New Friend

She's little, and cuddly, and fearless, and spunky.

 

And she has been cutely named Duo by my non-cat-person-turned-semi-cat-person fiance.

 

 

She was a little stray kitty that needed quite a bit of love and some vet attention. But at 6 weeks old she's healthy, eating hard food, loving her litter box, and fitting right in to her new home.

 

 

The girl loves her Chubbs. And Chubbs is mainly concerned that his current status of center of attention is in no way compromised by this new little fluff ball. Mica, on the other hand, is a different story. We're hoping she'll come around over time. After all, her nickname 'Mean'ca didn't come without reason.

Road Trip!

 

Some exciting things might be happening in the next few weeks that will keep us from travelling on the weekends (stay tuned!), so we decided to try to get a quick road trip up to Charlotte, NC in while we can to visit my parents, Kevin, Shannon and Jack, and do a little wedding venue shopping. (Don't worry, though, we didn't find anything that we've made a decision on yet.) But boy are there are some beautiful venues in Charlotte; my favorite areas there are Dilworth and Myers Park, with their tree-lined streets and cute southern charm.

 

After making our way through a hand-ful of venues, we stopped for a beer sampler and some college football at Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Charlotte.

 

{via}

Of course, as you can tell by my borrowed picture above, I forgot to take any pictures ALL DAY. Between navigating around town, trying to keep all my venue information straight, and then seeing my nephew and getting all caught up in his cuteness, pictures went out the door.  

 

I did manage to get a couple of this cutie on the way home Sunday morning:

 

He decided that this was the best way to lay...

 

Fall in Atlanta

It's Fall; my most favorite time of the year. The crispness in the air, the amount of friendly people outside all taking advantage of the weather, opening the windows to air out the house from the long summer, eating myself sick from candy corn, and of course, all things pumpkin. I love everything about this time of year.

 

Especially watching Chubbs come alive now that it's not 610 degrees outside. He's a different dog in cold weather and it's pretty cute to watch. I think we were asked about 14 times if he was a puppy this weekend :) I wish! So needless to say, we've been spending most of our weekends lately at dog parks and outdoor restaurants (so Chubbs can come of course!) to watch football and sip on some fall Brewskies.

 

Some of my favorite pictures as of late:

This bag might have been gone in one week...I have problems when it comes to candy corn.

Football Sunday

My favorite Octoberfest

Piedmont Park - Atlanta, GA

Do you see what I have to put up with? ;)

The Mom's Chili...nothing like it.

No caption necessary...

Date Night!

SETTLING IN

The I'm-trying-to-sleep-stop-taking-pictures-of-me Face.

Chubbs was our biggest concern coming here. He's already a pretty clingy and neurotic dog (obviously in the cutest way possible), coupled with the Georgia heat we just weren't sure how he'd do. But we came to the conclusion that he'd be more depressed without his momma (me) if we left him with friends in PA than if we moved him with us. So he road (or should I say slept/snored) all the way down in his little bungalow, a.k.a the back of the MINI, and is doing great so far! It's like nothing ever changed. We walk him early in the morning and late at night to keep him out of the sun and he is happy as a clam.


Thank goodness, because I don't know what I'd do without that guy.

DOGGIE POOLS

This guy is tired of boxes and ready for Georgia (and to see Pete)...just like his Momma!

One thing his Momma is not ready for is the A/C bill to keep this guy cool enough in the Georgia summer heat...that fur is definitely staying buzzed and we might be investing in Chubbs' own kiddie pool (doggie pool?).

If you didn't know Chubbs was a dog before reading this, you'd think I have a child...I pretty much do.

SPOILED.

I wake up early, get ready for work, eat breakfast, and pack my lunch, but this morning something is missing. Chubbs is always right by my feet in the morning to go for a walk. But no Chubbs this morning. 

A little worried after 30 minutes when he's still not by my side, I walk back into the bedroom to check on him and find this:

No, he wasn't hurt or sick, just lazy and a little too comfy!

I had to bribe him with cookies to get him out of MY bed and outside to go to the bathroom.

The boy is spoiled.

And it might just be because his mom thinks he's the cutest little big guy there ever was.

LATELY...(via iPhone)

The garden has been out of control. It's slowing down now that it's dropping to the 40's at night, but I successfully made it through the summer without having to buy tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, green peppers or basil.

I got a new car!
The Ford is still slowly giving out on me, by giving out on me I mean blowing through catalytic converters like they're cheap or something. After the third catalytic converter in 18 months failed, I decided it's time to invest in a new every-day car. The MINI! It's wonderful, like a go-kart for adults, and oh-so-cute. The Ford is still around, but strictly for hauling and camping because it sadly can't handle too much more. 



Best part? Although he wasn't able to make it to the test drive, Chubbs still fits!

 

Mica, being Mica.

Night out in Philadelphia for Heather's birthday! We hardly ever make it all the way into the city anymore because West Chester has so much going on, so it's nice to have an excuse to go every once in a while.

A visit with the almost-two-year-old (woah!) Nephew, Ryan. He is so much fun; we had a blast going to the zoo, playing in the founatin, getting ice cream, going swimming and just being silly together. He's such a cutie. 

Remebering 9.11

Fall is (un)officially here (I think 3 more days and it'll be official...)! But more importantly this also means my favorite beer, Oktoberfest, is available in our local brewery. The weather was beautiful so Pete and I checked out the Restaurant Festival in town on Sunday; the crowds were suffocating so we escaped into Iron Hill Brewery for a pint of Oktoberfest and a seasonal Sampler. The perfect Fall-ish Sunday afternoon :)

ChubbCut

Now you see it...

 (Chubbs with fur, October 2010)

Now you don't... 

(Chubbs sans fur, June 2011)

You can't really tell the extent of the shave in the after picture, but he went from about 3" of hair to 3/4" of hair in 1.5 hours. I still laugh every time I see him because he looks like a really huge puppy (you know like those babies that look like they could be little old men? kind of like that...)

CHUBBS UPDATE

Oh wait, that's right, he's doing just fine...

And never misses the chance to sneak into bed while I brush my teeth. 

Maybe he thinks I won't notice him?

DEAR MOM,

I'm sorry I kept you up all night last night.


I'm sorry that I'm a 7-year-old 110-pound wuss that's still afraid of thunderstorms and deals with them by panting and pacing around your bed all night. 


I'm also sorry that after only 2 hours of solid sleep you had to get up and go to work while I got to snooze on the couch all day (see above)...


Forgive me? :]


Love, Chubbs

COOKIES WITH THE MOM

It's that time again! Annual Christmas cookie baking with The Mom! I like how it's become our little tradition :) I don't know how long we'll live 20 minutes away from each other, so we take advantage of it while we can.


You might remember last year it was blizzarding and cozy while we baked; well this year, no blizzard but still super cozy with the chilly temperatures, candles blazing, oven warm and Christmas carols on. 


We spent the day this past Saturday each with our own bowls, beaters, measuring cups, measuring spoons, cookie trays, wooden spoons, ovens and cookie tins (yes, The Mom's kitchen is quite large; a baker's paradise) and cranked out 8 batches of cookies! Quite impressive if I must say so myself, and I even taste-tested most of them (of course) - they were all delish. 

The Mom in action

My snickerdoodles

Chubby's a big help in the kitchen, clearly.

CHUBBY'S NEW DIGS

Finally a bed he can fit on (mostly :) ) and best of all, it was FREE! Thanks to the mom and the dad for donating it to Chubbs just in time for the chilly weather. This puppy will keep him nice and warm (not to mention comfy) through the night.

He loves it. Seriously, he's currently sleeping on it and snoring like a human...

NO CHUBBS ON THE BED

Everyone always asks me if Chubbs gets to sleep in my bed. To which I quickly reply: 'no, no!' 

But he does get to sleep in his own bed on the floor right next to mine! :) As much as I love to cuddle with him, there's one good reason he's not allowed on the bed:

Where would I fit?!?


This picture was taken last night around 11:30pm. The boy gets all out of sorts when it thunders outside and last night it was storming really bad. I thought it would help him calm down if he could lay with me. Bad idea.


I mean, he LOVED it (as you can tell he's pleasantly fast asleep while I'm taking his pic). I on the other hand, not so much. After turning on the light I quickly realized why I couldn't sleep: I was scrunched up on the edge of my bed while Chubbs strategically placed himself smack in the middle. Last time I get suckered into that one! :)

NEW MAN IN MY LIFE

Don't get too excited, it's not what you think.

Just about two months ago now, I adopted this big guy:

Meet Chubbs. A six-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog. He's big and furry and nothing short of wonderful. Why anyone would want to get rid of him, I do not know!

I just LOVE him and his sweet little face.