Dash the Dachshund

A few months back, Ryan had FINALLY agreed that the timing was right to get a dog! I did tons of searching, we checked out a few short-haired dachshund litters, and were even close to buying one. But when the deal fell through, I went back to looking. I contacted an aquaintance that I know through mutual friends because I had seen Facebook pictures of her dog. It was a long-haired English Cream dachshund and it was the cutest dog I had ever seen. They are a really rare breed though, and apparently there are no breeders in OK or surrounding states. Finally I found a breeder in NC who had a puppy almost available. He was adorable!!!!

So after the Vegas trip, on May 5, I picked up our first family puppy from the airport. He flew all the way from North Carolina to be with us! We had so many fights about naming him, and actually decided on Fendi the night before I picked him up. Then, when I picked him up, the airport tag on his kennel said DASH. Ryan saw it, and said, "Hey....how about Dash?" Perfect.

Here are a few pictures of his first day home. He was three months old:

Dash and his squirrel











He has grown a ton over the past three months. He recently has become a TON better about not having accidents in the house. The first 2.5 months were hell, and I cleaned up 4-8 messes every day. Luckily, working from home, he has never been crated for very long by himself. He's so spoiled! He sleeps in his crate at night, and loves to cuddle in the morning. Having a puppy has been the best thing ever, I feel like a hole has finally been filled. Having a cat and a dog keeps me so busy, I don't know how people find time for their kids! Ha.

Some growing up pics:

Dash his first time at the vet. He weighed 4.5 lbs!!



His sad face in his crate while I'm across the room trying to get some work done.





One of my favorites!



Ash and the fur kids.





Graduating from Petsmart puppy class!



Dash today (almost six months old):

Girls Weekend in Vegas

Shortly after BC, I had another mini-vacation planned. This trip was to Vegas, to celebrate Nola's sister Nicole turning 30. I was really excited to see Nola, since it had almost been a year since my wedding! Nicole brought two friends with her, Mandy and Terri-Anne.

I have never partied so hard. Well, maybe in college. But nobody would believe how much we drank, danced and acted like fools.

Starting on the first night, we checked into the MGM Signature Suites and then got ready for dinner. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe downstairs and then went to Bellagio to see Circque de Soleil's "O." It was amazing!!!





It was pretty late after the show, and Nicole's friends wanted to go to bed. Lame! Nola, Nicole and I headed to "The Bank," which is Bellagio's nightclub. After waiting in line for awhile, it was clear we were not getting in. So we wandered back towards our hotel, taking a few shots along the way.



We went back to our room and Nola changed out of her clothes into something more comfortable. We went back out to see what we could find to do....and ended up gambling for awhile. Nola played a few bucks on the slots and I quickly lost $100 playing blackjack. Not hard to do when the table minimum is $15 a hand. Geez! Nicole met some guy who wanted to go to a club called Tabu at the casino, and Nola kept saying that there was no way she could get in because of what she was wearing. We ended up getting in, no cover, and danced until 4am.



After that, we needed some food! We hit the foodcourt and met some funny guys that we hung out with for awhile before we went to bed. I don't even know what time it was, I just know the sun was up.








I slept in (hard) that day, while the girls went to the outlet malls to shop. Then it was time to do it all over again. We had dinner at a really nice Mexican place. We had pitchers of sangria and margaritas, and tableside guacamole. Yum!



Then we headed back down the strip, towards the Bellagio, where we met a guy who said he could get us in to The Bank (the one that wouldn't let us in the night before). And he did!



The club ended up sucking...it played all techno and weird music, and the drinks were sky high. So we left. We went back to the MGM to Studio 54and waited in line. Nicole and her friends decided they didn't want to pay a $20 cover so they left, but Nola and I were sick of walking around. We wanted to dance! And oh, did we dance. We saw the same guys that we had met the night before, and they stayed and danced too. We hit the foodcourt when the club closed (sensing a trend here?) We got home again around 5am.



The last day was a bit of a recovery day. Nola and I had a nice lunch at the Paris restaurant at the top of the Eiffel Tower.



We checked out the new Cosmopolitan casino, and then took the monorail to the Sahara to play $1 blackjack. We stayed there a long time- it was sad to leave, knowing that it was going to close forever a few weeks later. We caught a limo back to Caesar's with some random guys who were attending a convention.





We had dinner at Cheesecake Factory, and then Nola and I called it a night. Our flights left super early the next morning. What a crazy trip.

BC Vacation

Back in April, I finally made the trip to Kelowna, BC to visit my aunt and uncle. I can't believe I had never gone before! The whole area is breath-taking. The town is set in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, with crystal clear lakes everywhere. The roads zigzag along the hilly route from the airport in a town called Vernon to Kelowna. The first day I was there, they took me to the lake where the Ogopogo lives.

Their house is gorgeous. It has the most incredible view of the mountains and a lake below. I kept telling them it looked like a postcard.




We toured the Mission Hill winery where the Bachelorette, Jillian Harris took the guys on a group date. We got our own private guide, and we did wine pairings with food and explored the entire winery. It was like an old mission, with cool buildings and dark caverns.







We spent the next few days exploring, drinking, eating and shopping before the rest of my family got there. My mom's birthday was that week, and she didn't know I was at my aunt's. When we went to pick everyone up at the airport (Mom, Granny, Parker, Devin and Jen), Susie put a giant gift bag on my head right outside the gate. My mom walked out and lifted it off my head and started crying. It was awesome!

The rest of the week was fun....we took a trip to the Hot Springs, hiked around the park where Susie takes the dog every morning, had a birthday party cookout and just a good time in general. I was bummed because Ryan couldn't come (work), but promised that we would come back together soon so he could experience everything.













Oh, and while I was there, apparently iPhones roam if you don't turn off a feature within your settings. So even though I had made it a point not to use my phone all week, near the end of my trip I got a text that my data service had been suspended because of excessive usage. I called AT&T and flipped out because I had a $700 bill! To fix it, I had to buy an international data plan and then they backdated it, so I ended up paying about $60. Better than $700 I guess!

The trip home was a long story....basically I got held up in customs in Seattle because I had a passport but didn't bring my alien card. While I was detained, I missed my connection. That led to missing another connection and delayed flights in LAX. I didn't get to Dallas (where I had been staying with Jenny) until like 2am! Miserable.

Random Thoughts

1. I'm working from home for the next month or so until my firm finds us an office. I can't decide if I love it or hate it yet....I was pretty good at staying focused today but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I'm distracted by TV, laundry, etc.

2. We got a huge tax return back last night! I'm really excited about paying off both of our credit cards and then using the rest for either a vacation or to buy a table for the dining nook.

3. I have definitely decided to quit my job at Upper Crust. Only every time I think about never being around all my work friends again, I get really sad. And also a bit panicked about not being able to pick up an extra shift if I'm strapped for cash

4. Our house warming party needs to be soon, or I'm going to go crazy. I'm thinking April might be good.

5. My mom, Devin, Parker and my grandma are going to Kelowna, BC in April to visit my aunt. I decided to suprise my mom because it's her birthday, and I booked a flight there. My grandma and aunt paid for it (even after I refused) so I feel kind of guilty. Now I'm praying that my passport comes back in time (it's on its way to the passport people in Canada right now!)

6. I spontaneously booked a flight to Vegas to celebrate Nola's sister Nicole's 30th birthday at the end of April and I CAN'T WAIT!

7. Why is there always so much laundry to do? And how do the dishes never fail to pile up so fast?

8. I hate my hair right now but I'm not sure what to do to fix it.

9. I am completely heartbroken that our Borders store is closing. I bought up magazines, cards and books at the last sale....including the "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book. It's hidden in my closet so my husband doesn't freak.

10. Almost time for me to go work a shift at Upper Crust tonight and this makes me happy that I'm quitting soon. Hahahaha.

The New Blog

While reading one of my favorite blogs today (The Collier Family), I happened across the website of the person who created her blog- fabulouskcreative.com. She makes the coolest layouts and I want one. Now I'm going to see if Patrick can help me replicate some of her work into my new blog because he didn't have a chance to start on it yet.

I cut and taped a mock-up blog for him this morning when I was bored. The colors are going to be pink and grey. I was also thinking about what the name would be, and what my header would look like.

1. peonies & plumerias - probably my favorite name choice...reminds me of my wedding (peony bouquet and plumeria wedding cake). They are my favorite flowers and I love the ampersand because I can make it huge and in a different color.

2. lavendar & lilacs - my favorite smells and remind me of childhood. And again, the ampersand.

3. the hurst family - for obvious reasons.

4. the story of our life - I don't like this one but felt like there should be more choices.

I want to take a class and learn how to do this for myself because I'm so impatient.

Turning a House Into a Home

After we got past the challenge of picking out furniture we both love, my next challenge is turning out to be even harder. Picking out things to decorate all this space is making my head spin.

My hangup is that I am very much a matchy-matchy person. I always like it when other people pick fun things that don't necessarily "match" but seem to fit anyways though. Example: my best friend's living room. I told her, I never would have picked out those curtains (or these mirrors that you can't see here), but everything pulls together and looks fantastic.



So here is what I'm thinking. We have these colors in the kitchen backsplash:



That gives me purple, greyish blue, olive, and cream to work with. Throw in some brown and silver because of our wall trim and appliances, and maybe some red because of an entry light we have that looks pretty cool.

Before our housewarming party, my goal is to buy some pillows for the seating nook, some bar stools for the island, some art to cover the empty space on the walls and some vases to stick on mantle.

Here are some contenders.

Barstools from Lamps Plus (faux leather)



Pillows from Lamps Plus and Etsy Seller "Mia and Stitch"





And the painting of the horse in this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffclickhomes/4322983661/in/set-72157623205761333

That's all I've got so far.

Ideas? Thoughts?

Snow-klahoma

Last week was miserable....the snow started Monday night, and when I woke up on Thursday it was a mini-blizzard going on outside our windows. We got about 5-7 inches and I was going nowhere.



Normally, I really enjoy working from home. However, last week was the first hotel opening for Home2 Suites and there were a million things to do. I had to work (hard!) from my laptop in the living room with no couch. I was sitting on the floor. For three days. And my back still hurts.

I did enjoy watching Margaret's weather coverage on KOCO. I know it sounds mean, but Ryan and I laughed every time we saw them cut to her. She looked so cold! Poor thing. She would text me between live shots to see how she looked.



We didn't have any fresh food because Ryan didn't go to the store, so I lived off of all the canned stuff in the pantry. One day for lunch, I just opened a bunch of cans and threw everything into a big plate of spaghetti noodles with olive oil. Artichoke hearts, garlic, black olives and mushrooms. It sounded good in my head, but it was actually pretty gross. Lol!

I had to get out of the house Friday or I was going to go nuts. I caught a ride with Cassie and her husband Brady. He drove us to work, and then picked us up around 3pm.

Tonight, we are supposed to get more snow. Six-12 inches to be (not) exact. Oi.