Life lately

The jars from my most recent venture into canning. We have fresh-canned tomatoes for a while!

So, life has been crazy. In addition to chopping off my hair (see previous post), TK and I have officially moved from Georgia to Arkansas.

For a bit of background, TK grew up in central Arkansas and moved to Georgia right before we got married. A couple months ago we were toying with the idea of moving to Arkansas for a few different reasons (cost of living, opportunities, TK’s side of the family) and decided to casually start looking for jobs just to see what was out there.

Next thing we knew, we had interviews, job offers and an affirmative decision to move our little family! We’ve been here a couple weeks now and things have been great. We both like our jobs and we have enjoyed reconnecting with some of our Arkansas friends.

Kora has had lots of baths since we moved to a place where she can run in the mud!

We’re still getting adjusted, but things have been great so far. A lot of people acted skeptical when I told them I was moving to Arkansas, but I’ve found a lot about our area that I like. Plus, Kora has loved having a yard to play in! She has discovered

the joy of rolling in the mud. Crazy dog! She’s also learned a few new tricks. She’s growing up so fast!

I’ve learned some new things, too. My father-in-law and I canned some tomatoes when I got here. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to can more fresh food. I think we’re making jam next … mmm!

 

A simple update

Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t make blogging on a regular basis one of my goals for 2013! It’s been a CRAZY few weeks and I haven’t done too much worthy to share. So, in the spirit of blogging, I want to just give you a simple update on life.

• Our lease is up soon so we’re looking/packing/freaking out a bit (well, that last one might just be me) about what’s coming up in the next couple months. At some point I want to get a small house we can make our own through all my Pinterest finds, but at this point we’re working on paying off our lovely school loans before we start thinking about buying a house. Maybe someday…
• Kora is growing up so fast! She’s getting her last puppy shots in a couple weeks. We had a bad experience at one vet and found another that we love, so that’s fantastic! She discovered her bark the other day which was quite entertaining. Too too funny 🙂
• My goals for the year are going well so far! I’ve read two books this month (working on a third) and I will be posting a review of the books I read at the end of every month. I have a crazy span of genre I like, so don’t be too shocked when you see it. We’re eating really healthy stuff recently, too. As far as running that 5K … I’ll get back to you on that.

Other than that life is just kinda rolling along. We’ve had a couple threats of “snow” here in Atlanta yet I have only seen one lone flurry on my commute today. Oh well.

Our smart puppy

I promise this weekend I’ll be trying some new recipes to share with you all, but until then I thought I’d share a photo of how smart Kora is.

For those of you with dogs, do you have any tips on how to get her to stop biting? She’s doing fine with everything else but has recently discovered how sharp her teeth are and she enjoys sharing that with me. Recently I’ve tried giving a stern “No,” replacing my foot, hand, hair, etc. with an appropriate chew toy and have even had to resort to time out when those didn’t work. In January we’ll be enrolling her in some obedience classes so she can get a little more puppy socialization which I think will help but until then I’d appreciate any advice!

Puppies don’t pose

So today I got off from work early and decided we were going to do simple photos for our first Christmas card.

The thing is, nothing is simple with Kora.

I thought since it’s been a while since I posted anything I’d show some outtakes from today’s photo shoot with the pup.

She’s  super quick and was not interested in stopping unless, of course, it was to dig in the beautiful Georgia red clay. At one point she was (semi) calmly sniffing at the ground and every time TK whistled for her to look at him she showed him her backside instead. The little stinker!

(Also, Kora has learned how to climb up onto the couch and has gotten into my lap – while trying to step on the actual laptop – since I started typing. She’s really smart and we’re trying to harness that into learning what an appropriate chew toy is and what it isn’t.)

 

Kora Spencer

The Spencer family is expanding! It’s my pleasure to introduce Kora Spencer.

Kora Spencer

Kora is a Miniature Australian Shepherd and she is simply precious. She’s six weeks old and TK’s parents brought her down with her when they came for Thanksgiving this week.

I’ve wanted a puppy for a long time and TK decided we could get one for Christmas this year. We got to pick her out last time we were in Arkansas – she was only about a week old and her eyes weren’t even open yet!

Already had her picture taken with Santa.

I apologize in advance for all the pictures I’ll be posting, but really, can you resist that face? She’s pretty well behaved already and I’m starting to house train her today.

By the way, does anyone have any good hints about training dogs? I’m reading Family Friendly Dog Training and it’s been really helpful so far.

I’m absolutely obsessed. She’s too cute and loves giving kisses!

The good, the bad and the ugly

(This post also could be called “I know I haven’t posted in a long time and this is what I’ve been doing.”)

The Good

Reading

I’ve been reading a lot more, folks. And here’s a confession: Growing up I never actually read the “Harry Potter” novels. Yep. Just never did it. I was reading other things when they came out and then just never really had any kind of desire to read them (except this one time when I was in improv and I was supposed to be playing Quidditch, which, of course, I had no idea how to act out.) So I’m reading those as a break from super serious books about the First Amendment and HTML and such. Hey, it’s election season and I need a break when I get home!

Family and fishies!

TK’s parents came to town for July 4 and we got to hang out with them for a few nights! I’m lucky in that we live pretty close to my parents and I get to see them with just a short drive a couple towns over, but TK’s parents live several states away and it was nice to see them. We went to the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coke and had a blast! We also went out for hibachi (where our chef was a Hispanic man) for the Fourth, so I’m fairly certain we were incredibly culturally confused that day.

Donkeys, Elephants and TSPLOST

As I’ve already mentioned, it’s election season here in Georgia. I’ve been covering local races, transportation referendums and conveniently-timed political announcements for a while now and with the primaries Tuesday we’ll have the results for several of these races! I will be happy when the votes are cast and the results are in. Also, in my nerdy journalist way, I’m pretty excited about being in the office on election night so we can report on these races. Nerd? Yes. But you probably already knew that.

The Bad

Fitness fail

Once upon a time I was super excited about training for and running a 5k. Then the crazy-hot Georgia weather kicked in where it was in the 80s and 90s AT NIGHT (not to mention 112 during the day), followed by several weeks of thunderstorms. So I kind of stopped running. There is a 5k in September I still want to try and run. Maybe if I start now I’ll be able to do it!

Can’t-finish-a-project-itis

Yes, I’ve self-diagnosed myself with can’t-finish-a-project-itis. I have a giant “S” I am in the process of painting to hang on the wall above our bed. I’ve been in this process for about two weeks now. I also have lots of ideas that I just need to do. Hopefully I’ll have updates for you soon.

The Ugly

I’m not quite a model

Once upon a time I got a gift card to an online boutique and gleefully visited the site to pick out my prize. I was so excited and got a dress that looked wonderful on the model. When I got it, however, it didn’t look so good on me. The sizing guide said to purchase a size smaller than usual, but it was still too big for me. And you know how something looks awesome on a model and it doesn’t look at all like that on you? The model for this dress looked like she was effortlessly sailing on a grand boat in this beautiful yet carefree dress. I looked like Primrose Everdeen from “The Hunger Games” playing dress-up in Katnise’s reaping dress. Oh well! I’ll be exchanging that one in for another dress and hopefully redeem this unfortunate online shopping disaster.

 

This past weekend I visited friends up in Richmond, Va. Be on the lookout for a post on our fantastic food and friendship adventure.

I want a dog

A photo from Christmas 2009 of Choice and my brother (who was being oddly dramatic).

Honestly, that’s no secret. I have wanted a dog for a long time now. My family had a precious dog for years who we had to put down a little over a year ago. Her name was Choice and she was my grandmother’s dog. We got her when my grandmother was diagnosed with colon cancer. She was the sweetest dog ever.