a film screening

Last night, I had plans with friends to go to dinner and then to see the movie Arthur. Well - Morgan invited us to go to a film screening with her instead of going to Arthur. At first, I was opposed to it but then thought, I can see Arthur any day and this screening thing would be a new experience...so I gave in. I mean - I didn't really understand what screening meant and am not sure I really do now but I'm so thankful I got this opportunity.

There were about 25 of us that watched the 70-minute documentary film called Afterglow at the Center for Contemporary Arts and then we provided feedback on what we liked, what didn't make sense, where the film lost our attention, etc. Then they will take some of the feedback and implement it as they work to finish the film. I certainly felt a little out of my comfort zone because I'm not an artsy/creative-type person and I didn't have a whole lot of feedback but I was so glad for the experience.

Ali Silverstein, who is the director/producer/main character(is it really a "character" when it's a non-fiction?) was also there, which was super cool as well. She lives in New Mexico currently and she is a water-color artist. I'm sure I'm not doing her justice but that's what I know.

Click here for more info about the film - Overall, I really liked it. I'll have to follow-up when the finished product is released.

'Dirty' Little Secrets

I stole this blog theme from my sister's blog and thought it would be fun to post. Here it goes:

• There is so much dog hair in our house that it doesn't even bother me anymore if I find a stray dog hair on my dinner plate.


• I just recently started consistently washing my face at night before I go to bed. My sister's "secrets" blog actually jump started me to do it.


• I believed(for a very long time) that my father was a baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals.


• I don't think I could live without a DVR now that I've had one the last 6 months.


• I pile clothes on my dresser(it's one of those short & long dresser's with a mirror) to the point that I can barely see the mirror sometimes. I know it's drives Mike crazy and I still do it. Ooopsies!


• I pick and chew on my cuticles until they bleed. It's a constant battle...a few steps forward, a few steps back. Maybe someday I will have pretty fingernails.


• I watch all the 'Real Housewives' shows on Bravo TV.


• Except for the fact of missing my family and friends, I'm so incredibly happy we made a decision to move to MD and then move to NM.


• People still mis-pronounce my name after 29 years and it drives me nuts but I normally don't say anything. It REALLY drives me crazy when people at work mis-spell it in an email response to me when they can see it plain as day in the body of the email.


• I LOVE sugar. Nerds, Starbursts, Spree, Sour Patch Kids, etc, etc. Yummy!

Well - I think that's enough for now. The list could probably go on and on.

How about you? Any 'dirty' little secrets you'd like to share??

a birthday surprise

The weekend was quite a whirlwind. Flew out of Albuquerque at 10am on Saturday, landed in Omaha at 4:30pm. Got to my sisters house around 6pm to help set up for my Mom's surprise birthday party that started at 7pm. The surprise was great...it was so fun to see my Mom's face. Can't wait until we get the pictures. Hung out with my sister, Mom, Aunt Kathy, & Aunt Nancy(they also came in for the surprise) on Sunday and then was able to hang with my Dad Sunday evening.

And I left my sister's house at 4:45am Monday morning to get my 6:45am flight out of Omaha. Unfortunately, I got to Denver and my 8:20am flight was cancelled so I had to hang out at the Denver airport until the next flight at 3pm. I did find myself a nice little quiet corner at the Denver airport to take a 1 1/2 hr nap. Like I said - the weekend was a whirlwind but well worth it.

Of course, a plane ride wouldn't be complete without me catching a little something. I started taking Airborne on Monday evening and I'm hoping this scratchy throat won't get any worse.

And I came home to my pups but not the hubs. Mike left to go work at the AZ/Mexico border again...sounds like he's having fun. Missing my hubs like crazy!

Blvd Update: He's still sick. He did great yesterday but then vomited a few times during the night. And of course he won't eat the wonderful new food I got him, that he gobbled down yesterday. But I think he's slowly on the mend.

Hope you all are having a great week.

Would you like the good news or the bad news?

More Boulevard ~~>> He hasn't vomited since Tuesday...YAY! However he has got a terrible case of the 'runs,' if you know what I mean. Unfortunately this mess graced our guest bathroom upstairs(that's where Bouley's been sleeping) last night and more unfortunately, I noticed there was blood in it as I was cleaning it up. Another call to the vet...headed back this afternoon to get bloodwork taken and determine if he has pancreatitis. The good news = No pancreatitis! Thank goodness. After the vet told me the possibility of pancreatitis this morning, I was doing a little self-education in between my bouts of tears. The bad news = We don't really know what's wrong but Blvd will be well medicated. One med for the blood in the stool, one med for the liquid stool, and one med to stimulate his appetite. Hopefully he'll take a turn for the better soon. And I hate to complain about the cost because he's worth every penny...but holy moly, this is expensive. Dog insurance is looking to be a better and better investment these days, especially since Blvd isn't get any younger. If anyone knows anything about dog health insurance, I'd be very interested to hear what you know.

poor poor Bouley

Boulevard has been sick since Saturday. :( He ate breakfast Saturday morning, and hour later he threw up 6 times, I started crying my eyes out, then pulled myself together, then called the vet, and they were able to fit me in. Took him to the vet and she does an exam and everything seems ok...and of course, the car ride got Boulevard so excited that he was acting fairly normal at the doctor's. She said put him on a bland diet(chicken & rice) and see if he flushes himself out over the weekend. Got home from the vet and Boulevard started vomiting again. Luckily, I could usually tell when he was going to throw up so much of it happened outside. We put him in our bathroom(tile floor=easy clean up) Saturday night and he threw up all over the bathroom. Mike put him back in the bathroom because I was still in bed when he left for work, and Blvd vomited all over the bathroom again. UGH!! Same story for Sunday -- vomit, vomit, etc, etc. Mike took him to the vet Monday morning and Blvd stayed at the vet all day. They did two X-rays to determine if there was blockage and also had him take this 'barium' liquid so they could see it passing through his system via the X-ray. Picked him up from the vet(I couldn't even go in w/ Mike because I was, of course, crying and couldn't pull it together) AND no vomiting Monday night. Had to take him back to the vet this morning for a 3rd X-ray to ensure the barium had passed through and it had. She said to nurse him back to health and keep with the bland diet. Well - we had another vomit session after the vet this morning and none since. But he won't eat. Poor thing!! So I believe Boulevard has now christened our office, master bath, kitchen, entry way, living room, and stairs with his vomit. Disgusting!! Good thing Mike is a professional with the carpet cleaner...not really sure how we could live without that cleaner. And I won't even mention the cost of all this. Let's hope Boulevard starts getting better asap.

He had a friend over without asking first

Boulevard typically likes people and other dogs. Stuart typically likes people but is normally less than impressed with other dogs.
To set the stage ~ Both of our next door neighbors have little, yappy dogs(similar to Stuart) and Stuart doesn't mind voicing(er...barking) his concern over this fact through the fence. Boulevard will bark occasionally if Stuart gets him wound up but normally he's not a barker. And the little guys on the other side of the fence, bark back at Stuart. It's really to the point that I try to let our dogs out at different times than our neighbors because all the barking makes me a little nuts. Well when they really get wound up, they start pawing at the ground right by the fence(keep in mind that the yards are all dirt right now) and unfortunately, this pawing has caused a hole under the fence.

Well a week or so ago, Boulevard was outside by himself and it appeared as though he was chasing or playing with something. I looked and it was one of our neighbors tiny dogs...he had squeezed his way through the hole under the fence. There is nothing to fear about Boulevard even though he is 90 lbs but he does tend to throw himself around like he is 10 lbs when he gets really excited. I watched for about 20 seconds and Boulevard would sniff at the little dog, the little dog would bark back giving him a piece of his mind, and Boulevard would jump around him...it was quite comical really.
Eventually I went out and grabbed the little guy and passed him back to his owner on the other side of the fence. Poor thing, if I was confronted with such a monstrous dog in comparison to myself, I think I'd be traumatized too. Guess that little guy learned his lesson to stay in his own backyard. I sort of wonder what Stuart would have done if he would have been in the back yard too. :)

Boulevard-The next time you want a friend over, please ask permission! :)

an invitation for you

If you recall, I have a goal to run two half-marathon's this year. After the one in Vegas, you would have thought I'd given up on that goal, but I HAVEN'T!!

Anne and I have a tentative agreement to run a half-marathon on September 18th here in Santa Fe, NM. This is an invitation to all of YOU as well...have you ever wanted to run a half or maybe have and would like to do another? I invite you to join us!! Although we are at 7,000 ft, the race appears to be mostly down-hill(trust me, I scoped out the elevation changes first). You are welcome to stay with us too. I suppose I should clarify this invitation is for all the readers I actually personally know -- I'm not sure I want a complete stranger in my house. :)

So - check it out. I'm telling you early so you have no excuse! You have plenty of time to train.
http://www.santafethunder.com/

On that note, we certainly would love some visitors this spring/summer to share our love of Santa Fe. If you are planning a trip in our direction, please stop by. Or Santa Fe has much to offer so start planning your trip here!! Just be warned ~ you may not want to leave once you see this place. It truly is amazingly beautiful and the Land of Enchantment!!