A Happy Puppy...

Blue's favorite new part of the house is the rug that was left behind in the living room. We haven't replaced it with one of our own yet, but Blue doesn't know the difference. All he knows is that he now has a great place to chew on all his bones.

Of course, he got very confused when I lined them up for a picture, but he quickly got over it!

Floss

What happens when you but a home where the previous two owners were dentists? You get a mile of free floss delivered by UPS that can't be returned or forwarded. Here's to good teeth and never buying floss again!

Dog Days of Spring

Yes, I know that saying is the Dog Days of Summer, but I live in Georgia. Summer weather starts early, and I've been having to remind myself for weeks that it's still spring. I love it. While I am not a fan of the pollen or the two times it has snowed since moving here almost two years ago, I definitely am grateful I moved here.

A few great reasons to live in the South:

1. I can start wearing shorts in March.

2. I have a reason to own so many flipflops.

3. Local produce shows up much earlier in the year.

4. There are so many fun things to do with dogs!

I am loving exploring our new town with great friends. A couple weekends ago, Devin, Blue, and I went to the canal for a five mile walk/play date. Blue loved hanging out with Charlie (the Great Dane) and Jackson (the Boxer). Of course, Devin had fun talking med school with Justin, while Sheena, Ashley, and I had plenty of girl talk. Also, Blue learned how to swim, which was so fun to watch! I'm looking forward to a lot more fun over the rest of this nice long summer!

My adorable puppy showing off his new skills.

Yay for tired, happy puppies at the end of a long walk!

Anniversary

On December 17, 2008, Devin and I took our first trip to Helen, GA. At 4:47 that afternoon, Devin proposed to me, and of course I said yes! Moments before he proposed, we took this picture of ourselves...

On May 2, 2009 at 2:00pm, Devin and I were married in the Atlanta, GA temple. It was such an amazing, happy day. This is one of my favorite pictures from that day.

This past weekend, we went out of town to celebrate our one year anniversary. I knew we were going somewhere, but Devin kept it a secret until we hit the highway just where we were going. He planned a trip for us back through memory lane. This involved passing through Athens, where we stopped for dinner at one of our favorite restraunts, Cali-n-titos. Then, we went through Commerce, GA and spent some time at Funopolis where we had gone on one of our first dates. Then, we continued on to Helen, GA for a two nights. We shopped, ate, mini golfed, and enjoyed the break from our stressful lives. We also hiked through a misty rain back up to Anna Ruby Falls where we got engaged.

This past year has been such an amazing year. I had looked forward to being married to Devin, but I never really knew how much I would enjoy married life. I realize now that it is the little moments I love. It's the times when I roll over in my sleep and remember he is there or watching him make goofy faces and laugh with me. I love eating dinner together and praying together and dancing together and even paying bills together. Thank you, Babe, for this wonderful year!

Life is...

...buying a house.
...having said home buying be delayed 5 days.
...enjoying 2 weeks of a new workout routine.
...watching your dog get sad you leave him to go work out.
...looking forward to Wednesday TV night with my Babe.
...realizing our Wednesday show has moved back an hour.
...finding all your favorite fruits on sale.
...acknowleding you can't eat every sale fruit in one week.
...full of suprises but a fun adventure every step of the way.

St. Patty's Day

Today my google reader was full of everyone sharing their pictures and stories at work about St. Patrick's day. It seems like everyone had something creative, exciting, or unique to do for the day. And, our staff luncheon discussion focused for some time around corned beef and cabbage. With the maiden name of McCollum, this had always been a big holiday. I wore green to avoid pinches as I am Irish. I had a visiting teacher who referred to me as "the Irish lass" for the whole day in middle school. I too ate corned beef and cabbage. Now, though, my last name is Stephens, which is English. And, no one knew yesterday that I could be pinched for not wearing green. And, I much prefer to wear the color blue. So, yesterday, for the first time ever, I chose to do nothing for the holiday. Well, almost nothing. I put a green hairband on my wrist just in case...

Alphabet Soup

Right now, I am swimming in letters. I am studying to take my ASWB Exam to get my LMSW. And I am tired of selecting A, B, C, or D as I do my practice questions. Then, there is the 60 page list of acronyms that could be relevant to social work practice included with my study materials. I must not confuse the CDI with the BDI. I must know that DBT is used with people who are diagnosed with BPD. I am also spending plenty of time reviewing my copy of the DSM IV-TR. And, I am going through all of this just to take my exam and then begin collecting CEUs. The scrambled letters seem like enough to make just about anyone dizzy. I am definitely ready for this exam to be over soon.