Facing Facts

I love Espresso.

Really, completely, and truly.

It's not just love though. It's about so much more than love.

I, rather irresponsibly, took on a dog in college. I thought my situation would be very different than I'm facing now. But now I will be moving across the country to live alone, knowing nobody local, to pursue a career I didn't even know existed 4 years ago. Yet however many changes have occurred in my life in the four years of college, owning a dog has been one of the most dramatic, yet fulfilling. I don't need to throw away this choice just because it was looking to make life more difficult, because I wanted "a fresh start."

But I am not magical. Sometimes she spends more time in the crate, I have to miss events, I panic about how I will cope.

But it is the love of her and acceptance of responsibility that has allowed me to always make it work. I work hard to make my life work for the BOTH of us. I think of all the choices, make all the contacts, and eventually carry out a successful plan.

Because there is simply no fine dining, poppin' party, swanky apartment or flirtatious fun that even COMPARES to this:

So I am embracing my own fresh start. Or rather, our fresh start. Because Espresso will be with me through it all. My buddy. My partner in crime. My sounding-board. My significant other. My little monster. My dog.

Friday Nights

So I evidently didn't get the notice to bring work to our Friday movie nights...so instead I spend it trying to figure out how to post about Espresso's fun time with everyone.

She pretty much has free run of the place, playing with different people, attempting to eat whatever she can find, getting into nooks and crannies shes not supposed to find. You know, dachshund stuff.

Yet when all that is over, time to pass out. Even though she was trapped by Uncle Zach, Espresso seemed quite happy.

Puppy MUST BE in my Lap

Really. I have 4 essays this week. Try typing with this furry thing in your lap.

She is too damn cute and distracting!

Why I have so many typos...

Anyone who has ever chatted with me on Facebook knows well that my typing sucks. This is not aided by the fact I generally have a puppy fighting for my lap space or just generally trying to make her presence known.

I mean, Come on. How could you keep typo-free when this is what your keyboard looks like?

Summer Part 2- Napa - The Backyard

So even though my job was in full swing, David's classes ended.

I was amazingly lucky enough to find not only an amazing place to live with an amazing housemate, but it was dog-friendly.

So Espresso came up to Napa with me for the last few weeks of summer.

I felt like a terrible Mommy. She sat there shivering and shaking

for the first hours. She was terrified of her new friend, Zinny, the chocolate lab of my housemat

e.

Yet eventually she settled in just fine. In fact, she adored Napa more than Davis in some ways I think.

There was the huuuuuuuuge backyard.

That giant tree in the yard? A walnut tree. Guess who learned how to crack open walnuts and eat the nut inside?

Summer Part 1- Puppy Texts

So you may be asking, where did Espresso go all summer?

Well, that is the problem. She didn't go anywhere. She stayed in Davis with her Daddy while Mommy went to work in the fields.

You think I'm joking? I was a Grower Relations Intern at Mumm Napa this summer. I spent most my days in vineyards and loved every second of it. However, that did mean I lived in Napa for the summer, apart from Espresso.

David was wonderful about sending me puppy texts however. It made it a little less painful to be apart from her all summer.

Here are some of my favorite puppy texts.

"Puppy in a box"

"Look what I did!"

"In the grass"

Just a nice classic "Hi Mommy"

Farmer's Market

So much to Espresso's joy, my parents came up to visit. Espresso does dearly love my mom, but it's really all about getting to see Brandy.


Today we had breakfast at Crepeville and then while my parents walked around the Farmer's Market, I held the two beasts AKA napped next to Brandy on the grass while trying to keep children away from Espresso.

All was fine and good until while I was having a small alien aka child pet Espresso on the back to try and acclimate her, my 13 year old Labrador suddenly decided she HAD to go see this other dog approaching. I ended up flat on my back in the grass but did catch her leash mid air and not drop the dachshund.



At least the people watching is super fun. The doggies agreed.