The New Year Resolution Post: Sniff Edition

Guest Bloggers: Layne & Gus Gus (@mynameisgusgus)

Layne

here seems to be this theory that we canines are unable to keep track of time. You know you’ve heard the stories about dogs that are so happy to see you when you get home because they thought you were gone for a million hours. Yeah, that’s a bunch of bull. We know when its time to wake up, eat, sleep, & when a new year is upon us. We don’t have calendars, per se, but typically the new year starts with a few weeks of earlier mornings, cleaner houses, & afternoon workouts, which all lasts about as long as a rawhide bone does in our house. Despite the already anticipated fizzle of a resolution list, we’ve planned our own for this year, and we’re crossing our paws that our moms help us out with this (there’s only so much you can do without opposable thumbs).

1. Reduce our Carbon Pawprint.

It is about time we got serious about this. We can’t imagine that we are doing that much harm, after all, our ancestors BUILT this Mother Earth.  We aren’t the predominant problem (here’s looking at YOU, people). Nonetheless, every little bit helps. Our mom got us this book, Ecodog, which seems to have some pretty good ideas & even more delicious sounding recipes. Natural deodorizing, ecofriendly pest control, recycled dog toys, & poop scooping are all on the agenda. So it seems this year, we’ll be making the earth a better place, one hustled paw step at a time.

Let's get ecofriendly!

2. Lose (Layne)/Maintain (Gus Gus) that Weight!

Well, between the holidays, bitter cold, & one too many trips to grandpaw’s house, it seems as if we have a *hint* of a weight issue again. So we vow to get in shape (just like every single one of our human counterparts)! It shouldn’t be too tough. We love to run & play, it’s the dieting that stinks to high heavens. Nonetheless, we must live long doggie lives for the sake of our family’s sanity, so it’s on! With walks at least three times a week & an increased itsy bitsy cut back on treats, we’ll be looking svelte in our swimsuits come lake season! Who wants to skinny dip?

Gus Gus

3. Give Back to our Fellow Dog.

It wasn’t that long ago that we were once sniffs in need. Our initial families, unable to care for us, put us up for adoption alongside thousands of other pets in need of homes. Our luck found us two loving, adoptive mothers who were more than willing to smother adore us as if they birthed us themselves. But that gutwrenching ASPCA commercial (damn you, Sarah McLachlan!), reminds us that there are so many of our brethren that haven’t had our good fortune. So this year, we pledge to give back, through our gifts & time, to local organizations that preserve the rights & lives of sniffs like us. We could not be more grateful.

Goodbye, Mr. Jones

ast week, we lost the patriarch of the Jones clan (& the original Mike Jones), my grandfather Torrence Vernon Jones. He went by  “Mike” after meeting a horse with the same name, cause that’s the kinda guy he was.  It’s always very hard to lose someone very close, but he had lived a very long, full life, and he was ready. He died on Friday, at the age of 96, although I think we ought to go ahead and round-up to 97 because poignantly enough, his obituary is running today, his birthday. Over the last few days we have been pouring through old photographs for his memorial service, most of which I had never seen. It is so easy to forget, as a grandchild, that despite my belief that the world did not begin until I arrived, in fact it did, and the majority of my grandfather’s life had been spent without me. My grandfather was a very humble man, despite his service in multiple wars, his plethora of army commendations & medals, & his success as a businessman following his retirement from the military. I was lucky enough to have a grandfather that could remember every moment of his life, & on multiple occasions, shared his life stories with me. I am very thankful that he lived long enough, in body & mind, to share them. We are nothing without stories, & he was nothing short of an immaculate storyteller.

There is a reason why Tom Brokaw has deemed my grandfather’s generation as “the greatest.” They have seen things evolve, triumph, and start all over again to a degree that no other generation will experience. This rings incredibly true through the photos that I’ve seen of him recently, particularly with regards to fashion & photography. Everything old is new again, the same being true for my grandfather, as his old soul is now headed towards a new journey, high in the sky.

Some of my favorite photos are below.

The New Year Resolution Post

eah, yeah. Here we are. Another year, another dollar. Wait… I’m going to avoid cliches (although I realize it is incredibly cliche to “re-start” your blog with a New Year’s Resolution Post at the beginning of the year), and just get to it. New Year, New Me, right?

So here we go. The list of things that will make me a better person/change the world/drive me crazy all year long. Ya know…they say that if you right your goals down you are 7392 times more likely to be successful. (That’s made up, but i’m CLOSE). Plus, there is the added accountability of not letting my faithful blog readers down. *cricket, cricket*

1. Blog More.

Welp, I’m pretty much there, aren’t I? So I’ve switched over to the much more design friendly WordPress, & I’m excited already. Hey! I’ve got some opinions to voice, so let’s take advantage of this, right? Isn’t that what we are all doing here? I don’t want to give much away, but I have some awesome things in store for this blog. On that note, let me go figure those out…

2. Tap into my Crafty Side.

I’ve always been somewhat creative, & halfway crafty, but patience is not my strong suit. BUT, that will all change in 2011. I WILL learn to sew something other than a pillow case, not that there are any flies on my pillowcases, mind you. I WILL make an article of clothing that is wearable. I WILL make more gifts & uniquitys (made up word) because it is fun damnit! But seriously, I just bought Erica Domesek’s book P.S. I Made This, & have been recently following her on the Twitter (@psimadethis). She makes me want to say things like “crafternoon” & “DIY” regularly. And oh yeah, “P.S. I made this…and that.”

Yay for inspiration!

3. Learn the Francais.

So there is a Rosetta Stone French Edition staring me down in this house. I this will be the year I conquer it. I figure it will all come flooding back from high school French anyways, right? Well, being that I am the nerd that liked/still likes to conjugate French verbs in my head to test my memory, I can probably do this. And the reward for becoming bilingual? How about a trip to the French countryside or Old Montreal? GOAL SET.

Bonjour, vous splendide créature!

4. Save the Money for the Mini

If you know me, you know I’m dying for a Mini to drive around town, down steps, and all those other cool things Jason Bourne does. Specifically, dying for a Mini Countryman, the new four door Mini that is cute as a slightly larger itsy bitsy button. Although they aren’t uber expensive, of course I have already chosen the many Mini accessories that drive up the price a bit, including, of course, the sunroof so my girl can sniff her little heart out.

I WILL own you, Mr. Countryman.

And then of course there are all the other ones that go without saying…be healthy, work out more, save more money, blah, blah, blah. Yeah I’ll be doing all that too. *wink*