Frank's & His 1st Birthday-Ish

We celebrated Frank's First Birthday-ish on August 19th. I say "ish" because we aren't really sure when his actual birthday is. Our buddy was found on the streets when he was estimated to be 3 or 4 months old, so no one really knows. We decided August would be his birthday and the 19th sounded like a good number, so...

We decided to CELEBRATE! Our morning consisted of pictures in a party hat which involved LOTS of treats as bribery:

Our evening celebration consisted of a French Dip Sandwich. "Why a sandwich?", you ask? We originally wanted to do a sandwich challenge inspired by another blogger. The goal was for J to pick a sandwich and for me to pick a sandwich and the first one that Frank picks 1st is the winner....the winner goes on to be the #1 contender the next birthday while whomever "lost" the year previous picks a new treat. The cycle continues every year. I was really afraid we were going to hurt our little buddy's digestive system,, so we opted for one sandwich, minus the cheese, from Arby's and he wasn't too upset about it. ;-)

We had a good time and Frank had a yummy treat!

We sure are thankful for this little buddy of ours. He's the most adorable, sweet, stubborn, funny, destructive, loving, eye-opening, challenging, precious boy! He keeps us on our toes, but more importantly, he makes us so happy! Life is so much better with our Frank around.

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”

-- Milan Kundera

Comments

Goodbye.

“I don’t know if I should congratulate you or console you.” - Craig “How about both?” - Me This was a conversation in our kitchen earlier this week. After a year and a half of weekly therapy, I had my last session with my therapist Tuesday. Not because I was over it or because it wasn’t working or because he retired. Nope. Because we got to a place where we could both say I’ve got the tools I need to move on. I have to say that there is no timeline for therapy and every situation is unique. I moved on from intensive therapy with my therapist because that it was worked for ME. I am certainly no expert and I have a feeling this isn’t the end of my therapy forever, but I do know that my experience with the right person allowed me to heal in ways I literally never thought possible. And it gave me the experience of a healthy “goodbye”. I was never prepared for that, so when we set an end date (not-so-coincidentally my Nanna’s birthday), it was hard to process. No one talks about

It's a Funny Feeling

Let's be honest, I've been riding my bike more this year than the last 3 years COMBINED. While that's sad for the last couple of summers, it's great for this one. And this girl. Thanks to some riding buddies who are calm and patient, I've been able to get out and ride more in the city whereas before even the thought of riding in Buckhead scared the living daylights out of me. I've encouraged myself when I really, REALLY don't want to ride and would prefer to go home after a long day and drink a glass of wine. I've pushed myself to go a little further than I felt I could. I faced some fears. Riding over I-285 during rush hour traffic giggling because I was having a way better time than those commuters! I was out this evening by myself on a local rail-to-trail and it was glorious. The trail was quiet with very few people on it, the weather was great and I just felt good! I trucked along at my best pace yet and kept thinking to myself how

Patsy.

A friend sent this video to me and when I watched it, I was struck more by the feelings it brought up around the content than the story itself. Christen Reighter's story is an interesting and frustrating insight into what it means to NOT want a child. I invite you to watch this. Her experience is not unique and needs to be talked about. Even if you have kids. Or want them. What struck me most was what she says during her TedTalk: "I have believed having children was an extension of womanhood, not the definition." Truth is, I've been struggling with this lately. Not the fact that I'm longing for children. I'd be fibbing if I said there is a very tiny part of me that wonders what this will feel like when I get to the end of life. HOWEVER. That feeling isn't strong enough for me to want to find out. I don't feel like having children should be thought of as a "keeping the fingers crossed" kind of situation. If you aren't sure you'l

A Lovely Life

Looking For Something?