Sangre...

We broke open one of the bottles of wine that we brought back from Spain tonight. Sangre de Toro. Which means 'blood of the bull'. Despite the icky name, the wine is fabulous. Kev was hesitant to open it. Like all other aspects of our relationship, he's a saver... I'm not so much. I'm more the 'Carpe Diem' type.

I convinced him that there's reason for celebration. I got accepted into Wendy Schulz's Advanced Photography class, set to begin in February. I certainly don't feel 'advanced', but I'm looking forward to being challenged. Wendy is one of my favorite child photographer's, her work is nothing less than amazing. I can't wait for the class.

I'm still waiting for my new computer. In the meantime we've had to completely delete Photoshop due to computer issues. So these photos are basically SOOC. I'm trying out larger photos for the blog, instead of the medium-sized that I used to use... Thoughts?


And what happens after a little too much Sangre...

BIG NEWS!

We are now homeowners! Almost. Settlement isn't until October 15th, but we had the home inspection yesterday and everything went well so it should be smooth sailing until we sign the papers. ::: fingers crossed ::: We are thrilled and can't wait to move into our first home. This has been a long time coming. We started house hunting in December, some times more actively than others since we spent the beginning of the year more focused on the wedding. This place just fits us perfectly... I can already envision us spending many summer evenings enjoying dinner on the deck and many winter nights cuddled up in front of the fireplace.

Our new house is a 3 bedroom, 2½ bath townhouse in Schwenksville. It's about half way between both of our jobs, and my commute will no longer involve the PA turnpike so that's a blessing in itself. It's less than 5 minutes from Spring Mountain ski lodge, which means that Kev will inevitably have to teach me to snowboard this year. Should be interesting, hehe. And it's within walking distance to the Perkiomen trail, which will be great for biking and I'm sure the Chloemontster will love walks there. So here's a few photos of our little love nest. Most are from the listing so I can't speak for the quality but it gives you an idea... More to come in 2 months!

On strike...

Photoshop is officially on strike. Our computer is so royally messed up that I cannot do any editing. It's frustrating, to say the least. I'm going to see what I can do to remedy the situation this weekend, as I know that Krista is patiently waiting to see her photos from last weekend.

But, in better news...

My iMAC is on it's way. Well, not yet. But it's ordered. I cannot wait! They quote 4 to 6 weeks until it will ship. Isn't that cruel?

Just one...

I got together with my friend Krista and her boys yesterday. I wanted to edit all the photos last night so I could get them up since I haven't been posting much recently. But, predictably, the computer started to rebel. So I only had the patience to do one... a sneak peak! Mac is calling my name...

I had so much fun with you guys, like always! =) Thank you for lending me your adorable little models. I hope you had a good evening and that Judy had a fabulous birthday dinner...

More pups...

Ok, I lied about there being something other than dogs posted. But sometime within the next few days there will be some real life humans on my blog. This time I'm serious...

Here's my parent's older pug, Harley. He's 13. But still cute in his own deaf, toothless kind of way...


And we all know this irresistible mug...

Pugs and obesity....

Can you tell that I'm desperate for subjects? This is my one of my parent's pugs... Angel. She weighs in at a whopping 35 lbs. A little overweight. hehe. Adorable, nonetheless. And I have to give her credit for always keeping such a sweet, calm temperament... even when Chloe is biting her face. Yes, Chloe has aggression issues.

I swear, I will post some non-hairy subjects as soon as I can!

Chloe...

Who can resist this sweet face? I love her to pieces... Even when she talks back, like this. Chloe has quite the attitude and she doesn't hesitate to let us know when she's not happy. Her ears still make me giggle. Although they're still kind of big, when she was little they were hugely disproportionate to her body. Adorable. I'll have to find some photos of it.

Random photos...

One of the flowers that Kev got me for our six monthiversary...

My little sister. I love this shot of her because she never ever smiles in photos. This one feels so genuinely her...

My handsome husband, cooperating for all of ONE photo... And the Chloemonster. I don't know why we still insist on buying her toys... She's obviously much more smitten with the apples that she finds in the backyard...

Technical Difficulties...

I haven't been posting much recently due to some technical difficulties that we've been having with our PC. I haven't even been able to look at my new photos. I'm half tempted to make the switch to the dark side and purchase a Mac... but the thought of change terrifies me, plus we'd then have to buy new Mac compatible software. This new hobby can be quite costly! So I think for now I will try to reinstall Photoshop and hope for the best...

Half of a whole year...

That's how long we've been married. Plus one day because I didn't post this yesterday. Yesterday was our 6-monthiversary and like every month, I'm amazed that this much time has passed this quickly. Isn't it crazy how the whole concept of time changes as you age? It seems like time just flies by these days. How is it that as a child it seems like you're constantly waiting for the last day of school, the weeks before your birthday go by in slow motion, and the entire month of December is torturously unending?

6 months. As I explained to Kev yesterday, that's half of a whole year. He giggled. I adore that giggle. He succumbed to the pressure of monthiversary celebrations and surprised me with some beautiful flowers (photos to come!) and an anniversary card. Apparently Hallmark hasn't been made aware that there's a market for 'monthiversary' cards. We went out to a fabulous dinner at our favorite hole-in-the-wall steak place and then topped off the evening with some wine and Big Brother watching. It was so perfect to just be able to relax with my husband after all the busyness recently. And it still makes me smile at my desk each time I get to type husband. Especially in italics.

A friend of mine, Sarita, featured our big day on her wedding blog yesterday which was quite an honor. Check us out...

Sunflower Celebrations: Laughter & Love

Wine and Crime...

We've all heard of the alleged health benefits to drinking red wine, such as lowering the risk of heart disease. But I have recently stumbled upon what appears to be yet another positive aspect of wine drinking. Check out this chart, which shows an inverse relationship between wine consumption and violent crime.

The chart is from a new site called Swivel, which is trying to be a “YouTube for data”. Commentors are quick to point out that correlation is not causation. The top theory on wine-crime relationship so far is that an aging population (which we have I suppose) would be more interested in drinking wine than committing crime. Maybe. Wine does have a “civilized” connotation in US society. Are we becoming more civilized?
from 'Winelog'

Conclusion: Drink more wine, have less crime!