It took all us -- the dog, the boy, & us -- a long time to get to the above photos.

For the first year of the twins' life, Maggie was locked up and kept completely way from the babies. She's a big lab who has been somewhat anti-social in the past (not biting anyone, but refusing to be petted by anyone beside me, Mark and my mom). We had talked about sending her to doggie bootcamp when I was pregnant, but she just napped on our king size bed for the past year or so. Fat and happy.

Slowly we began introducing the twins to the dogs. Kate immediately fell in love with Schatzie (the Corgi), and Carson was indifferent and a little intimidated by the dogs -- especially Maggie. But after a few months of watching the dogs from the living room window and slowing allowing the dogs to be with us under close supervision, Carson and Maggie have now bonded.

Maggie kisses Carson. Carson kisses Maggie. Carson pets her, sits on her, climbs on her, and inspects her (ears, nose, tail, etc). I truly think the love is mutual -- or perhaps Maggie just puts up with it because she knows the alternative is being locked up and away from the action. Either way, it's so cute to watch.

She just called back and said that she is incredibally proud of herself for being awesome and chosen first.

I must now leave and commit all of my attention to the Maggie on the phone. TTFN!

~

I have now returned to type about...THE MAGGIE! because her name requires extra emphasis and such...

xD

Her blog is maggietheloud.wordpress.com - go there and give her more views! =D

Anyway, in order to do this series I must first come up with an adjective that is strictly MAGGIE.

Adjective: Magofolous.

Or not. I don't know. I'm not very good at coming up with new adjectives to describe indescribable people...

Oh well, I suppose I shall just describe her with...EXISTING WORDS!

This post is just dripping with EMPHASIS! Oh yes, fear the awesomeness...

Maggie:

1) Unique

2) Hyper

3) Sweet

4) Talkative

5) Creative

6) Artistic

7) Not my dating service

8) Cool beyond words

9) Flustered

10) Magofolous!!!!

=D

Maggie is an awesome friend whom I met while on the bus to my previous school. We began talking after a few rides and not right away because I at first thought she was crazy. I am not saying my oppinions to that respect have changed, but I am saying that she is crazy cool, or something else that has a positive conotation on the word "crazy"because Maggie, while crazy, is one of the coolest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

She is quite understanding and easy to talk to, and completely special!

I love my Maggie, and I plan on staying in touch with her...FOREVER!!!!!!!

MUHAHAHA...

Haha I love you Maggie!

Anyway...

Maggie hates drama, and therefor prefers guys to girls(except awesome, semi-drama-less ones like me!). Maggie has "yield-sign hair," or hair that becomes triangular when not up in her signature brown pigtails that are ever so Maggie-ish. Maggie has 2 brothers who I have not yet met, but shall meet come August. Maggie has a semi-boyfriend, and therefor invokes my boy-fettish-ful envy of love. Ish.

Never fear, for I myself do not understand my above sentence. I am simply hyper/super tired due to lack of sleep and I am spouting the first things that come to my head.

Maggie believes me to be "special," but in the best way possible.

=D

I shall do more on the Maggie at a later date, but for now I am being booted from the laptop.

In conclusion to my first post in the "Friendship" series, Maggie is a wonderfully hyper girl who is an unforgetable pleasure to know!

^_^

~Airolyn

P.S. Maggie likes it better when I do short posts, so HAPPY BORTHDAY, MAGGIE! This post was short and easy to read just for you!!!!

<3

(Only 500-ish words!!!)

P.P.S. FOR THOSE OF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ FROM Sleepless Nights Spent Sleeping UP TO THIS POST PLEASE DO SO! And, Maggie, that is the post that includes the wacko dreams that I didn't yet describe to you. =D

Ok, ok...532 words...

BUT YOU STILL LOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEE MEEEEE!!!! <3 XP

上一次寄出的，是什麼的信？真的要認真坐下來，才記得。

Ÿ—上一封我寄出的信，是給我爸我媽的。

那時，好想自己一個人住，所以躲在房間裡，寫信給隔壁飯廳的他們。

有口難言，還是字彙、句子、段落、可以令事情清晰一點。那匣信件，展開我們的對話、質詢、談判．．．我記得，我起了一次稿、我proof-read了三次，然後一連幾天在街上流連到很晚，你們睡覺了我才回家的。

Ÿ—上一封收的信，是旅行認識的朋友寄來的。

還附有一張相，令我開心了好幾天，工作不能集中了一整個下午。

想起，好開心。

那張信紙，在發光，然後被一陣風吹起，在飄，轉了兩圈半，落到我和他們腳邊。這經典的場面，令我們又走在一起。

"Eventually, we went our separate ways, and she found someone else - someone who she thought would be more compatible with her needs.  To her credit, she was blisteringly honest about that they were.  Even though no one could foretell the future, she said, she didn't want to take care of a husband in his old age, and the new man was younger than I.  Just as important, he played better for the folks back home. 

This was valuable information to have.  despite the fact that we had a lot in common, more than either of us had experienced in any other relationship, it was clear that I'd been barking up the wrong tree.  In response, I, too, found someone else, actually several others, none of whom seemed quite right, as anyone not embroiled in the hurt and anger of being rejected could have predicted. 

...

"And when Allison would stop at my front door - to ask how I was and to say she missed doing things with me, her face a mask of ambivalence and mixed messages - Merle would lean against her knee and swish his tail with a heartfelt gesture he used with no one else: "Oh, I've missed you.  How I've missed you."  Unlike me, he didn't then segue into an endless series of whys - why, if we remain so close, if we can converse so intimately, can you not be with me?

His attitude proved instructive - care for her, but let her go - and his consolation was far better than that which came from the thjerapist whom ALlison and I hired to facilitate our protracted separation.  Merle would come into my office and lay his chin on my thigh, not asking for water, a biscuit, or for me to accompany him on a hike.  He'd move his tail so that it undulatged his body, his soft, comforting motion washing up my leg and into my heart.  He had no hands to hold it, but he did so every day.

" I'd put my hand on his head and feel my frustration ebb away, my blood pressure go down - just like all the books say happens when a dog touches us - and, simultaneously, I'd feel him go easy under my hands, the soothing going back and forth, wordlessly but strong."

and this

"Kneeling next to Allison, I touched Brower's leg, and he opened his left eye a moment, looked at me, lifted his paw, and places it in my hand.  I clasped it with both of mine, and he closed his eye and began to breathe deeply. 

Allison had her face pressed to his neck, telling him that she loved him and would never forget him.  Up until this moment, the afternoon and seemed well scripted, everyone sad bu behaving nicely.  Then an abysmal moan came from her, a sound that I did not believe Allison capable of, a sound so awful in its grief that I had heard it only once before.  It was the sound that the mother of my six-year-old friend had made when, on our way home from school, he had been hit by a car and killed.  The sound of irreplaceable loss.  there would be other dogs for Allison, but not the dog with whom she had set out on her own and become an adult." 

I came away with so much from this book, not the least of which being how reinforced my belief that living with dogs makes your life better was.  Also, I suddenly yearn to move to remote Montana (the book is set in Wyoming, but I yearn for Montana), to a lovely and diverse small town and to let Maggie & Scout become the joint mayors of the hamlet much as Merle did.

And this from a tried and true city girl.

Go, find, read - trust me, your life will be better for it.

So, this morning while I was dressing Burke and Maggie was still lounging in bed, I hear the above. And then "Your a$$! Your a$$!" C'mon kid - it may be a little saggy - but *broken*?? Gimme a break!

She finally hops out of bed and points to my Red Sox shirt. The "S" is split over the button-up part. "OH!! The *S* is broken! Right! Yes! Yes it IS Broken Maggie!" Holy relief! LOL

I'm reminded of the movie The Toy ... Jackie Gleasons' character's name is U.S. ... but his southern belle wife doesn't quite pronounce it that way. LOL

quick refresher:  someone turfed both Scout and me from his life 6 weeks or so ago

now just how awesome would it be if Scout were the catalyst to my meeting someone new?

his name is Joe, he frequents the dog park and he thinks Miss Scout is fabulous (Maggie too of course)

he appears to fit all pertinent criteria

stay tuned --- this may just get interesting ...

and to paraphrase Ms. Morrisette from her angst ridden days in the long-ago 1990's: "wouldn't it be ironic"??

If you've never been, you are missin' out! I went once before about 7 years ago and we had so much fun. The artistic endeavor that goes through for these costumes is beautiful. The ideas are astonishing, well thought out and down right fantastic.

You walk through the parade and you are seriously famous for two hours. We were Pop Corn Shrimp waitresses (or something like that) and Maggie was our Shrimp. We had people jump out and get in our face to take pictures. Press, professional photographers and parade junkies were all about getting the shot, machine gun speed of going through each frame as we posed, glanced and stared into their lens. It was so f'ing cool and I must admit it, I really liked the feeling.  I'm hoping we can make this an annual gig.  Next year I'll make sure to teach Maggie how to roller skate.

Enjoy the slide show, I even provided music for your viewing pleasure. So if you're reading this at work, turn down your sound. If you like a specific image, just click on it and it will allow you to view the image large and in it's entirety.

!!!

It is something that only recently became a reality for me. Every time I do it, I get better and better at it and the people that are a part of it seem to enjoy it even more.

Im talking about a new personal training system I have developed whereby I train people over an internet-connected webcam. Perplexed? See the video below to see how it works:

Watch the video below to see a 2 minute recording of one of my sessions with Maggie:

I should probably explain where this all started. It was about three months ago when I started thinking and testing this with friends, but as they say in the business world "its all speculation until you get your first customer". Enter Maggie - my first client in the new age of personal training:

I had been connected to Maggie through a mutual friend (Thanks Kelli)! and we talked about her fitness goals over the phone. She needed a particular kind of training, and we seemed to be talking the same language in regards to what she was after.

Normally I would arrange a free initial consultation to see what was happening in her movement patterns and make an analysis of what would be the best fitness program/course for her to give the best results. But that was not to be... There was a catch.

Maggie lived about an hour away - and was a very busy, very successful professional with limited time in her day.

My schedule wouldn't allow me to drive to her house. She had made it clear to me that she did not have the time in her schedule to come to mine.

She also wanted to:

1. learn how to do a workout in her own house
2. wanted a way that I could keep training with her while she was on road trips for business
   
3. wanted to be make it cost effective by sharing the session (we are talking about sharing it with her best friend in Minnesota - we just need her to go buy the webcam and it will be 'go time').

But rather than let the fact that we might never meet hold me back, I talked with her about this idea of Virtual Personal Training and she seemed receptive. She wasn't very technology savvy, but when I suggested the idea she liked it and was willing to try it.

I told Maggie that I could train her and she could get just as good results doing my new method of training and she wouldn't need to leave her house.

So we did a trial session together.

And she dug it!

She loved it so much she referred four people to me in the following weeks.

So I tried it with a couple of other clients. They seemed to like it as well (I'm still not sure how to take this, but a couple of clients actually like it better than the real thing!)

Would YOU do it? Tell me what you like about this idea (and of course - if you have the gusto, what you don't like about this new style of training).

Does it sound remotely intriguing?  You could personal train while at your island in Belize or from the comfort of your hollywood mansion - or just get it going in the comfort of your own home office.

I am here if you have any questions - always love the questions.

Jamie Atlas

If you liked this post you might also like some of my favorite articles I have written:

Your workout may be making you fat - the #1 mistake people make

Your bathroom scale must be destroyed

Coiote

By Mell

Clique em "more" para ver todas as imagens:

Gênio - Aladdin

Ió Bisonho - A Turma do Pooh

Coiote e Papa Léguas

Simba, Pumba e Timão - O Rei Leão

Pikachu - Pokémon

Marge - Os Simpsons

Scrat - A Era do Gelo

Ariel - A Pequena Sereia

Mad

Homer - Os Simpsons

Pato Donald

"DO-OVER!" one of them yelled - they were playing "champ" I think - man I miss playing champ out on the street ... and hopscotch and trip and skipping and soccer-baseball ...

but I digress

DO-OVER! - wouldn't that be nice?

"oops, didn't like how that answer came out. DO-OVER!"

"shit, I really shouldn't have had that last glass or 6 of wine last night.  DO-OVER!"

"um, right, well, I really didn't mean to say that. DO-OVER!"

and that last boyfriend?  major DO-OVER!

if I could get the world on board with the universal DO-OVER! combined with the portable and all-functioning "UNDO" key (my personal fave) this whole navigating through life would be a whole lot easier, don't you think??

Two years ago Peggy and I were invited to take an evening skyline cruise off the shore of Lake Michigan. A good friend was entertaining a group of his clients. The boat was out of Burnham Harbor. i.e. the one behind Soldiers Field,  just north of Mc Cormick Place.  Since I had never driven there before, Peggy and I left early to leave plenty of search time. I know that if I miss a crucial turnoff on the outer drive, it would take a long time to recover. As it happened, I hit the correct turn and got to the harbor in record time. We were forty five minutes early. The parking situation confused me, so I left the car running in front of the Harbor Master's building to ask for instructions. I was met outside the door by an eccentric looking elderly lady holding a cup of coffee.  The lady asked if I needed help. Before I could tell her what I needed, she was explaining the best place to park and the best place to wait for the group. Her demeanor was absolutely pleasant. She looked to be in her late seventies, about five feet tall, and thin, very thin. Under a captain's cap, her hair was light blond turning white. She wore baggy pink cotton pants, and a lime green windbreaker. Her skin very tanned and wrinkled. My first sight of her gave the impression that she was homeless, quite the contrary, Peggy and I learned later, she was not homeless.  I thanked her for the directions then dropped Peggy at the Harbor Master's building and parked the car. It was June, but the evening was cool. The wind blew in off the lake  from the Northeast and the water was choppy. Usually the breakwater protects the harbor from choppy waves, but this evening it was choppy. The water beyond the breakwater was sporting four foot waves with white caps.

By the time I returned, Peggy and the lady whose name is Margaret or "Maggie" as she preferred to be called were chatting away as though they had known each other for years. It doesn't take Peggy long to make a friend, especially one whose name is Margaret. Peggy will always ask a lady whose name is Margaret if she is a Peggy or a Maggie? It seems Irish women named Margaret are never called Margaret, only  Maggie, Peggy, or Margie.

In the twenty minutes we waited for the remainder of our party to arrive, we learned much about Maggie. She was a widow, who continued to live on a boat during the summer just as she and her husband did before. When she tired of the boat, she took a cab, a few miles north, to her lakeside condominium on Sheridan Road. She and her deceased husband had used the boat for many years. I envisioned  her to be a real beauty in her youth. I imagined her strutting the deck of the boat in a bikini, sporting a tan to die for. Although age had taken its toll, she was still stunning.  Peggy and I liked her instantly, her friendliness, and desire to help a stranger was impressive. Her stories about her husband and their exploits on the boat were fun too

Peggy and I visit downtown Chicago often. Every time we pass the harbor we look for the boat and wonder if Maggie is still sporting the flashy colors and the captain's cap looking for people to befriend. We are often tempted to park in that harbor to look for her. We wonder if she would remember us as well as we remember her. I for one would love to hear her tell the stories of her youth when she and her husband took boating adventures. 

Eventually, we boarded our boat for the cruise. The drill was to cruise along the Chicago skyline at night. There was a buffet and drinks too. As I said earlier, the water was choppy, and the boat was rocking and rolling as we cruised the shoreline just outside the breakwater. The wind made the temperature feel colder. No one wanted to stay on deck, so everyone crowded into the warm cabin holding on to anything they could. Walking inside was difficult with all the movement. Peggy, just sat in one place and turned green. She was sea sick and not having a good time. She could not wait to get off.  I sat next to a man named Ted from Ted's Greenhouse in Tinley Park. He told fascinating stories about his business, and his cactus collection. The cruise finished by ten and by the time we got home it was midnight. Peggy and I talked about Maggie the whole ride home. Peggy couldn't, nor wouldn't discuss the cruise.

It all started one night a few months ago when Maggie woke up crying and talking about how she was scared of the Cookie Monster. (Yes. The *cookie monster* - of all things!!) We got some "monster spray" out and that seemed to help a little. We doused one corner especially (I think she saw the laundry hamper and decided IT was the monster.)

We now spray before bed every night - everyone has to have at least one squirt if they're in the room, including mommy and daddy. Figuring out how to make it so that beds, blankets, Dad, kids, etc. don't get soaked is for another day...

On the subject of bad dreams, one other thing we do for Maggie is to make a big deal about how we must have put her pillow down on the wrong side... And then make a bigger deal (making sure she's watching) out of turning it over to the "good dream" side. So far, this seems to help too. (I'll thank my Mom for that idea - I remember her doing it for me :) )

Any other bad dream breakers out there?

Veja mais no resto do post.

Criativo... criativo...

- postado por Gustavo

Today is my last full day of vacation here in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It is quite sad but today has been an awesome day. I first got to go parasailing, and although it cost seventy dollars it was so worth it. It was amazing to be 500 feet above the ocean and to see all of the creatures below including sea turtles, manna rays and giant jellyfish. Next I went to a local souvenir place called Souvenir City. It is a tradition to go to this store and buy random nick nacks that will be lost in a year or so.

It was nice to get away from work and the real world and spend a week with my 35 other family members. There was always something to keep me entertained, whether it was a late night poker game or an underage intoxicated cousin there was never a dull moment. It will be sad to leave and get back to the real world but at least I have something to look forward to for 2010. See we always go here every other year and I think the next visit will be even more fun because I will be 21 and can join in on all the fun :]]

Anyway that is about all I wanted to say here and without further ado......the vlog.

Mae here is a little something I made that was creative and had to do with Harry Potter.

No one be offended if they are Republican it is just a harmless joke :]]

Anyway I believe that is all I have for this week. I will be sure to include pictures from my trip either in my next post or on the flickr account. Hope all of you are having a great week.

Until next Friday,

Maggie

I'm sad to say that I can't keep a plant alive...because my cat keeps eating them!! This also means that all those times I receive flowers (HAH!! "all those times" ...I crack myself up), I have to put them on the top of the fridge. But only for as long as Tiger doesn't notice that they're there...otherwise, up he goes to the top of the fridge for a snack. And yes - he can get up there. *sigh*

It's pretty sad, actually. Maggie planted a sunflower seed (in a pot to take home) at church a few months ago, and it started to grow really fast! We were going to put it outside once it got big enough (and warm enough) to do so. Apparently, even though it was planted in a house of God, He didn't really want it to grow because Tiger got to it before it got warm enough outside. It sat in our windowsill, sadly brown and broken, as we hoped it would miraculously get healthy. mmm hmmm. So far, it's all good because Maggie, apparently, doesn't remember a thing about it.

We now have two Aloe plants (given to the twins on Children's Sunday at church - what is it with plants at church?) sitting on our second fridge down in the basement. There IS a window down there, but it's a frosty one...so the Cat Thumb may contribute inadvertently to the Black thumb there.

The twins picked some really pretty yellow flowers from the back yard the other day. THOSE actually lasted for quite some time on the kitchen table before Tiger found them last night. They must not have been very smelly...

-> List of all season and episodes

Apparently there are dozens of videos on youtube already that feature pets eating flies. This one's the shortest one that I happened to notice.