a dog's life

recently, a friend asked me what laila does all day when we're at work, and so i thought i would share "a day in the life of laila" with all of you too...

she runs around the backyard. digs up my garden. chews up the wires from the sprinkler system that she has dug up (that's *really* awesome). she poops. she sleeps in her dog house or on my music man's chair (which is no longer his chair, it's now hers). she pulls her warm, fluffy bed out of her dog house and drags it all over the yard. she runs around the backyard (we need to make a film of this because it's HILARIOUS). she will grab one of her toys and run around with it in her mouth then throw it up in the air and try to catch it (another thing we need to film. so funny!) she eats stuff she shouldn't eat (bark, twigs, bugs, dirt). she stands at the gate and barks at people walking by. she waits at the gate for one of us to come home for lunch. she scratches her itches. she barks at any neighbor who dares to step into their backyard.

she got a new toy this weekend. and they were inseparable. until we saw her whipping it around the living room and we became very afraid for the tv, lamps, etc. so she now gets it only when she's good. but here's a photo of her chewin' on it.



ps the quality of this photo isn't great, sorry. the next one will be better!

gardening: 101

well, to be honest, i'm not going to teach you to garden. i don't even know what i'm doing -- i'm winging it as someone i know (mom? dad?) would say. BUT, we did get our garden turned over. those of you that have read this blog from the beginning, remember my first attempt at a garden. and as fun as that was, i didn't count on the fact that last year would be so rainy and muddy and that the dog would take over the back yard. and in recent months, we have discovered that she can hop the garden fence -- not good if you want to actually grow something in the garden. so we've moved it and enlarged it. now it's on the east side of the house which gets loads of sun, but afternoon shade -- a good thing here in ATX.

we've also plotted out what we're planting and where and i've even put the rosemary in it's spot already. so we're on our way. i'd post a photo, but it's really not that pretty (nothing's planted yet), and it's literally only turned over. we still plan to cover it with the leaves from the yard and then a layer of mulch over that. then come planting time, we'll turn it all over and our veggies will be happy [fingers crossed!].

so what are you planting this year?

the kitchen and my mom

as you may know, as a kid, i loved to bake. just about anything, but especially apple pie. my apple pie was known throughout the tri-state area. and now, i have my perfected apple pie recipe and maybe one day, i'll post that recipe. then post-college, my oldest cousin (chef, entrepreneur) taught me how to make the most delicious scalloped potatoes. and if you're really nice to me i'll post that recipe. it's a recipe that has made me famous outside of the tri-state area. it requires heavy cream and lots of it -- have no fear, it WILL stick to your thighs, but it's so very delicious.

back on topic. my mother reads cookbooks. you may be thinking, "i read cookbooks too". but no, she READS cookbooks. she cooks from them occasionally, but mostly, she gets ideas from cookbooks and then makes her own dish -- a conglomeration of what she just read. ask her to make a dish the same way twice, she can't do it. we have learned that in order to get a recipe out of her, we need to have her write it down and then you're still not guaranteed to replicate what she created. what i'm attempting to establish here is that she's an expert in the kitchen (did you get that?!). needless to say, she "gets it" -- the kitchen that is. she understands the chemistry behind what happens in the kitchen. how all those chemicals work together to create a dish that's de-lish.

growing up i'm sure i was in the kitchen with her, but i really didn't pick up all that much. especially in the chemistry area. so this begins my first in a series of cooking posts where i will attempt to learn (and educate you if you're interested) some of the mysteries of the kitchen. if there's a mystery you would like solved, let me know and i'll add it to the list that's accumulating in my head.

laundry room

at long last...i've been promising this to you all for ages now, and finally, it's here. before and after photos for your enjoyment.



that part in the back of the room that is a different color than the rest of the wall was where the shelf was. i took that down, obviously. and the ceiling (there is no photo, sorry) was popcorned. i took that down as well and painted it.




my mom made the curtains and helped me hang the shelves.



voila! pretty good, right? makes laundry a much more enjoyable experience. in fact, i'm in the middle of a load right now...

the floor had a horrible vinyl tile on it. and when my first washer broke i replaced it with some more vinyl tile. so when i re-did the room, i decided to put ceramic tile down, and i did! all by myself. i'd show you a photo, but there's not much to see since there's a washer and dryer sitting on top of the tile job.

i hope it was worth the wait!

a face only a mother could love

what did she get into now?


come on mom, stop taking pictures of me and let me inside. it's cold out here.

Fayla's Follies

i've done it! i've started a business. notecards & prints. prints aren't live yet, but will be soon.

you can check it out here: Fayla's Follies. you can also always get to it via the "links" section here on this blog. i'll have a permanent link there.

i've gotten a lot of questions about where the name came from. so here's the story...Fayla - it's a combination of our pets names -- fina (the cat) and laila (the dog). and my dad always says that a good photo is just "dumb luck" and so i added on the word "Folly".

so check it out, send to all your friends, and tell them they to buy my cards!

laila in photos

as promised, more frequent updates, and photos using my new lens.

much more natural lighting, wouldn't you agree?





i'm still getting used to using the light filter again, but you get the idea.

new year!

so one of my new year resolutions was to update this blog on a more regular basis. obviously i haven't been sticking to that one. another one was to walk with laila for 40-50 mins 4x per week. haven't done that yet either. so i'm failing miserably so far this year. but i'll keep trying.

so what's new with us? we survived the road trip and even had fun! we got home and had two days to recoup before going back to work. we're both glad we did that. and then a short week at work -- which was also planned well.

went shopping with my baby sis this weekend and found a dress! yipee! bought it and everything. will be in sometime in april. i can't believe it. and we booked the caterer already for the wedding, and everyone's mailing in deposits for house rentals, things are moving right along.

and so that gets us to this week. my music man's brother - the film maker - is in town for 4 days and staying with us. gave me an excuse to clean up the study and the guest room. he leaves on thursday, but it's been fun having him around. next time, we get him to bring the whole family with him.

my big purchase with christmas money was a new lens (50mm f/1.8). for those of you that don't know what that means, it means that i can take pictures in low light without a flash. it's pretty cool. i showed my baby sis and my aunt when i went over for a visit, and when you see it in action, it's pretty sweet. i'll work on getting some photos up that i've taken with it, so you can get the full feel of it over the internet ;)

ok, first post of the year is done. happy new year all!