The Bear Den

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Anniversary Dinner

Shawn and I went to a restaurant in Middletown called Alfred's Victorian. The weather was perfect, so we opted to eat outside on the patio. The restaurant was in an old brownstone and the decor was very true to the victorian era. They advertise an herb garden, so we took a tour. May I say that the herb garden could use an overhaul. It was a little overgrown and unkempt.

The menu was great. Shawn and I each ordered soup for appetizers. I got the seafood bisque (very Jess-esque) which was awesome! Then we both ordered filet for the entree. My steak was slightly overdone, but the veggies were very good. Last but not least, we both ordered a dessert. Shawn got this triple chocolate cake with ice cream and I got the chocolate cheesecake parfait. mmm, mmm, good.

Even though we were both very full from dinner and dessert, we wanted to take a stab at our anniversary cake. To our surprise the cake was actually good, very good. It was moist, no freezer burn, and I even have a little bit of it left yet.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, Happy Something Day

Today is our 1st year wedding anniversary. Shawn was being all sweet and stuff in the car on the way to dinner and instead of saying "Happy anniversary" he started to say "Happy bir---". I'll post some pictures from our dinner. I also have tons of updating to do, so expect a lot of blogs in a short amount of time.

All in all, Shawn and I had a great year (when he was home), maybe that's why I had a great year because he wasn't home all of the time. haha.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Most Recent pics of Cole (and one of his smart and good-looking owners)

"I rehabilitate dogs, I train people" (Cesar, of course)

We were off to a very slow start with training Cole on the treadmill, but that has changed. Cole has no problem walking on the treadmill. We want to get to the point where we don't have to be there with Cole while he's walking/running on it. We'll use the treadmill as a supplement to our daily walks outside and when the weather is crappy.

Another comparison

Cole at 9 weeks old modeling his baggy yet very stylist waterproof jacket:

Here's Cole at 20 weeks old modeling the same stylist waterproof jacket, but it's no longer baggy, in fact it barely Velro's around him.

It's not a purse, it's a dude bag.

I bought this treat bag so my hands could be free when I'm walking and training Cole. It's especially handy in puppy class. Shawn's man hands can't fit in my treat bag so he's been putting crumbly dog treats in his jacket and pants pockets and now his pockets are quite gross.

This was his solution.

I just started laughing, then Shawn got really embarrassed and he refused to use it. So there.

Fencing 101 (and not the sport)

Shawn and I have many big projects in mind for the house. The first big one that we decided to start first was fencing in the backyard. We looked at a few different types of fences, privacy, vinyl, picket, but then we settled on a split-rail fence for a couple of reasons. First, split-rail fences are very cost effective compared to vinyl and especially privacy fences. Second, we wanted to create a defined area for Cole (and eventually kids) without it feeling closed off. Third, I'm not sure if we had a third reason. But anyway, the project started last Saturday with Shawn, my mom, and Mark making the 1.5 hour trip to Honeybrook, PA on a rainy morning to pick up 46 posts and 120 11' rails. The bulk of the fence was put in by Shawn and his Dad over the course of one day during the week. A lot of the fence was also done yesterday, but we're still not quite done. You see, Shawn and I want to cut out a 14" wide trench under the fence so we don't have to maintain the grass, instead we'll put decorative stone there. Cutting out the trench wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have 450 ft worth of fencing. We're excited it's almost finished and it'll be so nice to let Cole run wild in the backyard.