Michelle's Birthday Day!!

A blue balloon for you Mich ~ I am not a fan of balloons so I picture will work perfectly!!

Happy Birthday Mich!!! Michelle and I met years and years ago. We were employed by the same company. She is such a loving and loyal friend. She has an energy about her that you just want to be around, and she is one of the funniest people I've ever known! She is wise and someone I turn to often. I love how hard we laugh. On a more personal level, she's a deep well. I love our talks!!

I love how candid and honest she is, as well as how she pushed me to ask the harder questions, to open myself up to change and growth. And she's there to support me through it. Her commitment to our friendship is something I'm grateful for everyday, and today I'm celebrating Michelle and that I am so blessed to get to go through life with a friend like her alongside me!!

Happy birthday, I love you dearly, miss you tons and looking forward to our next visit xox

Up and running

Internet is back to stay!!!!.... We had a Comcast technician come fix our Comcast box.

Happy Be-Lated Valentine's Day!! Adam made mine great by surprising me with gift certificates (consisting of my most faaavorite stores) and Japaness take-out from one of our favorite local spots. It was so sweet... :) I just love how that guy goes out of his way to do sweet thoughtful things like that!!! Thank you babe xo I spoiled him right back ;)

Shadow with her Valentine's gift -- squeeky heart

Shadow doing agility

Iiiiiiiimpressive! We made some great progress with our pup's training. Thursday, I took Shadow to class alone cuz Adam was playing in Milwaukee. We can't wait to be able to go on long walks with Shadow without her PULLING :)

I finished Season 4 of "Real Housewives of Orange County" last night... oh man, those housewives are something else! Not sure if I will get into Season 2 of "Real Housewives of New York City"?!? I must say however that my favorite show would be "The dog whisperer" but we don't have National Geographic chanel so we watch "It's me or the dog" with Victoria Stilwell. She's good also! I also LOVE to watch "Top Chef - New York".

I have lots more to blog about but for now....going to watch the Oscars Red Carpet then the 81st Academy Awards! :)

A-dog-of-a-blog...house update & Brian!!

Let me start off with a birthday :) Happy 24th birthday to my dear cousin Brian who is wayyyy out there in Alberta. Brian, I love you tons and hope you were made to feel as amazing as you truly are to so many people in your life on February 15th!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY xoox

This has become very common in the Pineault household. Finding Shadow sleeping by her bowls. YES! There is something in it?!?! LOL

So, Adam had to get sized for a new mouth piece (which I'm still not convinced he wears religiously) and above is what we saw as we were waiting at a red light. A huge + monstrous = HUMONGOUS Great Dane known for its giant size but also gentle personality. Sorry for the bad picture angle :S

After puppy class, Shadow met another German Shepherd!! This dog was going to agility class. I forget his complicated name (it had like 3 words in it). Anyways, he was one year and 2 months old and was 112 lbs. B-I-G! I keep wondering how big Shadow will get?!? We will see soon :)

I don't think I've talked about OUR house since the official word... The hunt for furniture, accessories and all kind of items has been exciting us more-and-more! We even braved a mission to Ikea on Sunday.

Here are some stats:
- It's on a 60X120 lot in the charming little golf community. Not only does it have beautiful grounds, but it's got room to grow with new houses. The great thing about this location is that we will never have neighbors in the backyard. It backs up to privacy woods :) :) This model home has never been lived in.

- The house is a 1 story, open floor plan, 2174 sq. feet living area, 3 bedrooms, 1 office and 2 baths. Breakfast bar, eat-in kitchen, family room, inside laundry (some houses have it outside or in the garage).

- Tile 80% and carpet 20% floors, and lots of sweet little built-ins, nice appliances, sound system fully wired, granite coutertops and big windows - the house was built in 2006! It needs some love, no question, and we plan to actually move in as-is then attack some initial projects (painting, decorating and making it "homy")... it's going to be a great adventure!

We can't wait for our inaugural first night in the house!

Well, will blog again soon xo

Training Classes

Helloooooo :) Well, we've been having internet problems lately :S But looks like we are back in business! I couldn't wait to talk about Shadow's puppy training classes!!! It's going wonderfully. We've gone to 2 classes so far this week and Shadow has learnt so much such as sit, down, stay, leave-it. We are currently focusing on walking. Shadow PULLLLLLS. We need to get this under control haha. Good job Shadow girl!!

Cristy teaching us how to train Shadow

It worked!! Woot Woot

Adam and Shadow ~ Tug-of-war! LOL

**THIS JUST IN: I'm not having a senior moment, as I found the garage key!!!!! Mom, I did exactly what you said and it worked :) :) I was sooooo happy to have found that darn little key in the bottom of our closet between two pairs of boots.

Adam in the IceHogs booklet ~ Cute!

I'm very looking forward to Adam's game tonight. He hasn't played home in a few weeks. It will be fun :) Happy Friday Everyone!!!!!!

The latest

On Sunday, Adam decided we should invite people over and have a BBQ. Such a good idea! It was fun being with a few guys & gals and the crazy dogs LOL. Great night of hanging out :)

I got to spend time talking with Amanda this morning. I miss being able to drive over to her apartment and hang out or go to the gym with her. Mandy, I enjoyed catching up with you -- this being far away thing really makes it a bummer. Sounds silly, probably. But I wish this was easier. It's all about hotmail, webcam, facebook and yahoo. I miss having you around girl!!

So I've just spent the better part of my day here at home turning our apartment upside down in search of the garage key. No luck! Don't you wish you could call lost items like you can call your cell phone when you misplace things? And they'd ring out with "here I am, right where your husband stashed me!" Ha ha I kid, I kid. As much as I wish I could blame someone else when things go missing, I seem to notice all too often how stinky my memory is getting these days with the frivolous details of life (yes, for the most part, I think I'm still remembering the important stuff... hopefully). Do you ever put something down and even stop to memorize the moment, telling yourself, "This important item is in this kitchen drawer.... I will I will I will remember this." Yeah, a couple days later... and you're turning the house upside down. Good times. :) Is it too early to claim "senior moments?"

Today marked a MONTH in Rockford for us, which blows me away. And things have started to fall in place. Being busy with Shadow is good when you are so antsy to just jump in the truck and drive to lovely Florida. It will be awesome to get away at the end of the season and spend the summer in a beeeeautiful setting. I should emphasis, it's going well here... busy, fast-paced, but good. I feel I'm starting to find my way, and am settling in. And ohhh how I'm savoring Adam being around! Tonight we celebrated being homeowners. We were both eager for a whole day together, and today was the day!! And for the record, I'm so thankful for such a supportive, encouraging husband... he's always this way, but this past month, being he was away on roadtrips and I was alone with our puppy girl, he's amped it up for me! Whether he's bringing me coffee and/or lunch, or listening intently to my new stories and asking really good questions (Girl 101 - listen and ask good questions, and you will make her feel so loved and connected -- am I right?!), man... I'm spoiled :)

Ok, this is ridiculously long. SORRY! I'll try to be better. Have a good one... until I return...! My husband is totally making fun of me for how long this is. Gotta go!

It's official!!!!!!!

Today, at 3:30pm exactly, almost two months after making an offer on this sweet house and signing a gazillion papers....we became HOMEOWNERS! The actual closing happened today as planned. That's when the keys are given. It's official!!! (And yeah, while Adam and I hoped to be cheers-ing wine glasses and pinching ourselves that it was all really happening today, instead he is playing away in Milwaukee and I am listening to his game. So, we will celebrate Sunday :)
It feels soooooo good!!!!!!

Adam's home :) :) :)

Yay!!! Adam is back from a looooong 10 day roadtrip. Look who is soooo happy (other than me, of course)...Shadow! Adam didn't waist any time taking her for a walk. Cute!!

I picked up Adam from the rink yesterday morning with sweet baby girl Shadow and we tried (emphasis on tried) to balance wanting to drop everything and talk talk talk talk with getting errands done and signing more house papers with the notiry. I think we got it all accomplished pretty decently, actually. Ohhhhhh!! And we enrolled Shadow in puppy training classes. Adam, Shadow and I start Monday. It will be so much fun -- stay tuned for pictures and updates!!

The house update is coming soon. I'm waiting for the official WORD...

A BIG catching up...

Three weeks in Rockford already and as time goes on, I am so thankful for this new adventure! In my sweet visit with my friends from Syracuse, I am beginning to see how our bonds are only getting stronger as they endure the distance. Who knew?! And the amazing new relationships I've formed here already. So many good things have come from this change, and I'd be a fool not to call them out and be thankful for them. Well, I'm sure there's more "ah-ha" moments to come on this subject as time goes on. It makes me think about my reaction to this huge change in our life. Yay! Of course I want New Brunswick and Rockford to be 10 minutes from each other and have my cake and eat it too. But alas, that's MY plan. :)

Our apartment complex in Rockford

Moving on... I spent the weekend in Chicago with my Rockford, or wait, they call themselves the RockVegas girls haha. It was such a great, wonderful, sweet time that went by all too quickly, as usual.

Big day in the Pineault household Friday. Bring on some more change, right?! Because we just haven't had enough! Haha. It's the official closing of our so-soon-to-be-house. We are thrilled!!!! It's just about here. Woot Woot!

I'm kicking booootay on training Shadow, it's keeping me very busy & coming along great... Thanks Angie for the awesome tips!! Keep them comin'.

Have you ever gone through a klutzy "phase?" Well, not that I'd give myself an award for gracefulness or anything, but I can usually navigate my world without too many mishaps or bruises. NOT SHADOW!! Geeze, I don't know what's gotten into her, but I definitely got an eyebrow raised. Whether she is falling while doing her "duty" (how does one achieve this!?), fully running into a door or coffee table?!!?, spilling her water on the floor with her big paw... (and the list goes ON), this past week has been full of awesome (read: funny/hilarious) moments in the life of Shadow. I think it's time to put a helmet on her head LOL.

Anyways, I've been sleeping soooo poorly the past few days. The kind of sleep where you almost reach the depth of the best sleep and then... Guess who?? Miss Shadow tossing, turning and crying. I think she's jealous when she looks over and see me sleeping like a baby. It's a mild cold. She has the sniffles poor girl. Being sick stinks. I woke put as a zombie this morning haha. But it's all good ;)

Adam is doing wonderful. He is currently on the homestretch of his 10 day roadtrip. He returns tomorrow and we can't wait!! RockVegas, has been sunny. Yes! Sunny for like 2 weeks now. Ahhhhhh...! Love it. Every now and then, I'm kind of taken by surprise by how much I really do love this little city (and wearing my sunglasses) LOL.

What else... We got to hang out with our friends Mr & Mrs Bales who live in Beula. Mr Bales was Adam's teacher. Mrs Bales and I spent the better part of 2 hours jabbing away, catching up and shopping, of course! It was really fun to hear about their life as a retired couple living in Northern Michigan. We also were fortunate to hang out with our Westbrook CT friends who came down to surprise Adam (Gotcha Babe!!). What good times. Thanks y'all for coming to visit us in Rockford :) :) :)

Well, just thought I'd share my big update with you... Good night (I hope hahahaha) xox