Friday, November 12, 2010

Friday Nights


So I evidently didn't get the notice to bring work to our Friday movie nights...so instead I spend it trying to figure out how to post about Espresso's fun time with everyone.

She pretty much has free run of the place, playing with different people, attempting to eat whatever she can find, getting into nooks and crannies shes not supposed to find. You know, dachshund stuff.


Yet when all that is over, time to pass out. Even though she was trapped by Uncle Zach, Espresso seemed quite happy.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Puppy MUST BE in my Lap


Really. I have 4 essays this week. Try typing with this furry thing in your lap.
She is too damn cute and distracting!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Why I have so many typos...


Anyone who has ever chatted with me on Facebook knows well that my typing sucks. This is not aided by the fact I generally have a puppy fighting for my lap space or just generally trying to make her presence known.

I mean, Come on. How could you keep typo-free when this is what your keyboard looks like?

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Summer Part 2- Napa - The Backyard


So even though my job was in full swing, David's classes ended.

I was amazingly lucky enough to find not only an amazing place to live with an amazing housemate, but it was dog-friendly.

So Espresso came up to Napa with me for the last few weeks of summer.

I felt like a terrible Mommy. She sat there shivering and shaking
for the first hours. She was terrified of her new friend, Zinny, the chocolate lab of my housemat
e.

Yet eventually she settled in just fine. In fact, she adored Napa more than Davis in some ways I think.

There was the huuuuuuuuge backyard.

That giant tree in the yard? A walnut tree. Guess who learned how to crack open walnuts and eat the nut inside?




Summer Part 1- Puppy Texts


So you may be asking, where did Espresso go all summer?

Well, that is the problem. She didn't go anywhere. She stayed in Davis with her Daddy while Mommy went to work in the fields.

You think I'm joking? I was a Grower Relations Intern at Mumm Napa this summer. I spent most my days in vineyards and loved every second of it. However, that did mean I lived in Napa for the summer, apart from Espresso.

David was wonderful about sending me puppy texts however. It made it a little less painful to be apart from her all summer.

Here are some of my favorite puppy texts.


"Puppy in a box"

"Look what I did!"

"In the grass"

Just a nice classic "Hi Mommy"




Saturday, July 3, 2010

Farmer's Market

So much to Espresso's joy, my parents came up to visit. Espresso does dearly love my mom, but it's really all about getting to see Brandy.


Today we had breakfast at Crepeville and then while my parents walked around the Farmer's Market, I held the two beasts AKA napped next to Brandy on the grass while trying to keep children away from Espresso.

All was fine and good until while I was having a small alien aka child pet Espresso on the back to try and acclimate her, my 13 year old Labrador suddenly decided she HAD to go see this other dog approaching. I ended up flat on my back in the grass but did catch her leash mid air and not drop the dachshund.



At least the people watching is super fun. The doggies agreed.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Toys, Toys, Toys

Espresso's version of Lady GaGa's song Boys, Boys, Boys is Toys, Toys, Toys.

That is my family's living room. Those are all Brandy's toys, pulled out individually over the last 2 days, by Espresso.

Yes, Brandy does own a lot of toys. It's a thing in my family. Espresso owns just about as many back at my apartment. But she really really loves playing with all of them. And so our living room has been taken over.


She seems quite proud. Even a victorious look on that little face. Ruling over a dominion of stuffing and squeakers.

Friday, June 18, 2010

On the Road Again...

So even though shes a little monster who eats paper, poops inside, and must be monitored for mischief constantly, she actually travels quite well.
Today was one of the many journeys as of late going to Carmel. I always try and remember a pillow and blanket to make the beast's ride more comfortable.


And yes, don't get me on the doggy seat belt issues. Basically there is no good answer for a dog as small as Espresso, except for crating her. And maybe I am a moron, but I don't have the heart.
She just cuddles up for the long haul and sleeps for the vast majority of it.

Except when she does try and give me a heart attack and jump into my back seat, leaping from pile of things from pile of things to get all the way back into my trunk (see my latest facebook status regarding all the stuff you can find in my car to understand how she can do this).

Yet it always makes my drive more pleasant to look and see that.

However, she is too small for me to trust sticking her head out the window without someone to hold her, but looking out of it is also pretty good.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Plastic is my choice...

So my dog really, really has a fascination with bags.

She loves to investigate them. But then proceeds to get her head stuck in them and walk around the apartment looking pitiful.



"Mommy, please help me" is the look shes giving me. Yes, that is indeed my dog's head in the handle of a plastic bag.

It is so cute and I always take it off asap, but had to snap a photo first this time. She does this ALL THE TIME with ANY bag she finds.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Paper or Plastic?

My dog is insane.

Last night I sat working on my MIC 102 lab report on the sofa. I hear rustling coming from the dining area and then I see my puppy running full pelt past me with the remnants of a plastic bag. She proceeded to run laps around my apartment for a good ten minutes, bag in tow.

Today, she played with the spoils of her hard work last night.


Because life is so much better when you are in a plastic bag.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Becoming Espresso's Mom

We counted down the days till bringing her home. I skipped an afternoon class so we could leave even earlier to pick her up on that Friday.
On the way home, with my 3 lb charge in my lap, I was completely terrified and completely in love. I know I sound like a new mother. But really, I had become one that day.

Luckily puppies > babies.

Why?
1. You can leave them in a crate while you are gone.
2. They aren't picky eaters.
3. They never learn to talk.
4. The keeping you up at night phase lasts a week or two tops.

So completely in love, I brought my new baby puppy home. I have virtually no pictures from the first months of her life. Long story short, two days after bringing her home, David cut his hand open and I spent the next months taking care of him, transporting all three of us places, doing the house work, dealing with the new puppy...basically I had no time for photos.

The only photos from that first day of being her "mom" were cell phone shots my friends later sent me.

She literally fit in one hand.


I am so thankful for these. Why? Because I became Espresso's mommy that day. I was terrified of the title at first. It bothered me. Scared me. But now its my favorite title.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Study Buddy

So Espresso is pretty much the best study buddy ever.

This is a prime example of Espresso helping me study.



I personally credit my 100% on the weed section of my viticulture exam due to her help.

And by the way, by best study buddy ever, I mean it's kind of amazing I can pass my classes at all.

1. Espresso has a NEED to be in my lap AT ALL TIMES. If I am sitting down, sort of seated, or any other way that exposes my legs, she NEEDS to be sitting on them. This as you can imagine becomes very difficult when I need to type on my laptop.

2. She IS SO DISTRACTINGLY CUTE (see previous post).

Monday, March 29, 2010

Very Distracting

So I wonder how I can feel behind on the very first day of class. I mean, I shouldn't have things to distract me too much at this point.

But then I look next to me on the couch.

Oh right. (Excuse the photo, it was taken with my cell.)

Pretty much Espresso's cuteness is the MOST DISTRACTING THING EVER.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Take Out

With the whole life-killing-thesis project, I not only neglected Espresso more than I care to admit. I neglected to eat. Many times.

So often, at random hours of the day between 3 to 11, I would try and figure out where to procure a meal. Being a Chipotle-lover, I lived off burrito bowls for about one week in March.

Espresso likes when Chipotle was brought home because it meant a) there was food in the house for once that wasn't kibble and b) there was a paper bag that she was entitled to play with.


See, you have to stick your ENTIRE BODY in the bag in order to lick the bottom where a trace of meat or fajita might be.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Looking for the Bright Spot

So I have been neglectful of A Shot of Espresso, but I have been neglectful about most things in my life as of late (eating, laundry, cleaning, etc) due to my thesis.

But with the freedom that is spring break arrived, I plan on trying to makeup for lost time by posting as many entries as I can. I have been able to take some photos between cram-sessions and now I finally have the time to post and write about them

Ironically, as my work load got extremely heavy, the weather outside went from rainy and cold to sunny and warm.

I felt terrible for Espresso who would sit longing to be outside. It doesn't help that at this time of year, her sunspot has shrunk to 1/10 its winter size.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Blue Baby

Espresso is in love with my Snuggie (yes, I own a human Snuggie. That will one day be a story in a post of its own). Its her new favorite thing-of-mommy's-to-steal-and-sleep-in.



As I was uploading pictures today, this photo gave me a sense of deja vu and I didn't know why. I began searching through my very unorganized hard drive for Espresso pictures.

And I found it.


After we agreed to take on the puppy (another story worthy of its own blog post), we anxiously awaited for the breeder to send us the first look at our future ward. All we knew was that it black-and-tan, and it was she. This is Espresso at about four weeks old. Or I should say, the puppy-we-eventually-decided-to-call-Espresso. This was the very first picture I ever saw of the the little creature that would change my life. And I fell in love with her right then and there.

It's amazing how cute and sleepy she was. Currently, she is running laps around my apartment squeaking her squirrel, celebrating that she managed to shred an entire Chipotle paper bag in just under a minute. I love my little monster so much.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Balloons Two

So my previous entry was describing Espresso's love of popping real balloons.

Like this.
My mother went on a quest while she was here to find Espresso a balloon she couldn't pop. Or at least something balloon like that would last longer than .2 nanoseconds.

Luckily, Petco provided.


I know Espresso loves her new toy-balloon, but probably not quite as much as she loves popping the real things. But given that her mother (me) isn't as generous and doesn't buy her balloons regularly, I think she'll take her squeaky balloon.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Balloons

Espresso loves playing with balloons (after she got over being terrified of them, of course). The only thing she loves more than rolling a balloon around is popping one. However, she doesn't seem to understand that the popping is permanent. This is a video my boyfriend texted me when I was on vacation. It was entitled "Why won't you play with me anymore?"


When I was home over Christmas break, we pulled out the wrapping from the spare closet which means we had to pull out just about everything else too. In the process, a baggie of balloons fell to the ground. Upon discovering this, my mother blew one of them up for Espresso to play with. Espresso proceeded to chew through all 12 balloons in the matter of about a half hour or so.

My mom had wanted to give Espresso a bag of balloons for Christmas, but never got around to it. So when she came to visit last weekend, you can imagine how happy Espresso was when my mom brought her the overdue Christmas gift.




We rationed them over the entire weekend, but she still managed to pop them all surprisingly fast.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Tied Toy

So remember that post a while back about Espresso's gift via mail? The green rope bone is one of her favorite toys. In order to give us a moment of peace, my boyfriend thought of a way to entertain Espresso without having to hold onto the toy personally.

She proceeded to de-stuff the toy completely and then yank the knot holding the rope to the chair so tight we couldn't get it off for days.




But at least it meant she spent hours doing that and not eating my underwear, sneaking into the kitchen, and causing all sorts of other dachshund mischief.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Espresso in the Sun: A Break from the Rain

Ever since I got back to school from winter break, it has been endless gray days of tulle fog, rain clouds, and overcast. The mud, cold, and dark was starting to get to me.

And then the sun came out. Today was the first day I truly saw the sun in my town for almost two weeks. Besides revealing how ghastly pale I've become, the sun provided a much needed break from the winter doldrums.

This morning, when we were waking up, Espresso headed into the living room as normal. But today she didn't meander in the dining area and hall. She ran straight to her sun-patch.

There is one spot in our living room that has a streak of sun from morning to early afternoon. Espresso will spend hours sleeping in the sun, only moving to follow the sunbeam as it moves across the carpet.


I don't think I've ever seen such doggie-joy as Espresso in her sun-patch this morning.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Rainy Days

The weather has been pretty miserable in most of CA. Around here, if its not actually raining, the ground is so muddy you get covered in filth in two seconds, the pavement so slick you slide on non-rubber soles, and everything outside is soaked so you get wet anyway. It hasn't been warm enough today, our first day without rain in a week, to change much.

Espresso hates the wet and cold. She's pretty convinced that the rain is trying to drown her from above and that getting wet is a form torture we have devised for her.

It is adorable however to see her prick her feet up one-by-one, attempting to keep the wet grass from her butt and belly. This is also quite a challenge for a dog who has 2 inch legs in 2 inch long grass. She leaves the most adorable paw prints though on the sidewalk too.

After trudging out into the wet and muck, nothing beats curling up with a warm blanket on the couch - Espresso seems to agree with me.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Shopping Excursions

So a new market opened up across the street. Why would I care about this so much to write about it?

1) This is a small town. And a bad economy. Pretty much anything opening up is nothing short of a miracle. Seriously I'm surprised someone didn't spot a crying statue on opening day.

2) I'm lazy. The nearest market is about a 10 minute drive which means that when I'm in the middle of cooking beef stroganoff and realize I forgot to buy sour cream, I no longer need to postpone dinner 30 minutes, overcooking my egg noodles horribly.
'
3) Now we have yet another place we can take the puppy on excursions. Of course she can't go inside, but it still gets her out of my apartment and gives us more chances to socialize her. The picture to the left demonstrates Espresso anxiously awaiting for her daddy to finishing buying our beer and ice cream.

The place is very local friendly and apparently doggie friendly. I've already seen three doggies tied up outside awaiting their owners patiently. They even have a water dish for the exiled canines. And yes, that water dish is big enough for Espresso to swim in.

When we first went to the store (sans Espresso) to get food, we being obsessive dog owners immediately checked out the over-priced pet aisle and found the perfect squeaky-rubbery-solid-yet-pliable-so-less-likely-to-be-destroyed-by-dachshund-teeth squeaky bone. It's now her new favorite and she's spent hours gnawing and chasing it.



I'm pretty sure in Espresso's mind the dog toy we bought her on our first shopping trip beats walking over in the rain for mommy and daddy to get junk food.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Espresso & Friends: Lola

I apologize for the lack of updates this week; I was in Las Vegas with my sister.

I haven't stayed in contact with many people from high school; an exception is my best friend who really is more like the sister-I-never-had. We both not only love to cook, eat, shop, talk, and travel - we both own dogs.

My sis got her puppy- Lola - about two years ago. Lola is some Chihuahua mix and was bought from a lady outside of a petstore who wore grills. No joke. I can't say I advertise this as a way to procure a puppy, but Lola has been completely healthy and is completely trained whereas my purebred-reputable-breeder-obtained-puppy has a birth defect in her leg and continues to pee on my carpet daily. Guess I can't knock ladies with grills.

I was the very first person to puppy sit Lola ever when she was just a few months old. Ever since I have loved seeing my "niece" whenever I visit home. This last Christmas, we were able to introduce Espresso to her cousin.

Both of them enjoyed playing chase and wrestle. It was hilarious to watch considering Lola had the height advantage (Espresso literally fit under her) while Espresso could use this to her advantage to dive under her component and escape.



This picture demonstrates well that Lola at less than 10 pounds tops Espresso (who is about 10 lbs) by several inches.

I just hope in the future our puppies get to have some girls' time like I did this week.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Party Animal

So I got a dog in college. That topic alone is worthy of its own entry, but the fact remains the same. I being a 20-something like to go out and do stuff with my friends. Especially since turning a 21-something, I often celebrate special occasions with alcohol (every Friday is a holiday in my book). However, I am also a responsible dog owner who doesn't like the idea of keeping Espresso couped up while I get to have fun. Solution?

Take Espresso to the parties.Initially I did it because it was a great way to socialize her - expose her to loud noises, large groups of people, people she didn't know etc. One of the first parties she ever went to was a Hawaii-themed birthday party. It was even more amazing since I wasn't the one who took her to the party - a friend brought her over from my apartment and I met them at the house. You can see my friends got her into the party theme.

You see, Espresso is a versatile beast who can go from a chill kick-back with some drinking games....


....to a high-class 21st birthday soiree for two of my best friends.

What I have found to be amazing is when I bring the puppy, people not only think its awesome, but she gets so much love there that she never wants to come home again. The only bad thing about bringing her has meant that when I do show up with out her everyone asks "WHERE'S ESPRESSO?"

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Puppies Dressed as Cats...and BANANAS!

As I was facebook stalking earlier today, a random friend from middle school who probably doesn't even remember me posted an adorably hilarious link on another middle-school friend who-doesn't-remember-me's wall.

What was this link you ask? It was a clip of the Conan O'Brian show featuring.....


I have dressed Espresso up as many things, but not as a cat. Maybe that will have to be Espresso's Halloween costume this year.



That is Espresso playing with a (de)stuffed cheetah/jaguar/kitty toy. I interpret Espresso's response to the Halloween cat-costume idea as a resounding "no." However, she also didn't highly approve of her costume from this year either, but I still forced her into the banana suit anyway.


It was on sale at Target for 8 bucks. I even took her onto campus with some friends for lunch to show off the amazing cuteness. This picture doesn't have the banana hat on because Espresso kept eating it and refused to walk around with it on. It was a miracle I got the first picture at all.


This is Espresso's "I am so humiliated - AND I have to be in public" look. I love having a 9 lb dog that I can force into tiny outfits.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Evil Bubble Wrap

Espresso gets very excited when we receive packages because sometimes they include things for her. My mom will often send doggie treats, little sweaters, or toys. Today however, it was merely my macroeconomics book that arrived.

There was a consolatoin prize however for the puppy: bubble wrap. Obviously the bubble wrap is evil and therefore must be conquered. Here are the steps to Espresso-domination:

1. First, you observe Daddy playing with the bubble wrap and are startled by the offensive noise it makes.

2. You bark and dance with the bubble wrap to figure out its weakness.



3. Next, you decide that the best mode of attack is direct. You leap, bite down and tug....

4. And tug....



5. ...and finally get the evil wrap within your clutches. You then pay it back in full for the noise it made at you by chewing on it.

And note: this method can be used on all evil things besides bubble wrap. This includes but is not limited to chew toys, socks, pens, balloons, etc.