September 2, 2011 - Flashback!

This photo from September, 2008, is of Tom, his sister and his niece on the ferry to Ellis Island. They were visiting and we had a really fun day doing all kinds of tourist-y things... including the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side (I recommend it highly!)

September 1, 2011 - Flashback!

Ok, this is pushing it... I have no idea when this picture was taken - but, I scanned it on September 1, 2007 so it kind of works. This is me and my dog Toni from probably around 1975-76. I got her in 1974 after my brother was born and named her after Tony Orlando because I thought "Tony" was the coolest name ever. She was an incredible dog and just a wonderful soul.

August 31, 2011 - Flashback!

From August, 2007... Hurricane Irene reminded me of the 2007 tornado that passed right by us and tore many trees completely out of the ground. Here's a shot I took walking around the neighborhood that morning.

August 30, 2011 - No More Leaks

Since we moved into our house, we've gotten little bits of water in the basement whenever it rained. Our bathroom contractor offered to seal around the base of our house, so we were thrilled when one of his guys came and did it just before the hurricane.

We still had one little stream of water on Sunday, but it was much less than I expected based on previous rainstorms and considering how long the rain lasted. I'm guessing there's just a spot that got missed, so we'll take care of that too & this is what they used if anyone is interested in sealing their own place.

August 29, 2011 - Irene's Aftermath

Brooklyn escaped almost any major damage from hurricane Irene, but we did have a few trees knocked over. Here's a shot of one that fell in my neighborhood.

August 28, 2011 - Napping

So. Sweet.

August 27, 2011 - It's Hurricane Day!

It's really sad to see the mess that Hurricane Irene left behind... but this isn't her fault. This mess has been left behind the house next door to us for months! (It became the dumping ground during some renovation work they did earlier this year.)

Tom and I spent some time prepping our back yard to secure stuff in case of strong winds and were worried that all this crap could start getting flung around. I didn't want to try and move anything and possibly get blamed if somebody else's property got damaged from it, so I took this in case something did happen and anybody asked to see a "before" picture.

Luckily, nothing happened.

Unluckily, all that crap is still there.

August 26, 2011 - Bread Panic at the C-Town!

When people realized a hurricane was a-comin' to Brooklyn, they swarmed the local supermarkets. At our neighborhood store the bread aisle seemed to get hit the hardest. This is what it looked like at around 8pm.

August 25, 2011 - Flashback!

From August, 2009... When Tom I bought our house, we knew we wanted to get new windows. This is a shot of them getting installed, including a re-framing of the porch windows. It was definitely worth it - they look great and our heating bills got cut by about a third!

August 24, 2011 - Sofa Time

Proof our sofa seats four comfortably

August 23, 2011 - Where's Scrappy?

Scrappy likes to hide under chairs... can you spot him?

August 22, 2011 - Scrappy Likes Cuddling

Scrappy is really a cuddler and he loves getting scratches and belly rubs... it's just hard to do it and take a picture at the same time!

August 21, 2011 - Three Little Pugs

You knew this was coming at some point, right?

08/20/2011 - Flashback!

From August, 2008... Our realtor hired someone to take this photo when we put Tom's condo up for sale. Doesn't the room look awesome?? Doesn't it look like a fantastic place to live?? We're sure glad someone said "Yes"!!

August 19, 2011 - Back to Work

Scrappy is a good helper at the office!

August 18, 2011 - Little Buddies

Tom stayed home with the dogs and sent this... AWWWW

August 17, 2011 - Lazy Dogs

This speaks for itself

August 16, 2011 - Flashback!

From August, 2007... Tom and I spent a weekend in Las Vegas and got to stay in a ridiculous suite at Bally's (because of some problem with the room that Tom was supposed to get when he arrived.) It was decorated in 70's fabulousness and besides an incredible view of the strip, it had 2 separate lounge areas, a bar, a dining room table, a hot tub in the bedroom & a huge steam-shower with 2 entrances... good living!

August 15, 2011 - "Oh, Howard"

"Oh, Howard"
my reaction to his sweet face when he's sleeping

August 14, 2011 - Foxy & Scrappy

Foxy & Scrappy have a somewhat complicated relationship. They mostly ignore each other, but at times there's a lot of growling for dominance. The funny thing is, Foxy has pretty much given up her Alpha role in most cases. It's kind of crazy that this little 13-pound bag of bones has taken over the house in a week, but it seems to work for everyone so we'll just see how things develop.

August 13, 2011 - The Underbite

I've mentioned Scrappy's horrible teeth a couple times, but he does have a pretty awesome underbite!

August 12, 2011 - Howard & Scrappy

It wasn't hard to guess that these two would be hanging out together before long...

August 11, 2011 - The Four Musketeers

The newest member with his brothers and sister.

August 10, 2011 - Scrappy and a Bone

Scrappy has horrible teeth, and doesn't really like to chew stuff too much... but I caught him working on a bone one morning and it was really cute.

August 9, 2011 - Scrappy at work, Day 2

Another day, another dollar.

August 8, 2011 - Scrappy goes to work

Since we weren't sure how Scrappy would do at the house all day alone with the other dogs, I decided to bring him with me to work. I'm really lucky that my office is so dog friendly, and it was great that so many people were around to give him lots of attention.

August 7. 2011 - SCRAPPY!

As most of you readers probably realized... this blog has been sorely neglected for the past month. The reason? This little guy who showed up in front of our house on Sunday, August 7th. Tom and I were heading to Home Depot and this tiny, severely undernourished pug was just sitting on the sidewalk by our driveway. We ended up taking him to our vet first to get him checked out since the local rescue place wasn't open yet, and while we were waiting in the lobby, he started growling at some big dogs, prompting the name, Scrappy. All checked out pretty well with the Dr. who guessed him to be around 8 or 9. She didn't find anything obviously alarming (except for his teeth and his weight.) He had a patch of missing fur on the top of his head too, but the Dr didn't think it was anything to be worried about.

After the vet, we planned to drop him off at Sean Casey Animal Rescue, but we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. We decided to see if he could get along with our dogs, and keep him for at least a little while. Of course as you can guess, a month later he is here to stay!

It's really heartbreaking that someone treated him so poorly and we both think someone purposefully left him at our house knowing that we had pugs. But, we feel lucky - he's a sweet, sweet dog and we love the newest addition to our family.

August 6, 2011 - Flashback!

So this photo is from August, 2006 - when Foxy and I lived in Park Slope. She used to jump over the radiator so she could sit on the windowsill and look at squirrels all day long. It was really cute and sweet.

August 5, 2011 - Oysters!

A bunch of us from work headed over to Maison Premiere in Williamsburg to enjoy $1 oysters on a summer Friday - it was crazy and wonderfully excessive!