Things I've done so far in 2012...

Remember this?  Well, here's an update on how I've been doing so far...

1. Go to Disney World - CHECK!  We went to Disney World in February and it was AMAZING!  It probably would have been more amazing if I hadn't come down with a sinus infection halfway through, but what are you gonna do?

2. Get a haircut - CHECK!  I cut 10 inches off my hair last month.  I intend to donate it to Locks for Love, but it's still sitting in a bag in my closet... oops.  I am loving the short hair, though.

3. Buy a new (used) car - CHECK!  I purchased a 2010 Ford Escape last month, and I LOVE it!

4. Get a tattoo - nope, not yet, and probably not this year.

5. Read a book a month - Big fail!  I've read a number of books, but not one a month.  Maybe I could start reading 2 a month from now til New Years and call it good?

6. Wait in line to see the very first showing of the Hobbit, most likely in full costume - This hasn't happened yet, but I intend to make it happen!

7. Clean out my car (if you could see my car you'd realize how big of a deal this is) - CHECK!  I had to do this before I bought the new (used) car.  It was a pain in the butt.

8. Dress up and go to the Renaissance Festival (I do this every year, but whatever) - Soon!!!!

9. Move - planning to move in November!

10. Learn to preserve at least one fruit or vegetable - I've got bags of beans in the freezer, and I intend to can some at some point.

11. Go back to yoga and maybe learn a headstand - CHECK!  I can almost do a headstand away from the wall.  I can do it on the wall pretty well.  I'm super excited about this.

12. Blog more - Biggest fail ever.  Oh well, the year's not over!!!

Weekend in Review

Can I just tell you a little bit about the amazing weekend I had?  Good.

Saturday:  I met my sister-in-law, Sandy, for Vinyasa at 9:15.  It was an amazingly challenging class.  I stinking love Saturday morning yoga!  It is a great way to start the weekend.  Then, I came home and slept for like 4 hours.  At 4, I went to the shelter to do my weekly dog-walking and fell in love with this little guy...

Sunday:  I cleaned like I've never cleaned before!  OK, not really.  I cleaned the apartment really well, though! Then, around 2, my parents and brother and sister-in-law came over to celebrate my birthday a week and a day early.  WOO!  Can you guess why I cleaned?  

We were going to go kayaking, but the wait was like an hour.  After deciding against waiting, we bummed around by the river for a few minutes, and I spotted a baby soft shelled turtle!  It was maybe 3 inches across... maybe.  I totally scooped it up and held it.  It was so cute!  When it got back into the water, it threw sand on itself to hide.  Camouflage fail.

We went to the Peony Garden to see all the glorious blooms, and we walked down to the river.  People were getting their boats stuck in the "Heart of Jesus" left and right.  Nobody tipped, though, darn.  I saw a fellow dog-walker and her foster, Steve!

We headed over to the Jolly Pumpkin for food - then Stucchi's for ice cream.  I received lovely gifts - a hand moisturizing kit and gift certificate for a pedicure from Mom and Dad (yay!) and an awesome yoga top from Pete and Sandy!  

We finished off the night by watching part of "The Shadow" starring Alec Baldwin.  It's a terrible movie.  I highly recommend you watch it.

Monday:  Nia in the morning with Sandy!  It was an awesome class.  Ana was in rare form!  After Nia, I made a smoothie and put some pork in the slow cooker.  Then, I crashed for like 4 hours - again.  I woke up, finished making the pulled pork and cole slaw (thank you skinnytaste.com), and ate dinner with Lou.  Then, we went to the garden to weed and finish putting in the veggies.

Tuesday:  Today, I ran lots of errands - cashed checks, took pants in to be hemmed, picked up prescriptions, went shopping...  OK, so shopping was unnecessary but very fulfilling :)  I hung out at Bigby for a while and did some reading.  Now, I'm just hanging out at home.

Dear weekend, why must you end?

Dog of the Week: Hagrid

This week's Dog of the Week is a little different.  Hagrid has already been adopted.  However, this dog truly moved me in the time I was able to spend with him.  So, let's meet Hagrid!

Louie and I have a thing for gigantic, fluffy animals.  If you haven't already caught on to this, please take a moment to study example A: Morganna and example B: Auggie

As you can see, we enjoy a good amount of fluff in our day-to-day lives.  When I first saw Hagrid in dog-holding, my heart melted and immediately began scheming to make him mine.  However, we are at our maximum for pets in our tiny, one-bedroom apartment, and Hagrid needed a home without cats.  So, I had to get ginormous dog fix by visiting with him at the shelter.

I will admit, I was pretty intimidated by his size!  Hagrid weighs 157 lbs.  I was uncertain if I would be able to manage him on a walk.  However, all the dog-walker notes stated that he actually had trouble walking.  He would mostly just stand.  Apparently, in his former home, he was an outside dog that got very little human/dog interaction.  He didn't know how to walk.

So, I braved it!  We made it to the sidewalk, and he stopped.  I coaxed him a little further, and he stopped.  We stood there.  Stuck.  Now, I hadn't really considered what would happen if I couldn't get him to walk!  Yikes!  Luckily, another dog-walker, Frank, was around, and he joined me and Hagrid.  We thought since Hagrid wasn't much of a walker, it would be good to get him in the play-yard so he could get some exercise.  Alas, we didn't quite make it.  Instead, we stood 10 ft. from the play-yard gate playing a low-key game of "pick the ball up with your mouth" and "eat snow".  At least he was out and about.  It was a big deal that he made it this far!

On the way back to the kennel, Hagrid decided the best thing to do would be to lay down.  So, he did.  He laid on the sidewalk a good 5 minutes before I could manage to get him moving again!  Our 20 minute walk turned into 45 minutes of bribing a gigantic fur-ball to move.  It was a blast :-)

I worried about Hagrid constantly.  He wasn't getting enough exercise.  He seemed sad in his kennel.  I wanted to give him more love.  I wanted someone who would understand him to take him and give him the life he deserved.

Well, folks, someone did!!!  I am completely over-joyed that Hagrid is happy and thriving!  This dog touched my heart in a way it hasn't been touched in a while.  Read Hagrid's Happy Tail!