cold

it is sooo cold and rainy here, and i am ready for spring!  i just want to stay inside, watch movies, and eat things that are bad for me!

i usually fill the planters by our front steps with whatever the cheapest-but-decent-looking flowers are at currently at lowes, but this year i decided to splurge and get some tulips in addition to the pansies that would normally be kind of lonely in the planters.  i figured it was ok since they weren't too expensive (i spent $15 total instead of the usual $6-8), i had a gift card, and the bulbs will come back year after year.  i was very excited when the tulips started to bloom, but now i'm a little worried they're going to freeze and die! 

until then, we'll enjoy the little bit of spring our blue and yellow blooms are giving us!  and hopefully things will warm up soon.  ready to move south (and by south i might mean mexico where it never gets really cold)!

quick catchup

this past weekend, i made a very quick visit to northern virginia and dc to meet patrice's baby, virginia mae.  she is so precious, and it was really fun to spend time with them!  she and jeff are both so great with virginia and seem like naturals at the whole "doing life with a baby" thing.  hopefully, whenever billy and i have kids, we'll step into those roles as seamlessly as they have! 

on my way to patrice and jeff's, i stopped by felicity's house to deliver her long-overdue wedding gift, so it was great to see her new place and visit for a little while. 

precious baby virginia :)

that afternoon, patrice and i visited some antique shops in leesburg, which was so fun!  first, we hit up german favorite antiques, which is in the super cute downtown leesburg area.  we browsed around and saw lots of interesting things, but left empty-handed.  i was really hoping they would have some antique terrier decor, but i'll keep looking :)  next, we headed to the old lucketts store, which is a few miles outside of leesburg.  it was such a cute shop, and we loved lots of things they had.  and they also had some weird things, such as this cow-hair-covered dresser that patrice got a picture of :)  she and i both left with a little something - she got a really cute hook with a bird on the top to hang in virginia's room, and i got a wooden "c" that i am working on figuring out where to place in our house.  certain letters, such as c, don't stand up quite as easily on shelves as other letters, so i'm thinking about doing an arrangement of photos going up our staircase and including the c in that.  i have some leftover paint from my christmas frame project (which i still need to blog about), so i may paint the c.  i was originally going to hang it over our bed, either above or in between a couple of pictures we took in italy, but that idea got vetoed by my husband (who tends to have a better sense of space and color than i do).  i think the stairway photo arrangement will be great though, as i've been wanting to try that out for awhile!  so, getting back to my trip, we also checked out the beekeeper's cottage, which is right next to lucketts, before heading back.  it was really nice, with beautiful furniture, linens, accessories, etc. 

that night, we hung out at patrice and jeff's house, drinking mojito-ish drinks and eating fajitas, which she so smartly made in mass quantity to freeze for meals over the next few weeks (see her mass-quantity-cooking blog post here :) ). and we watched "the queen" before heading to bed.  it was an interesting movie, and i had no idea about the queen's not-so-great relationship with princess diana.  speaking of the royals, i am very excited about the royal wedding coming up in a month!!

did NOT expect to see this when i walked to my car sunday

the next morning, i woke up to a snow-dusted car and headed into dc for a walk and breakfast with ann, so that was really fun to catch up with her as well.  when i visit her, we usually stop by the dupont circle farmer's market, since it's a 2-minute walk from her apartment, so i picked up some fresh brussels sprouts there.  i'm excited to cook them this week - probably will roast them with a little olive oil and kosher salt - yum!  we visited for a couple of hours, so that was really nice!!

farmer's market in dupont circle

and, i was back in suffolk before 3, making it a very quick trip (about 30 hours, including 7+ in the car).  it was great to see my sweet friends but also nice to get back to my guys here :)

training tool

so i've mentioned before how jefferson goes absolutely nuts when anyone leaves our house (in addition to when people walk by, cats taunt him from the window sill, etc.), and we hadn't yet found anything to make him stop.  we've progressed from scolding him to spanking him to using a pinch collar, which works wonders on our walks but is tough to use when he's running crazily around the house and we can't catch him.  but none of those work.  well, i think we've found the solution. 

this past week, i was doing a little browsing on amazon.com and went into the pet section, where i immediately found a bunch of different training collars.  we had been thinking about buying a remote control shock collar to use as our latest attempt to cure him of his crazed separation anxiety that is making him super stressed and also ruining our dining room window sill.  some people in my agility class have them from bass pro shops, which are really nice and targeted at larger dogs for hunting and behavioral training, but those are $200+, and i thought that was kind of a lot to spend, especially if we didn't know how well it would work. 

well, i found a remote control shock/vibration collar for just $25, so i was more than happy to drop a few bucks on that!  i read the reviews, which were good for the most part, and we didn't get our expectations set too high but were anxious to try the collar out.  and it arrived last night!  after figuring out how to match the collar and remote, we tested out the shock on ourselves before letting jefferson try it out.  it definitely hurts, but i don't think it's enough voltage to seriously hurt him. 

we tried it out when i left for work this morning, and i think he's going to learn quickly!  when he started to go crazy and run around, billy gave him a little zap, and he didn't bark but instead just went to the couch (his "post" for most of the day) and watched me leave.  poor guy!  we felt kind of bad, but i think in the longterm, it'll be a good thing.  apparently, he didn't even want billy to hold him and was just sad :(  so, hopefully this will stop the madness shortly and the collar will have served its purpose! 

are we being totally mean?  i don't totally think so, but part of me still feels bad for the little guy.  but i guess it'll be worth helping him to calm down/de-stress and preserve our house :)

shamrock

this past weekend, the shamrock races were held in vb...while billy worked, i headed down to the oceanfront early saturday morning to meet up with amanda, jen, and samantha, jen's adorable 5-month old.  it was lots of fun to catch up with the girls and cheer on a couple of their friends in the 8k race.  and to meet jen's sweet baby for the first time.  she is one of the happiest and prettiest babies i've met!  after the race, we headed to brunch at ihop, which was fun, and we actually ended up being there for like 3 hours just visiting! 

after i got home, i did some cleaning, yardwork, and got dinner ready before billy got back from work.  billy and i had a lowkey evening, as we knew it'd be another early morning on sunday. 

we woke up bright and early and headed to the beach again on sunday for the marathon billy was running.  he was a little uncertain how it would go after a severe bout with the flu during the previous week.  we met up with his running coach, and i was able to tag along with him on my bike, which was lots of fun.  we watched the race start, then headed down pacific for a couple miles to watch the runners at around the 4-mile mark.  we were able to see the runners in a couple different places from there, as we biked back towards the race start/finish area, so that was fun, and i had a nice time getting some exercise and visiting with coach. 

billy looked strong each time we saw him, and i was able to stake out a good spot at the finish line to watch him come in at a pr time of 2:44:15!!!  he negative-split the race, so i wasn't quite ready for him to come in when did and only got a picture of him from the back...oops!  i'm so proud of him for pushing through and running so well, despite feeling so bad last week :)

we hung out at the post-race party for awhile, which was lots of fun!  then, we celebrated with some yummy mexican from la parilla that night and watched "the switch", which was cute and funny. 

so, it was a good weekend filled with sweet friends and fun races!  next stop, boston!!

catching up

i have been really bad about posting to my blog over the past month-plus...i had started on a couple of posts but never finished them, as things have been super busy at work.  we're not selling many houses, but things have just been busy!  so, here's a little recap since my last post...

went to charlotte to some training for work, which was very interesting and should be helpful in expanding my business here.  it was so fun to get to spend some time with the bards as well!  they were so hospitable, and i loved getting to visit and catch up with them :)

the following weekend, we headed to austin tx for a few days...billy signed up for a half marathon there, plus we thought it would be fun to visit his sister once more before she finishes up her program and moves back east.  that was a great trip!  we still LOVE austin and would LOVE to move there!  plus, we brought jefferson with us, which made the trip even more fun!

airplane dog :)

  

crammed under the seat in the carrier from target that "fits under most airplane seats" (even though we're seriously doubting that now)

austin is probably the most dog-friendly city in the us, so jefferson got to go with us pretty much everywhere we went.  we arrived on saturday, got billy checked into the race, settled in at kendall's apartment, and went to a great restaurant that night - guero's - where we listed to live music and hung out in a beer garden setting while we waited to be seated.  sunday, we headed out bright and early for the race.  jefferson and i walked several miles and got to see billy and renee in a few different spots along the course, and billy ended up finishing with a great time for a super-hilly course and beating lance armstrong :) 

i look a little rough in this picture, but we think it's funny how huge jefferson looks :)

fireworks at the starting line!

billy and a canadian marathoner racing to the finish...and billy won :)

we ate at abel's on the lake that night, which was so fun - we sat outside right on lake austin, and i loved it!  jefferson enjoyed getting to go with us too.  billy and i checked out the flying saucer bar and brought jefferson with us...it was so nice to be able to sit outside at night and not be freezing, and jefferson's dog friends from earlier in the day were there too, so that was fun!  the next day, we ran/walked on the lady bird lake trail, which we love, and then played with jefferson at the dog park for a little while.  they have the best dog park area...tons of open space, plus an area for swimming, which jefferson loved :) 

bevo

two jeffersons

family pic by the tower

kendall, billy, and j terrier

we ate at el arroyo for lunch and then moonshine for dinner, both of which we loved and were able to bring jefferson to.  we also went to barton springs again...only the part you don't pay to go to and can bring dogs to :) 

we tried to hard to get him to wave, but he was too hot and not wanting to be obedient

el arroyo catering bus

barton creek

porch at moonshine - such a cute restaurant!

  

that night, billy and i walked down sixth street in the hopes of listening to some good live music, but with it being a monday night, that did not happen.  maybe next time!  we headed back on tuesday afternoon after another trip to the dog park and lunch at shady grove. 

here are a couple of pictures of the many eclectic and strange people around austin...

nothing too much going on the next couple of week after our austin trip, and then, this past weekend, we celebrated my college friend ridgely's wedding at the beach.  it was lots of fun, she was a beautiful bride, and we enjoyed catching up with some friends from school and staying the night at the beach! 

billy's been sick with the flu (or a super-severe case of food poisoning) since last wednesday night, so we've been laying low.  and, i've been using his sickness as an excuse to not cook and be lazy for several days - ha!  i did a deep cleaning on our house on saturday, which was much needed, and walked with a friend and her dog, who is one of jefferson's bffs. 

this coming weekend is the shamrock marathon, so that should be fun!  hopefully billy will be feeling much better by then!  and, i get to meet my old roommate's baby, samantha, for the first time, so i'm really excited about that!!  we're going to walk at the beach while a couple of our friends run the 8k on saturday, and then sunday will be the marathon.  so, i get to spend two early mornings at the beach :)  i'll post pictures next week!