Ms. Penny Picard

Please excuse my lack of blogging in the last week. My computer is apparently loaded with viruses (my AVG ran out and wasn't renewed...oops!) and I should have it back within the week. So in the meantime, on the hubby's computer I am!

Last Sunday a dear friend of mine, Marie, sent me a link for a 7 y.o. Great Pyrenees at the Bangor Humane Society. We decided that for our lunch break the next day we would go take a look.

Oh boy. I knew when I was pulling into the parking lot that there was little to no chance we'd be leaving without her. I just had that gut feeling. It just felt right. The newest Picard.

Penny Picard.

She was an absolute doll. Naturally she looked a little scared and timid, but just wanted to lean into me through the kennel and have me pet her soft, fluffy white fur.

She and her sister (Penny is 7 and her sister is about 2 3/4) were returned to the kennel when Penny was 6 1/2. The owners were negligent and kept them in a barn, with no attention and certainly no love.

Come to find out, Indy and Penny's sister are SISTERS from the same litter! Which, in a sense, makes Indy and Penny sisters from another litter (hehe..I like to say that snapping my fingers)! What are the odds!? Not that it's a typical breed in Maine, but still, it just makes the whole situation feel like it was meant to be. And I honestly feel that even though she's 7, it's NEVER too late to have a loving home and to be showered with attention. I mean, we do have 6 years of cuddles to make up for...so she's definitely in the right place!

Team Yellow

Our 4th Biggest Mover started just a few weeks ago at the Y. It's a 12-week program and we are approaching the end of the 3rd week. We have 9 teams (and 9 very different trainers) with 5 people/team.

Introducing:

Team Yellow!

A lively, very diverse group they are! They come ready to work and are always up for a challenge. We've had 5 workouts together so far (each team trains twice/week with their trainer - the rest is on their own) and each one has been a little different.

Some awesome moments so far:

Day 1: Josh finishing his modified push ups that he didn't think he could do. The team was cheering him on, his arms were shaking and the smile on his face when he finished was priceless.

Day 5: Cathy showed up a little late, and while the rest of the group was on their 2nd round of Overhead Ball Slams/Squat w/Ball Throw/Jumping Jacks/Kettlebell Swings, she busted butt and was caught up with them by the time we finished in the gym

Day 5: Katrina finishes her inverted rows and traveling lunges, then goes to the stairs for another round, even though she had finished everything I'd asked of her. That's commitment.

Every Single Day: Chris and Darlene are coming in daily for extra workouts. I know the others are, too - but they are really pushing themselves. Chris even comes in when his wife's team trains to get a little extra. Nothing makes me happier than to witness people "seeing the light" into a healthy lifestyle.

There will certainly be more to come on Team Yellow. Our Week 3 weigh-in is tomorrow, so here's to hoping they eat well and stay hydrated! :)

Raindrops On Roses And Whiskers On Kittens...

These are a few of my favorite things!

Lately I've been craving The Sound of Music. Oh, what a sweet movie. I grew up watching it, adoring it, and *somehow* wishing that I had a singing family. Lucy seems to love all the singing and dancing children.

Here are a few of Lucy's favorite things:

Rolling around on the floor, laughing uncontrollably. She definitely wants to make sure you get a good look at her new chompers, too!

Tormenting/Loving the cat. Lucy has an odd way of showing her affection. She smothers, wrestles and hugs-to-death her animals and friends. We're working on it, but she seems to think that smothering is the only way to go.

Pasta Day! Which, for anyone that knows Nate and I, is just about every other night. And Lucy seems to be following in her mother's footsteps, loving pasta to the max! And let's not forget how much she loves to be messy. So throwing all that amazingly sqiushy pasta around makes it that much more enjoyable for my little love!

Playing Outside. Anything involving being outside makes this little one squeal with excitement. She runs in circles, throws herself on the ground and is genuinely happy to be outside. It also isn't uncommon for her to walk around the house all day carrying her coat should she happen to not be out in the fresh air.

Kudos to my brother Mikey for unknowingly reminding me of The Sound of Music over the weekend!

A Star Trek Halloween

Lucy isn't exactly the subject in this post, but Nate and I certainly had a fun little "adventure" on Saturday night.

My work, The Bangor Y, has an Annual Auction.

This is the 12th, to be exact.

The night starts with a silent auction and finishes with a live one. It's a fun time for all, even if that means it's more hectic for some than others.

Since the event was so close to Halloween this year, the organizers decided to make it a costume party.

Most of the staff dressed up, but the members and auction go-ers weren't quite into it, I guess. But that didn't stop my wonderful husband, Nate!

He has a pretty severe Star Trek obsession, and I hate to say it but that obsession has completely worn off on me. I find myself checking the channels any time that I'm home, hoping old Star Trek episodes or movies might be on BBC or SyFy.

Yes, it's completely dorky.

Yes, I am 100% ok with it.

So this (naturally) felt like my chance to *finally* be able to dress up as Uhura. I mean, the red dress, the earpiece, the black boots, the slicked-back black hair (yes, of course I am referring to the 2009 Star Trek Movie Uhura, not the perm and skirt-set Uhura), the Starfleet Communicator...what's not to love?!

Plus it didn't hurt that Nate made a killer Spock. So serious and intriguing, that's my man!

Our friends Jen and Kathy showed up for the fun, and they dressed up as well!

Kathy represented as the Real Housewife of Penobscot County, Jen as Tink and myself as Uhura.

Lots of wine, lots of fun and lots of laughs! Thanks for such a fun night, everyone!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We had a nice family gathering today for my father's birthday.

Lucy took it upon herself to help him open his presents and cards:

Since my mother has a daycare, it's the perfect spot to have these little gatherings.

It's baby-proofed, large and full of fun things for the babies.

Since one of my brothers and my only sister each have a baby, we find the daycare a blessing.

We also took the bouncy house out for a bit for the little loves to play in.

My, oh my. Lucille just had a ball!

(Haha, get it...Lucille Ball!?)

Here's Lucille with her cousin Alex:

Alex, Lucy and Jackson. Alex is showing his favorite pose!

Happy birthday, dad! We all love you!

Big Fluff

Indy just doesn't get enough love on here. You know, I don't think I have ever mentioned her! Well, I will certainly make up for lost time.

Indy is our 2 1/2 year old Great Pyrenees.

What is a Great Pyr, you ask?

They're large breed guardian dogs. She basically looks like a polar bear, acts like a teddy bear (you know, if everything you ever thought a teddy bear was, actually came to life) and makes the best pillow. She was the "runt" of a large breed litter.

She's a gentle giant.

So sweet and good with Lucy.

Here's a picture of her as a pup:

Another from the day we brought her home:

Her favorite things include lying down to eat (I'm not joking and will post a picture at the bottom to prove it), barking at absolutely anyone or anything that might walk by our house, being best friends with our cat and jumping up on the couch when she's really excited. She's a laid back, loving dog. She's part of the family, not "just a pet".

She lets Lucy rip and pull on her hair, and somehow knows that she just can't get mad. If she's had enough, she just gets up and moves.

No snapping, growling, nipping. She just looks at us with her big, pathetic brown eyes, as if saying,

"Please mama, make her stop!"

Here's our little sweetheart in action:

Can't wait to get another Great Pyrenees sometime soon!

So sweet.

My sweet little munchkin.

I finally caught on camera Lucy's adorable peeking out the window on her tippy toes. She does this mostly when Nate leaves in the morning.

I'll say, "Lucy, where's papa!?"

Then she runs to the window to wave bye-bye to him.

I also decided last weekend to try on her hats and mittens for this winter, to get a good idea if the sizes were okay. When I tried this set on her, I couldn't resist taking pictures. What a doll!

Pumpkins and Playrooms

Gosh, lots of things have been happening in our household, yet I've neglected the blog once again! Lucy is off and running. It's so great watching her learn and explore our home. She's constantly trying to climb. Sometimes that's on her riding toys, other times it's on my bags, she often tries to just use Indy or even the cat to get a little more altitude. Anyone, anything...she doesn't discriminate.

Our garden... What to say here. We really didn't know what to expect back in May. At all. All we had to compare was the garden in Orrington, that honestly had more rocks than it did soil. It was so hard to get anything to grow. But we definitely hit the jackpot here in Detroit, Maine. For putting in very minimal effort we seem to have endless supplies of acorn squash, summer squash, zucchini and pumpkins! Many other things as well, but these mentioned were near perfection (well, you know, sort of). Lucy sure loved the garden, too. I think it was a combination of the dirt between her toes and being able to tear up as much grass surrounding the garden as she wanted without anyone stopping her.

Here's Lucy with the pumpkins:

And walking to get mama:

We've also had a little time to get her playroom downstairs started. Memorial Day weekend we had a large number of family and friends stay over at our house. Since then, most spare rooms in the house are still filled with beds. I mean, one room in the house has 3 beds in it - and I'm not kidding. So, Operation: Playroom is underway.

We still aren't quite done. We don't have a rug or playmat in the room, which is definitely necessary. We have awesome hardwood throughout our entire house, but it's just so slick and slippery. Lucy has a lot of nice, heavy toys in the room that I just don't want her to hurt herself with...and like I mentioned at the beginning, she's definitely off and running.

So that's all for now. Many more updates to come soon!

Cake Boss, Not Quite

We had Lucy's first birthday party last Saturday. It was wonderful. The weather was beautiful and plenty of family and friends came to celebrate with us. She wasn't exactly feeling well, but we still had fun.

The cake came out, well...not so hot. The recipe was fantastic and I loved the cake itself. When it came time to frost, though. Man. I was ready to give up. Constantly adding more confec. sugar, then more milk. More sugar, more milk. Repeat. It was humid and I just couldn't get a nice consistency, so finally I had to give up (the party was starting in less than an hour and I was still in pj's) and just let it be that the frosting would be thin. It was extremely difficult to frost the sides because of this. I even tried to put the frosting in the refrigerator for about a half hour, but it just wasn't long enough. Oh well. Live and learn. Hopefully by next year I'll have this frosting sitch under control.

I love birthdays. I just think they're wonderful and fun, and why not put a huge smile on that person's face, right? Well, that's what I was aiming for yesterday.

Nate actually loved it. I mean, who wouldn't love coming home to a huge banner for their birthday, right?! Perhaps I had too much time on my hands, but nonetheless it put a huge smile on his face when he got home from work.

So needless to say, it's been a fun week in the Picard household. I'm so thankful that Nate's home this time around to enjoy it with us.

And Just Like That, She's One

My, oh my. What a year. An amazing year! Lucy turned one on Thursday, and I found myself constantly thinking back to last year and excitedly recalling what point of labor I would have been in. It almost felt like I was having her all over again. I don't know how to describe it, other than just pure joy. I had goosebumps, was smiling ear to ear, and gave Nate the biggest hug I think I've ever given him (minus seeing him for the first time post-deployment) at 6:47 PM.

We love you, Lucille!

Birthday Excitement

A tiny, miniscule sneak peek of the decorations...

I asked Nate last night, "What am I going to do with myself once Lucy's birthday party has passed!?". Although I don't believe a luau or renting a ridiculous hotel lounge is necessary for a child's birthday party (let alone a first birthday!), I must admit that I have grown quite fond of making her decorations and actually find it quite addicting. The best part is that it's all so simple. No crazy costs or unnecessary expenditures. It started with wanting to do something different with her pictures to sort of scatter about the place. So I decided that since I have this awesome designer paper that I love so much, why not use it as a border for the photos? It then blossomed into making her banner instead of buying one. I even went to AC Moore and traced their large wooden letters for the banner (it would have cost $2/letter to buy them...no thanks! I'll just ask the girl at the counter for her pencil so I can go trace them onto the pad of paper I'm about to buy!) rather than buy them. To me it's sort of like the people that go into Borders and read novels in the store, then leave when they've finished.

Anyways, I understand that "Lucy won't remember this" and I certainly wouldn't want to have an extravagant, over-the-top celebration for her. But I do want it to be special, surrounded by people that love her and who were all so kind and helpful to me while Nate was deployed. I'm so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family. So here's to Lucy, and the best year of my life.

"It's Been A Long, Long Time"

After Nate and I had our wedding blessing in Rangeley, we immediately started the search for a new home. We had been living in my parent's camp for 2 months and it was time to start thinking about heading back to work and finding somewhere...anywhere, to live. But since our move from the woods, we had yet to go back. Until now!

We just got back from our 4-day getaway to Rangeley.

Amazing.

Breathtaking.

Perfect.

We started our weekend with a hike in the Bigelow Range, to Cranberry Peak. I have to say that I'm quite positive it was the most challenging hike of my life thus far. I've hiked Katahdin, Gulf Hagas, West Kennebago and many other intense trails, but none were quite this steep - over the entire 2.9 mile climb to the top. We took Indy with us (which was a huge mistake) and luckily she needed just as many breaks as I wanted, so she was my excuse to stop every now and then for water and to wipe the sweat pouring from my body. Indy might be a bit dramatic, but on the descent she just gave up. Whimpering, panting uncontrollably, lying down on the ledges rather than climbing down. There really was a moment where she had that look of, "Nope, you better get a helicopter. I am DONE with this hike!". Poor thing. She looked so pathetic.

From there, we hit the town (Lucy was with Grammy and Grampy) for dinner and some drinks. It felt so good to be back.

We happened to be in town the weekend of the Saddleback Bluegrass Festival. YAY! We only saw the last 2 hours, but it was fantastic. Lucy loved the music and wanted nothing more than to dance, wiggle and shake when it came on (I can't imagine where she gets it from...).

There were so many other kids and babies around that she was incredibly entertained. She was exhausted, so next time we know to go after she wakes up from a nap!

There's nothing sweeter than taking morning walks in comfy clothes with a coffee in hand, Lucy on hip and Indy on a leash. Every morning we would walk to the overlook, watch the fog rise off the lake and take a deep breath of the mountain air. It's so refreshing to spend a weekend away in a place you love with your family. It was just what we needed.

When deciding what our "wedding song" was going to be, we went through numerous suggestions, libraries on both our computers, and even searched wedding songs on the internet to see if it would spark an interest. About a week before the wedding, Nate's music was on shuffle and we were cleaning the camp. I was sweeping the floors in the kitchen and he was in the living room picking up some of Lucy's toys when suddenly, it hit us. Bing Crosby's "It's Been A Long, Long Time" came on and we both stopped what we were doing, made eye contact and smiled. This was it. A perfect description of the love, devotion, passion and longing while he was away. It was, indeed, a long, long time.

And Rangeley, it's been a long, long time...and we won't let it happen again.

Blueberry Love

I tried my hand at a Blueberries & Cream Double Layer Cake last week, and the result was fantastic. How do I judge the result, you ask? Well, it's pretty simple. My husband devoured (literally) half of the cake within minutes of it being finished. I think that's about all the judgement I need! It was super easy to make (which, with a baby is great news!) and it looks like we'll be having some more for Lucy's birthday party.

Today's dessert: Almond Blueberry Buckle.

Another easy recipe that promises to keep my husband full and content!

Incase you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of blueberries, and try to take advantage of Maine's FANTASTIC wild blueberries in the summertime. For dinner I'm going to make some blueberry barbeque sauce for chicken and pork on the grill. Yum.

The duration of our summer will surely be spent splitting the lovely 10 cord of wood that you see Lucy sitting in front of. Doesn't she just look so little here?! The wood is all cut, but now onto splitting. I love this part, because I can participate and feel satisfied when I grab the maul and go at it, slicing the wood right in half (well...sometimes in half. I might miss every now and then).

We've also had some time to relax and soak up this wonderful life we have with Lucy. We try to get her outside as much as possible - whether it's having her in the garden with us, playing in her swing, crawling on the grass or in her little baby pool. I hope she grows to love this home as much as we do!

Summer, Sweet Summer

July has come to a close. Lucille is almost 1 and yet last summer - this time - doesn't seem so long ago. 38 weeks pregnant (the little darling decided to be 6 days late), waiting for Nate to get home...it was such a whirlwind. We had an incredible time in North Carolina after he got home. With beautiful weather and a new beautiful baby, not much can get you down. Not to mention falling in love all over again. It was a wonderful time in my life, and I have many amazing memories.

I am blessed to have such an incredible husband. He is patient, loving and so kind. He would do anything for Lucy and I. Above all, I love how amazing of a father he is. Lucille adores him and she shakes all over with excitement when he walks into the room.

Everything just feels so natural and right for us right now. A year later and things are going okay. We found a home, we're both employed. We have a healthy child and a loving dog. We're happy.

We're living the good life.

Group Groove = Amazing

I feel as though this is my chance to tell the world how I really feel about Group Groove (as if people don't already know, right?). It is the most exhilirating, incredible, FUN hour of your life. Okay, well maybe just your day, but I'd like to think some people out there are as fanatic about it as I am. A lot of people feel like they can't do it, or don't want to do it because "I don't dance!", but it's not really a DANCE-dance class. Just a dance-inspired fitness class. Huge difference. If you don't believe me, I challenge you to come to a class and try it for yourself. Sure we Cha-Cha, Mambo, Charleston and Grapevine - but in such a different way than you might think. It's a chance to feel good about yourself, to feel a little wild and maybe even sexy without having to hold your hairbrush and do it in front of your mirror at home. I wish more people knew about this phenomenon. The world is addicted to Zumba, and I think if more people knew about this sensation, they'd be just as hooked.

I've recently had 2 new ladies in class that have both taken Zumba regularly, and they both keep commenting on how amazing the Groove class is in comparison. I'm not here to hate on Zumba, I just want people to realize that there's another amazing class out there that lets you be free and wild while still burning the calories. It gets your heart rate up, puts a smile on your face, and when you're done you're thinking, that's it? It's over? Come try it at the Bangor Y or tell someone you know about it.

See this lady in the picture at the top? She's 75 and still comes. Sure, you don't need to wear your leotards or tights - but it just shows you that anyone can do it.

There. I feel much better now that I've gotten all this out!

Summer? In May?

Is anybody else out there thinking that this May has started off pretty incredibly? Saturday: high 70s. Sunday: 80s. Monday: 83!!! I'm stoked and so is our garden. Well, the start to our garden. Let's just say that my husband is pretty ambitious each April/May to get out there and get the garden started. This year (since we just purchased our first home in January), due to incredible weather, we have somehow managed to already have our 40x40 garden tilled 6 times. The veggies are in the planters and we're on our way. We're both fairly new to gardening so it'll be fun to work on it together and see what comes up and what doesn't. Flowers have bloomed all around our house and I now understand what the Greene's (previous owners) meant when they told us that if we fell in love with this home in the dead of winter, we were in for a real treat once the nice weather rolls around.

In other news, Lucy's room is finished! Hooray! 3 months later! The wallpaper was torn off, sheetrock up, floors sanded, stained, walls primed and painted, crown moulding up, old trim repainted and we were good to go. All that I can personally take credit for is the wallpaper removal, sanding, priming and painting the walls, trim and moulding. The others weren't very condusive to watching a baby and in the same room. :)

We have a pretty busy summer ahead of us. Lots of weddings to go to. LOTS of weddings. We'll be heading to Mexico and Colorado for 2 of them. Fun getaways!

I'm off to go work on Lucy's birthday invitations. (3 months early, yes)