Category: Bowties and Vest

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Me With the TCC

I did it!  This was my weekend to perform with the Turtle Creek Chorale.  I was a little nervous…well, maybe I was a lot nervous, but all of the guys in the chorale were very nice to me and helped me with my stage fright.  They said something about imagining all of the people in the audience sitting out there in their underwear.  I think that was supposed to help make me less nervous, but that thought just scared me even more!

Mr. Stan was in charge of me.  He helped me with all of my lines and my music and he held me and kept me safe, like Mr. Guy usually does, even when we were on stage.  

Mr. Guy and The Lady came today to our last performance of the three.  I hoped that The Lady would take some pictures that I could put in my monster memory book, but they don’t allow picture taking boxes to be used in the concert hall.  That was kind of disappointing!  Something else that was disappointing is that Mr. Guy’s and The Lady’s seats were up high in the hall, way over my head.  (I couldn’t have seen them in their underwear if I had wanted to, but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t want to see that!)  They bought their tickets before they knew that I was going to be a part of the concert.  

After today’s concert, Mr. Stan took me to the lobby to find Mr. Guy and The Lady so that I could go home with them. The Lady showed us some pictures that she tried to take with her phone.  I’m not sure she should have done that; she might be detested arrested.  The pictures aren’t very good at all, but they will remind me of my first time on a stage, my first time learning the right things to say at the right time, my first time learning music, and my first time away from Mr. Guy and The Lady.  I sang For Now from the musical, Avenue Q.  I saw that musical a few years ago and I got to meet Nicky who was in that show.  Nicky is kind of like me!



After the concert, when I could finally relax and let my fur be shaggy, I remembered my 100 People Project.  Mr. Stan agreed to be in a picture with me.  He asked Mr. Sean, The Turtle Creek Chorale artistic director, to be in the picture with us so I got a two for one today!  

Mr. Sean does not sing.  He stands up in front of the chorale and waves his arms around.  I think his arms are magic wands because when he waves them, things happen.  All the singers make music together.  Or. the instruments start playing.  He can wave his magic arms and everyone will stop singing, or sometimes only some people stop singing.  He can make people sing louder or softer.  I wish I had magic arms like Mr. Sean’s.  I would wave my magic arms and make everyone happy.  I’d put a genuine smile on everyone’s face!  

Now that my weekend is over, the little blue and orange furry monster is going to get some rest!


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A Month of Me – Day 31

I did it!  I did it!  I did it!  

Back on the first of May I set a goal to write a post every day.  I wasn’t sure that I could do it, but The Lady told me that it was important to have goals.  She said that sometimes you achieve your goals and sometimes you don’t, but you can’t achieve them if you don’t have them.  I am a very lucky little monster because Mr. Guy and The Lady will do all that they can to help me.

We had lots of little adventures and lots of quiet time together at home.   It makes me happy to be able to go back and look at the stories I wrote and all of our pictures from A Month of Me so I can remember these times.  I don’t know that I can continue to write every single day, but having done so for a whole month makes me realize how much I enjoy sharing my life with all of you.

Lots of people are graduating from school right now.  They are celebrating years and years of studying and working hard to earn diplomas and degrees.  I am not graduating because I don’t go to school, but Mr. Guy and The Lady told me that they are just as proud of my writing accomplishments, that I worked hard for a whole month.  They said that we should take a special picture of me in honor of me reaching my goal.  I don’t have special rigamarole like The Lady and those people who are graduating from school,  but I did put on my fancy clothes!


I have a bow tie.  I like it better than Mr. Guy’s big fat red string that he wore around his neck!  And I have a vest, which is really just a shirt with no arms.  I wouldn’t want to wear these fancy clothes all the time, but I suppose they are OK when it is a special occasion.

Mr. Guy had one last surprise May surprise for me.  He has been full of surprises this month.  Most of them are good!  He found a hat for me, one that is just the right size for my head!


He said that it is a hat sort of like one that he has.  It’s not a yellow rain hat and it’s not a hat to keep my head warm in the winter.  It is a fancy hat to go with my fancy clothes.  This hat does not have holes for my horns so I wasn’t sure exactly how I should wear it.

Should I wear it over just one horn?


Or should I wear it over both of them?


I think that wearing it over both of my horns makes me look too serious and grown up. I am not a serious and grown up monster.  I am just a fun-loving happy-go-lucky little blue and orange furry monster who enjoys life!  

Which style do you prefer?

Thank you again for following me during the month of May.  June and July are going to be busy months for me and my family.  I am going on a trip this weekend to meet some of The Lady’s picture taking friends. Then it is Mr. Guy’s birthday, and my adoption day, and our trip to Pittsburgh, and our trip to England.  I am going to have a lot to tell you about!  I hope you will check back here every now and then and see what I am up to!

Farewell Month of Me!  I will miss you.

Welcome June!  Let’s have some fun!

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The Biltmore Part 2 and People #6-#8 of My 100 People Project

Today was a very interesting day. The Lady and Mr. Guy helped me put on my special fancy clothes, at least that’s what they called them. Mr. Guy helped with a funny shirt that had these pointy things that he called a collar.    I thought collars were something that you used to decorate a dog.And then came the vest. The Lady tied a blue and orange bow tie and put that around my neck too. I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to breathe, but Mr. Guy said that he used to wear a bow tie to work and he was still here and breathing so he thought that I would be just fine.  We were going somewhere special. I thought it might have to do with The Lady and Mr. Guy’s  anniversary. I knew it was today. But I was a little surprised because we were supposed to be going to get my new shirt, too. Why did I need my fancy clothes when I knew that I was going to get a new comfortable shirt?

We went to McDonald’s for breakfast. This was the big surprise. Mr. Guy had read that this MacDonald’s was special. It was made to look like the Biltmore. All of the people who work there were supposed to be all dressed up, just like they were at the Biltmore.  Mr. Guy thought that if I went in all dressed up too, we could get some fun pictures.  But, no one was dressed up! All of the workers had on comfy shirts, like I wished that I did.  The MacDonald’s was really nice. There was even a piano that played itself. 

We have a piano at home that The Lady plays. This piano did not seem to be much fun since it did not need a person to play it.  Music is for people and blue and orange furry monsters to enjoy making and hearing.

I think Mr. Guy was disappointed.  We just ate breakfast and left.  

The Lady said that I looked dapper in my fancy clothes.  I think that means something nice.

We went back to the Biltmore. I didn’t think there could be more to see there. We spent all day yesterday looking. and there was more!  A lot more!  There are big gardens full of flowers, and shrubs, and bees, and butterflies. The Lady wanted to take pictures of the flowers. While she did that, Mr. Guy and I watched people. We just relaxed.  I think a lot of people watched us, too.


I did like looking at a few of the blue and orange flowers.

When The Lady had all her pictures taken, we went into a shop they have at the Conservatory.  (There is another one of those big words!). I thought this would be when I got my shirt!  As we were going in two people asked about me. They had never seen  a blue and orange furry monster! We found out they are from Texas, just like us, but they live in Houston, not Dallas. Their names are Marcus and Tami. They agreed to take a picture with me.  

My 100 People Project is moving right along because of all the nice people that I am meeting.

But, I still did not have my new shirt.  I was trying not to be a grouchy monster.  It was Mr. Guy and the Lady’s anniversary and I was fairly sure that they did not want to spend it with a grouchy monster.  We then went up to another part of Biltmore. I just cannot believe how big this place is. Here we saw some stuff about farming. Mr. Guy told me farming is how people grow their food. We sat on a thing called a tractor. Mr. Guy said it is used to help prepare the land to grow food. 

Then we went into a shop there.  It was called the Mercantile.  It was in there that I finally got my new shirt. I was a little surprised though; it is not blue or orange, it is pink. I was not sure about the pink. I was not sure I would match my fur; and I was not sure that it fit my personality.  I thought pink was a color for girls, not blue and orange boy monsters.  I had to think hard, because this was the only shirt in my size anywhere in this great big place.  I either got a pink shirt, or no shirt.. I tried it on and decided that it was ok.  I don’t want all of my shirts to be pink, but this one will work.

What made it even more OK was that the lady who sold us my shirt was from Dallas! Her name is Norma. She and her husband moved to North Carolina to be near their son. But she knew all the places we go in Texas! It was fun to meet another person from Texas.  The Lady asked Norma  if she wanted to have her picture taken! Norma was excited and said “yes!”  She even got her friend into the picture too. His name is Doc and he is the blacksmith at the Biltmore. I learned a blacksmith makes things with metal.  

We took our picture. I gave them my cards thanking them for being people #7 and #8. Doc gave me his card, too!

After all of that, I was a hot and tired monster.  We stopped and Cedric’s Tavern for lunch.  Cedric is the name of a great big dog called a Saint Bernard that George Vanderbilt had.  There is a statue of the dog in front of the tavern.  I did notice that Cedric was not wearing a pointy collar thing.  Dog collars look more comfortable than fancy monster collars!

After lunch, we stopped for more quick picture in the sunflowers.  They were great big, like everything else here.  

We didn’t stay there long because it was so hot.  We then went back to our cabin and this monster had a long cool nap in my comfy new shirt.