Exactly one year ago today, I brought a shy, quiet little dog I named Gracie home from the Pasadena Humane Society. They told me she was 10 months to a year old when I got here. While I think she was closer to 10 months and probably won't be two for a little while yet, we decided to officially call August 28th her birthday so she won't feel "different" from the other dogs by only having a "happy adoption day." Wally told me that, even though it's Wednesday, he doesn't mind if I use the blog today for a retrospective for Grace.

First, though, I thought I'd try to list all the things she has destroyed over the past year:

• Not one but TWO firewire drives
• The drapes in my old condo
• The blinds in my old condo
• The carpet, all the way down to the subfloor, in the condo
• Two dog crates
• At least 4-5 pairs of shoes, not all of them mine
• One "indestructable" rubber dog toy (she ate it)
• Baseball hats
• All my spare towels
• The pedals on my old exercize bike
• Three power cords (while they were plugged in)
• An area rug
• A jump rope
  
• Countless sprinkler heads

When I brought her home, Wally didn't know what to think, but she fell in love with him right away....

And promptly started following him around everywhere...


She stole his favorite chair...


And Wally soon began trying to plot how to make her go away...


Grace had really bad separation anxiety, and Wally seemed very happy every time she got in trouble for destroying something:


Grace especially didn't like being in her crate...


Soon enough Wally, like everyone else, was won over by her cuteness...


And the two became fast friends...


Even Kraut, who hated puppies, came to enjoy playing with Grace...


She loved the beach in L.A.... (so many smells!)


But now she loves the lake in Texas...


Most of all, more than anything, she loves her mommy...

Happy Birthday Gracie!