Take Your Dog to Work Day

Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day, but since hospitals tend to frown on fur-people in the workplace (except of course if they are service or therapy dogs, and lets be honest, we’re talking about Moose and Riggo here), I decided to take the day off from work and spend it with my four-legged children. Can you tell how appreciative they are?

In all honesty, I’m off today because I’m headed to Georgia for a wedding this weekend. Originally we had planned to drive and make a little road trip out of it, but then I came to my senses and bought a plane ticket. Joey’s staying home to hold down the fort, and I’m traveling with my brothers for the first time since, most likely, some Disney vacation from 1997. I’m sure we’ll all get along better this time 😉

Speaking of brothers, poor Moose can’t ever catch a break. The second he lays down for a nap, his little brother comes pouncing from around the corner. I must say though, it is pretty entertaining.

 Happy Friday! Anyone take their dog to work today?

The Best Plans Are Unplanned

I’m a planner. I love my lists. You know this. But I also love a certain amount of ‘fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-ness’ in my life. That being said, lets circle back to the Summer Kickoff Bucket List and see how we did:

2012 Summer Kickoff Bucket List

• Grill!
• Eat watermelon
• Go to the pool
• Get to spin class (hello bathing suit season!)
• Buy something new to wear in NYC
• Take a hike with the dogs
• Get things prepared for Kacie’s Baby Shower! More on this coming soon!
• Install new closet system Ok, technically it’s not DONE, but my carpenter (aka Joey) is running into some challenges. It’s getting checked off for being in the works though.
• Donate old clothes
• Get travel plans together for Georgia Trip Flying down with the bros for a wedding this month. Never been to GA!
• Start a new book that doesn’t have the words “50 Shades” in the titleThe Pam101/DSpot Book Club is making a comeback. More to come.
• Take lots of pictures

Not bad at all! I’m actually surprised a trip to the pool hasn’t happened yet. As for the hike with the dogs, we did have an impromptu Yellow Lab Party, so that sort of counts.

The Lab in the middle is Moose’s legit half-brother, Cooley. And Cooley’s two-legged sibling just happens to be Joey’s godson, Owen (have I lost you yet?). Their whole family came over for a last minute visit recently, which then led to an impromptu barbeque complete with food, friends and the above pictured tiki torches. But seriously, how squeezable is this little guy???

The baby’s not bad either. Ba-dum-CHING. I love Owen’s little man pose. Justin & Amee, you made one cute kid!

Moose and Riggo were pretty fond of him too. And Owen was pretty fond of Moose’s tongue.

Hey, if you were surrounded by that many dog tongues, you’d try to grab one too!

While it was good to check things off the bucket list, I will say my favorite parts of vacation were the unplanned things — our BBQ/Dog Party, meeting Sara & Eric in Annapolis, a S’mores run with Alex and a shopping trip with my Mom. I’m looking forward to more unplanned plans this summer, with a nice sprinkling of the planned things too. You know I’m all about finding the magical balance.

Chip Off the Old Bucket List

I’m taking my thickest black sharpie and crossing “Grill!” off the Summer Kickoff Bucket List. Since Friday, we’ve grilled (and eaten) steak, chicken, turkey burgers, zucchini and tamales.

Oh, and we ate watermelon. Lots of watermelon. (Check!)

One thing I should have put on the list was “Dine Al Fresco” because we did that too. All of us…

And another gross omission from the list was “Meet Sara and Eric in Downtown Annapolis When They Call You Out of the Blue to Say ‘Hey We’ll be Downtown Today’ and Get Dinner and Then Go for Ice Cream and Sit By the Water.” Ok, clearly this was one of those happy accidents when all the stars aligned and we didn’t have to plan for weeks to make it happen. I love happy accidents!

Now about that ice cream. It’s up there with cake for me in that I love ice cream like a fat kid loves ice cream, so I ordered the scoop and a half, when everyone else ordered just a scoop. The good thing about ordering the bigger size was that it came in a cup called a “Walkie”…

We quickly understood why they called it a “Walkie”, as we determined the one scoop size cup should have been called a “Stopie” because as soon as you get outside it starts melting everywhere and there’s no good way to walk and eat it. So you have to stop.

Whoops!

Back to the Bucket List though, to balance the eating of grilled food and sweet things I did get my butt into spin class (check!). And to round it out, I also did a little shopping to pick up a new dress for NYC (check!).

Hope you’re enjoying your summer kickoff weekend! Check in tomorrow to learn about the fun I have in store for the coming week 🙂

One last little photo update. Instead of keeping with the weekly Project 52 Themes, I’ve decided to try a new weekly photo ‘link up’ at a blog called Simple As That, where the idea is to take photos that celebrate the simple moments that make you smile each week. I love the creative freedom it offers. Feel free to join me in this new weekly adventure!

Two Can Play at That Game

They don’t call them labrador retrievers for nothin’. These two knuckle heads love to play fetch more than the Duggars’ love to have babies (ok, sorry, first metaphor that came to my head. For the record, the Duggars freak me out, I refuse to watch that show and I think it’s completely unnatural to breed your own basketball team complete with bench warmers. Moving on.). I grew up with a Jack Russell Terrior whose idea of fetching was chasing a treat across the room, so I think it’s pretty great to have dogs that get all crazy when you say, “Wanna play fetch???”

Plus, I don’t think I’ll ever stop thinking this is hilarious…

That’s right, one item to fetch and they’ll share the responsibility. It’s a rare, but proud, occasion when either one of them comes out the sole victor…

The best part about dogs that play fetch, and I think the owner of any high energy breed would agree, it’s a great way to ensure you have tired pups for the rest of the night.

Happy Friday Everyone!

*PS: If you’re wondering why their leashes are on it’s because it’s the time of year when the ticks start coming back at our favorite spot to play fetch, so now we use the yard outside our house which is closer to the road, so the leashes make it easier to grab the dogs when cars turn down the street. Safety first people!

*PSS: Sorry the action pictures are all a little blurry, my shutter speed was clearly too low and I wasn’t reviewing as I was shooting. Negative points for me. 

Act 3 Scene 1: Xmas Morning

Christmastime for us  means a lot of shuffling around between families. We want to see everyone, be with everyone, celebrate with everyone, but sometimes it feels like the second we settle in to a place, it’s time to get to the next location. Four Christmases, baby. We’re just a modern American family. 

I love the hustle and bustle though. I feel blessed we’re so loved. But it’s also good when it’s balanced out with ‘home’ time. Christmas morning is reserved for our little family of four. 

The dogs get stocking stuffers of course. New bones. Which they ate in all of 10 seconds. But how about this next picture, Riggo is totally smiling, right?!

It’s a little creepy. Mostly funny though.

Oh, and I got to buy my first ever “For my Husband” card 🙂 It was a Little Big Moment. I pretty much loved it.

And while this is our 10 billionth Christmas together, it was our first one as a married couple and it felt special. It’s fun after all these years to feel like we’re starting a new chapter in the Book of Us. We’re thinking more about traditions and the things we’ll want to carry on and pass down to our future children. Christmas Morning Waffle Breakfast??

We’ll see if that one sticks. We’re awfully fond of those homemade cinnamon buns too though 😉

The Christmas Card on the other hand — that one’s sticking.

Hey NYCathy, see that bowl peeking out from behind our card? I freaking love it. We’ve had it on display for weeks.

That picture only took 17 takes with the self-timer. And we got the dogs to look at the camera by placing a frozen greenbean in front of the lens. True story.

The back of the card is a little more… us.

Here’s hoping your holiday season was bright. Now on to 2012…