who's the funny looking donkey?

Is there a Belieber or Twighard version of Frozen? A special name for all those of us who are obsessed with the movie, have watched it too many times and still find ways to quote it every day? Me included. Every girl in my house included. We need a name. I'm naming it. I dub all of us "icicles."
Aaaaanyway...... All this to say we got a puppy. And named him Sven. Because we are icicles. And we have been wanting a puppy for so so long. An obnoxiously whine-to-everyone-we-see long time.

You may ask how we obtained the most perfect little Golden Retriever and it really happened in a matter of minutes. Hubs and I walked into the puppy farm and went right for Sven. We took him out of his sad little kennel and within three minutes Josh announced that "this is our puppy." To which I said, "whoa there killer. Let's hang out for a bit and make sure. We're in no hurry!" We were there another 5 minutes before we walked out the door with him. Seriously. It was destiny. You just can't fight destiny.

{3 months old, 20 pounds}

All the way home we were brainstorming names and I finally said we should just forget it- something will come to us and we will know. We're in no hurry! (famous last words...) So after we got home we brought little Sven out to meet all the girls and one thing led to another (aka one Frozen quote led to another) and we instantly knew his name had to be Sven. Which is of course the best, because now we are constantly saying "stop it Sven!" Then we all died with happiness.

{He follows Josh around like.....well, like a little puppy dog!}

We love him so much already. He follows us around and just wants to be everyone's best friend, which everyone is fine with, I mean, come on, you can't see him and not be smitten. I know we are! (He's currently nestled right up to me. Eeeeek! So cute!) And if his just plain-old puppy cuteness didn't win you over, then watching him roll around in the grass definitely will. (or watching him play with an ice cube! But I don't have a video of that yet.)

{video from my phone. I'm all about quality} 

Rest assured you have not seen the last of this little guy.

the arrival of spring

the weather here has been gorgeous. really really gorgeous. we've had the windows open which, besides providing a wonderful springy breeze, has the added incentive of creating a kitty incubator. 

i really did not think they could sleep more, or be any cuter, but i was wrong.

i hope you're enjoying beautiful weather, too!

lazy sunday

husband had lots of work to do, and i had several different projects to juggle, but we still found time for some relaxing. 

i love a lazy day together. and it couldn't have come at a better time.

the highlight of my weekend

ok, well that sounds really lame. i'm not actually saying the highlight of my weekend was watching my wonderful hubby cuddling with his adorable kitty {i kid myself and think that cache is my cat too, but he's in love with josh. so really, he's his cat} but back to what i was saying- this photo is really more symbolic than literal. i love my weekends with my husband and adorable kitties {even when they prefer him over me}

yeah, that's pretty much it. i just love...this.

{and don't be fooled, cache may look annoyed, but he loves this}

welcome home. we hate you now...

...would be the note our kitties wrote us when we finally came home from our christmas vacation. how do i know this? i was immediately greeted by this:

 our once cute little christmas tree. destroyed. 

i'm still looking for some missing ornaments.

 

and a stray evergreen bough or two.

but according to these cutie pies, we deserved it. 

he destroyed the tree:

and this one hid for two days straight and had our kitty-sitters convinced she ran away:

{they look so harmless while they're sleeping}

the good news is they eventually decided to forgive us for leaving. but not before they made it very clear that we are not to do it again. i tried to unpack that night, and as soon as i turned my back...

access denied!

well look who decided to show up....

hello? 

hello? 

is this thing on?

it's been so long i feel as though i should re-introduce myself.

hi!

i'm angie {or angelina, as my friends call me} who would have guessed that a short break from the computer would lead to this mini-sabbatical i've been on? {as i'm calling it now} 

it's been so long since i've seen you, how do i look?

since my last post i've travelled to omaha nebrask, chicago illinois, and grand rapids michigan, rung in the new year, let my hair grow {and no, i don't want to talk about it. it's awkward.} gotten dreadfully behind on correspondence {email, snailmail and swappy thank-yous} and returned home again. 

i would love to recount all my wonderful holiday stories for you, but i don't think i could do them any justice. it was great to be surrounded by family and friends again. and this year, inspite of my usually rather weepy good-byes, i surprised myself by actually looking forward to coming home. i adore the people in my life {who all seem to be so far away!} but there really is nothing like sleeping in your own bed {even if husband left his pillow in chicago and yours in omaha!} and of course, the kitties were thrilled to see us {not that you can tell from these photos, which are the best i could get...}

 {aria is less than thrilled with my attempts at cuddling}

{and cache is just annoyed. and huge!}

but enough about me, how are you! what have you been up to? i can't wait come around and say hi!

just holding my foot...

my annoying cats

always crawling into things {whether they fit or not}...

... like my half-open drawers:

and rubbing cat hair on the bottom of all my sweaters:

and an open cabinet door is an open invitation:

this one will chew on anything:

and sleep on anything...

... like this bookshelf:

... or in my ribbon drawer:

... or in a box full of clean socks:

 it's a good thing we love them so much! {and it helps they look so cute when they're asleep}

lover boys

i don't have kids, but i have plenty of kitty photos!

sometime last week {exact date unknown} our little kitty turned 1.

cache.

also known as:

kitty cache

johnny cache

casher smash

and our newest favorite nickname, gigantor {he doesn't look it because he's so lean, but he's huge! crazy long and tall}

here he is in september when we adopted him

he has a penchant for sleeping in the oddest positions.

{in his favorite sleeping corner}

and he has a little orange beard. so cute.

they grow up so fast, don't they? sniff!

the chair: progress report

it's finished!

see before photos here

i can't believe it's already done! i spent most of my weekend working on it, but since i approached everything the "angie" way {wing it as you go, and be willing to do, redo and re-redo things} i just figured it would take awhile. 

and while there are lots of imperfections, i am thrilled with the result! i love the way it turned out, and now it's not such an eyesore {hubby says it never was, but i always had a serious problem with it.}

i think it's my favorite chair now. i added extra padding to the inside of the arms, so it's actually a lot more comfortable now.

the kitties wasted no time in reclaiming it. 

yeah, they're totally ridiculous, and i'm ridiculously excited about how this turned out :)

kitty love

i love my kitties. a lot. 

i always say i'm not really a cat person, i just like mine. otherwise, i prefer dogs. 

but how can you resist all this cuteness?!?

{aria is grey, cache is orange}

sometimes we call her fatty catty cause she doesn't really watch her figure :)

and the kitty cache, as we like to call him. can you tell that he's sleeping in the unfinished chair? i can't keep him out of it!

sleeping kitty fix

 

 

  

  

i don't consider myself a cat person. i just like mine. cause they're awesome :)

{aria = grey, cache = orange}