Puppy Love2

Our puppy is too cute!

Puppy Love

With all of the excitement with the engagement and what not, we forgot to share photos of our latest editions to our family. Meet Sasha, a 6- to 8-year-old Lab/Beagle mix, and Luger, a 10-week-old German Shepherd puppy. They are doing great and love to wrestle (See video below).

Holy crap! We're engaged!

I would like to announce that Zack popped the question early Sunday morning (March 22). As is my typical after-work experience, I vent to him about all my troubles. Who said what, how this should be, etc. We get home and I head straight for the fridge downstairs for a beer.

Zack calls down, "What are you doing down there?"

"Getting a beer, you want one?" I call back.

"No, but I think you should come look at the cat...."

My heart drops a bit, because I assume he is referring to Mo, the cat who lives in our bedroom who is still working to achieve her spot with the Guinness Book of World Records for longest lifespan of a North American feline (she's 20).

"Oh, god," I thought. "The cat's dead."

I slowly climb the stairs and fin

d Zack in the kitchen. "What's wrong with the cat?" I ask. She's had such a wide variety of bizarre health problems in the past and I brace myself for his answer.

"Just come look," he replies. 

"If she's dead, I don't want to see it. Just tell me," I say.

"Don't worry, it's cute."

With a sigh of relief, I follow Zack down the hallway. We pass the computer room on our left and I glance inside to see if my other cats are sleeping in there. For a split second, I could swear that I just saw the TV that usually is in our bedroom sitting on the futon. My brain starts to wonder whether Zack has rearranged the bedroom furniture or something. 

He opens the door. The first 

thing I see is a bouquet of flowers sitting on my dresser. I think that he has a surprise for me, but my brain can't process fast enough what it is for.

"Is it my birthday," I wonder (like I wouldn't know when my own frickin' birthday is). "Our anniversary isn't until June..." I continue in my head as the door slowly opens wider.

The room is covered in flowers. Lillies, roses, daisies. The smell is unbelievable. So fresh and springy. Like someone has lit the best Glade candle on earth. Reds, purples, and pinks seem to bathe the room. The bed is made (a rarity in our house) and my geriatric kitty is dozing pretty as a picture in the center of the bed. Just beyond the foot of the bed is a small table. On it are two roses in a slender vase — one white, one red. Just behind the display is a heart-shaped balloon that reads "I Love You." 

I take all of this in before I zero in on the small, black box that also lies on the little table. It is propped open and inside is this sparkly, blue diamond ring.

It was at that moment that I realized what was going on. I turned around and Zack asks, "Baby, will you marry me?" and I quickly blurt out, "Absolutely!"

And that, as they say, is that. We haven't made any plans yet, but we do know that we likely will be married in Michigan. We also want to let Zack finish his coursework and get working again before we can put a budget together for the wedding. In the meantime, we're just going to enjoy this time in our lives and each other. I'll also be submitting engagement announcements in the Staunton, Va., newspaper, as well as the Muskegon Chronicle and Grand Haven Tribune in Michigan. 

I've attached some pictures of the ring and the 

room. It was just so perfect and exciting. I still haven't processed it all!

We're home!

We just got to my aunt's house today and we couldn't be happier. Even with the bitter cold, blowing snow and pretty poopy economy, we love Michigan, warts and all.

Can't wait to see all the family and friends this week. If you're on the west side, we'll be in your neck of the woods Thursday evening. This is gonna be the best furlough ever. Woo hoo.

A New Year

Firstly: I'm so sorry for not posting for the last month. With lots of company over the holidays and adjusting to my crazy work schedule, it's been hard to keep up on vacuuming, let alone blogging.

That being said, those of you who are wondering why I haven't answered your emails over the last two weeks, I apologize and will be getting to it very soon.

Much to tell! Zack's parents, Bruce and Patty, as well as my Aunt Julie and Grandma Mary-Jane all visited during the week of New Year's. B, P, Z, and S all went to Monticello one day (Thomas Jefferson's pad, at left), and on another day, Z took P, S, and A.J. on a wine-tasting tour. We had a lovely drive through the mountains, and got onto a highway called Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway. It basically winds along the mountain ridge top and has the most awesome views (bottom left).

The families left just after the new year, and we 

are so grateful to be able to have spent some holiday times with them!

In other news, Zack got a new tattoo on Saturday. It is a scorpion on his right, lower bicep. I went with him to Charlottesville so he could have company while he got inked. I told him it was his birthday present (which is on Jan. 20). Little did he know that I had already hatched a devious plan to present him with his actual present today. Bruce called me last week and asked if I had any b-day ideas for his boy. "Well, he wants a dog," I said. "I think it's time we get that German Shepherd puppy he's been pining for." Bruce said he and Patty wanted in on the gift, so I called as many Virginia breeders as I could find and made an appointment with one for my day off today. Under the guise of "I want to go to a winery in Charlottesville," off we went on a road trip. As we pulled into the driveway, Zack, who was prepared for a boring afternoon of carting his drunken girlfriend around, perked up and said, "This seems shady. This doesn't look like a winery. Where are the vines? ... Oh, hey, they have German Shepherds! ... Hey, wait a minute....." That's when I told him that this was his real b-day present and we looked at a pregnant female and met the sire and the whole bit. We ended up putting a deposit on a male puppy (which will be born in about two weeks). Z is on Cloud 9 and I couldn't be happier making my boy smile. :-)

Now, a touch of troubling news. Just before the puppy surprise, I got a call from my work saying that there was a mandatory meeting. Turns out, Gannett has issued a company-wide mandate that every employee has to take one week of unpaid leave within the next six weeks. Yay, I get my birthday off! Booh, my new company is in the toilet. I'm gonna sit down with the editor tomorrow and hopefully he can talk me down from the ledge, because I'm a whisker away from panicking. But, everyone knows my flair for the dramatic, so maybe this is a one-time thing and then we'll start to recover (please keep your fingers crossed).

Again, we love and miss all of you, and I will be replying to all your emails very soon. (That means you, all my Chronicle girls!)

Oh, and to leave you with a pleasant thought, here is Z's new tattoo. I have affectionately named it Diesel the Scorpion King. :-)

Christmas is coming

So, we got a feel for what Christmas shopping in Virginia is like, just that past weekend. You see, Staunton has a mall, but it is pretty pathetic. I mean, The Lakes Mall in Spring Lake is practically The Mall of America in comparison.

So we had to go to Waynesboro to get some of the good retail action. They've got a lot of the chain stores there and definitely a wider selection of eateries. It was there that we discovered Massaki, a Japanese hibachi-style grill. We stuffed ourselves silly last night (our six-month anniversary) and are completely unapologetic for it. 

Therefore, anyone planning on buying us clothes for the Christmas holiday, please add one size onto any pants you bought for either of us!

So ... cold

Argh! I woke up today and was thinking about fixing some breakfast before brow-beating Zack in to joining the Y in Staunton. Then he called from the bathroom, "We have no hot water."

@%&$#@ How could we have no hot water? Then I remembered that we hadn't checked on the propane tank in the back yard in awhile. "Did you check the tank?" I asked. "Goin' to do that right now," he replied.

A few minutes later we received the bad news: The tank was on empty. It's a Saturday, so the gas company is closed. Oh, and our furnace works off of the hot water tank. Joy.

So, everyone think warm thoughts for us while we shiver our asses off this weekend.

Love you all!