Friday, May 15, 2015

The Great Garden Hose Battle


Okay forewarning kinda-  this post is going to be image heavy so I apologize to all of your computers- but all of these photos are gems and it was hard enough to narrow it down to these.
It has been hotter than blue blazes in Ohio this past week, and muggy as all get out, so I was trying to find the sprinklerin the basement so the dogs could frolic in the water and cool down. I knew Steve would be game because I squirted the hose at him once and he was ready to play. Bufford I figured would hang out on the porch and watch because he is dainty and hates to get wet or muddy. Well we couldn't find it, and we being extra counter productive(we were planning on cleaning the house, not destroying the basement to find a sprinkler), so Jared just headed out back and pulled out the hose and a water war broke out! Steve Stephens vs. the hose. It was hysterical! Steve kept forgetting or maybe didn't realize that Jared was controlling the hose and kept lunging at it as he snapped at the water. He looked so silly and happy. I'm editing together a highlight reel of clips of video I took of him too. Okay without further ado, here's some of the photos I snapped.(by the way it took me a minute but I figured out how to up my shutter speed, but it kinda made all of my photos dull in color. I should reed my camera manual probably...)
Derp.







Gulp!







Haha, this looks like some weird version of those water squirting games they have at fairs and festivals.






Haha, yeah right.



Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Sugar and Spice

Barbie breakfast dreamhouse?! Yes please!!
I had to make a post about this restaurant, I'm in LOVE! Jared and I often get stuck in routine and go to the same place over and over, which is fine(especially when the people at the Shaan know us by name and our orders by heart and are always happy to see us- love them!), but it's great to shake things up and try something new too! So that we did, and I am so happy we found Sugar and Spice!(it's probably going to become the new routine, haha).

We looked up breakfast spots on our phones and this came up for both of us with good reviews and it peeked our interest so off we went with our gps set. The wait was a half an hour, but upon arrival and seeing the place, we were even more intrigued and decided to wait it out.



 We walked around the building and checked everything out, like the little pig statue out front, and the little shed and ticket booth looking thing out back. While we were waiting a lady pulled up on the most beautiful scooter,  I was smitten. I've been watching an anime called Rolling girls lately and it's made me want to get one... but they're out of my price range at the moment. Anyway!


We finally got inside and got seated at the bar. While we waited we picked out rubber duckies on the wall that we liked(there were zillions.), then we noticed they were giving them out to guests. I spied a unicorn one and skeleton one and told Jared excitedly that I hoped I could get one of those.
After we ordered, one of the waiters came around four different times with plates of samples. He brought me an ice cream in a little cup(probably because I had on an ice cream tank top and ice cream earrings in), and came around with a plate of fried mac and cheese(I was like How?!), a plate of brownies, and I feel like there was one more I can't remember but maybe not... anyways I probably spoiled my appetite but it was all delicious and worth it. Then he came around and let up pick out ducks.


I picked this fabulous mermaid(which was a close tie with a dia de los muertos duck, but I was feeling more mermaidy then muerte), and Jared picked the flash. Then our meals came! I got the special which was peach toast and boy was it delicious! Jared got a burrito and biscuits and gravy(the waitress remarked on that "Boy, you aren't messin' around!" haha). The wait staff were all extremely nice and very funny, having all kinds of banter all over the place(there was some awkwardness of a waitress encouraging a busser to hit on a  customer which I thought was distasteful, but that was probably the only problem I had with anything there at all...). We loved it! Oh and right before we were getting ready to leave, our waitress came over and gave me a unicorn duck!! She said "I want you to have this one, now don't lose it, these are rare" I was overjoyed haha. Again it was probably because I was dressed all kitchy and cute, but it worked for me. Next time I'm going in goth to get that skeleton duck, haha.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

DIY Sunglasses Holder!


I've been meaning to make one of these for 1,000 years I swear! My sunglasses are always floating around and getting lost or broken. This way I can keep them organized and safe in one place. Now all I need is a protective case for my purse... because that's a whole other sunglasses death trap.


All you need is some kind of backing- I used some reclaimed wood Jared picked up from someone advertising free crates on craig's list-, enough elastic to stretch the length of your backing(I come from a family of crafters, so I found some just chilling in my craft closet. Thank you great Grandma Sager), and something to secure your elastic( I tried crazy glue... didn't really work. An industrial stapler(or heavy duty? whatever you'd call that) would have been my first choice but I don't have one so I just thumb tacked mine into place. Then viola! It's as simple as that :)

Thursday, May 7, 2015

A Biography of Steve

This is one of the first photos I took of him. he looks so gaunt and scared.
My actual birthday fell midweek last year, so I worked through it(and my boss that I liked was still there and she made me a cake and decorated for me C:) and came home. Sophie texted me that she was going to come down to hang out and we were planning to go out to eat. Jared came home and decided to walk Bufford.
Now earlier before he had gotten home I pulled back the blinds and saw some boys walking down the street with a puppy tailing them without a leash. I thought to myself how they should put a leash on him because that's dangerous because people drive stupid fast in out neighborhood and there are stray dogs from time to time... but what could I do about it really. So I went on to whatever I was doing.
They leave to go on their walk and I grab a pitcher of water to water my plants. I watch them leave through the window and notice that the boys are gone but that puppy remained. He came rushing back with Bufford and the puppy underarm. I didn't like where this was going.
 I asked him what he was doing as he opened the door and thrust Bufford at me, and he explained he was going to find out whose puppy it was.
Long story short, no one claimed him. Sophie arrived and our dinner plans were spoiled by this silly looking scruffy pup, but we still had fun and made breakfast for dinner at home.
We reached out to a local pitbull rescue and asked around to find out if anyone wanted to adopt a puppy because we were struggling ourselves with just Bufford and didn't want to take in another mouth to feed. A friend of a friend took him home for a night but reluctantly returned him when his roomate wouldn't allow him to keep the pup. The rescue service never replied to my email.
A few weeks passed and I had refused to call him anything other than "little dog". I really didn't like him at all in the beginning. He was not the french bulldog I had been dreaming of, and not even the boston terrier I had been willing to settle on. Wrong terrier completely. I was working full time at the miserable job I had at the time and was mentally and physically exhausted, and then came home to my part time job of house breaking and training this dingy dog I didn't ask for.
Slowly though, he began to worm his way into my heart, plucking all the strings relentlessly. I would be watching tv, and he would curl up on my lap without me calling him(Bufford rarely cuddles me, and I love to cuddle.) Those lovely empty puppy eyes(because he'd only been alive for a few months and hadn't seen or experienced much. What he had was undoubtedly negative because he arrived malnourished and covered in scars), always gazing up at me paired with that pouty lower lip that juts out due to his crooked under bite.

Showing photos of him to my Mom of him one night she said "you know that dog is never gonna leave," so matter of factly, and it dawned on me that she was right. I had just refused to believe it. Jared had been calling him Steve all the while(he thought it was ridiculous enough that he couldn't form an emotional attachment to a Steve. He was wrong.), and though I tried to fight it, it stuck.

And so I poured myself into seasons and online videos of Ceasar Milan: Dog Whisperer, to absorb ever bit of dog training knowledge I could. I worked with him more and more, and brushed Bufford up too. Continuously reminded myself that he's just a baby whenever I grew frustrated with him. Got them both up to date on their shots. Fell more and more in love with him as he followed me around and paid more attention to me than Jared. As he insisted on curling up next to me in bed, while laying upside down and falling asleep with his mouth open. Watched his wrestling matches with Bufford go from borderline hostile turf wars, to playful matches of strength with his brother.
The rest is history. I love this stinking little pup so much its ridiculous. The birthday present I didn't want ended up being one of my most favorite ever!
Excuse my messy room, but look at this happy pancake!!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

What I Wore - Coffee Queen

Long time no see! Sorry for the near 6 month hiatus. Winter is always awful, but my last two have been so heinous I basically want to curl up in bed and wait it out. My job got so stressful, that it wasn't fun anymore, and my hard work was going unrecognized. Pair that was a terrible "boss" who spread negativity like a contagious disease, and yeah, I was in a dark place. 
But like that favorite saying of mine that goes something along the lines of life is like an arrow, sometimes you get pulled back to get launched into the next great adventure. Off like an arrow I went! With the helpful pushes of my loved ones(huge shout out for Julia for the biggest shove to flip urban the bird and find a new job) I began to seek out new employment. I found a wine importer and distributor! They really liked me, but found a girl with more wine knowledge and hired her. Back into despair I fell as I received another no from another job.
Two months later, in a bout of food poisoning that left me feeling like I was close to death, I got an email from that wine place, saying another position had opened up and they wanted me! Glory Glory hallelujah!! I took the leap and I'm back to my old happy self again(I work with awesome people who let me be myself, I learned new stuff and gained my confidence back, and I made new friends!).
Oh, and I decided to dye my hair for the first time in 5 years or so. I'm on my way to lavender, going slow so as to not murder my follicles.
So even though I work a lot more now, I've been inspired to get back into blogging. So hopefully I can keep up momentum to keep this more updated. After I post this I'm going to update the about page as well, and hopefully a new welcome photo, because my hair has grown out a lot, and it's a year old... So on to this photo post!











Shirt - Forever 21
Jacket - Nasty Gal
Hat - Urban Outfitters
Shorts - Urban Outfitters
Boots - Modcloth

I'm not one to wear a shirt with some sort of phrase or graphic on it typically... but this one spoke to me. Obviously because I'm obsessed with coffee!
It's really hard to take outfit photos when simultaneously trying to babysit Steve. With Bufford he just slowly ambles around in the background, but Steve is looking to make a break for it and go off on a wild adventure 24/7. He's a handful. I'll make a post about him later, because I've been meaning to for eons. Anyway, I still managed to find some good locations for shoots, and was able to keep him pinned in this little cemetery I found. It got really hot today, it felt great! Summer is so close.
Okay, well, thanks for reading :)