Puppy Love

First of all, SORRY AGAIN! My new job just put us through more training about another thing we're supposed to be doing and we have to clear the backlog of the first 3 weeks when we hadn't yet had the training so I'm kind of spacing on other stuff while I take care of that. This means that for right now (which is hopefully just this next week) I'll be doing Daily-Smile posts only. So at least I'm not abandoning you entirely! ANYWAY...

Moose and Echo are best buds now!

Look at all the love and kisses!

She occupies enough of his attention that I can actually get a decent picture of all of us! Yippee!

Oreos

We got Oreo Thins and they are amazing!

So. FUCKING. Good.

Seriously, the crispy crunch to... creamy cream? ratio is perfect. Go get some!

National Dog Day 2

It's National Dog Day again! I wrote about it last year in more detail, remember? #Adoptdontshop. 

I tried to get a cute picture of Moose in honor, but...

This one came out okay.

But then he got distracted...

The kitty is still too new to him; he's fascinated.

Plus, his sister is kind of nuts.

Life with multiple pets, weeeeeee!

Like Cats And Dogs

Moose and Echo are getting along!

Can you see all the love? (Echo is what we named the cat, fyi.)

I mean, they didn't hate each other or anything, but they were very wary. Now they smell each other, lick each other, and sometimes even play a little. No real cuddling yet, but I can dream! It only took them a weekend to get along this well.

Wonders

We have so many games and now we've added another one of my favorites!

It's so good, if a bit confusing.

So come play games with me!

We Do Geek

Takei Tweeted this a few days ago. Or Instagrammed it or something. People responded with where you could buy it on Etsy, which I will not share because I want to have the only one! 

Mwahahaha!

Haven't decided on where to put it yet, but I'm so excited! Probably, someday, it'll go in a nursery ;)

Kitty!

We got a kitty!

This kitty!

We haven't picked a name yet because I was kind of hoping to find something Supernatural based like Moose, but her shelter given name of Moon Pie is pretty well suited to her already...

After all, don't you just want to eat her up?!

We decided we'll live with her a few days and see if something comes to mind that suits her well, as we did with the dog. 

She likes to lick my face just like Moose.

She's super lovey and sweet. She tried to chew on my nose and it was the best thing ever! She just climbs into my lap and snuggles and licks and purrs. It's the best!

Look at all the cuddles!

She and the dog aren't too sure about each other yet which is why they are not in shared space for the time being.

Look at those beautiful eyes!

But they smelled around each other and seemed curious and calm, if suspicious. We're so excited and charmed! She came to use through Memphis Pets Alive! We love them, they are amazing, and our new "family photo" should be up on their website or Facebook page sometime soon, so look out for that!

Sake

We got some sake about a year ago from a dear friend of ours at our engagement party/marriage reception. We didn't drink it for a while, but when we did, IT WAS THE BEST SHIT EVER. Then we moved and found this amazing little liquor store at the end of our street, and guess what? THEY FUCKING CARRY IT.

This is the brand, it's super tasty, have some!

So we got 2 more bottles. It's the bomb.

Gardening Part 2

I told you I'd take a picture of the veggies! They don't look so great here, but they've been producing well regardless. Their current state is also possibly due to the fact that until recently, they were a bit... overrun with grass and weeds. If you look to the right in the photo, you can see the grass we killed in the other 2 rows that we don't use.

Over there ---->

But I finally just sat down and pulled up all the non-vegetables in the first row as well. It's what Husband and I did for our anniversary! Wahoo!

I was legitimately pretty glad to get it done and proud of us for doing it.

Mangoes

Randomly, we have several mangoes. See? Like this one:

Pictured: a mango.

I love these stupid things, they are so good! But we had too many. So Husband took some and made mango ice cream and it is THEBOMB.COM. It tastes kind of like someone just froze a hunk of mango. That's how true the flavor is. Holy crap I love him. Have I mentioned that?

Love Letter

How else does one return from a stupid long hiatus but by starting up a new feature! This one is called - you guessed it - Love Letters!

If the concept seems straight-forward, it is! Basically, I pick a person from my life (or perhaps my ultimate fantasy life) and write them a love letter about how much I love their lovely loving selves. It's gonna be fun! For my first installment, I choose.....

You! Pikachu!

No, I pick Husband. But he is equal in cuteness to an electric yellow Pokemon! Plus, yesterday was our one year marriage anniversary.

Dear Husband,

I'm a little loopy right now, so I apologize if this comes out silly more than affectionate, but I love you so much more than I ever thought I could love. I've never known someone so generous and kind and simultaneously ridiculous and fun. You make me smile without trying, so often I'm getting wrinkles in my 20s and I don't even care.

I spent a lot of my life feeling like I was waiting on the next step, stuck on pause until the next big event finally came to pass. After I met you, every day was the next big thing. The exciting, fulfilling event I was waiting for became simply spending my days with you.

I also spent a lot of my life grossed out by and unhappy with my body. I like to think I'm a strong enough person that I would have gotten there eventually, but you are assuredly a big part of the reason that I'm so in love with myself these days. I mean, I'm pretty fucking amazing. And now I know that because you made me believe it.

You've irreversibly changed my life to be better, happier, fuller, and more wonderful. I don't know that I can ever fully express how much you've done for me and how grateful I am. I'll just have to tell you as often as I can.

I love you.

CCW

Moon Girl

Hooray for Marvel branching out and increasing the diversity of their comics!

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

I'm pretty excited about this comic and the several others that Marvel has been working on that showcase women and racial minorities. Read all about here! (It's the same article I posted to the facebook page a few days ago. Enjoy!)

Shark

This is my anniversary gift! 

It's a Shark vacuum!

A year ago tomorrow, Husband and I had our courthouse marriage. So this week, to commemorate the event, Husband got me a new vacuum! I know it seems odd, but we've actually been wanting a new one for a while and he gets and good deal through his work, so yea vacuum! Yea marriage! Yea discounts!

Gardening

A post populated with a proper plethora of plant photos.

This is actually my super lazy way of sticking to my commitment to post without having to put much work into it because I'm so out of the habit I kind of forgot until just now. But look at me still posting! Do I love you guys or what? Don't answer that...

First up, we have some lilies!

A daylily from my mother in law, and one of the few to only
pictured that I actually planted!

Naked ladies, how scandalous!

Followed by a random assortment of other flowering things in no particular order.

Hastas! These were much cooler/prettier in person,

Prince feathers. I hate them!

Vincas, These and the prince feathers are all along the drive and
in sidewalk cracks in addition to the flower beds. But I actually like these.

Now... ROSES!

The pink rose "bush" is ridiculously,
weirdly tall. But pretty!

The white one is more normal.

We also have a third rose plant, but it never bloomed to my knowledge. Now for all of the things that, if I knew what they were, I've since forgotten. Feel free to let me know if you do in the comments! I'm pretty curious, just not curious enough to research it so late at night, alone, in the dark. Research is scary!

Some tiny purple flowers that I loved and have since been
overtaken by the evil prince feathers!

These giant red monstrosities were pretty from a distance,
but kind of scary up close.

I know what this is, dammit. I KNOW.
But I cannot tell you because my brain won't work with me.

And finally, my favorites!

This hydrangea bloomed into everything I could have ever dreamed!
Fabulous blues and purples and greens.
Loved it more than I thought I could love any inanimate thing

PEONIES! So pretty. I was ecstatic to find we had these in our beds.
It's possibly inspired me to use them in my wedding bouquet.

Moose likes the garden too, especially when it helps him hide from the evil vacuum!

Look at that face! Oh my god, don't you just want to eat him?!

This doesn't include the vegetable garden because I wanted only pretty things, so I'll do that another time. And let me reiterate that while I love my yard and plant life, I can take almost no credit for it. Husband and I planted a few things (mostly the aforementioned vegetables) and we water and weed a little, but mostly everything popped up on it's on and has thrived that way. It's a pretty sweet arrangement. Enjoy the outdoors while the weather still allows it! 

LG G4

Oh yeah, one other thing I did this summer. I got a new phone!

A photo of the new phone taken with the old.

It's kind of less smiley than it seems since this is actually the second one in a month. The first one inexplicably crapped out, apparently a common problem. So they had to send me another. I really like the phone so hopefully the issue has been fixed. I'm excited!

A Brief Account Chronicling My Recent Extended Absence

I'm lazy.

No. Well, yes, but that's not the reason I wasn't blogging. I had a bit of a breakdown in May. Flipped out. Started crying a lot. Got really upset about the complete lack of advancement I seemed to be experiencing at my job - both financially and professionally. Joined a contracting company. Got a new job that pays a LOT more and let's me stretch myself a little. Took a vacation.

It started simply, as things like this so often do for me. Someone canceled on me last minute. This started a downward spiral with seemingly reasonable thoughts at the beginning:

"Jeez, it's hard to get people to hang out these days. Or at least hard to get them hang out with me. Do they still hang out together? Am I Mindy Kaling?"

And quickly grew worse and less rational.

"It's because I'm a fucking loser. A big fat failure. I'm the only person from my classes who's struggling like this. I'm so obnoxious! Of course they don't want to hang out with me."

source

So I gave myself a bit of a break. But now I'm back! Most likely... And I have some house cleaning to do:

1. Style me still hasn't sent out any new email inspiration, so I will try to post under that heading occasionally but it's less fun when I'm not trying to fit some theme. I'll let you know if/when that changes, and I'm leaving the feature up for the time being.

2. Daily Smile will DEFINITELY be back.

3. With the exception of this update, full posts will be back on the Monday/Friday Schedule.

4. I PROMISE - cross my heart and hope to die! - that I will be adding to the Street Harassment series, which currently only has one installment.

I pretty much covered life events with the barrage of information at the top of this post but I'll also mention that we've decided to get a cat, our dog cut his tongue open - he's fine but the amount of blood scared the bejeezus out of me - we've started weekly game nights, and I did, in fact, finish P90X. I've even kept off the pounds I lost!

To appease your no doubt crippling curiosity, here's the story of our vacation and here is Moose on his:

What have you been up to during my hiatus? See you soon for more, my loves!