Super Bowl Sunday, and some well-deserved sunshine!

Although I worked all day Saturday, as usual, this weekend brought some great (relatively) weather, and good fun!

Saturday's temperature reached into the 50s! A big change from the well-below freezing temps we've been having. Chris spent most of the day studying, but was able to get out around lunchtime to take Daisy for their usual walk.

Sunday wasn't quite as warm, but still sunny and not too windy. I got up with Daisy around 7:30, which is when her stomach starts to growl. After feeding her though, I didn't feel quite as rested as I would like, so I got back into bed and the three of us snuggled until about 10. Before you scoff at our extended slumber, hang on! Both of us get up early every day to sit in front of computers all day, for different reasons of course, and deserve a nice lazy morning once a week! We got out of bed and ate some breakfast, and I put the dry rub on my wings that I was going to bake later on that day for the Super Bowl. Then, we got dressed and went to spend some time at a very soggy dog park. Winter around here has about three phases: beautiful snow, snow piles that turn into ugly, gray glaciers, and slushy, sludgy piles of ice in the most inconvenient places. The problem? We enjoy all three phases about two times per week. Our front yard, which is blocked by our house, and hardly gets any sunshine, is still in this glacier state, making it more than difficult to walk on when Daisy gets the urge to pee (which, as most of you know, is about 50 times/day).

After the dog park Chris studied, and I bathed our very muddy pup, cleaned, and finished cooking the wings. And, before anyone asks me again, I DO NOT have a recipe. I have tried to create a recipe for it, but it's just impossible. You'll just have to invite me to parties if you want to eat them :) It's really just a take on my brother Mike's "method" that he e-mailed me once, and I've tweaked and made my own. They basically just have a lot of spices, brown sugar, molasses and hot sauce...and love, of course.

Around 5, we went to our friend's Bob and Ashley's house for a Super Bowl party and to celebrate Ashley's 25th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY! The party was a lot of fun. Everyone brought/made great food; dips, chips, tacos, dirt cake (which I had for my first time and LOVED), ugly balls (a.k.a. oreos mixed with cream cheese and covered in chocolate), and yummy veggies! The food, obviously, is my favorite part of Super Bowl Sunday. I really couldn't care less about about the game, and almost fell asleep during most of it. After the Super Bowl, they played an hour-long episode of The Office. All of our friends are BIG fans of the show, and it was a hilarious episode!

After the game, it was back home to rescue our puppy, and get to bed. Chris had more new lectures to listen to the next day, and I had work. It was a great day off for me, and hopefully a relaxing one for Chris. This week will be nice, too. They switched some schedules around at work, and I'm working a half hour earlier than usual, and getting off an hour earlier. Today I got home just in time to take Daisy for her second walk of the day (and some much needed exercise for me after yesterday's feast), and get dinner on the table at a reasonable time. I wish it could be like this every week.

Until next post...

A peek into the same ol' same ol'...

This last weekend was one for relaxing. I spent Saturday working, as usual, and Chris spent his Saturday lounging around with Daisy. They just finished up a section on the renal system (is it a "system"?), and moved on to a new subject, so he didn't have much to study. Saturday night, after I got home from work, we went to a Laua themed party at a friend's house. It was a lot of fun, and a much needed opportunity to cut loose a little bit. On Sunday, the three of us slept in and had a lazy morning. I love Sundays. I take a couple hours to sip my coffee in my pajamas, and watch some Food Network. Saturday and Sunday morning Food Network really can't be beat. I could really spend my entire day doing just that. By mid-morning Daisy was getting cabin fever, and we decided to go for a walk. Typically, my days off are a chance to get out to the dog park and let her do some running. But, after a snow storm Saturday night, and single digits the next morning, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm sure she wouldn't have minded, though. She could spend hours at the dog park running after tennis balls, and chasing other dogs. The walk did her good, though. She ran through the fluffy snow piles, and picked up yet another stick to bring home (she leaves these by the door, so they'll be waiting for her when she goes outside). After our walk I had another cup of coffee to warm myself up, and then quickly got dressed to go meet my friend Ashley for brunch. We went to this delicious restaurant down the street called McFoster's Natural Kind Restaraunt. It's an amazing eatery which serves naturally grown and prepared food, trying to go organic whenever possible. They do a great job balancing healthy food with delicious taste. Something that I really appreciate. I had a pot of honey-almond tea, a freshly made juice with ginger, apple, and carrot (which was so delicious it made me want to buy a juicer!), and Juevos Rancheros with tofu and soy cheese. Yum! We spent a few hours there just chatting away. It had been a while since we had seen each other, and I think we both needed some girly chit-chat. It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

After our brunch, I went back home and hung out with Chris and Daisy for a bit. Chris went to the gym (I had a headache, so I passed this time), and I sat on the couch and did a whole lot of nothing. We had planned to see a movie that night, but we were having such a good time being lazy that we decided to pass. Instead, we ate chicken tortilla soup that I had prepared in the slow cooker that morning, and watched some bad television.

This week it's back to studying hard for Chris, and trying to stay busy for me. I miss Sundays a lot, once they pass. If it wasn't so cold, I'd escape upstairs and open the windows and paint. I've been craving that lately. It's not the same, though, without the fumes of oils and mineral spirits. But, it might be time to pull out the acrylics. I'm sure Daisy would LOVE to help!

I can't believe it's been so long...

So, we don't even know if anyone looks at this anymore...but we're determined to start posting again. Our life is just SO interesting and all. :)

So, tons has happened since our last post, and we won't bore you with going through everything you probably already know about. We'll just chit chat about the most important things:

Angela was able to take a week off of work for Christmas, and Chris had two weeks break from school, so we traveled to Spokane for the holiday to visit with Chris' family. It was really relaxing, and a well deserved break for the both of us. After the New Year, Chris went back to the grindstone, and started the second semester of his second year at Creighton. He is back to the usual routine of sleeping, eating, and studying in his office.

Oh! That's another thing! In late July we made the move across the river into Omaha (peace out Council Bluffs!), and found ourselves smack in the middle of it all ("it all" being our friends). I love our new place. It's a three-bedroom duplex with a full basement and attic (bats included), and it's very roomy! While a lot more convenience comes with our new place, with the space and amenities, there also comes more responsibility, and more money to be spent! We live right next door to our friend's Ryan and Jamie (Ryan goes to school with Chris), and their dog Misha.

Shortly after moving into Omaha, Angela decided that it was time to chage jobs. Planned Parenthood was a dream that just wasn't working out the way she had planned, and it was time for a change. She applied with one of the largest banks in the country (which just happens to be locally owned), First National Bank. She now works in their call center, and basically does personal banking over the phone. It's a little more money and about half as exciting, but the bank is HUGE and will hopefully offer a lot of advancement opportunities in the near future.

And, of course, I've saved the best for last. The most exciting thing that has happened to us in the last few months is our new puppy! In October, we took a trip to the Humane Society to "look". We knew that this would result in an adoption, but we had little idea what we were looking for. We had been drawn there by these blood hound puppies we saw online. When we got there, we slowly walked by every kennel and greeted all the dogs. There were so many to see, it took us a long time to get around to all of them. We saw the blood hound puppies, and they were so cute. However, when we saw the word "High" under "Energy Level" and 80-120 lbs, we knew they wouldn't be the pick for us. Then, we came around the corner and spotted our littl girl. There she was, on her little puppy cott, staring out from behind a big plastic cone on her head. We called her over, and she trotted her short little legs over to the gate and sad in front of us, immediatly shoving the cone against the fence so we could reach her face to give it a good rub. They called her a "Red and White Basset". She was short, but long, and her ears hung well below her face. She had sad, droopy eyes, one of which being the obvious cause for the plastic cone on her head. By the time we were done viewing all of the dogs, we chose three dogs to view. One of the two month old basset/beagel puppies, a 2-year old basset male named Guess, and the five-month old red and white basset named Daisy. All three dogs were special. The puppy was, well, a puppy. Guess was calm and collected, and didn't care much about playing, but loved to be petted. Daisy was goofy, playful, and loved to cuddle on our laps (even though she didn't fit too well). We knew she was the perfect pup for us. Apparently, she was found with her brother and sister in a field, about a month before we same to get her. We were so happy to rescue her! She has been great. Potty training was a huge challenge, at first. She still has her moments, but she's pretty much figured it out (after throwing away a rug and a dog bed). Now that she's growing, and getting more adult features, we can tell that not only is she basset, but we think she might have some golden in her, too. She spends her days hanging out with her dad while he studies, going on daily walks, and playing at the dog park. At first, she was really insecure and timid around other, larger dogs and some people (mainly men). She is super confident now, and can hang with the big dogs (especially if they have tennis balls!), and loves being around everybody. Her favorite things are running after balls, cuddling with her mom and dad (especially in their bed when it's too cold!), and eating. She has definitely become part of the family, and is pretty much the love of our lives :)

The night we brought Daisy home.

Her favorite position. She's so trashy.