Pup Cup

Did you know, that if you tell the starbucks teller that you have a dog in the car, they will give you a mini size cup full of whipped cream ?!?

They will. And Dillan loves it. I somehow resisted giving Dillan the treat in the car, and made it all the way home so I could catch this video.

Prepare for a slobbery mess.

If you want to view larger, go to here.

Tough Puppy

This weekend was a rough one for Dillan.  It started out great enough. Sure he was confused about not having any water or food for the past 12 hours, but the prospect of going for a ride made the starvation/thirst thing insignificant.

So he and I loaded into the car and went to the ever enjoyable petsmart...

For a teeth cleaning.

At 7:30.

I signed him in and he trotted away, loving every second of the attention that all his new friends were giving him.

Then a few hours later I picked him up. And he seemed great. He was energetic and excited to see me, so I thought "maybe all these concerns about dog anesthesia are silly after all."

Then he peed in the car on the way home. A lot. Despite the fact that we had seen him outside with the nurse right as we were pulling into the parking lot, he peed all over the backseat. (by the way, that car is for sell...)

So we got home and I let him inside the house. Nathan went to a meeting, and I went back out to clean up the car. And when I came back in - maybe 5 minutes later - a new surprise was waiting in the floor. Yup, the other mess. Thankfully it was on the vinyl not the carpet...

The rest of the afternoon, Dillan proceeded to sleep. Occasionally he'd let out a little heartbreaking whimper, and his eyes looked so sad.

Then, almost as quickly as he fell asleep, he energized up again, and all was right in the world. He ate dinner, with no accidents, and played outside.

And apparently, this was a totally normal reaction to the anesthesia. I know this because I, the overly-concerned mom, called the vet in a panic.

Poor little fella with his bandaged arm.

They shaved is little leg. :(

But super clean teeth! As we checked out of the vet they said "see him back in 5 months!"; to which I thought "no way!". 

Supposedly Greyhounds develop plaque quicker than any other dog so they have dental problems. So I'm trying to be diligent on teeth brushing. We'll see how that goes...

Practically Famous

That's right, my torso is now gracing the main page (the only page...) of the Resolute's online merch store - which basically puts me at international model status right? 

nailed it.

either way, you can now order shirts online, so if you want, here's the link:
www.theresolute.bigcartel.com

4 years

Nathan and I were happy to get away for a few days last week. We left Nashville on Wednesday night, made a pitstop in Johnson City, and decided to go to Charleston. 

It was on a total whim, and we just about blew our budget going. But that's what life is about right? Doing things with the ones you love. Making memories. Not taking yourselves or your bank account too seriously...

After months in a city that is in fact very flat, a mountain was just what I wanted to see. 

We stopped in Asheville, for same tasty Noodle Shop noodles and then, of course, to the french Broad for coffee and the best macaron I've ever had.  Then it was back on the road for a few more hours to Charleston. We had no reservations, no plans, so we pulled into a "hotel" area and started making phone calls. We decided to splurge and stay at the super hip Aloft hotel. 

elevator tiles full of liquid that moved around where you stepped.

The only downfall to this trendy hotel is that I guess it doesn't appeal to my generation to have bath tubs. So that much anticipated bath time will have to wait...probably until Thanksgiving - at my parents house.

The next morning we spent a while just walking on the beach of Sullivan Island. This seemed like a perfect place to grab a few friends and rent a house in. We will be coming back to you Sullivan's Island!

Afterwards, we did the whole historical downtown Charleston thing, but at our own leisure. Strolling down King street and over through the open air market. Grabbing some ice cream and searching for probably an hour for a restroom (hint: go in a hotel and act like you're staying). We guessed the value of every home on rainbow row and pointed our our favorite details. We talked about how fun it'd be to have a boat and which ones we liked out in the bay. Basically, quality time!

And when we wore out we found a good grassy spot in the park.

It was a wonderful trip, and I'll always remember being spontaneous on our 4 year anniversary. 

A walk in the Park

Dillan, Nathan and I went on a family outing a few weeks ago along the cumberland river. It's so nice to live close by water, and even nicer to live close by said water that happens to have a lovely park and bike/walking path.

Dillan started off of course by dragging us down the path.

Getting some comforting ear rubs before the treacherous bridge over river.

Kind of speaks for itself.

Tuckered puppy. 

Happy fall y'all!

I've got my windows open and a fresh fall breeze blowing through.

I've got a press pot of coffee on my coffee table to refresh my mug whenever it gets low.

I've got season 2 of Sherlock playing while I map out a course for today which includes a neighborhood cookout. We're bringing hamburger buns, ketchup and mustard!

Enjoy your first fall weekend!

Dillan shreds again

Over the course of Dillan's life with us he has had 2 beds. One stays at the foot or our bed, the other stays in his crate. 

Over the course of Dillan's life with us, he has shredded one of his two beds. This means, every time he was crated, and we left, we'd return to a pile of green fluff stuffing all around the crate.

Finally, I gave into the fact that I needed to buy a new one. In a moment of weakness, I went to Petsmart. I figured that the holiday weekend sales and my PetPerks card would combine to the awesome power of a deal. So I spent $35 on a crate liner.

Thankfully as I was driving home I passed a TJ Maxx. And the heavens opened as I walked in and found a much more attractive and comfy bed for only $16. Woot. So I took the petsmart bed back, where I awkwardly got into the same line with the same sales lady...

Then I got the bed home. Where Dillan entered, and pretty much hasn't come out since. 

A 5 minute meltdown

Tonight I sat down at the computer fully intending to write an adorable post completely focused around Dillan, and how he's a puppy who shredded his bed and I had to buy him a new one...

Instead, I sat down at the computer and was instantly angry. This computer is a mac, and I'm still completely mac illiterate, as in where the heck did that file save that I just downloaded from my email. Well Michelle, it would save into the "downloads" file. And then the ongoing escalation of frustration while trying to just figure out how to save a file, and where the photos ago, etc. etc.

And then Nathan started to play music. Which for some reason sent me even farther into the anger spiral. So I turned on the iTunes to drown it out...but the program didn't work. Why wouldn't itunes open?...I really have no idea. So I heaved what was quite possibly the largest, most desperate, husband pay attention to me sigh ever, and he gave into it. 

"what's wrong" he asks. 

mentally I answer "my computer is broken and I hate it and it never works because you play diablo on it instead of your computer"

verbally I answer "itunes won't work" 

You see, because we both have a user profile on this computer, itunes can only be open on one user at a time, and sometimes he gets confused. So, nathan logged me out, logged himself in, and then logged out again. Hello working music. Oh, and hello frustrated husband...oops. 

So I turned on Chevelle and all is right again with the world. Meaning, the second that I finally got music going and the internet opened up to write that adorable post I mentioned, I realized how ridiculous I can be. A heavy sigh is never going to achieve me anything. No one is ever going to reward my meltdowns with encouragement or by giving me a cookie. I'd be no better than the 4-year old in target screaming "Why aren't you going to buy me something!!!!!" 

So, excuse me, I'm going to go apologize.