It’s the pitter patter of little feet around my house these days. Four of them!

Jack arrived today via the Roanoke Valley SPCA and he promises to be the most awesome dog. Of course, you can never tell when they are only 2 months old but there are signs that I think point to what I value most in a dog.

1. Attachment and loyalty – he cannot hardly stand to be out from under your feet and curls up right by them when you’re sitting at the desk or at the table.
2. Affection – he loves to be cuddled and to have his ears and neck rubbed, and he will give you an occasional lick on the hand as a token of his appreciation. He fell asleep in my lap this afternoon and guess what – he snores just like me!
3. Submissive -one sign of a good dog is whether they will allow you to hold them on their back….kind of like a baby. I’ve always been told it is a submissive behavior that dog experts look for when selecting guide dogs and service dogs. He loves it.
4. Trainable – even at this young age it is pretty clear that he learns commands such as “sit” and “come” very quickly.
5. Cross-Bred – ok, I love purebred dogs, especially labs and Goldens, but one benefit of having a beautiful mutt is that they often don’t suffer some of the recessive gene traits such as hip dysplasia that are prevalent in purebred dogs. Jack’s parents were pure-bred dogs, but one was a Weimaraner and the other a German Wire Hair Pointer. Both are great dogs and he seems to have gotten the best traits from both breeds.

I can’t thank the folks at the RVSPCA enough for the great care and love they show all of their animals. If you have never seen this facility, you really should trek out there, especially if you are contemplating getting a dog or a cat. It is a great place to find the perfect pet and you are doing your community a great service by starting there when you are in search of an animal companion. They also have a foster pet program which is what Jack was a part of. Caring people take these animals in and host them in a loving home until they are ready for adoption. I don’t know all of the specifics of what the RVSPCA does (and it is A LOT) but they are another reason that Roanoke is such an awesome community to live in.

So, like any proud new dog parent, I have a few pictures of the pup. I’m sure there will be MANY more to come.

Tripped downtown today to see the Nashville Portraits: Photographs by Jim McGuire exhibit at the Art Museum of Western Virginia. Even though I’m not a huge country music fan, some of my favorite music artists are pure country. There’s Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, and Doc Watson (who btw is playing at the Jefferson Center on March 7th…..got my tickets!). They were all in there. There was even a portrait of Carole King. Most were beautiful silver prints but there were a few digital prints in there as well. It was a small exhibit by most standards but if you’re into photography or country music or both, it is definitely one to see. McGuire’s career as one of Nashville’s premiere album photographers has spanned more than 30 years so it is a fascinating a walk down memory lane and some mighty fine portrait photography.

After the exhibit I checked out the new Mexican restaurant Alejandro’s, which took over the space vacated by the recent closing of the much loved Green Dolphin Grille on Campbell Ave. I gotta say that I have a new fave place for Mexican now. Great food and a total bonus with the Salsa Bar and its wide assortment of gourmet salsas. HOT! MMMmmm.

Of course today was just a little cold with temps in the 20’s and a wind chill dragging that down about 10+ degrees. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest of the year so far with temps dipping in the single digits. So, how appropriate it is to display this shot of a fine item I saw today in the window at Twists & Turns. All that glitters is not gold. Stay warm!

I went to see Juno the other night and was pretty much blown away by actress Ellen Page’s performance here. There’s Oscar talk about this and I can totally see why. The movie itself was A+ material but Page handled the role of Juno in a way few could. There were so many opportunities for that performance to go astray with a lesser actress, but Page kept you right there with Juno the whole time. Loveable, real, everything else. Of course, the rest of the cast here was superb with my hat off to Jennifer Garner for her beautiful performance as well. A definite must see, especially while it’s still at my favorite Roanoke movie theater The Grandin.

Just in case anyone coming by here is an aspiring actor, model, or business person, I don’t have to remind you that you need a really good headshot. A good headshot will help you get noticed and there are some general guidelines to creating a headshot that will get you noticed or keep you from NOT getting noticed.

They’re a lot of fun to do because usually people having them done are doing interesting things with their life. So it’s kind of cool just hanging out and talking shop and pop culture etc etc.

Here’s a couple. I like high key but they don’t really have to be as long as there’s not a lot of distraction.