No Swine Flu in Arkansas

Don't worry, the Arkansas Razorbacks are guarded from the yucky disease.

Introducing Tackle!

Tackle is now moved into his permanent home. He came home yesterday and might possibly be the sweetest dog ever! He was so excited about his new home. He ran around the yard and went exploring. After that we showed him the inside of his house. All night he followed me everywhere I went. He didn't leave my side. While at the pound he developed "Kennel Cough" which is like a version of a human cold. So along with that and his surgery we have to keep him pretty doped up. Once the meds strated kicking in he started acting really loopy. It was funny to watch. This morning he laid outside my bathroom and just watched me get ready. He is such a sweet dog and I cant wait until he gets completely comfortable with me and feels at home. Here are such pics from his photo shoot yesterday.

Birthday Weekend

Well I turned 24 this weekend and had a great time with friends and family. Friday night I went to Mom and Dad's house and dad grilled steaks for us and we had fried potatoes and home-grown fried ocra. It was delicious! Mom also got me a birthday cake from Chuck's.

Saturday, my actual birthday, we all got up early and moved me out of the apartment and into the rent house (pics to come later). That night a bunch of our friends went to Jose's. The company was great but the service was TERRIBLE. That might possibly be the last time I got to Jose's. Service was terrible and the food wasn't even that great. Regardless of all that, I was so amazed that so many people came to celebrate with me. I have great friends. After dinner we went to have a drink and I was then in bed by 11:30. I was so exhausted.

Sunday, Ryan and I attempted to go to church (the services were moved up an hour and we didn't know so we missed it) and then went and got all the essentials for Tackle. When we got home he put candles on the birthday cake he got me for Jose's. The service was so bad that we didn't want to sit there anymore to even have cake. We sat and had cake on my front porch.

Overall I had a great birthday weekend. Thanks to everybody that called or sent me a text message that day. Sorry I didnt' answer, it was kind of a crazy day. I love you all and thanks for thinking of me.

I'm a (Dog) Mommy!

What a great weekend! So much went on, which I will go into detail in future posts, but I just had to tell everybody about my new baby.

As you know, I was planning on going to the pound on Saturday to adopt my dog but I went Friday instead. My office had a birthday lunch for me (Thai food and Strawberry Cheesecake) and then my boss told me to take the rest of the afternoon off. I wasn't about to argue with her so I went and got a pedicure and then remembered that I had enough time to go to the pound that day so I picked up Ryan from his office and we were off!

Let me first just say that I went in thinking I would see all of the dogs that were on the website but I only saw one that I recognized! Duke (the yellow lab) was there but he had a "Adoption Pending" tag on his kennel. So after I took a lap around the kennel to scope all the dogs out, I picked out three that I wanted to play with: Rina (chow chow mix), Sonny (mut) and Bear (black lab). I played with Sonny first and he was smaller than I wanted and very energetic. Then I took out Rina. I really loved her. She was very loving and just wanted to be petted a lot. Ryan than told me that I still had one that I said I wanted to play with so I reluctanly said ok and went to get the final dog out. Well that was it. As soon as I started playing with the lab I knew I wanted him.

Sooooooo on Friday I adopted a gorgeous 2-year-old black lab! He is 72 pounds of fun and loves to be loved on. He can sit and come but is a little out of control on the leash... we will work on that. Ryan says he looks pure blood lab. I was so excited about him that I totally forgot to take a picture (even though I had my camera in my pocket!) But this is what he looks like.

The pound named him Bear but I wasn't too thrilled with that name so I decided I was going to rename him. My only stipulation was that it couldn't be a "human" name. We started brainstorming and Ryan's favorite was Cobra Commander. Needless to say my dog is not going to be named Cobra Commander. We went over to mom and dad's house on Friday night for my birthday dinner and Dad says "I have the perfect name: Tackle." I loved it! Being the football family that we are the name fits perfectly. Spencer says I named him that because that was his position when he played at Harding. Anyway, my dog is a beast and looks like his could "tackle" anybody he wanted to so its very fitting. His nickname will be "Tack."

Tackle is getting neutered today and I get to bring him home tomorrow! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Yesterday I went to the pet store and got all the essentials that he is going to need. As soon as he is home I will take tons of pics and show him off.

Big Weekend Coming Up

This weekend is a big one for me: I'm moving out of the apartment into a rent house, I turn 24 on Saturday, birthday dinner at Jose's Saturday night AND I'm going to the Fayetteville Animal Shelter to pick out my new best friend.

I have been wanting a dog for months and I told myself that I wouldn't get one until I moved. I was going to wait until next weekend to go pick him/her out but Ryan reminded me that I won't get to take them home the day I picked it out. So, if I go to the shelter on Saturday I will get to pick my doggie up mid-next week. Happy Birthday to me!

I think it is important to adopt a dog rather than buy one. There are so many dogs at the Fayetteville Animal Shelter that need good homes. I have been looking on the website a lot recently and have found that I want to take them ALL home. I have picked out some of my favorites though. Here they are.

Blackie - Lab Mix

Duke - Yellow Lab

Coons - Hound Mix
Chase - Huskey/German Sheppard

Which one do you think I should adopt? I know once I go to the Shelter and get to play around with them, I will find one that is perfect for me. Wish me luck.

It's All Coming Back to Me Now

Let me set a stage for you by telling you what kind of person I was in high school and college. I was one of those girls that was involved in EVERYTHING and wasn't fully content unless I had a daily schedule packed full of different extra curricular activies. And I was even happier if I had a leadership role in those activies, that way I had a say in everything - this might be the source of my control issues :) I admit it, I kind of enjoyed filling up my calendar with events, deadlines and volunteer opportunities. My activities included:

• Tri Delta - President, Alumni relations, Panhellic Delegate
• Arkansas Sports Info
• Panhellenic Council - PR Officer
• Mortar Board - Secretary
• Hot Pink Ribbon
• Order of Omega
• PR Intern with MCG
• PRSSA
• Victoria's Secret
• Lifeguard

And the list goes on and on and yes I know I was an over achiever..... Well after I graduated my calendar suddenly became empty. I had no idea what to do with my time. It was a foreign thing to me to NOT be busy. Eventually I got over the inital shock and enjoyed my time of freedom. It was nice not have activities or meetings to go to every night of the week.

Fast forward to present time and I am bored again so I have dived right back into a list of activies. I didn't really think i was involved in a lot until I looked at my calendar and noticed I have 5 events/meetings coming up in the next week.

Tonight I have back-to-back meetings. First is the United Way Young Women's Alliance gathering and then its straight to a "New Member" meeting for Junior League. Both are philanthropic organizations based on volunteerism. This weekend there is a NWA Young Professionals gathering and then I have community group on Sunday. The Hogs also have their spring scrimmage on Saturday. You know I am a Razorback Fan! Next Wednesday the NWA Tri Delta Alunni chapter will meet with the current seniors. We will be there to mingle with the students and provide "real world" advice.

So I have come full circle back to my days of getting involved and joining everything. All of these organizations help serve the community and its an opporutnity for me to give back. I guess no matter how much I try, I can't make myself NOT do anything.

Happy Birthday Leah

Before I begin, I have to admit I contemplated writing this post for a couple of days but then I saw Amy had one similar so that became my green light to write. I wanted to post pictures of Leah but I don't have any taken with a digital camera but to see my beautiful cousin go to Amy's blog here.

Last Thursday, April 2, I thought about my counsin Leah alot. That was her birthday and she would have turned 31. As Amy shares, Leah would have celebrated her birthday on Thursday, over the weekend and for the rest of the month of April. In our family, we have three birthdays back to back. Our Uncle Don is March 31, Spencer's is April 1 and Leah's was April 2. We grew up celebrating their birthdays together but somehow, Leah always stole the birthday show.

Leah and I were always close and growing up, I wanted to be like her SOOO bad! Leah had everybody wrapped around her finger, espescially Mark, and we made fun of him for that. We always had so much fun together, Leah gave me boy advice, talked to me about college stuff and one night her, Mark, Amy and Jerry snuck me into a bar on Dickson street for the first time. That is an experience I will never forget. Another funny thing about Leah is that she always had the strangest way of eatting her pizza. Once she got her piece of canadian bacon pizza she would scrap all the toppings off, eat those first and then eat the crust.

Leah was also very protective. She did her student teaching at FHS while I was there so I got to see her everyday. She would always be quick to tell me which boys I could and could NOT hang out with. Leah also loved football as much as I did so we bonded even more at Razorback games.

I love Leah very much and miss her everyday. Leah, I Hope you had a great birthday in Heaven and you "partied like a rockstar!"

They're LEGAL!

Today is my brother Spencer's 21st birthday. That's right, he's an April Fool's baby. We won't get into all the April Fool's jokes we played on him growing up. Anyway now, both he and my other brother JD are LEGAL. JD turned 21 on January 24th this year. It's so weird to think that they are both considered "adults" now. If you see Spencer today wish him a Happy Birthday and next time you see either of my brothers, buy them a drink :)