Happy hump day everyone! I’m SO excited that today’s the day; We’re off to paradise (well, one of my places in the world!) in a few hours! I just wanted to toss up a quick post before I lay down to try and get a few hours of sleep before we head out (aiming to be on the road by 8, 9 at the very latest!).

As always, I’ll be updating Twitter, TweetPhoto, and flickr with pictures, videos, and updates constantly! I may even do a video blog from the hotel! We’ll see..! That’d definitely be something fun and different!

Also, I want to wish EVERYONE at dance who’s competing at this year’s Holiday Dance Classic the BEST of LUCK! I love you all; I’ll be there in spirit cheerin’ everyone on! Special love to Tamar, Martin, Lupe, Tony, Monica, Jen, Tara, and Carrie. I know not all  of you are competing but your kids and students will be in my thoughts and cheers, too! Everyone will be amazing and I can’t wait to see the ‘Top Studio‘ trophy high up on a shelf for all to see in our house!

YES! The holiday season is here and that means it’s time for my yearly vacation to Disneyland with Mama! I’m beyond excited — our Christmas Vacation has been a tradition for YEARS and it’s always nothing short of amazing. We’re switching things up just a bit this year. Instead of staying at the Disneyland Hotel or the Grand Californian, we’re staying in either Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, or Irvine, because…we also want to hit the beach! Haha. The beach in DECEMBER?! Hell yes! Barely any tourists and the weather is still amazing.

We’re leaving early on Dec. 9th and heading home on the 12th. Perfect length. I love getting away but I can’t stay away from my babies (my cats) for very long, haha. I just miss ‘em way too much!

Another great part about vacation? SHOPPING! And I’ll be seeing one of my very best friends, Mel (from undi3s.org, remember?!). Can’t wait to see her; It’s been way too long!

What does everyone else have planned for the holidays? Any trips or vacations planned or just staying home? Do tell!

Happy birthday to…uh, my site? Haha yes, dolcezza.net is 7 years old today. Aww. Seriously, time flies.

…And since the last time I blogged was in MAY, I figured today would be the perfect time to finally update this bitch.

A LOT has happened in the past 5-6 months. I had my personal ‘hell week’ last week, which was tough as usual but also easier to get through. The week of Nov. 4th – Nov. 11th is insanely tough for me for many reasons, all which surround my Dad. The 4th is the anniversary of his death (it was 14 years ago on Wednesday the 4th, but still seems like yesterday that I was at his funeral). The 10th is his birthday (he would have turned 64 last Tuesday) and the USMC’s (U. S. Marine Corps) 234th birthday, and my Dad was a Marine who served in Vietnam in the late ’60′s. Then the 11th is Veteran’s day, so obviously I don’t have to explain that one. It’s insane how much can happen in the span of just ONE week. But, it’s over, and it was made easier this year by my Mama, my Aunt, and my Dad’s friends from the USMC. Jerry called me on the 4th to just let me know he was thinking of me and just said the nicest things about my Dad. I wasn’t home when he called but he left a voicemail that made me cry like a baby, but in a good way. I swear, I may have lost my Dad but I am still so, so lucky to have tracked down his friends and to have met and got to know them. They’re all just…I don’t even know the words. Nothing can describe how amazing and caring they are. I could spend all day trying to explain how wonderful they are but it wouldn’t do them justice. And just thinking that my Dad’s friends are now my friends (and practically family) is…amazing. Absolutely amazing.

We’ve had some hard times with the pets over the past few months as well. We had to put Sadie, our Shiba Inu, to sleep on the 11th (which is a hard day already, having to suddenly say goodbye to her forever broke my heart). She’d been showing some signs of arthritis and has been having some trouble walking and staying afoot on the tile (about 1/2 our house is tile flooring), but arthritis is quite common in animals just like people, so we took her to the vet, Dr. J (most amazing vet ever, I love him) said she seems fine but put her on Rimadyl (an arthritis medication for dogs; Very common), and we thought things would be fine. We’ve used Rimadyl on many of our dogs in the past and it worked very well for them. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Sadie. On Wednesday morning she just looked terrible. She was barely able to get up, she was slipping all over, and she just looked so…sad, I guess. I don’t know how else to explain that look she had. So, we knew the Rimadyl obviously hadn’t helped her and we had to make the decision to let her go. It was so hard because it was so unexpected, and she wasn’t an old dog. She wasn’t a puppy by any means but she wasn’t an old dog, either. She still had so much life and personality inside, but her poor body just couldn’t keep up with her. There’s no surgery options for her physical state, it’s just how she was. So as much as it killed us to have to say goodbye and put her to sleep, we had to do it, for her. Keeping her alive any longer wouldn’t have been fair to her, and she would just be struggling and constantly suffering — that’s no way to live.

We also lost Buddy, our Lhasa Apso, about 4 weeks ago. However, Buddy’s death was very different because we knew it was coming and expected it. He had lost his hearing about a year ago (Sadie was also completely deaf but it never hindered her from anything; She was still very bright but damn stubborn!) and he was starting to lose his sight, too. Then he got an eye infection and this thing spread unbelievably fast. We tried treating it but the drops and medications didn’t work, and when it got even worse the vet said he’d have to remove the actual eye because infection could spread. So that was when we knew it was time to let him go.

Buddy’s death was much different from Sadie’s. We’d had him for at least 7 or 8 years, and he was an old dog. We lost Sadie 7 days shy of her 2 year ‘homecoming’ (or day we found her), which is this Wednesday the 18th. Ironically, we found Lilly the same day and I HAD to keep her. I just bonded with that little brat crazy fast and couldn’t part from her. It seems like yesterday we brought her home, but it also seems like we’ve always had her.

We didn’t have another death, but a HUGE scare about 3 months ago with Tibbies (my oldest cat, he’s 20 but in amazing shape. Vets have never believed me and have always been shocked when they see what great condition he’s in for a cat his age!). He was fine as he’s always been, then one day I saw him sitting down in the hallway. Now I’ve had this cat since I was 4 years old and I’m 23 now. I know him better than myself. I could just tell by his stance that something was…off. I started talking to him and petting him and quickly discovered that he couldn’t see. …At all. He lost his sight out of NOWHERE. And this wasn’t something that was slowly coming on. He’s NEVER had any sort of vision or eye problems and that day I looked at him and his pupils were huge. They were dilated with the lights ON, which isn’t normal. Then when he was walking around and bumping into things…oh man. I lost it. Talk about a nightmare; I living one. Seeing my boy in that condition, not being able to see…it was horrible. I immediately got on google and looked up ‘sudden vision loss/blindness in cats’, and found an article that said high blood pressure can cause just that. T’s never had any B/P problems but we took him to the vet immediately, and Dr. J say his blood pressure was sky-high. 400-something I think? So in a sense that was a relief because we had an answer as to what caused the vision loss, but I was still worried sick because no one knew if he’d get it back. Dr. J put him on 2 medications — one for the B/P, and one for his Thyroid. Hypothyroidism is common in older cats. It’s no death sentence, it just happens in animals like it does in people. Dr. J said that he didn’t know if Tibbies would get his sight back, and if he did get it back, how much he would get. So he said to wait about 3 weeks and by then we should know if the medications helped or not. 9 days went by and they were pure hell. EVERY time I saw or heard him bump into something, I would just burst into hysterics. It was like my heart was being punched every time it happened. My Tibb-sters is my world; Anyone who knows me knows that my cats are my world. They’re all special and unique in their own ways but Tibbies is special in that he’s my ‘first born’, if you will. He’s always been with me. I can’t remember any point in my life when he wasn’t a part of it. …And the idea that I might lose him just…oh man. Unacceptable and unexplainable. That’s all I can say.

So 9 days went by after he lost his sight. Those were definitely the longest and hardest 9 days of my entire life. Then on the 9th day he was on the windowsill (he somehow still managed to jump up there even without his sight; He’s amazing), and I noticed he started moving his head. …Like he was looking at something. I went over to look at him and I immediately noticed that his pupils were frickin’ restricted. …And it was on a sunny afternoon. I screamed and Mama ran in and saw him and we both just cried our asses off in joy. HE GOT IT BACK. He got his sight back in 9 damn days. I still can’t believe it, even now. I am so, so grateful. I prayed to my Dad, my Grandpa…asking them to help him, to save him. Call me silly if you want, I don’t care. I’m convinced they saved him for me. Dr. J was shocked when he heard he [Tibbies] got his sight back completely and so soon. We all were. Hell, I still am! He’s been doing wonderfully and Dr. J even said that there’s no reason or signs pointing to why he won’t live on to be a record-breaker. Tibbies is my world, my sunshine, my “boo boo kitty”. Knowing he’s still with me and doing so well…well, to me, it’s priceless.

It’s after 12 and I have more stuff to do today than time to do it (errands, shopping, dance, etc.!), so I gotta go. Have a good week everyone! <3

I’m home! …Okay, so I’ve been home for over a month but I’ve just been really busy and a lot of stuff has been going on!

I’ll blog and go into details about the trip but first I just want to update about what’s been going on recently! I actually started dancing again — ballroom! I totally got sucked into Dancing with the Stars this season because Shawn Johnson was going to be on and I absolutely adore her. I got inspired by her, it looked fun, a new hobby never hurts, and I have my second private/1-on-1 lesson later today! My first one was on Saturday and Lupe’ (my teacher) said I did amazing for someone who’s never done this style of dance before. It was a half-hour session and half-way through we were already working on LIFTS! I couldn’t believe it. I took to the basics pretty quickly. We did Salsa and Cha Cha and it was funner than I could have ever imagined! I’m bringing my cam with me today so hopefully I’ll get some good videos of us dancing. I LOVE the studio I’m at, too. The guy who owns it actually trained Cheryl Burke when she first started out, so I know I’m in the best place in the city. Corky Ballas and Mark Ballas are supposed to be dropping by either this week or next week, so I can not WAIT to meet them! I’m SO, so glad Shawn & Mark won this season. They completely deserved it and were so original and entertaining in every single dance they did. And I’ll admit — I got completely teary-eyed when it was announced that she won.

Ahh crap, It’s almost 1 here. So much for keeping track of time. I gotta go get ready but I’ll finish updating this post later when I get home. Hope everyone had a great weekend and don’t forget to thank all of our men and women in uniform who’ve served our country — past and present! Happy Memorial Day!

Unfortunately I don’t have time for a BIG update (which I know I need to do! SO much has been going on lately! Had a wonderful birthday — definitely one of the best thanks to Mama. A $3,000 shopping spree DID NOT hurt my feelings in the least, hahah. Finally got my beloved, which I’ve named ‘Precious’. …shut up. It’s a perfectly suitable name for inanimate object. I’ll go into it more later, along with a bunch of other stuff that’s been going on. BUT! I’m about to leave for California (going to San Diego with Mamma! Haven’t been there since my first year of cheer camp @ USD’s La Jolla campus in…2003? It’s certainly time to go back!

Like always, I’ll be updating my Flickr like CRAZY! Y’all know how obsessive I am about documenting every little detail about my trips and vacations, tee heez. I’m bringing the digital too, but I’ll have to wait until we get back home to upload those photos. But, like I said — be sure to check the Flickr because there’s going to be CONSTANT updates the entire time!

Mama rented a NICE laptop (still shopping around for a new one), so I’ll have `net access in the room. I’ll try to edit this post and make a more interesting one later tonight once we get to the room and are settled in. Today’s just a travel and relaxation day. …and, as everyone knows, it’s Father’s Day. It’s always a hard day but as the years go by, they seem to get harder because every year I know even MORE about my Dad. We’re stopping at the Veteran’s Cemetery in Riverside to bring some boquets and American flags for both my Daddy’s grave and my Grandpa Ed’s site, which is right next to my Dad’s. It’ll be hard as hell, but it’s something I NEED to do. That place (the cemetery) is so beautiful and I have such an immense amount of pride when I go there. Not just anyone can be burried there and it’s very…honoring and moving, that MY DAD, a hero, is there amongst the other brave men and women who have served our country. When I see Marines in uniform walking around in the office, I just think to myself, “Wow. My Dad was a Marine, too”. Sometimes I cry, sometimes I smile. But it’s a beautiful sadness, if that makes sense.

I gotta get my heiny in gear and get dressed! We’re aiming to head out by noon. …Looks like it might be a few minutes after, haha. I’ll be back either on Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll see! Everyone have a good Father’s Day and be sure to tell your Dad how much he means to you. Have a great week loves! Ciao tutti! baci ; xoxo!