leonidas has arrived :)

well, pending some mailed in paperwork, leonidas has officially joined our lives!!! we took him home from his temporary foster sunday night and we haven't looked back. he's a papillon, about 7 lbs, 1 1/2 years old, and just about the cutest thing on the face of the earth. he's generally pretty calm (even a little shy with strangers), but he warms up quickly, at which point he'll never leave your side. in fact, he's snuggled up against my leg as i'm writing this :)

he's got a great personality, snuggly and sweet, but also very playful (when he's in the mood, he'll even fetch!). he seems completely housebroken, which is awesome. he's a great walker (really it's more like prancing...) and we walked for well over an hour today on our own and then with katie and chris. he's already learning to sit for treats, he gets so excited when you come home (he's like a little jumping bean...which may also be because he has to pee after a long day inside), and he loves to flop for belly rubs. oh, and he hardly sheds at all (like maybe 5 hairs since we got him).

more importantly, here are some pictures. in the first one, he's napping with alex, in the second he's sitting at alex's feet in the car, and the third i took on our first long walk today. enjoy!!!

check it out!

for those of you that may check my blog more regularly than alex's (cause he's a bad blogger), you should check it out...he actually posted! and i think you'll all appreciate it :)

leonidas???

here are some pics of the latest puppy find. he's a papillon, about 8lbs, between 1 and 2 years old, and sounds super friendly. we're scheduled to meet him this sunday...i think he could be the one!

dog stuff...

well, we don't have one yet, but we're working on it :) after a screening interview and a home visit, kayla and i have officially been approved for dog adoption through homeward trails. the adoption counselor we're working with is extremely helpful and really interested in finding us a great dog. we saw two in foster care last night, but unfortunately i don't think either one is right for us.

right now, i just continually watch petfinder.com and six local shelters' websites for potential dogs, but i have to say, they go fast! this morning i called on a dog whose profile had been posted at 7:00 last night and by 11:00 this morning, he had four applications on him already! anyways, we're definitely still looking, and it's going to take some patience and persistence, but i know eventually we'll find the right one!

IM softball

alex and i spent sunday afternoon outside at his IM softball double header (they won both games!). it was ridiculously hot outside, so i sat in the shade and took pictures from afar...here are a couple of the mvp himself!

theta family brunch :)

this past weekend i went to williamsburg to be with alex, which was really wonderful, but i also had the pleasure of meeting up with my theta family (plus sarah yay!). while alex went to do some yard work for a family from chapel, we met at aroma's for brunch. it was so great to see all of the girls, and catch up on their lives and travels (sam was in spain, heather was in hawaii, paige spent the year doing americore, etc), and fill them in on post-graduate life. i promised them i'd be back for homecoming, and offered to have them visit whenever they needed a weekend getaway from the burg!

the cloffice!

for those of you that don't know, the cloffice is where i work at the coast guard, with another girl named kristy. it used to be a closet and now it's an office with our two desks in it. anyways, i really like it, because i've discovered i hate being alone in a cube and i really like having her there to joke around with and learn from.

today i was the last to leave (i'm also the last to arrive haha), so i very sneakily took some pictures for you all to see! the first picture is my half of the room (my second computer sits where those random wires are, but i'd already locked it up for the night before i took this...whoops!) we just got new desk chairs this week, so i was pretty pumped about that...

this is the other side, where kristy sits...having that center table between us is great, because whenever we have meetings in there, other people have a place to put their stuff.

and last but not least, this is the lovely coast guard headquarters from the parking lot. definitely not the prettiest building in washington, but we've debated if the blue striping was like an intentional reflection of the sea...my guess is no.

the adoption process

the dog adoption process has officially begun! earlier this week, an adoption counselor (official title) from of the shelters i sent an application to emailed me to begin searching for a dog. today, i had my screening interview over the phone. she asked me why i wanted a dog, where it would sleep, go to the bathroom, what type of personality were we looking for, etc. i answered her questions and she answered mine, and now she's going to set up a home visit, where a volunteer will come and make sure we haven't secretly stashed away five other dogs (her example) and that we actually have room for it and that kayla and i aren't crazies. then, she'll start putting us in touch with the dogs' foster families, and we'll set up appointments to go meet them and the dog, and ask some more detailed questions.

currently, the little guy topping our list from this shelter is gus (a name he's only had for two weeks so it can definitely be changed). he's a shih tzu mix, which means he's hypoallergenic and has minimal shedding. he's between 6 and 8 years old, so he's a little older, but that also means he's already house broken and a little more mellow. he's 17 lbs and he's being brought up to dc from a high kill shelter in nc. if he doesn't work out, there are also two lhasa apsos (1 1/2 yrs and 3 yrs) coming up from the same shelter. anyways, hopefully we'll get to meet gus this week...here are the picture from his petfinder portfolio! (he had to be shaved because the hair was so matted, but it'll grow back to look more like his head and tail, haha)

BRAD PAISLEY!

i promise, this is my last post about last weekend...sunday morning, we ran into some people at chapel who had extra tickets to the brad paisley show that night, so of course, alex and i took them, and headed out to VA beach with tim, mcadams, greg, lawlor, julia, brent, brock, travis, sarah, and a few others. the concert was so much fun; we sat on the lawn, so we could all dance and sing along as loud as we wanted. while we were there, we ran into addison and some football guys, who then ran into kate, so she texted me and i went over and said hi. it was really fun to see everyone and brad certainly puts on an entertaining show! here are some pics...




the boys singing "i'm still a guy"...

official VA resident!

last weekend in the burg, after 5 trips to the DMV and getting my car towed once, i finally replaced my illinois license plates with VA ones (meaning alex and tim replaced them). i have to say, i was really sad to give them up, especially because the standard blue VA plates are so boring, but it feels good to be done with all of that official moving business!

PUPPY PICS!!!

alright everyone, the moment you've all been waiting for...some pictures of puppies kayla and i might check out!

this is the little guy in williamsburg...

and these are a few in the dc area (the funny looking one had to have his coat shaved cause it was too matted, but he's too tragic not to be cute haha)

puppy shopping (sort of)

while alex and i were in target, we went to check out the one spot (obviously) and discovered that it was full of dog stuff! we couldn't resist, so we picked up several things, including food and water bowls, a collapsible water bowl (for taking leonidas to the park), a rope toy, a tank top that says "go team" and a squeaky hamburger toy.


it turns out, there's a little dog in williamsburg that kayla and i may go look at in two weeks...he's a 2 year old lhasa apso, and he's really cute. alex and i tried to play with him but he was in quarantine for scratching a volunteer (although apparently it was totally the volunteer's fault)...i'll try to post a pic later but for now my blog is acting funny...

Update from Williamsburg!

this weekend i went down to williamsburg to spend labor day with alex! because i've been so inspired by katie's (and now chris') blog, i took several pictures with the intent to post, so here they are! there are several, so get excited :)

They've done some relandscaping outside the caf to include leafy palms worthy of the jurassic park set...and yes, alex and i ate sunday brunch at the caf, haha.
as most of you know, alex is enrolled in introduction to non-weapon stage combat, more affectionately know as "fake fighting". His professor is the founding father of the international order of the pen and sword, and here's a shot of their newest member in his required knee and elbow pads.
we went to target to do a little shopping (more on this later...) and one of the gems we found was a hannah montana bike helmet, complete with a bejeweled denim cover...alex modeled...
i've got lots more, but it's time for dinner, so i'll post them later...get excited!!!