Introduction...

As all of you know already, Paul and I have been on the edge of our seats now for about two months, wondering if we will get a puppy or not? Ive shared my excitement and disappointments with you on this blog regarding the possibility of owning a new puppy. I thank you all for being patient with me.

This weekend, the breeder and I went through our final negotiations and she sent an email last night announcing that we will indeed be owners of a Newfoundland dog.

Hurrah!

Ok, its time to introduce you to...

*drum roll*

Our darling puppy!

She is a big ball of black fluff. She is now 6 weeks old and weighs 15 lbs.

After going back and forth with a few names, we decided to name her something entirely different. She is a very quiet, calm puppy. The breeder chose her for us because she thought she would be a perfect fit for me, considering the fact I want to train her to be a hearing/therapy dog. Out of all 4 puppies, she was affectionately known as "Red Girl" due to the red ribbon she has around her neck. Compared to her siblings, she is the most people-oriented.

With her calm demeanor and cuteness in mind, we named her Rosie.

What was I thinking? Wearing a black shirt while holding a black puppy?

We suspect Rosie will think she is a lap dog as she grows older...


Look at that face! That fluff of hair!


She fell asleep between Paul's feet after a few minutes of playing.
She wont be able to do that for much longer... she'll be too big to fit under a chair.

Doesn't she have a cute butt? Hee hee!

After playing outside with me and her sibilings, she was pooped. She plopped down and fell asleep. She is an asbolute darling and we are very excited to bring her home in 2 weeks.

The menagerie (Sam, Syd and Macy) are in for a surprise, but I think they will come to love Rosie as much as we do!

A favorite word

One of my favorite words in the entire universe is... snow.

There is just something about that word that makes me feel cozy, giggly and excited. After moving to Wisconsin, winter has truly become my favorite season. Ive noticed that Missouri has more ice than snow, while Wisconsin has more snow than ice. Last winter, we got over 100 inches of snow in December alone!

It was just unbelievable not being able to drive anywhere or get out of the house for two weeks. There was 4 feet of snow blocking my garage door and my neighbors had to dig me out through the front door. It was very fun walking to the grocery store and post office in my new snowshoes. Snowmobiles are very common in these areas, especially when our vehicles are buried in snow.

Anyway, Ive come to really love snow and everything that comes with it. I know most people grumble and mumble about black ice, scrapping windshields, shoveling the sidewalks, and the inconvience of not being able to go anywhere. But, for me... its a magical time where everything is covered in white and silver. Everything is quiet. Everything comes to a stand still, and it is perfectly okay to be in your pajamas and drink hot chocolate all day while watching movies. Its also perfectly acceptable to walk to the grocery store looking like the Michelin Man. In fact, if you dont resemble an Eskimo, people will ask you "Are you alright? Do you need a ride on my snowmobile? Surely you cant make it out there in the snow in that skimpy coat?"

I imagine this winter will be a different experience for me, now that Im living in the city. I think I will miss the simplicity of living in a small rural town.

Nonetheless, snow still gets me giddy.
TODAY, we had our very first snowfall of 2008.

It had just begun to snow when I arrived home. Paul didnt even know there was a light white layer on everything outside until I told him to come outside with me. I went to the closet and put on my ole trusty red Parka that saw me through -20 degree weather last winter. Paul grumbled on his way out and then saw what I was so excited about.

Paul just rolled his eyes when I whipped out my camera. When I snapped this shot, he signed "weirdo." He just doesn't get it, does he?

Ah, but a few seconds later, Paul starts kicking around the snow and is trying to hide his facial expression of happiness. He DOES get it!

Im definitely from the Nanook, aren't I?

High Tea Party

This afternoon I went to Holly's 35th birthday party. The High Tea party was at George Watt's Tea Parlor in downtown Milwaukee.

Here is Holly, the birthday girl. She dressed up in black with bright Cobalt blue accessories. Aren't her socks and blue shoes fun??

The tea was delicious.

Do you like my feathers?

There were 8 ladies at this party. I only knew Holly and Julie.

Isn't it obvious that Julie won the "best hat" contest? Her hat was enormous!

After enjoying several cups of tea, the best part came: dessert! It was so elegant being served sponge cake, fruit sconce, and chocolate torte on antique blue & white china.


After dessert came the gifts! I made Holly a book (no surprise!) to put pictures from her High Tea party in. Everyone loved it. Two ladies asked if they could pay me to make some books for them. Hmm, a potential business endeavor...

All in all, it was a great party. Everyone had a blast!

City of Surprises

Ah, Paris... There are no words to describe my love for this city. I have literally thousands of pictures chronicling the sights, foods, architecture, people in this city.

I selected just a handful of pictures to share with you.
Don't fret... I will share more pictures later.




When we first arrived to Paris, I was struck by the very cool architecture. As all of you know, I have a love for old architecture dating prior to the 1900s, and you can't walk around a corner in Paris without seeing an old iron balcony or a 1800 era limestone building. The entire city is filled with these buildings, and they stretch for 5, 10, 15 blocks at a time.


In between the long blocks of old limestone buildings, there are many neat little streets. There are many shops, restaurants, and cool little nooks everywhere. You can easily spend hours exploring and not see the same thing twice.


There were many sights in Paris that I never would have imagined I would see. The picture above was such a surprising sight to stumble upon. We were trying to find our way to a specific restaurant for dinner one night, and came across this busy avenue. It looked straight from a Harry Potter book/movie. There were strings of lighted chandeliers hanging from invisible wires above the street. It was very festive and french.


One of the things that Paris is well known for is their outdoor markets. They have many kinds of markets: flower, flea, farmer, etc. It was very refreshing to go around the corner from our hotel to the local farmer's market and buy fresh fruit for the day. The smells and colors were just overwhelming... you cannot find this anywhere in the United States.



The crepes were absolutely to die for. Kathy and I had one every night we were in Paris. They are a very thin "pancake" with assorted toppings wrapped up inside it. My particular favorite was Nutella with sliced bananas. Yum! Im sure they weren't very good for you... but I still lost 12 pounds during the trip!

I have the recipe and made crepes once when I came home, but sadly (and obviously)... it wasn't the same.


Kathy and I made many, many purchases during our trip to France. Kathy's husband, David, only made one purchase. It was this ridiculous looking hat. If you look closely, it cost 50 Euros! (equivalent to about $70) He complained that it was cold and he didn't want a "feminine, gay French hat." When he saw this hat, he immediately pulled it off the rack and put it on his head (much to the salesperson's chagrin... you are not permitted to touch any of the merchandise unless you ask permission first.) He asked for our opinion... Kathy tried so hard not to laugh and told him he looked "cute." Cute, meaning dorky, not handsome, mind you...

He spent the rest of the week in Paris wearing this hat along with his Burberry scarf. What an interesting combination! No wonder they knew he was an American from a mile away...

Lastly, but not the least... The Eiffel Tower. Enough said.

Shoes, shoes and shoes!

Ever since I got my new job, Ive been slowly adding special pieces to my wardrobe. The office building that I work in does not allow trouser jeans (which was a large staple of my wardrobe at the school I worked at previously). So, Ive stocked up on trousers, tweeds, blouses, fitted jackets, etc. But... the most fun thing I love about my current professional wardrobe are the shoes!

I like to say my professional style is simple elegant with little pops of color. What I mean by that is... black dress pants with a nice shirt, and then very funky, unexpected shoes.

I bought this pair last week and I just love them! They're a very retro version of Mary Poppins shoes- the little kitten heel and Mary Jane straps. The dark maroon/burgundy color is versatile and goes with everything.


Aren't they just fun?

I'll share some of my other cool, fun shoes with you another time.

Newfs and a Party

I have good news. We will more than likely be getting a Newfoundland puppy! There is a female puppy available and I am currently working out negotiations regarding the price with the breeder. She is very open and willing to work with us, which is wonderful. We plan to go on Sunday to meet and socialize with the puppies. The breeder, Mary, has not yet decided which one she will keep for herself so we wont be able to pick out our puppy for a few more weeks.

Here's a picture of them, which was taken on Halloween. Cute, aren't they? They're black fuzzy puffballs now.


Guess what? I got a birthday party invitation today. I haven't gotten one of those in YEARS.

It looks like it will be such a fun party. Its for one of my friends (a coworker at my new job) who will be celebrating her 35th birthday. She decided to do something special, so she handmade her frou-frou invitations and gave them out in person. Why frou-frou, you ask? Well, her party is going to be a "High Tea" party in downtown Milwaukee at the classy Tea Parlour.

The Tea Parlour has a requirement for all patrons who enter the classy place:

you must wear a hat.

How fun is that???

So, Im gonna get my pearls out. I think I will go and find a very generic black hat and then make embellishments to put on it (such as feathers, spikes, ribbons, and all that artsy fartsy stuff). I figure if I cant find a fancy hat, I should make one.

I am now kicking myself for not buying that frou-frou hat I found in Paris.

Dorkiness Australian style

Everyone is a dork. They may not admit it or want the world to know, and that is okay. Today I certainly had my dorky moments... I slept in until 9, I let my hair go curly, I wore mismatched bright colored pajamas all day, spent several hours crocheting while watching Friends, and had several Tootsie Roll Pops. All in all, it was a relaxing Sunday.

I'm a firm believer that when you go "dorky," your true personality comes out. You see your true colors. Why many people are ashamed to hide this aspect of themselves, I'll never understand. This is when you can be yourself and, in my case, relax. Oftentimes this is when I become creative and "artsy fartsy" as my family likes to call it. Most of my paintings and projects were done in moments of dorkiness.

Each person is different. Paul plays video games and preps for his Dragons & Dungeon games with his friends. He is slightly embarrassed by this, but is getting better. He no longer immediately hides his book when I walk by. I know to leave him alone when I see him hovering over books about wizards, just like he knows to leave me alone when he sees me messing around with paints.

I don't think I truly became comfortable in being myself and embracing my dorkiness until Australia. This was my first trip out of the country. It was my first major trip by myself. Australia was a lot of "firsts" for me. When I left for Sydney, I was a confident, yet awkward and somewhat shy 21 year old woman. When I returned, I was a confident, ambitious, brave 21 year old comfortable with herself and ready to tackle on the next adventure.

During my time in Oz, I had many "moments."



This is one of my favorite pictures of all times. It oozes dorkiness. I should be mortified, but its just fascinating to me that I was perfectly happy with my picture being taken with hair in my face, my leg awkwardly up in the air, my balance not quite perfect, and a goofy grin on my face.

On that particular day, I was in the middle of a camping trip on the beach for 5 days. It was such a glorious time, spending morning, afternoon, and night on the beach and/or in the water. I read a 1200 page book in 3 days flat while laying on the soft sand on the beach. It was heaven. (This is a perfect example of how I truly relax when I'm traveling.) No wonder I'm so happy and goofy in this picture.



As a result of 5 days straight on the beach under the hole in the Ozone layer, I had the most nastiest sunburn of my entire existence. I did my best in ignoring my seemly permanent lobster-red skin and wore a matching red tank top for the next few weeks. It was the only thing I could wear that didnt rub in the wrong places. I looked like an idiot. Just looking at the picture makes me twitch. (click on the picture only if you dare...)

I still have my tan lines, more than 5 years later.


This is a lovely picture of Jonathan and myself on a charter fishboat. He took me deep sea fishing off the West Coast and we had a blast. This was after my little sunburn fiasco, so I decided to ignore my vanity and opt for safety. Don't you just love our matching hats? Great times!

Now looking back, I wish I looked like that still, despite my dorky hat. *sigh*

Not only did I have my dorky moments, I also had my cool moments.

How many people can say that they've had not only one but TWO adult Diamond Python snakes draped around their neck in a garage in suburban Australia? As you can see by my facial expression, I'm freaked by the whole idea but kinda excited that I am actually doing it!

(Jonathan's sister worked with an Alligator wrestler. He had a whole collection of snakes, alligators, crocodiles and other reptiles in his garage. It was very interesting, to say at the least...)



During our camping trip, I spent hours and hours learning how to surf. I am proud to say that after days of practicing, I finally got to stand up on a board on a wave for an excruciating 15 seconds without falling down! If you squint at the picture, you can just barely see my goofy grin.

Australia is the home of the beautiful Opera House and its famous Harbour. Its truly a great place to go for vacation. Just be sure to pack plenty of sunblock and some relatively attractive tank tops. Also, be sure you have plenty of books to read on the endless beaches. It'd help if you're not afraid of snakes or crocodiles... they seem to be just everywhere, literally (even in innocent looking garages.)

As you can see, I survived my dorky moments in Australia. No one ran away screaming. No one fainted. My friends joined me in these moments, contributing their own quirks. As a result of that, I came home feeling more comfortable in my goofiness and my lobster-red skin.