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So much for dedicating more time to the Apple in 2012. Funny how fast I fail at any type of resolution.
You know it’s bad when your biggest supporter leaves a comment, “UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!” Sorry, Danica.
Starting my own business has proven to be challenging, exhilarating, nerve-wracking and rewarding all at the same time. I wrote on a pet sitting site the other day that the hours I’m putting in right now are more than I worked in both of my previous jobs. I’m going 100 miles per hour, seven days a week, but I am kind of loving it.
If I’m not out consulting with a new client, or visiting an old one, I’m on the computer trying to balance the business and all our social media profiles. I have a bookmark checklist of sites I go to every day to either update information or to fine tune it. Check Rascals, Inc. out here, here, here and here. I started blogging about pet news on the site, so even if you’re not in the area, you can still visit Rascals, Inc. for cute and fuzzy pet photos and stories. Not to mention the profiles I’ve created on sites like Sittercity.com and Care.com where I reply to requests for pet sitting gigs. It’s like a reverse Craigslist.
Almost every day someone recommends a site to me to sign up on (DogVacay.com and TaskRabbit.com, to name a couple). I love discovering more networks because the more people that see Rascals, Inc. the better. And now that I have stickers on my car (pictures to come, promise), I’m hoping more and more people are checking us out.
“So, when can I retire?” asks MaineMan.
I keep telling him not to get too carried away, but I appreciate his enthusiasm.
Apart from hyper-focusing on Rascals, Inc. and expanding my client list, MaineMan and I have had many adventures so far this year. Below are some of the highlights:
MaineMan’s parents stayed with us for two weeks and spoiled us with dinners and fun activities. We rang in the New Year at Disney, escaped to Catalina for the day, drove up to Mammoth where we skied and ate our way through town (and Yosemite).
The week they left a close friend from Virginia Swimming days came out with her boyfriend and we enjoyed a couple of fun meals together before lighting up the dance floor and party at Drai’s of the W Hotel in Hollywood. We all felt like big ballers that night.
We celebrated MaineMan’s birthday up at Leo Carillo. He knew we were going camping for two nights, but he had no idea we were camping with a few of our closest friends. The surprise camping weekend was a hit, and despite eight hours of rain one night after we hit the tents, we were able to enjoy a couple of beach walks and S’mores.
The week after my friend BYOWino came for a week. We enjoyed the beach, a hike in Malibu, walks with Agnes and yet another Disney adventure.
My friend from ABC News, SirDatesALot, now of the Associated Press, had a night to kill so we took him to A Frame and Waterloo and City. Lucky for us we live across the street from two hip/essential L.A. dining spots.
CalGal is in Southern California for a couple of weeks and we got a great hike in up at Rustic Canyon. If you haven’t been it’s a beautiful hike, just look out for rattlesnakes.
We had a weekend here to relax (GO GIANTS!) and then we headed up to Carmel to visit my mom and to attend the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. We bumped into Tiger Woods, Bill Murray, Josh Duhamel, Phil Mickelson, Tony Romo, Ray Romano, George Lopez and Andy Garcia, to name a few. I got my mom a high-five from Duhamel and a signature from Chris O’Donnell. In the photo below Murray is second from the left in a 3D camouflage suit. It was a wonderful trip, and my only complaint is it was too short and we left Tucker up there to stay with his real mom for a month.
This weekend we are heading to Calico for Civil War Days.
“Civil War in California?” My mom asked.
“Yup! I guess so, should be interesting,” I said.
More pix to come. And hopefully more posting here.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Plans for the weekend are up in the air. We thought we were taking an overnight boat trip to Catalina like we did a couple of weeks ago, but some people canceled and it’s fallen through. MaineMan works with this guy Capt. Chris Wade — the Richard Branson of the ocean diving community. The Discovery Channel followed him and his crew onboard his boat “Sea Watch” for two weeks as they tried to find great whites off the coast of California. Unfortunately for the crew — they hoped the adventure would be featured in “Shark Week” — they didn’t find great whites. Fortunately for me, they didn’t find great whites.
MaineMan and a few other guys helped the Captain with his boat over the course of a couple of weekends and in return we all had an amazing weekend cruising around Catalina and diving in some great spots. Showed up at the dark, foggy docks of Long Beach at 6:30 a.m. and set off at about nine, escorted by schools and schools of dolphins swimming and zipping right under the bow (that’s boat speak for the front — I’m finally learning the lingo).
Dolphin Escort
Spent the day diving and eating, eating and diving, and eating and eating and drinking. The Captain’s right-hand man/sidekick Matt is an amazing cook and we pigged out on anything he prepared. This guy is a trip and his dog’s name, excuse my French, is “Rusty Balls.” That’s right. And it’s a SHE, to boot. I met Matt and a few minutes later he told me what his dog’s name was and I thought he was teasing. That is, until I looked at her collar and sure enough, there it was. Wow. Rusty and I became great friends, probably because I called her and insisted on leaving the second half of her name out.
Me and Rusty B
Saturday night we docked at Isthmus Cove and took the tender to land for a couple rounds of drinks then back to the boat for some amazing grub.
The next morning we woke up and found this out our “bedroom” window.
Triple Rainbow: What Does It Mean?
Diving on Sunday was a bit of a challenge. I saw where we anchored and I knew immediately it was going to be scary for me. On all my previous dives we’ve been a stone’s throw away from land and this one we were smack dab in the middle of the ocean.
I had a panic “Open Water” moment when we popped up 20 minutes into the dive — the kind where you surface and don’t see land OR the boat. I freaked and really didn’t know if I was going to make it. Shook me to tears once I got back on the boat, but after talking about it with MM and some of the great new friends we made, I feel much better about the situation. I’ve already dove since — had my first shore dive this past weekend and loved it. We camped up at Leo Carillo with a big group of friends and three of us dove on Sunday right off the beach.
I called the vet today up in Monterey to see what I need to do with Tucker. The big ham needs a geriatric exam. Hopefully when they meet him they’ll see he’s only 16 years young and has plenty of spunk left in him to last another decade.
