Backyard Style

Photos by Erik Tyger

There is a new category of fashion: when we’re outside with our puppies.

Lifestyle truth beats “when it bleeds it leads” every time.

There’s Bosco @LakeEriesLabPup. Owning this one hundred pound Cup of Christmas Cocoa Requires an additional wardrobe.

Some of my colleagues choose North Face for playtime. I’ve been all about the Ugg Loungewear since the brand expanded. Last winter you saw me show off the Poncho and Fur Cuffed Boots paired with the Seam Jersey Leggings.

This season I grabbed the Fluffy Sweater Knit Lounge Cardigan.

This item is the perfect way to wrap in warmth when — for the one hundredth thousandth time — the pleading and reminding are taking place, “Can you go potty. Please potty. Can you potty for mommy? Just go tinkle in the grass…”

For less than one hundred dollars any gift recipient would be happy to unwrap this lifestyle piece. My colleagues bought them for themselves, their daughters and daughter-in-laws.

I compliment the cardigan with the Classic Tall Boot.

All of the pieces are as cuddly as a clean, well-fed puppy at Christmas.

Rough Around the Edges a show host does the research and the process is annihilating

Pictures by Kim Kidinger

An editor told me today I look “rough around the edges”.

I don’t know. I colored my hair when I was a 23-year old news anchor and had a news director tell me, “You look like you belong in the White House.”

I don’t like my hair colored and cropped.

I haven’t been able to shake the days of spending my work hours under the ocean’s surface and on a boat. The appearance of looking fuss-free and please let-me-fly-under-the-radar is often so chic on either coast.

During my initial two weeks on the Lake Erie Islands I was handed a resort phone line and earned some lines and circles under my eyes from the exhaustion caused by an endless onslaught of inquiries. I thought my throat was going to swell shut because I didn’t even have time to grab a drink of water.

Travelers making reservations want to know:

“How do I get there”

“What’s on the island”

“What is there to do”

“Can I walk”

“How do I get to Put-in-Bay”

“How long is the ferry ride to Put-in-Bay”

“Where is the ferry”

“Catawba Island isn’t an island…?”

“What is in my condo”

“Is there entertainment”

“Can I bring my car”

“Should I bring my car”

“How much does that cost”

ME: “We have a private pool, private beach and there’s the Great Lakes largest tiki bar. There are over thirteen rums. Everyone is here Saturday for the pool party and live music. There is a tv in your room, but may not work so don’t plan on watching tv, or using your cell phone. I only walk for exercise. Golf carts are $125 a day. I pay thirty dollars one way for my car and myself. The launch is on Catawba Island, but Catawba Island isn’t an island its part of the mainland of Ohio….You can bring your car but you have to call the ferry office to make reservations.”

Why?

ME: “The authorities have to know who’s here. If we have to remove you from the island you’re not allowed back.”

There is enough exciting entertaining lifestyle material to match the exuberance of a puppy; plus, plenty of entrepreneurs, developers, business owners, and key players to showcase to the world wanting to see a life lived in paradise; hence the new show on Ohio’s North Coast in the backyard where I spent my formative teen years. I hope you’ll watch. The research was asperous.