Life Rolls On

I keep thinking I should blog and then I tell myself there isn't enough to blog about but I suppose if you add up all the random little details it's almost kinda sorta enough.  So here goes - various life updates interspersed with dog and scenery photos.

We enjoyed the time spent in Arizona.  I particularly enjoyed taking pictures of my dogs in new and random places (this one isn't new or random, as our engagement photos were done here, but it's fun to revisit).


After nearly a week of trainer riding (I do what the workout requires...), I rode outside in AZ one last time before heading home last week.  It was nice and sunny and Jeff took me on new quiet beautiful roads not far from our house.


The beardies just LOVE getting bathed and groomed, can't you tell?
 

Back home, things are growing like crazy from all the winter rains - everything is GREEEEEEN.  From Saturday's long ride...

I'm trying to bask in the CA glow and work my way through the bucket list of things to do here before I move away.  I booked a one-day river rafting trip in the Sierras for the day-after of one of my summer races...I haven't gone since I was a teenager so it will be a nice treat.

Given that the beardies play with Puck day and night...it's going to be a rough adjustment for him (and Jeff) when we leave.  My mom's GSD is still pretty energetic for being almost Max's age, so he may come visit and keep Puck company during the days.  We had him over today to hang out and the boys all had fun together! (don't mind Puck's scraped up nose from faceplanting at the park)

In other school/move news...the move isn't until August but there is much to do.  I found a place to live for the year, so that's one major stressor off my plate.  I've been reading rental listings for months but once things were settled in early March I went ahead and started seriously contacting some of them.  The beardies and I will have a nice little apartment/townhome very close to campus and my lab and a park and the Boulder Creek Path!  That should tide us over comfortably until Jeff and Puck can join us and we can all buy a house.

I get the keys to the new place on a Friday evening and start my new position at the school on the following Monday morning so...Jeff and I will have to be VERY efficient movers.  Because the dogs and I need to be fairly settled ASAP if I'm working right away (and traveling to race Nationals the following weekend).

My to-do list just seems to grow daily as my bank account balance does the reverse, but things are coming together.  I booked moving pods, I've got hotels lined up for the roadtrip, I've even got a roadtrip buddy as one of my sisters will be joining me for company.  And some of my items just can't be dealt with until I arrive (CO drivers license, dog licensing, etc etc).

I'm also getting a better idea of what I'll be starting on in my graduate research lab, so I'm doing a lot of reading on my own to be better prepared to wade on in.  Thankfully it plays off some of my analytical chemistry skills but it's still new/exciting/scary.  I'm pretty much expecting so much of life to change...I'm really going to need to be on a very regimented schedule to fit in workouts, sleep and exercise of the dogs around everything else.

That's pretty much all I can think of for now...training is coming along fine, the ELF always finds new ways to torture me and I'm trying to just get enough rest and food to recover from it all properly while balancing work and my dogs' own bucket lists of things to do before we go.  They've got some agility trials (I want Stanley's AXJ before we go and he only needs one leg!) and our club's regional (Max will show in Veteran Sweeps!) and more...no shock, they have a busier social life than I do!

Happy April!  I *think* for most of us, spring is here!