Beast In Show

Anyone who has a dog, cat, or animal of any sort that they have brought into their lives knows just how amazing these relationships can be. And people who have these strong bonds with animals tend to share these bonds with other animal lovers. It is one thing we know we have in common. When we are out walking our dogs, we chat about how old he/she is, how long we have had them, how we came to have them. We, of course, may never know these individuals names but they know our dogs name.

Two animal lovers whose names I do know, are the very talented Susan Mathias and Nancy McGinnis. They are the artists in the upcoming Beast In Show- An Art Show And Sale To Benefit Our Furry Friends. Artwork of animals and for animals. The opening reception is November 18th from 5:30-9pm at Monkitree and it is going to be fantastic. A portions of the sale of Susan's work will benefit the Kennebec Valley Humane Society and the sale of Nancy's work will benefit the Maine Greyhound Placement Service. Plus Monkitree will donate 10% of the total sales during the opening to the Kennebec Valley Humane Society. And to make it even more fun we have a drawing for a piece by each artist and will be holding a silent auction with gift certificates donated by local businesses. This last bit is a new development. It was exciting to have people so willing to get involved.

So come on out and enjoy an evening of amazing art and amazing people while you support local artists, local business and most importantly the animals.

Back to Reality

Before Peter and I opened Monkitree, we planned a family vacation. We rented a house in Cape May, NJ with my mother, brother, three sisters, all of the kids and most of the spouses. My sister found a house that would fit all 17 of us just two blocks from the beach. I was able to find someone to cover the shop, Peter picked up his kids and we were off! The house was perfect- a big porch for afternoon and evening cocktails, an outdoor shower to wash off the sand from a day at the beach, a grill, 5 bathrooms...I mean really, what more could you ask for?

We even had a birthday party. One of my nieces has a birthday two days after mine so we had a joint birthday party. Jenny picked the theme- Luau. She dressed for the party in a hula skirt. We played pin the tail on the donkey which is much harder than I remember. Jenny picked out a pinata shaped like a hula girl (she named her Mia and it was a bit odd hitting a girl shaped pinata...especially one with a name). Of course we had cake...ice cream cake, my favorite!

We went to the arcade a few times. I stuck with skeeball and pinball. The last night we took pictures of the kids on the lifeguard stand,went to cash in their arcade tickets, then got one last ice cream. I could have spent another week at the beach with my family...but I'm back to work preparing for our next opening Friday, July 23rd. I'm looking forward to the opening. It is easy to come back from a vacation when you have work you look forward to.