December 2010

Well, I think we all know it's been a unique December here in North Carolina. It has also been a new and great December for the Latin Teacher house. It started with some time at my In-Laws . They have a having a crab pot Christmas Tree (2 actually) in place of a real or artificial looking Christmas Tree. It looks really nice and the clean up is a cinch!!


We've had some big (well kinda) snows in December! Here are some pictures of Latin Teacher, Buckley Bear and me in the snow or the beginnings of the snow.

This was the first one toward the beginning of December.

Oh! There is by bearded husband! We are in Durham at Tobacco Road when the snow began! I was SO excited!
I'm Just as excited!
I also thought it was a great idea to go out for a run too, don't worry mom, I put another jacket on top of that once I was about to go.

We went to get our own Christmas Tree (we got the real thing, although it surprisingly doesn't spell that much... too bad)


For a late Birthday event, we went over to the In-Laws (it might have been where I got that first shot of the crab pot tree, but go with it...) for brunch, it was all very very yummy!

I think Latin Teacher had shaved his beard RIGHT before this...

Ohh these were so good!
We also went to Wine and Design with some work friends and made lots of versions of the Raleigh Skyline, here is my version:

One night, after Latin Teacher's parent's friend's party (follow all that?) we went over to Matt and Marina's for games and cheese, I didn't get anything of the games, but the cheese was too good looking to avoid.


This was Latin Teacher and My first Christmas together our Merry, Married Christmas... we know, cheesy... But at least it snowed :)

This is a Christmas Day picture that Latin Teacher's grandfather took, I think it was pretty good!

Oh look! It's my husband!

and then the SNOW!!

It was beautiful... Buckley didn't know what to do (he just ate a lot of ice/snow and went crazy)...

and we went to visit my family that has a zoo on their property, including deer outback.


It was a great December!! and we're going to The Avett Brothers in Asheville for New Years Eve!!

Get excited for the pictures!

The Anatomy of a Puppy

Our sweet puppy is experiencing his first Christmas, unfortunately this post has nothing to do with that.

This is all about the precious features of our loving, gentle and playful pup.

Lets start with paws
These rough little feet are used mostly for stabilizing his nylabone and then for walking. He also give his "sign of good faith" and some seriously cute nose scratching (you'll see this later).

His nose, some people just call it "white spots" but here at the Latin Teacher house, we call it "Powered Sugar". You'll see we have syrupy sweet names for everything, and that's the way we like it, so there! This was something that we didn't really pay attention to when we first rescued Buck, but it is something we have grown to love and enjoy.

Name tags. These can be heard a mile away. They have a distinctive sound that I can recognize really well. It has both Latin Teacher and my phone numbers on a shiny red bone, and when it hits the rabies vaccine tag that the Dr. Wilson said we had to put on, it makes a magnificent sound. Some people will put a sliencing rubber thing on their dogs' tags. If we did that, we would never know where he was, especially at night.


A nose. This is one of the most powerful and influential piece of our precious pup. He can smell a stick of butter one room over, will sniff every thing possible while on the greenway/sidewalk/parking lot/ any surface really. He also can pinpoint everything and anything you are eating. It's kinda pink, mostly black, and almost always wet and cold. We love it, I don't mind admitting I've kissed it a few times...

So this isn't the best picture, and you might not recognize the area, but this is the diamond on the top of precious pup's head. We think it somehow relates for aforementioned "powered sugar" but we don't really care, we love it all the same.

Now for the real money makers, the ears. These ears are fantastic. To say that they were the only reason we love this dog so much would be a complete lie. But they don't hurt either. They are super soft, velvety and attract an insane amount of dirt and gunk. But it is all worth it when you run your hands overs these jewels. They one of the defining features of his houndessness, other than his stubbornness, but that does photograph well.

Then there is this. If you have ever met our sweet thing, you would know him and his tail are of two different minds. This tail can knock anything down especially off coffee tables and makes quite a sound when hitting walls, cabinets, doors, floors, people, etc. Having a puppy with a tail like this allows us to apologize to the parents of small children (tail whacking in their tiny faces), other dog owners, or just random people in general. It's a wonderful conversation starter and we have been know to apologize for spilled drinks (or Buckley drinking out of people's beer/wine/soda/ milk/coffee... good thing he isn't picky right?)

When you put these qualities together, this is what you get:

Cuteness! The wonderful pleasure of looking a squirming, grunting, upside down tan puppy. We sometimes find him at at the foot of out full sized bed in this exact pose... I think he's taking a little more room than absolutely needed.

Buckely's First Birthday

Remember this little man? This what February 2010. It was our first day with this little man than has changed out lives and is our first experience as parents. November 27th his first birthday so I am going to put some pictures of our sweet boy throughout his time.

He's so Tiny!!

What a little stud!

Look! I'm getting bigger!

I'm really serious about picture taking

Bath time and Dinner!

Oh Hi!

On the way to the beach, what a good boy!

This is a more recent picture of our sweet boy from the Cooke Street Carnival.

I made cupcakes for Mr. Buckley's birthday, but at the time we didn't have the camera with us... so just imagine a 1 year old puppy eating a whole cupcake in one bite. There. It was like you were with us.

Ohh he's such a big boy!! We are so happy to have him in our lives.

Fall 2010

Look how sweet this little bean looks!

I've been using this cool thing on Picasa that allows me to make pictures look like they are dated!

If this was really in the past who knows how old Mr. Birch would be by now :)

Latin Teacher’s Birthday and a trip to Hampden Sydney

Latin Teacher is dangerously close to the big 30 and since that is such a big birthday, we planned small and slightly less eventful events for year 29. Because we are going to HSC on Saturday to see the Tigers cream Macon we had a little get together at the PR. Before we went though… we stopped by and saw these sweet little jewels… It was my first date with the little one, and it was fantastic (he slept and looked precious the whole time….)

(- This is Jenn's picture, I should have asked before I stole it... so I can take NO credit for this cuteness.... it is all her and Michael)

At the PR we didn’t get any pictures because I forgot the camera… but it was a great time and I discovered the huge wine list at the PR which makes it my new favorite place to go! No wonder that place is so popular! It has everything a person could want!!

Friday night we went over to one of our friends, Kathy and Steven’s, houses for some bonfire action and beef tips, au gratin potatoes and more wine.

I’m seeing a trend here…

They are the kind of couple Latin Teacher and I strive to be (without the Boston accent, haha)

Turned out it was Kathy’s birthday on Sunday the 14^th so it was a time for celebration. They were sweet enough to watch our little boy Buckley while were touring Virginia on Saturday.

Saturday morning we got up, put on our autumn best, and started driving north to Hampden Sydney, VA. It is a little "town" on the outskirts of Farmville, VA. As Latin Teacher had promised the trees were fantastic and the weather was nothing to scoff at either.

Once we got there we had lunch at the Hitch n' Post. A basic diner at the end of the main road leading into HSC. It was good food, and I know Latin Teacher had lots of memories there.

After getting to campus, we went to the bookstore to refresh our lives with HSC stuff (including a very manly prepped out collar for Buckley) and then made our way to the tailgating field.

(Doesn't he look thrilled? This is how he usually looks about 7:00 in the morning)

We met up with Jenn's (mother-of-the-cuteness-above) family and had a great time at the tailgate. We then went to the game where we added some good luck, and the finished with a big "W" against their rival Randolph Macon.

Go Tigers, Beat Macon!!

Later on our tour of Virginia, we traveled to Colonial Heights, VA where we picked up a dining room set for my aunt and uncle's house and made the way back to Raleigh.

I have been told that Latin Teacher had a great birthday, and I can't help believe him! Less than a year until 30!! AHH!

Cooke Street Carnival 2010

Not only are we homeowners, but we are charitable as well! We, including Buckley, went to the Cooke Street Carnival yesterday. It is a block party where most of the processed go towards Habitat for Humanity. There is also really good food trucks,beer, bands, and lots of family fun (that sounded cheesy, but it's the truth).

Since Latin Teacher used to live one street over with Will (see below) he has lots of friends living in the neighborhood and we got a primo spot on the front porch and (fenced in) backyard of the Christians.


The puppy you can actually see if Lola, she is Buckley's Cooke Street Girlfriend,he has a few... (don't hate the playa, hate the game) you'll get a taste of their relationship a little later. He was trying to show off for Lola and actually jumped this fence when Latin Teacher and I were out exploring. Good thing the Christans were there to see him trot around (of course tail held high) and put him back behind the fence. Latin Teacher wasn't even mad that he jumped. LT was more impressed than anything, I mean look how short he is compared to the fence!


There was a pretty good crowd for mid afternoon on a Saturday. There were some people missing, I assume because they were watching NC State get stomped by my ECU Pirates. But after the domination was over, people came out in droves to see the bands, eat good and sustainable food, and drink local beer.

I don't know whose dog this is, but he was acting like a dream ::cough cough:: unlike Buckley. But I thought people might want to see this sweet pup as much as I do.

Not only where there lots of pups, there were TONS of kids too! It's really nice to show your kids these fun street carnival things it's good to get them out hanging with new kids and adults.
There were probably 15 of these boards where people can stick their heads through. You can't really tell, but this little girl is one of the cutest little girl we hangout with right now.

Here she is, This is Aida! She was tiny when I first started dating Latin Teacher, and now she's a little woman. She just kinda climbed into someone's chair that was on the side of the road. She might have thought it was "her chair", evidently she's in that stage right now. Oh having kids will be such as adventure.

Here is a better picture of Lola Christan. Shes sitting next to her mother, Jenn and isn't really looking at me as much as she's making googly eyes at Mr. Buckley.

Here she comes... Nothing and no one can stop her from our boy. She's hooked.
Latin Teacher and I are trying our hardest to hold him back. Look at those eyes... he feels it too.

And the fun begins. Latin Teacher and I could have stopped it if we wanted to, but they weren't getting in anyone's way and were having a good time, so we just let it happen.

She's really showing him whose boss... Like any good woman. She's also older and slightly bigger, but whose counting.

After all that Buckley was worn out and his parents were getting hungry so we got some Only Burger. They were on the Food Network's "The Great Food Truck Race" they are from Durham and they travel around the triangle in their truck selling really good burgers (if you like that kinda thing, which most people do). You can follow them on twitter, if that's also you're thing.

This is Will, he was Latin Teacher's Roommate for the 3 years before we moved in together. He was partially the reason Latin Teacher and I even met. We went over to his place, which is a street over from the carnival, to eat our Only Burger. About this time we also realized it was almost 7 pm and our sweet heart-breaker of a puppy had not had any dinner (by the way look how good he's being right now, he definitely knew there was food around). So we made our way home to fall asleep in the living room. It was a really nice day :)