VMFA Visit

My birthday week kicked off last weekend with my parents coming in to town.  After shopping, we met up with Mike to eat and watch the UR game (you know, one of the ones they won BEFORE they got slaughtered).  A grand time was had by all, but unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home.

On Wednesday, I celebrated raucously by staying at work an extra hour late (shockingly, the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission didn't extend their deadline in light of my birthday) and then rushing to a Junior League meeting.  Luckily, Mike and I both finished out the day about 9pm and though he offered to get some real dinner for me, I requested a trip to McDonald's instead. It was EXACTLY what i wanted. YUM.  We're planning on going on Biggest Losers: Couples Edition in a few seasons.   I think we would be eliminated pretty quickly because I would have a BIG problem with Jillian Michaels telling me what to do, and I think Mike would be a little too eager to do whatever she said.

ANYWAYS:
On Thursday, we actually celebrated by going to dinner and seeing the Picasso exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which is conveniently located about a mile away from the apartment.

 The exhibit is on loan from a Paris museum while it is being renovated, and consists of Picasso's private works.  It's a pretty big collection, and was really fun to see.  We met up with another couple, Will and Julia, for some wine and some jazz beforehand at the museum cafe. Sooooo cultural.

Dorkasaurus 1 & Dorkasaurus 2

The museum "closes" at 9pm on Thursdays, but we started going through the exhibit at about 8:30.  We thought we were being pretty cool because the security guard told us we were the last ones to go through, and he was locking the doors behind us as we went through each room towards the end.  While we were in the gift shop, we could tell that people were still going through, and the same guard came back through and told us he was wrong and people were still in there.  Someone was a little too eager to go home.

I'm not sure a Picasso exhibit is where you would want to spend a "night in the museum".  I would not want to see some of those things  come to life.

Milly participated by singing me a rousing "Happy Birthday", trying to lick my cake, and trying to gracefully deal with someone else getting a wee bit of attention. It's a hard knock life pup. 

Happy Birthday Milly!

Saturday was Milly's second birthday! We didn't have a party this year like we did for her first birthday:

Her first birthday would have been pretty hard to top.  But I still tried to do a few things to make the day special:

We started off when some breakfast topped with some honey nut cheerios, one of Milly's favorite human treats. 

Then we went for a walk and sniffed out some squirrels. 

She also spent a little time checking things out from her favorite lookout spot. 

She also got a special birthday pup treat. 

My parents got her a car seat booster so she could have a comfy seat and be able to see out of the window. She didn't want to cooperate taking the picture-I'll have to work on getting a better one. 

Thanks She-She and Mr. Gary!

Unfortunately, Mike was driving back from TN for a mediation competition on her birthday, but they spent lots of quality time together on Sunday, which I think Milly liked better than all of her special birthday treats.  

I have loved having you in my life the last (almost) 2 years Milly.  We look forward to LOTS more birthdays with you.  

To the Cloud!

I actually think those Windows 7 commercials are kind of silly, but I guess it is doing it's job if I remember the tagline.

As you may remember, Milly got a bigger and better crate to stay in during the day.  She had a habit of trying to lay on top of it, so while I was cleaning I decided to put her dog bed (that was in a corner with a bunch of stuff on top of it) on top of her crate. She loves it! We are trying to teach her to know that it's called "the cloud".  I'm not sure she's caught on yet, but she does know that it's her "bed".   She jumps in it when she thinks she may go in her crate soon, and hopes that if she jumps on her cloud maybe she will look cute enough that we won't put her in.
In case you are wondering, I did consider putting the bed IN her crate, but it took up too much space and would have been awkward.  Plus, it would have impeded on Milly's special afghan.

It's also her new favorite place to watch TV. 

The Final Countdown

I've kind of debated blogging about this, because it ranks pretty high on the dorkasaurus scale, but then I decided that anyone who is reading this knows I'm a pretty big dork anyways, so what the heck.

Recently, I had told Mike a story about how I used to make paper chains to countdown to Christmas, my birthday, etc.  I had to explain that you cut strips of construction paper and tape or staple them into interlocking loops, then take one off each day.  I'm not sure if this is still popular, but it was all the rage in the 90's.

Shortly after, I was feeling especially crafty one night and had some construction paper lying around and just couldn't help myself.  I constructed my most massive paper chain to date: 150 days until the VA Bar.  For Mike it's a daily reminder of how close his test is getting as a motivational tool; for me it just means one thing: the chain to freedom.

Each month has it's one color.
February=Pink
March=Yellow
April=Green
May=Orange
June=Blue
July=BLACK aka the dark storm cloud that will descend upon us as the test grows near, HOWEVER the numbers/dates are in SILVER sharpie aka the silver lining that the test is almost over. Aren't I CLEVER??

Here's a panoramic view of the chain that goes around the apartment.  It's pretty special.  Note the copious school supplies, and the epic Bruce Springsteen Born to Run poster that Milly occasionally decides to take notice and growl at.

Only 139 more days to go...but who's counting!

Major Writing's Block

Yes, I know that I have committed the ultimate sin.  I have completely neglected this blog.  I've been in a pretty major winter funk, and just didn't feel like I had anything worthy of posting.  Go to work every day, eat dinner and watch DVR, read my nook, sleep, repeat.

I'm beginning to see the light, however.  March is here and that means BIRTHDAY MONTH for Milly and me, and the calendar beginning of spring.  We're getting at least a few hours of spring-like weather several days out of the week, and sometimes it's even been warm enough to keep walking with Milly even after she's taken care of business.  Her tail is even growing back!

Most importantly, today marks two months until Mike graduates!

Things are lookin up around here!

Milly's New Digs

As many of you probably saw on FB, Milly had a minor incident last week.  While I was at work, Milly at some point got sick, and then presumably proceeded to bite off her tail.  I should clarify that it's not like she ripped the hair out at the root, but rather it looks like she took a pair of scissors to her tail ala an 8 year old trying to give herself bangs.  

For comparison, I present to you before pics (a mere month ago) of her long, beautiful fan tail.

Exhibit A

 Exhibit B

 (yeah, the picture's not that cute-thats why it didn't make the christmas post, but it really showcases the length of the tail) 

And now, for the after....

Yep, just take it all in.  (After I took the evidentiary pictures, I trimmed up the tail so it looked slightly better).   A lot of it was in her crate that day, but a large part of it also "appeared" (if you catch my drift) about a day later.  Good times.  

This was Milly's face after I showed her what her new tail looked like: 

"Whoops, my bad"

Since no matter how we slice it, Milly will continue to be in some sort of containment device for long hours, I decided to try using the huge crate that I bought when she was a puppy. (back then I had this crazy idea that we could put it in the living room and I could use it as a playpen type thing and she would contently play in it-I was so naive)  

To make her feel at home, we put her bed in, and her new favorite item: an old afghan that my grandma made, which my mom had in the house. (We visited W-S last weekend)  Milly instantly was drawn to it....

She's been super attached to it ever since her first nap with it, so she's been cuddling with that as well.  Also, her favorite pal Gingy usually goes in with her.  Finally, a blanket goes over the whole thing so she can have a nap time environment. 

She seems to have taken to her new kennel well, like the super star that she is, but of course Milly can't be a total angel.  

She now has a new favorite resting spot even when she's out of her crate: 

Yes, that's her lounging on top of her kennel watching tv, right next to a seemingly much more comfortable couch.  

Milly, never a day goes by that you don't make me laugh for one reason or another.  

Happy Lee/ Jackson Day

Virginia has a very unique state holiday, Lee/Jackson day, that is always celebrated the Friday before MLK Day.
It's to remember the efforts of two Civil War greats, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

Lucky for us, Mike's apartment is very close to the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument, so we could easily take in the great Civil War re-enacters guarding Mr. Lee's statue.

Last year, I believe they were "on duty" Friday-Monday.  This year, they shortened it to Friday & Saturday, so it's a good thing I was a stalker and took pictures on Saturday morning.  There were actually lots of people taking pictures, and some people would go up and talk to them. I'm not sure exactly what one says to these people though.

I'm the biggest fan of the women in the giant hoop skirts.  In case you couldn't gather from the pictures, the "armed soldiers" circle the statue constantly, standing guard, and then they also have a little tent for them to take cover in.  The women also circle the outer sidewalk in the aforementioned hoop skirts for emotional support.

Living in the capital of the confederacy definitely makes life interesting.