Fur-child

It's official.  Nic and I are "those dog people."  You know, "those people" who whip out a picture of their dog to complete strangers.  "Those people" who refer to their dog as their child.  "Those people" who take their dog to doggie day-care (it's true.)... yes we are now "those people."  And I am proud of it! Okay, so don't get totally weirded out by this.  I really do realize that Bowden is just a dog.  And I do know that he is not really my child.  But we have completely and utterly bonded with this cute little creature, and he truly makes my heart happy.  :)

So, let me update you about Bowden...

He has, uh, let's just say, fallen off the perfect doggie path a bit.  Yes, I'm admitting that my dog isn't perfect. :)  He slowly started to get a little snippy with us.  He became afraid of his collar.  He absolutely hated when we touched it.  And what started out as being cute, quickly turned into being serious (at least to me) when he bit Nic... and then my Dad.   He was literally running our house. This really, really worried me.  Images just kept flashing in my head of Bowden attacking a little kid.  Maybe I was over-reacting a bit.  He is just a puppy, you know.  But I knew we had to do something.  

And that's when doggie day-care came into play...

My cousin runs Doggie Dayz Daycare and Training Facility here in town.  And she is literally a dog whisperer.  We called her up, she came to my parent's house, and showed Bowden who was really the boss.. and also scared the crap out of him (literally).  It was unbelievable.  Here walks in a complete stranger to Bowden, and he was already following her orders.  He knew she was in charge.  So after she began training Bowden us, Big B was a completely different pup.  We have since been taking Bowden to Doggie Dayz a couple days a week to get one-on-one training and also socialization with lots of other dogs.  

It is so much fun to see Bowden turning into a real show dog.  Okay, maybe I'm jumping ahead of myself a bit, but his obedience has drastically improved.  

So, just because I'm so darn proud of my puppy, I wanted to show off  how cute he is with an iphone photo dump!

Ladies and Gents... Let me introduce you to the new and improved, obedient, cuddly, and just so stinkin' cute... our fur-child...

Bowden:

Bowden is going under the knife this week to lose one or two of his man-parts... but don't you worry, he's one brave pup!  

Beach + FSU = Perfect Weekend.

Last weekend I had three days off in a row.  Yes, 3 full days off.  I was thrilled!  So we seized the chance to have a get-a-way weekend and booked a trip to Destin.  We dropped Bowden off at the Grandoggy-parent's Thursday night (I will touch on this subject later... let's just say it wasn't a pleasant drop off), and headed to one of the prettiest beaches in Florida.  We spent hours on the sandy beach just soaking up the calm, crystal clear water, we did some shopping, we ate a lot (my fave), and no alarm clocks were set... the entire weekend.  Oh, and the weather, I cannot even begin to tell you how perfect it was.  Pure bliss.  What a great way to end the summer!

 Don't you love my new beach bag??  Thanks Christine!  Loved it!

 Doing a little shopping at Destin Commons.

We arrived back in town just in time to pick up our friend, Kaley, and headed to her very FIRST football game!  I know, right?!  How can you live in Seminole Country your entire life and never set foot inside the gorgeous DOAK?  It just boggles my mind.  :)  But I have to say, I think she enjoyed herself (I'm pretty sure the score of 62-10 probably helped), and we're already planning her next game.  

Bethany stopped by too!  :)

We Won!!!

It was a great ending to the weekend!!!  GO NOLES!!  :)

Love Song

I saw this video from North Point Church on one of the many blogs I stalk, and I just had to share it with you!  It makes me smile!!  Can't wait till LIFEbasics band does this!  ;)

Pin-wheel Baby Shower

My bestie is having a baby!  I know, I know, I've already shared that with you, but I'm just so darn excited!  This weekend we were able to celebrate precious Carter who will be arriving in December.  It was so fun to get together with all of Christine's friends and family, most of whom traveled from Miami and Key West.  And I'd have to say, the shower was a success!

The "theme" was paper pin-wheels.  Let me just tell you, paper is fun to craft with.  It's so simple, yet there are endless ways to get creative.  Andrea (a good friend and co-host) and I made paper chains, paper triangle banners and paper pin-wheels to decorate the house, and we of course included the colors of Carter's nursery (garnet, gold and gray) which also happen to be the best color combo ever (go Noles!).

The welcome table.  Andrea made these adorable letters to hang in Carter's nursery.  So cute!

Triangles made out of scrap book paper hanging over the candy station.  I made cake-pops for the first time.  Delicious!  And best of all, they were easy!

Andrea made large pin-wheels to decorate the tables.  She had adorable buttons in a old jar at home to put in the center.  They worked so well with the color scheme!

Mason jars make everything cuter.  

I found the yellow paper straws on Etsy.  

 The salad buffet.  We decided to make different types of salads for the menu because it was a lunch-time shower.  It was tasty and light (well, it would have been light if I didn't go back for seconds...and then thirds.  Did I mention it all tasted so good?).  :)

 The mini-chalk boards were a fun detail.  Andrea made the do-it-yourself cookie jars in the background, which served as prizes for the shower games.

 I found wooden toys at the craft store and painted them red and yellow to match the theme.  Christine just happened to have the perfect colored books which fit in great!

Onesie and bib decorating station.  Such a fun idea.

Andrea found iron-on backing that could go on any fabric.  All you had to do was cut out a shape and iron away.  

They all turned out great!  Carter will be one stylish dude!

My mother-in-law made the cake, and once again out-did herself.  The colors matched perfectly.  Top layer was lemon and bottom layer was strawberry... yummy!

Mommy-to-be!  And as a side note, she made her dress.  Seriously, how crafty is she?  I guess it's those "nesting" pregnancy hormones kicking in.  I think she's taking orders ladies!  :)

 Shower games that never get old.  Terry did a great job planning games.

 Some of the gang!

The party planners!  (Andrea, I had so much fun planning with you... when's our next event?!?)

 Me and my beautiful, preggers friend!

 Christine, thanks for letting us plan this shower.  It was so much fun!!  Baby Carter, I cannot wait to meet you!!!  Love you both!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

...Football season that is... well, at least that's what my husband thinks.  Yesterday was the kickoff to FSU football.  And boy, was it a great way to start the season.  We pulled out a win over ULM with the final score being 34-0!

 We've got our game faces on...and our greasy-sunscreeny faces.

We won!

And just to get you as pumped as we are, I wanted to share the Marching Chiefs pre-game fanfare with you (please ignore the obnoxious "wooing" in the background... that'd be me).  :)

I sure hope this is a glance at what's to come this season!   Go Noles!!!