holly, jolly puppy

Look at that sweet face! I tried to get a Christmas picture with Paisley today (yep, I'm that girl) but she, nor my camera, were very cooperative. I wanted to take a comparison picture for last year's and I tried convince her she was perfectly safe sitting in our rotting and worn out patio chair. She was not having it.




  

Needless to say... We moved to a more steady surface to attempt a few more. 

I cannot believe how much she has grown since last year! 

country roads

I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer break from work (you know, from the whole 3 weeks I've put in thus far!). As I went straight from school to working, it was much needed. It started on Monday night at my Mom's house, then she and I went on to my little brother's for the night, and then to my grandparents' house for the rest of the week. 

It was great to see my little brother and help him with a few things in his house (hanging 6 pictures in his dining room with screws and a screwdriver...) and have dinner on his awesome back porch. I also enjoyed an evening dip in his pool! 

The visit to my grandparents was equally wonderful. We ended up staying an extra night because I know it may be awhile before I get back to visit. They live almost 7 hours from Nashville so it's not a trip I am able to make very often! Our days were filled with relaxation and nights with movies. Perfect. 

(I did lots of tea-drinking!) 

Our drive home today took significantly longer then expected... Enter road construction on 75 N. Yuck!! Luckily the pups are the best behaved travelers ever and slept through the entire drive. 

So, while at my grandmother's we ventured out one day to a local nursery/antiques/gift shop. They had some adorable accessories and antiques! I picked this up for my future MIL & FIL as they have been looking for a chest similar to one I have of my grandparents'. If for some reason they decided they don't love it my mom and I are already fighting over it's ownership! 

I also picked this up for sweet P-puppy. I hate seeing/having dog dishes out for whatever reason but this makes it a bit more bearable, as I've been on the hunt for cuter (but big enough) dog bowls. 

Paisley also thoroughly enjoyed the trip to her great-Gaga's house. She and Sydney (little brother's dog) ran and played in the back yard and she was in heaven! She did get into a little trouble yesterday while unattended in the back yard. Thankfully she only decided to try to dig up a tree root (it was just a big stick to her- her favorite thing to chew!) and none of my grandmother's gorgeous flowers or plants. 

After her bath... She just got a haircut last week and I already had to trim the hair out of her eyes! 

She was so funny. I put the towel over her and then took a picture. For whatever reason she didn't think she was supposed to move and sat like this for a good 5 minutes (a long time to sit still in Paisley-world!). 

Mom and I are off to a wedding this evening! I know sweet MB will be a beautiful bride and I can't wait! CSB was planning to come, however, it just didn't make much sense for him to drive down for one night and us have to drive back sepearately together first thing in the morning. So, I am going stag with my momma (and probably in the same dress I wore to a wedding a few weeks ago, haha!). 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

a puppy post...

...just because she's so dang cute!

She is also in desperate need of a haircut... 

And cute even when she's bad (see picture below!). 

And definitely still a puppy. 

I have recently gone from being home most of the day, most days of the week working on my residency to being gone most days. Paisley decided tearing her bed to pieces would be the best way to reflect her dislike of the situation. Ugh. 

When she's not being bad, car rides are her favorite, especially if the park is our destination!

She is my sweet, smart, little shadow puppy! 

Funny Paisley story: This afternoon I decided to take a bath after a long day and then get ready for several appointments I have this evening. I usually make Paisley come in the bathroom while I shower just to make sure she behaves and doesn't decide to chew all the stuffing out of the pillows like she does her toys! She was very reluctant to follow me this afternoon because I made the mistake and used the word "bath" outloud. The word immediately sent her to backside of her crate. I coaxed her out, trying to explain (yes, to my dog...) she wasn't the one getting the bath. She finally followed me into the bathroom and promptly jumped into the tub and just sat there looking at me. I started laughing out loud. I got her out of the tub and as soon as I started running the water she jumped in again! Good grief, pup. I honestly wan't sure I was going to make it through a bath without a puppy joining me, so I made it quick. She jumped up on the edge of the tub but luckily stayed out of the water. 

More wedding details to come soon! 

nashville weekends

Have I mentioned how much I love Nashville? It's the perfect size city... Big enough there is always something to do but not too big. I've been here for almost 3 years and CSB has been here for almost 12 and I foresee being here for many years to come. 

Our weekend was fun-filled and quite spontaneous. Here's a little recap: 

On Friday night we double-dated with some of our married friends to see Tom Green(e?) at a comedy club a stone's throw from the townhouse. Definitely fun but Tom didn't really impress me. We came home and played cards into the wee hours of the night until midnight. So much fun!

On Saturday we ran some errands and were pretty lazy. Paisley pup and I spent a good bit of time playing outside along with one of the neighbors and her sweet pup and another neighbor and her toddling boys. It was so beautiful here! On Saturday afternoon we headed to a sports bar to watch a little UK basketball with some of CSB's friends from out of town. On Saturday evening we made a very last minute decision to go to the Brad Paisely/Darrius Rucker concert. As in, the concert started at 7:30 and we decided to go at 7:25. I love being 5 minutes from downtown! We CSB scalped tickets and they ended up being less than face value- take that, scalpers! Our seats were pretty dang good, too. Darrius was great- he broke out some of his songs from Hootie days, which I loved. Brad was good too but there was way more "production" to his show than I like (Think: Weird/cheesy cartoons playing on the big screen). Still a great time! 

Today has been a great, relaxing day. We went to a local fundraising even for Our Kids and then took the pup to the park. She love, love, loves the dog park. I still have mixed feelings... It's nice, because she gets great exercise but she always comes home in major need of a bath. Today was no exception as she decided to stick her entire head under the water faucet and then roll around with all her new pup friends in the dirt. Thanks, Paise. 

 

{I had to sneak in a picture of two of the pup...}

The fiance made dinner tonight (I am so spoiled... He's such a great cook). We followed up dinner with homemade s'mores (Wedding diet starts tomorrow, officially) and glasses of milk. 

Now a still-damp Paisley is curled up beside me on the couch and we are watching the Oscars. Does anyone else love Anne Hathaway as much as I? She looks stunning tonight- I love the white dress she donned for the beginning of the show. Camilla Alves (Matthew McConaughey's wife) looked amazing, too, and thus far her dress was my favorite! 

{source}

{source}

puppy love

My Monday {aka Valentine's Day} started out quite interesting... 

I went out to crank my car and nothing. It wouldn't start and lots of dashboard lights started flashing at me. Great. It was 9:45 and I was supposed to be at a graduation meeting at 10:00. I live close enough to walk, but by the time I got there I would have been late. 

I called CSB as I was heading back into the house and he, in a hushed I'm-in-a-meeting voice, said he would call me back. I started to open the back door and realized I didn't have my house key.
Great, again. {I'd taken it off over the weekend and lent it to friends who were in town. And obviously forgot to put it back on my keychain.} I settled into a chair on the back patio and pulled out my laptop to get a little work done, thankful for a beautiful sunshiny morning. 

CSB called me soon after and walked me through a little breaking and entering. I left Paisley on the back patio while I ran upstairs to grab something and came back to this: 

In case you can't tell, Paisley pup decided to dig up the only spot of dirt not covered by pavers on the back patio. I was not amused, hence the first picture in the post. Paisley got to wear the "bad dog" sign for the first {and second- when she decided to place her little paws on the table in attempt to sample the brie before dinner} time yesterday. I don't know if she got the message, though, because she was so dang cute I kept taking pictures.
{Back story on the sign: Growing up, we had the best dog ever. When she chewed anything up my dad's punishment was to tie whatever she chewed up around her neck.
She chewed up ONE SHOE. EVER.}
Since I couldn't tie dirt around Paise's neck I made the sign. 

My day continued... CSB picked me up and we had a delicious {free} lunch at Mere Bulles, one our favorite restaurants. We are trying to figure out where to host our rehearsal dinner and it's top on our list. Lunch was wonderful, as always. 

I could live on their she crab soup! 

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful. I experimented with a new cupcake recipe inspired by Gigi's: Kentucky Bourbon Pie. Mine were quite different from the one we had from Gigi's but CSB swears they were better. 

This was the prettier one: 

 

But this was the tastier one: 

I suprised CSB with dinner last night and we enjoyed a nice, quiet meal at the house and watched the movie Valentine's Day {Cheesy, but I love it... Though I could live without T. Swift's character}. We started out with fresh brie and crackers followed by a salad. For the main course we had goat cheese stuffed chicken {courtesy of fresh market... my time definitely went into dessert!} and roasted potatoes. Then dessert... Which in addition to the cupcakes consisted of chocolate covered strawberries {CSB's favorite}. 

I also gave CSB a Valentine's card: 

 I took if off quickly as to not confuse her since earlier in the day her punishment was to wear the "bad dog" sign... 

Just a few more of the cutest bad dog I know: