Wet Bar

*UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the fish tank will be saltwater. We're no longer going custom, we're just going to buy a 150 gallon tank, a lot cheaper.*

John is eager to start his next project (might I add that the holes that were cut for the hallway work still aren't patched *insert upset face here*). He's collecting leftovers and scraps from work to build cabinets for the wet bar we'd like to put in our family room downstairs.

This will be a work in progress over the next while since it's not going to be the focus of our remodeling (we try to pick one "big project" for the year with this year being the outside/front of the house). Which means it will only be worked on when we have the money and time.

Out of sheer boredom and the fact that John needs to get an idea and measurements going so he can collect the correct size scraps, I drew up a rough drawing on excel (since I dont have AutoCad) to get an idea of what we'd like.

It will go on the opposite wall of the fireplace where our fish tank is now.
We'd like to get a custom built fish tank that is roughly 3 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet deep (if we can insert it into the wall) which would equal to 224 gallons of water (I think). Truthfully I dont know if that size can really be done to accommodate fish since I haven't talked to anyone about it, but that's the dream.

We dont want to do upper cabinets because the ceilings in the basement are only about 7 feet tall and putting uppers would make the space look squished (along with just goofy since they'd be really small uppers) so open shelving will be a better way to go. These are just ideas and things are really subject to change.

A top view

Like I said, we really dont know when this will get under way or if it really ever will. Right now it's just a pipe dream.

night of fools

101.5 THE EAGLE PRESENTS THE 2ND ANNUAL STUBBS' NIGHT OF FOOLS

IT IS ALL HAPPENING THURSDAY, APRIL 1ST AT WISEGUYS TROLLEY SQUARE IN THE OLD HARD ROCK CAFE LOCATION IN TROLLEY SQUARE.
WWW.WISEGUYSCOMEDY.COM

SHOWTIME IS 7PM AND DOORS OPEN AT 5PM. ALL SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVED! ARRIVE EARLY FOR BEST SEATS.

COME ON OUT FOR A GREAT NIGHT OF LIVE STAND-UP COMEDY FEATURING 10 LOCAL AND NATIONALLY TOURING COMEDIANS!

BRING A BAG OFF NON-PERISHABLE FOOD FOR THE UTAH FOOD BANK AND GET IN FOR FREE!!

DOORS OPEN AT 5PM, SHOW STARTS AT 7PM!

John and I are going and would like some company! Let me know if you want to come and remember ITS FREEEEE!!!!! We'll probably head over around 5:30 to get good seats and get some food from Pound Cakes (it's apart of Wiseguys).
*Just a heads up, last year when we went there were some comedians that were a little dirty, nothing too bad since kids were in the audience but it might make some uncomfortable.*

free roam

well at least in the bedroom at night.
Enna has been sleeping with her crate door open for a few months now but Makoa has still been locked up until last night.
Makoa was still having accidents in the night if outside his crate so we were waiting until he got a little older to try it again.

To start off we put all our shoes away so Makoa wouldn't be distracted by the intoxicating smell of leather and just sleep.
I think he was loving his new freedom because he encouraged Enna to wrestle with him while I was reading. After about 5 minutes of that I was tired of hearing the squawking to I told them both to go to their beds. Enna slide right into hers and laid down but he decided he wasn't ready to sleep yet so he wouldn't stay in his.
I figured that he wouldn't settle down until the lights were off so I cut my reading short. The minute my lamp turned off he jumped on the foot of the bed and started to curl up. "No, no, no little buddy, dogs dont sleep on the bed" so he was gently pushed off. 5 minutes passed and up on the bed he jumped again. Only one more correction showed him that puppies sleep in their own beds.

When I woke up at 5:30 both pups were sound asleep in their crates (with crate doors wide open) and quietly got up when I told them it was time to go outside.
Hopefully this one night of perfection will add up to many, the real test will be the weekends.

Enna always starts rustling around 7:00 AM on the weekends but if ignored she'll curl back up in her bed, we'll see if Makoa follows suit.
Cross your fingers for success! The next step would be letting them have free roam of a room while we're at work...I dont know if I'm there trust wise...

kitchen faucet

Dear Mr. Old Kitchen Faucet,

You have overstayed your welcome. From the moment you started to just dribble instead of actually working I knew it was just a matter of time before we'd say goodbye. Then you just gave up and stopped working all together. Your sprayer tried to prolong your stay by still working, but it was getting annoying to have to use it for everything.

So this weekend John had to replace you.
The new guy is fabulous, very sleek and stylish. He also brings along a soap dispenser and a sprayer built in the faucet to the party.
I think this new guy and I will be getting along just fine.

*update: I have to say it is pure heaven to turn on the water and not have to use the sprayer to fill the dogs' water bowl. All weekend I was thinking of things that needed to be filled with water just so I could use it. Who knew that you could love a faucet as much as this?

Ever heard of personal space?

My cuddle bugs ~ Makoa looks like he's on crack ~ heaven forbid if they're not RIGHT next to me! Hmmmm....I dont think I can even remember what it was like lying on the couch comfortably.

Puerto Vallarta and sea days

Thursday was Puerto Vallarta

Here we just wandered the town taking in the sites, it was absolutely gorgeous. All the roads are cobble stones instead if asphalt and there are sculptures everywhere!





We stopped off at a cathedral that a co-worker told me that we HAD to see, it was beautiful. We wanted to go to their mass but they had already started and we didn't want to interrupt so we only stayed a few minutes.







We then walked the coast line to look at the sand sculptures






this guy was stacking rocks for tips, of course I was a jerk and didn't tip him.

We then ate at this little restaurant, we had nachos, chips and salsa, and this yummy desert. It was crapes with butterscotch and flam-bayed with tequila. While we were there we were serenaded by a mariachi band.


My big purchase in Puerto Vallarta, a pair of tanzanite studs. They're a half carat each.


On the way back to the ship we came across two men painting tiles. They only use their fingers and pinky finger nail to paint them. They were really talented so we sat and watched them for a while.

It was hard just picking one to buy! I liked this one since it was so colorful.


Our Puerto Vallarta ornament


The next two days were sea days so we just relaxed it up. We played a lot of roulette and bingo with Morgan and Greg. Of course Morgan won a ton of money on both and John and I did not.

One night we went to listen to the band play ballroom dance music. Watching all the couples dance made me wish I would have packed Seth, my ballroom dance partner in high school, in my luggage so I could join in on some lindy, triple step and waltz. John is not a dancer but it was nice listening and recognizing the songs and watching the older couples getting their groove on. Maybe one day John will take lessons with me :) a girl can dream cant she?

The cruise came to an end, sadly, and we all had to say goodbye and go back to our regular lives.
We got off the ship at 10:00 AM and headed to the airport in a cab with Keith Stubbs and his wife. Its a good thing we learned from the first cruise we went on and booked a later flight because it took us almost two hours to check our luggage and get through security. We then ate lunch at mickeydees and sat in our terminal waiting for our flight.
I bought The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks at the airport since I finished both my books on the cruise and got sucked into the story. Before we knew it, it was 4:45 and time for us to board the plan.
When we were about a 1/2 hour away from SLC the stewardess dropped apple juice in my lap which meant it also landed on my brand new book. It was just an accident but she felt terrible, she told me the airline would pay to dry clean my jeans. I just laughed and said I'd throw them in the wash when I got home. She then said she'd bring me a cocktail but I didn't look 21, I laughed again and told her I was 22, she didn't believe me.

John's brother picked us up at the airport with the dogs in toe. We were greeted by wet tongues and heavy shedding.
Ben told me my cat was missing and I sat there in shock, luckily he was kidding or I would have killed him.
He said he only had a few incidents while we were gone. Makoa got out of his crate and chewed Enna's collar and leash, some candles and pine cones and Sophi knocked one of my planters out of the window killing my flowers (she knocked out another one yesterday, now I'm down to two planter and a kitty with a death wish)

It's nice to be home and I only suffered from what I call boat lag for a couple of days. If I stopped walking too quickly or sat down too fast the room would start to rock, I was really glad when that wore off!

John's big purchase on the cruise, a new Kenneth Cole watch to replace the one that was stolen.


We also bought this globe made from semi-precious gem stones since I've always wanted one.


Well that's it, our cruise in a nut shell.
Today is such a gloomy cold day, I think I need to head back to Mexico and lie on the beach. Anyone want to come with?

A break from cruise posts...

I'll post more on the cruise soon but I had to share what happened last night.
When I got home from work I was pulling the trash cans in from the curb and when I looked down the street I noticed two pugs sitting on the corner. I had never seen them before so I walked down to check I.D.s. One pug only had a rabies tag and the other only had a AKC registration tag. I called the AKC to report the lost pugs and then tried to figure out how to get them to my house.
I picked up one pup and started towards the house hoping the other would follow but she wouldn't and they were too heavy for me to carry both. So I sat on the curb with the shivering pugs and waited for John to get home from work.

About 15 minutes later John pulled into our driveway and I called him over. When I explained to him that I wanted to take the dogs to our house until we heard from the owners he didn't seem to understand why, but he scooped up one dog and I, the other and we headed off towards our house.

Sophi was REALLY mad that two new dogs were in the house and was hissing up a storm, when John tried to pick her up to put her in the bedroom she scratched him really bad. Of course this made John furious and still wasn't happy that I wanted to bring the dogs home. I explained to him that this is what I'd want someone to do for us if they found our dogs and that seemed to calm him down. Our dogs stayed in their crate while the pugs were in the house because I didn't know how the pugs would react to them.

While pouring the dogs some food my cell phone rang, it was the worried owner. She had the verge of tears sound in her voice and thanked me about 20 times for finding her dogs, she said that they had gotten out the night before and they were really worried about them. I gave her my address and she said that she'd be right over.

All I can say is that in the 1/2 hour it took the lady to get to the house I sure appreciated the fact that my dogs can breath! While eating, one of the pugs was making this awful sound and I turned to John and asked, "Is he growling or something?" and John said, "I think he's just trying to breath and eat at the same time." Even just sitting or laying down it sounded like the dogs were snoring, there's no way I could put up with that all day long! :) They were really sweet though, the female would sit in the living room and if I left the room and then came back she'd get really excited and her whole butt would wiggle.

When the owner and her family showed up at my door they were so thrilled to see the pups. They gave me a reward of $60 that I tried to decline multiple times but the lady looked like she was on the verge of tears again so I took it.

Like I said, I just wanted to do the right thing and what I would want someone to do for me and my dogs. I'll try not to let this good deed make my head too big :)

Mazatlan

Wednesday we were in Mazatlan.

We used this as a beach day after we collected our free stuff. We had to ride a little taxi into town and the driver so funny, he was so proud of his jimmy rigged sound system and 80's music. when he dropped us off I made sure to complement it, he was so thrilled! :)



It was such a nice day and the weather was perfect. Too bad the beach was crawling with peddlers, every 3.5 seconds we were asked if we wanted to buy cheap silver, get my hair braided (yeah, that confuses me too) or go para-sailing in an unsafe parachute. It was just marvy!
It was nice to lie on the beach and forget about the world.

That night on the ship it was 70's night and they threw a party on the main shopping portion of the deck.
that's our captain in the rainbow wig, doesn't that make you feel safe that we were in his hands?



The even had the "almost original" Village People...I have a video of them performing some songs but I cant get any videos to load...only pictures.


More pictures of Mazatlan:






Mazatlan's christmas ornament
Cute huh? it says Mazatlan on his back.

Puerto Vallarta tomorrow!

We're back! ( San Pedro & Cabo San Lucas)

From Mexico that is! Now its time to share all the fun times and pictures, but I'm going to have to break this post up into parts or it would be too long.

We left for L.A.X. at 8:00 AM on Sunday, February 28th and then hopped on a shuttle to the ship from there.
What's the first thing we did when we got on the ship? Eat of course! So after we stuffed our faces we wandered the ship and met up with our 101.5 Eagle friends that scheduled the cruise with. More about them later! It was finally time to leave San Pedro California and make our way to Mexico!

This was the view while the ship was in port...believe me this is better than the other side's view.

John making some smart Alick comment about the other cruise ship

The other cruise ship doing their safety briefing

Pictures while we left the dock and sailed off into the sunset






Sunday night we met our dinner party. They put all the people that came with 101.5 together but there were 30 of us so we had to split up the group to eat. These are the cool, happening cats that were at our table. (*Nikki's cruise tip* when booking your cruise, ask to eat with a group. It's so much fun meeting new people and they'll never be a dull moment at dinner)
Morgan & Greg
They're both in the military and expecting a baby in September. They also taught us how to play (read that as lose) Roulette and we hung out with them quite a bit on sea days.

Mary & Deloris
The sweetest people you will ever meet! Mary always had a hug for us when we saw her and Deloris had the best taste in jewelry!

Shelley & Kory
Two fun lovin gals who had more spunk and energy than the whole table combined!

Jeff & Lorain
Such fun people! Jeff was always making us laugh and Lorain was there to get his story straight when we was telling a little white lie.

Monday was a day at sea. We went to the shopping and gem stone seminars (*Nikki's cruise tip* go to the seminars!!! They usually give out free stuff for attending and you'll learn some good tips)and watched the ice skating show. Want to see all the free loot I got for attending the seminars? all right I'll show you Two bottles of Mexican Vanilla, a handful of charms, a sterling silver chain, mother of pearl earrings, a pearl pendant and earrings that match, two garnets and two sapphires. The only thing is that at the seminars you get coupons, not the item, so then have to go to different stores in port to get the free item. It's fun though, think of it as a scavenger hunt.

The next day we were in Cabo, I think this was our favorite port. The ship was too big to make it all the way into port so they had to water taxi us in, that was interesting.






We went whale watching on a shore excursion and it was just amazing!
John and I off to see whales!

Our ship

Jose, our boat (more like an inner tube) driver

The video I've been trying to load is about 5 minutes long but worth watching. I'll try it in a post by itself later to see if it will cooperate. I'll just post pictures for now.
We were out for about two hours and saw the typical whale watching stuff but then another boat called us saying that they had a baby whale and mama and wanted us to come check it out. For the last 20 minutes of our excursion we watched a baby whale play at the surface. It was like he knew we were there and had to put on a show for us. Mama would come up to the surface every once in the while to get air and it was crazy to see how big she was compared to her 6 week old baby. It was an amazing experience and well worth the money we spent!





After whale watching our driver took us to see the sea lions and the famous Cabo arch. The sea lions stunk like no ones business so I wasn't too disappointing that we didn't stay long.





After our whale watching adventure we went into town to pick up our free treasures. One thing I wasn't prepared for was all the people trying to sell stuff on the pier! "You want to go to Lover's Beach? I'll take you, $10!" "you need a water taxi? $5 a person!" "you want to see sea lions? $5!" soon I just ignored them and just kept walking!
Cabo was such a cute place. We did a lot of wondering and taking in the sites, we even wandered around the mall there.

We went back to the ship a couples hours before we were required to be back so we could eat lunch without a crowd and use a clean bathroom (I was pretty sure that I'd get a disease if I used a local bathroom).

John and I try to collect a christmas tree ornament from every where we travel and this is our Cabo ornament.


I'm still not having any luck loading the video of the baby whale...any suggestions?