Tricks 'n things

I was so excited to finally be posting again and sharing some great pictures of the puppy that I forgot to share all her commands and tricks that she knows!! Of course there are the standard commands - sit, down (lie down), shake, come, stay. She has also learned leave it, take it and drop it. The really cool ones are high five (taught by our trainer), play dead (the bf turned this natural behavior into a command), kisses (yours truly) and crawling...sometimes. We will probably work on getting her to wave, our trainer showed us how to teach it, we just haven't worked on it much yet.

The three of us (the bf, puppy and I) had a fabulous day that started with breakfast at our favorite local coffee shop, followed by a day working in the tasting room at the winery, and then a BaaaaaaaarBQ at a friend's house. (it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day) We were going to have the bbq regardless, but it made a great reason and theme for the evening. Hung out with some friends and made some nice new ones, it was a lovely evening. Tomorrow we're hanging out down at the bf's place. His mom recently had a surgery and is recovering but still sore. We're having a bit of a birthday celebration since she and I share a birthday on Wednesday (the 23rd), and the bf's birthday is 6 days after. It should be a lovely relaxed day. We're up at my parents' next weekend for my brother's birthday party (he turned 13!!!) It will be a happy birthday to me and the bf as well, but the focus will be my brother. I'm making his cakes. I'm making two just to make sure we have enough. I'll tell you more about it later, complete with pictures.

Photostory Friday: Graduation Day

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

You might recall that the bf and I recently got a puppy. She has been an absolute delight and we absolutely adore her. We've been taking training classes at our local Petsmart with a fantastic trainer. We've all learned a lot and had a great time in the process. Sunday was her test to see if she would graduate. The bulk of the test was with me, since we already knew that her commands were great with the bf...she lives with him and sees him more often than me, so sometimes it was a little bit hard getting her to listen to me. She still listens to the bf better, but she's doing really great with me too, and did wonderfully on her test last weekend.

At first she tried to shake the cap off. It was rather cute, because everytime she did it fell down over her eyes.

Finally she just resigned herself to the fact that this was one of a very few number of times her crazy owners would ever subject her to wearing something so utterly ridiculous. Besides, she looked absolutely adorable!



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Relaxed Weekend

The goal for this weekend was to relax. The bf and I have been running around like crazy, and this was the first weekend in a while that we didn't really have to do anything. It was glorious. We headed up to the wineries with the Manager to pick up the bf's wine club shipments. I discovered a new favorite wine...I like this one even better than ice wine! (and it's about $10 cheaper and double the volume too, which is nice) We followed up the wine trips with a delicious bbq lunch at Famous Dave's. It's not super close to us, so it's always a treat when we get to stop there. The evening was spent relaxing and hanging out down at the bf's house, getting the mini fence up for our puppy so she can be in the main part of the backyard.

Today was early to mass and delicious homemade breakfast burritos when we got home. It was a beautiful start to the morning. We finished up the other fencing bit so that the yard is puppy friendly. After, the bf took me and his mom to our favorite store, where I proceeded to NOT buy every item I put in the basket, which was nice. Kara had her puppy class. She was being stubborn today, and it's always a little discouraging for me when she refuses to listen to me. I can't blame her, she's around the bf a lot more than me. But I know we'll work it out, because I can out-stubborn her any day. That said, she's doing really well. She sits, shakes, lays down, gives high fives (this one is REALLY cool), and the bf taught her to play dead. It's super cute. We're working on rolling over and crawling. Coming on call just depends on the number of things distracting her. She's definitely my dog...shiny things are awesome :) The bf VOLUNTARILY wanted to watch Twilight last night, but we didn't have time. So he put it on tonight. I will never say no to watching that, especially when it's his idea.

All in all it was a lovely and relaxed weekend. We definitely needed that. Especially considering we're working for 12 days straight beginning tomorrow. It'll be fun, but definitely tiring. I'm hoping I'll have time to fit in at least a few posts. I also have pictures of my cousin's ring to share...we did a mini photo shoot when she was down here last weekend. Her ring is gorgeous!

The Many Reasons

... I've been so remiss in posting:

Lots of baking, cupcakes to be decorated. Wouldn't those baby ones be cute for a shower? I had a lot of fun piping the clown bodies into different poses.














My first ice cream cake for the bf's dad's birthday. (full post on the making of this cake will come soon)





Had to hang around with these guys for a bit and see the new routines.

And then this cutie just begged for some fish. The bf, his nephew and I obliged.





And of course we had to go visit the mouse and help save the galaxy from the Evil Emperor Zurg. I hit L-4 with a score of 264,800. I love that game. :)

And of course I have this beautiful little
girl to keep me and the bf quite busy.

A post about posting and other things

I meant to post this week...the week just got away from me. It tends to do that when you're having a blast with two amazing little boys. My little brothers are so great, it's been so much fun having them this week. They've both learned a lot and had a ton of fun at camp too. They both want to come back and do it again next summer. I hope it works out. And perhaps next summer I won't be going away the weekend right after so they can hang out a little longer and have some free time.

Speaking of, I leave for San Francisco this afternoon with the bf and his co-worker. I'm really excited..it's kind of surreal, I don't think I'll believe it till we get on the plane...maybe not even until we land. The timing of this trip is perfect, as it will distract me from my brothers going home. I'm really sad that they are leaving today, but I'm really excited for San Francisco. At least I won't sit home and be terrible depressed like I was last time my family stayed down for a weekend...I literally sat in my apartment and cried after they left, until the bf came over after work and just held me. (he was super sweet) I definitely find myself getting more homesick, which I think is kind of odd. But hey, it happens. So San Francisco will be a nice distraction, and a lot of fun too! The bf has all of Saturday to just sightsee and play around the city. I don't come home until Monday night, it will be a nice length trip for me. I will have tons of pictures to share, along with my pictures from various things this past week. I don't know if I'll get a chance to post while I'm up there this weekend, but you can be sure I'll be posting when I get back.

Also, everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Kara.
The bf's dad said yes and everything worked out with her current owners. They are keeping her until we're back from San Francisco. We're going to have a playdate with her on Friday, just to make sure everything works well with us. I'm SO excited! They just got her shots updated and had her fixed, so we're helping with those costs because we were going to do that anyways. I'm so excited to meet my little bat puppy. :) There will definitely be many more pictures of our beautiful Kara. :) I'll be getting around to catch up with everyone next week. This week has just been crazy! Have a great weekend!

Already in Love

This is the photo the bf emailed me yesterday. Isn't she beautiful? I love her already. The nephew of a work friend has to give her away because they just found out that their daughter is allergic. She's ours for free if we want her. Which we absolutely do. We're both already smitten. We just have to convince the bf's parents to let us get her, since she'll have to live with the bf. (I'm not allowed to have puppies in my apartment complex) We showed her to his mom last night, I think we've got her. Now we just have to work on his dad. We think that if I ask, we just might get her. His dad's a big softie once you get to him. We want her SO badly. We're hoping to at least convince him to let us do a trial period of at least a month. That will give us all the time we need to get him sold on the idea. Especially once he meets her.

Look at her, I love her ears. She's my little bat dog. She's a blue heeler/yellow lab mix. She's 4 months old, completely house trained and will sit and shake on command. I want her SO badly, I'm absolutely in love with her. Hopefully we'll convince the bf's dad to let us have her. I don't know what I will do otherwise...I'm so absolutely in love with her and I haven't even met her in person yet. If you can, send some good thoughts and prayers our way that we get to keep out little beauty here. :)