manicdote

Well, over the weekend (May 25th) - I had my birthday. And the few days preeceding it were spent in a frenzy of cleaning up the house for my father’s arrival…and I’m not sure if they were even here 24 hours and certainly only spent maybe 10 minutes at the house. *sigh* Isn’t that always the way it goes?

Nevertheless, I had an awesome, wonderful time on my birthday. And I got tons of birthday loot. First of all, my Mom sent me those gorgeous flours and balloons that were delivered on Saturday. (Pictures posted on that day from my cell phone). Cool! Flowers always make you feel special, don’t you?

And that day Terry gave me two early birthday gifts…some cookbooks that he’d got for me because he knows how much I love to cook and how much I love reading cookbooks. I got a really cool cookbook from Top Chef, and then I got Jamie Oliver’s new coobook called, COOK with Jamie. It’s really, really great. While a lot of what he cooks isn’t exactly to my liking, I really love a lot of what he talks about. A lot of what he’s saying makes sense and I love his sensibility of cooking. It’s really a gorgeous book and I love reading it and drooling over the photos.

I also got a wonderful gift certificate from Amazon.com from my Mom. I’m still trying to figure out how I want to spend it. I know I’m DEFINATLY getting a gorillapod. Those are wicked cool! And maybe one of Rachel Ray’s garbage bowls? I’ve been really wanting one of those. Or possibly a cutting board? The possibilities are endless! Endless, I say!

And without further ado, here are a few pictures taken this weekend with my brand NEW camera. That was my ACTUAL gift from Terry. Given to me with breakfast over coffee on my birthday morning. Is there any better way to wake up than freshly ground coffee, electronics and your man in boxers? (Mom/Dad, cover your eyes at that point!)

Poley, my first subject:

Ruki, who sat oddly patient while I fiddled with the settings. The photo is a little bright…but look at that CLARITY! I’m so impressed with this camera!

The pugs being impatient and wanting out of their crate. Immediately after this photo was snapped they were ordered “off” (to get down off the crate walls) and to “sit”. They’re not allowed up on the sides like that (even though the LOVE to do it). We’re trying to break them of the habit, but I thought I’d include a photo of what we usually see all the time instead of a beautified version of reality. And ignore the poop in the background of the shot in the litterbox. Reality is beautiful, damnit!

I love, love, LOVE this shot. Ruki is constantly doing this. When not asleep, she is usually walking around on her hind legs. Seriously. I need to get her on Letterman. She’s pretty talented! (Eek! Isn’t it adorable, too?!)

After my family showed up on Sunday, May 25th, we went off to dinner at Mikata (Japanese Steakhouse) which was a lot of fun. There were 6 of us (always fun with a party) and a lot of people had never been to a place like that so that’s always cool…I hate going out with jaded cynics! And I’m such a goof! I totally forgot to take photos while we were there. Ugh! Anyways, later that night we had a great time hanging out at their hotel drinking beer/wine (and rootbeer for me). We also had a red velvet cake with all 31 candels and after nearly burning the place down we enjoyed a few slices. It was a great night.

The next morning we met up at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant for breakfast. We had a leisurely breakfast then afterwards we sat out on the front porch and chatted while rocking on the rocking chairs that they have for sale outfront. It was fun! Here are a few pictures from that time.

Me, my awesome father (recovered from his surgery! Thank-you for your prayers!) and Terry:

Here’s my cool Uncle Syd, my Dad and Terry. The men in my life. Well, except Poley, but I guess he doens’t count…?

Here’s a little bit of T & A for your day. Contain yourself.

I also finally got back to scrapbooking…created this last night. Fun!

I haven’t posted many pictures of the pugs lately…mostly because I don’t think I’d taken any and also because there always seemed something more imporant to discus. But today it’s wall-to-wall Pug action. Prepare yourself for total cuteness. Are you prepared? Are you!!?!

Anyways, Here’s a few shots of them begging for treats. We’re working on a new “trick” - the sit and stay. They have a very hard time with this but cheerios and cheese are good motivators.

Here’s Napoleon looking adoringly at his Mama:

Rukia’s version of “down”…pug-rug style. That’s how she rolls.

Here’s Poley licking his chops after eating a few cheerios. Aww..he’s so cute!

Today on Maurey Povich: Suspicious Pug. Are the Cheerios real or the Wal-Mart knockoff. DNA tests are in!

Here’s my most recent layout…of Napoleon. Isn’t he adorable? I’m starting a seperate scrapbook just for layouts of the pugs. I know, I’m aparently one of THOSE people. But I haven’t started carrying pictures of them in my wallet, so I think I’m only like…HALF one of those people. I do talk to my pugs though. And have conversations. No, it’s not crazy at all. Don’t you judge me!

Anyways:

And a close up of the layout for your enjoyment:

As I get ready to go with a friend to get a quickie pedicure at lunch…I wonder…How many of you have checked out our new sister site? Articdote? Seriously! Check it out! If you don’t…Poley may have to make use of all the gamma radiation I frequently give him. (Just kidding, Peta, I never use gamma radiation on my dogs as a punishment. I just shake this can full of pennies at them menacingly).

So…what’s going on today? Well, first and foremost I’m CRAZY excited that today is friday. Who doesn’t love fridays? I think it’s my favorite day of the week, actually. Even though I have to go to work during the day…I have the evening and the rest of the weekend to look forward to! We have planned…some cleaning. It is time for step two of our “cleaning for the arrival of my father and uncle so they don’t think we live like slobs in a trailer park”. We will be attacking the mud room and the living room. Neither of them are particularly nasty, just need to be picked up.

I also plan on doing some scrapbooking. On that note, here are two pictures of a layout I recently did. It was an inspiration challenge offered by my friend, Martha, who not only has some adorable pugs but is an amazing scrapbooker. She is definatly the artist I most want to be like when I grow up. Anyways, the challenge was about layering and I think that this has anywhere between 8-10 layers depending on how you count them.

And a close-up:

Happy Monday everyone! Well, what did we do this weekend at the Manicdote house? Well, my Dad is coming to visit in 20 days (for my birthday) so we’re in high gear for cleaning. This weekend? Our task was simple. Clean the bathroom. We armed ourselves with rubber gloves, bleachy cleaning products and sponges. We worked our ass off for about two hours scrubbing that bathroom clean. Cleaner than it’s ever been. It’s still ugly, but at least it’s clean! So clean I don’t want to use it. We are weekend warriors…!!!

Next weekend - our target shall be laundry room/mud room and living room. They’re not dirty - just cluttered and need attention! I keep telling the pugs to clean while I’m at work and they’re not listening. Lazy mutts…they’re not earning their keep. Pug kissies don’t pay the bills, baby.

We also played some Grand Theft Auto 4 and World of Warcraft. I’m almost up to lvl 20 so I’m pretty stoked about that. I also scrapbooked. I finished a page I recently did as part of a challenge at a scrapbooking website I frequent. It’s a layout of pictures taken while at Disneyland last summer; Terry on the teacups:

And a close up:

Also - we finally decided on where we’re going for our summer vacation: DISNEY WORLD!!! Of course, we’ll also go to Epcot and all the other parks there. I’ve wanted to go there my whole life so I’m totally excited!

Goooooood morning, people! Happy Friday! I got my wonderful new Dell XPS Laptop in the mail…! It’s SO awesome. Pictures of it’s awesomeness to follow…

I’m especially happy today for a couple of reasons. #1 - my Dad suffers from a disorder called Trigeminal neuralgia (causes episodes of intense pain in the eyes, lips, nose, scalp, forehead, and jaw) and has suffered from it for almost 20 years. He has taken various medicines over the years to try and squelch the pain…to no avail. It’s gotten a lot worse over the years and the medicine just isn’t working.

So yesterday he underwent Stereotactic Radiation Therapy which is a treatment that sends concentrated bursts of radiation at three parts of the nerves in his head/face. Well, the surgery went awesome yesterday and he’s doing great..! It should take 1-3 months for any effect to be noticable and if all goes well the statistics say that 83% of patients were pain-free at 12 months, with 58% pain-free and off all medications within a year. So everyone - please continue to keep him in your thoughts/prayers.

And as an update - I did not win the scrapbooking contest (the one where I showed you guys the cards that was my entry). While I personally feel that my entry was waaaaay better than the girl who won - I realize that I might be biased. However, it hasn’t soured me on that site (Paper Popcicles). The people who choose the contest winners may have bad taste when it comes to choosing a winner who has creativity, artistic vision and oodles of talent like myself - they do have a good website and I like the ladies on it. Also I love their montly scrapbooking kits. Good stuff.

Speaking of scrabooking kits - I used some of the stuff from the kit and I created a layout of Terry…it’s talking about this being his first year as a teacher. Here are some pictures of the layout:

…And a close up of it:

Also I’m just happy because I love Terry, I love my parents, I love my puggies; I’m just happy and loving life today. It’s ALSO a friday and tonight I get to play World of Warcraft! Hooray! Saturday we’re going bowling with friends and more World of Warcraft playing. And Sunday we’ve got chores to do, but I’m also pretty sure that the day will include some World of Warcraft!

I’m totally excited. Last night, Terry and I ordered a new laptop for me. My current (5-year old) laptop is dying. It’s been a slow, agonizing death, but it’s time has come. All but one of it’s USB ports are dead. When I want to plug in my iPod or camera…I have to unplug my mouse in order to do so. It’s like a bizzare electronic juggling act. The thing constantly drops my internet signal. It can only run one program at a time. And my latest addiction, World of Warcraft, is completely taxing it’s overworked hard drive. So, for $40 a month, I now have a brand new tricked out Dell XPS laptop. It’s so nice. I cannot wait until I’ve got it!

Oh, and the first picture there today is of both Terry and Napoleon sleeping on the couch. This was back when Poley was a puppy. I had to dive into my archives to find this picture as it was just too adorable. Aren’t they sweet? But you can’t have them! No sugar for you!

That actually reminds me of that terrible new show on Food Network. “Down Home with the Neely’s”…and I have to ask you…who acts like that? They’re such a characture of southern black people. Trust me - people in real life do not act like that. And the woman is constantly kissing the husband and then accusing him of trying to steal her sugar. It’s so insipid! So now Terry and I mock them when we’re in the kitchen. I shake my ass at him and then turn around and accuse him of trying to steal my sugar.

Oh, I also found this hilarious quiz called “An Artist or an Ape?” - where you decide if a painting was painted by a monkey or if it was done by a serious (human) artist. This test further confirms my idea that art is not only in the eye of the beholder, but something anyone can do. So get out there and…do some art! Btw, I scored only an 83% on the quiz…so it’s not as easy to tell as you might think.

Who’s your favorite artist? I have three favorites. Hiroshige, Hockney and Max Beckmann.

And because I know you’re dying of curiosity…I’ve got some new pictures of our current dog-litter situation. It’s working. The dogs are using it and not going on the floor, or their bed. Right now our only issue is that they track litter out of the litterbox in to their crate area. To solve that I think we’re going to get one of those small wet/dry mini vaccums…like a dirt devil or something. Do they still make those? So, without further ado, here are a few pictures of their new crate. And Terry crafted that litter box with his own two hands. We used a dremel tool and cut out the doorway. It works perfect!

First picture you see the gorgeous pug-litterbox; Poley is watching Rukia chow down on dinner.

Second picture. Um, no…Napoleon is not peeing in that picture. He’s…watering the litter. Yeah…that’s it.

And in closing, Terry and I are trying to decide where to go on our summer vacation. We’re trying to decide between Las Vegas or possibly Cancun. Frankly either one would cost about the same. However we would have to find our passports if we want to do Cancun. So our closing shot today is a picture of Terry and I at Disneyland last year. One of my favorite pictures!

I love scrapbooking. I love it for many reasons. Mostly because it records memories for the future, for others and myself to enjoy. It is like a wonderful adventure in my life, to look back through all the photos, the memories, and the forgotten smiles.

Secondly, I love how artistic it can be. I have been painting for most of my life (18 years now) and as much as I love it - unfortunately painting isn’t something you can do in the living room. It’s just not feasible.

So I love that about scrapbooking. It’s an creative outlet that is somewhat clean and easy enough to do in the living room. While watching tv. With a pug in my lap. I love that.

 So here’s a picture of my latest page that I worked on last night. It’s actually the very first page in the album that I’m currently creating. I’ve also included a few close-ups on the page so you can see some details.

And here’s another (albiet slightly different) close up:

Sorry, no puggie pictures today. Tomorrow!  Pinky swear.

Have you heard of “Etsy”? Most of you probally will have heard of it. It’s basically a place where you can buy handmade stuff online. Rather like an online version of a craft fair. Except it actually has tons of really cool stuff. And the prices really can’t be beat. I’m obsessed with this place. Are you?

Here are a few things that I’m currently loving:

Pugbot, the most awesome pug-shaped patch EVER! I must buy this and sew it to a tote bag or something, dosen’t matter. Must have Pugbot!!!

This chic Elemental Necklace. I just love the color combo. And how the turquoise is very raw looking next to the posh pearl and the faceted quartz. Love it!

I love Polar Bears. How can you tell? Well, they were the subject of my Christmas Card. I named my dog after them “Poley”. And I loooooove this awesome Polar Bear Picture. I think this would look very chic in my media room.

A neat Pug Charm that my friend Melissa used in an altered notebook. I was totally jealous of it and sought it out on Etsy, will purchase and use in a scrapbook layout. I’m totally stalking her. She’s just totally creative. I can’t help it!

This cool Japanese Glass Dogtag necklace is very neat to me. I love the fact that it’s glass and the pattern is amazing. This lady sells tons of different variations of this same theme. And I have a hard time picking a favorite. And they each come with a matching tin! How cool is that?

I love the idea of this: Custom Name Pendant, because I love custom anything. It makes me feel like I’m getting something one-of-a-kind and also something infinately cool and YOU CAN’T HAVE IT because it’s one-of-a-Kind. I have the idea to get this and have Terry & the puggies names put on it. With a green bead because that’s my birthstone.

Check out these Mushroom containers. I have no idea what I’d put in them or what I’d need them for. But how adorable are they!?

Easter Necklace - I love this necklace because the colors are pretty. Also, it’s made out of real semi-precious stones. You can’t beat these prices for the quality.

And I must be obsessed with Owls at the moment. Because I also want these adorable Whoodunnit earings. They just feel…vaugely vintage and completely chic.

Currently my budget is a little tight but maybe with some tax refund money I might pick up one or two of these things. Don’t I have awesome taste? What are you obsessed with on Etsy? Or if you haven’t heard of the place - well, now you have. And welcome to my obsession!

Hooray! It’s almost friday! That, right there, is reason to celebrate. This has felt like such a loooooong week, hasn’t it? And this weekend should be fun because we’ve got big plans to play Rockband, and as everyone knows, I’m totally addicted to playing it.

Here are some pictures of Rukia in a cute little dress that I bought for her. She loved it and she pranced around the house wearing it like it was the height of haute couture. She is so silly! This first picture is of her from the front. Look at her work it. She’s “America’s Next Top Puggie”…! Watch out Tyra Banks!

Then this picture is of her from the side.

Isn’t she adorable? Well, I think she is, but I might be a tad bit biased. And then here she is in my arms. Sorry it is a little blurry.

Of course Terry had to get in on the posing action…except his poses are always silly!

I just bought a new bed for the puggies. It was on sale at Target for $12 so I picked it up to replace one of their older beds that is raggedy, chewed up and too small. So, of course we took a few pictures of them enjoying their new bed.

Here’s Napoleon enjoying it calmly:

Then Rukia comes over, bringing their favorite bunny toy. This of course, riles him up.

And then we took the bunny away and they act nicely with the hope that daddy will stop taking silly pictures of them and give back Mr. Bunny.

But of course this calmness doesn’t last long and Rukia chases beleaguered Poley away.

After Poley is finally gone and she has the bed to herself she stops to pose cutely for the camera.

But her stink eye is always watching Poley, who is off-camera.

You’d better watch out. Her stink eye is out there.

And she’s always watching…

“Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind.” - Magdalena Abakanowicz

So I have this really good artist friend, whom I have met via our love of pugs, art and blogging. Her name is Melissa and if you like her art, you can buy it HERE at her site called PugNotes. I was lucky enough to win a contest she had on her blog not too long ago. I won a beautiful signed print (of my choice!) and I received it a few days ago. It took me a few days to get my arse in gear and take some photos of it. Again - Thank-you SO much, Melissa!

Here is a shot of me when I first got it, I had just gotten home from work so the print is still in it’s lovely, protective plastic wrapper.

Then, later in the week, I had a mini photo shoot with the puggies in order to take a proper photo showing our love of the gift. How cute is this shot? And I’ll tell you, Poley totally put his paw on the print with NO prompting from me. Isn’t he just adorable??!

Rukia wasn’t behaving at all for these photos. We had just gone through a training session to learn her newest command “sit” and I think she was tuckered out. She looks like she’s kinda falling asleep in the photo.

And while those photos show just one side of how the photoshoot went. In actuality…it went something more like this (Pugs Gone Wild):