hello, springtime!

Today was sunny with a high of 75*F, which is absolutely perfect weather - I wish it could be like this every day. I love this time of year so much - it's marked with mild sunburns, a dusting of freckles, a lot of activity, and loads of smiles.

Josh and I met up at the park for awhile, and though Samson was having fun running around this morning, Claire was too hot to do anything. Her black fur attracts the sun and she gets hot so easily! We stayed there at the park for a bit and then decided to ring in the spring by heading down to the river. As soon as we pulled in to the parking lot, Claire knew where we were going, and she was so excited that she practically dragged me (slipping and sliding in the mud) down the riverbank. It was Samson's first time at the river and he loved it - he kept splashing and barking and leaping around! Claire ran as fast as she could from the shallow area of the water, jumped over the rocks, and took a flying leap into the deeper water! She certainly remembered how to swim, and she was absolutely loving it! Josh and I let Claire and Sammy play in the river for an hour or so, and then we took them back to the park for awhile so that they could dry off and get out a little more energy. It's safe to say that the dogs (as well as me and Josh) spent a solid six hours romping around outside today, so I don't blame Claire for putting herself to bed right after her bath. I'm as exhausted as she is, so I am not going to be awake much longer either! Hope you all had a great day, too!

silly buddy!

Remember the guy from this post? Well, he and his dog Samson have become very special to me and Claire! So special, in fact, that Samson was very deserving of a great gift for his first birthday! Claire and I got him this red tartan bow tie collar from Silly Buddy. Samson looks SO cute with it on - and hopefully I'll have a picture of him wearing it soon!

You all have to check out the whole Silly Buddy line. The collars, martingales, and leashes are super cute and the owner, Hande Dokur Cengiz, crafts them specially for your dog! Here are a few more that I absolutely love:

Thank you, Hande and Buddy, for making such a wonderful gift for Claire's friend Samson! I'll be buying a new collar for Claire pretty soon, and I'll be going straight to you to get it!

happy new year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holidays were as great as mine and Claire's were! I ended up staying home in Massachusetts for an extra three days because my flight was cancelled - 20 inches of snow will cause things like that to happen. But it was wonderful to spend some time at home, even though I missed Claire terribly. Thankfully, she was having a grand old time at Bark-O-Lounge with Kingsley and Ollie and a ton of her other friends. When I came back, we had a glorious reunion which involved letting her dig through the contents of my suitcase to find her gifts, which included a new ball (that she has slept with every night since), as well as the adjustable dog feeder, bagel bed, and reflective leg bands that were on her Christmas list! She's a happy and very thankful girl!

One of my Christmas gifts was a new lens for my camera, which I couldn't wait to use as soon as I got back! So Claire, being the little model that she is, came to the park with me today so that I could try it out and put it to use. I've got two pictures in particular for you to see...

Anyway, shortly after our photo shoot, Claire fell in love with a guy who was at the park with his dog, too. She followed him around for awhile, dropped tennis balls at his feet, and gave him tons of kisses. After watching this go on for a little bit, I went to try and win back her affection before she decided to adopt him as her new owner. And as I got to talking to Claire's new love, I was reminded that she is quite a good judge of character - this guy is really sweet, really funny, loves dogs (clearly), seems to have this crazy ability to make people feel like they have known him forever, and... might be single? Maybe? I hope we run into him again :)