Our 2nd Puppy??

Last night, Todd and I were watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition when we noticed Toby had wandered off. Not too concerned, we whistled for him and went back to the show. He didn't come back into the living room, and suddenly started barking at something in the front room and then ran back to us. We think he might be a little crazy, so we figured he had heard an imaginary noise and was just trying to tell us about it.

Later that night, he went back into the front room and started barking again. I walked in there to see what was going on, and he was on the couch, barking and growling at a mirror that was propped up against the wall. He thought another dog was in there barking back at him!

I started thinking back over the last few weeks, and remembered Toby going into the front room at least two or three times a night to "check things out". He's been really concerned about this "other dog" in the mirror! Poor thing... I wonder how long he's thought Todd and I have a second puppy??

And the gold medal goes to...

I don't know about you, but the Olympics seemed to sneak up on me this year.

Here we were, getting into the groove of the new American Idol auditions, when suddenly we realized we totally missed the opening ceremonies. And so, like good Americans, we tried our hardest to get into Olympic coverage the next day. Unfortunately, they were.... well, a little boring. I've never been a huge Winter Olympics fan (I'm more of a summer games girl myself), but I've always loved the thought of winning gold and living the dream and pride in your country and all that. So I tried really really hard to be interested. It just didn't work for me.

I have gotten hooked on a new sport this time around, and it's one I will likely follow in Olympics to come. I absolutely LOVE the men's and women's snowboarding competition! The guys and girls both are young, cute, and are so excited to be there. They are silly and listen to their iPods when they board to get pumped up -- they have so much fun that it makes it fun to watch. Way to go, kids! :)

What I do love about Winter Olympics is the figure skating. But NBC knows that, and so they have conveniently spread skating across the entire 4 hour program at night, showing one skater then flipping to curling coverage and then back for another skater before heading off to speed skating. Oh, but NBC, I have figured out a way to beat you. Thanks to our wonderful DVR, I now tape the Olympics and fast-forward to the parts I want to see. It's fabulous!! I wish they gave you the option of just pulling up coverage from the sports you want, but until then,
DVR + Olympics = majorly entertaining.

Now, I do think there may be something wrong with me. I have teared up more during this Olympics than I have at almost anything else! Doesn't matter who wins gold, if I have any idea who the person is, or if I even like the country. When they win gold and hold up their flag and start crying (especially the guys), I pull out the Kleenex and cry right along with them. I will admit I've even gotten a little misty-eyed at some of the commercials... okay, there is definitely something wrong with me! Until I figure it out...

Go Team USA!

My New Mission

Okay, I have been totally inspired by Monique. As a faithful reader of many friends' blogs, I was particularly interested in one of her posts about reading the 100 greatest novels of all time. I looked up the list online, and I was surprised to find that I hadn't read very many of them... and those that I had read, I was forced to do so in high school and didn't really remember much about them. How had I missed all of these "greatest" novels? I felt totally left out of the loop! I decided to make my new mission to read these books -- wait, not just read, but really enjoy and get into them.

So I made a little trip to Half-Price Books (which is really addicting, by the way, and I highly recommend going if you like books) and bought about 10 from the list to jump-start my reading. I finished The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (so much better than I remembered it!) and am currently getting into Animal Farm by George Orwell.

On a different note, I also recently finished a book called Marley and Me by John Grogan. This was honestly the first book in a long time that had me laughing out loud in Barnes and Noble! It's an adorable story about a man and his wife who buy a lab puppy who turns out to be what he calls "the world's worst dog". If you're a dog owner or a dog lover, you'll really appreciate the anecdotes he shares about his beloved pet. It's probably one of my favorite books of all time!

Wow, I just rambled like a true nerd about books. Next time I'll try to be a little more cool, I promise. :)
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"Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when his is alive and not after he is dead." - The Great Gatsby