Poor girl...

Apparently Kentucky is ranked as one of the top 10 states for the worst allergies. Ever since we moved here, our dogs (NOT US) have had horrible problems! This year is no different... poor Maggie is having a tougher time than ever before. After we thought she was getting better, her condition became far worse and we had to take her to the vet to be put on prednisone - AGAIN. We went through this at the same time last year (almost to the day!) and the medicine just makes her tired and ridiculously thirsty. Oh - and let's not forget the best part of this... the aforementioned need to quench her thirst = crazy urination. No matter how many times we let her out, we inevitably still have to change her blankets about 3 times a day. Not only do we change her blankets, but she needs baths as well. Can't wait to see our water bill this month...

As much as I hate giving her any kind of drug, thankfully she's starting to get better after about a week on the meds. She's also acting more like her normal, playful self. And just as I think we're coming to a close of another 2-week laundry marathon, Maggie sits drinking her entire bowl of water... at 9:15pm... AWESOME. I didn't think it was possible for this state to give me any more reasons to want to move away. But alas, Kentucky - you've done it again.

Something old, something new, something borrowed... and something blue/blew?

Typically this phrase brings to mind a fond wedding tradition. And while a wedding is a part of this post, the meaning of the title brings both fond and furious memories for me. I guess I should start back about 2 weeks ago for you to understand the whole story. My family came to visit us over the 4th of July weekend - YAY! This was their first trip to Kentucky since we've lived here, so I was excited to show them around and have them experience life as we know it. The day before their arrival, Shane approached me as I was getting ready for work with the following statement: "Umm... so..." - which, history tells me, means he either has something not-so-good to tell me, or he is hatching a plan. Thankfully it was the latter; the plan was to paint the upstairs half bathroom during his day off prior to my family's arrival. I was ecstatic to hear this plan, as it's something I've wanted to do since we moved in! So we picked through some paint colors on Sherwin Williams' website (awesome, by the way), and we decided on a few different hues from which he could make the final decision. So I headed off to work and soon began receiving picture/text messages with the "progress" being made. And as I watched the blue paint being applied to the walls, all I could wonder was this... "Has Cookie Monster taken up residence in the bathroom?" The color is called "Flyway" and is such a great color - but it was a tad brighter than I (or Shane for that matter) had anticipated. After all was said and done, it looked very nice and we had decided on what kinds of things could help break up the mass of color. :) We opted to toss out the old rug in front of the sink as well as removing the items we had sitting around the sink, since none of them fit with the updated color scheme. When Mom, Dad, Jordan and Tyler arrived the bathroom had been completed, though the walls were still blank. So Mom and I went shopping for some new items to place on the walls - ocean/beach scenes to put in white frames. While we were out we found some other small items to help tie everything together. My parents also bought us a huge new piece of artwork to display above the couch on our open wall - it looks fantastic! Thanks, Mom & Dad!! We had a great weekend together, hanging out, eating Shane's famous ribs, and just enjoying each other.

After their departure we had a week of work before heading off for more summer travels. We had made plans to go to Canada this past weekend for the wedding celebration of our wonderful friends, Kate & Robert. We have come to know them well during our time at Asbury and are so thankful for their friendship. In any case, since the trip was more than 10 hours in total, we opted to stay at Shane's parents' house on the way so we didn't have to spend 2 nights in a hotel room. Before leaving, we chose to take my car up to NY/Canada so that my father-in-law could take a look at a couple things. It had been doing some funny things, but nothing too major.

Once we were in Bemus Point, we took the car up to the garage on Friday afternoon for Dad DeHaven to put it up on the lift and check things out. Rather than wait around through his very busy day, we decided to take his car back to the house and hang out for a bit. But when he got home from work that day he had this news to share with me... MY CAR NEEDS A NEW TRANSMISSION. Are you kidding me?? So not only does this mean we need to fork over some money (which, thankfully isn't as much as it COULD be due to our service contract), but we also can't take the car over the Canadian border for the wedding. My father-in-law was not confident that it would make it the 4 hours up and 4 hours back necessary to get it back to the garage. If we broke down in Canada, he could come get us... but not tow the car back with all the new laws in place. So needless to say, I was quite upset about missing the wedding and not being able to share in our friends' special day. When I think about it, though, I suppose it's better that we knew beforehand and didn't end up stranded in Canada without a way to tow us back! What if we blew the transmission and caused an accident? I'd hate to even entertain that idea any further... And for those of you wondering why we couldn't have borrowed a car from my inlaws or off the car lot, they all have dealer plates. Translation - we are not covered on their insurance to drive any of their cars across the border. AWESOME. So we missed the wedding, have to get a new transmission, and have to leave my car in NY for repairs during the next two weeks. The silver lining around this jet black cloud is the fact that we have borrowed a car off the lot to drive in the meantime.

So there you go... something old, 3 somethings new, something borrowed, and something(s) blue/blew. While they didn't fall quite in that order, I believe it's still fitting. Pictures to come of some new and blue things. That's all I have to say about that.

Just for a minute...

I have to brag on my husband a little bit. :) He's not going to be pleased when he finds out I wrote this post, but I don't care! He just finished his busiest semester yet at school (4 full load classes, working 3 part-time jobs, not to mention everything he does around the house during his "in between time") - and accomplished the feat of receiving ALL As!!! I am unbelievably proud of him and how hard he has worked. I'm thankful that this semester is over - and I know he would say the same. He deserves a break and will finally get one during his fishing trip with his buddy, Rob, all next week. CONGRATULATIONS, BABY! YOU ARE AMAZING! :)

Ode to my Mini...

I have a new laptop. It's not just any laptop... it's a Dell Mini. It is possibly the coolest laptop EVER :) Shane and I needed something smaller to take to class (him) and to record minutes at Board meetings (me). This laptop also has a built-in webcam and microphone - which means I can talk to my brother in Africa - or anyone else for that matter - via Skype. (Sidenote: Skype is stinkin amazing!)

The only thing I'm having to get used to is the apostrophe/quotes key being in a different spot. In order to keep this laptop so compact, the keyboard has been scaled down just a bit. I saw an HP laptop (similar to my Mini) that has a keyboard with all the keys in the same spot as a normal board, but it's not as small OR as cute as mine!! :) I can deal with one measly key being in a different location if it means I get to tote around a laptop that fits IN MY PURSE! Yes... that's right - this Mini weighs only 2.25 pounds and is the same size as a day planner. AMAZING.

So, here's to my Mini... the cutest little laptop on the block ;) Here's the Mini in front of our standard size laptop - are you kidding me?!