Lovely, Simple Weekend

It's been a great weekend.

It started with a date night with Noa (see the post below). Saturday I had my bi-weekly class, which I really enjoy actually (call me a dork, but this educational pyschology is interesting - we are studying classical and operant conditioning). Saturday evening, Jess and I got to hang out and spend Saturday night together making a new blog for her and watching "Newlyweds" episodes. She took some amazing pics of the dogs, a couple of which I'm including in today's post. She's incredible with a digital camera. I can't wait to say, "I knew her when..."

But I digress....today brought another trip to the dog park like last Sunday. As usual it was heavenly. There were 6 other IGs there today!! Plus, on the way out we saw some friends who have a huge great dane (who looks like he's dressed as a dalmation) and 2 adorable German Shorthair Pointers that inspire* me. Also, Noa and I studied Japanese some more (Nihonga ga wakarimas ka?), he got my iPod Nano up and running (oh yeah, now I'm living in the 21st century), and I got to use my new (well, from Christmas anyway) asparagus steamer (thanks, Mom!). It doesn't take much to make me happy, but all these things were definite highlights of my weekend.

I love the simplicity of it all - hanging out with friends, watching dvds, going to the park. It's such simple, easy fun - I cherish every minute of it. Sadly, it ends much too soon.

*For those of you who don't know, this is the next breed of dog I would like to own. Whenever I see this couple, I always ask a million questions about there GSPs. I'm sure they get annoyed with it, but I want to be informed and learn as much as I can and these people are friendly and helpful. I really want one...someday.

City of Old

Noa and I finally had a night off together, so we decided to visit St. Augustine - America's oldest city. We've been there many times, but we seem to fall into old patterns when going on a "date" there - same restaurant, same routine - but it's still fun and doesn't get old. I guess that's because we don't get to have a date night there very often. Our favorite restaurant is O.C. Whites which is right on the water and is housed in an old mansion from the 1700s. Noa enjoyed the salmon (which his doesn't get often since I have a strange aversion to seafood). I had the Jamaican Rum Jerk Chicken - mmmm - spicy!! After that, we enjoyed a walk through the downtown, on historic St. George street, which is still decorated with lights from the holidays. Again, our traditional date in St. Augustine is dinner at O.C. Whites followed by ice cream from Kilwins. This time we decided to shake things up a bit (we're so crazy) and went with the chocolate peanut butter fudge at Kilwins. Yum. It was a great night to hang out, catch up, and enjoy the pleasures of the Old City.

Oh, and if you are wondering about the photo with Noa looking extremely happy, it's because we passed a wax museum on our walk and one of his heroes just happened to be "standing around."

It was bound to come up eventually....

Yep, you guess it - THE DOGS. Since I'm terrible about keeping in touch with family and friends I hope that this blog can serve as a window into our lives. Of course one of the biggest parts of our lives is our dogs, Sadie and Gunnar. We just love 'em and they keep us entertained. My favorite thing to do on the weekends is go to the dog park (I'm going to add the link on the side of my blog). This past weekend my friend Bettina and I took our IGs to the dog park to play. It's such a neat opportunity to hang out, meet new people and dogs, and let "the kids" get some energy out. The funny thing about the social aspect of the park is that you meet people through their dogs. Sometimes you never even know the owner's name, but you'll know their dog's name(s), birthday(s), favorite thing(s) to do, bad behavior(s), good behavior(s), etc. I talked with a guy this past weekend who's dobby is named "Trouble" (aptly named after eating a corner of their pool table) and I finally found out what his name was - two weeks after meeting him and Trouble. Last week Trouble ran around with Sadie and Gunnar, another dobby, and a terrier named "Duce." Did I ask any of the owner's their names? Nope and they didn't ask mine. It's part of the culture there, I guess. You have to at least wait until the 2nd play session to get a person's name. It is after all, about the dogs.

Anyway, the blue Italian Greyhound posted above is Louie, Bettina's playful boy. His tail is always wagging - he is soooo happy. Gunnar, who is now about 6 and a half months, with his newfound treasure and then Sadie, who turns 3 in May, looking sweet - she knows how to pose for the camera! Lastly, the IGs decided to pile up on Bettina, including another IG, Buster, who frequents the park as well.

All My Time

Many of you have never seen (nor heard of) the University of North Florida. Although it's considered a small state school, it's a big part of my life here in Florida and it's where I spend much of my waking hours. In fact, I plan on spending more time there this semester, since I am taking more classes than the usual workload and I find that it's easier to get studying done away from home, the dogs, the computer, magazines, books, the telephone.....let's just say, I'm easily distracted. I've been fortunate to be a part of this school and have really enjoyed my classes here. Thankfully, I am able to graduate as planned this April and due to being considered a Floridian* I won't go bankrupt in the process.

Last year the school rebuilt the library and I find myself fortunate enough to be able to actually use this new and beautiful building. The picture does not do it justice, but take my word for it - it's nice. I even get my own, locked, study carroll that is up on the 4th floor and overlooks another construction project for the school. Okay, so my study carroll is not that impressive, but it helps me get my work done and for one semester I actually feel like I "own" a little piece of UNF.


*This is because of living in Jax for one year, thus gaining my state residency requirment for tuition purposes. Nothing against true Floridians, but I will never actually consider myself one. I'll always be a Northerner, or "Yankee" as they call me here, no matter where our travels take us.

First Post EVER!

Well, I've surrendered to the pressure: I've created my own blog - a blog about us, Noa and me that is! I'll mostly use this blog to share our upcoming exciting (and sometimes not so exciting) adventures. And adventures we'll have!! For those of you who don't already know, we're counting down our time in Jacksonville and preparing for a summer move to Okinawa, Japan.

"So, what's with the strange name?" you may ask upon reading the title of this blog. Here's the reasoning behind the name: the blog has to have a title and I didn't just want to name it "Julie's blog" - how boring. Since the blog is about both Noa and me, I went with "Team Juloa", since that's often how we often refer to ourselves. The "Better Than Ice Cream" part goes back to our wedding. The song we chose for our first dance was "Ice Cream" by Sarah McLaughlin. This is a song we identified with early on in our relationship and we knew that it had to be part of our wedding day. The song's opening line is "your love is better than ice cream, better than anything else that I've tried..." Anyone who knows me and knows my penchant for sweets can attest to the fact that saying something is better than ice cream is a true compliment!! So, for us, even though things are constantly changing in our lives, we still have each other and that is the best part - it's "better than ice cream". Think that's pretty cheesy? Well, you wanted to know - so there!

Anyway, since we live far away from our families and some of our friends, and will soon be living even farther, I thought a blog would be the best way to keep in touch with what's happening in our life. Here's where you can hear it all...um, uh, later, when I actually have something newsworthy to share. Until then - dewa, nochihodo (see you later)!

If you are wondering what Gunnar is doing, he's trying to psych himself up for his vet appointment today. He's attempting to give me the "tough guy" look. "I'm not scared at all, Mom! Grrr..."