Warm Weather Dog

Many of you know Arley, our Boxster (she's a Boster Terrier/Boxer mix). She's from South Carolina. We adopted her from a Boston Terrier rescue when we lived in the NC. Because of her southern pedigree, our little dog is a total weather wimp. Temperatures dip below 40 degrees and she starts to think that going outside is akin to summiting Everest.

Snow, you ask? Arley met snow for the first time last year and she's pretty sure snow is Mother Nature's own practical joke. How could anyone be asked to stand on wet, frozen ground for any amount of time, ever in their lives? Seriously.

We're always brainstorming new ways to accommodate Arley's delicate sensibilities. Ok, I try to accommodate and Boyfriend is quick to remind me that "She's a dog, she'll be fine." So not the point, Boyfriend.

Anyway, we have afghans on the couches in which Arley can cocoon herself unless she manages to get a toe caught in the loops and freak out.  So, that's a solution as long as the blankets aren't trying to fight back.

We also, against our better judgment, bought her a sweater. It is important to me that you know that said sweater was on clearance at Target for something like seven dollars. So, there's that. Arley doesn't mind wearing the sweater so when we remember to put it on her, it sort of helps keep her warm. Much to my surprise, it was actually a challenge to find dog clothes (that phrase, man, that phrase) that are intended to keep a dog warm. The vast majority appear to have the exclusive purpose of money-waste. This is a long-winded way of saying that if you wanted to buy Arley this we wouldn't be mad at you.

I'm writing this post from my parents' house in Missouri which is one of Arley's favorite places to visit because while she loves my parents and brother, the main draw is a fireplace! Last Christmas, you could find our dog laying belly first inches away from a roaring fire. I'm pretty confident Arley believes the spot in front of the fireplace to be heaven.

How are you holding up in the beginning of winter? Arley and I are already over it. Have a happy Thanksgiving! 

There's No Magic Like Children's Books

To quote Kathleen Kelly from the Nora Ephron classic, You've Got Mail: "The books you read as a child become part of you in a way that no other reading in the rest of your life does." One of the many benefits of my Master's program is the excuse to read great kids' books. I've been reminded of books I loved as a kid and been exposed to a long list of new greats.

As I'm sure a lot of you were, I was a voracious reader as a kid. My all-time favorite is Harriet the Spy. I really, really wanted to be Harriet M. Welsch when I was ten years old. Unfortunately, my neighborhood was quite boring. I still love a good composition notebook, though.

This is what a hero looks like.
source

If I had to choose an author whose work was consistently awesome I'd go with E.L. Koningsburg without hesitation because: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Escaped adolescence without reading this one? Get thee to the library! Or Amazon, whatever. Should you know a nerdy child at any time in your life, immediately hand them a copy of The View from Saturday and stand back; your work here is done.

I want to go to there. Also, pencil sketches, amiright?
source

These, of course, can all be described as one of the greatest kid terms of all time: "chapter books." You remember when you graduated from those flimsy little readers to chapter books, don't you? It was marvelous. You'd passed up the beautiful illustrations of picture books and entered the children's book void. Then, behold! Chapter books!

Life-altering chapter books aside, picture books are their own kind of magical. An easy way to find wonderful picture books is to hit up the list of Caldecott winners. The Caldecott award, in case you're not a children's literature nerd, is an award given for illustrations in literature. Some of my favorite past winners include Make Way for Ducklings, Where the Wild Things Are, and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was written by William Steig, who wrote some of the greatest picture books. He's responsible for Amos and Boris as well as a personal favorite from my childhood, Doctor DeSoto (yes, that's the story of the fox who's a dentist).

Go forth with your library card! Relive your childhood! Be the favorite relative this holiday season! Read!

Thanksgiving

Holiday travel season is quickly approaching! Actually, in our house it's more like Get-all-the-projects-and-papers-done-so-we-can-enjoy-the-holidays time. It's a mouthful. On our docket this year: Kansas City and Springfield, MO with a stop in Columbia for Thanksgiving, a nice long Christmas in KC and back to Indiana to move into our new house just after the new year!

Last year, Boyfriend braved Michigan with me and my extended family. It was fantastic. We ate too much, stayed up late making stupid jokes and it snowed! This year it's my turn to tag along for his family's festivities. We're headed to southern Missouri for Thanksgiving day. Boyfriend has a bunch of family there and we'll all be getting together for too much food and carrying on.

We might head back to Kansas City in time to see the Plaza lighting, which, for non-Kansas City residents is the city's official holiday season kick-off. The Plaza is a beautiful shopping district with Spanish architecture and high-end stores. On Thanksgiving night, hundreds, maybe thousands of Kansas Citians buddle up and mill about until a local celebrity flips the switch and row after row of lights outline the Plaza's buildings. It's one of those simple, pretty holiday moments.

The other side of Eric's family will get together on Saturday where the eating and carrying on will continue! Sadly, Sunday it'll be back to Indiana to kick into high gear and finish out the semester. Whew.

I've had a lot of picture-less posts lately. Allow me to remedy that. Here are some randoms I found on my computer. If you just can't get enough, I'm also on Instagram, Feel free to follow along, I'm pinsinthemap.

We made a feast a couple years ago...for two of us. It was awesome.

Boyfriend and I grinning excessively into my phone

Getting excited about the holidays? Trying not to think about it?

Fun Perks

Have you heard of Influenster? It's a pretty cool thing. They'll send you free stuff to test out (depending on the interests you indicate) in exchange for reviewing the products on their website and social media. Recently, I got a box of goodies from them (they're called VoxBoxes) and the coolest thing in this box was a mascara from Rimmel. I'm a total mascara junkie, so I was jazzed.

It's called RetroGlam because it has this big wavy brush that's supposed to help replicate that 60s Twiggy look. As a mascara junkie, I was skeptical but it's good stuff. Not flaky or too dry and doesn't cost more than your lunch (necessary for grad school life).

Photo from rimmellondon.com

We're having a beautiful Fall weekend in Indiana. I'm going to go enjoy by making pot pie!