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Bow Wow! Your Dog is Picture Perfect

The Hines-Sight Blog is hosting a Dog Photo Contest through February 28th.   After reading my post, "Dog Gone It!" then you know that I need help from all of you to pick "Best in Show".  The dog with the most Facebook "likes" under its photo will be featured on my blog. 




There are a few simple steps to follow to pick your favorite dog
1. If you have not joined the Hines-Sight Blog Facebook page then click here.
2. Once you like my  Facebook page then you can begin your voting process. 
3. You can have more than one favorite dog.   You can even hit "like" for your own dog.  Of course, you like your dog!
4. You can click on any dog's photo on the wall.  If you click on a photo then an entire wall album will pop up on your screen, and it will make your voting process easier.
5.  Tell your friends about the photo contest.

To Enter Your Dog in the Contest
1.  If you have not joined the Hines-Sight Blog Facebook page then click here.
2.  Upload your dog's photo to the Hines-Sight Blog Facebook wall.
3.  Be sure to tell your dog's name, age, breed, and anything else you would like to share.  One photo per dog.
4.  Tell your friends to join the Hines-Sight Blog Facebook page, and tell them to "hit" like under your dog's photo.  That's how you are going to get your likes.  Tell your Facebook and Twitter friends often!  If they are like mine then it may take a few tries to get them on board.

We've got some cute dogs on the Facebook page already, and I cannot wait to see who is picked to be Best in Show!

The contest ends on Feb. 28 at 8 pm EST.

Until Next Time, I'm grabbing my tea, and off to look at some of man's best friends.


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Dog Gone It!

Photo credit: Smith for News
The NY Daily News
Did you see where a new doggie diva was whisked around New York City after winning “Best in Show” at the Westminster Dog Show held Tuesday in the Big Apple.   The five-year-old Scottish Deerhound named, Hickory, has the honor of being the first of her breed to win the prestigious award in the shows 134 year history.

We don’t have a dog in the Hines family, but a lot of my friends do.  I’ve had cats most of my life.  Based on some of my cat’s behavior, they may have thought they were dogs.  I guess it didn't help that they had names more commonly given to our furry canine friends.

What cat wouldn't have an identity crisis with a name like Rover?   He was my post college companion, and went to cat heaven shortly after I met my husband.   His doggie trick was fetching beer bottle caps.




And then there was Bailey!.  This 20-pound guy could pack away more food than most big dogs and he perhaps could devour a small dog if he missed a meal.    He was especially fond of cheese, peas, and any other table scraps.   We learned two years ago that my son is allergic to cats, and now my husband claims he is, too.  Bailey lives with a great family now, and I check on his Facebook status now and then.   He's still fat and happy.



When Bailey went to live with his new family, my son immediately said, “Now we can get a dog!”   

Yeah, right!  We’re not getting a dog in the near future nor will I ever be asked to judge any dog shows in my lifetime again.  When I was in TV, I was asked to be a local judge for a dog show where I worked in Columbus County, North Carolina.  I clearly knew nothing about dogs, and still don’t today except  I have the opinion that they require a lot of work such as being walked and taken outside to go the bathroom even in the rain, sleet or snow.   Despite my lack of knowledge, I said yes to the invitation because I thought it would be fun.

My radio buddy, Mitch, judged the show with me along with the town’s local veterinarian. I also encouraged my TV colleague, Paul, to cover this little dog feature on a Saturday when he could have been doing something else so it was even on the local news.   My parents, who owned a beach house 45 minutes away, drove up for the event, too.  They had nothing better to do, and it was an excuse to take my colleagues and me out to eat at one of Whiteville’s local favorite restaurants, Dales Seafood , after the event.

For some crazy reason, I  bought a white shirt with black polka-dots to wear for the event.  In my Hines-Sight, it was a bad fashion decision for the event.  I looked like a Dalmatian and perhaps could easily been confused as a contestant.

The Westminster dog people would have passed out if they had seen this dog show.  My friend, Mitch, grew up with dogs and he’s also well read so he certainly held his own with the more experienced panel.   Because of my job, I was asked a lot to judge festival beauty pageants so that was my only judging experience aside from judging the most beautiful and largest strawberries in the town.   Being a cat owner, I ranked as the least experienced judge, but perhaps the most persuasive.

While judging about ten dogs, I fell in love with a dog that would fall into the toy category of a true dog show.  He had so much personality and the cutest face.   I thought he should win “Best in Show”.  It wasn’t an unanimous decision at first, but I think everyone wanted the judging to end so we declared my favorite the winner after some discussion.   It didn't make some dog owners too happy, but the dog winning owner was delighted.
My dad, who was known for not holding back his opinion, said to me after the winner was announced,  “Dog gone it!  You picked the wrong (bleep) dog to win.   That dog over there should have won “Best in Show”.  You should have listened to the vet because he was the only one who knew what he was doing.  YOU and your dalmation looking shirt need to get out of here before there is an outcry."

It’s been 18 years since that dog show and I can't even remember to buy what is on my grocery list these days so the winning dog is a faint memory, but I think he looked a lot like my friend’s dog in Michigan.  This little shih tzu melts my heart.  His name is Barolo and is named after a wine in Northern Italy.  They are wine fans!  He’s called Rolo for short.   Isn't he cute?  If the dog 18 years ago  looked like Rolo then I'm standing by my pick.



And if my son was judging a dog contest then there is no question that this canine would come in first place.



I’m sure you have your favorites, too.  Go to the Hines-Sight Blog Facebook page, and share your dog’s photo with me.   Be sure to include his breed (mixed or pure), age, name, and your first name.  Share the link with your friends and ask them to hit “like".   The dog with the most “likes” on his  photo will have his photo featured in the Hines-Sight Blog.   Our little dog show will run through February 28th.  Wonder how many different breeds we can showcase?

Until next time, I’m grabbing a cup of tea and am looking forward to seeing your best friends on Facebook.

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Relais-Christine Hotel in Paris



Hotel Relais-Christine
Romance,  Flowers, Chocolate, Cobblestone Streets!  Does a certain city pop in your mind when you think of those things?   As I sit here in North Carolina, staring at my beautiful pink Valentine roses from my hubby, and nibbling on some European chocolate I gave my valentines this week,  I thought now would be a good time to tell you about my love affair with a certain hotel I discovered eight years ago this month, tucked away on the left bank of the streets of Paris, France.   Before you think this tryst is going to get a little steamy, you must know that my Valentine was actually left at home that cold February and  instead, I went globetrotting with my husband’s mom and sister to Paris.  

Now that I’m writing about my little love affair, it does sound terrible of me to leave my sweet valentine before our  first year wedding anniversary, but it was PARIS!  My husband's mother invited her daughter and me to go to France with her for a gourmet food, wine, and shopping trip.   It was a GIFT and a trip of a lifetime.  

While there, we stayed in a beautiful and fashionable apartment in the sixth arrondissement of Paris for a week.  It was a great location, gorgeous in décor, but the apartment had the most uncomfortable beds we’ve ever slept on in our lives.  We joked over our croissants that the owner must have gotten the beds from a store window and forgot to change the display for real mattresses.  Yes, they were that hard!

On one of our strolls down a narrow back street on the Left Bank, I spotted a lovely hotel sitting behind wrought-iron gates across a lovely courtyard. 


I had to go in that gate, get a closer look and learn more.   This French property exuded such quintessential charm!



I have never forgotten our first meeting where I laid eyes on this small luxurious gem of a hotel, picked up its' brochure, and told myself that I would one day check in and sleep on one of its comfy beds.



Relais-Christine, a delightful and discreetly luxurious boutique hotel, sits on the remains of a medieval Abbey, and is in one of the best locations in Paris in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, left bank, a few steps from the Latin Quarter, and conveniently located just off the Seine River.  The hotel is also a member of the exclusive Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

This charming property is rich in period features including dramatic vaulted ceilings, Louis XIII décor,  and wooden beams, but yet it is equipped with all the modern comforts that we so love such as Wifi, bathrobes, slippers, and heavenly L’Occitane amenities.

Breakfast is served daily here in the vaults which were once the Abbey’s kitchen.





Located under the 13th-century vaults, and largely decorated with wood, guest can be pampered in the hotel’s spa.  It features a full fitness room, a jacuzzi, sauna, and spa services.




And my favorite amenity is this SMART car.  It will zip you around town for your restaurant reservations in smart style, of course.   Bicycles are also available for your leisure.




Hotel Relais-Christine was recently awarded Best Hotel for families by the European edition of the Wall Street Journal.   It's perfect for lovebirds and their expanding families.

One of the best things about going to Paris, and checking into Hotel Relais-Christine on the left bank of the city is that as you stroll down the cobblestone streets, you can visit lots of chocolate shops.


Courtesy of Christian Constant


And buy the most beautiful flowers.




Whether you prefer flowers or chocolates,  it doesn't matter here because you can have both at this wonderful destination.   Every day is like Valentine's Day!  I can’t wait visit Paris again with my main Valentine,  and stay at Hotel Relais-Christine.

Until next time, I'm off to get a cup of tea!

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Picture This and Frame It

When I worked in television news, I loved it when my assignment editor gave me a feature story to report for the nightly news.   I loved meeting new people, and seeing their talents blossom on the small screen.  Unfortunately, features didn’t come my way too often because the station felt that hard news was more important to the viewer.  That may be true,  but my personality and interests are definitely still in the soft news category, and I prefer to leave the hard news to another reporter.  Now that I own my blog, and don’t have to answer to an assignment editor or news director, feature stories can lead my blog news.  My goal is to spread some good news, and introduce you to some of my talented and savvy friends along the way.

Jennifer Juniper of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the first artist and blogger I met when I started the Hines-Sight Blog last month.  I know what you are thinking!   Juniper does sound like an unusual last name, doesn’t it?  Of course, I had to ask her about it.  Jennifer told me that she chose Jennifer Juniper as her  "artistic blogger" name because it is from a song that her mother used to sing to her when she was a little girl.    If you are a true music whiz then you may know that the name Jennifer Juniper is also the title of the 1968 single by Scottish singer-songwriter Donavan.  This catchy tune topped the charts in both the UK and US. Each refrain ends with, “What ya doing, Jennifer, my love?   This Jennifer, who is my new talented and savvy friend,  grew up to be a busy wife and mom to three boys (aged 12, 9, and 8), and in between her chauffeuring, housework, project directing, personal shopping, and cooking, she is an artist “floating in a sea of testosterone that she calls home,”as she told me.   In her little spare time, this creative, impulsive, and witty mom designs and creates custom frames.  

“I am a wife and mom first and artist second, so my frames are completed during my extra time,” remarked Jennifer.

Her creations started simply because Jennifer needed to stick to her family budget.   According to her,  “A friend and I were in a boutique ‘inspiration shopping' and I saw a box on the wall with a quote about boys that I fell in love with.  The price was more than I could afford so I went home and tried to figure out an alternative.”   Savvy Jennifer used a scrap piece of plywood and some cardboard for her very first frame.   The inspirational frame with a quote by James Kavanaugh was one of the first ones she made, and she continues to display it proudly in her home to remember how she got her creative start.  Once family and friends saw her enormous talents, they started asking for their own frames.  After some encouragement from others, she decided to sale her first frame on Ebay.  A few short months later, she opened Hope Studios on Etsy.


Jennifer’s frames are created 100 percent from scratch.  She hand paints and distresses each frame to the desired look then paints the quote by hand with an ordinary paint brush.  She does not airbrush or stencil any part of the frame.  Her frames are custom-ordered so usually there is a special meaning by each quote for her customers.



Her first red frame was created for a groom who wanted to give his bride a special present for their wedding day.  Red is now one of her favorite colors in her frame gallery.



Of course, being a Carolina girl, I’m fond of the blue frames.  This particular frame was part of a charity auction to fund a child’s healthcare bills in Jennifer’s hometown.  Jennifer works with her clients to create the perfect inspiration for them.



Her most popular frame features a quote from A.A Milne.    She says she has made this frame at least 100 times and she tries to keep some in stock for customers to order immediately.  



Finding time for her creativity isn’t easy, “I would say the balancing act is delicate and I’m not ashamed to say that the first thing to fall through the cracks is housework.   I just can’t stand that hamster wheel of repeating the same task every single day/week! It is my weak point, but I always try to never let time with my husband, kids or dinner fall by the wayside."

Jennifer also makes time for family travels, too.   You know this wouldn’t be the Hines-Sight Blog, if I didn’t ask Jennifer about her favorite hotel experience or vacation spot.  Like most, she finds some inspiration in her travels and some of those thoughts may just end up on one of her frames in the future.     Her family likes to vacation in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.   She says, “It’s close enough to drive, the beaches are clean, and the town is very family oriented.”   Her family has been going to this vacation spot for eleven years, and rents a vacation home there.


I agree that the tranquil, blue sea would be a great muse for an artist.   Jennifer, you live in a house filled with boys so you’re used to a lot of blue, but how about adding some pink?   As a parent, I fell in love with this frame and I think it would be beautiful in PINK and BLUE, too.   I’m so glad to call you my new savvy and talented friend!  You can learn even more about Jennifer by following her blog.
Until next time, I’m off to get a cup of tea for my writing inspiration.

If you have a savvy and talented friend who you would like to read about on the Hines-Sight blog, then tell me about them on my Hines-Sight Blog facebook page.   



Don't forget to follow the Hines-Sight Blog on Facebook.  What are you waiting for?  Join us!  You'll have some fun.

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This Little Piggy

This little Piggy is not going to the market, but he’s got to get off my kitchen counter.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who has preschool art taking over the house.  Last month, the New York Times talked about this issue, and one mom said that the artwork goes straight in the trash because she just can’t keep all of it.  It is difficult with new masterpieces coming into your home three to five times a week.  

On the Hines-Sight Blog's facebook page, I asked readers what they did with their little Picasso’s artwork?   You all had some great ideas!

Some of you have an art gallery on your walls where you showcase certain pieces. 
I have one for my son, but I forget to change the photos out, and sometimes the artwork just doesn’t fit the space as you can see with my son’s self-portrait on the bottom. 

Many of you said you have storage boxes that you keep either in the attic or under the bed for your children's artwork.  Tricia has an accordion file to save her little artist’s best pieces by grade.

Chantal told me that it’s best to save a big pile of artwork first then go through the big pile to eliminate because it’s easier to keep the very best that way.  Dawn told me she framed what she considered to be her children’s best artwork through the years then decorated her home office with it.   Some of you can’t bear to throw any artwork in the trash whereas others are okay keeping the best of the best and tossing the rest.

My mother-in-law kept an oversized, landscape painting featuring a bunny made out of cotton balls that my husband made when he was in elementary school.   He found it in her storage room this year, and brought it home for me to see it.  We should have photographed it, but after talking about what talents he had as a child, he tossed it out.  It was probably a good thing.  It smelled and honestly, I didn’t know cotton balls could look so bad after 35 plus years. 

Wonder what a pink paperplate pig will look like in 35 years?   Since welcoming this preschool masterpiece into our home, the little oinker now has a name.  I was told that “Orville” was the first pig on the farm at Machu Picchu.  Yes, I think that’s a sign that perhaps I need to tone down the travel talk in our house, and focus on some of the basics like reading and math.

I just can’t send Orville to the landfill especially now that he has a name and came all the way from Peru.  Instead, I’m going to feature him and other masterpieces created by my son in a coffee table book designed through Shutterfly. Luckily, my husband started photographing my son’s artwork years ago in hopes of throwing some things away.  He thought it would be easier on me if I had a photo. 


I think an art keepsake book will be something that we will enjoy having through the years, and my son will enjoy the book as well.  Shutterfly books are great quality, and the books are so easy to do.

Orville the pig can be remembered forever, and our kitchen counters will be clutter-free most of the time.  It's a win-win!  I have to find the time to do the book in between blogging, caring for the children, and household chores.  It may be complete by the time my son goes to college. 

Until Next Time, I’m off to get a cup of tea!


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