Day 145 – May 3rd, 2011

This morning, I woke up and got to work straight away. I had a few more things to do before my 1:1. At 11am, I called my boss and went over things I needed to work on for our group’s website. After that, MF and I met up with her friend for lunch.

I had the fried mojarra.. can't remember the name in English

After lunch, I went back MF’s to work some more.. in the meantime, I noticed Dusty got more comfortable at MF’s house

On top of the fridge!!

Eddie also had to climb up stuff

This evening, I watched TV while Mireya went to Zumba. Nothing much else went on…

xoxo,
C

Day 142 – April 30, 2011

The alarm went off at 4:30 am. and I had to get up and shower… however, the water boiler is broken and won’t be fixed until later today.. so I went to boil some water. I got to the airport and the lady who checked me in [I can’t check myself in while traveling with Dusty] didn’t even weigh my bags!! I am thinking it’s because I’ve paid to travel with a pet and for a second bag [Air Canada doesn’t charge you for the first bag]. However, she said that my flight wasn’t until 8:40, not at 7:40 like I originally thought. An extra hour to spare at the airport..yay! I then realized I had left the Nintendo 3DS on the kitchen counter. D’OH!!!

As I was already awake and hungry, I went to Tim Hortons to get some food.

I gotta get rid of all of this Canadian change!!

Luckily, I had enough change so I didn’t have to use my debit card to pay for my egg sandwich with ham {it was a lot like an Egg McMuffin} combo with a tea. I sat down and ate… man the line grew way long while I was sitting there. After breakfast, I picked up a couple of magazines and a bottle of water, then went to the gate. The flight was on time and I slept for more than half of it.

Once we got to Houston, Dusty and I waited for our ride.

He was actually people watching and not hiding!!

After arriving at MF’s house, AF + kids arrived. We ordered pizza for lunch, and A played Just Dance 2 while AF & I chatted and looked at the magazines. We mostly just hung out that night… we did go to Fiesta to get some junk food at a stand… the diablito snow cones, corn in a cup, chips with salsa, and this frozen mango treat.

Oof.. so full but it was soooo good 😀

xoxo,
C

Day 140 – April 28, 2011

This morning there was sunshine!!!

Dusty made sure to enjoy it as much as he could

I looked at the forecast for today and saw that there would be rain in the afternoon. I said “SCREW YOU, RAIN!” and wore a dress. Man, I guess I should’ve looked closer at the wind icons because it was super windy when I went out. I wore my parka so I was okay… At work, we waited for IS to come in as ND wanted to go for breakfast. I’d already had breakfast but went along anyway. I was putting my coat on when ND said we were just going to the cafeteria downstairs, so I left it behind. Once we were downstairs, I saw IS’ car out the front door and ND said we were going to McD’s. I expressed concern at the fact that I was wearing a dress and ND said I would be ok. He was WRONG! The wind kept trying to blow up my dress!! Anyway, we made it there and back without incident 😀

I had lunch scheduled with 2 people who started around the same time I had – RA & TA. RA now lives in Boston and works out of the same office I used to; she was in town for a few days. TA still works out of the Mississauga office. They had lunch brought in and had a very short lunch. It was good to catch up though 🙂

In the evening, we hung out at home for a bit before we headed to dinner. My mom has this strange way of flicking the birds.

Angry Birds look awesome on the iPad

We had to teach her how to do it properly.

Then, we all went to another one of my favourite restaurants – The Pickle Barrel.

The parents

The girls - My mom's not that pale.. she was just really close to the flash

The drinks were huge!!

I had the mini burgers with goat cheese and smashed potatoes

It was all really good and we had a great time 😀 This was my last dinner w/the family for this trip 😦

xoxo,
C

Day 132 – April 20, 2011

This morning, I was having a hard time getting up… I’m still not used to the Eastern time zone, let alone getting up earlier than I normally get up at for work in Austin. I asked my teammate to grab me a Tim Hortons iced capp 😀

love Timmy's iced capps

As you can see, I’m wearing a jacket in the office.. I was freezing but I don’t  drink hot coffee so an iced capp it was. It didn’t really help much. I was still exhausted.

After work, I went home and took a nap. Now, I find my parents’ house to be a little on the cold side. My mom likes to keep the temperature at 21 or 22 * C (69-71F). Dusty ran up the stairs and joined me.. but he likes to make sure he’s warm.

All wrapped up

Dusty is missing the microfleece blanket back in Austin… he’s using this wool blanket. No joke.. he loves the orange side which is the microfleece side. When the blanket isn’t available, he likes duvets.. they keep him warm. Poor kitty.. he doesn’t like the cold weather! My nap was 2 hours long.. I am going to have a hard time getting to sleep tonight 😦

xoxo,
C

Day 131 – April 19, 2011

Happy Birthday Baby!! I hope you had a fabulous day… Also happy 11 month anniversary 🙂

Today, I went into the office and I talked to a couple of people I’ve known since around the time that I started… It’s always fun to catch up 🙂

In the evening, my sister and I went to the gym.. which is at a grocery store so we went to grab a couple of things at the store. My sis asked me to bake her a cake, so I did. It was a marble cake. I didn’t take a photo 😦

On the cat front, there’s already progress being made!

Dusty took up one of Buster's spots.. Dusty's new favourite spot is on the couch

See? No mad ears!

Another day at the office tomorrow..

xoxo,
C

Day 130 – April 18, 2011

Today, I worked from home, and after talking to my boss for a bit, my sister and I went for lunch. We went to grab Vietnamese sandwiches. I had a photo for this.. but the photo was of my sister and it’s one she wouldn’t approve of, so I can’t post it.

Anyway… my sister loves to harass Dusty… she believes it’s her job to hug cats when they’re sleeping…

today was no exception!

She says that it’s their cat duty to be picked up/hugged while sleeping.

Someone that’s not too happy with Dusty being home is…

Buster.. look at his little ears

He’ll get used to it though.. he always gets used to having Dusty around. Nothing else too exciting today. I’ll be going into the office tomorrow.

xoxo,
C

Day 127 – April 15, 2011

My alarm went off at 4am, but I had woken up a few times throughout the night thinking I was going to oversleep. I showered, got dressed, brushed my teeth, packed the rental car, put Dusty in the soft black carrier, talked to MF for a bit, said our good-byes and off Dusty and I went. It started to rain on my way to the airport, and it actually was pouring by the time I got to the airport. I checked in, went through security and got breakfast. By the time I got to the gate, they started boarding.

Once I boarded the plane, I realized I had checked my earbuds. However, I slept for 2 hours of the flight and we had about half hour to go before we landed. I played some more Wario on the 3DS (after turning off the wireless function), and then we wre on our way down. We got to Toronto a little early… at 10:30. My mom picked me up around 11am.

We went home and I asked her how to treat burns (on my irritated legs), and she suggested some aloe vera from the asian store near home. She went to pick some up, and cut it up.

OMG soooooo soothing!

It really helped with the burning and itching and the swelling went down considerably as the day went on. I really love being home and having my mommy take care of m 😀

As soon as we got in from the airport, Dusty made himself at home. He really thinks this is his house. Naturally, he jumped on Buster’s furniture and Buster wasn’t very happy about it.

SMACK!

Buster is huge compared to Dusty.. Buster kept jumping Dusty.. I’m sure in a few days, they’ll be okay. But for the time being, we will need to keep an eye out on Buster.

My sister came by after work to hang out for a bit, and then she left around midnight. I don’t have plans this weekend, and I really like it!

xoxo,
C

Day 126 – April 14, 2011

Wow.. how quickly today arrived. I had to get up early and finish packing, pack the car, shower, and go to an appointment. After my appointment, I rushed back home and put the cats in the carrier without incident. Woohoo… I left my place around noon.

This was what it looked like on my way to your brother’s:

My sucky co-pilot

Unhappy to be in the carrier

I got to your brother’s around 3:30 and we chatted, then I put the cats out on the porch while I picked up the car, and then he dropped me off at the rental place. While I was inspecting the rental with an employee, there was an incident involving road rage across the street, so I bolted as soon as I had a chance. On my way back to your brother’s, I saw some really big road kill — it looked like either a wild boar or a wolf! I tried to take a pic but failed.

Once I had the car packed, the cats in the rental, and talked to your brother about the car, I was on my way! This time, I decided to let Eddie out as he had been in a carrier for almost 5 hours and we still had 3 more hours to go until I reached our destination.

What's going on outside?

Mama, what are you doing?

Me and the pretty good co-pilot

He behaved for the most part, and as Eddie was out of the plastic carrier, Dusty decided he was going to sleep there. Once Eddie got tired, he didn’t find the black carrier suitable for his needs, so he retreated to the plastic carrier.

Two cats one carrier

So what if there was already a cat in there? They were in there until I got to MF’s before 8pm. We played “Just Dance 2” for a bit, chatted, and treated my itchy legs. Went to bed around midnight.. Getting up at 4am, so I’m sure that will come way too quickly!

xoxo,
C

Day 125 – April 13, 2011

And the pressure is on! Last day in Austin today and I had a lot to do.. the system is really slow making the updates difficult to do. I went into the office and I was putting things away that I didn’t want to lose while I am away. I came across this:

A confidential dossier I put together for the very first video my boss & I did

We were looking for a BIG “Confidential” stamp, but the only one I found at a store was a really tiny one. And as your girlfriend is so resourceful, she thought of enlarging an image Photoshop, editing it a bit, printing it out, cutting out the letters and pasting it on a manila folder! We didn’t actually end up using it in the video, but it still reminds my boss and me of this video and this experience. I sent a text message to my boss with the picture and he replied: “Haha! The infamous folder…the symbol of things to come. Only the privileged may open that…to see what it takes to be creative genius.” He can be so dorky sometimes!

Late at night, I gave up on the project for the night, emailed my boss with the link to the site I was working on, and then I got serious about packing. Once I finished packing my clothes, I had to kick someone out of my bag

Yes, you can come home with me!

Unfortunately for him, I ended up not using that bag. After I was very close to finished packing, I called it a day–I was tired and  I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow!

xoxo,
C

Day 123 – April 11, 2011

My day started with a trip to the doctor’s office for my physical. My throat was still really sore but it was a little better than Sunday. The doctor told me to keep doing salt water gargles and if it didn’t get better or if it got worse to call her this week. After the appointment, I went back home to work.

As my throat was so sore, I found that straws worked really well, Chloraspectic and Advil didn’t really work for me, but ice cream did 😀

Mmm for pecan ice cream!

I guess the cold of the ice cream numbed my swollen tonsil.

While at home, Dusty kept asking to go out to the balcony… after locking up Eddie in my bedroom (he’s not yet allowed to go out on his own), I let Dusty out..

He needed his daily dose of sunshine

I called my boss to ask him for Thursday off.. we ended up talking about photography for half an hour! He loves his new camera so I was trying to give him some pointers and some links to check out.. I  can’t wait to get a new camera!  I worked a little late.. I have a bunch of things to do for Wednesday night 😦

xoxo,
C