I heart Peeps

A Note From Abbey

Dear 4 legged and 2 legged friends-

My mom and I are hoping that you will help us raise money for our walk or walk with us! This year the Richmond Animal League is putting on Woofstock...which is a day full of music, vendors, food and drinks! You and your owner can come! Before the music starts there is a 1 1/2 mile fundraising walk. Do you want to walk with us???? We would love it. I have a pack and if you are interested in joining the pack let Mary know and she can set you up. I know I have a lot of friends who live in other places like California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, other parts of Virginia...just to name a few who might not be able to walk with us, but you can help us by making a donation! Click here to make a donation We would really love to help those dogs and cats that don't have a home like some of us more lucky ones do. If you have any questions let us know!

xoxo

Abbey (& Mary)

P.S. if you are looking for a new pet check out www.ral.org

Moving On Up

Silly me, I forgot to tell you all yesterday that I bought a house. It is shown above. Isn't it fabulous? Let me tell you all about it because it really was a steal at only 14 million! This place is insane...here is what is written on the web site "There are 3 apts over garage, mostly level land w/in 5-10 min. of I-64 and Short Pump. Rooms on first floor: Grand Entry Hall w/ spiral staircase, open and light conservatory, Tea Room, Dining Room with plaster barrel ceiling and easy access to the adjoining kitchen, wood paneled Library with spiral staircases and iron balustrades to built-in bookcases along the walls above, Trophy Rm with grand fireplace mantel and buffalo hide walls with nail head trim, Bar along galley hallway provides excellent location for entertaining guests. The Kitchen is thoroughly modern with the best in appliances, high ceilings and Travertine countertops and is adjoined by the Family Great Rm. Second Floor: Spacious Master suite encompasses one wing of the second and third floors, there are 8 additional bedroom suites each w/ private full baths,, including a child's suite on the north end of the home with two story ceiling and game loft above. Each room has been finished in the standard found throughout the home and are comfortable spaces providing room to relax, read or sleep. The Third Floor master suite dressing areas, both his and hers, are attached to individual offices and exercise rooms. This floor is complete with a Tanning salon and beauty parlor. The Terrace Level is accessed off the main entry via dual staircases that allow you to take in the vastness and enormity of the room. Everything in this room was planned on a grand scale, including the mantelpiece which began as the entryway to a building in and was finished by local craftsmen to become the focal point of the 30 x 60 Ballroom. Adjoining the ballroom are private men's and ladies lounges and a hallway documenting the evolution of Dover Hall. The Tap Room adjoins the ballroom and provides a more casual atmosphere for relaxing or visiting with friends. The wine Cellar is also on this floor and may be accessed from above by the spiral stairs ascending to all four floors of Dover Hall. Unique limestone treads lead up from the basement to the main entry. The opposite end of the terrace level provides further storage, a caterer's kitchen done in the Old English country house style and a LG Utiliy Room. There is also access to additional storage and the area where the geothermal system is housed. Facade of Brick is wavy as is typical in old world construction giving the appearance of older home. Slate on roof is high quality Buckingham slate and includes snow guards. Spiral staircase off foyer runs all 4 levels with unique chandeliers traversing all four floors. NOTE: Adjoining parcel of 8+ acres w/ 3 BR brick residence and 14 stall stable/barn, outdoor riding arena, indoor arena and several fenced paddocks may also be available."

Really...how crazy is that. Let me know when you want to visit!

It's not easy going green

I am a really big fan of the trend to go green. It is really hard though. I find myself stuffing the washing machine to the fullest so that I get the most out of the water that I am going to just drain. If I am not in the room, I turn off the light and any other electric devices. I turn my computer off every day and try my hardest to remember to turn off the moniter too. I use cloth towels instead of 30 paper towels. I keep meaning to buy some of those bags for groceries (although I don't grocery shop much...good old Barret). However we do recycle the bags that we get from the grocery store for trash liners in our wastebasket and dog poop pickerupers. I try and carpool if possible. Barret and I will use my car if we are going somewhere together because it uses much less gas then the moster truck. I recycle all the paper at work. But yet I still think I am leaving a nice carbon footprint :( I have to say that what I am really impressed in, and again because I think this is happening because it is a trend, are big companies trying to go green. Right now I think that people will choose one company over another if one is green. I think Obama could win as President if he said the White House was going green. I would vote for that. But I have to tell you that there is one company that really stands out in my mind. I have no idea if they have just won me over, because I haven't done a ton of research on them, but I LOVE their commericals. I don't claim to be a commerical expert, but I generally give each commerical on TV a rating, a comment or the worst, a channel switch. Great commericals capture me and make me want to buy and believe in the campaign. OK commericals I watch but don't really remember what they are selling within 1 minute of it being over...and channel switchers...well imagine Big Roy shouting at you on the TV to come on down and test drive the Big Ass Truck for one day only. Those are the ones that I cannot stand. If you don't have a budget to make a commerical...don't make it. Anyway I have completely gotten off track...my favorite commericals are the ones for GE. My love for them started with the elephant dancing in the rainforest. It was a couple of years ago, but I still remember it because it was different, and green before green was cool. Recently (during the Westminster dog show- GO BEAGLES!) I saw another one by them. There was this house with sunpanels and you could tell it was an enviornmentally friendly house. There was a tree who uprooted itself and at first I thought it was going to bash the house in for taking its sun...but instead it hugs the house and the man leaning against the fence says..."househugger". Brilliant! It was simple and to the point and I look for that commerical everytime I have the TV on. You can watch it on GE's website
Those are your thoughts from me today!

Big Rock

I am not the only girl in the house to get a rock!

Barret gave one to Abbey too!

Well we are back safe and sound from our trip to the Dominican Republic. It just wouldn't be a Mary trip without some sort of confusion. Basically we woke up, drove to the airport in Richmond because the shuttle forgot to pick us up, checked in, flew to Charlotte, flew to Punta Cana, and took a crazy shuttle ride to the resort. We were greeted with halfway naked ladies and glasses of some passion fruit mixture and surrounded by people already in their bathing suits. Life seemed good...until the man in half Spanish half English told me the reservations had been cancelled. I felt the Emery mercury rising and really close to boiling and I hear Barret in the background say "hmpf. Mary calm down, it is not his fault." This is before I say much of anything...I would say that boy knows me well...because I was getting ready to explode. So i bit my lip for a second and the man said you can call your travel agent. I said, OK where are the phones? He points to the left and says it is $20 just to pick it up and $7 a minute. I could have reached across the desk and strangled him. But I didn't. Luckily Burlee's cell phone worked and after talking to the travel agent and letting them know we would be sending the cell phone bill to them and that I was in a third world country with no where to stay we were finally upgraded to a suite! See that Emery Mercury works sometimes. Other than that things were great. We didn't do much of anything...ate, laid on the beach, ate, laid by the pool, ate, drink, bed. It was nice and relaxing.

ho ho ho and a bottle of rum...see you in a week!

Santa's stressed out as the holiday season draws near
He's been doing the same job now going on two thousand years
He's got pains in his brain and chimney scars cover his buns
He hates to admit it, but Christmas is more work than fun
He needs a vacation from bad decorations and snow
Mr. Claus has escape plans, a secret that only he knows
Beaches and palm trees appear night and day in his dreams
A break from his wife, his half frozen life the elves and that damn reindeer team
Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rhum Santa's run off to the Caribbean
He thinks about boat drinks and fun in the sun
Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rhum
Plastic creations and crass exploitations aren't good
He wants to go back to simple toys made out of wood
Just for the weekend he'd like to be Peter Pan
Get out his long johns and dance with a sword in the sand
Chorus: Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rhum Santa's run off to the Caribbean
Marimbas, calimbas, he's playing steel drums
Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rhum
Chorus: Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rhum Santa's run off to the Caribbean
Marimbas, calimbas, he's playing steel drums
Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rhum
Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rhum
Santa's run off to the Caribbean
A week in the tropics and he'll be all right Sporting a tan as he rides out of sight
Merry Christmas to all, and to all... good night