How Does That Make You Feel?

How does it feel to finally have my very own office? Um, FANTASTIC, that's how!  Since I began working in January I was promised my own office but, man, who would have thought it would take this long?!  After months of being homeless at work, checking everyone's schedule to see which office I might use, having to lug all my things home with me each day, and even having to explain to clients why they would have to bear their souls to me in yet a different room than the one that they already felt comfortable in I finally have a place to call my own.



Teal walls....shocker, I know ;)

It's not complete yet but I've got what I need for the moment.  I feel like I've done a lot of shopping in the past month to get juuuuust the right stuff and I'm beyond pleased with how well everything is creating the vibe I was going for.


Where the paperwork magic happens
Though, I desperately need some wall decor.

And I know I need some knick knacks for the ledge.  Trust me, I am working on it!  But before I can do anything, I've got to get a picture for behind my couch.  I'd actually found this beautiful red tree picture framed in gold that I fell in love with but apparently it doesn't say "Welcome to counseling, sit down and relax."  It was more like "HI YOU'RE IN COUNSELING!"


And last but not least the oh-so-important tissue table:

Only imagine it with a picture in the frame

There you have it.  I went to college, I got married, I got a real job, and now I have an office.  I think it's offical:

I'm a grown up. 

Kipsie Lou Who?

I'm gonna be honest with ya'll....I'm not that far off from being a crazy cat lady. In the past, I always considered myself more of a dog person. After all, dogs are typically friendlier and funnier and cuddlier and everythinger, right? But ever since we got our little Kipsie Whips, I'm coo coo for this kitty. So excuse me, friends and family with dogs and even babies, I'm going to take a second to obsess over our kitty.



"Mom! Turn the light off!"

I can't help it that she's the cutest, sweetest, cuddliest, funniest fuzz ball in the world now can I?



Showing that feather a thing or two!

New ID tag

"I don't need no stinking snuggie"

Miss Kipsie Dipo

The Littlest Dipo

Carson and I have a new baby girl!  Her adoption was a little bit unexpected.  We'd been visiting places around town and thinking of adopting at some point in the future.  On February 23rd, we were out and about checking out furry friends when we saw her.  PetSmart was having an adoption day.  We were already there cheking out some kitties when two women from Spokanimal came in with two cages.  One was a big fat cat called Mr. Cat and the other was this sweet little girl, too scared to come out of the her cage.

But she did come out with a little coaxing and then grabbed onto me in a sweet hug with her paws on my shoulder.  She was purring so loudy and clinging to me with all her strength.  That's when I fell in love.  She'd picked me.  When I handed her to Carson, she picked him too.

Even so, we left without her.  We hadn't planned on adopting.  We weren't sure if it was the right thing.  We went on with our day....but we couldn't forget her!  Though we hadn't planned on a new member of our family just yet, we knew we couldn't let someone else take our little girl.  She was a Dipo through and through.  So we made it official!  We went back and picked up our little girl!

Welcome to our family, Kipsie :)

Valentine's Day

This is the first year I have ever celebrated Valentines with a married man!  Luckily, it was my husband :)  Since V day came on a Thursday, we decided we'd just devote our entire Saturday to being together (and no boring chores, homework, or work allowed!).  First, we drove over to Liberty Lake and simply drove around looking at all the cool houses.  Window shopping for houses is one of my favorite things to do so that was way fun.  Plus, neither of us ever really go to Liberty Lake.  It has a much different feel than Spokane.  I like it.

Then we headed back to Spokane and decided to check out this old haunted building on the Gonzaga campus.  Though I was even a student there, I've never even seen this building or been inside.  They now use it as a place for music majors to go practice.  Supposedly, it WAS haunted but the excorcism was successful.  It was actually a beautiful and creepy mansion with uber creaky floors.

Monaghan Hall at the Gonzaga Campus

Then, since we were already so nearby, we ate at Wolffy's--home of the most delicious hamburgers ever!!  Carson had never been and I'd been meaning to make him try it since, well, forever.  It was pretty scrumptious.  While we did that we answered these questions I found online and then made some up.  I found out that if Carson came into a huge amount of money and he wasn't allowed to spend it on himself, he would donate it to this Native American reservation where they don't have any running water.  I think he watched something about it on Netflix and it really touched him.  We ended up talking about it a lot.  Carson is pretty passionate about it and has always had an interest in Native American culture.

Next, we visted several different places to look at cats and dogs.  This was both fun and heartbreaking.  We keep saying that at some point in the future, we'll get ourselves a fuzzy little ball of love but when we visit I think Carson is ready sooner and sooner :)

And lastly, we played mall bingo which was (as always) halarious!  We made our bingo cards in the car and basically, we wrote down different types of people we were looking for.  Some are simple like "green shirt" and some are funnier like "someone I'd be embarrassed to be related to."  Then we head out on our search and as we spot them, we just have to get approval from the other person before we mark it off.  We found some really interesting people which is always super fun!  And then after walking the mall several times, it took us about forty five minutes to find our car.  That was kind of a bummer but it wasn't raining or snowing so we made the best of it and played "would you rather."

Needless to say it was a pretty great Valentines day.  I got to spend all day with my favorite person :)

Dipo Family Love

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to drive down to Utah with my wonderful husband and his parents.  We were making the trip to attend the funeral of Dora Dipo, Carson's grandma. Though the Dipo family and others touched by the life of this wonderful woman were sad, they were also joyful. They realized that Dora could now be reunited with her husband, George, and her Heavenly Father. They knew that she had led a good life and had been a faithful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and even great-great-grandmother! Though I never met her, it was easy to see her influence as I looked around at the family she'd raised. It was easy to see how dearly she loved them through the love that they gave back to her.

I'm lucky enough to say that I haven't attended many funerals in my life. I am, however, grateful that I was able to attend this one. The word funeral seems to be a sad word with negative connotations but that isn't what I experienced as we celebrated Dora's life. I admit that I shed tears but I wasn't sad for Dora. I was sad for all those that loved her who she had to leave behind for a little while. She'd come to this earth and used her time in the best way anyone could--giving herself to her family.

Thinking about the end of life often reminds those of us in the middle of ours that its finite, that we're not going to have forever here. It certainly makes life in the present very meaningful to know that there is an end to it. It makes me wonder what I'm doing with mine now and if in 60 years I'll be happy that I did it. Sometimes its hard to think about the big picture or see beyond the daily grind. Sometimes I get stuck on the little things. But I think I can honestly say that I'm happy and that I wouldn't want to be anywhere but where I am now, doing what I'm doing now. I have a wonderful husband a wonderful family who I love. Everything else comes second.

First Christmas

        It's December 27th, 2012 which means that Carson and I just spent our very first Christmas together! We stayed close to home and celebrated with Carson's side of the family. It was really warm and cozy and tasty. I missed my own family but it was nice having a husband this Christmas. We opened our own gifts to each other in the morning, saw Les Miserables with the family in the afternoon, and hung out around the house eating and visiting for the rest of the day.

 

We opened our gifts with the Dipo family late that night and it seemed like everyone got something fun. My mom even sent Carson and I a couple new tablets which were super fun! Overall, it was a pretty great day. It even snowed which felt very Christmasy.  It was a great first Christmas! I can't wait for next year so Carson and come to Christmas in Texas and meet the rest of my family. I already know they're going to love him :)

       

The Honeymooners

 

We stayed in this adorable bed and breakfast in Leavenworth.  It's called Abendblume and we were the only two people there the entire time.  So naturally, we took a tour of all the rooms.  Each room is different but at the end of our little tour we felt satisfied that we did indeed have the best room.  It was so adorable and it had this balcony with a gorgeous view of the mountains.  We lucked out because it was still great weather and we ate breakfast out there each moring.  Did I mention they brought breakfast to our room? It was practically a feast, not to mention, absolutely delicious!

 

It was so nice to have our first vacation together.  We didn't have a care in the world and we were surrounded by the beautiful mountains and fall leaves.  We did lots of strolling around town. Leavenworth is an interesting little town with funny little trinket stores and every sign is written in old english which is pretty fun.  Sadly (or happily, depending on your point of view) we did not eat German food.  Though we knew we should, we both agreed that German food isn't really that good so we mostly had Mexican.  We thought the architecture, old english font, and slew of souveniers devoted to beer-drinking was German enough