Old News

Hi all! Was looking through some older pics that I hadn't posted yet, so I thought I'd share them with you!

For the Superbowl we made beer cheese soup, guacamole, and homemade pretzels. We followed a recipe from Alton Brown for the pretzels. I used my sweet stand mixer and they turned out great. They were a little bit of work, but nothing too bad! Justin helped so that made things easier. Here's a pic:

We had a nice Valentine's day at home together. We always just stay in and make dinner. Neither of us want to deal with the crazy crowds. Plus, we can make just as good a dinner at home and it's a lot cheaper! Justin also bought me some beautiful roses and delicious truffles (seriously delicious). We made, well, you can see what we made!

Here are just some random pics of Bear and his backyard buddy, Scout.

When is this silly bathroom business going to be done?

Speaking of our bathroom remodel, here is a pic of all the crap that was in our yard during the process. It's all gone now, hallelujah! Did I spell that right?

When we were in Fargo at the beginning of March, Justin stayed with some friends. Here are a few pics of Shea's dog, Ragnar, jumping for the frisbee. He's got some mad hops ;)

So it looks like cheese was the popular option on the poll! I apologize to everyone who wanted to pick onions - I forgot to put it on the list! I'm looking forward to the day I can enjoy a juicy lucy.

Stay tuned for a new post with some pics of Bear and Scout in action. They played together today for about an hour and I got some good shots.

Have a great Friday everyone and enjoy March Madness! You know I will!

My 51st Post!

I know I've been slacking; that's why I had to remind everyone that I have done 50 posts already, so I have a right to slack.

So I'm sure most of you are aware of our big bathroom remodel that's in the works. If you haven't already, check out Justin's blog for some pics of the progress so far. The tile is amazing and since it's a small bathroom, it wasn't too expensive. We will have brushed nickel hardware and a granite vanity top. Our walls will be a burnt almond color. Tomorrow and Friday they should be able to wrap everything up. They still have to paint, seal the tile, put in the vanity and cabinets, and finish the custom-made closet. I'm so excited! But it's been crazy - we have crap everywhere in our house and there is a fine layer of dust over everything! Never before in my life have I been anxious to clean until now. It will be so nice when everything is back in order. Bear doesn't really know what to think of it all. Yesterday he sat in the dining room and barked at the debris. We will post some more pics when it's done!

Saturday I'm going on a Summit Brewery tour with some girls from St. Mary's. It'll be Amanda Simone (Fricke), Patti Snustad, Jenny Brummer, and me. I've never been on the tour before, but it should be a good time. We invited a couple others, but they couldn't make it.

Melissa and I enjoyed a very nice weekend together in Fargo. We didn't do much; we just hung out, but that's what we like to do best together! The weekend went too fast as usual. Mel's wedding is in 2 months! I can't believe it's so soon. I'm working on planning the bridal shower now, which is in less than a month. Everything should be a good time!

So our weather here has been cold the last 2 days, but I really can't complain to you Bismarckians. We had about 2 inches of snow on Tuesday on top of some freezing rain. We had 50 mph winds last night and below zero temps. Today it was about 5 degrees, but it's gonna warm up soon. By the weekend, it will be in the 40s and they say near 50 next week. Hopefully this is the start of Spring with no looking back!

Oh, I am super pumped for the ACC tourney this weekend! I'm DVRing the UNC game on Friday morning. I have to say, though, that the ACC is a good conference and I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of those teams put up a good fight. I relished in the sweep of Duke this year, which worries me slightly because a 3peat is tough if it comes down to those two in the tourney. Anyway, GO 'HEELS!

Alright, there's your update bitches. Have a great rest of your week everyone!

Warning: Not for Young Viewers

Just watch'em. It's not what you think. Hilarious.

Play Buddies

Happy Birthday, Bear!

It was Bear's birthday yesterday (he turned 2), so I wanted to dedicate a post to him. Not that he doesn't get mentioned in any of my other posts, but this one is especially for him. The pup is getting mellower in his old age and he's quite the pumpkin sometimes. He has a new friend too. Our neighbors behind us got a new puppy: a 4 1/2 month old Aussie named Scout. He's about the cutest thing ever and he and Bear adore each other. What's really nice is we have a gate in between yards that we can open up and just let the dogs run around together. So here are a few pics of the two romping around together (taken with J-wad's sweet ass new SLR).

His right eye is half blue.

This pic is just a cute one of him laying in the hall. I don't know why he lays in that crazy position, but it's adorable.

It's been tough with these cold days cuz we can't get him walked, so it is nice that he has a bud so close by to play with. His walks have improved dramatically since we got a gentle leader. I actually enjoy walking him again and he is much calmer, relaxed, and he seems like he's enjoying it too. I can't believe what a difference the gentle leader has made. It makes me feels much more in control and he can sense that. The other thing we have been doing on walks is feeding him little pieces of roast beef when he sees another dog. The dog behaviorist we had here told us it's all about taking the emotion out of seeing another dog, cuz he would get so worked up. Now, the moment he sees another dog, we just feed him the beef and then he's fixed on us and doesn't get so crazy about the other dog. It's a slow process but we have already seen a change in him. It sounds wrong, like you are feeding that excited state, but it's really not like that. She also told us that a dog like ours needs 2-3 hours of mental and physical stimulation a day. One way you can do this is make him work for his food. So we bought two little kong like things that you put his food in and he has to roll them around to try to get the food to drop out of it. It keeps him busy for like 15-20 mins instead of him scarfing down his food in less that 2 mins. And he loooooves to work for it! So all these things we've been working on have really made a difference in him. He's learned some self-calming skills (which were desperately needed) and like I said, he is much calmer now. We still have to work on his greetings at the door and reactions to the doorbell, car doors, etc. He starts an obedience class on Monday, Feb. 16th. He is a work in progress, but such a sweet boy!

So here's to Bear and many more happy years in our family! I leave you with a pic I know you've seen before, but I love it. So sweet and innocent (deceptively hiding the Bearcifer that lurks inside).

Boxer and Baby

This video is so sweet. I love boxers!

This and That

It's been awhile, I know. I want to start out by saying congratulations to B on her new baby boy, Josiah! He came on January 11th and he's doing great! I can't wait to see the little bugger. I'm heading home the first weekend in Feb to see him.

This weekend I got a car starter put in, so I'm very happy about that. It is much needed when you live here. And I know all you Bismarckians and GFers can relate. Yay for car starters! We've been getting some more snow around these parts. This morning we woke up to a beautiful snowfall that lasted through the morning and afternoon. We didn't get any pics of that, but these are from the snowfall before it:

See Bear back there sitting by the fence? I think he's waiting for
the neighbor's dog to come out. They love each other.

We're still trying to decide what color we want to paint our bedroom. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great! We've talked about a light brown but it would have to be just right. We want to brighten it up a little in there without going too overboard.

We had a dog specialist over here on Friday cuz Bear's been having some on-leash issues. He gets very growly when he's on a leash and he sees another dog. Also, he just tweaks out on walks, like he's constantly on edge. It seems like he can't enjoy a walk cuz he has to be on the look out for other dogs or animals. Anyway, she told us a lot of good things and reasons behind his behavior. He's had a couple of significant life events that have created some anxiety issues. She also gave us some strategies to try with him. We've used them this weekend and we've already noticed a change in him. He's much calmer, just in general. I think it's gonna work and I bet he'll learn fast - he's a smart boy, not to mention cuter than hell.

Last weekend we went to Justin's employee Christmas party. We started at Oak City at 3:30 with drinks and some apps, and a shot. We headed over to Sofitel around 6. We only got one drink ticket, so that was spent on a mixed drink. The rest of the night it was $6 Amstels. Yep, that's right, $6. We spent a shitload of money on mediocre beer, but what can you do? They had a casino so we played some Blackjack. Justin didn't wind up winning anything in the raffle, but it was a good time. After that, we headed back over to Oak City (not necessary at this point in the night). But we drank and ate some more, then I flipped off his boss, but not in a bad way, mind you. It was all in good fun. He still wants to go for sushi with us, so that's a good sign.

This weekend we watched a couple of good movies: Tropic Thunder and Mongol. Watch Tropic Thunder if you want a good laugh. It's got some great actors in it and Robert Downey Jr. is awesome. Mongol is the story of Genghis Kahn before he became known as that. Very good movie if you ready for a serious, pay attention movie. But I recommend it. If anyone has any suggestions for some good movies, please let us know! We're always looking for something to put on our Netflix queue.

Peace out! Have a great week everyone!