not an art journal page but I wanted to share this with you:

We sent this letter to the White House, and click on the image at the bottom to read the lovely reply from Michelle Obama:


First Puppy
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington D.C. 20500

Dear First Puppy:
I want to welcome you to the White House and say how proud I am to be part of this great country where mutts like me are welcome and even celebrated. My name is Simba, which means King of the Lions in Swahili, and I heard your Master mention that his family would be looking for a dog from a shelter if possible.
I am just that kind of puppy! A short month ago, I had no home, and with my 5 sisters and brothers I was lucky enough to end up at SAVE in Princeton, New Jersey, a shelter where dogs and cats are adopted and a nice family named the Townsends took me home.
I wanted to give you some advice as you get used to living with your new family.
1. You will pee and poop on lots of rugs and chew lots of furniture. This sometimes bothers the humans, so try to do it when they are not looking.
2. When someone throws a ball, chase it and bring it back. For some reason this can entertain them for hours. They can throw it like forty times and not get tired of it – really strange.
3. If they put a leash on you, expect good things, like a walk outside. If they take you to a grassy area, watch out because if you do your business they might save it for later in a little plastic bag – crazy savers, these humans are.
4. They will give you dry pellets to eat, but don’t get confused, the real food is on their table and when they are not looking, you can jump up and sample. I got lucky and found the Halloween bag of candy unguarded and even the wrappers tasted pretty good, although the pooping for a few days was not too comfortable.
5. The smaller humans are mostly likely to give you food from the table, the large man human will be the easiest to fool (although yours seems pretty sharp), but the large female human - watch out for her, she knows all the rules and tries to make the others follow them.
6. You will be loved and petted and praised and kissed a whole bunch, and guess what – it is really great, especially if you get to sleep with them in their beds at night.
7. Oh and watch the biting – that’s the best way to end up in the dog house, literally.
Best of luck at the White House, and if you ever need a puppy play date, I would love to romp around the lawn with you, and I will even bring one of my humans, Kelsey, who is 13 and is very excited about this new change in our country. Yes We Can. And we will!

From Simba Townsend