I survived hurricane Don

On my own. It was rough waiting, waiting, and waiting some more for the storm to come. Especially since it didn't come. We had NO rain. Poor Texas just wants a drink of water.

Not to worry. Daisy and I survived by making dinner and having friends over. Yes, you read that correctly, I made dinner. Please don't faint. I made spicy eggplant with couscous which was awesome. My friend and I watched Lincoln Lawyer with Matthew McConaughey which was really rather good.

Daisy and her friend Lucky ran laps outside and played continuously. I think they only sat when Daisy would steal poor Lucky's toy and hold it hostage underneath her paw. She did share all of her toys and bed, but she does covet other puppies toys. Guess there needs to be a lesson on sharing in this house. I choose Kenny for that lesson.

Back to the hurricane. I decided that I should go to Target and make sure I had school supplies before the hurricane hit. No not really, I just wanted to go to Target to get more of the Pretty Little Liars series of books. However, if I say I am getting school supplies, then don't you feel badly for me that I already have to go back to school? Don't you feel like I deserved 2 new teen reads? Yeah, me too.

Here is my loot. (Not to worry, Mom. I did buy non-perishables like you told me too and plenty of bottled water for Daisy and me.)

Bags and bags of spiral notebooks for 20 cents each!
My sharpies to grade 8th grade work and write things like, "FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!" over and over. A good pen is necessary. And Daisy's bone that got a wee bit destroyed last night!
A little UVA pendant since my school has all of these other school pendants but not UVA. They have lots of Texas schools, Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and Norfolk State... how does that make sense?

Also, I was feeling guilty as I had dropped off Daisy to get her haircut at Petco. We were trying a new place since we haven't been pleased with the other places. She literally shook the whole time she waited to get taken back and laid flat on the ground as soon as it was her turn. They had to scoot her in while she put her front paws out and the Petco person pushed from behind. I needed a little retail therapy to get over my guilt of torturing her with a bath and haircut.

Daisy looks good though. Best haircut yet!

Now we wait for Kenny to get home because he fled to Lubbock in a T-44 because of the hurricane. Don't worry. I am buying myself flowers today for surviving the storm all by my lonesome and cleaning the whole house while Kenny golfs. :)

Don't tell me this won't be attractive...

What is this you might ask? Well it is a device to keep me from damaging my teeth as I clench them in my sleep. Super attractive, right?


No...

Oh...

I am proud to say that I have held out until the ripe old age of 27 before needing such a device. I am joining a long line of Buchanan and Henry family members (is it long if it is only your immediate family?) in wearing protective mouth gear to bed. I always aim to follow in the footsteps of my lovely sister just like I did when I "borrowed" her sweet clogs when I was in ninth grade. Thanks, Meg!

I am hoping this will protect me from having to get dental work done further down the road. And, I will also look really cool now at night which had really been lacking in my cool-dom.

Please don't be jealous...

The couch- update

So I am by NO means a decorator. My mom so kindly got me a decorating book before we bought this house. Little suggestion, mom? eh? ;) I have used it for rug sizing, color schemes, etc.

Now I showed you a picture of the couch that we just bought which we LOVE. Whoever invented the chaise lounge should be given a special place in heaven, for the short-legged people out there rejoice for having a place to rest our legs when the feet don't touch when sitting.

The only thing we did NOT love about the couch were the uber ugly throw pillows that came with it. We are talking ugly 70s fabric.

So with the help of a good friend and her sewing machine, I removed the ugly covers (don't be too impressed, they had zippers), and we created a new covering for the pillows! I am deviating a little from my green and brown color scheme that has dominated our home, so I hope you like.
I also just purchased a Daisy-like rug that I hope she will like/not destroy to put under the coffee table. We are thinking of getting another (remember the whole decorating book with sizing of rugs). I just wanted to make sure we liked the look of it/Daisy didn't destroy it.
(please note swishing tail in left area, that is Daisy happy to be reunited with her long lost friend, the rug).
I think it looks pretty good, but hey, what do I know?

Italy!

Well we began our trip in DC at Christine's wedding, but since we were both part of the nuptials, we did not get many photos. However, it was a BEAUTIFUL weekend, and the two of us are so happy for Jason and Christine!

Then we took a flight from DC to Toronto to Dusseldorf and finished in Milan, Italy. Although we arrived in Milan on time and ready to explore, my bag did not. My bag actually never arrived and had decided it wanted to stay in Toronto. I actually picked up the bag in Corpus this past Friday with all of my belongings having been gone through in order to try to identify the bag.

We arrived and took the train to Milan proper and found our hotel. We did a little exploring and a little shopping to get me some duds and a tooth brush (Cars 2 to be exact).

The next day we took a bus tour around Milan and saw the Last Supper, the Opera House, a Castle and the Duomo in Milan.

Duomo

That evening we found our way to the canals in Milan for some heavy appetizers and happy hour.

Then we hit up Grom's for some delicious gelato! One of many a gelato eaten!

We took a train to Florence and explored the Medici Chapel, found the Medici Palace and Pitti Palace, and took a climb to the top of the Duomo. I nearly died of tight spaces and lots of steps.


This required more gelato and a walk around town to see the shops and the river.

We then took a train to Rome which was probably the highlight of the trip for us!
First we saw the Colosseum! We took an audio tour and just got lost in the history and were fascinated to know that famous Romans sat there and ordered gladiators to fight to the death.

We then walked around the Forum where Caesar was sentenced to death and where he walked as he was emperor!

We the treked over to the Pantheon to round out our historical day!

The next day we walked the Vatican seeing the Sistine Chapel and toured St. Peter's Basillica. Both of which were fascinating. The Vatican was a little overwhelming as there is a pathway to get to the Sistine Chapel that gets a little packed with tourists.

We then took a train to see Pompeii in all of its glory! Roads, homes, pizzareias, baths, theaters, crosswalks, the forum, etc. It made my 8th grade Latin learning dreams come true!

We then spent our last day in Sorrento sitting by the pool. We did have a few snafus with a bus boycott and a train boycott, but all in the name of a good time!

It was a great trip to Italy despite learning to wash and dry clothing in a hotel bathroom (Joe Buchanan is so proud) and having minimal toiletries.

We were excited to get back though because some little puppy missed us despite getting to be with her favorite Uncle Paul for two weeks :)

Our new sofa!

I promise to post about Italy, but first I would like to introduce you to our new sofa!

Our old sofas were looking a little tired. We have been looking and looking and finally found our match!

Please meet our new Sofa...

It will have different pillows which is my one Do It Yourself project for the summer. More to come later. I am still recovering from the Italy trip!