Ever wondered...

...what it looks like up a dog's nose? (Yes, I realize that is some high class English...)

Huh. It's pinker than I imagined.

Poor kid. He HATES having his picture taken, and I keep forcing the issue. He's gonna bite my face one day.

Sign from my Emo Power

Okay, so my last post was all emo and complain-y about "What am I going to do with my life?" and "What is my purpose in life?" Boo fuckin' hoo. Well people, I checked the Austin Community College schedule one last time today to see if anyone had dropped a class. Lo and behold, there was ONE spot in the evening Digital Publishing class at the location that I needed. If that's not a sign, then slap me upside the head. So starting tonight, I'll be in "school" Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-8:40. I guess I need to get one of those trendy messenger bags. Or perhaps some new "sneaks". Seriously, I'm going to be coming from work, so today I will show up in heels and a knit jersey dress. Uncomfortable and dorky. I'm going to be the old, working lady in the class. Wish me luck. It's been 8 years. I'm a little scared.....

On another note, I owe Cara a HUGE thank you for cleaning up my blog template and posting the new masthead I made. She's is the bestest ever. THANK YOU CARA!

UPDATE: Class was okay. The teacher blows. He knows his stuff, but TERRIBLE at getting his point across. We're going to learn Quark the first half and InDesign the second half. I feel smarter already, and since many of the concepts are pretty close to Illustrator, I'm not totally lost. Except when we had to do some MATH people. MATH!!

¿Qué es mi problema?

I know I want to go to grad school, but for the life of me, I don't know what kind of degree I would get. It's really frustrating to have the desire to go back to school, but having zero clue what kind of degree to work for. I have a Bachelor in Business Administration (gag) (I hated every minute of that damn degree) (except art history, child development and anatomy...yes, of course NOW I see why the business thing wasn't really for me...now, when it's too late.) (Don't I look SO HAPPY to be done with my hideous business classes? I'm serious, I was elated, high on life)

and all that really sets me up for is an MBA (double gag) so it seems I would have to take a ton more undergrad classes to even be able to start a graduate degree program. Sigh. Here's my pros and cons list, if you will.

First on the list (and these are in no particular order) is nursing (don't you laugh!) (I'm really only worried about the vomit and possibly giving enemas, but think about all the cool medical stuff you would see! And wearing scrubs! Joy!) because I've wanted to be a doctor since I was a child, but it never really seemed possible? I think it's the chemistry courses that freak me out. UT offers a masters in nursing to people who have undergraduate degrees in something totally unrelated. Hmmmm, it's like being a doctor, but not.


Next on the list of possibilities is a Graphic Design associates degree/certificate from our community college. I know that you have to have a portfolio (and rightly so) to get into a Master of Fine Arts program at UT, so that's out. Since I kinda do this for a living, this probably makes the most sense, buuuut, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Graphic Design kids at ACC are rather proud of themselves. I'm NOT looking forward to the pretentiousness of young "artists" (yes, I picture all of them having buttons such as this on their annoyingly trendy messenger bags.)

Next is pilates certification. It would be cool and I love pilates and I have a knack for it and I feel really good about myself after I've done it, but there's the getting up in front of a class and teaching thing that I'm not so keen on. I have terrible stage fright and can't stand oral speaking. (Yes, I said oral.) Teaching private lessons would be really cool, but I'm sure pilates teachers are a dime a dozen in Austin since we're kind of like a mini-hippie-California. For me, it would mostly be a personal achievement. For those of you who don't know me, that's me down there! (Ha!! Just a little joke for your Tuesday evening entertainment.)

And lastly, my other option is to do nothing. It seems that's what I'm best at? I'm good at thinking, but not doing. I'm not a do-er (stop laughing you dirty-minded hussies).

(Did I mention the part about how I hate writing? Yes, I get the irony that I'm writing on my blog right this very second. Totally different. I hate writing papers. I'm no good. Despise it. Just thought I'd throw that out there.)

So here's a question. If you've gone back to school, how did you know what you wanted to do with your life? Have you known forever, did it just come to you one day? Spill it.

Herd Dog AKA Fatty

I took our red heeler, Dulce, out to Paws 4 Ewe to be evaluated for herding ability and interest. I figured she was trying to herd the cats all the time, so maybe she could really learn how to herd, Babe style? It was AWESOME. The owner/trainer Michele McGuire has sheep, horses and goats and a ton of border collies all of which are smart as shit and beautiful. She doesn't usually work with heelers, it seems, but she was very sweet to Dulce. Here's Dulce at her foster house before we adopted her.


First off, she said Dulce was fat, real fat. Too fat. Funny cause the the vet just told us she's at the high end of normal, but I tend to agree with Michele, she's fat. I was the owner of the fat kid today, but I was so proud of her because she normally has some fear aggression around other dogs, and she was an angel the entire 3 hours we were there. Sniffed butts, sat in the water pools, and herded those sheep (kind of). Michele said that she would have liked to have seen more drive in Dulce, but she said it could have just been that she pooped out early because of the heat and being overweight. I'm going to take her back in a few weeks after she's lost some weight and we're going to work earlier in the morning to see if her drive is up. If not, then oh well. We'll do obedience training or maybe agility.

Today was the closest I've felt to being a proud parent. Okay, I WAS a proud parent of a smart, fat dog whom I almost gave away at one point. I'm so glad I didn't. Here's one of Lucky's beautiful photos of my fatty...

I Think I'm Back, And I'm Not Crying Wolf

Hmmm, well, it's been awhile, as you can tell. Things have been, well, okay, I suppose. I'm alive, see?



Which one am I, you ask? Come on, it hasn't been that long....okay, I'm the one on the left. The chicken faced one. The pink one....

Here the haps:

I guess the biggest and saddest thing that has happened is that we had to put our sick kitty Sonja to sleep. She finally got too thin, and the doctor said it was time. The Rockstar had a really hard time with it. Harder than I had expected. It's weird adjusting to the loss of a pet. There's just something..missing. Her ashes are in my closet. He just can't deal with it right now. She's the B&W one on the left. Her mom (the one on the right) meowed all night long after Sonja was gone. It was terrible and sad.


My new (but not new anymore) job is still great. So flexible. I know I can have time off pretty much whenever I need it. I'm learning a ton about Illustrator which is awesome.

Speaking of, I was going to take some Illustrator/Design classes at the community college since my place of employment will pay for them, but two semesters in a row, other people beat me to the 12 open spots. I guess it's just not my time. I'm okay with that. It will happen when it's supposed to happen.

Let's see...what else is going on....I'm actually semi-apprenticing to become a pilates instructor. Like-a-whoa. Bet you didn't see that coming. I didn't either. My pilates mat teacher at the gym told me I was good, and that I should start apprenticing under her and then get certified (which, btw, is motherfuckin expensive), so I'm not 100% sure I'm going to do it. I've been doing reformer classes, though, and I have to admit, I L-O-V-E them.

I'm taking our heeler out to herd things at a sheep farm this weekend. I feel like she's bored and I found a place that does herd training. The trainer is going to evaluate my dingo, uh, I mean dog for interest and natural ability to see if we can start training. I hope she doesn't attack a ewe or a lamb. That would blow. And certainly put a damper on things. Here's one of her not-so-bright moments trying to squish into a cat bed.


Ummmmm, what else....oh, my sister and I went to South Padre over the weekend and it was awesome. The weather was perfect and although I wore sunscreen, I still got an awesome tan. It was so relaxing and there were hot dads everywhere. It was kind of strange. 30-40-year-old men who had hot bodies carrying babies around by the pool. It was nice eye candy. In a kind of creepy way.


I have gotten over my fear of pedicures, and now I get one at least 1-2 times a month. My feet look pretty great.

I think our crazy Australian neighbors got a divorce. The wife is never there anymore. It's a shame. A damn shame. Can you tell how broken up I am? All the partying has stopped and there are no cars parked in front of our house anymore. I'm just sayin.

Our piece of SHIT sliding glass door is being replaced with this:

Oh hellllllz yeah. I cannot wait until next Friday. Then, the remodeling madness will end. Until we get new garage doors......and maybe a new roof....or perhaps a deck.

Do any of you watch Top Chef? Tre? Seriously? He's one of the best chefs on there. Howie needs to GOOOOO away. He bugs. Oh, and Tre's hot.

That's about it for now. I don't want to totally overwhelm you with an endless Nappy update. Hope to hear from some of you!