Christmasy Fun

Tonight:

- Egg nog with brandy
- Fire going
- Wrapping presents
- Snuggling with poochies
- Board games with Neddie

Good stuff

Wii Fit is God

We have discovered we are not gym people. We belong to a 24-Hour Fitness and while we both love working out, it has simply gotten to much to bear to walk into the place anymore. Let me explain:

1. The hard sell. This is more annoying to me than anything. I pay money to go to this gym. Therefore, I find it completely offensive that they seem to think it's OK to try and grab my attention as I'm walking in and try to sell me additional memberships, training sessions, nutritional advice and even prod me for the information of my friends and family. Um, hello? I want to work out, not run the frigging gauntlet like I have to at the mall to circumvent those aggravating "cart people" in front of stores hawking Amway moisturizers, radio-controlled helicopters and bling baby clothes. I pay to be here which means I get to ignore salespeople. Don't you know how that works?

2. The chatty trainers with their stupid clients. I get the point of a trainer. I think it's great that you can pay someone to help you work out if you're a moron. What I don't get is why these people need to stand next to me and talk in their "outside voices" so I can barely hear the T Rex blaring from my buds. If you need to consult with your clients, please do so using your "inside voice" and maybe there should even be a special moron section where you take training sessions, away from everyone else who has managed to figure out the treadmill buttons on their own.

3. Sweaty men. Dang boys can sweat yo! I'm reminded of this when I grab a spot on the elliptical, touch the handlebars and get a nice handful of wet boy all over my paws. I am so glad I am a girl.

4. Cell phones. This one is probably obvious and cliche... but please do not bring your cell phone to the gym and THEN CALL SOMEONE ON IT AND HAVE A CONVERSATION. If you do this, my husband will shush you like you never have been shushed before. If you are rich and have a home gym and an assistant and a G4, then you may talk on the phone while working out. If you are a plebeian and go to 24-Hour Fitness in East County San Diego then you are not allowed to talk on the phone while working out. Flippin walk outside like a normal person to talk about work or a date or whatever dumb convo you need to have. Don't inflict your stupid convo on me. I am listening to T Rex.

There's more but I need to run. All of the above left Ned and I without a choice - we must buy Wii Fit in the hope that maybe someday we would not need 24-Hour Fitness anymore.

Luckily, it's everything we could have hoped for and more. I'm actually liking Yoga, the short exercises are perfect for distracted fools like me and it takes a fraction of the time to do my routine since there's no driving/gauntlet running required. Props to Wii Fit!

Hello Holidays

I love this time of year. It finally gets beautiful again in San Diego after our drawn-out Santa Ana heat in the early fall, Christmas music is on the radio and it's even chilly enough to light our fireplace.

Yay!

Anniversary

It's official: as of yesterday, Ned and I have been married for two years. So far, we've been pretty low-key for the event. I like keeping to the traditional "gifts," like paper (year one) and cotton (year two.) Last year, we simply wrote a note to one another, and this year we'll probably do something similar. Cotton's in paper, right? I'd like to think so.

Ned's doesn't really excel at gift giving, so I like to throw him a rope and I try to remember that he excels at other things, like rubbing my feet whenever I stick them in his face, or making me feel better about a trying customer, or even running all of the errands for the day and making dinner when I'm having a long day in the office.

Something he's learned as we've been together is how to be a great nurse when I'm sick... which unfortunately I needed yesterday after a drunky Friday night. We had a friend in from San Francisco and went out for some fun - I just had a little too much and wound up with a nasty hangover on Saturday, our anniversary.

I felt terrible, and even worse about being laid up on our special day - but Ned reminded me once again how sweet and affectionate he can be as he propped me up with pillows, kept my water glass full and hung out with me until I started to feel like a human again.

It was a very nice anniversary present.

Zorro is Old

When I was 11 years old, my family adopted a pound puppy. He was stinky and wiggly and very cute. I named him Zorro after watching black and white reruns of the show at midnight on the Disney Channel.

He was everything a good dog should be. He ran around the backyard like a fiend. He did tricks for treats. His never-ending quest for people food drove him to move furniture to access kitchen counters with tempting cupcakes. He had a little boyfriend dog that lived down the street, and if he ever got out, that's where he'd end up.

I'm nearly 28 now and he's still plugging along. I've been to college, a year in Asia, left a few jobs, got married and now have my own company. And he's always been there, ever since the day my mom brought him home from the pound. With his schnauzer face and probably poodle build. His little white feet and his thinning gray hair that was once jet black.

Now my husband and I dog sit when my parents go out of town and he sleeps all day near me, by my computer. I take him to the backyard to do his business and his legs give out from underneath him. He flinches from the sun and looks generally confused.

Zorro is old and it makes me sad.