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Uber Puppy Bowl in Cleveland!

1/28/2015

Say what you will about Uber, but today they are doing good. Uber is partnering with the Cleveland APL to bring adoptable puppies to offices in Cleveland for a $30 donation. If you want to support a good cause and brighten your co-workers' days (boss permitting), you should check this out!

http://blog.uber.com/puppybowl

And, if you don't live in Cleveland, there are multiple cities participating.

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Minimalist Challenge: Days 7-11

1/25/2015

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It was still smooth sailing over here for the Minimalist Challenge. Days 7-11 really brought up some "why do I still have these things?" moments.

Bye bye, junk! (chapstick, makeup, plastic utensils).

Popcorn maker, sunglasses, housewares, etc.

RIP plants. More makeup junk. Woody supervising.

Accessories galore!

Day 7: I somehow managed to flood my makeup bag, so this sparked a long string of finding items that I didn't reel the need to salvage. Here we have two unused chapsticks (chapsticks are a sham, lip balm is what's up), one eyeshadow pallet I'm almost certain is from when I first started attempting the smoky eye in 2006, a dried up mascara and 3 plastic silverware sets (not from the makeup bag). All trash.
Day 8: Totally deleted the photo from my phone and didn't sync to my laptop - but day 8 was all more randomness from my makeup bag. A few more eyeshadows and some brushes. Trash.
Day 9: The third and final day of the makeup bag clean-out. A sharpener lid, an eye cream, an eye liner, 4 icky brushes. For the last two items, I finally came to terms with the fact that my basil and tomato plants were done producing. All trash. P.S. if anyone can help me think of a sustainable way to reuse and recycle soil from indoor plants for future use, please comment below! 2014 was the first year I had any sort of green thumb so I'm open to all advice for the future!
Day 10: A popcorn maker - I just can use the stove - two pairs of sunglasses, two candles, a shelf, a tray, the beads that the candles sat on and 2 empty containers for painted wineglasses, which I now am displaying proudly on my bar cart. The candles were pitched, the two wine glass boxes were recycled, and everything else will be donated.
Day 11: One pair of really nice Fossil sunglasses, a headband, an Ohio State scrunchy (don't ask), some fake flowers for hair, some pins I wore in my hair when I was in a wedding 5 years ago, a barrette, 3 hair ties. I'm going to try to sell the barrette, the flowers and the sunglasses to a consignment store. Everything else will be donated.

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Minimalist Challenge: Days 1-6

1/6/2015

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Note: This post really doesn't have anything to do with dogs, so turn around if that bothers you :)

One of my recent goals is to find new ways to simplify my life. There are many complicated things I cannot control, so I might as well work on un-complicating the things I can. A blog I read frequently titled And Then We Saved sparked the idea of a Minimalist Challenge. How it works:

Each day for a month, identify a number of objects you can part ways with that corresponds with that day of the month.
For example, on January 1, find 1 thing to get rid of, on January 2 find 2 things, on January 3, find 3 things...you get the picture.
Photograph your items each day and identify what is trash, what you will donate, or what you intend to sell. Trash items can be tossed immediately, while I'm finding it best to use boxes for the piles of sale and donation items.
If you can successfully find enough unnecessary things cluttering (or hiding in) your house, apartment, car, office, etc., you will end up with a total of 496 tossable items (based on 31 days).
Even if you don't blog, you can use social media sites (I think I'm going to use Pinterest) to share your progress. Or, just keep it to yourself! Like all life changes, simplification can be a daunting and emotional process and you have every right to keep it off the Internet.

Below are photos from my first 6 days and lists of what the items are and what I will do with them. So far, everything is getting pitched or donated. I live in an apartment, so I can't really save up too much for a yard sale, but I know this will change once I get to my clothes and can take them to consignment stores. I haven't had to part with anything from my closet - yet.

Quesadilla maker

2 George Foreman grease trays

Cocktail shaker, water bottles

Stuffed/bean toys

Nail polish

Gum, random box, phone book, 3 ornament cocktails

Day 1: Quesadilla maker. I received this as a gift about 5-6 years ago and used it ALL the time. But in the last couple years, it's just sat in the cupboard. I think that's a sign it's time to pass it on to someone else to cherish. Donate.
Day 2: George Foreman grease trays X 2. I don't even have a George Foreman anymore. Donate.
Day 3: 1 cocktail shaker, water bottles X2. I never use these water bottles and I found a much nicer cocktail shaker at a flea market last month. Donate.
Day 4: Nail polish X 4. Two of these bottles I can't even open, one is dried up, and one is at that almost-empty sticky state. Trash.
Day 5: Stuffed toys X 5. My aunt gave me these for Woody, but I had to politely tell her that dogs can't have bean toys. Gone are the days of waiting in line at McDonald's for the latest Teeny Beanie Baby collection. Donate.
Day 6: 1 pack of gum, 1 box, 1 phone book, 3 ornament cocktails. I have braces, so no gum for at least another year (trash). I don't know what this box is for (trash), and why do I keep getting phone books delivered (recycle)?? I got the ornament cocktails as a gift and drank two of them, but they were just too sweet and have been sitting on my counter since Christmas 2013. Trash.

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Photo Doggies for Anthony

1/5/2015

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If you have not submitted your dog photos to Photo Doggies for Anthony, you should do it now. People complain so much about the negatives of social media, but here is a perfect example of using it for social good.

Not sure what I'm talking about? I'll let the Facebook page do the talking.

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New Year, Same Fun

1/4/2015

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I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful New Year! We celebrated Woody's 9th birthday on New Year's Eve. I still can't believe he's that old! I got him when he was nearly 5 and he has just as much energy now as he did then. I don't even want to fathom what it will be like when he starts slowing down.

The morning after the birthday. Ultimate relaxation.

A lot of people create New Year's resolutions, but it seems that just as many people complain about how stupid New Year's resolutions are. I like to live by the rule that you don't have to wait for a fresh start. Whenever "now" is, you can change your mindset and create goals. I get that it seems cliche to create resolutions when most people throw them out the window a few months in, but the idea of a fresh start to the start of the New Year can be a good benchmark. For example, maybe you want to lose weight as your overarching goal. Instead of thinking of the big picture, think of how you can make small steps to get there. Each month have a new, smaller goal that is related to health and wellness - in January you make it a goal to go spinning twice a week, February you swap soda for tea, March you say no to fast food, etc. Doing these things by a monthly basis is much more manageable and can give you some new perspective on what you like and don't like about trying to lose weight rather than going cold turkey on everything all at once and buying expensive gym memberships.

But enough on that tangent. Every year I try to think of some new things to do with my dog and reflect on some of the fun we had in the year prior. This moreso happens because his birthday falls on New Year's Eve. In 2014, I said I would take him to 3 new dog parks. I didn't do that - I know, bad dog mom. I did, however, take him to the new Cleveland dog park a few times before it got too cold for him to walk all the way down there. And we went on much longer walks and runs than we did in 2013. I guess I learned that if he is getting exercise around here and he is socializing with other dogs at doggie daycare and out in the park in my building there's no point in driving him all over the city.

Since his energy level hasn't changed, I'm going to continue to focus on doing as much activity with him as I can. Things to improve upon are:

Training - I should be doing this daily for about 5-10 min. a day. Most days it happens but some it just doesn't.
Fetch - This happens daily, so we will continue
Dog parks - I don't want to promise that I'll get him to non-downtown dog parks, but I need to take him to the downtown one more.
Trail walks - This one turned out to be trickier than I expected. One time I took him to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park thinking it would be fine, but he was a complete tick magnet. However, there have been other Metroparks trails that were nice and clear.
Having people over - How does this relate to my dog? Well, if you know anything about Jack Russells, you probably know that they are SUPER territorial dogs. Woody is probably on the highest end of the spectrum with this. But, he is very smart and once he gets to know someone in the house he does okay. The problem is, my only consistent house guest is my boyfriend, and Woody actually gets excited when he comes over. When unfamiliar people arrive, I have to warn them to just let him be, that he's not like most dogs that you can just walk over to and pet - if you do that he will try to bite you. The best way to mediate the situation for me is to get him to focus on me and on a "job" (aka training games or fetch) so he's not overly anxious about the guests. This year, I'd like to start having more friends over to help me get him to relax. He'll probably never let a new person just go up and pet him, but at least I can work on getting him to leave them alone.

What are some goals you have this year? Anything your dog can be a part of?

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Uber Puppy Bowl in Cleveland!

Minimalist Challenge: Days 7-11

Minimalist Challenge: Days 1-6

Photo Doggies for Anthony

New Year, Same Fun

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