Last time I introduced you all to the silliness that is the Monkey-Me Elmo Tour. I think the boys are enjoying their time here in San Diego - especially since we are one of the more pleasant places to be right now, at least in terms of air temperature.
See how there's that lovely little "72" down in the lower left corner? We're actually even cooler than that. If we got up into the 70s in my neighborhood today I'd be surprised. I even had to wear a jacket this morning when I walked Rita. But back to the boys, since "It's All About the (bunny) Ears" and not the weather...
They kicked off their visit with a cocktail while watching the sunset.
Chillin' with a martini (you can just barely see the sun)
...and here you can see Rita lurking... (Cue the Jaws music.)
...and then getting closer...
...and closer....
...and attempting to abscond with Elmo.
Luckily Elmo was saved from Rita's clutches. (But not by George, cuz he was half in the bag already...)
Next the boys insisted on a spa day. Apparently they heard about
Barney's spa day and didn't want to be outdone by a stupid singing
purple dinosaur. So we started with a lovely steam shower.
Cuts down on cucumber expenses when you only have 1 eye.
It was all very relaxing. Until Rita showed up...
Look at the horror in Elmo's one good eye. (George is oblivious.)
George remains oblivious while Rita nibbles Elmo's head...
...and attempts to abscond with him.
Tripawd Warrior Princesses in Pink
Elmo was again snatched from the jaws of the beast. But not by George.
Then (bi)Curious George insisted that he wanted his nails done.
Thankfully Elmo offered to do the manicure (monkicure?). George also
insisted on wearing the Tripawd Warrior Princess crown while his nails
were done. And he wanted them painted pink, but I had to draw the line
there. A temporary borrowing of the crown is one thing, but I told him
in no uncertain terms that pink is reserved for Tripawd Warrior
Princesses so he settled (begrudgingly) for a coat of clear polish.
There was talk of massages but I put the kibosh on that.
Don't they look well rested and ready to rock on roll on to their next tour stop? We just have to get through the 4th of July holiday and barring any mishaps, they'll be ready to travel again!
Brief Book Update
I ordered the "proof" copy of the print book today for What the Dog Ate. It's on its way here, and if all looks good, then it will be ready to start selling!
Also, if you want to read a little something I wrote about birth order, check out my friend and fellow author Tracie Banister's blog here. There's still time to enter to win an e-copy of What the Dog Ate.
Today, Rita got some very special mail. Remember when we hosted Barney last summer? Boy, there was a lot of blog fodder there! Well, just like Barney is meant to spread joy (and a desire to kill the stinky purple beast) amongst Tripawds, "Monkey Me" Elmo is on a mission to spread joy (and sometimes meatballs) to Monkeydogs (aka: Monkeybutts, Monkeybunnies, or Monkeybutt Bunnies), the often beleaguered four-legged siblings of Tripawds.
Elmo began his tour, officially the World Tour of Monkey Me Elmo – It's All About the Ears!, last year in Sin City. He didn't just start there cuz it's a hip and happenin' place for a party animal like Elmo, but because the leader of the Monkeydogs, Rocket - the MBBVP himself, lives there. MBBVP (the MonkeyButt Bunny Vampire Pirate) appears here in this video of Elmo kicking off his world tour.
[Let me just interject here... I know it might seem like Tripawds people
have a little too much time on our hands, but when you are going
through the loss of your pup's leg - especially if it is due to cancer
- it helps to have a lot of silly folks around making you laugh!]
"For me??!"
Anyway, Elmo mysteriously disappeared for a while in the Windy City, only to later reappear in East Tennessee, sans one eyeball. I'm not sure what happened, but maybe he wanted to have some empathy for Tripawds. (Unlikely, since Monkeydogs are all about having no empathy and tolerating no special treatment of Tripawds!) Luckily, after some reconstructive surgery in E.T., he's back on the road, with his pirate scarf over his missing eye.
Even though Rita doesn't live with a Tripawd and therefore doesn't have to compete with one for treats and car rides (translation: pills and trips to the vet), she does sometimes seem to tire of hearing about how great, wonderful, pawesome, beautiful, amazing, etc. her angel Tripawd sister Abby was. So, she was pretty excited to get some mail that was all her very own today.
Even better than a stinky Monkey Me Elmo and his traveling companion, Curious George (or is it Bi-Curious George... They were alone in that box together for a long time...), the box came with MEATBALLS!
"Forget the dolls, give me the meatballs!"
Elmo & George chilling after their journey
"Seriously, I'm outta here. Can someone open this for me??"
"Please give me the meatball!"
"I NEED it! I need it NOW!"
Yup, this Tour is All About the Ears for Monkeybutt Bunnies.
"Yes, I'll wear the ears. Just give me another one of those."
"Um, a little help here!"
Stay tuned for more of Elmo's adventures in San Diego!
In other book-related news... The print version of What the Dog Ate is progressing! I spent the last two days obsessing about fonts (for the text, the title page, even for the page numbers!), but I think the formatting is all set and ready to rock and roll. So, on to the next step - submitting to Amazon's CreateSpace print on demand service and making sure it looks okay. I'll keep you posted!
Also, thanks to everyone who voiced/typed/posted their opinion on which "author shot" I should use on the back cover of the book. The winner, by far, was the black and white of Rita and me together, so I sent it off today to the book cover designer!
Finally, I got interviewed on the Manga Maniac Cafe blog the other day. My favorite question was "What are three things Kona would never eat?" You can check the link if you want to know the answer!
I'm 1!
Hi everypawdy, it's me, Rita! I thought I would write today's blog and tell you about my pawesome best birthday ever. Oh wait, I'm only 1, so this was also my worst birthday ever.
My pawrents decided my bday is June 16, but they said we'd celebrate all weekend long. Well, the weekend didn't start out all that great cuz they were gone a REALLY long time on Friday night. And then when they came home late, they wanted to go to bed. I wanted to play! At least Daddy said I could sleep in the bed the whole night. :)
Let's get these things open, Momma!
On Saturday morning, I got to have a pancake! Then I got to open PRESENTS! I got an eel and a bag of yummy stuff.
You gotta go for the vulnerable parts first!
The eel is a little unwieldy (unweeldy?)...but I love him.
Then we went to Fiesta Island! I love it there. But it was embarrassing that day cuz my Momma brought her camera along and she was taking, like, tons of pictures. None of the other dogs' Mommas were taking pictures! She can be sooooo embarrassing.
I ran and played like crazy!
I was princess of the beach!
"HAPPY BDAY, RITA!" "Thanks. You don't have to shout."
I love to go in the water there!
This is why Momma calls me Bunny Rita...
...I hop when I run. I know, I'm cute!
After Fiesta Island, we went to visit my cousin, Nick, and Tee who took all the pretty pictures of me, and their dog, Lucy. We got treats. Whoohoo!
Ohhh, yeah. Keep 'em comin'!
Finally, the ... wait ... {Momma, what's that phrase again?? "Pièce derésistance."Um... okay.} So, finally, the peas - they resist ants was when we went to In-N-Out on Sunday night and I got to have a Flying Dutchman!
I am transfixed by the power of the burger!
It was a totally pawesome birthday - except for that home alone all Friday night stuff! There's room for improvement next year. Oh, one more thing...
Thanks angel sister Abby for fixin' it so I could come here!
Final News from K9 Kamp
Momma and I had a lot of fun doing K9 Kamp together. And... not only that... we won stuff!
First there were the awards. Whoo-hoo, we got Kamper Awards!
Yep, beach babe -- that's me. (Momma says that is just like my angel sister Abby.) And the gopher wrestling award was a brand new special award - just for us!
A whole set of paw-made, mixed fabric Squeaky Bone dog bone toys fromLars and Flint
AND a $20 Gift Certificates to Dogwise.com, courtesy of Pooch to 5k
Can you believe all that pawesome stuff?! I think I won cuz they knew it was my birthday. Momma says it was random - but I'm pretty sure she's wrong. I will do another post when I get all my swag. My tail is swagging with joy!! Thanks Kol's Notes and Peggy's Pet Place and all the swag sponsors!! You guys are totally pawesome!
I got some author photos done the other day, with the fabulous Theresa Hayes. I was afraid I'd be scrambling to find one I like (I usually hate photos of myself - that's generally why I'm always wielding the camera at our house), but she took so many good ones, I can't decide which one I like best.
But First.... Rita's 1st Birthday!
"I got a stuffed eel!"
Before we get to the photos, I just want to give a shout-out to our sweet pup for her first birthday! We have no idea when her birthday actually is, but it's roughly somewhere in the month of June, so we decided it would be June 16. I'll do a full post on her bday later this week, once we have the complete b-day weekend fully documented with photos. (Flying Dutchman tonight will be the culmination of the celebrations!)
She got a stuffed eel, which she seems to enjoy.
Back to the photos...
I'm going to use these in a lot of places - my web site, Facebook, Twitter account, etc. - but the most important one to select is the one for the back of the print version of What the Dog Ate. Wanna help me pick which one goes on the book?
Some of you have already commented on my personal Facebook page, but if you want to help me decide, please leave a comment! (Note - these are not the full resolution versions, so they might look a little grainy here, but they are wonderfully clear in the "real" versions.)
So... we've got three of just me:
Me alone, option 1
Me alone, option2
Me alone, option3
And three with me and Rita:
Me & Rita, 1
Me & Rita,2
Me & Rita, 3
What do you think? I need your help, so please leave a comment with your fave. Which of these says, "This is a nice person. You'll like her book."??
