Hello Wilma.

Hello friends. It has been a while, huh? 2016 has been a rough one, right? One bright spot has been our second pug adoption this year. On November 5th we drove to North Carolina to pick up this little lady. Her name is Wilma!

Our first family portrait. Mildred was NOT happy about the five excited pugs in the house. She likes to have her own space. Look at her face!

Here is the first photo we saw of her. She was surrendered to a shelter by her owner before the rescue picked her up. She was overweight, intact, with nails growing into her paw pads and skin problems. She was the first pug saved after the rescue had to close intake, and I'm so glad they were able to get her for us. She came with the name Wilma Lou!

We knew we were going to get her for almost a month before we drove to pick her up. We were going on vacation so didn't want to get her until after we got back. It was torture! Her foster mom sent me lots of photos of her. It helped the wait go by faster!

We brought her home on a Sunday, then I was out of town for work from Monday to Thursday. When I came home, someone was totally in love with Travis. Now she splits her affection, but at first it was all dad all the time!

She is 8 years old, and so active! It is so weird to me. She can jump up on the couch and uses little dog steps to get onto our bed. She is so fast and loves to play with big stuffed animals. She is a very friendly and loving little dog. If you pet her, she rolls on her back within moments, and she loves to give kisses.

She is a good office buddy. This fox is her current boyfriend. She snuggled up with him like this one day and I couldn't take how cute it was!

I mean...

One thing I really love about her is she likes to be held like this. She'll put her paws on you and try to slither up until you are holding her, face to face. It is so sweet. She has been with us a little over a month and we are already feeling a nice connection with her. She is such a good girl.

We've also had Mildred for over 5 months! I can't believe it has been that long. Earlier this week she went to the vet to get a broken canine tooth pulled, and ended up with 11 extractions! Several of them were very old breaks, with the gums grown over the pieces. She had a rough first day after her surgery, that photo is from when we picked her up. She was still drugged! That is the very tip of her tongue poking out! It was pretty cute honestly. She seems to be feeling good now. She has even been cuddling with Wilma! Until this point, she would move if Wilma got close. I'm not sure if it is the amount of time they've been together, the fact it has gotten cold, or maybe her teeth were bothering her before. We'll have to see.

These two have been bringing us a lot of joy over the past few months. I'm glad we were able to rescue them.

In Memoriam: My Queen Priscilla

Travis has been getting on to me about updating my blog, so here I am. I have been avoiding it because I didn't really want to write another sad post. If we're friends on other social media, you have heard this already. It has been three weeks since we had to say goodbye to Priscilla.
Just seven weeks after losing her sister Phyllis, Priscilla was having trouble breathing and we rushed her to the emergency vet. She was there overnight, and in the morning we made the hard decision to let her go. She hadn't improved, and all of the options were full of doubt and worry over whether we would be prolonging her suffering. She had really gone downhill in the preceding months, couldn't walk or sit up. Even though it was heartbreaking,  I am glad we were able to be with her, and she left this world being cradled in my arms, her favorite place to be. But I was not ready to lose her so soon after losing Phyllis. It has been hard. Here is our last photo together.

Here is a look back at our five years with this goofy, loving girl. Maybe too many photos, but I am feeling nostalgic.
She was at Williamson County Animal Control and a friend who was working there sent me a picture of her. I went to see her, thinking if she wasn't a good fit, we could at least foster her for a rescue. But she was perfect. Phyllis and Priscilla were meant to be.

With tattooed Santa.

The sling. My favorite.

Christmas at their grandma's house.

Santa again. For some reason these Santa photos are really getting me. I love their matching pajamas. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, since they are custom. It seems too sad to get rid of them.

The raincoats! Notice Phyllis booking it back inside in the background.

Her big lake adventure last summer. 

In the storm this past winter. 

From this spring, when I wrote a post about enjoying every moment with Phyllis and Priscilla because who knew how long we would have together. I never imagined they would both be gone within 5 months. 

At her last pug meet-up. Her ears were like that after she got nerve damage in her ear and had a permanent head tilt. It messed with her balance, but it was very cute. 

So here they are. Back together in my office. It has been a very hard summer for me. Life goes on, but I miss these two every single day. I never knew grief could cause physical pain before. 

South of the Border!

As a fan of Roadside America I have of course heard of South of the Border. It is a legendary bit of tacky kitsch in South Carolina. It was never close to where we were going on a trip, but when we drove to Willmington to pick up Millie, our route took us right by! I hadn't done any research about our route before we left, but we started seeing billboards and I started freaking out!

This place is super dated, but it is a beautiful example of a mid-century tourist trap. And there are a million photo ops!

We had two dogs with us, so we couldn't go in any of the buildings, but that was fine. There was so much stuff to pose with outside!

I would love to have this guy in my yard!

Kabuki is a great poser!

I'll take this guy as well. 

Every single building was adorable.

We had only had Millie a few hours when we stopped here, but she was already settling in. She LOVES riding in the sling! She was happy to just hang out in there.

I love this too! I wanted to get a picture with it, but there was always a family getting their picture, or kids playing on it.

Family portrait. 

How many dog pictures is too many for one post? 

LOOK AT HER FACE!!!!

There is a bridge over the main road that has a nice view of more attractions. Like reptile lagoon and a restaurant in the shape of a sombrero. You can see "Pedro" the mascot in the front here. They could definitely stand to lose all the representations of him in the place. It is pretty racially insensitive for 2016. I would love to see this place updated a little (aka take out the racist stuff) but keep the vintage style charm.

I love the snake on here!

And this giant shell!! 

Travis and Kabuki listening to the ocean. 

He was very worried about this.

Guys, this is such a small fraction of the photos we took of the dogs. There were just too many places to pose! And Millie and Kabuki are so cute.

I mean, look at her!

Another family portrait. They painted jeans on this gorilla and it was so hilarious looking. 

Travis sat in the car with the air conditioning on so I could look around one of the many gift shops. It was FULL of so much junk! Some of it awesome, and some of it seemed like it has been there for 40 years!

I bought this mug, I couldn't resist!

I wanted one of these ash trays, but I resisted.

They were selling the BEST postcards for 10 cents each. I think I sent three to Crystal because I liked them so much! They seemed really old, I wonder how many old boxes of postcards they have stacked in the back. They had a post office box right outside, perfect!

I bought this too. Obviously. 

I mean.

We drove from South of the Border to a hotel for the night. The pups slept in bed with us, and the next morning we continued on through Asheville. Of course we had to stop for some doughnuts at Vortex. Delish! 

Then we went home. It was a LONG couple of days. Over 20 hours of driving from Friday night until Sunday afternoon! But it was so worth it. Mildred is a perfect addition to our family.

Life Lately

Hello, hello! Today is the first Saturday in recent memory where I had no plans and no responsibilities. Travis is away at his scooter club's annual rally, and I have spent the day watching Call the Midwife, lounging with the dogs and editing the tons of photos I have to show you. It has been a great day, I really needed a day like today.

Here is a little of what has been going on lately.

It has been about a month since we lost Phyllis. I commissioned a portrait of her and Priscilla a few weeks ago. These two will always be linked in my mind and I wanted to get a portrait made of just them together. It came in the mail today, and LOOK AT IT! Could it be anymore precious and perfect?

I ordered it from Cupcake Pug Co. I went to their shop because they have some adorable pug pins, and saw a listing for a custom portrait by Sophie Corrigan. I loved all her pug drawings, and mine turned out even better than I hoped. She captured Priscilla's silly ears and white face, and Phylly's little nub is just...perfect. I cried when I opened the envelope. I'm so happy with it. I might have to order one more of Mildred. Here is the listing, if anyone is interested.

Millie is doing very well. She got to go to her first Nashville Pugs meet up this past week. It was called "Pugs on the Patio." She was fine with all the pugs running around and people petting her. She doesn't really want to be held unless its me or Travis, but that's ok! Doesn't she look like a natural in her lei and sun glasses? She is a really tolerant little dog! She has lots of skin issues so I guess she is used to being poked and prodded. We love her so much already and we are learning to communicate with each other. I made the mistake of giving her a treat when she came in from going potty outside. Now she tried to get me to take her out ALL THE TIME so she can get a treat when she comes in. Oops!

This is Priscilla's new breakfast eating technique! Hah! She can't walk much at all anymore, but who needs to walk when you can be whisked from bed to bed by the loving arms of your family? All things considered she is doing pretty well.

We've been going to crunchy Tuesday almost every week this summer! A local sushi place, Nomzilla, has $3 rolls on Tuesday nights. The crunchy cabbage is vegan and is SO GOOD. It is a spicy tofu roll, wrapped in cabbage then tempura fried. Yum yum yum. And $3??

Travis and I usually share three rolls. Sometimes we add miso soup and sometimes edamame. I always leave SO FULL. If you are local, or come to Nashville, check it out! Best deal in town!

Weezer came to town in July, and of course I had to buy tickets. Travis ended up passing (It was a week night, and he works so early) so I got to bring Crystal with me. We met up with our girlfriend Marissa. That top picture is us at 15, seeing Weezer for the first time. Bottom pic? Us at 31, me seeing them for the 7th time! I cannot BELIEVE that was half my life ago! The show was really fun, and it was my first time at the new outdoor amphitheater downtown. It was really nice. I actually ended up there two nights in a row, because someone read my dream journal and booked Flight of the Conchords the night after Weezer. But that needs it's own post.

Like every other nerd you know, I've been playing Pokemon GO! Not that much, since I've been busy with work and it is SO hot here, but I love the game.

My favorite part is seeing the Pokemon around you. I don't know that girl with the poliwag on her lap. I've played Pokemon on several different game boys, and I'm trying to break my bad habits. Usually I only try to catch Pokemon that I think are cute, but that isn't the way to play Go really. Crystal and Marc are really into it and it is so fun to go on walks around town and hit all the stops!

BUT Travis hates. So much! Probably because all the people downtown who aren't paying attention to where they are going and get in his way while he's trying to work. We all love catching Pokemon around him, and saying things like "Travis there is a ratata on your butt!!" 

Like I said at the beginning of this post, it has been about a month since we lost Phyllis. I am still sad, but it isn't all consuming anymore. We decided on a private cremation for her, and I ordered a custom urn from this etsy shop. I am so pleased with it. When it arrived I cried (of course) and kissed it. I am keeping her on my desk for now. I miss her, every day, but things have gotten so much better.