365

It's been one year since we moved into our extended stay hotel in Tampa. I can't believe it. At times our life here feels completely separate from the life we had up in DC. I love Florida. I love the heat. I love the sunshine and all the animals I see out side (birds walking around everywhere, cows, turtles, manatees). I love the expanse of blue sky and white clouds as I drive. I love that it's me and Dave building a life together in a new place for us both.

 

So many things have happened for us since we moved down here and while it hasn't been all rainbows and sunshine we've grown together and have come out stronger for it. I'm so happy we chose Florida as our home and I'm looking forward to all the memories we will continue to make throughout our years here.

Random

Today was supposed to be a post about my summer reading list challenge, but since I haven't finished any more books it's kind of pointless to write about it. (I'm currently in the middle of The Memory Keeper's Daughter and am enjoying it.)

{he's the cutest!}

{too hot at the dog park}

My mind is kind of blown that it's JULY already. I don't know where the time has gone. One of my best friends flies in tomorrow and then my sister and her husband (still weird to say), and my dad fly in the following day. I'm excited for all the quality time with loved ones. June was a really good month. While Dave traveled for work my Momma and I got to spend a lot of fun time together-mostly over food, which I love. Dave and I love being back together and don't take those moments for granted. Finley, as usual, is the center of our lives but he's so stinkin cute it's ok.

 

6.27.14

 

Dear Dave, I love when you're home and we're back in our routine together. Although absence does make the heart grow fonder. And I'm more appreciative of all you do when you come back home, so that's the silver lining I guess. Dear work, thanks for being understanding about me taking my name out of consideration for the full-time job. I'm really excited to travel with Dave for his work and figure out this whole "what I want to do with my life" thing when we're done. Dear hair, I like my new cut. Perfect for summer and for a girl that hates spending any time on doing my hair.

Dear Nicole, we will be back together in just a few days! I'm really looking forward to your visit!!!! Dear Sister Friend, I can't wait for you to be back in the states, I miss you so much. Dear Dave, you work so hard and I'm so proud of you. Congrats on your promotion at work. You're an amazing provider and I feel so safe with you. Yesterday morning as I was pulling out of our driveway and you were getting settled in your car, I just looked at you and went, "God, I love that man, I'm so lucky." Dear Tera, thanks for your guest post. Can't wait for a follow up. I need to start meal prepping, so this is helpful advice. Dear Youtube, I'm ashamed to say I've been sucked down the rabbit hole a time or two. It stars with one funny video and before you know it it's midnight and I've watched hours of videos. But thanks for keeping me entertained when Dave was gone. Dear Finley, thanks for getting so much better about going into the crate. It's making life so much easier. Dear Friday, I woke up thinking you were Saturday. Fail. Thank Goodness Dave knows his days and made me get up for work. He's a keeper. Dear Friends, enjoy your weekend! See ya back here on Monday!

Summer Bucket List- LINK UP!

I wrote here about my summer bucket list and have crossed a few things off but haven't made as much headway as I would like. Dave was gone all last week so when he's not here I'm unmotivated to go out and have all this fun without him. I love that Florida is hot pretty much year round but the summers here can get really hot. I still enjoy being outside but would prefer to be by the water with the breeze when we do go out. I have things I keep adding to my summer list but with our big upcoming trip I would rather save money for that. So I may have to tweak my list here and there. Below is what we've crossed off the list so far.

Add your link below and I'll be checking in again at the end of July to see how you're doing on your list!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

sandy paws

{me and dave and finley somewhere back there swimming}

This past weekend while Janet was in town, we took Finley to his first dog beach. I was a little hesitant because I'm a worrier and I didn't know how he would do. I worried for nothing, per usual, because Finley did AWESOME. He got right in the water, he retrieved tennis balls we threw, and he played well with all the other dogs. Finley swam so much and loved every minute. Dave made him take a couple breaks because he was breathing so hard after so much constant swimming. It made my heart so happy to see how much fun he was having. He was a good boy and listened when it was time to go and let Dave and I hose him off and dry him before we went back to the car. It was a really cool dog beach and I know that we'll be back, next time with shampoo for bathing with the hose afterwards. We're rookies.

 

I'm so glad we went but my car still smells like wet dog. blah.

Guest Post: public furr-ination

Happy Hump Day friends. I've asked my sweet blog friend Christa from over at Forever Young to guest post today. I'm always so jealous of all her pictures of her sweet golden going everywhere with her and her husband. I constantly text her about what stores we're allowed to go into with Finley so I figured I'd ask her to write about it for me. I think Finley may be a little too rambunctious now to take places but it's good to know for the future; once he gets all the puppiness out of him. I'm so thankful for Christa, she really got me through the phase of not liking Finley when we first got him. She encouraged me and promised that it would be worth it, and it is. I love that little fur ball more than anything. In case I didn't say it back then, thank you Christa, so very much.

 

On that note, take it away Christa (and Thatcher)....

{Thatcher....Christa's beautiful Golden}

Hello new friends! I am Christa and I blog at Forever Young. I am so happy to be taking over Lauren's space for the day. Isn't her little Finley adorable? A few weeks back, she asked me to post about traveling with our dog. He's a huge part of our lives, so of course I was excited to share our experiences.

A little over 3 years ago, my husband (then boyfriend) and I got our little fur-ball, Thatcher. He also answers to Mr. T, Thatch, and Tigger. We travel with Thatcher a lot. We take him on vacations, trips from D.C. to Alabama, weekend beach trips, and shopping excursions. When we got married last August, it was never up for discussion that Thatcher would be a part of our wedding (photo above). It was assumed that he would be there for our big day. Perhaps we are those crazy dog people... Leaving that up for discussion.

We routinely take Thatcher along to (in addition to all pet stores):

Pottery Barn

Apple

Vineyard Vines

Anthropologie

Banana Republic

Gap

Small boutique stores often allow us to bring Thatcher in as well. Just ask if you aren't sure. You'll be surprised how many places will let you bring your dog in. They'll let you know if they don't want the pup in their store. It never hurts to ask!

Side note: Thatcher is a very well-behaved dog. We got extremely lucky. He's very laid-back and lazy—read more about that in this post. I completely understand why some stores are not pet-friendly as it can be dangerous for others in the store as well as their merchandise.

We also do a lot of over-night traveling with Thatcher. I've found that BringFido.com is the best resource when searching for a pet-friendly hotel. The list sometimes needs to be updated, though. Be sure to call to confirm that they're pet-friendly before booking a room. A lot of boutique hotels are often pet-friendly, too.

A lot of our best memories involve Thatcher. He's a well-traveled pup and fashionista (from tagging along on my shopping trips). I wouldn't have it any other way–he's the best companion.

Does your pup tag along with you?

Thanks for having me, Lauren! 

Pop by and say hi sometime. I'd love to hear from you!

cone head

{at the vet before they took him for surgery-hugs from mama}

Things I have thought since bringing Finley home from the vet after his neutering.

1. I want to put ice cream in his cone and take pictures.
2. Aww poor baby
3. I wonder how I would do with a giant cone on my head
4. Does he know it's only temporary?
5. I'll be your paws for you. (when he has a toy in his cone he can't use his paws to maneuver it)

Right after taking him home-he was a pretty sad sight.

Cuddle time with mom is the best for healing. Sorry Dave.

When my parents come over they sit on the floor and play with the fur ball. They needed to see this past weekend that he was ok, but I'm glad they waited until Saturday night when he was more himself. Finley is back to his tail wagging, treat eating, puppy kisses self. He has to wear the cone for 2 weeks but it doesn't seem to phase him. Our house however is a little worse for wear as he bumps and scrapes the cone into e v e r y t h i n g.

 

But he's a champ and soon enough the cone will be off and a distant memory and we can kiss his head much easier.