Our dog Quincy

In June I found a cocker spaniel on the lam. I stuffed him in my car and stopped at Petco on the way home to get him a collar, leash and some dog food. He was very affectionate and seemed to have good car manners, i.e. he didn't try to get in my lap as I was hurtling down the freeway at high speeds.

I rang the doorbell when we got home and my husband answered the door in complete confusion. The cocker spaniel was a Tazmanian Devil at the end of his leash, and our cat Abby looked disgusted from the other side of the threshold. My husband took a long time to warm up to the dog while I posted notices everywhere, and every day for three weeks we thought someone would claim the dog. No one ever did.

That interim period was scary because I was afraid to get too attached to the dog, so he suffered quite a bit. I didn't want to name him or pay too much attention to him as a way of protecting myself. When we finally gave up hope of finding his people we named him Quincy and invited him into our hearts, even though he was a total mess.

He scratched himself all the time when I first brought him home, so I bought special food for dogs with allergies and he hardly scratches at all anymore! He wouldn't let me touch his paws or face, and now I can swab his weepy eyes as much as I want. I can even brush his paws. His fur is so thick I don't think you can actually feel skin on his legs at all! He lets me pick him up, flip him over and rub his belly all the time, he doesn't have a single hot spot anymore, we got him neutered and he got all his shots. Next week he gets his first haircut at the dog salon.

He just wants to play with us and his squeaky toys all the time. We took him to obedience classes and he's learning some manners, while we're learning how to communicate with him. It's been an amazing transformation. That said, last night was his last class at dog training and he pooped twice during class. How embarrassing.

I love having a dog. I love that I can pick him up and play with his paws all I want, while looking him in the eye and talking baby talk to him. He's a good boy. I look forward to having a couple kids he can play with, he just loves them so much!

Here's Quincy, our sweet, dumb dog.

new ideas

It's been a year since I've lost interest in my Imp of Satan business, and I'm starting to finally get inspiration for making clothes again.

There are a lot of reasons why I laid Imp of Satan to rest, but you know I can hire someone to do those things for me, leaving me free to focus my energy on the creative end of running a fashion empire. Well, a small fashion empire.

I was always really good at the design, branding and marketing aspects of running my own fashion label. As most of my close friends know perhaps better than even I know about myself, I can't stay away from creating new clothes for long. Taking what I learned from my previous business, I think I can be far more successful in a new venture. It's time to lay Imp of Satan to rest for good. It carries too many bad memories for me, and I'm far too happy in my new life to continue dwelling on the past.

I'm in the brainstorming process for a new business. A former schoolmate of mine recently returned to Seattle after working all over the world for some extraordinary designers like Dior and Bob Mackey, and thanks to his words of praise, I'm starting to think that I can do some high end fashion for folks here in Seattle. I've been working in theater for ten years now, and I've learned to manipulate fabric in ways that most people never would. I am extremely proud of my work, yet I still understand that I have a lot to learn as long as there are new raw materials being manufactured. I truly, truly love what I do, and I know that I will never stop being inspired by bolts of wonderful fabric.