Basset BFFs

This weekend was the most fun weekend that Eric and I have had in a VERY long time. After months of orchestrating and countless G-chats, Sarah and I united our basset babies in person for the first time!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, blogging is so ridiculously wonderful.  I mean, without it, Sarah and I probably never would have met, and I would have been missing out on an AMAZING friendship. From the moment we walked in their door, it was like we were old friends reunited.
None of this awkward sit-politely-with-your-hands-in-your-lap type stuff. Rather, Mister handed Eric a beer and they propped up on the counter to chat. Sarah and I were giddy pouring wine and exchanging trinkets, and Pierre had his head buried in Floyd's toy basket enjoying himself and making a mess of Sarah's clean living room. And Sarah didn't care. In true basset form, Floyd observed all from the corner of the room with slight disdain, none too happy to have been woken from his slumber (don't blame him a bit).

As an added bonus early in the weekend, my law school bestie, G, was in town visiting her family....close to Sarah's house!!!  G still lives in FL, and we haven't seen each other since Eric and I moved - so seriously, what are the chances of us getting to visit hundreds of miles away from where either of us live?  While everyone else got some work done on Friday morning, I was a total slacker and scooted down the street to have coffee with G. It was the best coincidence ever.

She's still got that "post bar exam glow" :)

I'm not sure that I can put into words the joy of having TWO basset hounds in the same household - maybe you can try to get a grasp from the photos?

Pierre and Floyd have SO MANY similarities, but each still has a distinct personality. It was so much fun to just watch them together.  Pierre basically followed in Floyd's footsteps like Floyd was his older brother. If I were Floyd, I'd have been a little annoyed - as you can see, Pierre basically took over his parents' laps for the weekend. 

Floyd exceeded my expectations, as you might imagine. I mean, what a doll - even cuter in person. And so much personality!!! I just kept talking to him, waiting for him to respond. Which....sometimes he did ;)

Sarah and Mister outdid themselves as hosts...I mean, if I were you, I'd try to get a weekend at their house on the books as soon as possible.  And maybe, if we pressure her enough, Sarah will post the recipe for the most delicious banana bread that I have ever had.

Pierre helping Mister with dinner reservations.

Basically, we ate, and ate, and ate....and ate some more. They took us to favorite restaurants and a rooftop bar (so fun). We also went to the fancy dog park. Then we napped. Then we ate some more.

And we just HUNG OUT people, and it was amazing. I'm fully aware of the fact that you can't do that with all friends...it takes a special type to just have fun *existing* with.  Floyd's parents? THEY are a special type. 

I truly wish you all could have seen Pierre and Floyd at the dog park.  Pierre trotted around that place in his life jacket like it was the happiest day of his life.  I think it might have been, actually.  He was literally SMILING. It made our hearts so warm.

Now, you might be wondering what shenanigans ensued with two bassets under one roof.  Pierre tried his hardest to snag a bite of Sarah's BBQ sandwich, while Floyd awaited his chance at Eric's. 

For the amount of plotting that COULD have gone on, they were well-behaved.

If you think Sarah and I look giddy and excited in every single photo we took all weekend, it's because we were. We got pretty wild and crazy partying chatting until 3 am on Sunday.

One last thing. At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging about how GREAT my friends are....look at this darling little necklace that Sarah had waiting for me. Just LOOK!

She has a matching one with an "F" for Floyd, and we wore them together to Ulta on Sunday. That's right. We are THOSE people.

In all seriousness, a major THANK YOU to Floyd and his wonderful parents for an incredible weekend and for making us feel like their home was ours! We are already plotting the next Basset-BFF weekend!

Highlights

The past few weeks have flown by. In a where-did-the-day-go, and very rainy sort of way.

Very. Very. Rainy.

And partly because we have been a lot busier than I let on here. We have a few things to fill you in on within the next week or so, but for now, just a few highlights.

For starters, Pierre graduated from Behavior Buddies at Camp Bow Wow! As you might imagine, we're very proud parents. He has mastered "watch me," "leave it," "stay," "sit," leash walking, and sitting for petting.

He flat out refuses to lay down.

And, because he is a Basset, we're still working on coming when called, and wait. It's the "when called" part that seems to give him the most trouble. #stubborn.

We made these treats to take to his fellow classmates, and they were such a huge hit at our house.  They smell just like cheese biscuits, so you'll have to resist the urge to eat them yourself.

Second, I've had two fun blates the past couple of weeks!  We didn't take photos at either, so I'm not sure what that says about us as bloggers.

Eric and I met Emily (LaForce Be With You) and her husband, also Eric, for dinner at 300 East in Dilworth last Friday night.  Both the food and the company were fantastic. Plus, Emily and Eric recently took a big vacation that included a visit to Germany, so we were super interested to chat with them about that.  We just booked another trip for next year that includes hopping around to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France, so it was fun to pick their brain on favorite places.

via

Then, I met Alexa (Southern Living Our Way) for coffee the next morning, thanks to my super blog friend matchmaker, Sarah. I think Alexa and I might have known each other in another lifetime.  When we finally left, I looked at the clock in my car and realized we had been sitting in Starbucks for two and a half hours.  Plus, Alexa lives really close to us, and shops at the Trader Joe's in my neighborhood. Double Score. As you can tell, we had a really hard time finding things to talk about (smile).

The rest of our days have consisted of antique shopping...

@ Sleepy Poet Antique Mall here

@ The Bees Knees here

 and taking photos with our dog.

"They live such exciting lives, and I would love to be their friend!!" I just KNOW that's what you were thinking.

In actuality, I just need to get better about documenting the day-to-day in addition to snapping photos of our chunky-pawed furchild.

The rain paused long enough this weekend for us to make it to the Whitewater Center yesterday.  You cannot even comprehend how far out of my comfort zone that entire facility is.  But Eric loves the place, and we have season passes, so I am giving it my honest effort. And, I do end up having fun.

Photo Credit

I tried THREE new activities yesterday, which included two more zip lines, and a high ropes course (the "beginner" one, on which 10 year olds moved faster than me).  Eric did two additional ropes courses, but I decided that my heart rate had skyrocketed enough for one day, and called it an afternoon. Baby steps.

Photo Credit

 I don't think I looked nearly as cheerful as the gentleman above when I jumped.

For your entertainment, I'll have Eric carry a camera the next time we go so that you can get an idea of the following:

a) How attractive I look wearing a harness and helmet, and

b) What fright and mild panic look like on someone's face while walking across a cable forty feet up in the air.

I'm totally exaggerating and making it seem worse than it is. I really do have a good time when we go. But have I mentioned that it's outside my comfort zone yet?

Remember this little quote?

Via

I'm thinking more like "once every 7 to 10 days" would work just fine.

Happy Monday, folks! Hope you all have a fantastic week!  And if you haven't met your scare quota yet, do it today. Zip line. Jump off a cliff. Or, just start the week without coffee.

Happy Monday!

We celebrated a birthday this weekend at our house...

This basset dad turned another year older on Sunday! Naturally, we stretched the celebrating out all weekend long.

On Friday, Eric and I had dinner alone at The Block and Grinder, a new butcher shop and boutique restaurant in Charlotte.  Holy. Delicious.  Local, organic, farm to table...and all meat is cut and ground in-house. Everything was delicious, but the meat really stole the show. Read: coffee crusted venison and seared magret duck in a cherry/brandy sauce.  And those were just the entrees - we actually were sold from the cocktails and appetizers (goat cheese and prosciutto deviled eggs, along with pork belly over cornbread pancakes).  I love a restaurant with unique craft cocktails. I'm not a big drinker, so I like my one or two of the night to vary a bit from the norm.  I can now say that it's my new mission to try every craft cocktail on the menu at this restaurant, but the ones I tried  Friday were so good, it will be hard not to order repeats.  As if things could get any better, the service was also incredible. If you are in the area...this is a must try. This place is set for big business.

On the left is the Mezcal Mule, and on the right, Eric's Gin Basil Smash.

Saturday, Eric wanted to do some hiking, so we set out for South Mountains State Park, and had a FANTASTIC time.

Note who carried the backpack. In my defense, I offered to help...but was declined.

Any hike that includes a waterfall and meandering mountain streams rises to the top of the list in my book.  The Gulf beaches where we came from are beautiful, but in my opinion (not even taking into account the glorious accompanying sound effects) you really just can't beat this...

or this...

or this...

or, for that matter, several miles of this, for one killer glute workout with a view.

These guys, who climbed over a fence and were jumping off of the slippery rocks at the base of the waterfall (into shallow water at that), are simply living proof that idiots do exist everywhere you go.

For those of you wondering where little Pierre was in all of this, the answer is at home. On the couch. Sleeping. His tiny basset legs never would have covered the distance, or height, that we covered on Saturday.

Although... the thought of carrying him with me in one of those toddler backpack things did cross my mind.   Upon further research, I found that these actually exist for dogs. And no, I'm not joking. I am, however, joking about literally carrying Pierre on my back...I wouldn't get too far with those chunky paws weighing me down.

Source

We ended the hike on a leisurely note - refreshing tired feet and legs in chilly, knee-deep mountain water. Let me just go ahead and make it clear that I have all intentions of coming back to this park and spending much, much longer lounging on one of those large rocks in the middle of the stream.

Saturday night we met some friends at another event at the US Whitewater Center for a bit, and I attempted to get a group photo of all of the dogs present.  Please see how extraordinarily well that went below, even with the promise of treats.

Luckily, Keri managed to get a semi-decent one of the girls in attendance at least. Pierre was pulling on his leash, so all the ones Eric took turned out extra blurry.  Remember when I said we needed to work on real life distractions? Yeah.

Sunday was Eric's actual birthday, but it turned out to be a pretty lazy day for us.  After church, I made his favorite enchiladas for lunch, and then we managed to get out to do some neighborhood hopping to prepare for the upcoming house search.

I'm spending my morning today getting ahead on a few things at home, while self-admittedly listening to a live-feed of the George Zimmerman trial.  Now, hear me people, hear me: I am not commenting on the merits of the case itself. I'm not a juror, therefore I don't have all of the evidence in front of me, therefore I don't know enough to run my mouth about what the verdict should be. Neither does the media, despite what they may try to convince you of.  (I could count at least 10 claims made out by the media to be fact that were actually disproved, by both sides, in court this morning.)

However, I can comment on the lawyering that I watched live, for myself. I mean, opening statements contained two firsts for me today, which is (mildly) exciting. First, the F-bomb was dropped within the first sentence of the prosecution's opening statement; granted, it was used in terms of a quote made by the defendant (and was quite effective, in my opinion). Second, a knock-knock joke was used in the first sentence of the defense's (and was quite INeffective, in my opinion).  Maybe it's just me, but a knock-knock joke used in the opening statement of a MURDER trial, to an all female jury, doesn't seem like the best judgment call to me. Insensitive much? The defense seems to be a bit unorganized and rambling to me thus far, but it could be part of an overall strategy. Time will tell.

I can only hope that your Monday morning has been just as wild and exciting as mine (smile). I'll be back later this week with some new favorite recipes that we've tried recently, as well as an update on Pierre's obedience training. Have a happy day!

Weekend Galavanting

Let us start with Thursday, shall we?  Read: Week 2 of school for Pierre.

He's still doing so good with his "watch me" command...we've been going through a LOT of treats while working on his "homework."  I'll have to post a video of him at some point so you can see him in action.

This week, we worked on sitting, leave it, and leash walking without pulling.  For the leave it command, we hold a treat in a closed fist, the dog goes crazy for it, and we say "leave it."  When the dog gives up and leaves our hands alone, we reward with another treat.  Well, Pierre's trainer thought he was doing SO amazing because he would leave our hands alone after only a sniff or two.  I'm not so sure....because in reality, I think Pierre just has the shortest attention span on the planet. 

He did pretty good with the no-pulling on a leash thing, but we have a long way to go. Distractions in the real world take things to a whole new level.

On Friday, Eric's brother was in town for the night, so we took the Light Rail into Uptown to try out Cowbell, a burger bar. It was good, but not the best we've ever had.  But to be fair, we have pretty high standards for burgers, particularly after our Burger Fi experience. I got a salad - good, but nothing spectacular.  Then again, I'm happy with "good" because I feel like I took a risk ordering a salad at a burger joint to begin with.

Saturday,  we were blessed with a cool(er) low humidity morning, so I was able to get a run in even a few hours past the crack of dawn. In June, a small miracle.

Later, Eric and I joined Eric's cousin and his group of friends at the Brew Stache Bash at the US National Whitewater Center. This whole place looked like a blast - Eric and I are looking forward to returning sans-special event to get in some rafting, hiking, and ziplining.  But Saturday was a special treat, because Pierre got to attend and meet some new dog friends too!

One of the couples there was nice enough to invite us over to their house to hang out with the group on Saturday night - white wine Sangria was present, and we had a really good time. Pierre got a bath beforehand and stayed at home to rest...the heat pretty much did him (and all the other dogs) in during the day.

Sunday was a pretty low-key day for us.  We did some neighborhood hopping, trying to figure out at least which area of town we'd like to buy in.  Then we all did some couch lounging and US Open watching.  

Eric and I finally peeled ourselves up to go for a walk around the neighborhood before dinner.  In the corporate park, there are these giant bull statues, so obviously we took advantage of the photo opportunity.  Eric has no idea I'm actually posting this photo today. (Hi Eric!)

And, I found a swingset nearby!!! Seriously, when is the last time you did this? It was even more fun than i recall. 

We found a cute park on the way back, and there was a even a little picnic area with a grill. We'll be returning tonight with Pierre and grilling supplies for an outdoor dinner with a view. Because it's summer, that's why.

These ducks were actually just as close as they appear on camera and hoping for a bread crumb dinner.  

That's a wrap folks!  Our Monday is off to a smooth start, and will likely include a good bit of napping on Pierre's part.  It's been a pretty popular activity as of late, and with the amount of barking he's doing right now in his sleep, it's obviously a pretty good time.

I'll be spending my day editing an article that is set to be published soon, and listening to a live-feed of jury selection in the Zimmerman trial.

As one last random and unrelated tidbit, you should go read this post. And watch the commercial. 

That is all. Have a happy Monday!