Ollie's First Birthday

My fur baby is officially one year old! His birthday was yesterday, May 24th. I cannot believe how fast he's grown up and how much I absolutely adore my not so little guy. He has made both J and my life complete and we couldn't imagine our life without him in it.

In his honor I thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures of him with you again. You may have seen some of these throughout my blog but here they are all together.

My first picture with my babe

He has grown up into such a good, handsome, smart boy and I'm so proud to call him mine. Unfortunately, given the schedule of my sisters graduation, I couldn't actually be with my baby on his big day. I knew I'd be back home in CO so last week I made him some homemade dog treats to show him how much I love him. I told J to give them to him on his birthday and share them with his other fur friends at the park.

If anyone is interested in the recipe for these treats let me know and I'll do a post with it soon.

Don't you just love your fur babies?

Turn Your Tassels Right To Left

Graduation weekend was such a success!

Everything went off perfectly... our gowns were ironed, our diplomas were handed out, the ceremony was only a little bit too long, the party after was a big hit and we got to spend quality time with our families. There are plenty of other pictures that didn't make the cut and others that I haven't gotten from other family members yet but here's a little peak into our amazing celebration weekend.

(Click to enlarge pictures)

I couldn't be more amazed that the last four years are over already, more proud of everything J and I have accomplished, and more excited to be moving on to the next stage of my life (even if I don't know what it holds yet.)

The Time Has Come

Today was my last final of my last semester of my last year at SDSU! I cannot believe the day has come. Walking past the dorms this afternoon and seeing all the freshmen (now sophomores) moving out with their parents made me kind of nostalgic. It's still supposed to be me moving out of the dorms after freshman year. Heck, it's still supposed to be me graduating from high school but instead it's my little sister. These past four years have flown by and in celebration of the end of an era, I spent the rest of the day having some fun!

I got my nails done with one of my best friends in San Diego. PS- If you haven't heard of gel nails you must look into it. They don't ruin your natural nails like acrylics but won't chip like regular manicures.

The trip to the nail salon also included a pedicure to match my graduation dress.

You'll be seeing more pictures soon of the full dress soon but here's a close up for color purposes.

While we were out, I stopped by the grocery store and ordered cupcakes for our graduation party (complete with red sprinkles for school spirit) and we stopped for lunch and a pitcher of beer. And to top it all off, our lunch was paid for by the random money that was rolling on the ground as we were walking. I love anything that's free!

I came home and added J's Master's hood and my completed set of chords to our gowns hanging in the doorway.

I can't believe we are both graduating tomorrow and I'm so proud of all the accomplishments we've had along the way.

The rest of my day includes a power nap, dinner with my amazing BF and a trip to the airport to pick up family. I cannot wait for the rest of the weekend either. Quality time with both of our families, the actual commencement ceremony, lots of graduation celebrations, and hopefully some amazing San Diego weather. Then it's a quick flight and I'll be back home for a week to celebrate another important graduation next week.

Here's to all the grads around blog land. Congrats!

A Quick Pup-date Update

Since I am busy studying for finals, getting ready for graduation and company coming this weekend along with cleaning the apartment, baking homemade dog treats for Ollie's birthday and about 100 other things, I thought I'd share this with you.

I took this while Ollie and I were on our most recent hike, while he was still enjoying the thought of walking. I always make sure to hydrate myself and my pup when we're out and about and him learning this makes it that much easier.

Thirsty Dog from Simple Sweet Life on Vimeo.

For those of you wondering, his blisters and feet are healing up fabulously. The nasty flaps of skin have fallen off, he doesn't limp anymore and the new callous is starting to form. He does have one spot that keeps being red (but we never actually see it bleeding) and it's pretty sensitive still but he is 100x better than he was last Friday. Thank you all for your kind words about my little guy.

Happy Tuesday from a rainy San Diego

Hike Turned Injury

Do you remember the last time that O-dog (as J has started calling him lately) and I went on a hike? Well we decided to go back this past Thursday. It was my first day off, now that classes have ended and it was a gorgeous day outside again.

This time though I decided that we'd make it to the top. He's been building up his endurance at the dog park lately, we weren't pressed for time at all and I figured, "why not?"

He loved every minute of it and was running up those hills like a champ. He sported his classic pant with his extra-large tongue and even learned to drink out of my Camel-back.

Once at the top, 1.5 miles of trail and ~1600 feet in elevation, we enjoyed the 360 degree views...

and I even shared my banana (his favorite) with my happy pup.

We spent a good 20 minutes at the top. It was a gorgeous day and definitely a nice place to relax.

We were both pretty tired after our trek down the mountain and I assumed we'd both have some tired and sore muscles. I let him rest for a good bit while I showered and had lunch before I went and volunteered. He limped a little bit when I took him out before I left but I didn't think anything was really wrong. He did hike farther than he'd ever gone and I thought I checked him out pretty good.

Welp, I was wrong....

Turns out my little pup got blisters on the pads of his feet from our hiking adventure. My heart breaks for him.

Just like the blisters we get, there were flaps of skin and lots of tenderness. His limp got worse over the course of the night so with some Googling we decided it was best to start handling the situation. I cleaned his feet in soapy water, wrapped them with gauze and covered them in socks. (Hospital socks so he didn't slip, obviously.)

My poor baby. :-(

Even though everything I read online said that they will heal on their own with time, we decided a trip to the vet the next morning was our best bet. The doc assured us that his feet were by no means the worst that she's seen, told us time heals all, gave us some cleaner, antibiotic gel and some pain meds and set us home with our limping pup.

He is already getting much better, isn't acting so depressed and has even started doing his classic gallop down the hallway. He's not nearly in the clear yet; we're supposed to keep him out of the dirt and at low activity for a week but I'm so happy improvements are being made.

We do put socks on him when we're not home, just to keep him from not licking and even though it's sad he's hurt, I can't help but think how cute he looks in Daddy's dress socks.

Here's to a happy Saturday and a quick recovery!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly [V2]

I'm back with the second [The Good, The Bad, The Ugly] feature I've started on the bloggy. Missed the first? Check it out here.

[The Good]

1. Today was my last day of class for undergrad ever! I can not believe the day has come! I will officially be done with finals in approximately 9 days (next Thursday) and will be graduating in 10 days (next Friday)! My announcements are going in the mail this afternoon and I have ideas spinning in my head about how to decorate my graduation cap.

2. This past weekend was J's birthday and we had some amazing friends in town. We spent time at the beach, got sunburnt, played doubles tennis, drank adult beverages, ate yummy food, went downtown and celebrated good friends and great memories.

3. I have decided to start in on my own "getting healthy" plan and today is day 1. I'm starting the Special K Challenge because, well, I love their stuff, obviously. You eat cereal and snack bars and protein shakes during the day and then have a regular meal for dinner. But knowing myself and my random food cravings, I'm combining this with calorie counting because I know I'll want a banana or chips or something in between the Special K items. I'm also going to try and hit up the gym more frequently now that I don't have class which will add extra to the plan. We'll see how I am in two weeks!

[The Bad]

1. With the end of the semester comes the dreaded finals! Dun dun dun! I have three exams next week and thankfully I'm not too stressed about them at this point. None are cumulative which decreases the stress but also gives me NO motivation to actually study for them. Hopefully I can dig down deep and conquer my last undergraduate battle.

2. I mentioned in the GBU post that I was nominated to be the Outstanding Biology Graduate at commencement. I'm sad to say, though, that I did not receive the award. I knew it was a competitive award and I'm sure whoever won deserves it beyond belief but I can't help but think I wish it was me.

3. There are so many things going on in my life right now that I feel like I have to time for anything. Now I am very thankful that some of these things are positive things (like working to make some money) but I can't stop racking my brain about what else needs to happen in the next 10 days. The list goes on and on. Study, clean the apartment, go grocery shopping, contact med schools, go to work, do laundry, prepare a graduation party menu..... (See I told you it was long). However, this does make the finish line of the next 10 days that much sweeter.

[The Ugly]

1. I still have not heard any news in the med school arena. I am still on the alternate list at two schools and am constantly getting anxiety when I receive an email to a certain email address or a phone call from a number I don't recognize. May 15th is a big day on the application-process-front and I just hope that the sooner it gets to that day the better my odds get to hearing good news. Please cross your fingers for me.

Tail Wagging Tuesday

Today I'm participating in C Mae's Tail Wagging Tuesday for the first time. It's no surprise that I love my fur baby and wont skip a chance to show him off to the blog-land. Plus I love looking back at how sweet and little he used to be and how big and handsome he's becoming.

This week's topic is "The Look"

So here we go! Ollie giving me all his favorite looks.

____________________________________________

"Hey, mom, can I sit here?"

(When he actually used to fit)

"Turn it off.... Ten more minutes.... Pleeeeease!"

(Such a teen already)

"The car? The car! Can we go in the car!?"

(Think Dug from the movie UP!)

"Don't take any more pictures. I'm not dressed appropriately."

(After losing his man-hood)

"Can I eat this egg? It is Easter and all."

(Of course I said yes)

Happy Tuesday Everyone!