an afternoon at pandapas pond

as a means of getting out of the house, john and i decided to venture to pandapas pond for the afternoon on saturday. what a beautiful day it was! the sun was shining down on us without a single cloud decorating the landscape. the cold air was brisk and chilly, but the gusting wind from the day before was thankfully gone! john and i took our respective doggies, sadie & emmy, to play as well. it was so nice to get out and enjoy my favorite pups & my incredible boyfriend. :)

sidenote: i just learned how to access the sepia & black and white features of my camera. i got some practice on this afternoon with the sepia tone; enjoy the pics!

sadie would swim out into the pond to retrieve the stick,
then emmy would take it once sadie was back on dry land :o)

a handsome boy with two happy little pups!

action shot!

john tried to teach emmy to "fetch it up!"
as evidenced by this little training session. ;)
i think she needs a few more classes!

i'm pretty sure this was right after a quick, sneaky, wet emmy kiss!

i think puppies are worse than children when it comes to pictures! it was next to impossible to get them both sitting and looking at the camera at the same time. regardless, i think it looks like emmy is smiling in every one of these pictures!

ahh- just look at the camera!

sadie lou, the water rat

35E, your local spca

just wanted to share with the blogging world my pound, errr, residence here in blacksburg. i have a dog named emmy, a lab/alaskan malamute mix. she's 100 pounds of lovebug.


my roommate, kate, has a little black lab mix named maggie. she is nothing more than a ball of energy!


and then there's our new roomie (who just moved in tonight!), cali. cali brought her lil pound pup, lana, to join the 35E crew. lana seems to LOVE people, but isn't too sure about monstrous emmy and crazy maggie. however, i'm sure that in time, she will become the favorite play buddy!


so we have three girls and three little lady pups! it should be a very busy household, with lots of love and vacuuming! :)
the past two days i was also watching sadie, john's dog, while he was in ohio interviewing for jobs. (sadie is the german shorthair in the pics!)


let's just say it was nonstop around here with all these pups!but if you know me, you know that i loved every minute of it. here's to another semester filled with unexpected twists and turns. life's a dance you learn as you go, right?! :)

the camera flashes got to emmy :o)

best buddies

georgia on my mind

after a week+ of substituting in various chesapeake elementary schools, combined with the craziness that is chesapeake weather, i unfortunately got sick right before christmas day. i thought over-the-counter meds, in combination with a steady regimen of vitamin c, would probably kick my cold. boy, was i wrong! instead, the congestion just got worse. well as soon as i got home from christmas in delaware on the 26th, i had to do laundry and pack again for my trip to atlanta. after a late night with little sleep (i do not sleep the night before a trip- anywhere- ever!), i made the trip to blacksburg on the morning of the 27th. this is when my fever hit me and fortunately, my amazing boyfriend took care of me (err...waited on me hand and foot!) until we left on the 29th. john and i rode down to atlanta with a german club "prospective" (a guy who is in the process of trying to get into the club), dan. after six and a half long hours in a very tiny bmw, we made it to chris' house. chris is an even better friend of john's who happens to live in cobb county, right outside of atlanta. he and his family were incredibly gracious and let john, myself, and twelve other guys stay in their home (combined with the six people in chris' family!) for five whole days! i wholeheartedly thank chris and his family for keeping our bellies full, giving us an amazing roof over our heads and proving what true southern hospitality is, in every sense of the word. you are incredible people and i can only hope to return the favor someday.


oh yeah, and we went to the chick-fil-a bowl to watch the hokies play the bulldogs. but i try to forget that part and remember the good things about georgia. :o)

christmas past

i intentionally did not place the appropriate apostrophe in the title due to the nature of this entry. it is one that is a) long overdue and b) a reminiscence of this christmas for myself. being a college student, i am not afforded the luxury of the sweet smells of christmas, such as the warm spritz cookies baking in the oven or the fragrant aroma of the christmas tree in our living room. i also miss out on the hustle & bustle of the shopping malls (i actually do enjoy this), as i am instead cramming for finals or cranking out final projects as my semester draws to a close.

one of the things i look forward to the most about my first year of teaching is the notion of the christmas spirit. being around children, one cannot help but find their excitement contagious. i cannot wait to start the christmas countdown on my chalkboard, decorate my classroom (and home!) in full christmas decor, and simply take time to enjoy the holiday season. i know, i know, shame on me for allowing college to be an excuse, but sadly it is. although i remember the true meaning of this holiday, i do not nearly take enough time to reflect on what it means and how special it truly is. i hope that you and yours had a wonderful time enjoying the season and celebrating the birth of our king!

and now, some cheesy, super-early morning shots of our christmas that was spent in delaware this year with my grandparents. (matt, ali & wyatt- we missed you so much! it certainly was NOT the same and we are already looking forward to having you with US next year!)

grannie & pop pop's stockings, hung by the fireplace with care :)

a new l.l.bean sweater, a quintessential item for living in blacksburg

my grannie, with a new ornament for her tree

and i got bean boots!

my mom specifically picked out these pj's- color, size, print and all. as you can see, she was really excited. :)

dad and his hunting gear


i had booked a flight to boston for this break to see my best friend, myra. sadly, a mandatory orientation for chesapeake public schools forced me to forfeit my trip :( this luggage was something i had asked for specifically for my boston travels. (vera luggage doesn't quite cut it in the airports, so i've heard!) don't worry though, i'll be heading up to the bean town as soon as i am done in may and will put these to great use then!


everyone loves getting new clothes, even pop pop


with holly, my pop pop's baby of a beagle
(and don't you love how this is the only picture where i am actually showered, dressed, and my hair is not a disheveled mess?!)