A Week in Photos 7.31.11 -- Newsies

This week's photos are all about new toys & new adventures:

(new) Keurig love.

Need I say more?

Square love.

Our new everyday place setting.

(new) kitchen towels

2 more new gadgets

(hooray for finishing our wedding registry!)

Yin & Yang

I helped paint my yoga studio.

Barefoot.

Nora, asleep, on the road trip.

You know you're at Grandma's house when...

(and then she told me to take home a lot of her vintage gorgeous pieces I fawned over)

Country dog.

SnowDay!

A storm brought icky sleet followed by snow, around the evening commute Wednesday night.  Stories of people abandoning their cars on highways followed by ohs and ahs of the elusive thundersnow clogged the interwebs.

And me? I wore my PJs inside-out and backwards, following the advice of my 7 and 8 year-old students.  Did you also know to flush ice down the toilet and spit as it goes down? Oh and put a spoon in a sock under your pillow, for good measure.
Or just open a bottle of wine and watch the flakes fall.
And frequently jump when your phone gives the tell tale signal of an email or text received, because you, like those darling children, also hope it contains the words "Snow" and "Day," consecutively of course.

By 11pm my wish came true!  My heart did a little dance, mostly because a day off is golden, but also since I knew 21 other little hearts similarly skipped a beat.  A Snow Day! A day to play! A day to finish working on report cards that are due soon.  A chance to email wedding vendors and figure out wedding invitation verbiage.
Another day to work, but not for the man.

In the early afternoon Mike and I ventured out with our dog, Nora.  Plows visited most of the side streets and most neighbors shoveled several sidewalks, but the world looked slushy and puddle-wonderful.  We dodged ice covered intersections and greeted the scarce sighting of neighbors warmly.

I snapped happily, excited for the chance to use City of Blackbird's Photoshop tutorial later. (her textures are shared, free!)

And so I bring you my favorite neighborhood spots, snow covered:

A good walk was had by all.

Stay Warm!

The Best Resolution

New Year's Resolutions can really bite you in the butt. 
You start off the year all happy and gung-ho to really do something better.  My favorite resolutions are the "eat healthier" or "loose weight" ones, because, like the attendance in my yoga studio in January, you resolve to really follow through.  Then, similar to that attendance rate, March comes along (if you're lucky) and "just one glass of wine" turns into the normal routine.  Old habits die hard.

The best resolutions are ones that easily come without trying, like "breathing more regularly" (so long as your healthy lungs comply) or even "read more" (hopefully you set aside time, or count reading my blog and dietary information on the back of the sale-holiday candy boxes towards that goal).

But really, when it comes to making a decision to change, radical thoughts seem to lead to huge expectations which ultimately lead to failure. (too harsh?)  I advise you to go ahead and do something you already planned to do, just on New Year's Day, instead of say, March or November.  Can't wait? Then call it a delayed New Year's Resolution.
Trust me, it adds an awesome feeling to it.

Two years ago today Mike and I made the best resolution, ever.  Weighty statement?
Here's proof that choice continues to make us happy:

On January 1, 2009, we went to the Humane Society of Washington DC and signed the paperwork, giving sweet Eleanor Rigby her forever home.
Nora, as we call her, suffered from abuse through neglect.  She was an Animal Control confiscation case.  Someone called the hot line, reported seeing a dog malnourished, and the owners handed over the dog without even taking the 30 day challenge to improve this dog's life.  Full grown and about 2 years old, she weighed thirty pounds when she first arrived at the shelter and thirty-five pounds when we took her home.  Now? She healthily weights fifty-five pounds, and resolves not to eat too many biscuit bones.

But luckily, this unfortunate time in Nora's life brought her into ours.
And lucky for us, it happened on New Year's Day, two years ago.

I resolve not to make a New Year's Resolution this year.  I want to keep doing what I'm doing happily, and continue to improve my quality of life, by improving Nora's quality of life.

Happy New Year, all! May your resolutions be sound and firm, or nonexistent.
Either way, may you be happy as our dog!

Disclaimer: this post was in no way sponsored by the Humane Society, or Sarah Mclachlan.  Just a friendly reminder to do what you're doing without putting unnecessary pressure on  yourself.  Unless of course you need to loose weight for health reasons. Happy New Year!

My dog, the lush

Last night I was honored (among others) at the first ever Kennedy Center Honors Excellence in Teaching, a Standing Ovation for DC Teachers.  It was very inspiring, but also on a school night.  Why put a teacher's event on a school night?
As a result, today's post is brought to you by my dog:

It was empty when she got to it.

I swear she looks drunk in the bottom pic, where she tore apart an empty box.


But because she can't be trusted with an open bar, Nora's not going to be part of our wedding.

No animals were harmed in the making of this post.

Eleanor Rigby, the dog (not the song)

You might see Nora and think she's a dingo, but really she's more of a big baby than a fierce wild dog.  However, more than one person has asked us, "What's IN that dog?!"  I faithfully call her an "Orange Shepherd" while Mike refers to her as a "Hungarian Shepherd."  Truth-be-told we have no clue.  The Humane Society labeled her a Golden mix, which is a load of crap.  While her rust colored fur does resemble the darkest of retrievers, Nora lacks the instinct to bring back anything, enticing or not. There's not a retrieving bone in her body, also demonstrated in the way she "swims" which more so resembles a hop-skip-and-a-splash (with gusto) like an excited four-year-old trying to run in water.
Her red fur, pink piggy nose, pink pads, and iris covered eyes (no white in site) lead us to think she's part Vizsla.   The pointy-satellite ears, dense winter undercoat that sheds 2x a year like clockwork, thick medium-short fur, a tail that dips and fluffs at the end, and hind legs that form a 45-degree angle while standing just shout German Shepherd.  When people at the dog park ask what we think she's made of, that's exactly what we say: Vizsla & Germ Shepherd.  Everyone takes a good look and nods in agreement.  Yup, she's GOT to be the perfect combo of those two breeds!
I'll take the picky Vizsla-like fickleness and the Shepherd patrolling any day.  My sweet dog leans into you for pets, knows her commands when she wants to please, and only chases the cats when we forget to exercise her.  She's the perfect big-dog for a small space, and we're happy to give her a home.

She hides in the shower during thunder-storms.

And sleeps in a funny way.

We love our Nora-Noodle!