Cart before the Horse

So as you know, back mid fall I bought a carriage for Six to pull at the ceremony in October. Today was his first day getting to actually be before the cart so to speak!

He did a great job and didn't seem to mind too much at all, just needs to get used to the feel... And honestly I do too!!!

I also included some cute shots taken from this evening.

A plate of cookies!

So ladies and gentleman it is my extreme pleasure to announce my formal engagement!

:)

Jase had plenty of opportunities to propose to me in a very romantic and traditional way, but as is totally in step with the humor in our relationship, he chose something a little more fun and playful.

He had taken me on a wonderful horseback ride several weeks ago that ended with a great dinner and movie.... no ring...

We had a very low key New Years eve just the two of us.... No ring....

We went to a wonderful dinner at The Melting Pot on Saturday just for the heck of it and had a wonderful time at the restruant that we celebrated our one year anniversary at back in August and I thought, surely it will be tonight... yet no ring was forthcoming...


So tonight, on this nothing special of a Monday night, I had worked hard and long and Jay had put in two hours of overtime himself. We both arrived home late and we were both tired. I fed the horses and put the trash out and was laying on the bed looking at a magazine that had come in the mail...

Jay walks in with something behind his back and a giant beaming smile on his face. He says:
"Couuuuurty, Do you love me?"
"Yes Jay" I laugh
"How much do you love me?" He says playfully
"Very very much, why?" I ask, suspicious.
"Cause I have something for you." He pulls out a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies from the Great Cookie Company, a tradition we have when he is feeling particularly considerate and sweet.
I reply "Awwww, how sweet!" I, very unsuspecting, at this point cause he'd disarmed me with familiarity, picked up the central cookie.

And low and behold a giant shiny rock shone back at me!!!

I squeaked and bust into ecstatic laughter.
He dropped to one knee and said, "Then will you marry me?"
I wrapped my arms around his neck laughing and laughing and said yes about a zillion times. I told him, "you are so silly!!" He chuckled and said "you knew that, that's why you love me! It wouldn't be right to do it traditionally and this way just came to me one day."

So we are officially engaged.
The wedding is now OFFICIALLY planned for the 10th of October of this year at The Hurst Family home in Bulverde. It won't be a large gathering but elegant and fun.

I'm positively beaming and so very excited! And now I will get to share more planning fun in my blog!

Cheers!!

Oh PS- the central diamond belonged to my grandmother! Jay had to go get it from my mom prior to ever talking to my dad or brother. He wanted the ring to be able to take with him when he talked to the men. So the first person he had to go through was the momma bear!!!

Getting in shape!

So I don't have any new pics to show but I thought I would fill my readers in on my new year's resoluation. As is my norm, "Get in shape" is about how I start every year. Well this year it includes a pledge.

pfpchallenge.com

This is the "biggest loser" sponsored site. It dedicates a pound of food to the food bank for every pound that you lose for the next 5 months. I pledged them 16 pounds. I have already lost them 3. I am excited about being able to do something great for others while doing something good for myself!

My strategy is this:
Day 1: jog 2 miles and jump rope half. (half means 1 half of whatever I completed for the whole jump rope day the week before)
Day 2: jog 4+miles
Day 3: jump rope whole (usually around 1000-2000 skips)
Day 4: rest
And repeat!!!!!

My 4 mile days are anywhere from 4 to 4.75 miles and can even be jogging home or to work! Its strenuous and takes me a little less than an hour, and Padfoot is my jogging buddy. He is working on getting over his fear of cars since we spend most of our time on Fredericksburg!!!

I'm also struggling to eat well, often, lite and nothing after 6pm. That's the hardest part for me as I often don't get home until after 6pm and am famished! I will eat a cup of pudding, some fruit or fruit snacks and drink lots of water!!!

Wish me luck!

Pics!

So I just brought my camera in from the car and what should I find????

LOTS OF PICS!!!

First is that picture I promised so long ago of Sam in his borrowed wheel chair. He doesn't use it very often, still gets along on his own.

Next, a pic of the birds in their new indoor tree!!!

Kitties!!!

The first one you'll see is a foster (for now): Her shelter name is Winter Breeze and she is here for Ringworm that doesn't seem to want to go away permanently. Hence the horrible haircut! She's normally a short to medium hair coat kitty. A tortipoint snow shoe, very pretty. But right now she looks like a sphynx. Soon though she will be our ninja kitty and her name will officially be Boton, the guide of the dead souls to the underworld from an anime.

The second kitty is Angel Eyes, my blind kitty. She's getting so fat! But Boton keeps her active and gives her much needed company.

Padfoot came with us hiking the day after Thanksgiving. We had such a great time, the weather was beautiful!!!

Then my beautiful nephew Branson being his normal cute self.

And finally Thanksgiving at my parent's house. Holidays are so important to my family.

A news spot!

Short and sweet.

IF the link is working check out this news story that showed on the local San Antonio station about one of our dogs from the shelter! Melts the heart huh? And if you want to see what he looked like when he came to the shelter check out the next link!

http://kabb.com/vod/videoplayer.shtml

click on the story from 12-19-08 titled Abused Dog Recovers

Then go to http://www.humanesocietyspca.org/wilbur.php to see what he looked like throughout his story

In the middle

Heya!

I know its been a while. Time sure does seem to fly! Christmas is in high gear and I keep meaning to send my cards out! But I have no beautiful pictures! Maybe I'll wait and send New Year's cards out so I can get pics of me and my "family".

Jason and I are doing very well, getting by on what we make and living life as it should be.

I found someone to ride Six for me. She's getting him into the mode of being worked on a regular basis. She found out, the hard way, that I actually knew my horse when I told her I wanted someone to push him but I didn't want to get bucked off. She didn't think he had it in him... HA! So as she layed in the grass looking up at him from the flat of her back him standing placidly nearby looking back at her, she found out he DID have it in him. But she also thinks he is very smart, and incredibly level headed. Good news! (Like we didn't know these things about my boy). So hopefully I will be able to send him out to a trainer in March or April to learn some more advanced things.

Sam is doing better. As if the weakness in his hindlegs wasn't bad enough, he had torn the Adductor muscle, or the muscle responsible for holding your legs together and keeping you from going spraddle legged. And he was having a really hard time getting around. But time heals and he's back to only limping a little and banging himself into walls. He is receiving acupuncture with electricity for his back basically twice a month and it seems to make him more comfortable. Not helping too much on return to function but he's happier. And that's important. See the pictures below. Yes, the second picture is of a horse, but it gives you an idea.

Work is a little stressful.

My DO (director of operations) or the Lady I call Boss, is having her baby tomorrow!! Its been a tough road for her and we are all excited that the new little girl will be arriving and giving my friend some peace.... Well at least peace meaning not causing her phsyical pain and nausea anymore. HOWEVER, our interim DO is a much different lady and has a much different style of management. I want nothing more than to develop a strong working relationship with this woman as I have with the DO. I have a nagging bad feeling that that may be a real challenge. I hope not. She is a very strong, very intelligent woman. She is also a very strong willed manager who likes to have every decision run through her. That's a challenge for me, yet another strong willed intelligent woman, used to making my own decisions. Its 6 weeks of limbo. I pray it works out.

Secondly about work, the Shelter is working on getting me a surgery suite. This includes being able to do spay/neuter surgeries for the shelter 4 days of the week and then supervising someone to come in and do surgeries for the public the other 3. It means I will also be able to do other surgeries like amputations, eye enucleations, ear canal ablations etc.... If anyone is looking for something to spend a couple hundred bucks on I could really use Atlas of Small Animal Surgery. $200 used. Yay. Late Christmas present to myself I guess. The fun thing about this project is that it will mean a slight increase in pay and I will take on management of another veterinarian. Who would have thunk? I haven't even made it a year in practice yet. :) So much to do!!!

Jay is also hoping to get a pay raise this year. He is managing the warehouse at his office, but is hoping to move from hourly to salary. He currently works 45hrs a week. OT is of course time and a half, so he has developed a spread sheet to show his boss that he can save some money and have more of Jay's time if he makes him Salary. :) So we should be sitting pretty for the next year, and get some of our bills paid off by summer. I'm excited about that.

I don't know if everyone knows, but I have a roommate. Chelsea moved in a couple months ago and we are so glad she did. She takes the second half of the house and has her own large bedroom, bathroom, and sitting room. She also sorta has the kitchen, which is great because she likes to cook for us! Having a roommate gives us a little more freedom with the animals, and the rent. It also makes taking care of the house easier since its soooo big for two people. Her bf may also move in in the summer. If that happens, then they will increase their portion of the rent and utilities and give us a little more money to pay on bills with! Cheers to that!

Also, my family took some pics at Thanksgiving, and I have included those as well.

So I guess thats the update on me. No new kids, or news, other than speculation. Talk to yall soon!

Renaissance

We went to Ren fest this weekend. I love having a man that is as into playing dress up as me. It makes things fun! Allie, Jay and I went to Renaissance Festival in Magnolia on Sunday. We went down to Houston Saturday night and spent the evening playing Rock Band 2 with two fellow veterinarians, Zoo Shokrollahi and Chrissy Minton. Chrissy is moving to California soon so it was a pleasure to get to see her.

Sunday we woke up rather early, having gone to bed at 2am anything is early, and traveled to the fair.

We arrived at 11am and snuck my secret prop into the fair.....

Yes, She is a live cat, though many people throughout the day thought she was an INCREDIBLE puppet. Many years ago, it was allowed to bring any and all pets into the fair. Over the past few years, that rule, as many others, has changed. Up till a couple years ago it was legal to bring small pets that wouldn't touch the ground, but I know now, that that rule has changed.

I only know because the man at the exit gate was flabergasted that I made it around the entire park without getting kicked out!

Hehehe.... She was out in the open for all to see.... Once we got past the entrance that is.

But she was ooed and awed over. Got pet many many times. And generally enjoyed the sights... I means smells and sounds of the Fair. She rode around on my arm all day without any fuss. Such a great cat!

We all had a great time too. Traveling adventurers/woods people. I made all the outfits in the two weeks leading up to Ren. They fit well and minus a few fabric flaws they looked good.

I even wore my shirt to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in the Woodlands and got a compliment on how cool it looked. Thank you Thank you.

Maybe I should give up vet med and go into designing....

Thanksgiving is coming soon, and I am greatly looking forward to seeing my brother. He has been in Arizona and I miss him.

I'm also researching good vacation spots for an intimate getaway next fall.... Something fun, adventurous, in another country, but not TOO expensive. Jason has never been out of the country, so we want to make it memorable. If you have any ideas let me know! On the research board so far: Scuba diving and Rain Forest hiking in Costa Rica, Snow Skiing in Argentina, Beach Combing in Peru...