Updates and Food Cravings

Remember when I said Bella was going through a destructive phase? And we took her to the vet after eating Michael’s water bottle? Yeah. The next day (Monday) I got a message from her dog walker that Bella destroyed a coaster. It was a papery coaster I bought in Hawaii that was made out of like Hawaiian banana leaves or something. So she put Bella in her crate when she left. It was the wise thing to do for Bella’s safety. Clearly there is something going on with her. I am not sure what it is, or how to fix it yet. But she’s back in her crate when we are at work. At least for now. She’ll have to earn her freedom back when she proves she can be trusted. She just can’t be out on her own if she’s a potential danger to herself right now. God knows what she’d try to eat next!!

I’m not sure if this is attention-seeking, separation anxiety, boredom or something else. She’s been out of her crate for over a year and doing so well. This new destructive phase is out of the blue. When we leave her out she has toys that are safe for her to play with. I give her kongs with frozen treats inside of them for her to have. We leave music on. She sits in the window and guards the house. 🙂 And we have the dog walker come to our place 2-3x a week to play with her, walk  her, let her outside to do her business, etc. We walk her most evenings (depending on weather). This has worked for over a year! So why has this changed all of a sudden?

Doggy daycare is not an option. Besides that it’s way more expensive and I’d rather just add another day to our schedule with the dog walker, every time she’s gone to doggy daycare she comes home injured. That’s not okay with me. I don’t know if it was the place we were taking her or if she just plays too hard or what, but every time she came home from there we ended up at the vet. 🙁

Michael ordered her a new rope. We’ll test that out to see if that curbs her new chewing behavior. I’ve reached out to her foster mom, Jen, to see if she has any suggestions/ideas. She said if it was separation anxiety she’d be eating the door to try and “find” us…which makes sense. Our dog walker thinks it’s boredom. I’m also doing some research on getting a one-on-one dog trainer to come out and help us with some of these new behavioral issues.

If you have any suggestions or ideas, please let me know! This is all very distressing for all of us! 🙁

In other news…I am craving some soup! Recently I met up with my friend Robyn at Pho Van. I was in the mood for some Pho and it had been way too long since we’d hung out, so she suggested this place. I’d never been here before and it might be my new favorite restaurant! I am dying to go back.

The restaurant itself was really cute! I loved the garden restaurant vibe–it was bright and airy and very welcoming. It felt like you were in an outdoor garden courtyard instead of in a restaurant. The booths and tables were pretty private and comfortable, which is nice, too. Sometimes restaurants can be too cramped and loud.

We shared an order of the Goi Cuon Chay (vegetarian salad rolls). I LOVE salad rolls. They are one of my favorites. It had vegetables, tofu and noodles in it and a delicious peanut dipping sauce. So tasty. I want more of these things.

Robyn ordered the brisket Pho and I ended up getting the Mi Hoanh Thanh (wonton soup). This was so amazing! I loved every single bite!

It had shrimp and pork in it, plus veggies and wontons with pork in them and ramen noodles. It was topped with fried shallots, which might be my new favorite ingredient. Can everything I eat have fried shallots on it now??

This soup was fantastic. It was savory and not too salty, a little spicy and really filling. I ate half of it and took the rest to work for lunch the next day. I am still thinking about this soup honestly. I want it again SOON!

Overall the experience was wonderful and the service was fantastic and fast, the food was superb. This is a great restaurant and I will definitely be going back. If you live in Portland, check this place out!

Last night I went to yoga. Lately I’ve been going to the Tuesday evening class. It’s less crowded and a little more relaxing. It’s not the high intensity workout I usually do on my Tuesdays, but for now it’s working. The downside is that the class starts later so I usually go home first, eat a small dinner, then go to yoga. It’s a difference in my routine for sure–in the past I knew that going home first meant I’d be less motivated to go back out and go to the gym.

Yoga went well. The pain in my butt is a little better. Not entirely gone but much better. The one thing that tends to bug it seems to be poses where I am on one leg. So half moon pose for example. Today my glute is a little sore, but the pain in my butt isn’t too bad. I’m going to try running tonight at the gym. Hope it goes well because I have my other 5k in a little over 2 weeks!!