Loving these pups

Thank you.

 Christmas potluck at the studio.

Dolly at the studio.

Yep, it's been a month since I posted here. That is crazy! This past month has been really wonderful. We had an awesome first holiday season in the shop and I am so beyond floored by the local support. For those of you who have followed this journey, come in to the shop, directed friends to us, or sent notes of encouragement, THANK YOU! We truly appreciate your support and we hope you had a great holiday with friends and family. We had a rejuvenating break and I can't wait to share with you what we've been doing for the past month - including a trip to the beach :)

Recycling hound

Dolly found the recycling bin at the studio and wore herself out chewing bottles. Notice all of the Mountain Dew? We've been pulling some late nights lately.

The studio is hot

And I mean CRAZY hot. Like over 100. Last week we bought an AC unit, but it didn't have enough power to cool the room even one-degree. I guess that's what 15' ceilings will do! So, now we have to get a 220v outlet installed and a massive 25000btu air conditioner. We've been bringing the dogs to the studio (not in this heat, though) and most days they just lay around. Wish we could, too :)

Dolly is cold

It's been a while since I've posted any pics of our dogs, so here are some new ones of Dolly. Yep, we still have her. It's almost been a year. Her favorite space in the entire house is curled up on the heating register in our bathroom. She has almost no fur, so I can totally understand her motivations.

Sun and MASS MoCA: Day 3

Yesterday felt like it could be the start of spring. We finally had SUN in Rochester. It's truly amazing what waking up to a sunny bedroom can do for me (and anyone who is in contact with me in the morning)! The studio had the best light late in the afternoon, lots of long shadows.

Yesterday was also Cassie's 4-year adoption-day. I can hardly believe that we had second thoughts about keeping our sweet girl. She celebrated the day by sleeping on the couch...all day. And getting some special treats of really good cheese. She probably didn't appreciate it as much as I did :)

What better way to end this light-filled post than with this piece made by Alyson Shotz using reflective materials and wire. It created some of the most interesting shadows in the entire exhibition. I especially loved the overlap of shadows and where they moved from wall to floor.

Dogs at work.

I know, I know...two posts in one day?! My sister just sent this video to me and I had to share. Our dogs need to up their A-game. Pancake Sue, I'm looking at you!

Christmas recap (mostly through cookies)

 

 

Well, Christmas came and went. And so did the new year. It flew by and somehow it doesn't seem like it should be January already! It especially doesn't seem like I've been gone from here for two weeks. I missed telling you about cookie-baking at Sara's and dog-cookie-baking at Marni's. Both humans and puppies had full bellies during the end of December! I also missed bragging about the seven dogs at my mom's house over Christmas and how well they all got along (until Pancake Sue started hoarding the bones, that is).

My intention was to take off the week between Christmas and New Year to organize my office, clean the house, sort the junk in the attic, do laundry and just generally do things that I should be doing all of the time but never have time for. Did I? Not entirely. Instead, I took a light work week (6-hour days) and spent time with family and friends. I saw a double feature movie with my husband and sister. I scrubbed under the stove and refrigerator. I tried to catch up on sleep. We hosted our annual New Year's Day brunch, which was fantastic and can now officially be called a tradition after three years :) Although I feel like I should have been working harder, I'm glad I took a little time to rest before the craziness of the new year.

Tomorrow I'm going to begin to semi-regular posting again - starting with roundup of calendars that now grace my office walls.

Happy Halloween

Pics from our Halloween dog walk a few years ago. We found their cosumes last night hile trying to make something for Jake to wear to a party. Cassie was a pumpkin, Pancake Sue was a bumble bee, Scout was a construction worker and Emma was a cop. With better forethought, we could have had the Village People.

cozy

The puppies have been lazy this week. I plan to take some lazy time this weekend.

Gratuitous dog pics

Our girls sat next to each other while I shot these. They actually stayed put for a solid minute, maybe even two. Dolly is starting to fit in a bit more. I still am hoping to find her a home before we really start to like her. Any takers? Look at that face!

{Left to right: Dolly, Casie, Pancake Sue}

Meet Dolly

We've been fostering a new pup for a few weeks now. Her name is Dolly and she's a super sweet pit-mix. I figured it was about time I post about her. In these pics she climbed into Susie's crate even though it's too small for her. She's super cuddly and picks things up quickly. I especially like that she has black freckles that you can see through her fur! We're trying to find her a good home before we start to like her too much, so spread the word!

paper crown

Ok, so this might not be press related, but it is studio related. My studio-mate Jen made this crown and the puppies got to wear it while hanging out in the studio.

A whole year!

One year ago today we adopted Cassie! And we're very happy that we did (although I wanted to send her back at the time). Our girl turned out to be super sweet and cuddly, just the kind of dog for us!

Yesterday marked our one-year anniversary of losing Tipper. I can't believe how quickly this year has passed and how much we still miss him. But, if this hadn't happened our ladies would never have been brought together, and they love each other more than any two dogs I've ever met. And every so often I'm lucky enough to have a vivid dream about my boy.

Continue to give

For me the last few months flew by and I can't believe it's almost February! But, that doesn't mean that we should forget about the holiday spirit of generosity. I recently discovered an amazing challenge that is being offered by Six Degrees (yes, Kevin Bacon!). The four US charities that have the most unique donors through the America's Giving Challenge will receive $50,000 for their cause (in addition to the pledges).

A Place to Bark is one of the charities that has a shot at this amazing opportunity. Please check out Bernie Berlin's blog to learn more about her animal rescue. In addition to running the dog rescue full-time, Bernie is a mixed media artist. In order to win the grant they need to have the most amount of donors, not necessarily the amount of money donated. Each $10 (unique) donation give the rescue a shot at winning $50,000. The challenge ends on January 31.

You know my soft spot for dogs...let's help make a difference!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Mine was pretty hectic {3 houses on Christmas Eve and 6 on Christmas}, but we got to spend time with all of our families. I'm looking forward to spending the next few days getting organized and recuperating from all of the craziness of the last few weeks.


In addition to a fantastic dishwasher {can't wait to have it installed}, I got some great handmade gifts this year!

Productive!

In addition to feeling a little overwhelmed, I've been quite productive lately. I even had a chance to finish my ornaments for the Holiday Ornament Swap. Here's a sneak peek of my ornament (four-sided letterpress) and some tree decorating from this weekend.

Happy belated...

I forgot to post about some great puppy news from the last few days. Cassie celebrated her second birthday yesterday and Susie finally got her splint off. What a great day!

Busy weekend

Lindsay's fifties-themed birthday party was a blast on Saturday. Tons of great food and drink, a pinata {in the shape of a record, of course}, bowling, and the bar. To round out the group, we had several housewives, a Bible salesman, an engineer, a newspaper reporter, and a few greasers.

Then on Sunday we got up and went straight over to Paws in the Park, a dog walk to raise money for some fenced-in dog parks in Rochester. Our ladies had a great time! Cassie tried to slalom and Pancake went through the agility tunnel. Tonight we have two very content and tired pups.