What's In A Name?

I was outside this morning, praising God out loud for the fact that there is FINALLY some color in my yard. My gorgeous pink crabapple tree finally exploded overnight. I thought it would never bloom and those tight little buds would just stay tightly closed, stubbornly refusing to share their sweet fragrance and stunning colors.

As I was standing on my deck, looking at the tree, I noticed that there were more shades of pink in the tree than I recalled from last year. Upon closer inspection, the mystery was solved. Somehow, this little stray poodle found her way up into my tree. It must have been the coyotes who patrol our neighborhood every night. How clever she was to hide herself among the pink blooms of my crabapple tree.

She is as sweet as can be and completely house broken. She follows me everywhere. There is only one problem; we do not know what to call the new puppy. We've had a family confab and nothing seems to fit so I've decided to have a Pink Poodle naming contest. The name should be feminine, I mean, just look at those eyelashes! And maybe a bit French-ie, but it doesn't have to be.

And just to make it interesting and worth your while to help us name her, the person who submits the winning name will receive the following: (Imagine you are now hearing the voice of Don Pardo announcing the lovely prize)

"Thank, you, Christine. One lucky winner will receive this gorgeous, hand-made magic wand designed and created by Jillian Haupt! Just imagine it all, ladies, the havoc you can wreak upon your noisy children, snoring husband, barking dog, meddling mother-in-law, crummy boss and nosy neighbors. With just one swoosh, all of the day's irritation can be banished from your existence. Comes complete with a lifetime supply of magic. Some restrictions do apply. Void where prohibited by law. Check your local ordinances. Back to you, Christine."

Thank you, Don! If only the Lovely Carol Merrill were here to help me demonstrate it's usefulness. :) Yes, ladies, with just one "swoosh" of this magic wand, all of those little irritations can be banished from your presence. To me, that's certainly worth a shot at submitting a name for this darling little pink doggie.

And, speaking of life's little irritations, and color combinations that make your eyes bleed, please enjoy the view I had as I came into the kitchen this morning.

There is nothing I can even say that could describe my reaction in socially acceptable terms. Needless to say, that jacket and shirt did not leave the house on his body a second time today. 10 years of therapy will not be able to undo the psychological damage that outfit caused me this morning. sigh.

Back to the contest:

1. Starting today, you can submit as many entries as you want.
2. Entries must be posted on my blog, in response to this post. No email entries, please.
3. The contest ends on Friday, May 16, at 6 pm.
4. I will announce the winner no later than the following Monday so that my daughters will be able to help me review all the entries. The winner's name will be announced on my blog, so be sure to check back. I will also send the winner an email and if the winner has a blog, I will post a winning notification on their blog.

I just know that with the creative talent you all have, someone can come up with a lovely, feminine name for my new little girl.

Jillian, if you win, I will have to think of a different prize for you. I'll come up with something good!

Thanks everyone! Put your thinking caps on and send me some good names!

Hugs to all!
Christine