Days 6 through 10...

This whole "100 happy days" thing is hard to keep up with! Ergo, here are Days 6-10:

Day 6: When a cheesecake (or two) and gas money can take care of air conditioner issues.

Day 7: Dancing so much I done broke my dancin' shoes

Day 8: One content little dog, during the spring, thoroughly enjoying the new front door. And keeping an eye on the neighborhood.

Day 9: Getting awesome fortunes from fortune cookies :)

Day 10:  A last-minute, unexpected invite out for a night of much-needed laughter. 

What do I do?

The task for this post is, if you couldn't answer with your job, how would you answer the question "what do you do?"  

Hmmm... a toughie. And given that this is a standard "small talk" question, a "getting to know you" type thing, difficult to answer when you can't just say, "Oh I work for a _________ company doing __________."  

So what do I do?

I take care of my dog. And sometimes my parents' dog. 
I practice yoga. And sometimes meditate.
I try to eat healthfully and deliciously - sometimes the two are not the same. :)
I drink wine. (and beer, and cocktails...but preferably wine, as I get older.)
I try to be a good friend/sister/cousin/niece/daughter.
I laugh. Not as much as I would like, but I do enjoy when I do.
I definitely overanalyze. It's part of what makes me good at what pays the bills. But it can be rough on other aspects of my life.
I try to live in the moment - often difficult (see above). 
I work at being happy and content, and focusing on the positive rather than the negative (it's so easy to get pulled into that pit of negativity). 
Sometimes, I cook. And bake. And occasionally I share the results with others.
I travel - though not as often as I would like, and there are so many places that I want to see, and not enough time or money to do it. But my vacations have been awesome. :)
I read. A lot. 
I love to learn new things. (But I hate those "life lessons" that always such but apparently build character ;)
Occasionally I try my hand at being artsy-craftsy.
I try to grow a bit each day to better myself. Sometimes that's through yoga/meditation, or through the people I interact with, or something I read...but betterment of self is always a goal.


Have a lovely day!

I love my dog :)

Day 5 of 100 Happy Days (I have a feeling this theme will contain a LOT of dog pictures, so be prepared :):

July 5th recovery from the stress of the neighborhood fireworks:

In a Nutshell...

I was born in the Great White North, but my family moved to the much warmer state of Texas when I was 3. I grew up in the town that the book and movie (but not the TV show, not really) "Friday Night Lights" is about. Yah. High school football forced upon one starting at a very young age. I played piano for three years, violin for one, and French horn for 6 (and cornet for about 5 minutes). I haven't played any instruments in over 20 years, and I miss it. Going to the symphony now makes me emotional because of that. I'm a huge fan (and loyal alumnus) of Texas Tech (and our current football coach, if you must know).  After graduating from college aI moved to Austin and have been here ever since. Humidity and all, I love it here - though there is so much to do here and I don't often do much of it, I love having the option. A little over 12 years ago I got myself a puppy - a sweet little miniature pinscher named Hannah. I love her dearly, and though she's getting older and a bit stiffer, she still acts like a younger dog and always makes me smile. I have an adorable nephew on the West Coast (and an awesome brother and sister-in-law). I have a great relationship with my parents. I've never been married though I don't count it out, but just haven't found the right guy and the last few years haven't looked very hard for him either. 

It's been awhile...

QUITE a while, actually. I have been so busy with Life that this has totally fallen by the wayside. Vacations and anything else interesting has not made it on here. So, in the interest of improving my writing (and typing!) skills, I'm going to start blogging again. 
I tried to look up those "blog a day" challenges to see if that would work for me...I'm not sure. I'll see. I'm kind of intrigued by the #100HappyDays thing....I actually thought when I saw a distant cousin constantly posting with that hashtag that he was Seriously In Love and waiting on his Beloved to get her visa and come back to this country. I didn't realize until...yesterday, I think...that this was actually A Thing. So...maybe. But that's simply a photo, right? No actual writing necessary. And I want to write.

For the last several months I've been in a new job that doesn't require a whole lot of writing or typing - and what little it does is repetitive and very dry. And it ties me even more to a desk all day than I have ever been. Thus, I need to regroup and remember my goals for 2014: to regain a consistent yoga practice, to move more in general, to declutter my house/life, and to pay off some things and add to my savings. 

Yep, got a bit away from that. Tends to happen when your entire life gets disrupted thanks to the air conditioner deciding to quit. THAT is NOT a good thing, especially when one lives in the great state of Texas...and it's summer. Granted, this summer has not yet been super hot - it's only been in the 90s so far (believe me, that's not truly hot...we are just starting to be in the mid 90s regularly, and I hope and pray that our triple-digit-temperature days are kept to a minimum this year). So I've been incredibly thankful that I have family nearby that my dog and I can stay with when such things happen, and friends who know how to fix such things. 

On another note, here is my first post (and no, I don't think I'll be hashtagging anything - so not a fan of that, though I do occasionally give in): 100 Happy Days: My little dog makes me smile every. single. day. I love her! 

Holiday Weekend Do-Overs

So my friends invited me and the Bratdog back to their lake house, this time to have a much more relaxing weekend---the one we were supposed to have over Memorial weekend. They put up a small, plastic-y fence, about 2 feet tall, so that hopefully my stupid dog wouldn't get loose again. Just to make sure, I took her 12-foot tie-out and her retractable leash.

Wouldn't you know it, Hannah sometimes would just sit and watch the deer come up...but then other times she would take off trying to chase them, only to be foiled by the little fence. And the leash/tieout, of course. I don't trust her nearly as far as I could throw her! Little brat! The type of fence they put up requires staking down the bottom edge; Hannah made sure to quickly find the areas that still needed stakes.

Occasionally she'd bite the fence in her frustration, and at least once she had her paws on the top edge, ready to take off and get her some deer! Obviously she learned nothing from her Memorial weekend overnight adventure. Sheesh.

It took a couple weeks for me to have the time, but I finally went to the Williamson County Humane Society and got Hannah microchipped for $15. Which won't help her much if she runs off into the wilderness again and gets bitten by a snake or something, but it would help if she got picked up and taken to animal control or a vet or something. (Assuming someone could move fast enough to catch her!)

Eventful holiday weekend

Whew, and when I say eventful, I mean it! I went to visit some friends at their lake house on Canyon Lake. It was gorgeous! (I mean, except for the rain..though even that was beautiful!) I drove the Devil's Backbone on my way there--an awesome drive, which I had never done with the Miata club (my own fault). Though I did take a little side trip through Wimberley, almost to Driftwood--I forgot that I wasn't supposed to turn off right there.

Saturday night was an awesome lightning storm that woke everyone up, including and especially the dogs. I had taken Hannah's collar off so she wouldn't wake everyone up all night, but I needn't have worried since the storm took care of that. The following morning, we let the dogs out to pee, and lo and behold Hannah found some deer to chase!

That little dog of mine can run fast!!! We hollered at her to come, but she was so focused and having so much fun that she of course ignored us. Unfortunately in her fun she managed to get lost. I have never been so...scared...for another being in my life, I think. How could a five-pound dog survive living in the wild? We kept searching for her, combing the woods, checking the campgrounds, walking the neighborhood. The neighbors all knew we were looking for a little black dog, as did the owner of the beer and bait store up the road. We kept calling for her, we put food out on the front and back porches, and we kept an eye out for her. At some point we tried calling animal control (closed until Tuesday, it would be a $500 fine if they had her) and I dug out the phone book and started leaving messages with area vet clinics.

Sunday night there was another storm, not as scary as Saturday night's but still a big one. We all hoped that Hannah had been taken in by someone so she could at least have a warm, dry place to sleep.

Monday morning I was wide awake at 6, and praying that my little dog would be returned to me...after all, she is rather indestructible! Finally at about 9:30, the guy at the store called--a lady had found my dog but couldn't catch her! We hauled ass to the store, getting there in about five seconds (seriously!) and she said to follow her and she'd take us to where the dog was. Sure enough, Hannah had apparently found some houses and was basking in the sun on the concrete driveway, seemingly none the worse for wear. We profusely thanked the kind soul who had found her and had asked at the store. Bless her!

I don't think I have ever been so happy to see my little Hannah bug. After drinking lots of water and snoozing even more, I think today she is back to normal. Whew!

Above pics are of my friend Pat reassuring my parents' dog Bo, and of Pat and Amy's dogs Tara and Bean recovering from the stress of missing Hannah. :)

P.S. I did call back all those vet clinics Monday night to leave messages that my baby had been found.