Mabel Update (in Instagram)

Today Mabel, our basset puppy and newest member of our family, is 17 weeks old!  It's crazy to think that she's only been in our lives a little over two months.  Life with Mabel has had its ups and downs.  She had a lot of health issues when we first got her: worms, ear mites, fleas, etc.  Combine that with all the puppy vaccines and our vet bills were definitely not fun.  She's also still struggling with her potty training, and other things like jumping and chewing on things she shouldn't (i.e. my winter hat, Cheese's harness, rocks, mulch...).  She's also a wild, little ball of energy, more so than Cheese ever was, or at least that's how it feels!

But man, oh man, does she melt my heart.  Those big brown eyes and her utter silliness just slay me.  She loves to chase her tail like it's out to get her and she will very often roll around in Cheese's dog bed (by herself) and growl and do somersaults!  She is definitely a mama's girl and will curl up on my lap like a cat...but then, true to her puppy-nature, the next second she's flying off my lap to investigate the cat or to crawl up Antoine and put her face in his face.  She's also quite fond of climbing on the back of the sofa, like Gui used to do when he was a kitten.  She's a little weirdo, but I love her!

Project 365: Days 13-28

Hi there!  It's been awhile, I know.  Life has been a little crazy lately and editing photos has been the last thing on my mind.  Here's my second installment from the photo-a-day project I started at the beginning of the year, which unfortunately I've already abandoned.  While taking a photo a day was a good challenge in that it pushed me to take photos and get more familiar with my camera settings, I wasn't finding it very enjoyable.  Instead, it was mainly just stressing me out and I really wasn't into what I was taking photos of, so the photos themselves felt disingenuous. Also, since I'm really struggling to keep up with editing the photos I take of things I actually enjoy taking photos of (the woods, flowers, fun stuff, etc) having even more photos that technically need to go to the front of the line even though I really don't feel like editing them is not ideal.  So, yeah, mid February I gave up.  Oh well, at least I gave it a shot and found out it was just not for me.

Day 13:  Our dining room curtains, which might look slightly familiar since they used to live in our guest bedroom.  Guillermo has been scratching at this window perch in the dining room and scratched up the existing curtains in the process, so I thought these would look nice in the room (plus I was never really in love with them in the guest bedroom).

Day 14:  Silly Cheese rolling around on the floor and then he and Mabel playing around.

 

Day 15:  Guillermo on his window perch, as the sun is starting to set.

Day 16:  Pioneer Woman's chicken piccata with angel hair pasta for dinner.  It's one of our favorite dishes that's in my personal recipe book, but I hadn't made it in a long time.  This wasn't my best version of it, but still very lemony, which is all that matters.

Day 17:  Pretty flowers from Antoine, because he's a sweetheart!

 
Day 18:  Cheese actually tolerating Mable AND posing for a picture, unheard of!

Day 19:  Antoine is known for the delicious breakfasts that he makes.  Seriously, they are amazing.  Occasionally I will make a fruit salad to go along with it.  This particular one had apples, pears, nectarines, strawberries, blackberries, mango, and starfruit.  Mmm!

Day 20:  One of the things currently on our chalkboard wall in the dining room is a list of some of the places we want to travel to in the near future.  This year for our anniversary we'll be crossing off Banff, and I so excited about it because it's been on my personal list for a long time!

Day 21:  The makings of Antoine's famous hash during on of our "breakfast for dinner" nights.

Day 22:  The mini-gnome that lives in front of our house underneath one of our forsythia.

Day 23:  Throughout all the work on our gas lines that went on for months, the construction guys dug several holes in our front yard.  While some were filled with soil and topped with grass seed and straw, this one, which is right next to our driveway, was filled with sand.  So it's basically a giant litter box in our front yard for all the neighborhood strays.

Day 24:  Some of the glasses on our open shelves in the dining room.

Day 25:  Some sweet white sangria wine from Cooper Hawk with some tasty strawberries as a little nightcap.

Day 26:  Vicious little basset baby teeth!

Day 27:  It's dangerous that I have a husband who brings home tasty treats when he knows that I've had a bad day.  So very dangerous!

Day 28:  Random shots from our backyard, featuring the trace amounts of snow that we had gotten and hadn't managed to melt yet.

I think I've still got another round of these Project 365 photos, but who knows if I'll ever get around to uploading them and editing them, seeing as how I still have photos to edit from November and December of last year.  Oh and I still have a ton of photos I haven't even uploaded yet, let alone even thought of editing.  Anyway, until next time...