1 year

Today, Kelso turns 1 year old! I made him 'dog ice cream' and a birthday hat for his special day. He loved the ice cream, but the hat? Well, he put up with it for a few minutes, at least. 

I love this little stinker. So. Much. 

I love that he thinks anyone who comes over is here just to play fetch with him.

I love that he cuddles with me at night - I was especially grateful for it when Kristofor worked nights and I had to fall asleep by myself. 

I love that every time we give him an ice cube, he runs circles around the kitchen table with it, begging us to chase him.

I love that he'll fall asleep in our arms, belly up. He snores, too. It's pretty cute.

I'm so happy God gave us dogs. I'm serious, people. I know it's cheesy, but that's okay because I'm a cheesy person! =)

kelso, before and after

Before his walk: Notice how he's staring off into the distance - super distracted and obviously not interested in getting his picture taken.

After his walk: He lets me take as many pictures of him as I want.

zee artiste

I had a "date" with my sister Madi last week. We went and saw The Artist, then grabbed a bite to eat, and - of course - sat and talked for hours. 

Right after I took this picture, an employee came out and said "Are you ladies going to see a movie, or are you just here to take pictures?" 

Which made me wonder.. how often do people go there just to take pictures?

Anyway, we had the theater to ourselves which was good because anyone who knows us, knows that we talk during the. entire. show.

I didn't love this movie as fast as I though I would. Something about the lack of talking bugged me (ha!). The more I think about it though, the more I love it and want to see it again. It was lovely.

And can I just say: I don't know of any other actors that seem more likeable than these two! The whole time, I kept thinking to myself "He's so charming. She's so charming." They're just so darn cute together!

I love date nights.

wanderings

Tonight I was in a mood. And I didn't know how to get out of it. On a whim I decided to get out my water colors and decided to create something. Anything.

Usually when I paint, or do any sort of craft or project, I'm creating something for someone else or something I want to put up in my home. Any project I undertake is full of pressure from that rarely-seen perfectionist in me to get things right the first time. I have these thoughts that if what I make isn't 'good enough' to display in the house, it has no value. Which is silly.

This (bad) attitude keeps me from wanting to use my watercolors.. I don't consider myself good at it - but I enjoy the process, mixing the colors, and it's easy to clean up. 

So tonight I told myself: Paint just to paint. Experiment. You aren't trying to make this look good for anyone - just have fun.

And I did. 

These paintings were pretty aimless. All I had in mind was that I wanted to use floral-y colors and designs.

The colors I used made me happy. And I even used the wrong colors in the wrong places.

By the time I was finished, I remembered how much I enjoy making something from nothing -

- even if it's not something that will ever be seen or appreciated by anyone but myself. I need to remind myself that I don't need praise in order to feel good about what I do. 

And sometimes I need to wander. Enjoy my journey. See what I can do without worrying so much about the end result. 

opinions?

I've had the urge to paint our front door lately. The dark maroon isn't doing it for me.. and frankly, neither are the forest green shutters. I'm a bit too big of a wimp to try to climb a ladder up to those shutters though, so we'll probably just leave them as they are. 

Here's where I need your guys' opinions: what color could I paint the door that would cheer things up a bit, but not clash with the shutters? 

Any thoughts?

the day after

 The day after my birthday, Kristofor and I went out. We went to Famous Dave's for lunch (may I recommend their spicy mac n cheese - it's sooo good!), and then went shopping.

 

We picked up some Blizzards for DQ - even though we were stuffed from our big lunch. Who can say no to ice cream? It was a good day. I ended up spending most of my birthday money at Target - love that store.

Here's the trunk of our car, where my treasure hunt ended. When I opened it the streamers blew right in my face and I *might* have screamed. Just a little. 

 The camera was sitting there in the middle of all the gold coins.. I also got some awesome pirate tattoos and candy along the way. 

And what's a post without a picture of our naughty little puppy?

1.... 23.

Kristofor got me a new camera for my birthday..  I am so. excited!

This picture was one of the first I took last night - in bad lighting, and after a 12 hour day at the hospital. 

I had the best birthday ever. I finished up with all the clinical hours I need for the Rad Tech program I'm in - people brought cake, ice cream and lunch for me to celebrate and everyone was so nice to me all day. It was great. I got home to discover that Kristofor had planned a treasure hunt for me to find my birthday present. All of the clues were 'written by' my birthday present, and they were pretty funny and cute. It was funny because Kristofor thought they would all be too easy, but I had such a hard time with some of them! Haha. The last clue lead me to the trunk of our car, which was filled with streamers, confetti, and of course - my new camera. I'm going to have to take some pictures of the clues and trunk, and post them. 


Today we're going to go out to eat and then go shopping, kind of like last year, which I loved. 


Kristofor is so thoughtful and fun - he knows me so well, he knows what makes me tick, and I'm so blessed to have him. He is good for me.






P.S. Kristofor also gave me a 'coupon' that I can use whenever I want, to get him to watch a chick flick with me! He's a stinker about watching girly (or as he says, cheesy) movies with me, so I'm excited to get to use it. 


P.P.S. And now you won't have to suffer through my crappy iTouch pictures!