Hosting the 'rents ...

Michelle & I spent the past week hosting my parents, who we try and see every couple of months. For the most part it was a lot of relaxing, eating, schmoozing, and good ol' catching up with what's new. They were immediately captured by Ginger, who they played with for the first time. We hosted them as well as Bernie/Ruth Friday evening for a wonderful dinner. Saturday they hit the jackpot at the nearby Wagon Wheel flea market, thoroughly enjoying perusal of random odds and ends for sale.

Sunday we gathered up & drove to Orlando to visit my Aunt Gladys, cousin Juanita & her 5-year old son Julian. He has a tendency to dress up in colorful costumes, as seen by the Darth Vader outfit ;-) Many thanks to Gladys for hosting a delicious lunch!




Unfortunatley one of our favorite restaurants (Bonefish Grill) could not accomodate us for Valentine's Day, so we decided to go the night before! A wonderful venue and delicious selection of fresh fish and side dishes. All in all a wonderful time, we look forward to seeing them again
in May back in New York. So long for now!!

Gasparilla Festivities

The rest of our time here in St Petersburg/Tampa Bay is about enjoying this beautiful place that we are living in. Enjoying the fact that it is 80 degrees outside in January, that people can drink in the middle of the day and that people will do anything for ... beads. This is the story of Gasparilla.
So there was once this pirate names Gasper. He, supposedly, was one of the people to first settle in this area. He came to the bay around 1900 ... I have to look it up. Anyway, this last weekend in January is always celebrated... Gasparilla. We, thus far, had never been to the festivities. This year we decided to check it out. I'm glad that we did. We had a ton of fun. :) These are some pictures.

Ginger Post Op

Ginger has officially had more surgery than either Justin or myself. She came back from the vet today looking so sad and helpless. Her incision is quite small sealed on the skin with 2 small staples. She seems fine but a little "altered." We have to give her these pills that are "antiinflammatory" -- hope that she likes them. :)
It's so sad to watch her...

Doggie Heaven, Part Deux

Michelle & I made our way down to the Vinoy Dog Park for the 2nd time in nearby St. Petersburg. The weather was beautiful (a record 80 degrees in January?!), and Ginger had a wonderful time making new friends and rolling around in the dirt. She also got to meet our friend Allen's Jack Russel named Scrappy. The park is separated by small and large breeds, as you can see by the beautiful golden retrievers above. Ginger did fine (on a leash) interacting with the larger canines, and towards the end met an eager male french poodle who wanted to be more than just friends :-) Fortunately, as per his owner, "Don't worry he's shooting blanks!" (aka he was neutered). Speaking of which, we're picking Ginger up from the vet tonight as she was spayed earlier this morning ... we were quite anxious making this decision, but we felt it was in her best interest in the long run. We'll have her running around soon once she's fully recovered. Enjoy!!

Any recommendations?

Hi everybody. We are doing well. Working hard and trying to play harder (with the dog ... :) ).
We're calling for any ideas or recommendations. Ginger is going to be having her first (and hopefully only) surgery next week (Tuesday 1/24) - spaying. This is the responsible thing for us to do. I am sorry for those of you that want her to have many many babies. The vet says that she'll be good to go in a few days after the procedure but the books and the paperwork the vet gave us says it takes about 8-11 days to recover. Ideas?
Thanks!!!

Back from Vacation

I've been wondering... is it really vacation if you go back home (where you grew up?). I'm going to say yes. Justin and I just got back from almost a week back in Las Vegas. This has become our annual winter trip back to see the family and just relax. We had a spectacular time. We enjoyed spending a lot of time with my grandparents and the rest of my family. Overall we did a lot of EATING, SLEEPING, and good 'ole relaxing. I'm attaching some of the pictures. The first pictures ( above) were taken on our trip to the Strip - Bellagio (my favorite hotel. There is a conservatory there that gets redone every few months based on the holidays and seasons. Up now is an asian teahouse theme. It was very colorful. The other pictures are from a store in the hotel that makes very fine chocolates. The first is a very crazy cute wedding cake. The second picture is a chocolate fountain. I took a bunch of shots... just too yummy to pass up. Apparently you can buy thing for them to dip in the fountain. I wonder if they would let me use my fingers. :)
Family shots follow. A few at dinner and then at my grandparents house with their adorable dog Cassie... lady Cassie. The final picture is taken hours before we came back to Florida and were relaxing with my dad and his wife Adrienne. A great trip!!!

Dinner with David and Gretchen

A great dinner with David and Gretchen. Yumm...

Entertaining!

Ginger was quite the little hostess tonight. We had Justin's aunts and uncles visiting the house for a dinner party. Of course, I took this occasion (as I do oftentimes) to try out my cooking on unknowning house-guests. Overall, a big success. Ginger was on her best behavior (well sort of). We took some nice pictures. These are a few. Love ya Bernie, Ruth, Arline and Seymour!!!

So now it's 2006. Here's to welcoming another new year. Lots of new and exciting things to look forward to (hopefully):

1. End of the war
2. Troops coming back home
3. Cure for cancers (all of 'em!)
4. Chocolate cake without calories


Well, we can all hope. Looking forward to a new year filled with new experiences and new friends and remembering to keep old ones close.

To spread it along: My new year resolution -- BETTER POSTURE. Get on me about it... you have permission!!!!

Grooming Ginger!

Well, it was finally time to do as we promised: give Ginger her first haircut! Michelle picked up a hairclipper and some scissors at PetSmart, and together we went to work for over an hour. Trimming her body hair was easy, but the legs & facial area were quite challenging. In all I think we did a pretty good job (perhaps a bit too short?), and it will last for a while. Ginger unfortunately was not too cooperative with her post-cut bathing, but she's finally calmed down as you can see by her bone-chewing (which she LOVES). Michelle was admittedly a little worried in the beginning, but having cut my own hair for some time I think everything went well. Enjoy, and have a Happy New Year everyone!!

Happy New Year

Here's to reminiscing about 2005 and years before and thinking forward to 2006 and years to come. This time of year is always about nostalgia. It's a good time to reflect on all that has passed and think about what to do about the future. What did we like? What was not so good, etc.
This year has been pretty exciting and filled with changes. Early in January we started our 2005 with a vacation. Now that's always a good way to start. Vacation January, Februrary and then March for that matter. We celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. A year ago March 21, we were wed down at the beach. We celebrated the actual day by going back, laying on the hammocks at Sirata and dining at the same restaurant where we ate the night before the wedding. A lot of fun.
Work, interspersed in between the vacations the early part of the year. Then we became "3rd years." What a glorious year in residency (as long as your residency is 3 years log). The long-awaited time when you're the king/queen of the program. You walk around like you're it. You're known to all, all are known to you. It's the last time that you're "big stuff." So much of this year has been enjoying that. Enjoying the fact that we have 1-3 calls a month when before it was 6-8. Relishing the fact that you don't have to put together another presentation because... there's always last years to re-present.
This fall we found out where we're going to be spending the next few years of our lives in fellowship. I don't know how I knew, but somehow I did.... the Michigan. Maybe it was just my unconscious desire for my little puppy (a little inside joke for some of you out there). Well, we're still planning that move in late June.
And the puppy. She's great, adorable, etc. She came to us on December 10. She's terrific in a puppy-sort of way. We're looking forward to years to come.
That'll do it. More later as usual...and more pictures to come. Please send us your new year's news. :)

Lazy Ginger ....

It's rare, but there are few times during the day where Ginger will plop up on the couch & just relax. Here are some cute photos of her doing so .... enjoy the hair for now, because next week Michelle & I are giving her a haircut!!

New experiences!!!

This was truly a weekend of firsts for our little family. Saturday, among other things, Ginger got her first bath. Was it a success?? I'm still trying to judge. She did just fine with the bath but getting out and drying off was a little bit of a puzzle. The question remains: can a dog get a bath without getting the owners soaking wet? Hmm. Thus far I'm 2:2 (Sunday after the next little first for Ginger she got another bath).
This brings us to the second first ... DOG PARK
So we went down to the Vinoy Dog Park. A nice park just off the Vinoy grounds near the St Pete pier. There is a section for small dogs and other for larger dogs. Of course, Ginger is "small." She was greeted by about 5 little dogs, a few of whom were puppies themselves. She got right into the action. Now for us (new doggie parents) it was kind of hard to watch the dogs play and know that it was just play and not some dog trying to rip apart our little pupply. Overall she had a terrific time. We finished up the afternoon with a walk by/in the water and then bath #2.

More blogging

So the blog is underway. I welcome the comments and hope that this continues for some time. So far we've had a good time updating the site with pictures. This has been a tough week thus far with the new addition to the family. We're learning what "parenthood" is all about. The trials and tribulations of having a young one at home. We look forward to coming home earlier and earlier to see what the little one is up to (or into as the case may be-come). We're having a great time, though. She is an absolute doll. Stay tuned for more insanely cute pictures!!

We're parents!!! Meet Ginger ...

Hi everybody! Meet the newest addition to our family: Ginger. She is a 5 month old Lhasa Apso we adopted today. She's beautiful and a joy (so far). We've both wanted a dog for a long time and after searchful watching and waiting... she's here. Enjoy the pics.

Party Party Party!

Many thanks to everyone from work who attended our Holiday Party! In all it was a huge success, about 30 people showed up with drinks & food galore ;-) We also had a gift exchange, everyone went home with something nice. Michelle wanted to do this for quite sometime, I'm glad everything went so smoothly. Happy Holidays everyone!!