Hot Dog!

Let it be known that I am NOT the one who purchased these costumes for D'Ogee...just in case anyone misinterprets me to be a crazy dog woman who's obsessed with dressing her pet up in ridiculous clothing all the time. I take no responsibility for these! It is entirely the fault of D'Ogee's nutty Aunt Joanna who felt compelled to purchase not one, but five silly costumes for him for Christmas. Okay...just because I made him try them all on for the family over Thanksgiving and am forcing him to show them off for friends as well, I'm still not to blame! It's the crazy aunt...I swear! :)
I think he liked this cowboy outfit better than the other one I got him....it does have a little cowboy on the back, after all. It seems to make him feel more authentic.

This royal costume seemed to be his favorite...or at least, the least humiliating.


I'm not so sure he was as thrilled about the pirate costume, although it is more manly than the bumble bee.....sometimes he's a little hard to read.

And other times, he makes a pretty clear statement. I'm guessing by the way he's holding his head down in shame, that he would rather watch the bumble bee costume burn than ever put it on again.



Okay...this is the best one of all....the Hot Dog. I've tried to convince him that he's just wearing a big heavy coat, but I'm not sure he's buying it. He won't move when I put it on him. He becomes as stiff as a board.
It's as if he knows there's a fake condiment on his back that makes him look edible to big dogs and humans. I think it confuses him. Would you know what to do if you were strapped between two puffy cotton buns? Sometimes, you just get caught off guard, ya know?

Hasta La Vista Party

These are some of my favorite faces. Whenever I feel lonely in Costa Rica, I'll be looking back on these pics with a smile. Good, good, friends, I have. Thanks for coming out on a cold night to say adios. See you in three months!

Tanya Ellis....eccentric, stylish and so soft spoken you'd never guess she carries the fiery red-headed character which I like to refer to as power and strength....although some people call it stubbornness....Ha! It's just because they're weaker than we are!

Debrah Howell and her almost fiance, Jonathan. She's my lovely hostess, and dear, sweet, thoughtful, funny, say the most outrageous things without any shame, friend. Thanks, Debs!
Emily Potter appropriately dressed in red...vibrant, sassy, deep, and rich...all the things I love about her. She takes my mind to new places and teaches me something every time I'm with her.

Jen Mosher and Britta Nelson. These are two fascinating women who have some crazy stories to tell! They are writers and achievers and motivators. They inspire me with their strength to overcome.
Gavin...being Gavin. If I want to forget about my worries and just laugh for a while, this is the man. His effects linger for days and keep a smile on my face.
Olivia Daubin...yoga teacher, visiting teaching partner, fellow beach lover and one who radiates calm, peaceful, feminine energy.
Me...crazy girl going to Costa Rica for three months with no money and no income.
Aline, my exotic Brazilian beauty and fearless leader who's heart is as good as gold, and Keva...the best roommate ever and preserver of my house while I'm gone! I'll miss her, and her silly cat, too.
And the lovely Heather Roberts who appreciates this whole raw food/cleansing/health stuff as much as I do. If I could only get her over there with me....

If you are interested friends, in being updated on the Costa Rica adventures, I've created a new blog just for this section of my life: http://lucyincostarica.blogspot.com/
Will begin posting soon!

Deep, deep thoughts....

If you pour coke over raw meat and let it sit, will maggots begin to emerge from the pork? Just how dirty is America's dirtiest meat? The world is dying to know. Watch these videos and learn the cold hard truth!

!

For Posterity's Sake....

You know those time capsule thingies? Ya...those are cool.

In the spirit of capturing a moment in time for posterity, I was thinking it would be interesting to document a few of the circumstances, big or small, that make up our society in the year 2008. Feel free to add to the list if you like...

1. The first black president of the United States of America was elected this year.
2. We saw the price of gas shoot up to an unbelievable $4.50 a gallon, and then drop to under $2.00 all in the same year.
3. One of the biggest issues in domestic politics is gay marriage. Do we legalize it or not?
4. The U.S. has been fighting the war in Iraq for 7...8? years now.
5. The most modern cell phone available is also an I-pod, computer with internet access, GPS system, and camera/video recorder....or was that yesterday? (I don't have one....too complicated)
6. Next year, something is happening to television that will make my "bunny ears" obsolete. What's that called?
7. Obesity is on the rise in American children. People are still eating fake food from McDonalds and Burger King and wondering why they're hineys keep getting larger and why cancer and heart diseases are spreading like wild fire.
8. A head of organic romaine lettuce costs $2.99 at Whole Foods.
9. A head of pesticide treated, cancer causing iceburg lettuce costs $1.29 at Smith's.
10. Real estate values have dropped 15 - 30% in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys over the last year.
11. The sub-prime market is dead.
12. Almost half of the homes listed for sale are foreclosures.
13. The average price for a starter home in the Salt Lake area is in the low $200,000's.
14. A law was passed this year in Utah making animal abuse a felony.
15. Osama bin Ladin is one of the world's most dangerous terrorists.
16. Oil is the dominant source of fuel, but new sources such as natural gas, electricity, and hydrogen are increasing in demand.
17. Interest rates for mortgages average around 6%.

This post isn't finished yet.....If someone would like to update the "pop-culture" faves of the last year or so...I'd be much obliged. Clearly, it's not my area of expertise.

I Think I'll Just Stay In

I have no pictures of Halloween because I didn't go out this year. Strange, because I always dress up and make myself seen on Halloween. It's one of my two favorite holidays...that and Cinco de Mayo. They don't mean anything, so they can't be over rated...just an excuse for a party, that's all.

For some reason, I'm feeling extremely anti-social lately. Maybe it's the cold weather settling in; could be depression...SAD. Maybe it's 'cause I'm leaving soon...Costa Rica for the winter...and am already disconnecting myself; or perhaps my social butterfly is broken and needs some rest.

I ran into one of the guys that I dated this year. He's grown a beard. He says he's been taking a hiatus from dating for a while, so why not be all shaggy? His roommate confirmed that he's been flying solo pretty much since we broke up, which made me feel a little bit better, I admit. On the other hand, he was pretty gung ho about dating when we first met. Was I that bad? :(

Sometimes life feels really blah.

On the upside, I'm getting noticeably better at rock climbing, my dog no longer has bloody diarrhea, my house is clean, bookwork is done, and I get to start Stephanie Meyer's third book in the Twilight series tonight. Good thing I have no place to go. Best be getting started......

Indian Retreat in Spanish Fork

The Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork, Utah is like transporting oneself half-way across the globe to India! Instead of spending over $1000 on airfare, however, I spent a whopping $125 for three days of Indian culture in a beautiful authentic temple which felt like being in a land far, far away. My dear friend Emily and I shared this inspiring weekend together, and made some spiritual connections with new faces along the way.

Saturday morning after our yoga session, we took a hike up in the hills near the temple. What is that rope attached to which I am holding in my hand, you ask?


It's a Llama, of course! There are dozens of them roaming around out here. Apparently, they make great pack animals and are frequently rented out to hunters. This is our yoga teacher Alan with his favorite little furry creature.


Cute...kind of, but man, do they stink! I've never smelled anything like it...really. Riding in the van with these two, even though it was only for a few minutes, was torturous! It's kind of a smell between butt and really bad body odor, combined with rotting hay. It makes my dog smell like roses, even on a bad day.


I really bonded with this McCaw, though. At first he wasn't so sure, but by the second day, he was begging to hold onto my fingers. He even let me scratch his head. Scratching a bird feels weird. He's just a prickly stump under all those feathers!



Emily and Alan jamming on the guitar. :)


This is Vie. She and her husband Charu run the temple. She's also an amazing painter in her spare time. She is super devoted to Krishna, which is just the Sanskrit name for God. We got to sit and talk with these devotees about their beliefs, and participate in some of their rituals and practices. It was very educational, and although the stories and traditions are different than Christianity, the principles and concepts are the same. Being open to what they had to offer was very rewarding and faith-building.

I Don't Believe in Pet Psychics

Back in January I blogged about a pet psychic who came to my house and did a reading on D'Ogee. If you recall, she said that he wanted a cowboy outfit. Well, since she was accurate about a few other things, I figured that my dog did indeed enjoy being dressed up and had a secret desire to be clothed in cowboy attire. I've always kind of kept my eyes peeled, just in case I happen to run across one. The other day as I was rummaging through the Halloween store, and I found it! I was so excited to go home and try it on him, hoping that it really would put a smile on his already happy face.
He humored me for a few minutes, but disappointingly, he was not thrilled by his little cowboy hat. This is him pulling on the hat and trying to chew the elastic off that went under his chin.

What a bummer! I guess I wasted 60 bucks on the pet psychic....either that or D'Ogee thought he would like a cowboy outfit, but realized upon getting one that it wasn't everything he had hoped it would be. It happens.

"Stud on the Range"

Read This! It Kinda Freaks Me Out

Will everyone read this post from my friend's blog, please? I've been hearing several things relating to the issue of emergency preparedness, and I've always thought, someday I'll do something about it. However, since my friend shared this dream on her blog, I've been inspired to take action...now! Well, tomorrow, really...she's going to come over and help me put together a 72 hour kit. :) I hope others will consider doing the same.

http://soulofthemoon.blogspot.com/

Just for the record, when I was in 6th grade and my house burned down, I'd had 3 or 4 dreams the month before that my house was on fire. Yep, I was pretty freaked out when I realized my dreams had been premonitions. I'm not saying that something bad is really gonna happen, but it couldn't hurt to get prepared just in case. Just wanted ya'll to know.

Raw Spirit

Cali, Shelley and I attended a Raw Food festival in Sedona, Arizona a couple of weekends ago. I've been a slacker and haven't posted anything for a while, but this was way too interesting to not share. In an earlier post, I remarked how I love festivals because they draw such odd crowds. I know to a lot of people, this crowd would have appeared even stranger than it did to me. As it happened, I seemed to fit in fairly well with this crowd. I have to admit, I loved being a hippy for a few days.

This is one of my favorite hippies from the festival. Look how happy he is...and so purple! Those are bunny ears on the top of his head. He wore this outfit all three days of the festival. Pew-ee! Everyone reeked by the end, though....most of us camped at the volunteer campground nearby. We were all a bunch of dirty hippies, even me.

This is another of my favorite hippies, Natan. You can't see his spiked blue hair and painted toenails, but he was pretty flashy. And he gave me a wonderful relaxation massage which I really needed after spending all morning volunteering at the "Conscious Speed Dating" event. If you've never done speed dating, don't bother! What a headache.

This is Kane. He chops open coconuts and lifts heavy things, and looks cute while doing it. :)



Check out this contraption! This hippy spent the whole festival giving people rides in this funny device. It moved like something from out of a dream. Old and young seemed to enjoy it. What it was, I really don't know.

Yoga was a daily activity. Surprisingly, I never made it to a single class.

More of my dancing hippy friends.

The whole three days consisted of free food, classes, workshops, music dancing and lots of interesting people all concerned about health and the environment. It was beautiful and inspiring. I'm looking forward to the next one in California in June. If anyone else is interested, check out the website at www.rawspirit.com. Would love to have you join me!

Lake Powell with the Fam

I wasn't really sure how I felt about taking a vacation with the (almost) entire family since it's something we haven't done since.....well, I think I was around 20 when the family last tried the vacation thing. We took a spontaneous trip to Disneyland in a rented RV. There was only 18 of us then if I remember correctly, but try cramming 18 people into a stuffy RV for 40+ hours and see if you ever choose to attend a family vacation again! I just remember spending most of the vacation arguing about what to do, and yelling at my dad in the parking lot of a casino on the drive home because I wanted to go sleep in a bed, and no one would make the decision as to whether to stay at the casino for the night and get a good night's rest or to keep driving so we could be done and over with this hellish experience by morning. It must have traumatized all of us enough, because I don't think anyone has even brought up the idea of a family vacation since then.

My brother Jerry initiated this trip, being the brave and generous soul that he is. I think I mostly came because he extended a personal invitation with several follow up calls. He was kind enough to pay for everything, too, so I knew he must have really wanted us all there. He was so sweet. I went with a smile on my face and a prayer in my heart that this trip wouldn't turn into "Family Vacation Nightmare Part II".

This time there were somewhere around 30 in attendance, but for some reason, that many people crammed into a houseboat worked much better than into an RV. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by how well everyone got along and how much fun it was to be together. I can honestly say I was bummed that I only got to stay for a day since I had prior commitments that same weekend. Granted, the scenery was stunning, the water was warm and inviting, the beach had soft red sand, and with two speedboats, water slides, and nightly entertainment, there was plenty to keep one from getting bored. However, the thing that made it the most memorable was definitely the people. My family's awesome, and knowing that we are capable of having a successful family vacation together makes me all the happier to call them my own. :)