It was time.

We finally found the perfect dog.  It was a long time comin.  It is just a few days from the 2 year anniversary of Luther's untimely death and lately we have really been craving a dog.  A big dog.  A good dog for our location and for kids.  We've always kind of wanted a lab, so we've been keeping our eyes open but not finding much.  Mostly I check the Humane Society, and if they have labs at all, they are typically older or have a health condition.  So we had really started branching out and looking at other bigger dog breeds, but I think in our hearts, we knew we wanted a lab.  So, dearest friend Tosha tagged me in a Facebook post on the Lincoln Pet Exchange group and that's how we wound up with Chopper.  It hasn't been 24 hours yet, but it seems that we have made a good choice.  He is so sweet and well mannered and soft and charming and brown and has such big paws....and he already loves Willa.  I think they are going to be bestest friends.  Stickers is mad and jealous and hissy/growly, but he will get over it.  Bailey hasn't really come out of her hiding place to meet Chopper yet, but she will.  I did have to leave last night before bed time, so I'm not sure how he did, but I'm going to pretend that he was a perfect angel, and went willingly into his kennel and slept all night there without whining or peeing.  Yep, I'm sure that's how it went.  And, he is going to want to sleep all morning with me, too:)

See?  Only a best friend would share a space this small with you and still love you.  

Bored, bored, bored

No real point to the picture, except that I freaking love it.  That's right. I said it.  I like something that I created, even if its just a photograph.  And any part of it that appears creative actually comes from Afterlight.  But whatever.  I'm in a mood.

I've been at work all night.  This isn't weird.  I work 2 nights a week.  Normally I either have a coworker who is TOO enjoyable that I can chat with all night, or enough with me to read to keep me busy.  Or there's always Pinterest.  I exhausted Pinterest.  I finished my book. (The Great Gatsby.  Somehow, I missed reading this book all through high school and college.  It was fine.  I dunno.  I was much more excited about the previous 3 books I read: Let the Great World Spin, Help Thanks Wow, and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.)  And the lady I'm working with is perfectly lovely, but we just haven't clicked.  I mean, we've never drawn one another pictures of butt holes in bags, or slow danced, or watched Miley Cyrus videos together.  Maybe we'll get there someday, but someday isn't tonight and I'm bored.  Plus its my birthday weekend, so I'm feeling extra reflective.  Not like you would want to wear me on a night bike ride, but just maybe thoughtful.  Its been a rough couple of weeks.  I've said it before and I won't quit saying it, even to newly married/engaged friends.  Marriage is hard.  Its another full time job.  Honestly, I think its the hardest thing.  For me, anyway.  But we're still pluggin' away and I'm going to try to stop being a lazy, easily irritated spouse.  Either that or just start drinking more.

I wonder what my 33rd year will have in store for me...I can't stop looking at profiles of pit bulls on the Humane Society website.  And mastiffs.  And labs.  Maybe a new dog?!?  We still haven't paid our taxes, so maybe a visit from the IRS?  Just kidding, I don't think they would waste their time with us, but it does raise my blood pressure a bit.  For real, I went in to donate blood on Wednesday and they told me my blood pressure was too low and they gave me a few minutes before they retook it, all I had to do was think about the damn taxes and whaddaya know.  Up it went!  Hoping for maybe a long weekend vacation, even if its just to Johnson's Lake or Mahoney.  I need a few days of nature and fresh air and minimal technology/interactions with other humans.  I need a girls' trip, as well.  One that is a little less nature-oriented maybe.  (Maaaayyybe one that involves a city with an IKEA.  Hint hint.  Wink wink.  Coughamynebesniakimhintingthatireallywantyoutoplanatripcough.) Who knows what will happen!  I'll get a little older, there will be surprises.  That's what is both great and horrible about life, right?!?  For now, I DO know that I have a birthday weekend to look forward to and it starts in just a few hours.  And it starts with a bachelorette party for one of my favorite people.  So, cheers to being 32 for one more day:)

Pics from my mom's bday a few weeks ago:)

Congrats to dear brookie!

First of all, I love this picture.  It was taken a few months ago on a nice girl's night out.  Second of all, the lady on the left, my most favorite brooke, won a very cool blogging contest and I want every single person I know to hear about it!  brooke's blog is called grace and light, and she won Typepad's 10th Birthday Blogging Contest..  Do read about the contest, and then read every single one of brooke's blog posts, because they are all worth your time.  She is so very thoughtful with what she writes, and her words are so elegant.  I suppose you could read the other 2 winners' blogs as well, if you work night shifts like me and dink around on the internets for, like, hours.  Or, you could google yourself, then shop on Amazon for nut milk bags and donut pans, then pay a tiny portion of your taxes online, then look at tons of pictures of cute baby animals on the Huffington Post, then try to refocus yourself by looking at your own blog post about your goals, and then spend the rest of the night looking at lipstick shades.  Yeah.  Do that.

Because, wine.

I'm not exactly sure what the theme was for Summer, 2012 but I have decided that 2013 is all about the vineyards.  Wine is gluten free.  Vineyards are beautiful.  Yes, I realize we live in Nebraska but I'll take what I can get.  And the place we visited on Friday evening was the bee's knees.  Glacial Till is near Bennett, Ne which is a decent drive from our house, but totally worth it.  The Chambourcin was red and dry and I had the whole bottle to myself.  The music was fun.  I danced with Willa.  They had a visiting brewery, which made the gentleman happy.  You know where to find me every other Friday night from now until the end of summer.

And...if you don't get the title of this post then you have not been following my directions all along.  Shame on you.

A night with friends

We've been having book club at some places other than our houses the last few months.  Two months ago we went to the Blue Orchid, which is one of my all-time favorite places to eat.  This month, we visited Deer Springs Winery.  This is now one of my all-time favorite places to be.  It was so pretty and peaceful there.  We went on a Friday evening, and they had some musicians and people making very tasty coal-fired pizzas.  There were small groups of people in lawn chairs, on blankets, having picnics, with their dogs.  It was great.  I am excited to go back.  If anyone needs a good place for a date night, or if anyone wants to date me for an evening, its the perfect place.

PS:  The book we read for the evening, Looking for Alaska, was very good.  I would recommend.  It reminded me of the Catcher in the Rye.

The pictures really make us look like alcoholics. Eh.

Last weekend, I laughed a lot.  Thanks to these girls.  Girls that I have known and loved since grade school (except for brooke.  Wait that sounded like maybe I don't love brooke.  I do, but only since 6th grade.  Not that she was really horrible before that.  Well, maybe she was but if she was then she was being horrible in Worms, Ne and not Grand Island, Ne.  Get it?)  For the most part, we have stayed in a pretty close proximity to one another since high school, and made sure that we saw each other regularly.  Then, Amy went and moved to Lawrence, Kansas.  Which as it turns out is not that far away and is a great place to go on a little road trip!  

On our road trip, we ate waffles, went shopping, drank beer, played cards, drank wine, played cards, had dinner at a brewery, took shots, painted our nails, ate brownies, injured each other playing cards, talked, laughed, cried, and drank peach schnapps smoothies.  I think it was a weekend that we all needed.  

I am so, so very thankful for these girls.  Our lives have all gotten so hectic, and the miles between us has grown, but we still make time for each other.  We can still sit around in our pajamas and eat junk food and talk about boys/stress/kids/401k's/books/pretty much anything and feel completely comfortable.  I am already excited for our next girl's weekend.  I also have an itch to start planning some sort of tropical vacation.  Maybe for our 40th birthdays?!?

So long, 2012

Just a few pictures from New Year's Eve.  It is a little bit troubling how much of a party animal Willa is already...she definitely would have stayed up way later than me, had I given her a choice!  Thanks a million to Tosha and Jared for letting us have cocktails and snacks, and play with their new puppy, and have a slumber party at their house.

All kinds of stuff and things

A quick look at things, through pictures.  Early October at Martin's Apple Orchard.  Great place to take the family in the fall and we got a bag of the BEST apples I have ever tasted.

And then I put a picture on Instagram and Anderson Cooper liked it.  And I got all excited.  I mean, its ANDERSON COOPER.  I'm sure he operates his show's Instagram all by himself, right?!?

 

Then there were pumpkin flavored things.  Like pancakes.

And scones.

Then Willa and I spent an afternoon shopping with Tosha.  And enjoying Happy Hour.  I'm sure that Happy Hour is not a proper noun but I feel it is important enough to capitalize, ok?

Then there were presidential and vice-presidential debates to be enjoyed with warm, spiced apple cider drinks and family. 

Then we pulled off a fun surprise for a good friend.  And this was the night that prompted the new 2 Drink Maximum Rule that I have in place for myself.  And it also taught me not to take shots of vodka and then play tag.

Then there was the pumpkin patch.  JK's to be exact.  

Brad and I had a few nights out.  The Yelawolf concert at the Bourbon Theater

And the Hers Launch Party at Voda

Willa, Borne, and Wash at the Hoffman's Halloween party

And Halloween!  We love trick or treating in the Highlands.

Fort building.

My first movie with Willa - Wreck It, Ralph!

Aaaaand...Voting!  I was going to do a whole post about the election, but Facebook got me so flustered about the whole thing that all I will say is, its never a good idea to call me (or imply that I might be) lazy or dependent on the government.  

In a big 'ole nutshell, that's what we have been up to the past several weeks, aside from being busy busy at our jobs.  And Willa has been busy just getting bigger and smarter.  It is so much fun to watch her learn and also to observe her making friends.  She has got counting and abc's down, really is starting to grasp days of the week and shapes, is trying to actually draw things and color in the lines rather than just making big blobs of color, remembers the words to songs they sing in school, can compare and contrast the Michael C. Hall of Dexter with the one of 6 Feet Under, knew the names and faces of both presidential candidates, and is super excited to get big so she can go hunting with Grandpa with her very own gun!  

Dirty Girl (Mud Run)

I did a mud run with these 2 lovely ladies a few weeks ago.  A mud run is definitely something you can't do without a smile on your face.  Very much looking forward to doing others in the future!  And many thanks to Tiff for mixing me a few drinks afterward:)

Tosha and I can be twins again

Just a few cute pictures from Tosha's 32nd birthday party, out in the big town of Panama.  We had 32 tons of fun.  And maybe each took about 32 jello shots.  And Brad and Jared stayed up about 32 hours too late playing Rock Band.  But what the heck, you only turn 32 once!!!