Puppy video!

The breeder just sent me this:

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd302/aspenelk/Dixieskidssummer2009/12%20weeks/?action=view&current=SANY0037.flv

How cute is he!?!?

Add Radio to the Resume!

Just kidding... I got a call from Alane at Wings4Women -- she has had a bit of a voice challenge lately and needed my voice! She also thought it would be good practice for me to get used to talking about the ministry and her vision.

Check it out here:

http://www.castlerockradio.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=47571

Go down to the bottom left of the page, and click on "Her Freedom" for 10/14 (I had to click on the upward arrow to get it to work). It will load in a new page where you can listen to the entire broadcast. It's about an hour long.

Hopefully I'll have a photo soon!

Still Premature...

Trying not to get my hopes up too much here... but I had to share :) Talked with a breeder in Denver, and she has several boys she wants to sell. One of 2 situations will happen. 1- She has one puppy who has a "cosmetic" issue that would prevent her from showing him in competitions. She's giving it a week or two to find out if the "issue" will correct itself. If there is no change, the puppy is ours, can't be shown. If there is the change she wants, she will want us to let her show the dog. It wouldn't be too much on our part- just using a soft leash so we don't break the fur around his neck. The "issue" in question has to do with his male parts, so nothing that would affect him or his life. Just a cosmetic thing that judges get picky about. Keep your fingers crossed! We are too excited not to get one!!

(This image was from the breeder. She sent some super cute video too)

We decided on this breed because it's a middle of the way between a shepherd and a cocker. It's smaller, but still a medium-large dog. Males get up to 60 lbs, not as big as shepherds. It's less high-strung than herders, but still smart as all getout. A great compromise. Mr. L can take the puppy to PT in the mornings, and to his office sometimes- great opportunity for socalization. And we fall guilty of being couch potatoes in a gorgeous place like this, so a dog who needs exercise will force us to get off our bums and go hiking or walking or whathaveyou. I'm so excited... I hope we find one!

We will know in a few weeks.

Premature...

Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Norwegian_Elkhound_1.jpg


Yep. I was definitely premature in my grumblings about coldness. It was 21 degrees today! Snow all day long... flurries mostly and lots of ice. Like so bad it was freezing on my windshield! While I was driving! Good news is that I went to a Women's Expo and made a few really good local contacts for personal and professional purposes. Pumped! Oh and I made some yummy Queso dip for Mr. L in the Crock Pot for the Michigan game :) Staying cozy tonight...
On another (premature) note, we could have a dog soon maybe? We are still in the great debate on breeds. Of course I want a German Shepherd, but Mr. L has is heart set on an English Cocker Spaniel. So maybe an Elkhound is a good compromise? It's a medium sized dog but still formidable enough to make me feel safe at home... They're high energy but I think we're up for it. Thoughts anyone?

Kitchen Pics!

My favorite feature-- our 3 sided Fireplace :)
The corner with the magic machine (aka the KitchenAid)
Oven wall
Full shot
My island will go on the bamboo carpet on the floor... once we get it ordered :)
It's a bit messy, but this is pretty much how it looks all the time, so I thought it'd be ok. I'll make it pretty once the island is in :)
The fabulous curtains thanks to Mrs. S :)

Wings for Women

This post will be a plug for a ministry I'm so excited about. And it won't be the last one! It's called Wings for Women, a ministry for military spouses by military spouses. Wings puts on conferences to help wives support their military men through deployments, moves, single-parenting, budgets, PTSD and other combat related trauma, stress management, etc. The conferences provide spouses with resources, encouragement, advice, tools, and mentorship to make their marriages better and help equip them to thrive instead of just survive the military lifestyle.
This group is on fire! And they need help. If any of my readers know of businesses or individuals with a heart for the military and could pass on any potential donors or referrals for potential donors, please email me at showkerj@gmail.com. Wings operates currently in the Colorado Springs area, but has a vision of expanding to major military towns throughout the country.

Check out Wings' website here:

wings4women.wordpress.com

Unbelieveably good.

Ok. I stumbled across this recipe: http://noshwithme.com/2009/01/brown-sugar-cookies/

I thought, sounds good. Yummy fall brown sugary goodness. Boy is that the truth! These cookies are SUPER easy to make and fantastic. I made them to take to the flag football boys tonight. They have a double header, so I thought they could use some cookies :)
For those of you who've had my molasses spice cookies at Christmas, these are pretty close. Minus the deep-ness of the molasses and ginger. These are basically sugar cookies with that touch of spice from the brown sugar. Great for fall but not so festive they cross into the holidays.
OH and the KitchenAid was fab. Yet again. Love that thing!!

White Lightening

Mr. L would like me to post an amendment to my previous post. He requests that I elaborate on his excellent football skills and "white lightening" speed. How could I have forgotten it! He was pretty amazing out there... He has one proud wifey!

Cold!

Image source: http://webapp.utexas.edu/b2e/blogs/media/blogs/renee/MN013_ABOMINABLE_SNOWMAN.jpg

Ok so not quite that cold. But I felt like it! Mr. L had a flag football game tonight (which they won...!) and the temperature outside was 54, but on Accuweather, the "feels like" was 35. Cold! And windy! Gotta love Colorado...

Painting Part 2

Here's the first phase of the project :) You can see the khaki walls and green accent wall behind the bed. The bedding was a score- we put it on our registry when we first created it, then it was discontinued online. So I switched it all out to something in the same color family. But we totally lucked out today at 2 different Bed, Bath, and Beyonds. The only thing we are missing is the standard shams. I have Mrs. S looking for them back home, and the associate said they had lots of them in the system, so we should be able to find some. I'm pumped. Next post will show the furniture we found to complete the room.

Pizza!

So this mixer is my new favorite... I made pizza this Thursday and it's my friend Autumn's recipe- makes 3 balls of dough for 3 pizzas. We've had 2 of them so far and they are oh-so good :) Hopefully I'll be a busy baker! I have lots of ideas!

Painting!

Mr. and Mrs. L have been busy bees! We have half of our master bedroom painted as of today. I primed it yesterday afternoon while Mr. L was at work, and we did 2 walls today. The other 2 are adjacent to our accent wall in a different color, so we have to let that dry before we tape it off to paint the other two the different color. I'm so pumped about the colors- I'll be posting pictures tomorrow hopefully, and then I'll post more of the finished product (aka furniture FINALLY moved in and clothes off the floor...) There's a store in town called American Furniture Warehouse where I found some night stands... hopefully we'll have those soon too.
That's all for now... yay for an exciting Saturday :)

I Did It!

Image source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3180985771_ebc12c2e45.jpg

So. I finally made it off the couch, into the car, and around town. I left home around 1:30 and didn't come back until 4! I left with the intent to spend my Pier 1 gift cards from the wedding, but promptly left home without them. So I stopped by Goodwill to drop off some of Mr. L's bachelor-pad furnishings (aka yucky dishes and pans), and headed North to search for Hobby Lobby. I pull in and it's gone, so I turn to the Garmin and find another one. Let me just say it's my new favorite store!! The only thing we had in town at home was Michaels, which is nice, but Hobby Lobby is like Michaels on Steroids! I didn't find what I was looking for so I came out empty handed, but I probably spent an hour in there walking around wide-eyed! From there it was a stop at Starbucks near where I may be working some for Mr. H, and back home to start dinner. Not all that big of a deal, but I was THRILLED that I finally got myself out of the house to go someplace other than the grocery store.
Now I just need to find a gym... I can't find one that has Les Mills classes or anything near the equivalent, so that could take some time. And some free 7-day passes :)

Need Opinions

SO here's the Art project. Old Farmhouse windowpane. Check. Vinyl decals of cute birds. Check. Dilemma: how to make the back of it brown. Originally I wanted to paint a brown square on the wall. But I think making this thing brown on its own will be easier. And more transportable. My best two options are 1- Paint the glass brown, or 2- Staple-gun brown fabric on the back of the frame. Which do you think will work better?
I put the brown curtain behind it to show what I'm trying to go for. Thanks for the input!

Dad's Pics

I just saw that Dad compiled a page with all the pictures we've gotten in so far... Here it is!

http://web.me.com/smugjoe/LucasWedding/A_Fairy_Tale_Day.html

Funny

Seriously. This made me giggle. I don't care who you are, that's funny. Thanks to Z for the Monday email :)

Pumped!

I just got off the phone with Holly's Dad, Mr. H, who owns a super successful salon and runs a real estate business here in town. We bought our house from him and have a great relationship, seeing as he's Holly's Papa-Dukes :) Anyway, we chatted before the wedding about him hiring me to do some part-time contract-type work for both his businesses. He needs help with his property management and also at the Spa for some marketing work and a little bit of help with hours. SO I'm pumped because I'm meeting with he and Mrs. H tomorrow morning to talk about the job specifics, pay, etc. and I'll probably get started next week.
The other reason for my pumped-ness is that the other job I'm looking at will probably start next week as well. My boss is the owner/president/however you want to say it of a startup non-profit for military wives. She needs help with fundraising and some other things and I can't wait to get started!
And lastly, I'm excited because I opened up our Kitchen Aid Mixer last night. I'm going to be a baking fiend. Anybody have a good recipe for a multigrain bread? I'm making my friend Autumn's Pizza recipe, which is out of this world, sometime this week. Pics are sure to follow!

Spinach Artichoke Cheesy Tortilini

Ok I promise I won't blog about every meal I make. But this was especially for Z to see the Blue Ridge Pottery Bowls from she and Howard. Aren't they cute!?! You can't see the mountains in the bottom of the big bowl, but you can see them in the small plate.
I served the Tortellini in the large bowl, and we dipped some olive oil in the small plate. It was a recipe out of the Rachael Ray cookbook-- totally yumm-o :) The description says "If you like the Spinach-Artichoke dip from restaurants, you'll LOVE this." It was so true.

AND on another note, it was 87 degrees here today. And it snowed last week. And we froze in the mountains. Crazy Colorado weather!! No wonder I have a cold and am losing my voice...

Pineapple

This is Mrs. L enjoying some pineapple at breakfast on our last morning at Beaver Creek. For those of you who know about "Pineapple," it was fantastic all weekend. :)

P.S.

P.S.

Mr. L would like me to remind you that the previous post was 100% his idea. And I'm ok with giving him credit.

Let it also be known we had some other spectacular feasting. We had Elk and Lobster at Splendido at the Chateau, amazing (and free) breakfasts at the Park Hayatt, all-you-can-eat steaks at the Minturn Country Club. At this place, you pick your own meat and then grill it yourself. Pretty cool-- you stand around and talk to the other guests grilling as well and talk about your adventures of the day. And we also had a tasty dinner of crackled-skin duck and hazlenut crusted trout.
The other thing about the "off" season of fall and spring at these major resorts are the deals you can find on food. We didn't pay full price on anything. Every restaurant ran specials and %'s off meals. We didn't eat a bad thing the whole trip.