Potentially Note Worthy Updates?

(ahhh sibling love....)

“We can't behave like people in novels, though, can we?” Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton)

Argh…. Not doing well with blogging every week am I? And I have been really slacking my quote-a-post policy. The main problem on my slacking is that life here in San Antonio is just not as crazy/exciting/an blog post worthy as London or Rome. Texas is like an entirely different country, but not enough to make these posts all that interesting.

(Side Note… I started this on Monday so the “yesterday’s and tomorrow’s may be a little off)

Potentially Note Worthy Updates:

1.       Watson is feeling much better. Yay! His cone came off last weekend and this past Saturday was the last day of having to shove pills down his throat! Pretty sure that both of us are equally thrilled about that.

2.       I watched the families’ animals last weekend and out of the 5 animals… I was shoving medicine down three of their throats. Had to make a semi emergency run to the vet with a kitty and he got a cone as well. 2 of 3 cats in cones, and 3 of 5 animals needing meds. I had a medicine schedule. Proof that I am not ready for offspring. Oh on that note… Watson threw up Friday. He was rocking at life and respecting the fact that I would throw up if he did. Argh. I made it through with minimal gagging, but it was bad. Poor kitty.

3.       The phone call to Laurie… it is the ONE call that makes me homesick every time. I miss people/friends from HWS and WNY. I really want to hang out by good ole Chautauqua Lake and drink a beer with Al. I kinda miss lakes. I have always had one (minus London).

4.       This weekend was SUCH a big weekend! First Dad turned another year older on Friday! Then it was ULTIMATE PI day. I don’t like math so it was cool but it wasn’t… but I know my sister LOVED it and it was a big deal so I helped celebrate. It was little Dom’s first PI day… what a great way to start pi day... with the one of a century! Then yesterday was the Ides of March. I think Caesar had it coming… (history kinda makes him a martyr). But my favorite lesson of 3/15? Listen to your wife ;) If she has a dream you are murdered and you go anyways… your fault.

5.       International Women’s Day was last week… I have really mixed feelings on that day so Im just going to let it lie. I didn’t go the event here at work.

6.       I have realized that my Instagram is Watsongram. I really need to get a hobby. Perhaps like this: http://rush49.com/ferrari-lamborghini-driving-experience-new.jsp  OR this… http://smartbarrebody.com/schedule-pricing/san-antonio/ (I feel like I need to pay off some loans before I spend that much money to workout though…) If only my parents wouldn’t have made me choose between ballet and soccer… *Yup still holding that against youJ)

7.       Jared let me tear up his yard last weekend. I planted all sorts of veggies. We were in way over our head and found that out 30 secs into the project. At home you take a edging shovel, make a square and strip the sod. Not here. That would be too easy. Im pretty sure that I am going to weeding grass every day because we got frustrated and quickly got over trying to make it perfect. Lets just say... things better grow. (and not the grass!)

In Significantly Less Note Worthy Updates:

1.       Grey’s Anatomy is making me mad…

a.       Just an FYI I wrote this on Monday so I have NOT seen last nights episode so either I wont be mad anymore, or ill be really mad…

2.       My thermo protecting straightening spray crap exploded this morning. I have sticky hair. If there were flies in the cube farm, they would be trapped in my hair. Its pretty gross. I do not have a hair out of place today though.

3.       I am addicted to “Lay Me Down” by Sam Smith and John Legend. Yes… you read that correctly. Its amazing. Seriously John Legend’s wife is so lucky. I make him sing all the time. If you haven’t heard it, go find it!

4.       I am also addicted to “Just a Memory” by Train. I jam in my cube and try to sing along J. I am pretty certain Watson hates it. Last night I put on my headphones for my de-stress dance party and started to sing at the top of my lungs and Watson looked up, started at me and SIGHED. Like one of those deep, entire body expanding and then deflating sighs. Wow. Rude. He probably had a point… Im not the world’s best singer and he knew that I don’t just play that song once. It’s on repeat. So he had to listen a few times and I completely interrupted his nap.

5.       Im tired of emailing for a living. I do it for 8 hours a day. Mostly to explain things, tell someone that they messed up, or trying to get them to do what they are supposed to. Its like customer service from behind a computer.

6.       I am up to $30 on my Lego account. $30 down, $200 to go to earn enough for the Tower Bridge. I think I have been a member for 2 years now so $15 a year…so about 13 more years to go? And I have to spend money to earn points. Probably would just be better to buy the set for $200 now, but I cant bring myself to spend $200 on pieces of plastic. Especially since I have student loans, I should be saving for a new computer, I want a new camera, I find dishes I want every other day, and Kate Spade is hard to resist J (So is Amazon by the way. I have been perusing more lately and I want every other book) I guess by the time Dom is old enough to help me build the Tower Bridge, maybe Ill have it!

7.       The Google Art Project is the best thing that has happened to the internet. I waste chunks of time at work sometimes by just perusing the paintings. Its like going to a museum for free from my desk chair (obviously not the same! But hey… pretty cool!)

Things that I am terribly excited about:

1.       I get to go see the sister and Dom soon!!! (oh and Adam?? He is on my bad list so… J ) I haven’t seen sister in SO SO long! And meeting Dom will be the absolute best. I have to give him a short history of the world, tell him endless stories about Katie, explain how cool Legos, soccer, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings are, and read him every important book that one needs to read in life. Basically we have a busy weekend. Oh and we are bringing him to his first art exhibit! We are starting him off well with good old Leo. J (Leo= Leo da Vinci). I have to teach him not to call him da Vinci because that is just where he is from. His name means Leonardo from Vinci (a Tuscan town) so when one says da Vinci, you are just saying “from Vinci”. It’s like calling me “from Ashville” instead of Anna. He will learn so much!

2.       Rome. Oh my goodness… the second best thing that is happening in the next month. We purposely planned it so Id be there on my birthday. I already know what restaurant I want to go to J There are so many things I want to re-see. I may have to ditch mom and dad for an afternoon and wander by myself. I want to see how much of the city that I remember. Oh and eat my weight in gelato. That is a must. Dad didn’t go to the best gelato place when he was there so I am excited to bring him to all the best eating places! The food in Italy is beyond compare. Nothing else touches it. Even the French don’t do it quite as well (unless we are talking Duck, or strawberry tarts… then the French may win)

3.       The last thing that I am eagerly awaiting is further off… the Women’s World Cup! Im so excited. I wish I had tickets! It was too much though after hotel, flight and the match ticket. I hope that Abby gets her World Cup win. It is the only thing that she is missing in her trophy cabinet and this is her last chance. I think she will be done shortly after this Cup.

 

So that’s it… see this is why I don’t post that often. I don’t have anything monumental going on! I think it’s time to maybe try a little harder to get out of this rut again. (I feel like that has been the last three years of life.. trying to get out of ruts) So happy I moved to San Antonio. Definitely a good choice (I wish I could have known that at 10:30pm on the night before I was leaving when I was chucking random things into my suitcases not convinced that I was really driving the next day) I think the parents are right (don’t you hate when that happens?)… the things I dread the most and fight against the most are usually the things that turn out the best. Im not saying that I landed where I want to be! I feel like I am in a rut still, but this rut isn’t as deep and depressing as the Ashville rut. So now that I am in a shallower rut, I think it’s starting to be time again to jump to an even more shallow rut (If Im lucky… maybe my next jump won’t be a rut at all!) And on my next jump I have a sidekick who will be there (because he has no choice but hey..) Watson and I vs. the world…. Bring it.

 

P.S Today's photo isnt the last time that I saw sister ( I saw her in Oct after) but this is one of my favorites :) I cant wait to take a new one next week! (not of her kissing me! But a new sister picture!)

19th Century Ideas in a 21st Century IPhone App

I went on a walk last night and found some grass. Some real grass. I think I ran through it 63 times. (It was littered with cow patties but I avoided all of them!) To see the lush tufts of grass, check out my journal entry. And I think I said I forlicked gleefully... which is probably a more accurate description then "ran". Then I did a starfish in the middle of the pasture. It was fun. My bum got damp and cold, but it was worth it. This was my view:

Nothing but blue sky!

While I was on my walk last night I was thinking about random things that were all floating around in my brain. It was a PERFECT night… all sunny with a crystal clear blue sky. Then it hit me… Instagram. I couldn’t believe that it had taken me that long to realize something so obvious… Instagram is the 21^st century version of the Claude glass.  You all probably think that I am being somewhat ostentatious, but when my thesis for my Master’s degree is centered around the idea of using filters to improve a natural landscape… you feel pretty dumb when it takes you 3+ years to put two and two together. Instagram took an old 19^th century tool rooted in Romanticism and turned it into a 21^st century smartphone app. Simple and genius… no re-invention of the wheel at all. Just use an old idea to become one of the leading social media outlets. Brilliant.

For those of you who haven’t sat through hours of Romanticism (I did that by choice by the way. I think it my favorite period. Guys in cool clothes with that wind swept, hero hair. ) it is a movement that… well… romanticizes everything. J I like it because it introduces the sublime and the idea of naturalism. And everything just looks cooler. Take the two guys below… honestly who would you date? Mr. Neoclassic Boring on his Grand tour or Mr. Romantic Wind Swept? I rest my case. J

 

A Claude Glass is a… piece of glass. (shocker) The tourist would stretch out their hand in front of them, hold the tool up to eye level and survey the scene that was behind them.  The mirror would be slightly convex which blurred the foreground details and framed the center background objects.  Many different kinds glass could be used to create different effects on the landscape.  The blue or gray would produce a moonlight scene, while a morning view could be created with the yellow glass.  The traveler only had a specific amount of time in the landscape that they were visiting so to get the complete view, one could use the frost tinted glass to produce a winter wonderland as the grass turned to snow.

Sound familiar? Instagram allows you to blur the sides, foreground, or background of an image while also allowing the user to pick a colored filter to change the mood and “romanticize” the view. Obviously it is more high-tech than a mirror from the 1800’s… but the same underlying idea is there. Perfecting “nature”. Take the two pictures below… one is no filter from my IPhone. The second is the same picture with the HEFE filter from Instagram.

 

And at this point it’s probably a miracle that you are still reading… J

On to Anna’s Life… its busy. I have 2 dogs and 3 cats with me for a few days. I like having them and I think Watson likes having Praline (his cat friend). They sleep together and lick each other. It’s pretty adorable. What’s not so adorable is the war they had over sleeping on MY face at 5:30am this morning.

This weekend Watson has his followup vet visit. I think he is feeling better. He puts up a fight now with the meds. I have to put him on his back when I hold him, and he fights fights fights! But once I get him settled his will is broken and he just swallows his pill.

That’s it! Ill try to blog on Sunday with Watson updates!

The Story in Which Watson Grows a Regal Chin... and Then Loses It.

I had nothing planned for this weekend. Just crashing indoors as it rained outside (and it was 36. Blah). It was all dreary and very WNY like. Watson had different plans. Watson felt the need to make a quiet, full-of-doing-nothing weekend a full-expensive-stressful weekend. Silly kitty. It all started Thursday night….

I was on the couch with Watson and he was being extra friendly and was enjoying all of the petting. I was rubbing the side of his face (in the kitty sweet spot) and I felt a small lump of fur and tried to smooth it down. He pulled away, swatted me and jumped down. I didn’t think anything of it. Friday morning he came when my alarm went off and cuddled with me. That hadn’t happened in awhile. He always came when my alarm went off… but it was usually to play. Again I didn’t think anything of it. Just thought it was sweet. Saturday morning I woke up and his face looked funny. I thought I was crazy because his jaw looked a lot whiter than it normally did. I looked at it and it was a little swollen. I was concerned but decided to watch it. In the afternoon it was still ballooning. I was worried and went out to get Benadryl. When I got back he was just lying there and not really moving. Jared had looked up a vet and I decided that I needed to call. (look at those pictures up there... What a fat chin!)

After a very friendly receptionist (insert sarcasm) informed me that she doesn’t diagnose over the phone (not what I was asking) Watson took a trip to the vet. While I was holding him in the room, waiting for the doc to come in, I noticed how HOT Watson was. He was really really warm. He was walking around the room, but not leaping and sprinting uncontrollably like he usually does. He HATED getting his temp taken.. but I cant really blame him. The Vet had the thermometer up his butt FOREVER. Im pretty sure that every animal in the waiting room heard him screeching/hissing and were scared what was going to happen to them when it was their turn!

Long story short… Watson was very sick. His temp was 105.6, White Blood Cells were 35.1 (the norm is 18.5), and the bad cells were at 31.9 (norm is 13). His little chin was shaved (which went much better than the temp taking) and was taken in the back to have his face drained. Jared and I went home to wait for him to be done (and to eat dinner. Look what I made! Im doing well, so far, on eating like a grown up! It is Shrimp and Asparagus in a Lemon Sauce)

 

Watson ended up being pushed back and I picked him up the next morning. The vet said that Watson got aggressive and wouldn’t let them sedate him. Im kinda proud of him and jealous. Everytime someone comes at me with a needle I would love to make a scene! Well Watson at least didn’t go without a fight. They had to gas him. Apparently he freaked out at that too and started to bang into the sides of his cage… so badly that he made his mouth bleed. After saying this the vet just shrugged and said “So nothing too traumatic”…. UMMMM really?!? I just tried really hard to not let me jaw drop and hang open. THAT SOUNDS TRAMATIC TO ME!!! Poor Kitty.

(I think this picture is HILARIOUS!!! It was RIGHT after Watson got meds and that just sums up how we both felt) 

The vet said that Watson had looked regal with his balloon chin and I have got to say... she was completely right! He had a Brad Pitt alure to him. Very defined chin. The fact that it was full of blood and pus perhaps lessens the "sexiness" of it, but there was a girl kitty around she definately would have looked at him twice with that face structure.

Watson did get soft food out of the deal. He needed to eat before I force fed meds and the vet suggested soft food as an enticement. (I would like to add that he got his salmon nastiness all over the vecro part of his cone and I cant get it out. So he smells like stale salmon. Its gross.) Then he got pills forced down his throat. It was pretty traumatic because I can pop his jaw, but I cant hold it together because that means putting pressure on his hurt little chin and he starts WHIMPERING. Its so sad. I think I finally got the system down this morning. Although he did spit it out and it fell down the side of his head and got matted in his fur. Got it on the second try though!

(Being moody. He looks so angry on the left and just plain old pouty on the right!)

He hates his cone (he has it on for 2 whole weeks!) He keeps running into things and when he comes up to rub against me, he just bashes the cone into my leg, meows pathetically and looks at me with sad eyes.  I bend down to scratch his ear every time. He is so cuddly too. He just lays in my arms/lap. I tried to put him down this morning and he didn’t put his legs out. Just plopped on the bed and laid there. Poor kitty isn’t himself.

In other news….

Its March 1^st! (well now is March 2^nd) and I didn’t even care. I didn’t even look forward to it. The weather has been so nice and mild (compared to the last 25 winters of my life) that I no longer look forward to spring. It’s sad.  This weekend is the “worst” that it has been. Wet, “cold” and grey. There aren’t any seasons here.

My name is apparently “Ana” down here. Whenever I say my name at a restaurant, or someone calls me name for some reason… Anna becomes Ana.  My German/Russian/English (I looked it up) name has become a Spanish one. Thanks Texas!

That’s it for this post! Watson took the post over and I haven’t done anything else blog post worthy!