Some pictures of my dog and my handsome husband...

Never mind the fact that it's been over a week since last weekend and that I owe you a bump date and a weekend update for this weekend... let's talk about last weekend, shall we?

We were busy, y'all.  I volunteered to judge my sister-in-law's undergraduate mock trial competition (which made me feel stupidly old... until I saw the other judges, who were all at least 45.  Then I felt like an infant and kept getting looks like, "what's this pregnant teenager doing in the judge's room?"). 

We also watched the Superbowl with our Sunday School class.  I brought red velvet brownies and jalapeno popper dip, and they were delicious.  (And, speaking of feeling old, I felt ancient when Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams popped up next to Beyonce on stage, and the little girl sitting next to me had no clue who they were.)

I also got a fun email from one of my law school loan servicers telling me that one of my loans is now paid in full.  Whoop, whoop!  I had totally forgotten that this month's extra payment would pay the loan down to zero, so it was a nice surprise.  One down, three to go. :)

After I got home from the competition on Saturday, Micah wanted to take Lilly on a walk down to the pond to play with her favorite toy:  her frisbee.

So, off we went.

When we got to the open field near the pond, Micah and Lilly had a little bonding time before they got down to business. 

(This girl loves to give high fives.)

And then they played.

And played.

And played.

And then we walked over to the pond so she could cool off and splash around.

Miss Priss loves to play around in the water, but don't you dare expect her to actually swim in it.  Heaven forbid.

Daddy was mean and tried to push her in.

Yeah, good luck with getting that frisbee back, Dad.

He may be mean, but he sure is handsome...

Man, alive, God sure knew what he was doing with this one. :)

Thankful Thursdays...

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Good morning, y'all!  Hope this week has flown by for you as fast as it has for me. 

{I'm thankful} for a very well-behaved little puppy girl. 

via

We picked Lilly up from training on Monday, and we were so pleased with the results!  Before, she was incredibly fearful of other dogs and people.  While she'd usually obey our commands if we were at home, she wouldn't while we were out for a walk, and certainly not when other people/animals were around.  She now sits, lays, stays, comes, and heels without trouble.  We're still working on her jumping when people come through the door, but I'm hoping we can get that down soon. :)  (And isn't her little graduation cap just the cutest?)

 

{I'm thankful} that Micah seems to be feeling a teensy bit better.  This bug is lingering, though, and I'm ready for him to feel 100%.  It's rough seeing my strong man look so pitiful...

 

{I'm thankful} that I finally broke down and called the doctor so she could confirm that I don't, in fact, have listeriosis.  :) 

 

{I'm thankful} that, although the jet lag is still going strong (I fell asleep at 7:30 last night and woke up at 4:30 this morning), I've made myself get up and just go to work so that I can leave early.  I'm bound and determined, though, to make myself stay up until at least 9:00 tonight.  Fingers crossed...

 

{I'm thankful} that I finally started Christmas shopping.  Although I bet most of you are done or almost done already. :)

 

Alright, y'all, what are you thankful for this week?  Link up and tell us!

 

 

Also linking up with black tag diaries, The Fontenot Four, First Day of my Life, kate says stuff, and  a punk a pumpkin and a peanut.

Friends, weddings, and frisbee... oh my!

Here's what we've had going on for the last few days...

... I had a blasty blast at girls' night.  I hadn't seen some of these girls in years, and it was great to catch up. 

... we went to a GORGEOUS wedding of a lovely couple!  Congratulations, Ashley and Justin!

(This little princess is my best friend's sweet little girl, Emerson.  Is she not the CUTEST thing?  She was such an adorable flower girl, waving to everyone as she walked down the aisle.)

... things got silly.  Real silly.

... we had a traffic jam in Sunnyvale.  Someone alert the media.

... Micah picked up my new treadmill (for which we paid a whopping $250 - yay!).  Now if we could just get it up all those darned stairs...

... we played frisbee with our crazy puppy.

(My puppy voice is so obnoxious, I know.  I can't help myself.)

... I did my first video blog (vlog?).  I am so incredibly awkward, but I'm totally going to post it so you guys can all see how crazy I am.  But... my home computer did a stupid security update and now won't connect to the internet. So I've got to remove the security software, but that requires internet access.  (Well done, McAfee.)  It's a vicious cycle, y'all.  But I'm hoping to get that fixed today, so, fingers crossed, I should get the video up in the next couple of days.

... I looked over and noticed that I now have over 100 followers.  How in the heck...?!  This deserves a post of its own and a fun giveaway to celebrate!  Just know that I adore you, friends, and I love getting to be my silly, crazy, awkward self here.

Hope you guys have a fabulous Tuesday! :)

A boy and his puppy...

How lucky am I? :)

Don't tell Lilly I posted this...

No way, Mom.  I absolutely, positively, definitely will NOT pose for the camera.  You know this isn't my best side.

Pu-pu-pu-pwease don't do 'dis to me. (Movie quote, anyone?)

Wait, what did you say?  Did you say... TREAT??!!

Okay, fine.  You can take my picture.  Just promise me you won't post it on Facebook, okay?

I'm a mean mommy...

For some unknown reason Lilly hates two of the iPhone ringtones.  She won't whine unless she hears those particular sounds.  Maybe she doesn't like the melody? :) (And I definitely Googled to make sure it wasn't hurting her ears, so don't worry.)

(And let's just ignore my obnoxious, high-pitched puppy voice, mmkay?)

Because she's so darned cute...

... I thought I'd share. :) (Please ignore my weird, high-pitched, I love my dog a little too much voice. And I'm sorry about the ending. I promise I didn't plan that.)

Day Twenty Eight: Pets

I'm definitely an animal lover. Growing up, we always had pets - including non-traditional ones like newts and birds. But my first pet was a cat named Dorothy (I told you that I was obsessed with the Wizard of Oz...). We also had several dogs, including a toy poodle named Epiphany Bell Esprit who had the whole family wrapped around her paw. She definitely wasn't a good dog, but we all loved her anyway.

When I was five, we got Fluffy, who stayed with me until just a few months ago. Losing her was heartbreaking because it really was like losing a piece of my childhood, in addition to the fact that I had had her so long that she was basically a family member. I also had a cat named Friendly, who really was the friendliest cat you could ever imagine. She died just a few years ago, and my mom was absolutely devastated.

Of course, I can't not mention Shadow. He was the German Shepherd I got for a birthday present my freshman year in high school. Of course he ended up loving my Dad more than all the rest of us put together. He was a precious dog, and I was sad to say goodbye him.

So now, we just have Miss Lilly. She's spoiled rotten, and she's definitely not much of a Lab by nature, but I love her to pieces.


I mean, really. How in the world can you say no to that face?

Just because...

Man, my husband is handsome.  And my puppy is cute.  (And this picture is a year old.)  That is all. :)

Playing with Photoshop Elements...

I ordered Photoshop Elements 8 on Amazon a few weeks ago, and it arrived a few days ago.  I FINALLY spent a few hours today playing with it, and I am just amazed.  

Like CRAZY amazed.

There are SO many things you can do.  There's a button for whitening teeth.  There's a button for making skies bluer.  

And then there are the layers.  Don't get me started on the layers.

So, even though I have NO clue what I'm doing, I thought I'd post a few pictures.

 Of Lilly, of course. :)

And home.

Fun with Lilly...

Our puppy is a high-energy little girl.  So we've tried to figure any and every way that we can run down her energy.  The best approach we've found so far is a pretty low-cost, high entertainment situation:  the water hose. :)

We get out a plastic kiddie pool, and she goes to town.  Here she is, gathering up the courage to jump in.

She's still not quite sure how she feels about it.

And here she goes. No fear. :)

Crazy, flying puppy.

 

And then we got out the sprinkler.  Holy cow.

She's not sure what to think yet.

But here she goes.

Get it, girl.

And... did I mention that my puppy is a demon?

The Perfect Dog...

So Micah and I made another impulse purchase yesterday.

I'm not sure what it is with us - we're both pretty frugal, but occasionally we just get a wild hair and want to buy something a little impractical.  So we do.  

Yesterday we bought "The Perfect Dog" obedience training system for Lilly, and I'm hoping it does wonders.  

 

We had seen infomercials for this product before, and while I generally giggle at most infomercials and their ridiculous cheesy-ness, we were both intrigued by the product.  It's basically a set of DVDs, a training (non-shock) collar, and three different leashes.  I mostly just want the DVDs, so I can hopefully figure out how to show my sassy puppy that I'm the leader of the pack.

Lilly's a sweet girl, and she's very smart.  She can sit, stay, lay, shake, high five, come, and fetch a frisbee like a champ.  Plus she's fully potty trained.  But occasionally, she just doesn't do what we want her to do, even though she hears the commands.  And occasionally she growls at us (mostly me) when she's laying and apparently doesn't want to be bothered.  

She also is AWFUL on a leash.  I've tried taking her running with me, but it's an all out mess and more trouble than it's worth.

So when we saw this system, which promises to show you how to teach your dog how to obey, without using a shock/high frequency collar or treats, we decided to just bite the bullet and buy it.  

We sound like a bunch of suckers, I know.  And maybe the $70 we spent will get us absolutely nowhere, but I'm optimistic (shocker, right?).  I read a lot of online reviews on various consumer websites, and most customers seemed very satisfied.  So we're giving it a go.

I'll keep you updated on how it works. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have a puppy I'm not afraid to take out in public. :)

Are you kidding me??!!??

I'm pretty sure Lilly has a secret admirer.

He's a turtle. Named Timmy. Timmy the turtle. Nice, huh?

Let's start from the beginning.

I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester, so I'm generally at home on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It's a pretty sweet schedule, actually. It's a little troubling, though, how little studying and how much internet surfing I do. But that's a story for a different day...

Anyway... so it's Wednesday, and I'm home. About halfway through "The View" (don't judge - there's very little good TV on during the day, and Whoopi is funny) I hear Lilly just barking her little heart out in the backyard. Generally, when she does that I can just yell at her from inside the house and she'll be quiet.

Not today. When she wouldn't shut up after about eight or nine rounds of "LILLY!!! BE QUIET!" I figured it was time for me to go out and investigate.

Apparently we had an intruder in our backyard, and Lilly was making sure I knew it. I look over near the fence, where Lilly is barking and jumping like there's no tomorrow, and I see a big fat turtle. Poor little guy. He was tucked into his shell (clearly trying to escape the wrath of the big, bad chocolate lab), and he wouldn't move until Lilly moved to the other side of the yard. After deciding that he looked like a Timmy, I set him about 10 feet outside our fence, wished him well, and went back inside.

About 30 minutes later, Lilly's making a fuss again, so I go outside and see that Timmy has found his way back inside the fence. I'm kind of pissed at this point, because it means I have to pick up the freaking turtle again, and, quite frankly, it freaks me out. This time I walk five houses down and plop him at the edge of the sidewalk there, figuring I'd be rid of him.

But of course, about an hour later, Lilly starts barking like crazy again, and I go back outside, expecting that turtle, who I'm now convinced is equipped with some sort of GPS device that somehow keeps directing him to my backyard, to be sitting by the fence again. I don't see him, but Lilly's barking at the gate so I open it up to see what might be bothering her.

Big mistake.

One of the neighbor's dogs has gotten out of his fence and found his way to our yard (are we emitting some sort of silent signal beckoning the domestic and wild animals of the neighborhood to come visit us??). Lilly sees the dog and takes off down the street, following him. I try to call her, but she's having none of that, running at full speed in pursuit of the other dog.

So I take off running, too, in my pajamas down the street, screaming after Lilly, hoping she doesn't dive in front of a car, and wishing I had put some shoes on before I went outside. After about a 70-yard dash, I finally catch up to Lilly, call her to me, and she miraculously comes. I grab her by her collar, furious with her, and walk back to the house.

We get back inside the fence, where I accidentally stepped in a big pile of Lilly's poop, and I see the freaking turtle sitting in the middle of the yard. No joke.

And that has been my day so far. I've apparently got a puppy who attracts turtles, and I'm still out of breath from the chase. Maybe it's nap time?

Like Mother, Like... Puppy??

If you had seen me anytime during my childhood, you would have noticed two things right away: (1) I sucked my thumb with no shame and (2) I carried a raggedy, white blankie everywhere I went.

I eventually quit sucking my thumb (thank goodness!), but I carried that blanket until the satin lining was all that was all that remained. I'm pretty sure my mom still has the lining somewhere. :)

So when I came home after spending the summer in Dallas and away from Micah and Lilly to find that Lilly had taken a liking to an old blanket we had lying around, I thought it was hilarious. This dog LOOOOVES her blankie. She carries it everywhere. She sleeps on it. She plays with it.

And the wear and tear is starting to show. But I'm pretty sure I'll let her play with until she tears it to pieces. It's just too cute.

Super-Dog

So one of Micah's favorite thing to do with Lilly is play frisbee. We bought one at target a few weeks back and made the mistake of letting Lilly "play" with it. (In other words, she demolished it in less than 10 minutes). So we bought another one and keep it out of her reach when we're not playing with it. So I thought I'd share a little video of my amazing puppy (and a couple of pictures, as well). :)

It normally takes her a few minutes to get warmed up, but then she's pretty good and catches almost everything.

After we came inside... she just wanted to REST! :)

The Last Two Days...

...have not been fun, to say the least. I took my first final yesterday. Most students in law school opt to take their exams on their laptops. I always do. I type much faster than I handwrite, so it's more efficient. Occasionally, I have seen other students have trouble with their computers during exams, but it never happened to me.

Until yesterday.

I was in the middle of my Patent Law exam, and my computer died. I tried not to panic, and I just finished the rest of my exam on paper. But the stress of the computer just put me off my groove, and the part I handwrote was horribly messy and nonsensical. Well the IT department at school assured me they got all the typed portion of my exam off my computer, so I was at least happy about that.

Until this morning.

When the school called and said they actually DIDN'T recover the typed part of my exam. I took my computer up to school, and they had problems with it. Apparently the version my computer saved is encrypted. So they had to send it to the company who makes the exam software to un-encrypt it. And there's no news yet on whether anything is recoverable. So I'm resigning myself to the fact that I may have to take the whole darn exam over again.

And I think I've remained pretty positive about, and I keep trying to keep things in perspective. At least my computer didn't actually crash (what really happened is that the outlet I was plugged into wasn't working, so the computer just died). And I just know that whatever happens, happens for a reason. God's got me covered, and I just refuse to stress about it.

So... I'm going to focus on the good news! I'll be done with exams by the end of next week, and then I'll be 2/3 of the way done with law school!!! And I'm trying to keep my mind off the other bad news: that at the end of next week I'm moving away from Micah and Lilly for 11 weeks. Can I just show you how adorable my dog is? She's getting so big!



Love her. :) That's all. I'm worn out. And Micah and I are going to go get in bed and watch... you guessed it: FRIENDS!

Our First Easter...

Well not really. We have had six other Easters together, but this was the first married one! And since we were both just ridiculously busy and will be until finals are over, we decided to stay home for the holiday. So the pressure was one for me to cook SOMETHING!

So we bought a roast yesterday, and I put it in the Crock Pot this morning with some carrots, potatoes, onions, and a can of cream of mushroom soup. We also got some bread from Target (which was FREE thanks to my coupon, but I'll get to that in a second) and made some brownie sundaes for dessert. :) So not an extraordinary Easter meal, but at least I set the bar low. It won't be hard to top that next year.

Okay... so I'm on a coupon kick! We went to Target yesterday and got a LOT of groceries for $96! I saved over $20 in coupons! Micah and I usually spend about $130-$150 every time we go to the grocery store. We overbuy for sure. But I'm DEDICATED to trying to save more money on groceries. So I signed up on a coupon site called TheGroceryGame.com. I haven't figured it ALL out yet, but it seems like it'll be a great way to save some money at the store. And you can try it out for just $1 for a month membership. I'll let you know if I think it's worth it. :)

In case you're curious... my little Lilly girl is doing just wonderfully! We taught her to sit, and she's potty trained! She's so cute, of course, and definitely has the puppy energy. But what I love the most is that she's very self-sufficient. She loves to play with us (and we spoil her and give her WAAAAY too much attention), but she's perfectly content to lay on the floor for hours and chew on her toys. She has had some trouble walking on her leash, but she's getting MUCH better!

One other thing... I have to buy myself a new digital camera. My old one pooped out on me, and I want as good a camera as I can get for around $200 or less. Anyone just absolutely LOVE their camera and want to recommend it?

Alright... my brain is done. I have been studying for the better part of the day, and I'm ready to relax and re-read the last Twilight book, Breaking Dawn. MAN... that Edward Cullen... he's something else!

Busy Busy!

Miss Lilly is doing MUUUUCH better. The vet gave her some magic pills, and her tummy was well again. She has had the sniffles for about a week, but she has been on antibiotics and antihistamines, and she's about 95% better. :)

She DID have some Kitty McNuggets from Fluffy's litter box earlier, and I'm regretting not buying the toothpaste and toothbrush at PetSmart yesterday. A dental chew will have to do. Ick.

We got her new crate in the mail yesterday. It's HUGE!! And I didn't even get the size designed for labs. I went ahead and bought the size I THINK she'll need when she's older (a little smaller than the kind for regular labs because, being a mix, I think she'll be a little smaller than a purebred) and we put a divider panel in there that we'll adjust as she gets bigger. I think it's so cute how dogs make their crates their little home. Their safe place. Lilly did that with her old crate, and I have no doubt she'll make herself at home in the new one.

I'm starting to understand why parents of newborn babies can talk of nothing but the baby! I'm realizing that all I'm talking about lately is my little puppy. And I miss her SO much when I'm not at home. I have absolutely no clue how I'll last the entire summer only seeing her on weekends. I don't even want to think about it.

Other news... hmm... do I have anything else going on? Well... not really. School is almost done for the semester. And then I'll be a 3L (code for third-year law student)!!!!! I can't believe I'm almost 2/3 of the way done with law school! It has been so challenging and rewarding. I'm SOOOO happy I decided on law school instead of pharmacy school. No way am I trustworthy enough to mix pills.

So tired...

Apparently 95% of all dogs that get adopted from the SPCA end up having some kind of health problem. Silly me. I just thought I was doing something great by adopting a puppy who needed a home and didn't even think about how poorly pets are taken care of at shelters. And, of course, Lilly's sick.

She didn't eat much last night, but I thought she might just be tired so I didn't worry much. Then this moring (5:00 to be exact), I woke up and she was throwing up. Poor baby. Her stomach kept making these weird gurgling noises, and it was clear she didn't feel well at all. She wouldn't eat or drink. Stupid internet had me CONVINCED it was parvo (which is ridiculously fatal for puppies). So I took her to the vet, and it was like they expected that she would be sick when I told her she was from the SPCA. I think we've ruled out parvo, but the vet wasn't sure why her tummy was so upset. I brought in a poopy sample (which was not fun to collect, by the way), and I should hear the results tomorrow.

The vet gave her a couple of pills and injected some fluids under her skin to rehydrate her (which made her look like a hunchback for a few hours), and she seems to be doing better. I can't express how horrified I was this morning when I thought she might die... seriously. I'm amazed at how attached I've become to this little girl in only three days! She really is the sweetest puppy ever. She loves to give mommy kisses (though she only nuzzles Daddy because she knows he doesn't like kisses on the face). And she's pretty chill for a Lab (althought that could have a lot to do with the fact that she may have some underlying illness that's kept her from feeling well), and she's learning so fast. No accidents in the house or her crate for a whole day!

I do have to share this adorable story, though. It's been so sweet to see Micah become attached to Lilly. He is pretty enamored, and he likes cuddling with her on the couch. So the other night, we decided that we'd cuddle with her in the bed while we watched Friends for a little while. So I brought her in the bedroom while Micah went and got the dvd. Right as he walks into the room with Lilly's stuffed duck in his hand, looking excited to play with and love on Lilly, the dog pees on the bed. His face just fell because he knew we'd have to put her outside and clean the bed and we wouldn't get our cuddle time... it was too adorable.

Anyway... keep my angel in your prayers. I don't know what I'd do without this precious face!!

Whew!!!

Spring Break has been.... eventful!!

Micah and I went home to Dallas last Friday for a few days. It's always amazing going home. I love my family and Micah's, and there's nothing like the peace of Josephine. I miss it so much in this big city... I feel so small and insignificant here sometimes.

Anyway, we got to see our families, and Fluffy did well on both the drive there and back home. She can be a very good girl sometimes. But sometimes... she's... well let's just say she's SASSY! We spent the better part of today cutting out part of our carpet pad and cleaning the carpet where Fluffy has had some accidents. Micah just could NOT handle it anymore. So hopefully he's satisfied now. ;)

Also... while we were driving to Chuy's for lunch yesterday (LOVE that place and their jalepeno cream sauce!) a "Check Charging System" light came on in Micah's truck. The manual in his glove box said that message was only super-urgent when it came on at high speeds, which it hadn't, so we assumed we had time to get home so I could change and get to moot court practice. On the way back, all of the electronics in his truck had just shut down. Even his speedometer! Thank goodness we made it home, because on Micah's way to the auto parts store, his truck died. On the side of the road. He didn't want to have it towed because it was late at night and everything was closed, so he decided to wait until the morning. We went back this morning and the truck was still there and unharmed, so we called a tow truck. But the City of Houston beat us to the punch. Before the tow truck WE called could get there, this guy working for the City came by and told us he had to tow the truck. Thank goodness we talked him into taking it to the Ford dealership down the road instead of to the city's processing center. But it was still more expensive... still waiting to hear how much it's going to cost to replace Micah's alternator.

The BIGGEST news is that Micah and I bought a puppy yesterday!! I just couldn't stand it any longer. I LOVE dogs, and everyone around me has one, and when Micah's brother walked into his parents' house with the sweetest little puppy, I just decided I could wait no longer. We knew we wanted a lab, so we looked around the lab rescues here in town and all over the state and couldn't find the right one. I just kind of felt guilty going through a breeder when there are so many unwanted dogs in pounds. So I decided to check out the Houston SPCA website, and about three pages in, I saw the SWEETEST little chocolate lab face looking back at me! We RUSHED to the SPCA to see if she was still there, and I couldn't find her anywhere. I finally looked in the small dogs room and seriously started crying when I found her. There were like FOUR chocolate lab puppies there, which I thought was weird. But I had come for Lilly! So we filled out all of her paperwork and are picking her up tonight!

I can't express how excited I am!! Micah and I went all around town today buying Lilly stuff. We bought her a doghouse and looked like the BIGGEST idiots trying to fit it into my mustang in the Walmart parking lot. But we got all her little stuff (minus the puppy clothes, which Micah said no to in the store... but I'll just have to go back and buy them without him). I've been reading today on how to properly train them, and how to react to all the puppy-isms. I'm sure I'll be having a few sleepless nights the next few days, but I'll keep you posted. :)