Weekend Recap: Memorial Day Weekend 2014

It's Tuesday!!!!!  I love short weeks!!  I just want to live in a perpetual weekend.  But only if my husband and friends can live in one too.  Otherwise, I'd be bored.  I did that housewife thing while job searching when we lived in Pensacola and it was lonely and I was bored.

Anyway,  I'm here to recap my weekend.  I know a lot you don't care for these posts and that's just fine and dandy.  Realistically, I write them for myself.  One of the things I love about my blog is that it's my personal diary.  It holds my thoughts, my photos, and the happenings in my life.  I can easily click back one year and read about how I spent Memorial Day Weekend 2013 and see all the fun photos.  So feel free to skip this post if you'd like.  I promise you won't hurt my feelings.

So here we go!

I had a four day weekend because not only did I have yesterday off, but I also had Friday off.  

My weekend started Thursday afternoon when we had a big beach themed barbecue at work in our garden (it was my first time in that garden and I have no idea why?  It's so pretty and peaceful.  I might have to take my laptop out there and do work somedays).
Afterwards, we were free to leave for the day since it was already 4pm so we headed out for happy hour to celebrate the end of our busy season.  Afterwards, two other specialists, my boss, and I went for hot stone deluxe massages.  And it was heavenly.

  

Friday I had the day off and it was downright awful.  My house was still a mess because as always, "small" projects are never small.  Nick decided to give the garage floor some extra days to dry and by that point, he was too busy at work to worry about the project.  So I hid in my bedroom, out of sight of the mess, all day.  And night.  Nick was gone all day and night so that I couldn't nag him to fix it.  Okay, but really, he was gone all day and night landing on a ship out in the ocean.  Part of being a helicopter pilot for the Navy is being qualified in landing on a ship.  So they headed out to a destroyer ship about 30 miles off the coast and he had to complete six daytime landings and six nighttime landings.  Like a boss, he completed them and is now qualified to land on a boat.  By the time he got home at that night, close to 2am, I was fast asleep so he avoided all wife-nagging.

Saturday morning he woke up and immediately moved everything back into the garage and then took to vacuuming and cleaning the areas where it all had been sitting.  With no nagging from me!!!
We spent the rest of the day organizing the house, doing laundry, and running errands.  That night we saw the new X-Men movie.  I have been waiting a long time for this because I'm an X-Men fanatic and the movie definitely did not disappoint!  And neither did the giant tub of buttery popcorn!

Sunday was dubbed as family day.  We woke up and slowly got ready.  Then we headed to Poe's Tavern for lunch with the pups.  I love restaurants that allow doggies on their patios!!  They even bring them their own bowl.

Our dogs Yadi is a handful.  She has a lot of energy and doesn't know how to relax, which can be annoying at times.  However, thankfully, in public, they're both angels.  It makes you feel like a pretty awesome and a proud dog parent when multiple people come over asking to pet your dog and they say "They're so well behaved!  Especially for being around so many people and food!"  What really makes you proud is the people who know these breeds and therefore their appreciation for how well behaved they are means more because they know what these dogs could be acting like.

Yadi pretty much laid down for the duration of lunch while Vino spent the majority of the lunch in a point, watching birds fly by, hop around the ground and the fence.  I'm sure it was pure torture for her.

After lunch we decided to hit up the state park with the dogs thinking it might be less crowded than Jax Beach.  So we boarded the ferry, which was my first time doing so and headed across the river to Amelia Island State Park.

This beach is awesome you can drive right onto and down the beach!  We finally got to put our four wheel drive to use!!
We let the pups play in the water.  Well, it was really just Yadi because for some odd reason, Vino wasn't feeling the ocean today.  But Yadi had a blast chasing her ball far into the waves.  We also love to take this time to work on her commands with all the distractions of water, waves, people, birds, food, etc that's around her.  She's pretty awesome at her sit, down, and watch me/stay commands.

Yep, Nick even offered to clean off my sandy feet.  What a gentleman (or, he doesn't trust me to clean them well enough and thus I'd get sand all over his car.)
Also, Vino, for some odd reason, was trying to perfect her tongue roll lol


We packed up, headed home, bathed the pups and decided to nix our dinner plans.  We had originally said we'd go out for a solo date night but we were exhausted and decided on date night in, watching a movie.  But first, we sat on the patio, talking, Nick showing me pictures of his boat landing experience, and watching, what I hoped, would be a storm roll in.  Sadly, the dark clouds only released a little rumble of thunder and moved on past us :(  I went inside, a sad panda, until began "White House Down" and I got to stare at Channing Tatums lovely face the rest of the evening.

Monday Nick had planned to take me to the zoo to see the new tigers (I'm tiger obsessed and the Jax Zoo just got tigers!) but the weather was looking kind of iffy so we decided to save that for another weekend.  We went outside, again to watch the storm roll in, and I finally got that storm I've been hoping for!!!  We were those people, outside, playing with our dogs while lightning and thunder cracked all around us.  When it finally started raining, we retreated inside and our little ThunderShirt wearing pup couldn't have been happier.

 This dog is a beast.  Carrying a soccer ball around in her mouth like it's not big deal.

Oh yeah, we also headed to Wendy's that afternoon for our free Waffle Cone Frostys, courtesy of their customer appreciation day!

After the storm let up that evening, we headed to our friends house for some barbecue, beer, and ending with wine.  It was the perfect end to our weekend!!  I love weekends that are the perfect mix of relaxation, cleaning, and fun!



What did you do this weekend??
Anyone else love a good storm as much as I do??  Do you sit outside and watch them too??

Gifts for You, Gifts For Me, Gifts All Around! {a weekend recap}

I had been looking forward to this weekend for weeks.  My anticipation had nothing to do with any plans we had made.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  It was the first weekend after my events were all over; the first weekend after busy season for my job.  It was the first weekend with no real plans.  A weekend of relaxation.

How quickly that changed.

Little did I know, The Players Championship was this weekend.  The men in my family, which includes my uncles, Nick, and his family, are all really info golf.  I'll be honest, it's not my thing.  It's slow.  It's boring.  I don't know anything about it or anyone who plays, other than Phil Mickelson.  But I've decided to attempt to take an interest in the sport for Nick's sake.  I'd love to get to a point where I can play 9 holes with him.  I think the reason I'm not a golf fan is because it requires a ridiculous amount of skill and intelligence.  I do not have the patience to take the time to really think about my drive or putt.  Even if I did, I can't get the damn ball to go where I want.  I'm a naturally athletic person.  You throw me into a sports game, and I can play...well.  Except golf.  I cannot hit that damn ball for the life of me.  Put me in a softball game, throw a ball at me fast; add a curve to it; make it a change up.  Doesn't matter, I'll connect with it.  But you put a stationary ball on the ground and you're lucky if I can hit it...in any direction.  And it frustrates the crap out of me!!!  Call me immature, but in all honesty, one of the reasons I don't like golf is because I downright suck at it.  But I'm going to take more of an interest.  We had plans to spend all weekend at TPC Sawgrass for The Players Championship, which is a pretty huge golf tournament.

Thankfully, I woke up Friday knowing I got out of golf for the day because Nick was working that evening.  Actually, Friday started out really, really great!  I woke up and took a shower.  When I stepped out of the shower, I saw this on the counter.

I grabbed it and opened the bathroom door to find my husband awake and smiling at me as I walked out with the gift.  His ninja ass somehow came into the bathroom and set this gift on the counter, without my knowing.  (Of course my paranoid self is now worried that someone could into the bathroom without my knowing, even though it's a glass shower.  So naturally I assume someone will now attack me and I won't see them coming or be prepared.  Because, you know, if I did see the open the door I'd be fully prepared for an ambush.)
For those unaware, Friday was Military Spouse Appreciation Day.  For the past few years, Nick has always gotten me a card and a small gift to say thank you.  I'm lucky in that I have a husband who always shows me his appreciation, but it's always nice to be reminded.  Do I expect anything on this day?  No.  I willingly made the decision to marry a man in the military.  I knew some of what I was getting into but I didn't know just how difficult some things would be.  The main one being away from family.  Nicholas knows how hard this is for me so it's nice that he makes an effort to let me know he recognizes it's difficult, but that he's happy I chose to marry him, knowing it meant the sacrifice of being away from family.
Sadly the day didn't end so well seeing as our brand new 2014 Pathfinder had to be towed to the dealership and I had to leave work early to bring them my key.  We're pretty certain it's an issue with the keys, which should be a simple fix, but it's still frustrating.  {When you shut off the car, the seat moves back and the steering wheels up to allow better exit from the SUV.  When you start the car, the seat and steering wheel will move back into position.  I noticed last week that when I started it, it did not do this and my radio stations were messed up.  I assumed maybe it was confusing my key with Nick's (it adjust so to each of personal settings).  But apparently this was an issue and on Friday, it would start but shut off quickly after.)  Now we're driving a loaner car which is this giant ass gas guzzling Armada.  Needless to say, this beast will be sitting in the driveway all weekend.

Friday night, once Nick got home from work, he was surprised with a little "thank you" gift from me.  It was small but I wanted to do something to let him know just how much I appreciate how supportive he's been with my job.  Then it was lots of cuddles and clearing off of the DVR until we passed out.

Saturday I got to sleep in.  I repeat, I got to sleep in!  And sleep in I did!  Until 11am!!  And it was glorious!!!!!  I woke up still feeling exhausted but it was nice to not have anything to do and to get a full night's rest.  Upon waking, we lounged around for a bit and then headed The Players Championship.

We had to leave the Championship before it was over for the day because I had agreed to help a co-worker out and speak at her event.  We headed there, I got up, winged it as I always do, hung out for a bit, and then headed home for more cuddling and DVR-clearing.

Sunday was Mommy's Day and I woke up to a beautiful flower arrangement and two cards from my pups.  They picked out some pretty fitting cards and even got me gift cards to my favorite places!!!  They must have heard my wish of a day of relaxation and told Nick because he decided to forego The Players Championship and we just lounged around at home.  I did some reading, some blogging, some free lance work, and some puppy snuggling.  It was perfect!

Sadly my FaceTime wouldn't work so I didn't get to see my Mommy but we talked on the phone while she opened her gift..and cried when she did so.  But I wouldn't expect anything less from her. (I revealed her gift yesterday).

And now it's Sunday evening (look at me, blogging in advance and scheduling posts!) and we're watching golf while Nick cooks us a delicious dinner consisting of his homemade fries, per my request :)

 Did you all have a fun a weekend??


I also wanted to give a "Happy Belated Military Spouse Appreciation Day" to all my fellow ladies out there!  Honestly, when I hear about this day, I don't think about my husband showing me appreciation as much as I'm reminded how much I appreciate all the amazing women who've been there for me to offer advice from moving, to house hunting, to learning our new cities, etc.  They're there for ladies nights full of wine and laughs and they make being away from family actually enjoyable!  Some of these woman have become best friends and second family to me and I am so grateful to have them, even if we are all scattered all over the country.  I love you and appreciate you all!!!

My Mother {a Mother's Day 2014 post}

I write a Mother's Day post every year.  Every year I try to explain just how amazing my mom is.  And every year, words fall short.  Very, very short.  So I won't even try this year.  Instead, I'll just copy and paste some of I wrote last year:

"Mother's Day 2013It's really hard for me to be away from my mother on Mother's Day.  She's my world.  My mother is literally my best friend.  I know we have a unique relationship and I am so grateful for it.  When I think back on my childhood, I can't remember a time when we didn't get along.  You always here people talk about how they went through that phase with their moms (early adolescents) but I never did.  I thought maybe I blocked it from my memory but when I asked my mom, she confirmed we never experienced that phase.  I honestly never fought with my mother.  We never didn't get along.  I never disobeyed her.  If I ever did lie to her (like sneaking out to Danny's house with Julie or attending a sleepover where boys were sleeping over too), I would tell her within 24 hours because I felt sooooo guilty lying to her.I've always talked to my mother about anything and everything.  I'm sure she doesn't want to hear 85% of what I tell her (I'm a TMI person lol) but she puts up with me (with lots of eye rolling, numerous gasps followed by "Melanie Ann!!!" and constant "You are so bizarre!" comments.  I really have no idea where I get my weirdness or obnoxiousness from!  She's much the opposite!)

My mother has always supported me in anything I wanted to do.  She's always believed in me.  When I was diagnosed with cancer, my mother stepped forward and exhibited a strength that still amazes me to this day.  She was my rock, my smile, and my strength.  She refused to let me give up when life became too painful for me.  She still remains to be that for me on my weak days.  She let me go when it hurt her too much because she knew it was best for me, and was there for me when I had a rough time with it.When Nick came into my life, she accepted him and loved him as her own.  (Sometimes I think she loves him more than she loves me.)  When we got engaged, she couldn't have been happier for me.  Throughout wedding planning, she helped me more than I could ever thank her.  She offered her opinion but never, ever tried to take control or convince me to do as she wanted or thought best.  She's a huge reason why our wedding turned out so beautiful and so fun.  Because of our incredibly close bond, I chose to forego tradition and had BOTH of my parents walk me down the aisle.  My mother is just as important as my father and I wanted them to both have that great honor.

 

Moving away from home was so incredibly hard.  Saying goodbye to my mother was honestly the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.  And each goodbye since then has been almost as hard.

I've lived out of state for almost {three} years now, but our bond has only gotten closer through the use of technology.  We finally convinced Mom to get an iPhone so we can FaceTime.  She's also completely mastered texting and Facebook so she's able to keep up-to-date. My mother and I speak every single day.  Yes.  EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.Some days, (before I was working) she would call on her lunch break if she was bored.  And we talk every single night before bed.  Some nights, it might be a one minute conversation that consists of "I'm going to bed."  "Okay, goodnight. I love you."  "I love you, too.  Goodnight."  But most nights, we talk for quite a while.  About our day, any thoughts, venting, etc.  We don't talk because I have a mother who can't let go.  We don't talk out of obligation.  We talk simply because we're best friends and love talking to one another.  There have been some nights where we don't talk (because I'm out with friends) and that's okay.   We aren't distraught over it.  It doesn't hurt us or make us upset.  It just gives us more to talk about the next day!!! 
I am so grateful for the relationship I have with my mother.  It most definitely makes the distance harder, but I wouldn't trade our relationship for anything.  My mother is my world.  She is honestly the most amazing person I've ever met.  I know people say this about so many people, but my mother truly is.  She's beautiful inside and out.  She's the most selfless, caring, funny (without evening trying), clumsy, loving, supportive, emotional, hard working, and dedicated person I have ever met.  My siblings and I are lucky to have her as a mother.  And anyone who has ever met her should consider themselves just as lucky."

Sadly, our phones wouldn't work today so there was no FaceTiming going on.  And I was super sad.  Instead, we all just talked on speaker phone (my sister lives in Alabama but my brother came in from Kansas City to be with her) as she opened her gift.  Of course, she cried; that's we do in this family.  My siblings and I all went in together to get her a gift which was a purse (that she got over a week ago when it arrived at her house) and his beautiful bracelet with our initials on it.  I came across is one day online and instantly knew my mother would like it.  Heck, I want one for myself with "N&M" as the charms!  But I was right, she did love it.  So much so that tears were shed.

If you like this, you can find it at Otis B Jewelry

(This is not a sponsored post.  I am not being paid for this.  I simply stumbled upon this bracelet and purchased it knowing my mother would love it.) 

Mom, I hope you had a great Mother's Day.  I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there with you.  You do have another gift coming, but I might just have to bring it home with me in June because I'm fearful of it breaking if I ship it :)

I hope all you Mommies had a great Mother's Day!!!
How did you celebrate?
Did you get any unique gifts?  And super sentimental gifts?  And really creative gifts?  
If so, I'd love for you to share your wonderful Mother's Day memories and gifts!

How to Entertain Your Dog for 30+ Minutes (with Zero Effort from You!)

Do you ever get this look from your dog?  You know, the one that screams "entertain me or I will kill you in your sleep."

Do you wish your dogs could look like this with zero effort from you?

It happens daily. You get "the look" when you're watching the Cardinals (or another not as exciting sports team) Or when you're watching a movie, trying to nap, folding laundry, reading a book, typing a blog post, etc.  If you're a dog owner, you've seen the look. The "pay attention to me, you whore" look. In my household, this "play with me or die" look is usually accompanied by some sassy talk from my Weim and groans and whines from my Vizsla.

We get this look a lot. (It's what we get for bringing two of the most energetic breeds into our family.) We just wish they could find ways to entertain themselves. {Hashtag lazy dog parents}.

We've given them bones covered in gross nom noms. But they last maybe 10 minutes before they're over it. It worked in the beginning but bones are old news to them.
We've tried frozen peanut butter in Kongs. Somehow they manage to get it out in 5 minutes.

We have found the solution!!!!!  Let me introduce to you, the Kong Wobbler.

Via PetSmart 

This.Is.Amazing!  I know when I asked if you wanted to entertain your dog with zero effort from you, you thought "impossible", but it's not!   See for yourself:

I highly recommend you head to your nearest PetSmart (or if you're cheap like me, order from Amazon and wait two days) and buy one. We bought two, to be fair. Because sometimes we're good parents.
It took the girls about 10 minutes to figure it out.
And it took Vino an additional 3 minutes to realize Yadi could do all the work and she could help her eat the food. Smart girl!!!!

Our dogs find almost anything a treat. So I bought a cheap ass bag of dog food from Walmart. Since it's different from their normal food, they love it!! I also plan to use Cheerios if I run out of dog food.

Anyway, enough talking. Get out and buy one. Then sit back and do whatever the hell you want because your dog doesn't need you anymore!!!

You can thank me later.


(Being 100% honest, we were just as entertained as they were with their first go around so allow some time to watch your dog figure it out.)

{Also, did you note Yadi's frustration? When it gets low and she can't get the last few pieces out, she gets hilariously frustrated by throwing it all over the place lol.}

Yadi's 3rd Birthday Celebration

I promise this isn't going to turn into a dog blog.  Although I wouldn't hate it if it did.  If I'm being honest, I could write a dog post weekly.  Granted, 95% of them would be about Yadi.  Don't get me wrong, I love Vino.  But the problem is that she's just too sweet, too calm, and too perfect.  Yadi, on the other hand, has more personality than any dog or human I've ever met.  She didn't get the nicknames "Mouth of the South" and "Wildcard" for no reason.  She's a great dog, but has a lot of energy and sass and is pretty high maintenance due to her energy.  She has so many weird quirks and she is always keeping us entertained.

This past week we celebrated this crazy asses 3rd Birthday.  A lot of dog parents look forward to this milestone of a birthday because their dog finally begins to calm the eff down.  Not Yadi.  She is true to her breed and has just as much energy as she did the day we brought her home at 11 weeks old; the only difference is that she weighs 75 pounds more, goes potty outside, and no longer eats her own shit.

Because my dogs are my children, we celebrate their birthdays in this house.  I was way too busy with work to bake a doggie cake or pupcakes as I have done in the past, but she did get presents.  And she lots of outside time to enjoy some of them.

(She is incredibly focused on the treat Nick is holding)


I wanted a photo of me with the birthday girl, but of course I couldn't keep her sitting too long because the food in Nick's hand was much more interesting

Go home, Yadi, you're drunk.

If below isn't the definition of derp, I don't know what is

She finally got fed up and swatted the hat off.  Game over.

Following photos she finally got her presents.

Her first gift, we quickly discovered, is much more a gift for us.  We got the Kong Wobbler (and of course we got two to be fair).  This thing is amazing!  It keeps the girls entertained for so long!  The base is filled with sand so it always stays upright, but they have to knock it around to get the treats out.  They loved it!  Although, Vino got wise and started following Yadi around and just ate the treats.  She's smart...letting Yadi do all the work yet still reaping the benefits of said hard work.

Her other gifts were frisbees.  She is obsessed with balls and is really good at maneuvering her body to catch them.  She hasn't quite got the hang of frisbees.  She's not sure of they ways the move and she doesn't jump too often for them.  I want her to learn to jump high in the air for them.  So we got her some new frisbees and took her out in the field in our backyard to play.
{Brace yourself for Weim Overload}

Have you ever seen a dog look so happy?  I'd say she enjoyed her third birthday.

Where was Vino?  Running...what she loves more than anything in the world.  She couldn't care less about toys.  She just loves to be outside and running around in her ninja ways, chasing birds and other wildlife.

Do you celebrate your dog's birthday?  If so, how?