Celebrating the Good times!

I just took my last test of 2009 and ended up doing moderately well in all of my classes: 3 Bs and 1 A. I feel quite a sense of accomplishment at that. However, this last semester (more than last year) - I also felt much happier. In the long run, grades really don't mater that much for me (just as long as I learn and pass). It's much more important to enjoy life, celebrate each day, and thank God for all of it. Sometimes, we busy humans forget to take the time to actually enjoy life ^_^Treasured memories from my wedding...


Today I had a nostalgic moment and went and looked at our wedding pictures ^_^

This is one on my most treasured memories from the wedding. After the rehearsal dinner, my bridesmaids and I stayed to make our own bouquets. People had said that making your own bouquets was a bad idea...not a good way to save money, but my experience proved otherwise. We ordered all of our flowers in bulk from Sams. Then we each picked out the flowers we wanted and rapped some ribbon around the stems. They ended up be absolutely beautiful, and the memories of spending that peaceful time together in the midst of chaotic wedding planning is one of my favorite memories!





After the bouquet making - we all just hung out at my parents' house. Also...a good memory.

Right around that time we found Ruby and her puppies. ...

Can you believe this is the same dog? It's amazing what a couple of months of good food and lots of lovin' can do for a dog. I may just be a proud mother-hen, but I think I have one of the prettiest dogs in the nation. She's got such a loving personality too! I have to admit though...she farts under the covers when I let her snuggle with me on the couch. Stinky dog! I'm so glad we found her ^_^

Eagles Bluff

Chase and I went birding after church this afternoon. Well... Chase went birding and I rode in the car. We only have one pair of binoculars and my camera lens is just the 18-55mm kit lens. That situation will eventually be remedied, but in view of all the loans I've taken out for vet school...taking my notes to study instead of a shiny, new pair of binoculars seemed a more prudent choice. I managed to get through 41 pages of cardiopathology notes. Fabulous....but alas I still did not meet my study-quota for the day.

"We" saw 20-something species: mallards, coots, a wood duck, Northern harrier, red-bellied woodpecker, horned larks, black capped chickadee, cardinal, house sparrows, le conte or nelson sparrow (?)... Anyway, Chase quite enjoyed his trip.

Finals begin this week! I'll study diligently this week, but I'm not going to fret. I'm not at danger at failing any of my classes, and should be able to secure at least a B in all of them. But wish me luck just the same ^_^


Peace and love to all! Leave a comment if you pass by, please ^_^

Save a Greyhound!

Dairyland racing track in Wisconsin will be closing down soon - meaning 100s of greyhounds will need homes and it made me want to help in some way. Since I can't have another dog...


Just in case someone out there stumbles across my blog and happens to be considering a dog, I recommend adopting a greyhound.


Ah, you might be thinking now.."but greyhounds must be so high-energy. I really have no way of dealing with an energetic dog." And you would be absolutely wrong. Greyhounds run 30 second races maybe twice a week. Just take a peek at my greyhound pictures! Does Gary look like a high energy dog? In actuality, greyhound are nicknamed "45 mile per hour couch potatoes," and that is the truth! Although a greyhound get get up to speed in 3 strides, most of them are more than happy to spend their retirement napping away on someone's couch (or dog bed if you prefer). Here's my experience with greyhounds...


I'm not sure when the idea of getting a greyhound entered my mind, but I believe it was sometime during college when I met a greyhound at a Meet and Greet at Petsmart. The kind lady informed me that greyhounds don't stink like other dogs, are very friendly, and can sleep up to 18 hours per day (and all night too). That sounds like a dog for me! So when I graduated college and before heading off to vet school, I put in my application at Greyhound Pets of America - Missouri. I told them I had no preference of color, sex, or age - I just wanted a dog that would be a good dog for a busy, apartment dwelling veterinary student. Luckily for me, Gary happen to be in the Arkansas town I was in. He had been picked up off the streets by animal control. GPA-MO contacted the original adoption agency he had been adopted out with, but they didn't know who his owners were so they decided to adopt him out to someone new. At the time I met him, he was still emaciated and looked a bit moth-eaten but was absolutely lovable. I adored him from the first time I met him (although I thought he was the ugliest "adoptable hound" on the website)


This is the picture GPAMO had posted to their website. Apparently he had just been woken up from a nap before the picture was taken! Of course, I met him in person before signing the adoption agreement.


This is our first meeting. It was love at first site! He is the softest greyhound you will ever pet. Within a couple of weeks, I had officially adopted Gary and we loaded in the car ("Gary get in the car, please") and went to stay with my folks until moving to MO for veterinary school.

At home, Gary became a well-loved member of our household instantly. Rusty, my parents' weeny dog followed him everywhere and tried to snuggle with him. It was adorable, and Gary put up with it like a trooper. We did have some bowel upset, but upon settling in Missouri we discovered a dog food that gives him solid poo 100% of the time (Natura - California Naturals Lamb and Rice).

Now, I'm married and have an additional dog (Ruby), and Gary is still a valuable member of our apartment. I'll be honest he has some problems...

*Thin skin* Greyhounds have thin skin so are prone to getting lots of cuts. Gary fell down the steps one day and banged himself up, but he just stood there and let me bandage him up without a single complaint. Gary didn't even mess with his bandage like most dogs do (that's probably a Gary-thing though and not a general greyhound trait).

*phobias* He gets a little nervous during thunderstorms and goes and lays down in the kitchen or bathroom...or pants by my face. Although I've heard greyhounds can have some odd phobias, only thunderstorms (and other startling noises) seem to phase Gary.

*Teeth*He has atrocious breath and yucky teeth. So if you get a greyhound...if you're not willing to brush his/her teeth everyday, you'll probably have to get your veterinarian to clean them once or twice a year. I admit I don't brush my dog's teeth every day.

*GI* One of Gary's other issues is diarrhea. During the first couple of months, we had multiple bouts of bloody diarrhea - not fun in a carpeted apartment! Luckily that's been easily managed with a mild food (lamb and rice) and regular schedule of walking and feeding.


*Cats* Gary is wonderful with cats. I've even seen a kitten paw his nose and then run off and he didn't care. However, other greyhounds can be more prey-driven. That's something that a good adoption agency will be able to tell you, and something you'll have to monitor. As a future veterinarian, a small-animal friendly dog was a must.

*tail* I'm not sure if this counts as a problem, but Gary wags his tail so hard it periodically hits a corner and bleeds for a bit. This is rather annoying, because I have to scrub blood off the walls... but I can get mad at a dog for wagging his tail! He also had "knocked" on the neighbors door with his tail a couple of times. "Oh sorry...that was just my dog's tail."

Honestly, I wouldn't trade Gary for the world. I'm so glad I got a greyhound, and I want another one so bad.

If you want to know more, or find an adoption agency near you..
http://www.greyhoundpets.org/

Greyhound Pets of America has lots of information!

best wishes! Peace and Love!


~Katie

Christmas Spirit etc.

So yesterday was the annual ornament exchange party. We played a ridiculous game called Quelf which called for us to do ridiculous things. This is proof that alcohol is NOT necessary to have fun. ^_^

Featuring...Amanda as Santa Clause, Kodii as a boomerang, Jen wearing a helmet, Santana dancing?, and Kodii balancing 2 dogs and an ornament. Now what did I tell Santa I wanted this year?... Well, I said I wanted a house - a house with a big back yard for my dogs, garden, and birdfeeders. A house with walls I can paint... However, a house would probably just mean too much responsibility. Right now, our two misbehaving cars are enough to handle. Although Chase's car's battery was indeed dead, a new battery didn't fix the problem. Now what?

Sadie-roo *proudly* displaying her Christmas costume.

The party-ers.

Just had to sneak in a picture of me and Ruby. It's so worthwhile having a dog, and having 2 dogs is even better. Gary is my well-behaved old greyhound, and Ruby is trouble on 4 legs. It's good to have a troublesome dog - who else could make me laugh so much? She can be so bad, but so funny at the same time. She has (almost) opened presents, taken ornaments off the tree, eaten her dog bowl, raided trash cans, little shredded cardboard boxes leaving the scraps everywhere. Then after her reign of terror she snuggled up next to me - happy as a clown. Of course, Gary can't be out done in the snuggling department so he came to join us - laying down right smack on Ruby...resulting in poor little Ruby's head sticking out from between me and Gary. But she was still as happy as can be - she'd have been wagging her tail if it wasn't underneath 70 pounds of lazy greyhound. Both my dogs bring me so much joy ^_^

Pictures from Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day was spent in southern Arkansas at my Aunt Polly's and Papa's houses. It was a lot of fun, but felt just a bit different being married!


This is my Aunt Polly - she's been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for as long as I can remember.

Papa, even in his 90s, still builds the best fire! Chase helped carry the heavy wood, but Papa still built the fire (basically without any other help).

We are still the happy newly weds! Doesn't Chase look nice with short hair?

Then we came back to central Arkansas and spent some time with Chase's family. Here are 2 sets of happy newly weds!


I am so very Thankful for my wonderful family (including my inlaws)!

The Holiday Season

Ruby and Gary are best buds now! They are holding paws!

I'm not sure if Ruby was fond of her Christmas outfit!

Gary thought the Santa hat was just as lame as last year's antlers. "Mom, please take it off..."

Chase and I put up our tree today. Notice the bride and groom ornament :)

I arted (while Gary farted)!

I'm officially on Thanksgiving break! As Chase and I aren't visiting our folks until tomorrow (or maybe day after), I have some down time to rest, clean, and do some art! So I finished some cards I had started earlier. It's nice to be able to sit down and enjoy the simple things in life :)

In other news, I went on a quest to find a white shirt for Thankgiving family photos, because much to my displeasure my favorite white shirt is now...too small. The vet school life style has not been kind to my girly figure - I've gained 20 pounds since starting vet school. I am by no means overweight; I am quite within the average range, but I feel overweight from where I should and used to be. Is it unreasonable to want to be the same weight I was through high school and college? Well, I don't know, but I want to be thinner (and I certainly don't want to gain any more). I know what I need to do to change it, but healthy food and exercise are the first things to go (well after fun things like hobbies) during a test week. I just need to make time for them. I come home after sitting all day, and I sit and study. I grab whatever food is laying around... Not to mention the best frozen custard place in the world is less than 1 mile away (Andy's Frozen Custard). How frustrating! Anyway, some lifestyle changes will have to be made, and what better time is there than the present! So I'm going to start with the basics....

for now...
1. Replace soda w/ water. Drink more water :)
2. Eat fruit instead of chocolate/Andy's.
3. Exercise for 30 minutes 4 times per week.


Sparkly Angel

Budgie

Kitty


I wish all a happy holiday season! I can't wait to see you!

Fall makes way for winter...

The leaves have almost entirely fallen off the trees... I hardly feel like we had time to enjoy the colors because of all the rain. Not too much to say today.

This past weekend, my in-laws came to visit. We all had a very nice time, and I hope they return soon ^_^

New clothes!

For Chase's birthday we bought him a new outfit including the shirt, tie, pants, and shoes.

I love the way it looks all together! We finally found a brand and size of pants that fit him really well ^_^

I fell in love with the tie. I love the colors!

The shoes look nice and Chase says they are very comforable. He needed a good pair of brown shoes.

I bought dad a red shirt for his birthday. So of course, I made them both pose for a picture with their new clothes on.

Wedding Dresses and the Beauty of Fall

Today we went shopping for wedding dresses with Santana. Of course, the dress she purchased is not pictured here! I wouldn't reveal the big secret. Needless to say, she look absolutely gorgeous in it. It was a beautiful dress, and it really flattered her. Haha, she got really frustrated with trying a bunch of dresses on....

"ENOUGH!!" This is the rejected dress I called "the beast." It was sooo heavy... not at all good for an outside July wedding!! and it was expensive.

This was a really nice dress too, but we all decided the back of this one wasn't as pretty as the one she purchased.



4 of us accompanied Santana on her search for "the dress" today. I have to say I have a really great group of friends. They may rag each other, but they all really care deeply about each other. Enough that they would go dress shopping with Santana (and me last year) even though they don't really enjoy the whole wedding thing. I'm really grateful for all the time we get to spend together and the supportive influence they provide. However, I also miss my friends from Arkansas. I wish I could have gone with both Megann and Brooke for stuff like this. I know it's just a dress, but getting to share in these types of things (like picking out dresses, veils..) is really fun. Picking out your wedding dress is an important milestone ^_^ Afterall, you have to look at the pictures of you wearing that dress for the rest of your life!


Fall is here!

Even parking lots become photogenic :)


Parents: I can't wait for you guys to visit! You're going to love the fall colors here!



Much love and peace to all my readers. Your continued friendship and support are very valuable in my life. Thanks! Give yourself a hug from me!

Not my style...

I tried a challenge at ATCsforAll to imitate someone else's style. Needless to say... it turned out to be a really difficult challenge for me! I like to outline everything in black (which is probably not the best idea).

This week is finals! but Saturday is.... *drumroll please*



PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in St. Louis! Yay!!!

Chase and the Dogs

Do you think I've turned Chase into a dog person yet? They are so cute!

Random Babble - Unfinished thoughts

So at Discovery class today, one of the pastors was questioned on his beliefs about evolution. I agreed with what he said. Basically, he doesn't believe the bible should be taken as a book of science nor does he believe the creation story was literally 7 days (24 hours each). After all the sun and stars were not created until the 4th Day...therefore God's "days" are obviously not our days since we base ours on the sun. Then someone asked if man possibly evolved from something else...what about Adam and Eve? Did they exist? After class, I mentioned that a class I had taken in anthropology stated that at some point in the development of mankind, God chose two people to establish his Covenant with and breathed life into them. It's an interesting theory, but of course, it's just speculation. I mentioned that in the long run it's really unimportant...and didn't really have a chance to qualify why I said it was unimportant. Of course it's important to know that God made the universe and man, but maybe it's not important to understand all of the details. I struggled with that through high school. Some Christians say that evolution is absolutely false and the Genesis story is literal, but as someone trained in biological science...it seems as if the evidence points toward evolution rather than against it (there are still a lot of flaws with the theory of evolution). Eventually I decided
1. I believe the bible to be God's word.
2. The creation in genesis was not meant to be taken as a scientific work - more poetic
3. my understanding of how exactly God created the world is in the end...unnecessary.

I don't have to understand it. With 100% certainty I can say that even if He told me it would be completely beyond my comprehension. HOWEVER, just because I believe in evolution does not minimize the fact that God created everything. I can believe both in evolution and God's creation and the two do not conflict. After I decided that in college/high school, I felt a lot more peace about it..and stopped worrying about it.

The facts I do know are really important and central to my faith:

1. God created the universe
2. God created man in His image and gave mankind freewill.
3. Man undervalued God, overestimated himself, and sinned against God.
4. God is entirely perfect in every way. Therefore imperfection (ie sinful man) cannot be in His presence and live. The penalty is death and eternal separation from God, and Satan stands ready to accuse.
5. Man is utterly incapable of saving himself.
6. God in His infinite mercy sends His perfect, holy Son to pay the penalty so man can be restored God's presence if he accepts Christ as Lord and Savior.
7. Jesus is fully God
8. Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
9. After accepting Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer.
10. God is present today and as powerful as He ever was. He still works on the Earth and within the hearts of those that dwell on it.

There are probably some things I'm leaving off that list, and I certainly don't have all the answers. ;) But that sums up what I think is "important."


*sigh* Goodnight! I got my thoughts out and now I'm ready for bed! Sorry for any typos.

Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes!

Here I am in parasitology...updating my blog before he starts lecturing...

Fall is definitely on the way. There's a crispness in the air and the wind has picked up. So the change of seasons is imminent. I'm ready for fall...but I wish it would just stay fall until spring again! I'm not ready to have scrape the windows every morning. Chase and I have a hard enough time getting out the door on time as it is.


Chase and I are both very busy. Some nights he doesn't even get home until nightfall. I generally have to study most evenings (although sometimes that means just wasting time while i work up the "energy" to study - like tonight).

We're taking the Discovery class at the Crossing. So far we both agree with everything ^_^