things that have been going down in my little part of the world...

Over the weekend we dogsat for Adam's friend. His dog is a pit bull and before you think he's anything like a normal pit bull, this dog is the biggest sissy in the universe. He takes anxiety meds because he has mega issues with separation. We already had plans to go out to dinner with friends on Friday night but we figured the little guy would be fine for a couple of hours. He has to be zip-tied into his crate because he has figured out a way to get it open and I learned a valuable lesson that night: I don't know how to use zip-ties. Whoops.

We got home from dinner and were greeted by Dodger (the dog) at the door. I immediately started surveying the condo for damage. Finding nothing, I was pretty pleased. We sat down on the couch to unwind before going to bed and we both looked at the center window in the living room and wondered why the shade was open. But it wasn't open, it was completely and totally destroyed. I think Dodger may have eaten half of it. But all that was left was the housing that was still drilled into the wall and the two strings that used to hold all of the bamboo to the housing. The rest of it was kind of all over the window sill and behind the couch.

All of this ended up being fine, if a $12.99 shade from Target was all that happened, I'm pretty pleased! I needed to get behind the couch and sweep up anyway, I don't think our cleaning lady that deep cleans this place (because seriously, I have no room to store more than the absolute basic cleaning products) ever goes behind there. And also, we have a floor lamp that I recently broke the string that turns it on and off. At first there was just enough string left that you could fight with it to turn it on but eventually even that got sucked into the base and we were left with having to crawl over the couch and reach into the inch or two of space to plug it in and unplug it to turn it on and off. Not very functional and I think that Dodger may have done something to the lamp too because it the shade wouldn't stay on all the way. Thanks, boy. I needed to get rid of that $10 piece of IKEA crap anyway.

I've been meaning to de-maroon-and-orangify the living room since I moved in but this gave me the jumpstart I needed. Well that and the huge Target gift card that my dear friend Amy sent me over the weekend. I don't think she ever reads my blog but if you do, thanks so much! I'm not sure if we've gone over it but Adam has a little bit of an obsession with Virginia Tech, which is a lovely school with absolutely hideous school colors. Maybe it's because I come from a place (the promised land as I've become so fond of calling it lately) where orange and maroon don't mix (University of Texas vs. Texas A&M) but I have a real problem accepting that color combo all over my entire home. Before you think I'm a total hater, I'm actually in the process of turning our guest room into a maroon and orange mecca, but it's long been a goal of mine to tone down the living room. When I moved in, the place had a VT football jersey framed on the wall, a framed collage of VT stuff from the Sugar Bowl, a huge orange couch and ottoman and a downright disgusting orange, maroon and khaki rug. Where he found that nasty rug, I'll never know.

After my makeover, we have a lamp that is chocolate brown, blue and green, a couple of blue and brown couch pillows and a green throw blanket. Next Monday on my weekly-spend-way-too-much-at-Target expedition, I'll get a rug that will tie it all together. They had some really great rugs today but I figured I'd be nice and get the man's opinion on design and price point because they have quite a few different options with my color scheme. Even the small changes I've already made excite me greatly and I can't wait to see the new rug. I've entitled this my evil make-over project because I didn't really tell Adam before my Target run today what I was doing. Oh well, I'm making Rice Krispie Treats so hopefully he won't be too mad. He is colorblind after all so how much of a difference could it possibly make? (and I totally believe that the fact that he's colorblind is what has allowed him to believe that maroon and orange is an acceptable color combination all these years)

As I just mentioned, I have decided to embrace fall and start cooking some fun fall foods. I made the Pioneer Woman's version of Chex Mix today with a few differences: I use olive oil instead of butter, Cheez-Its instead of mixed nuts and Frank's Red Hot instead of Tabasco. The smell of it baking has completely taken over the house. I think about $35 of my Target bill this afternoon was solely in the purchase of cereals since I also had to get Rice Krispies for the aforementioned Treats. I woke up with those two foods in my mind and knew I had to make them today. Yummy.

I think our photographer is working on our engagement photos because one of them was previewed on his blog today... www.stevekoophotography.com and in the post called "There's Some Good Stuff Coming... we are one of the nine photos. I can't wait to see the rest.

And another aside, I'm thinking about changing the title and format of the blog. I feel kind of strange now because I'm definitely taking a long break from running to let my IT band heal and although I have other physical goals they aren't related to running right now. I'm playing with several ideas in my head so look forward to some differences around here soon.

Happy Monday!