Merrylog

And I am just a little pug. Isn’t the expression to die for? ;)

To answer questions from previous days:

What kind of boots is Merry wearing here?

She’s wearing these. Probably my favorite boots for the princess, bar none.

[In your wedding photos,] Did you bake the meringue kisses too?

Yes, I did. :) I used the Joy of Cooking meringue recipe, which pretty much is just caster sugar (I whiz it in the food processor to make it extra fine) and egg whites – oh and a teeny bit of cream of tartar, I believe. I added two vanilla beans’ worth of seeds for flavor and then split the recipe in half and added turquoise flavoring to one half. Easy-peasy.

It’s been a crazy year! For many, it’s been a tough one as well. I think most of us – myself included, despite the wonderfulness of marrying the man I love – are glad to see 2009 go and excited to see what 2010 will bring. To each of you, we hope you have a fabulous New Year and a stupendously superb I-need-to-share-chocolate-with-you kind of 2010.

The New Year Merrylog is an annual tradition – see the photos from 2008, 2007 and 2006.

My regular readers know that I have a little bit of a thing for chocolate. Truth be told, I have a small quantity of dark chocolate every single day – I usually keep good quality Callebaut chips in the house and grab a tablespoon of chips or so at least once a day. I recently learned that one of my favorite cookbook authors, David Lebovitz, does the same thing.) It makes me a happier lady.

Chocolate isn’t just about flavor, though, it’s about color – and that’s why I have so much of it in my home. I love this time of year, because it’s when we change the sheets on our bed from the piles of cream fluffiness we use in the summer to dark chocolate and cranberry colors, and that always makes me feel cozy and happy. The pug looks so adorable on brown sheets I always have to take lots of shots of her surrounded by one of my favorite colors.

(However, please don’t feed your dogs chocolate – it’s dangerous for them! Carob makes a nice replacement.)

Folks, I’m sorry about the sporadic posts this week. Cold season is NOT fun especially when work is crazy and you’re getting ready to move. Luckily, the princess is so sweet she makes up for my terrible posting behavior!

One year ago: can I have that cookie?
Two years ago: shucks. rain.
Three years ago: cheering up
Five years ago: in need of a trim

I had such lovely responses to last month’s post about what Merry was wearing to the wedding that I promoted it in our last Pampered Puppy newsletter. And WOW the responses! So many folks wrote in to comment about Merry’s outfit and my upcoming nuptials, it was heartwarming and wonderful. I even received several emails from couture/formal pooch wear designers and retailers giving me the “aw shucks” because if they’d known, they could have designed or had designed for Merry a custom couture gown for the occasion.

*laughs* It’s such a strange life I lead! I am incredibly blessed to have such wonderful readers and business relationships.

But honestly, Merry has enough couture. In fact, we were originally planning to have Merry wear one of her existing formal gowns – NINE of them, ahem – featured behind her in this photo. But when the simpler One Lucky Dog Couture tutu dress showed up on our doorstep, it seemed a nice way to go. And it was lovely. It also had one other major advantage:

It meant I could maybe be dressed more elegantly than the pug. For once, in our entire lives, I could have a nicer outfit. *laughs* Is that wrong?

However, I’m sure with her gorgeous eyes, big personality and FABULOUS blue tutu, she’ll still end up stealing my thunder. :)

I did notice though that we almost have enough formal gowns to make an entire YEAR’s worth of couture photos of the pug. What say you? Yay? Nay? (For 2010, we’ll have our annual Merrylog calendar – it should be done soon – but I was thinking for next year, it might be fun to ALSO do a formalwear Merry calendar!)

The princess and I visited some friends last evening, and of course I brought along the camera. Merry knew I had a lap full of carrot bits to give her: scammer, she was up on my knees and begging a good chunk of the evening. *laughs*

Oh, how I love these chairs. We call ‘em Muskoka chairs up here – named after our cottage country – and I understand in the US they call ‘em Adirondack chairs (presumably, for the same reason). These are just cheapies, not the ones that cost hundreds of dollars, but I love the wood and flaky paint and firm feel and wide arms fabulous for a book and a glass of lemonade.

That is, if we ever get summer up here! It’s been rainy and cold most of the month – my tomatoes are already turning red all over from the cool! Crazy!

I ended up liking this shot better but I looooooved her head tilt in this one. How we got it: her Daddy is standing off camera and asking her if she’d like to go see Grandma and Grandpa?

Ooooooh, the princess does so love her grandparents. :) ‘Course, the fact that they spoil her rotten may be, you know, a contributing factor.

Wedding countdown: 59 days till the big day. If I survive that long. :)

Yes, we gave the little one a bath a few nights ago as part of our review process for some new grooming products. It doesn’t happen as often as it should or as often as it used to (every Friday night when I was single because MAN was I an exciting gal) but it does at least happen and the princess likes most of the process (but HATES getting water on her face).

Her favorite part? Playing fetch around the tub with her squeaky rubber ducky. I forgot to take video of that this time but will next bath to show all of you; I guarantee you’ll love it. :)