Monthly Archives: February 2010

Murphy the Mop-Top

Can you guess what kind of dog Murphy is?  No?  He’s a Wheaten Terrier….. Yes, seriously.

Murphy was last year’s winner of the 4th Annual CityDog Magazine CoverDog Model Search, which means several things:

#1  Murphy was one of hundreds of dogs that helped raise over four thousand dollars for local organizations like the Pasado’s Safe Haven + Reading with Rover

#2  Murphy was one of five semi-finalists that CityDog Magazine readers voted on last Fall – and he won by a landslide!

#3  I was the one who originally photographed Murphy at the West Seattle Thriftway event – here is his “winning” photo from last summer:

I just ADORE his fluffy bear!  He is the most rasta Wheaten I have ever seen and I just could not get enough of him when we met again in January for the CityDog Magazine cover shoot.

We shot at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle in their swank Presidential Suite. I was a bit early (I came directly from my shoot with Enry) so I had lunch at the “Art Lounge” – what a great way to spend 30 minutes!  I wish I had had more time to soak in the incredible waterfront view and conversation with the friendly bar tender. They have a great “tray” option which included a tiny little sandwich, small caesar salad, AMAZING seafood chowder and a sweet little pastry with fresh fruit { see delicious photo below } – it was the perfect lunch for in-between shoots and I cannot wait to go back to enjoy a beer or a glass of wine there!

Ok so back to the murph-meister.

Here’s some glimpses at Murphy posin’ it up for me at the Four Seasons. I think he takes nicely to the lap of luxury, what do you think?

And finally… is a sneak peek at the brand-spankin’ new CityDog Magazine  2010 WINTER issue – hot off the presses, on newsstands next week.

Here’s some press Murphy’s received:   West Seattle Blog // West Seattle Thriftway // Komo West Seattle Blog

Here’s a look back at the last three CityDog Magazine CoverDog Model Search winners – I really enjoyed meeting and photographing all of these kids – congrats to Murphy for joining such an awesome group of elite Seattle pooches!!

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Heaven on Earth. No, really.

So this is just a quick post to share with you a few sneak-peeks from our visit with the 9 week old litter of Frenchie puppies today.

It seems appropriate to me that our first meeting coincided with Valentine’s Day, because predictably,  the second I saw these little piglets I fell in love.

There are two little boy French fries that we are very interested in – “Cream Pie Guy” and “White Boy” – love the names don’tcha :)

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I will be sharing more information with you soon about how these little puppies wiggled their way into my awareness PLUS some more great photos in the next couple days, but for now it’s late and I have an early morning shoot (with a Golden puppy – aren’t you excited to see THOSE sneak peeks?) but most importantly, my boyfriend is giving me the evil eye because I am ignoring him on Valentine’s Day.

So here you have it folks… a first look at the possible new addition to the dane + dane studios // dog is good family! :D

* * Want to see the video!?  Check it out on the dane + dane studios Facebook page! * *

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Back to the land of the living. Finally.

Well I did it again – I totally neglected my blog for nearly three WHOLE months. Wow. I always think I am prepared for the sheer volume of shutter-clicks, late nights, design deadlines, plane rides, print orders, post office runs and various social, family and business events that come with the months of November + December, but yet again I was totally bowled over by the holiday season.I needed nearly the entire month of January to recover!

But here we are, February!  I love this month… I just celebrated my birthday this week. It’s amazing how every year they seem less and less important. I was in San Francisco this time with two of my dearest friends, working the Dog is Good booth at the San Francisco Gift Show. If it weren’t for the celebratory cupcakes and super sweet gifts from my compadres (I totally scored – Nordies gift certificate, awesome photo frame and LUSH bath products *yay*) I might have forgotten it altogether.

Well, I take that back… with facebook, no one can forget it’s their birthday! Although, it is nice to see dozens of special greetings pop up all day online, some from people you haven’t even talked to in years. I should also note – Olivia and I share a birthday – pretty cool eh?  We’re both Aquarius’  – I was sad to have been out of town for her sixth birthday (yes, she’s now 42 – nearly middle-aged! )  She’s gotten a bit lazier in her years, but is still regularly mistaken for a puppy. Love ya’ girl.

Ok so on to the FUN stuff!

Since I last wrote so much has happened that I am not even going to TRY to re-cap. Lots of trips to California, lots of photography, a move, lots of design – several exciting press debuts etc. etc. I am, however, going to post a few of my most recent puppy shoots this weekend. I have another puppy shoot scheduled on Monday (t’s definitely puppy season) and let’s face it – who isn’t excited about the prospect of squishy adorable puppy faces!?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

We also have a flurry of exciting announcements to share in the next month or so – so definitely get back in the habit of checking this blog again!

So… to quell your fears – no, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth and yes, I am still shooting like crazy.

In conclusion: photos… because every blog post should have them.  These are some fun, random cell-phone moments from the past few months – please forgive the quality, my iphone is in failing health.

{ P.S. the photo at the top represents two of my favorite things in the whole world: sushi + Olivia – I indulged in a lot of both over the holidays :) }

Cheers!

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This is Njala { Njala means “hunger” in Chichewa – this little guy was a gift from my dear Amy – he accompanied us to Malawai, Africa last fall }

This is SeaTac airport – feels like my second home. I often sit here and eat a bagel sandwich, sip a yerba mate latte, and make use of the free wifi!

My mac baby got sick during my busiest season ever – ahh!  Now she’s all fixed up with a new logic board, new operating system +  a CS4 upgrage – whew!

These are the  inks we were testing as we screen-checked a new Dog is Good design.  After hours of work we decided we didn’t like it + scrapped the whole project.

One of my favorite part of regular visits to LA — In N’ Out with my little Abby.  It’s actually pretty amazing how fresh their fries are… and sooooo tasty!

The view from the ferry window on my way home to Whidbey Island for Christmas – glorious isn’t it?  And this is a crappy camera phone photo. *swoon*

I am positive this is how I managed to avoid getting the great sickness of 2009  { swine flu, the plague, whatever – everyone was sick } Not me, thanks to Pho!

And finally – Palm Springs. Ahhhh. Every sunrise + sunset was more glorious than the last. Can you guess which is which?

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More soon my patient and loyal friends… xoxo

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