Please Pray for Pawpaw!

Please pray for my Pawpaw this week. He is having surgery tomorrow (Thursday) on his sinuses, but it is considered risky because it is so close to his brain. I am doing my best to not freak out more than I need to, but I am still very worried and would LOVE some love and prayer sent his way.

If you have ever met Pawpaw, you know just how awesome he is.


He's kind of my favorite person in the world.





I LOVE this picture. You can just see how in love Mamaw and Pawpaw are.




You can also see how much Maggie loves Pawpaw.

So if you can, I would really appreciate prayers sent Pawpaw's way on Thursday and throughout the weekend as he heals! Thank you!

Destined

We are going to Destin! We leave tonight and come back next Wednesday. YAY for a second honeymoon! This summer has been a little crazy with Doug working all day and having grad school at night, so we are SO EXCITED for a little R&R and to spend some real time together. Destin especially holds a special place in our hearts.

It's where we met

And fell in love

And got engaged

And got our engagement pictures taken

We also get to see my favorite family, the Kown's, who moved to Destin the day after our wedding! I nannied for them all through high school, and they are truly family. I looooove those kids- Brooks and Meg. They were junior bridesmaid/groomsman in our wedding!

We are OFF! :)

Playing with Pups

On Sunday, I volunteered to work at the adopt-a-thon at the Conyers Petsmart with Bliss Animal Haven, a non-profit pet rescue organization. I found their website a couple weeks ago, and I knew I wanted to get involved. If you don't know much about these kind of organizations, let me just tell you how wonderful they are! This organization in particular is run by a couple who graciously made their home into a shelter. They have several acres of land that they turned into "puppy heaven" with lots of room to run around and play with the other dogs. They go into the county animal control or humane societies (where dogs and cats are euthanized if it becomes too full, which happens all the time) and take as many animals as they can save. They foster these puppies and kitties until they find a wonderful home for them. They especially focus on cruelty cases and older animals, who all too often are the ones to be euthanized the fastest in the shelters. They also work to put a stop to puppy mills. If you don't know anything about puppy mills, go here. It is shocking to hear what goes on. Usually, the puppies and kitties you find in pet stores, like in the mall, come from puppy mills. PLEASE DON'T BUY THEM! It just fuels the flame. Those poor puppies will often times have major health issues, and sadly, lots of them die soon after being adopted.



You would be surprised to see how many amazing cats and dogs are in foster care/shelters. I was. Most of the dogs I met on Sunday would make perfect family pets, they are just as sweet as they can be! I strongly believe in these organizations, and I so admire the people who sacrifice so much in order to help these helpless animals.



Speaking of cruelty cases, meet Lily:



Lily is a 12 month old Pit/Lab mix. She is the victim of cruelty and neglect. Someone put a collar on her when she was young and never bothered to adjust it. The collar was so tight that the skin was forced to grow around it. Lily was so bad off when Dekalb County found her that the embedded collar had to be surgically removed, but now she is fully recovered. She is a healthy, happy pup in need of a loving home! Lily can play well with other dogs, and does enjoy other dogs, especially dogs her size. No cats. Spayed, all shots, heartworm negative. Lily is such a trooper and has been through so much- she deserves the best home out there! She is crate-trained as well. Adoption fee $100.



This is Lily the day after her surgery





Now she is all healed!








What a cutie!





If you want more information about Lily or feel like she may be the perfect dog for you, just follow the link above to Bliss Animal Haven! Or message me, and I can help you!



Now to the adopt-a-thon. It was SO MUCH FUN! Being surrounded by tons of pups, seeing them go to loving homes...there's just nothing like it. Bliss had 4 pups adopted!



Let me introduce you to some of the sweet dogs I met:

This is my favorite picture from the day. These two are best friends. Inseparable. They just cuddled all day. We are hoping that someone will adopt both of them together.

Of course, I couldn't keep my hands off the little ones!

This is Ladybird, she is one of our pups at Bliss. She is a 1-2 year old English Pointer, and she is a DOLL! Not to mention, she is madly in love with Jessie, who is holding her in the picture. Jessie is one of the co-founders of Bliss.

This is Sasha, a GORGEOUS black German Shepherd. A man came at the end of the adopt-a-thon who has had Shepherds for years and has been looking for a new one since his passed away last year (ironically, she was also named Sasha!). So we are hoping he will call this week and take this lovely lady!

This is Dudley. I. Love. Him. If I was looking for a small dog, I would take him. He has the cutest personality and does some pretty adorable tricks. Here he is sitting on his hind legs, waiting for a delicious treat!

Ladybird.

This is Lady. She was one lucky girl who got adopted on Sunday!! YAY!!! She now has 4 kids who love to hug and kiss her!

This is Hampton. He is also a major cutie with an awesome personality. Although, he is a bit sleepy here!

I don't know how Roger-Dodger is not adopted yet. Hands down, he was the sweetest dog there. He just wanted to be close to you and for you to love on him. Gosh I adore him. At the end of the day, I heard that 2 families were very interested, so I hope that works out because he would be the perfect pet.

This Boxer pup also stole my heart. SO CUTE!

I wanted to take him

This is another cruelty case. Violet was found with 7 puppies, covered in fleas and mange, and she and her pups were also heartworm positive. They have been treated and are on the road to recovery! Several of the puppies have been adopted, they are soooo cute!

This Great Dane had the cutest personality!

This was the dog that stole my heart. Instantly. Oh if we weren't living in an apartment now, he would be mine. His name is Dakota. He is a Husky/Great Pyrenees mix, who happens to strongly resemble my Deucie. They have the same eyes. Ahh it just melts my heart.

I even called Doug and made him come over to see him. Just in case he is still available when we move :)

If you are looking for a chihuahua, oh my goodness, this little guy is the sweetest. He just licked me the entire time I held him.

Love this face!

This one breaks my heart.

Not all of these pups are at Bliss, but if you are interested in any of them, please let me know and I can put you in touch with the shelter who has them!

I know this post has been entirely too long, so I'm surprised if you made it all the way to this point! But I'll take advantage of it and tell you one more thing! I made a great new friend who was also volunteering, and we have decided to organize a bowl-a-thon fundraiser for Bliss. They are in desperate need of a vehicle to transport the dogs each week to Petsmart. Right now, they are using their own minivan, which isn't big enough and they have to clean it every time they use it. So we are hoping to raise enough money for a utility van or an RV-type, where they can keep the cages in and transport even more dogs to the adoption days. Lindsey and I are going to the bowling alley in Loganville today to talk with the manager about this possibility, so I will keep you updated!

If you are in the area and want to volunteer time/money or even being a foster home, let me know!

If you have made it all the way here, thanks so much for reading! This is something very close to my heart and I'm hoping to spread the word on this wonderful cause!

The Worst Game Ever

Friday night, Doug and I headed to Augusta to see one of our favorite couple friends, Lesley Anne and Kyle! LA and I lived together for the last 2 years at UGA, and we have had many fun double dates together! We were also in each other's weddings this year :) So we were very excited to finally see them!

We ate pizza, watched football, and caught up with each other on Friday night. We were up bright and early on Saturday and headed to Columbia, South Carolina. My brother, a Clemson alum, has always called Columbia "the armpit of America" and I have to say I agree with him. I was not a fan. Apparently, there is ONE road that leads to the stadium, where the traffic stands still for miles. So we had about a 2 mile walk each way to the stadium. This wouldn't have been so bad had it not been blisteringly hot and HUMID!

We made it to the game and found our seats, where there were both UGA and USC fans around us. As most of you probably know, UGA looked U-G-L-Y! It was bad. And depressing. And annoying that these silly chickens were yelling at us. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the yelling. This was my first away game, and I knew that I might not like it because of all the harassing. They were MEAN! Some guy called us dog s***! I couldn't believe it!

During the game, it rained, which actually felt really good because it was so hot out. Then it stopped and the whole stadium smelled like sweaty people/wet dog. Yuck. The worst part was the guy in front of me. He was a jerk who would stand on the bleacher right in front of me (everyone else was standing up, but just on the ground, not the bleacher). His back was literally inches away from my face, so I couldn't see a thing. I asked him nicely for a while to please not stand on the bleacher, but he was too drunk to be reasonable. He even fell over on the people next to him. Oh, if I was a Jersey Shore girl, I would have decked him.

Sorry if my venting was a bit negative! Besides the game, our weekend was so fun! I have started volunteering for a non-profit pet rescue in Loganville, and I absolutely ADORE it. I worked at an adoption event in Conyers on Sunday afternoon (a post on that coming soon!). Then Sunday night, we went to the Braves game with my parents. Sadly, that was also a terrible loss! But we did have fun with family, and we even got to hang out with Doug's dad who was also at the game!
You might have noticed that my hair is about 5 inches shorter. On Friday afternoon, about 2 hours before we left for Augusta, I was watching Grey's Anatomy and I loved Izzy's short hair. I decided I wanted my hair to look like that, so I called the local salon and took the first open appointment they had! An hour later, I had a nice new haircut!

Let's Get Physical!

I'm an exerciser!!!


If you know me, you probably know that I hate to exercise. Over the years, I have thrown away a lot of money by joining gyms, getting a personal trainer, buying exercise equipment, etc. I get motivated, but I usually last a week and then realize that I don't like it.


I love playing sports and being competitive, but I don't really enjoy being in a sweaty gym. It just bores me.


The one thing I don't hate is walking. I actually really enjoy it...especially when I'm walking a dog! (Hint hint Doug ;) If I am somewhere where there are pretty things to look at, or if I have someone to talk to, or I have some great music to listen to on my ipod, I am one happy camper who doesn't mind a little "power walking."

Doug has been training for a half-marathon in October, so he runs about 4 times a week. Now that the weather is becoming wonderful and it's not 100 degrees every day, I decided to join him on Tuesday night. We went to the beautiful street of historic homes in downtown Covington, and I walked while he ran. I listened to some crunk music, and I walked 2.5 miles!! I was so proud. All you fitness gurus out there are probably laughing at me, but for me, it was a big feat that I was even willing to do it!



And guess what...I did it again last night!


This picture makes me laugh...hopefully I don't look quite like this!















Or this

Speaking of exercising, this is me and my mii. On a beach trip with Doug's family, we played wii and I decided to dress like my mii. Spot on!

Now if I just had a dog, I might walk EVERY DAY! :)

John Mayer

As always, the John Mayer concert was INCREDIBLE!





I saw my wonderful friends, Kathryn and Alissa

John sang me sweet songs

and rocked out on his guitars

Funny story- right before we left the apartment to go to the concert, Doug came out dressed in his shirt, shorts, and a headband. One of those 80's sweatbands that makes your hair stick straight up. So I told him to take it off, obviously! He was sad that he couldn't look like a fool at the concert.

So when John Mayer came on stage, Doug was appalled at what he saw.

Yes, John Mayer was wearing a headband. Oops!

I videotaped his performance of "Free Falling" but blogger apparently doesn't want me to post videos.

My J May Obsession

I have an obsession. John Mayer. Not so much obsessed with him as a person, but more with his amazing music. This obsession started early, when I was in 8th grade. I remember the first time I ever heard "No Such Thing." I went to his On the Bricks concert in Atlanta that year, and I was hooked.

Since then, I have been to his concert every year, plus a few. Up to yesterday, I had been to 10 John Mayer concerts. I never miss him when he comes to Atlanta, and I hopefully never will! All that said, let me tell you about last night!

I was in bed, ready for a good night's sleep, when I decided to check out the details on John Mayer's website for tonight's (Sept 8th) concert that Doug and I are going to. I am not a twitter person, I really don't get the point of it, so I never use it. But, I believe fate stepped in last night! On J May's website, it shows his twitters (tweets?) and I saw that he had just posted a surprise gig at Eddie's Attic, where he got his big break about 10 years ago in Atlanta. I realized that it was after 11pm and none of my John Mayer-obsessed friends would be awake or anywhere close to Atlanta. Doug had a huge meeting early this morning, so he couldn't go with me. But I HAD TO GO!! I could not miss this amazing opportunity! So I threw on some clothes and jumped in the car. (Mom- if you are reading this, don't worry, it was very safe!) It took me only 30 minutes to get there, but by the time I got there, the line was huge and they had just let in the last few people.

I figured that this would happen, but I was still so disappointed. I met some awesome girls in the line, and one of them found a speaker in the back of the building where we could listen to the concert! So although I technically didn't see John, I listened to him reminisce of his Atlanta days and sing me sweet lyrics. We had our own little concert/dance party and all was good again.

So I don't know if that counts in my concert list, I think it does. So tonight's show will be my 12th! I can't wait!!! I wish I had my pictures from when I had front row at his show at the Tabernacle about 5 years ago. They are on my parents' computer at home. I got amazing pics and I even touched his shoe :)

One other fun fact. John and I now share the same initials (minus the middle one). Which makes the fact that I have a huge bumper sticker on my car that says JM all the more fun.