Seriously?!

This Friday, one year ago, we were spending our morning in the salon.

The weather is actually the same today as it was then.

Gloomy.

Drizzle.

Perfect for frizzy hair.

Has it really already been one year??

Seriously?!

** I'm kind of confused because I think it has been a year. Technically tomorrow is our one year, but it was this Friday in July so that makes it one year too, right? If not, let's pretend it makes sense, ok? Thanks.**

The closer we got to our anniversary the more we started talking about what we were going to do to celebrate.

And the more we realized we are still poor newlyweds.

Spending $7 on a bag of cheetos is just as painful as it was on our honeymoon.

$7 still equals $700.

So we decided we will just go out for dinner and start saving for a fun 5 year anniversary celebration.

It's important to have these conversations.

It kills the suspense of the what ifs.

What if I spend a lot of money on him and he gets me nothing.

I will be mad.

He will feel bad.

I will never forget.

What if he gets me something way better than I get him.

What if he gets me something I don't think was worth the money.

I'll have to put on a smile and pretend its ok.

You get the idea.

so the decision was made.

No gifts.

Just dinner and enjoying our weekend together.

Perfect.

Well...

This morning I receive this email:

Beautiful Wife,

We are doing something special for our one year anniversary, and I am
not going to tell you what it is until this evening... So PLEASE do
not snoop!! (Also do not freak about money, everything has already
been paid for.)

I will send you emails thorughout the day giving hints and
instructions, the first of which is at the bottom of this email.

I will also give you a favorite moment of the past year married to
you, so here is the first one:

Playing cards in the livingroom and letting you win..


Hint #1: You will need to pack, so prepare for two nights!

Love you!!

Seriously?!

Some people like surprises.

I don't.

I am a planner.

I hate having no control.

No idea.

I will be freaking out all day.

I am determined to do no snooping.

I did too much snooping during our engagement week and felt really guilty.

Lesson learned.

I have no idea how he paid for this.

I will try my best to relax, enjoy the suspense (ha!) pack my bags and begin writing a really nice card.

And justify that an anniversary is really more for the husband to do for the wife anyways....right?? :)

P.S I love how he adds that he "let me win", I'm guessing after reading the rest of the email that I am supposed to let that line slide, feed his pride and appreciate the fact that beating him in cards is only because he let me. Yeah oooooook.

And just before I was going to post this I got a new email!

Which I may or may not be checking every 30 seconds btw.

Moment #2: Our very first dog experience - as ridiculous as it was it
was something I will never forget and showed me how quickly you can
love something regardless of looks.. Like me!!

Hint #2: Bring your bathing suit and maybe a beach chair

7 more hours until the suspense is over!!

I can do it!

Living For the Weekends.

This summer is different than all our others.

This summer we are living for the weekends.

We are grown ups now.

And when I say grown ups I mean Mr. B works full time and

Roxie and I lounge around the apartment {and I am part part time nanny} and we wait for

Mr. B to get home.

Roxie enjoys her favorite sun spot in the morning and I catch up on some shows.

The days pass by and we look forward to the weekends.

The taste of summer we once experienced every day is now just two days a week

and we try to enjoy every moment of it...

The great helpers when we visit my parents' house.

the extra love and attention {as if she could possibly get any more!}

the acres of open grass to run around in,

the chickens to chase {and their poop to always find and eat!}

the many cute photo opps,

A taste of the sweet stuff {which we seem to be getting every weekend}

30 365 day-eat-junk-and-hopefully-work-out-one-day shred is in action bytheway.

Car rides up north to Mr.B's parents' lake house,

Where someone tries really hard to get comfy...

At least her legs are crossed and she is sleeping like a lady..

the sunny days on the boat

She stays like this when the boat is in motion.

She is not a big fan of the wind...yet.

Note: Roxie and Mr. B -apparently this was an eyes closed photo.

The newest photo of The Smelly Family :)

Yes, her eyes are still closed...she fell asleep like that.

The boat wipes her out.

She chooses to sleep like this.

We enjoy life at the lake.

And time with family.

And we love our weekends.

And we can't wait for this upcoming long weekend!

She Did It!

I was trying different sounds on the computer

to catch Roxie doing the infamous boxer head tilt.

She did it.

And she did it with flying colors.

The most extreme head tilt I have ever seen.

And of course, by far the cutest.

The sound is supposedly a "dog growling", although I realize it may come across as something along the lines of me and manly burps.

It's not.

I promise.

Apparently, she was scared the second time around after I hit replay.

Which, needless to say, was also cute.

You really can't help, but love her to pieces.

She is too stinkin' adorable.

I guess this should be a puppy blog now because I am pretty confident that, the rare times that I now post, it will be about her.

I am obsessed.

(I took this with my iPhone, so the quality isn't the best.)

Thanks for all your encouragement as far as the choke collar vs treat training!

She really a naturally amazingly well behaved puppy!! She has the best temperament!

The choke collar was something I didn't feel comfortable with and seemed to be making her aggressive - which is very unlike her personality. So I am done with that for now, I have been doing treat training and is so going so well!

Can't Do It.

I need help.

Roxie will be 10 weeks old on Thursday, I have tried to start training her with the whole "secret to training the perfect dog" thing.

It's so hard.

Originally I was for treat training.

Watched a bunch of episodes of the Dog Whisperer and some other videos online and decided I was against treat training.

I felt like the dog wasn't really being trained, but always looking for/constantly sniffing your hand for/following/wanting the treat and not really obtaining the command being taught.

I see this infomercial for the perfect dog, read the reviews and thought this was it.

At first Roxie was great. She was very calm, loved to sit, cuddle and follow you, never barked, or bit you....

Now she has about 3 "psycho" spells a day. I would much rather have just 3 than for her to be like this all the time, but it's 3 too many for this lady. She's pretty much bipolar and turns into a completely different puppy and it's a little scary. She gets into this big-I-need-to-bark-and-bit- everything-and-everyone. hard. and then two minutes later she is back to Snugglefest 2010.

I am thankful that she isn't like this all the time. I have no idea what I would do if she was. Lord knows I wouldn't survive if I had a dog like that.

When we first got her, we realized she was too little to understand what she was doing and how to be trained, but we also didn't want her think she could get away with certain things. But as the days go on she is learning more and more and we decided it's time to be serious.

So we pulled out the "command collar".

It breaks my heart.

I realize this is part of "parenting", you discipline out of love, but I am starting to feel uncomfortable with this whole mock choke collar situation.

It seems to be making her more aggressive. She doesn't obey like the dogs on the DVD. I am wondering if maybe she is too young. But either way she needs to learn these things now.

I'm thinking about getting my money back from the training DVD and doing the puppy classes, although the dogs that I know that have been don't seem to be the most obedient....but then again when you see me in the backyard dragging Roxie through the grass as she remains extremely stubborn and laying on her back- my dog doesn't look too obedient either.

So I am feeling a bit discouraged.

And sad.

I don't think this is something I want to stick out. It seems to be getting worse, not better.

Between her red neck, her cries, squeals, yelps and barks and feeling like she hates me..I am not sure this is the method for me.

So please tell me what has been successful for you!!

She is really good at sitting, being cute, potty outside, being cute, sleep through the night and being cute.

Still needs to learn all the other commands (including how to walk on a leash), tricks and when to stop biting.

Oh, that's another thing. I am having a hard time figuring out where the line is drawn between puppy play and the evil crazy puppy that has taken the biting too far. I tried spraying water on her face and of course..she loved it. I will try again with a little mouth wash in it and see what happens.

Please help.

Sincerely,

Ms. J and Mr. B

You know it's your first puppy when...

You freak out halfway through the 6 hour drive home because you realize she might be a boy dog.

Why would a girl dog have "something" sticking out between her legs?!?

You and your mom try to convince yourselves that a boy's thing isn't set as far back as a girl's.

You look an idiot and ask the vet....just to be sure.

You now call it a pe-jayjay.

{yes, I am very creative when it comes to making up unique names dealing with the private area}

When you're wondering if there should be any concern with the conjoined nipple on her belly....only to find out it's actually her belly button.

You take 1084876 pictures of her every move.

Even the creepy-eyes-rolled-back-dead-to-the-world-mouth-wide-open-look-at-my-little-baby-teeth-sleep.

You take a picture of her paws because you think it is so cool that they are black polka dots.

Only to have it eventually "click" that this is a sign of your precious little pup growing up and her once untainted-pink-smooth-as-a-babies-bum-pads are transforming into uncool black pads.

You are paranoid about every. little.thing. including dehydration.

You have the hardest time disciplining her because you think she is the most adorable thing and how could you ever yell at this sweet sweet face?!

You say something along the lines of "She is too cute!!!" 1098497592028750 times a day.

She's Here!!

She's so tiny.

She loves to cuddle,

She did great on the long 6 hour car ride,

And she's so adorable....

She slept pretty much the whole way...

totally candid & totally funny.

She slept through the Red Sox game with Mr. B

& she rested on my leg while I blogged about her

{my hand isn't that big in real life}

She's been sleeping all day and we are hoping that won't mean she will be up all night.

But it's ok if she is because she is so stinkin' a.dor.a.ble.

ONE WEEK

One

week from today Mama Grace, my sister and I are taking a mini road trip to pick up this little cutie!!!

I feel like time has gone by so slow.

Probably due to the fact that we have technically been waiting since March.

We are so excited that it is now only days away.

Isn't she adorable???

I am getting a little nervous as she approaches her last vet appointment because that is when we lost the other pup we were supposed to get. But we trust that God will work everything out! So far she is super healthy, cuddly when you want to cuddle and playful when you want to play.

The other night I was having trouble falling asleep so I was watching TV. There were other things on, but I chose to watch an infomercial. Because I am cool like that. They suck me in every.time. Such a talent they have- the ability to make you want need to buy it right now.

So Don Sullivan's How to Train the Perfect Dog sucked me in that night. How could I resist a trainer known as The Dogfather?? He must know what he is talking about.

{credit}

Ummm...Hello?!? With just 3 2 easy payments YOU can have the perfect dog.

Sold.

It took everything in my power not to wake up Mr.B {I am sure he is very thankful that I didn't} For some reason, I don't think we would've shared the same excitement.

I haven't heard many success stories from the puppy school, so I decided we could save a little money and try this out.

I finally bought it last night.

I haven't received a confirmation email or anything yet, which makes me a little nervous.

So now [if I ever receive it} it's a given- we will have the almost perfect dog. AND all with just two easy payments....how 'bout that :)