Heidelberg Castle

To pick up where I last left off, we were due to meet up with our Adventure guides and the group around 5 pm on Monday - July 2nd.

Mike and I spent some time relaxing in our room after our drizzly walk through Heidelberg and met up with our fellow adventurers in the main lounge of the hotel.  We were only about 21, which is about half the usual amount of adventurers on the trip.

I was wearing my skele-corgi shirt, gotta represent!

Mike made the introductions for us because I'm a little on the shy side and we got to talking to our fellow adventurers.  We also received our first pin and our Adventures by Disney lanyard.

After the meeting, we went to dinner, which was a buffet.  I used a few German words here when I told the server, "klein", because he wanted to give me a huge serving of sauerkraut.  "Klein" means small in German and he obliged and gave me a very small serving.  See, I learned something from Rosetta Stone!

Later still, we hung out with some of our new friends in the bar area before heading up to bed.  We had to be up fairly early to eat breakfast before boarding the bus to head up to the castle.

The earliest structure of Heidelberg Castle dates back to around 1214 AD and was later expanded around 1294.  It was the home of Rupert III, King of Germany in the 1400s, and he was the one that expanded it and turned it into a fortress.  It has seen various attacks during the Thirty Years war in the 1620s-1630s and the Nine Years war that begain in the late 1680s.

When we arrived, we were greeted by our guide for the morning, Lizzie.  Because we were on a private tour, there were certain areas of the castle open to just us and not the rest of the tourists.  And let me tell you, there were plenty of tourists!


The first area we saw was the main entrance.  Notice it's only as wide as a wagon or a caravan.  It used to be a drawbridge, but it has since been cemented.  Under the archway was the portcullis, which still resides in the ceiling.  You can see the large doors that would be reinforced when the castle closed up for the night.

Passing through the archway, we were led to the small museum that held statues and a scaled down version of the castle and its gardens.

After the museum, we walked through the courtyard, which looks like this:

I continued on with the group to see the second floor areas of the castle, while Mike went down to the cellar to wait for us.  There were too many stairs for him to navigate and lug his wheelchair up and down them that we felt it best to separate at this point and pick up again later.

When we did meet up again, we were led to the moat.  Yes, I said moat.  Look at the scale of the people in this picture compared to the height of the walls.  Crazy stuff huh?

We continued through the moat and went past the "Powder Tower".  This tower as you would expect held the gunpowder and it exploded, leaving it in ruins.

We continued on to the terrace where we were able to get shots like:

Ok, that's enough posting for today, next in the series - Alsfeld!

Saturday Smiler on Sunday

Heidelberg Day 1

After our trying time getting to Heidelberg, all Mike and I wanted was to go to bed.  But, seeing as Germany is 6 hours ahead, we didn't want to risk crazy jet lag longer than needed.  We ate a quick dinner at the hotel, best BLT I've ever had, then retired to our room.  Our bodies wanted to stay up, but our minds were tired.  Sleeping that night was difficult.  We'd only manage about an hour's worth of sleep, then we'd be up again.  I busied myself with reading and Mike skimmed through German late night tv.

Because we arrived a day before the tour was scheduled to start and we didn't have to officially meet up with the tour til 5 pm that evening, Mike and I had the entire day to explore Heidelberg by ourselves!  YAY!

We headed down to breakfast, feeling much better than the previous day and very hungry.  The breakfast buffet at the Europaischer Hotel Heidelberg was amazing.  I regret not taking a picture of the spread, so you'll have to take my word for it.  Mike and I dined on scrambled eggs, bacon - oh amazing bacon, sausages - chicken and pork and more, deli meat, homemade sausages, breads, pastries, fruit, cereal and more.  This marked the beginning of our 3 times a day sausage consumption for the duration of the trip.

After breakfast, we headed into the lobby where we ran into our two adventure guides - Nadine and Jennae.  Nadine suggested we visit the Hauptstraße, (or Main Street in English), and so we headed off in that direction, but not before taking pictures of the hotel.

We walked out to the street and immediately had to take notice of the cyclists.  Cycling is big in Germany.  This is something we aren't accustomed to in North America, where everyone drives.  Here, it seems everyone cycles!  There are bike paths integrated on to the sidewalks and so you must be careful not to step into the path of a cyclist and you must watch out for not only the cars, but the cyclists.

After a few minutes of turning around to get our bearings, we headed off in the right direction!  To the Hauptstraße!

We first passed by the Bismarkplatz, which is a large square devoted to the public transportation offerings in Heidelberg - bus and tram.  Then, we arrived at the beginning of the Hauptstraße, which is a mile long street containing shops, restaurants and otherwise lovely German architecture that captivated Mike and I.

I have no other words for this street because Mike and I wandered around like little children in a candy store.  There's nothing even remotely close to the architecture and the feeling of being in an old place, yet still being grounded that I'll let the pictures do it justice.

We walked up and down the street and I even practiced a very small amount of German when I purchased a postcard in a local shop.

Mike and I made it all the way to the Alte Brűcke and we saw our first glimpse of Heidelberg Castle, where we would visit the following day.

All in all, a lovely day.

Wordless Wednesday - Sleeping Gimli

We're late, we're late for a very important date!

Our trip to Germany was done through Adventures by Disney, ABD.  One of the perks of traveling on the tour was we didn't have to worry about pick up from the airport.  We would have a driver who would transport us from Frankfurt to Heidelberg.

So imagine our surprise when the driver was no where to be found at the Frankfurt airport.

Let me back up a bit to explain what happened.

When we landed in Frankfurt, we did not have a gangway connecting the plane to the gate, instead we disembarked on the tarmac.  On our flight there were three passengers needing wheelchair assistance, Mike included. We were fortunate that I was able to go down the staircase to collect Mike's wheelchair, which was good because the airport employee was about to give it away to a little old lady.  As if.  He was checking our name on the tag and her name and was about to give it away!  I'm sorry but unless her name is Michael , she's not getting it!

I successfully got all witchy in his face, because he didn't believe me, and he relented.  I stood, with my hands firmly on the wheelchair handles, to wait for Mike who came down the stairs and promptly sat in his wheelchair, which erased any doubt I'm sure.

All the while, our fellow passengers were taken by bus to the terminal to collect their luggage.  Had I known what was going to happen in the next hour and a half, I would have left Mike there and gone to collect the baggage.

We stood waiting for our bus and we were joined by a young teenager.  Because she was a minor, there was an agent who came to meet her at the plane.  Then, both of them got onto an empty bus and headed to the terminal.  Mike and I looked at each other in disbelief.  We could have gotten on that bus!  But then there would be no story would there?

So, we continue to wait and then a 3rd bus arrives. This one's for us!  The driver opens the back door and brings out the ramp by way of a handle.  Well doesn't the handle fall down twice so the ramp isn't flush with the ground.  He jiggles it twice, it finally stays in place and Mike and I board the bus.  We're told we have to wait for the mobility device, (I forget the official name), to arrive at the plane to help the rest of the passengers.  Ok, no problem.  Except the device takes about 30 minutes to arrive...

Ordinarily this would not have fazed us in the least...

Eventually the rest of the passengers join us in the bus and we're off to the terminal, or so we think.  We arrive at a terminal, yes, but not at the right terminal to meet up with our baggage.  Our baggage was at one terminal and the bus deposited us at a different terminal.

Then the enormity of the Frankfurt airport hits you and the fact you've neglected your German studies hits you and you realize that Mike in his naivete has been counting on your study of German to get us through the rough patches when we are alone and here you are without a clue of how to say any travel related words in German.  We paused for a moment and tried to figure out where we were, but without knowing where our luggage was sent, it was hard to locate it on a map.  But luckily Frankfurt has an awesome mobility team and this little red haired bilingual woman, who reminded me of Merida from Brave appeared and told us to follow her and we'd find our luggage and she'd help us navigate through customs and immigration.  In retrospect, she should have met us on the tarmac, but again, we'd have no story.

She sits on one of those elongated golf carts with a few other passengers from our flight and off we go zipping through the terminal.  We arrive at Immigration and she lets us into the accessible line, where Mike and I both received a Frankfurt stamp to our passports!  We are sent through another set of doors to the baggage claim, where my heart sinks for the first time.

There's no one there from our flight and none of the carousels are moving.  There's luggage off to the side in various groups.  One of the other passengers says we have to look for our bags and my mouth gets a little dry.  I check the first group, not there.  I look over and see a shiny image of the Disney castle, (our luggage tag), sticking up.  I can say I've not loved Disney more than in those few seconds of finding our bags!

We grab our bags, proceed out of baggage claim and expect to see a smiling driver holding the Adventures By Disney sign, but no such luck.  Mike and I walk around the terminal looking for the sign, but our driver isn't there.  My heart sinks for the second time. Finally we decide to call Disney using the emergency numbers in our travel pack and after about 5 disconnects on the pink (!!!) payphone we're told to take a cab to Heidelberg.

Ok, we leave the terminal and head to the taxi section and we get into the first cab that looks like it will fit Mike's chair and two large suitcases.  I take out the address and name of our hotel and in true Amazing Race style, I point to it and ask him if he can take us to Heidelberg.  He says yes and off we go.  Mike pushes me to sit in the front and I sit, put on my seatbelt and pray this person doesn't kill us and leave our bodies in a ditch somewhere or drive us to some strange place and leave us stranded.

I knew Heidelberg was south of Frankfurt so when I saw the taxi driver head in the southern direction, I was able to relax... a little.  From where I sat I could see the tab steadily increasing and I was secretly thankful that we had decided to withdraw extra Euro at the last minute.  We sped down the Autobahn and I was secretly thankful that our driver was going close to 180 km, the closer we got to Heidelberg, the better I felt. As we drove through the city limits, I started to see some buildings and street names that I recognized from Google Maps, (yay Google!), and I was quite confident that we'd end up in the right place.

We arrived, I paid the driver and with extra for his time and off to our hotel.  Standing on the steps of our hotel was one of our Adventure guides, Nadine, who I'm sure must have wondered who is this weird woman with red eyes, (from lack of sleep - I assure you) coming to check in.  Nadine was a breath of fresh air - she knew our names, she had checked us in and was waiting with our gigantic room key.

I'm also pretty sure she spoke to our driver harshly, although in German it would have sounded much worse...

Just kidding about the last part... maybe...


You might ask if we allowed this experience to cloud our trip.  The answer is no.  We did not.  After we sat down, in the lounge of the hotel, we went over the events and I could definitely see things from the driver's point of view.  Especially if there were other charges to retrieve, we couldn't expect the driver to wait for close to 2 hours.  Yes, it sucked, but it all worked out in the end.  Disney refunded us our cab fare and all was well.


I have learned for next time, if Mike and I travel to a European airport and we see a similar setup, that I'll go on to retrieve the bags and catch up with Mike afterwards.

Saturday Smiler - July Calendar Boy

In addition to the CorgiButts calendar, Gimli was in the CorgiPals calendar under the definition of "corgi smile".

Here he is, not smiling and being a little cheeky.

Chasing the sun

Our flight to Germany left around 11 pm EST and by the time we landed in Frankfurt, it was around 2 pm Germany time.  This meant the flight was overnight and I feared I'd have trouble sleeping.

I'm a nervous flyer and usually cannot sleep on planes, but I was determined to give it a try.  I did doze for about an hour, but that's about it.  I sat in the darkened cabin looking around at the other people all snoring away and sighed.

Eventually I was able to open the window shade and this piece of inspiration struck me:

As I write this it's 2.35 am EST.  We've been in the air since 11.35 pm and I figure we're flying over the Atlantic Ocean.  We have about four hours left before we land in Frankfurt and I've slept for maybe an hour since 7 am on 6/30.

The Air Transat fight has been good so far - we got a snack around 12 am and the "club class" seats are roomy, but not that comfy.  This is an older plane so I'm sure that has something to do with it. The neck pillow I have only makes my neck hurt, which is probably why I am awake now.

It's funny, I was attempting to sleep when my eyes snapped open to see the view outside my window.

Clouds and peace and the sense that the world goes on irrespective of what's going on with those silly humans.  Makes you feel like all the conflict and greed and so on aren't worth it in the grand scheme of things.

Back home

We're back from our travels in Germany!  I have a great many posts and pictures, so look for these in the coming days.

We had a fantastic time, but coming to the end of the trip, I started to miss Gimli.

Gimli, of course, was none the wiser and was having a grand old time staying at my dad's place.  Apparently Gimli is now the neighborhood corgi and has made friends with nearly everyone.  I'm sure he was spoiled rotten as well, which is what everyone seems to do with corgis.  Hey, what can I say, corgis are the cutest dogs ever!

Gimli enjoyed himself chasing squirrels, watching fish in the pond and digging around in the dirt.  He became so dusty and dirty that they had to give him a bath!

As luck would have it, our Disney adventure guide - Jennae loves corgis.  She's trying to convince her husband to get a corgi.  Naturally, Flat Gimli was a big hit with her and she does have a few pictures with him.

Last night, because neither of us wanted to lug Gimi's crate up the stairs, we left it downstairs and allowed Gimli to sleep in our room.  Around 4 am or so, Mike woke up to a little corgi head trying to climb up onto the bed.  Mike gave in, (hrmph and you say I'm weak willed when it comes to Gimli!), and before I knew it there was a warm little corgi at the foot of the bed.

It was all fine until he started dreaming and kicking me.  Ha!

Our yard is doing quite poorly and that's something to work on in the coming weeks.  It's been a heat wave and so the grass is now nice and brown, except for the weeds, which are nice and green... grrr.

How Gimli made me sad

We are leaving on our vacation tomorrow and so today I had to call the microchip company and provide Gimli's alternate address and phone number in case he decides to escape.

I store Gimli's vaccination history and all such papers in these two plastic folders so it's easier to locate them as needed.  I also store his very first collar.

Every time I look at his collar, I remember how small he used to be and how he fought to take it off of him the first few days after he came home.  Gimli, I believe, remembers it because he always comes to see it and sniff it.

Today I left it on the floor as I made my phone call and after I hung up the phone, I saw Gimli had stolen the collar and was hoarding it under his head.  He does this when he feels he has stolen something and it's his ploy to make you leave him alone with it.

I was able to take it away from him, with the help of a cookie, but it made me sad at the thought that it might be damaged or even destroyed because Mr. greedypants wants it.

*sigh* I miss those puppy days.

Wanna help shelter dogs?

I love dogs, always have.  I love corgis too, but you already know that.  If I could have a house filled with dogs, I would, but then I'd have no husband, so I have to draw the line somewhere!

There are a great deal of shelter dogs that are waiting themselves for their forever owner to adopt them.  While they wait, it takes money to house and feed these dogs. Imagine if we could do something to help feed these dogs?

The folks at Pedigree came up with a campaign whereby for each post about the campaign, they will donate a 17lb bag to a shelter.  Every little bit helps to keep those dogs healthy enough to eventually be adopted.

You have until Saturday, June 30th to write the post.

Disclosure: The author of this post received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% the author’s own.

Wordless Wednesday - Gimli, who's going to win the Euro 2012 cup?

The post where I see the movie Brave and think about corgis at the same time.

This is how you know you have corgi on the brain...

Mike and I just saw the new Disney/Pixar movie, Brave.

I enjoyed it, especially they took a chance at a heroine main character, Merida, that actually does most of the "heavy lifting" instead of sitting around waiting for a prince to come along and whisk her away to a castle.  I also enjoyed the fact that Merida's three little brothers did not become the main focus of the movie as you often see in television shows and movies when there's a toddler running around.  All of a sudden the focus shifts to cute and predictable sight gags just to get an "awww" out of child loving members of the audience.  In this movie, they don't do that and it's great!

Oh and one more Disney tidbit, I saw the Pizza Planet truck!  For those that are unaware, the Pizza Planet truck has been in every Pixar movie except for The Incredibles.

I think I found a new favorite Disney Princess to join the ranks of Mulan & Tiana!  I must get a pin the next time we visit Disney property.

Disclaimer: I don't consider the following spoilers, but you might so consider yourself warned.

Corgis make the best sleeping buddies

Do forgive my absence in the past little while, it's been, well, very busy.  I'm going to try to post as many of the swirling blog posts in my head here over this week before I forget them all.

So, without further ado...

A couple weekends ago, Mike went out with the guys to celebrate the ending of one of our good friend's singlehood.  Mike spent most of Saturday and some of Sunday morning with the guys.  This good friend was married this past weekend, we'll get to that later on in the week... hopefully...

Anyway, Mike's absence left Gimli and I to frolic around the house unfettered without Mike frowning upon my showers of affection and general spoilage of a certain corgi.

On that Saturday, I drove Mike to our friend's house so he could carpool to Downtown Toronto and when I returned home, I went shopping!  I picked up a new pair of black pumps, clips for my hair, a Germany soccer t-shirt and two patio chairs that I had to "Tetris" into the back of the Venza only to "Tetris" them incorrectly so that I couldn't see out the rear view mirror.  Thankfully I was not pulled over and made it home safely.  In addition, I decided to paint the front bathroom and have Popeye's chicken for dinner.  Mike doesn't like Popeye's chicken, his tastebuds are clearly out of whack!

However, the highlight of the weekend was Gimli.  Because Mike was absent, Gimli decided to take on the role of "Protector of Candy", which was fine for me.  All while I painted, Gimli was never far away.  He also wasn't far away when my Popeye's Cajun fries fell on the floor, but I digress.  We played late night fetch and watched "Inglorious Basterds" and he even paused our fetch game to torment and roll on a moth that had found its way into our house.

That night, instead of sleeping in his crate as usual, I let him sleep on the floor in our room.  I got nice and comfy in bed only to hear little feet run over to my side and a little furry head and paws appeared on the bed beside me.

It looked just like this, how can you resist?

I allowed Gimli to sleep on the bed with me that night.  I was very impressed that he didn't jump off the bed, which he is famous for doing - the little bugger.


I must say it is nice waking up to that smile and starting the day with corgi cuddles.

Wordless Wednesday - Ears

5 things going on in our house for June

5 things going on in our house:

1. I'm tired and sleep deprived and generally crabby.  I'm still sick, this disease is hanging on for dear life and it's not making me feel any better.  Thanks Mike for bringing home the sickness, next time germs are brought into this house, one of us - read: YOU are going to stay in a hotel or up the street with the in-laws.

Because of this:

2. My blog posts have been suffering, my apologies.

3. Gimli's predictions for the Euro 2012 games have trailed off because I'm too tired, grumpy and aggravated to do them. He's usually wrong anyways.

4. I feel like I have 50 million things to do and not enough time to do them all.

5. There's a heat wave and Gimli's been more lumpy than usual.

Wordless Wednesday - Dopey

Gimli's Euro picks 6/11

For Sunday's and today's games, Gimli was way off the target.

For Sunday's games, he chose:

1. Spain to win.  Except Spain and Italy ended in a draw.

2. Ireland and Croatia to end in a draw, Croatia won.

3. France to win. Except France and England ended in a draw.

4. Ukraine to win, which they did!

I'm noticing a trend in these selections, he's never once chosen the one on his left.  It has always been either the middle or the extreme right selection.  Perhaps he's right "pawed"?

A quick tally:

Total games: 8
Total correct: 4

Percentage: 50%

Gimli's Euro 2012 Picks 6/9

Today's games were:

1. Netherlands v. Denmark
2. Germany v. Portugal

Gimli chose the Netherlands to draw with Denmark, but this was incorrect.  Denmark won 1-0.

Gimli chose Germany to win and he was correct.  Although it was a tough game and it very nearly ended in a tie!

As of now, he's 75% correct.

More games tomorrow!

Saturday Smiler - Down the hatch

Gimli picks Euro 2012 results 6/8

I'm not much of a sports fan.  I'll watch hockey if it's on tv, but only if Mike also happens to be watching it.  There's something about soccer though, but only the big competitions like The World Cup or Euro 2012, which started today.  I don't know any of the players or which teams are among the favorites to win... ok, so I know Germany is, but don't know any of the others.

Like the 2010 World Cup where we had Paul the Octopus, who correctly predicted the outcome of all Germany's games, for this this year's Euro 2012 competition there's Citta the elephant and Khyrak the pig both from Poland - the co-host of this year's games.  Citta predicted Poland would win the first game against Greece, but she was incorrect.

In light of the animal silliness, I thought I'd bring Gimli in on the action.

There were two games today:

1. Poland v. Greece
2. Russia v. The Czech Republic

In my highly non-scientific poll, I wrote the names of each country and the word "Draw" on slips of paper, assigned each a cookie and allowed Gimli to choose.  I'll be doing the tests this way for the duration of the competition.  In addition, however the countries are listed on the schedule, that's how I will present them.  For example, if it reads Poland v. Greece, I won't reverse the countries when I lay out the paper.

Gimli chose a draw for the first game, which was the game's result.

For the second game, Gimli chose Russia and they did indeed win by a score of 4-1.

So far, Gimli's at 100% accuracy, but it's only the first day.  Tomorrow we see Netherlands against Denmark and Germany against Portugal.

Wordless Wednesday - King Gimli

Woofstock Jubilee High Tea

This past weekend, the three of us attended High Tea at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto. This event was twofold - to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee and to start the Woofstock festivities in advance of this Saturday's event.

I had never attended a High Tea before, far less with my dog in a dog friendly hotel, so when the opportunity arose for us to attend, we were very excited!  There was a signin process that you had to complete and there was so much demand that the web server crashed!

As mentioned, this year's theme was the Diamond Jubilee and we were encouraged to dress in British regalia.  Being a corgi, I didn't think Gimli needed that much of a costume, (considering too he was the ONLY corgi in attendance - more on this later), but we did make a costume for him.

I took one of my old tank tops, which fit a corgi's body, (this does nothing for my ego whatsoever!) and we stenciled, "God Save The Queen" on the back.  I also put various stickers on it and it was complete.  I had to make his costume because no where - no local shops had any British costumes or shirts or anything like that. The costumes we did find were in the UK and cost a fortune to ship in order to arrive in time.  There were some nice shirts on Cafepress and Zazzle, but the sizing charts were "off" with regard to a corgi's body and we didn't want to risk purchasing a shirt that would be the wrong size.

Tea was to be held at 2 pm and we left home at 12 with the intent of arriving early and settling Gimli. Well, we all know what happens when you make such plans. Life decides to intervene. There was a large accident on the highway and we arrived to Tea late.  Much to our disappointment, by the time we arrived, there were no seats for us, despite our RSVP. The tables and chairs were a bit crammed so it was difficult to scout around to find a seat for me and a place for Mike's wheelchair. We ended up standing at the back for the duration. Whether there was tea and cookies served for humans, we didn't know. I had to grab cookies from the tables to give to Gimli.

I felt this was bad form and there ought to have been a seating chart or more attention paid to ensure people took up tables in their entirety to make room for others.  Not that Gimli or I cared if he got one cookie or 10, it was more principle of the situation.  Don't call for an rsvp, then when I arrive, there's no place for me to sit and not even a bottle of water for me to share with Mike.

But, I digress.

Gimli and I walked the runway to show off his handmade costume.  There were some really well made costumes there - a Dachshund as a Beefeater, a Giant Schnauzer as a General and a Papillon as a double decker bus!  Lord Gimli, who normally turns his head when he sees a camera stopped right in front of the media section and would. not. move!  It's safe to say he only does that behavior with me.

There were prizes for first, second and third place, but we didn't win anything.

After the festivities, Gimli and I were interviewed by Pet Fashion tv with regard to fashion and what we did for the Diamond Jubilee festivities.  We were singled out because we were the only corgi in attendance, but that was about all recognition and connection to the Jubilee that we had. I had to hold Gimli, and while he's lost weight, he was still heavy and squirmy.  It was my first interview on camera (!!!) ever and I'm sure I made a fool of myself.  Rest assured if I make it onto the final cut, I'll post it on the blog.

One of the good points of the day, I was able to get a picture of this portrait:

A reproduction of Pietro Annigoni's 1955 work.

Things to do for 2012 - May update

So, what have I done this month? Chipped away at a few things.

Currently at 62% complete.

1. Take a trip to Germany - going in July!

2. Learn German - started my Rosetta Stone classes. I am now on Unit 2, with about 6 more units that I want to complete before we go to Germany. I really fell off of the classes this month. I'm going to start this up again in earnest.

3. Attempt a conversation, while speaking only German, with someone in Germany.

4. Continue to read, 10 books to start - I've finished 8 books so far.  I will surpass my goal of 10 books and so I'll increase it once I've hit 10. I've been reading the Game of Thrones series, trying to fit it in just before I go to sleep.  I'm on book 3 now.

5. Maintain the blog with regular posts - Trying. I find if I can schedule certain posts, then it makes things much easier to manage. I fell off on this one too, argh.

6. Deal with the symptoms of stopping the medication. Note, it’s nothing life threatening or anything like that, so don't worry :). Booked an appointment but because of my 2nd ailment, cannot start this task yet. Later in the year though, I'll be able to start.

7. Continue to brush Gimli and keep up his teeth brushing - regular brushing, yes. Teeth brushing is slowly getting better.

8. Continue to photograph Gimli and all of his antics. - Working on it.

9. Come up with a proper backup system for all my pictures.

10. Incorporate more fruits & veggies to our diet. - Trying, I'm finding this is going to take multiple trips to the supermarket each week to replenish our fruit supply. I've also switched up my eating habits, I only eat bread once a day at breakfast.  For lunch, I usually eat a combination of fruits - whatever we have on hand at the time.

11. Lose 10 lbs. - I have lost 3 lbs so far and gained more muscle. I don't know if I will end up losing 10 lbs mainly because I've been at the same weight for a while, but I'm now able to fit into pants that I stopped wearing in October. (SCORE!) I am switching focus to toning my arms, back and muffin top and decreasing work on the Treadclimber to 3 days a week. I'm continuing to work out, I have started on the muffin top, doing various core exercises.

12. Evaluate and decide if I need to lose an additional 5 lbs. - We will see, I'm not married to that figure on the scale and because muscle is heavier than fat, so long as I can get back to wearing my clothes, I'm good.

13. Maintain my exercise regimen - so far, so good.

14. Paint our house - We have finally picked out our downstairs colors and are looking for a painter. We painted our bathroom a few weeks ago. I don't have any after pictures yet because I'm waiting to get and our mirrors framed, then it will be complete. Downstairs painting will wait til we return from vacation.

15. Frame and put up our pictures. -This will happen once we have painted.

16. Go to The Arboretum at least once a month - weather permitting - this did not happen in January, February due to the strange weather. Gimli and I went to the Arboretum this past weekend for the Dog Jog. The three of us went over the May long weekend and had a good time.  Later in the summer we'll go back for a picnic.

17. Discover local restaurants/bistros etc in my city or in the surrounding areas.

18. Go to Winterlicious or Summerlicious. - looking like it's going to be Summerlicious.

19. Make a snow animal of some kind - Tried, but then Gimli destroyed it. It's looking like it will have to be done next winter.

20. Get a massage(s) at the spa. - Done!

21. Take more pictures of Mike and me.

22. Return to the Church. Something is missing in my life and that might be it.

23. Enjoy our backyard.

24. Decide on the color scheme, proper design for the blog.  I've been indecisive and I just want something that's me and something where I won't want to change it in another few months - Changed the color scheme and I really like that picture of Gimli. I think this is it!

25. Surprise someone. - Surprised Mike with his Valentine's Day present, read about it here: Guest Post by Mike.

26. Make a pie.

27. Reach out to the Rescue organization to see if there are any corgis, with a spot on its head, that need a good home with a corgi obsessed woman - E-mail sent, but nothing yet.  Would have been nice to receive some sort of response saying, "I got your email, no corgis yet", sort of thing.
New 27. Reach out to Gimli's breeder to put ourselves on the list for corgi #2. - She responded and we are on the list. She wants to breed one of Gimli's cousins later this year. I am very hopeful for the Fall!

28. Get some professional pictures done of Mike, Gimli and I. - We had pictures taken of us a few weeks ago.  They came out great, am looking for a scanner so I can show them here.

29. On that note, Boudoir Photography! - I have a Groupon for this too!

30. Plant some flowers in the front and back yards to bring in some color. - Planted some flowers in the front, they seem to be doing well :).

31. Zombie walk.

32. The B&B in Niagara Falls, this one is also for you Mike. - This is not happening. Am very sad and disappointed and quite frankly, pissed off, that we lost this free(!!) opportunity.

33. Photography course.

34. Kick Mike in the butt when he starts to waver on certain things.

35. Move off of "Medium" on the drums in Rock Band and to "Hard".

36. Start cooking more Trinidad type food.

37. Spend less time on the computer in my non-working hours.  I'd rather fall asleep with a book in my hand than be sleepy sitting at the computer and unable/unwilling to leave it. - I'm getting better at this, but not as fast as I'd like.

38. Go to bed earlier.

39. Do the Dog Jog again with Gimli - It was this past March, check it out here: 2nd Annual Dog Jog.

40. Work on Gimli's recall at the Dog Park - We got the long leash and have been out once so far.  We ran late and did the recall practice when there was no one else around, grrr.  We plan to go back again in the evening when the park is crawling with people so we can get a better training session with Gimli.

41. Take Gimli to the play class at Bold Canine - looking like Spring/Summer

42. Work on Gimli's possessiveness. - We started this a week ago and I'm already seeing results. He still has moments where he becomes "stupid" and obsesses over a particular item, but he's starting to realize that he cannot go after items the way he used to, that everything belongs to us. I can see the wheels spinning in his head as he chooses to behave and it makes me incredibly happy that we're finally making strides in this area! We are not out of the woods yet, but Gimli has shown little regressing and I can see him thinking about what to do much faster than before.

43. Work on Gimli's listening skills when guests arrive. - We've started putting him in his crate and then letting him out when guests arrive. We find he's much more subdued and he quiets down much faster.

44. Take Gimli for a herding instinct test?

45. Complete the Minas Tirith 3D puzzle - Started the puzzle.

46. A Mini Cooper?

47. Head back to Las Vegas - going in September

48. Go to Disneyland and California Adventure - going in September

49. Go to Woofstock's High Tea event - Went this past weekend!

50. Did my first ever interview about Gimli. - Happened this past weekend at High Tea.

51. Go to Woofstock

52. Scan in Mike's baby pictures.

53. Start putting together our Disney album.

54. Take Gimli for ice cream. Well, Mike and I go out for ice cream and take Gimli with us so we can sit outside with him.

Saturday Smiler - Ready for Jubilee Festivities!

As a proper British subject and one who has received mail from Her Highness Queen Elizabeth II, Gimli is proud to sit under the Union Jack to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

It's June

How is it June already? Does anyone know?

We have a pretty full roster of activities this month, so I'm sure it's going to pass by in a blur and pretty soon we'll be saying the same thing about July!

Just to name a few:

- Jubilee themed High Tea, Gimli's costume should be ready by tomorrow. I, on the other hand, am still looking for something British themed to wear.
- Dermatologist appointment.  I know, I'm glad to go to the dr?  what gives, but I've had this discoloration for so long that I just want a diagnosis and what to do about it.
- Woofstock
- Euro 2012 - Go Deutschland
- Hair cut
- Shoe Shopping for:
- Wedding of 2 of my best friends
- Heading off to Deutschland at the end of the month. I'm so very excited about this, though it hasn't actually hit me yet.  I don't think it will hit me until the pilot says we're ready to land in Frankfurt.