Here we area gain catching up on the past few weeks of Ace's life! I had a small typo as it will actually be the weeks 14-17 since we have already talked about week 13. If you are raising a corgi pup or maybe just love dogs in general I hope this is a fun and helpful read.

Age: 14 Weeks Old
Ace has really adjusted to us at this point and is becoming very open. We noticed that he only barks when he wants attention whether that be from us, strangers walking by, or other dogs. We had our first visit to the Three Dog Bakery and he had a blast! He loved all the fun smells, and we got him a new harness, collar, and adorable OSU bow-tie. At this point Ace is 95% bell trained. He rings the bell whenever he wants to go outside and has not had any accidents. Sometimes he even takes naps by his potty bell so he can ring it when he wakes up. Ace had another round of shots and another de-wormer, but we are on the right track. Ace can consistently sit and is better at "down" or "lie down". He weight about 10lbs at the vet's office so he has almost doubled in size since the first week we had him (wow!) and his coat has thickened out into a beautiful and shiny black.

Age: 15 Weeks Old
We started off this week with Ace's first day of obedience school! We went to K-9 Kinetics in Stillwater, OK and Ace did pretty well. He was not the only pup there, there were about 8 dogs and 16 people in total. We were very proud because for the first time Ace was surrounded by dogs and people in close proximity but he did not bark at anyone! He really showed us how well he can "lie down" and even learned how to get on and off of objects. There were several other things covered in the class, but these were some fun ones he really started to master. We went to the Three Dog Bakery again as a reward which was great! Ace has been having a lot of energy in the evenings when we get home from work so we've started to be more intentional with play time and taking longer walks. It has really shown because he is back to sleeping almost all the way through the night. 

Carbonara Casserole (Keto Friendly) 
Ingredients:
1 pre-baked Spaghetti Squash
1 11oz bag frozen zucchini noodles
1 package of thick bacon, cut into chunks
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
8oz shredded parmesan 
Ground black pepper

Directions:

1. To bake your spaghetti squash you’ll want to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the squash in half, scoop out all of the seeds, then place it face down on a greased pan to bake for 30-40 minutes.
2. Once fully cooked scoop out the insides of the squash into a bowl with a fork and cover to keep it warm. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Cook the thick bacon chunks in a skillet at medium heat until fully cooked, but not crispy.
   1. Start the bacon in a cold pan and bring to heat, as this will render out more fat.
4. While cooking, beat together your egg/egg yolk-cheese mixture in a bowl until fully combined. Add black pepper to taste.
5. Cook/heat your zucchini squash as directed on the package and add it to the skillet with the bacon. Add in the spaghetti squash as well and stir together quickly to assure everything stays warm.
6. Cut the heat and add in your egg sauce mixture, continuing to stir and avoiding a scrambled egg situation (as it is meant to be a sauce). One fully stirred pour all of it into a baking dish of your choice (we chose a pretty small 10inx8in dish).
7. Bake the dish for 25-30 minutes, or until firm when shaken, remove from the oven and let cool before plating. Enjoy!

If we were to do this dish again, I think we would cook 2 spaghetti squash and leave out the zucchini noodles, but they did add a very mild flavor and the dish itself was fantastic! Plus it is Keto friendly which for some is a win-win.

As far as both dishes go, the traditional carbonara left overs do not keep quite as well as the casserole in reference to being re-heated, but both still taste delicious even a few days after! 

​One fun twist about this box is that it came with a recipe to make tsukimi dango with a brief history on how dango is a staple item at the moon festival. While the snacks and tea included in the Bokksu were delicious, Adam and I could not resist the chance to try cooking something new. We researched the rice flour, ordered some, and made dango the exact same day they came in! ​

Once complete we enjoyed the dango with the sauce drizzled over alongside our Bokksu treats. It was really fun! Unfortunately, we had so much it made a ton of leftovers and the sauce becomes very gelatin-like after being refrigerated. It was a little funky for Adam, so he hasn’t had any other than the fresh ones, but the taste is the same so I really didn’t mind. ​If you'd like to make some for yourself, the ingredient lists are included below!

Blogging has also provided an outlet for stress relief. Writing gives me a new focus and provided motivation to try new things I may not have otherwise. I used it as a tool to plan out a new mini-trip, to try new local restaurants, and to get more involved in local politics. I’ve also looked up a ton of new recipes I’d like to try, as well as have reached out to friends and family for a few more unique recipes I could try and post about. ​

Lastly, I’m hoping writing consistently in this blog will slowly improve my writing skills. I have not been confident in my own writing abilities throughout my college career, and am always one to critique myself. I’ve never felt as though I have a “voice” or “writing style” per se, and I hope that I can use this to build those skills and find that “voice”. For anyone who takes the time to read this blog and grow with me, thank you. I appreciate you more than you could ever know. ​

This past Thursday I completed Bucket List Goal #21 by attending the “Dance Party” workout class at the Oklahoma State University Colvin center. I’ve been wanting to branch out and attend more classes, and while this one was not completely “new” to me because I attended it once a year ago, it was new to two of my friends that attended as well. Three of us have been wanting to find a work out class to attend together and decided to try three different ones for three weeks in a row. Last week we tried Dance Party at 7:30pm, and the goal was to try Barre at 5:30 pm this week and Pop Pilates at 6:30pm the week after. 
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The thing is, Dance Party was amazing. It was a really intense workout that included cardio, abs, and legs; it was fun and encouraged us to be silly, and we loved it so much I think we will end up going to this class from now on. The timing is not great, as all three of us would prefer the 5:30pm class right after work, but the class is worth the inconvenience. It was a packed room with fun hip hop music, fun moves, and some sneakily incorporated squats and lunges. Within that class I logged over 4,000 steps on my fitbit, and increased my heart rate significantly! It also made for a good excuse to stretch and hit the sauna afterwards. As someone trying to get a consistent workout routine down, I am excited to see where this class (and other exercise classes) take us!

​Once we finished and iced the Tres Leches our cat Leo came to check it out. We noticed a trail of whipped cream on the counter and the culprit (in the top left of the photo) licking the left overs off of his tail. While we had a good laugh, we decided that it would be best not to take that cake to work and to just bring the other one.