Favorite pastimes: chewing toes, biting noses, stealing towels, collecting dust bunnies under the bed.

Talents: peeing in the house, chewing on the tree, unfazed by bitter spray, being adorable when sleeping.

We got Baxter from a friend of a friend whose neighbor found him and his brothers in a box in a ditch in VA.  Baxter was able to hitch a ride up to MA with his brother, Milo, and we picked him up the Sunday before Christmas.  I tried to surprise J with him, but logistics were tough, and I told him the night before we went to pick him up.  In retrospect, I would have never been able to drive an hour with a squirmy whiney puppy and not crash the car, and I think J was beginning to think I was cheating on him, so it was good I told him.

Remember my Kids vs. Pets posts (here and here)?  I obviously don’t have first-hand experience in which is harder, but, man, this pup is a lot of work.  We’re on him like white on rice, 24/7.  I have to remind myself that he’s just a baby, but, as far as I know, 2 month olds don’t try to steal your towel while you’re still using it.  I think he has an attitude, too.  We’re trying to give him his approved chew toys when he starts gnawing on something he shouldn’t, but he’s not interested.  In fact, he carries the toy to whatever he shouldn’t be chewing, and starts on that.  And, for a ten pound pup, he has quite the grip.  It took J 10 minutes to dislodge his collar from behind his razor sharp puppy teeth the other day.  He also does this thing where he’s 5 feet away from you and opens and shuts his mouth like he’s trying to bite you even though you’re not near him.  As in, “hey, come closer, my 8 teeth will tear you up, bitch.”

He’s exhausting, but awesome.  He’s still small enough to carry, and when he’s tired, I can pick him up like a baby and take him anywhere.  Until he wakes up and tries to bite my face off.  He terrorized Chloe on Christmas, successfully biting her tail, and scared her so much that she ended up cowering on J’s lap while Baxter took a nap.  Did I mention we’ve become those people who take their dog everywhere?  He slept right through 20 people opening gifts and tossing wrapping paper on Christmas Eve, and successfully peed on every floor we went to visit.

J is beyond excited to have a puppy.  He’s so sweet when he gets Baxter out of his crate to go out (he loves sleeping in his crate, so that’s a big plus!)  He’s currently home with him all day, and I think that’s wearing him out a bit, but you can tell Baxter loves him best.  And I think J might love Baxter more than me, so there’s that.  But overall, we’re thrilled to have this “baby” as part of our family.

Last week, J & I hosted our first big holiday, Thanksgiving.  We had 11 people (and only 10 place settings.  Oops).  Man, hosting a holiday is a lot of work.  J did so much, and was an awesome sous chef.  Everything went extremely well.  No turkeys exploded, no one got sick, no drama.  The only downside was the beautiful confetti I decorated the table with was all over the floor by the end of the night.  My family is all adults, yet act like children.  That’s why I love them.

My beautiful table, pre-spilled wine and flinging leaves.

Fried turkey goodness.

Yesterday, J & I celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  We had a beautiful wedding, and, more importantly, a beautiful marriage.  We’ve had our share of troubles, but through it all, he never fails to make me laugh, or at least roll my eyes.  There’s no one I’d rather have by my side.

A few of my favorite pictures from that day:

Me in my cape.  My mom made it, and I loved that thing, even though it was 55 degrees and I didn’t technically need it!

J & I at the reception.

My MOH and I.

The wedding party.

Getting the party started.

The fam dancing.

Last dance.

(The last four pics were taken by our awesome, funny, talented photographers, Kjeld & Melissa Mahoney.  www.kjeldm.com)

Onward & upward!

Even though this is the 3rd time I’ve raced this course, I swear the hill got bigger at the beginning.  Good lord.  I should have quit then.  But I soldiered on, and J stayed with me the whole time.  The first and last hills are killers, but the middle of the course is nice, through neighborhoods with lots of people cheering.  I briefly lost J when I stopped at the second water stop and it was manned by one dude who was not keeping up with the water consumption at all, but I caught back up.

Until the big, giant hill at the end.  I had in my mind that I would walk up it, and that’s what I did.  J kept right on going, though.  He may be more stubborn than I am.  I walked the steepest part, then coasted downhill to the finish, but he beat me by about 30 seconds.  I saw him look for me at the end, but he didn’t slow down.  I was okay with him beating me, I had my worst race in a long time (31:56, it pains me to type that), and its my fault for letting him run with me a few times recently!

After, we had a lovely afternoon drinking beer, tasting whiskey, getting free Chapstick, and later, eating pizza and cookies.

Next up – I really don’t know.  The Jingle Bell in Somerville is the day after our Christmas party, so that’s not going to work.  I might do the Providence Jingle Bell next weekend, but I kind of doubt it.  2011 may end with only 7 races.  Here’s hoping to a better 2012!

I have tomorrow off, and I’m going to Boston to visit my old office at BAC.  More importantly, I’ll be having lunch and extra strong margaritas with Joe during the day, and J is coming up at night to join the fun.  I’m actually looking forward to the train ride!

Sunday we’ll be running the Mews Gear N Beer 5K, my first race since July.  (Wow, that’s pathetic).  I made the mistake of running with J a couple of times in the last few weeks, so I’m mentally prepared for him to beat me.  Again.  It doesn’t really matter though, since the important thing is that there is free beer at the end, and pizza and cookies later!  And turkey hats!

Because I’m obsessed with pinterest, I’m also obsessed with organizing.  My current dream day is a trip to the Container Store with no budget, to get all sorts of jars and racks and shelves.  My kitchen is giving me anxiety.

Next week, we’re hosting our first big holiday, and I’m super excited.  I have my menu planned, lots of help from my family & J, and am looking forward to having everyone over to celebrate.  I’m also hoping that the smell of turkeys frying will keep this guy (and his buddy) away!

If you’ve been in a store in the past 3 months, you know that Christmas is coming!  I love the holiday season, and I’m not afraid to admit it.  I can’t wait for a tree, and cookies, and presents, and food, and family.

Looking even further ahead, I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my BFF’s twins.  She is too, as she is on bed rest, and March can’t come soon enough!  In the meantime, I look forward to visiting with her, making her food, and planning how I’m going to spoil my future niece & nephew.  They will, obviously, each be getting something like this, along with every stupid onesie and loud toy I can find.

So, yay!  Good things!

-          I hate my running route at home.

-          I can’t run first thing in the morning before work.

-          I hate the treadmill.  Hate it.

-          My running buddy is on the DL for at least the next 5 months.

Lately, I’ve been running once or twice a week, 2-3 miles.  I’m getting slower and slower.  I don’t even save runs on Run Keeper because I’m embarrassed by them (which makes no sense, since I’m the only one who sees them).  I was invited to join a trail running group at work and I’ve come up with 1,000 lame excuses why not to run with them.  #1 is fear of being too slow and getting lost on the trails, which is something I do constantly on my own.  (I ran by the same truck yesterday three times.  I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to read the map.)  I’m also afraid of being eaten by a coyote.  Actually, I’m just afraid of seeing a coyote.  I’m pretty sure I’ll just drop dead on the spot.

I’m doing other stuff, which is good.  I’ve never been a run every day kind of girl.  Even when I was training for the marathon, I’d only run 4 times during the week.  I need variety.  I’ve been doing DVDs at home (P90X, 30 Day Shred) and doing the elliptical at the gym along with the running days.  I’m planning on joining the gym at BAC to give myself less excuses in the winter.  But I miss going out for a “good” run.  I know any run is better than no run, but I want to run far & fast and be exhausted and proud at the end.  And I know the only way to do that is to run more.

So, what’s next?  I guess I need to pull the trigger and sign up for some races.  The Mews Tavern Gear N Beer 5K is coming up, and I’ll be damned if J beats me again.  I’m looking into an obstacle course 10K in RI.  Regrettably, I have to skip my Thanksgiving 4 miler (the Gobble Gobble Gobble) as we are hosting Thanksgiving this year (yikes!)  I’m sure I can find some sort of race in December that gives me jingle bells for my shoes, so I’ll sign up for that as well.

I have loftier goals for 2012 (don’t I always?)  2011 didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, in a few different ways, so I’m hoping 2012 steps it up a bit.  I’d like to do a destination half marathon in the Spring, and then, possibly, run a marathon in the Fall.  Yup, I said it.  It will be 5 years since Boston, so now feels like a good time.  (Note that I said it feels like a good time now.  Before I start training).  Of course, there are a lot of things I need to do before that.  Such as, find a running buddy, lose 15 pounds, map out some good routes, and, most importantly, get off my ass and run.  I’ll work on those all after vacation.

Step 1 – go to petfinder.com and look at all the sad dogs that need you!  They need you now – save them!  Oh, that one looks cute…

Step 2 – Click on dog for more info.

Step 3 – Realize dog is one of the following:

A – part pitbull

B – has one paw in the grave

C – hates kids

D – lives in Texas

Step 4 – Repeat steps 1-3

Step 5 – There he is!  Perfect dog, not too old, housebroken, friendly…

Step 6 – Wait, what’s that?  He’s 30 pounds overweight and needs a ramp to get up the stairs?  He has mange?  And is allergic to dust?  Oh, and his depression meds?  They’re $50/month.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Okay, so maybe it’s not so easy to find the perfect pet.  But when you do, and you’re sure he’s a winner, you get to go through the adoption process, which varies from shelter to shelter.  For example, the shelter in our city requires you to fill out a 4 page application, plus references.  They want to know where the dog will sleep, who will be his vet, what will happen when you move, what other animals you have/had, etc.   I’m pretty sure if you get through that, you have to surrender your first-born upon adoption.  Oh, and if you have kids, they might not give you a dog.  If your kid is between 6-10, you must have a fence (presumably for the dog, not the kid).

Another shelter in RI requires a $200 deposit just to request a dog.  If they deem you to be a suitable human for said dog, and you change your mind, they keep your money.  This shelter does not adopt to MA homes – apparently RI dogs are too good for us Massholes.  If you think adopting a dog from a shelter is cheap, think again.  I’ve seen fees of up to $450 for puppies.  You can usually get a discount on the old dogs though.

After spending some time on Petfinder, we found some lab/spaniel/terrier puppies that melted our hearts, and they weren’t at a shelter, so I called the woman.  She was nice enough, and told me the puppies would be ready in a few weeks, and there were 7 left.  She asked about us, and I said we owned a home with a yard, had no kids, but wanted a friendly breed that could run with me.  I also mentioned that J is gone from 4am to 4pm, and I am gone 8am to 6pm.  She told me the puppies would not be a good fit, as they need to go out every 2-3 hours.  So, only people who don’t work or can afford a pet sitter can get a puppy.  Or, people who know how to lie better than I do.  Gotcha.

So, we’re back to kind of half-ass looking for a dog.  What I really want is for someone to drop a year old, housebroken boxer on my doorstep so I can skip the red tape and just have a dog (also, wouldn’t mind a potty trained toddler while we’re dropping things on my doorstep.  And a million bucks.  Thanks.)  However, as with anything you want, you must put forth the effort to get it, so the search continues!  I’m thinking that once we get home from vacation and things calm down, we’ll take a ride to a few shelters and see what they have available.  Or we’ll be completely un-PC and buy one at a pet store (gasp!).

Anyways, here’s what I’ve been up to since my last post:

Did the Heart Walk in Boston with J’s family – it was fun, we walked very slowly (J said he thinks he gained weight during the walk), but it was for a great cause and we had a nice day.  As with all family events, we ended up drinking in a bar afterwards to recover.

Had a bachelorette party involving a sex toy party, penis shaped cupcakes, and a ton of food.  J went to the bachelor party portion of the night, and returned to my BFF’s at 3am after being awake for 24 hours straight.  He also won (and promptly lost) a bottle of Jaeger. 

September is, of course, the best month of the year because it’s my birthday month.  We celebrated by being hungover, eating Italian & Mexican (twice).   J got me boots & a watch, and I got lots of wine & cards, and even a birthday brownie from my new co-workers, so it was a good day!  I bought myself two presents.  This and an OAR CD on iTunes.

Speaking of pumpkin beer, I’m in that panicked “OhMyGod its October so the pumpkin beer will be gone soon, we have to get as much as we can now!” phase.  The Harpoon UFO Pumpkin pictured was not easy to find, and, frankly, I’m not sure it’s better than Shipyard Pumpkinhead (my all time fav).  The Blue Moon Pumpkin is awful, don’t waste your time.  Shocktop has a surprisingly good pumpkin.  I have Sam Pumpkin that I haven’t tried yet, but will report back. 

We had our annual End of Summer Cookout/Fry Fest, and had a keg of Brooklyn Oktoberfest, which I did not enjoy, but tolerated after a few Shipyard Pumpkinheads.  I think (and hope) everyone had fun, even though my arm hurt the next day from scooping out a million bags of leftover chowder.  We are now the proud owners of a tent we didn’t need, so let me know if you need to borrow it! 

In other alcohol related events, J & I went to a wine tasting at our favorite liquor store last week.  75 wines, free to taste.  We got there in the middle of a monsoon, and promptly tried the first 12 wines we were offered.  Needless to say, we didn’t make it very far past the first aisle.  Luckily, our dinner plans were right across the street, and we were able to sober up over calamari, and Sam Oktoberfest.  We also went to the Jonathan Edwards Harvest Festival, which was jam packed but fun.  We opted out of the hay rides this year, as I’m still recovering from last year’s experience. 

We almost bought this picture for the basement, but decided against it.  

We babysat Chloe last weekend.  She’s still the devil, but she’s cute.  If you ever wondered how many grown adults does it take to get a 14 pound dog into a crate,  the answer is 2.  She’s also not a good bed sharer, and I think she broke my back.  She does love her munchkins though.

I’m trying to branch out into some new music.  Someone loaded up my Pandora with new stations, and I’m trying them out instead of just deleting them and going back to OAR.  I’m not sure I like Mumford & Sons (though I do own one song I enjoy), but I’m giving their station a shot.  

Work is good.  I still love the commute, I’m trying to learn the running trails, and I made some new friends:

(Not really.  Still no friends)

Big-ish waves, compliments of Irene

J & I waiting at the Ocean Mist to eat.  He still has his Bloody Mary, so I’m guessing this was *only* hour one of waiting

Worth the wait

(disclaimer: this isn’t even my burrito, but I didn’t realize until after I had taken a picture.  And a bite)

Hurricane Damage

Our new friends/dinner guests

J making butter at the Woodstock Fair

(it was gross)

I started my new job two weeks ago.  So far, so good.  I love love love the commute.  Thirty minutes from my driveway to my cube (and the longest part is from my car in the garage to my cube).  The people are very nice, and I’m learning my way around.  I don’t have any friends yet, but I keep busy by IM’ing Joe and it’s almost like I’m still in Boston, until I have to go to the caf alone and start talking to myself.  It’s amazing that I haven’t made friends, huh?

On the plus side, I have been getting up and joining my buddy Tony Horton for a little P90X each morning.  In the past two weeks, I’ve worked out for 12 days, and gained 2 pounds.  Go me.  I’ve also been sound asleep by 10pm most nights.  J is up later than I am, which almost never happens.

Last week was one of those weeks where everything went wrong.  Nothing major, just stuff, and stuff I don’t want to blog about.  How’s that for vague?  It’s all fixable, and partially inspired the blog title (which is, of course, a song by OAR called “Over and Over”).

The week did end with a happy note.  My best friend in the world got married Friday night, to a guy who is super sweet (despite the fact he’s from Smithfield), loves her very much, and has passed the test with her crazy family and friends, so he’s a keeper.  It was a beautiful, simple wedding, and we had a great time being a part of growing their favorite tree.

Yesterday we had a lovely day eating munchkins and watching Man v. Food, then hanging on the beach until we got kicked off.  Next, we waited two hours for a table at a restaurant on the water while drinking $2 ‘Gansetts.  Thankfully, our food came before the surf kicked up and we were kicked out.  This little piggy would have lost it if she had not gotten her burrito.  It was the first time I’ve been to this place, and I’m hoping it doesn’t get washed away so I can go again.  That was a good burrito.

That brings us to today, and Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene.  Here’s a little tip: if you ever want to know when a bad storm is coming, just call me and ask for J’s schedule, because he’ll be at work during every storm we have.  Luckily, he went in for 7 this morning and missed the worst of it on his ride in, and I’m hoping he won’t leave until the worst is over.

I, on the other hand, am home alone with no power, waiting for a tree to come down on my house, and bored out of my mind.  I got up at 6 and brought the plants in during a downpour, so now I have a table full of wet, dead, plants.  We lost power around 9:30, so I folded laundry, changed the sheets and unpacked from our night away.  I’m trying not to go in the fridge to conserve the food, and I didn’t work out this morning to conserve electricity.  (I’m a do gooder like that).  I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do next, but I believe it will involve wine of some sort.  I wish I could sleep until it was over, but that’s doubtful.  Did I mention that I had to shut all the windows because the rain kept coming in, and it will soon be 88 degrees in here?  My biggest fear is that my iPhone will die, but plan B is to sit in the car in the driveway charging it with the AC on.  Someone come look for me soon, okay?

Update: going on five hours without power, but J brought home some AA batteries that fit in my iPod dock, so I can listen to music all day and charge my iPhone as needed.  I’m on OAR song 28 of 90.  I may have heard “That was a Crazy Game of Poker” 5 times already.  I’m on my 3^rd glass of wine and my second meal of lukewarm dip & chips/crackers.

Update #2: I’m posting this on Monday night, from my brother’s apartment, waiting to eat my first hot meal since yesterday morning.  Obviously, we still don’t have power, and I’m not happy.  I drank a lot of wine and ate a lot of crap yesterday, so much so that my body was begging for a vegetable.  We came here to shower, do laundry & eat.  We might not have power for a week, and I’m not pleased about the four bags of food we had to throw away.  Note to self: next time, actually prepare for the storm like “they” tell you to.