I spent much of my time at the BlogHer expo looking for mascots to take pictures with. For all the time I spent doing that, I see I missed at least half of them- Paris over at DogTipper found the Pine Sol lady, the Jimmy Dean sun (who looks exactly like my high school history teacher), and a…piece of Swiffer lint, I guess. Some people have all the luck. That’s what I get for going home too early.
Nonetheless, I found some singular photo opps myself:
A dog from Canine Companions for Independence, exhibiting the classic “Is she going to take my temperature?” look;
The team from I Can Has Cheezburger (my number one celebrity encounter- I was jazzed! Love those guys! I want their shirt!)
Oscar the Grouch, just because I always wanted to hang out on the Sesame Street set;
A rather frightening encounter with a silent Mr. Pringles suffering from a bad case of hydrocephalus;
A less frightening encounter with a California raisin. Am I the only person on the planet who remembers these guys in Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas? Though me being me, I still remarked that it would be way scary to have him at a vet expo, an obscure example of veterinarian humor that soared right over the head of the 20 year old Raisin Board intern;
…..and my personal favorite, which I have to explain:
I love the philosophy product line. They had a booth at BlogHer there with some gift bags full of samples, but in order to get one you had to take a picture holding up one of their signature ‘philosophy’ placards.
I flipped through the choices, watching the other attendees clump into giggling groups to get their photos done. Every single quote was about friendship, and I was standing there by myself. I would have looked like I was posing for an ironically sad mug shot.
I wandered back to the P&G booth where the pet bloggers were hanging out to see if I could entice any of them to go take a picture with me. They had all already done it by that point, and suggested I borrow a flat pet to accompany me instead. Which would have worked, but then-
I stole the puppy from Helen Woodward Animal Center. Let me clarify- I borrowed, with permission, the adorable eight week old terrier blend Yahtzee who was there with the Helen Woodward Animal Center. I assured them that despite my appearance I was actually a totally trustworthy veterinary professional and we would only be gone a minute. Then I swept off with the puppy, announced to the people at the philosophy booth that I found a friend, and voila.
Lesson learned: Woman walking around BlogHer telling people she is a pet blogger: Persona non grata.
Woman walking around BlogHer with an adorable puppy telling people she is a pet blogger: ROCK STAR. To be fair, I could have been telling people I blogged daily at “Confessions of an Axe Murderess” and it wouldn’t have mattered as long as Yahtzee was with me. Now, NOW finally, I really get this commercial:
That was me, as the dude, except instead of collecting phone numbers I just wanted product.
Silly me, I thought I could just swoop in, take my picture, get the lotion and get out. 30 minutes later, I was still stuck at the booth while people lined up to meet Yahtzee, so I figured might as well turn this into an impromptu adoption opportunity amidst the throng clicking and tweeting this dog. Five people took down her information, by the way, and the next day she was off the website.
I think the people from the P&G booth started to panic a little bit after the 40 minute mark, but trust me, that dog was working it. I think I know what needs to be done at BlogHer next year in New York. ASPCA? Call me!
You look like a rock star even without the puppy! But the sweet little pup makes the photo so special. The Pringles guy would have given me night mares!
I would not be surprised if you got a phone call in the next few hours about plans for next year Blogher.. Or maybe they will call you 2 days before, its a toss up.
They have to take me up on that idea. It would be awesome!
holy cow! you look stunning in the philosophy shot!! I mean it really. You look like a celebrity…. and what a good deed you did….. sounds like it was a fun time!
My thoughts exactly! You look cute in all of the pictures, but you look absolutely radiant in the Philosophy photo! (We’ll give a little credit to Yahtzee for adding to your glow!) And kudos to you on the adoption promo! š
I think I need to take a puppy with me everywhere I go, where a photo might be taken.
Aw, thank you. I appreciate that. š
I totally would’ve been frantically searching for a friend if it meant I got free schwag from Philosophy! I have Mimosa and Chocolate Fudge body washes currently. AWESOME š
I love Pure Grace most, but I also kind of love everything else too.
Haha yes I totally remember the claymation video.
yaay! The penguins were my favorite, but I didn’t tell the raisin that.
Dr. V, pet blogger, puppy advocate… You rock!
Aw, thanks! Puppies make it all better!
You know how they say in Hollywood “Never work with kids or animals”? Well you can change that to “Always work with kids and animals!” Thanks for representing the pet bloggers at BlogHer!
well….animals at least….lol!
Wow, you really worked the Expo Hall! I don’t even remember seeing most of the things from your photo ops.
And by the way, I understood your raisin joke.
Hey! Another pet blogger! I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you at BlogHer- but you’re heading to BlogPaws, right?
I can’t believe you met Oscar the Grouch! Now THAT’S cool!
I know, right? So cool!
Hi Dr. V,
My Mom found your website a week and a half ago, and I’ve been coming home from work every day and going through the archives. Now that I’ve laughed and cried my way up to the present, I figured I’d say hi. I’m so sorry for your loss of Emmett, I lost Zeb, the 13 year old French Brittany I adopted in November and share that pain. Brody has had me in hysterics. After Zeb passed, I got Keats, a mini dachshund who has had her fair share of antics. I look forward to following your entries!
Rebecca
Welcome Rebecca! I am glad you have Keats to help you through the passing of Zeb. I look forward to seeing you on the blog!
We knew Yahtzee was in safe hands! That picture of you two is absolutely stunning and that quote fits perfectly.
Hello gorgeous! You’ve lost weight! (I say this like I know you personally or something.) But seriously, you look awesome.
the puppy’s adorable, but OSCAR! how cool!
I missed Oscar!! It was so great to see you at BlogHer…and big congrats for the Voices of the Year award…how exciting!!
What a fun time! I remember the California Raisins but not Tue Christmas special. I did have two or three of the figurines, ha ha!
I have to echo what some other folks are saying and comment about how fantastic you look in the photos (so fun to see some photos of you on the blog lately), especially the philosophy one with Yahtzee. If I were you, I’d probably print it poster size and hang it in my office, all in the name of dog adoption awareness of course. š
That’s awesome… yay for Yahtzee! š
And I totally remember the Raisins… in fact, if I’m being honest I very distinctly remember some sort of school assembly where we sang “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and used trash bags to create Raisin costumes. Yup.