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Google Maps directions from Japan to China. Step number 43: Jet Ski across the Pacific Ocean. 782 km. Awesome.
Four years ago today, James and I braved a Texas storm to drive an hour and a half to Austin to meet our little furry bundle of joy. We had been married for only a few months when we decided to adopt a little poodle. Actually, I decided to adopt a little poodle, and spent an entire month convincing James that I absolutely needed a puppy. While reluctant at first, James gave in when he saw the personality of a cute little gray poodle shining through a photo online. I would spend hours browsing the adoptable dogs in our area on petfinder.com. When this little gray poodle became available, we called immediately! Unfortunately, the lady told me that we didn’t actually want him, because he needed a lot of work, and couldn’t be around children. She encouraged us to submit our adoption application, and then to meet two other small poodles, who didn’t need nearly as much attention and training. I was disappointed, but still wanted to meet these other dogs, so we bought a kennel and drove to Austin, just to “meet” them, of course. After about 20 minutes of driving, we realized we had a made a terrible decision braving this storm. We couldn’t see anything and we were literally being blown all over the road. We pulled over (with everyone else) and prayed that a tornado didn’t interfere with our hopes of getting a puppy. At least that’s what I was praying for! I think James was praying for safety! 
After about 45 minutes, conditions were finally good enough to drive again, and we inched our way to Austin. The adoption agency was also late due to the storm, and we arrived before them. We wandered around Petsmart for a few minutes before a tiny gray puffball came barreling through the door. I fell in love the moment I saw him! There was no way I was going home without that little dog! The lady apologized for being late, and then explained to us that the dogs we were supposed to be meeting were stuck in the storm, so she brought Rudy instead (the dog we had originally called about!). I was very pleased! We played with him for a few minutes, and she explained to us the adoption agencies policy about a two week trial period. During a short ten minute period, this little dog had run away three times, bit the lady who brought him, and growled at a little white poodle. It made me love him that much more. He was spunky and had such an awesome personality. I was sure he was the one.
We had been approved for an adoption (well….for a two week trial), but there were a few things they needed to talk to us about. Divorce and Death. Who got the dog if we got divorced? ME!! (No discussion was needed there…. ) And then we discussed the importance of having our dog in our will so that our dog didn’t end up in a kill shelter one day. After those two important discussions, we were allowed to take Rudy home. Rudy (formerly named Rusty) became little Ambler Johnston Gouger, also known as AJ!
Our life hasn’t been the same since AJ came into it. He has been the perfect little dog for us, and he has learned to love to travel. The traveling began after his two week trial when we took him to see my grandparents in Corpus Christi, TX. Then a few months later we took him on a road trip to Nebraska. A few weeks after that, we moved him to Virginia. A year later, he was moving to California, and two years after that, he boarded a plane to Japan. He is quite the little traveler, and we love him! For those of you living in Texas, check out Austin’s Little Paws Maltese Rescue. http://www.lilpaws-malteserescue.org/
Moving from a gorgeous apartment with granite counter tops, hard wood floors, and vaulted ceilings in San Diego to a 1960’s apartment with industrial tile, brown walls, and a brown tiled bathroom left me in a bit of a funk. How were we going to turn our military housing unit into a livable, mod
ern home that was fresh and fun? After countless hours of Google searching, I found our answer: WALLS NEED LOVE!! Yes!! Our walls DO need love!! Most of our rooms are coming together nicely, but the bathroom had a lot to be desired. Our brown tiles from floor to ceiling made it impossible to hang any kind of decorations, so vinyl wall art seemed perfect. With Walls Need Love, you can pick out all of your colors, and we went with a black and red Japanese cherry blossom tree (perfect….I know!) to match our shower curtain (which is 6 inches too short here). I was stoked when the art came in, and James and I spent last night hanging it up. The tree branches were a bit difficult, as the branches are very skinny, but overall, the process was extremely easy. I think the tree looks fabulous, and it has completely transformed our bathroom. We also purchased flying red and black birds, but we haven’t decided how to use them yet. For those of you looking for something to spiff up your room, check this company out. It’s definitely helping our place feel more like home.
WallsNeedLove.com comes with the following warning…. (It’s too late for me!!)
“WARNING!! Wall Decals are addictive and may induce uncharted levels of fun & creativity. DO NOT use if you are: spontaneous, creative, fun, unique, stylish, trendy, fashion forward, progressive, or just simply love to decorate. You just might be prone to a seriously fun decals addiction. ”
When we were freshmen in college, having the internet in our rooms was awesome. I mean, I had the internet at home for many years, but this was my internet connection. Our computers were plugged into it all the time, 24 hours with our AIM status telling everyone what we were up to or saying something witty or cute. “VTAngel06: Is at Deet’s getting ice cream with her awesome roommate! Come meet us at Deet’s and be awesome too!!” And we would spend hours on sites like Homestarrunner.com Even though we spent a lot of time on the internet, it was the pre-Facebook age, so it was different. It was before blogging and twitter. And even a bit before digital cameras. A few of our friends had them, but they were on the cutting edge. Cathy and I (my freshman roommate) were still using film cameras, with only 24 photos a roll. It was a time when we didn’t want to share everything we were doing with the entire population. When Facebook came to Virginia Tech, I resisted. If you remember, only a few colleges were invited to join Facebook at a time, and slowly, almost every college was on the site. It was only later that they opened it up to everyone, and it became an international phenomenon complete with a ton of advertisements. I joined Facebook my senior year of college for a class called “Communication, Internet, and Society,” where I was supposed to observe internet interactions and relationships. At the time, it was novel for me, and academic in nature. Now, it is completely social for me, and I get on it multiple times a day to “stalk people”. In fact, I’m not sure what I would do without Facebook! I love stalking people and seeing what everyone is doing with their lives. I love looking at people’s pictures, and looking to see why their relationship status changed. It’s a way of life for me now. And I love reading people’s blogs to see what they are up to. I guess it’s really a staple for us, because we live so far away from our friends and family. This comic made me laugh and saddened me at the same time. It is so true how attached we have become to the internet. Just the other day, we were hiking along the beautiful coast of San Diego, and I thought to myself, this is going to make a great blog. How sad! So, this is just a small version of my daily thoughts on the internet. Hope you all enjoy the comic! It is from http://xkcd.com/, “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.”
