By Southern California standards today was quite a cold day!  {{{Brrr!!!}}}  That’s why Mommy decided that I needed to wear a sweater to keep me warm.

Also, Mommy and Daddy decided to pass on Newport Beach’s Fashion Island, and head over to The Spectrum in Irvine, ‘cos it’s usually about ten (10) degrees cooler in Newport Beach.

After donning my sweater, I led Mommy and Daddy over to Mommy’s most favorite candy shop in the whole world, See’s Candies.  After taking this picture, Daddy went inside to buy Mommy some of her favorite chocolates: Coconut Specials and Milk Chocolate Buttercreams.

I know I’m not supposed to have any chocolates, so I don’t even bother asking for any! :-)

I must have been in a gallery strolling mood today, because my next stop was to see the works of Thomas Kinkade, the “master of light.”  This is the Village Way Gallery where a lot of Kinkade works are shown and sold, but you don’t see any of them at the entrance where I’m posing for my photo.

It’s still December, and Santa’s still out and about, letting the good and bad kids sit on his lap to take photographs.  I already did this two weeks ago, so I’m way ahead of schedule!  But Mommy decided that it would be nice to take a photo in front of Santa’s House anyway.

The breeze picked up a bit, and Daddy thought it would be cute to get some photos of me with Dumbo ears!

After our posing in front of Santa’s house, two really cute and well-behaved kids came over to visit me.  Unfortunately, I was still pouting ‘cos I had to wear my sweater, so I wasn’t feeling particularly sociable.   But, the kids were so gentle and patient when trying to pet me that I just had to spend some time with them.

It turns out that one of these kids has a miniature dachshund at home, too!  The funny story is that on his first night at his new home, he ran back and forth all night in the other bedroom, and by the time morning came, he was so exhausted and worn out that he just plopped and slept all day!  Crazy wiener boy! :-D

I really have an affinity for the Apple store.  They won’t let me work the iPod touch, ‘cos I’ll scratch the screens, but the Apple store clerks sure do love saying “Hi” to me!

Here’s a woof-out to my new friend Ryan at this Apple store at The Spectrum.

Mommy told him about my blog, and Ryan said he was gonna definitely check it out! :-)

Here’s another friend I made today.  His name is Timi.  It turns out that Timi’s girlfriend has a dachshund, too!  Oh, is that Ryan again in the background??

Did you know that Russo’s Pet Experience has a store at The Spectrum, too?  Anyway, we visited there and today there were two mini doxies playing in the pen.

I checked them out and gave them a high-five before we left.

As I mentioned before, it was prretty cold today.  Mommy asked Daddy if he’d be in the mood for a Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate from Starbucks.

Daddy agreed that it would be the tasty thing to do, so we headed into the Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

Here’s a picture that Daddy took while we were waiting for the barista to prepare Mommy’s and his order.

Mommy and Daddy leisurely enjoyed their hot chocolate, while I enjoyed the warmth of being inside.  You can’t see it in this photo, but next to us is a display stand of all kinds of dog books, from “Marley and Me” to Cesar Millan’s books, to the Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover books.

I read them all while Daddy and Mommy enjoyed their refreshment. :-)

Daddy decided to take one last photo as we left Barnes and Noble….

Thanks for stopping by, and see you next week!