hi to our giddy guy

giddy looking out his favorite window

tomorrow marks two months with our giddy, which would make him about five or six months old now, since the shelter wasn't positive about how old he was when we got him. he has quite a personality-- it's weird to think that we "got to know him" the way you would get to know a person, but i feel like that is indeed what we did. i usually know what's going to make him happy or upset, or what will make him bark, or when he is going to go berserk and wreck everything (hyperbole). i frequently tell mark that it is like giddy is a "teenager" in dog years because it honestly feels like he's rebelling sometimes! he gets so mad when mark and i eat dinner or lunch because he can't have our food, and mark scolds and shoos him to the other side of the room if he tries to come over. then giddy goes very still, stares at us for a second, and barks like crazy! it feels like the equivalent of talking back or slamming a door to make a point. giddy loves all kinds of bread, and he adores ritz crackers with peanut butter. he also loves sweet potatoes, so whenever i give him the leftovers, he licks his bowl spotless, tracing it along the edge of the wall until he runs into something. it also seems like he's become "aware," if that makes sense. he used to be oblivious of the world outside our house, but now he loves to sit at the window or the front door and observe the outdoors. we take him on a walk every night before bed, which he loves. when we come back, though, he knows it's bedtime and tries to crawl under our bed and go to sleep, hoping we'll forget to put him in the laundry room-- but we don't forget. sorry, giddy. he is not a big fan of the car; it makes him quiet and kind of jumpy (and getting rear-ended, which sent him flying off the backseat onto the floor, did not help matters).  he loves company and gets really wild when people come over-- i swear, just like a child showing off. he is now completely house-trained, hallelujah. but he seems to have a bit of a weak stomach and pukes about once a week. hopefully that will stop soon! 

wassail fest 2012

i am planning to do a post soon about denton, and all the eccentricities of this town (at least as far as i understand them after living here for only 16 months), but suffice it to say that denton has a very unique character. it is never dull to live here. friday night mark and i got to experience "wassail-fest"---you should hear mark try to say that word. he can't get it right. it's pronounced like "waffle," except with s's instead of f's. wassail-fest is this big festival at the town square. lots of vendors set up shop (corn dogs, funnel cakes, pizza), thousands of dentonites come out, the square is lit up for christmas, and all the stores and boutiques stay open way past their usual closing times. wassail is a hot, mulled cider. at wassail fest, many of the shops make their own wassail and give it out for free! it's a lot of fun to go around and try all the different kinds of cider, because each one has its own flair and flavor. by the time we got there, a lot of the shops had already run out, so next year we will make a note to go early!

the town square swarming with people

this is one example of how unique denton is---a woman at wassail fest was walking her PIG on a leash! 

the birthplace of Texas

we spent the past few days in deer park (near houston) with one of our favorite families ever: the blockers! deer park, apparently, is the 'birthplace of texas' because that's where the texans fought the battle that secured their independence from mexico---or so it goes according to one justin blocker. anyway, we love those guys. 

some highlights: 

• fried turkey---unbelievable
• bacon-wrapped-brown-sugar-cured green beans (the green beans function only as a vehicle for more bacon)
• hot tub
• track workout in pouring rain
• anvil: if you're ever in houston, go to this bar
• grilled steaks and great talks with justin, jayson, lizzie, brooklyn, and baby brody
• late nights and sleep-ins
• a good laugh over the maxima's amazing ability to endure anything, even F-350s knocking on her bumper
• listening to the lumineers on the drive back home today
• pad thai to finish out the weekend...just couldn't help ourselves

getting back to real life tomorrow is not going to be pleasant! but the good news is: Christmas! 

Anvil

the knickerbocker: deeelicious! 

pleeease take note of mark's dainty glass

again, notice mark's glass

little miss brooklyn helping out in the kitchen

mark's only consolation today after realizing he left his travel mug at the blockers' house: the saga continues

mine is the cinnamon sugar one!

hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! 

pie for breakfast, anyone?

mark just walked into the kitchen and turned on the oven. i said, "what are you turning on the oven for??" he said, "sweet potato fries." i looked at the clock like i was crazy and said, "but it's 10:20 in the morning." he said, "exactly. i'm having eggs, bacon, and potatoes for breakfast." 

i guess it's still birthday weekend and he can technically do whatever he wants? after all, we did eat pie for lunch yesterday. 

annnyway, here are some pictures from the birthday: 

apple pie i made from scratch 

the only thing i could think of to keep him from seeing the cart. he didn't even notice the giant lumpy thing covered by a blue sheet in the corner. 

glenmorangie 18: a scotch that he has been wanting forever but that he would never buy for himself! he was not expecting me to get this for him!

the cart + scotches + glasses. i put that cart together allll by myself!

the pie after digging into it with mark and keith

oh, we also got giddy a little gift: a christmas reindeer to chew on! 

<3

happy birthday, mark!

happy happy birthday to my darling husband today! 

my life would have infinitely less mustaches and general bravado without him. 

oh hey there, it's been a while

i haven't forgotten about my blog! we just had a few weeks where everything was kind of humdrum and i didn't feel like updating to say "oh hey, we're just doing the same normal go-to-class-read-write-sleep-eat that we always do." 

what we've been up to...

1. some little crafts, as usual! 

ribbon wreath for the guest room

corks from our first year of marriage

birthday garland! i couldn't resist. 

2. angel and valerie drove down from kansas city to visit us for a few days! of course we didn't even take one picture together, go figure, but we had a great time showing them around denton. we had ice cream on the square, made a visit to the candy store (and did not leave empty-handed-- well mark and i didn't, anyway. val and angel have more self control), grilled kebabs, ate out, and showed them around campus. we didn't have time to do everything we wanted but we were just happy to have two days with them!

3. giddy is twice the size he was when we got him a month ago! he is, i think, completely housetrained now. he is extremely friendly and loves to play with other dogs--even if the other dogs don't reciprocate at all (i.e. angel's dog husky, who is content to lay on the floor while giddy chews his ears and legs incessantly). i've been trying to teach him a trick and i think he's finally learned! see the video :) it's strange to think that growing up i was so not a dog person. it just goes to show that marriage changes people! 

giddy finished his first bag of dog food!

4. it's birthday week in this wagenaar household! poor chagrined mark has to endure my extensive birthday celebrations, as in, i sang him happy birthday today even though his birthday isn't until friday. but i <3 birthdays, and any reason to celebrate my sweet husband! 

the paradox of thrifting

a recent hobby of mine, since moving to denton, is thrifting. i love it for several reasons. one, i think it's a tremendous way to get to know the town you're in. i didn't feel like denton was "mine" until i spent considerable time in denton's many thrift stores over the summer. the way i see it, thrift stores are the attics of a town. and we all probably know that you get to know a lot about someone by going through their attic (thinking back to the hours and hours i spent playing in my grandmother's---and the furniture i salvaged from it). 

secondly, i love thrift stores because they're cheap! that one should be obvious. but it ties in to the paradox, which is: thrifting makes me both like my things more, and care about them less. what i mean is, when i thrift something (a bookshelf, bedside table, picture frame, dress, pants, blazer, or cup---all of which i've thrifted at some point), i like it more. it's like i discovered it and had a vision for what it could become. especially if i've redone the thing in some way---like the bookshelf and bedside table, which i repainted. i've invested myself in it, and tailored it specifically to how it fits into my house. but on the other hand, i care less about it! meaning, since i didn't spend $100 on a bedside table, i don't care if it breaks or chips or collapses. i don't care if i drop the cup and it shatters, because it was only fifty cents. it doesn't matter if the dress shrinks in the wash or rips---it was $4. i find that the more an item of clothing cost me, the less i wear it. strange how that works. anyway, i am all for ways to care less about my stuff---the last thing i want is to be in love with my things. 

recently, i've taken to spray-painting baskets. almost every thrift store has a plethora of baskets, they're usually $1 each, and spray paint is a really fast and easy way to spruce them up and make them go with a room. baskets are also a quick fix for organizing. my bathroom shelves, which were full of medicines and bandaids and lotions, which usually took me several frustrated minutes to dig through, are now organized into baskets. 

baskets before: yikes, look at that ugly bow. you can also cut handles off of baskets, which i did for the one on the left.

linen closet before (sort of)---i had already done the bottom shelf. but you can see what a nightmare that middle shelf is. 

baskets after! 

closet after