A dog's Life

Indigo seems to be on vacation every day, but last week she went on vacation with her people.

Our little family went to La Selva Beach for a week of sun, sand and photos!!! The cats had to stay home, but they had our wonderful pet-sitter to look after them daily. The cats sure seem to like him better than us. He leaves notes stating, "Diesel Ann played with me while George sat on my lap." George sits on my lap too, but Diesel Ann never plays with me. :(

It took a few days for vacation mode to kick in and the Corporate work life to drift away. Darn those blackberry devices, I think I will save that for another post. My parents rented a house that was dog friendly and I mean it was really dog friendly, it included a large dog run as well as 2 fenced acres! We were the guests of my parents on vacation. (Thank you Mom & Dad!)

Indigo being shy and somewhat reserved began to truly act like a dog and run off-leash, as well as hunt. She sniffed, she pointed and she caught a ground squirrel or two. Our Weim girl is a hunter at heart. Every morning she was up at 5am to go outside for a potty break and to begin her morning hunting routine.

I have many highlights from the week, beginning with napping in the hammock with Indigo at my side. Meeting friends for lunch with a fire drill in Monterey, dinner on the deck with my parents and Friday night date night with C.J. at Shadowbrook. Going out on a yacht for a sunset cruise with my dad as the Captain, but the number one highlight for me was meeting up with Pet Photographer Tonya Perme. She took professional photos of me, C.J. and Indi at our rental house and SeaCliff Beach. The photo sitting was a gift for my birthday from C.J. and some of my best girlfriends gave me a gift certificate to use to purchase additional photos. In preparation, Indigo received a bath and brushed and I painstakingly blew out/flat ironed my hair the one time all week. On Tuesday afternoon Tonya met us at our vacation home and began taking photos of Indigo, then C.J. and I joined in for some family photos. Once we had numerous photos at the house, we moved on to the beach location. Indigo did really well, she acted like a dog and even ran into the water chasing rocks we threw into the surf. C.J. and I got wet from an unexpected wave as we posed for the camera and ultimately had a wonderful experience. Indigo was exhausted after the shoot, this was more excitement than she is use to and having two bad hips makes for a dog who tires out rather quickly. I told Tonya, "I bet this is the first time you had to pep up a Weimarener instead of calm one down."

After less than 24 hours, Tonya sent a link to look at some sneak peek photos, I was sitting on the beach, with Indi napping under her umbrella, while I cruised Facebook. I could not access the link from my blackberry and I was having a panic attack because I could not see the photos, but people were already commenting about them. I quickly packed up Indi and ended our beach session to rush back to the house, this is when I realized social media is running my life!! I need to learn to do things in moderation and remember things will wait. However, I think the rush back to house may have been worth it as the photos brought pure smiles to my face. I can't wait to see them all and pick which ones to have printed. What a great gift, I will always remember!

Pet friendly Santa Cruz:

Indigo joined us for lunch out in Santa Cruz and sun bathing at Manresa State Beach. Santa Cruz has many dog friendly establishments including, Betty's burgers where we had lunch, Aldo's on the dock (Santa Cruz Harbor) where we had breakfast, as well as some "nicer" places like Michael's on Main. Remember to always call ahead to be sure locations are still pet friendly. I used www.bringfido.com, which I found to be very user friendly and updated. I believe Indigo had a great vacation with her people and I know we had a wonderful vacation with her.