Obie Turned Two!

Obie turned two years old on May 7th. We decided to throw him a birthday party because earlier that week, there was a Groupon for Maribelle Cakery for $20 and I wanted to eat cake.

If you have not signed up with Groupon yet, please do so by clicking HERE. They will send you daily deals for the cities you choose. They have some really great things. To date, I have gotten 5 bottles of wine for $25, a car wash and wax for $14, $35 gift certificate to a local restaurant for $15, and the cake for $20. It's free to sign up and if you use the link above, I'll get a referral bonus, so thanks in advance!

Back to the party. It was actually really cute. We invited a few friends over and two of them brought their dogs. The adults got cake and ice cream and the dogs got lots of dog treats and doggy ice cream. Obie threw up about 30 minutes later, like a real kid who ate too much and got too excited

Our friends brought him lots of presents as well. After the cake and ice cream, we took the dogs to the dog park that is down the street. They played at the park for awhile, but it was so hot that there were not that many people there. Soba swam in the lake for a bit, but we left shortly after that because our friend's dog got stung by a bee.

I think the humans were more wore out from the party than the dogs because after the park, I promptly napped for about 4 hours. Happy Birthday lil guy!

Tortoise, Too Cute!

You all know how much I love animals (except for cats-domestic ones, yuck. Lions and tigers, okay). One of my favorite things are when animals dress like other animals. Think dog in a bee costume, duck in a panda costume, etc.

A new animal favorite though are these videos of tortoises eating things. Their little mouths, the way they stick their necks out, ahhh they are just so freaking cute.





I only wish they were not spotted. I am very creeped out by random spots. Can't win them all.

Pon Pon Patapon and Kingman

We went to Kingman, Arizona to visit T's family during his Spring Break from school in the middle of March. The day we left for Kingman was also T's birthday. He said he wanted a funfetti cake. I haven't made a box cake in ages and I thought it was funny that I was going to make one for the love of my life. I even said I could make him something fancier, maybe a chiffon cake or something more challenging, but he said nope, only funfetti- so funfetti it was.

Before we left, he had bought himself a PSP and was obsessed with this game called Patapon. I decided to theme his cake with the characters from Patapon (they are really cute afterall). I printed out pictures of the characters onto cardstock and staked them to wooden skewers. I used food coloring to make the frosting purple. I wanted to make a two tiered cake, and since his mom did not have wooden dowels, drinking straws worked just as well.

For not having a box cake in awhile or funfetti for that matter, I actually really liked it.

Also, Soba saw snow for the first time. She was so cute bouncing all around!

What A Pretty Girl

My sister bobby pinned some pink bows to Soba's head the other week and it was so adorable. However, the bobby pins do not stay on very well because Soba has very short hair and it's very soft and silky.

We went to the mall last weekend and picked up cute little flower clips at Claire's. I was a total tomboy when I was younger, but I loved that store. We had to get two packs because each one came with two different colors (makes no sense at all). They make Soba so pretty.

She does not really like to wear them though and always shakes them off. Guess she doesn't understand the price of beauty.

.

But you can get them to stay on if you clip them while she is eating.

She now weighs in at hefty 36 lbs (31.1 lbs more than when we adopted her).

Puppies

My sister took these photos on her new SLR camera about a month ago. Soba has now grown to double Obie's size, weighing in around 25 pounds. She is really sweet and adorable. I'm glad we saved her life.

Polar Bear Attack

N sent me a text yesterday that said "Check out this polar bear attack!!" with a link from digg. I was expecting something bloody and gruesome, but instead it was this:

Bear Attack Photos,

This took place in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.
These are pictures of an actual polar bear attack in Churchill.
These pictures were taken while people watched and did nothing to stop the attack!
Reports from the local newspaper say that the victim has made a full recovery.
The photos are below:

How cute is that? I want to get attacked by a baby polar bear!

Obie Love

Just because we got a new dog this weekend, doesn't mean I forgot about my old puppy, Obs. I'm actually playing with Obie more so he doesn't get jealous. My sister and I took him to my parents for Thanksgiving. Here he is riding in my lap on the car ride to Phoenix.

And when my mom's parents came over for dinner, they wanted a photo with him too. He's a big hit with them!

Happy Halloween!

This month, I received quite a number of Halloween forward emails with pictures of dogs in their costumes. My favorite part of these (besides them being super cute) is that the dogs must be so well-behaved to let their owners dress them up like this.

Because tomorrow is Halloween, I decided to post my favorites from those emails (in no particular order):

I LOVE Harry Potter! This costume of Fluffy is AMAZING.

This actually looks freakishly real to me..

I like the minimal effort in this. I don't think Obie would let me leave a bag on his head.

This is just funny. Who thinks of this?

Terrible. That bottom looks so uncomfortable!

So cute!

This cannot be real...

Took me about 5 seconds to figure out what it was, but once I did, I think it's so creative!

Happy Halloween everyone!

NY Lottery- Such Cute Commercials!

Eeee! So cute! I want to get my dog pajamas too! They have another cute one with bunnies too.

I Knew Kids Were Like Animals!

Eat Me Daily posted a video from Steve V at Vimeo that was a modern remake of the now classic Stanford psychological experiment from the 60s where kids are put in a room with a marshmallow. They are told they cannot eat it until the researcher comes back and if they wait, they get a second one. It's pretty funny. There is one kid who is so cute. He keeps smelling it and looks so tortured. He also looks like one of my ex coworker when he was little.

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

I compare these kids to animals because of this YouTube video I saw about a year ago on this crazy Japanese game show where they stack food on animals. This one is so cute (probably because I love animals more than I like kids)! The little girl who scratches the marshmallow is like the chimpanzee!

Fat Burros

It's been reported that there is an epidemic of obese burros in the old gold mining town on Oatman in western AZ. The wild burros in the small town's one street are extremely overweight, "with rolls of fat on their necks and big, full bellies."

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management manages the burros and say that half a million tourist visit the small town each year and feed the burros carrots, hay, or anything else and the burros eat it up. They have started a campaign to help the burros get back into shape, as most of them are 100-150 pounds overweight.

How silly.

[image via wikimedia.org]

World's Largest Dog

I saw someone post a tweet on their Twitter about the World's Largest Dog in the Guinness World Records (Hercules, an English Mastiff that weighed 282 pounds with a 38 inch neck) last night and this photo followed:

After doing some brief research on the internet, I found out that the photo is fake. The above dog is a Neapolitan Mastiff, not English. Also, an average horse weighs about 1000 pounds and in the photo, the dog looks to be only 30-50% smaller.

The largest dog ever recorded comes from the UK in 1989. An 8 year old English Mastiff named Zorba. He weighed in at 343 pounds, measured 8 feet from nose to tail and stood 37 inches at the shoulder. Since he has passed away, another English Mastiff named Hercules in MA was named the World's Largest Dog by Guinness in 2001 at 270 pounds (below with his owner).

Goodness, Dim Sum, my old Labrador retriever, at his heaviest was 92 pounds and he was a handful. I couldn't imagine if he was twice that size! Cute little Obie weighs in at a mere 13 pounds and doesn't look like he's going to get any bigger.

[images via worldslargestdog.com and truthorfiction.com]

Who's Splashing?

The people who owned this house kept finding water all over their pool deck and furniture. They thought the neighborhood kids were sneaking into their pool when they left so they set up a camera to catch them.

So cute.

Cute Dog Saved from Freak Show

The dog above, a chihuahua terrier mix, was born with five legs to an an unemployed electrician who said he needed the money so he was going to sell her to a Brooklyn freak show called "Freaks of Nature" for $3000.

Luckily for Precious, who has now been renamed to Lily, a woman from Charlotte outbid the freak show operator for $4000. She will also spend an additional $2000 to have the extra leg removed.

The owner of the freak show told NBC he was disappointed, but "Sometimes, you just gotta say, 'OK, I still have nine live, two-headed animals' and move on.''

What a freak. That dog is cute!

[image via NBC New York/AP]

World's Ugliest Dog 2009

Pabst, the boxer mix rescue above, was crowned the world's ugliest dog on Friday at the annual Sonoma-Marin Fair. Besides the severe under bite and angry eyes, I don't think he's THAT ugly.

The winner from last year, Miss Ellie, a Chinese Crested, is way uglier. Her face is all creepy and skin looks gross.

[image via Chicagotribune.com and Dailymail.co.uk]

Obie Face

My sister has been at home the past few days in between school and work. The best part about it- she brought Obie with her!

I took him swimming yesterday and it was so cute. He looks like a little teddy bear.

Why I Love Dogs

Yesterday, the Bronx ABC news station reported a really cute story about two yellow lab chow mixes. I saw this on Jack Gray's twitter (CNN producer that I like). It was so sweet and protective. I love dogs and I really miss having one at home. Steph is bringing Obie to me on Sunday though, so yay!

At 6:30am during rush hour, the female 9 year ran onto the Major Deegan Expressway and was hit by a car. The other dog, her son, ran onto the highway to rescue her. He would not let anyone near her and would bark at oncoming traffic and at the police officers who were trying to help.

Finally, officers got close enough to lift the injured dog onto a sheet and place her gently inside a cruiser. She was brought to animal care. The owner of the dog saw the drama on TV and went to the vet center right away and took her to the animal hospital, where they found a broken left leg.

When police tried to get to the other dog, the dog protector took off. There was a slow-speed chase, then a high-speed chase. The dog dodged vehicles, changed direction and ran head-on into traffic. Police backed up the highway, not sure which way the dog was going to break next. Finally, after about 45-minutes, the dog was given a police escort onto an exit ramp, and traffic flowed again.

The owner told animal control that the other dog, who he also owns, is home now. The owner says the relationship between the dogs explains a lot."It was heartwarming, they look out for each other," she said.

Awww. They didn't have a picture, so here is a picture of my first dog, the gentle giant, Dim. :)

Would You Like a Snake Head With That?

An unsuspecting diner who visited a New York T.G.I. Friday's got more than he paid for with his side vegetables. Jack Pendleton noticed something gray mixed in and then realized it was a snake head with a part of its spine attached the size of his thumb.

The Associated Press reported that he took a picture of it with his phone and called the waiter over. The meal he had with his girlfriend was comped. He has no plans to sue the restaurant and a spokeswoman for the chain restaurant says they are investigating.

Gross. That's why I hate eating at those type of places. I have heard so many horror stories! How would a snake head end up in the restaurant anyways and how did the cook or the waiter not notice? That is definitely not ServSafe- hope he didn't get sick!

[image via T.G.I.Fridays.com]

Obie Gnocchi Turns One

Today is Obie's first birthday! We haven't had him for a whole year (our gotcha date is June 7), but in this past year, he has been a very good puppy. And I love and miss him. If only I could steal him back from my sister.

These photos are in chronological order, so you can see his many looks from different haircuts.





He's so cute!

Miracle Dog

This is an old video clip from the Oprah show about a dog named Faith who had to learn to walk like a human (on two legs) to survive. So different, but cute.