Wayne’s Delightfully tacky Yankee swap gift!

Wayne:

I grew up on a farm in New Jersey. I know, you’re thinking a farm in New Jersey? Across the street from our house was a large soybean/potato/wheat field (depending on the year) and to the North of that was a small Christmas tree farm which our neighbor had planted to subsidize his greenhouse business. We had bought trees from him sporadically through the years but they were getting pretty picked over and overgrown. But my sister Susan and I decided we would make the trek across the field and score the perfect tree. After all, we had discerning taste. A half hour later and not finding a tree we liked, Mr. Echdahl, the farm’s owner gave us a pitch that would have made any used car salesman proud. “If you cut the top off of one of those larger trees, it’ll look just as nice as a short tree” he exclaimed. Made sense, sold! We dragged our freshly cut prize home across the frozen field (to you Jersey naysayers, when was the last time you bought tree and dragged it home) and stood against the house for the family to review. To our consternation, it was voted the worst Christmas tree they had ever seen. My sister and I both tried to explain that it looked much better when it was on the top of the rest of tree. Well the poor thing never even made it into the house and was soon chopped up for greens to decorate with. I don’t remember what the tree looked like that we ended up with that year, but that was the only year I can remember that we had to buy two different trees. Happy Holidays and don’t get talked into buying the top of a tree!

Maureen’s Christmas tree adventure!

Maureen:

Jodie’s dogs Teddy and Jak!

Jodie:

Just like many people, my family has had quite a few Christmas tree fails. We have had trees topple over, and a couple of dead tree mishaps. However, one tree fail story definitely takes the cake. Jak and Teddy are my two dogs that, for the most part are very well behaved boys who absolutely love the holiday season! They unwrap their gifts, sit under the tree without ever causing a ruckus and welcome the family parties, encouraging belly rubs from guests all night. One year though, when the dogs were young, we hung a few ornaments in the wrong place. We hung three or four salt dough ornaments at the bottom of the tree right in line with the pups’ eyesight. Jak and Teddy snuck over to the tree and had a Christmas feast, eating every last crumb of the ornaments and tiptoeing away thinking no one would notice. The next day, when they woke up feeling sick and no one knew why, we had to investigate. My mom ended up finding the string that the ornaments hung from and put two and two together. We have never given the dogs the opportunity to strike again because this fail definitely taught us (and Jak and Teddy) a lesson.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (self-rising flour should not be used as it will cause the ornaments to bubble up while baking)
• ½ cup salt
• ½ cup water (or more as needed)
• acrylic paints
• glitter (optional)
• twine (for hanging the ornaments)
• non-toxic acrylic varnish for sealing the ornaments (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 225F. Add the flour and salt to a medium mixing bowl and stir.
2. Add the water to the mixing bowl and stir until everything is well-combined.
3. Place a sheet of parchment paper on your work surface and sprinkle it with flour. Knead the dough until it’s soft and pliable. If your dough is super sticky, add more flour.
4. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Only roll the dough in one direction, because rolling back and forth can  create air pockets that cause the ornaments to puff up while baking.
5. Cut out ornaments using cookie cutters. Peel away the dough and lift the cutout. Place it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Using a straw, create a hole for the twine that will hang the ornament. Place the ornaments in the oven and bake for two to three  hours, or until completely dry. Flip once while baking, then remove the ornaments from the oven and allow to cool completely.
7. When the ornaments have cooled, decorate them with paints and/or glitter if desired. If you want your ornaments to last for years and years, seal them with three to four thin coats of non-toxic acrylic varnishafter the decorative paint has fully dried. Make sure to coat the entire surface to prevent moisture from getting in.
8. Hang your ornaments on the tree and enjoy! Happy Holidays!

What I did on My Covid Summer Vacation.

Well you may think it’s a little late for a “theme” of what I did on my Covid Summer Vacation (think Christmas Story) but we thought it would be fun to regale you with stories of our exciting Covid Summer 2020. Enjoy!

Jodie’s pond view

Jodie:

Even though this summer did not go as planned; my older sister moving out, my younger sister living at school and me hopefully traveling; Covid gave my family the perfect opportunity to spend time together at home before life took over again. Both my sisters and I lived at home for the duration of the summer, which was unusual, for the past eight years someone has always been out of the house at one point or another so it was nice to have a summer that felt like we were little kids once more. We were able to enjoy our home like we used to. I live on a pond, so we got to waterski every night, fish, go for sunset boat rides and dinner cruises. We were able to enjoy being together and that was just the thing we needed. My older sister recently moved out of the house so looking back on this summer I am grateful that we had this uninterrupted time together and without Covid this would not have happened. Looking on the bright side of things has made dealing with this crazy pandemic a little easier!

Maureen’s car being towed and her son and father

Maureen:

I have two kids 13 and 18 who know EVERYTHING there is to know about the world and how it works. Sound familiar for those parents with teenagers, right? So, my plan was to ship my 13-year-old off to his grandparents’ house on the lake for a couple weeks and get the other graduated and ready to ship off to college. Yeah! My older sons’ high school graduation was a on again, off again affair due to Covid. A lot of people made a huge effort to make it the best experience possible for the kids, by making signs and having drive by parades, but it was tough on the them. Not what we were hoping for but were thrilled it finally happened and he could move on. College planning was again a matter of adjusting to the constant changes of what the university was doing with competitive sports, classes and on/off campus living. Took lots of encouragement to get it done, but it happened, and we made it through it. Took Zach, my younger son up to his grandparents to spend a few weeks on the lake so I could have some down time, and on my may (delete)way back my car dies in upstate NY. Three weeks later and multiple trips back I finally get my car back. Following that was 2-week quarantine and a fender bender to the car that was just fixed. Can I have a redo? 

Truly though, I feel lucky for how this summer has gone. Could have been so much worse. My friends and family have made it to this point unscathed by COVID. Thankful for all the time I spent with my family and friends, and hugs from my kids this summer and every day. Makes it all worth it.

Justin’s new house

Justin:

Buying a House: 2020 has been a crazy year, but there has been some good that has come out of it.  When the virus hit, my fiancé and I found out quickly that being stuck in a 1 bedroom apartment near Boston was not an ideal situation. After being stuck in small apartment in a crowded building for several weeks, the need for more space became more and more evident. Within a short time we found ourselves living at my parents house (further from the city) more than our own apartment.  There was more space, a yard, and we didn’t have to talk over each other during our virtual work meetings.  Suddenly, the idea of buying a house further from the city with more space sounded better than ever. Over the course of a month or two, we had found a house, placed an offer, and were soon moving in.  Not only have we spent more quality time with our family than ever before this year (including our dog who’s happier than ever), but we finally got the yard and space we always dreamed of.

Wayne’s Hershey bar Shutters

Wayne:

My Covid Summer DYI Weekend Project.

Despite Covid 19, I did end up going to my usual vacation spot in Maine. It’s not a very interesting story, so I thought I would share a weekend DYI project that I did instead.

I had been wanting to add shutters to my house that I had just purchased just 2 years ago and being thrifty (or cheap as my kids would say) I would scan Craigs list almost daily to look for some second hand shutters. Success! I found the prefect size vinyl shutters (as I needed two sizes) for only $8.00 a pair. Not only that, but the guy said he would drop them off at my house for no charge. Score!

Of course when  he showed up I was in the middle of a work Zoom meeting with a client. I quickly ran out to greet him and inspect the shutters. He had arrived in a giant van that can best be described as a yard-sale on wheels. He explained how the shutters were on the bottom of the pile of merchandise in the van and was it OK if he unloaded in my yard to access them. Certainly, no problem I exclaimed and quickly ran back to my meeting that was still in progress. A few minutes later, I looked out the window to view his progress and voilà, my lawn had been transformed into a mega yard sale. If I wasn’t in the middle of the meeting I would have probably gone out and done some shopping as there was quite an impressive array of artifacts. I assumed he had collected them driving around on many a garbage day (to my kids horror, in the past I had scored some good finds doing just that). He knocked on the door and said he had uncovered and counted all the shutters and in the 2 different sizes. I quickly counted them and agreed all were there. I paid him, thanked him, and he packed up and left. I ran back to my meeting.

That weekend, upon scrubbing and painting the shutters, I came to the realization that he and or I must have counted wrong. I was one shutter short. I had 17 instead of 18. In a semi panic, I called hoping he still had one left (as he had several more pair) and he did, and apologized profusely that he had short changed me. He promptly dropped one off the very next day. Well I painted the new shutter and the next weekend began hanging them. They looked terrific, in fact they looked brand new. As I went to the shed where I had stored them to get the last 2 shutters, to my surprise there were not 2 but 3 left. WTF? Did they multiply? How did that happen? Well guess who felt like a big jerk? Now you all know why I’m not an accountant. Anybody need a 55” freshly painted chocolate brown shutter? It kind of looks like a big Hershey bar.

Fast Times, Fast Cars, Cool package = Fast sales! Kid Galaxy, one of our oldest and dearest clients are purveyors of fun things on 4 wheels, unfortunately toys only. One of their continued successes is the 20V RC Power Drive™ vehicle that can reach speeds of up to 30 MPH. They sell equally fast, doubling sales for the past 4 years, at major online and big box retailers. Fuzion has been working with Mark Norian from Kid Galaxy for years developing multiple iterations of this product, building the brand from the ground up. The brand development has spanned logo design, product deco, several line look versions of packaging, pallet renderings for the big box stores and even ads.

Deco is the term used to describe the look feel and color of the vehicles. Picture a gray 4-wheel drive vehicle and then we’re asked to make it cool and a little bit gritty. Once a particular design is chosen we then do what is known as a spec sheet, with exact PMS colors or CMYK specifications, label placement and graphic treatment over an orthographic view of the product. This is sent to the manufacture so they can duplicate our designs.

The Power Drive vehicle was the biggest selling toy at Costco during the 2019 holiday season, selling out within 3 weeks. Take a look at some of the decos, packaging and ads we developed over the years.

Deco Options:

Deco Spec Sheet For Manufacturer:

Deco Application:

Logo:

Costco Ad:

Final Packaging and Vehicle:

Need to get your products selling fast? Give us a call! 401.722.8555

For those of you with good memories, we reported on this talented muralist in our June edition of the FUZE. Jenna Rice, the daughter of my good friend Dan Rice, has made the news again with her topical murals. Following George Floyd’s tragic death, there was a weekend of protests and one particularly bad night of rioting in Greensboro, North Carolina. Seeing the aftermath, Jenna, along with some fellow local artists coordinated the painting of some of the plywood-covered businesses to brighten up the city and bring a positive message during this dark time. Shortly after Jenna completed her mural on the boarded up taco restaurant “Crafted”, the curator of the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian contacted the owner requesting the mural for their collection once the boards were taken down. Unfortunately the following weekend, in the early hours of Sunday morning, vandals defaced it. She didn’t want “hate to win” as she put it. It took Jenna a good part of 2 days to redo the mural. She did this version with more photorealism and added varnish to protect the painting as well. The restored mural is now in storage awaiting pickup by the Smithsonian to be displayed when the museum reopens.

Once again, we at Fuzion salute you Jenna Rice for making a difference in these stressful crazy times we live in. Bravo!

It’s business as unusual at Fuzion! Like many companies around the world, Fuzion is working from home and we are trying to adapt to our new work environments one day at a time. We thought we would give our blog visitors a peak into our home offices and introduce you to a few of our new “co-workers”! 

Maureen – 

OK – the good, the bad and the ugly of working at home. The GOOD – the thing I love best is the commute and hugs from my boys. It’s just awesome. The BAD – the kitchen and all that yummy food is just a few steps away, such a horrible distraction. The UGLY – my teenage boys have not been fully house trained yet and feel the laundry room is the place to store all their dirty laundry, not necessarily to wash it. I have to walk by it constantly and it drives me insane.

Justin –

Our dog Kancho couldn’t be any happier now that we’re all working from home.  More treats, more barking, and more attention.  Kancho never strays far away when we’re working from home, in most cases the closer the better.  He is even eager to show his face during Zoom meetings, as he doesn’t want to be left out of the action. What’s the best part of us working from home for Kancho?  It’s always time to eat.

Jodie – 

Working from home has been interesting! At home my sisters are attending school and working from home, so everyone is very busy. I think the best part of working from home has been getting to have two new office dogs! My dogs, Jak and Teddy love having everyone home they are getting lots of attention, tons of treats and walks everyday. I’m trying to make the best of the situation and look on the bright side of things!

Wayne –

The new normal, seems anything but normal and we all have probably heard that a dozen times or more, but it’s strangely true. My new office is my dining table that has two computers and various wires and cables interspersed with a collection of toys. My work companion is Sam the cat. I have discovered that I really don’t need a clock anymore because as dinnertime approaches Sam seems more and more interested in me. He has learned that walking across my keyboard is a great way of saying “feed me or I’m going to bug the shit out of you”. To keep some sense of normality we have a virtual staff meeting every day at 9:00 am. On Monday mornings I still ask “did anybody do anything fun this weekend?” Everyone laughs and we discover the highlight of every weekend seems to be yard work.

Covid 19 aside, Fuzion is still operating at 100% including our Konsberg cutting table. How can we help you? Comps, brand refresh, new package, we’ve got you covered.

Info@fuziondesign.com

It’s one of the smallest cities in the US, with its borders totaling 1 square mile and is mired with a less than rosy reputation and is one of Rhode Island’s most colorful municipalities. Last spring, Fuzion was fortunate enough to be invited to develop concepts for the branding of this multi-cultural berg. We were excited by the prospect and challenge set before us and accepted with a resounding yes.

Our team was about to get a crash course in CF 101 as it is lovingly referred to by its residents. We began our journey by meeting the Mayor and his staff at City Hall and quickly learned some of the unique challenges set ahead. Soon after, we were escorted on a walking tour and we didn’t have to go far to see some very interesting and historic architecture. Several giant umbrellas festooned Jenks Park which is adjacent to City Hall, as well as the stately Cogswell Memorials Tower, both of which I had never seen before. We lunched at a Colombian restaurant and surprisingly enough (or maybe not surprisingly enough for RI and its smallest city), we ended up at a table right next to the Mayor, who seems to be the hero in this tiny town. After a delicious lunch of traditional Columbian food, we continued our tour, meeting several townspeople along the way. We made an unannounced stop at the local shoe repair shop and we’re welcomed with open arms. Through our tour guide and translator, the owner was eager to share how much in the last few years the city had changed for the better. Smiling from ear to ear, he was literally gushing with pride as he exulted the virtues of living in CF. We completed our tour, stopping at the Fire Station and meeting the Chief who grew up in CF and had no problem rattling off positive changes in the city as well. Commenting on the growing sense of community, the drop in crime and the regentrification of abandoned buildings that had sat vacant for years. In short, the smallest city was on its way back in a big way.

Before we began any design work, we felt it was important to have residents participate in the rebranding, so the city added a short 3 question survey to their weekly newsletter.  With one question being “What is your favorite aspect of living in CF”? the response seemed to be an unqualified affirmation of a community that is proud as well as strengthened by its diversity.

Utilizing the feedback from the survey as well as our own research, and brainstorming we began to move forward with our design exploration. We worked to develop the brand concept it became clear to us that our exploration extended beyond the specific goal of creating a stagnant identity.  We needed much more than a single icon, much more than a single logo. The brand needed complexity. It needed life. It needed stories. It needed personality. After all CF is a city with a strong personality.  It has a recognizable attitude. The brand must represent more than an entity, or a mere geographic location, restrained by physical boundaries. The City is filled with life, character, with habits and ways of living, with landmarks, landscapes and a very particular culture. CF is alive, and its identity shouldn’t be fixed or closed. It needs to breathe and grow every day.

To that end, we worked to design a rich and unique visual language that could be expanded and used in number of ways. Our vision was to design symbols that deliberately embodied a degree of abstractness as to not look like Googled clip art. In essence the brand would become abstract art, changing and growing as the city did. The results were concepts that are colorful, bold and embodied the rich culture of CF. Not only would we utilize a unique visual language, but we felt it was important for photography to play a central role to bring authenticity to the many cultures found within it’s one square mile.

We presented 3 different concepts and we would love to hear your thoughts or comments.

This Valentine’s Day, Fuzion celebrated by holding our third annual Chocolate Covered Strawberry Extravaganza! Every year, the Fuzion designers put their artistic ability to the test using Wayne’s tried and true chocolate-covered strawberry techniques. This year we want to share our tips, tricks, and secrets to give you the know-how you need to create these tasty masterpieces at home.

Like any chocolate-covered strawberry, we start with the basic chocolate layer. We used semi-sweet and white chocolate morsels as our bases. To melt the chocolate to the correct consistency we add a bit of shortening to the chocolate to make it smooth and velvety. The chocolate is then placed in bowls and microwaved on medium heat until it is liquid and can be stirred easily.

Next, we get our toppings ready! This year we chose to use chopped walnuts, chocolate sprinkles, and coconut, however, all delicious toppings are acceptable, so this is where the true creative mind is put to the test! All of these ingredients are placed in separate bowls for dipping after the chocolate bases are applied to the berries.

To take our strawberries to the next level, we put some of the remaining semi-sweet and white chocolate morsels into Ziplock bags with a bit of shortening and microwaved them as well. Once they were liquid, we cut a small hole in one corner of the bag. These were used to create the intricate webbing effect you see on our final products. To achieve this effect:

1. Place the strawberry on a skewer
2. Dip it in either the semi-sweet or white chocolate base
3. Let the excess chocolate drip off
4. Slowly rotate the strawberry and using the opposite hand, lightly squeeze the opposite color chocolate bag onto the berry continuing to move the spiral down towards the base
5. Finally, use a toothpick and drag it up and down the berry to create the webbing effect

Now it’s your turn to create the most impressive strawberries your loved ones have seen! Use creative freedom and push the boundaries. We can’t wait to see what you create!

It was a holly jolly holiday party! On December 12^th, Fuzion hosted its annual holiday gala. It’s always wonderful to see family, friends, clients, and neighbors chilling out and kicking back with a Fuzion Martini and some great food. We were lucky enough to cohost this year’s party with Blackstone Studios who brought new friends and family along with them.

Thanks to our guests, our toy drive for Birthday Wishes was a huge success! Birthday Wishes for those not familiar, is a non-profit that provides Birthday parties for kids and families currently in homeless shelters in the Rhode lsland, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. Party revelers that bought an unwrapped gift for a child had their name put in a raffle for a bodacious gift basket. This year’s lucky winner was Sandy Silva, who exclaimed “I’m lucky when it comes to these kinds of things!” We have to agree, as she wasn’t sure if she would be able to carry the chockfull basket to her car by herself.

Thank you to all of our guests for making the party so special. Season’s Greetings to you and yours from your friends at Fuzion!

Once again our famous blue Fuzion martinis were back on our drink menu. Fuzion’s traditional holiday drink has been around since 2012 and so many people asked what was in them or how to make one, we thought we would share the recipe again. We have noticed from past parties that several will make you a better singer or perhaps bring out the hidden table dancer in you! Enjoy and use with caution!

How can I make one at home you ask? It’s so easy!

3 fl oz lemonade
2 fl oz vodka
½ fl oz Curacao

Pour all the ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously. Pour into a martini glass, rub the rim with a twist of lemon and enjoy! (Caution: Do not operate heavy machinery after enjoying a Fuzion Martini)

I have a dark secret that I have kept hidden my entire career. No, I didn’t lie about my degree – I’m color-blind.

The first time I thought I might be color-blind was in high school when looking at the back of a biology book, there was a colorblind test with all different colored dots in a circle. You were supposed to see a teapot in the middle. All I saw were dots. My friends laughed and said I must be color-blind, but I didn’t believe it. For some reason, I thought color blindness was when you only saw things in shades of gray. I had already started doing some painting and artsy stuff and it never seemed to be a problem. One day in art class I was painting a large scene with a stormy sky and someone commented that they liked how I had added green in the clouds. I didn’t know I had.

Fast forward to my first job after college as a designer and illustrator for a large company that had a nurse on staff to give exams to new employees.  She gave me an eye test and asked if I knew I was color-blind. At that time, I did, from a previous eye exam in college. I still didn’t believe it and never told anyone, after all, I was an artist and an artist can’t be color-blind. She said, “aren’t you going to be working in the art department?” I sheepishly answered “yes”. She picked up the phone and called my new boss and informed him that I was color-blind. I thought, there goes my job, who wants to hire color-blind artist? To my relief, I was still hired. My new boss never once mentioned it, nor did I. Throughout my entire career, some of my close friends knew but I never told my employers or my clients.

Thirty-five years later, I own my own design firm. My employees know I’m color-blind, in fact, I’m actually kind of proud it. I persevered and at times it has come up (I have trouble with greens and browns of the same value), but it never affected my work in an adverse way. Who knows, maybe it has helped it. I have since discovered that many famous artists and designers are color-blind. Claude Monet was color-blind, and Degas had problems with color as well. Apparently, it is not that uncommon in the art field. One of my most talented designers at Fuzion was also color-blind. He did spectacular paintings. We were equally color-blind and once took a color-blind test online together, we both failed miserably and had a good laugh.

I have gotten back into painting in the last 5 years. Take a look and judge for yourself. Do you want to hire a color-blind designer (or buy a painting from a color-blind artist)? We see things differently.

Ask for the color-blind guy.

With Halloween fast approaching Fuzion has yet to pull a knife on our pumpkin friends, so we decided we would show you what cut-ups we were last year. From a purr-fect cat, to a fiendish sharp-toothed ghoul, each Fuzion Designer carved out a creative niche in pumpkin flesh. Have favorite or think one is particularly boo-tiful?? We would love to hear your pick!

What are the chances that out of the five designers at Fuzion, four of them are Virgos, myself included? And to boot, our office manager Sue is a Virgo too! Amy’s birthday is on the 4th, me the 10th, Jodie the 12th, Justin the 16th and Sue the 18th. That’s a lot of cake!

What makes a Virgo a good designer? Well, they are supposed to be neat and fastidious but anyone that has seen my desk would know better. I fall back on what “they” also say…people with messy desks are more creative.

To see if we are actually pigeonholed correctly I quickly Googled Virgo’s attributes to see.

Amazing artists (I didn’t make that up)

Highly analytical

People pleasers

Cleanliness (not so much with me)

Perfectionists

Humor & Warmth (do dad jokes count as humor?)

Witty (I think so, see the dad joke of the month)

I left out all the negative ones of course. Would you like to add some of your own? We would love to hear about them! (positive ones only)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Time for the Fuzion Holiday Gala that is. With upwards of 110 guests, Fuzion kicked off the holiday season with a bang (or more like a jingle) on December 6^th. It’s always great to see our clients, family and friends kickback with a drink, enjoy some bites, and have a jolly good time.

Guests who brought a gift for a boy or girl to support Birthday Wishes were eligible to win a beautiful holiday gift basket. Birthday Wishes is a non-profit that provides birthday parties for homeless children, and we were able to provide over 50 gifts in support. This year’s lucky winner was Carilyn Cannon, who exclaimed “whoawhoo!” when she found out she won.

Thank you to all of our guests for making the party so special. Season’s Greetings to you and yours from your friends at Fuzion.

What’s blue? Why a Fuzion Martini of course! Back by popular demand, it was the favorite libation of party revelers at Fuzion’s Holiday Gala. This increasingly famous concoction had taken a hiatus in 2017, but so many guests were disappointed by its disappearance, we made sure to include it on our drink menu this year. Something about drinking a Caribbean blue martini in December is just plain festive and fun. Judging by the many blue tongues at the party, there appeared to be no argument from our guests.

How can I make one at home you ask? It’s so easy!

3 fl oz lemonade
2 fl oz vodka
½ fl oz Curacao

Pour all the ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously. Pour into a martini glass, rub the rim with a twist of lemon and enjoy! (Caution: Do not operate heavy machinery after enjoying a Fuzion Martini)

This year’s party favor was an intricate snowflake package designed and cut right here on our Kongsburg X cutting table. Each package had no less than 32 folds and our Fuzion elves would have made Santa proud as they folded and tabbed (no glue required) all 120 packages. Each filled with a variety of yummy chocolates. Didn’t get one? Let us know and we will send one your way. Let’s make some sweet projects together in 2019!

Sam

Kancho

Jack

Ziggi

Penny

Willow

Gabs

Gail

Peaches

Trixie

What’s fuzzy, has 40 legs, and 10 tails? The Fuzion family menagerie of pets! For something a little different, we thought we would share a little bio of each our furry family members. A purr-fect end of the year blog that’s nothing to bark at. Enjoy!

Wayne:

Meet Sam, a semi cross-eyed Snow Shoe Siamese, rescued from the Providence Animal Shelter several years ago. He is quite the handsome blue-eyed boy. I have had many cats through the years and would have to say Sam is definitely the most sociable in your face pet I have ever had. He greets guests at the door and will soon either walk across or park himself in your lap as soon as you sit down. Sam enjoys watching the bird feeder (bird TV), clawing upholstery, chewing on any plastic bag he can find, and long walks on the beach.

Justin:

This is Kancho, a 5-year-old Jack Russell Chihuahua mix rescued from Boston. He is the typical big dog stuck in a little body. He is very friendly, but also very protective. Kancho enjoys barking at larger dogs, barking at people, car rides, boat rides, marking his territory, chasing birds, following you in kitchen, staring at you when you eat, chewing bones, and running around at random really fast.

Maureen:

We have Jack, our Jack Russell Terrier and Ziggi our resident cat. In our house Ziggi rules the roost. He is a longhaired fur-ball of a cat who loves to pester the neighborhood dogs by sitting outside of the windows taunting the dogs inside. When not outside cavorting in the neighborhood, he is usually found lying in wait for Jack or sprawled out in the sun. Jack is a couch potato that loves his walks, will come running at any hint of a cookie, and chasing ground hogs and squirrels. He just won’t bother making a peep if someone comes in the house (or office), preferring to stay curled up in his bed.

Amy:

I’m known as the crazy cat lady of the office, so it’s only fitting that I have 3 cats. Penny and Willow are sisters, and at the age of 3, they are still quite rambunctious. Penny likes to meow real loud and licks you until you can’t take it anymore, while Willow doesn’t meow at all and likes to keep her claws super sharp, so you can never completely relax while snuggling. Gabs is a bit of a grumpy Gus at the age of 14. She doesn’t like our other cats too much, but loves being around people – especially if she thinks they’re going to drop some food on the floor, or turn on the sink so she can get a quick drink.

Dave:

Meet Gail, a Jack Russel & Yellow Lab mix, rescued from Houston and brought up to Rhode Island by Southpaws Express. She is 2 years old and is a lovable, sweet and sociable girl. She loves all people and dogs and greets everyone with a wagging tail and plenty of kisses (licks). She is fond of running really fast at the dog park, playing with rubber balls, going hiking, chewing on bones, cuddling with daddy, soft blankets, sun bathing on the deck, expensive sock chewing and riding shotgun in the car.

Austin:

Meet Peaches, a 3-year-old tabby that I rescued about 8 months ago. Since I haven’t had him very long we are still getting to know one another. He’s very sociable, loving and hyper. Some of his favorite activities include sunbathing every morning, stealing treats from the cupboard and knocking everything over in the middle of the night. He’s currently still trying to find the best hiding spots in the house; he’s not very secretive since he tends to always leave the cabinets open.

Sue:

Meet Trixie, alias “Speed Bump,” named for her habit of laying in the middle of the hallway forcing everyone to step over her. Trixie is a gentle soul with a racers body; a purebred Greyhound who thankfully has never seen a dog track in her life. She is the meeter & greeter at Fuzion and is greatly disappointed if Mom doesn’t let her spend the day with her at work.