First, we got to see and go to dinner with Chrissy Richard! We all graduated from Calverton together ten years ago this month. Now she is married, has a new last name, and works for the VA in D.C. She emailed me last week to say she was coming out for work and wanted to know if we wanted to get together. Heck yes! We have exchanged facebook life updates recently but I wanted to hear more about life since high school. We ate at Falling Sky (new menu items btw), hung out, and then went to Voodoo Donuts as Chrissy knew about them from the Food Network.
I must say that last night was my best Voodoo Donuts experience so far (last time they didn't fully cook my apple fritter). Cliff and I got a maple bacon bar (their signature) and one with Oreo cookies exploding all over it. They were pretty tasty. It was so nice to catch up and reminisce with Chrissy. She might come out again in a few months and I know we would love to see her again!
Second, Rudy stayed out of his crate all day while we were at work! This is huge. I mean HUGE. We have been working towards this moment for almost two years. When we first got him he would bark, whine, and freak out when we left (even when he was in his crate). After that subsided we thought he was ready for our small outings. Nope. One day we left the house (didn't even drive away) for about 15 minutes. We came inside to find a little ceramic garden gnome crushed and a whole pad of post-its chewed and tossed all over the house. A few more months passed and we tried again. When we got back he had found one of my new shoes and chewed it. Seriously they were only maybe a week old. He just wasn't ready. He was stressed.
Over the past few months we have been leaving Rudy out for longer periods of time. It started with 30 minutes of us totally leaving. Then we would do two hours of us outside the door within eye sight doing yard work. Then we would leave for good for an hour. Then two. Then three. We came home one day to find him still asleep on his bed. When we woke him up her was all like "Oh....hey! When did you guy get here?" When this happened we knew he was ready for the big test. Yesterday he was king of the castle for nine hours! Nothing harmed. He was totally cool. I cannot begin to tell you guys how excited this is. We are so proud of our little scaredy-cat dog. He is awesome.
Yesterday was a big day.
That's so great about Rudy! Congratulations! I remember meeting him at the shelter before you guys got him -- do you remember he growled at me and wouldn't let me pet him? By the time you guys moved, he was like a different dog. You should be proud.
ReplyDeleteI know! You were the first person to meet Rudy. I won't lie...I was really nervous after that day as he honestly barked at you for 10 minutes. Come to think of it I think he only stopped to go to the bathroom in the room. But it all worked out! We picked a winner.
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