handsome little devil.

we're back from a great weekend in minneapolis and happy to be home with this little man.
check out hunter modeling his new leather collar.

pretty handsome, huh?

we've always had a hard time finding cool collars for our frenchies.

their necks are so thick that the collars with the plastic snaps always seem too bulky.

we prefer the buckle ones, but they're pretty hard to find,

so huntie's been stuck with some pretty lame neckwear over the years.

that is, until now thanks to this etsy seller.

exploring a new city.

Hello from Minneapolis, Minnesota!

We're here getting a glimpse into the new midwestern life of our dear friend Quinnster,

we're gonna watch Matt & Mallary say "I Do" at the Cathedral St. Paul,

and we're gonna hang with Carlye & Jeremy who are flyin' in from Texas!

Lots of good stuff.

Plus it's mine and Ting's first time to Minneapolis which makes it extra exciting.

Have a wonderful weekend.

{image from here}

as you gear up for the weekend...

...keep this in mind.

easy enough, right?

a thousand pounds of cardboard.

When you're building anything from IKEA it feels like you're surrounded by cardboard. Now, imagine building an entire IKEA kitchen - not once... but twice. That's a lot of cardboard.

In 2008, Danny and I bought our current home and completely remodeled it - inside and out. It was down to the concrete, walls were gone, ceilings were raised, the kitchen and bathrooms were totally gutted. When we weighed our options for a new kitchen, we chose to go with an IKEA design. Nothing (besides a totally custom kitchen) could provide the options IKEA could for the money. The self-closing doors, the huge pullout drawers instead of simple shelving, built-in lazy susans, tons of storage and so much more. We really do love our kitchen and its functionality - gotta love the Swedes! In fact, my girlfriend recently talked about IKEA kitchens on her blog.

So after lots of hours at the warehouse and two full truck loads of boxes, we started building the kitchen. I cried - a lot. It was July, we were working on dusty hard floors and there was no air conditioning - again, it was July in Phoenix. You get the picture.

By our side the entire remodel were Danny's parents. Together, we powered through the hundreds of cardboard boxes and in a couple days we had a kitchen.

{bare bones during our remodel}

{danny and his dad making my island}

{all finished}

{we opted for two-toned countertops to add some variety}

{even our farm sink is from IKEA}

{i wanted an island with a built-in wine fridge. Danny and his Dad used IKEA pullouts to design an island. Vicky and I sanded & stained everything farmhouse green, added beadboard and hardware. Voila!}

{our green dining room off the kitchen}

Well, fast-forward to this past weekend. Danny's parents recently bought and renovated a vacation home in Phoenix and decided to go the IKEA route as well. Payback time.

Bright and early Saturday morning, Ting and I headed over to help Vicky & Joe assemble and build their new kitchen. It was much better this time since we all knew what we were doing (could IKEA's instructions be any more vague?) plus we had carpet, cool tile and air conditioning to work in. In less than a weekend they had a 90% completed kitchen (still missing a few parts, sink and new stainless appliances).

Oh! And p.s. another perk about these kitchens is that if you say... have a grease fire and blow up a few of your cabinets... its super easy to replace just the ones you need. Just sayin'.

just a dog.

From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a dog," or "that's a lot of money for just a dog." 

They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a dog." 

Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a dog." 

Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a dog," but I did not once feel slighted. 

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a dog," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a dog" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. 

If you, too, think it's "just a dog," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise." 

"Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. 

"Just a dog" brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person. 

Because of "just a dog", I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. 

So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a dog" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. 

"Just a dog" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. 

I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a dog", but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a man or woman." 

So the next time you hear the phrase "just a dog" just smile... because they "just don't understand." 

--- by Richard Biby 

{miss you sydney}

my technology wish.

I wish that all my emails, push notifications and alerts would talk to each other.

For example, when I get a lovely comment on my Facebook wall, I get a notification to my phone, my email and the little comment thing in Facebook has a red number. Yes yes, I realize that I could change my settings to get notified in only one place, but that's not the point. What I wish is that if I checked one of them, it would tell the rest of my communication channels that I've seen the comment and all the other notifications can go away, be marked as read, etc. Don't you agree?

With technology advancing as fast as it is, it probably won't be long before this dream of mine is a reality. Pretty soon, all of our technological lives will be joined, communicating and one crazy trippy world.

bar seats are the best.

on tuesday afternoon an outlook calendar invite from danny popped up: Postino at 7pm. accept!

we hadn't been to postino together in months which made it extra fun.

 the place was packed but we found a cozy spot at the bar where we stayed for four hours.

it was one of those awesome nights. 

{look at my clean shaven baby face}

p.s. he's growing it back.