Girls Night

Last night I had a much needed girls night out with a fellow Sex and the City (SATC) lover. The movie opened yesterday, and we both really wanted to go. We had dinner beforehand so that we could catch up and compared notes about puppy rearing among other things. We even got ourselves some vodka cranberry drinks, in a covert nod to the cosmo-without being really lame. The waitress still picked up on us and asked "like omg are you going to see SATC tonight?"

We both bought our tickets ahead of time for the big event. I thought I was maybe being a little preemptive in insisting we do this, but the time we wanted was sold out by mid-day and they decided to add another theater showing it at the same time, so I guess it wasn't a bad idea.

One of course has to take SATC with a grain of salt. It's not going to shake your world up with its deep theological meaning, but it will be great entertainment. It was also really fun to watch it in a big theater with people who are obsessed with the show, namely the three gay guys who were sitting right next to us.  You could literally feel how excited people were when the glittery HBO sign finally came up and the piano notes of Alicia Keys "New York" came on, hinting that it was finally starting.

I won't really give anything away, but there are lots of good little surprises, and it's pretty funny. It's not quite as good as the first one, simply because you can't really top the storyline of the first, but its still very good. It is much more lighthearted than the first.

Though I love the routine of hanging out with M & M on the daily, I missed getting out to do something really girly, and I had a blast. I'm definitely going to make a conscious effort to do so much more often.

Rufficentric Road Trip

This past weekend Milly and I made the trek up to Delaware to visit the Collins': Lauren, Sean, Murphy, Maizey, and Molly. (person, person, pup, pup, pup).
Adding to the awesomeness of the trip was the bonus sister formerly known as Lockard: Melissa!

Even though they kept me up WAY too late watching DVR'ed episodes of Grey's Anatomy (1-the Grey's finale was WAY too long, 2-it was retarded) and Real Housewives of NYC (this is the funniest episode EVER. Kelly is insane people. I'm not even going to make fun of her because she's a crazy person and she needs help. She's so 1979, shackels of gold). If you watched the episode, can you count how many references to the show are in that sentence? Needless to say, there was lots of rewinding and I may have almost peed myself once or twice.

Milly got to visit her cousins again, and got to meet her other cousin Murphy, a doberman, for the first time.   Murphy was a little too big to play with, but Milly surprisingly showed her stuff and gave him a few good paws to the face and growls.  Molly is approaching senior status (which makes her 10x sweeter and cuddly) so she didn't really want to get off the couch to play, so it was mainly a Milly and Maizey show down.

Maizey is only five months older than Milly and is a tri-colored Cavie, a different coloring for the same breed as Milly.  Milly loved all of the room to play around in and the great company.

Melissa and I (ok, mainly Melissa) were icing slave for Lauren, who had to make 600 cookies for her cousin's wedding this coming weekend.
Here's some of our handiwork for the wedding favors

Milly and I were really sad to leave and can't wait until the next visit! 

Mill-Bill's First Grooming

So perhaps I'm a bad pup parent, but at 14 months, Milly has finally gotten her first grooming. Until recently, I didn't really feel like she was getting her long hair in at full force yet, but as of late her shedding had gotten so bad that if she was in your lap for 5 minutes you'd literally have a pile of hair in your lap.
It was bad-real bad.

For this reason, I was on a mission to not only get her groomed but see if I could get a treatment that would prevent her from shedding. Enter: The Furminator Treatment.

It included a de-shedding bath that is supposed to remove the dead undercoat, and up to 30 minutes using the "Furminator Brush" on her. I can pretty much guarantee they used all 30 minutes.  I actually have a similar one at home that I got from Target, but since it's the official "Furminator" being used by a professional, I figured that it's WAY more effective.

Unfortunately, on the day I was taking her it was pouring rain all day. Here's Milly in the car, wet as a dog as they say, on her way to her grooming. Her "before" pic if you will.

If she had opposable thumbs and could get on this blog, she'd demand that I take that pic of her down, but she can't and I think it's pretty funny. Take that Milly!

Here's some of her after testing out her new bed that we got for her and her new nautical toy that was her present for getting her hair cut.
I never got her a bed because she was so used to getting in bed/on the furniture, but she has taken to it pretty well. She has already learned what "get in your bed means"!

 

Creepsters

Real creeped out that some rando animal league woman found my website and made a really lame comment about my last post. I deleted it to try to pretend like it never happened, hoping that would make me feel less awkward, but instead it just says its been deleted and "Amy" stays, just chillin on my blog comments.


Realizing that maybe more than 3 people read this jank and not totally likin it. 
 
I just read somewhere a few days ago that if you mention specific things in your Facebook status updates like, say, "I'm going to see the new movie 'Saw 15'" your status post shows up on the wall of "Saw 15", who presumably has a promotional Facebook page. Isn't that weird? I haven't checked it out myself yet, but have heard from several people who have. 
 
Oh well, I'm just going to continue being really lame and say inappropriate things and hope no one cares.
Normal irrelevant blog postings commence once more.

The First Rule of Fight Club...

All week there were signs along Mike's street-no parking all day on Saturday. We could NOT figure out why. Because we are both becoming exponentially older by the minute, we were both up by 8am on Saturday.  One thing was abundantly clear: whatever was going on that day was most definitely DOG related. 
I did some quick searching online now that I knew the topic and quickly found out that we were the lucky block on all of Monument that had a front seat view of "Woofstock 2010".  It's hosted by Richmond Animal League and raises money for homeless animals etc.
Initially, Mike was pretty pumped that excessive dog barking and music playing was going to be the background for his CPA studying (apparently the Cha-Cha Slide played 5 times in one hour, but who's counting), but he eventually decided that yes, it was essential for us to make an appearance with the Mills at Woofstock.

Like most events like these, the people watching is the most crucial part.  There were vendors and adoption booths set up.  An asian woman almost talked Mike into getting Milly a luxury dog bed. We made it out scott-free though. There was also a band playing and a beer truck.

After making a few laps around the block, we knew what needed to come next: Puppy Fight Club: Richmond Chapter, Woofstock Edition. 
We called up our friends, both two and four legged: Whit & Molly, and the pups Penny & Stella.
The Players:

Penny, Stella, and Milly: Ferocious Competitors

When they got to our crib, the humans had some brewskies on the porch and the pups took every single toy out of the toy basket. PFC round one was pretty tame considering Milly is the biggest , but the event was not skirmish free. 
Pug Stella was having a bit of a hard time breathing after all of that walkin in the hot sun, so after we made sure she was cooling down we parted ways until dinner.
MnM used this time to take a power nap and prepare for the BWW boneless buffalo wing eating challenge. Unfortunately, due to the McDonald's "buffer meal" that was consumed by all mid-afternoon, it was not much a sight to see. Mostly just take home containers and faces of defeat.

Here's a few pics from the event:

found this one online and thought it was pretty funny

I'm 39% Interesting

I stole this from another blog I read and I'm pretty bored. I have no idea who came up with this list, but apparently how many you can bold is the percentage of how interesting you are. I find this pretty amusing because I'd say there are at least 10-15 on here I've had the opportunity to do and have chosen not to do. 

Here goes: 

1. Started your own blog ( Duh)
2. Slept under the stars (Unfortunately)
3. Played in a band (Does Rock Band count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (Disneyworld-2x, don't remember either)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (WHY??)
10. Sang/played a solo (piano in about 3rd grade) 
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (Needlepoint, Cooking, the art of paint-by-numbers)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (Ohhhh have I had food poisoning)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables 

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (does college count?)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (what? so random)
26.Bathed in a river (how can one technically bathe in a river-to me, I would feel dirtier not cleaner)
27. Run a Marathon (Bahaha)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (We made the little contraptions to look at it in elementary school)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (I've technically been on "cruises" around harbors etc, but I choose not to go on real cruise ships by choice-doesn't appeal to me)

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (We had to wait forever for it, I thought it was pretty boring, but I was also 12) 
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (i'm all for random acts of kindness and all, but this seems awkward)
44. Visited Africa (ummm, no)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (When I was 6 or so. It's kind of creepy looking. Still chillin in the dining room.)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (not "Notebook" style or anything, but I'm sure technically speaking I have)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China (again,no. this would require me going to China)
57. Started a business (for my major in college)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia (once again, no. why would i want to go to russia?)
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (My last year I was the "cookie mom". I got to organize the orders. wish i could somehow volunteer to do it every year. so much fun)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (2x-2nd time they put the needle all the way through my vein and blood went spurting everywhere. that was my last time.) 
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check 
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (ok, so Gar-Bear bought it, but it's now titled to me yes,? yes?)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (high school graduation)
85. Read the entire Bible (I went to a Baptist High School-it's inevitable)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury 
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Made a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit (every day at work)
98. Owned a cell phone (seriously, who wrote this)
99. Been stung by a bee (was bawling, more because I was traumatized the bee was on me than the fact that it stung me-though it hurt a lot more than I thought it would)
100. Built a house out of mud! (whhyyy would anyone do this??)

I got 39. This is lame. 

I can't believe I just sat here and did this, but it was oddly entertaining. I think it's cause I like talking about myself.  I really liked doing those question lists awhile back on facebook that were kind of lame but secretly really entertaining. I want more of those. There must be some holy grail website of them somewhere...

Graduation Weekend-Party Like It's 2009

So this weekend I graduated from my paralegal program, which though I did put a lot of work into, would not have ordinarily really celebrated.  It doesn't even truly count as a Master's, and it was admittedly a time-kill in between college and real-world job finding. 
A lot of you probably know that my mom wasn't able to make it to my graduation last year because she was in the hospital, so I missed the general "celebration" part of graduation. Since we had so much to celebrate this year: my "graduation", mother's day, my mom still being here another year, mike becoming a 3L and his 26th birthday, we decided to do it up like the real college graduation that we never had. 

We had an awesome weekend spent just hanging out and basically eating at a restaurant, killing time til next meal at next restaurant, repeat.  We had a great time together, and Mike was a real trooper in fighting off sleep one more day so he could spend time with us. 

In true graduation form, there were presents involved and since my parents are BALLER they surprised me with a new MacBook-which I have probably been talking about wanting for ohhhhh the last 2 years.  I was totally surprised because it completely came out of left field. Unfortunately, this puts a minor damper on the blogging because I'm still figuring out how to transfer all of my pictures and getting around to putting the newer ones on. Unfortunately, the memory card slot in the new computer does not fit the card I have for my ghetto-in-comparison camera. 
Graduation Pics:

Dinner on Saturday Night Pics:

Bragging Rights (Happy Birthday Mr. Mike)

This is a long overdue post, due to extended internet troubles at the apt. and extended natalie functioninig problems due to my minor back issue. This is basically going to be a bragging post about how good of a boyfriend Mr. Mike is, but it's my blog and I can do what I want.
It also works out that this has taken me so long to put up because today is Mike's 26th Birthday! The poor boy is taking his hardest exam today AND working, but we are going to make up for it in celebrating this weekend with my parents and Andrew.

First of all, two weeks ago, when I got off of work, I went off to Mike's house. I was secretly really excited because he told me he got something for me.  When I got there he had these for me! (Excuse the bad phone cam photo that doesn't do them justice). They're really cool because they are just pink tipped at the end, like someone (Jesus?) dipped them in paint.

 Since I knew I'd end up staying at Mike's for most of exam week, where it is substantially quieter,I decided that, in spite of the risk of being a cheeseball, it made more sense to take them to my office. My new office needed a bit of decorating anyways.

Sadly, I may or may not have had to throw him away this past Tuesday, but they lasted a really long time! They had quite a nice aroma as well, and I could smell them every time I came back into my office.


He also gets a major shout out into the blogosphere for taking care of me when my back decided to totally stop functioning during his exam week. He took me to Patient First so I could get some drugs (they weren't as into giving out drugs as I had hoped-I only got flexeril and he said "they don't just make a shot to make the pain stop right away" uhhhh pretty sure they do, you're just not willing to give it to me). 

We then went to Walgreens to get some Motrin (the dr. gave me an "rx" to take 600mg or 3 pills. Um, that's what I do for a run of the mill headache-this is like level 10 pain here I need about 8000mg. Long story short we somehow got about $50 worth of random stuff and then he went and got Milly and packed me a bag (which I was surprised to find he did a pretty good job at) and took me to his house where he proceeded to spend 30 minutes "fixing it up" for me. He had cleaned his room and made the bed, where he had strategically placed my computer, my meds, some drinks and snacks, and magazines all laid out within my reach. It was prettttyyy awesome.

Then, he went off into the wild blue yonder to study like a mad man (literally, a mad man, not kidding) but I get him back this weekend (kind of-he'll likely be dazed and confused until he gets about 48 hours of sleep). The whole fam is doing graduation take two (cause last year didn't go so well), as I get my Paralegal Certificate on Saturday.
More to come on that soon...

Fanrats on Parade-A Weekend of Art in Richmond

This month, my brother Andrew is here in Richmond for his "spring semester" at W&L where you just take one class. He is following around doctors all day and then has to do presentations and stuff. I dunno.

What I DO know is that it's pretty sweet that he's in town right now because I can drag him to do things with me which I would ordinarily drag Mike to, but he is in exam mode.

On Saturday, we first went to the grand re-opening of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). It is within walking distance of my apartment, so instead of finding a place to park, we decided it would be best to walk it.
It was super crowded, but luckily we were able to look at the galleries in peace because most people were enthralled with some african dancing crew. I think we decided to leave just in time, becasue as we were making our way through the crowd, I noticed that they were encouraging the crowd to dance the new african tribe moves they had just learned. It was frightening.
The gallery was really well done and extensive, and I would like to go back and spend some more time there on a less crowded day.

After eating some lunch at a place on the walk back, we were ready for Artsy Weekend Part II: Arts in the Park. I had never been before, but had always heard of it. Hundreds (literally-it was around 400 I believe) of artists are allowed to buy a space and sell their artwork.  I had NO idea it was going to be so big.

I mainly went to be able to see prints in person from a Richmond artist Eliza Askin (elizabaskin.com)
I ended up buying four (whoops) and we went on our merrry way back home.
Until I sneezed three times in a row from the pollen, and one of those times my back totally locked up.
My back progressively got worse until I couldn't move and Mike had to take me to the doctor.
Hooray Artsy Weekend!

PS-Fanrats are what you call the emo people that live in the Fan