Good Morning!

This is what I wake up to....

First the brown one.

(She yawns right in your face)

Then the black one.

(You have to watch him, he bites noses).

Then belly rubs.

And a quick morning constitutional.

How could one's day not be good after this?

Day 10, 1 mile, and sweaters.

Today is Day 10 of the challenge.

After being up for 14 hours, all I could muster by 4PM, was a one miler.

And a few pictures of the pups in their new sweaters.

Thanks Paul & Denise! They LOVE Them.

Actually, they tolerate the sweaters.

But considering our recent cold snap. (Hello! Why is it 45 degrees in FLORIDA?)

The sweaters keep these pups warm, cozy, and stylin'!

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

1. This is me

28 years old, 5 months pregnant, 4th day of the New Year

2. Resolution

Run three days a week, lift twice a week, eat more fruits and veggies

3. Treasured

Iced coffee made at home, but enjoyed via the Starbucks cold cup. I am not be affording Starbucks right now...but I can love their cup.

4. Innocence

This puppy is always claiming hers and passing all guilt to her twin brother.

5. Primitive

Easiest Mexican dinner ever. Simple, delicious, and crock-pot friendly.

Simon & his dragon

This is Simon's birthday present. We call him dragon... not very creative eh?

Anyway, dragon is well loved in this house. He is dragged from room to room and puppy bed to puppy bed to puppy bed. He even showed up in my luggage once! I guess the pups thought they were going on a trip too.

Simon had dragon wrapped around him tonight and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures. These make me smile and laugh at him (just a little!)

Full circle

Mr. R and I were talking about the olden days today... before we were married when we were living in the old house in Arlington, VA with 4 other roommates!

Life was crazy then! We had all of these projects going on with school and work. We were constantly fixing up the house. We had a busy social scene. And weekends would go by in an instant.

And it seems we have come full circle. We are in the heart of Republican campaign season. Mr. R is booked with events, volunteering for candidates and then he also has zoning board meetings. I am back to school and back to volunteering. We have LOTS of house projects to tackle. Mostly decorating so I see a few IKEA trips in our future :) And this weekend totally flew by.

I did get to wear my fun hat today. And make these amazing sliders again.

And I found this dachshund print!
I swear it looks just like Sophie!

Hooray for everyday!

I had the chance to spend a little time with the new IKEA catalogue and I am in love with their theme for 2011. Hooray for everyday!

Friday: I didn't take a single picture yesterday, but it was awesome nonetheless. Today was a great day with my students. They were attentive and are still on best behavior. Can we all say a prayer that this lasts for the WHOLE year? By the time I was home, Mr. R was done for the day as well. We had a couple of hours of downtime... Yay! for mellow afternoons. And then we celebrated the first week of school being over! I drank a ridiculous number of calories in my margarita and ate enough chips and salsa for a small village. I came home, tired, tipsy, happy and grateful. I have awesome friends!

Saturday: Today I dressed like in stripes and my favorite shorts to run errands and spend too much time in Target. I should have been doing laundry, cleaning, mailing packages, and doing wife stuff... but the siren call of Target is too strong. And I needed to check out the fall clothing finds and fun shoes. My Costco shopping extravaganza on Saturday yielded stuffed portobello mushrooms and couscous. Lunch was amazing! I also had a hair appointment today. I am now a brunette with bangs. Tonight is also date night. I declared it as such after I heard that Redbox is now located at our corner gas station. Can red vines, diet coke, and popcorn be counted as dinner?And if movie food is dinner than chocolate lava cake is my dessert! I made it in the crockpot using this recipe. The recipe is crazy simple you mix up chocolate cake batter and then layer it with mixed chocolate pudding. I topped mine with chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Hooray for friends!
Hooray for highlights!
Hooray for date night!
Hooray for every day!

Sunday, that's my fun day...

Today was a blank slate. No events to attend, nothing on the calendar, no pressing errands or needs. We slept in, enjoyed a swim in the ocean, took the time to actually make lunch, and drank daiquiris in the cool breeze of our air conditioner.

The laundry, dishes, and dusting can wait. I have TV to watch and a husband to cuddle with.

Photo Note: Simon & Sophie received a few belated b-day gifts including a new hedgehog, red dragon (with 16 squeekers!) and organic molasses and peanut-butter cookies).

Simon seriously LOVES ice cream.

Last Monday, we gave Simon and Sophie their first taste of Frosty Paws, ice cream for pups. It was a HUGE hit. Tonight after a much needed bath we gave them a second dose of frosty paws. And Simon was bound and determine to eat his ice cream outside of his bowl.

1st: He carried the dixie cup style ice-cream from his bowl to our living room couch. Mr. R chased him back to the media room and placed the dixie cup back in his dinner bowl.

2nd: Simon carries the cup into the dining room to eat it on our new wood floors. Mr. R chases him back and cuts the dixie cup so the ice cream is directly in the bowl.

3rd: Simon picks up the ice cream whole and tries to swallow it whole.

4th: Mr. R realizes its a losing battle and lets Simon eat the ice cream off of our wood floors.

Post ice cream the pups burrow in our Anthro comforter.

Happy Birthday Simon & Sophie!

Simon and Sophie are 5 today!

We often say that Simon and Sophie saved our marriage. Our first year of marriage was rough, but the pups gave a us a reason to come home and spend time together. They made us realize that there is more to life than work, promotions, and money. They made Mr. R and I stop and reflect about what it means to love someone or something unconditionally. We love them so much!

And of course its not a birthday without ice-cream cake!

6/23: (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

She has been saving this half of a milk-bone for 3 days. Until recently, it was buried under our chaise cushion. And then Simon found it. You should have seen Sophie's face. She couldn't believe he found it!

In other news, the lap lanes in the pool were occupied today so I did water aerobics instead. That class is no joke. We didn't stop jumping, kicking, and twisting for 60 minutes. I also did arms and abs at the gym tonight. Mr. R says my muffin top is starting to become more of a mini-muffin top. Progress is progress people.

6/16: I don't think he understands that he isn't going to get any darker.

Simon just loves to sun himself in the puppy park!

Sleepy Sunday:

Last night was girl's night complete with Sex & the City 2, dinner, and drinks downtown. I stayed up WAY past my bedtime, indulged a bit too much, and have been crashing all day. I could blame my tiredness on many reasons, crazy week, class trip to sea world, or my alcohol induced late night... but whatever the reason I am taking it easy today. Think Lionel Richie's easy like a Sunday Morning.

This morning I drank two doses of iced coffee while watching Harry Met Sally. For some reason I had never seen it before, but it really is adorable. I love the couples who talk about how they got together. (I think the Japanese couple is my favorite, followed slightly by the cute couple from Brooklyn who talk at the same time).

We then headed to Costco for grocery shopping and a stop at Panera for the Mediterranean veggie and some french onion soup. (I pink puffy heart that combo.) Costco was crazy but we managed to come home unscathed and with a new crate for the pups.

We are taking a few car trips this summer and I think it will come in handy plus Simon really seems to like it. Sophie as usual is indifferent.

Its storming here this afternoon so Mr. R has big plans of "getting his lost on" and per my training schedule I need to hit the gym for some strength training. My strength training is just push-ups and crunches right now, but I am hoping to incorporate some new moves.

What do you do for strength training?