Right now my life consists solely of cooking food, riding my bike, training/loving a puppy, going to work, and yoga.  It's been a good, filled, summer.  But I'm ready for school to start.  Excited for classes and structure.  And ready to enjoy my last few months ever as a college student.

I brought Pumpkin to work today.  Everyone LOVED her.

Right now I am slightly inspired by a woman named Delilah.  She hosts an evening radio show and plays love songs with dedications.  She somehow airs all over the country, yet her radio station is specific to New York (I don't really understand how that works).  The other night she said,

Patience is reality catching up with your dreams.

And I thought, well I must have a lot of patience because I have A LOT of dreams that are lingering far, far ahead of reality.

Ring Dance Weekend and 100!

This is my 100th blog post!
Thought that it would be worth noting.
This blog started the summer after Sophomore year because I was bored and I liked reading other people's blogs.  It was more for myself than for other people, now it's turned into a great way to keep in touch with people, and is more personal than facebook and other social networking sites.
I like putting my opinions out there, and documenting life, especially during this part of my life where everything is changing so much and so often. 

Last weekend was the much-anticipated Ring Dance.
Nate was super excited.  I've never seen him so uninterested in me, despite my curly hair and fancy dress; he was in love with his ring.  Admired it the entire night.
I'm so proud of him for sticking through 3 years of a Kings Point.
I'm so proud of us for surviving 300 days apart during sea year, and I'm proud of myself for loving him enough to put up with the horrible things that come along with dating someone from a military school.

It was a great night!  Good food, good drinks, and good friends.

Gotham Hall 

The ring being dipped in water from the seven seas...

Soo happy!  

 

He loves it. 

Beautiful New York from the Empire State Building

Saturday after the dance I worked then we tackled Summer Streets and biked all the way from 25th st up to 72nd then down to the Brooklyn Bridge and back up to my apartment.

Not to brag or anything, but I am becoming a fearless bike-riding godess. 

I'm no longer afraid of the streets or the cabs.

I refuse to use the subway, and bike everywhere! 

I just wish it could stay warm and summery forever. 

Saturday night we went to Max Brenner - New York's famous all-chocolate inspired restaurant. 

You'd say its over-priced and over-rated until your dessert comes...

And then you will be too satisfied to complain about the prices and the crowd because 

its just THAT good! 

The little monster.

Whoever said Cavaliers were sweet, gentle, loving creatures never met Pumpkin! 

She has been the terrorizer of all terrorizers lately. 

Accident after accident, minutes after I've just taken her out. 

She has this bad habit of thinking she needs more water than she actually needs, so she will chugg water and then pee an exhorbinant amount of times. 

Yesterday she peed 9 times in the span of 1 hour!  Only 4 were outside!!! 

9 times in one hour is NOT normal. 

She's learned that she can pee in her crate, which defeats the whole purpose of a crate! 

So I put a shoe box filled with books in there to make it smaller - she ate the shoe box! 

She chews everything in sight, and loves to pee everywhere. 

I have had it with her.

Too bad she's too cute to give up on.

She just ate breakfast, can you tell?

She learned how to sit, but that's about all she's been doing right lately.

For the past 6 days my life has completely revolved around a little 4 pound Pumpkin. 

Training a puppy is HARD work! 

Much harder than I expected, but I still love her just as much as I'd imagined, probably more, actually! 

She is such a sweetheart but a huge monster at the same time. 

Today we officially learned how to "sit" on command. 

(We've been working on it for 3 days now!)

Learning to sit was the only good thing about today! 

Despite the fact that I took her out to pee a million times she still managed to have more accidents just today than she's had in the past 5 days combined!  

I just keep telling myself its a process, and no matter how much she teethes on my fingers I can never stay mad at her for long. 

 

In other news, Sunday night Nate took me on a bike ride up to a hardware store on 23rd st. 

23rd st. is a major, non-bike laned manhattan street.  Tons of traffic, buses, people. 

Why would he take me here on my first new york city street biking encounter?

I don't know. 

But my terrifying experience on Sunday gave me the bravery to tackle smaller, less busy streets on my bike.  Yesterday I rode my bike all the way to yoga and back.  And today I rode it all the way to Union Sq. and back.  Riding my bike in the city gives me such a sense of newfound freedom.  

New York is already so liberating, with the amazing public transit, and the fact that everything is accessible through walking.  And now I can get there in half the time on my bike without spending a dime on the subway!  

I love it! 

I plan on riding everywhere till it snows. School, work, yoga. Yes!

Our First Weekend Together

She's here! 

After an almost a 12 hour day of driving on Friday, we brought little Pumpkin home. 

She's been adjusting very well, slept the entire way back to New York on my lap, loves her new toys and new crate, is warming up to big brother Fish, and has been doing excellent at her potty training!  She even sleeps through the night.  She's quite the little monster and loves to play and romp around getting attention from everyone she meets, but she's also a snuggly little sweetheart.
She's such a good girl, and I'm already so proud of her! 

So here's pictures from our first weekend together!

Our very first greeting!

Mamma Paris 

Dad Dalton 

 Mamma's little girl

 

 Car ride home

Finally home!  Posing next to the sign Auntie Ashley made!

I took my eyes off her for about 2 seconds Saturday morning, only to find her tucked underneath my bed.  She's the same size as my bed-riser! 

 

Going...

 

Going... 

Gone!  

She passed out right there, tired girl!

With big brother, Fish.  

She is approximately the size of his head!

Sitting in Nate's lap

Look at those ears! 

Action shot! 

 

She's only been here 3 days, but she's pro at the puppy dog eyes! 

 

That's my girl!

There's magic in the air tonight...

Tomorrow is the day!

 

I love my job.

Have I mentioned I LOVE my job? 

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, walked to YogaWorks, picked up cards and then subwayed up to Salutation Nation, a Lululemon community yoga class in Bryant Park and in cities across North America this weekend.  

From here.

 

I got a FREE lululemon tank, and helped with the event, then handed out yoga cards and talked to people about the studio afterwards. 

Then I walked over to Park Avenue, where something amazing is happening this weekend and the next two weekends- SUMMER STREETS!  The coolest event I have witnessed here in New York. 

From 7am to 1pm these three Saturdays they completely clear Park Avenue of traffic all the way from Brooklyn bridge up to Central Park, and fill it with fun events, free bike/skate rentals, dumpster (not used, but still a little crazy) swimming pools, tons of free food and stuff, and hundreds or bikers, runners, and walkers!

I handed out yoga cards, got free food, a free bike helmet and sizing, and a huge bag of free baby carrots (currently in the freezer being saved as snacks for little pumpkin pie.)  I met lots of people, talked to them about yoga and YogaWorks. 

 Here's a picture from 2008. From here.

I love my job, so much.  I love that I live in such a vibrant city with such an active community.  I love the yoga community here, and am so unbelievably proud to be a part of it, even on a small level. 

Summer Streets inspired me so much that I made the leap and bought a bike!  

I've been thinking about it for months, and finally decided to put the birthday money I got from my parents to good use.  I walked around to approximately 9 bike shops Saturday afternoon and found my favorite- The Schwinn 2010 Cream Cruiser. 

I LOVE IT. 

Thanks Mom & Dad for helping me fund this awesome bike! :)

I already feel a connection to fellow nyc bikers!  

I road all around Stuytown tonight and it was a magical, cool summer night filled with children playing, dogs being walked, and glowing fireflies. 

With the arrival of Pumpkin next weekend, Nate figured we should celebrate our freedom from potty training and dog walks for the last time and he took me out to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant on restaurant row.  We never (okay...extremely rarely) go out to nice dinners together, so this was special.  From now on our lives, particularly mine, will revolve around an 8 or so pound orange pup.  To say I am ready for her is an understatement, I think I have been ready for this dog since before I was born.