Kiss My Tulips

On Saturday Caleb and I went with Mark and Bridgette to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn, OR. Apparently the farm is owned by a family in our stake, they also run a fun Corn Maze during Halloween. I don't think any of us were expecting much, but we were all pleasantly surprised. It was a lot bigger than I had thought it would be, and the flowers were absolutely gorgeous. I loved looking at the different varieties and reading their names. Not that I can remember any, but it was fun. :) We took lots of pictures, some pretty (I even tried to get a bit artistic...) and some silly. As always, there were many people there with their dogs in tow - Oregon is a very dog friendly environment, I've seen people bringing their dogs into several nice stores at the mall. Most of them are larger, although there is the occasional tiny-dog-that-goes-perfect-with-every-outfit. Bridge and I weren't prepared to see some girl carrying her cat though. A cat?!? Cats don't like to be hauled around, especially not when it was as windy as it was. I'm surprised the girl didn't have claw marks all over her face from the cat desperately trying to free itself. Cats (and yes, I am generalizing here) like to be in charge. They make the decision of where they feel like going at any given moment. I highly doubt that kitty (from the look on it's face) was very pleased by the pretty tulips. Later on we went to the outlet mall, and then up to a VERY nice new mall in Tigard. It was heavenly! The Container Store, Crate and Barrel, Urban Outfitters, Design Within Reach (who we are now boycotting because of their horrible rudeness)...and lots of tiny expensive shops. My favorite was a toy store / baby supply store we went in. We found this...THING....that's stretchy and squishy that you can make do different things. I quickly realized it's potential and told Caleb to hold very still.....it's a classic picture. His face (in case you couldn't tell) exactly depicts: "Please take the picture - I am dying of embaressment" - which he was. I don't know what his problem was......we were all laughing. :) He was definitely a good sport. We finished the evening by discovering our new favorite Italian restaurant, Pastini Pastaria. It was absolutely amazing food. The ambiance was that of a much more expensive place, but everything was under $9. We all got something different, and were all equally impressed. My favorite part was that the food portions weren't huge - just enough to fill you up without making you feel stuffed. We also split a dessert and wow....divine. Now if we could just get them to open one in Albany........

It's more like water hole talk......

You know what I can't stand? "Office Politics". Maybe it's because I've been sheltered my whole life, never really being in a large office. Maybe it's because the LAST office job I had was such a great one. Maybe it's because I was never a "popular" girl. I don't really know, all I know is that it is ridiculous. I've been working here (at this office that shall remain nameless - don't want to be dooced do I?!?!.....Or do I?) for over six months now, and I'm just realizing how insanely petty this whole place is. I think because I was new, people either didn't trust me with their gossip, or I was just too reluctant to join any circles of people. I've never really felt like I belonged in any of them, at office parties I usually talked to the people around me, and then ducked out. It's just been in the past few weeks really that I've become privy to all this office gossip - and I don't enjoy it. Not that I care when people vent to me, I welcome it really, keeps people sane. You just start to see a new side to people that you didn't think existed, not in them, and not in the "adult world". Honestly, it feels like I'm back in high school or junior high, except that these bullies can get me fired, which is a lot worse than the usual snub. There are actual clicks here. There are some high end people that pick on other employees that they don't like, and don't even get me STARTED on all the "alliances" here. We could make a show called "High School Survivor: Corvallis, OR". The sad part about all of this, is that people actually buy into it. Some people even THRIVE on it. Such a waste of their time and energy. I am so glad I have stayed out of it, and hope to continue to. I just can't understand why some offices, or maybe it's just a few people, care about when other people take their lunches, or if they decide to leave at 4:30 because they had a short lunch, or came in early or whatever. Honestly people! Mind your own business! Not that I've had any repercussions from it, but I've seen others who have, and it's totally unfair. All I have to say is that this office is going to be losing a lot of people if something doesn't change...

"Stead of treatin', we get tricks...

I read somewhere about some great ways to "torture" a dog. Slab some peanut butter on top of their nose and let them have at it - of course I had to try it. I wouldn't call it torture, the mutt just had to work extra hard to get his treat. He absolutely LIVES for peanut butter. I wish I could upload the video on here, it's so much better to hear the slapping of his tongue as he tries to reach his nose. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.......

Let Them Eat Stroganoff!

Despite his worthlessness as a guard dog, we decided to let him try some beef stroganoff I made the other night. Since it was after dinner was over, the stroganoff had set, and was pretty thick - without the aid of water, it was like trying to suck down a spoonful of peanut butter. I had no idea my dog was an anteater, and tried to take a picture of his ginormous tongue sticking out, trying to swallow it. Needless to say, he got a lot more stroganoff that we had intended, as I tried to capture it on camera. This is the best we got. I wish my camera took pictures when I asked it to....rather than thinking about it for 5 seconds before it grudgingly agreed. Please add at least 5 inches of tongue to get the real effect.......

Guard Dog - He is not

During our weekend trip to Seaside we went to see Cirque de Soleil in Portland. Earlier in the day we had driven up to Washington and Astoria, and had to take the mutt with us. He'd been pretty good, he usually is as long as he's with us. We've done several long car trips with him, and haven't had a problem. We were all excited to see the show, and parked "the bus" in a Cirque de Soleil "designated parking lot" and got ready. We couldn't take our cameras / Ipods / video cameras into the show, but we decided they'd be okay in the car with Bear. We put them underneath the seats in the van with a quick "Be a good boy Bear" and followed the funeral procession-like line into the tent. The show was absolutely amazing, and we all raved about it on the long drive back to Seaside. The next morning we discovered that Abby and Brian's camera had been stolen, along with Caleb's camera and our Ipod. Since the condo that we were staying at had a locked parking garage, we were left to conclude that our things had been stolen while we were watching Cirque de Soleil....WITH BEAR IN IT!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. For several hours I was in shock - not only that someone would think that there was something NICE inside the van, but that someone out there would have the balls to break into a van with a dog in it. That's guts, I don't care what you say. It sucks, the camera was a nice one, and our Ipod definitely wasn't cheap, but the thing that bugs me the most, besides the fact that we can't get the film that was in the camera back, was that our MUTT would let someone ELSE in the van. He'll try and take down that offensive kitty on our porch, but he obligingly lets an intruder into the van?! There were people at the entrance to the parking lot, if he had put up a fuss, someone would have heard. I don't know what I was thinking, assuming that our things would be safe with Bear. I have no doubt in my mind that the mutt LICKED the guy as he was leaving, our cameras in hand. He was probably thrilled to have someone come see him, I bet if he could, he would have held up the camera bag in exchange for a scratch behind the ears. The dog is worthless to me...I think it's time to get my Doberman........