Charity in Chicago

What a LOVELY past four days it's been! Charity is my best friend from high school--we've been through so much together & have a wealth of amazing memories. We now live beautifully different lives--she married her high school sweetheart and together they have three of the sweetest children you'll ever meet, a big garden & a picaresque home in Maine. I love to live vicariously through Charity.

I'll post a bit more soon, sharing with you some of the Chicago fun we had but until then, I leave you with a photo from our first day of Charity & Mollie posing at Northwestern with the Chicago skyline as backdrop. Wow I love my city.

adventures of a sleeping dog

Firstly, I apologize. Not only have I been a fairly delinquent blogger, but... even more... I'm terribly guilty of blogging far too much of my DOG. For those of you non-dog lovers I can only imagine what you're thinking... STRAITS, HAVE A BABY ALREADY! Mollie brings us so much laughter & diversion from fairly focused lives that we can't help but love her to bits!

Secondly, I credit this post to my dear mother who has been asking when the next post of her "grand-dog" would be. If you're sick of the dog I advise you return to whatever other e-activities you have to do (Settlers online? catching up in GoogleReader? Fbook??)... because otherwise, you're about to get even more of our little one.

Mollie falls asleep in the most strange positions--always upside down or with her hind legs propped up on a wall, chair or table. Often, half her body is squeezed under some piece of furniture... and without fail she's somewhere in our near vicinity. I wanted to share a few of our favorite sleeping photos...These poses are becoming a nightly ritual. She's currently at the foot of the bed, legs flailed every which way & fast asleep. Nighty nite!

Fluffy Face

We've had quite the pet-filled week. Tink, in an effort to escape Mollie the Wild, leaped into our open dish shelf, where all the pretty breakables are housed (you know, dishes, wine glasses, serving bowls...)... only to 'happen' to knock to the floor the only items that are not replaceable: the lovely shiny antique bowls with the cutest handles that my mother gave me. All of them.

She also puked in the windowsill. Awesome.

Mollie received an 8+ hour haircut, completed over 3 sessions. Poor baby. And poor Drew, the barber. Her hair is quite short but grooming a goldendoodle's tough work! They get matted very quickly. We've had to institute a nightly brushing sesh. I don't even brush my own hair that often. Hopefully we won't have to cut her hair this short again until summer...

The weather's been amazing the past few days (literally, it's gone from -30 to +66 oF!!), so Drew & Moll have spent a significant amount of time at the park, be it on a run or playing with doggie friends. When she comes back she's zonked... Mollie sleeping is hilarious, let me tell you. She's either on her back, legs spread eagle, or next to the wall with her back feet propped up on something.

See?

In other news, Drew's birthday was Saturday & we had such a fun evening! Post coming soon...

And I started a design blog. We'll see if I can keep it up. http://www.lucilovely.com

a family of models

So we did a photo shoot yesterday & it was such fun! We've always hated our wedding photos (bad photographer) so when a photographer asked if we'd be willing to pose we said "YES!!" She's a local photographer needing to build her portfolio & was willing to take some casual photos of us as well (as in, photos where I'm not in my wedding dress & veil)--& we get to keep them all! so yesterday I broke out the wedding dress (which I didn't even know we had here in Chicago!), got it pressed & played dress up with Drew. It actually turned into a very romantic afternoon, as we posed & giggled in Northwestern's Shakespeare gardens. A few have asked to see the photos so I thought I'd post some of the samples she sent out late last night. Many more are on their way!



She loved our shoes... I didn't realize Drew had worn the black socks I historically abhor until I saw this photo! Drew has this thing for black socks that I still don't understand.

She took some time to take some shots of us with Mollie as well. I can't wait to see more of them! This one is precious, however, & was included in those she sent last night. A man & his dog.