Code Word: Pervy

Our instant message conversation this morning:

Miles, Jeannie 7:38 AM

When did it become okay to stop putting veggies and cheese in my eggs?

Gosh

Cody Miles 7:38 AM

punch in the baby makers I tell ya

right in the womb

Miles, Jeannie 7:38 AM

well, it was a punch to my taste buds

I’ll tell ya that much

Cody Miles 7:39 AM

I didn’t feel like cutting onions and jalapenos masters

I sorry miss ma’am  it won’t happen again

Miles, Jeannie 7:39 AM

and cheese was just too much

I swear... i give an inch you take a mile

Cody Miles 7:40 AM

I sorry miss master miles

Miles, Jeannie 7:40 AM

sorry isn't going to cut it this time

Cody Miles 7:40 AM

I’ll take my lashings now...

Miles, Jeannie 7:40 AM

oh no, you won't know when they’re coming.

Cody Miles 7:40 AM

just don’t let the chilre'n sees it

Miles, Jeannie 7:40 AM

at least the bacon was good

who is this?!

this isn't Cody

this is Matt

Cody Miles 7:41 AM

hahaha

no its me

Miles, Jeannie 7:41 AM

liar!

what is our Heaven code word then

Cody Miles 7:41 AM

Booba

isn’t that it? 

Miles, Jeannie 7:42 AM

GASP

NO!

Cody Miles 7:42 AM

what? yes it is

was it something about our belly buttons

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

I can't believe you

if I died today you couldn't find me in the future

this is BS

I’m blocking you!

*shakes head*

Cody Miles 7:44 AM

what is it?!  

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

PERVY

THE WORD IS PERVY!

Cody Miles 7:44 AM

that’s right!!!

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

IT'S BEEN THAT WORD FOR 8YRS!

Cody Miles 7:44 AM

Hahahaha

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

I KNOW THAT'S RIGHT

cheese and rice!

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

well i try not to think about dyeing haha

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

you worry about dumb stuff

and don't plan for our eternal future

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

I won’t forget it now ;)

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

I’m happy I am

geesh

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

Hahhahhaah

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

I’d be wondering around

muttering "pervy?"

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

pervy?

to all these randoms

Cody Miles 7:46 AM

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAAAHAHAHA!!

Miles, Jeannie 7:46 AM

and then I’d probably find a pervert

that thinks I'm coming on to him

and says it back

then I’d be with the wrong guy

and I’m sure there are going to be swarms of Jews there

so Booba or Bubeleh would NOT be our code word for Heaven

Cody Miles 7:47 AM

OK... Pervy it is. 

Miles, Jeannie 7:47 AM

are you sure?!

can you remember that

Cody Miles 7:47 AM

I won’t forget it now haha

Miles, Jeannie 7:47 AM

I would hope not

Cody Miles 7:48 AM

so we went from cheese on your eggs to finding each other in heaven with code word pervy haha

Miles, Jeannie 7:49 AM

that seems about right

Cody Miles 7:49 AM

love it haha

and I love you

Miles, Jeannie 7:50 AM

love you too

Allow me to clarify the above conversation for those of you that aren’t aware with why we have a “code word,” for Heaven. 

When I was younger, I would attend weekly youth Bible classes and on one occasion we spoke about marriage and how to move on if/when your spouse passes.  I was taught it is okay to remarry but I raised my hand and asked, what I thought to be a good & genuine question {but apparently everyone else knew the answer to},  “If your spouse dies, and you remarry, which one of them do you spend eternity with in Heaven once you all pass?”  There were chuckles & a few *bless her hearts* and the response was,

“When you get to Heaven, your relationships & ties that you had on Earth, are no longer in existence.  Once you arrive at the pearly gates, everyone knows everyone, you won’t know your mother from a stranger, etc…” and I was heartbroken.  My first thought was, “My aunt Kay won’t know I was her niece?” But now that I’m older, I see why this concept is so great, because everyone is family, you’ll love and support them, and they’ll love and support you, but I can’t help feeling like I would want to know if I had a closer bond with someone over the next {not very Christian, I know, I apologize}.  Since we take on different forms once we leave our Earth bound bodies, I knew I wanted to have a code word with my husband so when we’re floating around, or what have you, in Heaven we could find one another, and 8 years ago, after refereeing lovingly to Cody as pervy {short for pervert} we decided that would be the best code word for us.  We don’t think anyone else would have the gall to use that word in Heaven, or at least we hope not!

I Must Look Really Pretty Today

My company recently “baby boomed,” so there are a lot of new employees, those employees drive cars, which they have to park, creating a lack of parking spots at my building’s parking garage.  Why am I telling you this horribly boring tidbit of information?  First of all, rude!   Second, It’s for a good lead up, so just stay with me, and third, after you find out what “pretty,” act I committed this morning you’ll understand the back story.  What happens if we don’t get a spot at our company’s parking structure?   We have to park on the 5 & 6 floors of the Galleria Nordstrom’s parking garage that is located across the street from our building.  Since this is somewhat of a journey, I like to wear flip flops & carry my heels, so I don’t ruin them.  

Okay, so what’s the story?  We again parked at Nordstrom’s parking garage, I wore my hot pink flip flops, crossed the street thanking our crosswalk security officer, got into our building, stepped into the elevator, hit 9 & 5 {Cody’s floor} and took a deep sigh because I’m living the dream... As we’re progressing upward Cody touches my raggedy old pair of wedges I recently replaced with a new pair and says, “I thought you weren’t wearing these anymore?”  I look down puzzled & reply, “Oh no!  I grabbed the wrong pair!” then immediately noticed that I did not grab the wrong pair, I wish I grabbed the wrong pair… My right was indeed my raggedy old espadrille wedge BUT my left shoe was not… My left shoe is my brand new taupe cork wedge that is also an inch & a half taller… the elevator dinged, Cody stepped off laughing under his breath and I turned to the 2 suits that were getting off on our executive floor and simply said, “I have two different shoes… it’s okay, you can laugh.” And they did.  We all laughed together.

In my defense, they do look similar, which was the point since I’m replacing the haggard pair, BUT one is nude-the other taupe, one is a espadrille-the other cork, one has a knot detail-the other a flower thing, and one is 3.5” tall-the other is 2”, and since there is a height difference, I’m walking with a little extra swag.  Look out playa’s I’m tagging in to play. *oh geez*

No one should have multiple stories of this nature, but it’s me, so of course I do.  The first time something similar like this happened I was walking down a wedding isle… intrigued?

My friends Chris & Kara were getting married & I was Kara’s maid of honor. 

Kara graciously bought all of her six bride’s maids shoes for the wedding.  They were a very pretty shade of navy blue that matched our dresses perfectly.  She was living in Virgina at the time so she brought them back with her from there.  On one of the days we met up she handed me my box of shoes, I opened it, took out the left shoe, tried it on, *kiss your finger tips because you’re doing that Italian thing* Muah! They look smashing.  I handed the box back to Kara so all the shoes would stay together.  A week goes by, it’s the day of the wedding, our hair is all done, our make-up fantastic, we’re getting dressed, all that’s left are the shoes.  I grab my box of size 7’s, put my left shoe on and then I go to put on my right, but it’s not there… there’s just another left… “Oh no…” yep, there were two lefts in my box, no joke.  After quietly freaking out and making a phone call to Codiy {who was an usher} to go to Payless to buy me a pair of navy blue or black heels, I told Kara.  We all had a moment, but knew it would work out in the end, no worries… wrong.  The wedding started on time {which never happens!} so Cody didn’t make it in time.  Thankfully we walked arm in arm with the groomsmen so Chris’ best man, Beau {who’s awesome} supported me as I strutted down the isle in two left shoes.  Once on the stairs I simply crossed my ankles to hide the entire side of my foot that was hanging off the shoe.  It was brilliant!  {I love that story}

PS 

In case you were wondering: Instead of saying blond moment, dingy, etc… I say “pretty day.”  It’s not fair to other woman if you’re smart AND beautiful so whenever you do something not so smart, my theory is you’re just balancing out.  So I must look really pretty today.

In honor of today’s mishap here are two songs:

“Boogie Shoes,” by KC & the Sunshine Band

“SHOES,” by this guy who’s name in the video is Kelly

Prom Pose

Going to prom is a big event in people’s lives; it’s an even bigger deal when you’re Autistic.   My little brother, Anthony, is going to prom this year with a few more boys from his special needs class.  He turned 22 on Saturday {Cinco de Mayo} so this is the last year he’ll be able to attended a prom.  Tony, as he likes to be called, has Asperger’s Disorder which is a milder variant of Autism {which loosely translates to: he’s a high functioning Autistic man.} 

He’s very sensitive, sweet, repetitive, loves video games, is good at math, music, & science, but lacks social skills amongst a few other things.  Something that can be seen as a downfall is how “normal” he looks, he gets picked on a lot because people can’t tell he’s special by looking at him, they think he’s just “weird,” and EVEN THOUGH no one should be picking on anyone, let’s face it, kids can be cruel, and it’s hard to be him, so the fact he gets to attend prom with all the other seniors is pretty major feat.   Not only is he going to prom, he also has a date, who’s in college {he loves to point that out}, she’s the special needs director's daughter who agreed to go with him, which proves that some people can be fantastic! 

Over the weekend {on his birthday} we took Tony to Men’s Warehouse to get fitted for his Tux that was donated by a man we’ve never met {another fantastic humane}. 

The mystery good doer also donated a tux for Aaron, another special needs boy.  It was so cute watching them both try everything on and making their decisions.  Aaron requested a white tux with a black shirt {like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever},

but we quickly nudged him into going with a white shirt instead, but he’ll still be rock’n a white tux, don’t worry.

When ask, Tony replied, “Let’s go with classic black.” Then he looked up and noticed this ensemble and added, “I want that entire look…”

When we pointed out that his date will be wearing a blue dress, he said, “Yep, and I’m wearing purple.”  Well alright, we’ll just ask the florist {who’s donating the flowers, so amazing!} to put a purple ribbon on his dates corsage and a blue ribbon on his boutonnière, problem solved. 

We’re currently trying to find a limo service to donate or discount a car for the group that’s going.  We want them to have the full experience.   Some people don’t understand why things needs to be donated, “Why can’t you just pay for their stuff like everyone else?”  I can understand where you’re coming from, you don’t have the familiarity with the cost that goes into raising someone with these disorders, I’ll give you a hint, insurance doesn’t cover all their medical cost… Moving on.  While celebrating the rest of Tony’s birthday I offered to take photos of the group before they ride away to dinner, I jokingly said to my Mom, “Awe, I wish Cody & I could go to prom as chaperons, that would be so neat, not only to watch Anthony and to take pictures, but to go to prom with my husband!”  I thought nothing more of it, but this morning I received a phone call that turned my Monday completely around!

“I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it, I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!”  Why the 1982 Pointer Sister reference?  Beside the fact that the song is amazing… We’re going to prom!!!  My mom was talking to Mrs. Copelen {sp?}, Anthony’s teacher, and she told her how Cody & I offered to take photos of the group before leaving to dinner, Mrs. Copelen was very appreciative and added how she wished someone could tag along to take photos of the entire night, my mom, remembering my comment from two days prior, told Mrs. Copelen how I already mentioned that, and voilà, we’re going to prom!

I'm now in planning mode.  I demanded a corsage from Codiy, he laughed, but he knows I’m serious.  Those that know me, KNOW I immediately thought, “What am I going to wear?!!!  And how am I going to style my hair??!!”  but we’ve got that figured out.  Yes we were asked at 10:00 am but I’m shocked it took me this long to nail it down {it’s now 3:30 pm}.

Cody will wear his 3 piece heather gray suit from our wedding, a white button-up shirt, with a polka dotted bow tie.

I’ll wear this gorg backless black 1950’s inspired dress with black satin wrist gloves and either the shoes shown here, or a pair of polka dotted pumps.  Choices, choices, choices...

I’m up in the air about my hair style, I want it to be retro to match my dress, I have to talk to my hair stylist to see what he think!

I'm going to take a massive amount of photos that I’ll be sharing on here for sure.  Pray/Wish us luck that everything goes smoothly & that someone will donate a limo for the evening as well!

Happy Prom Anthony!

Update: Diesel’s Dilemma

I decided to give you an update on my darling Diesel for those of you wondering how his training is going.  We had a trainer come meet him in March and after discussing our goals for Diesel she set a plan for us.  Codiy & I both agreed that we trusted her, we liked her style of training, she was a reasonable price, & she would come to our house every two weeks until we felt confident to do it alone.  She came to our house ONE time and hasn’t been back.  Her first paying visit was supposed to be the day after St. Patrick’s day, I called and asked if we could reschedule because I knew we would be hung over, I was thinking ahead.  The next week, she called and canceled because she had to go out of town.  The third visit she was supposed to be at our house at noon, around 12:15 I checked my cell phone and I had a missed call from her stating she wasn’t going to come over until she heard from us, “she didn’t want to drive all the way to our house if we weren’t going to be there…” I was sort of taken back, before we met the first time she rescheduled on us 3 times in a row, the day of the visit, with only a few hours’ notice, so we weren’t the unreliable ones in this relationship.  I took a deep breath and called her back.  No answer.  I texted her.  No reply.  I then allowed myself to get upset.  It’s practically May and she still hasn’t called/texted us back, very odd, but I suppose it wasn’t meant to be.  Needless to say, we decided to do it on our own using the great tips she gave us and keeping her assessment of Diesel in mind.   We would’ve seeked out another trainer but everything we’ve been doing has been working. 

If you don’t remember, we were told Diesel “owns” too much.  He doesn’t have to ask permission to do anything, so we started making boundaries, on EVERYTHiNG that he does.  {You can read here to catch up}.

I’m happy to report that we stopped squirting him in the face with water, not because we feel evil {which was the case in the beginning} but because he doesn’t need it anymore, I will say this, that was an ingenious idea that wasn’t harmful and we saw results instantly, which we didn’t expect. 

He now only barks at the front door MAYBE once a day, and it’s usually because there are people right out front in the drive way; but instead of a constant barking paired with frantic pacing until we would go and check it out it’s now ONE MASSiVE bark which we reply by yelling his name and then telling him to “go lay down,” in his time out spot, which he does, without arguing.  One night after instructing him to do so, we forgot about it, and he laid there for 30 minutes, it was awesome!

Now that we have people ignoring him completely, his anxiety has gone down soooooooooo much!  A stranger was able to pet his head without him even noticing over the weekend.  We’d still rather new people pet his neck or belly until we’re 100% sure he’s not scared of them, but he was totally fine with it, so we were too.

All & all, he's a happy puppy

CalifornYEAH!

We recently got everything finalized so I can now share our excitement!  For the past three months we’ve been planning a trip to Southern California and It’s been a process!  I know what you’re thinking, “What’s so hard about buying two round-trip tickets, renting a convertible, & booking a nice hotel room on the beach?”  Well, smarty pants, we’re not doing any of that.  Since we don’t enjoy asking our friends & family to watch our dogs, we decided the best thing to do is take them with us… Yep, ROADTRiP!!!! {I’m the most excited about that! ß See, I even wrote multiple exclamation points to drive that fact home, I’m seriously stoked! ßthere it is again!} 

I can picture Diesel laying in the water with his head up high as the waves crash against him and Lady Lashes running up to all the people demanding their attention, both of them wearing their UV protective rashguards, hats, & possibly life vest

 

Yes, I’m buying them all of that.  Diesel I know for a fact wont swim without a life vest, he’ll get in the water but doesn’t like swimming without it.  Can you blame him?  160 lbs. is hard to keep a float strictly by doggie paddling.  As for Lashes Love, I don’t know if she’s ever been swimming, and since she’s so small, I’ll have to bring it as a just in case factor.  It’ll all get used again, our best friends have a boat so I see this gear as investments {feel free to judge, I hear myself, and I don’t care!}

I digressed, back to our planning process.  Since we’re driving and bringing the puppies, it’s not easy finding a location that allows dogs Diesel’s size.  We COULD have stayed at a La Quinta Inn & Suites {they’re like Holiday Inn Expresses, we’re members, and they don’t have weight limits on dogs} but we wanted a yard for the dogs to be able to play in, also the added convenience of being able to leave them outside while we go out on our adventures.  They are inside dogs but at home when it’s a pretty day, we come home from work to a yard full of their toys, and a nice day in Houston is every day in California so they’ll want to lounge for sure.

SO by using VRBO, Home Away, Flip Key, Vacation Rentals, & Google; I found 46 potential rentals in Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, & Huntington Beach area that are all pet friendly.  This was how I kept track, I know very Type "A" of me

We quickly decided that Huntington was too far away from all the action and we didn’t want to spend 60% of our trip in the car {I mean, we're already driving there}, Los Angeles was too far from a beach, and Santa Monica & Hermosa Beach were too $$$ so we isolated it down to just Venice Beach.  At the end of February we found a couple that was renting out their guesthouse, it was small, but it seemed perfect.  We corresponded back in forth for about 3 weeks sizing each other up asking questions, etc… When Cody & I decided that we indeed wanted to stay there I explained to her that we were waiting on our tax refund check before we could paid the $500 deposit {which we wouldn’t get back until 14 days after our trip which I found odd}, but I would be willing to pay $250 to show her we were serious.  She told me that it was fine, we could just fill out and return the contract she sent me and since we were expecting our refund within the next two weeks, she could wait… Well, we received our check on a Thursday, I told her that day, we paid her via PayPal and on Sunday it was refunded with an message saying they rented it to someone else… “YOU BiT…” *DEEP BREATHE* So it was back to the drawing board.  I re-contacted people that were more expensive but in the same area, a lot of them no longer had vacancies, so we started to worry.  After doing another sweep on Home Away I found two prospects and they both sounded fantastic! 

One is a Studio Apartment

It’s attached to the owner’s house that is a 5 min drive to the beach, the couple actually has rental property in the Houston Heights, and she fosters dogs so her and her husband are very dog friendly, but they didn’t have a washer & dryer and we wouldn’t be able to walk to anything, we would have to drive.

The other one is a Bungalow 4 blocks from the beach:

It doesn’t have a high fenced grass yard which is why we’re hesitant to rent it, but we figured we can buy the fake grass to lay out on top the patio.  I mean it has a hot tub, it’s near Abbot Street, & they have a washer & dryer.

We were having trouble choosing so I posted a vote on this blog and everyone said to go with the Bungalow, which is exactly what we did! 

This is where we’ll be spending our first four nights in Venice Beach:

We’re only 0.3 miles from the beach

Now that our accommodations are finalized it feels more real and we can get to the fun stuff, like buying the things we’ll need for our trip & planning our excursions!  When we vacation we like to “live like locals,” and be going none stop, we normally need a “stay-cation” after returning from our vacations! 

{For our honeymoon we only had one out of six days where we did absolutely nothing, and we ended up napping that day because we got bored.} 

Our initial plan is to leave on Tuesday evening/night and drive 16-17 hours to either Tucson or Phoenix, Arizona.  Our goal is to arrive before 10:00 am on Wednesday.  We’ll check in to a La Quinta Inn & Suites where we’ll sleep for a few hours, shower, eat, recoup, etc… then either leave that night or early the next morning for the remaining 8 hour drive to Venice Beach.  My Bubeleh said he wants to see if we can make it all the way to California in one trip, of course stopping for the puppies & potty breaks {the 2 “Ps”} but we’re going to play that by ear.  Our main focus is not being exhausted our first day, we don’t won’t to be useless, we actually want to venture out and explore the neighborhood. 

We’re planning on visiting Santa Monica Pier, hiking the Hollywood sign, people watching on Venice Beach, Catching a T.V. or Talk show taping in Burbank, eating lunch at the Ivy, Seeing the stars down Hollywood blvd, taking our photo in front of the Chinese Theater, eating at Rosco’s Chicken & Waffles, spending a day in Malibu, visiting the Getty Museum, window shop on Rodeo Drive, see the Griffith Observatory, & visit with a few friends.  I created a PiN BOARD on Pinterest to tag the places I mentioned and a few restaurants that were featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives as well as Man vs. Food.

If you can think of anything else that we HAVE to go do, or places we HAVE to eat at, please post a comment! 

The remaining 3 nights of our trip will be spent in San Diego! 

We don’t check into our cute single family home until 4:00 pm so we’re going to spend the morning in Huntington Beach.  I want to take Diesel & Lashes to Dog Beach, they’re going to LOVE it. 

After lunch on the beach we’ll drive our last hour to San Diego.

We’re staying in a “Cute and cozy 2 bedroom 1 bath cottage with a totally private feel. The front yard is completely fenced in with 12 foot high hedges providing a hideaway that allows you to stretch out and relax in the yard as well as the living room. The backyard is very spacious to give even the most energetic dogs room room to play! The interior of this home has every last amenity that you'll need to enjoy your stay. The kitchen and bathroom are completely updated as well as the rest of the house. Hardwood floors and custom paint as well as quality furnishings throughout, will make even our high maintenance travelers happy. There is also a 2 car garage for secure off street parking.  Dogs are allowed. 2 Dog per reservation maximum. The property is completely fenced in and very safe for our 4 legged friends. There is even a kennel in the back yard to secure the dog while you are away for his/her protection.” 

{I copied & pasted the VRBO description.}

 “It’s only 8 blocks from the beach and 4 blocks from the bay.  This amazing rental property is located in Pacific Beach of San Diego, bounded by La Jolla to the north, Mission Beach and Mission Bay to the south, Interstate 5 to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. While largely populated by young people, surfers, and college students, the population is becoming older, more professional, and more affluent due to rising property and rental costs. 'P.B.,' as it is known as by local residents, is home to one of San Diego's larger nightlife scenes, with dozens of bars, eateries, and clothing stores.”

I’ve only heard amazing things about San Diego so we’re really excited to holiday there!  I can’t wait to visit their zoo & eat at La Jolla Beach and appreciate the sea lions, that’s going to be so neat!  We’re also planning on visiting the Gaslamp District, Del Mar, maybe hit up Ocean Beach, Laguna Beach, Old Town San Diego {there’s a few haunted places here!!}, & Hotel Del Coronado. 

If you know of anything else, please let us know!!

I’m determined to blog every night/morning about our outings, purchases, events, etc… throughout this 11 day adventure. 

We’re going to try and film some stuff too, we’ll try and make it interesting, promise!

PS:
I'd like to say a special thank you to my cousin, Monique, who will be house sitting for us while we're gone... THANK YOU!!!

CALiFORNi A or B?

We’re planning a family trip to California in June, yes, we’re bringing Diesel & Lashes, so you know what that means?  ROADTRiP!  We found two places that are happy to rent to us, now we have to decide which one we want to stay at,
which would be your vote?

Keep in mind they are both VERY dog friendly, they both included cable/satellite television, & two beach bike cruisers.

OPTiON A: THE BUNGALOW 

OPTION B: STUDIO

Which one do you vote for

A or B?