Wonderpup.

One of the biggest life changes since just before the hiatus was the addition of this little guy to our family.

Clyde is SO much fun and such a good boy -- if not a bit hyper at times.  I truly believe he is the most perfect dog alive: so friendly, so well-behaved, so smart, and just so damned handsome.

Anyway, a few weeks back I realized that I should start taping some of his training sessions so that I can remember how awesome he is long after he goes to be with his forever family. I stitched some of those videos together and made this quick video!

He's actually got many more tricks up his "sleeves"so I'll probably try to capture those in time too and make some mega-compilation (with real music) eventually. But for now, this totally warms my heart!

Boundary Waters

I won't pretend that my daily life is blog-worthy by any means -- most days are some combination of the same thing. So to keep things interesting and to jump-start the memories, I figured I would start blogging again by posting about highlights from my year of absence.

I'm going to start with our trip to the Boundary Waters (also known as my first-ever canoe trip).

Let me start by saying this: everyone should go to the Boundary Waters as much as they can.  It is such an intimate and glorious way to experience the wilderness and I cannot wait to get back out there again.

Now that I've said that, I also have to admit that our first couple of hours out there was pretty much a comedy of errors. Like, one of those buddy cop movies where things get worse and worse and you can only laugh.  See this?

Within a minute of taking this picture, both dog and husband were in the water. Clyde couldn't wait to get in the water, and in his excitement created a domino effect that ended with a big shove to Jamie much to the amusement of seasoned canoers around us.  By the time we got out in the canoe Clyde's excitement hadn't abated and a 60lb dog running back and forth on a canoe isn't the most fun for someone (me) who had never canoed before.

We "pulled over" and tried rearranging things a bit putting Clyde up front with me rather than having his way in the middle of the canoe.  This was much more successful as we quickly learned that Clyde had just been trying to get to me the whole time...once there he just went to sleep with his head in my lap.  

Once making it to land for our first portage, we strapped on our hiking boots.  I took my first step and the sole of my boot came off.  Incredulous, I took another step to get to a rock and investigate when the sole of the other boot came off.  I no longer had hiking boots and I had only taken two steps of an estimated many miles.  We forged on -- for the first time I was grateful for my thick-soled Incan feet.

The second important lesson I learned was to never trust Jamie when he told me it was safe to walk somewhere.

Shortly after this picture was taken, I was fully submerged in the water (Clyde jumped in after me because he's a good boy) because Jamie assured me that the grass on the right which is clearly floating ON TOP of the water, was solid ground. Despite my proving it was not to him with an oar, he still insisted that I step on it to get in the canoe. Those pants were wet for the rest of the trip. Jamie was sheepish for the next couple of hours.

Despite all of this, it was still an incredible day and totally worth it.

We spent four days out there, with each night at a campsite even more picturesque than the last. We had a whole island to ourselves in Lake Cherokee and I don't think I had ever seen Clyde happier -- he had a forest to run and lake to swim at his disposal.

We enjoyed the solitude together and took in the incredible feeling of being in a place so quiet and pristine.

We managed to make it the entire trip without tipping the canoe in a lake (the one time it did sort of tip was when we parked it and Jamie was about to get back in, but I'm not counting that) and without any of our gear lost to the lakes.  Clyde did lose some his treats from his treat bag, but I like to think that was just him sharing food with the fish.

Ultimately, we paddled and portaged SO many miles...

...but the incredible scenery made those miles fly by.  That, and the fact that Jamie carried the canoe by himself when we portaged. He assured me it was easier that way, but I'm not so sure...

Boundary Waters gets two enthusiastic thumbs and four fuzzy paws up!

That is the Question.

After over a year of absence, the obvious question becomes: "is it even worth trying to get back into the blogging habit?"

Of course, there are pros and cons. Pro: I just spent the last 15 minutes skipping through some of my old blog posts and thoroughly enjoyed that.  It'd be good to have that experience a year or three down the line and have memories of now.  Con: time is as tight as ever.  Pro: keeps me somewhat connected to old friends? Con: really not sure if they check here anymore...or if this would pop up in those Google Reader (I know I'm out of date) type feeds.

Ultimately, I am deciding to not just continue blogging, but to double down on my blog posts!  Granted, there was only one blog post in all of 2015, so "doubling-down" would only require two blog post this year...I'm halfway there!

Two major reasons I'm trying hard to get back into a routine: 1) This post of my niece, Leah, reading Mother Goose. Seriously, time really flies and I want to do a better job of capturing it and 2) Jamie and I just put down some big bucks towards our upcoming trip to New Zealand.  I'll definitely want to post about that trip on here.

I even enrolled in an advanced photography course so that I can take my pictures to a new level on this trip.  I'm going fully manual and I'll be able to share my success or failure with that endeavor on here.

And of course...remember this guy?

Well he....

...got...

...BIGGER!

And don't worry, Cody's just the same...(awesome).

Hope someone is still out there reading!

2015!

This is always an exciting time of the year -- full of possibility and plans for the year ahead.  It's pretty unbelievable that it is already 2015.  Not sure why, but it feels like a milestone of some kind.  We may not have Mr.Fusion-powered, flying time machines yet, I still hope it will be a good year!

Clyde turned 8 weeks old today and has acclimated to his new "home" very well and I'm already convinced that we have the smartest and bestest dog of the bunch.  He came to us sleeping through the night (win!), mostly potty-trained (double-win!!), and has already gotten a good handle on his first two commands.

Here he is showing off his "drop n' watch".  It's the "default" position for our service dogs, so I'm excited that he's already on his way.

While he doesn't know how to tell us when he needs to go out yet, he knows to wait until he is outside to do his business.  As an added benefit, he always goes within seconds of us taking him to the designated spot.  A major plus given the temperatures as of late:

To be honest, it's probably because it's so cold that he goes so quickly, but I'm not complaining.

Clyde and Cody are not best of friends yet.  Clyde is way too over-eager for Cody.  I give it a few more weeks.  

Clyde's first class tomorrow!  I'm so excited to see him reunited with his brothers and sisters...

Maximum Cuteness.

About this time, everyone has written about their year -- reflecting on the highs and lows.  I have so much to catch up on, I'd rather just share some of the memories from the past week.

Starting with these two...

Can you believe how much they have grown??  Can you believe how beautiful they are???  The picture cannot capture how smart, sweet, and hilarious they are so just trust me when I say they are pretty incredible 6 year-olds.

Of course, we capture a lot of video during our holiday with the family.  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to edit it together yet -- stay tuned.

In California, we were busy with our families, eating good food, enjoying our gifts, and sharing quality time with our loved ones.  We even had time to take a quick trip to Big Bear for some skiing!  

We headed back in to "chilly" Minneapolis last night and woke up bright and early to pick up little Clyde.

Our little service dog-in-training has been a great addition to our household so far.  He's super-smart -- he already gets that outside is for potty and has consistently gone within 10 seconds of us taking him out.  The frigid cold air may have something to do with that, though. We also hear that he already sleeps through the night.  Time will tell.

He doesn't quite seem to get how dog beds are supposed to work yet, but I'll chalk it up to first day fatigue.

Happy New Year everyone...

Pupkallah.

You know what looks kind of like babkallah but is infinitely cuter?

A PUPPY PILE!  They are at 7 weeks now and most of them will be going to their homes on Friday.  Can't wait to find out which of those golden little furballs is going to be our buddy for the next two years.

Birthday Babkullah.

A couple of months ago, Man Boo and I were flipping through an issue of Bon Appetit when we both let out a little gasp upon beholding the "babkallah".  Knowing the decadence and elbow grease required for this concoction categorized it as a strictly special occasion endeavor, I made a mental note to make it for breakfast on Jamie's birthday.  I also knew that one way or another, it would find it's way onto this blog -- most likely as one of those "nailed it" fails.

Fortunately, not only did it come out edible...

...it was actually pretty tasty!  Couldn't even take this picture without first tearing off a piece of it to try.

While I don't think I'll be making it again (did I mention the elbow grease?)...it did tempt me to try out making straight-up babka which I had never heard of before.  I'll just have to wait for another special occasion...next holiday season?

Puppy Update! (PUPdate??)

Remember when those puppies looked like this?

(Yeah, they're named after different colors for now)

After 4 weeks, they looked like this...

Then...at 5 weeks...

...and as of yesterday, they had their first outdoor adventure.

I should note that I haven't met the puppies yet.  All of these pictures were taken and shared by their caretaker (momma dog's owner) and fortunately, she's a prolific and excellent photographer.  I cannot get enough of these puppies.

Puppies are supposed to go home the day after Christmas.  Unfortunately, Man Boo and I will have to wait a few extra days to meet our puppy since we'll be out of town.  Can't wait to meet the little guy (or girl).  

Last Month, Tonight.

I'm so out of practice with this blog thing.  Here's a quick recap of the last month...

Los Angeles.  When we left off, I was in LA doing work during the day and spending quality time with my parents at night.  We even made a trip to Las Vegas over the weekend for a mini-vacation and to take advantage of a free room with a Las Vegas-y view.

Thanksgiving.  After a quick trip back to Minneapolis, I hopped back on a plane for LA again...this time for Thanksgiving festivities.  Managed to pull off a pretty tasty Thanksgiving together with the whole family.  Man Boo came through with the brave and skilled lowering of the turkey into blazing hot oil...

...and 56 minutes later we had a delicious spread.

As usual, it was great to be with family.  Of course, we played a Calvinball-esque version of ping pong.  Needless to say, Man Boo lost 318 to 0.

Got older and baked a lot.  Flew through Minneapolis to get to Boston for work the next day and celebrated another year of life.  Never mind that I totally forgot how old I was turning.  That's what happens once you pass thirty...Upon coming back home I immediately set out to BAKE for our annual holiday/birthday party the next day.  I think I made enough cookies.

Clockwise from left: glazed lemon cookies, sweet and spicy nuts, chocolate crinkle cookies, and peanut butter blossoms.  I should note that this is not even half of the cookies I baked.  Jamie insisted that I bake 142 peanut butter blossoms because apparently every single person at our party would want one or two.  That, folks, is how much I love my husband.

Work, work, work.  Throughout all this has been some really busy work time.  Still loving the job, but it's sort of kicking my butt these days.  After weekly travel for the last month and a half, I really enjoyed my first full weekend at home and am looking forward to my first full week here too.  Minneapolis has been accommodating by giving us some 50 degree weather.  

Next post: PUPPY UPDATE!!

Minnesotan.

Last winter, people assured me that it was unusually cold.  "The coldest winter in my lifetime!" they said.  "If you can make it through this, you'll be a true Minnesotan!"  I smiled and wrapped my new winter coat tighter around myself knowing that this was simply a "trial by ice".  The spring finally did come and it was followed by a really glorious summer.  I felt good about surviving my first winter in Minnesota and felt even better knowing that this upcoming winter wouldn't be as bad...

What the eff, Minneapolis???

So maybe it's been cold all over the U.S.  In fact, for the first time in many decades all 50 (!!!) states went below freezing last night.  And, the rumor is that it is actually going to be a pretty mild winter this year.  It's just getting all of the cold stuff out of the way early.  So we hope.

In the meantime, here is a video from yesterday of the puppies to warm your heart.  They're getting so big at two weeks now!

Helping Paws.

So here's something!  After a lot of deliberation, Man Boo and I made the decision to foster a service dog!  Crazy, right?

We have always wanted a dog.  Despite having two cats, we're both "dog people".  Sadly, the kind of dog that we wanted (i.e. the frisbee catching-type) was never a realistic option because we did not feel we had the time and space to provide a good home for one.

The stars began to align when we moved to Minneapolis and purchased a home with more space and a backyard larger than a postage stamp.  They aligned further when I realized that working from home provides me the time and flexibility to provide care for a puppy.  And finally, when we met Tango...

...at the Helping Paws demo at the Minnesota State Fair this year, we really began to think much more seriously about the possibility.  After plenty of research, sitting in on training classes, and conversation we took the leap and put our application in.  

A couple interviews, references, and a home visit later we were invited into the Helping Paws family as foster parents to a puppy from the upcoming litter of Labrador puppies.  "Our" puppy was born on November 5th...

Mommy dog gave birth to 10 puppies and while we don't know which one will be ours (for the next two years or so) we do know that he or she is somewhere in that heap of adorable.  

I'm probably going to obsess over this puppy for a while, so I hope you all are alright for puppy overload in the next months.

The next question, of course, is why a service dog?  I'll save answering that question for another post...

Look Who's in Town!

President Obama is enjoying the awesomeness of Minneapolis!  This is actually Jamie's view from today's event, but Obama will be speaking tomorrow in our neighborhood -- a short walk away.  Sadly, I don't know that I will be able to see him in action since I have work, but part of me is hoping that all of my meetings will mysteriously get rescheduled in the next few hours.  

Despite living in Capitol Hill for several years, it feels more special knowing that the President is going to be so close now that we live in Minneapolis.

Isle of Skye to Glasgow.

Last full day in Scotland!  With our Scottish breakfast in our bellies, we started the journey from Isle of Skye to Glasgow.  We drove through scenic mountains and past Ben Nevis and stopped at Stirling Castle, our last castle of the trip.

And we got treated to a double rainbow over the William Wallace Monument...

Once we got into Glasgow, we tried to make it to the Cathedral in time but just missed it.

So we walked over to the Necropolis instead which turned out to be a pretty neat way to see Glasgow.

The next day, we were on our way back to the US and the next evening we were binge-watching Game of Thrones.  Scotland truly was a great destination for us and actually fit perfectly with what we were hoping to get in our 9 days.  All-in-all, a perfect vacation.