So, thanks to Myko’s awesome suggestion, we spent much of this weekend posing Sid in his new confidence shirts (you’re welcome, lady pugs).  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

Hey guys, so Sid really wanted to write today’s follow-up post on confidence shirts, but Brian (wisely) only gave Sid a commenting account for the blog, not a full-fledged write-your-own-posts type of account.

So, while Sid is stewing in the corner muttering about how life isn’t fair, I’m going to transcribe his written notes into a blog post that I’m sure he’ll say isn’t half as awesome as it would’ve been if we’d just let him write it himself with no supervision whatsoever.

So, here it goes, an unedited transcription of Sid’s notes:

1.  Point out that I don’t need some stupid shirt to give me confidence because everybody knows I’m awesome and maybe I wouldn’t have such obsessive compulsive anxiety problems if Mom and Dad would just listen every once in a while when I sit really loudly and then sit even louder and HELLO, I’M SITTING so give me the stupid venison bits that are barely even treats but whatever they taste good and I should get them whenever I want them because it’s not like they’re Twinkies or something but even if they were Twinkies, whatever, I’m an adult, and in fact if we calculated this whole age thing fairly like the way you’re biologically supposed to according to the scientists or whatever then I’d be at least forty-two which is older than Dad and he’s the “oldest” person here so I’d totally be in charge and Mom would be the baby and Dad and I could make her go to her stupid bed or shake our hands or Jimmy for FORTY-SEVEN SECONDS whenever she’s soooo hungry that she feels like she’s about to starve to death and then maybe she’d start scratching her armpits with her feet all the time because she feels so trapped in her life and I could just throw a really tight shirt on her and say “all better!” but still not feed her whenever she’s sooooooo hungry or just, you know, wants a treat because treats taste good and who in their right mind doesn’t want a treat but MAKE SURE TO POINT OUT THAT I DO ACTUALLY LIKE THESE SHIRTS because they emphasize my broad chest and they look pretty cool for a dog shirt and I guess I don’t really scratch my armpits as much when I wear them, so yeah, tell Noodles that I don’t scratch or lick as much when I’m wearing them.

2. Tell Payton that she’d TOTALLY be a medium (even though the mediums look really small) because Mom and Dad got me a large once and, like, it started out okay but then like four hours later the neck was all baggy and Mom kept saying something about “Flashdance” which doesn’t sound very cool but they still didn’t take the shirt off me and then I went outside to “water the lawn” and when I came inside there was pee all over the bottom of my shirt which was totally HUMILIATING and totally something that stupid Edna would’ve done, not me.  Post picture of Edna looking stupid.  (Be careful not to write anything about how I secretly miss her, but maybe post another picture of me spooning with Elly because Elly was awesome and everybody will think I’m cool if they see me snuggling with her.)

(Picture of Edna Looking Stupid (Remember: don’t accidentally write anything about how much I secretly loved her))

(Picture of me spooning with Elly to help street-cred)

3.  Tell everybody to make sure that their parents use those scissor things to cut a tiny little slit in the neck of their shirts so that you don’t leave the house looking like this: (Insert stupid photo of me looking stupid and not confident with my head stuck in my shirt).

(Picture of me looking stupid)

4.  Tell Myko not to give my parents any ideas!  A fashion show?!

Well, unfortunately for Sid, we thought Myko’s idea was FANTASTIC.  We’ll be taking photos of Sid posing in ALL of his new shirts over the weekend!!

So, you know how Sid has…issues?  And you know how Sid likes to wear his confidence shirts as a means to combat those issues?

Like I need an excuse to post my favorite Sid pic.

Well, those shirts ain’t cheap.  We’ve found that American Apparel’s baby rib dog T’s have the best fit for his big ol’ pug chest, but they typically cost about $10 apiece.  That’s how much we paid for his awesome blue shirt in the photo above.  INSANE.

The white dog tees were once on sale at 3 for $21 on the American Apparel website, so we splurged and bought three of those, but after two years of heavy use, they’re pretty dingy looking and full of holes.

Anyway, last night I was walking around Manhattan, and I noticed that American Apparel was having a huge warehouse sale in an empty storefront on 6th Ave.  Brian was on his way into the city, so I sent him a text about it, and the next thing I know, the two of us are sitting on a cement floor digging through giant boxes of American Apparel dog shirts like frenzied maniacs, searching for size mediums.

THEY WERE THREE FOR THREE DOLLARS, PEOPLE!  THREE SHIRTS FOR THREE DOLLARS!!

I’m pretty sure Brian and I purchased the last remaining size mediums of the approximately 300 dog shirts that were hidden in a back corner of the store.  Out of all those shirts, there were only seven in Sid’s size:

To even out the purchase to a multiple of three (why not?), we grabbed two size smalls for a certain tiny puglet that hangs around the Pug Slope headquarters every now and then:

When we finally made our way to the registers with the nine shirts, our purchase rang up to NINE DOLLARS!  That’s $90 worth of confidence shirts for NINE DOLLARS!!!

And, of course, all this newfound confidence has gone straight to Sid’s head!

Oh my God, you guys.  We have even more cuteness to share from our trip to Chicago.

Two of Brian’s good friends from college, Nate and Angelica, were in northern Indiana visiting family, and they brought along their amazingly precocious and adorable daughter, Kit (duh, what were they gonna do, leave her at home?).  Since we were in the same general region, Brian, Sid and I took a quick road trip into the Hoosier State so we could hang out with them for the afternoon.

This was really epic for a few reasons:

1.  Despite Sid’s gruff demeanor, he loves meeting kids, especially ones that are super cute and are named Kit.  He even picked out a gift to bring for Kit – a little plush pug in a pink camo purse – and wore his coolest black tee-shirt.

2.  This was the first time we got to meet Kit, too. We also wore our coolest clothes, but we forgot about the whole gift thing so we quickly added our names to the present that Sid brought along when he wasn’t looking.

3.  Kit is very smart and she’s an avid reader of Pug Slope.  For real. She dropped the phrase “Sid Vids” about four or five times while we were hanging out and talked in depth about her favorite videos of Sid, which planets she’d like to visit, and her favorite types of trees (coniferous, obviously).

As you can see from the pics, we had a very long, very chilly , but very ADORABLE walk. We then settled in to Kit’s grandparents’ house for some mulled cider, cookies, and play time.  We all had a blast.

Also, just so there’s no confusion, I’d like to point out that Kit is indeed a human child in a bear suit, and not a bear proper.  Sid, of course, is all pug.

Okay, Sid, we get it.*  You LOVE potatoes, you LOVE your new gigantic duck, you LOVE using unconventional items as bolsters, and you LOVED hanging out with Payton.  Now stop being so absurdly cute so your dad and I can get some work done!

*I swear on the integrity of this blog that we humans played no part in arranging the toys in this photo.  This was all Sid’s doing.  

Well, like I mentioned in a previous post, not only did we get to hang out with my family over Christmas, we also finally got the opportunity to meet up with another pug blogger and her family. Yep, we got to meet “Pugnacious P” herself – Payton!

After some initial meet-n-greet circle-n-sniff (by the pugs of course – the humans shook hands), Payton’s dad brought out a bag of dried apple treats, immediately gaining the undivided attention of the flat-faced two-some.

Even though the treat is out of the frame, its location is pretty obvious to gauge. Just follow the intense stares emanating from Sid and Payton. Sid had never eaten dried apples before but that didn’t stop him from immediately bowing down to the unknown-but-sure-to-be-tasty enigma (as he often does with anything in a bag).

Still, the treats were held captive by the humans. While Payton chose to do the aloof  “I don’t care about that stupid treat” reverse-psychology technique, Sid went even deeper down, into a Full Jimmy. This pug wanted one of those delicious dried apple treats – and he wanted it NOW.

And finally the treats started flowing!

Payton’s dad was lucky he didn’t lose a finger in the nosh-fest that followed.

Oh, and not only did Payton’s family bring treats, they also brought a present for Sid. Without even being told about it, he dug the wrapped present out of their tote bag and started tearing into it while we weren’t looking – c’mon, Sid, really? We need to work on those manners, dude.

While Sid paraded around the living room squalking his giant plush duck, we sat down with Payton and her parents, ate a little pizza and talked shop – pug shop. Among other interesting stories, we found out Payton’s name comes from running back Walter Payton of Chicago Bears (aka “Da Bearce”) fame. I’m not really a huge football fan, but I certainly was in 1985 and can recite the entire Superbowl Shuffle verbatim at the drop of a hat (don’t make me do it!).

After the pizza and pug-talk, we moved over to the living room for a shot of the whole gang.

 Thank you to Payton and her family for meeting up with us and for the gifts. We hope to hang with you guys again the next time we’re in Chicago!