Celebrating The Pets

This past week had some good causes for celebration of our animals, so we figured we'd take advantage of that and have a pet post. Plus we haven't done this in awhile and I know some of you miss seeing regular pictures of the animals. So here ya go.

Leo's first birthday was on Tuesday, so we took a trip downtown with the pup to have some fun. We stopped in at Three Dog Bakery on Mass. Ave. before heading to dinner at Yats. He enjoyed his treats, the most elaborate of which were the Pup-kin Pupcakes. A pretty good birthday treat for a dog, I'd say. He's grown up into such a good dog. He's still got a lot of puppy in him, but he's really sweet and loving. It's hard to get mad at him for doing bad things when he's so darn cute. And we even upped his cute game for Halloween with a pretty great costume.

Waiting for his treats at Three Dog Bakery

Getting a birthday cookie from Leslie

Pup-kin Pupcake

Hanging out with his girlfriend Roxy

A stop by the fire hydrant in the park

Just hanging out with his best friend

Frisbee time!

Ice cream treats at Frost Bite

"Why are you taking pictures?"

Smiles with mom

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday was National Cat Day, which is a real thing apparently. So why not post a few pictures of our little kitties to celebrate? They've both been up to their usual antics. Frank is still our silly little (or, not so little...) guy that loves doing silly little things. He's tends to stretch out in weird position on stuff like the floor, fireplace, and shelves. It's kind of like planking, but cuter so we'll call it "Franking" instead. He also got into the Halloween spirit this week by donning his bow tie (although it eventually devolved into him just trying to eat it). We got this delightful cat decoration from a Kickstarter campaign and it's pretty awesome.

Ellie is still our little princess. She is the smartest cat we've ever had (sorry Frank) and knows our routine cold. She spends the night on the foot of our bed and greets us with kitty kisses every morning when our alarms go off. She follows us around, cuddles on laps, and investigates visitors whenever they come to the door. Ellie also takes care of Frank by helping him groom, ensuring he gets enough food or milk, and running around and tackling him when it's play time. Past that, she mostly enjoys sitting, perched high up somewhere, surveying her kingdom and keeping on eye on us.

We really got lucky with two great cats.

Frank the Boxer

Bookcase Franking

Fireplace Franking

Frank the Dapper

Frank the Snappy Dresser

Frank the Terrifying

Sleepy Kitties

Stairway to Kitties

Sink Drink

Recliner Cat

Guard Cat

Tummy Rub Cat

And that's all for this week. Hopefully this gave you all your fill of pet pictures for a bit. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Halloween!

Fun For Fall

I think we're on the verge of setting a personal record for number of exciting weekends in a row. Judging by this post, along with the last few as well, it looks like we're on a never-ending streak of weekend activity. So be it, I suppose. Why not take advantage of the lovely season?

We went to a little event that, to me at least, seems a bit strange (but really cool) - ghost stories at a cemetery. Yep, it's a thing. The event was put on by Storytelling Arts of Indiana and was actually lots of fun. It was at Crown Hill Cemetery, which is a pretty impressive place (as far as cemeteries go). They had some stuff before the stories started, like antique bikes, trolley rides, and short guided tours. There were also a few food trucks to provide refreshment. We partook and got a big ole cupcake from  the Scout's Cupcakery truck. Delicious. And to accompany said delicious cupcake, we brought along a thermos of hot apple cider - perfect for fall. The stories started at 7:30, just the time it starts getting dark, and went until about 10:00. They weren't anything too scary, but I still think they (combined with the location of the event) gave Leslie the creeps.

The next day we were off to Cincinnati to visit IKEA (the spoils of the trip can be read about here). We took our time wandering through the massive store and even got some lunch at the restaurant - yep, our first IKEA dining experience. Good times were had and good things were bought.

Then this past weekend it was off to ZooBoo on Saturday with Leslie sister, her kids, and some of her friends and their kids. The zoo is all decked out in Halloween decorations and has stations setup to distribute sweet treats to all the little costumed kids. It was a little cool and rainy, which helped get the animals to be a little more active. One of the lions was especially active and decided to come right up to the fence to say hello. Lions, free candy, and costumes? Oh my.

A post-zoo dinner at The Tamale Place is always a good call.

And then Sunday it was time for a little fun for just Leslie and me. We visited Beasley's Orchard, just west of us. They have lots of apples, apple products, pumpkins, pumpkin products, hay rides, hay mazes, corn mazes, and probably a lot of other farm-y stuff too. We weren't too concerned with the mazes or rides - we were there for the apples. We bought a bag of apples, some other produce, and had some apple drinks from the cider bar (hot cider for Leslie, a cider slushy for me). We also got a few decorative gourds and pumpkins, because fall. It was a good time and we'll definitely make a point to come again next year. Or at Christmas... I hear Santa will be there.

So there you have it - our latest round of weekend fun. Thanks for reading and we'll probably be back soon with more tails of weekend glory. Because we're awesome.

Reader's Delight

Have I ever mentioned that we have books? Lots and lots of books? And then a few more books? Lots of books.

Well, until recently we haven't exactly had them arranged/displayed/organized very well. We had one bookcase in our room that looks really good, a two little bookcases in two of the bedrooms filled mainly with kids books, and the big bookcase in the den that Leslie's dad made that was completely full. Yes, completely full - top to bottom, two rows deep, all usable space filled with words on paper type full.

We decided to make a trip down to IKEA and expand our bookcase collection in order to fix the overcrowding situation. We picked out three large bookcases that perfectly fill a wall in the den. We loaded up the car, headed home, and were assembling shelves in no time. They were pretty easy to put together and it didn't take long for us to have them all built. Then it was a matter of getting the books organized. Leslie took all the books off the overloaded bookcase (along with a few boxes of books that she had hidden away in a closet upstairs) and figured out how to best spread them between the new and old bookcases. After a lot of book rearranging and moving things up and down the stairs (the old bookcase is now residing upstairs above the garage), we got things settled pretty well. There's some room for expansion, some decorative items (with more to be added), and a whole lot of books.

We also got some neat little lights to go along with the bookcases. They all tie into one power cord and I got a remote that allows us to turn them on remotely (hence the name...), as using the switch on the power cord would be pretty hard since it's behind the bookcases. They installed relatively easily and create a great effect.

That white box is the remote receiver... pretty cool stuff.

And yes, that's a Beaker doll that we got at Disney.

And that's how we gave the den a whole new look and loads more function. It's a great change and we're very happy with how it turned out. Hopefully this will be enough book storage for at least a little while. But, in the meantime, thanks for reading and have a good weekend!