eight years with my dixie girl

eight years ago today i walked into a dingy private shelter in southwest Portland, OR looking for a companion. after weeks of searching, my little angel was brought into the room and walked right over to me, put her head on my leg and looked into my eyes as if to say "please take me home with you." so i did. she was the one. i found her and she found me. it was love at first sight.

we have lived in eight differnent places, three different states and we even made it through a last name change together! that little angel waited for me by the front door at my mom and dad's house for two years while i lived in switzerland, hoping i would be coming back to get her. she has cried with me in my darkest moments of life and celebrated with me, jumping and wagging her tail feathers as fast as she can in my brightest moments. never once leaving my side and happy to see me everytime i get home, that's dixie. she is the best doggie in the whole wide world, compassionate, caring and even a bit bitchy at times. i love her too too much.

happy anniversary dixie marie meuser doodle doo bowman! thank you for rescuing me when i needed you the most! frosty paws on me tonight!

Happy Birthday Little Lizzie!

Dear Lizzie,

I can't believe you are 25 today! I still remember the night that mom went into labor and was sitting in a brown chair in our living room on Auburn street. And then the next day when Daddy took me to the hospital to meet you. I remember walking down the corridor at Butterworth Hospital holding Daddy's hand. When I told this to mom we decided that this was my first memory. It was the day my life changed forever!

Although distance keeps us apart, you are one of the most important women in my life. While we may have not always gotten along, I can't imagine my life without you! You are my best friend in the whole wide world. No matter what, we are always giggling and having fun! During the times of my life when I was really down, you were there to help me stand back up. I am forever grateful for that. You challenge me to face my fears and put on my big girl pants when no one else, including my very own husband, has the nerve to say what I really need to hear. You are truly one of a kind and a very special gift from God!

For the record, I did paddle the canoe while you hunted the turtles at Scalley Lake. I was your driver and you scooped the little buggers off the log. Remember how we used to paint our initials on their bellies and then try to catch them again? But, I did not walk in the muck while you were catching frogs. Gross. You always had such a bug for an outdoor adventure.

I want you to know how much you mean to me. I miss you so much every day! Someday when it is in God's plan, I know we will live close to each other so our kids can catch turtles together too. You have grown into such a strong, amazing, beautiful and talented, smart, woman. I am so proud of you! I love to tell people, "My sister lives on Mackinac Island!" How lucky are you?!?

Enjoy your birthday! I wish I was there to celebrate with you!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love,

reg

when irish eyes are smiling

i am proud of my irish heritage. savannah is proud of it too! happy st. patrick's day week!

we kicked off the celebrations at the parade on tybee on saturday. aaron and i both have to work on wednesday when the big parade will be happening in downtown savannah. there is always next year...

we are buying a house!

this post has been a looooooooooooooooooong time coming. aaron and i have been searching and looking and paying down debt for months to get ready for this purchase. after christmas we were even dead set on moving home. however, we both have good jobs, solid incomes, little debt and decided that we needed to wait for the economy to get better before we both attempt to find new jobs in another state.

so, we are buying a house. its a cute little house that was built in 1956. the neighborhood is called magnolia park and it is about 2 miles from my office and about the same distance from aaron's. the best part is, daniel and e and ed and abby both live with in walking distance from house! basically we will all be living in the same neighborhood

there is a big back yard for dixie and rex. after our year and half, living in a social experiment, in the heat of downtown savannah, they deserve a nice, peaceful backyard. there is a garage for aaron and a nice sized kitchen for me. while it will need some updating, i know we will have a great time doing it. i can't wait for our first backyard party...i already have the menu planned! we love to have people over but we can't really do it where we live now and lately we would be keeping our fingers crossed the whole time people are over that no one starts a riot in the street!

here are some photos of the new house...i will post more on monday! keep your fingers crossed that the inspection is clean!

the kitchen

the living room

master bathroom

the front of the house

my calling center girls...

when i was a student at the college of charleston, i worked as a student caller in the cougar calling center. this is where i got my start as a fundraiser. i also met some great friends that i love dearly...four of the girls are now mommies and i have to admit, their little ones are too cute for words.

it makes my heart happy to look at their pictures and read their blogs and updates. ashley's little ones, neil and lyla are just too cute for words. i remember when ashley told me she was pregnant with neil after waiting for such a long time for the little guy to happen. i will never forget what she instant messaged me..."the bread is baking." best words ever! neil is already such a little man and little lyla is so pretty just like her mama!

carissa has one of the cutest little munchkins i have ever seen too! every time she blogs about how adam thinks toots are funny i crack up laughing! the funny part to me is that carissa thinks toots are funny too! the we have had lots of good belly laughs about that subject. plus, carissa is married to a great guy who i have never met but is the perfect match for her. perfection.

and courtney and little sully...what a pair. both cute as a button! courtney is one of the cutest people i have ever met so obviously she would have an adorable little guy too! when i saw sully's nursey before he was born it had courtney "fab" all over it! she is getting married this year and building a house and i couldn't be happier for her!

it just makes me so happy that these good friends are so happy too! even though time and distance seperate me from these girls...i still love them all dearly. i have to say that i am thankful for the internet and technology that helps me keep in touch with all of the people i love and to watch these little one grow up too!

a good hard laugh

my stomach hurts. not because i ate too much. not because i am sick. but because i literally laughed an ab workout!

you see...we have these friends. it seems like when we are all together, we bring out the goofy-ness in each other. i literally laughed outloud randomly about 12 times during the day yesterday about something funny from the night before. then, last night...i laughed and laughed and laughed some more. pretty much one funny thing after the other.

but here is the best part. we are about to all be neighbors! remember when you were a kid and you and your friends ran the neighborhood? we had our own little troop in my neighborhood, playing outside from sun up until the street lights came on. there have been so many times i wished my friends all lived in the same neighborhood and i could walk to their houses. in lugano, my super swiss friend, jenn lived right around the corner and i could walk to her house. we ate dinner together a few nights a week. awesome. now, aaron and i have found the perfect house for our little family of two and two furry kids. we are going to put an offer in tomorrow! the best part...we can walk to our goofy friends houses! this is going to be so great!

i am experiencing what my fab charleston friend courntney calls "soul shine". life is so good right now! hahahahahahahaha

the subjects i have been meaning to blog about..

1. Doubles Luge...this is how I imagine the convseration going..Hey man, I really want to win a gold medal but I am just not that good at anything. How do you feel about laying under me on a little sled in a really tight suit? Don't worry, I will lay on top and do all of the work. You just have to lay there and look pretty...

interesting...why wasn't there doubles luge for females?

2. The president came to savannah...someone got arrested for trying to touch him and there was a man standing on the side of the road with a sign welcoming "Brack Obama". WOW. I sure wish I could have seen him speak.

3. House Shopping...why is every house that seems like the right fit just outside of our budget? We really need to move. Yesterday there was a man, passed out drunk on the church steps across from my house. Neighborhood, yes please!

4. Losing weight...why is it called losing weight. Once it is lost, I really don't want it back. It's not like you are going to find me hanging up a sign on the closest telephone pole "Missing 15 pounds" Yeah, right. It would be more like a Dear John letter....Dear Weight I Lost at Weight Watchers last week, thanks but no thanks for the many years of size extra large t-shirts and poor body image. Good riddance. Please don't respond to this letter.

Totally random, I know. I would have liked to devote a post to all four. However, my ADD brain is about to explode with ideas and information and before I move on to the next item, I thought I better put these down.