The newest addition...

...to our family is Guster. We will call him Gus for short and he is a cute little guy. Here is some proof:
As you can see, he is already very photogenic at only 8 weeks of age!Last May, Ryan and I took Ethan to a cat show in Concord (see our old post from May of last year) where we were introduced to the Birman breed and we met a very nice man who bred these special cats. They have very silky soft fur that feels like a bunny and have very sweet dispositions. They love to play but also love to snuggle and sit on your lap. We kept in touch with the man we met and his wife and when they had a litter, we set up a time to visit. We were able to see them this weekend and we had a lovely time visiting with the owners and all of their wonderful cats. We immediately fell in love with the kitten above which happened to be one of the 2 up for adoption.

I was pretty quick on testing out the snuggle on Gus. He checked out just fine.
Here is Gus with his brother and sister. I wish we had gotten some pics of their mom (Betty Boop) and dad (Zach) because they were absolutely gorgeous cats... and very sweet as well. We were a little too wrapped up in these little guys as you can see...Gus' little paws checked out just fine as well - look how tiny they are! Oh boy, now we can't wait for big brother Coodie to meet him! Gus will be coming home in mid-March. We are counting the days and planning for our new little guy. Stay tuned for the big homecoming!

Christmas (part two)

We also had a Christmas celebration with our pals, Kate and Scoop. Kate and I made candy cane martinis as you see below:We even had crushed peppermints on the rim...very pretty. But, I won't lie...They didn't taste very good - a little TOO festive maybe? So, we ditched them and went back to our wine. It was fun and fancy while it lasted.Aunt Kate gives Cood a nice snuggle. She is truly "Aunt Kate" to Cood as she comes by twice a day whenever we are out of town to feed and play with him. He really loves her and rolls over with just the sound of her voice. It's very sweet.Uncle Scoop gets in the action and gives our big boy a good scratch.As usual, we had a great time with Scoop and Kate. The four of us got to play the classic "Apples to Apples", Kate and I got to catch up and Scoop and Ryan played some "Madden 2010". Another fantastically fun night with our best buds.

Christmas (part one)

I am a little late posting on Christmas as I failed to take my camera out very often so I had to ask others to forward their photos along. It was a nice, quiet Christmas but we missed Ryan's parents - Donna and Sandy and also Todd, Cathy, Owen and Grant out in Oregon.
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Let's get started...Christmas Eve was for Ryan and I. I had reserved this night awhile back when I said this was "our" night and we were to have a romantic dinner out and chill back home by the twinkly lights. We had done this once years ago when we were dating and it was so much fun. So, we headed to a local Italian restaurant, Fratello's, which is in a renovated mill building in downtown Manchester for some yummy pasta and brick oven pizza. We had a great time and it was complete with twinkly lights and a festive pianoman that entertained us.

Here is our table at Fratello's - you can see me in the dark background perusing the menu. There is the yummy bread basket to the right!

We had my mom, dad, sister Jodi, brother-in-law Jon and nephews Ethan and Aaron over for brunch on Christmas Day. The kiddos were patient enough to allow us to cook, eat and clean up before we opened gifts. We had a menu of blueberry pancakes, bacon, cheesy eggs, scrambled eggs, bagels, blueberry bread (handmade by my dad - yum!) and fruit salad. Ryan, Cood and I.

Aaron, Jodi and Jon after brunch and presents. Time for a nap!My mom and I.

We also celebrated with Ryan's brother Mark, sister-in-law Allison and niece and nephew Chelsea and Hunter but I have no photos... I think taking the camera out more often is a good New Year's resolution! Overall, a great holiday. A belated *cheers* to you all!

Zzzzz....

My two favorite guys were snoozing on the couch and I could not resist snapping the photo. How cute are they?

Cats 101

I have to preface this post by saying that I do promise to write about something other than our cat sometime very soon but this was too funny not to share....

I found a show called Cats 101 on Animal Planet and I thought it was pretty cool so I DVR'd a few episodes and Ryan and I sat down to watch one with dinner last night. The show tells some personal stories about cat owners and their beloved pets (like the cat who saved her family from carbon monoxide poisoning) but it also tells some interesting facts about different breeds and the fun details you might not necessarily know about your cat.

So, I have detailed in a past blog about how Coodie seems to like Grey's Anatomy because he actually sits and watches almost entire episodes with me. Other than Grey's, he doesn't seem to have much interest in the TV. Well, as you may have guessed...Cats 101 was a different story. Not only did he watch it...he sat about as close as he could sit to the TV and stared straight at it in a complete trance for the entire hour. His head bopped around following the cats on the screen and if we interrupted him he would "yell" at us and then go right back to watching the screen.

Here he is with his new favorite show. We had to bathe him today - which he is obviously not a big fan of -so I am hoping another saved show will appease him. The only problem is that when we shut it off, he runs around the house like a madman! Cats 101 24/7? Not so much....apparently, we just need smaller doses!

So, before you say it...we have already been told twice this weekend that it is about time we have kids (since our cat is so spoiled). OK, guys...we'll think about it!

A Visit to the Vet

Like most cats, Coodie doesn't like to leave home. If he even sees that he is headed toward the car he gets stiff, his eyes get big and he meows like no tomorrow... and it gets worse if he is in his carrier because he bangs his little nose into the cage. I usually feel bad for him and hold him on my lap for the 5 minute drive to the vet's office. Luckily, we do not need to take him in the car very often but today he had his yearly physical. I had the day off and Ryan and I (the proud parents) brought him in to be checked out. The ladies at the office always remember him as does the Doctor. He is a local celeb.
Poor Cood in his little cage....





"I am outta here before she takes my temp again!"

Cood is watching for the Doctor.....

Our big boy weighed in at 13.5 pounds and got a clean bill of health!

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When we got home, we put up our new little tree. Cood got over his anxiety pretty quickly as he had something new to contend with....

Feeling Festive

Ahhhh, you have to love Thanksgiving weekend....a nice 5 day weekend to ramp up for Christmas. Ryan and I did not have to travel far this year so we took some time to decorate, organize and relax. We both started having the Christmas bug on "Black Friday". Having been a former retail manager, going out to shop is my biggest nightmare on "BF" so we generally stay away from the stores. So, we started each morning with a 5-7 mile power walk or trip to the gym then came back to clean one of our closets that were absolute disasters. Ryan also took a trip to the Grenon Trading Post in Bedford and scored some amazing deals on festive decor. We are headed back there tomorrow to see what else we can find.... anything over $30 is 1/2 off! Gosh, are we bargain shoppers or what?? Here are some photos of our accomplishments:

Kitchen closet #1 - such a disaster before it was almost dangerous. I only wish we had thought to take a "before" photo to show the difference!

Kitchen closet #2 - this closet was overrun with coats, jackets, mops, brooms and other random items that we had forgotten about since we moved here in 2006. Good times!

And now for the festive photos....

Here is our new centerpiece for our dining room table. These poor snowmen have been through the ringer in the last few years. They have been super-glued back together at least 3 times due to Coodie's tail knocking them off the kitchen cart. We decided to move them this year and see how they fare.

Welcome to our home! Our front door - the wreath is fresh and smells like fresh pine. Hey, if we can't have a fresh tree at least we have a wreath!


We also put our window lights in and Ryan lit up the small tree in front of our place so here is the evening shot.

Happy pre-Christmas festivities to everyone!! Enjoy the decorating, Christmas music, good food, etc etc etc ....