Hey Charlie!

 

A few days into the new year, out of sheer luck and circumstance, Lumberjack and I found out that a local family needed to rehome a 3.5-month-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy, and would we like to meet her? After a small amount of hyperventilating and crying, we brought her home last Sunday, and it's been an adventure ever since! We've taken to calling her Charlie (Charchar, Charmander, etc.) and she is a little bundle of energy.

We've been talking about adopting a dog off and on for several years, but wanted to have a stable living situation before we committed. We had originally talked about adopting a dog from a shelter, but I also had a not-so-secret dream of having a Corgi. Growing up, I had an awesome dog named Holly who was - as near as we could tell - a Corgi/Australian Blue Heeler mix. She was abandoned in the woods, pregnant, at a little under a year old, and she and her puppies survived long enough to be rescued and taken to the Humane Society, where we adopted her when I was four.

She was smart, sweet, and not a small amount stubborn. She was the best dog for car rides and afternoon cuddles; incredibly tolerant of my adolescent photography sessions; the kind of dog who would get her head stuck in an empty ice cream carton and have a sense of humor about it. She passed away right before I went to college, and I still miss her.

So between Holly and all the gentle, clever Corgis I've met at the shop over the years, I started to have a real soft spot for the breed.

Enter Ms Charlie, our Wonderpup - we've had her for a little over a week, and she's already melted her noodly little bum into our everyday lives. She's whip-smart, cuddly, and impulsive. She's already partially destroyed her favorite dragon toy, and she'll jump into your arms when she's lonely. She can lick a pair of earrings out of your ears in two seconds flat. Though I can only imagine how tough it is to let go of a beloved pup like her, I am so grateful to her family for raising such a wonderful little girl, and for giving us the opportunity to bring her into our lives.

Unsurprisingly, this little furball is a phenomenal amount of work, but she makes it fun. I mean, who could say no to that face?

Clearly not me! Happy Wednesday, friends!

<3

Cory

We Bought a House!

Two days ago, Blake and I turned the key to our very first home.

In all of my notes from the last two months, I call it the pretty blue house: a petite Craftsman from 1925, carefully remodeled over the years into a small but beautifully detailed modern home. It is the reason for all of our duck-wrangling and stuff-sorting, and it has been a long and stressful journey to get here.

But in the end, it's all been worth it. Because this house? This house is special.

  

In each room, there is a moment of magic: in the color of tangerine paint slanted with afternoon sun; in the parallel grains of wood floor and ceiling that catch your breath as you walk into the kitchen. In the oft-forgotten, tucked away places, too: in hidden closets, and bright, small tiles, and windows whose very presence is carved into the walls. The heart and care of this house is everywhere.

In our two years of looking, this was the first house that we walked into and felt immediately at home. At the end of the open house - completely unprepared for the possibility of making an offer, in every way but enthusiasm - I had begun to feel a deep pull to the place, so much that I almost ached at the thought of leaving. And now, months after the initial sparkle has rubbed off, even as I scrub away crayon from the walls and wipe down cabinets and vacuum away layers of dust, I can feel the life of the house humming through my feet - and it is just as warm and inviting as it was the first time I set foot there.

So the weeks and months to come are going to be an uphill journey, as we continue to sort and clean and move from our house of two years into the home we'll share for years and years to come. But the promise of this house - our house - is just wonderful enough to make it all seem achievable.

Happy Wednesday, friends.

<3

Cory