Tony's GREEN Mohawk

So this weekend is Halloween, and what better thing to do than to dye my dog's mohawk green? He'll be going as a punk this year, so the green hawk was a no-brainer. (don't you hate it when people say no-brainer?)



How did I do it? Easy - Neon food coloring from the grocery store. Just squeeze a few drops on a sponge (I used a new dish washing sponge) and apply to the desired hair. Since all I was coloring was a small area I just applied it to dry hair, but they say if you want to dye more then you should dilute the food coloring with water and wet your dog.

I let the color sit for about 15 min, then took an old wash cloth and rinsed off the excess. If you get any on your fingers, Dawn dish soap will take it right off.

Enjoy the coloring possibilities!

The Crib: My Apartment in Aliso Viejo, CA

I finally got around to snapping some photos of my new apartment in Aliso Viejo, CA. Where the heck is Aliso Viejo you ask? It's about an hour north of San Diego, and an hour south of LA. More specifically it's in Orange County. Yes, the OC.

I love it here, planned community living at it's best! Everything you could want is just a few blocks away, and the neighborhood is beautiful and safe. I live in a fairly large apartment community in a 2nd floor 1bd apartment.

I am lucky enough to have a private large patio as my "front yard".


Once inside you look into my living room, with my awesome comfy red couch.


And my Ikea tv unit, that took FOREVER to build. They gave me 2 wrong parts, luckily my dad was there with his drill to make it all come together!


This is my Kitchen. Behind that door at the back is my very own laundry room, complete with full-size washer and dryer.


Now into the bedroom. We are allowed to get one accent wall painted, so I am waiting on that wall behind my bed to pe painted a light blue. Hi Tony!


This is my awesomely huge bathroom!


You can't see it in the previous picture, but also in my bathroom is my huge walk-in closet. What girl doesn't love a huge closet?

There are tons of grassy areas around the complex for Tony to run around in, and also a pool and a work-out room for me. All in all I am pretty happy here. :)

Tony at Work!

As you may know - I have moved back to Southern Cali (Aliso Viejo to be exact) and have a new job at DraftFCB in Irvine. We are allowed to bring our dogs to work M W F, and of course I take advantage of that and bring Tony boy in. There is a Mastiff puppy that also comes into work - her name is Brunella. Her owner took a little video of them playing ... and here it is for your enjoyment!

More Snow!

The snow just ain't stopping here! This last storm we got about 3.5". Tony doesn't like it as much when half his leg is covered with snow! I also have to carry him over the salted areas, because the city doesn't use pet-safe salt. He stopped mid walk once to lick at his paws.

Here are some pictures of the snow around my apartment, and Tony in it.





A video of Tony not quite having the best time in the snow. He was ready to go back inside and ran to the door right after this video. I'm thinking I might get him booties, but I have a feeling he would just rip them off. Humm.

Merry Christmas - Tony Style!

A few weeks ago we went to a local animal rescue center to get Tony's picture taken with Santa. All the proceeds go to their shelter, so I know my money went to a good cause. It's not the shelter I got him from, but it's one of the best in KC.

He was a little scared of the Santa at first, did a little barking and looked scared... but all I had to do was mention the magic word "treat" and his ears perked right up!

We are very excited to escape Kansas City and the ridiculously freezing temperatures on Tuesday for our flight to San Diego. We'll be there for a nice long 10 days.

Happy Holidays!

Agility Practice

I took a video camera to our agility practice today so I could capture some of the obstacles that Tony can do in an agility course. In this video you will see him do:
hoops
jump
dog walk (I call it "walk it" in commands)
hoop
weave polls (for learning purposes we have orange gates up so they know which way to go)
tunnel
teeter

Tony is still a little weary of the teeter, because it moves while he is on it. His first instinct is to "bail" - which you will see him do twice before I lure him with treats to stay on it.

The yellow painted areas on the ends of the dog walk and the teeter are the contact areas. In a competition the dog must put a paw in each of these areas or they will be docked points. In practice we aim for them to get all 4 paws in the yellow so that they get used to doing the obstacles that way, which leads to them more likely to make contacts in a competition.

Over the tunnel in the video you will notice another obstacle that isn't being used in this particular course. That is called the A-frame and it too has contacts.

Tony is usually really fast and zips through the course, but I took this video at the end of the class so he was a bit tired. He also knew where the treats were before the dog walk, so he stops to check out if he could sneak one. What can I say, he is treat driven!

Enjoy!

First Snow

It was the weekend after Thanksgiving, and KCMO had it's first snow. I thought I would capture some pictures of it to share with you all.





This Friday I went to an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party. Here are some shots of me in my sweater vest masterpiece.

Button up that overcoat...

It's getting COLD out here in KCMO, and even little Tony boy is needing some extra warmth.
He has out-grown the sweater that he had last year at this time, so we went out and got him a jacket. A parka to be exact, with a nice little faux fur lined hood.

I think he looks very stylish, and his mohawk doesn't hurt!

Tony and his new get-up:

Agility!

So it was a long time waiting and to my dismay there are only three pictures of Tony and I doing the agility course at the Ren Fest. I'll try to remember to bring my camera to a practice and get some pics or even a video to post.

But for now, the three pictures I got from the RenFest. In the first two Tony is taking jumps and the last one he is jumping up onto the Finish table. Enjoy!

Wind ... it's CRAZY!

It is soooo windy today here in KCMO ... and I can hear it whistling.
No joke.

Hear for yourself!

Tony's free toy

Tony and I did an agility show at the KC Ren Fest - a just for fun show - and we were given this dog toy called the Catch-It! as a thank you.

Tony loves it and it's the perfect way to help tire him out when it's freezing or snowing out.

My new apartment

Hey! Here are some pictures of my new apartment, in downtown Kansas City, MO.
The building was an old hotel, built in 1889. (some say it was an old brothel)

It has been deemed a historical building for KCMO and in a few years will go through a renovation to keep it nice. It is in an area called Quality Hill. I am on the top floor (5th) and my living room windows face west, so I get a pretty cool view and a free sunset viewing every night.

I also work in downtown KC, so my commute to work is now about 3 minutes by car :)
I should really save on gas!

My apt is a 1 bd, 1 bath apartment. The living room:




The kitchen:

The Hallway:

The Bathroom:

The Bedroom (note the huge window and tall ceiling):

View from the bedroom window:

View from the living room windows:

Tony saying "You went shopping and all I got was this lousy bag?"


Video of a walk-through for my apartment:



Video of my nightly sunset view:

My New Home- The Plaza

The area of Kansas City, MO that I live in is know as The Plaza District.
Right by me is the Country Club Plaza, which is a big beautiful outdoor shopping/eating mall.
To me it reminds me a little bit of Santa Barbara becuase of all the teracotta tiles and the somewhat Spanish-y style.

And you may not know that Kansas City is know as the Paris of the Plains. It's true, look it up on Wikipedia. And Kansas City also has the 2nd most fountains of any city in the world. The first being Rome, Italy. In fact, a lot of the fountains and sculpture in Kansas City has been flown here from Italy. One of the founders of the city had a second home in Italy.

So here is a little photo montage of my new home, to give you an idea.
And I bet you are going to be pleasently surprised!!


A close up of one of the largest fountains.


A nice open park by the fountain.


A look down into the Plaza. Those lamps in the center were actually brought here from San Francisco.


Another fountain.


Close-up of one of the cool faces on the fountain.
** you'll notice that the larger fountains aren't running water. This is becuase they turn them off when it gets too cold so the water doesn't freeze. I of course didn't realize they were going to do that, since I haven't ever really had to think of freezing/snow related issues before. So I'm sorry I didn't capture them in all their glory. You'll just have to wait till Spring!**


This tall tower is where The Cheesecake Factory is. Yummy!


Yay, a working fountain!






Another cool fountain shot.








Beautiful Brush Creek.


See, I do live close!


Even the McDonalds has it's own statue! Mmm, Big Mac..


This is my apt complex - Fountainview on the Plaza. (yes, even my apt complex has the word fountain in the name)





I am still in the very ongoing process of furnishing and decorating the inside of my apt. So when I am pretty close to done I will take some pics and post 'em. But for the anticipation I'll tell you .... my couch is RED!

Kansas City is also very spread out. Meaning that you pretty much need a car to get around here. Since I was living in New York before this, where you def DON'T want a car... that means a new car was a need to get. After some researching and test driving I decided to lease a 2008 Honda Civic Coupe. Here is my pretty new car!!







AND, my new home phone that I got is Middle Americanized itself. It has an accent all it's own. Check it out... (listed to how she says "0" as in 8:03pm)



That's it for now. Coming next will be my work area and Downtown KCMO. :D