Gobi

Today I'd like to introduce the newest member of our family. Her name is Gobi and she is a leopard gecko! She's awesome! I am fighting the urge to hold her, but I should probably let her get acclimated to her new home for a couple weeks first.

The first thing we saw her do at the pet store was devour a couple of crickets. She struck so fast, those crickets didn't stand a chance. I asked the worker if I could hold her, but I was a bit nervous because I wasn't sure what to expect. My reptile handling experience is limited. And by limited, I mean that I'm fairly sure that was the first time I've ever held a reptile that wasn't a turtle.

Will I drop her? Will I crush her little tiny bones with my clumsy hands? What will it feel like if she bites me? WHAT IF SHE HATES ME?!??! At the pet store she was friendly; she sat in my hand for a bit and then decided to crawl up my shirt to sit on my collarbone. I loved her instantly. Jimmy did too. He admitted it.

One of the workers was really awesome and owns a couple of geckos himself. He showed us everything that we'd need to take care of her. Then we went home and did a lot of research online on leopard gecko care. This morning, we were ready to go for it. We went to the pet store, bought all of the stuff for the terrarium, came home, put it together, made sure the temperature was ok, then went back to the pet store to get Gobi.

She seems to like her new home! The cat is obsessed with watching her and meowing at her. Gobi actually seems to enjoy the cat too. Watching a cat and a gecko stare at each other is a lot more entertaining than it sounds.

Gobi Anderson

High five!

"I'm chillin' on my cactus y'all!"

Last day in Chicago

It's sad to leave, but I was so excited to get home. Before we left we went to millennium park to see the Cloud's Gate sculpture (aka The Bean).








Then we made a chubby pit stop before getting on the road. We went to Ann Sather to get the famous cinnamon rolls which were highlighted on the food network. They were more fantastic than I could have imagined them to be. Absolutely perfect! We got 6 cinnamon rolls to-go!




I hope we plan another trip back to Chicago next summer or even sooner! At least to get more of these cinnamon rolls!

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Shanghai Terrace, Ovo

Last night we ate at the hotel in their asian restaurant. It was delicious!!!

Pork spare rib appetizer:




Wagyu beef fried rice served in a pineapple:




Beef short ribs and Kung pao chicken




Yummy yummy yummy!

The we went to see Cirque du Soleil's new show, Ovo! It was awesome!

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Spoiled

And it feels so good!

A little something for me from Tiffany & Co.




Looking at ridiculously expensive cars at the Bentley/Lamborghini dealership:




Room service for Zorro. A burger with a nice bread bun from their pet menu! He ate it so fast he didn't even have time to savor it!



He also tried to eat the orchid.

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Willis Tower Skydeck

Formerly known as the Sears Tower. Formerly the tallest building in the world. Taller than the Empire State Building!

The skydeck is on the 103rd floor. The ride up the elevator was super fast! The ride down was just as fast, but made me feel pretty sick.

Looking down 103 floors was so scary, but i'm glad we did it!

The view:




Looking down:




Another down shot:




We purchased the photo that they took. It came out great!



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Yolk

Breakfast at Yolk! So good! Jimmy got cinnamon roll French toast. Yes, they slice up a cinnamon roll, batter the slices, then fry them. So so so good!




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Zorro's new friends

We got him a stuffed beluga whale from the aquarium. He has been dragging it around everywhere!








There are lots of horse-drawn carriages around here. Zorro is very confused by horses. He grumbles, but wants to try to get closer. Maybe he thinks they are just very very big dogs?




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Chocolate buffet

The Peninsula Hotel has a chocolate buffet on Friday and Saturday night. We went and had a great time! It was definitely an experience; however, I'm not quite sure that I'd do it again. It was so good that I couldn't stop myself from eating. I ended up with a tummy ache because I literally ate a full meal of chocolate desserts.

Memorable quotes of the night:
"Leave me alone, I'm eating!" and "Leave me alone, I feel sick!" and "I think I'm dying."

"I'm ashamed of myself..."

You know a meal is good when you feel ashamed of yourself for eating so much. You know a meal is great when take a few more bites even after you acknowledge your own shame.

We went to Hot Doug's and had 3 hot dogs each. The fries were cooked in rendered duck fat. Delicious! (and worth the hour long wait in a line wrapped around the side of the building)




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Shedd aquarium

Jellyfish exhibit!




Jimmy and penguins




Jelly hanging on for dear life with one tentacle!




Jimmy and Chicago!




Jimmy with the walleyes. Mmmmmm walleye sandwiches with coleslaw...get in my belly!



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City Pup

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Zorro loves hotels

It is super stormy! Good thing we already took Zorro for a poo before bed! He is having a lot of fun at the hotel. He has his choice of armchairs, sofa, the bed, chaise, and his own personal bed that the hotel brought up for him. I have seen him sitting everywhere, but I think he favors the chaise.

Stormy weather, watching tv, and relaxing!







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Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co.

Pizza pot pies as seen on Food Network's 'Best Thing I Ever Ate'




They are delicious!






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The eve of the best week ever.

Technically, it's Monday so the best week ever has already begun. It's 1:40AM and I am blogging via iPhone from the comfort of our bed. Jimmy is beside me, snoring very loudly I might add. Jimmy and Beeblur on my left, Zorro on my right. Mommy sandwich to kick off the best week ever... I love it!
Monday: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for Madison restaurant week.
Wednesday: Nau-ti-gals for restaurant week.
Thursday: leave for Chicago! Dinner at a pizza place featured on Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate, then ice cream at a place also featured on food network.
Friday: Shedd aquarium, delish lunch and dinner plans, followed by a chocolate buffet at the hotel. (did I mention that we are staying at The Peninsula!?!)
Saturday: museum day, millennium park so Zorro can see the bean (i've told him about it and he's very excited), picnic at millennium park with the boys, delish dinner plans, and cirque du soleil's 'Ovo'.
Sunday: come home, but on the way, pick up cinnamon rolls from Ann Sather, also featured on Best Thing I Ever Ate.
Monday: Daniel Tosh's show in Madison!!!

So excited for the next 7 days. Fabulous food and lots of fun await us!!!

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Bailey is potty trained!

Bailey Bunnyface is potty trained! After living with us for 4 years and having the ability to go potty anywhere in his old cage, he is committed to using his litterbox in his new cage. No, I didn't have to do anything. He just naturally did it. But that doesn't make me any less proud! My bun is so awesome!

Bunny Condo AKA Bundo

We got Bailey a new cage! We ordered it from Leith Petworks. It's just a tad bigger than what he has now, but it's two stories! So he has double the space. Not to mention that he spends the majority of his time running free around the house. It's a super awesome  cage  condo and he loves it!

EGGS EVERYWHERE!!!

Congrats to two of my zebrafish. There are eggs all over the tank. And I found a few babies that look to be around 33-48 hours old. Wonderful.  I really really really don't want to have to deal with tons of babies. I hope the fish eat them as they hatch! Sounds mean, but I don't want to catch them and flush them.

And today we went out and got a new Snelly (she died a week or so ago), and we got two of these lovely little guys:

Ghost shrimp! Pretty cute, and only 33 cents each!

I think I see a trend here...

We are getting ditched for the new bed! Instead of keeping Jimmy and I company, Zorro was relaxing in bed alone. Weird.



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New bed is here!

Looks great, and feels great too! Don't believe me? Take Beeblur's word for it:



She rejected couch time with us last night so she could try out the new bed. The pets seem to love it!

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New bed tomorrow!

We got a new bed! It will be delivered tomorrow. It is really important to find a mattress that will be great for  Jimmy's skin, and comfortable for his neck. Our current mattress has a really nice pillow top, but it has divots from our body weight! We are both sore when we wake up, and that is no good. We are not getting rid of the old mattress, we are keeping it so that when we move we can have a larger guest bed than what we have now.
We decided to give Tempurpedic a try. We went with the Cloud-Luxe model because it was amazingly soft, but has a lot of support. We'll see how it goes! They were actually running a pretty sweet deal that took $200 off, and they threw in Tempurpedic pillows along with it. So we saved quite a bit of money. Here is what we got:

Awesome mattress!

Adjustable frame! Jimmy is really looking forward to this so that he can finally read in bed. My back is looking forward to this as well!

They threw in two of these pillows. They let me take them home, and we slept on them last night. They warned that Tempurpedic products take a bit of time to break in. We loved them already!

And we also got some new bedding since we changed bed size. We went from California King to regular King. They don't sell California King bedding in stores out here. King beds and bedding are so dang expensive, but we don't really have a choice. Our animals hog the bed! They don't sleep at the foot of the bed where they don't take up space. They wedge up in the middle leaving Jimmy and I on the edges. Sometimes it feels like we need a bed that is even bigger than what we already have!

We are so excited for the new bed! I hope that Jimmy and the pets like the Tempurpedic. I am the one that tested the beds out at the mattress store, so we made the decision based on my descriptions.  I hope I didn't fail!

Super Awesomeness!

Check out the Honda Element in action!

I made it, and I didn't even punch that baby!

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Chicago

Finally! Plane starts boarding in less than 5 minutes. There is a mom with 3 little girls here. The baby is screaming, the middle one is seeing how close she can push her barbie rolly suitcase close to my foot over and over again, and the oldest one keeps yelling at the younger ones just like mom. Not to mention that the mom had a meltdown screaming at the dad on the phone, and then was getting too rough with the baby. Everyone is staring, some people gasped, and one lady just brought the little demons some fruit snacks just to shut them up. They are old enough to say thank you, but they didn't. Mom barely even said thanks, and didn't make them say it. Remember folks, i could have been on the earlier Kalamazoo flight. But it was my fate to end up on a screaming baby flight. I have the worst luck today.


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Epic American airlines fail

I wad supposed to gave already been through Chicago and in Kalamazoo right now. But no, I'm still at the good ol' Madison airport. Fail fail fail.


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Longest Day Ever

I should have known things wouldn't go according to plan today. Originally I was supposed to get to Kalamazoo by 9:30am, but now that has changed to 1pm. This is terrible! And with all the added steps of getting the car today, I'll be lucky to get on the road by 4. Not cool. American Airlines can go suck an egg.

If I get too tired I'll find a hotel for the night. Good thing Jimmy told me to pack a pair of underwear just in case! :)

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RIP Gary

Gary is dead. Going to have to go get a new snail from the pet store. I'll probably name it Gary again.
I'm not sad, but Pink, Yellow, Stripey, and Snelly are devastated.

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Father's Day

Happy father's day to all the dads out there. I am so lucky that Jimmy lets me keep so many critters, and am happy that he loves them just as much as I do! He's a great pet-dad! Here are some pet and dad weekend snuggle photos!












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