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Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

Honoring Biscuit and Victory: A Special Tribute — A New Look for Biscuit’s Space

Today is a big and special day on the blog!  Since we have had our little darling, Victory, for a year already as of October 12 (also Victory’s birthday), and because she is carrying on the ‘Biscuit’s Space’ name, we decided it was time to have Victory running next to her brother, Biscuit, on the blog’s header!  We do not think that Biscuit would mind sharing the blog header with his sissy, Victory, because Biscuit would want us to showcase helping other shelties like himself receive a second chance at life, while promoting dog rescue — the spirit of Biscuit’s Space.

Over the summer I contacted Bee Johnson, who illustrated the original header last summer, in honor of Biscuit, and I asked her if she would be willing to illustrate and add our Victory to Biscuit’s right side of the blog header.  In order to do this, I needed to get some good photos of Victory.  However, it was tough to capture Victory running while looking at the camera like Biscuit  because Victory is so quick on her feet!  After a couple of days of trying to capture the right image, while on vacation, with Doug’s help running with Victory, I finally got the image of Victory in motion, in a similar stance to Biscuit, along with a few close up images of Victory’s face.  These images, shown below, enabled Bee to create the illustration of our sweet Victory!  We absolutely love the new blog header, capturing the essence of Biscuit’s Space, with our furbabies, Biscuit and Victory, shown below!  Bee truly captured the essence of Victory and Biscuit!

Bee is very talented and she was wonderful and easy to work with on this project that is near and dear to our hearts!  Thank you so much, Bee — you brought our little Victory to life and we love the results of your work!  If you are looking for an illustration commission, I highly recommend working with Bee!

Please visit the blog to see the new blog header shown below!

 

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Below are the images I captured, which Bee used to illustrate our sweet Victory!

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Snapshot: My Sister’s Wedding

My sister, Kassie, got married this past Saturday, October 4, 2014, at Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford Lovett Hall where the wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception all took place!  My sister looked gorgeous in her gown on her wedding day!  The venue was also very beautiful with a very traditional, elegant, and iconic theme.  The forecast called for rain; and fortunately, it did not rain and the sun came out just in time for the ceremony!  It was a beautiful day!

Below is a snapshot of Kassie and Jason’s wedding, including the getting ready portion of the wedding day, which included nails, hair, and makeup!  I am not a wedding photographer and I was not able to capture the entire day and the details of the wedding, as I was Kassie’s Matron of Honor, but hopefully my images below provides a preview of the wedding!  Once we get images from the photographer, I can share more of this beautiful day!

Of course, our little Victory was part of the “getting ready” part of the wedding day!  She kept us all company while we got our hair and makeup done!  Unfortunately, she could not come to the wedding itself, but she stayed with Nick, my parents’ furry family member, and they seemed to do well together!

Kassie and Jason — we hope that you both are enjoying your wonderful honeymoon in Spain, Morocco, England, and France!

 

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Wedding Celebration!

My sister, Kassie, is getting married very shortly!  Therefore, I am going to sign off for a few days, and I will return next week!  I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!  Below are photos of Kassie and I together as young kids!

 

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Making Pizza on the Grill!

I typically do not blog about cooking or baking; however, Doug and I recently made our first personal pizzas on our Big Green Egg!  They turned out really well!  Below are the finished pizzas that we made on the grill!  We look forward to making more pizzas on the grill (year round)!  The pizzas turned out crispy and delicious!  The ingredients are listed below!

 

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Ingredients:

King Arthur Pizza Dough Mix

King Arthur Pizza Doug Flavor

Flour

Flavored Oil (used as a garnish on the pizzas)

LaRosa’s Pizza Sauce

Fresh mozzarella cheese (right pizza)

Shredded mozzarella cheese (left pizza)

Pepperoni (left pizza)

Peppers (right pizza)

Fresh basil (both pizzas)

Cherry tomatoes (right pizza)

Pizza stones

 

Happy Monday!

Taking a Break = Invigoration

During vacation for several weeks, I took a break, which I do not practice often enough.  What I noticed is that I really needed a break from my work and the usual routine — we were so ready for a long vacation.  I felt a bit drained and worn out, to be honest.  I also noticed that the intentional break gave me space to think about other things that had been pushed to the back burner as well as time to reflect on the projects that I am currently working on.  Most of all, I felt free.  After taking this long break during vacation, I felt more invigorated and, upon our return, I was ready to get back to work with a new perspective.  A change of scenery really does wonders — especially if you get to spend your days vacationing with your lovies (Doug and Victory)!  Therefore, I highly recommend taking intentional and frequent breaks  to enrich your work and the creative process.  (Breaks do not have to consist of vacations!)  Also, I often find that a problem that I am working on in my work becomes more clear after I have stepped away, even for a short period of time, and I am then able to come back with a fresh perspective.  Breaks = Invigoration.

Happy Tuesday!

 

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Ten Years Together

Last week, Doug and I celebrated ten years together since we met and had our first date.  Each year we celebrate our anniversary from our first date; and our wedding anniversary, which are exactly a month apart!   It is really difficult to believe the time is going by so quickly!  We met through mutual friends and Doug first contacted me from Montreal via email from an internet cafe on Saint Catherine Street (hence the name!) and we met for our first date a few weeks later and the rest is history!  While we were in Montreal, we stopped at the book store he first wrote to me from almost ten years to the day, which was kind of neat to see!  I saved and printed our first e-mails, which I have tucked away.  It will be fun to reread those again in the future.  We exchanged cards and had a nice evening together celebrating ten years together (along with Victory) and hopefully, many, many more!  I feel very grateful for Doug — my best friend.

Below is my favorite image from our wedding, almost six years ago!

 

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Snapshot: Vacationing in Quebec!

We’re back!  We had a wonderful time on vacation!  This was Victory’s first vacation and it was very nice!  We began our vacation in Manchester, Vermont for a few days, with a quick stop at Lake Champlain, and then to our destination, Quebec!  Doug drove the entire way both ways and Victory sat on my lap!  We were really fortunate that we had really nice weather and temperatures during our entire vacation!

This was the first vacation that I did little work!  Thus, today’s post is a sneak peek, as I have not finished editing the images.   If you follow along on Instagram, I shared some images from our vacation during our vacation!  I plan to share more images of our trip, once I have edited images!

We had a great time in Manchester, Vermont.  Doug wanted to stop in Vermont on our way to Quebec.  We wanted to bring Victory to the Orvis Flagship Store where we took Biscuit last spring where he was the Orvis Cover Dog Winner and Centerfold and represented the Orvis Petfinder Commitment supporting and promoting dog rescue!  (Plus, Manchester is extremely dog friendly with great places to shop!  Victory went into all of the stores with us, including the dressing rooms!)  The people at remembered us at Orvis and were sad to learn of Biscuit’s passing.  We introduced our Victory and we had a great time together!  Victory had fun trying out (picking out) the Orvis dog beds and trying on her new Orvis coat!

We stopped briefly at Lake Champlain on our way to Quebec and it was beautiful.

We made it to our lake house that we rented for several weeks in Quebec!  It was on the Lake of Two Mountains and the views were beautiful and we witnessed many lovely sunsets each night!  Victory loved the beach and boating!  We also made ample time to relax, read, and take some long walks in the village where we stayed.   Doug and I are now hooked on Downton Abbey — we watched the first three seasons, which were available on Netflix in Canada, but not at home, so we ordered season four, which is on its way to us!

We walked to the beach and we had a lot of fun with Victory!  She loved the beach and we captured her putting her paws in the water for the first time!  She actually went into the water and she loved walking on the beach!

We went into Montreal a few times and pushed Victory around in her Hound About — which turned out to be a lifesaver as the city is very crowded and it would have been too stressful for her to walk on the sidewalks with so many people!  She rode around in class!  Doug and I loved going to the Orange Julep!  This has the world’s best orange juice!  We went several times to the Orange Julep and we loved it!  If I could order this orange juice online, I would!  It was that good!  Plus, you have to love that the orange juice is served from an orange!   We also visited McGill University and walked all around a good portion of the city!  We went shopping in Montreal and Victory got some new gear!  Doug also showed me the bookstore where he first wrote to me just prior to our first date on Rue Sainte Catherine ten years ago (nearly to the day!)  (Back then, internet cafes were big!)

One of my favorite parts of the trip was taking the route de vines!  I am not a big wine person, but the views and the vineyards were really beautiful.  Doug figured out the routes and drove us everywhere!  We learned about fire cider, which tastes really good!  We brought some home with us!  This fire cider is wonderful!  Victory loved the wineries and dogs were welcome and, of course, everyone called her a “plus beau chien!” (most beautiful dog!)  Of course, we agree!  Victory loved the vineyards so much that she often did not want to leave!  Everyone was so friendly!

Oh, how can I leave out Tim Hortons?  Doug loves Tim Horton’s; we do not have one near us; and they just are not the same in the U.S.  So, as a result, we ate way too many donuts!  (They were really good, as I usually do not eat donuts!)  Also, it is very interesting going to a fast food restaurant where everyone is so nice and everyone knows French and English — this not something you see here in the U.S.!

Most of all, we enjoyed spending time together; getting away and having a break; having a change of scenery; and having days where we had no plans and were able to take each day as it came!   Everyone was so nice in Quebec and the pace of everything was nice and slow!  Enjoy the snapshot of photos from our vacation below!

Happy Monday!

 

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Heading to Quebec…

We are headed to Quebec for vacation!  This will be Victory’s first vacation!  We are looking forward to our time away together!  Our last three vacations were spent with our beloved Biscuit in Nova Scotia (two times) and Vermont.  We had a wonderful time in Nova Scotia, but we decided to do something different with our little Victory this year!

I have previously blogged during our vacations and trips.  However, I have made the decision to disconnect during our vacation this summer.  So I’ll be back to the blog in approximately three weeks, in mid September, and I will share our vacation adventures at that time!  I look forward to rest, relaxing, reading good books, our adventures together, and spending quality time together!

Meanwhile, if you are in a blog-reading mood, you are warmly invited to check out the archives — a link to the archives is on the right side of the blog!

Have a wonderful couple of weeks!

P.S. While we are away on vacation, I do plan to post images/videos regularly while we are on vacation via Instagram (our Instagram feed is also shown on the right side of the blog!)

 

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“What we want out of a vacation changes as we age.  It changes from vacation to vacation.  There was a time when it was all about culture for me.  My idea of a real break was to stay in museums until my legs ached and then go stand in line to get tickets for an opera or a play.  Later I became a disciple of relaxation and looked for words like beach and massage when making my plans.  I found those little paper umbrellas that balanced on the side of rum drinks to be deeply charming then.  Now I strive for transcendent invisibility and the chance to accomplish the things I can’t get done at home.  But as I pack up my room at the Hotel Bel-Air, I think the best vacation is the one that relieves me of my own life for a while and then makes me long for it again.”  -Ann Patchett, “Do Not Disturb, in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage.

Providence

This quote by Goethe, below, is keeping me moving forward with my photography project, and it coincidentally fits nicely with my word for the year —  trust (which I am always working on.)  So far, the Universe has been very supportive.  During the creative process, I think everyone struggles with moving through the work during certain periods along with confronting self-doubt.  I have experienced these feelings while working on this project.  However, I have found the best thing to do is just to keep going and pushing on and not letting obstacles or fear get in my way.  In fact, I have been leaping and the net has appeared in ways I could not have imagined, and I hope that the net will keep appearing for me while I continue to work on this project and bring this vision and body of work to fruition.  I find much truth in Goethe’s quote below — so if there is something you are dreaming, instead of waiting for the ‘right time’ or inspiration, begin it now!

Happy weekend!

 

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Happy Birthday, Doug!

Today marks a special day — it is Doug’s Birthday!

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating our birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Doug!  I cannot believe another year has gone by and that we have known each other just shy of ten years next month.  I cannot imagine sharing my life with anyone else.  You are my best friend.  You are my rock.  You are my confidant.  You keep me balanced and grounded with your steadfast patience.  You are one of the most kind, giving, thoughtful, and generous people I have ever met.  You are truly remarkable.  Words cannot express how fortunate I am to be sharing my life with you — and I am certain Victory feels the same way as exemplified by her kisses that she showers you with each night!  We love you!  Happy Birthday!

 

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