Hubby Rocks!

So Mr. P made a fabulous birthday dinner on Tuesday night: grilled steak and vegetables (mushrooms, bell peppers, squash & zucchini), duchess potatoes, and a sweet honey-wheat baguette! Then I found out he'd been trying for nearly a week to get my present...which finally arrived on the 9th, one day late :)


Bissinger's Dark Chocolate Raspberries


Heaven. Simply heaven.

I'm somewhat lucky that my birthday falls in July, since it's the only month Bissinger's does raspberries. And Mr. P's somewhat lucky, too, since he knows there's always one sure-fire birthday present :)

Weekend Rundown

Mr. P and I spent the weekend at the lake house with my family, setting off fireworks, eating a little too well, drinking a little too much, and relaxing just the right amount. Miss Bailey joined us, and to my relief, no more urka-gurkas. She has yet to decide how she feels about being in the lake, though. I'm not sure she digs swimming as much as I do :)

Unfortunately, I didn't take the time to grab my camera this weekend, so there's a shortage of photos. Hopefully that will change, since I received my birthday present a couple days early!

Canon PowerShot S5IS






Basic Features
8.0-megapixel CCD
12x optical zoom lens (equivalent to a 36-432mm lens on a 35mm camera)
4x digital zoom.
2.5-inch articulated color LCD monitor
Electronic Viewfinder
Program Automatic Exposure
Aperture- and shutter-priority modes
Full Manual exposure mode
Built-in pop-up flash with red-eye reduction
SD/SDHC card compatibility
USB high speed connection
Four AA alkaline batteries included
32MB SD card included
Software for Mac and PC


Special Features
Optical Image Stabilization: Shooting, Continuous, Panning
Automatic Face Detection AE/AF
Multiple continuous shooting modes, including Continuous Shooting AF
ISO from 100-1600 and High ISO mode
ISO Shift
Safety FE and MF options
Hotshoe
On-board red-eye correction (in Playback)
High resolution movies with stereo sound
Wind filter, audio capture adjustment settings
Shutter Speeds from 15 sec to 1/3,200 sec
Multiple creative options, i.e., My Colors
Contrast/Sharpness/Saturation/Red/Green/Blue and skin tone adjustments
Multiple White Balance settings, including Manual
Exposure Bracketing and AF Bracketing
Adjustable Flash Intensity
Multiple Metering and AF modes
Continuous AF
Selectable AF points
Live Histogram and Pattern/Grid Overlay
Wide angle and telephoto accessory lenses and filters available

This is above and beyond what I'd been using for the past few years, and I can't wait to really get a feel for everything. It's definitely more camera that I'm used to, but I'm hoping to take this as a sign to get back into the swing of things.

Mom knew I needed a new camera, and Pop was in charge of picking it out. I'd say that, combined, they did quite a good job with a surprise birthday gift ;) Thanks, folks, and enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Some people really blow me away...

Just a quickie before the holiday weekend :) Possible TMI to follow:

Miss Bailey's had a couple of weird nights lately, waking up and doing the infamous urka-gurka in the middle of the night/early EARLY morning. One ended in an urka-gurka-SPLAT (oh, sleep-induced fuzziness, thank you for masking my gag reflex!) and another was just "going through the motions" of getting sick, without it happening.

She seems completely fine - happy, playful - except for these events at 3 or 4AM. After her accident in March, Bailey's vet provided me with her email address where I can send questions, etc., which is AWESOME. So I shot off an email yesterday just to be sure. The vet responded promptly, letting me know what to look out for, and also offered a phone number where we can reach her if we have questions - and it's her cell - not the main vet number.

Seriously, people. I'm HUGE on customer service, and it just doesn't get better than this. She and I both know I'm probably not going to call, but having the option is above and beyond. Especially when we're leaving town this afternoon and don't have a regular vet by the lake house.

Anyway, I'm just completely stoked right now. Have a wonderful long weekend for the 4th!

There. I said it.

Those of you who already read the original post will understand (and hopefully respect) my decision to remove its contents.

Fiesta!

I don't actually own a sombrero. I said I'd be there with one on, but unless I find one in the next few hours (who needs work, right?), it just isn't going to happen.



However, I WILL be bringing my fabulous guacamole :)

Woohoo!

I'm totally doing the happy dance right now :) And I'm not embarrassed to share that it's because we've finally got stuff organized in the kitchen. We moved from a teeny tiny apartment (650 sq ft) with a decent kitchen (including a dishwasher, albeit a crappy dishwasher) to a small house (1000 sq ft) with a teeny tiny kitchen and no dishwasher (which I'm happy about, because the trade-off was getting a washer and dryer). Anyway. Finagling our way around in the kitchen the past couple weeks has been nuts, and I'm thrilled to have it in working order!

On Saturday, our new furniture is being delivered:

coffee table and end tables


dining table


with these chairs - a little less country


And, of course, a fabulous mattress that might just be the highlight of my year. (Is that sad?) I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to sleep through the night again!

I'm back!

Naturally, when I find the time to blog I forget to bring my camera with me...so I've got a few pics to post, they're just not "real" pics.

Mr. P and I moved a couple weeks ago, and we're definitely still trying to get out of boxes. My major accomplishment so far has been painting our bedroom. It used to be a soft mustard-yellow (dijon, maybe?), and I went with a cool blue-gray. Valspar's "Woodlawn Sterling Blue" - I absolutely love it :) Since my photos of the room haven't really turned out the way I want anyway, here's an idea from Valspar using their digital painter:



Our bedroom furniture is dark, but certainly no four-poster bed or anything (and for some reason, the picture makes the furniture look a little ashy, which it's not). Bought from Broyhill before they went under, but we saw the same collection at Rothman a couple weeks ago:



Eventually I'll get around to hanging pictures and tackling other stuff, but this was a good start. We also made a furniture purchase - new coffee and end tables, a dining room table, and a mattress! I'll save that for another post.

In other news, I did my sleep study - according to them, I'm an "efficient" sleeper - I beg to differ. Hopefully the new mattress will help. Also got bloodwork back - that's normal, too. Glad to know that I'm alright according to the test results, but guess this means trying another route to figure out what's going on.