So, I am pretty much obsessed with my dog. I love him to pieces. Yesterday many of you may have gotten a "proud mama" text from me when Jasper graduated his "beginner" obedience class. :-) He just did SO well in class. The other dogs didn't even come close to his mad skills lol. Jasper can now sit, go down, walk on a loose leash without pulling, come, stay(not for very long, this class only focused on up to 15second stays), take it, drop it, leave it, shake, spin, and he almost knows roll over. The biggest benefit I have seen though is how well he is interacting with other dogs. :-) I am so proud of my little boy.

Koodos to Lisa at the Petsmart in Summerville for doing such a good job working with both of us. I've gotta admit I wasn't crazy about her after the first class, maybe she wasn't having a good day and so her personality wasn't coming out. I would totally recommend her though! I would do her intermediate class, but she only does daytime classes. I can't decide if I will do a Thursday evening class in Summerville or either a Monday or Tuesday one in Mt. Pleasant.

Here are some picture from his graduation and the ride home. He loves to sit in between me and the drivers side door so he can be touching me, get the AC, and see out the window. :-)

My favorite.

He kept trying to eat his graduation cap lol

His diploma is on our refrigerator. 

I love being a total dork about my dog. People laugh about how much I do for him, I even take him to daycare when I have long days at work, but he will be in my life for the next 10 years or so. I want to make it a good experience for both of us.

My only real complaint about him is that bark. Ugh. Oh man if another dog is around he loses his shit. He has a little growl in his bark so sometimes people think he is aggressive. It is really embarrassing when we are places like Petsmart. At the dog park he never stops barking, but there it is okay it is a DOG park lol. I did have one lady ask me to go to the other side of the park, because the bitch was trying to read a book and my dog was annoying. Come on, why are you in a DOG park if DOGS being DOGS annoy you. Ugh whatever.

I was all set up to have a productive wonderful day. I was going to do a photoshoot with some friends, get my car worked on, go grocery shopping, and you know... those life essentials. Then I wake up to this nasty funk outside. My motivation to be productive has been hit by a semi and left on the side of the road to die. I know I can't be lazy ALL day. There are just some things that HAVE to get done. However I am procrastinating actually DOING these said things by blogging about what I should do and what I am actually going to do. :-)

I was looking for a "rainy day" picture to post since I have no desire to get off my couch and take one myself. I found this. 

I don't want to be creeped on by a dinosaur so I am going to stay inside as much as possible. 

I took the first step of getting my car repaired by posting on one of the navy wives groups about it. Lol. It is a start right? I hear it is better to actually make an appointment for those things anyways. Maybe I will do it on Thursday, my next day off. 

Next on my to do list was to make an eye appointment. I already asked navy wives about this and I am still a little confused about how to do it. This tricare stuff confuses the crap out of me. So, I am going to ask a personal friend about it. Maybe she will help me out. :-)

I need to go grocery shopping. I am afraid I will not be able to avoid this task. We are out of meat for meals and I am out of pasta for nights when Rusty eats on base. But I CAN put it off for a little longer. :-) It is clearly necessary for me to clip coupon from yesterday's paper, before going out. Gotta save that money wherever I can! I lost my coupon book last week and couldn't find it until last night. Gonna have to go through and discard the old coupons first. This may be an intense process. 

Since I have decided to spend most of the day in the house, I am going to have to clean up some. There is no avoiding that. Rusty did so much cleaning this weekend. My work is cut out for me and I don't really have an excuse not to finish. Plus he has two tests this week so I am sure he will appreciate coming home to a clean apartment. It's the little things. :-)

Also in my day I need to head to the mailbox and drop off a netflix DVD. I think I am going to start re-watching all of True Blood so I can get Rusty to watch it with me. The new season is coming out this summer. I can't wait! Then again, I may just buy the seasons used off amazon. They have them for like $20. I looove that show and it may actually be worth the "investment". 

Jasper needs a bath really badly. However, I HATE the idea of giving him one and then watching him prance around in the mud before going potty outside. Ugh. I feel like it is just a lose-lose situation. 

If you made it all the way through this procrastination post, good for you! Major props. Thanks for reading my awkward post about what I may or may not do today. lol And the moral of this story is: go outside on a rainy day and you may be a dinosaur's dinner. kthanksbye.

Last night I gave Jasper a bath. There was no way I was going to let his little sandy self get on our bed, couch, exc. I actually took pictures during the bath this time! I like giving him baths, saves me money getting him professionally groomed.

The "before" picture. He doesn't look as dirty as he actually was. This picture doesn't capture his smell either!

In the bath. Just started getting him wet. 

He looks like a different dog! Haha! 

I wanted another picture. He looks so goofy with those big ol ears!

At this point he has decided the joke is over, and just wants to get out of the tub.

Getting him all soapy! 

Trying to get all the soap off. I promise I didn't just hit him or something to get him to make that pathetic face.

He is wondering when this torture will be over!

Blow drying and brushing him. Look how fluffy!!!

There is my handsome clean boy. 

I am pretty much obsessed with my dog. He is so special to me. :-) I have had him for one month as of today! 

I had such a great day off! I got a few things done and had so much fun with my pup. :-)

I did end up sleeping in after I finished my photo challenge post in the morning. It was some awesome sleep too. As you can tell in the picture in my previous post, jasper even joined me. He was a good buddy. :-)

When I finally got up and moving for the day I took some of Rusty's uniforms to be dry cleaned and then went to the NEX to get some more clothes from work. I ruined one pair of black pants so I was CONSTANTLY washing another pair before each shift. That got old fast. When I was at the NEX I decided to get a big girl wallet. For the past few years I have had one of the pouch wallets that attached to my keys. One of my minor pet peeves at Gloria Jeans is when people hand me waded up money. I realized that I might be one of those people when I use cash places. So I got a new wallet that will make my bills look more presentable. I went with Vera Bradley, because I just couldn't resist! 

After I went on that little errand, I realized that I hadn't eaten much and food seemed like a good idea. I got McDonalds for the first time in MONTHS! I hate that place, but sweet tea sounded like an amazing idea and I didn't want to go home and cook. I broke my no McDonalds rule and got myself a happy meal. :-)

I am so happy that they have gone back to the cute cardboard boxes instead of paper bags.

I got sweet tea squared! :-)

I really don't think this is fair. Some things in life should be left a mystery. 

I lied earlier and said I wouldn't take Jasper shopping with me. I went ahead and took him so I wouldn't have to drive home to pick him up. When I do that it typically results in me getting on the computer for 15-30min mostly creeping on FB. He didn't seem to mind coming with me though. He looks pretty happy.

Aaaaaand we were off to the beach!!

Until that stupid car decided to chill in a turing lane for 5min... ugh pissed me off. I got my road rage on by snapping this picture. 

But we finally made it. This was actually a really pretty sight, my poor quality camera kinda killed it though. 

This car was next to me at a stop light. Totally changed my mood around. :-)

Jasper did really pretty well at the beach. He had a few random barking frenzies where he embarissed me and would not stop. At the end he settled down though and relaxed with me while I attempted to tan. It didn't work well, because I had to use a SPF tanning lotion since I am so white. Ugh I need to get a base tan so I don't burn. I only stayed at the beach for about an hour and a half, because I didn't want to get sun burnt. I am glad I went though!

....and now for various pictures of me and/or Jasper at the beach.

Ugh! I am freakin albino!! I didn't do anything to my hair after I took a shower this morning that is why it looks kinda crazy.

After the beach I went and checked out the dog park down the road. Jasper TOTALLY embarrassed me though so we only hung around for about 5 min. He wouldn't play with the other dogs, he just barked and barked and barked and barked and barked and barked the whole time. Ugh. The other people in the small dog area LEFT!!! Oh man I was embarrassed. I did have one tired dog after we left. 

----

The rest of my evening was pretty great. Rusty got an AWESOME score on his test today (3.91)! I was so proud of him. We went out to dinner to celebrate. :-) He is doing so well in power school. I love it.

I gave Jasper a bath tonight as well. I am going to post those pictures in a separate blog at another time. Here is a sneak peek though:

He has such a goofy face. This is how I love to spend my mornings on my day off... Cuddled up with my sweet pup Jasper. I hate how long I left him alone yesterday. So, to make up for it I am taking him with me wherever I go today. Except for the Nex. He would not enjoy being left alone in the car that long. I love my dog.

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Day 12 - A picture of something you love

Initially my first response to this is my husband Rusty and my dog Jasper. I feel like I keep using them to fill these categories and my blog in general. Time to look a little harder....

I love serving others. In high school I did this as a server and as a Christian doing missions work. At VSU I did this by being an RA and serving my residents. Now I am doing this as a Barista serving coffee to our guests. While some serving is "more important" than others, my life is much more satisfying when I have a serving aspect. 

I love making others smile. I am not the funniest person around, but I'd like to think I have some good moments. This also goes along with making people happy by serving. I like to be the person who goes above and beyond to make someone smile. I love being there for people in their best and worst days. 

I have had a really fun past two days off of work. They have been filled with my favorite four legged animal. 

On Wednesday I went to get Panera with Nicole and Rachel. It is always nice to have some girl time. I still like McAllisters more, but I really liked my food at Panera. 

After we went to Panera we went to go get some puppies!!! They were ADORABLE! I love puppies they are so cute and sweet. Sometimes I wish I could have gotten a younger dog, one that still looks like a puppy. But then I remember how difficult puppies can be to housebreak and train. Plus I love my Jasper so very very much. But anyways... Here are their new babies:

This is Zillah. Rachel's pup.

This one is Summer, Nicole's pup.

Aren't they precious!!?? If only they would stay that small! We spent some time trying to give them names. We were naming them funny body parts, stripper names, random household items, just whatever came to mind. :-)

I hung out at Nicole's place for a bit and watched them introduce the baby to their kitties. This is my favorite picture of that experience.

One happy family <3

--- Thursday ---

Jasper and I started obedience classes at Petsmart yesterday. He did REALLY well. We started learning how to work with a clicker, "watch me", and "sit". He just knows that if I have the clicker in my hand he should sit. I think he is missing the point. But he is really eager to please so hopefully this will make training a lot easier. He doesn't get the command "watch me" very well though. I need to work on that. He just knows if I have the clicker he should keep an eye on me in case I drop a treat on the floor. Hopefully he will get better before our next class.

After petsmart I had a fun playdate with Kim and her pup Kalua. You may remember, Kim is the one who told me about Jasper! We had a little family reunion! It was a lot of fun. I have never seen Jasper play with another dog so well. You know, if you don't mind the fact that he kept trying to hump his sister... for real Jasper?? He has been fixed though, so I actually think he was just doing it as a dominance thing. 

I wish I had gotten a picture of Kalua in her super cute dress. But these are the ones I did get.

After all of yesterday's events were finished I had one tired pup. He likes to sleep on his back and I find it hilarious!

I don't think he liked me taking pictures.

He looks so awkward in this one!! lol