For the love of dachshunds

I used to think I was a cat person.  I thought my personality meshed much more with that of a cat (moody, likes to be alone), but I am firmly on Team Dog now.  We have had our little monster for about 3.5 years, and even though he's a huge spoiled brat, I still love him like nobody's business.

I can be tempted by pretty much anything dachshund-related.  Pictures of dachshunds, dachshund-shaped ANYTHING.

I recently saw these cute little luggage tags on ModCloth, and because I'm going to start traveling for my job (hopefully), I picked one up for my carry-on.  I may have also picked up a couple extra just in case/for other pieces of luggage.  So cute!

And I'm also not a big jewelry person, but I thought this dachshund necklace was super cute.  His name is "Blue", and he his head is kind of big and round for a dachshund, but I couldn't resist!

Read more...

Oh, hi there. It's been awhile.

So apparently if I don't give myself some kind of goal (a la "post every single day in January"), this blog sort of falls by the wayside.

Maybe that's because Marek and I lead fairly boring lives (mostly true).  We work, and I don't even really know what we do in the evenings.  Every day we have the same conversation:

One of Us: What are we doing tonight?
Other One: I don't know, what do you want to do?
One of Us: I don't know.  Something fun?
Other One: Sure, you have any ideas?
One of Us: Nope.  Do you?
Other One: Nope.

EXHILARATING, right?  (Also, I spelled exhilarating wrong the first time.  Dammit.)

Anyway, so to liven things up a bit here, I'm going to do another challenge to post here every day from now until the end of May.  This will be a particular challenge because I'm going on a couple trips and will be gone for the weekend, but at least that will make material for posts easier to come by (I hope).

Read more...

Starbucks Cake Pops: A story in pictures

My feet were busy this weekend.  On Saturday, I went for a great 9-mile run in the park and then took the Emperor on a 6.5 mile walk.  Later, we ran some errands (it's Saturday night in the most exciting city in the world, so naturally I threw on some mom clothes and we went to PETCO and the bookstore), for another 2 miles.  On Sunday, I ran another 4 miles, walked another 6.5 with the dog, and walked another 2 for some errands.

17.5 miles on Saturday and 12.5 on Sunday!

So I figured I deserved a little treat.  So we went to Starbucks for a double chocolately-chip creme drink thingy, and I decided to splurge and get myself one of their Cake Pops, which they were advertising heavily, and I had stared at longingly when we stopped in on Saturday.  I was so excited.  I asked Marek to take a picture of me and my treats.

Birthday Cake Pop + Double Chocolatey-Chip Creme.!

Time to try it!

First bite

Ummmmm.....

GROSS!

TOTALLY GROSS!!!!!!

So gross I can't even eat it

I don't even think it was cooked.  It was like all raw dough inside.

Candy coating was good, but the inside was nasty!

Tried another piece, but same results.

Read more...

DC flowers

I went to DC a couple weeks ago to visit my cousin and friend, and while I was down there, I took a walk down to the National Mall with my awesome touristy camera.  I was hoping my trip to DC would coincide with the peak bloom or whatever of the cherry blossoms, but they were not cooperating.  (Or maybe I just didn't walk far enough.)

I'll post a recap of the trip later, but thought I'd share some of the pictures to, from, and at the Mall.  I love taking pictures of flowers, so I was really happy that there were lots of pretty ones that were out in bloom.  They really brightened up the grey day. :)

Read more...

Because I'm 13

You know one of those things I loved about middle and high school? Those super crazy long "surveys" that you and your friends would fill out and send back and forth to each other. I totally loved those things - the longer the better, as far as I was concerned. There's an A to Z one that's been making the blog rounds lately, so of course I couldn't resist the opportunity to play along.

No earth-shattering revelations, just a little fun for Friday. :)

A. Age: 23*
B. Bed size: Queen mattress, but my dog sleeps in the bed which means he gets 80% of the space and I get the other 20%
C. Chore you dislike: Dusting and vacuuming
D. Dogs: World’s worst dachshund
E. Essential start to your day: My BlackBerry and clean underwear
F. Favorite color: Purple
G. Gold or silver: Silver
H. Height: 5'0”
I. Instruments you play(ed): Piano, flute (and piccolo)
J. Job title: Senior Consultant
K. Kids: Negative
L. Live: Manhattan
M. Mom’s name: None of your business
N. Nicknames: Jenn, Pięk
O. Overnight hospital stays: Two – a 10-day stay and a 4-day stay
P. Pet peeves: When people say they have OCD when they really don't
Q. Quote from a movie: “Strength and honor.”
R. Righty or lefty: Righty
S. Siblings: Little brother
T. Time you wake up: Too early
U. Underwear: x 3
V. Vegetables you don’t like: Broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash
W. What makes you run late: OCD
X. X-rays you’ve had: Right leg, left foot
Y. Yummy food you make: Macaroni and cheese, cakes
Z. Zoo animal favorites: The birds, although the pandas at the National Zoo were pretty awesome too

Read more...