Pucker up
How to be entertained for free on a Tuesday afternoon: When munching on a salad and getting "the look" from the dog, toss her a Spanish green olive and let the face-making hilarity ensue...
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Did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world?

Today is my baby girl's seventh birthday. Does not seem possible...
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The mystical divinity of unashamed felinity

Duck and cover -- it's a blogger cat post! Five years ago we adopted Madeline. She was a rescue kitten from the '98 Florida fires on the east coast. (Read more in my old "Soapbox" entry here.) They told us she was exactly five weeks old when we brought her home, so counting back, we guesstimated her birthday to be on May 9th. She's a beautiful black and white mixed-breed with more personality in her front left paw than most people have in their entire body. Maddie is 100% a daddy's girl, but she picked me. When we went by her cage, she reached both tiny paws out and grabbed my finger -- hanging on for dear life. We've been head-over-heels in love with her ever since... Happy birthday Madeline!
posted at 04:50 PM | link-

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Say cheese!
I'm in the process of breaking down all of our vacation photos into people / animals and places. It's gonna take awhile... But here's the first batch that I've added to Shutterblog -- "the three of us in Savannah". If you're wondering why the long face on Todd in his last photo...it's 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning... That's why! *wink*
posted at 11:39 PM | link-

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Two paws up
Some of you saw the photo of Claire's "suite" on Hilton Head Island and asked about it, so here's more info. Pets aren't allowed on Disney property, so we boarded her just up the road at the Evergreen Pet Lodge. (Disney resort guests receive a 15% discount on their bill.) This way we could have her with us, visit her each day, and it actually ended up being about $3/day less to put her in a private suite than a caged run at our local vet's would have been.

For more information about pet-friendly hotels and boarding options, visit:

Hilton Head Island pet-friendly accommodations
"Pet Friendly Travel" across the USA
"Pets Welcome" US Listings
"Pets Allowed Hotels"
Kimpton Group Hotels (most offer pet packages)

I can't imagine being gone long without Claire -- so this really was the best option for us. She travels very well and made our vacation all that much better.

UPDATE: Christine has a great list of links for pet-sitters as well.

UPDATE 2: Here's a list of dog-friendly beaches on the U.S. Eastern seaboard, and more dog-friendly beaches and parks in Florida. And here are even more pet-friendly hotels in the U.S.
posted at 03:25 PM | link-

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One shot of NyQuil for me, one for my homies
Todd and Claire tried to cheer me up and make me feel better...

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A big reason I get up every day

posted at 11:38 PM | link-

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You're dirty sweet and you're my girl

Tonight Todd got a lesson in better hygiene from Madeline.
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