Dog is a school crossing guard.

Another awesome dog! If only Cali could be this obedient!

If Cali were a flip book cartoon...

Cali is a very smart dog that knows what she wants. She often tries to present herself as innocent. She will lay down with her head all sweet and when you least (or most) expect it she will inch forward revealing her true motive. Her head gets closer to the plate of food or the piece of cardboard she wants to get her mouth on. Before you know it she is right where she wanted to be all along.

Although Cali is not the least bit sneaky, and I always know what she is up to, she often gets away with her ploy because she is just so darn funny to watch. I like to watch and she what she is going to do when she thinks she is being perfectly sneaky.

One of things she loves most is the front seat. She hates being in the back seat of the car and if there is a front seat passenger it is a bonus because she loves being with the people. She doesn't know that 54 lbs is a little heavy to be a lap dog. The other day Amy was in the front seat and Cali began the ride in the back. Well it didn't take long for her to make her first move, which is pictured below...

She ever so gently places her head on your shoulder and waits the appropriate amount of time before her next move, which is pictured next...

As you can see, the head has moved further forward and her entire neck is now resting on the passenger, again, waiting for her next move.
Here we have the head even further forward and you can begin to see that she has reached the limit of her neck stretch and her next move will involve getting her front legs to the front seat.
And she has done it folks. The front legs have made it to the front seat and she is almost there.
And here is the final product...what she intended all along, but didn't want you to know. She is now officially a front seat passenger. I am not sure why she prefers this, since in the back she has the whole seat to herself and in the front she must stick her head up into the sky in the window, which does not look comfortable. This is one funny dog.

raynaud's update...

I am pretty sure my Raynaud's disease is getting worse instead of better. It is such a nuisance. This is what my feet looked a few weeks ago in close to 40 degree temperatures with warm socks on after only a few minutes outside...


I can feel it happening....the foot feels like a block of ice and it starts to go numb. The only thing that makes it stop is taking my shoes and sock off and getting them in front of a heat source. It is such a bizarre little disease. Maybe I need to get some fur lined shoes or something. This is Georgia.....I would never survive in the North...all my toes would fall off.

Cornhole Christmas

My sister and I are both pretty good at coming up with creative presents to give to other people. My mother is greatest beneficiary of this. She normally gets pretty great presents. At Thanksgiving this year we decided that we were going to make my mom and Vance a Clemson/Carolina corn-hole set. They also decided to make a set for Trey's parents. Lauren and Trey did some research. Trey, like the true carpenter he is (love you brother), constructed them with relative ease and only a few mis-measured boards. Lauren painted them white and I was in charge of painting the detailed images.

Here is the vision...

And here is the vision realized...

I am pretty impressed with our handiwork. I think we did a good job. Trey's mom liked it so much she cried. My mother didn't show quite that much enthusiasm for the gift, but I do think she liked it a lot. Great job Lauren and Trey!

Heaven came to Atlanta!

I moved to Texas in August of 2006 and lived there until January of 2009. In that time, I discovered that out of every state I have even spent time in, Texas, by far, has the best to offer in the way of food. There are so many good places to eat in that gigantic state! They offer an array of Tex-Mex places that are nothing like the mexican food that can be found in the rest of the country. I didn't even like Mexican food before I moved to Texas and now I LOVE it! Not having access to good Tex-Mex is one of the things that is sad about living in Atlanta. I miss YUMMY tex-mex.

Now one of things I discovered when I moved to Atlanta, is that they have Uncle Julio's, which is a very good Tex-Mex place that I enjoyed while living in Fort Worth. This was a very exciting discovery for me, and although I would say that the one here in Atlanta is not as good as the one in Texas, it is (or was) as good as I could get.

Atlanta does offer a place called Los Hermanos, which I love as well. They have very yummy fajitas, and thought they are not exactly Tex-Mex, they are also not like all the other mexican restaurants found throughout they country. It is a very yummy place.

But...in the last month, something extraordinary has happened! Atlanta got a Chuys! Now Chuys is by far my favorite Tex-mex place of all and is located in Houston. Every time I go back to Texas that is the place I want to go the most. I went to the Chuy's Atlanta for the first time last night and it was awesome! The food was just as good as it is in Texas. It is not quite the same as having it in Texas, but it was very yummy and I am so excited it is here! Here is a picture of it...