TEX

Casey here.

So this blog post has been a long time coming.  For those of you that have seen Lora or my facebook you know that we got a new puppy.  And let me tell you he is a handful!

Lets start with how we got Tex.  Lora has talked about a second dog for over a year and I kept putting her off - saying we don't need one and Kia loves being an only child.  This usually worked but over that year the idea of another dog started to creep into my mind too and before I knew it we were heading to the humane society with Kia to look at a couple dogs that we'd seen online.

Turns out adoption was not in our future. Kia is a bit of a diva and was not into those dogs so we thought maybe we wouldn't get another dog.

Then it happened on a random Saturday morning - we were complacent.

Lora looked on the KC Star website and saw some adorable pictures of Jack Russel puppies. We decided why not give these people a call.  We got to talk to an awesome old couple named Larry and Judy of Archie, MO.  Larry is a 75 year old farmer and let us know he was as honest as they come.  His wife Judy was also very friendly and she told us they had 19 puppies and it would be worth the trip.  I looked up directions on mapquest then Lora told me "this could be an adventure", and then I was hooked.  We loaded up Kia grabbed a few puppy essentials and hit the road.

A few hours later we find our way to Larry and Judy's farm and they were, as advertised, a sweet old farm couple!  Larry started out by showing us all his adult dogs and then moved onto the puppies.  As soon as Larry showed us the first group of 4 week old pups that Lora pretty much bathed in, I knew we weren't making this trip for nothing.  After seeing what we thought were all the puppies we decided that we'd call dibs on a younger one and return in a few weeks to pick him up.  Then Larry told us he had one that he didn't show us because he's had the sniffles since he was 10 days old.  That's when he pulled out Tex and Lora knew as soon as she saw him -  "He's the one".

So we loaded him up and took him home.

It was a rough first week with Tex, he had the sniffles and Lora was afraid to let him sleep through the night alone. We took turns sitting with him as he tried to sleep through the snot, we were hoping he would get better on his own. Finally on Thursday we broke down and took him to the vet - a few antibiotics later - this guy was all better... he's been an out of control wild man ever since.

Tex on the way home!

Already mischievous

He loves his sister

And he's growing so fast!

The Knot

Great News!

A few weeks ago I got an email from the editor of the Knot Magazine -

our photographer had submitted our wedding pictures and we'd been selected along with 4 other couples to be a feature wedding in the Colorado edition!

Best. Day. Ever.

After filling out a 13 page form with all the details and a few emails and phone calls with the "fact checker" lady, Jacki.  Yesterday I finally heard it's official!

We will be in the spring/summer 2012 edition of the Magazine

It will be several pages all about our special day:)

In stores November 21st.

I couldn't be happier...

It's serious validation from the wedding world!!!

Teenage Angst - at 26!

It's Lora... and I'm having a mid-20's crisis.

I've known it for awhile, I'd say about 2 months, but the reality of it all hit me this weekend in a weird, yet obvious way. I was watching Empire Records, a classic favorite, and for the first time I didn't find myself relating to Corey's character (Liv Tyler) but Debra's. For those of you that need a refresher Debra shaves her head like scene 2 and later in the movie they stage a fake funeral for her so she can see what it would be like if she died.

Suddenly I had a reveltion. I never had teenage angst, but I think I have mid-20's angst!

Seriously. I'm restless.

I want to blame it all on my job, but then I think that's unfair. I don't dislike my job, but I think about finding a new one every week. I don't dislike Wichita but I think about moving somewhere new every week. What's wrong with me!

Maybe I never really had time to come down from the "wedding excitement" and it's all finally hitting me. I’m a washed up married lady.

I feel change coming... and I'm restless because I don't know what that change is going to be.

Maybe I’ll just rearrange the picture wall in our dining area, but something’s got to change.

I promise this change will not involve an infant because that's another thing I’m restless about! Case in point - after spending the evening with my LITTLE on Wednesday I told Casey we needed to wait at least three years. Then yesterday we went to babies-r-us for a shower gift and once I saw all the cute outfits I said... let's get pregnant this summer, or by the end of the year, or right now!

Thank god I have calm and realistic husband who doesn't take any of my ideas too seriously. (I've also had 2 legit business ideas in the past month of which he got to hear all about for several, several hours.) What is wrong with me!!!

P.S. Speaking of that baby shower, I'm hosting one for a coworker and I made this cute diaper motorcyle for the conference table centerpiece! So fun!

Please notice his blue peace sign headband!!!

Yes, that is a blanket road

cruisin...

Father's Day Weekend

Casey here,
This past weekend was my first Father's day as a "Father," both step and otherwise.  Let me just say that it was all that I had hoped for and more.  Our two pups are the lights of our lives and I now understand the anguish that Ron Burgundy went through when Jack Black "punted Baxter."

If anything ever happened to my pups I would definitely have some emotions.

We decided to kick the weekend off by taking our LITTLES to the pool.  Planning events with children makes me realize how far removed I am from all of the ins and outs of youth activities.   This was made apparent by my choice of picking them up for a day of swiming at 10 am (FYI Pool doesn't open till 1). So, we pick them up, buy some time running errands, then take them to the YMCA which has a FREAKING WAVE POOL!!  It was awesome. I even got to go down the water slide and watch Lora refuse to share her intertube with the kids when the waves came on. She loved the waves.

Saturday night we grilled dinner with the Hands' Family - Nathan, Laura, and Owen. Owen is 3 months old and in the 98th percentile for size.  He is such a happy baby and we had a great time with the Hands'.

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Franklin Moore's 2nd birthday with Ali and Andrew. Frank came over with dog treats for all!!  Kia was very jealous of Frank's knack for swimming!  She would stand on the side of the pond and watch in awe of his ability, and whine alot. Andrew would throw Franks toy out into the pond, Frank would go swimming and get it as Kia cried at the side of the pond, then when he got to shore she would take the toy from him and shake it furiously as if to say "what the hell were you doing out there in that pond!?" Then we would have to take the toy from Kia and throw it back out for Frank. REPEAT THAT 1O TIMES.

Of course, Tex took on the role of little brother. All he wanted to do was play with the big kids but he just doesn't have the size or agility yet, so he ended up sitting next to Lora, chewing on grass and watching.

Overall a great first Father's Day weekend and I couldn't ask for two better (or more different) pups then Kia and Tex!

                                                                     

    

                                              

The Winchell's

Surprise!!! I'm back!  Actually, let's put it this way....  WE'VE ARIVED!

It's been a long long hiatus for me, 

and a not so long love affair with blogging for Casey. 

To explain, let me take you back a few steps to a tropical pool convo in Mexico, early May, sun shining, you get the point - just be jealous! 

Anyway, the topic of conversation was blogs and I was telling Vanessa of Sunflower State of Mind how I loved the pineapple angel food cake recipe she posted and how it was so great how everybody shares their lives on their blogs. That's when Ashely, of My Life As Ash, chimes in "Yeah Casey's blog is great" and I said, "HA, yeah"

....

"wait, have you read it?"

I knew casey had a blog - but it was a secure blog for one follower only. me. You know, a nice platform for him to blog about how much he loves me, how pretty I am, and how lucky he is to have met me, and Kia. 

seriously. 

I knew ashley knew about the "secret blog" but i was kind of confused... 

why did she say it was funny??? has she read it?

......

"Yeah, Quirky Casey" she said. 

WHATTTTT????

A. he has another blog??? and i don't know about it?

B. this new blog "quirky casey" or whatever it is - probably takes time away from when he could be blogging on the "secret blog" about me. 

it was weird. 

I liken it to finding out your husband has a child you didn't know about, 

or something really dramatic like that. 

 Anyway - after hearing so many people ask me about where i've been on the blog world I decided i needed to start blogging again and since Casey is obviously interested in the blog world... i'm going to make this fun and let him join in too. 

This is how it's going to work. 

I'll blog, about whatever...

then he'll come in and blog his thoughts on the topic. 

or vise versa. 

The point is, we're doing this together. 

it's an experiment people, if you don't like it, don't read.

peace out for now,

let me leave you with some parting words....

"it's good to be back"

Now it's on to a unique perspective many are lacking in their blog. 

A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE. I'm not saying women can't do things alone I'm just saying that a man's perspective is lacking from most of the blogs I've read.  You will be able to tell my posts from the plain Arial font (I chose this because I prepare a lot of financial statements in my work and its what I'm use to and comfortable with).

My first order of business is to discuss what I thought the blog name should be...  I thought it would be fun to name it "Like the donuts..."  I wanted to call it this because there have been a number of times that I've said my name to various people and the most common response (other then a polite nod) is "oh... like the donuts".  For those who don't know there is a Donut chain that used to be much more popular called Winchell's Donut House.  Lora didn't like this because a lot of people don't know about the Donut house and therefore the reference wouldn't really have the effect intended.  Also I'm aware of the value of branding and since "a nutshell" already has a following why change something that's working.


My second and final order of business for the day is to tell you the thought process behind the "I didn't know about my husband's blog" business up above.  First off I've started a blog before. Many people say - they're their own harshest critic but in my case my wife is my harshest critic.  Which may sound bad but mostly it is a good thing because she does ultimately make me a better person.  When I started that first blog Lora read it and didn't like it one bit and I respect her opinion so I shut it down before it even got started.  A year and a marriage later I felt a need for a creative outlet because I have many random thoughts and ideas and I wanted to write them down and that's how Quirky Casey was born. I told a few people about it, including Ashley via twitter (which my wife has yet to embrace) since she is in hollywood she is my most legit source for what is entertaining and cool. Also I told Lora but I am sure it was during one of her selective hearing moments.
(also, about the "secret blog" shhhhhhh it's a secret.) 


This arrangement makes me feel like Paul Harvey so I'll finish with his famous tag line "and that is the rest of the story"