come ride with me...

Saturday's visit with Yanique to the Equestrian Club was fun, I think she had a good time although she did mention at the end that she much rather go swimming, so we already made plans to go to the beach next time.

Yanique riding one of the horses

Sometimes I am kind of concern that there are very few activities for kids on this island, perhaps it's because I am not used to "having kids" to take care of- that I cannot come up with ideas, and although going swimming sounds good, I don't think the program is about doing the same thing over and over. So, I explained to her that we needed to try different activities!

I know she is looking forward to come to our house and meet our dogs, by the end of Feb. she should be allowed to come over (3 months after the program starts), so that will make her happy.

Yanique also mentioned that her favorite flower is the Sunflower, so on Saturday I went to the nursery and picked up a pack of Sunflower seeds, I am planning to call her Mom this week and ask her for permission to plant them in her yard by Yanique's room window, I think it would be fun for her to look after the flowers and watch them grown and bloom... hopefully her Mom will say yes!

Again going back to the Equestrian Club, here are some more images of that morning activity...

Yanique and Lulu (the donkey)

getting ready to ride the pony

the goats and the kids had a great time together

In another note, today is the celebration of the Chinese New Year for the Year of the Dragon... So, in order to welcome the year right I just finished an amigurumi Dragon, that I've named "Puff" the magic dragon, here he is.

Now, with "Puff" on our side we should "Enter the Dragon" year with certainty that only good things will come our way... Happy Chinese New Year to all Asian's and those who celebrate it too!!!

hooked on projects

Crochet has become such a big part of my life that at this point, it's kind of hard to remember the time when I didn't know how to do it!

Learning this skill was an amazing accomplishment and now every time I finish a project I feel very rewarded to be able to create such amazing pieces with my bare hands.

So, for this year so far I've finished one project and have two more in the process, plus another one on the "queue"!

The recently finished project is a kid's owl hat for my godson Julian, whom I will be seeing this coming February in Costa Rica.

I bought the pattern from Inner Hooker just a few days ago and it took just one day to complete the whole thing... here's the picture of my finished piece.

I brought the finished piece to work to be able to try it on a kids mannequin we have downstairs and here's what it looks like on...

I hope it's going to fit him and that my cousin (his Mom) he will like it, the size I made is for a 1 to 5 year old so it should last him for a while!


"In other news", tomorrow is Saturday and I am looking forward to take Yanique to the Equestrian Center in the morning, I found out a few days ago that they offer pony rides for kids as well as a petting zoo with goats, bunnies an a miniature donkey!


Here are some photos from their website but I am sure to take lots tomorrow to share with y'all soon!

source

Here's the owner with the miniature donkey...

source

how cute is that? only problem is going to be that I am going to wanna take both the pony and the miniature donkey home...


Have a great weekend!!!!

Tag, I'm it!

Today, I was prepared to share my latest crochet project but before I even started typing, one of my dear readers, Heather from High Heels and Flip Flops tagged me in the latest round of getting-to-know-you blog questionnaires.

I don't usually participate in this kind of questionnaire "thingies" but since Heather is so nice I decided to give it a try...

If you would like to read Heather's answers, just click on her blog link above.

Now, the rules of the whole thing are:

1. You must post these rules.

2. Each person must post 11 things about herself on her blog.

3. Answer the questions the "tagger" listed for you in her post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

4. You must choose 11 people to tag and link to them in the post.

5. Go to each blogger’s page and mention that you have tagged her.

These are Heather's questions to me:

1) Who inspires you, whether historically, in your day-to-day life, or both? 

Animals inspire me, because they live in the NOW, like there's no yesterday or even tomorrow, plus they also live 100% true to their instinct.

2) Do you have a favorite season? 

My favorite season is "Vacation" season, LOL... well, I guess that would be summer.

3) What’s your top goal to accomplish within the next five years? 

I would like to be fit and in my healthiest weight.

4) What was the first job you ever had?

I worked part time for my Aunt's travel agency.

5) What’s your all-time favorite book? 

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

6) What’s the most unique place you’ve traveled to so far in your lifetime? 

Petra in Jordan.

7) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

Anywhere where my husband and dogs are with me.

8) Which qualities do you love most about yourself? 

Magnanimous; I like to be generous in life, give of my time, money and wisdom. Share with others so they can see the true joy and adventures of life themselves.

9) If you could describe yourself in just one word, what would it be? 

Sunshine

10) What’s your favorite type of workout routine? 

Right now the kettlexpress classes I take on Monday and Wednesdays.

11) What’s your favorite guilty pleasure meal or snack? 

guilty pleasure- Dulce de Leche!!!

Now, it's my turn to create my own questions...

1. If you could go to any place right now where would you go?

2. What do you keep handy at your night stand?

3. When you were a kid, what was your family game?

4. What's your favorite kinds of food to cook?

5. What are 3 things you can't live without?

6. If you could change somebody's life today, who would you help and how?

7. What do you think would be the hardest thing for you to give up on?

8. If you could change your name, what would you name yourself?

9. If you could do anything OR wish for anything that would come true, what would you wish?

10. Where would you like to go on your next vacation?

11. What is your favorite blog to read everyday?

And here comes the hard part... I am suppose to tag 11 people to answer my question, unfortunately I don't have 11 people, so I am going with the following. 

Also, I don't really expect people to do to wanna go with it, but here are my choices and if you feel like you want to do it as well, just tag yourself and go for it!

Colleen @ Daily Ponderings

Debbie @ Happy Days

Miss McKay @ Miss McKay

Tom @ My World in Crisis

Jess @ This Life Is Mine

Mark @ First Time

Joey @ Joey's Cafe

Will share my latest crochet project tomorrow, have a great Thursday!!! 

Wild Cat

Meet Goldie, the wildest, most ferocious tamest cat of our entire pack... Well at least with me!

It's amazing what a sweetheart he is and how much he has warmed towards me since we started feeding him.

Every day when I come home, as soon as he hears my car, he comes running out of the woods or where he is and greats me with this huge "meeeaw" and when I call his name, he replies with anoter "meaw"...

I think he also misses me when I go inside the house and it looks like he wants to come in, but the dogs are definitely not to trust or 100% ready, so I don't want to put him in danger.


All the other 5 cats are doing very well too, but none of the others are like Goldie towards me, he is my little kitty!

Happy Wednesday!!!

what starts well...

Yesterday was a good day, despite the fact that my husband got hurt and needed 6 stitches on his knee (he is o.k.), work was busy and I got a really nice surprise...

Remember the drawing I made from my friend Aidan and that I shared with everybody here?

Well, yesterday I got an email from Aidan's Mom saying she had forgotten to send me the following picture he made from me in December.

This lovely sign of love makes the whole drawing process sooo much worth it, I can't wait to see more of him, he is definitely a great kid and I am happy to know him!

Now, when it comes to kids, there's another one that although I haven't been around him much, he already has a HUGE chunk of my heart, my Godson Julian.

Here's the most updated picture of him I have...

Isn't he adorable?!?!? Can't wait to see him this coming Feb. when we go to Costa Rica for a visit!!!

On a last note, the new banner is "in da' house"! Thanks to everybody for your comments and suggestions, I think I will be using all 3 randomly during the year just to give my blog a little extra, so stay tuned for all 3 coming around : )

Have a wonderful day!!!

out with the old... banner!

Every now and then it's good to change, evolve, rearrange things in you life; perhaps around the house, your desk at work or even do a inventory of your dreams, maybe dust some old ones and bring in the new ones.

So, again for me it's that time... a bit of "out with the old" and "in with the new", in this case a new banner...

I've been working on some ideas, and this when where I need your help.

I made 3 options and I would really like your opinion on which one should I go with, so here they are:

Option #1- the black background:

Option #2- blue background:

Option #3- Yellow background:

What do you think? 1, 2 or 3?

Have a great week!!!

things that makes me go "aww...."

For all those times I wish that my dogs could talk and say "I love you"... here's a video that would surely melt your heart (as it did mine the first time I saw it)



The first time I found Mishka I thought "WOW! that's got to be just a coincidence", but then I started following her youtube channel and realized that her personality really does go beyond barking, she is definitely awesome...

Here's also one of her latest videos which would surely make you smile, specially when she sings along...



My husband taught our dog Ditto to kind of "talk" and he does really well, some times you get get a little hello, but now I've been trying to teach him "I love you" and at times I feel as if we are making progress...

I will try to take a video of Ditto talking and share it, meanwhile I hope you enjoyed Mishka!

Have a wonderful weekend, I am really looking forward to some good quality time with my "ool"!!!

Secret Garden

Although I don't really have a secret garden, it's not a secret that I love plants and trees.

Ditto in his favorite corner

Going to a nursery is perhaps one of my favorite shopping spree's.

I love having plants around the house and specially when I can grow things from a seed, it makes so accomplish to be able to create something with love and care.

Our plants are doing pretty good lately, but it's definitely not easy to keep them that way when we get a lot of wind that comes packet with sea salt.

not sure about this plants name, perhaps related to "tiger paws"?

Cactus

Peppermint plant doing really well

Frangipani tree growing more every day

Frangipani flowers cover in morning dew

On another note... I am very happy because yesterday after work when I got home I jumped in the pool and it was so nice, water is getting a bit warmer and inviting, plus the weather is very nice and beautiful.

Sheba guarding my pool

Have a great day!!!

Wed. funny dose

Today I went to yet another "crazy, hard, exhausting" kettle express class and I loved it...

But, I just don't have it in my to post much, so instead, look at the following images and laugh a little... o.k?

1, 2, 3... go!

cyber doggie

King Julia is feed up with movin' it!

"it's not even an Apple computer, LOL!"

this is soo my dog Ditto!

going down... hand on, LOL!

fo'shu'

this is probably me...

I hope at least 1 image made you giggle... Have a great Wednesday!!!

animal talk

If our animals could talk I am sure we would hear waaay more than "woof" and "meaw"... It would be something like this...

If your animals could talk, what sort of thing would they say?!?!?

Have a wonderful Tuesday :)

adventure with dolphins

Saturday I took Yanique to the Dolphin Discovery interactive center, her birthday is tomorrow Tuesday so I managed to get us a pass for both of us... We had a wonderful time!

Dolphins are such amazing and intelligent animals, fun and very strong as well.

We did the Adventure swim program (with 1 dolphin, but since there was only 3 of us, they decided to gives us 2 dolphins instead, even better!), included the following behaviors: petting the dolphins several times, hand shake, dancing, also a boogie board push, a belly swim and a kiss!

They do not allow cameras with the dolphins because they have 3 on site photographer that will take the photos for you and then they want to sell them to you for $25us a photos... I ended up buying two for Yanique at a "bargain" price of $35, but didn't get any of myself...

I still have some photos of before the swim and during the swim as the husband of the lady participating with us was able to take some from far away... here are some of the highlights.

friendly dolphin

taking a dip

close up

Capi & Alma

boogie board push for Yanique

boogie board push for me

dolphin dance

hand shake with Yanique

Dolphin kiss for me

The whole experience was nice but a bit too "staged" for my taste, it is definitely something wonderful to do with kids and for those that will never get to see and pet dolphins in the wild, highly recommended!

Happy Monday!!!