-:- hello from the boys

xox

-:- happy birthday, lou

Last week, our Lou turned one. It feels like just yesterday he was just a little puppy, eating my yarn and terrorizing the cats - and now he's all grown up, eating adult dog food...and still terrorizing the cats.

We celebrated with a new toy, some special canned food, and a new bed for upstairs sleeping.

It probably goes without saying that we adore this dog. Probably a little more than normal. We love how good he is...and how naughty he can be. When I talk to him (I totally talk to him), his ears go right up and his tilts his head back and forth like he's really listening to me - he'll do that for as long as I'm talking. And I love it. We love that he pounces and bounces wherever he goes, especially when he's excited about a treat or a walk. He's just the best and we're not sure how we got along without him.

And even after all this time, we still can't figure out how he became part rabbit - I guess some mysteries aren't meant to be solved.

Happy birthday, Louie!

xox

-:- happy easter

Oh, I've missed this space! Mr. and I took a trip South to visit family and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things around here. I had some pretty massive library fines to take care of, we needed to restock our kitchen, and I'm still only partially unpacked. But I find myself getting a little twitchy if I'm away from this blog for too long, so I had to stop in to say hello - and Easter seemed like the perfect day to do so.

Today we cooked and ate a vegetarian version of the traditional Slovak meal my family has on Easter - I made paska and hrutka  (paska is the bread, hrutka is the cheese), Mr. made homemade egg noodles to put in a vegetable soup, and we finished everything off with a big salad. There may have been a Cadbury egg and a Peep or two thrown in there as well.

I hope you all had a restful weekend and I am, as always, wishing you lovely weeks ahead.

xox

-:- snow bunny

We got a bit more snow this week.
And nobody was happier about it than our Lou.

I know a little dog with short legs isn't what usually comes to mind when you think of a snow bunny, but watching Lou pounce through the snow with his big ears made me think it was appropriate to call him that after all.

Wishing you all lovely weekends ahead.

xox

-:- weekend scenes

On Saturday, we took Lou to doggie day care and then got out and about a bit. We went slightly north for a special visit with the wolves (more on that soon, I promise) - and then ate out for lunch, discovered a new thrift store, and ran all of our errands for the week. I love having a full kitchen after we go grocery shopping, especially when it includes special treats.

Louie got two baths this weekend, much to his chagrin. His first came after he got home from doggie day care on Saturday and his second came after a long walk we took earlier today. He also discovered that he quite likes the contents of the litter box, much to my chagrin.

Tomorrow, we're back at it. I am already looking forward to this week's dinners - butternut squash ravioli and an Indian feast are in the works - and there are crumpets for breakfast. What a wonderful way to start my Monday morning.

Wishing you all a beautiful week ahead.

xox

-:- weekend scenes

Last weekend, my parents were here for their first visit to our new home - it was so wonderful to see them. And I'm happy they came when they did - had they visited a week later, they would have encountered snowy weather and a daughter with a sore throat. There's so much more to tell you about from last weekend, but I'm going to wait just a bit longer for that.

This weekend, we ran all of our usual errands and then we spent some time at Mr.'s school. He had a few miscellaneous things to get done and I used the time to play the old piano they have there, which I have missed doing. It's out of tune, but it was still lovely to play.

I also started doing yoga this weekend (beyond my usual sun salutation) with the help of a library DVD. I already love how it makes me feel and have found myself doing mountain pose while waiting for my neep and tattie scones to cook - and seated forward bends as Mr. and I played our nightly games of gin rummy on the floor. Hopefully daily yoga is a habit I keep.

Now I'm sitting in front of the fire with Lou by my side, sipping a cup of tea made by Mr. for my sore throat. I hope you all had restful weekends - and I wish you wonderful weeks ahead.

xox

-:- lexicon project // celebrate

This week's word was celebrate and this is my interpretation of it. We love that dog.

To see all of the other interpretations, visit Rachel.

For next week's word, visit Corrie.

xox

-:- am/pm

AM

At the beginning of this year, I quit coffee. That's kind of a big deal for me - I have been a coffee lover for a long time now and was afraid that my mornings just wouldn't be the same without it. And if I'm being honest, they aren't quite the same.

But I've started a new habit that is almost as wonderful - each morning, I squeeze half a lemon into a mug of hot water. For me, as a person who struggles to stay hydrated, this is a great start to my day. 

-:-

PM

I usually see some form of the below each evening - although Lou isn't always so whimsical when he sleeps. Silly boy.

xox

-:- catching up

I hope each of you experienced merriment and relaxation over the holidays - and now here we are, in 2013. I can already tell it's going to be a great year.

I really meant to stop by this space to let you know I'd be missing for awhile, but got so swept up in Christmas preparations that it slipped under the radar. I'm back now, and though I have so much to tell you about, I thought I'd ease back into this space with a few photographs from way back in 2012.

-:- Sriracha nuts - a gift for Mr. - recipe found here. I cut the sugar down to 1/4 c. (instead of 2 c.) and used about 3 tablespoons of sriracha.

-:- Sleepy puppy, courtesy of doggie day care

-:- A new tea (citrus lavender sage - yum), courtesy of a dear friend

-:- New (matching!) socks, courtesy of Mr.

Wishing each of you a bright, peaceful, wonderful New Year filled with many, many good things.

xox

-:- weekend scenes

It snowed! We woke up early Sunday morning to a winter wonderland. I got out of bed, put on my boots, and took Lou out for his first big snow. And oh my goodness, Louie loves the snow. He was like a little dancing fawn, frolicking and leaping, chasing snowflakes, running like crazy. It is so much fun to watch. 

Since we were expecting snow (though, maybe not quite so much of it), we made sure to run all of our errands on Saturday so we could hunker down and get cozy today. We went into Minneapolis to do a bit of shopping and discovered, quite on accident, the best Indian buffet we've ever eaten. This one was very vegetarian friendly and there were a few dishes that were very spicy, which is really rare in a buffet. It was super good and super unexpected.

And now, here we are, eating Mr.'s homemade pizza, drinking vegan hot chocolate (loosely adapted from here), kind of half-watching some of our favorite holiday movies as we putter around, wrapping presents, knitting, cooking, straightening up, and cuddling with that pup of ours who wore himself out in the snow.

Heavenly - and I hope your weekend was too.

xox

-:- weekend scenes - an adapted poem

Early on Saturday, while drinking our coffee, I turned to Mr. and said very softly, 

I'm just not into this whole Christmas season - it doesn't feel right - I don't know the reason.

It could be that temperatures were mild and light - it could be, perhaps, that my shoes were too tight. 

But whatever the reason, lack of snow or my shoes, we set out to fix it - just like the Whos.

Later that day, in lieu of crying or shouting, we decided instead to embark on an outing.

Our minds were made up, we were on such a mission,

and we returned with a tree, our home's newest addition.

I grabbed the short tree and started to decorate, when I heard a strange noise, one a dog would create.

I turned around fast and I saw a small Lou!

Little Louie Lou Who, who is much less than two.

I had indeed been caught by this small little pup, trimming our tree from the bottom on up.

But, you know me, I'm so smart and so slick,

that I thought of a way to include Lou - and quick!

I grabbed a red ribbon and before he could blink,

I had wrapped it and tied it and gave him a wink.

I know he looks sad, but that's just a facade,

he was really quite glad to be part of our Natividad. 

And what happened then? Well, what Mr. would say

is that my small little heart grew three sizes that day!

And the minute my heart didn't feel quite so tight was the minute I knew everything was just right.

Welcome, December. I am officially in the mood for you.

 xox

-:- weekend scenes

This was such a strange weekend weather-wise - yesterday it got to be almost 70 degrees and today it's in the 30s and snowing. So we're sitting in our living room right now, with the fire on - Mr. is doing some lesson planning and I am about to go reheat some soup and toast some bread for our dinner.

This weekend we found a great bubble tea place (I got lavender coconut - so good), baked some muffins, went for walks, and enjoyed both the warm day and the cold one.

The muffins, by the way, are really tasty, but also really moist. Moist enough that you have to eat them with a fork instead of like a normal muffin. I'm not sure what went wrong - this always seems to happen whenever I bake with apples...but I also could have measured something incorrectly, especially since I was seeing double after having crashed my head into the corner of a cabinet door!

Also, Lou (finally) learned how to rollover - something he has been adverse to learning since he graduated from puppy class. Which is strange, considering he spends most of his day like this:

He still seems a bit reluctant every time we ask him to rollover, like it's absolutely the most embarrassing thing he could ever do, but it is definitely progress.

I hope you and yours are safe, warm, and happy on this Sunday evening!

xox

-:- happy half birthday, louie

Louie is officially 6 months old today.
And since the weather has been blustery, Mr. has been having some hard days at work, and I hadn't baked in awhile, I thought this half birthday was reason enough for celebration.

So I baked some cupcakes (for human consumption only), got Lou a present, and made him wear a hat.

(I know Lou looks pretty humiliated in his half birthday photo, but I consider this my payback for our little Malabrigo fiasco. Go ahead, Lou. Chew some more yarn.)

Since my last Louie update he has:

-:- (Pretty much) learned how to get his long body on short legs down our steep stairs by himself. It involves a lot of hopping. And a lot of concentration.

-:- Gotten better at interacting with Wilbur.



But only slightly.

-:- Learned how not to drench his front legs when he goes #1.
This was such a relief to us - for obvious reasons.

He also goes out and comes in by himself now, without having to be on a leash.

-:- Runs/jumps/goes through life with all limbs extended like Superman.

-:- Sprouted all of his grown-up teeth...
but he still likes to chew on socks. And clean laundry.
And dirty laundry.
And pillows.

-:- Established a rather hateful relationship with the vacuum cleaner.
And maintained (several) adoring relationships with sticks.

-:- And learned a new trick. He does this constantly for us, even if we don't ask him to. Except, of course, when I have the camera out. This picture is kind of a miracle.

What a good boy.

I should also mention that Wilbur felt a little left out during our festivities - he didn't remember ever celebrating his half birthday! So he got a turn in the new bed and got to wear the birthday hat too.

Cupcake time.



xox