Why we love AP

E-mail from AP to Bee, Thursday morning:

On 3/27/08 11:04 AM, ""AP" wrote:

"There's a black dog in the ny times on pp c7 of the circuits page. So cute. Boston terrier. I'm just saying!!"

Good looking out, AP! Always promoting the success of black dogs in the animal modeling industry. The system won't hold us down!

Another one out, another one in

Yep, yet another roommate has flown the coop. Gi and Cee got into a row a few weeks back over the frequency of Gi's violin playing. Guess Cee had a noisy day at the office one particular Friday, and decided the last thing she wanted to hear was Gi strumming away. So Cee snapped. And the words, "either you go , or I go" were said.

And Gi left.

She moved her bed out today and left the keys with Bee.

I'll miss her, because she gave me a lot of love while she was here. She was the only one who came home at 4:30 every day and gave me hugs and kisses every time she came home. She even bought me a really nice sherpa coat for the winter , which Trinity thought was so fly that she stole it from me before I could try it on (I got it back in February, and I love it, thanks Gi).

We've got another one coming in the next month. And luckily, her name falls right in line with the next letter in the alphabet that I planned on using to identify her.

Kay.

Visitors

The Spaniard has been here TWICE this week. That must mean he's Cee's new boyfriend, right? If not, can he be MY new boyfriend?

The two tend to sit at the kitchen table and giggle while pretending to study. Intense conversation ensues:
"(giggle, giggle) Stop!"
"Whaaaaat?? (giggle, giggle)
"(giggle, giggle), You know...."
"I'm not doing anythiiinng...(giggle, giggle)
"Never mind....(giggle, giggle....)"

Yeah, I'm confused too.

Cee and Spaniard hang out until late into the evening, well past my bedtime. Those crazy kids.

In my opinion (and that is why I have this here blog), I think Cee is keeping things platonic.

But I also think he wants to make his move.

He could be too nervous to do so with me watching.

Celebration continues

The gifts just keep on coming!!! Bee's friend, AP, got me this SUH-WEET hoodie that you see me modeling here...


..and a whole bunch of other stuff!!!


I'm so thankful! I can't wait to try this new shampoo she bought me. It's much more high end than the cheap stuff Bee buys me from Petco (I'm not hating, Bee, but you have never bought me organic anything).




Does this mean Bee will never have to use a spare piece of newspaper because she always forgets to restock before we leave for out morning walks?



Thanks, AP!! I love all my new toys!! I'm sorry you couldn't make it to our fabu party, but we'll have to have our own private cupakes and champagne celebration, just the two of us.

Bee, you've had enough. In fact, you had one too many cupcakes. C'mon, let's take our rotund cabooses for a walk!

Party time!

Ooooohh, my party was awesome!! Bee had her besties over for my Welcome Home party today. Dee (my favorite Auntie!); Tee (the Auntie that babysits from time to time who lived in the apartment way before I was born); M, Beth (Bee's lawyer friend), and JA, who baby sat me once when I was a puppy and is still trying to get out that stain I left in her carpet. (I'm sorry! I was a baby!)

And guess what? They brought me GIFTS!!!!!!! For ME, not Bee! Now, THAT'S what friends are for!



We had an impressive spread of food and wine. Sparkling wine by Pink, cupcakes by Buttercup Bake Shop (the best cupcake shop we've got in this town). The Red Velvet cupcake, shown here, was the most popular version. When Tee dropped crumbs on the floor, I licked up every last one.

I was so full of peanut butter treats, leftover vegetables and cupcake crumbs that I passed out on the couch during the party. Imagine if I would have had champagne. I would have been sleeping and burping at the same time!

Many thanks for my gifts and the company of those who came.

This?




Or this?

My stuff

I just got my bed and all of my clothes back from the Midwest. Now I can really settle into my old digs in New York. It wasn't comfortable sleeping on a blanket on the hardwood floors at night.

I now have something to wear to my party on Saturday, too! We found my pink and black Playboy t-shirt with the rhinestones on it that says "P)rincess". I'm going to look fly.

We might not be having anything to drink, though. Bee STILL hasn't bought a thing for the party save for some paper towels! MOM! Get with it!

I'm back!

Ahhhh, New York....

I missed it. The smells. The roommates. The neighbors. The dog walker. Everything!

I love being back for the social buzz that New York brings. But I'll be honest. When Bee goes to work, I miss being in the Midwest. Somehow there were always people around to pet me or feed me.

One surprise that I got was Cee's declaration that we were on speaking terms again. She said that she would make more of an effort to spend time with me and show me love. I welcome it, Cee! Here's to what I hope will be a closer friendship!

Even bigger news...yet another roommate is exiting. This time, Gi, the young one who drank too much and got sick during her first month here during our barbecue, is leaving. Something about needing to practice her violin because she's got a bunch of "gigs" coming up, and wanting to be able to cook food without offending others. The roommates don't like the smell of curry. They don't even like to smell me when I'm wet. What made Gi think that the pungent smell of curry would be acceptable?

So now we have to find YET ANOTHER ROOMMATE.

I'm running out of letters to refer to them by. Can we please find someone that will stick around for a while?

Sunday cleanup

A day outside walking around the country means mud in my fur. Bee gave me a bath today so I could be so fresh and so clean for our arrival back in NYC tomorrow.
FYI, she used "Just Add Water" coconut-calypso dog shampoo & conditioner; Smells yummy.

Winter weight

Bee is complaining about having put on a few pounds during the winter. She's wearing her tent dresses and her "fat pants" every day, and has taken to grabbing the skin around her middle and declaring, "I didn't have this six months ago!"

OH girl, please. It's the winter. It's cold. You need padding. Take it from me.

According to the vet, I have put on five pounds since last fall. This of course is Bee's sister's fault, who fed me foie gras and butter biscuits the whole time I stayed with her in the Midwest.

Bee has said that we're both on a diet as of St. Paddy's Day. That would be Monday, That would be in two days. That gives Moms a whole day to finish that chocolate cake in the kitchen, and me a day to polish off the peanut butter-stuffed bones in my goodie bag.

But don't think I won't be sneaking a cupcake at my party next week...

Ack!

We have no fruits and vegetables, so Ei and Bee went shopping. At 10:30 PM. And one would think they would come back with fruits.

Instead , the bought, turkey, babaganoush, and peanut butter flavored Chee-toes.

Dinner for the gods.

Meet and greet

Famous people my mother met this week:

Common (rapper)
Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys quarterback)
Dane Cook (comedian)
John Mayer (singer)
Carmen Electra (sexy personality)
Tim Gunn (Project Runway judge)

Shopping list

For my phatty-phat party in TWO WEEKS:

4 bottles of champagne (Veuve Cliquot, please. I don't do the cheap stuff. Leave the Korbel at the liquor store)
24 cupcakes from crumbs (at least)
pink frosted biscuits (I probably can't eat the cupcakes. I know I can't eat the chocolate ones for sure)
bags of kettle corn
bags of regular popcorn
champagne flutes
tiaras
pink balloons
pink napkins
pink steamers

Mayhem

"THE SPANIARD IS COMING!!!!!! THE SPANIARD IS COMING!!!"

it was a cheer heard 'round the Upper West Side. Cee was having company. Male company . Just when the girls thought they'd enjoy a night of work, wine, and heavy carbs on a rainy Friday night (Cee had just warmed up a bowl of Columbian beans), Cee got a call from a very cute study partner.

A musical melee ensued. So did running, giggling, yelling, cleaning and a change of clothes.

"The Spaniard is coming!" she cheered! "Hide the beans!"

Indeed we did.

Ten minutes later, the house was spotless, Cee was showered and the Spaniard walked in.

And yes, he was worth hiding the beans for.

WHAT?!?!?!

This is ludicrious.



Black pups face doggie discrimination
Dark-coated pooches tend to linger in shelters the longest

Big, black dogs are often the last to be adopted from animal shelters — a phenomenon known in pet rescue circles as "black dog syndrome."
By Melissa Dahl
Health writer
MSNBC
It's not like Pamela Gregg was a stranger to helping out the underdog. She thought she knew what kinds of pooches linger the longest in animal shelters: Older dogs, abused dogs, sick or injured dogs — dogs like George Bailey, the hound mix she'd rescued after he'd been struck by a car.

But black dogs? While searching for a companion for George Bailey, Gregg was shocked to see a banner on an Ohio animal shelter's Web site that detailed how tough it is for big dogs with black coats to find homes.

"It said something like, 'We know that you people prefer colors, but we've got wonderful black dogs here, won't you please consider them?'" recalls Gregg, who's 49 and lives in Xenia, Ohio. "I was shocked, because I think that black dogs are beautiful — and I couldn't believe people would not get a dog based on its color."

To the uninitiated, the idea seems so strange — doggie discrimination? But among those in animal rescue circles, the phenomenon is commonplace enough to have earned its own name: "black dog syndrome."

"There's not a lot of that type of statistics on many aspects of sheltering," says Kim Intino, the director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States. "But I think that every person that has worked in a shelter can attest that in shelters animals with black coats can be somewhat harder to adopt out — or to even get noticed."

Even after a year had passed at a Los Angeles animal shelter, no one had noticed Estelle. Except, of course, for the staff; they fawned over the big black dog and her gentle demeanor. They started letting Estelle roam the office during the day, which let one couple see her in action — outside her cage and calmly interacting with people. They fell for her, and took her home.

But not every black dog is lucky enough to get that kind of special attention, says Madeline Bernstein, the president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Los Angeles.

"They're the hardest to adopt out, they're in the shelters the longest and therefore, they're most likely to be euthanized if nothing happens," Bernstein says. (Breeders don't tend to face this problem at the level that shelters do, simply because they have fewer animals to deal with than a city shelter that takes strays in every day.)

Bernstein has plenty of theories about why people might not want black dogs in animal shelters. It's mostly an unconscious thing, she says, which may explain why black cats have the same problems finding a home. People who are aware of superstitions about black cats (don't let them cross your path!) may also be unconsciously harboring superstitions about black dogs.

In British folklore, such as stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Walter Scott, the black dog is a creepy, spectral figure that haunts cemeteries and is an omen of death. (Non-lit geeks who've never heard of those stories have at least seen "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," in which a big black dog called the Grim stalks Harry.) Another Englishman, Winston Churchill, battled serious bouts of depression which he called "the black dog."

But some speculate that black dogs just don't have the right look to catch the eye of potential adopters.

"Black dogs might appear older; even when they're young, they have bits of facial hair that may be white or gray," Bernstein says. And the ignored breeds are often those who simply look a little big and scary, and whose bad reputations may have preceded them, such as Rottweiler, Doberman pinscher and pit bull mixes.

Bernstein says some people turn in their black dogs to the shelters because they've gotten new furniture and don't like the dark fur their pet sheds.

Too hard to see
But it may be the simplest reason that's costing these dogs a good home — their black coats can make them invisible in poorly lit kennels. (Same problem happens with amateur photos on shelters' Web sites, which is how many people find the dog they intend to adopt.)

"Sometimes if a potential adopter sees a whole row of black dogs, they think, 'Maybe they're not being adopted for a good reason. Maybe there's something wrong with these dogs,'" Bernstein says.

So volunteers at some shelters put extra energy into getting their black dogs noticed. They place brightly colored, eye-catching blankets and toys in their kennels. At Bernstein's shelters, they tie pink ribbons around the necks of the girls, and fasten big bow ties around the necks of the boys.

"In our kennels, the black dogs are all decked out," Bernstein says.

One shelter in Kettering, Ohio, the Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals even ran a special discount on black dogs in February, slashing adoption fees in half after executive director Rudy Bahr realized that out of his shelters' 42 dogs, 28 of them were big and black. Bahr instructs his employees in the same sort of tactics Bernstein's shelters take to attract attention to black dogs, like tying bandannas around their necks and taking the dogs to a well-lit area outside to have their photo taken for their Web site.

It was that kind of photo on the shelter's site that attracted Gregg's attention as she continued her search for a companion for George Bailey. "I was trolling through their pictures and there she was," Gregg says. "She was a hound mix like George Bailey, but Molly is sleek, shiny black. As soon as I saw her I completely fell in love. I couldn't get in my car fast enough."

Molly and Bailey turned out to be a perfect match, and if Gregg someday rescues another dog, she says she'll definitely go for a big black dog.

"If and when I get another dog, I will probably deliberately look for another black dog, only because I've learned of black dog syndrome," Gregg says. "Bring 'em my way, because I love 'em."

Champagne and Cupcakes

That's right. My party is so jumping off:

Welcome Back Lucy!

Host: Stephanie Smith (Lucy's mother)
Location: Our house
When: Saturday, March 22, 2:00PM to 4:00PM


Hi girlies! I'm having a welcome back party for Lucy at the house! She's returning after a long six months at the Midwest Day Spa and Resort. We're having an informal gathering of ladies for champagne and cupcakes. Tiaras will be handed out, and coverage will be featured on Lucyspeaks.blogspot.com. Come out and celebrate!

Ei's birthday

Tonight is Ei's birthday. The girls were in rare form tonight. First, they made Ei give a fashion show of her birthday attire in the living room while Cee did her nails and Bee thought about what she could eat for dinner (it ended up being a mash up of an english muffin, crackers, and raspberries).

First outfit. Black dress with low cleavage that hit at the knee. Looked very 50s pinup. "Yes!!! Yes!!" Bee and Cee screamed. "Your boobs look great in that!! Yes, perfect!!"

"But it's too serious and classy!"

"Your boobs look great! What's next?"

Dress two. A black and white dress that hit six inches above the knee and showed no cleavage. Votes were split on this one, but Bee and Cee approved of the frock's youthful attitude.

But the winner was a dress from Cee's closet. A silver, cleavage freeing swing dress that fell eight inches above the knee to be worn with tights.

"HOT!! And your boobs!! YES!! BOOOBS!!! BOOOOOBS!!! Flirty! Cute! BOOOBSSS!!

They were all so excited, the popped a bottle of champagne in celebration. 

So I learned one thing new tonight. Finding the perfect party dress is euphoric. Especially one that exposes cleavage. Remind me to only wear my snuggest t-shirts to the dog run so I can show "my girls", too.