The end product

It sure took me a while, but I finally got around to glazing the pottery pieces that I had thrown at Firepit ceramics. Unfortunately the completion came with a push and some sad news - the ceramics studio was closing, but at least I have these wonderful pieces to remember the studio and the wonderful people I met there.

Chip and dip pre-glaze

Chip and dip post-glaze

All my 2013 pieces thrown and glazed at Firepit Ceramics

As organic as it comes

This is not only beautiful to look at, but it will do us all good. Green walls are not only good for your health, but can improve your mood. It can help polluted cities counteract smog, reduce noise and even make buildings energy effecient. I would vote for all buildings to literally go 'green'. Just keep in mind bug spray would be mandatory :)

Winner of the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show

Save the drama for yo mama - part 2

So if you've been reading, part 1 was all about the incident and immediate problems. I was hoping that would be it, but no, we had lasting problems which made it impossible to skip a part 2. 

The week after the first warning notice, we received a SECOND notice from Riata, saying that we had to get rid of Watson! Aaaaah! and that wasn't even the bummer, we had to do so in 24 hours, or they would come and take him or charge us per day he stayed on the premises. Now as conflicting as this is from the first notice, we investigated and found out that the upper management heard about it and they sent the eviction notice regardless of the first notice sent by the local management office. URGH! Talk about stress times a million! Also after a lot of calls we were able to board him with the Austin Boxer Rescue that we had got him from, until we decided what we would do next.

Yes, what were we going to do next??!? We still had a lease agreement till end of July, so we worked it out with the local office (who mind you, was on our side) and were able to break out of our lease early without any penalties. Then we decided to move to a house so that Watson would have a yard, but how were we going to find one in such a short time? After trying unsuccessfully to do it ourselves, we reached out to the realtor we met when we first moved to  Austin, Ms. Patti and she was just as motivated as us. We sorted through many listings and looked at houses every day and we were absolutely lucky to find one that we loved. So we put in our application and waited...

Doggie deals

I love a good deal and I would like to think most people do. I subscribe to probably every known Austin deals site online - Groupon, LivingSocial, MorgansDeals and more.

Anyway there was a great deal today for 15% off Livingsocial deals under $99, with the coupon code TAXDAY.  I decided that I would pick up the two-month Pawalla subscription for Watson. If you're not interested in a monthly subscription, there is also a deal for $30 worth of pet goods and food at PetFlow.com. Whichever one you choose, your dog (or cat) is bound to be spoilt rotten and happy!

Two months of surprises for Watson (and me too).

Save the drama for yo' mama - part 1

One thing I didn't want to do when I started this blog was be a complainer blogger, but of late, we've been put in a tight corner and I've been incredibly upset, stressed and livid all in the span of days. And since this drama is a part of my adventures in this place called 'life', here's how the story goes.

The incident: 
While I was walking Watson on leash, he was instigated by a neighbor yorkie (who at the time, we didn't even know was intact*) who walked underneath him and Watson ended up sinking his teeth into the smaller dog*. Unfortunate for the yorkie, his owner named him Turbo; had decided not to neuter him; and on top of it all, his owner thought it was adorable that Turbo acted like a big dog, barking at mostly anything that moved. Oh, I almost forgot, she was walking this ticking time bomb on a retractable leash in an apartment complex with practically 99% neutered dogs! You have to be absolutely stupid or naive to think nothing is going to happen.

The immediate repercussions:
Of course Turbo was in pretty bad shape as Watson showed him who was boss, all 10 times his weight, and from the vet report, crushed his shoulder, but as sorry as I feel for the little guy, I'm still quite angry with his owner. Not neutering is irresponsible and a recipe for disaster. Really, was she planning to breed him in an apartment complex? Really?!
And because the other dog was in such bad shape, we got a visit from Austin animal services and we had to put Watson under a 10 day house quarantine, which meant he was not to be off leash or meet any new people or dogs. Bummer, when his favorite past time is running. Next, we got a first strike notice from our apartment complex and if it happened again, we'd have to get rid of Watson. Yikes! we just adopted him and added him to our lease as 'our pet'.

*I was quite the mess as I couldn't understand why Watson would have done such a thing. We've taken him to dog parks, pet stores, farmer's markets and many restaurants and bars with nary an incident. Practically everyone who has met him knows him to be a docile, teddy-bear faced and lovable dog.  

I get around

When I first moved to Austin, I didn't know anyone except my hubby. Really. I was working at home and that didn't help either, so I looked to Meetup.com. It's a great website where you can find people with similar interests as you and schedule a time/day to 'meet up'. Not only does it help to make new friends, but encouraged me to explore places and events that I would have never been to otherwise.

 

The very first meetup that Al and I went to was with the Austin beer lover's meetup group. We met at this gem of a biergarten called Easy Tiger. I was excited but Al was a bit hesistant, afterall it did seem a lot like a blind date. However, after we both got warmed up, we met several interesting people and had a delicious time sampling the food and craft beers. And the best part, we made a really good friend, Corina who we're still meeting up with today!

That was one that we went to together, but there are some that Al and I follow separately because of our individual interests such as soccer and pottery respectively. I would highly recommend it to people of all ages, in all places with any type of interest. And keep in mind, it's what you make of it so don't expect too much of everyone else; only yourself.