rob, from high school who does the promotions for New Congress. It was so cool running into Rob, because we used to be really close and have not seen each other in years. Friday I just hung out with Leyla until my parents called to let me know that they were going to pick out their puppy. We went back to the same place we got Leyla from. My parents picked out a black Cockapoo who they (or my mom) named Puddin' (not sure how they are going to spell it). He is pretty cute. There were some other Cockapoos there that were only 9 weeks old. I guess I forgot how small Leyla was when I got her. She was five pounds when I brought her home and now she is 11 pounds. She is also taller and has longer fur (I don't want to get her trimmed, because she looks like a little stuffed animal right now). Anyways, the rest of the weekend might be slow, because I don't have anything planned. I did find out earlier this week that my good friend, Jason, is going to be in town from London at the end of October beginning of November. I cannot wait to see him. More later!

1st picture: So, I guarantee that my mother is holding him gently! I chose this picture, because you can see the white tuft of hair on his chin and his chest. 2nd picture: Puddin' really likes the slinky when someone else is holding it.

August 25-28, 2006

So I had a pretty cool weekend last week (okay, REALLY cool). On Friday I just took it easy and stayed home with Leyla, because I had to work early the next day. I took the girl that I work with to Grand Slam which I have not been to since I was fourteen. I then went to a BBQ with my friend, Shani. It was pretty cool. It was mostly guys and then a few of us girls. One of the guys had a old German flight suit that he got at a surplus store. It didn't fit him so he gave it to another guy who decided it would be fun to go swimming in it. Most of the guys took turns being thrown into the pool with the light suit on. It was really funny to watch. Shani and I hung out there for a while. Sunday, I took my first trip to the Renaissance Festival. I say my "first" trip, because I am going at least once more with some of my friends. I went there on a date. It was pretty cool, but strange to not purchase anything and to not be in costume (yes I am a Ren Fest Geek). I got home kind of late, but had to go to bed early, because it was back to work on Monday morning bright and early at 7:30a.m. Work on Monday was actually pretty cool, because I realized that I work with a lot of really sarcastic people, so that is good. Leyla and I went to class on Monday night. I will also have some updated pictures of Leyla soon so stay tuned.