Friday, May 28, 2010

Things that make ME happy!

Kelly's Korner is hosting a "Show Us Your Life" blog post that I think is appropriate for me.  Tonight I'm a little sad as my grandmother is very sick and on my mind, and I could definitely use these happy thoughts.

So, what make me happy?  So many things, but here are a few.  I'll have to upload my pictures later, but here's my short list:

-  My husband.  The best day of my life was marrying you, my dear.

-  My family.   I have the best parents, sister, aunts, uncles, cousin, and grandparents.  (I Love You, Grandma.  You are weighing heavy on my heart and I wish I could be there with you but I don't want you to suffer.  I know you will be my angel.)  I also was blessed to marry into a wonderful family who I adore. 

- My friends of course.  All the laughs, shoulders to cry on, a great support for me during the fun times and the harder ones.

- Wally.

-  The thought of being a mom one day.

-  Christmas time.  Everything about it from the real reason of the season, decorations, Christmas music, etc.

-  The beach or even the sun.  So relaxing....

-  Vacation and traveling.

-  Italian food.  I had some wonderful clams and linguine with red sauce tonight.

-  Virginia Tech football and Frank Beamer.

-  Shopping.

-  My house after its good and clean.

-  Clean sheets.

-  Scented candles.

-  Diet coke.

-  A real good girly movie.

Monday, May 24, 2010

My first cheesecake

I had my first try making a cheesecake.

 It cracked in the center but otherwise was delicious.  I don't think I will mind making more so I can get it perfect.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Wally and his walks

There are many reasons why Wally is getting is happier with his walks, but, really it centers around the fact that he is getting more walks.  We have enjoyed my new job and the nice hours which helps Matt and I get to take Wally on his walks in the evenings.  Of course, I'm definitely a fair weather dog walker.  Anyways, the reason I'm happier with our walks is that Wally is trained!!

He loves his walks and gets so happy when we get the leash. 















But in the past he hasn't been so good on his walks.  If a dog passes while Wally was on his leash, he became very aggressive, barking like an a crazy dog and sometime snarling.  It was real annoying and I got very anxious every time I saw that we were about to pass someone else walking their dog.

Well, about a month ago, I took action and got a dog trainer to come by the house.  To my surprise, she said it was my fault and that basically Wally was reacting to my reaction of getting anxious and some past experience.  The good news according to the trainer is that Wally and his behavior is fixable.  The trainer worked with Matt and I on using our leash and walking Wally and how to react with him when we pass another dog.  We worked out a plan to get Wally back on track and Wally is a different dog on his walks these days. 

This was before: (He was always pulling us through the walk and we had no control.)
Here's some pictures from this weekend:

Wally now sits when we tell him to and he has to sit as we open gates and doors.  He has to wait for us to walk out before he does.
You can see how he now walks beside us.  I don't have any pictures of him reacting to another dog.  We still have some work to do but walks are much more enjoyable.

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Sunday, May 16, 2010

Ah, the nice weekend...

This weekend was a lot of catching up....hence, 2 blog posts in one day after a month of being inactive.  It was nice to be at home this weekend and feel like we didn't have much to do.  Friday night, we went to the Flying Squirrels (San Franciso Giants AA affiliate team) baseball game.  We had a nice time catching up with some of our friends and Matts family.  Saturday, I did some Spring cleaning in the kitchen (cleaned the refrigerator out, microwave, and oven).  I also had plenty of laundry to do.  Last night, Matt and I joined up with a crew last night to go listen to a band and be outside in the beautiful weather. 

I was excited to get to work on some plants today.  I wanted to do some planting in containers so Matt and I went out and got some plants.  I normally just buy them after they are put together.  But, Matt and I watched a HGTV show on making garden containers and according to the gardener, the key is to do a flowering flower, something tall, and something that is flow over the side.   I'm pretty excited about my hanging baskets and my plants on the deck.  I don't exactly have a green thumb and am horrible about watering plants but I'm going to water more often and I'll post in a few weeks and let you know how I did.


Our herbs...

I planted these about a month ago.  They are still looking pretty.

In need of a new blog post....

It's been forever since I've posted any updates on the blog. The problem is that we've been very busy but I have not had the camera out. I take it everywhere we go, it seems, but no pictures get taken. I need to be better about that. So, I'm going to put the last 3 weeks into one blog and then hopefully I will do better about updating.

The month of April flew by and now the month of May is almost gone. Matt and I took off to go see my grandparents a few weeks ago. It was a little unexpected as we ended up going because Grandma got some discouraging news. I was so happy that we got a quality visit with Grandma and for all those times that she took very good care of me and spoiled me, I was able to help take care of her. Grandma seems to be feeling slightly better than she was a few weeks ago and I'm hoping to make another trip to see her soon.

We also traveled to Baltimore to see the Red Sox, which got swept by the Orioles. That part wasn't the best but getting to see them was fun. Matt and I have a tradition that he started of going to a Red Sox game in Baltimore every year. We got to the Saturday night game together and then Sunday his parents join us. I have to stay that every year I have such a good time and of course, I love that Matt and I share same enjoyment with his parents.  Unfortunately, this is the only picture we took and it's not very flattering of me.

We are also very excited that Matt's sister is now a Richmonder. She has been in Charlotte, NC and a new job brought her back here. It's been fun and exciting for the family for her not to be so far away. Welcome Home, Courtney!!  We have enjoyed seeing you this weekend and are excited that we will get to spend more time with you on a regular basis.

Also, I think I'm not going to get in trouble with telling my other exciting news. My best friend, Ali, is pregnant. I'm excited for Mark and Ali and know they will be great parents. Since Ali and I have truly grown up together in the same church and went to the same high school, being best friends for so many years, I really think of her more like a sister. I definitely feel like a proud Aunt. Ali's so cute pregnant. We have a few friends that have little munchkins running around a bunch of friends that are expecting and I will admit that the baby bug has definitely bitten me. Timing isn't perfect though so we'll continue enjoy our independence and our time with one another. Plus, Wally is totally fine with being an only child. ;-)

I think I'm going to wrap this one up. I will try to do much better.