Rollie's Origin Story

Rollie Fingers - First day home (2010)

I got my pup Rollie while I was still in college. Scott and I were dating at the time and one of Scott's favorite baseball players is Rollie Fingers. I though Rollie was a cute and unique name and I figured if/when I got a dog that would be his name. 

Cruising Craigslist one night I came across a picture of a cute little dog outside a glass slider in the snow. I felt bad for the pup and thought "What's the risk in just meeting him?" I always knew that when I did get a dog, I would not purchase a dog from a breeder, so a rescue off craigslist fit the bill. Rollie had spent the first few months in a home with an old woman under his former name, Chewy. When Grandma had to move into an assisted living home her grandson, who already had a doberman and a pit bull, took in the little pomeranian/chihuahua mix.

The ad said that he we was worried that 'Chewy', would get rolled by the big dogs (for reference Rollie was around 8-9lbs when I got him and is 12lbs now). When I walked into the backyard to meet Rollie he ran straight to me. It was instant love and I knew this was my dog. The guy said he had another couple coming to see him and I told him "No, I'll be taking Rollie home tomorrow". When I picked up Rollie the next day I asked the guy if he wanted update emails or anything, his response? "Uh, I guess". I never texted him again, nor did he text me.

Rollie last fall (2012) at our engagement shoot

I had to go buy EVERYTHING for him. This dog literally didn't even come with a collar, let alone vaccine records. It took two baths (one month apart) before he was completely clean and his nails were overgrown from not being groomed. Rollie was 8 months old when he came home with me and had some scarring and scabs on his nose and ear that suggested he had, indeed, been rolled by one of the larger dogs. He did not like going on walks--he would whine and stand up for me to pick him up while pawing at my leg. I knew emotionally and cosmetically he was going to be quite a bit of work. And I don't regret it for a moment.  He is mine and I am his.

The Big Three-Two!

Today my husband, Scott, turned 32. Happy Birthday, honey!

Housesitting in Reno

I'm housesitting in the Reno/Sparks area this week and my husband is coming to join me for the weekend!

Highlights from the week
1. Going out with my bestie and my Reno best for my birthday Saturday night
2. Having other people pay for us to get into a club
3. Other friends randomly being in Reno as well
4. The massive two days of thunderstorms
5. Having cable and a DVR and getting my fill of junk TV
6. Some alone time. Life has been so crazy lately that it's been nice to just be alone for a few days.
7. That my husband gets to come up and we can spend some time in Reno for the first time in a year and half

Panoramic of the thunder clouds where I am house sitting

It's been a great week and I've really missed living in Reno. It's so beautiful here and just enough different from California that it feels very much like getting away. Heading to the ocean is nice but the mountain air is just as great.

Throw Back Thursday #1

Happy throw-back Thursday! For my first throw back Thursday I am including the first picture my now husband, Scott, and I ever took together.

Our 2nd date New Years 2009/2010

We went out for New Years with my friends JC and Chris. JC and Chris were married 2.5 months later on Valentine's day and my husband, being the amazing man that he is, agreed to go to Vegas with me for their wedding... after only dating 2.5 months... and we decided to drive from Reno (where I was living at the time) across the great state of Nevada to Vegas. But that's another story for another time.

I had driven down from Reno specifically to spend New Years Eve with this guy who I'd had my first date with on Christmas day. On June 3rd he asked me to be his girlfriend. The beginning of relationships are just the best. Especially the beginning of a relationship that you know is special, incredibly special. It was a great night and we enjoyed fancy desserts and cocktails in Old Town Sacramento.

(length) hair don't care!

I'm a back and forther. Yes, it's true, I can't decide if I like long hair or short, and while I regret neither, I don't know which I like better.

When I was a kid my mom let my hair grow, but then I found a pair of scissors and straight to 1inch long hair I went! My blonde locks had been shorn and thus begun the cycle. I will grow my hair long--past the bra long--and then cut it short, up to a 1/2 inch in the back of the a-line. 

With my nuptials pending I knew that I wanted my hair long, really long.

Seriously, it was longer in the back

And while it looked amazing my hair is naturally wavy/curly and the side effect from long hair is your natural curl gets weighted down. So I started styling it, a lot, and damaging it a lot. Another side effect of curly hair being that it dried out easily.

Don't get me wrong, long hair is amazing. But, I'm really great at being lazy and just throwing my hair up when it's long. I endeavored in a month and a half challenge before my wedding to not wear a ponytail holder, and I still figured out very creative ways to wear my hair up. 

Love!

Between the damage, the laziness and the amount of time it takes to dry long hair I was  determined that I was going to cut my hair off after the wedding. 

Which I did, about 3 days after the wedding and one day before we left for our honeymoon. The first cut was bad. Real bad. Like, one side was an inch longer and it was a bob not an a-line bad. BUT! That's what you get with a last minute groupon deal, and I was able to get it corrected and fabulous. I LOVED my new hair cut... yeah, there's a past tense there. My husband asked that I leave my hair at least long enough that I can put it in a ponytail... and I'd normally have a much shorter cut in the back of my a-line. As result I haven't been able to to style it too well and the hair likes to flip every which way. It looked amazing until it started to grow, and that little bit of growth threw it off. While normally I would just do what I want and not listen to my man's desire for a ponytail, I actually need to put my hair up for work sometimes so keeping the option around was important to me as well. 

So, now what do I do? I'm not really sure... and quite frankly this is a really long post about hair. I think I may grow it out and live in a middle ground somewhere. I haven't ever stuck with a medium length, it was usually a pitstop on my way to long.

What do you prefer for yourself? Long or short hair? Anyone rocking the medium locks?

I'm terrible at blogging

Seriously, I am absolutely terrible at blogging. I have great ideas but the follow through is really lacking. It's been one and a half years since my last post.

Things that have happened:
1. I moved back to California from Nevada December 2011 (which is probably why I lost track of the blog) and moved in with my now husband Scott.
2. I started my lovely and amazing job that I can't discuss publicly (ha! I sound like a secret agent, but it's really a HIPPA thing) in January 2012.
3. Before starting that job I went on a cruise with my best friend.
4. I got a second dog with my then boyfriend at the end of May 2012 (Wille Mays, a beagle/min-pin mix who we call Mays and has a baseball themed name like her brother Rollie Fingers a pomchi).
5. Within 5 days of getting our new puppy we got engaged.
6. I got married on March 16, 2013.
7. Last week I found an amazing blog (The Freckled Fox) that made me think I should begin blogging again.

I'm going to try and post about some of these amazing life events and back track a little (hopefully). But for now I'll leave you with our family photo from our engagement shoot.



Much Love, Anne

Halloween!

It was Halloween and I was fortunate to spend it with my best friend. I reused an old costume because I didn't have a lot of money and dressed it up with a pair of boots ($35 at payless) that I bought earlier in the month and have worn several other times with skinny jeans or a dress (did I mention the boots are flat? I love them). I also bought a new pair of earrings for $11 that I may or may not wear again (part of me wants to find a reason because they're kind of fabulous and totally out of the realm of what I would normally buy). I did my hair using a bed head waver I had purchased from ULTA at the beginning of last summer. I had a good time and it was nice to get some more wear out of an old costume.

Lazy Dinner

I wasn't feeling too peppy the other night so I didn't want to put effort into making dinner. I was already over my protein for the day and I needed to have some carbs. I had a loaf of french bread so I measured out about 4 ounces, sliced it in half and topped it with spaghetti sauce I also had on hand, shredded pizza blend cheese (mozzarella and cheddar), and the "perfect pinch" italian seasoning. I popped it in the oven at 425 until the cheese reached a desired level of melty. The best part of this is the possibilities. You can top it with any cheese, and add any meat. The loaf of french bread is $1 at Wal-Mart. This loaf was from Raley's and I think it was around $3. This is still cheaper than buying pizza crust. This is a good cheap meal you can stretch to feed a lot of people, and it's also something easy to customize. If you have kids each one can top it how they like it. It would also be a nice appetizer at a party. Even though it's simple, it was really tasty.

Give a Hoot!

I made the cupcakes for my godson's first birthday yesterday. His birthday was animal themed and I saw these owl cupcakes online and couldn't resist.

What you'll need:
Cake of Your Choice (we did funfetti)
Chocolate Frosting
Oreos (Double Stuffed come apart more easily)
Reese's Pieces

I didn't end up making all of the cupcakes owl cupcakes for a couple reasons. One was because I didn't have enough Oreos - we had thought we'd be able to cut through the double stuff to create two eyes with one Oreo but it didn't work out. So we didn't have enough Oreos. I also found out about an hour before the party that I needed to make more cupcakes so I was busy frosting and decorating and the owls, while easy, take more time than just frosting the cupcakes. We ended up with chocolate and funfetti cupcakes with a mix of chocolate frosted and funfetti frosted of each type of cake. It was also nice because the other side of the Oreo that I didn't use for the eyes made for cute cupcake toppers. All in all the cupcakes were a hit and I will definitely be making these again in the future.

I Cleaned My Washing Machine

I'm going to be honest. I'm not very domestic. In fact, living alone has been an adventure in domestication for me. I've learned a lot of tricks that I didn't know before. There's one very important thing I've learned: Distilled White Vinegar is the best invention ever. I've used it to clean the interior of my car window (streak free and prevents that film that you get after a while with normal cleaners) and today I used it to clean my washing machine.

Yeah... apparently you're supposed to clean those every once in a while which is why my clothes haven't been smelling quite right lately. So I found this amazing link on how to clean your washing machine. Here's what you need: a washing machine, and 2 cups of distilled white vinegar. I also learned in this process that the washing machine has a filter. Yeah... So you're going to have to take that apart. Here's the shortcut: take it apart and let the filter soak in the hot water and vinegar so you cut out the middle man of doing the two seperately. I scrubbed everything while there was still water in it instead of after and put the filter back together before I let it finish running.

Here are the links: Part 1 and Part 2 I skipped the bleach portion in part one because I didn't have any.

P.S. My washing machine looks exactly like hers. Except my bleach thingy doesn't have a tube attached to it.

Maiden Braids

I love this hairdo. I should note that this picture is the first time I ever did it and it only took me about 20-30 minutes. I ended up redoing it better that night since I was going to a meet & greet for my field and wanted to look very put together. I got a lot of great compliments at my meet & greet and I love this style for the days I don't wash my hair. I'm excited to try different braid sizes and styles with the part of my hair that is not in a braid. Click the picture for a link to the how-to. 

Lunch on the Go

Ross is a magical place. You never know what you’re going to find when you step back into the early 90s that is every interior of Ross (even the new ones). I’ve been looking for a Bento box or something similar to bring lunches with me when I’m out and about rather than packing a million of those crappy throw away plastic bags. I found the three items pictured above all manufactured by “fit & fresh” at the wonderland known as Ross. I realize the reason I got them cheap is because it looks like these are older versions according to the website (linked through the picture). Anyway, I only bought the salad and lunch box containers as I pretty much just drink water when I’m out and about and have no need for a bottle with a powder container. I’m using the lunch box today and it is fantastic! My only recommendation is that you put a layer of saran wrap in between the ice pack and your sandwich to avoid the ice pack sweating on your bread. I’m very happy with the $7 I spent on it. I’m hoping the salad container (which I also got for $7) works just as well when I get the chance to use it.