Good happenings

I've been feeling pretty down in the dumps lately, and I'm not exactly sure why.  Maybe it's been the weather over the last few weeks (mostly cloudy, rainy, dreary, and chilly), maybe I'm more stressed about work than I realize, or maybe it's just good old fashion hormones.  Whatever the reason though, I have been having a hard time finding the motivation to do much, including posting on the blog.  I have perked up a bit over the last couple of days, so I thought I would write about some of the good things that are going on right now.

1)  It's spring break!  And who doesn't like a week off, right?

2)  Even though the weather has been dull lately, there are signs of spring.  Flowers have started blooming, plants have begun reemerging, and it's finally going to be warm this weekend - 70s!  I'm hoping that we are finally, truly heading into spring.  We have been getting teasers lately, a warm day here or there, only for it to turn chilly and rainy again.  These teasers almost make things worse.  It's like Mother Nature is saying "Na na na na boo boo!"  Ha!  I know I shouldn't be complaining too much.  At least we don't have any snow on the ground.  But as someone who does not tolerate the cold well, I am more than ready for spring.  So, fingers crossed that it is going to get warm, and stay warm!

3)  Cooper is doing well!  Last May, we adopted Cooper from an animal shelter here in town.  We visited many of the shelters in the area before finding Cooper and deciding to bring him home.  At the time, the shelter estimated him to be about 8 years old.  He was skinny, matted, and heart worm positive.  We brought him home though and immediately started treatment for the heart worms.  If you don't know anything about heart worm treatment, it is a long, and in Cooper's case, grueling process.  He was so ill throughout the treatment that I was afraid he wasn't going to make it.  There was one night in particular where I was sure he would no longer be with us when I woke up in the morning.  He's still here though!  About a month ago, we took him in to have a heart worm test 6 months after treatment ended.  It was negative (yay!), so he is officially heart worm free.  :)  Also, Albert and I have both noticed lately that he has been gaining weight (much needed) and is looking great.  I've always been more of a cat person than a dog person, but Cooper has slowly worked his way into my heart, and I'm so glad we rescued him.

4)  Finally, we just booked a summer trip to Ireland!  We have been talking about this trip for months, but just in the past week, we booked our flights, lodging, and car rental.  We will be making a loop around the southern half of the island, starting and ending in Dublin.  Some of the sights we will be seeing include, but are definitely not limited to!, the Guinness Storehouse, Temple Bar, Kilkenny Castle, Waterford Crystal, Jameson Distillery, Blarney Castle/Stone, Killarney National Park, Ring of Kerry, the Cliffs of Moher, Kylemore Abbey, and more.  We are so excited we can't hardly wait!

After all of that, it's hard to imagine that I have been feeling down.  Maybe I just needed a reminder of all the good happenings lately!