Category — Doggie Style

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I love to reward Mignette with treats for good behavior: or to bribe her to do what I want. But as she gets older I have to carefully watch her weight: she loves to eat, and her walks are getting shorter as the years go on.

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Mignette is a small white Maltese who lives in the city. This means:

• she has hair, not fur
• hair grows quickly
• every walk involves dirty city sidewalks, trashy curbs and muddy parks
• her face is close to the ground at all times

The result: a dirty little long-haired white dog. She gets bathed at home about every other week, and her paws are wiped daily: it should be 3x daily, but we’re very lazy. We brush her, but she doesn’t like it so its more a surface hair brushing than a thorough hair brushing. She gets professionally groomed about every 7-8 weeks. Usually.

The problem? Finding a good groomer. We move alot. And it seems good groomers move around alot. We had a groomer we liked in Chicago, but they closed. We took her to a very upscale dog boutique in Lincoln Park, where I sometimes buy doggy toys. Over $100. Are you kidding me? And the cut wasn’t even that good. We tried a place around the corner that someone suggested. Only$45 but basically her body was shaved and her head and tail not touched. Her pink skin showed through!

So we were once again looking for a very nice groomer experienced with small dogs who will provide a custom cut (we provide a picture) at a reasonable rate. What’s reasonable? We lived in NYC for 5 years and loved Canine Ranch, and it was never over $65. $100 is insane! I have no idea what spa services I was charged for, but Mignette wasn’t wearing nail polish.

How to find a good groomer: walk your dog around the neighborhood, look at people walking nicely groomed dogs, and ASK. note: that’s how Mignette got the $45 buzz cut.

So we started asking again and a problem occurred: seems like alot of our neighbors take their dogs to the burbs for grooming: cheaper.

I really wanted a neighborhood groomer, so we kept asking. Until I remembered: my sister-in-law Katie lived only 1 1/2 miles away, and Sammy is a very well-groomed cockapoo.

Katie recommended Earth Pups. So Monday, armed with photos and proof of vaccinations and a long verbal list of instructions, we met Julie the owner and Stephanie the groomer. TBG shared all Mignette’s previous grooming horror stories, warnings, pleadings, and suggestions.

3 hours later Mignette was clean, groomed and happy. For only $56 (plus tip). We’ll be regulars at Earth Pups.

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Anyone with a dog knows the frustration of walking on a hot day, and trying to give your favorite doggy friend a drink of cool water… from your dripping hand. Sure there are lots of water bottles made for dogs, but they’re too big and clunky to always have on hand… especially when your little friend is only 9lbs, and the water bottle is as big as she is!

But nothing is more nauseating than walking up to a water fountain in the park, and finding some 90 pound hairy dog up on 2 legs drinking from the fountain! Yes, I know its hot, and yes, your dog needs water, but JEEZ!!!

Or when we try to scoop water into our hands and quickly hold it under her hot little tongue, most of the water ends up on the ground. Annoying.

I found this collapsible water cup to be the most convenient way to give Mignette water on-the-go. TBG and I always can find water… plenty of water fountains in the park, or we can buy a bottle, or we’ve even shared a neighbors sprinkler! The cups come in various sizes and colors, and have a little hook that I attach to Mignette’s leash, right next to her doggie bags. I also keep a collapsible cup in the car: it takes up almost 0 space!

I found Mignette’s bowls at Petco, but I’ve seen them everywhere. She has pink and blue bowls, and we pay about $7 for the smallest bowl. Petco has a frequent customer discount program, so be sure to sign up: it’s free!

Note to manufacturer: The smallest bowl is still a little big for a small dog! Make the collapsible bowls a little smaller for our tiny doggy friends!

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Recently (ok, 6 years ago, but still…) we removed the beige wall-to-wall carpeting furnished by our condo developer and installed hardwood floors in the living room, dining room and kitchen. With our blue and white beachy decor we enjoyed the new feeling of lightness and openness. But the last 2 years, TBG has been asking for an area rug under the coffee table: he just thought it looked a little bare. Since we usually only visit the condo a few weeks a year, it was never a priority and we casually glanced at area rugs when we shopped, I checked out rugs in the mountains of catalogs the postman delivered, and I honed in on the flooring selections in my baskets of shelter magazines. Finally, a decision: flokati!

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I love riding my bike, but even as a kid my bike was primarily for transportation rather than recreational. School was over a mile away, and no bus service, so I when I was a grown-up 4th grader my bike got me there in 10 minutes versus the 30 minute walk…and I had a messenger bag slung across my shoulders when they were still called bookbags! During the summer, my best friend Carla and I rode our bikes 3 miles downtown to the Palatine Public Library – then a big old renovated house – for afternoons reading in an upstairs corner where no one ever bothered us, and to Janies or Benjamin Franklin for 25¢ bags of candy.

Biking in Holland

Later living in the suburbs with a family a car was a necessity, and bikes relegated to family nights cruising the neighborhood or hauled to the forest preserve to cruise the bike trails.

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A tweet from Saveur Magazine featured international candy bars that are hard to find in the US: British Cadbury Crunchie Bars, Swedish Daim Toffee Bars, and Indonesian Silver Queens. That’s the problem with being both a traveler and a grocery store junkie: you easily become addicted to foods that may not be easily available.

When I get a craving for  ethnic groceries I head to World Market, a one-stop global shopping bazaar for

• foods: Cadbury chocolates, German cake mixes, Italian olive oils, Indian curries, Dutch cocoa powder, spices of the world
• fashions: jewelry, purses, scarves
• beers and wines from around the world
• furniture and accessories including beds, sofas, candles, rugs and curtains, artwork
• kitchenware: platters, French coffee presses, grilling tools
• bed and bath: towels, soaps and lotions, storage units [Read more →]

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From moi Chicago condo we have gorgeous views over Lincoln Park and onto Lake Michigan…on a clear day you can see… nothing but water! Along with the beauty of Chicago’s spectacular free public park, known for its lakeside location; sandy beaches; walking, biking and running trails; golf course; marinas and boat docks; outdoor art; museums; and the beloved Lincoln Park Zoo.

The downside? Mignette is not welcome in Lincoln Park Zoo: no dogs allowed. I understand why, but it would be so lovely to stroll through the zoo instead of always around it on our morning 4 mile walks. But over the last 2 years, the Zoo has been a construction site and we are excited that our morning walks now include:

The Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo has completed a $12 million renovation of the South Pond, turning a once neglected and ignored corner of the park into a easily navigated wildlife preserve with breathtaking views of nature and the Chicago landscape. The Boardwalk is designed to be a classroom venue with:

• daily wildlife tours
• hands-on children’s activities
• yoga classes
• family camping programs
• educational signage and displays

Best of all, Mignette and all her doggie pals are welcomed on the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo!

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There’s a new kiosk at Columbus Circle Times Warner Center in NYC: Canine Caviar of Manhattan. Yes, the name caught Moi attention too, so I had to stop and check it out: Mignette might need something.

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Friday I made a field trip to Chelsea to personally check-out the much hyped Limelight Marketplace: a former Episcopal church turned trendy and exclusive Gothic nightclub, now reincarnated as a bubble-gum bright and squeaky clean mini-mall whose doors are open to everyone. Calling themselves New York’s Festival of Shops, squeaky clean is definitely the image they’re trying to project.

All the PR is paying off: open just  a week, and Limelight was packed with trendy New Yorkers and tourists.

Limelight definitely has the cool factor: the developers kept many of the original architectural details: stained glass windows, swooping stone archways, dark and hidden stairways. [Read more →]

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…it was time to move in…

TBG, Mignette and I flew to Florida on a cold November morning to close on our new condo, and a couple days later, accept delivery of our scarily huge shipment of household soup-to-nuts that had been in storage up North for over 6 years. We brought a couple suitcases of summer clothes, and purchased a blow-up mattress to use until our shipment arrived. We had 10 days vacation to get organized and settled, before we had to return to Europe. As we landed at the Palm Beach airport, we waited at the baggage carousel for our new life to begin.

And waited, and waited. Moi bag did not arrive. As we prepared to head over to the claims department and try and track down my missing suitcase, TBG suddently realized he knew where the bag was: in the trunk of our car, parked at LaGuardia airport in New York City. Most of the bags had fit into our back seat, but my extra-large suitcase was stuffed into the trunk. Mignette was my carry-on. I had not one item of clothing, nor cosmetics, no books: nothing. (But TBG had both his carry-on and his suitcase, and his briefcase; even Mignette had everything she needed for the next 48 hours). Dilmena.

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