Roxanne and the kid in the puffy coat

I know I have mentioned our favorite dog park that Beneful sponsored with the bridge, fancy dog fountains and turf grass many times. We used to take Roxanne to a couple of other dog parks until we found out about the new fancy park and now it is the only one we really go to. It is just so nice and Roxanne doesn't get as filthy there as she does at other dog parks where it is all dirt and mulch.

Well lately we've had some problems with Roxanne at the park. Last weekend Rob took Roxanne there on Saturday morning and she had a blast. Rob picked up his mom's labradoodle Bailey and took them both to the park to play for an hour or so and everything was great. The next day I took Roxanne to the park and within 5 minutes of entering the park she spots a little boy running around and starts following him around while still keeping her distance and starts barking at him. I told her no and tried to get her to follow me to another part of the park to play ball away from the kid. She was ok for a little while but within 5 minutes or so she started barking again. Roxanne isn't really one to bark that much though and this wasn't just a couple of barks. This was Roxanne walking around barking non-stop, ignoring me calling out her name, ignoring all tennis balls, just barking. Then I see that same kid about 30 feet away and notice Roxanne sees him too and I realize her barking really is directed at him. I was so embarrassed I grabbed her by the collar and dragged her over to the picnic tables and told her to sit and stay. I had to do this twice. I felt like one of those moms you see at the mall with crying screaming children throwing tantrums and you think to yourself, wow she has no control over her children. I know I didn't have a child, just a loud dog, but the way some people are at this dog park I know someone was judging me and my lack of control over my dog. The third time Roxanne barked at the kid I decided enough was enough and I put on her leash and we left the park, me holding the leash about 2 inches away from Roxanne's collar. We had been there maybe 25 minutes and Roxanne had done nothing besides bark at kids, dogs and at some points seemingly nothing.

On the way home I was so furious I called Rob to tell him about it. I said, "It was that 7 year old boy with the puffy Cars coat on who runs around chasing his dog." (We have both seen this kid there before) Rob immediately was like, "That kid? With the Cars coat? Oh my gosh.." Two weeks ago when Hayes and Caroline were visiting with their lab puppy Oliver, they all took the dogs to the park while I was at work and I was later told that Roxanne had barked nonstop at a kid at the park. Turns out it was the same kid she was barking at both times. I thought it was just a one time thing when it happened a few weeks ago, but apparently not. Roxanne hates this kid for whatever reason. Maybe it's because he chases dogs around the park, maybe it's because of his puffy red jacket, or maybe it's just because he is a kid and Roxanne is, for the most part, scared of kids. The kid is somewhat of a rascal himself, which doesn't help the situation. Rob held Roxanne in a sit position and asked the kid if he would come pet Roxanne so she could see he was ok and he refused and proceeded to shake his finger at her saying "Bad!" whenever she barked at him. I told Rob I really wish we could give the dad our number so he can shoot us a text letting us know when he will be at the park with his kid so that we can avoid going at the same time, because I'm pretty sure Roxanne isn't going to forget this kid anytime soon.

Officially the worst view in the complex

It isn't quite "balcony sitting" season yet, unless we are talking about Roxanne who loves laying out there even when it's cold out just so she can keep watch on the cars, people and most importantly dogs that go by. But if it were warm enough for magazine reading and drinks on the balcony, this would be our view from the couch...



Not that it was ever a nice view, but it is significantly worse since the wall fell down. It happened the Thursday before Christmas, and luckily for me I work 4pm-midnight on Thursdays. If I hadn't been at work I'm about 90% sure that my car would have been parked right in the path of destruction from the falling cement block wall. If I would have taken a picture of this the day after it happened (or 2 weeks after it happened for that matter) you would have seen the 4 cars that got absolutely crushed by the wall. Two out of the four cars that were totalled were owned by the people 2 floors up with the serious birdseed/bird feeder obsession. I couldn't help but laugh a little when Rob told me that bit of information after the wall fell down (he was home for the whole thing). Rob told me not to be mean, but come on, it is a little funny that out of everyone in the building it happened to my archenemies.

I'm pretty sure we will be looking at this mess for quite a while. At first we were told by the management company that the wall would be fixed in 7 days, and we knew that was wishful thinking, but then it looked like a stop work order was put in place and nothing has been touched since then. There used to be a retaining wall there made of long wooden planks, but when a new management company took over the apartment complex they hired a construction company to come in and replace all of the wooden walls throughout the complex with cement block walls. All it took was one bad rain storm to bring the wall down after it had been up for only a month or so. Lets hope none of the other walls in the complex come crashing down!

I love shrimp

These past two weekends I have been very spoiled- I have not had to cook a single thing. As much as I enjoy cooking and all that goes into it, including searching for new recipes and grocery shopping for ingredients, it is always nice to relax and not have to worry about all that on the weekends. Two weekends ago we used a coupon for Dominos pizza, had bison burgers at Ted's Montana Grill the following night, and we rounded out the weekend with Rob's delicious slow cooked ribs. This past weekend we kicked it up a notch from the take-out pizza and cheesy bread.

Friday we went out for seafood at The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill in Buckhead. I had wanted to try the restaurant for a while and I had a Groupon to use that was about to expire. For $35 we had a nice dinner for two that included a shrimp bruschetta appetizer, 2 glasses of wine and 2 entrees, which would have cost $80 had we not had the Groupon. Rob got the fish special with a honey mustard glaze and a bean and cous cous salad, and I got the grilled shrimp and scallops with Georgia peach and key lime mango dipping sauces, a greek salad and zesty cous cous salad. Both of our meals were awesome, and I'm sure we'll go back.

Saturday we went out with Tom to Goin' Coastal in the Virginia Highland neighborhood for more seafood. It was a nice little storefront restaurant, with large blackboards on the walls displaying their daily specials. They pride themselves on being a "sustainable seafood" restaurant, meaning they serve "only the highest quality seafood from sources, either fished or farmed that can exist over the long term without compromising species' survival or the health of the ecosystem (http://goincoastalseafood.com/)." I had the Coastal Bowl which was a large bowl of shrimp, mussels, scallops, and fish in a tomato stock with andouille sausage, potatoes and corn, with a huge chunk of crusty bread on top. It was simply delicious. Our filling dinner was followed by a stop at Cacao, a fancy pants chocolate shop down the street. Tom got a salted caramel ice cream cookie sandwich that was made right in front of him, and Rob and I got 5 cookies that cost us $17. Enough said.

Yesterday I worked until 5pm and came home to a tasty Cajun chicken pasta dinner prepared by Rob. It was a new recipe we'd never had before that Rob found online. It required a bit of veggie cutting/chicken cooking prep time, and I appreciated all of the time and effort he put into the meal. I only helped him out once when I opened a bottle of chardonnay for him to use in the recipe and for me to drink, and he even cleaned up, which does not follow the "I cook, you clean up" rule we usually follow. And there was so much left over that I didn't have to cook tonight either! I do not know what's on the menu for next weekend yet, but I'm pretty sure it won't be delicious seafood two nights in a row!

I'm back!

It has been almost 2 months since I last updated this blog. I am almost embarrassed to write now after it has been so long. I mean, the last time I wrote was November 14th, so...Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and hope y'all are having a great new years so far? You know it's bad when I haven't even been logging on to blogger to read other friends' blogs. When I started to type in the web address tonight it didn't even come up on the drop down bar like it normally would have. I have no excuses other than I've been working a lot, the holidays got crazy busy, I spent too much time baking cookies, and when I have had a free afternoon or evening to write all I have really felt like doing is sitting down and relaxing. Hopefully I pick it up in 2012.

The holiday wrap up...We stayed in Atlanta for Thanksgiving and went over to Ann and John's (my in-laws) house in the morning. Step-brother-in-law Justin and his wife Hilary and their brand new baby boy Cooper were visiting from Florida, and brother-in-law Tom was there too, so we had a nice group for the big feast. We ate our Thanksgiving meal in the early afternoon and then I headed to work to hang out with my girl Morgan for the evening.

December was filled with the typical Christmas festivities...major cookie baking, decorating, Rob's work Christmas party shenanigans, shopping, Rob and I getting our first real Christmas tree from Lowes which we enjoyed for a few weeks and then threw in the dumpster before road-tripping it to Michigan for Christmas. We enjoyed a pre-Christmas weekend with my parents and sisters here in Atlanta since we wouldn't get to see them on Christmas. It was a great weekend where we went out to our favorite tapas restaurant with everyone, did some shopping at Atlantic Station, and exchanged gifts.

On the 23rd, Rob, Tom, Roxanne and I piled into Rob's Pontiac G6 and headed up to Grosse Pointe, MI to be with Rob's Dad and Kimberly for Christmas. We stopped overnight in Lexington, KY, so the 11+ hour drive wasn't that bad. Roxanne did great on the long car trip- taking up as much of the back seat as she could, resting her head on my lap and napping most of the way. And she loved the hotel. When we checked in she even put her front paws on the counter to greet the lady at the front desk. We arrived in Michigan on the 24th, watched the Lions game, had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, wrapped some gifts and then went to the 11pm church service. On Christmas morning Rob's Grandma Porter, Aunt and Uncle from NY, and a nice couple Ron and Kimberly are friends with came over for brunch and exchanging gifts. Later that evening, Rob, Tom and I drove about 45min north to the Smith family Christmas to see his mom, John, and all of his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents on his mom's side. I had a great first of many Christmases in Michigan!



The day after Christmas we went to the Henry Ford museum, out to a nice Italian dinner, and Rob and I met up with Hayes and Caroline for a drink. I flew back to Atlanta on the 27th and went back to work that night, and Rob stayed in Michigan for the rest of the week through New Years. In the weeks leading up to our trip up North I had hoped for snow and maybe a white Christmas. No such luck until literally 2 hours before I was scheduled to fly back to Atlanta. It wasn't too much snow, but just enough to delay my flight by an hour or so. Given my luck with flying I'm surprised there wasn't a blizzard that delayed my flight for days.

I can't say the whole trip went off without a hitch. A few days after I left I got a call from Rob saying Roxanne was throwing up all morning and that he felt horribly sick with severe stomach pains. It turned out Roxanne had eaten too much of Hayes and Caroline's dog Oliver's nyla bone and was throwing up chunks of it the next day. Since there was blood in the vomit Rob decided it was best to take her into the vet and get checked out. While he was at the vet with her, Rob started throwing up. Luckily his Dad was there with him to help out! Rob ended up going to the hospital where they did some tests and they said he had a stomach virus, so they gave him some fluids and medications and he went home later that day. Within a day or so both Rob and Roxanne were feeling much better.

So it's 2012! I didn't really make any official resolutions on January 1st, but I do want to make a conscientious effort to have a healthier 2012. I miss the days when exercising was a normal part of my everyday life. Well, I don't necessarily miss the actual exercising but I do miss how much better I felt about myself after putting in the time to take care of my body. We have some fun trips coming up this March to Chris and Jane's wedding in Salem, MA and Jess and Nick's wedding in San Francisco. And then the countdown begins to the family trip to Europe in May! Rob is already planning for his next marathon in a couple of months, and we are looking forward to having any visitors that might want to come to Atlanta this year! Hayes and Caroline are already planning on coming over President's weekend, which will be a great time. Happy New Year everyone!

Welcome to 2011 Jessica!

I'm finally doing it, I'm trading in my LG flip phone for a smart phone. I really can't believe this day has come. I haven't had a new phone in about 3 years, and I have never had anything besides a flip phone with t9 texting which I have mastered. For a long time I didn't care what kind of phone I had. I hate phones with full keyboards, who can text like that? I knew my phone was old and that most people had moved on to bigger and better phones with internet and awesome picture-taking abilities, but I didn't care. I stood by my phone and said I would not get a new one until this one broke, because I didn't need a new one and quite honestly I get annoyed with people who stare at their phones all day surfing the web, checking their email or playing games. I did not want to become one of them. In full disclosure, as long as I kept the flip phone I would also stay on my dad's family plan which was a pretty good deal. But as time went on, it became more and more embarassing to talk on my phone in public. The less people I saw using flip phones, the more I thought hmm, I wonder if people are wondering why I am still talking on a phone model from the year 2000?



My phone showed the first signs that it is going to die the other day. Just out of no where the outside and inside screen went bright white. I am pretty familiar with flip phones and have experienced this problem before, so I knew it meant a smart phone was in my near future. Luckily the inside screen worked as long as I kept the phone in the open position. Lucky in that the phone worked, but unlucky in that carrying around an open flip phone is about the only thing worse than carrying a closed flip phone. The funny thing is that about 2 weeks ago I came to the realization that I should probably get a new phone before mine completely dies on me and I lose all of my contacts. Rob somewhat agreed with me, but asked how or why my phone would just up and die on me. I told him to trust me, it always happens like that, these phones just crap out on you sooner or later. And what do you know? Not more than 2 weeks later mine crapped out on me.

When my boss saw my phone one time she asked whose it was, couldn't believe I still used it and said it was "retro." That was putting it nicely. When I told one of my co-workers that I was going to join the real world and get a new phone she thought I meant I was going to be on the show the Real World, and after I explained myself she proceeded to tell me that she's happy I'm getting an iphone and that she has always felt bad texting me because she thought it might take me a while to respond using such an old phone. Seriously, who have I become? Somehow I have allowed myself to become that person who is waay behind the times. And I'm only 27, it's not like I'm an old lady who doesn't get it.

The other night Rob and I went to the Verizon store and made the big switch. In a day or so I should be getting my shiny new white iphone in the mail! It will be new and exciting, though I'm sure I'll be frustrated with it for quite some time until I get used to it. When the guy at the Verizon store told me that once I get the phone in the mail I just need to plug it into itunes on my computer and it'll be all set, my first thought was, "Well that might be a problem because I haven't had itunes since 2009 when my last laptop failed and I haven't re-downloaded it onto my computer since." Instead I just said. "Ok sounds good!" Looks like I'm getting a new phone and itunes.

And this concludes travel tour 2011

We did it! We finally reached the end of our 3 month weekend traveling tour. And don't get me wrong, we loved each and every trip and would do it again in a heartbeat (although Rob did once make the exact comment "we are never doing this again"), but all of the driving and time spent in airports does take a lot out of you. Since August we have been to MI, PA, Boston, Charleston, Clemson, NH, Washington DC, Greenville and we concluded with a surprise Naples, FL trip.

Every November Rob's company takes their employees of the month for the whole year (about 4 win each month) on a long weekend trip to Naples, FL. Rob won in 2008 and 2009, and since they are each allowed to bring a guest I got to go as well. They fly everyone to Naples, give them a rental car and everyone stays at the Naples Grande beach resort, which oddly enough I had stayed at before years ago with my family. It is a really nice time, and though it can feel somewhat like a work obligation for Rob, it feels more like a free beach trip to me. So last year around November Rob's boss asked him if he would see him in Naples and Rob said, "No, I didn't get it this year." His boss acted surprised (even though it is rare for someone to win it 2 times in a row, let alone 3 times) and said, "Well next year you will get it." Rob didn't put much faith in that comment, but I wanted to hold his boss to it. Each month I crossed my fingers and hoped he would win employee of the month, but he never did. So by August when our other travel plans picked up I stopped thinking about Naples so much and figured it's probably best we don't add on another trip to our schedule this fall anyway. Then, at the company meeting on October 3rd Rob found out he got employee of the month for September after all! I was so excited, more so than he was.

We ended up having a great time. The first night they had a cocktail/dinner reception outside by the pool and I got to meet some of Rob's co-workers I had only heard about. Everyone then moved the party inside to the hotel bar, like has happened every year we have gone. Friday we went to the beach, did some shopping downtown, walked the Naples pier and then went to the awards dinner at the Naples Yacht club. Everyone on the trip who works for Granite dreads the awards dinner, because for the first two hours the CEO talks and calls each employee up one at a time to get their award and picture taken. I like that part of the night though, because I think it's interesting to hear what he has to say about different employees. When he presented Rob with his award he said some pretty nice things which made me proud to be his wife. He said how they bent the rules for this employee so he could move to Atlanta and go to grad school because he was too valuable of on employee to lose, and he quoted some of the people he works with from other departments who praised Rob's hard work. Saturday we spent the whole day at the beach and the pool, and that night Granite's COO took us and 5 other couples out to dinner at an amazing steak and seafood restaurant, Chops, downtown Naples. Sunday we had time for a nice brunch and then we were off to the airport.

I say the travel tour is over, but really Rob is flying up to MI this weekend to go to a Michigan triple-header (2 Michigan hockey games and 1 Michigan football game in 2 days) with his dad and brother. Rob did invite me, but I decided it would be better to let the Porter men enjoy their Michigan sports weekend together. The Michigan football game would be fun, but I'm not sure I could handle the 2 hockey games on top of it. Plus this way I can watch Roxanne instead of taking her to the kennel she has grown to hate.

We will be in Atlanta for Thanksgiving day, but then Friday we are off to SC to visit my family and relatives that will be in for the holiday. Then we are done...until Christmas.

Greenville Marathon

One of the best parts of being married to a marathon runner is getting to travel to all of the different cities for the races. I get to be a tourist and a fan, without any of the pain that comes along with running 26.2 miles. Rob ran his 6th marathon a few weeks ago in Greenville, SC at the Spinx Run Fest. This marathon was similar to the marathon Rob ran in Burlington, Vermont in May 2009, which was one of my favorites. Both Burlington and Greenville are smaller but fun, walkable and unique cities with lots of little restaurants and shops. Very different from the huge Boston and NYC marathons, but to really appreciate those events I think you need to experience the smaller races as well. And when I talk about "smaller" marathons, I am not just focusing on the number of runners, but also how the race is planned/executed as a whole. For example, at this race we were able to drop Rob off less than a block away from the start about 10 minutes before the race started. After we dropped him off we waited by the start to watch him go by, and with less than 10 minutes to go before the start of the race, the 4 high school aged kids had not quite figured out how to raise the official Spinx Run Fest banner. Luckily they figured it out in time, or the runners would have all been ducking when they got to the banner.



Rob and I weren't alone on this marathon trip. My mom met us in Greenville Friday evening so that she could help cheer on Rob at the race Saturday morning. It was her first marathon experience and she loved it! It was great having another cheering buddy with me to keep me company during the race, and she was a big help when it came to directions and driving to mile 9/19 where we went to watch Rob go by because that is where the course made a loop and we could see him run by twice at the same spot. After seeing him at mile 19 we drove back into town and saw him at the finish line. One of the unique things about this race was that the finish was inside Fluor Field, Greenville's minor league baseball stadium that is a mini replica of Fenway Park!



Once again, Rob made me a very proud wife. Not just because I can't even picture myself running a 5k let alone a marathon, but because I see day in and day out all of the training and hard work he puts in in the months before the race. The 8:30pm dinners and 7am long runs on the weekends must have paid off, because he didn't just run the marathon, he dominated it. He beat his already impressive personal record by 3 minutes! He crossed the finish line in 3:05:35, finished 15 out of 436 runners, and got 3rd place in his age group. He is already planning his next marathon, which will probably be somewhere in Georgia this spring.