Clemson - Graduation and Dogs

On May 7th, my dearest friend LaShan graduated with her PhD in Bioengineering.

And we were there to celebrate with her!

Hurray!

Ended up driving up there (with Jake!) on Thursday night because we wanted to see her officially graduate. We kind of got bad seats, but could actually see her pretty well on the floor and on the screen.

Before people were there.

We waited maybe 15 minutes after she was finished (being hooded and all that jazz) before we left. We were tired. Sigh.

Afterward, she had a get together near the school at a park with bbq. Numm numm.

CU BioE Fantastic-o Women

Cassie (in the black/white sleeveless) our hostess for the weekend took us on an official tour of the new bioengineering department. It had changed so much. Crazy!

BUT wanted to share some old memories with some blog readers - you know who you are...

413. Our old hangout area.
Now a lab.

The old rig setup. Nothing changed at all.

2nd floor lab. Seriously. Same everything.

It was strange to be back there - I feel like I spent so much of my time in that building. In actuality, I probably should have spent more time there. Ha ha. Got to see some old teachers (not old in age...) and some of the new spaces that were now there. I'll always be so proud to have gotten a degree from such a fantastic place!

***

That evening Cassie, Thadd (her husband and our co-host), Darin, and I went out to Fatz for dinner. It's a true South Carolina place with great food and these delicious poppy seed rolls. Might have eaten a whole basket by myself. There was honey butter people.

Jake and Jesse became fast friends. They were quite hillarious. Jake would take a toy from Jesse's numerous toy basket area, try to get Jesse to take it (which he wouldn't), drop it, and then go get another toy. This was what their living room looked like after 20 minutes:

Before.

After.

It was funny to watch. He was just being his normal strange self. Poor Jesse didn't know what to do with this weird dog around and ended up sitting on the couch by his mama watching tv.

After tv watching and picture viewing, we went to sleep because we were exhausted! Had a terrific day though and we were so glad to have come up for such an exciting event.

BP Doggie Derby

Three weekends back in the beginning on May, we had the opportunity to participate in the 3rd Annual Doggie Derby. We had the honor of taking Ms. Maggie Moe because, well, Jake would probably kill/attack the other dogs there.

We picked her up, dropped Jake off, and headed out!

Basically the concept was simple - dogs pair off (in weight groups) and whoever wins, moves to the next match. Maggie was a heavy weight. (She's a gentle giant.)

We think she was either the heaviest or second heaviest dog there!

Go Maggie!

The playing field

Our competitor.



Waiting in the shade, it was hot!

Well to put it mildly, she didn't do much at the starting line. I think she was a little intimidated by the other dogs and the people around. Plus, we didn't practice.

She took a step, looked back at me, and the other dog was already finishing. Oops.

But she tried!

And then she cooled as best as she could:

We had a great time watching the other dogs - it was so cute. The smaller dogs didn't necessarily know what was happening and kind of ran in circles. Some dogs were super fast - some not so much. Everyone had a great time - we ended up leaving early because it was hot outside and Maggie seemed to be getting ready for some air conditioning.

Next year we'll have to decide whether to bring Jake because we both think he would have had a great time and would have done well. Either way, we'll definitely practice before hand!

Woo hoo!

Updates Coming

Wanted to write something quick.

Been busy after work (and at work too for the matter) and haven't had time to upload all of the great pictures I took from the last two weekends...

BUT we have nothing (but yard work and house work) to do this weekend and I will get things up-to-date for everyone waiting for pictures.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the sunshine!

Yogurt

We eat smoothies every morning.

Gives us energy, lots of fruits to eat, and Jake a yogurt container.

As you can see, he likes them a lot.

And we don't have to clean the container before we recycle it.

Win-Win.

Side Note: Before we ate yogurt too - Yoplait - and the containers would be all over the house after Jake would lick them clean and be done with them. It was very funny.

South Cali - Sunday

Sunday.

Time to see Melissa, Kyle, Kyle's Mom Joan, and K.

:)

We woke up to a cloudy-hazy day. Normally the haze would drift away, but it wasn't cooperating for our pool time. While we were cleaning up (with the door open mind you), we had some visitors. We had met them twice before.

They liked Pringles.

Decided to check out and head up to where Kyle and Melissa live. It was about 30 minutes north of us - hopefully by then the sun would be out.

Got to their house and there was sunshine! Had decided previously to eat lunch at this wonderful chowder place by the grocery store (why didn't I get pictures of this?) and then headed off to the beach.

Not so much luck there. Ended up staying maybe for 30 minutes then headed back to their pool.

The pool saves the day!

At about 3 pm, my sister and Mom left for their flight - I got to say later and spend time with them all. I basically got all day Sunday!

We ate dinner. Went for a walk. Talked!

And I got to spend time with this cutie:

K. @ 4 months

With her Grandma, Joan

With her favorite guy

Her cute room!

We became friends!

Finally!
(K. was fascinated by the turned on fan!)

Wished I could have spent about a week longer with them all. BUT it actually worked out well for everyone. We'll get out again soon I think - so at least this trip was successful.

South Cali - Saturday

Saturday morning.

Searching for coffee again.

But a special day: Mom's birthday!

Casey had suggested a breakfast place in San Diego and after remembering what it was called, and getting a reservation, we were off.

This place was crazy.

C.R.A.Z.Y.

We should have split something. I don't know why we didn't. I guess our eyes were bigger than our stomachs.

Dru got biscuits and eggs:

Mom got a scramble:

And I got the biggest pancake ever:

***

Went back and headed two different places. They wanted to go to the beach (I was feeling to wimpy to deal with the FL/CA temperature change) and I went to the adult pool.

Side Note: Didn't talk about the wonderful hotel. It was a resort - huge in size and had five pools. Yikes.

They came back for some pool time (we changed to the 'kid' pool), and we enjoyed ourselves for a couple more hours.

See the pool in my glasses...

This represents my Mother 100%.

Giant Bird of Paradise

***

Then it was off to La Jolla.

Beach Patrol!

Sunset - later that evening.

I have many fond memories of La Jolla. Eating, surfing, enjoying friends, eating. As did my Mother. She remembered this restaurant - and we had to find it. It was her special birthday wish. What was once a rooftop hamburger joint was now a posh LA type rooftop bar.

So glad we went though. Excellent food. Good beer on tap. Strange pepper drinks (my sister go this). And excellent views.

Notice the glasses. We are definitely sister.s

Seal rock!

We sang her a silent happy birthday and enjoyed our time together.

And then went and found cupcakes to celebrate even further.

Walked around La Jolla for a long time - could have just stayed to watch the people and seals. I can't wait to have Darin be there to experience it.

Went back to the hotel and tried out the hot tubs! And they were hot! Drank some wine, talked to some strangers, and relaxed. Hot hot hot!

And then sleep!

South Cali - Friday

It's always interesting how trips happen. I wanted to go to California to see my friend Melissa because she and her husband had a baby in December, and I had to go see baby K. Darin was not super interested in going because of school and other priorities (we'll get to Cali sooner enough), and I was talking to my sister about it and she said that she would go. Great idea! When we were looking at dates (Melissa and Kyle were super busy in February), we realized we could push things back and surprise my Mom with a birthday trip!

We got her tickets first. It was pretty funny because for a couple days my Mom was going to San Diego all by herself. Then Dru got her tickets, and then I got mine to match theirs as much as possible.

We waited a bit before telling my Mom because it was a surprise! My Dad, sister, and I got her good! Woo hoo!

After telling her (I think it was around mid-March), we then had to wait for a bit before the trip. Long wait, I tell you.

Then I planned our trip to Tulsa - got a bit busy there, but everything worked out fine. I don't really need that much sleep and Jake had a place to stay.

***

On Thursday I flew in to San Diego through Denver. Not a good experience. Ended up landing in Colorado Springs instead of Denver because of weather, and then the airlines completely changed our plane's plans and we were all SOL. They said it was 'weather'. I say it was 'greed'. Ended up getting in at 10:45 pm instead of 4:45 pm. Nice. Watched a movie at the airport, so things turned out alright. (Still a bit bitter.)

BUT Dru and Mom got in fine! Phew! They went to the hotel, had dinner, and picked me up at the airport. We went back to the hotel and slept.

***

Friday morning I woke up with my Mom ( 7 am) and we went outside, read our books, and enjoyed the view.

Our place! Right on the bay. (Mission Bay).



View of bridge.

With giant flower!

Dru (finally) got up, we went searching for coffee (ha!), went to Starbucks and Einstein Brothers for breakfast, went back to the hotel and sat by the pool.

Tough. Life.

After that, we decided to check out the beach near where we were staying - just south of Pacific Beach. Parked the car and walked the beach. The beaches of California were so different than in Florida. You don't really realize it until you go to both in the same week. There were so many more people around walking, sunbathing, surfing. It's incredible.

On Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, CA

Chocolate covered key lime pie and ice cream.
Num.

After awhile there exploring (and eating), we ended up going back to the hotel for a bit and then to dinner in Old Town. I really wanted to go there to get a present for my friend Suzanne's birthday the next weekend (blog to come), as well as going there to drink margaritas. We had the best happy hour ever - spent like $30. Nice.

San Diego flowers

L.U.S.H.E.S.

They were $3.00

We walked around and found this fun candle shop where Dru got to be creative.

Naked unicorn.

Beautiful unicorn!

And then we went back to the beach trying to find a sunset, but the clouds were in the way. Went 'home' and slept! Not a bad day.