We had a merry, poopy Christmas

Ellie got Chuck-it balls in her stocking, she LOVES these!

Finally back to the digital world after a few days off, and I must say, it was very nice not checking e-mails, tweets, facebook, etc. for a little bit!

Since we were going to be gone from the house from 8am until 10:30pm, Ellie got to tote along for all of the Christmas festivities.

1. First stop was my mom's where Ellie was bullied by a Rat Terrier half her size for most of the morning. He is very territorial and not a fan of new friends so he followed her around all morning, growling, while Ellie was just trying to avoid him and find a place that she could hang out without getting bullied.
The back yard was usually the best bet. Of course, while I was going out to pick up after Ellie, I stepped in one of the other dog's poop!


2. Next stop was Chris's parents where Ellie got to play with her good friend Fonzie, the 100 pound Golden Retriever. We put them in the back yard most of the afternoon while everyone else was opening presents.
When I finally let Ellie back inside, I noticed that the sides of her neck were crusty. I assumed that it was drool from playing with Fonzie until someone asked if it was poop. A quick sniff of my hands confirmed and Ellie had to get a bath!


3. Last stop was my dad's. Luckily, we avoided any more poop here but had a fun time with the whole family: me and my two sisters, and five step sisters - that's 8 girls all together which only happens at Christmas time!

We had a very long day but it was full of family and fun. Ellie's favorite part? Balls of course!

Christmas Photos

We were lucky and got some pictures taken of us and our pups at work for free! This is my favorite because Ellie looks so angelic (look at those huge eyes!)

"Please, can I have the treat?"

Secret Santa Present

We did a Secret Santa gift exchange among the pets/pet owners at work and Ellie received her present today! We walked in this morning to find it sitting on my desk, no idea who it's from!

I set the gift down on the floor and there was something good inside because Ellie was giving it a good sniff-over. She even proceeded to open it all by herself!

We got some awesome gifts! A hard bone, a squeaky ball (that will have to wait until we get home) and lots of cookies!

Ellie is already going to town on the bone! Thanks Secret Santa!

Ellie's 12 Days of Christmas

Ellie's version of the 12 days of Christmas including many of her favorite things and some memories of the past year :)


On the 12th day of Christmas, my mommy gave to me

12 puppaccinos,

11 cornbread muffins,

10 strips of bacon,

9 sticks of butter,

8 bushes for marking,

7 miles of hiking,

6 rawhide chews,

5 teennnniiissss baaaaaaalls!

4 squeaky ducks,

3 milk bones,

2 feeding bowls,

And a shopping spree at PetSafe!

Merry Christmas and may all your wishes come true!

The Mysterious Rawhide Chew

It's Monday. Ellie and I are back in the office. She's had a pretty quiet morning save for the very welcomed privilege of a dog walker who is new to the office. Ellie and I left at lunch to meet my dad, then we come back.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

I give her a rubber toy filled with a milk bone in the hopes that it will busy Ellie for a bit. She doesn't take to it.

An unknown amount of time passes as I zone in on my work and tune out the world around me. When I have a moment to focus again, I look down at Ellie and notice she's chewing on something. It's a braided rawhide dog chew.
I grab it from her and ask my cubicle neighbor Traca (who has her dog Stella) if it belongs to her. Nope.

The next nearest dog is at least 30 feet away down the hall. Mind you, Ellie is trapped in my cube by a jail baby gate so she can't just wander wily nily.

Where in the world did this thing come from? The magical rawhide fairy?

"I don't know and I don't care. It's yummy!"

Desk Doggy

Ever since we moved to our new office, Ellie has been pretty antsy. The space is much bigger and more open so she can see and hear lots of things going on. I've invited her to join me on my chair, but instead, she uses it as a stair to get onto the desk. Today, I learned that she really enjoys sitting up on the desk and is much quieter!

Ellie sharing my chair

Watching me work

Finding her cozy spot

Santa Claus is comin'...

Santa came early this year for Ellie because today she received her secret Santa gift for the Kitty and Canine Gift Exchange. We participated in this last year and loved it, so we couldn't wait to do it again this year!

Not one, but three packages arrived for Ellie today. So we sat down with the boxes. 

Ellie's eyes glow with excitement

Ellie quickly picked out her favorite - tennis balls!

She starts dragging it away from the pile

At one point, she got the package of balls stuck under the couch.

She drags them across the floor...

Can I have that?

Patiently waiting for mom to take pictures

Thanks so much for our gifts, Jessica and Bodie!

Turkey day and the muffin snatcher

Yesterday we had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ellie was welcome to both houses so she had a long, busy day. Unfortunately the day started off on the wrong foot.

Ellie was in the back seat of the car when BF hears some mouth smacking. He turns around to see her eating something-- the cornbread muffins I had baked and put on the floor of the car!

She was in trouble for the rest of the car ride, but lucky for her it was a holiday so she got off easy.

Ellie got to play lots with BF's brother's dog and they were both spoiled with lots of turkey scraps!

We had a great day!

Ellie's New Ball

Ellie comes to work with me every day. Our next-cubicle neighbor brings her dog Stella who is a small black lab that is good friends with Ellie. We let them play once in a while, but Ellie is a very vocal player.

So for all the rest of the day that Ellie is trapped at my desk, she needs something else to do. I got her this green ball. It's rubbery and bouncy and smells like mint!

What's really fun is that it has holes in it which means I can squeeze some treats in there and it keeps Ellie busy trying to get them out.

Unfortunately while I was writing this post, she chewed out a huge chunk of it because the treats wouldn't come out. *wah wah*

The Tail of the Bad Dog

Look at this face:

Innocent looking, right?

Ellie has not been a good dog lately.

It all started a month or two ago. I noticed that she grabbed a stick of butter from the counter while I was out. I chuckled to myself when imagining how it must have happened, but easily dismissed it.

Fast forward to a week ago.

I had one and a half sticks of butter on the counter (I always keep sticks out for baking). I return home and notice that there is only one stick. Where did the half go? With absolutely no sign of it, I assume Ellie must have eaten it whole, wrapper included.

The next day, I return home to find a mangled stick of butter on the kitchen floor.

Okay. I am learning. It's time to push the butter further back on the counter so that she can't reach it. It's my fault.

Where I used to keep the butter

Unfortunately, I'm so used to keeping the butter in it's place, so I accidentally put it back in its usual spot after baking, and lo and behold, Ellie grabs hold of it again. Only this time, she accompanied her butter lunch with five or six peanut butter cookies for dessert! (Mind you, her tummy is completely fine and I haven't experienced any throwing up or diarrhea issues during any of these incidents) And yes, the cookies were my fault for leaving them on the coffee table (d'oh!).

Finally this morning I get smart and consciously push the butter further back on the counter before leaving for the gym. This is where I put it:

I get back to the gym to find a whole stick with teeth marks and this on the floor:

So now the room temperature butter lives on top of the fridge and this little doggy is in big trouble.

Happy belated Halloween

Busy life lately! I have been meaning to get up photos from my Hawaii vacation but still haven't gotten around to it. In the meantime, Ellie and I both dressed up for Halloween at work yesterday! She repeated her bull rider costume while I was a ceiling fan (pun)! :)

Aloha from Oahu!

Just popping in to say hello aloha! I'm visiting with my sister in Honolulu but return to Seattle and Ellie tomorrow evening. Ellie has been diligently going to work for me while I soak up the sun. Can't wait to share more photos and stories with you!

Ellie kissed an alpaca

Yesterday Ellie and I went to Petapalooza at Marymoor park. It was a bit of a soggy day, but we made the best of it, got lots of free treats and food samples, and had a great time!

We saw some big Danes!

Ellie kissed an alpaca!

Ellie was very curious about these big animals. Ellie and Gigi sniffed each others noses a couple of times and at one point, Ellie licked her nose which really freaked Gigi out! She quickly pulled her head away and shook it, wondering what in the world just happened! Ellie has a tendency to offer kisses to all the new friends she meets. :)

Ellie crashed out

The sun peeked out and as soon as the ground dried up enough, Ellie crashed out. She was exhausted!

Need your help - click here!

Thanks guys!

This is the last week of my contest! Please take a minute to click each of the links that I share and tweet or share the links to others.

I need as many clicks as I can get, and unfortunately clicking it many times on the same browser doesn't help so it needs to reach lots of people! THANKS!

Crazy Kitty

Saturday was sunny and I wanted to get outside so Chris and I were going to take Ellie to pick blueberries. Unfortunately, the season is over and all of the blueberries were over-ripe so we left empty-handed.

Later that day, I was walking Ellie up his street by myself when we spotted an orange cat. Ellie immediately became excited at the thought of a new friend to play with/chase. The cat did not return her sentiments, but was standing with an arched back, poised to defend itself.

Reenactment

As I slowly walked Ellie up the sidewalk in the general direction of the cat, the cat began to slowly walk towards us, hissing and with its back arched. Ellie became even more excited to be getting closer to her new friend while I became more nervous and decided to retreat.

Walking back the other direction, I noticed that the cat continued on its path toward us. I realized that this thing was ready to fight with Ellie to defend its territory! I picked up my pace until we got far enough away that the cat stopped following us.

So I'm glad to conclude this blog post by saying that Ellie is unscathed after that day.

What probably would have happened: Cat charges Ellie to tell her to go away; Ellie gets in play stance and tries to play with the cat; cat swats at Ellie and scratches her face; Ellie realizes that she is being attacked and fights back. Both animals come away severely wounded. Stacy has to explain to cat's owner what happened.

Reenactment

Give us a click!

Friends, we need your help! Please click links that I post on Twitter labeled with #yinsider. And share with others who would be able to help!

Background: I'm in a contest running against 9 other people that has to do with the Yahoo! trip that I took a few weeks back. Each week, we share trending news topics and at the end of 6 weeks of link sharing, they tally up the number of total clicks each person got to determine the winner. Basically, whoever is most influential or best at sharing the news is the winner. The grand prize is $5,000 and a new laptop!

If you guys help me win the grand prize, I will donate $1,000 of that to a pet charity!

Please share any of the links that you find interesting (using the shortened bitly link so the tracking doesn't get lost). Thank you so much for the help!

Weekend outdoor adventures

On Sunday I decided to get up and outside early before the day got too warm, so I took Ellie to Marymoor dog park bright and early in the morning.

When I first got Ellie, she loved to play with other dogs and go say hello to every dog and person she saw. These days, she seems more interested in claiming the entire 42 acre park by leaving her mark.
She marked...

Said hello...

And marked some more.

On the way back, we went to a blueberry farm where I picked around 2 pounds of blueberries to make some yummy treats! Ellie was very good and hung out in the grass while I picked.

Ellie's Adoption Story

Disclaimer: This post is my entry into the BlogPaws Blog Carnival Contest sponsored by BISSELL Homecare, Inc. I'm hoping to win it for my favorite shelter! 
 
I love telling the story of how I met Ellie because it was such an exciting time in my life.

I have been a dog-lover my entire life, and have never lived without a dog until I went off to college. Even then, I made frequent trips home to visit the family dogs. I was fortunate to move in with my sister and her dog during my Junior year, but knew that when I was close to graduating that I'd get a dog of my own.

Ellie quickly adjusted to her new home

The time finally came and I was ready to adopt a dog and I quickly learned that it was really difficult to find the type of dog I was looking for. After volunteering at a shelter for about 6 months and seeing dogs come and go (with whom I completely fell in love) I had no idea how hard it would be to find the dog that I would dedicate the next 10+ years of my life to.

I was on Petfinder.com daily, looking at dogs within a 50 mile radius.
My criteria:

• Female
• Young (around 3 years or younger) but not too young (preferably past the puppy stage)
• Short hair
• Medium build

One morning while I was interning, I was checking Petfinder which had become part of my morning routine, and I saw her. "Keiki" was what the shelter called her, and they included a YouTube video of someone petting her. In the video, she rolled over on the grass and let the person rub her belly. I was instantly in love!

Unfortunately, the shelter didn't open until 2pm so I had to wait a few hours before I could go there and snatch her up before anyone else could. I begged my boss to allow me to leave early that day and thankfully he allowed it.

When I got to the shelter, my heart was pounding. I was so nervous and excited to meet this dog, and hoped that no one else had adopted her already.

Well as you can see, the rest is history as she is here with me today, my little Ellie (I really couldn't put up with the name Keiki, and she had only been given the name a few days prior so I knew it would be fine to change it).

I delightedly shared my success story on Petfinder's forums a few weeks later along with a photo which has somehow made it onto their official Twitter background! How cool is that?!

Ellie is part of @Petfinder's Twitter background!

Yahoo! for New York

Photo by Chris

As I mentioned previously, I got an amazing opportunity to go to New York and learn from the best of the best at Yahoo! about social media. I was very fortunate to be able to bring a "plus one", Chris, my boyfriend.
Unfortunately, I didn't know until we got there that he wasn't allowed to come to the learning sessions with me, it was for "insiders" only. So I guess each of the 9 plus ones would have to hang out on their own all morning of Thursday and Friday until our sessions were over.

Highlights of the trip:

1. We got lots of awesome Yahoo! swag and learned a bunch about writing for the web thanks to the author of Yahoo!'s official style guide, Chris Barr. (see photo 1)
2. Yahoo! took us to dinner and a Broadway show, "Rock of Ages" which was so great. I've been rocking out to 80s music ever since.
3. I got to try lots of different yummy cupcakes and get inspired.
4. The weather was beautiful-- oh yeah, except for the part where we got stuck in Hurricane Irene. It poured all night and was windy all day. (see photo 3) Then it went back to being beautiful.
5. Our flight on Sunday night was canceled due to the weather. We couldn't get another one out until Tuesday night. We silently delighted in the fact that Irene prolonged our vacation so we could enjoy the rest of New York.
6. I woke up early to be on the Today show. Got my 15 seconds of fame! (see photo 4)
7. Tuesday's flight was delayed which made us miss the second leg of our flight from Chicago to Seattle, so we were stuck in Chicago for the night. Luckily, Chris's best friend (who plays for the White Sox I might add) lives in Chicago so we stayed at his swanky apartment.

While it was a little stressful missing 3 whole days of work that I wasn't planning on missing, I absolutely loved getting those two extra sunny days in New York to explore and play tour guide for Chris.

Photos:

Photo 1: lots of Yahoo! swag

Photo 2: the view from Yahoo!'s 43rd floor

Photo 3: Central Park is closed due to Irene!

 

Photo 4: My appearance on the Today show!

Click here to see more pictures and read about my cupcake experiences in New York.