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Less than a year ago, our family life changed. After having a dog-free household for years, we adopted a new puppy. The day we brought Charley home, September 1, she was tiny enough to fit into my two palms. The first thing she did was “den” under our dining room table and get accustomed to her new home. Since then, she has grown bigger, gotten smarter, become lovelier and made her home in our hearts.

And while it’s no longer possible to carry her in the palms (it’s really more like carrying a toddler around), she’s still the little girl we brought home in the fall - just one year older. I was going to spend the afternoon in the sunshine at the beach with her as a birthday treat, but the rain is falling in Courtenay. Instead, she’s curled up next to me as I type her tribute.

As we celebrate our girl’s first birthday, here’s a quick look back on her first year in pictures and video.

Turns out she’s just as much of a snow bunny as her big sister!

Few dogs are this photogenic all the time…

P.S. Charley loves the new chew toy she got from her Auntie Becky!

Apparently I rock Darren’s world. At least he said so because I promised him I’d blog about something that’s really important to him (and for good reason).

“The Bavubuka Foundation is a nonprofit organization that believes that connecting youth with music and the arts can transform lives and unify diverse communities. Bavubuka is dedicated to creating spaces and educational programs that will nurture and empower a new generation of young leaders in Uganda and all of Africa, who will use their voices to communicate positive messages and create positive change in their communities and the world.”

Next week, you all have the opportunity to be a part of a very unique event, celebrating an important project created to support youth on the other side of the globe who, normally, would fall through the gaping cracks of society.

Silas Balabyekkubo, founder of the Bavubuka Foundation, is screening his revolutionary film, Diamonds In The Rough, at the Tom Lee Music Hall in Vancouver. The film itself is narrated by Michael Franti of Spearhead. Following the screening, Silas will be engaging the audience with a Q&A session and wrapping the night up with an in-store performance. According to Darren, this is a very cool and rare opportunity to meet the man behind the hip hop tool of Bavubuka.

(For more information on the Bavubuka Foundation, click here to visit their website.)

The info you need for the screening is as follows:

What: Diamonds In The Rough

When: Thursday, May 29, 2008 (Doors at 7pm, Screening/Q&A from 7:30pm - 9pm, Performance 9:15pm - 10pm)

Where: Tom Lee Music Hall, 929 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia

How Much: Ticket are $15 (and almost sold out). Contact Kevin at (778) 847-6877 or info@beautifulstruggle.ca to get your hands on some.

I’ve got three crazy hours ahead of me to wrap things up at work before heading to Pacific Central bus terminal to hop on a Greyhound to the Comox Valley. Translation: no time to write today. So instead, for your listening and viewing pleasure, I present YouTube videos and songs to get you into the Christmas spirit.

Hanson’s Christmas Special

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” - Mariah Carey

“It’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” - U2

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” - Band Aid

And just for Amy…

“Last Christmas” - Wham

And in case you’re in need of a reminder of one of the most classic Christmas movies ever…

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation from Warner Home Video

I just arrived back at home within the last ten minutes in time to hopefully catch the CTV spot that Becky and I did this evening before packing up my backpack and heading to bed. The Shout Out Louds played a great set this evening and they’re one of those few bands that translates well when live. Hey, and I even recognized a song or two. Go figure.

Anyways, with my trip to Victoria comes a lack of blogging over the next day and a half until I’m home Sunday night, so I’ll leave you with something to discuss. I’ll turn the comment moderator off, so I’m trusting you kids to behave yourselves and discuss politely.

Anyone that attended a junior high or high school dance in the early 1990s was subjected to Guns ‘N’ Roses’ staple video, “November Rain.” This epic fable features performance footage and a fictional account of Axl Rose’s marriage to real-life love (at the time), Stephanie Seymour. In the video, Rose’s wife mysteriously dies during their wedding reception, and the last shots of her we see are in a coffin with what appears to be a mirror separating her face. So my question for all of you to discuss is this: how did Axl Rose’s fictional bride die?

Generate your own theories and discuss while I’m in Victoria.

I was finally able to capture Charley on camera and shoot a little video. So without further adieu, I present to you Charley, a dental chew and the squeakiest dog toy ever.

At the end of July, Tony and I debated over beers. “Nestle Tollhouse Morsels make the best chocolate chip cookies, hands down!” I said.

Photo courtesy of Duane Storey (um, I think!)

“No way…a chocolate chip is a chocolate chip. I bet you couldn’t even tell the difference between different ones,” was his reply.

And so the challenge began.

Not long after Tony returned to L.A., a package arrived for me in the mail. In that packaged I found four Ziploc bags, each containing chocolate chips and marked A, B, C, and D, respectively. My challenge was to bake cookies with the four different kinds of chips and decide whether I could tell the difference.

Let me preface this by saying that, after purchasing said chocolate chips, Tony admitted that “Well, they do actually look different. Maybe you will be able to tell them apart.”

Tonight I dragged Becky over to my apartment and executed the challenge. Here’s what happened.

Check out my Flickr for more photos.

Becky and I rated the four different chocolate chips in three different categories. We each ate a chocolate chip on its own, within the dough and then finally within the baked product. Each chip was given a score out of 10 by each of us in each of the three categories, and in the end, the scores out of ten were added up and chocolate chip “B” emerged as the winner by only a couple points.

Chocolate chip “D” was the loser, but with its odd flavour, Becky and I were convinced that Tony may have doused it in an illegal substance. Okay, maybe not, but “D” was weird. Chocolate chip “A” won a special award for Biggest Overall Improvement. It did worst out of all four chips in the stand-alone area, but within dough and within the baked cookie, it made leaps and bounds. In fact, within a cookie it tasted much like the cookies used to taste at Subway back when Subway cookies were actually good.

Tony, you need to post a comment and share with all of us which of A, B, C, and D really were. That is, of course, if you remembered to write down what you sent me.

And last but not least, in the spirit of all things “cookie,” here’s a flashback to the 80s with the girls of Troop Beverly Hills singing “Cookie Time.”

Video courtesy of YouTube

Charley has offically spent more than 24 hours at her new home and I am pleased as punch to report that she’s adapting very, very well. She only woke up twice during the night and actually went quite nicely into her kennel when it was bedtime. I imagine that yesterday was her first real time being outside much, so it was a little bit intimidating.

However, today she’s getting more and more used to being out in the open and had a blast playing in the grass. She’s sniffing and exploring and nipping at the grass. She’s also realized her love for chasing feet and burrowing herself in my cascading golden hair. I recorded the little videoclip below (it’s only about a minute and a half) of her playing outside in the yard. She’s a fast little monkey!