Happy One Year Old Birthday Pretz!

August 28th was Pretz's one year old birthday＼(^o^)／
Since I had to work all day and I couldn't do anything special for her, I promised her I would spend all day with her the following day to make it up! At least Papa went to Woof Gang Bakery (a great doggie store at North Hills!) and got a birthday cake for her. Thanks Papa!

The next morning I took them for a long morning walk and post-Pretz's birthday had started!
I gave both Pretz and Pocky a nice bath and light trim. Now, they look nice and fresh!

Now we are ready to go our favorite store Phydaux to get some presents for Pretz...Yey (*^_^*)
It was little bit overcast outside, but as usual, we took a few pictures outside.

We picked up an Acana dog food sample (they get to try new food today!) and a new water bowl and food bowls☆ミ Seriously we can stay there all day!
Let me show you what we got for Pretz at the store...
We were looking for a new water bowl for upstairs since Pretz sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and goes downstairs to get water. Papa found a perfect water bowl for our kids...here it is.

Yes! Pretz can be a trouble-maker eating everything she finds on the floor...WANTED!!!
and Pocky...if you start playing fetch with him, he never stops...WANTED!!!! hahaha
Also I always wanted to get ceramic food bowls for them. Today is the day. Tada~~

I love them! Pocky, today is your lucky day. You got something too even though your May birthday has passed! There you go, it's snack time! Pretz's birthday cake!

Peanuts butter cake, they absolutely love it! Hey guys...why don't you eat it in the bowl...(-_-;) oh well...I don't think they can even hear me right now...
After the snack, it's nap time...

Awweee she is still a baby...She's been through a lot this year...hopefully this year is going to be a little less eventful in that regard. We have nothing more to ask as long as she stays healthy and happy ･:*:･(*´∀｀*)･:*:･ Happy Birthday baby girl, Sweet dreams☆ミ

Movie Night + Play Date!

We had a couple of friends over one night with their kids (doggies). We adults watched a movie while the kids were having play date!

Does anyone remember English Bulldog, Lola? The last time she came to our place was four months ago. She was still a small puppy then...

Look how fast she grew up...

She was still acting like a puppy but I was surprised to see how big she became within four months!
Unfortunately Lola's papa had to go home earlier than the rest of our other friends but Lola seemed like she still had a great time with her new friend, Fiona (*^_^*)

It was great to see you Lola! Come back soon!!
The movie continued...and the kids continued playing. I was taking some pictures while they were playing so I missed parts of the movie but it's all good...because I got some great pictures to share...(^^)v

Fiona just turned one year old. She is a very playful and lovable dog･:*:･(*´∀｀*)･:*:･I was happy that they wore each other out. They are going to have a good night sleep tonight!
By the way, Fiona has an older brother Charlie (although he is a small one). Everybody is wondering where he is...??Charlie???

Here he is. He was on the couch the majority of the time and watching movie with us. I think he thinks he is one of us...hahaha(^^)
It's getting too late. Time to go bed☆ミ
It was great having you guys. Come hang out with us soon Charlie and .....Fi..o..na...?

(・∀・)...
Awwee she is having too much fun!!

No worries, you guys can come here anytime!
Their happiness is my happiness((o(´∀｀)o))

I also had a grooming the next day. He was a Lhasa Apso and Poodle mix named Gavin.
Welcome to our place Gavin＼(^o^)／

Pocky and Pretz looked worried as I was preparing for grooming in the afternoon because they thought they were the ones who were getting groomed hahahaha. Well lucky for them this time. Gavin got his body shaved and a teddy bear face this time.

He was singing while I was clipping his nails. Too funny Gavin! Now he looks like a stuffed animal. Doesn't he just make you want to hug him?? If you do, he may sing for you too❤

BirthdayS

Last week was one of THE social events of the year. Three of my girls' birthdays are August first, second, and third!

It doesn't matter if your birthday is on a normal weekday, we will still do it up! Happy Birthday!

All the doggies were of course included (*^_^*) While we enjoyed our drinks and dessert, doggies were having a play date; their favorite time!

Fortunately, the weekend was great weather, so we all took a trip to Bluemont Wine Yard in VA for a birthday wine tasting tour!

The place was absolutely beautiful and a great view･:*:･(*´∀｀*)･:*:･ Let's get started!

We were able to taste eight different kind of wines; three white, three red, and two dessert wines. Some cheeses and bread to go with it; it was just perfect!

Birthday girl gave us a toast (^^)

After the tasting, of course we got more bottles to keep the party keep going '`,､('∀`) '`,､

I still didn't forget to take a picture of our precious kids☆ミ Thank you for your cooperation kids!

Now back to the party...

I could do this every weekend hahaha

We were there a good half of the day...now it's time to go get some real dinner. Korean BBQ??? Yummmm
Everybody was napping in the car and so did the kids. They seemed like they had a great time there too.

No worries Pretz go back to sleep. I will wake you up when we get home (*^_^*) I'm about to take a nap too...Zzzzz....

Charlie is Back!

Look who is in the house. Charlie is back!
Before Charlie's mom gets busy with school, she wanted him to look nice and fresh ☆
Hi Charlie, it's very good to see you back(^^)

I gave him the usual summer cut with puppy face( ´ー｀) tada~~~

He gave me a model look in the end. Perfect ･:*:･(*´∀｀*)･:*:･so cute ❤
Stay cool Charlie and see you soon!


I also had two other pooches come in. One was a Maltese and Poodle mix named Maggie.
She was the tiniest maltese mix I've ever seen! And oh boy, the biggest, prettiest eyes!!

Maggie's parents wanted a teddy bear (puppy) cut and I thought that would be the perfect hair cut for her too!

After the cut, she looked even tinier. She makes me want to put her in my purse and take her everywhere I go(*^_^*) See you around Maggie!


The last pooch was a Bichon Frise named Pierre.

Due to excessive mats, we decided to shave him down and start over this time.

I think he still looks handsome with shaved hair (^^♪ But our goal is to give him an official Bichon Frise hair cut as his hair grows back. I'll see you in eight weeks Pierre!


Everybody looks clean and fluffy, I think it's about the time for you guys to get a grooming isn't it Pocky and Pretz??

...Of course you guys didn't hear anything...(-_-;) well you guys have no choice!

UTI & Hot Spot...

One morning, I took the kids to the park across the street and noticed that Pocky was peeing much more frequently than normal. Eventually he squatted and looked like he was trying to squeeze something out and I saw a drop of blood...((((；ﾟДﾟ)))) Is this a kidney stone??? I rushed back home and called the vet immediately. Pocky, we will take you to the vet as soon as possible, just sit tight...

Right before I hang up the phone with the vet, I caught something in the corner of my eye. Pretz...?
I thought she was chewing some lent but wait...she was actually licking her own knee...what's going on...

How did that happen!!!?｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡
We ended up taking both of them to the vet.

Ummm...nope. We are staying here until you get checked out by the vet! Since there was no availability to make an appointment, we had to walk-in and wait for availability.

Pocky had some bacteria in his urine. The vet said it is hard to tell if he has kidney stone so she diagnosed him with a UTI and we got an antibiotic to take home. Hope the antibiotic knocks out all the bacteria and he doesn't need any further treatment...(´Д⊂ 

Pretz had miner hot spot as we suspected. Guess what we got for her...

She was so funny. She didn't care if she was wearing the cone of shame or not. She was just walking into everything, knocking everything out of place and kept walking. Completely opposite personality from Pocky. When she was walking down the stairs, her cone of shame kept hitting the next stair and she was so confused. It was so funny and cute. I wish I had picture!
It was a long day...we had to take a nap...

How rude...I was in hurry to take you guys to the vet so get used to it!
Please get better soon guys( ´ー｀)


I also had a handsome guest that week. He is a Borzoi, named Dante!

He is a very tall, slim, and manly dog but he is a very shy Gentleman･:*:･(*´∀｀*)･:*:･
His owner said he was rescued in Florida and she adopted him...Who would abandon this gorgeous dog?!!!

Look at this heart shaped birth mark. I am so happy for him to find a great family who loves him and takes good care of him. You will never be alone Dante! ❤

FLANDERS

One of Papa's good friends, Mathew Curran is a very talented artist. There is an exhibition in downtown Raleigh at FLANDERS ART GALLERY where some of his works are on display until July 21st. Since we live right around the corner, we took our doggies with us to check it out! 

Mat specializes in stencil art in which he draws the piece first, prints it, and then uses an X-acto blade to fashion each stencil.

It's hard to see in the pictures but his work is very detailed. In fact, the piece in the above right is actually two layers providing a stereoscopic effect. 

Papa's favorite were the Ravens on white background while mine were the Ravens on the textured collage print. The reason why I liked those pieces was that he mixed and patched together nature with things found in our urban environment such as signs, landmarks, and buildings etc,. 
Something that you can't miss at the gallery is...

I asked Mat how long he took to finish this particular piece. I expected him to say a couple months but he said "this one took a bit longer like five days". I was like ((((；ﾟДﾟ)))) I don't even know how but It's amazing. He also said that he envisions placing it on a barn in a field after the exhibition. Wherever that is, I want to go see it!


There are two other artists on exhibition at the gallery. As soon as you walk in, you will see Jonathan Brilliant's work (my first thought was his name is already talented...).

Jonathan Brilliant's work utilizes ordinary coffee shop materials, maybe things normally overlooked. I didn't know what it was until I got really close to it. These are the wooden stirrers woven together very tightly without using any glue!(ﾟДﾟ≡ﾟДﾟ)Wow! The wavy tube that you see in the picture is not a vent pipe, which is what I thought at first. It was made with the cardboard coffee sleeves and the plastic coffee lids...I was just staring at it...speechless━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━!! It's amazing how one person can make such a thing without using any kind of glue. Anyway I liked it a lot! 


The last one we saw was Olek's crochet work. She has "power" to change anything into multi-looped, hyper colored, crocheted visions. It's like magic!･:*:･(*´∀｀*)･:*:･

Look how pretty this tractor looks☆彡 Never expected this! They allowed Pocky and Pretz to get on this fantastic ride. They look so special ヾ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ


She also did some amazing work to the gallery itself...tada~~

She covered the gallery with crochet!!!! Everything is possible! Pocky, Pretz and Mat almost blended into the camouflage crochet too（*^_^*）hahaha 


Thank you to Mat for the personal tour and letting me bring Pocky and Pretz. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the ordinary with extraordinary.


The exhibition is until July 21! The location is 302 S. West Street in Raleigh, NC. If you haven't been there yet, go check it out!(人´∀｀)．☆．。．:*･ﾟ