THE CLUBHOUSE

The area under my roommate's bed has become known as "The Clubhouse" to our puppies, Izzy and Bandit. Bandit is Holly's 1/2 Miniature Poodle, 1/2 Shih Tzu puppy. Whenever the door is open to Holly's room, you can bet that Izzy and Bandit are in the clubhouse. Last week, Holly was attempting to shoo the little ones out from under the bed, when she found that Izzy was conspicuously absent from the raid. She knew the two had entered The Clubhouse earlier and decided to investigate. She reached her arm as far as she could under the bed and proceeded to feel around for Izzy. While doing this, she felt a hole in her box springs. She reached her hand through the hole and, sure enough felt a wiry little terrier bottom. Izzy was in her box springs! Needless to say, Holly yelled for me, and in doing so, startled Izzy and caused her to travel deeper (beyond reach) into the box springs. Holly and I attempted to remove Izzy by tipping the mattress, but this caused Izzy to slip and slide around. Finally, we laid the mattress flat and coaxed Izzy to the hole and closed The Clubhouse until further notice.

My ornery little runt....

IT'S BEEN AWHILE!

Izzy, the Tressel-loving Westie. Go Bucks!

To say my life has been busy would be an understatement. I apologize for not blogging lately, but fall quarter has all but consumed me. I am taking three very demanding courses and 5 hours of tutorial which basically encompasses writing my honors thesis. I am also very busy with the student-run public relations firm, ImPRessions, and the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Happy News: I found out yesterday that I won the Pyramid Award from the Miss America Organization. The Pyramid Award, in the amount of $2,500, is awarded annually to two young women who have competed in the Miss America Program at either the local, state or national level. Since I competed as Miss Marion Popcorn Festival 2005 at the 2006 Miss Ohio Scholarship Program I was eligible. However, you don't have to compete at the state level to apply for these scholarships. Anyone competing (and losing) at a local can apply. The Pyramid Award is designated for marketing or public relations majors.

Puppy Update: Izzy is getting big. She continues to be a wonderful companion and I love her dearly. The only problem is that Louie (who lives with David) also loves her dearly and won't eat unless she is with him. So, David ends up babysitting Izzy on my busier than normal days, which has made Louie happy.

Studious Louie

Here are a few more photos from the Popcorn Festival Pageant taken by Sean DeWitt for www.Mariononline.com. As you can see, from the first photo, this year's crown for the queen was much larger than the normal Miss Ohio crown and I had some difficulty pinning it to Jessica's head. I was finally able to stabilize it enough for her to take her first walk as 2006 Miss Marion Popcorn Festival.





This is my good friend Holly Blinn. She was named first runner-up. I'm not sure what I said to her to make her laugh like that, but I'm sure it was something about the sash.

The ever-lovely Rachel Maris, first runner-up.

Bob Nunnally, handing over the emcee duties to me for the casual wear competition. Bob is extremely funny with a very dry sense of humor.

My "goodbye" speech.

Dancing.....

Crowning.....

I had one of these funny faces last year, too!

The Court....Rachel Maris, 2nd RU, Holly Blinn, 1st RU, Jessica Dyer, Queen, Amanda Sterling, 3rd RU and Sarah Neff, 4th RU.

Saturday night a new Popcorn Festival queen was crowned. Jessica Dyer, a recent graduate of Marion Elgin High School and incoming freshman at Baldwin Wallace, was crowned the winner. I participated in the program as co-emcee with Bob Nunnally and fellow OU Bobcat Amy Pinnick. Even though I was not supposed to dance (due to an injury), I went ahead and danced my Miss Ohio dance without pointe shoes. Here are a few photos from Saturday night. Enjoy!

Remind me next time I volunteer to watch someone's pet, I make sure the pet is well-behaved. Last Thursday night, my dad came over to pick up a few items for storage and we went out to pick up a bite to eat. No big deal, but Molly (the lab mix I was watching) decided to wreak havoc in my apartment. We were gone no more than 10 minutes and she destroyed the wood trim around my front door, 6 vertical blinds hanging at my sliding door and took a bite out of our coffee table. I was devastated. My little puppy behaves better than this 11 year old dog! In any event, I am searching the web for replacement vertical blind louvers and David will replace the trim around the door when he is finished with classes this week. What a pain....

My mom came down Friday night and we had a great time doing artwork for my bedroom. We painted a fairly large, 36x24, piece and four smaller abstract pieces incorporating the colors in my new quilt. Fuchsia, coral, orange, gold, red....really pretty colors.

On Saturday, we went to Walmart and she spoiled Izzy by purchasing a "Bobo" stuffed animal that squeeks and several other toys and treats for her. If you have seen the Petsmart commercial with the little Dachsund who carries around a stuffed animal (the salesman scans the stuffed animal he calls "Bobo" while the dog is hanging onto it) that is what we got Izzy. My mom also brought her rhinestones, so of course Izzy now has rhinestones on her collar!

She also spoiled me a little, too! I have a new welcome mat that says "Wipe your Paws!", a new shower curtain and bath rug, and, of course, groceries!

This weekend I will "give up my title" at the Popcorn pageant in Marion. My friend, Katelyn Osborne, will be there entertaining and I'm looking forward to seeing her. I will not be dancing because the toes on my left foot have been numb since the end of Miss Ohio. Very weird, but I'm not supposed to dance and definitely not supposed to dance on pointe. So, I will be there to crown the new popcorn queen and her court and have some clever reparte with Bob Nunnally, a Marion native and WCMH weather personality. Since Marion Popcorn is not renewing their local franchise with Miss Ohio, the girls will compete in interview, talent, casual wear and evening gown. The girls will receive the same amount of money in scholarship, which of course, is a big draw.

I am working on a HUGE project for the Scripps School. It is keeping me extremely busy and the hours fly by.

I'm Melting.....

The air conditioning at the office (Scripp's School) is out of order. It is so hot and stuffy in the building and I'm uncomfortable and sweaty! Yuk!

The good news is that my new apartment has excellent air conditioning (unlike my old apartment).

Izzy is feeling better, but is still coughing and snotty. So, I will take her back to the vet tonight for another check-up. Last weekend, my friend Joe F. was in town. Joe used to work in a pet store and showed me some training tricks. Izzy is now sitting on command (for a treat, of course) and continues to be a "good girl" in the area of housebreaking.

I am watching a graduate student's dog starting tonight. Molly, the dog, is 11 years old and a lab mix. I was supposed to stay at Molly's house, but there is no air conditioning, and to be honest, I don't want to stay anywhere without air conditioning. So, Molly will stay at the apartment with Izzy and me.

Sleeping off a full puppy belly.

I'm so happy. My Izzy is finally feeling better. Since I brought her home, she has suffered from an upper respiratory infection. She has been miserable...coughing and sneezing and with a runny nose. Poor baby. The vet put her on a super-strong antibiotic last Tuesday and yesterday, she started acting like an ornery puppy. David, who is taking summer classes, uses my apartment to study between classes. He came in after his class yesterday to find Izzy running loose. I have her blocked into a corner of the kitchen, with potty pads and her cage, and enough room to roam around. Apparently, there was not enough room to roam around and she decided to explore a little. When I found out that she had escaped, not once but twice yesterday, my response was, "oh no, do I have Izzy droppings all over the apartment?" David assured me that Izzy was a good girl and used her potty pads...so how can I be mad?