The start of spring

I was reminded last night that I haven't updated my blog in a little while. To put it simply, life has been busy, but boring lately. Since turning 25, I have been busy with work (including many hours of mandatory overtime). I have also been busy with my two classes and counting down the days until I am done with this degree. Adam and I have been busy with family happenings including the death of his grandfather last weekend. Currently, I am a bit under the weather and recovering from bronchitis, an ear infection and, as of today, a newly removed ingrown toenail. Oh, and we are hoping and praying that spring has finally begun to arrive in Baltimore. Yep, that's about it.

Just to include something remotely interesting. A week ago, I was sitting at my desk working on some homework when I heard a crunching sound. I turned around to see that Griffin had gotten into Adam's trashcan in search of some Triscuit crumbs. Unfortunately, he was caught red handed.

25

On Wednesday I turned 25! Overall, I would say that I had a pretty fantastic birthday this year. Last weekend, my entire family helped me celebrate, including my sister and brother-in-law that live in Atlanta and their two kids. It had been a really long time since we were all together to celebrate a birthday, so I feel really lucky that it was mine. On Wednesday night, Adam took me to the Melting Pot for dinner, which has become a yearly tradition. He also made me a chocolate cake with pink frosting that tasted much better than last year's cake.

This was an amazing year and I was sad to see it end, some of the things I did as a 24-year-old
1. Switched graduate schools and began an online program
2. Helped welcome two adorable nephews into the family
3. Got a promotion
4. Bought a new (used) car
5. Said goodbye to one dog and found another one
6. Celebrated my first wedding anniversary

While I'm 25 I have two really large goals:
1. Buy our very first house!
2. Finish graduate school

If I can accomplish those two things this year, 25 might be the best age yet!

Snip Snip

We are starting to adjust to Griffin and he seems to finally be getting comfortable in his new home. Last week, Adam was out of town and there were a few times that I almost lost it. Between the incessant whining and the peeing in the apartment, I almost dropped the dog off on the breeder's doorstep. Once Adam returned, we started working really hard to get Griffin under control, and I am happy to say, that he seems to have turned a corner. He is no longer whining in his crate at night, and hasn't gone to the bathroom inside since Monday (fingers crossed). He is starting to play with some of his toys and even turned a moose toy that one of my coworkers gave him into a double amputee.

Yesterday was a big day for him: he was neutered! The vet said that he was extremely nervous and had major separation anxiety while he was there, but he seemed to be fine after we got him home. Today, we had a snow day and he was happy camped out in front of the space heater. We are looking forward to starting obedience classes with him next week.

Here is a picture of him following his surgery...the vet said he was very sweet and had a big heart (hence the little picture on his bandage):

Meet Griffin

Last night we went to pick up the newest addition to the Cianfichi apartment. His name is Griffin and he is a seven month old Welsh Terrier puppy. We got him from a breeder about 30 minutes away. So far, he has been awesome. He loves sleeping on his bed and playing with toys, he also loves attention.

The Case of the Missing Glasses

Since New Years Eve, I have been having problems on and off with my left eye. It's been stinging and hurting, but I just kept figuring that I had scratched it and it would heal. This morning when I woke up, my eye was bright red and very sensitive to the light. I got dressed and ready for work and put some eye drops in, but my eye just kept hurting.

For those of you who don't know, I wear contacts, and I wear them all the time. I have contacts that you can wear continuously day and night for 30 days and I love them. For this reason, I don't often wear my old glasses, or get the prescription updated in them. This morning, however, I was desperate. I looked high and low, but my glasses were nowhere to be found. Finally, I had to leave for work with my painful contacts still in my eyes.

Once I got to the metro station, I took out my phone and saw I had eight missed calls from Adam. When I called him, he said he had found my glasses and told me not to get on the train. Two minutes later, he came flying into the metro parking lot with my glasses, contact solution and a contact case. He was just like my knight in shining armor, only he was barely awake (Adam is NOT a morning person) and had on shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops in the 20 degree January air. He even informed me that he had run out into the apartment parking lot in his underwear, but he had missed just me.

So, although I don't have 20/20 vision today (but I can see my computer screen and that's the most important thing), I am very appreciative for my knight in dingy athletic shorts and t-shirt and I'm pretty sure I will be making an eye appointment ASAP.

Farm Show

We had a great weekend this weekend! On Friday night, we decided at the last minute to head up to Adam's parent's house to watch the University of Delaware game on the big screen. Unfortunately, the Blue Hens stunk it up in the last half of the game and ended up losing.

Yesterday we headed to the Pennsylvania Farm Show with some friends and Adam's sister Cara. We had a great time walking around and looking at all of the animals, booths and exhibits. Of course the most important part is the butter sculpture:



Overall, we had a great weekend. Stay tuned for an announcement concerning a possible new furry member of the Cianfichi household later this week.

Good News

This past weekend was horrible for us, but today we finally got some good news. On Friday, when we decided that we were unable to spend the money for Tobey's surgery, we decided to sign him over to the vet, who would attempt to find a rescue organization to pay for the procedure. We left the vet without knowing what would happen to our very precious pup.

Today, Adam called the vet in an attempt to get an update. He was told that a group had paid for the surgery and that they were going to place Tobey in a new home. Immediately, we began to regret our decision and decided we would try to get our dog back. When Adam called the rescue organization, he received some bittersweet news. Tobey's surgery had cost twice what they expected because when they opened him up, they found a huge tumor on his kidney and had to remove it, plus remove all of the stones in his bladder. Apparently this tumor had grown since we had him there last April.

What was surprising to hear was that the organization had found an older couple willing to take Tobey in and pay for all of his medical care, which is likely to soar to thousands of dollars as he ages. They had just lost a dog and were eager to have a new pet. They have a fenced yard and were even planning on letting him sleep in bed with them. Adam got their contact information and I am planning on calling them soon to thank them and tell them that they gained a wonderful dog who hates wearing ugly Christmas sweaters, loves chasing his ball and craves ice cubes as treats.



Although I'm very sad that he is having major health problems and his life expectancy will most likely be cut in half, I am so happy that he has found a new, loving home with people who will be there to care for him 24 hours a day. We will miss him terribly, but know that this is for the best.

Saying Goodbye

Today was probably up there with one of the hardest days of my life thus far. For the past two days, Tobey needed to pee constantly. When he wasn't standing by the door for us to take him out, he was hiding in his cage because he had peed inside. Today, we decided to take him to the vet because we thought he had a bladder infection. When we got there, the vet did an X-ray and determined that he had some pretty serious stones in his bladder. If they didn't do emergency surgery, he was going to die over the weekend. The surgery cost thousands of dollars.

So, we made the very difficult decision that at this point in time, we couldn't pay for the surgery. We said goodbye to Tobey. Saying goodbye to a three year old dog that you have raised from the time he was a puppy was so incredibly difficult. He was an amazing dog and we loved him so, so much. I know nothing will ever be able to replace him. I just keep remembering him run through the door with my engagement ring tied around his neck and then Adam getting down on one knee. I thought he was going to be the dog that our kids played with someday.

I know it's going to be really hard for a while. Even coming into the apartment was really hard, but I know it was the best thing for us at the moment.

Apartment Living

For the past seven years, I have been living in an apartment of some sort. In that amount of time, I have enjoyed the benefits of apartment living (people come and fix things for free, no maintenance, my amazing roommates in college, etc.). Unfortunately, the negatives of living in an apartment outweigh the positives and over the past six months, we have had the feeling the some greater power is trying to tell us that it’s time to purchase our first house.

Currently, we live in a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment on the second floor of our building. We’ve been living there for about 18 months now. The first year was going great until Stanley moved in above us and became our very first sleep disturbance. Once per week, Stanley and his lover found it necessary to have steamy love making sessions for hours (I am NOT exaggerating, it was hours). These sessions did not take place at 10:00 PM when I was still awake and watching TV in the living room, no, these sessions happened at 3:00 AM and the creaking and screaming was loud enough to wake me up (that’s how we found his name was Stanley). No amount of banging on the ceiling with the broom would shut those two up.

When Stanley moved out, Adam and I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, we could go to sleep without being disturbed by middle of the night sexcapades. Then, the new neighbors moved in…two women, and their four children, all under the age of eight. Suddenly, it seemed like a rodeo was going on above us at all hours of the day. Jumping on beds, running laps around the living room, dropping who knows what heavy objects and children’s screeches have become a part of the ambiance in our apartment. Then, they got a puppy. A six week old, poofy, small, whiny puppy. This puppy is not a quiet puppy, it yips its head off…ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

Wednesday night, however, was the last straw. On Wednesday, I left work early with a stuffy and pounding head. After resting for most of the afternoon, I headed to bed around 9:30, hoping I would feel better in the morning. At 12:30 AM, a car alarm started going off. This happens frequently, and usually the owner of the car shuts the alarm off within five minutes or so. Not last night. The car alarm kept going and going. Finally, I called the local police station. Around 1:45 AM, the police officer showed up, ran the plate, walked up to one of the apartments, knocked on the door and the owner came out and turned off the alarm. How in the world can you be so ignorant, that you don’t notice your own car alarm going off for over an hour?

And so, it has been decided that we will save every single penny we can in an attempt to buy a house when this lease is up, because I cannot take it anymore.

One Year

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary and we had a wonderful weekend to celebrate! For the past month or so, Adam has been planning our anniversary weekend. He managed to keep it a surprise (which is very hard to do) until Saturday morning when he told me we were going to stay for the night at an old plantation called Antrim 1844. We packed our suitcases and drove the 45 minutes our getaway.



When we got there, it was gorgeous and I thought it was really sweet that he had picked something that is so my taste. We got to our room, which was the old barn of the plantation and discovered that the bed was up in what used to be the hay loft.



After we dropped our stuff off, we headed up to the main house for afternoon tea, complete with scones and little tea sandwiches (very manly). After tea, we went back to the room, Adam lit a fire in our own fireplace and we relaxed until dinner. At 7:30, we headed back up to the main house for a six course dinner that ranks up there with some of the best food I've ever had. We sat right in front of an old fireplace and talked for two hours over dinner. At the end, we got a personalized dessert.



Yesterday we got up, ate breakfast and headed home. After visiting my sister, brother-in-law and nephew for a little while, we headed home to enjoy the rest of our anniversary. Adam grilled some steaks and I made some salad and we topped it off with the top tier of our wedding cake, which had held up amazingly well in my parent's freezer for the year.



Overall, it was a wonderful anniversary and I felt so lucky to have a husband who listens to what I like and plans a weekend full of surprises that he knows I will love. Our year as newlyweds went so quickly, but it was filled with so many wonderful memories. I can't wait to see what is in store in the next 60 years with him.