projects and pups

in the midst of all of this baby prep, i received a letterpress printing request! i told my client that i was due soon, and thankfully, the news didn't scare her off. after all of the logistics were figured out, i'm ready to start working on her project. i'm so excited and am looking forward to sharing the results - although it might be a little while :)

i'm also mulling around another project - some letterpress birth announcements for the kiddo. i have a general idea of the design, but haven't committed it to plates yet since we won't know the details til after the baby is born (obviously).

the pups are being cling-ons. i think mia is more clingy than normal. i wonder if she can sense what's happening. i kinda doubt it. i do think that they are going to adore the baby. especially once the kiddo starts eating solid foods. i'm sure we won't need to buy napkins - the dogs will take care of vacuuming food bits.

hooray internet!

hello blogland! we made it to okinawa, safe and sound. after a long and trying month, we have a home and a few adventures under our belts. we just had our internet installed (thank goodness!) and are slowly getting unpacked and organized. since i just found all seven seasons of the gilmore girls, the house organizing is now coming along at a snail's pace. but that's okay with me.

after staying a night in seattle, we started a 26 hour trip to this little island. while the flights were long, we were primarily concerned with our pups welfare. this airplane ride was their first experience flying...and they made it through with flying colors. they are much more resilient than i gave them credit for and am so relieved that they are alright. i'm pretty sure mia and vito have adjusted to okinawan life easier than i have.

we decided to live off base and found a wonderful 3 bedroom home. its so different from homes in the states, partially due to the fact that pretty much every building is made from concrete. one of these days, i'll take some pictures - but it's far too cluttered now :)

i'm 24 weeks into my pregnancy today and things are going well. i have nice bump growing and the baby is kicking quite often. seems to kick more when i eat chocolate....maybe a girl? :) we still haven't found out whether the baby is a boy or a girl and don't plan to unless the doc slips up.

hopefully i'll have some new posts coming up shortly...i do have a few stories to share. i can't wait to catch up on your blogs too!

memorial weekend

i know i'm a bit late on this, but that's okay. hubby, dad & i went for a hike up north over memorial weekend with the pups. the weather was gorgeous and i actually managed to get a sunburn. here's a couple pics of our little outing:

birthday weekend

as i've mentioned, my birthday was this past week. it was pretty mellow and according to hubby, i was a bit bummed all week. saturday rolls around and hubby went over to our friend's house to help with some home improvement project, so i ran errands. my friend jamie had made an appointment to get our nails done in the late afternoon, then we would meet up with the husbands and order in some food. i stopped by the art store and picked up some goodies, then visited bella boutique and caught up with my friend annie. i dropped of my art stuff at home and jamie sent me a text to come over & pick her up.

i walked into the house, turned the corner, and.....

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was SHOCKED!
i had no clue they were planning something!

we ate yummy moose's tooth pizza....

and had some awesome chocolate cake. there were hello kitty decorations galore (even hello kitty confetti!) and even the puppies were there.

i couldn't ask for more thoughtful family & friends. it was such a wonderful night :) 29 is gonna be a big year...

*all photos by steve wysong

lost pups

i was on my way back to work after lunch and as i was driving, i saw a couple of dogs trotting along the road. they looked like they were having fun, stopping here & there to sniff stuff. and there was no owner in sight.

since we are owners of two very loved dogs and would be horrified if they went missing, i made the decision to turn around & park on a side street. i got out of my car, wished that i had dog treats with me, and knelt down to say hi to the pups headed my direction. they ran right up to me and gave me a very happy, friendly greeting! they looked well fed & had collars with tags, quite obviously someone's pets.

i called (and called and called) the numbers on their tags, and decided to put them in the car so they wouldn't run out into traffic. after a few minutes, the owner called. apparently the dynamic duo had dug a hole under the fence & snuck out of the yard. their owner gave me directions to the house & i drove them home.

i didn't manage to snap a pic of both dogs, but i did get this one (with a little photoshop improvements):

i believe her name is abby & she is an 11 month old silver lab. she was so sweet. yay for happy endings!

weekend

this past weekend, we actually managed to get a few things accomplished AND be social. usually it's one or the other. we had dinner with friends and both times were able to bring our pups along - which we appreciate a ton. because even when we aren't home for a bit, we still worry about them. plus, they had a couple opportunities to get out & meet new people & pups - always a ton of fun for them.

custom order: i carved up a linoleum block, making a smaller version of one of my heart card designs, and printed it over the weekend. i did a very small run, so i hand inked everything - but it did give me an opportunity to print letterpress & a lino block at the same time, which turned out well. i'll post some pics soon.

sunday night, vito snuck into the dining room and ate a pound of raw bread dough. he's eaten a lot of things over the past two years, so i didn't think much of it. but (thankfully) hubby looked up the consequences of eating raw bread dough and two major ones kept popping up: the dough will still rise in vito's tummy, causing bad pain (or worse) & a major possibility of alcohol poisoning. OMG. so we had him at pet emergency about 15 minutes after he ate the dough and they gave him something to make him throw up all the bad stuff. poor pup was a wreck for the next couple of days - he couldn't get comfortable all night & his tummy was making some awful noises. vito is back to normal now - playful & perky! we had a couple of scary days and are glad to have our sweet mischievous puppy back in action.

vito's 2nd birthday!

our puppy is all grown up....vito turned 2 on november 22nd. (as you can see i'm a bit late with this one.) we've noticed so many changes in him as he's gotten older; he's more gentle, calms down faster, a bit more mellow. and he's retained his sweet disposition. i can't imagine what our lives would have been like without him for the last couple of years.

here he is opening a birthday present:

we've been letting the pups have the run of the house for the past few weeks and they've done a great job! none of our things were destroyed & it doesn't look like there was any counter surfing either. then one day, hubby came home to this:

RIP pig

i figure that they were playing with something they were supposed to play with, plus they didn't eat any of the stuffing & it would have happened regardless of whether or not we were home - so it's okay. too bad the piggy didn't last longer though.

hyperbole and a half dogs

i was reading hyperbole and a half today and practically fell out of my chair from laughing so hard. so i thought i would share, since i'm sure you need a good laugh too.

this is what it's like when we drive mia & vito around too (source)

pups

sooo over the weekend, we got another puppy!!

just kidding :) we're not quite that crazy.....yet.

for no apparent reason, the puppies turned up the cuteness this weekend. the majority of the weekend consisted of them looking like this:


hubby was cutting mia's nails (the thought of cutting their nails freaks me out) and accidentally cut one too short - and since her nails are black, it's really hard to see where the quick is - so it started bleeding & we didn't have any of that powder that's supposed to stop it quickly. i have to say, mia was a champ - she didn't cry & was really patient while we fixed her up. for as crazy as she can be sometimes, she is very tolerant when it comes to letting us check her out. we sat with her & bandaged it up, then put a little bootie on her foot so she wouldn't bite the dressing.



have you ever seen a dog walk with a bootie on? it's HILARIOUS! she adjusted quickly and was playing in no time. here's her looking pathetic:

puppy test

during the last week or so, hubby & i have been experimenting with leaving the pups out of their kennels while we aren't home.

we've learned a bit from our previous experiences: "the death of the baby gate", "the death of the blinds", and of course, "the death of the carbon monoxide detector".

instead of leaving them down where there is NOTHING (toys didn't count apparently) to do...we've left them with lots of toys, their beds, and the window so they can head up neighborhood security.

let's hope they passed this test with flying colors! i would much rather see their little floppy eared heads pop up at the window when i got home...unless they are holding a piece of dismembered couch in their mouths at the same time.

mia's first birthday!

our sweet puppy turned one on halloween! so of course, we got her presents and special cookies :) here's some pictures:

presents!

did someone say "treats"?!

yup

fleecy ball!

and here's a video:

kitchen cards!

there was a bit of a setback last week - i ordered paper to print this new set of cards & ups accidentally sent my order to canada. once the error was figured out, it had to clear customs to get back into the US. i contacted french paper and received an immediate response - they sent out a new box to me next day air. i am SO impressed with their customer service. and because they responded so quickly, i was able to print my cards for the show this weekend!

here's some pics of the printing:

there are five different designs on five different colors of paper

i used a mixture of silver & black ink - so there is a bit of sheen in the prints. the darkness of the ink really shows off the detail of the drawings.

my shop puppy :)

saved the best color for last

helper puppies - they were quality assurance for the day

this was a marathon printing day - 550 cards in over 5 hours. my arm is still a little sore...but its a huge relief to have them printed. i'm thrilled with the results and will post more once they are cut down and ready to sell!

puppies

look at these two! waiting patiently for breakfast...

lost lake hike

the scene: alaska wilderness on labor day weekend (aka the last weekend of summer)

we prepared for our trip friday night, keeping the knowledge of the weather forecast in mind: 90% chance of rain. i, of course, assumed that the forecast would be wrong, because there is a 90% chance that it will change. sadly, i was wrong. the hubster, friends jamie & cole, 4 furry kiddos, and i drove two hours south (in 2 cars) to the start of the lost lake trail. i rode with jamie and we took turns talking to our guys on the walkie talkies. actually, it was more like they were backseat driving...even though they were in the car ahead of us :) silly boys.

we unloaded the gear and the guys set up the cars at two parking lots. the cool thing about this particular hike is that you can hike in from one spot and the trail goes all the way through, which means no doubling back & no repetitive scenery. just as we all slung our packs on and headed towards the trail....the rain started.

rain, drizzle, rain, pour, rain, drizzle...somehow the rain always came down in the direction of our faces.

okay okay, it wasn't as bad as it sounded - it was wet, but not super cold. and the dogs had a BLAST! we got such a kick out of them running up and down the trail. mia would always run & check on the last person in line. vito wore in his new pack and it did well - he even went swimming with it on!

i unfortunately did not get a ton of pictures because it was raining...but here's a few from the morning we were hiking out, when it stopped raining!!

awesome views

see how the leaves are ALREADY changing?!

lost lake in the distance

jamie & cole

hubby & cole discussing important man stuff

bear & gauge (the good dogs)

mia licking her lips

vito looking handsome with his pack

overall the hike was a lot of fun. it was refreshing to get out of town for a couple of days, even if it was raining.

p.s. if you even plan to do an overnight hike with a 40 pound pack, i would highly recommend training for it first. because i could barely walk the following couple of days.

weekend

so before the weekend started, i had all these idea of what i was going to do...get laundry done, clean the kitchen, work on art, clean up my studio, organize my office, read a couple new books, blah blah blah...

i actually did clean...the house. a lot. like a LOT. did the dishes, unloaded, reloaded, ran the dishwasher, unloaded again, vacuumed upstairs & downstairs...and even the stairs themselves (which i hate because it's so awkward but, man, they were gross). scrubbed the spots off the stairs, wiped the walls of the stairwell down (random spills over the years), cleaned the shoe area, did tons of laundry. cleared out the clutter on our kitchen island & dining room table. switched out the shower curtain for the new awesome one we got for our wedding:

(notice the vito tail - he was helping)

and then i was exhausted. i used all of my cleaning energy on the rest of the house rather than my studio & office.

the dogs were helpful - they barked a lot at the vacuum cleaner, kept watch at the window for weirdos, hung out on the porch, and did this:


and since we've been making a lot of homemade ice cream lately, i treated myself to this:


we ran a bunch of errands on sunday - got some stuff for the house (picture frames, kitchen gadgets), picked up a birthday present for my mom, got a table for my flat file that hubby is building me, ate a snack:


and then we bought this:


and now, we will not be able to get anything else done. ever. good thing i cleaned the house first.

p.s. i now have a sudden urge to dye my hair blue (again), get my nose pierced (again), and get a tattoo. hmm.

weekend cooking!

our weekend was pretty productive again! i worked saturday morning at my friend's shop and then did art stuff for a while! i got one project done & made a lot of progress on another...i'll post some pictures later in the week - but since they are both gifts, i have to wait to discuss them, just in case the recipients happen to read my blog :)

the pups went out for a long run & swim at a new park & were so exhausted, they could barely keep their little eyes open. i caught them cuddling on the bed:


sunday, the hubby and i cooked up a storm! i think we used almost every new appliance we received as wedding gifts! since we had gotten so much bad news last week, my friend and i did some baking for our friend who just got out of the hospital & another friend that just had to put down her very sick dog. :( hubby made some cookie dough ice cream (yum) and made lots of tomato sauce & homemade meatballs. we ate very well!

we also got a new neighbor, who seems so pleasant! i gave her some muffins too :) also, vacuumed the house, did tons of laundry, and cleaned the bathroom. whew.

it's already been three weeks since our wedding! a wonderful three weeks....feels so much longer than that - like a dream.

how was your weekend?