Cooper update

I believe that the last time I blogged about Cooper was when we had just adopted him...how things have changed in those few short months! That little boy went from neglected to a spoiled rotten family member. He's also gained 2lbs!



Cooper sleeping on Mark's foot last night holding his baby (a stuffed fox)




Coopie playing hard to get




Outside playtime- he lovesss to run and jump over the other dogs in the neighborhood.



He loves visitors too.

Today, I bought him a new collar at the humane society with an engraved tag






We love our Cooper Currington McGuire! <3
(Mark spoils him too...he buys him toys and treats all the time :)




Christina McGuire

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sometimes you just need your girlfriends :)

Hi all :) sorry that I haven't been posting much( for those of you who read my little blog.) Nothing is new with me and Mark. He is doing well at work and I am getting ready to start my Masters this fall.
I wanted to post this because I wanted to tell my friends that I love and miss them :) These are a few pictures from a couple weekends ago...
We don't get to see each other as often as we'd like now that we're all spread out in different cities and states. On this weekend, Lauren came down from Gainesville, Michelle from Jacksonville, Gabby from Tallahassee, Rach from West Palm beach, and Lana from West Palm as well (not pictured unfortunately because I didn't get one while she was down). I also have some other VERY MISSED girlfriends in Jacksonville, Tallahassee, IL, NC, NY, GA. that I would have loved to see this weekend as well...(they are pictured below)
I love Mark, but sometimes a girl just needs some quality time with her best girlfriends :)

My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.

-Lee Iacocca

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer.

-Author Unknown

         Friends are relatives you make for yourself.

- Eustache Deschamps

Here are some other faves of the girlfriends I MISS and LOVE too :)

Last time the "trio" was all together (Disney) & that's when Ali asked me to be her Matron of Honor with her older sister! <3



FSU game days with Kendall, Erika, and Jacki - I finally found girls equally as fsu crazed as me :)



Michelle, Lauren, Meg, Bre, Meredith, Ali, Lana, Kel, Sarah W, and Sarah P :)

 



Soaking up the sun with Kel in the Bahamas

Kara and Lauren with me on my wedding day

longtime friend, Ashley, on her wedding day!

College wouldn't have been the same without these ladies...Kerri, Sarah and Ali



Thanks for always being great friends ladies. Love you. 

My Newlywed "issues..."

I was always aware of decorating being an issue for newlyweds...
Bachelor decor and "single" girlie girl nicknacks...trying to figure what stays and what goes after the I Do's.

For us, we had a pretty good idea of each other's taste in home furnishings. In Chicago, our apartment was filled with his furniture and furniture he bought on his own...before I arrived. Mark has good taste, similar to mine :) of course, there will always be things that are found that could replace certain items. For example, we have a tv stand that Mark bought for the Chicago apartment. It's basic, modern, and glass. It's nice but I live for furniture that looks like it has a story. Vintage, antiques, shabby-chic are welcome any day of the week in my opinion. Even better, when I find something that is bought in a consignment- antique store...it's like finding a treasure for me! You search around and find something that screams personality and history.
Now, there will always be dirty and crazy looking items in these places, but that's the beauty in finding a gem in all that rubble.
I have recently found: 4 carved wooden frames (that I painted myself to match our place), 2 wooden boxes beautifully painted with palm trees, 2 thick wooden candle holders for the dining table...and recently- a bamboo table! :)
I was determined and somehow fit it in!



Thinking Mark would absolutely love it -as we both like the old Florida-Cuban tropical look, he was not as excited as I was. He just simply asked where it was supposed to go because nothing was being replaced... :-/
Now, I have a beautiful old bamboo table sitting on the side of the dining room with nowhere to go :( I am determined to make this table work somewhere but if not, I'll sell it I suppose :(

Second issue, forgetting to put your wedding rings back on after a shower!
I think that since the moment I came out of the womb, I had jewelry on. Being a Cuban little girl, my ears were immediately pierced with little diamond studs...a little Mother Mary -or one of the other saints- on my wrist, and maybe even a black stone called an azabache made into a charm on a necklace. (cubans are a bit superstitious and this "azabache" wards off people with negative thoughts toward you.



Commonly worn by babies to protect them.... You get the picture- I've always loved and worn jewelry... The thing is, I usually would wear my usual daily jewelry into the shower with me, sleep with them on, ect.
But when I got my Wedding rings, which consist of the main diamond on the engagement ring along with several smaller diamonds on both rings, women would tell me not to shower with them due to soap build up and such.


So now, I try and remember to take the rings off, place them on a little plate on the counter, and put them back on when I am getting ready. Problem is, when I am in a rush out the door, rings have been left on the little plate. This has happened 3 times already (including today.)
This would not bother me of it were any other piece of jewelry... but now that I am married- it feels like I am committing a mortal sin!!!! I hate it!!! I feel so guilty and all I could do is put another ring (that I had in my purse pocket -which Mark gave me in middle school- on my ring finger so I don't feel half as bad. I also LOVE this ring as it has 3 garnet stones(his birth stone).
I remember on the last occasion that this happened, we were supposed to have dinner with Mark's parents that night. Since I was on the east side of town, I wasn't planning on going home prior to the dinner and made my mom go to our place and bring me my rings (I couldn't leave where I was at the time.)
I couldn't imagine being at dinner with him and my in laws being ring-less !? Even though I know they probably wouldn't have thought twice about it and would have understood...I just
couldn't. Today I had even put on my watch and a bracelet that Mark's aunt gave me that spells: Mark!

So as my rings are at home, I have improvised with the Mark bracelet and impromptu ring on my wedding finger :)



Ugh-I think I'm just going to say forget it and shower with my rings from now on. I'll just stick them in the cleaning solution more often. Problem solved and no more of me feeling like a bad new wife. :)



Christina McGuire

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bringing Home Cooper

 Mr. Cooper McGuire

Our introduction to Cooper with his former owner :)

Last Wednesday night, 2-16-11, our neighbor Sara asked me if Mark and I would be interested in having a dog. Being that Mark had mentioned adopting a dog early in the month, I told Sara that we may be interested. I asked her why, and who the dog was...
She told me that her friend had a year and 3 mo. old "Yorki-Poo," which is a popular crossbreed now...a Yorkshire Terrier mixed with a Poodle. She had purchased this pup for her 16 yr. old daughter who wanted him. Now, 1 year later, the pup was no longer getting the attention he needed from her daughter. The mother said that she wasn't really a dog person and this was a gift for her daughter and her daughter's responsibility... We have all heard this story too many times. It is sad when a pup gets a home and then no longer is wanted.

I asked my friend and neighbor, Sara, to send me a picture and to ask her friend if we could meet the pup if Mark gave me the go ahead. Later that night, Mark came home from playing softball with the Broward Seminole Club...he looked exhausted but I needed to ask him because I had told Sarah I would get back to her immediately (Cooper was on the way to the Humane Society if a home could not be found soon...)

So I did what any good housewife would do when I need a loving husband's answer...I made Mark and amazing steak dinner :)
I set the table with all of our new dishes, new silverware, wine glasses, 2 big marinated steaks, a large fresh flower centerpiece that Mark bought me on Valentine's Day...and then I started my "potential pup story." He didn't answer right away...so I waited...and waited...
He later said, "So this dog...its a "Yorki-what?" haha I knew a "foo foo" breed was not up Mark's alley, but I figured if his temperament was good, we may have a home for this pup.  Above is the picture that I was emailed of Cooper to show Mark. I loved his little face from the second I saw him.

Thursday night came around and the Cooper's owner told my neighbor Sara that she would let me have the dog for the weekend to get to know Cooper. This way, we would get more time to decide and basically fall in love with him.

I brought him home that evening, took a little video of him for my friends to see on facebook and weigh-in on, and waited for Mark to come home...

We had plans on this night to watch our wedding video together, so it worked out perfectly when Cooper cuddled up with Mark for our viewing party.

 

Cooper and Mark hitting it off :)

So, after we watched our wedding video and had a few glasses of wine, I could tell that Mark was playing with Cooper and this may be a match!
Lucky for me, Mark likes all-big or small- dogs, but he prefers "a dog with a snout." He jokes and tells me that my mom's dogs, which are Shih Tzu pups, are not real dogs because they don't have a snout and their face is pushed in. RUDE! So Cooper is a "real dog" apparently to Mark, haha. Cooper may be a "designer breed" as he is a "Yorkie-Poo" ...but you would look at this dog and just think he's a terrier mutt :) He gets along with everyone (even kids and other dogs) which is great. He is still exploring and getting used to us and our habits. His previous owner, had a doggy door for him so that he could go in and out whenever - so he is now learning: how to go on walks, walk on a leash, eating lots of food & treats! (I am trying to put a couple of more pounds on him since he is pretty thin right now), and all the sounds in his new home now that he lives in a condo (which has a balcony that we keep open a lot... bringing in sounds of birds and other pups playing downstairs.) Overall, Cooper is a adjusting very well, and we are very happy to have a new addition in our little family. We jokingly call him our son, being that it will be a while until we have kids, which leads to Mark treating him extra special :)
I can't wait to introduce him to our friends and extended family! We love our curly little mess, Cooper McGuire.

Sunday's Sun Trust Jazz Brunch

I didn't take any pictures on Sunday...I think I was too busy eating and people watching :) Anyways, Mark and I met up with our friends, Patrick and Annie for the first Sunday of the month's jazz brunch on riverwalk, which is located in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It is something that has been going on for years and years, but is always the one thing I always forget about. I went when I was a lot younger with my parents and our dog, Joey, and I remember loving it. It is nothing spectacular by any means, but when you have beautiful weather year-round - this is the perfect way to spend a relaxing Sunday with friends. There is a catered Brunch I believe that it set up at the Broward Performing Arts Center across the street for those who would like something set up for them... For us, we wanted to bring our own picnic foods and set up blankets and chairs like most. It is something that you should get there early for because it does fill up...
These are just pictures I found online through the wonderful "Google Images" tab so that you can get a mental image of our Sunday's brunch. :) Hope to see you out there on the next 1st Sunday of the month!

People with their umbrella's- watching the jazz bands

more brunch picnics



some take their boats to get there





 (not on a jazz brunch day...not busy as you can tell)



Some of our brunch items.....mimosas is a brunch MUST :)

love our shrimp!

another brunch must! FRUIT

Our fave: Croissants and Nutella :) YUM

So you get the picture....Anytime I can have an excuse to have a brunch, to see friends, to lay in sun along the waterway, and to do it all in my favorite city- Ft. Lauderdale, FL...the Sun Trust Jazz Brunch is a free & fun way to do it! We will be here more often now. The times that it takes place makes it perfect to head over right after church. The bands play from 10am-2pm - and even if you get there later than 10am like we did....you can still sit around and stay as long as you like.
Hopefully you have already been to this, but if not- we recommend it for your next lazy 1st Sunday of the month. :)
Happy Brunching.

National Signing Day 2011

2-2-11
Mark has been awaiting National Signing Day as if he were 5 years old again and counting down the days until Christmas morning...
I don't blame him, though.  It was just funny watching him read and review (on a nightly basis) the potential players coming in and even hoping for the ones he has had the opportunity to meet in the past.

There was no doubt about this year being a turning point for Florida State Football. This signing day was going to be the outcome of all the the hard work put in by FSU Administration, the coaches, the players, FSU Boosters, and even the smaller-nationwide Seminole groups who all put time, money, and energy into seeing that the program attracts young talent. Last year was Coach Jimbo Fisher's first year as head coach, and it was a great kick off to what is just the beginning. He did great with what he had, and now has all eyes on his program. Florida State, as many people my age sometimes do not realize, was a powerhouse. The years I went to FSU was a turning page and regrouping. Learning what we were, and could be again is exciting to me. Even if you are not a huge football fan, the attraction it brings on a national level makes an impact for the University in all areas. It all works hand in hand. 

Back to signing day on Wednesday...

We were invited by a friend of ours to the Seminole Boosters, Inc. event at Hugh's Catering.

Mark, Patrick, and myself

Here we were to watch a live reaction and commentary by Coach Jimbo Fisher and others about the entering class and watching highlights of the previous season's games.

The venue was great! It was the first time I had ever been, and excited because I learned that they even host wine tastings and cooking classes! :)


the entrance (from their website)



One of the rooms inside (from their website)

They had an open bar and amazing food. The mini crab cakes were addicting and hard to stay away from!
For the live broadcasting, the Boosters logged in and watched above on a projection screen.

It was a great night seeing friends of ours and meeting new ones as well.



Mark and Neil



Talking with Patty :)



The evening was a great way to celebrate the efforts of all those involved with the program. At this event alone, the Seminole Boosters (If I heard correctly, do not quote me) raised about 2 million dollars. The revenue for the University and Athletics Program are in integral part of making Florida State University a dominant institution all around. Mark and I enjoyed meeting people that play such an important role on the National and Local level for FSU. We are very excited to become even more active this year with the Seminole Club of Broward County.

http://browardnoles.com/?DepartmentID=7&ArticleID=45

Our old friend, Ashley Leiper. soon to be- Mrs. Koval

I decided to dedicate one of our blogs to our friend, Ashley Leiper. Many of the people who read our blog are family and close friends of mine who also know Ashley. I met Ashley in 6th grade at St. Anthony School. She was "the new girl" in class, and shortly after we became friends... It wasn't too long until I told her I had a crush on this boy named Mark McGuire. He didn't attend our school, but a middle school down the road called Sunrise Middle School. She met Mark and we then basically did everything together. Later on, Mark started to drive as a sophomore in high school. Ashley and I, being only in 8th grade went along for the ride but always together. I know when you're that young, the age difference seems quite extreme...I know Mark received the backlash for hanging out with the two of us for being "so much younger," from his "friends" at the time...
 Ashley's and my parents trusted Mark- even at that age. It is not hard to see that Mark was a 40 yr. old stuck in a teenager's body. He was always the responsible guy and so it was never odd for us to all hang out together. For those of you girls reading this, and even guys I suppose- you can probably understand that girls like their girlfriends to be with them during new situations or events that can make you nervous. Even today, guys joke and girls know its true, when girls all file up to go to the ladies room...talking, advice being given, make-up touch ups, and who else knows what goes on when you're with only your girlfriends...



A typical weekend or even weekday after -school day.


To me, Ashley was a girlfriend of mine that was always there for me. I could count on her for great advice, help when needed, or basically to wake me up and show me the bigger picture at times. Ashley is a very level-headed person, even though many new mutual friends of ours have come to know her later in high school and  can see her as a fun party girl :) She has bartended and worked in the hospitality industry for many years now, which fits her fun personality to a "T." But, back then before jobs and going out, my friend was the one who went through the beginning of my first love with me.
Later on, as we headed to high school, Ashley and I went to St. Thomas Aquinas High School together and remained friends. We hung out in different circles, as old friends sometimes do when growing up.. but I always felt like she was still right there.



A visit during college.

 We were kind of the "sister- type friend" that you know is there even if you are meeting new friends and doing different things on the weekends. It was the kind of friendship that you share with someone that no one else may really know or understand, and that was fine with us. We had our memories and shared stories, and we still always knew that the other one was always there no matter what... those unspoken understandings that rare but special friendships have.

I felt that I had to recap that in order to relay how excited I am for Ashley and her soon to be husband, Joseph Koval. When I first heard about her getting married, I was excited, curious, and had so many questions. As I said before, we had grown up doing different things. We went to different colleges, moved to different cities (and states at times) and obviously different jobs. I found out that they had one of those love stories that you watch in a movie. Joey is in the army, which adds that much more to their story. I won't get into the mushy details as I didn't even tell Ashley I would be writing this blog, but will say that the two knew right away that they were perfect together. It is how you hear, "you just know" type of love. From flying her out to Germany to see him, to building their relationship over the phone which was their only option most of time, one could see how they really got to know each other. I tell Ashley that people who say the long distance thing doesn't work,  are wrong. I know from first hand, as well as with her, if you want it- you can have it. Their relationship was all communication, and to me, many couples often struggle because once that physical attraction isn't so hot and heavy- you need to know that you enjoy each other's company with words, ideas, and interests. They have that, and through that, will be great in whatever their futures may bring them in the service.

I recently spent time with Ashley during her bridal shower and bachelorette party. I was so nice to catch up with her parents, extended family, and new friends...

Ashley and Joey will be married on Valentines weekend at our childhood church, St. Anthony. It will be beautiful and I cannot wait to stand up on the alter with her as her bridesmaid. I have a feeling I will be crying like baby...but am so excited to see my friend as a bride. Marriage is a huge step in a person's life that changes everything. So for her to have found her partner, and us getting to celebrate that with her as she was with us on our wedding- will be very special. We love you, Ashley.

Ashley with me on my big day.