International Goodies

World Reknown

Friends,
I can't believe what I found out today. Mom's coworker is Colombian and his wife is Ecuatorian and they both always receive packages from their countries full of goodies.
Today they shared some of the cookies and candy with mom. Look what appears in the packages and the cookies! MY NAME!!!
I am so popular in other countries that I have inspired food companies to use my name. Mom said that coincidentally both the candy and the cookie tasted like coconut. Mhm. Weird.

Thank You!

Hi Friends,
I wanted to thank you for the nice comments on my last post. I have told mom that I do not agree with any of those plans... because I am not included! I asked her to organize a bloggers meetup with us doggies but she said that we live almost in the most southern tip of the country and that it would be very hard to find a central place for all to meet. I keep dreaming!

Just to let mom know how much I love her - and how much I want her to take me somewhere to meet my bloggy friends - I am going to tell you about our Mother's day celebration. Daddy and I took mom to our favorite breakfast restaurant in South Beach. It is a french little place, super cute, super delicious, not so expensive and best of all, pet friendly!






Daddy complained because he thought that mom ordered too much food. It was NECESSARY.

Mom liked everything and had to take some leftovers home (it was a lot of food, really), but she did finish her favorite item, the Pate. It was sooooo gooooood!

Well, I quote my mother on that appreciation. I didn't try the Pate. Mom said that it had too much grease for me. Sometimes I wish she wouldn't take that much care of me.

I wonder what mom would say if I told her that all her food plus her huge hot chocolate had too much fat and calories for her to even smell it?

Anyway, a few days before mom and dad went on their bikes to explore the neighborhood. There is a big bike path and mom says that riding bike is about the only sport she can practice - besides walking. I am glad I didn't go with them. This neighborhood is kind of dangerous!

Look what mom and dad found right beside one of the bike paths:

Look closer:

Mom says there was a big hedge between the lake and the path before. I hope the crocodile doesn't learn how to jump that fence!

They also found some peacocks. They were careful to observe the transit signs.

Look! there's another wild animal! Oh, it's daddy. Sorry.

A little bit further, mom found one of her favorites animals on earth. A horse! Mom had horses when she was little and she remembers them with nostalgy. She wanted to pet this horse but he wanted to eat mom.

There were snakes, too. This one is Romero Britto's art. There are lots of Britto's art pieces throughout the city. Mom likes them, they are happy.

Believe it or not, all this wilderness are right around the City's community center.

Now I would like to share my latest award, given to me by my sweet friend Tweedles. Thank you Tweedles!

This are the rules of the award:

(1) Blog manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervade different cultures and beliefs.

(2) The blog contents inspire...striving to encourage and offer solutions.

(3) There is a clear purpose of the blog. One that features a better understanding on social, political, economic issues, and the arts, culture, sciences and beliefs.

(4) Blog is refreshing and creative

(5) Blog promotes friendship and positive thinking.

Bloggers who receive this award should....

(1) Create a post with mention and link to the blogger who presented the award to you.

(2) Display award conditions in the post.

( 3) Write some comments or a short story about what your blog has achieved..possibly citing an older post.

(4) The Noblesse Oblige award should be presented to bloggers in concurrence with the conditions.

(5) The award logo should be displayed somewhere on the blog.

Now I have to write about what my blog has achieved:

I don't think my blog has achieved something very trascendental - some people even think this is a useless hobby - but the fact that we have been able to connect with such wonderful friends, friends that had let us share a part of our lives, mean a world for us. We think that writing is an art - maybe an art forgotten by many people - and this blog has helped us improve our writing and vocabulary (remember English is our second language!). Of course, we learn a lot from our fellow blogger friends each and every day. Even if you don't hear from us, we are reading your blog. So maybe we haven't improved the world with our blog, but the fact that yours have improved our lives is a big achievement for us. Thank you!

Now... I would like to pass this award to my dear friend Stubby! His blog is a must-read for all of us. Stubby, you have really taught us a lot! Your passion inspires us to take good care of our planet. We are so glad to be friends with you!

Where To Go?

Hello friends... I am back!
Mom picked up her laptop yesterday. The hard drive had crashed but the computer doctor was able to save all the info inside (i.e. 5000 pictures). Right before the laptop crashed, mom had uploaded a few pictures. That was on May the 7th. So this post was saved as a draft and since I have so much to write about (including a brand new award!) and so many new pictures still to be downloaded, I prefer to finally publish this post today and take some time to visit your blogs. I hope the internet connection doesn't abandon me during this mission.

So, about 15 days ago, mom was facing a dilemma. You know that my grandma lives in Peru (as well as mom's aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) and mom's only sister lives in Canada with her husband and 3 kids. Mom has tried for the past two years to visit both places. But the truth is that mom and dad (specially dad) want to visit other places, too, because mom only has two weeks of vacation. Her ideal would be to go once a year to Peru and then go somewhere else the other week. So the family try to meet in different places to make it easier for everybody (and interesting for daddy). Now, for spring break mom was supposed to meet grandma and aunty in Washington DC. Grandma got sick and she won't be able to fly for a while; therefore she is staying in Peru. Aunty had work complications and couldn't go either. Now, since mom is the only full time employee at the office, the boss asked her if she could please take her vacation week when her co-worker has college vacation. That request has reduced her options to only two weeks in august and 1 week in december (daddy won't get the week of Christmas at his job). So now mom only has one more week of vacation to take and she needs to decide where to go.

Is it to Peru so she can visit grandma and her cousins?


Or go to Canada to see aunty and the kids?

Aunty has been trying to convice mom to go there again. She said she would lend her the car so she can drive all the way to Quebec City. They went on a road trip two years ago to Montreal. Mom and dad loved it!

In Canada mom also can spend sometime with the kids and watch them play soccer.

Go for a stroll in Toronto, where one of mom's friends lives.

Spend a romantic afternoon in one of many beautiful parks in Montreal.

Visit Ottawa with a little more time now, and visit another of mom's friends that lives there.

Or, go to Peru and spend a few days in the country house?

Let dad walk through the rocks and behave like a little kid by the river...

... and mom relax with the noise, the breeze and the feeling that at 2800 m above sea level she is breathing the air she has missed for so long.

Let dad dream of the day he will be able to build a house there (yes, right there, the land behind him;which, by the way, doesn't belong to him yet - hehe) to retire in the mountains of Peru.

And mom feel happy once again because she was able to go back to the house where she has spend many vacation days, every single year of her life since she was three years old (grandpa and grandma designed and built the house), until she met dad.

Then go back to Lima and feel right at home (yes, the home that grandpa and grandma designed and built when they got married, and where mom lived until the day she left to be with dad).

Go to the supermarket to find delicious fruits and sweets and food and everything else. Dad can't deny he loves this part of the trip. Everything in Peru is cheap and yummy.

Mom has been so undecided that she thinks she may skip both destinations this year. Mom and dad really need to focus on saving money and it has not been easy. So for now the plans are to attend the blogger's meetup in October (tricking the boss, because the co-worker won't be on vacation those days!) and try to concentrate on what matters now... until next year!

Working With The Snuggle Puggle

To Whom it may concern,

After having worked in this company for so long, I would like to recommend a new employee for a position I think will fit her perfectly. She graduated from the university with a zootechnics degree, then obtained her engineering degree after pursuing a post-graduate course in agribusiness and disserting her thesis sucessfully. Even though she has never worked on the field, I think she is extremely qualified for the position. I can provide further recommendations if needed.

I would also like to request to be removed from this position as soon as possible. I don't want to take care of the cattle anymore - they fart too much.

Sincerely,

Coco

The Origins

Hello Puggies and People!
I have a lot of news. The computer at home seems to be working now and mom is posting this from there. The pictures are from the phone because mom has little time since she has been busy helping one of the kids with a school project. It was a fun homework and I will tell you about it later. I also wanted to tell you about yesterday's pug meetup but mom said it was kind of embarassing... I will just say that I got confused and sniffed and kissed a cat's face and I also pooped all around mom (180º) while she was sitting on the floor petting other pugs.




I also behaved very bad while in the car, fighting with mom because I wanted to be on her lap. Mom doesn't like that, specially because she has to drive through 5 (yes, five) different highways for an hour to get to the pug meetup from the house.





Mom, dad and the kids went yesterday to the beach. It was an ugly beach since it was not pet friendly. While mom was there, she read that some of our friends wanted us to translate my nicknames.

Mom asked dad: How do you say this and that in english?
Dad said: What do you want that for? Those names are so weird!
Mom said: Why didn't you tell me this before? I keep calling Coco these names!
Dad said: Because you do so when we are at home and nobody is listening.

Mom blushed. And finally understood. Daddy has probably been too busy watching TV or playing XBox while his only son was growing up and earning his right to deserve funny/silly nicknames. Let me share the origins with you friends...

Mom is shy. While she was living on dad's mother's house she never sang on the shower. When she moved out the first song that came to her mind was the theme of a Mexican telenovela that broadcasted in 1987, called Rosa Salvaje (Wild Rose). It is a contagious melody and mom found out it was perfect to be sung for me. So she started modifying the lyrics... since I am not a Rose or a girl called Rose.
First, she sang: Cosa Salvaje (Wild thing) (I am the thing). But then it was changed to Coso Salvaje (coso doesn't have a meaning, it is just a funny way to say cosa - it sounds more masculine). That's how she started calling me Coso.
Then she continued changing the lyrics. In honor to my shedding capabilities (which has made mom dependant on an allergy medicine for life, and has sent dad to the surgery room due to a severe sinus problem) mom started singing Cosa Peluda (hairy thing) instead of Rosa Salvaje. When I am smelly and dirty, she sings Cochinada Peluda (Dirty hairy thing). When I behave good she sings Preciosura Salvaje (Wild precious). Now you get the idea, it could be anything that fits with the music of the song.
Mom also calls me Piojo (flea) or Piojito (little flea) when I start jumping and dancing. The obvious ones are Jefecito (little chief or boss) and Belleza (Cutie or beautiful).

Daddy calls me Paps (isn't that english?), Papa (dad), papito (daddy) and Coconut which is the english word for Coco. Yes, daddy named me after the tropical fruit. And he said I was a little monster because of my looks. I didn't get that one.

Me, In Spanish

Hello friends, still from the cellphone!
Many of my beloved friends have had their birthdays this past days. If you haven't heard from me lately, it's because I can't post comments on your blog! Specially if it was your birthday... I am so sorry to be absent! Mom's laptop is still at the hospital and mom said she would try to fix the internet connection at home - since apparently it stopped working when she was changing the settings - to use the big computer to blog.

So today I will share some of the nicknames I have (as suggested by Suki). Please let me know if you need a translation. Dad speaks to me in english and mom speaks to me in spanish, that means I am fluent in both languages ; P

Dad calls me:

- Paps (mom thought it was "pops" but daddy corrected her)
- Papa
- Papito
- Coconut
- Yesterday he called me little monster

Mom calls me:

- Coso
- Cosa peluda
- Cochinada peluda
- Piojo or Piojito
- Jefecito
- Preciosura salvaje
- Belleza
- 1000 other silly names she can't remember right now.

Have fun!

Wordless Wednesday

What happens if you open the cold box. It could be in my house, your house, your office, anywhere. Beware!