my secret garden

So we had hidden roses and a giant lemon tree all on the side of the house. I guess we just never had walked over there because it took us a month to discover these. 

 Do lemons bloom year round? There are literally hundreds on this tree. YES!

Connoisseurs of Life

"Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation."

"To lose your balance for love is part of living a balanced life."

The two above quotes come from the movie "Eat Pray Love". And they are the two quotes that really made me rethink how I live my life.  

With those in mind...

Aaron and I have decided to take the next couple of years to travel!

Our list in no particular order:

- Hawaii

- Washington D.C. (this one is kind of special for us. Aaron was in the hospital in Bethesda near by D.C. He was only able to get away from the hospital for a few hours to go to dinner with his mom and I in the city. He didn't really get to experience D.C. So ever since then, we've wanted to go back and do the whole tourist thing, and also go back to visit his doctors)

-New York

-Walt Disney World and while we are in Florida, we are going to Universal Studios to check out Harry Potter World!...HP world is more my dream than his haha

Europe...not sure how many trips these will take, but here are the countries we want to visit:

-Germany

-France

-England

-Ireland

I'm sure those can all be done in one trip...but hey, why not take a couple trips?

I would also like to go on a Disney Cruise or just a cruise in general. 

We've already done Jamaica, but I would love to do another tropical vacation like that again. 

There are lots of little weekend road trips we would love to take....Vegas, San Fran, San Diego, Vegas again, and more I'm sure. 

We figured that since now we have our house (a dream that we've had since we got married), we can really go crazy. Aaron and I have always lived by the same rule....we don't have children yet, so lets save some and spend the rest on things we want. Kind of like "go big or go home".  Sorry if that offends anyone, but that's just how we like to live. 

We are connoisseurs of life, and with my husband and my handy dandy camera by my side, we WILL see the world, eats lots of delicious food, buy awesome things, stay at nasty motels and 5 star hotels and just enjoy each other. 

I need to start a new savings account just for travel :) 

Miley is one today!!!

On February 8th, 2010 Miley was born in foster care, and was then brought to the animal shelter in Irvine when she was two months old. The very day she was able to been seen by the public, Aaron and I decided to take a stroll through the dog kennels at the shelter. It's a favorite past time of ours. She came with a whole litter of puppies, all of whom were much bigger than her. She was the littlest one, and she was SO stinkin' adorable. We came to look at the dogs right near closing time on a friday night, so we decided to come back at opening the next day to take her out and play. We got there right at 10 am, and we walked right in to the office to tell them who we wanted to see. We instantly fell in love with this little ball of fur. She had such a tiny body but had big ears and big paws. We took her out in the grass area, and when you would lean down to pet her, she would roll right over. It's a submissive thing, and she still does it. We knew from that that she was going to be a great dog. As soon as we were done playing with her, we knew what we wanted to do. We went right back into that office and put the hold deposit down. As we were filling out the paperwork, someone else came in to ask about her. It felt so good to hear, "Sorry, she's been spoken for." YES! 2009 was a hard year for both Aaron and I. Sometimes it feels like you just get bad luck after bad luck. So when we got our hands on that puppy, we knew we had hit a luck streak. 

I don't think I slept AT ALL the first week. She pretty much cried the whole time because she wanted to be with us. So I would take her in bed with us so she would stop crying, which she did. But then she proceeded to pee everywhere. OH man. Those first two weeks were rough. I cannot stress enough the importance of kennel training. It is THE best thing you can do for your puppy at night and when you are not home. 

Miley has turned into the most wonderful dog. Yes, she's a little jumpy, but that's because she wants to give you kisses when you come in...and how else would she do that if she didn't jump up on you to get to your face? Well, at least, that's the way she sees it. haha! 

It's funny, when she was little, she would curl up on our laps or right by our head. She was so tiny. But 12 months and like 30 lbs. later, she still does the same thing. I mean, the best part of watching tv is when she jumps up and lays her whole 40 lb. body on your lap or stomach if you are laying down. Then she just stares at you. I'm pretty sure that's her way of saying, "I love you". 

A couple more pieces of Miley....she never chews on human stuff or belongings; only her toys. But I will say that she DESTROYS every toy ever given to her within a day or so. She loves running up and down the backyard. Every morning when I let her out to go pee, she sniffs the air. Midday, she will take a nap on the couch when the sun hits it. While I work on the computer, she naps on her blankie in front of the space heater. She terrorizes Tiger every once in a while. He's cool with it usually. She has sniffed out numerous bones in the yard (possibly from the dog of the previous owner). If anyone dares to knock on the door, or heaven forbid, they ring the dog bell, her watchdog comes out. I never have to worry about solicitors when she's around. 

Ok here are some pics from the last few weeks...

 Miley is hanging out in the rose bushes here. And this also is a good display of my horrible haircutting skills. Though, to be fair, she isn't the ideal client. Too squirmy. 

 This is exactly where Miley sits every morning while I get ready for the day.

 This is one of my favorite photos of her so far. I just love the emotion on her scruffy face. 

 Took her to the beach the other day. We let her off leash, and she pretty much smelled everything. Ate sand. Found a good stick. Found some bones. 

 I drew a heart in the sand, attempting to make a pretty heart and ocean photo, but since Miley has to ruin everything I do, she decided to sit in it. But it turned out to be a great pic. It's a metaphor. Aaron and I were doing our own thing, and Miley came along and wiggled her way into our life. 

 She loves the beach, but is NOT down with the water. 

 She eats sand!

Love this pic. Another favorite. 

Happy birthday Miley girl.