previously on "lost"...

So...I've been a bad blogger.

And I could use the (poor) excuse that my OTHER blog has been keeping me busy, but the truth is that I haven't been doing too well with that one either recently.

Apparently I've just been busy!

And that sounds weird to say, because whenever people ask me how things are going, or what's new, I literally have nothing to report. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't big things on the horizon, both near and far. It's just that I can't talk about those things yet.

Oooh...now are you curious?

But since I last blogged, there ARE a few things I can talk about that are new in my life. So here they are...

First of all, my older sister is getting married! So surreal. I don't know why; she's been talking about getting married for a long time, but now that there's a ring on her finger and pictures of white dresses showing up in text messages on my phone, it just seems so weird! Not in a bad way, just in the way that it doesn't quite seem real even though all the tangible evidence is starting to appear.

And as happy and excited as I am for my sister, let me just quickly take a trip to Single-Town and say, what is the DEAL with all the engagements and weddings lately? Of course every year there's a flock of girls I know from high school or college or even work getting married, but this year it seems like more than usual. Maybe it's because it's people closer to me...roommates and family members...or maybe it's because many of these weddings are for friends who are younger than me, but not younger in the sense that I'm saying, "Oh no, they're WAY too young to get married." They're at a totally acceptable age to get married. It's just that they're younger than me and that somehow feels weird.

And I don't mean this to sound bitter about the fact that I am leagues away from getting married. I really don't mind a bit. It's just that I feel like EVERYONE is getting married this year! I don't know...

Anyway, in other news, Lola is doing great. Actually, my blog was featured yesterday in our local paper, and they printed my last post, which was about getting Lola and that made me proud. She's come a long way and gotten bigger, but not too big :) We're still working on obedience training, but she's getting better about not chewing or nipping at fingers. She's socializing with other dogs really well, and she's just an all-around sweetheart and cute as a button. A wrinkly, squishy little button.

And recently I've been on a little hiatus from doing any theatre. Mostly because of Lola, but also because this has been the summer of accomplishments and it's been a lot easier to focus on and achieve several goals with more free time on my hands. I've paid off my car, thus freeing up some money from month to month (yay!). I've started eating healthier, which is a bit more expensive but totally worthwhile as I've also lost some weight and just feel generally better about my lifestyle. It's also resulted in my attempting more cooking than usual, with success, I might add! Just last night I broiled salmon for the first time and it was delicious! I also started singing with the praise band at church and that's been fun too and has opened some doors for being able to contribute more around there.

And that's my life recently! More news to come; I promise I won't hold out on you forever.

Until then!

the pug life

So...apparently what happened was, I spent two years whining on my blog about how much I wanted a puppy, and then once I got one it monopolized my time to the point that I couldn't write in my blog about actually HAVING a puppy!

Sorry about that.

But here we go...

Meet Lola!



Lola is about 10 or 11 weeks old at this point. I got her just over a week ago. She is a sweetheart. The first week we spent together was exhausting; not only was I recovering from my latest run with Civic Theatre (which went well, by the way), but I was also finding out that having a puppy means not getting a whole lot of sleep the first few days.

Right off the bat she was great with her house-training, but she did not like being alone AT ALL and would cry all day in her kennel while I tried to sleep. It was really heartbreaking but it was also really disruptive to my REM cycles.

After the first couple of days, however, we started to hit a rhythm and she got more comfortable with being in her kennel. My next task was getting her to eat. She was always more concerned with where I was and what I was doing than with eating her food, so for a couple of days I had to sit on the floor next to her bowl so she could sit in my lap between bites.

By the end of last week, though, Lola was eating a lot better and staying content in her kennel for longer amounts of time, which meant I got to catch up on some sleep, my other blog, and other random stuff.

This week is off to a good start. Lola is still coming in to work with me at night, but she sleeps through most of it, and everyone at work loves to play with her, which is great! She'll even follow me around at work without a leash (which makes me feel like a proud mama)!

She's teething now, which is really annoying because she wants to chew on my clothes, jewelry, buttons, shoes, and even my fingers! I'm trying to get her to understand that chewing on people is not ok, but she gets so excited that she doesn't seem to pay attention to my scolding. Any helpful tips on this would be greatly appreciated. She also wants to eat EVERYTHING she finds outside...leaves, grass, sticks...you name it, it's in her mouth.

And this week we're working on some simple obedience commands. So far Lola has seemed to have mastered "stay" and "come" (although sometimes I think she's just coming to me because she always wants to be picked up and held). She's doing pretty well on a leash and we've even taken a couple of walks around my apartment complex. Every once in a while she'll stop and tug at her leash, though, so it's kind of slow going there.

Training a puppy is definitely a lesson in patience. But she's just so stinkin' cute that I can't help but love her!

In other news, I'm definitely going to be around here for about another year (until July 2010). So this fall I'm gonna update my resume and start putting out some feelers for new opportunities...hopefully in a place that doesn't have a tornado season.

Finally, this weekend I'm in my first wedding as a bridesmaid! I'll be standing up for Sarah, who was a fellow Purduette as well as a roommate in college. She actually made our dresses, and they turned out really cute! I'll try to take lots of pictures!

OK, that's all for now. Happy Hump Day!