Random Recap: A THOR-oughly Enjoyable Weekend

I'm just gonna start this post out by saying it will most likely be the biggest compilation of dog photos you will ever see. I would also like to start out by saying that in no way do I apologize for that haha! We watched a friend's puppy this weekend and oh my goodness do I have puppy fever now. I've been saying for about 2 years now that Layla was my first and last puppy butttt.....things have changed since this weekend! Well, for the first ten minutes we had him over I was begging Amanda for another puppy and then after about an hour I remembered why I actually don't want a puppy ever again: they. are. ex. hausting!!

It was like the perfect amount. Kind of like when you get to hold a baby but then they cry and you don't have to deal with it so you just give them back to their parents haha! But really, that's what this was. Sometimes I wish I could go back to when Layla was a wee little nugget for like a day because she was so dang cute and so much fun but then I remember what it's like to have a full-grown adult dog that is potty-trained, knows their commands, comes when they're called, doesn't chew everything in sight, and is safe to leave alone for more than 10 seconds. In short, puppies are fun but my goodness are they work. Looking at Layla now, they're totally 100% worth it but you have to be willing to invest a solid two years of your time with a puppy. Layla is 2 and a half now and there are still things I work on with her, mainly her insane excitement for anyone new.

Anyway, this puppy's name is Thor (hence my cheesy title hehe I crack myself up) and he belongs to a lady that goes to our Bible study. She couldn't believe we were so willing and excited to help watch him because he's so young so she kept saying "are you sure? I mean, he's only a puppy!" and I kept assuring her that her rationale of why I wouldn't want to watch him is exactly why I did want to watch him haha! I mean it's a puppy, who doesn't love puppies?!

ESPECIALLY, when the puppy is that stinkin' cute! 

I was also not-so-secretly insanely curious as to how Layla would react to Thor. Now, I was not concerned in the slightest of her hurting him or not getting along with him because I've said it before but Layla's life mission is to be everyone's best friend. I wanted to see how she would handle him because when she was a small puppy basically every single adult dog hated her and that's perfectly normal, puppies are annoying to them! 

Well, I will say that Layla loved him about 95% of the time. She was thrilled to have a new playmate and they played a lot together but there were times where she was done playing and he was not. That was when I made a conscious effort to separate them to give her a break plus to teach him some social manners. I made sure to watch him and when he started to annoy her, I put him in his place because I knew Layla wouldn't. She's too docile and submissive with other dogs to "speak up" as we would think of it. 

Basically, it was a fascinating social experiment to me because dogs are such a cool animal to me. It was also quite the refresher course of what to do with a puppy! I got to re-live potty training, redirection, play-biting, crate-training, all the good stuff haha! Before I even got Layla I remember reading up on training puppies and you wouldn't believe how many people said to hold off training until the puppy is older. They all claimed to enjoy the time while the puppy is so cute and little and I remember thinking to myself "well, that ain't gonna happen!" I planned on disciplining and training Layla from day one, and that's what I did with Thor. Sure, he's not my puppy but there's no way I was going to not train him while he was staying with us. If it was the other way around and Layla had been staying with someone that young, I'd want them to discipline her. There are also some people that claim puppies aren't very trainable young (he's only 9 weeks) and again I have to thoroughly disagree. Thor picked up quickly what I was saying to him and what I wanted him to do. Of course he didn't know any commands yet but that didn't matter, all you have to do is use authoritative energy. 

This picture cracks me up because Layla's face says it all! This was probably approximately 30 minutes before he went home, and she just looks utterly exasperated. He had a thing where he LOVED her tail and would attack it constantly. There were so many times she'd be walking around and he'd be dragging along behind latched onto her tail. Sometimes I was scared he was going to get squished because so often he'd run around beneath her as she was walking or they got too rough playing but he turned out to be a lot hardier than he looked haha! Definitely one of the more stressful things was that he wasn't our puppy so we were concerned about him getting accidentally hurt since Layla is honestly 10x his size. If he were our puppy, though, Amanda and I decided we wouldn't be as worried because it'd have to be one of those times he learned. 

She put herself early to bed Sunday night haha! Usually she doesn't come up until I'm in bed. She'll lay in the hallway while we all get ready to sleep, but she beat me to bed on Sunday. 

Okay, so enough puppy stuff now on to what I was doing the rest of the weekend since this is a general recap after all. Saturday evening Amanda and I headed to church since she still had one more service at our old church Sunday morning. My whole family has been making the switch to a new church that I could not be more excited about! I've been going to our new one every so often with a friend of ours from Bible study, and I've wanted to make the switch for ages but was waiting on God's timing. Well, turns out my whole family wants to switch so it worked out perfectly! 

Anyway, I whipped up a tortizza for dinner which I have been making for about the past five nights haha! They're so easy and versatile, though, that makes them a great dinner on the go. This one I used a Flat Out wrap (makes the best "crust" in my opinion) topped with pesto, spinach, shaved brussel sprouts (found at Trader Joe's), tomatoes, ground turkey, and leftover roasted butternut squash. I just pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 8-9 minutes and it's good to go! 

I had Sunday morning off from church since I went with Amanda on Saturday night so I decided to take Layla for an easy run. My sciatic nerve is still bothering me and any sort of lower body lifting can really aggravate it but luckily running doesn't. It's perfect timing because I got the itch to run again which is strange since I usually prefer to take the summer off running but it's all I've wanted to do lately! 

Plus, my foot is feeling fine and I got new running shoes this past Sunday so I'm pretty happy with that! Let's just hope the pain stays away. Layla and I got in 3 easy miles and she was tuckered out for the rest of the day. She could hardly get her post-run nap in because Thor was still insisting on playing! After our run, I sat down to a nice bowl of blueberry zoats. 

In the afternoon, I headed out to pick out a new pair of running shoes! I was super excited as they FINALLY had a new color of my Asics (I use the gel 2000 series) but since they're a stability shoe (my foot pronates inward) they hardly ever make new colors. Not sure why but that's what the lady at the store told me since she has the same problem. My last three pairs have all looked the same which makes it fun trying to tell them apart haha! I always keep my running shoes once I'm done running with them because they're still good for walking and stuff. I keep about 1-2 old pairs and donate the rest as I get in new ones. 

Yesterday morning I met up with a friend at my gym to help train her. We did a light lower body circuit and 20 minutes after we finished I knew it was no bueno for my back. Any sort of lifting that can put pressure on my lower back seems to make things worse so I have to be careful with certain upper body lifts too especially shoulders and back. I've found that pull-ups or any angled back exercises (like cable lat pull downs) and any shoulder moves that cause me to press the weight overhead are not good. I go back to my doctor soon and she's aware of my sciatica but said as long as I can do things without aggravating it should be fine. She'll also do a full body back exam at that time so in the mean time I just have to babysit it. 

After our workout, I headed to Sam's Club since the good one is on that side of town. I made my favorite overnight oats to hold me over since I knew I'd be starving because it was close to 9 and I hadn't had anything to eat yet besides my coffee that morning. 

After running errands and doing some chores around the house, I headed to Panera around 11 because after a puppy-filled weekend of distractions I had gotten absolutely nothing productive done! I desperately needed to study and catch up on work so when that happens I isolate myself so I can really focus. Otherwise if I'm at home and want to procrastinate I suddenly find myself dying to re-organize my shoe bin haha! That's when I know it's bad...

I was able to get some solid studying and work done, which was a relief! I can't lie and say I wasn't stressing at the fact that I got absolutely nothing done over the weekend but at the same time the break was worth it. I've been studying and working on some projects for close to 6 months so every so often it's great to have a break from everything. Overall, it was a nice low-key weekend, which is just what I needed and wanted!

It's back to the usual today! How was your weekend?!