a rock, a hard place, & a broken heart

In short, this is a bittersweet post. Let me preface what I'm about to tell you by saying that I never in a million years thought that what has happened is something I would ever do. Which has led me to know that I have always judged people in the past for doing so, but the question remains which is the lesser of two evils?

After a tremendously hard week and a lot of tears shed (we're talking break-up tears here, people), we came to the conclusion that Scout would never be fully happy with us as her parents. Our beautiful and rambunctious Scout was the alpha of her litter in an alpha-type breed, and it became hard to ignore that we were never going to be able to give her the adequate amount of exercise to ever satisfy her needs. That puppy is quite the titan and can already handle several miles of walking at 8 weeks and still have plenty of energy to go on more. The honest truth is that it wasn't going to be fair to her to live in a 650 square foot apartment and never have the opportunity of having the life she deserved: running rampant on lots of land and investigating to her heart's desire all that nature has to offer. 

To set the story straight, we would never do something that would be a disservice to Scout. Even though she was only here for a week, she's left quite a void in our hearts. But she has now happily returned to her mama and the rest of her littermates, and I pray that she finds a loving home that will give her everything she needs.

In the short time she was here, she left us with plenty of funny and sweet memories:

+ her adorable bouncing and bumbling puppy run to jump in a giant pile of leaves

+ her incredible intelligence in learning the commands of sit, stand, off, take it, and here all in the course of 10 minutes (seriously), as well as knowing her name, Scout, almost from the start

+ her sweet puppy stretches after waking up from a nap and that anteater length tongue that came out in her yawns

+ her relentless confidence in meeting any and every person or dog she came across, including a ferocious German Shepherd puppy and a very large pitt mix dog. She never got scared even though she was pawed and barked at pretty hard (if I were her that little bob of a tail would have tucked between my legs and I would have scampered off). And when I say every person, I mean every person. In the course of 9 days, she met almost 40 people 

+ the way she ran around the apartment investigating while chewing her rawhide bone (quite the multitasker, that one)

+ her tendency to sit patiently at your feet (for a few seconds, mind you) and stare up at you as if she were waiting for the next item of business
+ her consistent and obvious distaste for my Uggs, which apparently are hated more by dogs than by humans (I didn't think that was possible). I'm guessing she thought my feet were part sheep.
+ every. single. time. we came back from being outside she would stop climbing the stairs midway to look at herself in the hallway mirror. She knew she was cute. This would usually cause husmate and I to hum "You're so vain..." while she stared at herself for a few seconds
+ one night at 3 am, husmate took Scout out to go potty. He got locked out of the building... without a phone. Together they walked in the 20 degree weather to a hotel a quarter mile away to call me. Let's just say both husmate and Scout were shivering with cold from that botched mission. And did I mention Scout hated cold weather since her fur is so thin? Yeah... The little diva was NOT a happy camper when she got back inside.

As for us, I think it's safe to say that it's not in the cards for us to have a dog right now. One day in our future we'll have the ability to love and care for some little (or not so little) ball of fur, but not today. 

Scout, we love and miss you. We hope you have a long and happy life and become the great dog we know you will be. 

We took the plunge and got a Scout

meet Scout.

Our precious, troublemaking German Shorthaired Pointer whose job it is to cause equal amounts of adorable and chaotic moments. And we've only had her for 24 hours... She's sure to be a handful, but also a wonderful addition to our little fam. We can't wait for all the adventures we'll have introducing her to life in a city full of other cute puppies and lots of walking.

{And FYI, even picking up Scout was quite the adventure. It involved driving through the snowy mountains of West Virginia and trying to find a house in the middle of nowhere. But all of the my anxiety was worth it for one the cutest dogs I've ever seen.}

Wish us luck.

Our sweet Riley

Comparison may be the thief of joy, but so are sick puppies. And our sweet pup, Riley, was a very sick puppy. Along with his adorable speckles and gentle spirit came his exhausting case of distemper, and with distemper came a lot of maladies and sadness. After showing the signs of dehydration, lack of appetite, a terrible sinus problem, and unforgiving neurological ticks that prevented him from holding his darling head up, we decided that it was best for our gentle Riley to be put to sleep.

But there is a silver lining to this story.

Riley was a shelter dog. One that apparently had been left to survive walking about south/west Montgomery and who entered the shelter life with a cocktail of problems. Not only did he have distemper, but also a case of bordetella, a gastrointestinal infection, and a respiratory infection. He was quite the pup to want to try everything apparently, but despite being laden down with what seems to be everything you could possibly get sick with, he still wagged his tail and fought his hardest to get better.

My sweet parents gave him the best home that a shelter dog could ever dream of for ten days of his life, and he soaked up every minute of it. From discovering what excitement toys and playing with other fun dogs could hold to putting his front paws on the sofa until someone picked him up and put him in his own spot, Riley had a wonderful adopted life. And even for the short period of ten days, he got to know what it feels like to have a master love and care for him, even when he got scared to sleep by himself or needed someone to wipe his nose.

Riley, who knew that in the space of two days of being around you, I could get so attached? Even in our brief meeting, you taught me so much about how fleeting this life is and how even in the bad, you can find the silver lining. You were a great pup. And I hope that wherever you are, you are experiencing an existence free of pain and your milk-dipped tail is able to wag all day.

we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to wish you a merry christmas

Let me start off by apologizing for being MIA for the past oh almost month on the blog... Thanksgiving came and went and with it my effort at being somewhat consistent on posting. However in my (limited) defense, we are moving this weekend into our new apartment, and things have been a little chaotic around here with packing and puppy shopping and Christmas shopping...

Did you catch that one? The phrase caught between the overwhelming packing process stress and the happy festive brainstorming of giving to others? Yes, we've been puppy shopping- and I'm quite excited to share that we (as in my sweet parents acting on our behalf) found one (like an hour and a half ago while I was typing this post). 

Meet our new pup and member of the Berry fam: he who shall not be named (you know I had to work in some HP somehow...). The fact is we aren't completely sure of his name, so when we figure it out we'll let you know! We do know however that he's a Catahoula Leopard mix and totally adorable. Now to get him home via a 13 hour drive... Plenty of stories to come I'm sure!

Back to what I was typing before I found out our family just became three: I must also credit some of my disappearance to the drawing and printing of our first Christmas cards and fitting them within some criteria: a) I really wanted to do something creative and not do the typical use your wedding picture as a card thing (but for those that did, we love seeing your pretty faces!) b) we were definitely on a budget, so not many cards ventured out this year and c) I had to make sure that people might take the extra time to notice our new address on the back, so I used that as an excuse to make the addressing festive. {Side story: we ran out of ink twice printing them, so some of the finished products aren't even blue! HA! To you people (cough parents and close relatives) who get ones in black ink, it's not that we love you less but rather we didn't have the time nor money to spend on buying ink again, and we felt that you would fully understand the situation and credit it to being a newlywed story/fiasco/accident to regale later in life.}

And as if we needed any more surprises around here, husband surprised me by purchasing our first (mini) Christmas tree, despite forgetting all the ornaments my mom and I have collected over the years in Alabama and the fact that we're moving in the middle of December! He's the greatest :) I know that a tree is normally a given around the holidays, but it wasn't necessarily for us and I'm pleased as punch* that he bought one for me to celebrate the coming advent season!

*Just looked up the origin of that phrase (I tend to after I realize I have no idea what it means) and it's kinda sketch, you guys. Apparently, Punch was a puppet character who was quite the comedic murderer...

All that to say, we wish you a Merry Christmas! Love, the Berrys

Lessons of Marriage: 11-15

11. Husband and I have a baaaad case of puppy fever. (Side bar: did you baa like a sheep when reading that line? It was intended... I mean a little bit, anyway.) As I demonstrated in this post, we have a tendency to not so subtly take interest in cute dogs (still attached by leashes to their owners) and take pictures of them. It helps us to cope with our jealousy and small square footage apartment issues until we, too, can join the pup club.

12. Even when cute furry faces are darn near irresistible to adopt, the voice of reason can still infiltrate our minds and remind us that now is NOT the time to adopt a pup and name it Scout and live happily ever after as a family of 3. True story, husband and I have almost adopted three eligible (we don't puppynap!) dogs, and we somehow have managed to weasel our way out of all three spontaneous (and separate) adoptions. Hooray for being responsible? Yeah, we didn't feel all warm and fuzzy either. 

13. Experience doesn't always prevent mistakes... especially ones dealing with laundry. Note to self: possessing almost 10 years experience of washing your own clothes still does not give you the option of zoning out while loading the washing machine and opening it up later to one red towel (the obvious culprit), one beige hand towel, and now two pink-and-blue striped kitchen towels and a baby pink towel (once a beautiful shade of comfy white and now the perfect addition to a little girl's bathroom). I guess it's husband's turn to handle the laundry now... 

14. We have the whole navigating a new city thing down to a science.  As long as we attempt it together that is... Unlike me, husband can actually use a compass AND a map (I can read one, but my skills of stepping out of a metro portal and immediately walking in the correct direction are a bit lacking...). However, he is not always the most observant individual and can therefore get majorly lost on the way home from the previous destination. <Enter Kat's breadcrumb method> I function by the Hansel and Gretel method of leaving a trail to lead me home. To do so, I simply remember what I've passed on my way: landmarks, funny signs, unique buildings or trees, and I use those images to walk backwards, so to speak. It helps that I have something of a photographic memory, but I have slowly taught husband to note his surroundings (and he's gotten pretty good, too. I'm so proud!). 

15. It is a pretty rockin' thing that husband is an EE (electrical engineer for you non-engineer types), especially when this girl has no idea how to make heads or tails of the html code that she's trying to alter. Three cheers for husband who helped this newbie blogger figure out how to format pup pictures to sit side-by-side without even breaking a sweat. I guess it helps that he is an EE... And you better believe I'll be battin' my long eyelashes for his help in future posts and blog layouts ;)

Corollary to Lesson 1. Husband will not touch leftover Asian food of any variety. So pretty much all food cooked in a wok (that is SUCH a fun word to say by the way) is allllllllll miiiiiiiine, and I'm not complainin' about it. 

Berry Adventures: Great Falls Park

Upon moving here, it didn't take long for us to discover that we are surrounded by many weekend activities that we weren't privy to in our home states. While the southeastern US embodies such a beautiful and laidback atmosphere, it is not quite the cultural or outdoor hotspot that the northeast is recognized for. Over and over again, husband and I are reminded that this truly is the area where our country was fought for and founded a few centuries ago (back when the only claim our south had was that it served as the alternative to going to debtors' prison and thus established some of our farming heritage... how delightful. Go Georgia!). 

Being slight nerds, we get a little excited when we pass a town that says it was founded in the 1700s or 1800s and have the stone houses and towns to prove it. Plus this part of the country has mountains all around which really means there's more to the local terrain than the plains to which we're accustomed. So combining cool historical towns with beautiful landscapes results in a newlywed couple willing to explore in our free time.

First up: Great Falls Park

The overview of the park is that our dear first president was obsessed with this idea of connecting the Potomac River to the Ohio River to further trade in the area. Buuuuuut there was this slight problem (among others): the Potomac has a beautiful waterfall of cascading rocks (known as the Great Falls... surely you saw that coming?) that had to be bypassed. The project took seventeen years to build, only for its use to be discontinued thirty years later... and good ole Washington died before seeing his obsession completed. I know, I know kind of a downer, but on a positive note Congress eventually made this area a park, and we went to see it in all its natural beauty over Memorial Day weekend (yeah, a little while ago, tell me about it).

If I were a bird, I'd totally hang out here, too

I must admit that we have major puppy fever up here. Like, it's bad. So in the spirit of sharing our germs, here's one of our first sneaky/creepy pictures of other people's pups (we live vicariously and with a lot of jealousy):

Oh hiiii. Do you smell something? Our jealousy of your owners? Wanna come home with us?

After seeing the falls, we elected to continue snooping on the other dogs hike around the park and soon came across these two. The guy on the left was definitely the spontaneous one and the other... not so much. Let's just say it was entertaining watching these two from across the river, and that the one sitting down was sitting for awhile...

And husband is quickly becoming an expert on finding the perfect rock/ledge/wall to use to prop a camera up for a couple pic so as to avoid the awk-ward newlywed solo shots... Proof is in the pudding (what does that even mean?):

So our recommendation is that if you're in the DC area and looking for a park experience away from the National Mall, head on out to Great Falls Park! Great way to spend a beautiful afternoon.