Direwolf Kittens

On Wednesday, I picked up three kittens from the Humane Society.  They came from a litter of six, but they split them into two groups of three--the boys and the girls.  I got the three girls and decided to change their names to Lady, Nymeria, and Summer, after three of the Direwolfs from Game of Thrones.  You best believe if I had gotten their three brothers their names would be Rheagal, Viserion, and Drogon!

They're only four weeks old and by far the youngest and smallest kittens we've ever had.  Summer has to be the runt of the litter.  The first day I brought them home, you could feel every bone in her body and she would only eat from a syringe.

Unfortunately, after I left for work on Thursday morning, I wasn't able to get back home until Saturday afternoon.  My mom and my sister were able to take care of them while I was stuck on the north side of the flooded river, and I'm so thankful for that!  By the time I got back, all three kittens had gained weight and my mom had cleaned them all up quite a bit.

They are the sweetest kittens.  A lot of kittens we get are weary of people and hide for a few days before they get used to us.  These three cry if we leave the room and just want to cuddle with us.

I'm excited that they'll be with us for a while.  They need to be at least 2 pounds, at least 8 weeks, and healthy to get fixed, and then we get to keep them at least a week after that.  I'm going to treasure every moment with them!

{Please excuse my legs and/or feet in some of the pictures of them.  Like I said, they like to cuddle!  And please pardon their dirty faces.  They haven't quite figured out how to clean themselves yet.  We're working on it.}

Follow Me!
Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram 

Ten on Ten :: September 2013

This month was my first Ten on Ten with my knew camera, a Nikon D3000.

{11:00} Who knew there was a fifth book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series?  Seriously, raise your hand.

{12:00} I'm loving my new camera.

{1:00} To say it poured yesterday would be an understatement. There are puddles everywhere and it's still drizzling!

{2:00} Since I almost fell asleep on my lunch break (okay, maybe I did), I stopped by Starbucks for a little pick-me-up: pumpkin soy chai.

{3:00} The end of the work day means it's time to kick off the heels.

{4:00} Instead of being the hottest time of the day, it was nice and cool, so I went for a walk.

{5:00} My doctor told me to take some time off from Pure Barre, but I find a few minutes (almost) every day to squeeze in some Pure Barre arms.

{6:00} Dressing up a frizzy top knot with a simple braid.

{7:00} A change in dinner plans calls for Taco Tuesday at Christian's house with all the left over hamburger meat from Sunday.

{8:00} It's not a real Ten on Ten without an animal appearance.  Tonight's feature: Sasha Sue!

September 2010 | September 2011 | September 2012

Follow Me!
Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Pure Barre Update

I just completed a month of unlimited Pure Barre, so I figured I'd give an update on my new favorite exercise.  Unfortunately, I've been experiencing major knee pain the last few weeks that has gotten progressively worse this week, so I haven't actually been since Monday and it's killing me!  I went to my doctor yesterday and she said I need to take it easy for at least 10 days, then ease back into it.  (Insert crying face here.)

One major thing I noticed these past four weeks is that my abs are WEAK!  I really like taking classes with a variety of instructors because all of them say to pull your abs in for the core work, but one of them mentioned that if you're abs are sticking out, you're working under your abs, not your abs.  Hello!

Pure Barre has definitely helped with my posture as well.  I constantly catch myself hunching over and slouching (especially at my desk at work), but simply tucking your hips under straightens your back and corrects bad posture.

Here are some of my Pure Barre tips:

- Push yourself to stay in the pose. {I think I would have made more progress in less time if I wouldn't give myself a break for just a second and come out of the pose.}

- Add cardio. {PB is great for toning and getting the muscles you want, but if you're trying to lose weight or wanting to keep your heart healthy, still add at least 30 minutes of cardio for every 60 minutes of PB.  That's just my rule of thumb.}

- Focus on your workout, and just your workout. {If you're not going to devote the whole class to yourself, don't waste your money.  Stop telling yourself you can't and just do it.  Leave everything at the door and I promise you'll leave feeling better than before.}

- Stick with it. {When you start doing Pure Barre, keep doing Pure Barre!  Figure out how many times you can go a week and set a schedule for yourself.  It's hard to get back into after a break and you're doing such great work on your body, why reverse the results by taking some time off?}

- Don't be intimidated. {Try not to focus on the other girls at all and focus on yourself, but when you're new, it can be useful to check your form on someone who knows what she's doing.  Still, everybody went to a first Pure Barre class, and everybody's body is different.  The instructors are there to help you and encourage you.}

Ever since I started Pure Barre, I've been noticing it all over the place and I've found some really great reads on other blogs about PB.  One of my favorites is "8 Things I Learned About Blogging From Pure Barre" by Gretchen.  Another favorite was when Amanda recapped Carrie Dorr's Top 5 Tips.  Another is by Kathryn who was guest posting for Katie.

Follow Me!
Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

San Diego - Day 5

 Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Tuesday was our last day in California, sadly.  We had a slow start to the morning, but eventually we all packed into the car and made our way to Coronado Island.  It's a ritzy island off the coast of San Diego and it was another thing on my must-see list.  We walked around Hotel Del Coronado after driving around the neighborhoods a bit.  The hotel was gorgeous and reminded me of Disney's Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World.

We also walked a bit along the beach at Coronado too.  It was probably my favorite beach that we saw the whole trip.  Despite being very windy, it was gorgeous!  And it looks like the hotel hooks you up if you're a guest.

We went back to San Diego to go to lunch at High Dive, one of Christian's favorite burger joints in San Diego.  It was also a nice little celebration for Jay's birthday, which was a few days after we left.  It was pretty good burger, but their German soft pretzel was incredible!  I'd go back for another one of those!

 We didn't have much more time, so we said our goodbyes and got all packed up.  We had to drop Jay off at his church for a meeting, so Sarah took us back downtown to El Camino again.  I wanted to go there again because of how good their salsa was.  Next time I'm in San Diego, I'm going to be there every day!

It was such a great trip and I had a lot of fun.  It was nice to meet Christian's dad and his sister for the first time, too.

Follow Me!
Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

San Diego - Day 4

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Monday was jam-packed with fun!  The main thing I wanted to do while we were in San Diego was go to San Diego Zoo.  It's definitely one of the best zoos in the country and hardly anyone disagrees.  (I have to admit, I wasn't prepared for how hilly it was going to be!  Also, it was kind of a complicated maze.)  Christian's sister Sarah had come down from LA the night before, so I met her that morning and she joined us at the zoo, along with his dad Jay.

We hit up the reptile house first because it's the closest exhibit to the entrance and it's one of Christian's favorites.  I loved seeing the koalas and pandas since they haven't been at other zoos I've visited (just Denver and Memphis that I can think of).  I also enjoy seeing the tigers and polar bears at any zoo.  Christian's other favorite animals to see are the hippos.  We rode the Skyfari Aerial Tram, which has a great view of the surrounding areas and gets you across the zoo quickly, but you can't really see any animals.  By the way, I'm pretty sure I was the only person at the zoo that didn't have a camera with a huge lens!  I'd like to see their pictures!

 Christian and I went back to Ocean Beach for yet another late lunch at one of his favorite Mexican spots, Nico's.  It was okay, but not my favorite.  Also, my burrito was too big for me to finish, so Christian ate his plus a third of mine and was full for the rest of the day.

We got pretty lucky that night that we were able to get free tickets to the Padres game because Christian's friend Greg couldn't go to the game.  We took the trolly downtown and met Greg and his girlfriend at Barley Mash for drinks before the game.  The place was pretty cool, but it was a little expensive.  I had the Kate Sessions cocktail, which has gin, St. Germaine, lemon, and strawberry and it was delicious.  Greg and his girlfriend Ashley split the San Diego Iron Fries.  Think nachos with fries.  Amazing(ly bad for you).

Petco Park was within walking distance, so we headed over to the game eventually.  We didn't get there till the sixth inning because we had so much fun over drinks, but when you get free tickets from someone who got them free, who cares?  Unfortunately (for Padres fans), they lost to the Pirates, but we still had fun.  There was an older gentleman that kept getting on the jumbotron for dancing during their pump-up songs, which was probably the best part of the game.  Petco Park is pretty nice, but I'm still partial to Coors Field.

Follow Me!
Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram