Because Saturdays are typically our busiest days around here – Fridays usually don’t mean much, but today was different. Today Amy and I departed for our bi-annual “weekend planning retreat,” which this time, was to take place at Alderbrook Resort + Spa.
I have visited Alderbrook several times for both business and pleasure and it’s one of my favorite little escapes. The drive along Hwy. 106 is just breathtaking: flanked by the pristine Hood Canal on the West and forests, beautiful and quirky homes, and the occasional country store or gas station on the East. Alderbrook itself is relaxing, scenic and delicious.
We planned to meet at 3ish at the studio – and with lots of loose ends to tie up before our departure, I was glad of the late afternoon departure. This allowed me to make several stops:
First, I was able to ship off a gift to a dear friend of mine in California who just adopted his first puppy (an absolutely incredible little Catahoula Leopard Dog.) For his birthday, I had to send him the 5 sanity-saving puppy essentials: a Kong to keep her busy; a Kong brush (best I’ve found for short-haired dogs) to keep all that hair off his couch; squeaky tennis balls (fetch to wear her out); bully sticks for teething (never met a dog that won’t keep quiet for 15-20 mins. with one) and of course, my favorite ZiwiPeak treats for training. Although this gift was nothing too exciting for HIM to play with, I think he will find a great new chunk of quiet time with these new tools. I love it when my long-time dog-less friends get puppies and start to have an inkling of what I’ve been all about for the last 5 years. Comedy.
Second, I had to run off to Target to get new sunglasses (essential for any road trip.) They say that we buy more sunglasses here in the Pacific Northwest than anywhere else in the country, which I am starting to believe because I can’t seem to hold on to a pair longer than 3-6 months. This pair serves as a cheap replacement for an AWESOME pair of Dolce + Gabbana specs that have gone the way of the odd dryer sock and my favorite pens: some alternate plain of “lost things with no explanation or hope of discovery.”
Third stop, Barnes + Noble for a Moleskine journal for Amy. I am addicted to these ruled notebooks and have been using them for nearly 10 years to record my daily lists, business planning, new ideas, journaling etc. – I am buying one for Amers to use during our two grueling days of business development planning and brainstorming.
At this point I head back to the studio. Our next stop was to be a “get in the spirit of the weekend” surprise for Amy. She warned me (and I am well aware) that she does not get outwardly very excited when she is surprised, even if she is delighted, but I am positive she will not be able to contain herself with this one. Why? Because we were scheduled to stop by the beautiful West Seattle home of Dale and Rick, (otherwise known as Tahoma French Bulldogs ) for a much-needed dose of puppy love. Their current litter, 5 bouncing baby French bulldogs, is about 10 weeks old – and while there are few things in the world that are more bliss-inspiring than a puppy, for Amy and I – Frenchies are at the top of the list of “cute overload,” so a whole batch of Frenchie puppies, might just be enough to send us into orbit. I couldn’t wait!
We finally arrived at puppy heaven just after 3:45 – I am not going to go into too much detail here, thus delaying your frenchie photo satisfaction, but let’s just say… Oh. My. Dear. Lord – in my life I don’t think I have experienced joy more pure than this… And yeah, Amy was more than a little excited as well 
Meet (From back left to front right): Button it up “Buttons”, Lace it Up “Lacey” (brindle), Tie it Up “Ti” (brindle), Cut it Up “Cutter”, and my Zip it Up “Zipper”- pretty much the cutest five faces I have seen in my entire life.
Lacey + Zipper break from devouring their new toy to strike a pose (little white Zipper sort of immediately became my favorite- maybe it’s the nose?)
Who me?
Buttons might be tiny, but she’s swift and tough!
Favorite hill-spot for four of five, apparently Zipper can’t be bothered. And Lacy still has evidence of the toy formerly known as tennis ball on her face. Look how much bigger Mr.Cutter is than everyone else. Sheesh!
Maybe it’s because of his intense interest in food bites… (He reminds me most of his handsome daddy, Maxx)
4:00 puppy snacks!!! (puppy pinwheel)
Like the the most cuddly, precious piglets of all time!
Ok, puppy naps times – all aboard!
Now it’s the big kids turn to play!!!
You might recognize Mr. Maxx from such fame as www.denhaus.com {he is a fine model for commercial pet photography work} he also joined us for the CityDog Magazine cover shoot with Frenchie pups “Wheeler + Dealer” way back in Summer of ‘07. This is the photo that resides in our gallery now of Wheeler, Dealer + Maxx…
At home, Maxx isn’t any less of a poser – he romped around tugging with his Aunt Gertie, and frolicking with his old pals Woody + Phoenix. Check ‘em out vouging for Amy…
I love this Frenchie train: Gertie in front, Maxx behind. This may have to be a Gallery wrap in the studio…
Maxx (on the left) and Gertie (on the right) classic movie stars…
Sweet, sweet Phoenix
Woody the jolly ol’ elf
* * *
Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from our foraging little Frenchie friends to go catch a ferry. We spent about twice as much time as I had intended, but the weekend was off to a sufficiently glorious start.
Once we arrived down at the Fauntleroy ferry – we had to wait a bit. Conveniently, we were parked behind a truck full of sheep (which made for some great entertainment) and of course, we had an incredible view of the Puget Sound, Lincoln Park, and the people making out in the car next to us. Good times.
On the ferry we had a minor “Vashon vs. Southworth confusion and found ourselves driving off and right back on (just to make things interesting) – which was actually quite comical because it didn’t actually cost us any time at all. The fact that we were listening to Jim Gaffigan rattle off about bacon probably didn’t hurt either.
Once we arrived at our gorgeous destination we dropped off our gear and bee-lined for the restaurant – two awesome delicious burgers (with bacon,) two perfectly dressed baby leaf salads and two hefeweizens with lemon= two happy girls.
