Filling Our Weekends

Here is what we've been up to!

First of all, I got the new camera body Andrew gave me for my birthday and I am loving practicing with it. Of course, so far I still only have one model, so here are some more Moose pictures. I pull my camera out and I sweat she just poses. She is a wonderful model... the treats she gets probably help too!

These are taken with my phone, but all special memories.

 In the top left corner is Moose and I snuggling. We've had more time to snuggle every night because Andrew has started using his exercise bike at night now. I go down, sit on the couch, and we watch some TV show [currently watching CSI: New York]. Moose isn't allowed on the couch upstairs, but she can come and play on the one downstairs. 

In the top right corner is Moose and I snuggling again, but this time I was working from home and she just was so comfy and content just laying there in my arms. Makes my heart melt thinking about how much her life has changed since we got her. 

In the bottom left corner, I took her on a ride to Starbucks with me and she LOVED the warm weather. She stuck her nose out as far as she could! I didn't want to roll the window down too much though because I've heard horror stories of dogs jumping out and that is something my mischievous dog would do. 

In the bottom right corner is Moose sleeping and avoiding the sun at all costs. What dog hates the sun?! Ours. She's silly and weird, but that just goes to show how well she fits into our little family. 

Okay, last picture of Moose (I swear!) 

On to cooking! 

I know! Cooking! You may be saying "But Emily... you don't cook" and to that I say "True!", but this week, I (well, really we) have cooked new recipes! 

A while ago I had asked my mom for her beef stroganoff recipe because I had a craving for it and thought it wouldn't be too hard to make. I bought egg noodles and then... looked at the egg noodles every few weeks thinking to myself... hmm, I should really make that. Finally, after not having enough room in our cabinets, I decided to make some stroganoff. 

It turned out pretty good! Since Andrew is lactose intolerant, I switched out the sour cream for yogurt. I think this change made it a little sweeter than I was used to and it was a little harder to smooth all together, but still good. I also didn't add onions (or mushrooms, but that was intentional) and next time I make this, it will definitely have onions. We love onions. 

Then, the other night I was flipping through a cookook since we were tired of having the same meals over and over each week and Andrew saw the scalloped potatoes recipe. Yum.

 Well, again, I switched out the milk for lactose-free milk and let me tell you... these were delicious. It had been a while since having scalloped potatoes, but I think these will definitely make a come back to our dinner plate. We had it with a lump of ham and well, I now have lunch for the next week. I love meals that keep on giving!

Next thing, the major thing that has been taking up a lot of time, is our house! 

Let's see... what has been updated? We added this baker's rack to our dining room/kitchen area. It is great to have more storage, especially for my cook books. It mainly holds Moose's things and napkins. We randomly have a lot of napkins. 

It's been a long time since I updated on house stuff! We finished the office area! I made the curtains and they add a much needed lively vibe. They are also perfect for hiding the outside world, but still letting in the sunlight. I still want to put up a bulletin board and maybe a white board, but it is so nice to have an office to put our documents and have Andrew be downstairs when working late.  

Today, we got started hanging things on our walls! Here is s sneak preview of above our couch. There will be more pictures added, but I will have to get a shot of the whole room after we put all the pictures up. This room is much brighter than when we first got the house.  

I love getting to test my skills at decorating. I am particularly proud of the office, but I think the living room may be becoming my new favorite decorated room with the photos up. My next skill to test out: gardening! I'll try to remember to keep you updated. I have to start planning very shortly. 

Playing With My Camera

I love having a model to help me improve my camera techniques. A model that doesn't flail their arms or make weird faces! I'm pretty proud of these photos and can't wait for my new camera (my birthday present!). I shot in RAW mode for the first time and really loved how I could edit the photos, just like all those tutorials were saying. Fancy that! 

 My new computer background. Contemplating changing my blog banner to this! 

Here is the before and after for some fun comparisons:

Hope you're enjoying the wonderful, spring-like weather! I certainly am. 

Introducing Moose!

Let me start off saying that growing up, I had fish as pets. My sister had a hamster for a little while until I was gracious enough to share my chocolate cupcake... needless to say, that didn't last long. In middle school, we got a cat (Talula) and then, in high school (yes, right before I went to college) we got another cat (Sophie). I had no experience with dogs. 

Bring in Andrew. He grew up with Lacey, a long-haired dachshund. Lacey is the first dog I actually liked! So, over time, Andrew convinced me dogs are awesome. For the past few years, now that we are on our own, I have been bugging him to get a dog. We even went as far as to ask our land lady in our last apartment, but she said no. When we moved into the house, I was SO excited with the prospect of owning a pet. We had talked a little bit about getting puppy, but Andrew always said we wouldn't be home enough. Well, how surprised was I when on our anniversary, he said we should make a list and see if we could get a puppy! Overall, we decided since I generally go in early to work and Andrew goes in later, we could make it work! 

I started scouring Petfinder because I really wanted to adopt. I would send Andrew tons of links and he would be like yeah, maybe. Then, we got to "Carly". I couldn't get over how darn adorable she was. I convinced Andrew that we could apply and show some interest and see what happened. At the time, we were looing for two dogs, so we said we were interested in her and her brother. They replied back saying those two were actually not compatible, but Carly got along really well with another dog, Scrappy. I never responded after this because we were still figuring out if we wanted two dogs, but then, the adoption lady emailed us saying they would be here in a week. We were like whhhaaattt?! We hadn't signed up for anything! At that point, we had decided to get one dog. 

I called the adoption lady and she explained she just wanted to send us the info and if we only wanted one dog, that would be fine. Next thing we knew, Carly was getting on a truck loaded with crates from Louisiana to come to Connecticut. Also, we knew we had to change her name...

 September 21st, 2013

Moose arrives!

 The above is the truck that brought her. 

When the truck arrives, everyone surrounds it and waits for a person to ask what dog you are here for. We stayed towards the back, but when it was our turn we went up to the truck. The guy asked us what dog we were here for, and hearing Carly's name, he said "She is going to melt your heart". Sure enough, that is what she has done. 

I took her from the guy's hands and tears welled up in my eyes when she just felt so comfy in my arms. We stood there saying hi and then brought her over to have some food and water. We put her down and she was such a good girl! She sat there, not making a peep, just hanging out, being adorable. All I really remember is just saying how perfect she was. 

We were one of the last to leave the random parking lot. Andrew sat in the back with her while chauffeured them home. 

Once we got home, she went straight into her bed (seen above). I took off the next week from work to learn Moose. That was stressful. She had some accidents and I had never had a dog before. There was a learning curve to say the least. 

We took her to the vet and found out she had fleas, roundworm, and Giardia. Poor little Moose girl! She is mostly all set now (still working on the Giardia -- can be a little resistant to meds). We are so glad to have her in our lives and we are so thankful we could be the ones to give her a wonderful home and make her feel so much better. 

 

 Red Sox won the world series! Moose was so excited (obviously... look at that face).

Moosebacca came out for Halloween. 

She is such a hit with kids (and adults, lets be serious). She is so incredibly sweet. She can be stubborn, but she just wants to please. She will usually flip over for belly rubs once she meets someone and loves to be pet and cuddled. She is the perfect fit for our family and we couldn't love her more. 

Our little family <3