Corner View : Four-legged

I can't help but be excited about today's topic! I've had pets my whole life- one black lab (Lucky), two chocolate labs (Ceaux Ceaux and Rusty), and one cat (Socks), all outside animals. Now there's little Rufus, the smallest and most social dog of them all, who cannot possibly ever get enough of people and is very friendly with other dogs of all sizes. He's always excited to see you, and I wish I could get half as jazzed about anything as he does about going outside. He loves ice, minty things (is especially good at finding already-been-chewed gum!), or snacks... the latter two of these he finds on his own when we go walking. He's about the most loving ball of fluff you'll ever meet!

Corner View : Autumn

Well hello from the lovely East Coast! Autumn here is certainly scenic. Although it's prettier as you climb the Eastern seaboard from here (we drove to Connecticut last year mid-October), DC still has some nice colors. And oh the flavors that come out around now-- peppermint (albeit more associated with winter, at least for me) and pumpkin are some of the best things to ever hit your taste buds.

My friend Andy recently came down for a visit. We had a good time during the few hours he was out of the Big Apple. We alert one another each year when Starbucks' Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins make their appearance, and he decided that his *one* for this year he'd have with me. I wish I were as disciplined... We went to three different places to get it, because it's not worth it if it isn't warmed. Here's us being silly on the walk to get the treat. And here's a recipe for pumpkin bread I like to make :)

A friend of mine got some tickets to the White House Garden Tour several weeks ago, so I popped into that for a bit. All due respect intended, it wasn't that great. A cucumber plant in Mrs Obama's garden looks just like one anywhere else, with the exception of the swarms of people photographing it. The flora were nice, but nothing that really blew me away. The lawn looked nice, no doubt, and the putting green was pretty cool. (I recently played golf for my first few times and was surprised at how much I enjoyed the heck out of it!)

Rufus also enjoys this time of year as it's just about the last he'll see of squirrels until after winter. These furry-tailed critters are quite possibly the most exciting piece of his day, with the exception of when my husband or I come home, and he goes absolutely nuts over them-- hops on his two hind feet, restrained only by an owner with a leash, when he sees one on the loose. It's pretty absurd and entertaining. In this photo, he'd gotten up early to peek through the blinds and see if he could find any. You can see the yellow leaves in the crack behind him.

For more autumns around the globe, check out:

jane - ian - bonnie - joyce - kim - kay - trinsch - ritva - francesca - state of bliss - cabrizette - isabelle - janis - kari - jgy - lise - cate - otli - dorte - b - sophie - mcgillicutty - sunnymama - daan - ibb - pienduzz - kelleyn - ninja - sammi - theresa - cherry b - juliette - shokoofeh - cole - grey lemon - lucylaine - lynn - skywriting - anna - dorit - conny - l´atelier - kamana - anne marie - rosamaría - victoria - tikjewit - juniper - annabel - andrea - valerie - merel - soisses - mlle paradis - cacahuete - wander chow - barbara - emily - tally - nadine - matilda - don - flowtops - susanna - tania - dana - ingrid - tzivia - mezza - lollipop

Corner View : My Favorite Hangout

Oh how I wish I could post photos of me in Hawaii (where I lived before DC), the redneck county fair I used to attend annually, the homes of my friends I love to visit, or any of my other favorite places. However, grad school has taken over my life... yep, quite literally, and I don't get to any of those places often, if at all these days. Fortunately, there's the regular distraction of a sweet little fluffball running through our feet under the desks. Rufus makes us turn "off" now and again and just enjoy laughing and playing and the simplicity of it all. Until there's a vacation or escape to a favorite hangout, here are photos of what have become the common perches of this particular student!

The classroom


My desk, where I'm chugging away at a paper

Our pup's first snow earlier this month. Notice it's
on his nose, with which he dug so he could throw it into the air!

To see favorite hangouts around the world, check out:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, nicola, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, kristina, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, aimee, sunnymama, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, jodi, gillian, travelingmama

athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, kelleyn, iris, demara, mus, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, victoria, kathryn , lisa, liza, juliette, braja, mulot, anne, lucy, leonor, elizabeth, helene, dominique, shokoofeh, cole, jenna, podane, grey-lemon, line, nihal, urbaNiche, inner toddler, puna, lucylaine, adrienne, emily, lynn, skywriting, eliane, the wanderer´s daughter, carole, anna, dorit, kenza, sherry, conny, susan, l´atelier, elis, kamana, anne, rosamaría, marinik, elisabelle, victoria, malo, the yellow door paperie, tikjewit

Corner View : Cell Phone Madness

To see what others were looking at when their cell phones rang, check out:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, aimee, sunnymama, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, jodi, gillian, travelingmama

athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, kelleyn, iris, demara, mus, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, victoria, kathryn , lisa, liza, juliette, braja, mulot, anne, lucy, leonor, elizabeth, helene, dominique, shokoofeh, cole, jenna, podane, grey-lemon, line, nihal, urbaNiche, inner toddler, puna, lucylaine, adrienne, emily, lynn, skywriting, eliane, the wanderer´s daughter, carole, anna, dorit, kenza, sherry, conny, susan

Rufus' loves: chew toys and daddy

At the risk of coming off like one of those "dog people" who takes photos of their pet and its toys and even includes 'em on their Christmas cards and blog, I'm updating what we've learned in two weeks of being a dog owner. Rufus really is something else; his personality is quite funny. He loves, loves, loves my husband. Loves. This both annoys me and amuses me. Actually, it doesn't annoy me that much, but it does crack me up. It's a good thing he's bonding with the male, as ole dad was a fair amount more cautious about taking on this live responsibility. Yours truly does the bathing, clipping, brushing all by her lonesome, but when Rufus wakes up, he does a big, long stretch of his front then his back legs, sniffs me a bit, and heads straight for the bedroom door to warm the floor while he awaits the guy sleeping to wake up. I walk the fluff ball in the mornings, someone takes him out mid-day once or twice, and then my husband walks him at night. I probably do more correcting, but that's because I'm more ADD and pay closer attention when I hear him chewing on something that doesn't sound like the toys we've given him. We both feed him after going for a walk (they say this reinforces the instinct to work for food), so I'm told that otherwise he'd only like one of us. When it's just me here, he curls up by my feet and sits and waits for me to pet him and follows me everywhere. When the male of the household gets home, I'm chopped liver!

After only two weeks, this "lifeguard" weenie dog has neither ears, nor arms, nor legs, nor stuffing in his bottom. This tennis ball is shredded, and the inside rubber part is broken into multiple pieces. We've just given Rufus a Kong for medium level chewers, so we'll see how long it lasts. At least we can encourage him chewing that by putting treats, food, or even peanut butter in it. Fortunately, he's been pretty good about not chewing things he isn't supposed to.


I'm still reading Cesar Milan's book on how to raise the perfect dog. We've acknowledged that our pooch is pretty good, especially for a rescue, we just want him to be perfect. Bichons and poodles are both very intelligent breeds, so training takes a lot of consistence and patience. That's especially hard when they're so cute! We don't want him to jump up on us while we're sitting at our desks because then he'll jump up when we're at the table. But when he stands against the bathroom counter and looks at himself in the mirror, it's too funny to stop him!

Welcome, Rufus!

The newest addition to our home is a half-bichon, half-poodle mix of ~1 year my husband named Rufus! He's a rescue dog we'd been looking at and finally met and brought home this past weekend. He can get pretty energetic, and definitely has the ability to break out into a pretty solid sprint, but today drug his bed over next to my husband and lay down inside it. Adorable. His demeanor is sweet, his fur is soft, and his breath is puppy. He loves being around people, but he'll have to hang out inside his own house when we aren't around as he's not entirely house-trained yet.

I took him for a walk yesterday and noticed him chewing on something. When I opened his mouth, I found bright green gum. Yuck! I had to fish it out by sticking my hand in my dog's mouth to retrieve someone else's previously chewed gum. I can see why they say this is training for children! When we got home, he was still getting familiar with the house, taking his time sniffing everything, and I noticed he was chewing something. He found my husband's trash can and inside it: gum! Again! Now I'm fishing my husband's gum out of my dog's mouth. Not as eww as a stranger... but still pretty ew!

Today, Rufus went to the vet to get checked out. We noticed he hadn't done a #2 in a while and when I walked him yesterday he ate a lot of grass. So after he tinkled all over the table in the private examination room, he puked (the eating grass usually makes them do that. It's supposedly some part of their digestion). Poor thing! My husband isn't enjoying that part of it much (he didn't grow up with pets, so the bodily function thing is that much grosser for him!), but I think he's amused with the pup's ability to dance (nearly walk!) on his hind legs, the way he scratches his back on the floor, and general affection. We both cracked up when Ruf got confused by the dishwasher and growled and barked at it as sternly as his 16lbs knows how.

People with pets tend to have better health: lower blood pressure, lower stress and anxiety, longer lives, and patients even improve better with animal help! Sounds like a pretty good reason to add a pup to our daily routine during grad school, when we can incorporate him into our free time and have him help us adjust to life in class while we also adjust to being around a new body!