random beautiful child

so johnny and i have been taking the dogs to a new dog park a lot recently and i honestly love this park because there's a large fenced in area and then a large field next to it with lush clover patches. today was such a beautiful day and the clovers were so green i laid down on the ground and snapped some photos. then out of nowhere a little girl shows up next to me and asks, "what are you doing?" and i replied, "taking pictures of the grass." without skipping a beat she asks me, "why?" and i had to kind of laugh because it was a good question. i said, "because it's so pretty." so she sits down next to me and looks at the grass and i asked her what her name was. she said her name is Beatrice.


she looked about 5 years old. I told her that i was also looking for a four leaf clover, because they are hard to find and they will bring me luck. so she settles in and starts looking for four leaf clovers. she was so cute, with bright red hair and freckles on her nose and cheeks. i couldn't help but take some photos of Beatrice.


she was a sweet girl and so innocent and precocious. her mother was sitting on a bench watching us and came over to chat. she said she was 47 years old and her daughter was 5. obviously a very much wanted and loved child! she helped me look for four leaves and picked a bouquet of clovers. i can't wait to have my own daughter!

pictures of life in the S-A-V

it's the end of december and we are sweating our boobies off in the dirty south...

bibi and louie decide it's too effin' hot out here too!

louie sniffs a palm rose.

there are about half a dozen people making palm roses in the park.

the fountain in forsyth park was all decked out for the holidays.

bibi window surfing on truman pkwy.

i shit thee not, this is a Wendy's on hilton head.

the chicken, potatoes & peas samosa filling we had for xmas.
'twas gooooood!

pppbbttttt! bibi says poo on xmas, too!

at the beach in december!

this is my favorite pic of smooshie enjoying his unlimited digging privileges

yea, it's been freakishly warm lately. i keep hearing on the news about all the snowstorms and just wishing a little of that will blow our way. the warm weather was supposed to end by sunday night (which it did!) so we took the bored dogs to the beach one last time for the year. hopefully the dog park will open back up soon and we can start taking them there again. i swear as soon as i have some money we will be donating to the dog park!

it seems like its taking forever to settle into this new apartment, mostly because of a major lack of storage. we have no closets!! we had way more stuff than this place could hold, plus a bunch of Kim's crap and suejin's stuff (mostly for baby). so, johnny in all his magnificent manly glory and handiness had to put up a bunch of shelves and stuff so we could put things away. my first concern was the stove area, which had no place to put spices and just two tiny little slivers of counter space on each side of the stove. I had johnny install a small shelf level with the top of the stove's display console and voila!


i just love organizing things and putting them in the perfect spot. even though this apartment has no storage, it has a lot of nooks and crannies perfect for making your own storage, which i love! the bathroom is my next task to tackle. friday night i made the first official homecooked meal: pot roast. i just love it when pot roast comes out good, and there's practically no way to mess up a pot roast in a crockpot. i don't even go by a recipe, i just play around with it knowing the basics of a good roast is to broil it first. i use about 10 cloves of garlic stuffed in the meat and a good bit of red cooking wine and mushroom broth. yuuummmmm....


my momsent me back to savannah last time with a van load of stuff, including plants, paintings, 100 year old mushrooms (i'll make a whole post on this topic, too), paintings, and fabric - oh! and a sewing machine!!! I cannot wait to use that baby! anyways, i still have to set up a sewing station so don't get too excited yet... right now there's a banana tree and a mango tree living on my kitchen table and i just wanted to show them off. thanks, mom!

I'm bored, dammit!

 

so i'm trying to take a cute picture of louie sitting in suejin's lap and bibi keeps popping her big bubbly head into my picture. she'sobviously trying to tell me something - probably something like, "are you gonna take us somewhere today??"

smooshie has a new nose

I've only been gone for a week and it seems like an eternity. I've come to think that I don't consider Atlanta home anymore. a week is all I can take. The stress level there is beyond high. I can't even imagine how people live there anymore with all the smog, traffic, corruption and panic. My body and mind were screaming "get out of here!" and my ankle flared up along with my insomnia and indigestion. At one startling moment, I realized I was homesick, and I felt sad and insecure. I was drowning in sorrow with all of the rest of the city.

So, I couldn't take it anymore and posted an ad on craigslist in a moment of weakness; despite the obvious stupidity, and searched for a ride to savannah. To my surprise I got a reply the next day from a woman named Maureen telling me she was headed that way and if I could tell her who I was. I hitchhiked on the internet. So I replied back,

Hey Maureen,

I'm Heather, I went to SCAD and my fiance and I live in Beaufort (which is only 30 mins from SAV). I'm stuck in Atlanta with my parents cause I had to go to a funeral and they were supposed to bring me back to Savannah this weekend but then they had other plans they forgot they already made. I don't want to wait until next weekend so I thought I'd try to find someone heading my way. I can literally be dropped off anywhere in Savannah, I have friends and family all over the place. I just don't want them to waste gas coming to get me cause gas is so freakin expensive. I was hoping to get a ride with a female driver cause ya know.. parents would freak out if i told them i was hitching a ride with a strange man...not to mention fiance would probably not like that! Soooo glad you're a girl... or are you a guy with a girl's name? I'm betting you're a girl. Anyways, I'm not psycho, don't smoke, don't care if you do, and will listen to whatever you want to listen to as long as it isn't gospel music. I'm scad alum (masters in architecture) so I'm not some crazy college kid with pink hair and piercings everywhere. Pretty normal, relatively.

my cell phone # is ******** and I'm staying in Doraville, right by spaghetti junction. I can be up and ready at 7 am and I can even take turns driving if you want. Let me know what you decide and I will go ahead and tell my parents peace out!

So now we are friends on facebook. Maureen turned out to be a really cool chick with two beautiful kids, a 3 year old boy named Reed (a.k.a. Diego) and a 8 year old girl named Ridley. I watched cartoons and movies on the DVD player in the car with the kids and talked about homebirthing with Maureen (she did solo homebirths for her brood). It was actually a really pleasant drive and we enjoyed each other's company. Her kids were "in showbizness" cause they were going to savannah to be in a SCAD thesis film. The little boy was really happy go lucky and bright as a star. He liked to watch the cartoon Diego (like Dora the explorer, fyi) in spanish. The little girl was a bit ornary at being awakened on a saturday morning at 6 am to take a 4 hour car ride. Before even leaving atlanta she was asking if we were there yet. But she was adorable and sweet, too. She would touch the back of my elbow with her big toe from the backseat.

The whole thing just made my desire to have kids flare up and we even talked about that. Her advice was to "just do it". heh. alot easier to say than do. Anyways, we had lunch at sentient bean coffeeshop at forsyth park and then went our separate ways. I'll miss my 4 hour friend.

But once I got into the car with johnny, I felt 100% better. I realized that I felt more at home in savannah and beaufort than I did in atlanta, and how weird that was because I used to hate savannah. When we got home, the dogs were naturally really happy to see me and I got kisses all around. I noticed smooshie was not in the horde of dogs attacking me, so I called out for him and I heard him start his happy whining and crash through the doggie door, nails all slipping on the linoleum. I guess he was outside, but once he realized who was standing before him, he became frantic to find a toy to pick up and offer to me (he always greets bearing gifts). It was the best feeling in the world. I noticed immediatey that his nose had changed to a light pink color.

When I find my damn camera cord, I'll be uploading a ton of new pictures.

puppy trippin'

don't let this face fool you.

having a puppy is probably the next closest thing to having a hyperactive toddler. we love our little step-puppy Nadia but that dog can get into some serious trouble. first of all, she likes to chew on everything. rugs, pillows, extension cords, furniture, everything but doggie toys. which is fine, louie went through the same exact phase (he ate a chunk out of my backseat) but nadia scared us to death with her mischevious puppy antics friday morning.

i got up to let the dogs outside and since it was so cool i decided to keep the back door open to air out the house a bit. then i went back to my bed and rested while waiting for johnny to wake up. a few minutes later, i hear nadia playing happily with something on the back porch and i look over to see her chewing on a plastic vitamin bottle. i went over and took it away from her. the label was practically all chewed off, but i made out the name of the supplement which was 5htp. 5htp is a seratonin booster. I noticed the cap had been chewed off and there was a bunch of gooey capsules stuck to the bottom of the bottle. i threw it away. i laid back down for a bit.

30 minutes later, i notice things are unusually quiet and just as i listen for the dogs, i hear a yelp. i called out for nadia (my 3 dogs were standing next to me) and no response. so, i figure she got stuck somewhere in the backyard or, (god forbid) she got hurt and can't move. so i immediatly fly into action, put on a house dress and flip-flops and go out looking for nadia.

i found her curled up in a patch of ivy amidst the bamboo trees, crying and looking like she's in pain. she wouldn't move. she had peed herself and was crying. i never seen a dog actually cry but she had tears rolling down her cheeks, it was pitiful and heartbreaking. i thought she might have broken a leg or something but she didn't seem to have any injuries. i didn't know what to do, so i picked her up and brought her inside where she continued to cry yelp and carry on. I could not find any clues as to what was causing her so much pain. i yelled at johnny to help me and we began looking for emergency vets and called mason (nadia's daddy) to tell him what was going on. we called poison control to see what effects 5htp would have on a dog and they didn't say much other than headache and being wobbly. poor nadia was quickly getting worse. we left for the nearest vet and arranged to meet mason there.

unfortunately, the vet we went to was quite ill equipped to handle this situation. they were a small private practice working out of an old house and they referred up to GVS - georgia veterinary specialists. we drove all the way there and gave nadia to the nurses. we really couldn't explain what was wrong with her so they explained the costs of looking at her and they took her to the back. mason was still on his way, so i gave them permission to look at her until he got there. i then realized i was standing in this really nice pet hospital in sandy springs wearing my house dress and flip flops, hair still messy and teeth not brushed. we waited. waited some more. the vet hospital was really really nice, with a greenspace in the back and artwork everywhere. finally mason showed up and i explained everything for like the tenth time.

my guess was she had chewed and swallowed something that was blocking her bowels or something like that. i was pretty sure the xray would show something crazy in her stomach like a kitchen knife or something and she would need surgery. i felt awful, just terrible. poor nadia.

finally the doctor came out and brought us to the exam room where she asked us exactly what happened. i explained everything with as many details as i could. she then asked if we had any illegal drugs in our house that nadia could have gotten into. mason and i looked at each other. i confessed to her that i smoke pot but the dog had no way of getting into it. (plus, i have seen the effects of weed on a dog and it aint nothing like that...) so she then explained to us that nadia was hallucinating. i was kind of shocked - i didn't know what to think. the doc said nadia's clinical presentation is that of a neurological problem - her eyes were completely dilated, she couldn't follow objects with her eyes and her blood pressure was high but heart rate low. all i could think in my head was, ohmigod, she's tripping...

so, what next? the doctor confirmed the effects of 5htp on a dog with the animal poison control and told us that nadia should be OK, she just has to flush the drug out of her system with fluids and take a medicine that counteracts the 5htp. we were quite relieved. after hearing that, we were so happy she was going to be ok that we couldn't help but laugh at the situation. i about had a heart attack thinking nadia was going to die and really all it was was a bad trip. johnny (trying to pretend not to be a smartass) asked the doctor if nadia would suffer from flashbacks.

apparently 5 htp is quite toxic to dogs and they can easily overdose with a small amount. it can be fatal... luckily she didn't seem to have ingested that much. mason took nadia home with some meds and nadia seemed to be bouncing back immediately. thank goodness!

the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round!

the dogs have gotten quite used to riding in the car. actually, they kinda love it. all of them like to stick their heads out the window. bibi likes to sit up front, lean her right arm out of the window and rest her paw on the side mirror (which she ended up breaking off). syrus balances himself by propping up a back leg against the seat. louie just sits like a little kid and stares out of the window.

syrus is very alert in the car. he can recognize where he is going when he sees the following landmarks: McDonald's = cheeseburger. winding road through neighborhood = lake. horse farm = uncle jimmy's house in beaufort. short drive through beaufort = beach. speed humps = home. talmadge bridge = auntie kim's in savannah. he gets all excited and starts whining and jumping all over the place. it's really entertaining.

veggies from the garden and dogs in tshirts

i can't take any credit for these eggplants since my chickens destroyed my garden (my fault, not theirs) but my mom did bring me some eggplant from her garden. i still have peppers and tomatoes growing but no squash or beans or anything like that. anyways, i made myself dinner the other night using her eggplant. i made eggplant stir-fry. which i didn't like - only because i don't really like eggplant but ya know, you got to keep trying it cause maybe one day you'll like it - with the exception of brussel sprouts. those are just freakin nasty.

i also had a eureka moment the other day when i put my t-shirt on louie. louie likes to play under blankets and burrow himself into things, and he especially loves to nuzzle up to me (such a mama's boy) so when i was changing my clothes, he was watching me and wanted to play with my shirt, so i just put it on him. he loved it! it was like nuzzling me and burrowing at the same time! so he kept the tshirt on all day.

i noticed that by having a tshirt on, louie was much more calm and comfortable and most importantly, he didn't get as much fur everywhere! so, in addition to being cute and funny, it's functional! naturally, i had to put one on bibi, who doesn't like to wear clothes that much, but she tolerated it just fine. i think bibi wearing a tshirt is even better cause she has such sensitive skin and this could help her with that. i would have put one on the smooshie, but he didn't want to be touched in any way yesterday. such a grump.

while i was sitting on the couch by the window, i took a close-up picture of my eye in macro and it came out pretty good. unfortunately, it also highlighted the terrible condition my skin is in. i used to have such clear pretty skin and now i am aging. ugh.

doggies in paradise

while johnny and i were saying farewell to our good friends and having reunions with other friends and family, the dogs were on vacation. they got to hang out with three other dogs and go to the beach all week. johnny's brother jimmy adopted a german shepherd mix named jake and of course took darla when we needed to find a new home for her. he also took on an aging family member's dog - a 10 year old female mutt named shadow. at first the dogs were standoffish but they became pretty good friends soon enough. jake is very timid and shy and darla is still that annoyingly excited non-stop licking jumpy pup. shadow is the older, slower, less amused one who just sort of lays around the house.

when we arrived into beaufort, we went straight to the sands, our favorite beach spot. we let the dogs out and luckily it was high tide. bibi was beside herself with excitement and syrus went straight into the marsh looking for goodies. louie was blissfully unaware of the difference between beach (ocean) and park (lake). he jumped right into the water, not expecting it to be very deep or salty or have a current. but he took to it right away.

it was so beautiful. i truly love the sands at port royal. it's like your backyard beach where you can go anytime for some fresh air, softly crashing waves and the sharp cries of seagulls. the sand is a powdery white and the water is a clear blue. the marsh grasses are a brilliant bright green and it's all layered in a soothing pattern - the white fluffy sky, the clear blue sky, the deep blue water, the bright green grass, and the white sandy shore. during the day you can see for miles all around and at night the sky surrounds you like a black blanket with twinkling stars. it's heaven.

well, now the dogs are thoroughly depressed to be back home. all they do is sulk and mope around the house, thinking about how boring it is around here...

do dogs enjoy music?

i'm listening to some fabulous flamenco music on Pandora (i loooove pandora) and doing some work on my computer and i noticed that the dogs are here next to me passed out completely on the floor. i know they seem to always gravitate to where ever i might be in the house but usually it's just one or two of the dogs, and right now i am noticing every dog (including our step-dog nadia) is in my office - sleeping contentedly.

this is the only pic of nadia i have right now.... she's a little monster :)

this is unusual because our dogs are hyperactive little shits and usually somedog is chewing, ripping, running, jumping, or barking. right now they are so cute and peaceful, snoring softly on the down comforter they dragged out of my bedroom. nadia and bibi's ears ae sticking straight up and louie passes gas every so often. syrus sometimes growls a bit in his sleep. nadia has one leg draped over louie. i wish i had a camera.

it must be the music because i'm a little drowsy myself... i think flamenco is my new favorite music to work to. it's very relaxing yet motivating. so far i really like Paco de Lucia, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, and Jaleo. i really think the dogs like flamenco, too.

in other unrelated news, i got my first bunny bite today at the feed store. he was a cute little bastard but he bit the heck out of my finger and made me bleed. johnny was laughing at me cause at first i was all like, aaawwww - canihavacutebunny pleeeeeze? then post-attack i was all, i'm gonna feed you to my other bunny you little *&%#$!

syrus to the rescue!

today we took the dogs to the lake - again. those dogs really are spoiled. but the lake is gorgeous and peaceful so we enjoy it very much too. B and i went first with louie cause johnny was at the vet with syrus and bibi getting shots. afterwards, they met us at our favorite spot on the lake. when B and i strolled up to the spot, johnny was standing on the edge of the lake with his wallet, keys, cellphone, and cigarettes on the ground beside him. he was about to jump into the lake!

we arrived just as syrus was saving bibi's life. johnny had thrown the ball out onto the lake and bibi got caught up on a branch and couldn't escape. she would have drowned if left alone - but syrus dove in and swam to her! he swam right up and bumped into her so that she could break free of the branch and swim back. johnny was getting ready to rescue bibi but decided to see what syrus would do first. i am very proud and impressed with syrus because he always acted like bibi was a pain in his ass. now if that had been louie drowning out there, syrus would have pushed him under himself!

so, we realized that syrus's grumpy disposition is really just a facade because deep down inside, he truly loves his little sister....awwww....

this is one of the first photos of bibi and syrus, right after we adopted bibi and brought her home. syrus was moping. he's like, "is she seriously staying here?"

pictures of paradise

well, the fence didn't last long as an effective barrier. the chickens have decided that the grass is far better on the other side. B and i must have chased the chickens from going into the street 3 times. once they were actually all hanging out right in the front lawn! the chickens can literally walk right through the fence. so a new project for this weekend will be reinforcing the chicken barrier.

we also realized that 9 chickens should not go through 40 lbs. of feed in one week. they are getting really big fast and eating a LOT. i'm afraid jerky is going to be sunday roast pretty soon. i liked the little guy - he follows me around the most. maybe we'll eat one of the smaller ones instead...

From SPRING 2008

it's been a long time since johnny and i were up at dry pond. it's a little piece of paradise with all the plants and ponds. the dogs just love running at top speed in the fields and lounging in the lush grass under the pecan tree. even the weeds at dry pond are awesome and beautiful. my mom's koi fish are friendly - they will eat pellets out of your hand. you can actually pet them. my friend was just fascinated with the koi so she wanted to bring her new baby and i wanted to show off my mom's crazy landscaping obsession to B. we also planned to fish in my mom's lake not far from dry pond. as soon as we got there, the dogs were out running and me, johnny, and B walked to the far edge of the property picking wildflowers and watching the dogs play.

From SPRING 2008

it wasn't long before we heard the splash. bibi found the spring and soon all three of them were splashing around in the stinky mud. i was busy snapping pictures of weeds. we came back to the lawn and played in the pecan tree. syrus had to prune it, first. B had to climb up and syrus even climbed up the tree! bibi wanted too, but she can't. ahhh... fresh air. sun. birds chirping. trees.





i have no clue what's in this bouquet, but it's pretty and i gave it to my mom :)



look at the size of this weed! it's huge! it had big, fat, furry leaves.



the berries on this bush look delicious. i wonder if they are edible?



according to johnny, they are not.



let's go bananas!



water lillies are so photogenic, aren't they?



B is practising cartwheels. you just can't resist doing a cartwheel on a lawn like this.



syrus went right to work. look at him in the tree!





B monkeyin' around...

now we come to the lake adventure. my mom had a bunch of her korean friends and their families over for a picnic and some fishing. the funny thing is, the only one who caught fish (besides my mom of course) was V's vegetarian husband, who promptly threw his fish back into the lake. Kiera (pictured below with my momma) almost jumped into the lake after the fish. she just couldn't believe why he would do something like that. so, to make up for it, he caught her a bigger fish.





did you notice that my mom is wearing two sun visors? she is ALWAYS wearing a visor, making her look like a perpetual tourist. the worst thing is, they are never plain visors. no, hers are always sparkly.

when we first arrived at the lake, i almost got the mazda stuck on a hill and almost tipped it into the lake. that was a little scary cause i don't think mazda mpv's were meant for bush hogging through thistle. the guys went through shoulder-high grass to try and find a suitable path to drive my mpv through but the weeds and grass were too thick. the dogs followed the guys and i guess louie didn't see the barbed wire fence and ran right into it....



we all got some minor boo-boos from being out in the wilderness (i found a tick on my thigh later that night!!) but poor louie got the biggest boo-boo of all - on his face, too. he heals fast, thankfully.



syrus and my mom look back at our camp from the boat on the lake.

so that was memorial day monday. it was a nice holiday and we remembered to thank the men and women who sacrificed their lives protecting our freedoms.



oh, i almost forgot - i joined blogcatalog and NaBloPoMo with the username seagrass. i still don't know how the hell to use twitter.