Dog Blog

Yep, this will probably turn into "The Dog Blog." Sorry if you come here for other reasons but such is life. I love her. Ripley's lovable and puppy-like. We got her a doggy-door last night and she used it today without coaching to do her puppy business outside. I was elated and I think I scared her a little when I shouted for joy when she came back inside (I was totally peep-toming her). But the treats she received quickly consoled her fright.

 She discovered that she likes her bouncy ball today and was enjoying sitting in a pile of pillows and gnawing on it. I just love her. And just in case you weren't sure, focusing on a black dog in low light is crazy hard....

 

You should totally click on this picture to enlarge it. It's cuteness overload x 10.

Anniversary Gifts

I know I left you in limbo with my gifty to Sir Luke and his gift to me. Let me just tell you he totally made me cry. Dang it! I thought my gift would knock him outta-the-park, which it did, but tears! Please, he totally won.

So I got him this rad leather bound copy of the complete Frank Miller Batman comic. He loves it and has been reading it since he got it. I have to admit it's pretty awesome even if it was used. It's the only leather bound comic series I saw online and even the nerdy comic guy I talked to at the comic book store here in Henderson had never heard of it!

 But then Sir Luke went and finished our wedding DVD and completed it in a beautiful leather bound case. Watching it was fun but just the fact that he finally made it and made it complete with such a glorious case made me weep. I was so, so happy. It was great remembering all the fun times at the wedding!

Sir Luke and I (mostly me but he appeases me) like to give each other the traditional gifts for each anniversary. Year one was paper.

I gave him a framed wedding photo of the two of us, sadly the first picture of us we put up in the house, but not the last!

Sir Luke gave me a beautiful locket with a vintage button on the outside and some cute pictures of us inside. You can tell we were both reaching with photo "paper" as our gifts. But it worked out all the same!

Last year the traditional gift was cotton and we were pretty much flat broke so our anniversary consisted of most likely spaghetti and very homemade gifts. But he made me cry last year too. The man is a good gift giver, what can I say? That or I'm a big cry baby (probably the latter).

I sewed him a love letter. I cut apart a ratty old pillow case in the size of a piece of note-book paper and sewed the lines on my machine in the proper colors of the paper. Then I wrote the note on it in pen and hand embroidered over it. Um...it took like 5 hours to hand embroider my hand writing. It's a good thing I picked a VERY short message!

Sir Luke and I oddly both had dreams prior to meeting where we would see the person we were going to marry but their face would be obscured in some fashion. Wild huh? Anyway he wrote this poem for me and then drew me a beautiful picture and lettered a portion of the poem on the piece. His "cotton" gift were some handmade flowers which didn't make it for too long. But the art lives on above m night stand.

Next year is fruit or flowers...we'll see how that goes. Do you abide by any traditions when it comes to gifts?

Ripley!

If you read my photography blog or are friends with me on Facebook you've already seen her but I can't stop posting this cute photo. I love this little girl so much! She was my Christmas present from Sir Luke this year and we just got her last night. I'm not going to lie, her breeder freaked me out a little but I'm so glad we got her. She's the cuddliest, sweetest little thing.

I gave her a bath as soon as we got home, since she wasn't traumatized enough as it was... And I couldn't believe the dirt that came off of her! Sick. She was totally freaked out but loves me to bits which makes my heart melt. She follows me all over the place and enjoys sitting in my lap

We both love her. It took us forever to come up with a name. I refused to call her "eyebrows" like Sir Luke wanted. Not for reals, anyway. Some names that were nixed:

Eyebrows
Caramello
Bear
Cappuccino
Snapshot
Ceja (eyebrow in Spanish)
Gem
Dixie
Stinky
Twix
Rollo
Carlos the Destroyer (Ten points if you know the reference. Hint: it's not The Hangover)
Jolene
Boba
Cyan
Fudge

For the record, Sir Luke is the one wanting to name her after candy and food items. I'm glad we finally decided because I got her cute little name tag printed up and I can't wait to see it hanging from her tiny little neck.

Happy Anniversary III

It's official, Sir Luke and I have been married for three years! I know in the scheme of things that's not very long.

Once Sir Luke has opened his gifty I'll be happy to share it since it's pretty much the best gift ever. We like to give each other gifts based off of the traditional anniversary gift suggestions. This year it's leather... believe me, my gift to him is totally appropriate for viewers, plus my dad has already seen it and loved it.

Thanks for a marvelous three years, Lovey, you are the best!

 Love you most!

Christmas Star

Capree was here last week. It was such a wonderful surprise and we had so much fun! Since I love thrifting so much we made our way to Good Will after our luncheon at the posh In-N-Out. I found a vase exactly like the two I had previously thrifted at DI approx. nine months ago. SCORE!

But then....oh then, whilst I was staking our claim in line, Capree made her way through the shelves of Christmas decor. That's when it happened. She found the gloriously retro Christmas Star!!!!! I've been dreaming of one for ages, especially since I saw a beautiful one on Isabella & Max Rooms. Heaven only knows why because we won't be decorating this year.

Can you even believe the beauty of this piece?

And are you ready for how much I paid for it....$1.49! Bananas! That wouldn't have covered half the shipping of one bought on ebay, which would have been my last resort.

Thanks for having an eye like an eagle, Caps! You're my new hero.

Thanksgiving

What? "That was so last month," you say? Well, I didn't take many photos this year as I was cooking up a storm and apparently I'm the only one who cares about documenting said storm.

So here's a look at the best turkey I've had in my whole life. Remember all those tasty recipes? Uh yeah, the turkey stole the show, as it should. Smoke from midnight to 3pm by the amazing Sir Luke. I am dreaming about next year already. SO GOOD!

Clothes

I've started, for realz, my battle to lose weight. I've been consistently working our and eating better for the past couple months and have seen a difference in my body. I'm super excited about it!

But then life threw me a curve-ball as it often does and handed me a UTI... And what pray-tell did the Dr. prescribe along with antibiotics? Dr. Pepper. He actually said to drink Dr. Pepper. I was super thrilled and then upset. Because I've been working so hard and the super sweet beverage is not so great for weightloss. I had five! in a day. I felt pretty gross the next day and I can feel my body changing back. ::angry fist::

But I re-found the blog Melancholy Smile today and was overjoyed by this quote from her mother on bodies and shopping "When you feel the worst about your body is when it's time to spend the most on fabulous clothes." I loved it so much I had to share.

And if I did have the monies for spending on fabulous clothes I would head back over to Anthropologie and purchase some things I loved so much last night while Capree and I were dreaming bigger than our pocket books. 

Vitalize Blouse

 Show Jumping Boots

Foliage Finder Jacket

Jo's Muse

I really feel like I need to dress more like a grown-up. It's about dang time.