Beautiful day in the neighborhood

Well it seems with all the rain we had earlier this month, we earned the sun-filled days we've had lately. The change that takes place from Winter to Spring puts a smile on my face every year. This week especially as I enjoyed the perfect weather to bike the short 2 mile commute into work and came home to my favorite flowers blooming in our front yard: tulips!

I love the surprise of tulips popping up. We had no idea they were there and I was literally jumping for joy when I saw them. And still remain giddy when I walk towards the front door and see them there. I guess I'm starting to see why people enjoy gardening. But I've got to say, this was even better since it required no work on my part. (As renters, I am far to lazy to actually plant anything myself.)

How far would you drive for a donut?

So it's Sunday morning and we're watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Food Network and this particular episode is everything Bacon. They started talking about these:

Pictured borrowed from www.delvious.com.

And now I'm officially craving one of these babies: apple, bacon and maple donut. Yes please. Then we find out that this drool-worthy donut is from Dynamo Donuts which just happens to be in San Francisco. A mere hour and a half drive from our house. I suggested to Matt that we drive there right now to get some. He dismissed the idea thinking I wasn't serious. So it's not in the cards for today but you better believe I'll be finding a reason to go here in the near future. And I'll be sure to report back with the verdict.

And check out all the flavors they offer. Banana de Leche, Molasses Guinness Pear, Candied Orange Blossom. Yum. And get ready to crave donuts, they all look and sound delicious!)

Tell me we aren't alone

Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

Maybe if we zoom in you'll notice something off.

Last weekend we bought waffles because I've been on a major waffle kick lately. So you can imagine how frustrated I was when I couldn't for the life of me find the waffles. Naturally I checked the freezer and when they weren't there I checked all the other food cupboards with no avail. Puzzled, I checked everywhere. Even the oven! For two days it drove me crazy. I finally tried to put it behind me by buying more waffles. It was then that it dawned on me that I hadn't checked the cupboard under the sink that houses our cleaning supplies. Ding ding ding! Found 'em. I didn't even care at this point that I had to throw away a whole box of waffles, I was just glad to finally know where the mystery waffles were.

So please, tell me we aren't the only ones who do stupid stuff like this.

Drawn to water

Some dogs love water. Some dogs hate it. Bounce loves it. And by love I mean he's almost obsessive about it. Today I picked him up from his favorite place, doggie daycare, and when I said I was picking up Bounce to the girl up front. She hollered back "Get Bounce for me. He's the little tan one that is always wet."

Seriously. Every time we get him from daycare he's got wet fur. The one time I picked him up and he was dry the person working commented how surprised he was that Bounce was actually dry (though his paws were actually a little damp).

Sometimes when we are just lounging around the house we'll hear a clatter in the bathroom and when we go to find out what it is, we find this:

Please put some water in the tub so I can splash.

Maybe if I look pathetic enough they'll give in.

Seriously, this has happened on more than one occasion. And as you might imagine, he doesn't fight with us about bath time. And thankfully he recognizes that bath time is not the best time to splash around like a crazy dog.

He reserves the crazy mad man dog splashing for the puppy pool in the backyard. We got it for him at Mary's request when she kindly came down and dog sat for us in late July. It's become one of his favorite activities. Even when its not exactly swimming pool weather. Just this week we had a huge rain and wind storm that blew the pool from its upright position against the house to face up, which meant it filled with water. No surprise, Bounce took the opportunity to get soaking wet. Matt let him in and couldn't figure out how he could have managed to get as wet as he was and then he found the pool filled with rain water. Busted.

And here's where it all started.

Reno, Nevada during our cross country move to Sacramento. We arrived late in the day and felt bad that Bounce was going on the third day of straight driving so we found a dog park to take him to. The park led up to a lake of water and we weren't sure how he would handle the situation. The second he got off his leash he spotted another dog swimming in the water and booked it as fast as he could to join in the fun. He sprinted through the shallow water and you could see the surprise on his face when he realized his paws were no longer on the ground and he had to figure out how to swim. From then on he stuck to the shoreline where he could safely splash and literally get dunked by other dogs without being bothered to doggie paddle.

Racing around, so happy to be by the water.
Bounce is on the left. 

Matt had to drag his wet butt out of the water
and he was not happy about it.

And he left looking like this; soaking wet and happy.
And showing off his skinny puppy figure!

And lately he's been loving the rainy weather. Every time he goes into the backyard he finds a puddle to jump in. From inside you can here him splashing and while I'm glad he's having fun I'm so sick of pulling out the towel to dry off his paws and trying to teach him not to jump on furniture if his paws are wet .

And just for kicks. Bounce's first bath. He was such a cute puppy! I almost want another one right now.

Wee little Bounce

Bounce meets a cow and other adventures

We had the pleasure of hosting James, Matt's brother, last weekend and lucked out with beautiful weather on Saturday. A hike was just calling our name. And hopefully this isn't the last blog you read in the coming months about hiking. Matt and I plan to get out as much as possible before the weather turns HOT.

We drove out to the Sierra Foothills for a hike, and it was such a remote location that the GPS couldn't navigate us the whole way (gasp!). We relied on the directions in our guide book, which happen to be wrong by the way. But after driving aimlessly on gravel roads for an extra 30 minutes, we made it to our destination.

The guide book said the hike was about 5 miles and would take 2-4 hours roundtrip, making a big loop to see a waterfall. So that's what we had in our minds, a hike in nature to see a waterfall. Well, the guide book failed to describe one of the most fun parts of the hike: being surrounded by cows! It was unlike any hike I've ever been on. It was like we were out in farmland with cows roaming (and cow pies to avoid stepping in).

Overall the experience was a positive one. We kept a brisk pace and completed the hike in almost exactly 2 hours. Fortunately there weren't any steep inclines to climb, just flat and gradual inclines. The biggest hazards were the cow pies, mud, slippery rocks by the water and poison ivy. We survived them all except my not-so-graceful slip and fall on a rock (good thing I've got extra cushion to soften the fall!).

And like I said, the cows were the best highlight in my opinion. At first I was a little startled and wondered if we were disturbing their zen, but they seemed fine. And actually, little Bounceman made a friend! At one point we were walking through a pretty big group of cows, keeping a safe distance of 20 feet or so. But one small cow saw Bounce and casually started walking towards us. Bounce, being a good dog for once, sat patiently and watched the cow approach.

Bounce spots the cows

The cow spots Bounce

The cow casually walks our direction

And keeps coming

And there he is, our friend the cow

After the cow encounter, our hike back to the car was fairly uneventful. But we did decide to let Bounce off leash to see how he did. I was really nervous because I don't quite trust him yet, but he had walked about 6 miles so far that day so I figured he was tired and couldn't cause too much harm. And fortunately he didn't. But I swear he thrives on doing stuff he isn't supposed to. So once he realized he was off the leash he looked around, got a look in his eyes, grabbed a hardened cow pie and raced around with it in his mouth. Mmmm, nothing like dried cow poo. (ew!) He spritzed around like a truly happy pup, happy to be free in the country and free to chew on cow poop. But I whipped out a treat and he's a sucker for doggy jerky so he dropped the cow pie and raced right on over. Phew.

We're so glad James could come visit for the weekend and motivate us to go see some of the Sierra Foothills.

A Wild Twelve Hours!!

Wow, what a wild twelve hours for us:

1) We book summer travel to Belgium and Greece - HOORAY!

2) After doing that, we realize that thirty minutes worth of helicopters circling our neighborhood is not normal. We finally switch to the news channels to figure out what's going on. Of course, the breaking news out of Japan dominates all major news outlets. (Side note: praying for peace and healing for all those affected by this horrible tragedy)

3) Find out after much online research, that the Sacramento police helicopters are assisting in a perimeter for two armed robbery suspects at a restaurant near our house. Even more wild, Cara and I left that very same restaurant 15-30 minutes before the robbery took place. After about an hour of listening to the police radio and peering out windows, things died down with one of the suspects apprehended and the other believed to have slipped through the perimeter. We can finally sleep.

4) Woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine, but still a bit down over the tragedy unfolding in Japan. But, I had my year-one retention letter waiting for me in my office and I am pretty enthused by my reviews. Definitely feeling pumped to get some quality work done today, then attending a student event tonight before celebrating the start of the weekend with my beautiful wife (and a margarita or two)!!

A slice of childhood - a new take on fluffernutters

 

I saw a picture of a fluffenutter cupcake and it was downhill from there. I couldn't stop thinking about them and finally caved in to making my own version this weekend. Mine aren't nearly as pretty as my inspiration, but they definitely taste good! Actually, they taste just like a fluffernutter sandwich, only richer.

As a kid I always loved fluffnutter sandwiches so this definitely brings me back. If you've never experienced the fluffernutter deliciousness, you are missing out! The sandwich is pretty simple, peanut butter and marshmallow cream. Not healthy, but very yummy!

I definitely recommend giving these a whirl. I used this recipe but saw quite a few others when I googled "fluffernutter cupcakes." These were vanilla cupcakes with marshmallow filling and peanut butter frosting.  This was my first time doing a filled cupcake so that was a little interesting, especially since marshmallow cream is sticky and a little messy. But with a make-shift piping bag and tip I made due.

But other varieties used peanut butter cupcakes and marshmallow frosting. One recipe even had a peanut butter cupcake, a layer of melted chocolate chips and topped with marshmallow frosting. They all sound good, I might have to give the others a whirl sometime.

I think my coworkers will thank me as I have to get these out of the house so Matt and I don't eat all two dozen of them ourselves!