Schokolade Mädchen: January 2009

1/29/09

Play Date Zuhause

For the first time, Denzel had a friend come over to our house for a play date. Bogey, a Pug puppy that lives in our building, and Denzel have been friends since the summer. His Mom and I decided that they both needed an outlet from being cooped up this week, due to the snowy and icy weather. So last night, when our friends arrived, I opened the door and instead of the crazy sniffing and licking and whining and falling all over each other with excitement greeting Denzel usually gives Bogey, Denzel turned into Mike Tyson. He immediately chased after Bogey, snapping at his face and barking. He was trying to bite Bogey. I could not believe my dog. Denzel has never even snapped at another dog, EVER. As I held Denzel back, Bogey, probably confused but overexcited all the same, ran around our house, jumping on the couch, playing with Denzel's scattered toys a bit, and even drinking from Denzel's water bowl. This only infuriated Denzel more. So, Bogey's Mom and I stopped, put the dogs on their leashes and asked ourselves, "What would Cesar do?" Yes, we are both fans. We decided that we totally messed up the introduction. We brought on the stress. First of all, Denzel has never had another dog in our house, his domain. So by bringing Bogey in and letting him have the run of the place while I held Denzel back, was really stupid. He was being aggressive because he was being territorial. And my shock and nervousness - negative energy - only made Denzel more agitated. So we needed to defuse the situation. Bogey's Mom took Bogey out of the house and into the hallway and waited. Then I followed out into the hallway with Denzel. We wanted to let them greet each other in a neutral place first and then allow them to come back into the house together. Denzel was still a little agitated but after 10 minutes in the hallway, the growling stopped and they were back to being buddies. We then allowed Denzel to enter the house first, kind of look back waiting for Bogey to come along, and then we let Bogey enter. It worked! They played nonstop for 3 hours.

1/28/09

The Perfect T

All t-shirts are not the same.

And since I wear a ton of them, I know a winner as soon as I see it. Yesterday, I found this khaki Romeo & Juliet t-shirt with the peace hand sign (in rhinestones!) - for half off. Yaah!

1/27/09

Guess the Vomit

I know. It's sooooo gross. But when Denzel ate a bowl of ____ and immediately threw up, the throw up had formed into such interesting shapes, we couldn't help taking a picture!
Don't worry, we didn't let him eat it - even though you know he tried!

1/26/09

Sweet yet Annoying

G has a new obsession. Laundry. Every time I leave the house for yoga teacher training, he has about 8 hours all to himself. He usually does the same thing every time I'm gone - he works in his home office, takes Denzel to the dog park, does stuff with wires and cables (???), works out with the intern - you know, guy stuff. But lately, guy stuff includes doing at least, AT LEAST, a couple loads of laundry. Now, I do our laundry during the week. And since it's only the two of us, we really don't have a lot of clothes that have to be washed. But it seems like now that I am out of the house for hours at a time, he wants to the laundry..."his way". This means going through his closet, sometimes reorganizing the closet, searching for missing dirty socks or old workout T-shirts that need to be revived or even creating small piles of clothes all over the office that will eventually be pieced together with other piles, that he wants to wash. Yesterday, as soon as I walked in the door from class, he didn't ask me how my day was or if I was sore or if I learned anything new. The first thing he said was, "Hallo. So, do you have any dark clothes? I've got the washer almost filled, just waiting on you!" And because I didn't have enough dirty dark clothes in my laundry bin, he insisted that I take off all of my sweaty clothes on the spot and throw them in, in order to start the wash immediately. But I guess I should be happy that at least he isn't overloading anymore. Last week I finally managed to convince him that stuffing the washing machine beyond it's capacity is not "efficient" and does not save water and money when the clothes don't get clean and I end up having to wash them a second time. I wish he would develop an obsession with cleaning. Or shopping for presents for his wife.

1/23/09

Our First Lady's Choice

For her Inaugural gown, Michelle Obama chose a white chiffon one shoulder design,

by Jason Wu.

Applause or Boos?

1/21/09

The Inauguration of Barack Obama

Yesterday, over two million people traveled to Washington DC to witness the highly anticipated Inauguration of Barack Obama. I was one of them. I woke up at 4am, spent 2 hours on the Metro (normally a 20 minute ride), and stood outside on Pennsylvania Avenue for over 6 hours, with temperatures teetering just above 20 degrees. I even had to use a Porta-potty...several times. And you know what? It was worth every effort. The overwhelming energy of the people and the significance of that moment in American history literally brought me to tears. Amazing.

Here are my highlights:)

1/16/09

My Yoga

I finally decided to go after my goal of becoming a certified yoga instructor. And after the first week of training, I am feeling a wide range of emotions. I am so excited to learn as much as I can and take advantage of the wonderful teachers I'm privileged to study with. I am eager to see the transformation in my body, in my strength and flexibility. I am ready and willing to open my mind to meditation. I'm nervous about keeping up with the women in my class. With my 6 foot frame, I sometimes feel like a giant compared to the petite flexible women who are constantly assuring me otherwise. I am charged in every class to push myself, to try to reach my full potential. G is so supportive of me and a little shocked - when I woke up at 8:59am one morning and literally tore through the house, racing to make it to my 9:30am power yoga class, he sat there with an open mouthed look of amazement on his face. He also gave me an encouraging present, my first and only (they have a life time guarantee) Manduka yoga mat. It's perfect for my weak knees. It will take six months for my certification and when I think about the amount of information and hours in front of me, it is a bit intimidating. But, most goals are. Here I go!

1/13/09

Marking History

The Presidential Inaugural Committee released an official Inauguration poster, designed by famed street artist Shepard Fairey. Fairey's initial 2008 design, the HOPE poster (see side bar), was one of the most influential presidential campaign images in history.

"Be the change that you want to see in the world."