Has it really been almost a month since I’ve blogged?  Life’s gotten away from me very quickly - both in a good and bad way.  First things first, we’re back from Michigan and in the new house - eep!  Secondly, my sister is engaged and getting married next summer!

Visiting all the dog parks on the road

In mid-August, we spent almost 40 hours in the truck, driving to Michigan with Bowie to visit Bryan’s family and friends.  On the way up, we drove through Nashville where we stopped over and visited one of Bryan’s friends from high school.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend any time in the city, but Bowie ran around the yard with his friend’s Pomeranian puppy and redbone coonhound.  Bryan’s friend took us to a creek by their house and the dogs got muddy swimming in the slow flowing waters.  Turns out mosquitoes, a mess of dogs, and slow living would end up being the theme of our summer vacation.

The Big House

The second driving day, we went through Ann Arbor where I went to one of my favourite stationery shops and we took the obligatory picture in front of the Big House.  All of Bryan’s family members are Michigan fans except for him (Michigan State fan).  We visited the famous Zingerman’s bakery while we were there and picked up three loaves of freshly baked bread to bring home to his parents.  His mom hosted a family reunion picnic the next day with a lot of members of his extended family, including his grandparents.  They were more than happy to show up to see Bryan, who they don’t get to see very often.  Bowie and Coda, his parents’ dog, got along really well, when they weren’t wrestling around on the lawn.  She showed him her favourite hiding spots and how to blind retrieve training dummies.

Small town Michigan, which surprisingly had a boba tea shop??

Family selfie using the selfie stick

For the second half of the trip, we drove across the state to visit his brother and sister-in-law at their new house.  Their home and big red barn sits on three acres between two farm fields.  Bowie met his dog cousin Ruger and they immediately started stealing sticks from each other and running through the long grass together.  The first night there, we had a big bonfire and ended up putting an end to the brush pile they’d been building up as well as some of the old furniture that came with the house that they bought.  Apparently fires are a popular method of trash disposal in the country.  Even though we were country-living at both homes, we never ran out of things to do and most of our time was spent catching up with family.  The dogs probably had the best time of all.  Bowie was wiped out every single night and eager to find his dog friends the next morning.

Backyard Bonfire

Family time!

The Three Amigos - Ruger, Bowie, and Coda

We split the drive back into two days and ended up back in Dallas on a Saturday afternoon.  We went straight to the new house, got the keys from the realtor there, and started immediately hauling things over from the town home, which is luckily only five minutes away.  The movers came on Sunday and we had practically everything moved by the end of the day.  After getting our belongings situated in the house, it became clear very quickly how much more room we have now.  We have an extra bedroom that we’re making the guest bedroom and another spare bedroom that’s completely empty.  A sectional has been ordered for the family room, and Bryan found a great deal on a grill that we’re picking up this weekend.

Post-Op

Protecting the new house

In the middle of all of this, Bowie got neutered which went just about as well as it could have gone.  His stitches and incision have all healed up and the only thing lingering is fear of the vet’s office.  My sister and her boyfriend - now fiance - also got engaged in Bend, Oregon!  They’re planning a wedding for August 2019, and I’m pleased as punch for the both of them.  He proposed using his great grandmother’s engagement ring, which is beautiful and so achingly sentimental.  Wedding planning is becoming one of my sister’s least favourite things to do but unfortunately comes with the territory if you want to have a wedding. 

Sis and fiance

What’s new with y’all?  I feel like it’s been forever and a day.

A hint as to where we'll be

Because when it rains, it pours.  And also because we’re crazy, we planned a vacation and then threw a new house closing / move into the mix.

Before we move into the new house (and literally right before), we are heading up north to visit Bryan’s family.  We’re packing up the truck, throwing the dog in the back, and driving the too many hours north for an impromptu family reunion.  There will be something for all of us.  Bowie will get to meet his doggie cousins and his Midwestern family.  I’ll get to take a road trip (my fave) and get away from the heat and the office.  Bryan will get to see his whole family; the last time he saw them all was last summer at his brother’s wedding.

We’ll close on the house while we’re on the road.  And then we’ll come back home to a brand new very empty place.  It’s all happening so quickly yet so slowly at the same time.  This week in the office before vacation has been the looooongest week.  The anticipation is the best part though, right?

Up to this point, I have spent almost half of my life living in apartments.  My very first apartment was as a sophomore in college, living with a childhood friend in Austin, Texas - our inaugural foray into being independent adults.  We moved from our hometown together, her father loading 90% of the U-Haul truck with everything she was bringing down and the sparse 10% that held my mattress, desk, and desk chair.  The apartment was as homey and cozy as two girls with way too many craft supplies could make it.

Fast forward to when I moved to Houston post-college and rented a room in my college classmate's condo.  At this point, my belongings had increased to a bed frame AND mattress, desk, and desk chair - my parents were able to move me down in a minivan.  During those years in Houston as everyone was slowly starting to buy property and accumulate grown up things, I was utterly convinced that I would have to pick up at a moment's notice and move somewhere else in the world. 

I didn't really begin to accumulate "all the stuff" until I moved back to Dallas five years ago and had to fill and furnish my own place.  Throughout all the moves and different locations, home has always been a feeling around a place and about the people that are associated with that place.  An added bonus is knowing the back roads to get around traffic, hidden hole in the wall restaurants and bars, and how to get to the airport(s) without using GPS.  I've looked at real estate in every city I've lived in, plotting the market and watching for gems that turn up, always keeping in the back of my mind whether or not I thought I could actually live in that house / ranch / townhouse.  How close was the property to work / horses?  Did it have a little something special that I all of a sudden couldn't live without?  You all have patiently been along for the ride - oohing and ahhing over the properties that I've shared and chiming in with your own thoughts and opinions.

Although I'm certain I could have timed the market better, I'm currently in the process of buying a house and should be moved in before September!  Both Bryan and I are thrilled about the location as well as the house and not super thrilled about moving or buying appliances and everything else we need to fill it with.  Bowie is clueless (per usual) but is going to love the yard and covered patio.  The house is more than double the amount of space we're living in now, so it'll be quite an adjustment for all of us.  However, it is set up perfectly for entertaining as well as having guests stay with us and I'm more than ready to throw my first house party.

I know I complained about moving last summer but hopefully the move this summer will be the last that I'll be doing for awhile!

There are big changes coming and I promise I'm not holding out on you guys for much longer!  Everyone is well and happy (although tired, which is just the adult state of being) and I hope y'all are enjoying your summer.

It is the hottest that I remember it ever being in a long time.  I’m talking week long temperatures of over 105 degrees.  It’s all anyone can talk about.  Even the dog will run outside for a scant five minutes at a time before he’s begging to be let back into the AC.  To take my mind (and everyone else’s) off of the unbearable heat, here are some of the coolest things about this summer:

Binchotan charcoal face scrub towel


Remember how much crap I gave Bryan’s parents about washing their faces with washcloths?  I’m eating my words now because I found a Japanese face towel that’s been doing wonders for my face this summer.  I’ve always been so lazy about exfoliating, maybe doing it once per calendar quarter.  That is, until I bought this charcoal face towel.  The two sides have different levels of coarseness (usually I’ll use the softer side), and since I’ve been using it, my face has been incredibly clean and clear.  It is much needed with all the sweating that I do during the summer.

Homemade Biscoff ice cream

This is by far the easiest homemade ice cream recipe I’ve ever made.  You don’t need an ice cream maker.  You don’t need eggs (or to separate them).  You do need a mixer (stand or hand, either will do).  The best thing of all is you get to control the cookie to ice cream ratio, which I prefer TONS of cookies in my ice cream.  I’ve only made this ice cream once this summer, which I think exemplifies my extreme level of self control, but I think I’m going to be making another batch this weekend.  The recipe I used is from this link: https://mommyshomecooking.com/how-to-make-eggless-ice-cream/.  Feel free to substitute any kind of cookie that you like.

Shakespeare in the Park

One of the benefits of moving back to a place where you grew up is you can pick up traditions that you had when you were a child.  One of my favourite summertime traditions is Shakespeare in the Park, which is literally a Shakespeare play performed in an outdoor auditorium.  The stage and lights are permanent structures and the audience sits out on the lawn to watch.  I took Bryan for the first time on Bark at the Park night, one of the two nights of the summer when you can bring your dog.  The play that they had put on was The Comedy of Errors, which I wasn’t familiar with but was funny, especially as the production was set in 1970s television land.  We didn’t take Bowie with us but we took a whole bunch of snacks to last us through the play.  However by the end of the night, there were fire ants swarming the beach towel we had brought to sit on.  Since I have an eagle eye for biting insects, we had preemptively rented lawn chairs and sat above the ant melee, saving me a trip to the emergency room, no doubt.  Moral of the story: don't even bother with picnic blankets, just bring chairs.

Drive-In Movie


If you can believe it, this was my first time to a drive-in movie.  We went and saw a double feature of Hotel Transylvania 3 and The Incredibles 2 with what felt / sounded like all of the kids in North Texas.  I’m guessing drive-in movies now are much more advanced than drive-in movies used to be because the concession stand was a full restaurant and bar, with a separate window for sno-cones and cotton candy.  There was a playground, picnic tables, lawn games, and you could even rent a radio and sit outside of your car and watch from the projection house if you wanted.  The movies began at 9 pm, when it got dark, and ended after 1 am.  Since we were watching the kids’ movies, one-third of the cars left after the first movie.  I was pretty much sweating through my clothes at the end of the first feature but we opened the car doors and let the cross breeze cool us down, which is the only way I made it through the second movie.  Bowie fell asleep in the back seat 10 minutes into the first movie, which I’m guessing is how long most of the kids lasted through the movie as well.  I’d really like to go again, maybe when it’s a little cooler and when the sun sets a little earlier.  Have you gone to a drive-in movie before and are there any around where you live?

Selfie Stick

First selfie and the wet spots on my shirt are sweat and dog slobber

When visiting my parents a few weekends ago, my dad surprised me with a selfie stick he ordered off Amazon.  He found it “very useful at the Eagles concert that he and my mom went to” since “his arms are too short to take good selfies.”  Who knew my dad would be the one bringing me up to date on trends, ten years too late?  I’ve used it a few times (inside the house) since then and honestly, I think it works great.  Unless your subject matter keeps wiggling around.  Thanks Dad, I think we'll be taking this one on the road trip with us next month.

What happens when we try to take a family selfie

Poor Bowie had been feeling under the weather last week so off he went to the vet on Friday.  Luckily he did not get diagnosed with giardia, which we thought it might be, but they prescribed him antibiotics for his stomach anyway.  While the vet was doing his exam, he found that Bowie had broken one of his puppy canines at the gum line.  The vet recommended surgery before the tooth abscessed and scheduled it for Monday morning because the office was booked up for dental procedures Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Until now, I was not aware that doggie dental procedures were so popular.  Having been a horse owner for awhile, I’ve had and paid for my share of odd-sounding procedures, but dental surgery on a puppy tooth was a new one that I had to ask Bryan to describe what it would entail and the risks of not undergoing it several times.  Best case scenario, they would be able to pull the broken tooth and root and worst case scenario, they would have to cut into his gums to remove it.  Either way, he would have to be sedated for the procedure.

Bowie must have heard us discussing his upcoming surgical procedure because lo and behold, on Saturday morning, the broken tooth had disappeared from his mouth.  We’re not sure when on Friday it had fallen out, but luckily it did and saved us a bundle on an operation that I still don’t fully understand.  If only medical procedures for people were that easily resolved.  On Sunday, Bowie lost the last of his puppy teeth so fingers crossed for no more broken teeth ever.

Despite the antibiotics on Friday, Bowie’s stomach is still not all better.  I’ll spare you all the gruesome details but let’s just say I had been using over 7 dog poop bags PER DAY.  We started making him his own dog food in the meantime to soothe his stomach - boiled chicken breast, white rice, and pumpkin puree.  He was back to normal on Saturday so we thought we could transition him back to his puppy food on Sunday.  NOPE.  Back to the homemade stuff, at least until he’s off antibiotics.  Did anyone else spend the weekend meal prepping their dog’s food??

This is my life now

It’s been a hot minute since I wrote about Mae and everyone’s been wondering how she’s doing, especially as Bowie has been eating the majority of our time.

Mae has been spending the summer getting fat and sunbleached.  It looks like our mixture of flaxseed, alfalfa hay, grain, and Cool Cals are finally starting to do their work and she is as big, if not bigger than her paddock mate who dwarfed her at the beginning of the year.  In fact, she’s finally filled out enough that we can take her off of Cool Cals (for now).  The rest of the horses in our training program have had some type of ulcer flare up this summer, but Mae’s actually been able to avoid any of that mess - knock on wood.  I still have her on TractGard if anyone is wondering how we keep that under control.

Sadly, I don’t remember the last time I had an actual lesson and I don’t see myself able to squeeze one in in the near future.  My trainer is gives adult lessons on Thursday at 5 pm and my work schedule will not allow for me to duck out that early.  That being said, Mae doesn’t mind.  Her training rides are early in the morning and she still sweats buckets.  I hack out with her two to three times a week in the evenings and she’s quite okay with that schedule.  The training rides have been emphasizing her lateral movement, which has improved dramatically, however she still will try to duck to the inside when she’s tired / lazy.

It’s very nice to have everything calm and quiet on the equine front, although I suspect there are some changes brewing in the forecast.  I continue to (always) look at horse properties and haven’t quite let go of the dream of having all of the animals in one place, however during the 100 degree temps, I’m glad I don’t have to spend my time mucking, feeding, or doing general barn / property maintenance.

Stay cool y’all!