Where to Start: Fozzie, promotion, friends, football, ice cream and "So You Think You Can Dance"

This post may be significantly less insightful than the previous, but I realized it had been about 2 weeks since I last updated and a lot has happened! Here's the scoop!

About three Sundays ago, Mike and I made our way to a rest area just off of I-64 in New Kent. It took about an hour and 20 minutes to get there, but the trip flew by: we were going to meet a little guy we were interested in adopting from Dachshund Rescue! We'd spent some time in the prior week visiting with a DRNA rep from Virginia Beach and after a house-visit, she approved us for adoption. A few days later, she sent us an e-mail from one of her "co-workers" who had just gotten a little fellow from the shelter. As soon as we saw his picture, we knew we had to meet him. We were a little anxious and had some reservations about getting a new dog, but as soon as "Bandy" popped out of his carrier and wagged his tail at Molly, we knew things could actually work out very well. The two dogs played a little bit, he gave both Mike and I some kisses and pretty easily stepped into his new Sherpa bag. That was a good sign, because DRNA policy is that the dogs must want to go home with their new owners. We got stuck in some traffic crossing the high rise bridge on our way back home and the ride was a bit stressful --- both dogs wanted all of my attention and Mike was a little frazzled because of traffic. I seriously started to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into, and even cried a bit because I thought Molly was mad at us for bringing him home. The first couple of days were a bit interesting as the dogs got to know one another and their roles in house. Things have worked out beautifully though -- they both come running to the door when we get home, they play together and are cuddling up between us at night. They look A LOT alike and act so similar it's almost like they are real brother and sister. We've renamed "Bandy" Fozzie (as in Fozzie Bear from the Muppet's) and he's catching on rather quickly. Having two dogs is so much more fun than just having one! Molly seems to be a lot happier with a constant companion and Fozzie's health and demeanor have improved significantly since day one. See pictures below!

On August 1, Mike was promoted to MST second class. He said it wasn't a big enough deal that I should use a vacation day to attend the pinning ceremony, but I kind of wish I had gone. Mr. Steverson, a chief warrant officer who works with Mike, and Jeff, one of our best Coast Guard friends in Virginia, pinned on his new eagles at a ceremony that morning. We have some pictures, which will also be posted below. I received a letter from the Commander thanking me for supporting him and making it possible for the Coast Guard to be "Always Ready." I wasn't expecting anything like that, so it was definitely a nice surprise to open the letter and share it with Mike. I'm proud of his accomplishment and look forward to seeing how new leadership opportunities help him to make a bigger difference in the world. He definitely loves his line of work and it is very rewarding for me to hear all of his stories. Sometimes it is hard for me to think about all of the sacrifices we will make for his career (being close to family and friends, many potential career options for me, settling down in a town or city of our choice without that thought of "we're moving again"), but I know he wouldn't be happy doing anything other than what he does. And after his retirement at 38, we'll have years to settle down and make a permanent home for ourselves. That just seems like a really long time from now. I have learned to embrace change over the past year (there has certainly been enough of it!) and at the moment I'm excited to see what happens next.

The following weekend, Mike's sister Colleen and his best friend Jeffrey drove down for a visit. It was a blast having them around!! We spent some time at the beach (the first time Colleen had seen it with any people -- she's normally only down here at Thanksgiving), got some drinks at the Hilton's Sky Bar, ate a delicious meal at Lynnhaven Fish House (where I had the best drink of my entire life!), took Mol and Foz to the dog park, caught a movie at MacArthur in Norfolk and played some games. The weekend seemed to fly by and it made us really miss being close to all of our family and friends. We definitely have been enjoying our time in Virginia, but it's certainly difficult to be away from Ohio when almost everyone is there. We are definitely looking forward to making our way closer to home in the next few moves we make. Hopefully the Coast Guard will support our interest in District 9 (the Great Lakes region).

On Thursday night, the Colts played Dallas in their first preseason game. Unfortunately, Dallas came out on top. In my opinion, this doesn't mean too much --- the Colts NEVER win pre=season games and have fared very well in the regular season for many of the past 7 years. I'm a bit upset about some key losses (Brandon Stokley and Cato June) but excited after an awesome draft pick (Anthony Gonzales from none other than THE Ohio State University). Our starters only played for about the first quarter, which shows that we have to be diligent in avoiding injuries this year. Our back-ups aren't very prepared to take on some of the NFL's best players .... especially back up QB Jim Sorgi. I look forward to catching as many live Colts games as possible this fall -- hopefully there will be more than last year! I haven't quite convinced myself that it's worth buying NFL packages, but that may change in a few weeks. The Buckeyes kick off their season on September 1 with a home game against Youngstown State. Football season (and fall!) are just around the corner and we're getting stoked about that here at the Curran household ;-) It does make me wonder, where did summer go?

And lastly, I've discovered I have a new favorite ice cream. Perhaps this means I've jumped on a nation-wide bandwagon, but I can't get enough of Handel's Homemade Ice Cream! Sadly, they have dozens of these in Ohio and I never visited one until 3 weeks ago. We've gone twice since then and my favorite flavor so far is Blueberry Cobbler. It's heavenly. This moves Toft's (a local ice creamery in Sandusky, Ohio) to my second favorite and Bruster's rounds out my top 3. If you've never been, I definitely encourage a trip to Handel's. You won't regret it!

Other than that, we've just been hanging out with our dogs and some friends. Weeks are full of long days of work (very busy for me lately), errands, a few chores and quality television on Monday and Wednesday nights. Mike and I have been big fans of the reality dance show "So You Think You Can Dance" since season 1 three years ago. Last year was definitely our favorite season, but this year has been pretty great as well. We just bought tickets to see the top 10 live at the Hampton Coliseum in October. The wonderful thing about living here and loving this show is that three of the top 10 dancers from the past 2 years have been trained at Denise Wall's studio in Virginia Beach. Her son placed 2nd last year and one of her students is still vying for this year's winner. We should know in the week who has one --- tomorrow's results show brings us to the finale of the top 4 dancers on Wednesday and we will know our winner on Thursday night. At this point, we like all of the girls and two of the guys and are really anxious to see what happens.

I'll try to post more regularly in the coming weeks to avoid a catch-up post of this length at the end of September ;-) Enjoy the photos!