Our Great Big Fat Part Chinese Wedding ( Dress Shopping Trip)

We had to wait a couple of days for Janet to come home with the photos of their wedding dress shopping trip.

Janets' arrival in SEA by float plane.

 Meg and her friend arrived in SEA late in the evening, so Janet had the day to herself, which was fine.  She walked from the float plane terminal to the hotel, which took about an hour.  After accessing the room, Janet backtracked towards the float plane terminal where she had seen a couple of new Tom Douglas restaurants.  She had lunch at Brave Horse Tavern.  From there, she went to Experience Music Project, looked around a bit, walked alot and went back to the hotel.

The next morning, Janet met with Meg, her friend Monica and Bronwyn, who arrived around 9AM.  They walked to have coffee and breakfast and went to the first "Dress Shop" for 11AM.  This first store is owned by a designer, who only sells her own dresses.  Pretty cool!  After they left there, they went to Serious Pie (another Tom Douglas restaurant) for lunch.  They passed a small park where all the trees were kept cosy by pretty sweaters!

Two different types of very delicious pizza and Italian Bread Soup.

After lunch, they looked around at a couple of shops and then went to the next "Dress Shop".  Meg told Janet she couldn't put any of the dress photos on our blog, but she did take this photo for us:

Pup ring carriers!  We can totally have the "B" changed to "R" for Rockers to walk down the aisle.  Only problem is, Janet couldn't see a teensy, weensy pocket to put the ring in, so perhaps we will have to add one as Rockers will have to wear it around his neck.  Best get started on that!

By this time, everyone is exhausted....OK, only the non shopping lover, Janet has had enough.  Monica had an earlier commitment; Meg and Bronwyn went for coffee and to look around in the shops.  Janet went to Smith Tower, a really old, really cool building in an effort to go to the 42nd floor Observation Deck.  It was closed for a private function.  Instead, she went and looked around inside the Seattle Public Library, which is a really beautiful building.

They ended the day with seafood dinner at McCormick and Schmick Fish House.

Janet loves her new beauty products, but we still think she looks the same.  We guess another perspective is...what would she look like without the new goods?

A Rare Day In Doggie Land

Janet went to her "work" at 7AM this morning to do the breakfast service.  At home, she is as cranky as  a person can be because she hates getting up at 5:45AM!  We can only assume that once Janet gets there, she puts on a happy face.

While Janet was gone, Phil gave us a real treat and let us go on the beach today...what fun! Hope Janet doesn't go nuts about the sand in the house.

Doesn't this look like fun?

After lunch, Janet and Phil went to Costco to buy some groceries.  Janet also got a new yoga outfit.  Janet says when she is no longer the most lame person in the class, she will go to Lulu Lemon!  Go for it, girl!

In an effort not to upset us, Janet is packing a suitcase downstairs.  We already know she is going to SEA to wedding dress shop with Meg and Bronwyn.  Janet really wishes it would have been possible for Banana to come, but it didn't work out.  Remember when Rockers was sitting on the sofa with Meg while she was talking to Bronwyn?  He was  really enraptured with  feigning interest in the wedding talk; he heard Janet tell Meg "they had better not be walking to (insert some bad words) the Seattle comparable to San Franciscos'  Mission district for a (now insert some really bad words) burrito!  Janet was so grumpy about that burrito, she still crabs about it to Phil.

Poor Janet!

Janet is now going to her third consecutive session of yoga classes and seriously doubts if she will ever get out of the beginner level.  She has tried different days and went to a Body Flow class with her buddy Lolo at Good Life Fitness.  Lolo decided the fitness club worked out better for her than Iyengar Yoga Centre did.  At any rate, it's a frosty day in hell heck (forgot I'm not supposed to use bad language!) when there is someone in the class who is more lame than she is.  We heard her say to Phil they have "special needs" classes....should she check them out?

Here is the pretty purple yoga mat she got for Christmas, but has yet to use.  No point in making it look like you might have a clue as to what you are doing when nothing could be further from the truth.

Then, to add insult to injury Janet doesn't think her New.  Beauty.  Products. have altered her skin at all.  We have to admit, that from our perspective, she does look pretty much the same.  This falls into the "what do we know department".

To take her mind off her woes, she took us for a walk.  We saw this really cute guy previous to arriving at the Marina.  Janet whipped out her camera, used the 8x zoom and took a picture.  Then we can here HER using bad language.  She forgot there is a little button on the top of the camera that with one click goes to 16x zoom!  By that time, the cute guy was gone. More in the "what do we know department".  HELLO - camera manual, instructive DVD.  Open them up, sister,  and acquaint yourself with them!

Isn't he cute?  There were two together.

After we went to the Marina, we did a big walk and ended up at City Hall.  We are the 752nd and 753rd doggies in Oak Bay to get their dog tags for 2012.  We think Janet should try really hard next year and get 001 and 002.  After that, bank for some cash, Cobs for some buns, Ambrosia for tomatoes, Ottavio for pizza dough and finally home.

Meg and Derek's Visit

We are having alot of fun with Meg and Derek.  This is how we know Meg is still here...she has more runners by the front door than Janet has shoes in her entire footwear collection.

Yesterday, they went to Sun Wah for a fabulous Chinese New Years Lunch.   Meg said at the restaurant, that in addition to the food, they needed a wheel barrow to roll them out.  One of our traditional treats at Sun Wah when Derek is here, is a gallon of Hot and Sour Soup.  Phil says it doesn't matter how much soup they order, Derek will eat it all.

Janet made BBQ back ribs, risotto, roasted broccoli and an Ice Cream Cake she saw on a blog she follows.  This is not a good photo of the cake, as they let it sit too long on the counter.  It had a chocolate crumb crust, vanilla ice cream, toffee sauce, toasted macadamia nuts and chocolate ice cream on top.  They said it was yummy, just a bit messy at this point in time.

This is me, Rockers on Sunday morning.  Meg is talking to Bronwyn and I am listening in on every teeny, tiny, little wedding detail( apparently no detail is too tiny!) It's important, if I hope to be Ring Pup that I know about dresses, flowers, food and all manner of stuff I never would have thought would be important.   They were talking about the stones they chose for Meg's ring, bridesmaids dresses, the deposit on the restaurant for the reception, etc, etc.  A guy could tire of this wedding blab, but  I am focused on looking interested.  Shockingly, Meg mentioned a trip to Seattle next weekend to go wedding dress shopping and Bronwyn queried when Janet would  arrive in Seattle.   Am I nuts or did I hear that Janet, who hates shopping, is going on a trip that is designated as a shopping trip?  Crazy stuff!

They went to lunch at Pizzeria Prima Strada today and then came back for Meg and Derek to pack up and go.  Hold on....what's this?

 They came back!  There were really high winds in Victoria today and most ferries were cancelled.  Meg and  Derek went to the ferry as they had a reservation on the 4PM sailing, but it was cancelled as were most ferries after that.  Yay!  They get to stay another night.  We love Meg and Derek!

Somethings Goin' Down

Here is our first clue...Janet is putting fresh sheets on the bed downstairs.  This can only mean that someone is coming to visit.  Who could it be?

Someone is on the door step.

It's Meg and Derek! What a great surprise!  We did our crying and barking routine that everyone seems to love.  Who wouldn't want a big greeting after a ferry ride in high wind?  Every time they visit, Meg brings the leftovers from her frig.  Then Janet puts them in our frig and then we throw them out when Meg leaves so she can have her containers back.  The logic of this escapes us, but hey, we're just dogs.  Note the blue and green bag in the left hand corner - That is Megs' bag from GNS when the field hockey team went to Bermuda 20 years ago!

After much procrastination, Meg put on her runners.  I just swooped in for the photo op - no way am I going out in that miserable weather.  Meg is training for a half marathon and her schedule dictated a one hour run.  She was so desperate to find an excuse to get out of the run, she even offered to help Janet make dinner!

This is Rockers competition for the ring bear(er) job, Throckmorton.  I think one of us told you that Throckmorton travels and has cute outfits.  The photos below are of him in Bonaire, chilling in the B & B room while Meg and Derek go diving.  I have to admit that he is cute, but so is Rockers.  Votes, anyone?

The lady who owned the B & B with her husband put Throckmorton in new poses during the day while she was cleaning the room.  Cute!

Janet's Grumpy, But We Doggies Are In Hog Heaven!

We had another large dump of snow..it snowed almost all night Monday and all day Tuesday.  What a blast for doggies and school age children!  They closed all the schools on Tuesday - this is Victoria, after all.  This is our sixth day of snow on the ground.

So; bonus!  We went from our house down to Willows Beach without a leash.  There weren't any cars out.  It was alot of fun.

Here is Rockers down at the beach.  It's not very often you see snow so close to the water line.

Maybe this is why Janet is grumpy:

It looks pretty, but she says the party is over.  Remember what we told you about their incredibly low standards for heat in the house?  We heard Janet complain to Phil that:  1 - the claw foot bath tub is freezing cold.  When filled with hot water, the top edges are still cold.  2 - when she has a bath, her feet are near the window and there is a cold breeze from the window above her feet.  A candle would likely blow out!  3 - the kitchen counter top is so cold it could double for a frig!

However, after a long cold day, what could be better than a nice big pot of Japanese Curry with boneless short ribs?

This is one of the two pretty cast iron Staub pots Janet has.  She received them both as gifts.  The other one is a burgundy colour and the handle on the lid is a rooster.

We, of course, just had dog food, again!  Here is Rockers acting all strange and clingy last night.  Janet was worried because he never hangs around in the kitchen after dinner.

Mike calls him "Big Baby", but I don't think that's very nice.  He's just my big brother.  Also, what if Meg gets word of this "Big Baby" business?  He will never have a chance at the Ring Pup gig he is so hoping for. 

It's Still Snowing in Victoria!

This is our garage.  Janet loves all the birds that come into our yard, so she tries really hard to make sure the feeder is full.  Today, about two minutes after Janet filled it up, there were a couple of birds there.

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This is us helping Janet shovel the driveway.

Janet is involved in a small scale bake sale at DFH, Phil's work.  Here  I am, helping out to the best of my abilities.

We can't believe it..we are on our fourth day of snow on the ground.  Janet went downtown this morning to go to her yoga class at 10:30 and after that walked to Bond Bonds Bakery to buy a "Veggie on Asiago Cheese Bun" to take to what Bronwyn lovingly  jokingly calls her "work".....Janet does work, she simply does not get paid...and she does this three days a week!

What The Heck?

We live in Victoria...it's not supposed to snow here!  There is more snow on the roads than there is on the grassy areas. 

Here is Noodles running around with Janet's sock just prior to going for a walk.  She managed to get both of the socks all damp and mushy.  Janet was too lazy to go get a new pair, so opted to go outside in the snow in dog slobbered socks!

Here we are, acting like perfect angels.  Janet made us sit for the photo, and forever the hopefuls, we assumed she had cookies for us.  Wrong....she's probably cranky because her feet are wet and cold.

 In our walk 'round the 'hood this morning, we saw three taxis!  That is amazing as we almost never see taxis near our house.  We heard Phil say people here aren't experienced in driving in the snow.  Phil likes to maintain that he can drive in any conditions as he's from Alberta and grew up driving on snowy roads.  He forgets that he has been in Victoria for the last 27 years and perhaps his snow driving skills are a tad rusty?

These are Janet's formerly pretty primula flowers.

Janet's friend Lolo will vouch for us when we say our house is cold....even when it's not cold outside, it's cold in here. Our house is 98 years old and we guess "back in the day" heat was probably cheap.  Not only that, but we guess Janet and Phil are used to the temperature inside.

Today, however, it must be cold even by  their incredibly low standards.  Phil put up some "weatherstripping" on the kitchen door.

Here We Are, Back in YYJ

We arrived back home on Tuesday morning, after our hotel stay in Port Angeles (CLM for any airport code enthusiasts).

It was really fun to get back home, but if you can believe it, we pull up to the front of the house and neither one of those morons  can find a house key.  Fortunately, after a few minutes of hunting, Phil managed to come up with one.

This is Phil and Janet's new discovery:

They bought this really delicious crab meat from Costco in Sequim.  The first night, they Janet made Crab and Shrimp Louie Salad with garlic toast.  The second night, they Janet had about half a pound left, so added a half pound of shrimp to make Crab and Shrimp Cakes with Spicy Chili Mayonnaise.  Phil likes to think he is the brains behind any food inspiration that goes on at our house.

Looks pretty good to us.  Did we mention that we eat the same dog food, twice a day, day in and day out, year round!

Last night, just as Janet saddled us up for a walk, the phone rings.  Last night she spoke with all three daughters.  We could hear through the door that there is some heavy duty wedding planning going on.

Phil left us out on the front step while Janet chatted on the phone.  He bought us some new lights and now we look like silly Christmas trees on four legs!

This is a book that Jeremy has spent 18 months working on.  He gave it to everyone for Christmas!  We heard everyone say how excellent it was.  He scanned  childhood photos for the book.  Why is Meg wearing that forced smile and note how her hands are clenched into fists.  Maybe she didn't want to go to Henderson Lake?  Janet's mother made the Humpty Dumpty sweater when Janet was a little girl and she still has the sweater.

This is one of the brides to be that Janet spoke to last night. This is from the book that Jeremy made.  We heard Janet tell Phil that she is wondering if Child Welfare officials can come back to investigate 30 some years after the fact.  Briana is outside, in the snow (fairly deep snow, we might add) with bare legs and a diaper on!  Hopefully the book won't make any bestseller lists and Janet will be safe from prosecution.

We Get To Stay In A Hotel...I Mean, We Have No Option, But To Stay In One!

Here are some last photos of the remaining day and morning in PDX.

After they gobbled down copious amounts of the gyoza, they finally fed us.  Then, after we ate, they sat down to chow into more food, sukiyaki.

Here is their sukiyaki.  They went to the big Japanese grocery store, Uwajimaya to get the really nice, thin cut boneless short ribs, tofu, enoki mushrooms and negi onion.  Negi looks like giant green onions, but tastes so much better in sukiyaki...or so we heard them say. 

Next, morning, Janet had latte.  Mike makes a mean latte and sometimes, can even make pretty designs in the foamed milk.

Here is a picture of Rubs, looking like one of the people need to drop whatever they are doing NOW and attend to her commands.  She is very bossy.

 After the latte, Mike and Janet went to Whole Foods to buy some meat and Phil went to Rejuvenation Hardware to pick up some stuff.  They met at Podnahs BBQ Pit and had a really good lunch.  Us, well, we just hung out at the house.

Janet and Phil left PDX around 3PM and drove to Port Angeles where we had to overnight in a doggie friendly hotel.  Why, you ask, did we have to overnight - it's not that long of a drive!  It turns out that at this time of the year, there is only one ferry, at 8:20AM that goes from Port Angeles to Victoria.  So, either we overnight, or we leave PDX at 3AM...thanks, but no thanks.  Has anyone ever been in a car with Janet at 3AM....didn't think so!

There is one thing that puzzles us doggies.  Apparently, Janet used to be a travel agent, but retired about three years ago.  With no reservation over the Christmas season (duh...could there be a busier time of the year to travel?) and then the return schedule that didn't work, we have to question if "retired" is code language for "you need to find work elsewhere, now!"  Food for thought.

Here is Noodles, trying to relax in the hotel.

Here we are with Phil buying a latte to take on the ferry.  Janet thought it was freezing out.  Phil said it wasn't, but we couldn't help but note he has a toque on.

We Have Posted the Last Bad Photo of Janet

It goes without saying that dogs have natural beauty...we don't change our hair colour, need a facelift, knee lift or butt lift!  Nobody ever says "that dress doesn't look good on her" or "man, are her jeans tight".  Sadly, humans are not in the same boat.  So, after we posted the last two photos of Janet, she took the advice of two of her friends (wait...does she have more than two?  Don't know about that, but, whatever) and purchased New. Beauty. Products.  Why does it cost so much money to slow down unkind Mother Nature?

Not to mention, the really nice, and very young salesperson, told Janet - 10 days and it's a new you!  So, next Janet photo post is in 10 days.    Please tell us what a 20ish young girl knows about almost 60ish wrinkles?  Doesn't really matter, because Janet went there!

Check back in 10 days to see if the Magic In A Bottle worked!

This Has To Be A Really Good Sign

Brownyn showed us this photo yesterday, and while are are colour blind, we do recognize that it's a suitcase and Janet's Kindle saying bye-bye to the Big Island!  They might be sad, but we are really happy and will greet them with unlimited crying and carrying on when they get here.  Excellent!

 So, they did indeed come back to PDX and we were so happy to see them.  Shockingly, the guy that was really excited was Pashy, who slept on Janet and Phil's bed on top of Janet's legs  and woke Janet up at 4AM to get some pets by pushing her nose under Janet's hand.  Oddly, she played dead and did not respond,  cranky pants!

Well, so much for missing us.  The next morning there was (as always) the big discussion as to what the days' agenda was.  They all blame Janet as (they say) she his reluctant to commit.  Not true, Janet says, and on and on it goes.  At any rate,they finally got their poop together and went to Uwijamaya to buy some Japanese groceries to make gyoza and sukiyaki.  After that, off to lunch downtown at a really delicious Italian restaurant.

This is what Brownyn and Janet each had.  Gino's Favourite.

 After that, they went to Costco and finally came home to walk us.  This is Brownyn being cruel to Rockers and holding him back.  He was allowed to go!  Meanie!  Do they not recognize Christmas is long done?

Here they are in the gyoza factory.  The top photo are the ones that Janet made.  Mike and Bronwyn and Phil said that Janet's were anal perfect!

 The photo of the gyoza below are the free flow ones that Bronwyn made.  Everyone who knows Bronwyn knows how much a free flow type of gal she is....just saying!

Cooked version.  They said it was delicious.

In the mean time, here is Rockers' starving and waiting with the rest of the Guys for our dinner while everyone else is devouring gyoza.  Not fair!