Palazzo Di Bocce

Down the street from my house there is this massive Italian-inspired building with an LED sign outside always advertising their current dining specials. I kept wondering what is in that building because it's too big to just be food. The the title says it all it's a Bocce Ball Palace. Amazing....seriously, amazing. Oh the things you'll find in Lake Orion. We have yet to visit but obviously it's high on my priority list now.

Dogwalker Search

Yesterday was my first official dogwalker interview, and boy was it interesting. Through care.com I've had about 20 applicants to walk Jillie. My first interviewee had a nice profile, dog sitting experience and seemed legit. However, her profile went over much better than she did in-person....waa waa....so my dogwalker search continues.

This Friday I won't be able to let Jillie out during lunch so she is going to Doggie Daycare at PetSmart. I think she'll do well there, small dogs are separated from the big dogs, which is good because she is scared of big dogs. If doggie daycare goes well I might opt for that against a dogwalker unless my search improves. I emailed a few applicants back, we'll see how that goes.

Yesterday, we had a quick vet trip and Dr. Corey informed me that Jillie is probably part Italian Greyhound, which is far more interesting than a Rat Terrier (well, interesting sounding). After doing some research on Italian Greyhounds, I can definitely see that in my Jillie. Typically, they are very cat-like in nature and want to be lap dogs....Jillie covers all these....although she is a selective lap dog....she has LOTS of energy. They can also run up-to 25 miles/hour, and let me tell you...Jillie can run fast. I wouldn't clock her in at 25 miles/hour but she also isn't a purebred Italian Greyhound. They typically weigh 8 - 18 pounds whereas a Beagle weighs between 18 and 30 pounds. This could account for Jillie weighing in at 11 pounds.

Somewhere in her DNA is a mix of a few different doggies, but they all make one cute little doggie for me.

Doggie Weekend

Last weekend my sister and Kraig came to visit with Linus (their mini dachshund) and it was Jillie's first weekend with visitors in the house. Luckily, it was a success and Jillie made a new doggie BFF. The video is one of their many wrestle fests. I was really proud of Jillie for doing so well with a new dog. She was able to even wear Linus out because she has so much energy (borderline insane). This Friday she starts doggie classes with the beginner class at PetSmart. I think she'll be the best dog in the class because I've been working on training her myself. She has been able to pick up some commands pretty quickly. Some 10-year old girls at the dog park taught her how to sit. They were doing a class project and wanted to meet Jillie, who was happy to oblige.

My current task is working on Jillie's separation anxiety, which has steadily been improving. Instead of letting her go insane when I get home from work, I make her sit and wait till she calms down before I give her attention. I also leave the TV on while I'm gone, it's my classic conditioning sign that I'll be back. I'm sure her separation anxiety will get better as we continue the routine.

We have some solid dogwalker candidates finally, one even works at the Kennel Club down the road, she's my current top-runner.

Dogwalker

Last night I began my search for a dogwalker for my new best friend Jillie or Jillie Beans. She is a 10-pound beagle/rat terrier mix (we think), we got her last Wednesday from the Humane Society and I fell in love with her instantly (as did my entire family). She is a 10-pound ball of fury. The vet thinks she is at least a years old based on her teeth. Unfortunately, no one fixed my soulmate so Thursday is a big vet trip for Jill. Last week we took her in for her Rabies shot and this week it's mircochipping, fixing, and distemper shot. Big week for lil' Jill.

Still working on getting her adjusted to her new home. I'm pretty sure her former owners had a fenced-in yard because Jillie loves to run off the leash. Fortunately, Lake Orion has a 14-acre dog park! Despite the snow and cold weather, Jillie still loves being outside and seems to love the snow.

I joined Care.com to find some potential dogwalkers, although I think it's crap I had to pay to join. Hopefully we'll find some winners on the site.

Heartbreak

Last night, my dear Packers saw their season come to an abrupt ending - far too soon. The Pack started out looking like they left the entire team in Green Bay and some imposters showed up in their jerseys. During the second half the offense showed up but the defense remained in Green Bay for the entire game. After the usually clutch Rackers missed a field goal, sending the game into overtime, I thought this was our chance. Boy was I wrong. Despite starting with the ball and giving A-Rog a chance for us to win the game he throws a pic and its overrrrrr. It hurts....real bad.

Sounds like I better cancel my catering order for the Packers vs. Saints game I was counting on....

Funny Things I Overhear

Often times I think I could devote an entire blog to funny things I overhear during my typical day. Today I heard a classic line during my homeward-bound commute. It is also very festive....

Guy on train: "We are going to play the game White Rhino at the party, you know where everyone brings a gift to exchange."
Smarter friend of guy: "Um.....do you mean White Elephant."

In case this isn't obvious, I'm easily amused. Regardless, this was hilarious White Rhino....where the hell did that come from? Maybe it was even more amusing because it reminded me of the While Elephant gift exchange my co-workers and I had last week. Some popular prizes included: a rolling crate, a used Starbucks gift card, my antiqued crock pot (which was a HIT and had been sitting at my cube since September).

Precious

This weekend I was at home to celebrate the holidays with my sister & bro-in-law, who were in town to celebrate Christmas early. I took a trip to the local mall to do some shopping and the B. Dalton is closing (Barnes & Nobles buyout) so they were having a 40% sale!! Typically, I do not buy books because I try to always get them at the library, it's part of my live green initiative. However, I never pass up a 40% off sale. I walked around the store grabbing every book I've wanted to read that I haven't yet. Then Ryan made me cut down my pile....bummer. I bought Pure by Sapphire, commonly known as the book, the movie Precious is based on. Now, I knew some back story and expected the book to be depressing. Boy was I wrong, the book is FAR more depressing than I ever imagined. I see how Monique would be nominated for every award possible for portraying the mother of Precious. I haven't even seen the movie, but based on the book that would be quite the character to portray. It's even more depressing because it's a true story. Good read and very short I read it Saturday in about 5 hours.

I Love You Godiva

Omg!!! Best.Day.Ever! I just won a box of Godiva chocolates. This past weekend while shopping with my girlfriends we stopped at the new Godiva shop in Block 37. It took all my will power to not buy a chocolate while I was there. Well, it paid off! I entered my card in their fishbowl and won a box of chocolates!!! Amazing! Tomorrow they are delivering them to my cube - hooray!

Oh Blog How I've Missed You

I realize my blog posts have been MIA lately....I'll blame the holiday busy season and sales galore for my disappearance on the blogosphere. After much delay I finally watched the movie "Julie & Julia" although I've never read the book. While I hate watching a movie without reading the book first, I'm going to guess I'm in the majority here, and many other viewers also missed the book. Perfect timing to watch the movie as well, I just heard Meryl Streep was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the movie. Then again, when isn't Meryl Streep nominated for an award with any movie she's in, now I'm a huge Meryl Streep fan, but it's true, she's an amazing actress and as a result she is always nominated. Bravo to her.

Another book turned movie I still need to watch is Precious, and it's driving me nuts that I haven't seen it yet. Another bravo to Gabby Sidibe who was also nominated for her role in the movie, her first acting gig ever! Maybe I too could be cast in a film and show off my acting prowess and be nominated for an award....doubt it.

January 15th the movie I've been waiting to see comes out...The Lovely Bones...and Stanley Tucci was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in the movie. Now, I'm pretty sure he will scare the crap out of my in the movie, and it'll be difficult for me to picture him as Mr. Harvey, because I love Stanley Tucci.

Thanksgiving Adventures

My favorite season of the year is here! That being sale season....woop woop! My holiday weekend started with a trip to Detroit to watch my Packers play. The Packers win, so I am in a great mood! Post-game we are headed back to my car, we hop it and I open the glove box to grab my parents GPS, I had borrowed and it's missing! Ah, where did it go, how did someone get in without the window being broken? Well, I soon found out someone had jimmied my driver's side door lock and stole the GPS out the glove box! From there my main question is, how did someone know it was in there? Every piece of it was completely hidden in the glove box. I'm going to attribute it to the shady parking attendants at Kentwood Academy. And to think I was helping children by parking in that lot, yeah, helping them scam me. Life lesson learned.

After that depressing event, it was back home to prep for the biggest shopping day of the year. Luckily, Best Buy had the same Garmin on-sale the next day so in addition to my Dyson, I was also in the market for a Garmin Nuvi. Awesome.

My Mom and I arrived at Kohl's at 3:30 AM, my Dad didn't feel like waking up that early. I have no idea why not?! Thank goodness, we got there so early within about a 1/2 hour of opening the entire Dyson stock was wiped clean! That fabulous low-quality picture above is my Dyson I snatched up right after opening. woop woop!

So close....

Tonight I went pre-shopping for my Dyson <3 This is similar to pre-gaming before a bar night, or big game; except it's only for die-hard shoppers - similar to me. Where does my strong desire for a Dyson vacuum come from? These are questions I do NOT have the answer to. Maybe it's that man on the TV who tells me during the commercials how great my life will be with one. Am I really that much of a sucker for advertisements? The BH Kohl's has TWO Dyson DC25's in stock!!! TWO!!! That's it! The friendly saleswoman tried to put one on hold for me, however that didn't work. She did offer to hide it behind the other vacuums for me though later tonight. Basically she is my hero.

Kohl's opens at 4 AM on Friday. I plan to arrive at 3:45 AM to stand in line and run like a crazy woman to my Dyson. Since my Dad is my vacuum wingman I've offered to buy him breakfast, a sort of bribe to wake up at 3 AM to go to Kohl's. Has anyone ever wanted a vacuum quite like I want my Dyson DC25? Not that I can recall. Determination, focus.....these are key personality traits that will get me my Dyson.

What are some other purchases I'm looking to make during one of my three favorite days of the year...Wal-Mart has heated blankets & throws on sale for $13....done and done. I LOVE heated blankets. These could also be could use at the office, as it's always about 60 degrees. At Best Buy, I will definitely be hitting up the cheap DVD bin - as always. To score some DVD's that will sit on my DVD rack unopened for the next year. Smart purchase.....no....bargain purchase.....yes!

Tomorrow I'm going to the Packers v. Lions game....WOOP WOOP! If you'll be watching for me in the stadium, I'll be rocking my Greg Jennings jersey and Pack wears in addition to my temporary facial tattoos....awesome! Two big days in a row for me....can.not.wait!

My favorite holiday

(http://www.nataliedee.com/112307/black-friday.jpg)

My favorite holiday is coming up....Thanksgiving....now why would Thanksgiving be the favorite holiday of a vegetarian? Well, obviously the day after is actually my favorite holiday. My Dad and I wake up early every Black Friday to shop, now I'm pretty sure he doesn't look forward to this as much as I do, but it's tradition now. This weekend I have devoted several hours in competitive research of leaked sales ads for the items that I'm willing to knock over a soccer mom at 5 AM to obtain. There are always a few stores I focus on....Kohls and Best Buy (points for originality, I know).



My search is focused on a DC25 Dyson....I want one and Ryan just doesn't understand why a Dyson versus any other brand of vacuum. It's just not the same. To prepare for this purchase I saved up my credit card points and cashed in for $150 worth of Kohl's gift cards. Clearly, I was hoping Kohl's would have the best deal on the Dyson. According to the leaked Kohl's ad my Dyson will be on sale for $399 from $549. Clearly this is a bargain. Now I'm just concerned how early I should wake up to wait in line at the local Kohl's. How many other crazy ladies (or men) are in the market for my Dyson? These are questions I need answered. How willingly will the BH Kohl's be to provide sales figures on the Dyson DC25?

The remainder of my shopping is focused on potentially replacing my household desktop computer. I almost feel like a traitor saying this as my current desktop has survived 6-years of use. My first computer purchased before I left for college freshman year. My computer has been a good friend and survived hours of usage, and many a term paper in college. It saw Facebook before Facebook was cool, and many a episode of Grey's Anatomy online. However, the time has come to look for a replacement. The sad part is today I could purchase a much more powerful, faster, etc. desktop for about a 1/3 of the price. Damn you technology.

Professional Vegetarian

After 5 years of being a vegetarian I'm finally becoming a professional. I was impressed by my dinner selection this evening. Lo mein with vegetable stir fry and Morningstar chicken substitute. So in the end I got my protein, vegetable, and pasta intake all in one happy vegetarian-friendly meal.

A Bientot Mad Men

Mad Men's season finale was last night, and in my humble opinion the show went out with a bang. I've been watching most of the season and thus far nothing terribly exciting....a secretary ran over a Brit's foot with a John Deere tractor, Don cheated on his wife a few times, Sal accidentally came out of the closet in front of Don. The season finale was great...undermining the Brits and starting their own agency, with my favorite characters....brilliant! Don finally had to admit that Roger and Peggy were all actually needed at the agency, and unfortunately the world doesn't revolve around creative. Betty is leaving Don for the somewhat older and sexy Henry, besides it's about time she leaves Don's cheating ass. Now, I'm eager beaver waiting for season 4....

Ah My TV Died!

Tonight after eating my fabulous Friday dinner of Chinese food with my boo, we sat down to watch some TV. Typical Friday night at the Paruch household. Only to be ruined when my TV died! Now this TV was a gift of sorts, we bought it after I got my first job out of school - so I guess it could be considered a post-grad self-gift. Now, I'm no TV professional but I think it's a nice TV.

However it suddenly when rainbow-colored in vertical stripes! AH! Out of nowhere....so tragic. It also made noises that sounded like an alien attempting to talk to me through the TV. I told Ryan aliens were taking over - I still think this is true.

Anyways, thank godness I have experience with bad luck, and you know I bought the extended warranty on that TV. We called it in and someone is coming to take a look on Monday - YAY!

UPDATE: My TV is home! Thank goodness we purchased the warranty plan the motherboard or something had to be replaced...value of the part alone was $300!! The doesn't even included labor to repair the TV. Bottom line....warranties are my new best friend.

Compliment or Diss

Today I was en route to catch my train and some incredibly small for his age kid stops me and starts with, "This is going to sound really stupid, but I have a question for you." Oh God, what a great start....at this point I can't just keep walking and pretend I didn't hear him.

So what was his question...."Where did you get those boots, they would be great for my Halloween costume." Now, I really like these boots, but the LAST thing I associate them with is Halloween. I have no idea what costume this kid was planning on and why my boots went with his costume.

Is that a complete diss or compliment; I'm really not sure.

AHHH My New Favorite Jam

Please you know I'm all over the new jams...especially when they are written about me....haha

Now, I'm a fan of most T-Pain jams (obviously) and the occasional Jesse McCartney song....but combine the two and I'm listening. However, this song has a real selling point for me, that hooked me the first time I heard it. Now, anyone who knows me knows just about anything with a French-accent has me sold....if only you could see my decor. During the hook of the song "Body Language" Jesse sings "parlez-vous francais?" and I sold like a kid in a candy store. Interesting though, because this woman/girl must be someone Jesse doesn't know well as he uses the formal. Minor details - Jesse you know this shits on my iPod.

My Guilty Pleasure

I finally figured out my guilty pleasure is....and it's completely dorky. It's Quizno's veggie sub. There is a Quizno's located near my house, but I only visit it about once a month. I've realized that it's some sort of a lame special treat for me. On Friday, I picked up my favorite sub on my way home from work and I got home and was deliriously happy (granted it was Friday, so that helps). But why on earth does a disgusting looking and terrible un-healthy sub make me so happy.....because it's so damn good. On Friday I came to the realization that every time I pick up their sub I enter a complete happy food coma - and it's great.

Also, I like their apparent new slogan....now I couldn't find anything online about this...but the folks at my local Quizno's were rocking some new t-shirts. The slogan on their shirts "Friends don't let friends eat Subway." Now, I'm no Subway-basher but I thought this was hilarious. Clearly they know Subway is the market leader in subs, but the shirts made me laugh. Ah, I'm so easily amused....it's the small things in life.

Movie Review: Law Abiding Citizen

Overall: Action-packed, suspenseful, and original. I would recommend if you like any of the above statements.

At first, you might think by the title I'm going to see a movie about myself (HA....I know - I'm corny). Then if you know what the movie is about you might, wonder why I wanted to see this movie. If you are wondering that, please let me remind you I'm a fan of rap & hip-hop music. Also, I like Jamie Foxx and Leslie Bibb (she's in private practice). While true movie critics weren't a fan....are you surprised? I thought the movie was riveting. Gerard Butler's character is insane, I mean he goes crazy, and it's amazing to watch. Thankfully, the movie has a chance to take the turn towards Saw-esque scences, but it did not. Which made me very happy, as I did not sign up to see that. Although, like any action movie it has a few highly unbelievable scenes - can you really move bomb? Would no one really notice? I don't want to give it all away but more than once I said I don't know about that.

Book Review: "Love Season"

I borrowed "Love Season" by Elin Hilderbrand from a friend, after borrowing a previous book by Erin "Barefoot". "Barefoot" was enjoyable with a surprising ending - at first I thought it was just a book version of "Beaches" (you know..."you are the wind beneath my wings") but a far more cheerful ending. It took me about 3 weeks to actually start "Love Season" (sorry Carrie), I have to be in a reading mood. Once I started it took me about 5 days to complete (note: I have a 3-hour round-trip daily commute), so let's just say I have down time :)

Although, the book left me wanting more....what happened to Miles & Sallie? Do Renata and Dan leave Nantucket or stay with Marguerite? Does Porter really never talk to his niece, and how could he leave Marguerite!? So many questions and I need answers! Does Cade really give up on Renata?

What I loved about the book - was that it all takes place during one very long, hot, summer day - but yet it spans an entire lifetime. The characters were all so intriguing and I could picture them all perfectly in my mind. Also, the book has many a French reference, which will easily win me over.

Overall, I recommend the book and I enjoyed the tiny references to "Barefoot" in the book. During the dinner party, the conversation changed to a mother of three with cancer....hm, what could that be referencing? However, the book left me wanting more...it didn't feel complete to me.