Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! How will you be celebrating today?

I wish I was going to be at my house so that I could make my table look like this gorgeous creation by 100 Layer Cake.

Instead, we'll be going to Santa Fe to my cousin's place. It will be nice to sit back and just stuff my face with turkey and cranberries!

In case you decide to do any online shopping over the long weekend, I wanted to let you know that my Etsy store is finally open again. I still have to post a lot of goods on there, but at least it is alive and kicking again!

Moto, Tanqueray, and Drake

I spent yesterday afternoon with my four-legged buddies at Roice Hurst. I managed to walk three dogs (so what about all the other things on my list to do before leaving for NM today...).

First up was Moto. This isn't a good picture of him. I'd guess that he's a boxer mix. He's 8 months old and really tall for his age. He's had a rough time in his short life, and I think he's the kind of dog that just doesn't eat when he's stressed. He's really quite skinny, which I think might be why they blurred his picture so much. But what a sweet boy he is (his sweet brown eyes made me want to melt!), and he can jump straight up in the air about 6 feet. That's a really neat thing unless your fence is only 5 feet high.



Second was Tanqueray, a 9-month-old pit bull mix. Sweet and adorable, with a tail that goes a million miles an hour! She really liked the idea of running after the tennis ball, but lost enthusiasm when it came to bringing it back to me. I love her one blue eye.



The last dog for this week was Drake, an 8-year-old yellow lab mix. He seems like a bit of a goofball, and like most labs, his tail went from side to side the entire time I was with him.

Things to do in Boulder, Utah

For my birthday, the husband took me to Boulder, Utah for a long weekend. Never heard of it?

Me neither.

But you need to make a note of it, and if you ever find yourself in southern Utah, be sure to visit. But don't sneeze or blink as you drive down Highway 12, or you'll miss it. Boulder is home to roughly 200 people and a whole bunch of cattle and horses. It is an odd patch of topsoil and pastures in the midst of a sea of sandstone cliffs and mounds that look like enormous, um, boulders.

What is there to do in Boulder? Well, mainly three things. But first you need to enjoy the experience of getting there, where you'll find red sandstone cliffs and amazing bits rock every where you turn. I was kicking myself for not paying more attention in that geology class I had way back when.



Once you get to Boulder, the first thing you want to do is experience nature. You know, go for a hike. And that's just what we did.

Here's the view just outside of Boulder. See what I mean about the sea of sandstone?



We spent Saturday morning on a 6-mile roundtrip hike to Little Calf Creek Falls. Calf Creek is the creek that is at the bottom of the canyon in the photo above. In some places the sand was so deep that it was difficult to walk. But the hike was worth it.

There were amazing sandstone cliffs everywhere.



And Calf Creek has the most gorgeous crystal clear water. So clear that you can watch the fish. That's just what Sadie did. That's a fish that she's staring at, about 2 feet in front of her nose. She was a bit puzzled at first.



But then she decided that fish must be almost as fun to chase as lizards!



So close. So, so close! But no cigar.

I kept asking the husband how we would know we reached "the" falls. We saw a few small falls along the way, but I figured there must be something more. And boy, was there!

Weeks 5 and 6 of the Great Letterpress Giveaway

*Updated on 11/24 with new photos.

I realized over the weekend that this week is Thanksgiving (that's what happens when you live in the freelance lifestyle vacuum), and that I--and probably most of you--won't be spending much time on the computer after tomorrow.

So, I am combining the Week 5 and Week 6 giveaways. Because I'm combining two weeks, each person can enter two times. You have until next Friday, December 4, at noon EST to enter. I will pick two names at random, and each person will receive a total of 20 cards of their choice of my critter cards (they can be mixed and matched as single cards any way the winners want, or the winners can choose two sets of 10, each packaged in a clear plastic box that is just darn near perfect for gift giving or stocking stuffing!). Each card comes with an envelope that matches the ink color.

I'm behind in my printing, and have only done two of six colors so far. Shown below are the critters I have printed in a dark purple color I call pansy: a moose, a pointer (I like to think of it as a Weimeraner...), and a walking cat.



Also shown are the critters I've printed in the color I call guava--a lioness, a basset hound, a lounging cat, and a bunny.



And here are the critters printed in rhubarb pie--a porcupine, Scottie dog, camel, and another long-haired cat.



I'll hopefully print the rest of the animals early next week, including the rest of the "woodland creatures": a beaver, a squirrel, and a howling coyote; the rest of my "African critters": a rhinoceros, a giraffe, and an elephant; and the rest of the dogs and cats (including a dachsund!). I'll post new photos as I print them.

Good luck!

Klinger and Gigi

I made two new best friends today while volunteering to walk dogs at the Roice Hurst Humane Society.

I had a ton of things to do today (um, like post today's letterpress giveaway...), but I couldn't wait to get back out there to walk some more dogs. I had planned to walk three dogs, but I got all the way to the shelter and realized that I left a giant bag of dog treats on the counter. I raced home, fully expecting to find Sadie fat and happy and an empty bag in the middle of the floor. It could happen--just ask her how much she enjoyed that whole loaf of cinammon raisin bread her idiot mom left on the counter the last time she went dog walking...

First up today was Klinger, a 1.5-year-old male Husky mix. I guess he was destined to be a sled dog until someone realized he is deaf. He's sweet as can be, and it took him no time at all to realize that a wiggle on the leash meant it was cookie time!



The second dog today was Gigi. She's a 3-year-old Golden Retriever mix and it pretty much broke my heart when I got home and looked her up on the website and found out that she came to this shelter from another shelter where she had "run out of time." I just can't believe she hasn't found a home yet. She has the sweetest eyes and not a mean bone in her body. She sits on command, took cookies gingerly from my hand, and despite it all still wags her tail when you say her name. I hope she finds a family soon.

 

Winner of Week 4 of the Great Letterpress Giveaway

Happy Monday to you all!

I'll get right to the good news: The first winner was picked randomly and is comment 13 from Sheryl (Sheryl, please send me your email so that I can get a mailing address for you). I picked the second winner based on their story of their best birthday, and it was very close between several entries. But I ended up picking c_lavallee because I love the idea of a girl turning 13 and celebrating with her mom by having a makeover and making a dance video! Each winner will receive a set of these floral cards.

Coming up later today will be the prizes and modified rules for a combined Week 5 and 6 giveaway (because over the weekend I realized that, like me, most people will probably be away from their computers at the end of this week). Stay tuned!

Locks of love

I found today that one of the best ways to celebrate a birthday is by removing about 20 pounds of hair. It's quite refreshing (and a lot lighter!).

Before



After



I've been planning on cutting my hair for about a year, but I struggled to grow it as long as possible so that I could have a mighty long contribution for Locks of Love. I hope they find a good use for that rat's nest!

I love my dog

Every dog person out there needs to go here right now and watch this video.

"I love my dog as much as I love you." I love it. I'm thinking I need a video like this for Sadie Bug. I think she's almost as photogenic, don't you?

That's Sadie when she was 9 weeks old, and that's Simon in the background trying very hard to take a nap.

I need to send this video to the husband. I don't think he understands when I tell him that he and Sadie are my #1a and 1b... :)

Cold noses and warm hearts

I recently signed up to be a volunteer dog walker at my local animal shelter, the Roice-Hurst Humane Society. I decided I have too much love to give to dogs, and this is turning Sadie into a spoiled moocher. ;) This morning I went for my "dog walking class" and got to walk my first two dogs.

My first dog was Ace, a 4-year-old Blue Heeler mix. Their website says Ace is a female, but he's really a boy. What a sweet dog, but it seems like he didn't get a lot of human contact before. He doesn't like to play ball and he always seemed a little surprised that I would want to pet him. By the end of our walk he was really pretty happy to have his neck under his collar scratched.



I also walked Darvey, a 7-year-old Red Heeler mix. This Darvey is one special guy. He was born without tear ducts so his eyes get really goopy. He's also missing about 98% of his teeth (and what he does have are awfully crooked) but that doesn't stop him from mooching dog biscuits every chance he gets. He loves to play ball and knows how to sit and shake. He also has an amazing ability to quickly determine which pants pocket contains the dog cookies!



If you're interested in volunteering and you like dogs (or cats), check with your local shelter to see if they have any volunteer opportunities. I had no idea that my shelter had a dog walker program until I looked on their website about something else two weeks ago--a little something that I'll be sharing with all of you next week!

Week 4 of the Great Letterpress Giveaway

Well, shucks. I went and opened my big mouth last week and told you I was going to print something really great over the weekend for today's giveaway. But then I got some last minute "real" work on Friday night that ate up most of my weekend. Ah, the joys of the freelance lifestyle.

To make it up to you, this week I'll be picking TWO winners and each will receive a set of 6 of these A6 (4.5" x 6.25") flat notecards with a floral print, with matching envelopes. This week each person can enter up to two times. As usual, please enter by noon EST this Friday, November 20.

It happens to be my birthday this week, so I'll be heading out of town on Friday. The destination is still a secret, so if I don't have internet access to post the winners on Friday night, I'll post them on Monday.

I'll select one winner at random, but I'll choose the other winner. Just tell me about the best birthday you ever had. Good luck!