Bella-boo

It's true, she can be a royal pain in my ass... but she is a beautiful dog, and incredibly loving, and we are truly blessed to have her in our lives.

Busy Day...

No Critics Choice to share today... if YOU have a movie, book, TV show, product, etc. etc. you'd like to share, please leave it in the comments - we'd love to hear!

I'm swamped today.  Lots of painting going on... can you tell?  : )

The next 24 hours are going to be crazy for me.  Remember how anal retentive I am about list-making?  I couldn't go to bed last night without writing my hour-by-hour list for today.  I was so scared I would forget something!

Wish me luck, and have a great weekend!

Thankful...

This year, I'm thankful for the simple things in life...

1) My Statistics class being over. (Yes, seriously, this is number one on my list!!!)

2) My incredibly supportive and loving husband. 2009 has been challenging in a lot of ways - I am so very lucky to have him by my side through thick and thin.

3) My equally amazing family and friends. Words can't express how much I love you all - no matter how near or far you may be. I speak to some of you every day and some of you only a few times a year, but you are still important people in my life and I thank you for that.

4) All of the crazy animals in my life (or that have come in and out of my life). They bring me so much comfort and joy... (isn't that a Christmas song?!)

5) My home. We haven't accomplished even half of the home decor/improvement items I started out to in 2009 - but it's ours, and I love it just the same. No matter how messy I let it get!

What are YOU thankful for this Thanksgiving?

My very best wishes to you all this holiday!

Bella Update

I'm not the only one having a rough couple of weeks. Poor ol' Bella is having a hard time as well. Bella had been diagnosed with food allergies of some description a while back, and has to eat limited ingredient food otherwise her stool is... well... you can imagine, and she would get ear infections all the time.

When we first changed her over to this new, special (expensive!) food she was doing really well, but not so much any more. She experienced some hair loss and bald patches at the end of the summer and in the last few weeks she has been itching herself a lot and is currently on drops for yet another ear infection.

A couple of days ago after noticing her licking and itching at her paws and toes a lot we were alarmed to discover a lot of soreness, raw skin, blood, and general mess in between her toes. Almost like athletes foot but yuckier. Poor baby! The vet had us clean in between her toes (can you imagine how easy this was?!) and put some neosporin on them.

Her feet are looking a lot better, and she's heading to the vet this afternoon to see what the deal is. Hopefully we can figure out something more specific in regards to her allergies and help her feel a little bit better.

Poor Bella-boo! We love you puppy!

End of Summer Shin Dig!

We invited friends and family over to our house this weekend for a little get together to celebrate the end of summer and beginning of fall. It was a cool, dry day and we were able to spend the majority of the day outdoors.

The afternoon started with a little football. Bella was dressed up and ready to support MSU while the boys watched the game downstairs in "the man room"




Then it was time to get the grill fired up! I snapped a couple of photos inside the house before guests arrived - just for fun. We got a new rug and I am kind of in love with it!



Once the party got started there was much socializing...


Food to be eaten...


Bubbles...




Did I mention eating?




And time with the little ones...



It was a wonderful afternoon and evening! Thanks to everyone who came over and spent the day with us - we love you!

What I do these days...

Not having to work would be absolutely perfect if I got paid for it... : )

So now that I'm unemployed, and classes haven't started yet... what do I do?

Well...

I hang out with a lot of four-legged friends.

There's Oliver...

(he likes to sleep in boxes!)

Beyonce...

you know Bella our chocolate lab by now I'm sure. And of course let's not forget our kitten friends. You know about them as well (note... if you're following the kitten progress over HERE and haven't added as a follower yet - please do! That way I don't feel like I'm writing to myself!)

I do things like re-cover chairs, and attend cake-decorating class.

I also tend to the garden... well, that's kind of a lie.

The rain destroyed my dahlias for the most part...


They need some major stakes and ties in order to survive. Some of the individual flowers still look pretty, though.




Then there's the green beans. We've had a couple handfuls of beans so far this season - but I've been scared to pick them too early, and by the time I've picked them they've gone bad! Anyone know when green beans are ready to pick?




And then there's the poor, poor tomatoes. I kept them inside for FAR too long and now they are way behind schedule. Plus Bella has knocked them over and pulled plants out several times. I was ready to write them off until yesterday I saw that they had started to FLOWER. Flowers then fruit, right? Is there still hope? Maybe I'll have tomatoes by October... : )

Happy Hump Day!

Beautiful Evening

Lovely zinnias blooming in pots on my patio...

Pretty puppy sitting on the grass...

Wonderful husband working the grill...

Gorgeous evening light...

Sitting in the back yard with a glass of wine and my knitting...


One beautiful evening.

Fetch!

Bella playing fetch in Lake Michigan!



(she's not so good at the "give" part of the game...)

Unfortunate end to a beautiful weekend...

I'll get the whining out first. I got insanely sunburned yesterday. Ha, ha, ha very funny-serves me right for not liberally applying sunscreen-etc. I know. But not funny at all considering I've spent the day alternating throwing up and sleeping, with a screaming headache. Yup, too much fun in the sun. Love me some sun poisoning. Entirely my own fault, I know.

Phew! Now that I've got that out of my system I can share with you how GREAT the weekend was before today's aftermath! We headed to South Haven on Friday morning and enjoyed a lazy afternoon. It was warm enough to sit on the beach for a little while, but cooled right down in the evening. We opted to stay in with pizza and a movie. A nice, relaxing night.

On Saturday morning we took Bella down to the beach to see how she liked the water. She loved it! She chased sticks and had absolutely no reservations about getting in the water at all. Afterwards, we dried and brushed her and she wanted to get dressed up for the holiday of course... she's so festive!


Well, not THAT festive. You see, we tried to take her to the parade in town, looking all 4th of July-ish and everything... but the moment it started and all the emergency vehicles came by laying on their horns and sirens it was all over. Our tough large-breed dog turned into a frightened puddle of mush - practically jumping into Travis' arms in fear. Yeah, loud noises like that don't do it for her I guess. So that was the end of the parade for us!

Saturday afternoon our dear friends the Hill's came into town for some beach fun. It was a little overcast so the girls (me, Heather, and Lily - Bella was still too traumatized from the parade!) headed into town for a little shopping. With a few impromptu photo ops along the way of course...



We had a great time tooling around town - although I learned that the majority of those cute little gifty South Haven shops are NOT stroller friendly. Next time we'll take the men with us to sit outside with the stroller while we browse... : )

We headed back to the condo and after a snack made our way down to the beach for some sandy fun. I took about a hundred photos of Lily... I'm not exaggerating. I'm still editing them all - so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the beach shots. For now, I think I'm heading back to the couch with my Excedrin, ice packs, and aloe... ah, good times.

Fourth of July weekend part two coming tomorrow! See you then!

Snugglers

Just a couple of sleepy, snuggly pals.
(Bella says excuse my eyes - in all the pictures they were either red and devilish - or half closed)

Weekend Wrap Up (a little late...)

Local First Street Party with Seth and Kelly Beat...

Sweet Bella feeling MUCH better!

Ice cream in East Grand Rapids...

Wonderful weekend... : )