Walking and Working It

I feel like my life is a little different these days. To say that having Mr. T has changed my life and my daily routine is an understatement. Things are different with a dog and not necessarily for better or worse, just different.

I now regularly wake up before 6:30 a.m. In fact most days, by 6:30 a.m. I'm already out walking the dog. Early last week, the ball of my right foot started hurting. I came home, put an ice pack on it and contemplated how I could make it feel better immediately because I have a dog that needs to walk.

Later that night when I took Taylor out, I realized my sandals were doing my feet no favors. It's no wonder though that my feet are reacting to the lack of support in my shoes. I now on average walk about 4 miles a day. Between my commute to and from work and the two walks a day T and I go on, I generally log anywhere from 4 to 5 miles each and every day. I have not been to my gym in months. I really don't feel the need and honestly will probably cancel my membership when it expires in October. Between the dog and my free gym at work, I just don't see me having any reason to hold a membership I don't use.

 The dog has also had an unexpected effect on the way I view Mike and our relationship. Having this dog that doesn't always choose to listen and has no idea what is in his best interest has really forced us to communicate a lot more than I anticipated. Mike and I have discussed every aspect of our dog's behavior since getting him and have become dog psychologists in the meantime. But I have been pleasantly surprised so see that as far as dog parenting has gone, we've been on the same page the entire way. I try not to ever compare my animals to kids, but at the same time I can't help thinking that this bodes well for any future child rearing we may do.

My life has not been entirely about the dog though. My sister was in town this past weekend. We did a lot of girly things, including shopping for dresses we didn't need, splitting an entire pitcher of sangria over a tapas dinner, lounging on the beach this afternoon and making the winning dress in the toilet paper bride game we played at a bridal shower on Saturday. I can work a toilet paper wedding gown. The weekend was a lot of fun, but I also think I'll be going to bed within the half hour. I am beat.

At this point though, I just need to make it through this week. As of Friday afternoon Mike and I will be on vacation. We're packing up the Jeep on Monday morning, dropping the dog off for boarding and heading up Michigan's west coast for the wedding of a fantastic couple. It will be my first week-long vacation in over a year. It will be my and Mike's first vacation together this year. And it will be the first time I think a vacation will truly feel like a vacation. Because on vacation there will be no 6 a.m. dog walks. The only think I plan on doing at 6 a.m. is sleeping.