Littledog's Second Birthday

My Littledog is all growed up! Tomorrow (August 1st) is his second birthday and we had a mini party for him last night. I was trying to come up with the menu with Jonathon and I said "well, it's just the 4 of us so what should we have?" He responded: " Umm, there actually 7..." to which I freaked out about. Who else did he invite?! I wasn't planning for 7! Then he got a little flustered: "Liz, it's me, you, Courtney, Zach, Little, Sadie and Suki (their puppy)...you're a horrible mom. I can't believe you forgot to include the birthday boy!!" Yea. That's my husband for ya. 

We had a great night: New York strip steaks, cheddar mashed 'taters, (almost) corn on the cob, pasta salad, red wine and the most amazing Texas sheet cake (thanks to Courtney!). The guys grilled while I chatted with Courtney in the kitchen and the pups played. Last year, I went all out with decorations and party hats and more than one other couple and pup as guests. I was going to make a peanut butter birthday cake and snickerpoodles again, but seeing as how my house didn't even get cleaned, I decided I should pass on that. Instead, I bought these adorable doggie doughnuts from a little doggie boutique/bakery in Occoquan.

(Side note: we had this wonderful red wine, Red Velvet from Cupcake Vineyards. Absolutely amazing)

Baby blues.

I'm completely torn. It seems like every other day, I want a baby and then the next day I don't want one. There are so many pros and cons it's not even funny. If my husband wasn't 100% gung-ho on it, I'd say just forget the whole thing and we'll just get a bunch of dogs. But, he's already picking out baby bedding and sending me emails with baby names, planning  on schedules and our whole future with a baby. 

The truth is, I like my life. Hubby and I are happily married, live a very comfortable lifestyle and have pretty much complete freedom (well, as much as full-time jobs and college allow). My dogs are crazy and I'm pretty sure they'd step and drool on Baby Pritchard (BP, from here on out). I'm also sure that BP wouldn't enjoy long road trips or days on the lake fishing (I don't think they make infant-size fishing poles - BP would be so bored!). And I'm positive that BP would not allow for mommy and daddy to go out with their friends as much as they do now. Plus, babies are a little bit expensive. How on earth can we afford a baby and diamonds and boats?! 

But then, I mean, just look: 

Enough said, right? (No, don't worry, dressing my baby in cute clothes is not the reason I want to have a baby - but I don't feel like getting into all the sappy stuff right now). 

So, with all this said, I'm still just as confused as before. Carefree, easy lifestyle vs. busy, stressful life with baby. Sounds easy, but it's really not. 

I guess we'll just keep going with the flow and if I wake up one morning throwing up and start growing a huge lump in my stomach, well, then I guess we'll have a baby! 

Puppydogs galore!

"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies"

"The more people I meet, the more I like my dog"

"If you want a little dog to know he's small, tell him"

"To err is human, to forgive, canine"

"Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear"

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face"

Littledog is my pride and joy. He's my 13 pound Cavalier King Charles spaniel mix with an underbite, big bug eyes and a tongue that just doesn't quit. 

I'm pretty sure he has some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder because all he does is lick - lick himself, lick other dogs, lick people, lick everything. He's a sweetheart though. He's always concerned about my well-being. I never get to go anywhere alone - he follows me to the kitchen, the bathroom, the couch, the bed, everywhere. He's my little shadow.

Sadie is my gorgeous, sweet lil hound dog. She's still a puppy, only 7 months, so she's crazy but just so pretty. 

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That was her - she just jumped up and wanted to say hello. 

The whole point of this post was to explain how conceited she is. Like I said, she's a very pretty girl and she knows it. Gorgeous tri-color markings, long floppy ears, a crooked tail, big puppy dog eyes and legs that go on for miles. Her favorite activity is to stare at herself in the mirror. This morning, she stood on the bed and stared at herself in our full-length mirror. Then after a few minutes, she moved over a foot or two to look at herself in our bathroom mirror. A few minutes later, she turned around to look in our dresser mirror. No amount of calling her name will distract her. The only way to break her gaze is to physically move her. 

So. 

Very. 

Conceited.

But I blame myself. I tell her how pretty she is and put her in pretty clothes and paint her nails hot pink. She knows she's a princess and fully acts the part. 

DC tour guide...or not

I am not, nor will I ever be, a tour guide of Washington DC. Living only an hour away from the city, all my friends and family who visit from Georgia just beg to go to DC. This would be fine with me except for the fact that I do not like the outdoors, the heat, or seeing places over and over again. These things make me hate playing tour guide.

The Capitol is beautiful. It has impressive architecture, beautiful statues and intricate paintings. I could probably give you a tour on my own and do just as good a job as the professional tour guides. I could probably quote the movie at the beginning of the tour (the past few times I've slept through it, so maybe not). I hate tours. With a passion.

The Smithsonian museums are huge. And there are so many of them. When my guests tell me they want to visit all the Smithsonians, I just roll my eyes and plan to take them to the 3 major ones. I will admit, I do enjoy the museums....I just hate the crowds. The Natural History museum houses the Hope Diamond - really guys, not that impressive. Especially not worth getting close enough to 20 of your closest strangers to see the hairs on their noses and feel their sweat drip down your arm. Gross. And ridiculous.

The Metro is the best rail system I've been on. Granted, the only other one I've been on is Marta in Atlanta which is terrifying. The Metro has super clean stations, the trains are mostly air-conditioned and they are really efficient. I'm still scared to go over the water or go really fast, though. The trains shake and let's face it, the only thing keeping them out of the water or off the pavement is this relatively thin rail. Uhhh, no thanks!

The monuments are cool...for the first one or two visits. After that, they're just plain irritating. The Lincoln memorial houses a humongous statue of President Lincoln. Gorgeous. But by the time you've climbed the 8 million (ok, I think it's like 78) stairs, you're too tired to even lift your head up to see him and even if you could, the stifling heat and humidity and body odor is enough to make you want out immediately. The Washington memorial is ridiculously huge. It, however, is incredibly far away from anything else, i.e. the other memorials, a bathroom, food and the Metro.

Don't get me wrong - I am always in awe at our country's capital and respect all the monuments and memorials and what they stand for. Let's just say, I'm ready for a move to anywhere far from here - North Carolina, Georgia, California, or even Japan. C'mon Marine Corps, help me out here!

Married to the military

Almost 2 years ago, I married this cute guy I met at a club down in good ole' Milledgeville, GA. He told me he was a Marine and drove a truck, and that was all I needed to hear (and all I did hear - you know how loud those crazy clubs are!). We got engaged, he deployed, it was rough, but not all together horrible. I was still in college, living with my fabulous roomies and was totally distracted by, well, everything. Then he got back, and it's been a whirlwind - May: moved home from college. August: moved to NC. November: moved to a temporary home in VA. March: moved to our "permanent" home in VA. That's 4 moves in less than a year, folks. Crazy. Now, a year an a half after we moved into our permanent house on base, I'm starting to wonder what the future holds. Where are we going to be in a year? This is a question that has been haunting me lately. I'm a pretty flexible girl, so I don't really mind where we end up, but, I'd like to be able to plan for it. As of right now, in a year, we could be in VA with a newborn baby, we could be in south GA living in a retired military base, we could be living on the beach in California, we could be in North Carolina, I could be in any of the given places and my husband in a war zone, etc. etc. etc. The potential baby is the biggest - and scariest - factor. Do I really wanna be in Cali by myself and a newborn baby, a country away from family and many countries away from my husband? Uhh, no. Do I really wanna be in South Georgia where it's 8 million degrees 24/7 with 487% humidity (ok, maybe it's not really that hot and maybe I exaggerated on the humidity...just a bit...but you get the point)? Uhh, big time no.

But the thing about the military is that I don't get any say in anything whatsoever. Good and bad. Bad because I don't get to choose where I'll be living. Good because I don't have to choose where I'm living - meaning I don't have to decide which of the crazy places my family and I will be going. Meaning, it's not my fault if we end up somewhere awful.

Military wife life is an adventure to say the least. Hopefully I'll know in 11 months where we'll be headed in 12 months!

Hello, nice to meet you.

I've already had my first mishap. I wrote this nice long post introducing myself and explaining my life and blah blah blah. I apologize, but I won't be re-writing it. So, if you are intrigued, read my blog and get to know me that way.

The important part of that post was this....my inspirations for starting this blog:
1. My friends and family are now blogging and frankly, I feel left out.
2. I need to find myself. Find who I am and what I want and where I am going.
3  The Dainty Grenadier. A raunchy, dirty, hilarious and honest life-as-it-comes blog that I just recently started following. I don't suggest you read it if you can't handle some language and are easily offended. However, she is what started me blogging.