I realized that I've only ever done a couple of blog posts featuring Lou. He certainly deserves more space... just ask him.
Last night he really seemed to be showing his age of 16 years 10 months. That's nearly 84 in human years.
It takes him a bit longer to lay down and get into a comfortable position:
Because he moves slower I can often get some pats in. He loves when I take his whole head in my hand:
His body looks skinny in this picture and with a bigger head he reminds me of the starved Hollywood actresses with their lollipop heads:
Finally all settled in:
2012 is the year I turn 40. For some reason the way I am dealing with it is to fill the year up with as much fun as possible. I don't think this started as a conscious effort but it has certainly evolved into a year full of great plans. So, here is my 40th year timeline. It is obviously tentative but quite impressive if I do say so myself!
January 27th: Twisted Roots Concert because being in a mosh pit makes me feel like I'm 23 again
Feb 3-7th: Trip to Denver to hang out with my Mountain Time Zone family
February 19th: Red Claws Basketball Game with my Hens so that I can say I had a new experience this year
March 21-23: Trip to Kripalu Yoga Center so that I can become centered with the idea of being 40
April 21: Pat Benatar Concert because she looks awesome for her age and I hope that will be inspiring
April 28-29: New Orleans during Jazz Fest just because NOLA is a cool cruise port to leave from
April 30- May 5: Carnival Cruise with two stops in Mexico because I refused to turn 40 without being on a beach in Mexico at some point. End of story.
May12: Visit from my step-sister Heidi from Denver to assist with what will prove to be the great yard sale of 2012
June 16: Relay For Life because clearly my friends and I enjoy subjecting ourselves to being cold, wet and miserable
July 12th: My actual 40th birthday and the culmination of events with something I have in the works that plans to be a "striking" good time!!
Hello, My name is Jen and I'm addicted to Diet Coke. Well, at least I was addicted until two weeks ago when I managed to stop cold turkey. I have been drinking it for as long as I can remember. I even dated a guy in high school who worked for Coca Cola. This was only my third time trying to quit in over 20 years. The first time I was in my early 20's and decided to stop on January 1. The only trouble was I partied hard the night before and had a massive hangover on New Year's Day. I didn't stand a chance. I then tried to quit a few years ago but once the bad withdrawal headache hit I freaked out as, at the time, having really bad headaches had completely screwed my life over and I wasn't welcoming one for any reason.
Which brought me to the end of December when I was able to embrace the huge headache and flu like feeling and it's now been over 2 weeks since I have had my favorite beverage.
I definitely don't consider myself "cured". I'm not sure how long that takes or if it ever happens. And quite frankly I really need to see some positive benefits to give me incentive to continue indefinitely. But just knowing that I could stop was really a good feeling!
My employer is very serious about being a "Great Place To Work". They are trying to come up with creative benefits to make it a more desirable work environment. For example, we now get our birthday off and every day is jeans casual dress. I have been quietly advocating for months that many of the the Great Places To Work companies have some equivalent of a nap room. I think we should have a space to get away, plug in some soft music and lay back in a massage chair. I haven't sold the idea in my department quite yet but our marketing department just unveiled this room. Theirs isn't so much a relaxation space as it is an energizing, cool hangout. It totally rocks!
Clearly Marketing has a serious budget to afford this furniture:
This is the sign that greets you at the door:
Their bookcase is loaded with neat stuff:
One whole wall was painted with chalkboard paint!:
