The Easter Bunny

Last Wednesday I thought a cruel April Fools joke was being pulled on me when the left side of my face swelled up. It even made me feel numb, dizzy, forgetful and incoherent. Maybe it was punishment for drinking a beer at work (which is totally okay by the way!), or maybe it was because I made you all think I was getting a brand new puppy. 

Either way, life and career knocked me out last week. So badly that I haven't sweat since last Monday and I'm on antibiotics (and eating a ton of yogurt #notpaleo). 

I was supposed to spend the weekend in Seattle with the family, but instead I laid in bed all day Saturday with heat packs on my even more swollen face. Then Sunday I headed home to hang out with mom and the sisters who also decided to stay back home from Seattle.

It feels like we all made the right decision because it was great to have a girl-Easter and a boy-Easter even if the family wasn't all together! 

20 treats is what it took to get Bailey to settle down for this photo, but some of the outtakes of her running away with the ears in her mouth are even better. She has a bizarre obsession with stealing anything that's wearable on the head and/or feet (hats, ears, glasses, shoes). That's just the kind of sister she is, but it made for a great Easter photo for the Instagram feed. 

This week already looks good with the long-awaited weekend trip to see my friend get married in Rhode Island. The wedding, getting back to sweating this week, days off of work and some Boston exploring have me off on the right foot! 

What did you guys do this weekend? 

The Tail is Wagging the Dog

It's not often enough that I take a step back from the routine of everyday life and observe. 

If we could fast forward my Monday through Friday, you'd see an endless loop of the following: The alarm goes off and I get up, I take a shower and do my hair and make-up, drive a half hour - work for 8-9 hours, drive an hour back, work out for 30-60, shower again, dinner, blog, netflix and instagram my way to sleep. 

This sounds like you and everyone else you know, right?

Today's post is inspired by a phrase I heard yesterday at work and I couldn't stop laughing. 

"The tail is wagging the dog" I heard. Sounds silly right? It probably looks something like this:

That corgi, I just can't. 

Okay, don't lose me here while I talk seriously about tails wagging and metaphorical puppy nonsense. 

The thought of the tail wagging the dog got me thinking. It's backwards, right? Dogs wag their tails when they're happy. The tail is an indicator of happiness. If the dog feels good, the tail goes wild. Simple as that. If the tail is wagging the dog, the effect is creating the cause. The smallest part is controlling the whole. The head is not telling the heart, the heart is telling the head. 

Where I'm getting serious and knee deep in feelings today is that for a long time I don't feel like I've been wagging my own tail. My happiness has been there because my tail's been wagging, but it's been only trying to convince me that I'm happy. There's been anticipation and promise of happy. There's been a fantasy of happy. There's been outside perception of happy. But sadly it hasn't been the true deep down, silent-in-a-dark-room, bursting-at-the-seams feeling of happy. A feeling that I've known much of my life and have missed feeling for a while. 

My slap-happy tail wagging bliss comes when I accomplish something I've set a goal towards or find something new that I'm passionate about. It's when I make someone's day for no damn reason other than to do it. It's when something feels undeniably right, when there's nothing to hide and no hurdles to jump. It's exercise and mental health for myself, not for anyone else. These are the moments that you may as well just imagine my soul lives in this little amazing fur ball. 

So with the start of March coming up in two days I want to find ways to wag my own tail. Create my own happiness. Not let life dictate when I can and can't feel happy, and be able to make happy out of nothing but my own two hands. 

Things that are going to get me wagging:

Me time. 

Passion. 

Goal setting. 

Education. 

Travel. 

Experience. 

Cravings. 

Service. 

Rest. 

Love. 

Now is a time to stop sweating the petty things. 

And definitely a time to continue to not pet the sweaty things!

Thanks for sticking with me today, I reeled you in with the puppy gifs didn't I?

Why Don't We All Work From Home?

Isn't 2014 starting off with a bang? 

I mean we've made it through a week and I'm still going strong and have yet to make the mistake of dating something as 2013 or dating anything, amIright?. It's a real achievement, be proud of me guys!

This week I've been sending all kinds of Snaps about how awesome it is to still be laying in bed, with puppies, with pajamas on - until like 4pm. I started to think of all the reasons why working from home was amazing and thus a blog post was born. If I'm not lucky enough to be a stay at home mother someday, my next dream would be to work from home for all of the following reasons. 

J

:: Wake up at the same time you would normally arrive to work

:: Zero commute (this saves me close to 2 hours) and no fighting for parking

:: Music SO loud, all day, zero interruptions

:: Working in the kitchen = easy access to the pantry

:: Pajamas all day if I want in my well-worn flannels

:: Workout any time of the day - today I'm doing 100 jumps with a jump rope after every 5 emails I respond to. I'll keep a count!

:: I take an actual lunch break!

:: The fact that I just blogged in the morning before firing up the work computer

:: Multi-tasking to the max

:: Weekend chores during the daytime (laundry, dishes, vacuuming!)

:: Last but not least, these two girls have been giving me sympathy snuggles all week long.

Two more days of this bliss! Happy Thursday!

Get Busy Livin'

May I start by congratulating my amazing parents on 30 years of marriage?! Yes I can, it's my blog

These crazy kids are still in love the way that they were when they were married in 1984. Mom sent me this photo on Monday night and boasted "he still looks at me like that". Of course my initial reaction was Yuck, mom! but then I stopped for a second and thought yes, he does. 

That priceless look of love is what I hope for in my life and have 110% confidence that I'm going to have it. I won't settle for less after the example they've set for me. 

They've whisked away to Mexico for the week with swim suits and flip flops and hope to see Red and Andy out on the sands of the Zihuatanejo beaches. If you don't know that reference or the following one, you need to "get busy livin".

Of course while they do this, I'm keeping it easy at the house watching their golden retrievers. These girls are all kinds of playful when I visit, but all they did my first day with them was snoozed on the bed with me while I pulled a 6am-4pm shift.

I love the sleepy snuggles with these girls and will have a great week!

Beach Weekend | Part 2

If you didn't stop by yesterday I recommend reading yesterday's Part 1 post to catch up - Now where were we?

Oh yeah, that beautiful day at the coast!

Saturday night after warming up by the fire we had a meal to make! We all played our part in the preparation or clean-up of the taco night and had fun creating our own idea of a heartwarming dinner. Mom browned the meat and cooked the beans, Matt steamed the tortillas, Dan and I chopped vegetables + avocados and we all had our fill on a rainy Saturday evening.

After stuffing our faces with healthy eats, we joked about going out to karaoke, played with the puppies and found ourselves falling asleep in our chairs. I just can't party like I used to and honestly that's not a bad thing - weekends are all about relaxing and resting. Especially when adorable moments like these are just around the corner:

Sunday morning came too soon but it was exciting to be woken up by the sound of two puppies ripping around one floor above us. I put my contacts in, kissed Dan good morning and ran up the stairs to see what all the commotion was about!

A sight for sore eyes - Bella was protecting the wall of toys, Bailey was yearning for a walk on the beach and everyone was getting ready for another day together!

I know that I promised some yummy breakfast photos but those are going to have to wait for another day. While they're mouthwatering, there's just too many puppy beach photos to share and I'm afraid it would distract you from the most important detail - that it was a beautiful day at the Oregon Coast and a perfect way to round out the weekend. We even splurged with ice cream cones!! Bella's first steps on the moon beach were as exciting as you could imagine - she was careful, curious and witnessing every move made by her older sister so that she would know what to do when she was one day old enough to go crashing in the waves along with her.

^ Look at his eyes! ^

I only wish that it could have been a few degrees warmer and a little less windy for our long walk up and down the coast, but it was a perfect excuse for hot cocoa with marshmallows and cuddling with my sweetheart. Wonderful weekend!

Beach Weekend | Part 1

The past weekend at the coast with the entire family was exactly what the doctor called for. A new sister to love, a brother who lives far away home for a week and some extra R&R demanded by my body and my mind. You can't argue that snuggling is the best medicine!

Since the entire family was invited, I brought Tiger to work so that he could leave for the coast with us on Friday evening. He didn't seem to enjoy the smaller home and going on a road trip, but we think it was a better alternative than letting him starve and have no social interaction for a few days. Protective mother.

Dan and I set out after another long week to dine at Mo's and use up some vouchers we had purchased a few months ago and had a tasty and filling meal before meeting up with the family. Steamed clams, salmon steak, cannonball bowl and a cookie and we were happy oysters.

We tucked into bed early on Friday night in anticipation of a fun weekend ahead. Saturday morning we woke to a beautiful breakfast bar with anything we could ever ask for all presented by my mom the hostess. Once we were well fed and caffeinated - we bundled up and headed out to the sand to get some walk-time in before the rain was supposed to hit. It was pretty cold, and since miss Bella isn't allowed to walk on the beach yet, but we made the most of our time outdoors and Bailey got to strut her stuff in the sand and crashing into the waves. Goldens just want to have fun!

Once we made it back indoors and everyone warmed up (for me it took a shower and hot cocoa) we had a fun time watching the puppies play and figure out their relationship with each other while heating our feet by the fire. I'm not sure if it was the glow from the fireplace or the glow from our laptops/iPads/kindles - but everyone looked Happy. 

That's all for today, look forward to seeing our tasty dinner, filling breakfast, and a SUNNY day at the coast with cuteness-overload and even ice cream cones!

Super Weekend

Boy am I stuffed from the Super Bowl and a super weekend. I mean look at this breakfast!

Dan and I invited a few friends over to watch the big game and show them what we'd done with the place. We were quite happy with an intimate group of only four so that we could make sure everyone was comfortable, had enough food and that there were plenty of Otto's leftovers wouldn't overwhelm Tiger in his first week home with us.

Brooke was solo for the weekend with Brad on special assignment in New Orleans, so we were happy to adopt her. We were also thrilled that she brought the most wonderful fresh veggie salsa to share with us. I must have that recipe and I'd recommend you follow her now because I assume she will be sharing it soon. Corn, avocado, black beans, peppers, tomatoes...drool. The perfect mix that you can make in big batches and keep fresh for an entire week and never get sick of it.

We wanted SF to win, but overall we were happy about the mid-game comeback that had us on the edge of our seats for the second half. The puppy bowl was, however, just how I was hoping it would be.

Dan and I did a thorough clean-up of the house and I'm thrilled with the results. We have committed to doing it more than just when company will be coming over and I think it will be a big step in getting us feeling more relaxed when we get home from a long day of work. We also printed out the sold out game "Cards Against Humanity" and brought it to an all-genders welcome baby shower for a friend of ours who is due at the end of the month. Tears, laughs and jaw dropping is inevitable and we can't wait to see how mom and dad react when we pull the game out with Matt home in March. 

This weekend was also an excellent opportunity for bonding time with Tiger. Dan and I proved how much we want the best for our boy and spent an hour in a PetSmart Saturday evening before they closed selecting the perfect accents for his home. He's over the moon about his heater, a sweet skull and an upcycled bowl that was previously used for popcorn, chips and fruit salads.

We realized this past week who he resembled... #GetItFromMyMama:

#RunChat: I'm happy to have 10 miles already under my belt for the month and plan to rack up some more this evening. Tomorrow will be a hectic day at work as most Mondays are, and I'll be happy to decompress and prepare for the next. I made sure to pack a great lunch, had an extra cup of coffee and hugged my sweetheart first thing when the alarm went off.

Happy Monday, all!

<3 JE