It's all about Dolly!

Happy birthday to Dolly!
We had a great dinner tonight at Finz, just Julie, Nick, Mom and I. She attacked us with her camera, so I had to reciprocate.

She gets a little shy when people sing to her.

How cute is she? I love you Mom! Happy Birthday!

Rusty Waits

Tomorrow is one week from our first obedience class, and I thought I would try to show how well we are doing.
He is a smart cookie.



You can see he almost jumps the gun, but I am proud of him anyway. It's tough waiting to enjoy some treats that are sitting right on your paws, Raven told me so.

Tuff Plushie?

This poor little blue and gray long friend is less than 24 hours old.

So what that I paid $15.99 plus sales tax for something I could have gotten cheaper over the internet with free shipping.

We need instant gratification in this house, as you can tell.

If you would like to see what this thing looks like new, and the incredibly bad rating that this 3X stronger than the average plushie toy gets...click here

I should have gotten him the $4.00 bunny, at least it would have lasted longer than 24 hours.

Cowboy Essentials

My fathers ranch is the perfect place to take incredible images of everyday cowboy stuff. He is a packrat of all that he holds dear. No clutter, just essential cowboy accoutrements.

Horseshoes

Salt licks

Tack

Horses
I took these photos in August of last year which is sadly the last time I visited. We really have to visit again, soon.

I have been inspired by my friend Kerry to actually post some more focused photographs that I have taken over the years. The more I look at them, the more beauty I see in the dusty subjects.

Happy Birthday to Julie!

I love you to pieces!

I'm Clive Owen, that's mental!

You can all thank Julie for my new found obsession with Extras.

I just found this gem. What a good pathetic laugh.

Scott is going to pick up the first two seasons tomorrow on dvd, which are most likely the only two seasons.
He needs to own that which he loves.

First Obedience Class

Surprisingly to me, Rusty did very well today. I was imagining a snarling, growling, barking, misbehaving dog, but luckily he was none of the above. The fact that this was a new place to him probably had a lot to do with that.
We had to walk him alone instead of having the 10 minute play/socialize time with the other dogs before the lesson, but what a beautiful landscape to have to take a walk in.
Kerry was not kidding when she said the property was "very peaceful for man and human". I had to get some shots before the lessons started.



I found it incredibly tranquil and beautiful with the rolling hills and paths.
We have homework called "Nothing in life is free" and that basically means that Rusty has to do something that I specifically ask for before he gets any affection, treat or time outside. Starting off this means to sit, stay, down and wait/stay. Then he gets all the rubs and scratches he wants. We are using a lot of treats now, too.
He likes string cheese, but it makes him gassy.

Obedience training Today

The appointment yesterday went well.

Scott and I had a little bit of trouble finding the Center for Behavior and Training, but we finally found it and all was well. The meeting consisted of Dr. Marder and two vet students. Rusty did a great job acting like a good dog, I was super pleased with him. We went over his history and talked about his general behavior and how we will change the way he reacts to the stimulus that creates this aggressive behavior. We have a lot of homework to do. Dr. Marder's prognosis after the meeting was 'Fair, with intensive training' at least it wasn't 'Poor with no hope at all' so I am taking that and running with it.

Scott and I took separate cars so he could go directly to work afterwards. Rusty and I moseyed along to Jape and Suzanne's house. Rusty had a nice little playdate with Raven and I had 3 mid afternoon beers with my friends. We came home so exhaused, me from the beers at JapieSuze, and Rusty from all the attention and activities of the day. We both curled up on the couch and took a long nap, sweet lovely peaceful sleep. There is a good dog deep down in that biting hot mess.

Today we have our first obedience class, and we don't even have to travel all the way downtown, we are going to The Animal Rescue League in Dedham. We missed the orientation since the 6 week course started last Sunday, but we were quickly brought up to speed in 10 minutes. So we will be on the 5 week plan instead. A big plus is that the ride is sweet and easy compared to yesterdays ride.

My lille aggressive pooch.

Today we are visiting the Center for Behavior and Traning at The Animal Rescue League in Boston. We have an appointment with veterinarian and certified behaviorist, Dr. Amy Marder. He will be on a 3 month program with her, hopefully we can resolve some of his issues in that time.


God, I hope he doesn't bite her! Wish us luck!

Pug nose face.

Let's all pause and take a moment for some humor.

This clip is brilliant

Freaking hilarious!

My new commute

I had to pull over on my way home from work on Wednesday to take some photos of the glorious landscape.
This sure beats the traffic and freeway!



Jealous? I pass by this two times a day.

Las Vegas in retrospect.

I am having a cyber vacation and you all can come along with me. Scott and I wanted to book a trip for this fall, but it seems that it is not going to happen this year. So...enjoy some photos of last years visit to Sin City! I took all these pictures last August.




There is no other place where you can be active 25 hours a day. Yeah, I said 25 hours...I know how many hours there is in a day, but somehow you get more when you visit Vegas. That must be why they say "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" I always thought that was a stupid saying, but after last years visit and being away for a year, I think I get it now.
Here is Scott looking very nostalgic on the balcony of the Venetian.

The hotel in the distance is the hotel we stayed at for 5 nights. The Treasure Island, if we can get back to Vegas, I would stay there again...no question! We had absolutely no complaints.

We never did eat at McDonanlds, but the arches were spectacular, so I had to get a photo of it.

Hopefully we will be able to have another Vegas trip soon. We really had a great time last year, and it should be a tradition....don't you think?

Who is this man?

Scott decided to let the 'Man' win.
Today he shaved his face, but he continues to grow his hair.

Before:


After:


With that fantastic head of hair, you would think he would have at least kept a Freddy Mercury moustache.

Chez Nick

Saturday Night!
After Norwood Day, there was an impromtu Wonton party at chez Nick. Yummy and delicious.

I love this photo because it is apparent that Nick is talking with his hands...heehee!

Scott and I...another blurry photo, but I love Scotts expression in mid head move.

A picture from outside the deck.

Norwood Day

Yesterday was Norwood Day, and for the first time since I have been a part of it, the weather held out splendidly. It was a bit humid, but it didn't rain and there were actually stretches of sun! This picture is very early on in the day. The crowds just kept coming throughout the day and by early in the afternoon, you couldn't even walk. It was more like waiting in a line to get where you wanted to go. I worked the WIB booth, and the custom art framing booth, simultaneously.



I had to shuffle up the street a bit to actually have some breathing room to get this picture of the crowds, click on the photo to enlarge it, the crowds were tremendous! With the whole center of town shut down to traffic, it really looks surreal.




Nick's booth for Band Gig. He was alone in the morning, but some fellow band gig peeps helped him out before he was due onstage.
At 2:30pm a band from Band Gig performed on the big stage. It's funny seeing teenagers rocking out!


Kathleen, Janice and Margaret from WIB.
At the WIB booth, we raised money for the Norwood Scholorship Foundation. I think we did well.





I didn't get a great picture of the frame with the scratch tickets, but here is a sad picture just so you can see. WIB bought $100 worth of scratch tickets in various denominations and CustomArtFraming framed it up with a ten dollar bill in the center. People ate it up. We sold one ticket for $1 and an arms length (15) for $10. I am sure we will be doing a similar raffle to this one next year, it was a great fundraiser! I can't wait to hear what the final tally is!

I'm a survivor!

The zombie survivor test. See how you do. Here's how I did...

Your result for Zombie, Zombie Food, or Zombie Survivor Test...

The Survivor

You are a warrior, a survivor.

You are well prepared and knowledgable and will no doubt live a long and happy zombie-free life. You might want to think about setting up a zombie survival group in your area, an anti-undead militia. But please, for everyone's sake keep it low-key. We don't want the government to think we are on to their scheme so take your band and keep moving.

Take Zombie, Zombie Food, or Zombie Survivor Test at HelloQuizzy

Katrina Majkut and the Boston Skyline

There is a whimsical installation by artist Katrina Majkut on the base of a sloping hill at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline.
The installation is on site for the month of August, but since I took this picture on September 7th, it is still up...for now.

We drove by this on Saturday, and came back for a closer look on Sunday. To me, it made a statement of youth and careless fun. The pinwheels are made from recycled 2 liter plastic bottles, wire hangers, and wine corks. I found it quite lovely.

While we were there walking the grounds, I had to get a shot of the Boston skyline, so we trekked up the hill, turned around, and voila!

Close up...

What a beautiful country we live in!

SOWA Sept 7th

Scott, Suzanne and I went to the SOWA Open Market today. I was itching to check it out ever since I learned that I would be selling there on October 12th.



The market today could have been busier, but I kept hearing from the various vendors that today was uncommonly slow. I also heard that October 12th will most likely be a much busier day because of the holiday and a lot of tourists would be shopping. I hope they are right. Regardless, it was a wonderful day. I bought some produce from Silverbrook Farms and some sourdough bread from another vendor.



I saw some fellow Boston Handmade members and chatted it up a bit.


It seems that Jessica was a bit camera shy today. She was selling her handmade bags which were very sweet. She shared a booth with her friend Rebecca from Little Wishes who makes beautiful sparkly jewelry.

While we were there, we witnessed this unfortunate Monkey melee at the MonkeyShines booth, I hope no one was injured!



But we also witnessed some incredibly sweet monkey love, too! It's so nice when we all get along, isn't it?



We actually did quite a bit more today than just go to the Market, but I will save the rest for another day. My tootsies are tired, and I am ready to eat my purchases.

I am all about going GREEN, but....

I just came across this on the worldwide interweb, can you guess what it is?

It's called a Keeper Cup and I just really can't wrap my head around it or any other part of my anatomy. I'm trying, but ...umm....NO.

Discuss.

"If you do good work, the money will follow"

I have googled my Dad before, but never found a video...until now.

This snippet seems to be one in a collection of interviews entitled "20 Outstanding Los Angeles Designers, 1986"

A little awkward, but totally my dad.
In the very beginning of the video snippet, you can even see Dad with ChaCha (Chicako), my stepmother, on a very large deck with a beautiful view of a harbor in Los Angeles.

This video is a snippet of an 18 minute long interview from 1986 I found on Ebay



The seller, who actually is the interviewer as far as I can tell, wants $24.00 plus $8.00 shipping for a freaking 18 minute DVD! I don't think I can go there. I'll have to ask my dad if he has a copy he can send me.

So, to all my friends who have never met my dad, here he is in a 1:58 totally blink of an eye interview. To view the 18 minute video, you have to buy it...If you do, can you ask me over to view it? I haven't seen it.

This is horribly short, I wanted more. I already emailed ChaCha to see if she knew it was out there, and possibly to get a copy of the whole thing. Dad unfortunately is email illiterate.