The Life of a Basset Hound

Fact: my dog is a lazy lump of fur.  Don't get me wrong, Cheese is a playful, fun-loving dog.  He loves to be outside running, exploring and meeting new people/new dogs.  But, there's another side to him...the lazy side.  Like most basset hounds, Cheese spends anywhere from 14 to 20 hours a day laying down and/or sleeping.  It's what basset hounds do.  It's in their nature.  And if you ask me, there's little else in the world more adorable than a basset being lazy, in their element.  They turn into a big pile of floppy, snoring cuteness.  And here's your proof...

It doesn't get much cuter, right!?  Yeah.  Anyway, have a good day everyone!  Am I the only one who keeps thinking it's still Tuesday!?

On the Verge

My birthday was last week, and for my birthday Antoine got me a variety of goodies...a new lens for my camera, Phoenix socks (with howling wolves on them) and, in Antoine's true giving fashion, his cold.  I started to feel that oh-so-familiar sick feeling yesterday.  You know how you can taste that sick taste in your mouth before you actually get a cold!?  Yeah, that.  But I can't hate on Antoine too much, he did make me a huge pot of soup last night to sustain me throughout the week while he was in Phoenix.  Onion soup, yum!  And today I don't feel completely miserable...not completely.  Although, I have this sneaking suspicion that come tomorrow I will be flailing around in the uncomfortable world of death popsicleness.  Come on, you know it...where you can't breathe, it hurts to move your head, and everything tastes like kleenex.  Yep, that's what I call being a death popsicle.  So, unless by some miracle the vitamin C I've been popping like they're candy cures me, I fully expect to make a trip to the doctor for some antibiotics and spend the entire day laying on the couch, drinking fluids and expelling phlegm. 

Stay tuned though, once I'm feeling slightly normal again I've got some exciting posts to share with you all!  Until, I cough and hack up crap in your general direction.  Good day!

Long-Weekend in Instagram

A rare tantrum-free, peaceful moment!

Sporting my new $10 mustard cardigan (that I've been in search of for over a year), just before we left for Thanksgiving lunch at Antoine's parent's house.

After T-giving lunch I went up to change back into my pajamas and found this adorable furrball in our bed.

 Behold my favorite Black Friday purchase! 

 And maybe my second favorite Black Friday purchase, Cheese's new Gumby shirt!

The first cream soda I've had in years!  And it was delicious!  Deliciously bubbly.

 Nothing quite like watching Big Bang Theory with a basset planted on your lap!  Good times!

The Saturday morning sunrise was pretty spectacular!

 Saturday, after a major bout of laziness, I finally managed to put up the tree and stockings.  I love our tree!

 On Sunday my wonderful sis invited us to tea!  She's the best!

My favorite part of Thanksgiving...the leftovers!  YUM!

Call It Renovation

The last month has been a little hectic at work.  And the next couple months year is bound to be even more chaotic and stressful.  But all this stress makes way for some really big improvements to our department, and even my job.  Our department has been around in the library, in one form or another, for about 40 years now.  And in those forty years we've essentially occupied the "basement" of the library, a space originally meant for storage, not for people actually working in it.  And in those forty years the department has seen very little practically no cosmetic attention...until now.  See, a couple months ago the Public Library was awarded a grant to join forces with our existing lab and create a joint lab (that will conserve both the PL and UC collections) in our existing space.  As part of this, UC is funding a much needed and desired renovation and update of the department.  We'll be in the same space we are now, but some major changes are happening and will continue to happen in the next month. 

One example of the major major things going down (quite literally) in the department is that our main storage room is being converted into our Binding packing area (this involved tearing down a wall), so that we can make space for a second Conservation bench area, which we will desperately need after the Public Library folks move in permanently in January! 

 Demolition!  For a couple weeks everything has been covered in plastic and moved to the back of the department so that the wall could come down.  It took two weeks for the wall to come all the way down.

 

After the first week.  Apparently there were more layers to the wall than they were expecting.

And here's what we walked into yesterday morning...no more wall!

Now that the wall is down, the rest of the renovation can continue...tiling, painting, shelves moved out, new furniture, installation of the new bench area, new equipment, two sink installations, cleaning, more painting, picture hanging, etc.  The next month and a half are going to be INSANE, but I think it'll all be worth it...if my boss doesn't lose her mind in the process.  I'll keep you posted!

Weekend in Instagram

Antoine and I had a great weekend.  Friday night was full of errands and pizza.  Saturday we went to the Museum Center (more on that later) and Findlay Market and made chili.  And Sunday, to balance out the weekend, we did absolutely nothing except watch all of Project Runway season 9 and eat peanut butter M&Ms...and some chili!  It was awesome!

 On Friday night, after errands and pizza I made some apple cider.  It turned out pretty well, even though I didn't have cinnamon sticks.  Answer me this, why are cinnamon sticks so flippin' expensive?!

 Part of our errand running included a trip to the new Blue Ash Target where they had a surprising amount of Halloween stuff left...including this super cute dog pirate hat (for like $1) and a shark costume, which unfortunately, Cheese did not want to pose in!

 Holiday grapes!  Guess it's that time of the year.  If you've never had holiday grapes, you gotta try them.  They're a little more expensive than regular grapes, but they are SO worth it!  It's like a sugar explosion from heaven...seriously!

 Also, this weekend marked my very first sale on Etsy! Yay!!  I am so super excited, but unfortunately that means I have to go to that scary dead zone known as the Post Office today to send it off.  Maybe after I sell a couple more I can finally make nice with the Post Office and we can be best friends...but for right now, it remains a confusing and terrifying place for me!

 Part of our errand running on Friday included picking up a new heated blanket for the couch.  And on Saturday morning, Cheesy discovered that he had a new best friend in the heated blanket.  Love at first cuddle.

After spending the Saturday morning and early afternoon at the Cincinnati Museum Center and Findlay Market, Antoine and I decided it was the perfect day to take Cheese to the dog park.  It was sunny and the weather was lovely...and the dog park was jumpin'!  

This is his "post-dog park bliss/exhaustion" face.

Saturday night Antoine whipped up a batch of delicious turkey chili, which we enjoyed Sunday for lunch during our Project Runway marathon.  I made a batch of easy cheddar drop biscuits that went along perfectly with the chili.  One guess what I'm having for lunch today!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!?  And for all of you Ohio folks, I hope you're planning a trip to the polls tomorrow to vote!  Remember to vote NO on Issue 2; it directly affects me and my job!!

Weekend in Instagram...

 ...when your best friend in the world comes to visit (aka my HLP), all the way from Cleveland.

 The pre-arrival of said HLP will look something like this:  pajamas, Basset Hound snuggling, and How I Met Your Mother watching...

After around 9pm, your best friend will arrive and there will be much jubilation...namely from the previously zonked-out Basset Hound.

Since the boyfriend will be watching the world series on the living room tv, you will tell your best friend that you two will be resuming your four year long Dr. Quinn marathon upstairs in your bedroom.  However, your relatively low-lit bedside lamps and the wine on either night stand will set a strangely romantic mood that you will point out to the boyfriend when you say, "It looks like I'm trying to get lucky with Amanda".  But your HLP, being awesome, will laugh and you will proceed cross two more horrific DQ episodes (we're on the last season...and it's not pretty!  Well, except for Sully....Sully is pretty!) off the list.

 Oh, and Gui will snuggle right in between you and said HLP during the DQ marathon and wine drinking in bed.

 The next day you will go to the Halloween tea at your sister's tea house.  Your HLP will look adorable in her cowgirl outfit and at the very last minute you will put together a costume after much nagging from your sister (I love you Michelle!).  Having had brie and baguette earlier in the week and deciding you love French people mainly only because they invented these two wonderful things...you decide to honor them by going to tea as a French person.  Complete with permanent marker stache!

After tea there will be some unsuccessful shopping for an electric blanket, because the boyfriend and HLP are babies and you refuse to turn on the heat in your house.  Then, you and your HLP will stuff your faces full of glorious cheese fries from PRC.  Then you will both, being nearly comatose, cover yourselves with many blankets and watch How I Met Your Mother until dinner time rolls around.

 

 During this time, Cheese will fall asleep on your lap and look completely adorable, as per usual.

 The next day, before lunch, you and the HLP will take a little itty-bitty walk around Eden Park where trees appear to be on fire!

And spider webs are filled with little rain droplets instead of spiders.

Then, after a delicious lunch at Ambar your one and only HLP will make her way back to that far far land to the north and you and the Basset Hound will proceed to mope...

The End

I had a fantastic weekend full of good friend-time and too much delicious food!  I hope that you all had a equally wonderful Halloween weekend.  Stay tuned tomorrow as the beginning of November brings NaBloPoMo where I will blog EVERY-FLIPPIN'-DAY!  Eek!

What I Did This Weekend...

• Made fruit pizza for the first time:

 mini fruit pizzas

YUM!

• Shot a bow and arrow for the first time:

• Snapped an arrow in half by ricocheting it off a tree (who knew that was possible)
• Saw my HLP
• Ate delicious grilled cheese (the Parmageddon rocked my world!)
• Became engrossed by a teeny-tiny one-legged grasshopper, who I didn't name but I should have

•  Drank too much on Saturday, but didn't get drunk (7 beers over the span of 10 hours)
• Played the game "Spoons" with a bunch of pre-teen second cousins...and kicked their asses!!
• Took more pictures of flowers:

• Played in the creek by my uncle's house
• Found a skull (complete with jawbone) of what seems to be a raccoon
• Took said skull home, even after Antoine called me a weirdo
• Witnessed a bunch of relatives getting trashed, and a certain one (one of the three pictured below) fall down:

• After Antoine shot a gun for the first time, with my uncle...I told him REPEATEDLY that he cannot get a gun because I hate guns!!  (Are you listening Tran?)
• Laughed out loud at the exhausted faces Cheese was making on the way back to Cincinnati after spending the weekend playing with a 8 month old Great Dane puppy:
  
  
   
  
  

• Tried my best to convince Antoine to play hookie this week from work/consulting and stay home with me.  Sadly, it didn't work :(

The Monuments

 Tuesday, after I was dismissed from my workshop at LoC, Antoine and I decided to spend the evening touring the monuments on the National Mall.  We planned to make our way from the Smithsonian Metro station to the Washington monument, the World War II memorial, Vietnam Veterans memorial, the Lincoln memorial, the Korean War Veterans memorial, the FDR memorial and the Jefferson memorial.  The latter two were the ones I was most interested in seeing...since I hadn't ever seen them up close before.  Unfortunately, by the time we made it to the Lincoln memorial we were soaked with sweat and drained of all our energy.  We were able to see the Korean War memorial, but didn't have the energy to walk around the tidal basin to the FDR or Jefferson memorials.  I guess that just means we'll have to go back to DC sometime in the future...when it's not over 100 degrees outside!

 Washington Monument

 World War II Memorial, the newest of all the memorials and monuments (however, come August 28th, the MLK Memorial will be the newest addition)

 

 There are two larger pillars/arches on either side of the fountain, one says "Pacific" and the other "Atlantic"...depicting the two theatres of the war.  Each of the smaller surrounding pillars has the name of either a state, territory or district that participated in the war and a wreath above the inscription.

 Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Statue just outside of the the Vietnam memorial

 Sadly, the reflecting pool that sits between the World War II and the Lincoln memorials was under construction and completely drained and dug up.  Antoine was a little bummed, since he had never seen it in person and it is just a prominent and infamous part of the Mall.  Still, the Lincoln memorial was hopping with people.

 The Korean War Veterans Memorial is probably my favorite of all the memorials.  I think it's the most emotional, with it's platoon of statue soldiers in full gear, making their way across the memorial.  This monument gives all Korean War Veterans and lost soldiers a face, which I find moving.  I remember when I visited DC in the 7th grade on a class trip, this was the memorial that stood out to me the most...and it still does.