Learning with Funley

This week has brought MUCH fun and MUCH learning. Did I ever mention how much I love both of these things? Well… it's a lot.

Except learning from mistakes. I don't like that much. I seem to be doing it a lot. I don't like that either.

Anywaysssssss….

Things that were fun this week:

Taking Finley down to my parents house to meet some extended family for the first time including such activities as:

Finley's first swimming lesson.

Finley's first day on the beach.

Seeing Finley dream for the first time. He sticks his tongue out like he's special :)

Going out for drinks with Justin and friends (complete with mini corndogs :)

Spending some time with Target team members and learning what incredible people they are, little by little. Today, I spent lunch talking to an older backroom team member about his dog Maggie. He saved her 10 years ago after her owner died and she was put on this woman's back porch. Maggie is this man's life and he would do anything for that dog. I get to hear stories like this everyday and it makes leading my team that much more of an honor.

I got feedback this week that I was making an impact on my store in a profound way. That means more than anything!

Things that I had to learn this week (the hard way):

Finley eats through cords.

Finley eats car seats.

Finley eats flowers.

Finley eats mulch.

Finley eats EVERYTHING.

On a more serious note…

Other things I learned the hard way:

Never put someone who's being evicted from their house on a corrective action unless you want them to cry in your office. I felt awesome about that one.

New hires can turn out to be convicted felons.

Bounty hunters can show up at work to arrest a new team member who has a warrant out for his arrest. "cool"

Group Merchandise Leader (big wig), can show up for unannounced visits even on a Saturday. Even at 4 in the afternoon. Even if you're Leader on Duty. Even if your store is a hot mess at the moment.

Never call Target corpo to get help with a problem return like you're supposed to. They are NOT helpful. Especially when you've got 40 people in line glaring at you.

Don't forget about a team member when they ask you to do something for them (even though 120 other people are asking for your attention as well). You will lose credibility.

Being a grownup has big wins and big let downs. Seems as though everything is magnified because you have so much riding on your shoulders. Here are some recent pictures of one of the faces that keeps me uplifted during the trying times.

Exploring the dock. He's starting to look like a real live DOG!

Beach boy.

OMG, this one makes my heart drop. I adore this little peanut fluff.

Beheading. That's what we do when he misbehaves.

He looks like he would talk like Nemo in this picture. "Dadddd!!! Daddd!!! where are you daddd???"

Seepies with his kills of the day.

Peanut getting ready in the shower with me…

And this is what I've been eating to keep me going through all this learning and fun!

Quinoa, tofu and veggies…cuties and Sierra Mist!

Lowfat cottage cheese with apricot jelly and overripe nanner!

Tonight's dinner was very veggerific. Spinach salad with feta cheese, garbanzos, and black beans. Veggie pizza bowl with green beans, spinach, green peppers, cauliflower, marinara sauce, and cheese.

Mmmmmm….

Hope your weekend is going well! I'm spending mine working and hanging out with my little family!

Downward Dog.

Hunger Games.

Sweet titties. In my face.

Seriously.

You get it Katniss Everdeen. You get it.

Gosh, all I need is a pleather suit on fire and I can be her.

Listen guys, if you want to send one my way, I will be much obliged. Promise.

Let's just say this. 

It was good.

Not like the book was good.

But it certainly satisfied my need for darkness/action/killing. I usually have such a veracious appetite for such things you know. It hardly ever ceases.

Don't hesitate to see it. It even got the Adams stamp of approval.

Sunday night was ended with dinner with my parents as they were in town picking up my two aunts and uncle on my mom's side!

We stopped by the Bungalow and grabbed a bite!

I had the Tuna Tataki salad with avocado! Or the tuna tacos as my parents understood :)

The rest of the evening was spent oogling over Sir Finigus obviously. What else do we do anymore??? 

Look how big he's getting!!!!

This was a video for Aunt Laura who has been asking for more Finley pics… I'm sure she's just humoring me, but I love her for it :) Don't worry Aunt Kara, remember that box of toys you sent him?? He's obviously crazy about you.

Anyway, I made it an early night to compensate for an early morning. A 4:45AM wake up call morning.

Ugh. I hate opening. Yuck. Our family got off to a bit of a rough start this morning with Finster being extra needy and barking while mom made breakfast and waking dad up at 5. Yeesh.

Anyway, work started off not so great either, with one call out, and three people going home sick. Tis' the season. 

Halftime. Chicken, snow peas, green peppers, quinoa, and tikka masala sauce! Plus two kiwis! Power foods unite. Delish. 

The day was full of walking the store for inventory prep, a signing compliance assesment, and ad walk, and I finished up the day though with a great meeting with my boss presenting my 60 and 90 day action plans for the team and some laughs with my Team Leaders.

Came home to my two handsome man, and the Roto Rooter man. Of course, who else spends more time at our house than us three and every plumber in Tampa??

After that, I rounded up the kids for dinner….

Spaghetti squash, veggie pasta, ground turkey, red and yellow peppers, marinara, and mozzarella cheeeessseee!!!!!

Speaking of cheese…what a ham…

He totally posed for that. He looked so cute, I literally said, ok go pose Fin! And he walked back to the door and sat like that. Are jew kidding me????

Fin and I had some quality mommy Finny time when Justin went to soccer. I felt like getting my zen on, so I rolled out the old yoga mat, and halfway through warrior pose sequence, Finley decided to do the downward dog all over my yoga mat. And by that I mean, he pissed all over it.

So much for zen time. I will never again be able to do downward dog without peeing a little myself. From laughing that is.

After we kissed and made up, we enjoyed some mango, hot chocolate, and Dancing with the Stars together to rebuild our relationship.

Mmmmmmango.

Oh man. 

And now we're here.

Jodi, see how much he loves the ball you gave him? He literally snuggles with it. Brownie points for you.

Like doggy like daddy.

Helllooo!!!

Happy Sunday!!!

It's been a great great weekend so far!

I started out my weekend on a date with a major hottie.

Look familiar?

SCORE.

We finally are using some of our Groupons from Christmas! It always seems that if I don't use them right away, I always forget about them!

Dinner began with a salad and a sunset.

Daaa bar.

I ordered the pork chops with mango glaze. They wa like buddah.

All the other folks on the cruise!

Dinner ended with cake and the electric slide.

But not just any electric slide. Have you ever seen a room full of sailors go from saluting and listening to Taps….

To this….

20 sailors in full uniform, doing the electric slide. Not something you see everyday.

The view from the boat was beautiful! It was really our first night out together since the baby dog came :) I might have gotten a little carried away with the excitement.

Of course you know the parenting this is still taking the newborn toll since we ended the night passed out on separate couches without even a blanket. Exhausted. Awesome Friday night :)

Saturday was spent with a lot of quality time with Fin.

Two guys had to come out to make an attachment for our washer and dryer on the porch since the one upstairs broke. Of course, the drain back up today and ended up in soapy water all over the porch floor.

Did I mention I'm never moving into an old house again?

Ya, I thought so.

Finley learned to sit, shake, lay down, walk on a leash (with bait) and come yesterday! Yayy! Win. He also learned how fun it was to run away from mommy and hide under parked cars so he didn't have to go back inside. "Fun" Finley. Not a win.

I just have to laugh at his puppy antics.

Last night was spent low key on the couch snuggling with the fam.

Today has been a productive day so far! I started the day at BodyAttach at the gym. BodyAttack is another LesMills program. I LOVE all of them!

The class is described as 

"the sports-inspired cardio workout for building strength and stamina. This high-energy interval training class combines athletic aerobic movements with strength and stabilization exercises. Dynamic instructors and powerful music motivate everyone towards their fitness goals - from the weekend athlete to the hard-core competitor!"

It says it burn about 735 calories per class. I believe it! Phew, I was sweatin' like a madman!

From there, I headed to the grocery to pick up some stuff for the week…which I just remembered my spaghetti squash is still in the microwave from about an hour ago…oops.

Finley had a lot of fun with the grocery bags!

And hangin' out.

He seems to always be between my legs. Just like his dad. 

Holy cow, that was super inappropriate, sorry.

Justin and I are now on our way to see the Hunger Games!!!! Woooo hooooo! I have been waiting for this moment for months!

I will be sure to give the review tomorrow!

Who knew?

Why did I never know this?!

Sure they told me, you'll feel like you have a child.

You'll want to spend every minute with your baby.

You'll be more overjoyed with his wins than your own.

You'll be more frustrated about his roadblocks than your own.

He will take every extra ounce of energy, patience, and love that you have.

Phew. Isn't that the truth!

I mean c'mon. Get a load of this kid. He's can be kind of persuasive.

The baby dog tried to get in the shower with me like 8 times on Tuesday, after he let me get about….oh maybe 4 hours of straight sleep. That's why he's so wet.

Believe me, I wish I could have let him, but his wittle sensitive stomache can't handle the city water yet (thus the two days of diarrhea poor Justin had to clean up twice last week…#Dadoftheyear).

I LOVE the men in my life. How cute are they? 

Oh yeah, and then there's the biting…the constant biting. More me than Justin… we can't figure out why, I think my voice may be higher and get him excited and playful??

I don't know, but so far today, I've been scratched in the face, bitten more times on the hand than I can count, had pee all over me from carrying him outside when he was trying to pee in the house, oh yeah and then there's the mess of newspaper he ripped up today.

Did I mention he would test our patience more than anything???

Isn't there a manual for this?? Oh ya, there's hundreds.

Aw crap.

Listen, don't get me wrong, I adore this dog, but wow. I don't think I was prepared for this!

My tricks of the trade:

1.) Treats, treats, and more treats. Positive reinforcement has proven to be wayyy effective. Especially when training tricks.
2.) Toys, toys, and more toys. They are great for after you say no when he's chewing on something he's not supposed to be…. reprimand then distract and give him something he can chew on, like my sister suggested.
3.) My voice. The biting has gotten a bit better, just from me saying "Ouch" really loudly when he bites. This comes from the idea that with his litter mates, playtime was over when one puppy yelped. He seems to really be receptive to that.
4.) Good old fashioned love and friendship. As much as we're trying to train him to be a good, well-trained dog, there are many moments, we have to remind ourselves just to relax and laugh at his puppy antics. He is mischievous, endlessly curious, excited, and pure joy all rolled into one.

We have so much freakin fun together though… like today, we did some morning time playing, some learning about puppy training….

This was hilarious, because while I was watching videos online (which all had the same opening song), every time he got sooo excited and curious about this song..

Then, we ate lunch together,

Fat kid!!!!!

And obviously found time to squeeze in a nap together with Lavern the lamb.

I'm absolutely in love with this picture of him.

We took his very first walk which was pretty much me following him around and pulling him away from all the stuff he wanted to eat. He was so excited about the new places though!

Then, daddy came home and I made all of us chicken with snap peas, green peppers, and sweet potatoes topped with sauce of your choice! I chose first serving with BBQ second serving with Tikki Masala sauce :)

It's been a big day for us.

He's all passed out again. Munchkin pants.

I have been trying to get back to some of my normal routines and have had some fun in the kitchen and gym this week (it has been soooo hard to keep doing both with a full time job, new house, and new puppy). BTW, the sink and dishwasher broke again…"yay"

Anywayyy… here's some of my eats lately!

Quinoa pancakes made with quinoa, egg whites, almond milk, bananas and topped with cinnamon, greek yogurt, and even more nanners!

Spinach salad with carrots, black beans, garbanzos, cherry tomatoes, celery, rosemary, S+P, and olive oil.

Smoothie with fresh berries, half a banana, almond milk, greek yogurt, spinach, and chocolate protein powder. Topped with coconut, PB2 (powdered peanut butter), banana chocolate chip VitaTop, and cinnamon pecan special K. Great start to my morning!

After finding an article in Self that was really inspiring, I've been trying to incorporate more "super foods" into my diet lately including:

• Edamame
• Wild Salmon
• Quinoa
• Greek Yogurt
• Apples (yayyyy, it made the list!!!)
• Sweet potatoes
• Kiwi
• Lentils
• Olive Oil
• Eggs

I've added spinach to that list on my own. Spinach was one of those super foods that always majorly intimidated me because it was soooo….hmmm… how do I put this?

Like eating leaves?

Oh wait. That's exactly what it is…

But still, don't be afraid of it! Ripped up and tossed with plenty of other crunchy vegetables, beans, quinoa, and olive oil and you've got yourself a delicious mix! Ppppppaaaaarrrromise!!!!

Happy Thursday! Only one more day of work, then the weekend!!!!

Love Bunny on Easter

Soooo, if you're sick of me posting about Finley, you should probably go ahead and skip this post. Buttttt..

If you're still obsessed with him, like I am, as one of my middle school teacher, Mr. Robison use to say… "R-r-reeeeaaaddd oooowwwnnn!!!!"


He only woke us up twice last night! Once at midnight (yes we went to bed wayyy before midnight on a Saturday night… ohhhh parenthood :) and once at 6AM when we usually let him out and give him breakfast before work, so this one was not his fault.

And even if it was, how could you be mad at that face? Yes, my eyes are burning from lack of sleep, my face has a thin layer of puppy kiss slobber on it at all times, and I haven't done anything in the past four days besides go to work and follow my puppy around, but how could you be mad at a face like this??

I mean. Seriously. Stop. And he put his Easter best on today. Such a gentlemen.

And he wanted to be scrubbed clean for his first official holiday… so we thought we'd just throw him in the dishwasher and call it a day.

He obliged :)

Kiddddinnngggg! He climbed up there himself! I'm telling you, the kid LOVES the dishwasher. And the fridge. 

AND the bathtub. 

After my first weekend of parenthood, I figured it was time for an adult beverage. Thank you Jesus for dying for my sins. So glad you rose again. Now, let's celebrate.

My parents agreed to come up to us to meet their granddog due to our being exhausted, so they met, fell in love, and then took us to Bone Fish for an easter Linner. 

Finley loooovvveedd playing with Grampy and snuggies with Grammy!

My Aunt Stevie and counsin Michael came too! Every visit with them is full of laughs, they have such a great sense of humor!

I prefer edamame and salmon and asparagus salad to traditional Easter ham I suppose. 

Secretly, I was hoping for an Easter basket (I still think I'm 12), but ColdStone sufficed our craving for sugar overload. I got SweetCream with strawberries, nanners, choco chips, and coconut!

Oh yeah, and I ate a little bit of this guy with a spoon as well.

Classic keeper.

After so much excitement of meeting the family today, Finley is totally out, and we're crashed on the couch as well.

Happy Easter!

Love,

Brittany, Justin, and Finely

Muthahood.

I'm so hood. Muthahood that is.



Holy moly being a mom can be exhausting! And exciting! and fun! and a pain in the butt all at the same time!

Why did nobody tell me?


Oh wait…EVERYBODY told me. You just don't get it until it's your own "child."

We've spent the past few days with every ounce of our energy and attention spent on getting our little baby dog a good, solid start in his new home.

In order to prevent chewing/peeing/pooping/choking/anything we basically have to watch him every minute! It really is like a toddler. And he's SO interesting in EVERYTHING!

Yet, it's soooo adorable.


He's got that little awkward puppy gallop, and playful puppy pounce, and nostalgic puppy breath. He's probably my favorite thing that's ever happened :)

So, we've been really trying to channel the dog whisperer and use the "cchhh" method. He definitely knows that "cchh" means he better watch it, and if he keeps it up, he will get grabbed in the scruff (we figured that was most like his other mom would handle it and she's a pretty rad bitch.

We're learning :)

It's hard not to feel like you're disciplining all the time, but it's really necessary for him to know who's boss the first week. No worries, we have been giving him PLENTY of lovin'.

So deprived.

Plenty of treats, plenty of belly rubs, and praise. Believe me, the baby is spoiled. As it should be, as long as he minds us.

He's even allowed on the couch, but only when we invite him.

Aunt Kara even sent us an ENTIRE BOX full of toys! We were soooo excited! But we're saving some of them, right Finn???

My past few days have been spent working about 6AM to 4PM, then coming home and spending every ounce of energy on Finley and giving him all he needs. Food, cuddles, water, play, poop, nap, repeat. Nights are pretty low key, as I hate leaving my baby even if to run out and grab some food, so I've been cooking a lot.

Finn loves being in the kitchen with me. His two favorite things right now are laying right in the refrigerator when it's opened even if only for a second and also trying to climb in the dishwasher. Dishes are def. his favorite chore.

He's a regular Martha Stewart.

He's also a regular tard. He's seriously such a weird, I love it. He loves to stick his head fully into Justin's smelly old tennis shoes.

Seriously Sir Finigus?

Yep. He LOVES those things. What a weirdo!!


He also loves to lay on the table.

He definitely is a fan of eating plants and dirt. Which is a challenge since our backyard has not one bit of grass in it, but is allllll leaves and dirt. So, that's cool to be pulling leaves out of his mouth every two seconds and putting  toy in it instead.

But I have to admit, he looks unbelievably adorable with dirt all over his snout. I wish I could say the same about Justin.

And on my final note, in honor of Finn making me belly laugh because of his antics, here is a video my friend Sophi (blowphi) shared with me!

Now it's time to get to bed, because it's my turn to let the little man out every waking hour tonight :)