holidays and lobsters rolls and condos – oh my!
Check out the latest at A Cambridge Story!
Heat wave!
Stop by A Cambridge Story for a new post: Eating well during a heat wave!
We’ve moved!
Happy July 4th everyone! A Puppy Story has undergone a little makeover and, from this point forward, will be housed at A Cambridge Story.
It was time to broaden this blog’s scope to include musings from all my life’s happenings in Cambridge. There I will comment on the things I love most – food, friends, work, family, newlywed life and, of course, Sadie.
So, I hope that you will visit our new home and enjoy everything A Cambridge Story has to offer!
www.acambridgestory.com
Techie Puppy
I joined the world of twitter this week. I’m still getting used to it and probably annoying @markitecht (aka: Christopher) with all my stupid questions about syntax and etiquette, but I do have to say it is kinda fun. I enjoy tweeting back and forth to more public entities, like Cooking Light and Sloan Work and Family Network because, as opposed to email or facebook, they actually respond on twitter – super cool!
I don’t have a ton of friends – er, followers – yet but, to my great surprise, I logged into my email this morning only to find a message with the subject “Sadie O’Donnell is now following you on Twitter!” YAY – a follower…. wait, I’m sorry, what? My dog is on twitter? How is that possible? Does Christopher have too much free time on his hands?
I won’t answer that last question (I kid, I kid!) — but, yes, Sadie (@mamasweetsauce) is tweeting from her perch too. About bones. About swimming. About her flatulence. It’s pretty funny, even if there are only two people in this world who think so.
Man, what did we used to do before social networking. Work?!
some things never change
I came across this old photo of Sadie and my sister from last summer.
Seeing this, two thoughts come to mind:
1) Damn, she was cute! What I would give to go back to last July and experience her fresh farm smell and puppy breath again.
2) She has become an even more reckless drinker with age. Note the water all over the patio — that was child’s play compared to what she did at my parent’s house last month. What a nut.
This pic definitely gave me a good laugh on this beautiful, sunny Friday!
Fun for the whole family
We participated in a pretty hilarious event last night — Yappy Hour at the Liberty Hotel. That is, a dog-friendly happy hour at one of Boston’s most popular hotels. The Liberty, as I like to call it, has been the site of many gatherings with friends. It’s a little pricey (perhaps even pretentious) and the clientele ranges from tourists with fanny packs to young professionals dressed to the nines to cougars on the prowl. It’s not a place I want to go every night, but it is always an entertaining place to grab a cocktail.
So, when we found out that the hotel’s patio bar hosted a happy hour for dogs, equipped with treats and puptinis (aka: beef broth), we had to go! We met a couple dog park friends after work – after walking from Cambridge to Boston in the smoldering heat- and really weren’t sure what to expect.
I was totally shocked by the number of people and dogs that showed up. It was a little overwhelming at first, and I wondered how we were ever going to keep track of Sadie in the crowd. But Sadie turned out to be a pro. She mingled, sniffing butts of all shapes and sizes, returned for a quick check-in with mommy and daddy, and headed out for more puppy meet and greets. At one point Little Miss Social snuck her way behind a fence and into the hotel’s outdoor restaurant. The diners and wait staff were good sports about it (although maybe less so the third and fourth time it happened!). Hey, you gotta roll with punches when there are 100 dogs at a bar, right?!
By the end of the evening, we were all getting tired and didn’t have the energy to walk the 2 miles home. So, we hopped on the T for the first time with Sadie. She was quiet and behaved, but we did get glares from a mother/daughter duo. In any case, pets are allowed on the T during off-peak hours, so we didn’t feel too bad about it.
All in all, Yappy Hour was a huge success for pups and humans alike. Sadie got her play on and we got our hang on – what more could you ask for? We will definitely be back this summer!
This photo gives you an idea of what it was like:
great quote
My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.
- anonymous
So true.
Vacationland
Last weekend we went to my parents’ house Maine with a group of friends. It was kind of like the movie Couples Retreat, except without the therapy and the tropical island. Three other couples joined us: Alex & Erin, Aaron & Allison and John & Emily. The 3 day weekend was spent cooking amazing meals, sitting on the dock, attempting not to kill ourselves on the rocks at the bottom of the lake (sorry, Alex!!!), playing taboo, taking naps and possibly enjoying a few adult beverages.
Sadie was present for all the fun. All in all, I think she handled the adventure well and hopefully was more amusing than annoying to our friends. We created a puppy den in the back seat of the car for the ride and she was fairly chill there. She whimpered a few times on the way up. This coincided with us also wondering “are we there yet,” so I can’t quite blame her for getting antsy. At the cabin, Sadie hung out wherever we were – on the dock, in the house, on the deck. We played A LOT of ball, until she lost on them all during her little expeditions in the woods. She swam, swam, swam and even followed Christopher out to the floating dock off-shore. It was a little high maintenance keeping an eye on her when we were hanging on the dock and she preferred to be snuffling around but we have some ideas for training her to stay close.
On the car ride home, Sadie was completely passed out. We hardly heard a single peep. Her exhaustion suggests that she had a great time, and we hope our guests did, too!
forget me not
We haven’t been bringing Sadie to daycare much recently. Between her injury in May and the end of the school year, the pup has been hanging out a lot more at home with us. When we brought her to daycare last week, none of the staff noticed she hadn’t been there in weeks. With 500 dogs in and out of their doors each week, you can’t really expect the staff to pick up on these cues but, still, you want to feel like they know and care about your pet when you drop them off for 11 hours at a time.
Sadie did get some nice attention on Tuesday. When I picked her up, a young woman was carrying Sadie out of the play area to get her leash. This was a little strange, as Sadie usually comes running over on her own. She yelled across the room “Why doesn’t Sadie come anymore??” and I answered, “Was she not responding to ‘come’? That’s really weird, she usually does, sorry!” Apparently the girl was wondering why Sadie hadn’t been to daycare and she started gushing about how she much she loves her.
It’s really not surprising that Crate Escape is unable to track the moves of every pup. But we do count on them to watch over Sadie when we can’t, so it’s nice to know that she has some fans away from home!
fun and games
Like most dogs, Sadie loves games. These include the ever-popular fetch as well as some Sadie specials, including one we like to call “Sheeps!” This game involves her choosing one of her two plush sheep toys and placing them strategically between your knees as an invitation to play tug of war. But don’t confuse this with a game of fetch. If you dislodge the sheep from your knees and toss it across the room, she will look at you like you ruined her day.
Usually these games are cute and mildly entertaining for humans — but sometimes not so much.
Christopher shared a new, Sadie original with me via chat this morning:
[9:14:28 AM] Christopher: so
[9:14:31 AM] Christopher: sadie has a new game!
[9:14:41 AM] Christopher: she calls it ‘Treasure Hunt’
[9:14:45 AM] Emily: ohhh?
[9:14:47 AM] Christopher: it works like this
[9:14:52 AM] Christopher: she hides her ball as we walk
[9:14:57 AM] Christopher: and then makes daddy go find it!
[9:15:05 AM] Christopher: it sucks
[9:15:33 AM] Emily: oh! how fun for you!!
Sort of hilarious, sort of annoying. Let’s hope this game is just a phase.
