Monday, November 15, 2010

Pugfest: The Happiest Place on Earth

It doesn’t even matter that this post is like two months overdue. You’re about to forget it because I am going to blow your mind with the cutest pictures you’ve ever seen. EVER!


Last month we attended, for the second year in a row, Pugfest, our local Pug Rescue’s annual festival, celebrating the most unconditionally happy, loving, affectionate and interesting creatures in all of the world. I am the proud person of such a being, Murphy the Pug Extraordinaire. He also happens to be the most handsome of his breed and though he only holds one beauty title – 2007 Runner up for Cutest Dog in Hillcrest (he was robbed), I think you can only agree with me. Here he is with all of his Pugfest 2010 pals:

Murphy's the ferocious one. He's pretending, of course.

Tucker the baby pug. Just as cute sideways.

Pug lady, with some of her pugs, plus Murphy. Later, for the costume contest, they all dressed up like pumpkins and went as a pugkin patch. Cute overload.
 
This sweet guy looks like Yoda in a sweater, with his little dark face. Sometimes Murph gets this grumpy, embarrassed face when I try to dress him up. Not a fan.
 
Murphy in his Razorback sweater. Aside from any day he gets people food or a treat, Pugfest is his favorite day. He loves communing with his kind.

Pugfest was super fun and we all enjoyed hanging out with these super loving and affectionate dogs, but there were also several sweet animals - some with health issues, some who had been abused and some who's owners didn't want to or couldn't care for them anymore. The NWA Pug Rescue is run by a group of really generous, hardworking people who really love these animals and want to find them loving, caring people to live with. If you are interested, you can learn more at http://pugrescuenwa.typepad.com/.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Euro-Bound

T minus 8 days until the Great Hensley-Nichols’ European Adventure 2010. That’s right, folks, Huzbo and I fly out of XNA next Saturday bright and early at 6 a.m. Yes, it’s early and yes, we do have a nine hour layover in Atlanta, but let’s focus on the important stuff, here. Like German beer and Czech beer and Austrian beer. And all of that other fun Euro-cool stuff.


So we’ll arrive in Munich on Sunday and have reservations at the Wombat City Hostel for the first two nights. I’ve stayed there before and love it. Super fun, clean and two blocks from the train station. I love hostels, mostly because I love the possibility, even probability, of meeting super interesting, open-minded people from around the world. Steven thinks it’s going to be sketchy and uncomfortable. He’s lame, though, so I don’t listen to him.

While in Munich, we’ll definitely have to spend some time at the Hofbrauhaus and I really want to visit the remains of the Nazi concentration/death camp, Dachau. I missed visiting any Holocaust memorials on my last trip, but will definitely be going this time around. It’s not exciting at all, but I think it’s super important to go, pay tribute and recognize the people that lived through and died during that horrible time in history.

Tuesday we’ll leave Munich for Prague and I cannot be more excited. It’s been on the top of my travel list for awhile now and I’ve heard super fantastic things about the city. Also, they have fantastic cheap beer. Gotta love that they haven’t converted to the Euro yet, which means our American dollars might actually buy us something. Score!

We don’t have a Czech place to stay picked out, but they have great hostels and super, SUPER cheap hotels. Like, five star for $100. For realz. We also don’t yet have a to do list for the city, but all suggestions are appreciated. I’m thinking pub crawl, for sure.

Then on to Salzburg, Austria. This will probably be only a day trip, but Steven’s never been and I think he will love the Festung Hohensalzburg, a giant fortress built on a mountain in the middle of the city. It’s wicked. I also want to check out the market held every Thursday. There are thousands of sauerkraut options, and you can even buy sauerkraut juice. Hello, Heaven.

We plan on leaving Austria for Munich on Thursday or Friday, depending on what’s shaking at the time. Unfortunately, our plane flies out of Munich Sunday morning and we’re scheduled to rejoin the working world the next day. Lame, I know. But I really can’t complain about an eight day vacation. Yeah, we’re cool.