Adventures of Riley

I love being outside. I love eating outside and napping outside (in the sun by a pool) and reading outside. I loved it in middle school when teachers took class outside. One thing I'd never done, though, was spend the night outside in a tent. In the woods.


So last Sunday, we went camping! J grew up camping and had all the gear and knowledge, so all we had to do was pick a day and buy some food and go.


We chose a campsite in W.B. Umstead State Park. We had our pick because about a week in advance, no one else had booked a site! (There are 28, I think, and were probably about 6 other groups camping. We ended up switching sites because we saw a vacant one we liked better.)


Shopping for a trip (even just a one-nighter) is one of my favorite things. I love having all the things you "need" for a special activity. Mostly what we had to buy, as I said, was food. For two people (and a puppy) for one night, we probably went a little overboard, but it was so much fun picking out what we wanted. I wish I'd taken a photo, but we had a cooler of dry goods and a cooler for things to be refrigerated.


Anyways, we got to our site and set up shop. I took a photo of the before but forgot the after!





As soon as that was done, we got to cooking because we didn't want to lose sunlight. We brought ground bison meat to grill burgers, asparagus, green beans and red potatoes. (We forgot butter, so we ended up adding cheese to the potatoes and mashing them so they wouldn't just be plain!). We also forgot mustard, actually, but the bison was so fresh and delicious and smoky we didn't have anything with it other than white onion, garlic (mixed in the patty) and the bun. Yup, that's how good the Whole Foods ground bison is. Go get yourself a half a pound. S'more were obviously consumed after dinner.

Riley was such a good camper. She loved it all and spent a lot of time sleeping in the dirt and leaves chewing on a stick. Tent sleeping? No problem. We were lucky our "neighbors" let us have some thick padding pieces to sleep on because the blowup mattress didn't fit in the tent (I didn't think it would!) and the ground would have been hard otherwise.





The next day was sunny and not too hot. We made breakfast (yogurt parfaits) and took down camp. It was kind of crazy to spend hours putting up a camp and then taking it apart less than 24 hours later, but we wanted to get everything cleaned up and packed before our hike.


The trail we did was 2.75 miles and the trailhead was at the bottom of the campgrounds, so it was a no-brainer to pick that trail. It was a good one with a stream at the beginning where Riley played around.

Adventure dog!

Things we saw on the trail: Too many frogs to count, a black snake, two snappy dachshunds, one adorable yellow lab, someone's leftover Easter egg hunt (about 10 of them still filled with candy and homemade "coupons") that we left there in case they were doing it later... 

That's it! I was exhausted at the end of the day, but it was really fun and a great way for me to be introduced to camping. We have plans for a longer trip in the mountains, so now I won't feel as overwhelmed for that. Mission: Accomplished.

Spring tricked me

I shouldn't be surprised. That's half the fun of spring, right? Sunshine and then rain? Well, I don't mind the rain, but the 40 degree temperatures are not flying with me anymore. I've put away my winter clothes, and I refuse to get them out again!


For the past several days I've been curled up in bed or on my sofa trying to fight away a sore throat and cough. Riley looks at me every time I start hacking. I wouldn't say it's a look of concern. It's a look that says, Stop making that awful noise. You're disrupting my nap and hurting my ears!


I was so antsy to get outside that I did my Monday night nOg run last night. I was supposed to celebrate marathon success with a running club friend, and I didn't want to wait another week to get to see her. Those 3 miles were so fun and energizing, but they definitely didn't make my throat feel better. In fact, I've been sneezing like crazy today, so I think the heavy breathing outside got a bunch of pollen up in my head.


Excuse me while I go shake my fist at spring.

Oscar Wilde Thursday and committing to the walk

"For who, being loved, is poor?"
-Oscar Wilde

Last night I committed to joining the team of a friend to raise money for the SPCA of Wake County. The SPCA recently decided to become a No-Kill shelter, which of course requires more money to keep animals alive until they are adopted.

My mom keeps reminding me that I am totally a dog person (this is when I was freaking out the first two days after I adopted my pup). Before we got our family dog in fifth grade, I would volunteer at our local animal shelter by playing with the dogs. Even when we did have our dog and I moved to North Carolina in high school, I still occasionally volunteered at this SPCA I'm now raising money for.


The shelter where I got Riley (the Animal Protection Society of Durham) doesn't have the funds to be a No-Kill shelter. It takes $250 to support the life of an animal for 2 weeks, which is the amount the 3K Dog Walk is asking each participant to try to raise.


I hope you will consider donating to this cause, or if you're in the Raleigh area, please consider joining our team April 16 for the dog walk downtown! I've heard it's a really fun time.


Go here to visit my fundraising page and/or join the team. Animal lovers unite!

Riley says: Help support us in the 3K Dog Walk!

March marathon and an April dog walk?

I have a marathon coming up this month. My first one ever! I'm so excited to push myself to cover this distance (26.2 miles) and had hoped to raise money as part of this process. In the past, I've raised money for Honor Flight Network, which sends World War II veterans to Washington, D.C., to see (their) war memorials.

At the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C., in 2009,
when I raised money to send one veteran on the trip.

For this race, I tried contacting the North Carolina Honor Flight chapter because I wanted to donate closer to home. Unfortunately, I did not receive an answer, but I'm pretty sure it's because it was actually talked about in the news and most likely got bombarded with calls/e-mails. Between work, my new puppy, training for the marathon and everyday life, I didn't really have time to continue trying to contacting them, so I kind of let fundraising go.


However, I now have a friend who is participating in the SPCA K9-3K Dog Walk that's happening in Raleigh in April. The money raised goes to support new no-kill animal shelters in Wake County. I'd like to join and walk it with my pup and maybe also throw it together with my marathon? I'm still thinking about it.


I also just saw this article about a puppy in Oklahoma who was euthanized and then found days later still alive. It wrenched my stomach to read that he was thrown away in a trash can. I'm so happy I could save my puppy from the shelter, and it was great seeing her and her litter all get adopted, but the reality is there are so many animals out there who aren't so lucky. Fortunately for Wall-E (that's what they named the puppy that was found), he now has hundreds of families looking to adopt him.

My sleeping girl with the teddy bear she has since destroyed.

Sweet sleep

Let me first say that this will not become a puppy blog. I promise. But today's post is somewhat related to my pup.


This was Riley's sixth night sleeping in her crate, and it was the first time she didn't whine when I put her to bed, or in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. That means I slept my first night through in almost a week, too, and it was awesome.

She has no problem sleeping in the car.

So here's what I'm thinking about that... Earlier last night, I was talking to some girls about how I was feeling overwhelmed with everything and sometimes doubting that I could handle this. It felt so good to hear how each of them had made it through to the other side with raising their puppies. I know it wasn't easy for them, and it won't be easy for me, but it's going to get better. At the end of the night I felt comforted and truly believed all would work out.


Over the past several days, I've been thinking about this verse: 

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." --Mark 11:24

Believing I will get what I need is calming. While I didn't expect immediate results with my pup, and I don't expect immediate results in anything, it shows how when you do believe something will come to you, it can come sooner than you think. So the sooner you believe it's coming to you, the sooner you can receive.

One less lonely girl, Part 2

I want to follow-up yesterday's post with a shout out to the Animal Protection Society of Durham. They are a great animal shelter, and I totally recommend visiting them if you're looking to add a furry friend to your family.


Someone from the shelter even runs a blog called Bull City Dogs. I didn't actually find that blog until I'd already been out there and adopted my pup, but it's pretty fun to look through. My girl and two others from her litter (out of a total of 6) were actually highlighted on the blog (though I noticed the post was published after I'd already paid a deposit on her, which is interesting, but I hope it got more people into the shelter regardless...). Also, when I picked her up, three of them were being taken home as well. That made me so happy to see.


Anyways, yay animal shelters and the people who work and volunteer there! Thanks for taking care of my girl until we found each other.

Hi there!

Playing with her new favorite toy: a balled up paper bag.

One less lonely girl

That's right. I am quoting from a Justin Bieber song of the same name because it's been running in my head all week as I think about the new addition to my family. (She's little, so she's allowed to have Bieber fever.)

I've had my hands full the past several days because I've adopted a 10-week-old puppy! I imagine I have a lot to learn from her. Patience will be the number one thing! I am so happy to have her, but my life has changed dramatically in ways I actually had thought of... but when you're thinking of how things will be and how they are when they actually play out in reality is so much more intense.


I imagine I feel how a new mom does. I'm tired and nervous and overwhelmed. But happy too! I haven't been up on a Saturday at 6:45 in a long time, but it's what we did today, and I bet it's what we'll do tomorrow. Though it wasn't my choice of timing, I did get a lot more done today since I was up so early.


I am so thankful to have a great support system. My mom came over today and watched the Tar Heels play Clemson with me but also kept her eye on my pup so I could get some work done.


Anyways, I hope to mesh my new puppy routine with my pre-puppy routine. I already miss playing guitar.