Merry Christmas!

I had the best of intentions to do a Christmas wish list post, Christmas treats post, yada yada...but alas, time got away from me. Doesn't it feel CRAZY that we're almost to 2013?! The year flew...with many blessings along the way. :)

I hope you're gearing up for a fantastic Christmas with family and loved ones! Our Christmas festivities start this afternoon with a movie with my mom and continue into the Eve with Eric's family. We're planning on seeing my mom tomorrow morning then heading to OKC to visit Eric's family, but the forecast is calling for 100% chance of snow, soooooo we all might re-evaluate that plan. 

This was our first year to send out Christmas cards together, so I thought I would post the finished product. :) Little Winston hadn't joined the family yet when these were ordered or else he'd be in them, antlers and all! 

(back of card)

Wishing you love, family, friendship, laughter and all the blessings the holiday has to offer. Merry Christmas, friends!

Your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite

After a Christmas dinner with friends tonight, Sara and I are headed back to her house to watch the finale of our favorite fictional socialites. Six seasons of Monday nights spent sipping wine with friends and sighing over Chuck Bass all come down to tonight. Yes, I am 31 years old and yes this season has been slow and crappy, but am I ready to ride this sucker to the end? Hell yes!

Do you watch? If so, who do you think GG is? Do you think they'll tell us? I don't even know who I'd want it to be...

"You know you love me... XOXO...."

Weekend Recap!

Hiya friends! Are you done with your Christmas shopping yet? I'm getting close, but not quite. Something tells me a lunch break this week will be spent at the mall because I have NO desire to go next weekend when it's an absolute madhouse. 

Well let's see... I'll start off with how the doggies are doing. What a difference a week makes! At first, I was so nervous b/c Gracie was warming so slowly. She wasn't growling or anything, but she just seemed "off." I think she still has moments of "why is this dog up in my grill?" but overall, they're really fantastic together! They've even started sleeping on the same bed most nights. It's pretty cute; not gonna lie. 

This looks like tug of war. But in reality, both dogs were just standing there refusing to let go or move. It was pretty funny. 

I'm sure the neighbors have been getting a kick out of watching me attempt to walk both dogs. Especially because Winston isn't used to a leash and decides to sit down and not move halfway through most walks. (Picture me carrying Winston and trying to walk Gracie simultaneously. It happened.)

Friday night, Eric and I headed out with some friends for dinner and wine. We were all very somber after the day's news. I have no words that can adequately describe my feelings about what happened. I don't even think my heart really understands that level of horribleness. My prayers are filled with wishes of peace for the families of those children and teachers. My mother is a teacher. She's armed with books, lesson plans, chalk and crayons. I will never understand...

Changing gears before I start crying or ranting about our society. My heart is heavy and my prayers are long...

Saturday, we hit up two Christmas parties. One was for our little group of girlfriends at Ashley's house and the other was for a community organization Eric's involved with. I didn't take any photos at party number two b/c I didn't know anyone so that might have been a tinge weird...:)

Sunday was full of cleaning, errands, and attempts to finish Christmas shopping. Close, but no cigar. I've also started to realize I have a slight problem buying Christmas ornaments. Our tree needed a few more, so I started buying them everywhere I went. I think I need an ornamentivention.

It's official!

You guys... thank you SO much for your sweet comments about little Winston- especially for the comments about adding an additional dog to your families! You really, really put me at ease. I just realized some of you don't have the "reply" feature active so I couldn't respond directly to your comment in email, but seriously.. I really appreciate you. Gracie is already coming around a TON and even barked at the foster mom tonight when she came over to sign paperwork! ha! I think she was saying "Hey now...you can't take this guy!" :) 

Gracie was about to bolt off the couch, but this was cute for a second. :)

I think little Winston was a little sad to see his foster mom go. He sat at the door looking out for a bit. But, then he came and laid beside me with his head on my lap. I already love this little guy. So happy he's found his home here with us. 

I had a couple friends give me tips about making sure Gracie feels like the alpha and the tips have helped immensely! It's crazy actually! It's as easy as greeting her first, putting her food down first, and giving her a treat first. Winston always steps aside and lets her go out the back door first (a sign that he already thinks she's the alpha). Doing those little things has put her at ease a lot more than she was initially. She's so demure, so it's funny that she's the alpha dog. She's even the alpha with my mom's bigger dog. Bossy little thing! ha! :) 

Finally, I believe in rescuing. I won't get on a soapbox about it, but please know you can find fantastic, healthy,  full breed dogs (if that's what you're looking for), but you might just have to be a little patient if you're looking for a specific dog. In Tulsa alone, over 7, 500 animals were euthanized last year. That's just heartbreaking. If you are ever, EVER told to meet a breeder at a parking lot/random place, be cautious the dog might be coming from a mill.  There should be no reason a reputable breeder wouldn't be okay with you seeing their home. We had a dog from a breeder when I was a little girl and he was great! He's the reason I fell in love with doggies! So I don't mean to imply that I shun reputable breeders because I definitely don't. But, please, please consider rescue if you're adopting a new furry family member. 

Here's where we found Winston! If you even read some of the many stories on the site, you'll see why I was often in tears every time I spent more than 5 minutes on their page...haha.. So many good dogs just needing some love. :) 

I'm so glad Winston found his home with us!! :)

Recapping!

First, THANK YOU so much for all the kind words about our engagement photos! :) I'm really excited about they way they turned out. :) I didn't mean to drop off the face of the earth after that last post.. Sheez. It was a busy week last week...

Since I've blogged last,

...we got everything all decorated...

Favs: Santa ornament from Maui and my little Gracie ornament Eric brought me from his family trip to CO our first Christmas together.  :)

...I made this project I saw on Pinterest  to keep my pretty ring safe while I shower or clean. Love how it turned out! I got a set of three frames at Pier1 for under $12! So I went ahead and made a couple of these! :)

...I went to my first tacky Christmas party for Timbo's birthday! :) We had antlers. It was awesome. 

What else? Hmm.. Oh! TU won the Conference Championship! Wahoo! Bowl game is in Memphis, but Eric and I probably won't go. It's a big year for us and we need to save $$ like good kids. 

That said, I'm kind of not helping with the saving cash because I may have found something that moved to the top of my Christmas list pretty quickly...

Meet Winston...or  if when we keep him, Sir Winston Churchill. (We added the Churchill. Obviously). If you're on instagram, you've already seen some photos of this adorable little guy! 

You might remember me blogging about thinking of adopting a brother or sister for Gracie... The first dog we tried wasn't a fit. I'd kind of quit looking. I mean, she doesn't seem to care one way or the other, so whatever. 

BUT...

I randomly searched a national website I follow for Cavalier rescues. I feel really strongly about rescuing. Mind you, there are never any rescues in Tulsa, so I just go read the sad stories and then wonder why the hell I just went and made myself really sad. Well...on Thursday, there WAS a dog in Tulsa...on the front page! I speed-read every little detail about him... 2 years old...healthy...housetrained...sweet-natured...hasn't ever had a 'forever home.' (Poor guy). Likely escaped from a mill when he was a baby.

My fingers typed a comment on his post before my brain could even process what I was doing. :) Then, I text Eric a "Please can I apply? PLEASE PLEASE.." He said I could give it a shot, so off went the application through my email. 

I knew it'd be really competitive, but on Friday, I was so excited to get a call! By that night, Eric and I were taking Gracie to meet little Winston at the foster home. By Saturday afternoon, I had picked him up for a trial at our house. :)

I was (and still am, if I'm being honest) a little nervous about Gracie's feelings about the whole thing. She seems cool with Winston, but I think she's also kind of like "What the hell is going on here?" haha... I just don't want her to feel like I'm trying to replace her. And I also have a really tight bond with Gracie (in case you can't tell), so I don't want to ruin that OR make it unfair to Winston. So I'm nervous. I think it's going fine, but I'm just paranoid. 

Checking him out.

I have to admit that little G is certainly warming to W quite a bit. She doesn't go snuggle with him or anything but she lets him play with her toys now (she didn't at first) and will lay by him sometimes. She gets up and moves after a few minutes, but it's still cute.

Ignore the computer wire. I was vacuuming and saw this preciousness. Had to capture it. :)

Little W has some anxiety. His previous owners kept him in a crate A LOT and he didn't really get a lot of love or play time. When he gets nervous, he hides under things. It's cute, but also a little sad now that I know why he's doing it. Poor guy.

We still haven't fully committed to keeping him yet, buuuuut I may have gone to purchase him a bed today. Whatever. He can't just sleep on a blanket! It's gonna get cold tonight! (You can totally see where this is headed...haha). And I also got G a new bed, too. I'd say both went over quite well...(The below photos were literally 2 minutes after I put the new beds down on the ground). 

She came over to check out his bed, too. Cute. 

So, yeah, looks like we have a new family member just in time for Christmas unless something crazy happens! But, I'm also still looking for any words about how anyone adopted a second dog and how it went with your first dog still feeling special... I think I might be putting emotions on Gracie that aren't even there b/c she seems a little cautious but overall pretty fine. And I really do think she's gonna dig having a friend around, especially while Eric and I are at work. And he's just a doll. He's basically the male version of Gracie, but with some anxiety due to his tough little life. I just love him already.

So yeah, that's what I've been up to! Oh and tomorrow is my lovely mamma's birthday! We just got back from dinner to celebrate! Happiest birthday to an amazing, strong, outstanding woman that I'm fortunate enough to call mom! :)

Stay warm, friends! It's supposed to get COLD tonight in T-town!