Reno

I leave for Reno Sunday evening.  I'll be there for a week and a half.  I'll be gone for quite a while.  It's pretty much the longest amount of time Jared and I will be apart from each other.  I'm kind of excited.  It'll be a lot of work, but it'll be enjoyable.

Our new bed will be delivered on Thursday.  So, yes Jared will get a new bed to himself for about a week.  We went and bought new sheets to go on the bed.  I'll go to Petsmart tomorrow with Gizmo to get him some stairs.  Since we got a bed frame, Gizmo will need stairs to get on and off the bed.

I had to get refills on all of my allergy medications just in case my allergies flare up on my trip.  And I'll be packing a lot of books since I'll most likely be reading on my time off.  So, be prepared for a book update in the near future.

So Jared and I went to my work's Anniversary Dinner last week.  We also won an item from the Silent Auction. Another employee is currently working on our piece of art, and I can't wait to see its awesomeness.

Before we left for the dinner

In two weeks, Gizmo is going to get a haircut to celebrate Spring and warm weather.  His hair right now is about three inches long which is pretty long for him.  I don't think it has ever been that long.

Gizmo with long hair (taken today)

Gizmo's Spring Haircut (taken last year)

I look at that picture and wonder what on earth I was thinking that day at the groomers...  I had his hair cut a little too short.  He definitely looked like a rat and looked like the smallest dog ever.  But he didn't care.  He remained his natural, spazzy self regardless of the haircut.

Life is good.  I'm happy!!

Plants

I'm so excited for spring!!!  I bought a few seeds a while ago to plant around my house.  And I barely planted them today.  I'm so excited for flowers!  And the awesome thing was, I noticed my current plant (that I planted the day after Christmas) has just sprouted from the ground.  And Jared was worried that I lost my green thumb...

Gizmo had to go into the vet's and get his last shot.  This shot is the one that will form a big knot under the skin.  So, Gizmo was in pain and not feeling well for a day.  It was pretty pathetic.  He was super clingy to me as soon as I got home.  And every time I moved, he'd give me this look, "Please let me stay on your lap.  Please, please just hold me..."  He normally likes to cuddle, but this time, he was way too clingy.

We ate Indonesian food yesterday.  It was super yummy.  Also, I have found out that getting the restaurant deals off of Living Social are super sweet.  And if you're like Jared and me, you only eat out once a week, then you can pretty much save $15 every time.  And it's nice to try the local stuff.  We never would have found this Indonesian restaurant without Living Social's awesome deals...

Tonight, I get to wear my prom dress from high school.  How can I weigh the same as in high school, well I don't.  This is actually the first year that I have gained weight since my growth spurt from middle school (I used to have pants from elementary school that I still wore in college).  Anyways, the dress still fits me.  Work's doing an anniversary dinner, and I'll use the excuse to dress pretty.

Saturday

I spend the whole week waiting for Friday and the weekend to come.  And then Friday's here, and I don't want the next few days to come because that means Monday's coming.  That's how I felt yesterday.  Weekends are too short.

Gizmo got his shots yesterday.  They gave us his rabies tag which is in the shape of a 1 inch heart.  The thing is huge considering Gizmo only rises about four inches off the ground.  And it makes a lot of noise.  Gizmo didn't like having the rabies tag around his neck, and I can't blame him (I wouldn't want a 5 inch circle around my neck either).  But there's not much you can do since all dogs are supposed to display their rabies tags.  So we compromised and put the tag on his harness.  He only has to wear it when he's on a walk with us.  Works for all of us.

I'll be leaving for Reno in two weeks.  Life at work is about to get super busy.  But until then, I'll enjoy my lazy weekend (and I'll try hard not think about Monday).

News

Jared and I have officially decided that we are going to have our first kid on 3/14/15.  Look forward to accomplishing this goal...

Normal

Let me say, last week was the best birthday ever!!  Seeing my family was so fun and refreshing.  The only drawback was the flying standby business (as always).

Thursday - 24

Jared, Gizmo, and I flew from Madison to Minneapolis.  I saw the Mall of America in the air and told Jared, "If we get stuck here, we're so going there!!"  We couldn't get on the first flight to Salt Lake.  For those who don't know, Salt Lake is the western hub for Delta which makes it very hard for standbys to get on these flights.  The second plane, I got on easily but Jared barely made it on.  So, the fact that we got on the plane together was a good start.  Picked up the rental car in Salt Lake.  Thanks to my membership (that work gave me), they upgraded my car and gave us something nice.  Renting a car for a few days for only $80 was completely worth every buck.  Anyways, we had a big family get-together at Cafe Rio for my birthday.  Why Cafe Rio?  Because it's awesome (and not in Wisconsin).

Friday - 25

There was a big surprise right next to the Winco store; a Culver's opened up in Utah.  We're like wait a second, I thought we were in Utah.  Culver's is Wisconsin-based, so we were very surprised to see it opening in Utah.  We went to see a lot of family members including our brand new nephew.  Restaurant choices include Carl's Jr (Hardee's just isn't the same) and Sconecutter.

Saturday - 26

I took my siblings shopping.  They were so happy to see me.  And it was fun hanging out with them.  It's also a nice reminder that I'm still not ready for kids.  I like being selfish and only thinking of myself (I really do), and that mentality doesn't go well with having kids.  Anyways, we also talked Jared's brothers into trying out Culver's.  Who'd have thought we'd be eating at Culver's in Utah??

Sunday - 27

We saw all of our grandparents one last time.  I really don't remember all of the specifics of my trip other than I loved it.  Granted, it did snow a bit.  And I do have to say, Utahns are very spoiled with their snow.  Someone said there was ice on the ground, and I asked where.  She pointed out a small thing of ice.  Yeah, that is ice but I don't think a two-inch piece of ice should be scaring everyone into saying there's ice everywhere.  Trust me, after living in Wisconsin, I know what ice everywhere looks like (the ground turns into a solid block of ice that never ends)...

Monday - 28

The most disappointing day of our trip.  We got to the airport at 5 in the morning hoping to get on an early flight to Detroit.  Turns out everyone with money flies out to Utah over the weekend for skiing, and then they fly back on Monday.  Yeah, we didn't get on any of the early flights.  The one we did get on was a very delayed one going to Minneapolis (arrived in Minneapolis at 10:30pm).  Since it was so delayed, we missed our connecting flight.  And we figured renting a car would cost the same as trying to find a hotel with a low dog fee.  So, we rented another car to drive home.  Initially, they told us there were no cars available.  But thanks again to my job's perks, we got a car to drive home with. The only drawback is it cost more than the one we rented for the weekend (one-way rentals cost a lot).

And now I'm trying to get back into the normalness of my life.  It's hard going back to my long days at work.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job.  The hours (~7:30-~5:30) just take a lot of getting used to.

Gizmo went to the vet dentist on Wednesday.  His teeth are still too crowded.  Another tooth was pulled.  And they sent us home with antibiotics.  Apparently, the antibiotics don't taste very well.  He jumps up and down when we pull out his pain medication (arthritis), but he tries to hide when I pull out the antibiotics.  Other than that, he's doing well.