Another Fun Day

Yesterday I spent my morning like I bet most people are these last few days leading up to Christmas. I was shopping. For my mom. My mom has accumulated a lot of knick knacks over the 30-40 years and I'm sure a lot of them are gifts I picked for her. This year I wanted to give her something she would actually use and enjoy and was having a hard time. I ended up getting her software for her one sewing machine (she loves to sew). But after witnessing some truly spectacular grid-lock and the best *cough* sarcasm *cough* driving I've ever seen, I was ready to unwind. That morning I'd promised to take Olivia to the park and I planned to make good on that promise.

I went home to get her and headed back out to town. I'm not sure our walk was relaxing... Olivia was trotting along cheerfully which forced me to power walk, but we had fun together. She found a stick (she loves sticks) and really enjoyed sniffing out all the smells. I had a good time watching her enjoy the park so much. This all caused me to come up with an early New Year's Resolution:

To take Olivia out for walks at the park, etc. more often.

It's not something I really think of because Olivia and Fern get so much exercise running around our farm. Unlike a lot of dog owners, I can just open the back door and let them run free instead of having to walk them every time they have to go potty. But it's not about exercise. It's about spending time with my little Olivia, putting the phone away (except to take photos), and enjoying being outside playing together.

After the park we headed to Petsmart to make up the first two classes of the Advanced class that we missed. Olivia's trainer was so excited to see her, and Olivia was excited to see Debra as well! We worked on sitting when meeting a friendly stranger, loose leash walking going into heel, waving, and touch. We go back on Friday for week three and Olivia FINALLY will get to meet her classmates.

happy to be back in class

Last night after we got home and took care of the horses my parents, Olivia, and I (Brian's in NJ for work) went to the local five star hotel for the Christmas caroling party (they allow well behaved dogs in the hotel bar/lobby/lounge). Olivia wore her Christmas dress and got to have her photo taken (again) with Santa. Everyone fawned over her and everyone wanted to tell me how their sister's boyfriend's great aunt's nephew's uncle has/had/is getting a Boston. It's so funny to me that it seems every where I go with Olivia some stranger(s) comes up to me to tell me about their experience with Bostons (or sometimes with Frenchies). We had a great time, although my arms did hurt a bit from holding Olivia all night. There were a lot of people and I didn't want to risk her getting stepped on but she was also tired. Olivia weighs a whopping 15.8 lbs now!

The Amazing Pet Expo: Atlanta

So I've been taking a blog-cation. But here it ends.

Brian (my fiancee), Olivia, and I went to the Amazing Pet Expo: Atlanta on Saturday. We drove 3 hours to get there and we were there when it opened at 10 am. We brought the stroller but Brian insisted on carrying Olivia around.

The East TN Boston Terrier Rescue was there and they loved Olivia. I made a $25 donation for their calendar, which is really well done! The photos are all based on movies and it's so cute :) Especially if you like Boston Terriers BOL.

There was a pet photographer who was taking the photos for free and emailing them to you later on. If you wanted to buy the photos you could once you saw them. Of course, we had Olivia's photo taken.

There were free dog cookies every where you turned, free handouts, flyers, all sorts of free-bees. We got many frisbees and tennis balls, travels bowls, and chap stick, even.

I bought Pet Cakes microwave dog treats, a JackSack poop bag holders, and some misc. other Boston Terrier and doggy items. Olivia also got her nails trimmed for free!

We got to see lots of demos, frisbee, obedience, and agility. It was funny how interested in it Olivia was. We saw Shorty Rossi (Pit Boss) and Hercules. And the biggest celebrity we met was the blogosphere's very own Preston!

Preston is very cute (he was wearing a nice polo) and because we follow his blog we got a PrestonSpeaks frisbee! We chatted with Preston's parents and then later heard Preston's mom talk about how to save money buying stuff for your pets, with an emphasis on traveling. It was really interesting!

We had to stick around until 5 pm for the costume contest and some people took it overboard, check out the photos below to see what I mean!

Olivia exhausted at the end of the day

our swag

shorty and hercules

preston and olivia and their daddies

with the petco dog

toy dogs and tiaras (spoof on
toddlers in tiaras)

toy chihuahua

olivia watching frisbee

min pins dancing for snacks

"georgia peach"

olivia and her preston
speaks frisbee

Halloween Outing

My dad is part of a car club here in town and two of the couples' church has a little trick-or-treating thing for kids. The car club along with other townies park their cars at the church and the kids went from car to car collecting candy. I brought Olivia dressed as a bat and the kids loved it! (I'm saving my favorite picture for Wordless Wednesday).

Olivia and I posing on the parked hay ride wagon

Olivia sized pumpkins!

Halloween Pawty!

So Olivia and I dressed up and attended the Petsmart Halloween Party this morning :) Yes. I dressed up in costume too. We received and goodie bag and a big stuffed animal with a squeaky (Olivia loves it even though it's sorta bigger than her). My parents came with their dog Fern and she received goodies too! Olivia is doing so much better from her spaying but it is hard to keep her under wraps... she's not supposed to be too active yet, but she is one excited little girl!

Snow White and the Queen of Hearts

Fern, me, and Olivia