Gloria vs. the Wedding

In honor of Kyle and my upcoming FIVE year anniversary and because I was so tickled to be able to read some of the older entries about Gloria, I'm going to do my best to catch up on some of my more favorite Gloria memories over the past five years. I'd be remiss to exclude my favorite, which is Gloria vs. the wedding (the one that was only five years ago... oops).

When Kyle and I were planning our wedding, we knew we wanted to get married at home in Arkansas and we equally knew it wouldn't be complete without Gloria. For our road-warrior pup, this meant another trip on the plane. A few days before the wedding, we packed our bags, Gloria's kennel, and a few little toys and started our trek from Reagan International. You know how some dogs do well in the airport? Just kind of walk through it (or get carried through it) silent and checking this outs? Gloria was the irate, barking dog, giving TSA a piece of her mind from behind her kennel door while we hurried down the down escalator. It's OK, Gloria, sometimes I feel like telling TSA the same thing. After a fun few days of greeting our closest friends a family, mani/pedis, and a delicious BBQ rehearsal dinner, it was go time. The Matron of Honor's hubby (Jon) was Gloria's closest confidant, and designated leash holder, at the venue (called Colonial Court Celebrations) during the morning while everyone prepped. Kyle and I did a first look photo shoot before the wedding. It was perfect to get to see each other, just us and the photographer. The venue was two stories with a walkway and staircase to get to the stage where we were married. The hours of hair and makeup were worth it for this smile:

After our first look, it was time for family photos. We only got one, but it's one of my very favorites:

The Stephen, Kyle's best man, was volunteered to take Gloria to Kyle's grandparents' house for the remainder of the wedding, as sadly, pups weren't allowed inside the venue.

After a short and sweet ceremony by Eric, the bishop who'd also married my brother, we had a wonderful time with some of our favorite people: plenty of dancing:

snacks, and of course, wedding cake (plus an amazing tiramisu groom's cake):

As the festivities drew to a close, and unknown to Kyle and I at the time, it became apparent that there had been a mix up at pup drop off earlier in the day, for when Kyle's grandparents arrived home and pulled off their dancing shoes, Gloria was no where to be found. Instead of going to Kyle's grandparents' house and dropping G off, Stephen left her across the street at "the Necessaries." After a bit of detective work, Kyle's grandparents determined where Ms. G had been dropped off and retrieved her from her newfound friends. A little later, the familiar face of her Auntie Cheryl showed up to take her back to grandma D's for the night.

Gloria vs. the Wrong Color Kibble

Gloria's made two surprising discoveries in the past month or so:
1) The red and green kibble tastes better than the brown and bone-shapped kibble and can be selectively eatten by picking up a couple of kibble at a time and dropping the non-green and non-red back in the bowl.
2) She can reach the door nob, turn it, and push it, but it still doesn't open like it does for mom and dad (the door swings in, fortunately, or we'd have a loose dog).

Gloria vs. the Wrong Couches

In our move from LA to VA we, unfortunately, had to leave behind some of our most prize possessions, including our beloved teal green La-Z-Boys (RIP La-Z-Boys). It was with much sadness that we came to be in need of new couches.

For those of you who know me well, you know that I spend a lot of time on the couch. Reading, sleeping, cudding with Gloria, whatever it is, I like to do it on the couch. I'm also a little cheap. So after several weeks of shopping, when we came across Ashley Furniture's Rutherford Brindle set we fell in love. When we found it online, it was the perfect mixture of quality, stlye, comfort, and value.

Three weeks of anticipation later, these showed up at our door:



For those of who haven't bought couches lately, these fine couches are the Ashley Furniture Palmer set. Nice couches, but not what we ordered.

We're not sure how long it will take for the furniture company to come pick these up and deliver the correct couches, but everytime I turn around, Gloria seems to be making use of the new, but wrong, furniture:

Gloria vs. the Cowboy Cabin

This past week, Kyle decided to take his girls (Gloria and I) for a weekend trip to the Cowboy Cabin in West Viriginia to relax, unwind and celebrate our great escape from LA. Unfortunately, Gloria didn't quite get that we were all three going at first....

Gloria, making sure she didn't get left.

After a couple of wrong turns (the GPS couldn't find it), a narrow escape from the police (there was a drunk driving check point - Gloria was NOT a fan), and having to stop to ask for directions in the surprising bustling Adult Entertainment store (the only establishment on 522 S after you pass through Berkley Springs), we finally made it to this adorable and homey cabin.

Cowboy Cabin

We, of course, let Gloria pick her bedroom first (to make up for her ridiculous idea that we might leave her):

Gloria's bedroom

Gloria really enjoyed playing fetch/chase in the yard with her dad:

My two favorites

Kyle wanted to go kayaking, so we took a little trip down (and up) the Potomac. It was gorgeous, the water absolutely clear and the perfect temperature, but given my track record, we decided it would be a terrible idea for me to bring my camera. Here are the pre and post pics:

Before Kayaking

The Potomac - The rental place didn't do drop offs so we paddled up and floated back.

We forgot to hold our Kayak Paddles Correctly

After Kayaking, we cleaned up for dinner (which unfortunately, Gloria couldn't come) and K took me to this gorgeous Scenic Overlook at sunset. You can see Pennsylvania, Maryland, W. Virginia and the Potomac all at the same time. We met another couple who took our photo and we took their's. Then we headed across the street to the romanic candle lit steak house where we were uncerimoniously denied entrance due to a lack of reseravations. We went to our backup restrant, a cute little Grill with live music on the patio, and ironically enough, we ran into the other couple, who was also turned away from the steak house. : )

Panorama Overlook

Finally, we went back to the cabin (we were missing our little girl), and decided to cuddle with her under the stars. While we were all three snuggling, we started talking about our little family and Kyle asked me what was missing from our family. I, of course, gave him my standard answer, "George," the name of the mini aussie brother we plan to get for Gloria once we have a yard. Instead of giving me his standard answer of "yeah" with the standard smile and kiss, he said "Yes, but something else is missing," got down on one knee, pulled out a gorgeous ring, then proposed! None of the night-time photos turned out well, but in daylight, here's the spot:

Where Kyle proposed

Needless to say, the Cowboy Cabin will always have a special place in our hearts (and on my finger)!

Gloria vs. the Ah Choo

A year after getting her, we've just found out that Little Miss Gloria has allergies. Bad. You may wonder why we're just now noticing this. I imagine its directly related to the fact that we've lived in the desert for the past year, and she's allergic for grass.

Regardless, anytime she runs in tall grass, she starts sneezing, repeatedly. But she's a dog, so she loves to run in the grass, and especially to sniff it.

Her solution? Run in the grass sniffing and sneezing as long as she can stand it, then take a quick break on the concrete. She does this in about 20 second increments. 15 seconds in the grass, 5 seconds on the side walk. It sounds something like this:

*ah choo* *sneeze* *sniffle* *ah choo* *head shake* ______ *ah choo* *sneeze* *sniffle* *ah choo* *head shake* repeat.....

It's so.cute!

Gloria vs. Viriginia

On July 28th, Gloria began a new adventure! She and her father took a red-eye flight out of Los Angeles and into her new home of McLean, Virginia. We specifically booked the read-eye because we were worried about the heat, and after hearing that seven dogs died due to heat on an AA flight only a week later, we were happy with our decision.

She wasn't too happy about about leaving her mom (and her mom wasn't too happy about her leaving either), but after a TAS approved long and tearful goodbye (apparently I was sad enough looking that they told me to take as long as I needed before I put her in her TAS screened crate), she was on her way.

Post - Trip Gloria giving her dad the stink eye for keeping her from sleeping.

Since moving to Virigina, Gloria's had a major change in lifestyle.

She now spends her days frolicing in the grass! She hasn't seen that stuff since she was 8 weeks old and in Ohio!

And she thoroughly enjoys her two walks daily, one before dad goes to work and one 9 hours later when dad gets home.

But most of all, she misses her mom (I'm sure) who'll be joining her August 12th, exactly one year from the day she and her mom first met! It was love at first snuggle.

A Little Confused

Gloria's having a little trouble figuring out the bathroom situation in her new place. You're so close to figuring it out G!