Casey Turns 2!

Yesterday, our sweet pup turned 2! Last year, I took her to Three Dog Bakery in Plano to celebrate. So, this year, I took her back! Except, this time, we went to the one in Southlake since it's closer.

Where are we going??

Happy girl after the bakery!

 

Casey got a new bone, some "chocolate" chip cookies, and a pupcake!

Birthday bone!

She thought everyone was out to get her bone!

Here she is with the pupcake.

She loves those things! Happy 2nd birthday, Casey girl!!

Wind: 1, Montgomerys: 0

Last Sunday, a huge storm blew through the metroplex. There were reports of tons of rain, hail, and even tornadoes! Thankfully, all we got was tons of rain and TONS of wind. Really strong wind, apparently. I don't know how I went all week without noticing, but when David came back in town on Thursday, he noticed that our backyard fence was leaning a bit. Okay, maybe more than a bit. Maybe it was probably about to fall over. And I didn't notice. It's even the part of the fence right by my herb garden, which I've been watering religiously. I guess I was paying more attention to my almost-blooming tomato plant. Anyway, the fence was about to fall over, so he went over to talk to the neighbor about it and even talked to a friend of his who could fix it. Well, before any of this fence-fixing could take place, the winds decided to pick up and on Friday, the winds were blowing at a reported 45 mph with gusts up to 59 mph!! When I got home from happy hour around 6:30, I went to the backyard and found this:

And I thought to myself, well crap. So this morning, David tackled the fence with the hopes of repairing it without having to pay someone $100 to do it for us. After working for two hours and digging about 20 inches into the ground where the post is, he threw in the towel. I'm not exactly sure how far down that post and the cement goes, but David said it wasn't even moving. Not even a little bit. So for now, until we can get someone to come and fix our fence, our backyard looks like this:

Needless to say, Casey is on supervised outside visits only. We aren't letting her explore the neighbors yard. And it's killing her!

5th Annual DVCBQ

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated our birthdays with the 5th Annual DVCBQ! It's hard to believe that this was our fifth birthday barbecue. Where does the time go??

This year, we smoked a huge brisket (approximately 17 pounds)...

Of course, we played washers in the backyard...

Our neighbor, Steven, took these action shots. Can you see the washer mid-air? That's talent, I tell ya!

This year, we had a few special guests. Casey had a couple new friends over, Boone and Veronica.

They chased each other around all afternoon and then destroyed some toys inside later in the evening.

We also had our newest little neighbor over, Vaughn!! Isn't she beautiful?!? She looks just like her mommy.

And as you know, the DVCBQ wouldn't be the DVCBQ without some shots! Not to worry, little Vaughn was back at home by this time. It just wouldn't be right to let her witness these shenanigans at such a young age!

That same night was the night of the "SuperMoon". The moon was supposedly at its largest and brightest...although you wouldn't be able to tell from this picture.

I'm actually just assuming that's why Steven took this picture. I could be wrong. 

It was yet another successful DVCBQ! We ate, we drank, we watched grown men punch each other (aka UFC 128).  What more could you want??

And a special thanks to Steve for being the official DVCBQ photographer!

Valentine's Day

David and I aren't big on celebrating Valentine's Day. We don't do anything in particular each year, but this year, I wanted to go to dinner at Brio in Southlake on Sunday. We hadn't been back since we had our rehearsal dinner there, so I thought it would be fun to go! Before dinner, we stopped in at Three Dog Bakery. Have you ever been? I love it! We celebrated Casey's first birthday there.  And since it was Valentine's Day, I couldn't resist buying our sweet pup a treat! She got a cookie and a pupcake.

Dinner at Brio was delicious, as usual. Everything there is so good!

Earlier that day, I made strawberry cupcakes to bring to work. The recipe I found called for fresh strawberries, so I couldn't wait to try them. They turned out pretty good! Here's the recipe.

1 package (18 1/4 oz) white cake mix
1 package (3 oz) strawberry jello
1 cup finely chopped, fresh strawberries, with juice
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cake mix, gelatin, strawberries and juice, milk, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down sides again if needed. Spoon about 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it 3/4 full. Bake until cupcakes are lightly golden and spring back when pressed gently with a finger, 20 to 25 minutes*. Remove from oven, place pans on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool for another 15 minutes.

*I baked mine for 16-18 minutes, so it really depends on your oven.

For the frosting, I just made a basic cream cheese frosting.
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 stick regular, salted butter
1 pound powdered sugar

Combine with a mixer and frost your cupcakes after they've cooled. Enjoy!

Christmas No. 1

David's parents came in town Sunday evening and last night we had our Christmas dinner with them. I made PW's pork loin with cranberry sauce with mashed potatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, and rosemary dinner rolls. YUM! After dinner, we had some of David's mom's delicious chocolate fudge pie. 

After dinner and dessert, we did presents! We got his parents a kindle and a white wine aerator. I think they'll get a lot of use out of both of them. David's parents got us...a fireplace!! We've been looking to install ceramic logs in our wood-burning gas fireplace. We burned firewood last year and it made a huge mess. So even though it was 85 degrees yesterday, we had the fireplace installed and we turned it on!

We love it!!!! Not only does it look pretty, but it puts off some heat! 

David's mom has given him a Christmas ornament each year since he was born. This year, we got TWO! One for him, and one for me!

Isn't mine so cute?! Cupcakes!! I think that it's my favorite ornament now (with the exception of our wedding ornament). 

Riley got a new litter box for Christmas. I think he might be undecided on whether or not he likes it...

Casey got a new bed, although she couldn't be less interested in it...but she did look festive in her Christmas collar!

Since we had the fireplace on, we had to open the windows to cool off the house a bit...Riley wasn't complaining!

David's parents checked out of Hotel Montgomery first thing this morning, and David and I are tidying up the house and washing sheets and towels in preparation for our second holiday guest, MY SISTER!!! She'll be here tonight and she's staying until Sunday! Can't wait to see her and celebrate Christmas No. 2 on Saturday!

One Year

Well, we made it! We survived our first year of marriage! David and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary last Sunday. We didn't have any big plans, but we had a nice dinner at Cool River Cafe in Las Colinas. It worked out really well for us that our anniversary fell on a Sunday because Cool River had half off bottles of wine on Sundays!

 When we got home, we of course had to have some of our wedding cake. We unwrapped the box, and opened it to find this...

Definitely not the prettiest looking cake, but not so bad for being a year old. David didn't want to eat any of our year old cake, but I told him he had to for good luck! So we cut into it...

And opened the bottle of champagne the venue gave us a year ago... (David really hated that I was taking all these pictures, can you tell?)

And then I went to get our champagne flutes and found this...!

I'm not sure when this glass broke because we never use champagne flutes. I was bummed because I got these from a good friend a few years ago when I got my job, but we improvised and used our regular wine glasses.

Then we ate some cake! David loved it...!

Okay, maybe not really. It wasn't terrible. But it wasn't great. And the most disappointing part about it all was that our wedding cake was supposed to have a raspberry filling in it. I guess the bakery decided that we shouldn't have raspberry filling on our anniversary. We tore through the cake thinking we'd find some, but didn't find any.

So, we threw it in the trash...you can only eat so much plain almond cake.

Although I'm sure Casey would have gladly polished off the rest of it!

Casey the Water Dog

We took Casey swimming at Aaron's house this weekend. She loved it!! We've taken her once before, but I forgot my camera, so I made sure to bring it this time! She had so much fun with her friend Zoe!

Getting the hang of it...

Trying to get her tennis ball back from Zoe...

We had such a good time swimming and hanging out with the doggies. It's kind of sad that this is probably our last weekend to go to the pool, but we're so ready for the cooler fall weather!! And I'm sure Casey's hoping to see her long lost friend, "snow", this winter! :) Hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend!

Casey Turns 1!

Our sweet little puppy turned one last Thursday.

In celebration, I took Casey to Three Dog Bakery in Plano! April, Tux, and Ryder joined us.

We'd never been, but it was so neat! They had the most delicious looking dog treats in the display cases. April got Casey a "pupcake" and I got her a bunch of tasty treats, including a snickerdoodle cookie, mini-donuts, and a s'mores! If you've never been to Three Dog Bakery, I highly recommend it!!

Doggie Date

Casey had her first official puppy play date last Thursday with Shelby's lab puppy, Harley, and April's dog, Tux! April also brought over her adorable son, Ryder. The dogs had a blast running around - so much so that they were too speedy to snap a pic! David grilled some chicken for tacos and while the girls were eating, Ryder and David watched the Rangers game together. 

Poor Tux was worn out by the two puppies and he spent a lot of time on the couch trying to get away from the two hyperactive dogs!

Ryder and Casey

Miss Harley

We all had a great time, but I think next time we'll meet at a dog park. Three dogs are a handful and make a MESS!!!

FURminator

We got new living room furniture last October, and I love, love, love it. The entertainment center, coffee table, and end table are dark, dark brown and I think it all looks really good in our living room. The only thing that I absolutely hate about our furniture is that any and all dust sticks out like a sore thumb. I feel like I am constantly dusting! Riley (our cat) has always been a shedder. He's a long hair domestic cat, so his hair is always everywhere. But now, Casey has been shedding up a storm! Her hair is probably worse than Riley's. Short, wirey, and E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.

I was reading on the internet, trying to find ways to get Casey to STOP shedding so much! Maybe there was a shampoo, maybe there's a grooming service at PetSmart that would work...And then I came across this:

The FURminator!

We have one for Riley that the vet recommended, and David uses it once every few weeks on him. According to their website, it helps to remove the pets' undercoat and loose hairs. Well, the website also says that it works on short haired dogs. So....we took the FURminator to Casey's coat. And.....it worked!!

After brushing just one side of her, we had a pile of hair this big:

When we (David) got done brushing her entire body, we had so much fur, it was disgusting.

Casey didn't like the brushing at first, but I gave her a rawhide to stay busy with. I'm just glad all that fur is in the trash can and not all over the furniture!!! Little does Casey know, but this is going to be a once a week chore from now on!

Oak Cliff Fun . . . ?

Who knew Oak Cliff could be so much fun?? Today, April and I took a sewing class at Make Shop & Studio. It was so much fun! We all got to learn the basics of how to use a sewing machine and then we made a purse/messenger bag.

After class, we stopped in at the store next door, Green Pet. It was such a neat store - they sell all sorts of all natural products for your little pooch. I got Casey one of these Jumbo Flossies and a bag of all natural dog chews. I think she really liked the flossy!

We walked up and down Bishop Avenue, stopping in at some of the little shops. We'd both never been down in that area, but we loved it! We stopped for lunch at Tillman's Roadhouse. If you've never been, you MUST go! It was so good!! I stole these pics off their website, since I forgot my camera. The restaurant was decorated so cute...I can't wait to go back!

After lunch, we went over to Crate & Barrel off Knox. I didn't plan on buying anything, but....sometimes things just happen. :) I've been wanting to add a little color to our kitchen/living room/dining room for a while now and Crate and Barrel had the perfect shade of teal blue! I got these votives for our mantle.

I think they look great - now I just need to get some Bird of Paradise votives. And something for the left side of the mantle!

I also got this vase to go in one of the cubby holes in our entertainment center.

I had so much fun hanging out with April and doing girlie things today!! And I can't wait to take the home decor sewing class at Make! I'd highly suggest you take a trip down to the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff and wander around for an afternoon.