The Hopeless Doodle Addict Trophey has once again crossed the 49th parallel!

Straight from Jersey Shore, the Hopeless Doodle Addict Trophy has arrived in the nation's capital. Canada's capital that is, Ottawa! Thank you to Diane and the Jersey girls for the wonderful box of goodies (especially the brownies)!

I thought I'd commemorate this moment by singing our national anthem for you.

O Canada!
Our home and doodle land!
True doodle love in all thy doodle-momma's command.

With ~~empty wallets~~ glowing hearts we see thee romp,
Our Doodles playful and carefree!

From far and wide,
O Doodles, we make home cooked meals for thee.

God keep our doodles, clean and mat free!
O Doodles, we pick up poop after thee.

O Doodles, we'd do anything...for thee.

At least that's how I think it goes. In my defence I actually only remember the bilingual version so I may have gotten some of the words wrong.

So I had intended to go around town with the trophy this week-end and take photos with the doodles throughout the city. However, absentmindedness is one of my charms so all my attempts were foiled by forgotten cameras, forgotten trophy, a dead camera battery, and a sudden rain storm that left us running for cover (we were so close that time). So all you get instead are my ramblings and a photo collage of our loot.

I have to say I knew my life would change for the better when I brought Sophie into my life, and then Winston, but I had no idea I would find such a wonderful on-line community to share my adventures with. I sometimes wonder how I could have ever survived all this time without you guys. DK has been my source of essential information that has helped me improve the quality of care for my beloved doodles (and kitty too!!). It has been a source of comfort and support in times of distress (for example I think I would have lost my mind without DK when Winnie had his seizure episodes). It's also a place to go for a good laugh after a long day, a place to bounce ideas off of others, to share my experiences, thoughts and feelings in a safe place amongst friends. It's no wonder I got sucked in the way I did, and so quickly built up all those points... I even beat out more seasoned members for the trophy! I remember learning about that trophy and the points system and thinking what a privilege it would be to one day earn that (seriously!). I know it’s all fun and games but really, it's a privilege to belong to this wonderful community of people. I'm so grateful to belong here, to have made so many great friends and to know I always have a place to go for support, or a good laugh or some vital information.

So thank you for everyone for all that you have done, by welcoming me into your community, educating me, making me laugh, for warming my heart and brightening my days.

Ok wow, I swore to myself I wouldn’t write such a sappy speech, but there I went. :)

Without further ado, here are some photos I managed to put together in the past few days. When the box arrived last week we had a great time working our way through that box.

At first, I felt like I was opening a box of contraband, with that stash of brownies layering the top of it. I’ve pretty much lived off of those yummy brownies all week. If only they had a hopeless brownie addict trophy!

We had a blast sifting through all our loot.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get much cooperation from the doodles for the photoshoot,

but I know they appreciated all their new treats and toys, as did I! They especially loved the tennis balls, the antler and the no-stuffing stuffie! I am wearing my "Everything is just beachy" t-shirt and the necklace, with the scented candle burning as I type this.

And I’m not the only HDA around here! Penelope avoids them like the plague sometimes, but I can tell by how she nuzzles up in the early morning that she loves her doodles as much as they love her!

Today we went out to the doggy cafe to celebrate our hopelessness victory and to take some photos, but this is the only shot I got before the camera battery died:

Now that my I’ve done my tribute post, it’s time to contemplate filling up a box for the next hopeless addict. I’ll do that while enjoying some tea and brownie :)