Introducing

Lexie!!


So we did say that we were going to get a second dog once I got a job. But I don't think either of us expected it all to happen quite as quick as it did.

I'd been stalking Pet Finder for months, just because it's addictive. I had my eye out for a standard poodle. But what I was actually looking at was everyone under 2 within a 300 miles radius.

Ms. Lexie appeared on a Thursday afternoon. I clicked on her profile, just because she was a pug. There was just something about her profile and her picture that just stuck with me. How could you ignore this smile.



I did ignore it for a little while but come Sunday we drunkenly emailed about her. Monday we filled in an application. Monday evening we talked to the foster mom. Tuesday she checked our references. And by Tuesday evening we got a call to say if we wanted her she was ours.

On a crazy Saturday morning, Ms Lexie arrived, with her foster mom to meet us and Hammond. It felt very like when I picked up Hammond. Too quick, too rushed but it just took one look at the two of them playing to know it would be ok.

We've had 3 weeks of craziness, constant playing and just a little bit of sleep. She is 100% our dog, and we love her just as much as we do the Face. It's nice to have a new dog that isn't a puppy. She's completely house trained, we don't need to worry about accidents and she much more mellow than he was (is!). And she is so affectionate. She's all about the kisses and the snuggles.

She is missing an eye, but it stops her doing nothing. She's in all the fights at the dog park, all the play here at home and into everything on her walks.

So.. because you've had lots of Hammond ... here's some Lexie portraits.

check

They spell cheque wrong here.

So for those of you who don't know. I have a job!!!

I am very excited, however, I originally interviewed for this job on February 25th, and March 4th and March 9th and March 26th and March 27th, so it's been a long haul! But all along, I was sure I really wanted this job, and that I'd be good at it, so I'm pretty excited that I get to start on Wednesday!!

I'm already teaching at the college on a part time basis, once a week, but now I'm going to be a full time employee. I'll be working with students who might be falling behind, or having trouble with some aspect of their course and need some guidance on how to move forward. I'll also continue teaching my class til it's done and then probably be teaching a more basic course after that.

Dave worked and taught here all last year which is how I got the teaching job, and how I know it's going to be a really fun job to work at!

Check it out - Rasmussen

Time

So yes I know ... it's been far too long....

Can I blame america? Because I think I can!

When I was in Japan, I never really felt out of touch with my friends or my family, and it was only when I came here that I realised why ... it was the 'favourable' time difference! I'd come home from work at 9/10, have dinner, maybe a glass of wine, and be totally in the mood for a nice long chat. So onto skype I'd go, at 1am, or 2am, to piss off my neighbours but in perfect time to get people for a chat.

But here .. in the U. S. of A. if I want to talk to people I have to call them in my morning/afternoon time and that, as anyone who knows me, is not my best time, even with a couple of drinks.

Also now that I have a job (yes you heard me right) I don't know exactly when I'm supposed to talk to people.

I really do miss relaxing on the couch, glass of wine in hand and just chatting away.

Ah well.

Facedom

I could say I was trying out my camera, or taking photos of the kitchen floor and he got in the way, but ye wouldn't believe me anyway.

So just because he's cute ...

Ponce

So for our birthdays (or is it birthdaies!) we decided to treat ourselves to a fancy smancy meal at Hinterland. Despite that it's the only other brewery in Green Bay and it's right opposite Titletown, we've never actually been. This was partly due to the cost of the food, and partly due to the fact that Dave thought the bartender had been rude to him once. Turns out he'd never been but thinks he heard a story about the bartender being rude. And to make it even better, after deciding to splurge on the meal, we got a voucher for it from Pete and Luann!




We had a drink in the very cool lounge upstairs first. Definitely felt like a poncy Dublin pub, with prices to match. But oh the food. We started off with Beef Potstickers and quail. Dave felt the Quail was too tough but we both loved the potstickers. I had the steak and scallops for my main and Dave had the Yellowtail with noodles. I always had the idea that I didn't like scallops and while they probably aren't my favourite thing, I really enjoyed them.

It was a really yummy meal, and I left with my tail-a-wagging and all fuelled up for our Ikea trip tomorrow!

Queue

So, about 5 months too late ...

I give you our bathroom ... before and after.

So we started with the bathroom, small, not too much wall, not too much to mess up.


Notice the unflattering lights and the fugly taps/faucet!


Notice the awesome lights and the sleek/cool taps/faucets.


The press/vanity is my labo(u)r of love, the taps were the bane of David's life!


And finally the orange and the mirrors, with the lights. I love it!!!

Funny story ... It was actually Dave's idea to paint it orange. We were walking through Home Depot, he mentioned it, I loved it, we painted it. Two months later, we were drunk, he told me that he'd been joking about the orange. Ah well. He likes it now. I made him like it.

Donkey

So I did get a job. Of sorts.

I'm going to be teaching a Linux class at Rasmussen College, where Dave used to work. It's a weekly class, 4 hours of lecture and practical work with about 10 students. I'm really excited to be teaching again, and looking forward to 'brushing up' on my Linux skills.

I did however have to do a 10 minute sample lesson for some of the teachers and advisers there. Now 10 minutes isn't very long so Dave suggested I teach them what I do best. Ordering drinks. In Irish.

They seemed to enjoy it, they had a nice 'brogue'! and everyone seemed to laugh a lot, which I guess worked cos I got the job!

Not Green

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Current Status: Notice mailed welcoming the new permanent resident.

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For those of you not fluent in immigration, that means my Green Card was approved! Yay!

Littlest

So Brian and Brooke couldn't make it back to Green Bay for Christmas, so Luann decided to have Little Christmas this weekend up at the Manttage.

We headed up on Friday lunchtime, and after Melanie and Dave arrived later that afternoon, the Christmas festivities got into full swing.

The main source of entertainment for the weekend were the dogs. Pugs x 3 = CRAZY! Brian and Brooke have two pugs, Rupert (3) and Wallaby (6 months?) and of course we have our demon.

We were worried that Hammond would be the geeky over-zealous very uncool cousin of the other two. Luckily though, after the initial introductions, he and Wallaby got on really really well. Rupert, being older and wiser, slept most of the time, with odd barking sessions to referee the others. Hammond and Wallaby, however, played solidly for 8 hours everyday! I imagine Hammond will be sleeping it off for the next week!


Friday consisted of yummy munchies for dinner (Dave and I sucked as our idea didn't work out so we brought frozen pizza, blah) but Brian (professional chef) would have shamed us anyway with his yummy tabouleh and satay chicken skewers.

After dinner we played the first of our 'scheduled' games. Luann was pretty excited about this weekend and so had picked three games complete with prizes. The first was a Nerf target game, which despite initial 'I'm too cool's was a lot of fun. Then we did a couple of rounds of the Fun Game, complete with Cosmos before finishing up the evening with ... more Cosmos!


Saturday we went out for lunch where I promptly ruined the big surprise of the weekend by insisting that Luann buy me a leg of lamb to make me feel at home. Which she had!!! So that night, after a couple more games, we settled down to a massive leg of lamb, roast potatoes, Guinness gravy, asparagus, carrots. And chicken for every one else! Now while it didn't quite meet my mam's 110% for lamb, it was pretty damn close. That Brian guy really knows how to cook. Mmmm yummy. The evening was spent digesting, watching the dogs play, and watching Harry Potter.

Sunday after pancakes, and a treasure hunt for Melanie's car keys (unscheduled!) we headed home to a yummy left-over lamb curry. YAYAY! Best Christmas present in the states ever!

More cute(ish) Pug pics? Woof!

Got Milk?

So one of the benefits of being unemployed is the unlimited time you have to spend doing stupid stuff...

Like training your dog.

So he got the sit and down super easy. It only took 1 morning to get him to shake and a couple more treats to turn that into 'high 5'. Wave was a little more challenging. Roll over was a cinch, but only in one direction. And his big finale? 'Spread 'em' where he goes to a wall and stands up against it with his face away until we say 'Bang bang' where he falls down and plays dead!

So the regular puppy class at the local pet store was a breeze for him. But he loved all the attention and playing with the other dogs. And Dave waived his 'no clothes' rule for the graduation...

Candy

So we're home sweet home after a fun week in Chicago. We were there from Monday to Friday and despite Dave being sick on Tuesday and me being sick on Thursday we had a great time.

While we didn't do a lot of sightseeing we did a lot of drinking(as you may have noticed), eating and shopping!

We got a wall mounted pot rack from the Container Store for when we FINALLY get something done with our kitchen.


We got lots of plates and bowls from CB2 (Crate and Barrel 2) ...








And a caterpillar coat rack (a late Christmas present from my mam)!


So overall a fun week and just what I needed, even if it was just as cold and snowy as up here. Now all I need to do is convince my family that Chicago is even better than New York!

Unspeakable

surprisingly enough we're drinking beer. at the nicest bar in the world, where everyone knows everyone's name. except ours. Still fun though

Dogfishes

Decided on a last minute trip to chicago because it was that or kill each other. Got a really cheap but nice hotel downtown thanks to Hotwire. We parked at O'Hare to save even more money and promptly spent it on great Japanese food and even better beer. Yum yum. Ok so I love my iPod touch but it's time to get back to my beer.

Resolute

Ok so I know it's been forever since I've posted but new year's resolution blah blah ;)

For new years, we headed up to Pete and Luann's new house about an hour north in Door County. It's built up on a hill, way back in the woods. The view is amazing.

However, we do have a little disagreement on the type of house it is. They say a cottage, Dave says a mansion, we say a manttage! Whatever the name ... Wow!


The Manttage


The Sitting Room


The Booth Area


The Kitchen


The Master Bedroom


The Pug/Bonus Room


The View


You can check out more pics over there

They are understandable very excited about it, hence the strange decision about letting us use it for new years!! But Sean, Dave, Hammond and I headed up at about 2 on Wednesday, arrived, unpacked everything, gave Sean the big tour and started business. Dave made sausage gravy for breakfast the next day and we made 2 and a half MASSIVE pots of chili.

Mel and Bob and Jay arrived soon after for the shortest Clue(do) game ever, dice, the fun game and Lips and Jess arrived just in time to ring in the new year.



The Chili


The next morning there were many sausage products, many waffles and many Advil! Then the others trickled home while Dave and I nursed our hangovers there for one more night.

It twas a great new year, and was one that I'd been pushing for. At one point we'd talked about going home to Ireland for new year but I felt that I wanted to see the year in where I was going to spend it. It was a bit sad and I needed a couple of hugs but the company and the wine helped tons.



The New Year


To all of ye, Happy New Year, and I hope it's the best ever.