Beautiful and Lovely?...Why, Thank You!

We are so pleased to announce that we have been nominated for the Beautiful Blogger and One Lovely Blog Awards by our amazing friends over at Our Waldo Bungie!  These are the first award nominations for our blog and we are so flattered that they came from one of the blogs that we admire most.  Thank you SO much Our Waldo Bungie!  Check them out if you haven’t already…but you probably already have because they are pretty much FAMOUS in blogland!

The requirements for the Beautiful Blogger and One Lovely Blog Awards are:

Copy the award logos and place it in your post.

Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.

Nominate other bloggers you admire.

Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know.

One extra requirement for the One Lovely Blog award requires you to share 7 things about yourself.

Here are 5 things about me, 1 thing about B (because he does his share of contributing to the blog too), and 1 thing about Athena:

1. Crafy Lady-  I am a craft lover and have always been (I think it’s my inner teacher coming out).  My current craft obsession is for my sewing machine.  I have been sewing for less than a year, but I have sewn quite a bit in only one year.  Quickly after starting to sew, I started quilting (which I always thought was something that only old ladies did…).  I am very proud of my very first quilt that I completed.  This was quite the labor of love, but I’m looking forward to beginning a new quilt soon!  Currently I’ve been using my sewing machine to put together Athena's Halloween costume.

A little piece of my quilt

2.  For the Love of Dance- Throughout my life, dance has always been a passion of mine.  From ballet classes as a child to dance team captain in high school, dance is just my thing.  I took a few dance classes in college, but didn’t find much time for dance amongst my studies (besides the occasional moves that I busted while playing Dance Central on the Kinect like when I learned the entire Soulja Boy…).  Finally in grad school I discovered Zumba as a way to start dancing again.  I LOOOOVEEE me some Zumba!

Look at this dance team blast from the past!

3.  Keep Calm and Carry On- For as long as I can remember I have had a total obsession with all things British.  I love the accents, the culture, and the tea!  One of my favorite things to do is to indulge in high tea with my friends and family.  While in high school I was lucky enough to take a trip to London with my mom where we rode on a double decker bus, went to high tea, and I had an uproar that I couldn’t find a dang turkey sandwich anywhere in the city.  Last year’s royal wedding was the best thing evaaaa and you better believe it that I hosted a tea party and stayed up all night to watch the wedding!

High tea at the Empress Hotel

4. Story Time- Being an elementary school teacher I have a special place in my heart for children’s books.  But really, this special place in my heart is actually my WHOLE heart.  This is because I haven’t read an actual adult book for as long as I can remember (not counting boring college textbooks).  That’s right…I’m admitting that I only read children’s and young adult books.  Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Twilight, Hunger Games, Eragon, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, you name it, I’ve probably read it (as long as it’s a series, because if you couldn’t tell, I have a thing for those).  Along with my love for young adult series, I also love children’s picture books.  I have tubs and tubs of them sitting in my garage…waiting to be read by wonderful little children…in my future classroom…please hire me now somebody so that I can use these books!

Why yes, this is the British edition of the Harry Potter series that I own ;)

5. Pass the Remote- Since this “7 things about me” has turned into “7 things that I love,” I must include my love for TV.  I probably watch too much.  But I don’t care!  Don’t judge me that I watch every season of the Bachelor and Bachelorette (and ok, Bachelor Pad too…) and that I watch inappropriate cable shows such as True Blood, Game of Thrones, and Dexter.  My TV is usually always on and my go-to channels are always the Food Network or HGTV.  I can watch House Hunters all-day-every-day.  There is also something about reruns of The Office that I just can’t resist!

I really wanted these two to be a couple

6. Movie Time- B loves to watch and collect movies.  His collection is gigantic and he never minds watching a movie more than once.  In order, his favorite movies are: Gladiator, The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, Leon the Professional, and Momento.  If you couldn’t tell, he doesn’t share the same love of chick flicks as I do… =)

Gladiator...

7. Got Deer?- Miss Athena has a thang for deer antlers.  We recently discovered these amazing chews that last for hours and don’t stink!  Athena knows that she is only allowed to chew on her antler in her crate.  She has learned that as long as the antler stays in the crate she can keep chewing.  What an evil genius!

Don't worry mom, it's still in my crate!

Ok, enough about us and more about some amazing bloggers out there who I am now nominating for these awards:

It All Started With a Pit Bull- Emily blogs about her two beautiful rescued pits as well as her fosters.  Every time that I read her blog I find out just how alike we are!

My Two Pitties-  I’m in love with the pitties from this blog and look forward to seeing tons of pictures of them in every post!

And Foster Makes Five- This is my most recent blog find and I am loving it!  Stephanie recently jumped into the world of blogging and writes beautiful posts about her perma-dogs as well as her foster.  

Peace-a-Bull Assembly- Another blog that I am so glad to have recently discovered, Peace-a-Bull Assembly is filled with cute stories about a rescued pit, like when Ray-Ray wrote about his sleepover.

Go check out these awesome blogs (all of which have a little something to do with pitties)!  Thanks again for sharing these awards with us Our Waldo Bungie, you're the best!

Love It: Doggles

So, this is probably a pretty obvious post.  If you couldn't tell already from Athena's post about the beach as well as mine, we love us some Doggles!  Our obsession with these ridiculously cute/nerdy dog glasses came from Miss M and Mr. B who rock them over at Two Pitties in the City.

Of course when we saw a display of Doggles at Paws On the Sand in Lincoln City, we knew that we needed some to add to Athena's wardrobe.  After a quick fitting session in the store, we picked out a pair and Athena started sporting them as soon as we hit the beach.  As a side note, I was rooting for a hot pink pair like Miss M, but B won the battle and we went with the always matching 'black.'

We love Doggles because they are great for protecting sensitive doggy eyes from the bright sun, keeping sand out of eyes, as well as acting as goggles while swimming in the ocean.  Doggles actually contain 100% UV protection, because just like humans, dogs need eye protection from the sun too.  I even tried on Athena's Doggles to see how dark they are.  They are very comparable to human sunglasses and in no way hindered my vision.

Although the Doggles are equipped with a flexible padded rubber frame that fit snuggly to Athena's face, she still managed to get a bit of sand inside of them.  We made sure to continuously check her Doggles to ensure that she still had full vision.

While out on the beach I was amazed at how many people approached us just because Athena was wearing Doggles and no longer looked "scary."  Because really, who couldn't resist a dog wearing Doggles?  They are HILARIOUS!  Multiple people wanted to take Athena's picture and some even wanted her to pose for pictures with their children.  I'm telling you...Doggles make a pit bull FAMOUS!

Pitlandia in Lincoln City

Last week we took a little beach vacation to Lincoln City located approximately two hours from our hometown of Portland.  Lincoln City is one of our favorite cities to visit along the coast for multiple reasons.  1) We know someone who owns a couple of beach front condos and the price is right to rent them 2) It's touristy, but not too touristy-- meaning that there's good shopping but there's also many places to get away from all of the people 3) It's a very dog friendly city.

Earlier in the week Athena told you her thoughts on our beach vacation, now it's my turn to tell you EXACTLY how it went:

1.  Athena was terrified of the sand and the ocean on our first day

We brought Athena down to the beach for an evening walk on our first night.  The second she touched the sand she FREAKED out!  Luckily we had her on leash, because I don't think that we would have been able to control her if she were off leash.  From seeing her reaction to the sand, we could tell that this probably was her first touch of sand.  The sand experience was like many that have occurred in the past few months which leave me wondering just where Athena came from and how she spent the first year and a half of her life, because I don't think it was spent getting out and about and experiencing the world.

Can you tell I was a little nervous my first time on the beach?

2.  Athena learned to love the sand and the water

On the second day of our trip we brought Athena down to the beach for a morning walk.  This time, we equipped ourselves with Athena's two favorite things: her ChuckIt! ball and the launcher.  Athena was once again a bit confused about all of the sand under her feet, but she quickly forgot about it's squishiness once B unclipped her leash and started flinging her ball through the air.  She LOVED chasing after her ball, especially if it happened to splash in the ocean.  Each day we visited the beach three times-- once in the morning, afternoon, and evening.  And after each trip to the beach, Athena would stand at the bottom of the stairs and protest our departure.  She didn't want to ever leave!

3.  We broke the rules, but it was fun!

So, we totally broke the rules and let Athena off leash on a leash required beach.  I'll admit, it wouldn't be the first time that we've broken the rules, so we decided just to do it.  I mean, all of the other dog parents on the beach were doing it too =)

Throughout the four days at the beach, Athena showed us how well she can behave while off-leash.  We never had to worry about her running up to unknown people, chasing after the seagulls, or approaching other dogs-- unless we instructed her to do so.  The only time that she took advantage of being off leash was to chase a horse...whoops!  Luckily we were able to call her back quickly...I will add that another dog did it too, so she wasn't the only naughty one at the beach that day!

4.  Athena made some friends

The beach was filled with people and their furry companions.  Some people walked their dogs on leash and some let their dogs romp off leash.  As we are still assessing Athena's "dog aggressive" label that she received from her previous owners who returned her to the shelter, we are never the ones to approach people to ask if Athena can play with their dog.  We were surprised at how many people actually were the ones to approach us and mention that they noticed from afar how well trained Athena was and wondered if she could play with their dogs.

Athena got to play with SO many dogs on the beach and every encounter was excellent.  Aside from engaging in puppy play and ball chasing, she also had the opportunity to practice greeting a variety of dogs that walked by us.  We were so proud of Athena and happy that she received so much dog socialization on the trip.

5.  We bought Doggles

Oh yes, we did!  Of course one of my goals while in Lincoln City was to stop in to the local pet shop called Paws On the Sand.  This cute pet boutique had the BEST stuff!  The owner told us that he goes to multiple pet shows each year to find the latest and greatest toys and pet gear to carry at his shop.  One of these latest and greatest items happened to be Doggles!

If you want your dog, especially your pit bull type dog, to be approached by humans of all kinds...you need to buy some Doggles.  I'm telling you, everyone and their brother came over to talk to us at the beach when Athena was wearing hers.  They wanted to know where we got them, how we liked them, and if we thought their dogs would like them too.  Paws On the Sand should probably send us a little somthin' somthin' for all of the referrals we made to their store =)

6.  Athena worked on her tan

When she wasn't fetching her ball, splashing in the ocean, playing with doggy friends, or having her picture taken, Athena was getting her tan on.  She enjoyed laying on her beach towel and watching the waves roll in while she frequently changed positions to ensure her entire body got an even tan.

Hey, look at that body!

7.  We considered moving to Lincoln City

Ok, maybe not really, but the thought did cross our minds!  Athena loved the beach so much and we loved watching her love it.  More trips to the coast will definitely be in our future...probably not again until next summer though, because I will assume that Athena wouldn't appreciate a soggy Oregon beach during the winter!

I could get used to this happening every day!

How do your pets like visiting the beach?  What's their favorite beach activity?