Anna Elizabeth

It is the first time since we got Oliver that Sam has been away from home more than a few days at a time. Bailing out on my blog work, I finally pinpointed Oliver's symptoms online that night through several hours of research - I had always thought that he had separation anxiety (which I thought all dogs had), but it was never truly confirmed until now. When Sam got back home the following day to spend the weekend with us, he brought a large "baby gate" from our local pet store, Chamomile dog treats, and a Thundershirt. And, beginning on the day that he brought these items home, Oliver has had ZERO accidents, has been significantly calmer, and seems like a much happier dog.

Can ya'll just tell from my expression above that I so look forward to that first sip of coffee in the morning? Weekends especially are my time to hit the "reset" button, relax, and get lost downtown whether by myself or with family and friends. More often than not, you can find me in jeans and a loose t-shirt, with coffee in hand. The weather in Baltimore recently has been absolutely beautiful, some days even inching its way up to 70 degrees.

Packing used to be such a struggle because I’d search for clothing that wouldn’t wrinkle easily, because I wasn’t going to be pulling out an iron on vacation (I don’t even know how to use one! ). Anyone who reads my blog knows that I can’t help myself during a good sale and I LOVE sharing that with my readers. We also love food too much to waste an eating opportunity at a bad restaurant because we didn’t research. Still to this day, I love Disney movies (the classics, of course) and love that they are doing these re-makes.

We have grown up together so much in the past few years - just last weekend, we sold our souls to purchase our very first mattress together before almost losing it on the highway in a spontaneous tornado. The little munchkins have gotten SO old and I can't wait to swing them around on my shoulders and make the biggest, sugariest, mess while decorating cookies. Also, my best friend (and fellow blogger) is moving to the city in January and it's going to be majorly nice to have a bit of girls' time - aka drinking wine and discreetly stalking our 5 year high school reunion via social media. I swear I could go on and on with the people, wine bottles, and stretchy pants that I am thankful for this year but, at some point, you're just going to skip to the bottom of this post for this cocktail recipe anyway, so