lucy's first crew race

this past weekend lucy had the pleasure of going to her first crew race.
she.was.fantastic!
we drove up to philly to pick up soon-to-be "aunt jess," then onto princeton for the navy vs. yale race.  (yes, we were in princeton for a race against yale...i guess it was the half way point between the two schools.  still ridiculous.)

 

(this was aunt jess and lucy at christmas.  jess is a natural with puppies.)

i remember my friend elizabeth (E Myself & I) telling me that once addy grew out of the puppy stage and people stopped telling her how cute her dog was, addy, when on a walk, would stop and look at people if they didn't comment how adorable she was.

we got to experience that this weekend.  lucy got more attention in a three-hour period than i think she has ever gotten in her short little life.  we also got several comments on how well-behaved she was.  this was very exciting.  

as you may remember, i mentioned two weeks ago about how lucy had her final exam in her obedience school.  i avoided posting about the outcome because of my own pride.  lucy came in dead.freaking.last.   in fact, everyone else in the class was within a 10 point spread, except lucy.  the instructor even pointed this out saying how she's never had a class that was this close in scores, except one dog.  that one dog....would be lucy.  (ps: surprise surprise, moose took 1st place.)  i was so upset about the final, i called my mom on the drive home and broke down into tears calmly told her about lucy's performance (or lack there of.) 

so regardless of the final exam in obedience school, lucy was wonderful at the crew race.  she was very popular with all the guys on the navy team, as well as some of the guys from yale.  i should have gotten more pictures, or at least a picture of the circle of navy guys all petting lucy, who was happily standing the middle, loving every bit of the attention. it was quite the scene.  i know lucy is looking forward to more navy races before jon graduates.

my future-sister, jess.  

 the fam (minus fly boy)

april fools

fly boy is out in the sandbox somewhere.  usually when he's gone on trips like this, he tends to lose track of what day it is.  this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out an april fools joke on him.  (i for SURE thought he would have no idea it was april 1st...)

so i sent him a little email including this picture that i photoshopped...

apparently, he only fell for it for a couple of minutes, then remembered it was april fools day.  boo. 

when i told my family about the joke, they had mixed reviews.  my mom, brother and soon-to-be sister all thought it was horrible, mean, crossed the line, absurd, insert your own negative adjective here, they thought it.

my dad thought it was hystarical and creative.

i'm with my dad.  and luckily for me, fly boy got a good laugh out of it too.

happy april!



*DISCLAIMER: we're not pregnant.  not at all.  not even a little.

keeping it fresh

a few nights ago, fly boy and i got into a "discussion" while going to bed.  i tend to get frustrated when he goes to bed before me and only takes the pillows off on his side of the bed.  this was one of those nights.  i may have overreacted a little.  in my mind, at the time, i took him leaving the pillows on my side of the bed to mean "i don't care if you sleep next to me, you can just sleep in the guest room for all i care."  ridiculous, i know.   i'd like to think i was tired and grumpy, and that was why i was getting so aggravated, not because i actually think fly boy doesn't want me to sleep in the same bed as him.  at the time, i argued with fly boy, "what am i supposed to think?  do you think leaving the pillows on my side makes me want to come to bed?  it makes a statement!"  like i said, ridiculous.

inspired by one of my friends from college ....saved by the nap, i thought this might be the perfect opportunity to try to "keep our marriage fresh."

the next day, fly boy came home to our newly designed bed...

 

yep.  i found every pillow in the house and put it on his side of the bed.  just to make my own lil' statement.

how inviting is it now, fly boy?

 

fortunately for me, fly boy got a kick out of my little practical joke. this may be the start to a fun new aspect of our marriage.  bring it, fly boy.  :)

epic fail

i love the foodnetwork.
on the foodnetwork, i love love barefoot contessa and paula deen.
i also love elephant ears.

the other week, ina was doing a french dinner, including elephant ears for dessert.  she made it look so easy (surprise surprise...) so i thought i could just remember her recipe and make them one day.

i tried.
and failed.
miserably.

while my (our) dear friend megan has been visiting us this weekend, i decided to give it the old college try one more time.  we had a little more success this go around.

morale of the story...

megan makes everything better.

1000 words

lucy lu

i'm becoming one of those dog owners.

i adore my puppy, lucy lu.  and i love taking pictures of her.  i take lots of pictures of her. 

it boarders on obsession.

i know, it's a problem.

but she is so stinkin' cute...how could you not be obsessed with her??

i mean really.

i just love her.

we've been taking her to obedience school for the last 8 weeks.  it's been a journey, to say the least.  fortunately, there are two other golden retrievers that are only 3 weeks older than lucy in the class with us.  they are totally bffs.  moose has 20 lbs on lucy: he's going to be huuuuuuge, i mean billy fuccillo huuuuuuge.  cede is just 5 lbs bigger than lucy, they adore each other.  moose however, is the "golden" golden.  he does EVERYTHING perfectly.  lucy and cede usually stay after class for some extra-help. i won't say that my dog is slow, but, i don't know that she is going to be joining mensa anytime soon.

we have our final class next week, and will have a final exam.  today, we were told that the top four dogs from the class will win a prize.  obviously moose will take one of the prizes, he can do no wrong.  lucy, on the other hand, has some practicing to do this week. 

i know the point of taking obedience classes is so that your dog is well-behaved.  i know.  but as soon as the instructor told us there would be a final exam, and we will loose points for each time we have to correct our dogs, the class changed.  it wasn't not about lucy anymore.  it's about doing well on this stupid final.  (but i'm not competitive at all...haha, right...)  its about being one of those top four dogs, really wanting to be number 2 (there is no chance lucy will perform better than moose, i'm just being realistic here.)  so now lucy and i will spend at least an hour a day practicing for this final.  i will let you know next wednesday how it goes.  it will not be for lack of effort if she doesn't do well.  and i am not below with-holding my love for her if she doesn't do well.  (just kidding...kind of.)

regardless, she will still hold the title of cutest puppy in my book.  no matter how she does on the final. that i will give her.

socks.

we're newlyweds.

we've been married just over four months now, and we're still learning how to be married.  (though i have a feeling even after we've been married for fifty years we are still going to be figuring out the marriage thing.)  it's funny the things you learn about each other by living together that you didn't know before. 

for instance, fly boy and i have very different ways of folding socks.  since i haven't been working, i've assumed a lot of the household responsibilities, including laundry.  pilots in the military have these thick black socks that they wear every day.  they take forever to dry and they're so bulky i had a hard time folding them. i hate am completely indifferent to these socks.  but apparently i was folding them incorrectly.

we may have gotten into a heated discussion about how to fold socks.  i may have overreacted.  mainly, i was frustrated at these stupid socks; i would leave fly boy's laundry folded nicely on his side of the bed, then catch him refolding his already folded socks. after i had cooled off, fly boy taught me how to properly fold his socks.  we don't argue about it anymore. i still fold my socks into nice neat little balls, i now fold his socks so that the top doesn't "stretch out."

so when people ask what our first argument was as newlyweds, i have to answer "socks."

seriously, socks.