Can you explain...my Shih tzu, Frankidini?

So my mom and I were chatting this evening and she brought up the fact that my adorable, lovable Shih tzu Frankie is crazy. It's true. This dog is insane. Not only is she passive-aggressive (she once peed on one of our guest bed pillows because my mother-in-law, who she loves, left after a weekend visit and apparently had not given a proper goodbye). But Frankie is also an escape artist.

We have tried everything we can think of to keep her caged during the day. We would love to let her run free but Frankie not only has bathroom issues when people she loves leave after a visit, sometimes she will choose to tinkle on the floor inside after weeks and weeks of pretending to have established potty-trained habits. So we've tried crating her, but she has literally escaped every crate we've ever tried to keep her in, so I'm at loss and curious if anyone out there in cyber-land can explain my Shih tzu to me?

Here are the crates we've tried and the subsequent escapes by Frankie:

1)The traditional wire crate:

Source

This is a cool crate and I'm sure it works really well for most normal dog owners. In fact it worked really well for us when we crate-trained Rocky (our other adorable pup). Unfortunately Frankie is too smart for this crate. She uses her little Dr. Seuss*** paws to finagle the latch open on the bottom and sneaks through.

I once even came home to find her collar still inside the crate...How the heck did she manage that? Needless to say we have not put her in this crate again. I was worried she'd choke herself on this beast.

2. The pretty blue crate:

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This is where Frankie got her nickname Frankidini. This crate boasts multiple entry ways. One garage door type in the front, the traditional side entry, and the top opens up too. I came home from work one day to Frankie waiting patiently for me by the front door. My first thought was to freak out, "who the heck is in my apartment and letting Frankie out?". I walked over to the crate and all three doors were closed but the latch for the top entry was slightly busted. Frankidini had worked her magic on it. We tried her a couple more times and within a week Frankie had completely destroyed this crate. (This is a 11 pound dog we're talking about).

3) Collapsible soft crate:Source

This is our most recent attempt. Frankie unzipped it the first day we put her in it, but we figured we had put her in it upside-down and that gravity had been against us. Next we tried her in it (this will sound weird) in the bathtub. Sounds crazy I know, but the bathtub is Frankie's favorite spot in the whole house. I think it's because it's cool against her fur.

Once we kept seeing Frankie pace back and forth across the floor with her dog toys. Three or four times this happens and Beau and I get curious. We walk into the bathroom to find this:

Frankie has also figured out that water comes out of the faucet in the bathtub and as a result paws at it to let us know if she is thirsty in the middle of the night. Cute the first couple times, annoying at 3am on a work night.

So we decided to put the soft crate into the bathtub thinking that the cool of the tub could be felt through the vinyl crate. We came home to the crate outside of the bathroom and around the corner (meaning that she had managed to hop from the bathtub inside the crate out of the bathroom and around the corner before escaping. Frankie next ripped a whole in the side of the crate. This crate lasted approx. 3 attempts.

So can you help me out? Can you explain my Shih tzu to me? Any ideas you have for crate-training a reluctant pup are welcome.

***Dr. Seuss paws: This is what I call Frankie's pawsies because when they get wet the curl up at the end like a Dr. Seuss character...see:

Oh and here's a picture of my other puppy love Rocky...I don't want him to read this later and get jealous that he was only mentioned in passing.

30th Birthday continued or Jolie learns the mandolin

I don't know if I ever mentioned but I had no idea what I wanted for my birthday. Beau wanted my gift to be something special and so rather than get something just to get it, we decided to wait until we had figured out a gift that had some meaning that would last.

A couple weeks ago it hit me! I've been dying to learn to play an instrument...side note 1-I can play the clarinet, I was first chair throughout my 6th grade band experience prior to quitting and joining chorus. You may find this surprising but those clarinet skills don't really translate into day-to-day life as well. I wanted to be able to play something I could sing along with. So I've been wishy-washy about what to learn: guitar?, accordion? (yes, I've seriously considered it), or ukulele? (wouldn't it be fun to play, you'd feel like you are an a Hawaiian vacation anytime you pick it up). Finally though, we settled on mandolin.

I love it and I can't wait to start officially taking lessons. It is so much fun to finally be on my way to one of my life goals (to learn to play and instrument past the 6th grade level).

So here are some photos of our impromptu jam session Sunday evening. I can play all of one song right now...Yankee Doodle! So needless to say it was more Beau and his friend Blake playing but I hope to be able to hold my own soon after some lessons.



Side note 2: If you think I'm crazy for considering the accordion some things to consider are #1-I'm part Polish, it's in my soul to love the accordion and dance the Polka and #2-The BowerBirds. Check out their music and you'll dig the accordion too.
Side note 3: Truth be told, this was Blake taking a break from impromptu Yankee Doodle jam session to help Frankie recite some Shakespeare...Sunday evening it was decided that sitting Frankie upright and helping her to use her hands to recreate some of the Bard's famous monologues was hilarious. Chalk it up to one of those "you had to be there" experiences unless you have a Shih tzu of your own to try it with :-)

I love to make this guy laugh...

I fall more in love with Beau every day for a million different reasons. One of my favorite things about Beau is his laugh especially if I'm the one making him laugh. Every once in awhile when we're joking around I happen upon an accent or impression that he cannot help but laugh at and I absolutely adore it.

Sorry for the sappiness but I just had to share :-)

Just plain (Frankie) fun!

I was sitting on the couch earlier this evening and good ole Frankie poo was snuggled up next to me. Beau looked at us and started laughing and asked "Did you do that to Frankie's nose?"

"Do what?" I asked.



Where she found a random glitter star on our floor, I have no idea. I think it fell off of a Christmas package.

She's like our own personal Rudolph that is very late for Christmas :-)

Polyvore fun...falling for grey boots

Find me on Polyvore

First time playing with polyvore...fun!

Lots of fun and a love of tea

So it's been a whirlwind couple of months. I love, love, love my job and it's a good thing I do because it's kept me awfully busy for the last several months. I work for the largest sports endurance training program in the country and on top of that we raise money for cancer! Since this time last year I've coordinated 6 teams that have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the fight against blood cancers.

It has been a ton of fun but also a ton of work. This past Sunday wrapped up the fall season with our Augusta 70.3 tri team. We had a very successful weekend with only one gal from the ATL team not able to finish because of bike trouble. I have no doubt she would have rocked the course just like everyone else if she hadn't encountered 3 flats in the first half of the bike course. The GA, SC and VA chapters all worked together to produce an amazing event weekend complete with one of the best local pasta parties I've been to. We raised a combined $215,000 and counting!!!

I've been so inspired by the work I've seen done lately that I am going to venture way, way out of my comfort zone and complete a triathlon next summer. This means swimming, biking and running. The swimming and the running don't scare me too much but I'm super nervous about the biking as I've not been on a bike in about 5 years.

If anything will get me back on a bike though it's the fight to cure cancer so look for me (helmet and all) in a bike lane near you starting next January.

That brings me to my love of tea. I've really enjoyed the challenge of the spring, summer and fall teams I've worked with this past year and outside of being a little sleepy now and then I've not had to deal with any illness. Thank goodness! I owe this all to tea.

When I was younger I loved tea but hadn't really been drinking much tea in recent years. Beau and I have been working towards being healthier since our wedding. We've both quit drinking, we're trying to be more outdoorsy, eat better, etc.

If you pick up any article about cancer-fighting foods you'll find tea. It's full of anti-oxidants and is just plain delicious. Some of my favorite flavors are orange spice, red roobios, and just plain green tea. On top of helping you to stay cancer free it can also

I used to be big on taking echinecea when I thought I was getting ill but lately I've been turning to a special brew from my friends at Teavana. I don't know exactly what you call it but I call it a miracle. Any time Beau or I even feel like we might be getting sick I brew a pot and poof we feel good. Which has led our household to refer to it simply as "Feel Good tea". This special blend of silver needle, roobios tropica, jasmine dragon pearls and moroccan mint is light, sweet and delicious. Not the least bit over-powering like some mint teas can be. If you ever feel yourself getting a little icky, go straight to Teavana and ask them for "feel good" tea. I'm sure they'll know what you mean. It's a bit pricey but worth the cost as it's kept us from colds, flu, etc. for at least a year now.

So now that I've told you about the fun I've had and the way I'm keeping healthy to have all that fun, I'm going to tell you about the fun that is left to come this year.

October 10: Light The Night Atlanta- It's not too late to join a team to raise money in the fight against blood cancer. Or if you don't feel like walking just donate to http://pages.lightthenight.org/ga/Atlanta09/jollysing

October 18: Beau and I celebrate one year of marital bliss!

November 22: St. Pete Half Marathon (I've been slacking on training so I've got to get in gear and get that mileage in)

I hope all is well with all of you!

Lightning Bug or Firefly?

Either way I saw my first one of the year tonight when I was out walking Frank-monster (aka Frankie). I absolutely love lightning bugs! They are one of my favorite parts of summer. I hardly ever saw them growing up in FL. So moving up to Georgia and getting to see them every summer has been great. Seeing those little guys for the first time each summer is like seeing them for the very first time all over again.

Now for some fun facts: According to answer.com the term lightning bug is used in almost every part of the US aside from the Pacific coast and far North where the British term firefly is used. I don't know about the accuracy of that statement though as I've heard a little bit of both, but maybe that's just because Florida is such a melting pot for people from all over the US.

The lightning bug's glow can be yellow, green or pale red but I've never seen the red glow, have you? And if that doesn't turn you on, that just means you're a different species. Lightning bugs use their glow to attract the opposite sex for mating.

Now I looked all over etsy and the Internet for some cutie lightning bug images but was disappointed with the results. I did manage to find this little blast from the past. Anybody remember a lightning bug named Louie?