Enjoyed the weekend

Remember the John Mayer song "3x5"?  If you don't, take a moment to follow the link on youtube and fast forward to 2:20 for the start of the song.
"Didn't have a camera by my side this time, hoping I would see the world through both my eyes."  Well, I defiantly looked through both eyes this weekend.  After the snow and cold of this winter, Paul and I enjoyed a day together at Stoney Point just walking around hanging out together.  He and I are learning that he doesn't have to meet every dog in the place, that sometimes it's ok to look at another dog from across the mall, and that it's nice to just sit in the sun enjoying some scrambled eggs (his new favorite training treat).
     The next day, Annie, Paul, The Hubbs, and I spent the better part of 2 hours walking around first the interior loop then the exterior loop of the dog mall.  It was nice to just spend the day hanging out.

The Dog Mall: Electronics

     The Hubbs and I had to laugh this weekend when we took Annie and Paul to Stoney Point (aka, The Dog Mall) for a few hours.  While walking along the main promenade (yea, it's an upscale mall) we saw this 4 wheeled thing come out of Brookstone.

     Paul decided to follow it.  

     There is a certain amount of comrodery from the people who work together at the dog mall as this contained a note for 2 cups of water with ice from Teavana.  The woman working at Teavana giggled over the note.  And I was a very happy Mom that Paul only followed it and didn't try to eat it for a snack.

Early Morning at the Dog Mall

Annie and Paul were about 15 minutes early before 3 Dog opened and couldn't figure out why no one would let them in.

Paul Shopped Til He Dropped

     Or at least that's what I joke about.  All honesty, we don't buy much when we go to the mall.  I have my few choice stores that I'm addicted to (Sur La Table, anyone?).  But beyond that, we tend to stop, stand and talk to the people who work in the stores.  (I've brought in cookies before for the workers for being so nice when I'm just standing there and clearly not buying anything.)  When Paul "assumes his position" in the heat and humidity of summer, I can't move far.

When I first showed these pics to the Hubbs, he thought the floors had been photo-shoped in.  They weren't.

Annie v. Rain

     I posted on our Facebook page on Saturday, Annie standing inside the doorway of Tiffany's at Stoney Point Fashion Park trying to stay dry from the rain.  I've got to brag about the people who work at Tiffany's.  They saw me, dripping wet, with a back pack that was dripping wet, and 2 dogs who were soaked and not one of them was rude about it.  As a matter of fact, each new person from Tiffany's who came over to see what was going on in the doorway started to giggle when told that Annie was taking shelter from the rain.  (and from someone who can't afford Tiffany's, that's an amazing reaction.)  I finally had to pick her up to get her out of the store.  (Yes, they were really nice, but I was still embarrassed of my wet dog taking refuge in Tiffany's.)

     We've gone into Tiffany's before when visiting the dog mall (Annie and Paul love to smell the carpeting for some reason.)  and they've always been friendly to us!

More from the Dog Mall

     I took Annie and Paul on their 3rd trip to the dog mall this week.  Like I said before, it's my favorite place to walk them when the hubbs can't help.  Yesterday, he went up to make a food drop in DC, and didn't get home until late.  So off to the dog mall we went.

     It always starts off with a trip to 3 Dog Bakery to visit with our friends, score some carrot cake, and stretch out on the cold tile floor.

     After that, I've discovered that I need to walk them for a bit to take the edge off before we go into other stores.  So we walk about a third of a lap; just far enough to let them do their business, meet some other pups, and eat some grass.
     Most of the stores stock dog treats for any visiting pups that come in, this is how we stumbled upon Cache.  We walk in, Annie and Paul get treats, pets from the staff, and Paul stretches out on the cold tile floor

     After Cashe, the next stop is typically Yankee Candles.  I know many people who get migraines as soon as they walk into Yankee Candle because of all of the smells.  Perhaps this is the same reason Paul and Annie love it.  They walk in, head to the side of the counter to be petted, and walk out.  All without nocking over any of the displays or sniffing anything too closely.  

     The turn around seems to use 2 different stores.  One is Wolfgang Jaspers, the talented photographer who took our family photos.

Photo by a person named Ann P.

     The other is Lens Crafters.  Every once in a while, the Hubbs glasses break.  We tend to get his glasses from Lens Crafters because they're easy for us to get to for a quick fix.  Annie and Paul have now been inside the store enough times, they think it's part of the dog walking ritual.  It's really not, but they're really good with having them in the store, and Annie and Paul are pretty chilled out when they go in.

Meet Lola

     A few months ago, I wrote a good by to Cooper.  Fast forward a few months, and Foster, the basset beagle mix (aka, a bagel) has been missing his friends.  It's no fun to go from a pack of 3 to only child status in the course of a year.
     One day, when his Mom went to the store to get him treats to cheer him up, they were holding an adoption event.  Into her lap lept Lola.

      Lola's a little under a year old and still has boundless energy.  Annie tried lending Lola her Thundershirt to see if it would help at all.  While Lola looks the same size as Annie, Annie's got a few pounds on Lola.  The end result is an over sized TS.  

     

We went on a walk a few nights ago so every one could hang out.  It was nice to see all 4 friends getting along.  But we discovered that she gives lots of hugs and good kisses.

Spring Break: Annie's View

     I enjoy spring break with Mom.  She spent the first day walking around the house collecting all the soft spots to lay on and she washed them.  It’s not soo bad, the house doesn’t smell as much of Paul now. 

    I spend most of my days chilling on the couch watching the neighborhood and enjoying naps (I love naps!) 

    She took us to the mall the other night.  And we got to walk around a lot!  We did 2 laps with our friends Foster and Lola!  Lola’s still a puppy (she’s only a year old) but it was nice to have another girl on the walk.  She’s tall like me, so while our brothers are closer to the ground, we get first dibs on the treats!!  She’s like me where she just wants to play all the time.  

Wordless Wednesday: More from the Dog Mall

From the Dog Mall

    This past weekend was the Howl-o-ween weekend at the dog mall.  (The actual name of the dog mall by the way is Stony Point Fashion Park.)  We've gone now for 5 years and it's gotten bigger each year.  There's a master list of who's handing out treats and the dogs (with their families in tow) walk the mall to collect their treats.  We don't go in for the contest, just the chance to socialize Annie and Paul a bit more.  

     There were so many dogs with such interesting costumes.  The dogs in the above picture who are wearing the military uniform and the red skirt are supposed to be husband and wife (husband deployed and wife waiting for him to come home).  The bumble bee was part of a group of 3 english bull dogs and the bottom picture is supposed to be a puppy chilling next to a dog statue.  

     The 2 pups at the top were part of a trio: the one on the left is a zombie and the one on the right is a mummy.  The bottom pup is a mail man.  

Wordless Wednesday: From the Dog Mall

     I'm looking to do a run of dog cookies with the proceeds going to Kissa-bull. They're almost done rebuilding their house from the fire in December, and Wells Fargo has sent them some paperwork for foreclosure. If you've got a buck or 2 to give, they'd greatly appreciate it.   The pics below are just a run of pics from the dog mall.  

Busy Weekend

     This is one of those rare weekends when one of us is out of town and one of us is home.  This weekend it was Hubbs turn to go out of town and hang out with his buddy's and my turn to chill at home.  Since it was just Annie, Paul, and me, I decided to make sure we had a fun filled weekend.

Paul likes to eat the decorative grass at the dog mall.

    We started Friday afternoon and evening with a trip to the dog mall where we walked 2 laps around the place (so about 2 miles).  They've got a promotion going on right now where you let guest services know how many laps you walk with your dog each time you're at the mall.  At the end of the summer season (October 31st in this case), they tally up the laps and award you prizes for how many laps you walked.  Last year we got a poop bag dispenser.  Even though we have 2 of them already, it's one of those things I somehow forget about once a year.  (The last time I was outside our vets office and was able to ask for a bag).  Because of my forgetfulness, having 3 of them comes in handy.
     This was followed by a rare night when Annie and Paul didn't have to just sleep in their room, but got to sleep in bed with me.  (I put a gate up in the hallway so they can only go into the bathroom (they never willingly go there), their room, or our room.)  Annie was the only one who took me up on that offer, so she got extra snuggle time with me all night.
     Saturday morning started at 4 with a shower and what I thought would be a dog walk.  Annie, however, decided the route I wanted to walk wasn't good enough and refused to walk.  I learned a few years ago with Anne that if I start jogging, she'll jog with me.  So the 2 mile walk turned into a 2 mile run followed by a 2nd shower (yea humidity) and a quick packing job to get to the market on time.  I started selling dog cookies down there.  Being a vendor at the market is completely different from being a patron at the market.  If I'm a patron, it's a 1 to 1 ratio of dog to person so that everything is manageable and I'm not wondering how to get a tree into a car (Paul peed on a tree for sale last year at the market, so I was left with the challenge of getting a maple tree, 2 dogs, and me into a honda civic coupe.)  Luckily, our farmers market allows dogs (not every market in every state does, so check out your local one for all of their rules before you take your pup with you).  As a vendor, I try to leave Annie and Paul at home so I'm not totally focused on them and their behavior while trying to talk to people.
     About noonish I came home and crashed out for a few hours and then woke up to run up to Carytown with Annie and Paul.  Carytown is a pretty hip section of town with lots of little independent shops (as opposed to the big box stores of the dog mall).  Unfortunately, I slept longer than I wanted to so by the time we got up there we literally ran Carytown in an attempt to get to the stores I wanted to get to.  However, I did discover that if you show up at the end of the day, after all of the bread is made, you can take your dogs into Montana Gold Bread Bakery.  I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and one of the biggest things I miss is all of the bakeries.  So whenever we go up to Carytown, I still get a bit overly excited over the 2.5 real bakeries in the area.
     Sunday morning, I was expecting Anne to be stubborn again for the morning walk, and she did start out that way.  She firmly pulled and leaned away from our "normal" walking area.  I started the jogging method to get her to go with Paul and me and not be so stubborn.  But about a block into our walk, this backfired on me.  I'm still not sure what Annie did exactly, but she suddenly started limping.  She wasn't crying or walking completely off of the paw, but she was kind of picking it up a bit oddly.  The walk ended there.  I stopped and picked her 70 pound body up and told Paul to "go home."  Paul and I walked the block home and stood in the yard for a few moments so that they'd both have the chance to do their business.  Annie got picked up again and brought inside (so she didn't have to walk up the stairs at the front of our house).  She's been limping today, but she's trying to put weight onto the paw (and even standing with all 4 paws on the ground when she sees a squirrel out the window.  So I'm pretty sure it's not a break.  She's let me squeeze it, and move her whole leg, shoulder, ankle, and paw around (and thought I was playing a fun game with her by the looks of it).  Our plans for a 2nd trip to the dog mall had just gone out the window, but after all of the running around this weekend, it was nice to just relax and sleep Sunday.