stocking is hung

Grandma made Pirate a new stocking that is bone-a-fide-adorable. He is sure to have visions of treats and toys tonight. Happy Christmas Eve!

comfy cozy are we

Hot chocolate? Check. Blanket? Check. Lamb and Salmon dog treat? Check.


Pirate and I drove around town last night to look at the lights, with the heat and the Christmas music on full blast. So very merry.

new toys

Pirate and I both got new toys- a squeaky bear and a video camera- and tried them out today. His lasted about 20 minutes and I'm disappointed with the quality of the camera, although it is a fine first recorder for me. Here are short videos of our playtime.

listing lists

Here are some fun and interesting year(s)-in-review lists:

1. NPR's "All Songs Considered" compiled the 50 most influential songs of the past 10 years. Their rationale for why Britney Spears's "Toxic" makes the list totally helps me justify why it's on my iTunes...

2. The London Times Online has put out their predictions for what to expect in entertainment with a list of 50 movies to watch in 2010. They also have a list of the 100 best films and books of the decade.

3. Chef Mark Bitten posted the top 11 grocery items American's bought last year and it is not a pretty sight. Also check out the 2o worst foods in America in 2009 and say "Chili’s Pepper Pals Country-Fried Chicken Crispers with Ranch Dressing and Homestyle Fries" three times fa-- you know what? I changed my mind. Never say it.

4. Amazon.com has a list titled "The Best Books of 2009... so far." I've read none of them.

5. The Committee to Protect Journalists has a list of the 10 worst countries to be a blogger. Shame on you, Burma.

my kind of town

Going to Chicago is always fun. But this year it was incredibly warm and sunny so I could not stop walking around and around and around the city. I went to the standard tourist spots, but also got to see new neighborhoods thanks to the warm weather. Visiting with old friends, going shopping on the Magnificent Mile, and eating fabulous food was SO worth the blisters.

Pirate's 1st Birthday

Mom and I had a great long weekend (okay, so it was a 5 day extravaganza) celebrating Pirate's first year with me. He got toys everyday (his favorite was the K-9 Kicker), well wishes on Facebook, and lots of playtime. Happy Birthday to my good dog!

I enjoy playful subversions of violent signifiers.
This is a painting I just did to promote that idea.

ingenious innovation: shoe goo

I like shoes. A lot.
I think about them,
shop for them,and
have favorite pairs.

I got these Birkenstocks
in Germany over
TEN YEARS AGO. They
were falling apart and I
still could not throw
them out.
Shoe Goo to the rescue!
They are now good as
new.

on the up and up

a

The annual hot air balloon race was this weekend in St. Louis so Ann, Pirate and me went to Forest Park (gosh I love that place) to have a picnic and watch the slow moving action. We took a paddle boat out so we could peddle around the lake and see the balloons fly overhead while Pirate lounged.

popeye picnic

On Saturday I took a drive to Chester, Illinois, the home of E.C. Segar who created Popeye the Sailor man and developed his characters based on people in his town. Every year there is a festival celebrating Segar and Popeye's clan. This year's theme: Popeye in Little Egypt, hence the Pharaoh Popeye sand sculpture.

lazy days

Labor Day weekend was spent in St. Louis this year, my favorite close getaway. As always, there was a trip to Forest Park to say hi to Mr. Saint Louis. But this time there was even more walking around town: to the older parts of the city to look at the brick homes and sidewalks, the Loop to window shop, to Union Station to see the fish, and the new Citygarden downtown, full of sculpture and plants. Pirate loves vacations because we always seem to find new smells and new pet stores, which means a new toy... or two.

dog days of summer: heading home

Pirate could sense it was time to pack up and start driving back home. But before we got back to Illinois, we made a few stops in Iowa: we saw some glorious friends and visited the American Gothic House and Museum to recreate and update that iconic image. Pirate got a new back to school collar, so the Dog Days of Summer 2009 are officially over.

dog days of summer: family time

dog days of summer: old hangouts

Onto Minneapolis and St. Cloud to see more friends and family. Pirate and I went to my favorite restaurant in St. C- Val's- a little shack that serves the best french fries and shakes, and took a stroll around Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis and watch the sailboats and meet all the other dogs on the trail.

dog days of summer: party down

We had a fantastic time at grandma's 80th birthday party at Lake Vermillon. She got 80 presents (Pirate picked out a few squeaky toys for her) and 8 cakes with ten candles (lit by blowtorch). After all our picnics there was tubing, water skiing, 4-wheeling, and intense games of sand volleyball to get to. Pirate was a great sport: he stood in the volleyball court with us every time we played.

dog days of summer: at cotton lake

Lake life has two fundamental principles: lounge and play. Repeat. Pirate has those two down. He played in the yard with my aunt and uncle's golden retrievers, hung out in dad's new cabin, went on a canoe ride, and sat with grandma and grandpa while we chatted. Three cheers for the lake!

dog days of summer: gardening

Mom's garden is an amazing place: want raspberries on your cereal in the morning or your ice cream at night? Chives on your potato? Everything for salsa? Then walk 25 feet and go get it! Even Pirate pitched in to help pick the ripe stuff- he got the first tomato and made it into an edible ball.

dog days of summer: poolside

After a surprising fall into the pool at first sight/sniff, Pirate was soon parading confidently around its periphery like a little lifeguardog.

dog days of summer: in omaha

The first leg of the trip was a visit to Omaha to hang out with my cousin and uncle. We did all the fun summer stuff we could think of: going to the amazing zoo, the water park, eating ice cream, walking our dogs, and basically spending as much time as possible outdoors. Of course, I had to check out Warren Buffett's pad too.

dog days of summer: vacation recap

carbondale, il to omaha to fargo to cotton lake to fargo to minneapolis to lake vermilion to minneapolis to st. cloud to minneapolis once more to cedar rapids to mt. vernon, ia to eldon, ia to kimmbal, mo to carbondale again= a midwestern loop, 3 1/2 weeks, 3,095 miles.

no buy july: go outside

Take a walk with a buddy.

no buy july: go fly a kite

A kite is a fun and free (thank you to my collection of crafting items) thing to make in the summer.
I got the directions from PBS's webpage on Ben Franklin- it also includes his own instructions from 1752.

Send it soaring!

no buy july: making presents

Another birthday this month. Alison is turning 30 and has the
greatest taste in music. She's old, she likes music, so I gave her a
Lawrence Welk record shaped into a bowl for entertaining.
How to: put a record and and some rocks on top of a glass bowl
and pop it in a 300 degree oven. As the LP begins to soften
and sink, you can mold it and shape it as desired,
then plunge in cold water.

Other ideas:
make CD mixes
write a poem
draw or paint a picture
spend time with the birthday gal/guy

no buy july: find the free II

Here are some free options for summertime tunes: iTunes has a free song download every week and this month, Nylon magazine has a free summer playlist that is killer: 22 great songs by bands like Phoenix and the Plastiscines. Just click here and rock out.