Pooped out puppy

Well, it's another funny Sox picture, though this time more about what he's NOT doing! Last weekend we went on a long hike around the lake in the local state park. That's 4.5 miles of trails, plus swimming and chasing fellow hikers/small woodland creatures. Sox was a bit tired after all that excitement!

When it was time to go home, we meandered over to the parking lot and I opened the back door to my SUV with the full intention of helping him jump up and in (he's not quite got the hind legs for it... yet?). Instead, he decided the dirt/gravel/mud parking lot was going to be where he stopped. And there he did:

He laid there for a good couple of minutes before I had to lift his wet puppy butt up into the car in earnest. He does love the dog park and *hates* to leave, but this was a new level of stubbornness, laced with exhaustion. Not a good combo! On a positive note, momma got some much needed exercise and her nature fix on for the week. :)

Terrific picture

Hi all! August has been relativly quiet around here...I'm finishing my summer class this week and I'm totally sucked into the olympics. It's fascinating what the Chinese have done to show themselves to the world.

It's been raining a lot and Holliston has been whacked by a number of thunderstorms - there was even hail last weekend. Poor Sox hasn't had much time with his buds at the dog park. Today was a different story - although it was raining at the house, we went up to the park where the sky looked blue. We walked over to the lake and I was able to snap this shot - I'm so pleased with how it came out...on the cameraphone! It may be my new wallpaper on the computer.

Love our little Soxie!

Beautiful Holliston Sky

As we were readying ourselves for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on 8-8-08 and the sun was setting in the Holliston sky, some amazing cloud formations caught my eye:

Hoosier Hospitality

This past weekend, with our new dining room [JUST] finished, we hosted a Student Sendoff for kids going to IU in the fall and their families. It was a great turnout with 11 families coming - 9 freshmen - which was almost 20% of the new students. We set up a little welcome table in the new dining room - a preview for those wanting chez johnahue reservations...just ignore the plethora of IU stuff!
For the festivities, I decorated some brownie bites Hoosier style - they were a huge hit!
Kids and parents enjoyed mingling on our back patio - Mikey hit the grill for the traditional burgers and dogs, while I stayed in with the sides playing greeter at the front door. We had a good thing going for sure!
A group picture at the end sealed the day - people were so appreciative and the kids were excited to meet others traveling "far away" to school. It was interesting to hear the diversity of what they were studying - from vocal performance, dance performance and fashion design to art history, marketing, political science and who knows what else! It makes me proud to be part of such a great alumni group that can offer such terrific opportunities for kids. Good luck Future Hoosiers!!

Dinner anyone?

After a good months worth of work, our dining room is finally ready to see some ACTION! Check out the finished duds - then I'll tell the story (and pictures) of what it took to get here...
First, let me remind you what we started with - sheesh, this was REALLY bad. I mean this was when we *first* moved in so there are boxes everywhere, but this gives you a sense of the tiled mirrored wall (along the back) the loud wallpaper and the green carpet. What WERE they thinking??
We took down the tiled mirrors (anyone need any?? I've got about 60 x 12" square mirrors that didn't break!), scraped the wallpaper away, and got to the underbelly of the walls. It wasn't much prettier I tell ya!
The walls were skim coated with spackle (two layers I think!), sanded, and then we were ready for the big decision - color! I had gotten a few paint samples from Benjamin Moore so before we went any further, here's what it looked like: we had Polar Sky, Porcelein and Georgetown Pink Beige the blue looked like a baby boys room, and the "pink beige" turned out more orange. We both liked the porcelien purple, so that's what we picked!

Next we went to furniture. We had been given an antique set by some generous friends, but some of the wood had been stripped. Without the time to seal it, we decided to oil it with some orange oil to bring back some shine. We did it peice by piece in the living room - I had a flashback to dusting the dining room as a child. Wow, how things come full circle.
Once the color went on the walls, we were in good shape and it was just a matter of cleaning up.
And now - Voila! A dining room fit for...well... US! Reservations at chez johnahue now being accepted - weekends only please. :)

Independence Day fun

Happy Birthday America! We celebrated the 4th on the Cape with family. I mean ALL the family! We spent time with Mikes fam celebrating neices Mari and Sarah's birthdays, Amy's family having lobstah and steaks, and our little family, just us and Sox.

Sox had a blast swimming in the pond in Falmouth. He even had company for the first time - Mari and Sarah swam with him! He enjoyed playing with his new toy - the Wubba - a red, tug, floaty, squeeky, kong strong ball of fun. Here's a few swimmin shots:


Sox also had fun with cousin Mocha. They got special 4th of July squeekys and played nicely together on the deck. This shot also shows the Wubba - a backup toy:
It got pretty hot so Uncle Jimmy let Mocha cool off in a kiddie pool:
But after a morning of swimming, Sox was content to lie in a cool place - under the deck. Silly Sox!!
We watched fireworks from Falmouth Heights beach - they were terrific. Unfortunately the wind was blowing our direction so the finale was kindof a dud, but still, it was nice to see the half-hour display set to music. We got ice cream on the way home with Sox and it was a pretty good birthday party. Yeah USA!

Happy Anniversary to us!

It's been a year since we were married - it's amazing how far we've come in such a short time! We've moved to the 'burbs and our new-to-us house, added Sox to our family, I've been to Germany (random!) and Mike has refinished the 1/2 bath, the office and we are well on our way to a new dining room. We're both a year older, wiser and more in love than last year. I must say, it's pretty darn cool.

After our wedding, our photographer added a new componant to her package offerings - a multimedia "love story" about the couple. We had such fun working with her that we agreed to be her guinnea pigs and try it out! She interviewed us about us as a couple and set it to photos taken at our engagement session and the wedding itself. To view our Love Story, click here:

http://www.acmphotoart.com/slideshows/AmyMike/

I do wish there was another big gathering this year that we might see all our family and friends again for a great celebration. I guess that's what they mean when they say a day to remember!

We celebrated yeterday by watching our video of the day...it still made me laugh and cry. We also had a cake made by our wedding cake maker! Instead of freezing our top layer, she told us to contact her again and she'd make something fresh. Boy is that the right way to go - anyone wanting a beautiful and delicious cake in the Cape Cod area, contact Julie at Cape Cod Cakes (http://www.capecodcakes.com/)! We were so excited to get into it, we forgot to take a picture until after the fact. You still get the idea...It was the same delicious chocolate raspberry with buttercream frosting we had last year! Only this time, we actually got to tast the chocolate shells that were decoration...mmmmmmm!Mikey was a sweetheart and brought home some of the flowers that were in my bouquet. This year it was bright pink peonies, white calla's and blue delphinium. Gorgeous! Makes me think I should plant some in our garden! You may notice the vase...it was one of the centerpieces. We didn't keep a fish or a frog (although I do know some are still living!) but the vase is a nice keepsake.

We'll see what this next year has to offer - for sure we'll have my graduation from Suffolk (MBA, here I come) and a terrific vacation in the British Virgin Islands...what else might we have to celebrate a year from now? Only time will tell!

home improvement

Well - we've had some HEAT in the northeast and time has come to install a new air conditioner in the downstairs family room. Normally, this would be pretty straight forward...but this is our project house so there's always a process!

First off, here is the relic that was taken out of the wall:

This also shows the saw (new tool!) that was required to cut the hole in the wall a little larger to fit the new air conditioner. Here's my favorite little worker bee as he works on this monster project - and yes that is a hole in our house straight to the back yard.

and the final installation: our new energystar-big enough to cool the whole downstairs-supercool new AC...

we also have some lovely rhododendrens (how do you spell that anyways??) blossoming in our yard. We still have some surprises coming out in terms of flowers. There are lilies ready to bloom in the backyard and I'm curious as to what color they will turn out! Will have to post new pics when they do...in the meantime, checkout these pinks and purples from our garden

As a housewarming/anniversary present, the Donahues helped us buy this great patioset at Lowes! We have already enjoyed a number of dinners outside and I like playing on the laptop outside. Wifi is terrific! It's really a great addition to our patio and is making our house into a real home. Come on over - the grill is hot and the margaritas are flowin!

Lastly, the blog wouldn't be compelte without a Sox shot. We have been enjoying this break from school by hiking in Ashland State Park 3-4 times per week. He love to walk, swim, and most of all socialize with all the other dogs he meets there. It's a great place only 5 minutes from our house...free parking, lots of nature and always a smiling puppy when we're done.

Summer is almost here and there should be plenty more adventures to report! We've got a Cape trip planned for the 4th and lots more home improvement projects to keep you updated on. Hope our readers are well!

Germany - in a nutshell

I have so many pictures to share that I can’t do it all here – but here are a few highlights from the past few weeks!

From May 2 -11, I was in Germany with Suffolk on an International Marketing class trip. It was an amazing group, terrific experience at the companies we visited and the sights, sounds and tastes of Germany still linger on my mind (and hips!). We started in Frankfurt, where I got to visit with my cousin’s family. We found an adorable statue in the park marked with “ICH” – German for “ME.” The sign beside it said to stand atop the pedestal and just be you! So I did – and then I did so with Cecelia and Ben. It was a gorgeous day in the park.


The group went out to dinner and dancing at a restaurant/club called – no lie – Living XXL. It was so fun! Here is a before shot of us in front of the giant Euro – and then after a few drinks and dances. Too fun!

Sunday was a most surreal day – a tour of the quaint town of Rudesheim with its many Riesling vineyards and a boat tour of the castles along the Rhine river. My favorite shot is of our picnic lunch – yes, this was lunch (white sausage, a pretzel, veggies and of course, wine).

Also, a shot of my favorite castle – it was positioned in the middle of the river so that the owners could collect the tolls on the river more easily! Coming down the hill to the left was just too much work...better to sit in the middle of the river to catch people as they come by. Clever landlords...

In town, we heard the bells ringing at the music museum, which are very amateur-ly captured on this film (click the arrow to play).

On Monday, we visited Lufthansa Cargo at the Frankfurt Airport where we got to tour the cargo planes and figure out how the planes are loaded and staffing is arranged. A challenging exercise, but we held our own! I like this funny shot of me in the belly of an empty MD-11.

Tuesday we went to Adidas to work on a marketing challenge for the Beijing Olympics. More of an exercise than an actual consulting problem, but it was terrific nonetheless. We toured their brand center and I was able to successfully answer the question, “Which shoe has not changed in 27 years.” It was easy given my background! I’ve seen them for years!

After Adidas we had an authentic Bavarian dinner at the Barfuser (Barefoot) tavern in old town Nuremberg. A few beers were had, and with this size mugs, you can imagine the craziness that ensued afterward. This shot is of me and my roommate for the trip, Kerin.

Wednesday was a tour of Old Nuremberg and the Nazi Documentation Center. We were exhausted after a late night of big beers, but managed to wander around the city successfully. Our guide, however, thought we were worse than a bunch of senior citizens. (an actual quote!) Many amazing sites were a part of the sightseeing, but I call attention to the giant white asparagus, which was so delicious! It was a bit sweeter than the green stuff but still has the same effect in the bathroom if you know what I mean! LOL

Thursday was our trip to Volkswagen – a long and hard day with challenging corporate culture to cut through. No good pics there, but we did find (ironically) a lot of rabbits in town. The animal, people, not the car. ;)

Friday we arrived in Berlin – that city is so huge there’s no way I could have seen it all in 2.5 days. I saw parts of the wall, the Jewish Museum, the Holocaust Memorial (which happened to be celebrating an anniversary so we saw a cool concert within the memorial at night), Checkpoint Charlie and some of the more modern structures being built around the city. The capstone was the farewell dinner atop the Reichstag (German Parliament). The line out the door was for regular people trying to get in to tour the inside. We got a VIP pass through the side entrance. Good to have connections!

A photos of the glass dome atop the Reichstag and the gorgeous sunset over the old castle in West Berlin.

On the homefront, things are moving along too! The furniture from Indiana is arranged in the “kids room” and ready for neice sleepovers.

The wall of mirrors has come down (halleluiah!) to reveal a very disturbing looking wall. It looks like a nasty checkerboard from all that doublestick tape and black liquid nail. We're figuring out exactly what the next step on this wall will be. The ugly wallpaper will be coming down soon too...soon enough it will be a room worth spending time in (and not just laughing at!)

Mikey has been working hard at Subaru and at home is busy trying to grow grass and making the yard look fantastic. The rain has finally cooperated and little shoots of grass are starting to show on the side lawn. He’s been a super help in the muscle category helping move furniture and keep Soxie from getting too board. Unfortunately, I haven't got any new shots of Sox at play so you'll have to go a post without a shot (shocker!). Happy Spring everyone - and fantastic adventures to all!

too funny - sox and a log

I just had to post this hysterical picture of our dog. He has always loved sticks of all shapes but now he's branched out (pun intended) to whole LOGS! We found this one in the yard and unfortunately it was past fireplace season so we left it beside a tree. He just picked it up, started running with it and then was looking at me like, "What? It's just a big stick!" He is goofy, but in an adorable puppy way.

pictorial update!

OK, the camera is done charging and I can finally can share all that we've been up to!

A few weeks ago, Mike took some time off so we went on a Family Walk in Ashland State Park. It was an amazing day and Sox did so good walking off-leash. We weren't sure at first so we tried to coax him into the water by throwing a stick...he surprised us and jumped in after it! Our baby took his first swim...

We just kept walking and walking and ended up going around the entire reservoir! Poor puppy was exhausted after walking for 3 whole hours. He even fell in a huge puddle at the end (it was covered by leaves and Momma fell in too!)

Here's a shot of Momma and baby at the end of the day.

The bathroom transformation has finished as well and I finally my ocean themed bathroom! The blue we chose was Blue Lapis from benjimin moore and the ceiling is White - it's a great contrast and works well with all the accessories there. We also decided on the pedestal sink. It fits reall well and makes for a smooth shape in a boxy space. I think it came out great and I actually like hitting the loo downstairs! :)

After the bathroom was finished, we had a great visit from my parents from Indiana. They brought out all of my childhood things, furniture, etc. I feel like we've moved all over again! A great part of the visit was seeing Sunny! She is 12 years old and still the sweet girl she's always been. Sox was much more playful, which was a little annoying for her, but we did get a great shot of the two of them together...

Another great surprise was for Dad to bring out a lawnmower! It's such a treat and we've used it twice already! The neighbors next door just today said how nice our lawn looked...I think it's more because their dogs dig and so their grass is dead. We've got fertilizer and seed to get down and in a few weeks the flowers will be planted. That will be another bunch of perty pictures.

As I write this, Mikey is layering the last layer of paint in the office so hopefully I will be able to put that room back together tomorrow. On Friday, I leave for a week-long class in Germany - we are visiting a few cities and companies: Frankfurt (Lufthansa), Nuremburg (Adidas), and Berlin (Volkswagen). It will be a busy week, but there is time for sightseeing. Hopefully Daddy and Puppy will be good while momma is gone!

After Germany, class is on hiatis until July so hopefully the adventures will be more numerous (and thus the blog a bit more interesting). Thanks to all who visit!!