Penny’s favorite thing to do, besides play rough with Olivia Jane, is to sunbathe. Once she finds that perfect sunny spot on our lanai, she completely zones out from the rest of the world and soaks in the rays. Now, she’s not very good at listening anyways, but when she’s in the sun, it just gets worse. When I took these photos, I stood beside Penny and said her name about a thousand times, and she didn’t even twitch an ear in my direction. I guess that’s real relaxation–being able to tune out everyone and everything and just enjoy the moment.

Hope your weekend is as relaxing as Penny’s!

It took me quite a while to get my last few rolls of film developed, because I had a hard time deciding if I should send my last rolls to Richard Photo Lab or drive down to Walgreens. Since it was just a couple of rolls of personal work, I chose Walgreens, but went to a different location than my usual one, which turned out to be a bad idea. A lot of the photos came out dark, muddy, and super grainy, including my favorites of Buddy holding an Easter basket, and the scans were not salvageable in Photoshop. I’ve learned my lesson–next time I’m sending everything to RPL! They’re only a few dollars more than the drugstore and they will do a much better job, I’ll just have to be patient and wait a little bit longer to see my scans. It’s time to graduate!

Not all of the scans were too terrible, and with some tweaking, I was happier with them. There was a roll of random photos of the dogs, my niece, and nature, but I dedicated another roll to Layla’s very first Easter egg hunt in our backyard. She had about 50 eggs hidden in the backyard, filled with candy and stickers, and no kids to compete with, so she was a very happy kid! However, just because there were no other little kids to fight with over eggs, she–meaning I–did have to do some fighting with the dogs who wanted a share of her new candy stash. There are few things more annoying than a big black dog breathing down your neck and a couple of Bostons watching your every move because you have food. Anybody know what I mean?

First, a few before-Easter shots of the mutts…

And the big egg hunt… Layla had so many eggs she couldn’t carry her basket anymore. She has it rough, I tell you. ;)

After the egg hunt, we had dinner and Layla took off her dress (two year olds are a little bit messy). I took the opportunity to dress up Olivia. Now that I know that Olivia wears a 2T, I’m going to have to go buy her some more dresses. She cracks me up!

Despite my 2012 goal of doing a Friday Five or Friday Film post every week, I have not done either in ages. I decided that blogging would be a good distraction from taxes (see #4 below), so I finally have a new Friday Five post to share with all of you. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments! :)

1. War Horse – I saw the movie with one of my best, horse-loving friends in December, and have been awaiting its DVD arrival ever since! Tuesday I made my way to Walmart and got myself a copy, which, of course, I watched almost immediately. It’s such a good movie! Well, I think most animal movies are good, and they all make me cry, so perhaps I’m not the best judge of things. But this was good, really. It’s similar to Black Beauty in how it follows a horse’s journey through the lives of multiple people, and shows us a horse’s view of World War I. It’s beautifully filmed, heartbreaking at times, but triumphant in the end. I’m going to force my family to watch it with me tonight. I’ll have to go find some tissues first, though…
2. Colds - My niece, Layla, got it first, then gave it to me and her mother, and now I hear my other sister sniffling, too. Ugh. Please go away, stupid cold, I don’t like you!
3. Walter - My sweet little guinea pig had a big day yesterday. First, he got new fleece bedding for his cage (in adorable dinosaur print, of course). He seems to be enjoying the change and keeps trying to burrow under the fabric in one corner of the cage. He also got a nail trim and a bath, which he enjoyed far less than the fleece. lol Wally tolerates nail trims very well (far better than my previous pig, Lester), but the bath was not fun for him at all. He looked so cute in the sink, though! I’m going to try to photograph him and Lucy next week and do a blog post about the two of them. The poor, neglected pig and bunny–they don’t get photographed very often!
4. Taxes - Procrastination and pain-in-the-butt would also be a good title for this. Once I actually pull out all of my records it will go smoothly, I’m sure, but motivating myself to walk into the other room and grab my files is not easy. Watching The Office on Netflix, playing solitaire, and going to the barn all seem so much more important, right? I had better get to work on the taxes, though, since I told my accountant they would be ready for her next week. And it would be awfully nice to finally cross that off of my to-do list. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. I think.
5. Rain - Here’s a more pleasant topic than colds and taxes! It’s been very dry down here in Florida, but for a couple of nights this week I got to fall asleep to the sound of rain and it was wonderful. I love it! Lucy, however, did not appreciate the lightning and thunder that came with the rain, and after a large clap of thunder, she proceeded to thump her foot every five seconds in disapproval. Silly rabbit, rain is good!

And finally, here’s a peek at what I’ve been working on this afternoon. Tessa is a beach-loving daddy’s girl. :)

And don’t forget that there is still time to vote in Sarasota Pet’s Choice Awards! Voting closes on April 12th, so get those votes in ASAP. Visit SarasotaPet.com and click on the link in the far right-hand column to cast your votes for the best pet people and businesses in the Sarasota area.