Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

Sep 30

Why I Like Photo Albums

Most people today have their images saved on their phones and computers. Doug and I actually still keep photos in our wallet/purse. Some people are surprised to see this “old-fashioned” method of sharing photographs. Creating actual photo albums seems to be a practice of the past. Especially after Biscuit’s passing, I am thankful that I have consistently printed images and continued make photo albums documenting our life together. It is also nice to go back and look at photographs from when Doug and I first met nine years ago! It is nice to be able to flip through actual pages of the albums I have made. I have made about 18 photo albums over the past nine years. Being able to see and touch the pages in a photo album has a tactile element that is often lost with our technology today. (I also electronically store and archive all of our digital images as well). I am in the process of making the remaining photo albums of our little Biscuit. It is difficult knowing that I am not able to photograph Biscuit any longer.

The photo album making process also helps me determine what images I am going to hang and/or display in our home. The select images that I am especially fond of I have printed on fine art archival paper; and then I have these images matted and framed in an archival fashion and displayed in our home in order to preserve these photographs.

If you print your images as you take them, it makes the task of creating photo albums much less daunting. Thus, I encourage you to create actual photo albums, which simultaneously make nice family heirlooms!

Happy Monday!

Sep 26

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Becoming a Possibiltarian

“Become a possibiltarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities–always see them, for they’re always there. ” ~Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

I am becoming a possibilitarian. How about you? Do you see the bright light of your life’s horizon (even on the average days)? Do you feel its warmth (even when you are struggling)? Have you begun to touch the surface of all that is possible for your life? If so, then you are a possibilitarian, too. It is the best feeling in the world — this thinking of what is possible. It is energy; it is passion; it is dreaming big; and taking small steps, one foot in front of the other.

Possibilitarians do not settle for the status quo, or necessarily for what is familiar. Possibilitarians are always asking forward thinking, optimistic questions — “What would it take to make that happen?” Or, “Who would I need to support me in order to make this change happen?” Or even, “What false beliefs am I holding on to that are keeping me and others from reaching our potential?”

I first learned about the Possibiltarian Project from Kelly Rae Roberts. I think that it is a fantastic idea and project! I hope that you consider becoming a possibiltarian as well! This way of thinking is life changing!

Sep 23

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We Are Moved!

Doug and I are moved! It is nice to have our personal belongings in one location! The move went pretty smoothly all in all, thank goodness. We spent last week packing final items and taking some of our items to the new house that we did not want the movers to handle. It has been a lot of work to say the least!

We have waited patiently for the past nine months for our new home to be completed! It is very nice that everything has come together for us. This past week, the builder has been making some final adjustments per our punch list and hopefully these remaining items will be completed shortly. We are happy with our house, and our neighbors are nice and friendly, which is an added bonus! We also recently discovered that there are at least two female furry friends living on our street along with many other furry friends throughout the neighborhood! We can’t wait for Victory to meet some of these new furry friends!

We have begun unpacking and getting some semblance of order! Wish us luck! We look forward to making this our home. We have never had this much living space and a garage for the cars — we are so excited to have this extra space! We feel very grateful. We are also happy that we have our cable/internet installed, our own dedicated line, which is quite fast — thank you Verizon!

We know that Biscuit is with us and he would want us to be happy. We miss Biscuit dearly, and it has been difficult not having him here with us. I do not believe we ever stop missing our furry family members.

Sep 19

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Thoughts on Kindness

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” ~Mark Twain

George Saunders gave the graduation speech at Syracuse University this year, and the New York Times recently published it. Have you read it? His advice centers around being kind and, more specifically, avoiding “failures of kindness.” Below are some excerpts from his speech.

Now, one useful thing you can do with an old person, in addition to borrowing money from them, or asking them to do one of their old-time “dances,” so you can watch, while laughing, is ask: “Looking back, what do you regret?” And they’ll tell you….

Here’s something I know to be true, although it’s a little corny, and I don’t quite know what to do with it: What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded…sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth?

Those who were kindest to you, I bet.

It’s a little facile, maybe, and certainly hard to implement, but I’d say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder.

You can read the full speech here.

I think that it is true that we need more kindness in this world. I know for me, those who stand out in my mind are the people and animals who have been and are kind to me. Kindness goes farther than you will ever know. Thus, seize the moment and try to be kinder.

Sep 13

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Honoring Biscuit: Introducing Victory — the ‘right’ little sheltie Biscuit is sending to us!

Doug and I miss Biscuit very much. We have experienced such a great loss that is difficult to express in words. It has been very difficult for both of us. We know that there will never be another Biscuit and that he will always be with us. Biscuit has forever left an imprint in our hearts. We hope that Biscuit is having a grand time running and playing in a body free of sickness and pain; and we are hopeful that he is watching over us each day. I think of all of the wonderful gifts Biscuit gave to us, which we continue to receive today. We know in our hearts that Biscuit would want us to rescue another sheltie like him so another sheltie can have a second chance to have a wonderful life like Biscuit had in his final years, which is the vision of Biscuit’s Space. Doug and I have always believed that Biscuit would send us the ‘right’ sheltie at the ‘right’ time.

During our somewhat recent visit to the Sheltie Haven Sheltie Rescue, Inc., Director, Carol Guth, told us about a recent terrible sheltie hording/raid situation in Michigan that she learned about through her sheltie rescue network. You can learn further about this horrible situation here, here, here, and here. After learning about this horrendous situation, Doug and I decided that we wanted and needed to help.

As such, Carol Guth contacted Carol Strotheide, the Director of the Michigan Sheltie Rescue, to determine whether this rescue organization would work with us to allow us to rescue one of these shelties, especially since it involves crossing states lines. (We have learned, however, that not all rescue organizations will allow out of state adoptions). After much correspondence with the Michigan Sheltie Rescue, Doug and I have been approved to rescue and adopt a sheltie. Per the Michigan Sheltie Rescue, there was one sheltie that was a match for us described in further detail below! Carol Guth was integral in facilitating and making this adoption happen for us as her rescue organization, the Sheltie Haven Sheltie Rescue, Inc., is ‘backing’ this rescue and adoption. (The Michigan Sheltie Rescue wants to ensure that the sheltie rescue dogs that are adopted out of state have a ‘backing’ sheltie rescue organization in the state where the sheltie will be living with his/her new furever family). You can also read more about Carol Guth and her long-standing commitment to helping shelties here. Additionally, please visit the Sheltie Haven Sheltie Rescue, Inc.’s new Facebook Page that went live yesterday!

As such, Doug and I will be traveling to Grand Rapids, Michigan, the western part of Michigan, in October to rescue and adopt a little sheltie named Victory, an approximately one-year-old female sable sheltie, pictured below, who will be ready for adoption at the end of September 2013! We are very excited and we can’t wait to meet her! We are currently getting our new home ready for little Victory and we are eager to begin this new chapter of our lives with a furry family member! Victory is also coming to us at our five-year wedding anniversary — what a wonderful anniversary gift for us both! She is just adorable, and as Victory continues to get older and she continues to receive proper care; proper nutrition; and proper veterinary care, her fur coat should come in even more. Victory was named by her wonderful foster family and she is a sheltie that survived the atrocious situation outlined above. Doug and I feel that we are being blessed a second time. Please stay tuned for our adventures with little Victory — the ‘right’ little sheltie Biscuit is sending to us!

The above photograph is courtesy of Victory’s foster family.

Sep 11

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Transition

“Be grateful for the home you have, knowing at this moment, all you have is all you need.” ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

Doug and I have been waiting for the past nine months for our house to be completed being built and the day finally came last week — our settlement — our home is ours for better or worse! At settlement, the builder gave us a nice house-warming gift, a Tiffany’s crystal bowl — a nice addition to our new home!

We had fun selecting the layout and finishings of our home. After seeing our finishing selections in context, in the completed home, we think that everything came together quite nicely! (When making our selections, we were not sure how it would all come together in the end). It was also nice to witness our home being built, and we enjoyed frequently taking Biscuit with us to the new neighborhood and the home construction site. In contrast, our last house was an existing ‘remodeled’ dwelling from the early 1900s, which was, to say the least, a very ‘unique’ home overflowing with character! We have been getting our home ready to move into, and we have also been slowly moving our delicate items to our house before the movers come next week for our big move into the new house. I have begun to see life as a continual transition, and we are happy to be moving and beginning this new chapter in our lives. I do love this time of year, the fall is my favorite time of year, which is technically going to be here in eleven days! Doug and I are looking forward to getting settled into our new home, and we also looking forward to decorating and furnishing our new home and really making it ours. We know that Biscuit will be there in spirit with us in the new house. We sure do miss him and wish that he could be with us. Biscuit is the perfect and most handsome little sheltie dog ever!

In other news, if you have been following the blog, you know that we love pandas (and cheetahs)! We were happy to read that the baby panda recently born at the National Zoo is a girl and Tian Tian is the father! We were hoping that the baby panda would be a girl and that Tian Tian would be the father — a good omen! (We saw little Tai Shan, the first panda cub (a male) born in 2005 at the National Zoo! Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are also the mother and father of Tai Shan, who now lives in China). We look forward to going to see this little panda who will be named on the 100th day after her birth!

Today is also a special day which marks the day when Doug and I first met when we had our first date nine years ago today! The time sure does fly by quickly!

Happy Wednesday!

Sep 10

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Honoring Biscuit: Biscuit’s Trip to Vermont

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.” -Helen Keller

This past spring, we took a trip to Vermont with Biscuit. Unknown to us at that time, this trip turned out to be our last trip with Biscuit. We had many other places that we had planned to travel together — Biscuit traveled very well and he loved going with us on adventures! My intention was to share the Vermont images on the blog upon our return. However, in June our priority was addressing Biscuit’s health issues to the best of our ability, and after Biscuit passed away, it was extremely difficult for me to edit and work on these images. I have finally completed editing these images after working on a few at a time consistently over the course of the past month. The finality of Biscuit’s passing is very difficult — accepting that I will never be able to photograph Biscuit, my muse, again. Perhaps, this is why it took me so long to complete these images. Doug and I greatly miss our precious little Biscuit.

Doug, Biscuit, and I had a wonderful time together in Vermont and we will forever treasure these memories. Just by looking at Biscuit’s face and smile he exuded contentment and happiness. Doug and I are so grateful for meeting our little Biscuit. He changed our lives forever — in ways that we could not have imagined. We are also very grateful and thankful that we were able to make a trip to Vermont and the Orvis flagship store as Biscuit represented the Orvis Petfinder Commitment.

Most of all, we hope that Biscuit’s wonderful rescue story inspires others to consider rescuing and adopting a furry family member. There are so many dogs/animals who need a second chance like Biscuit. Doug and I are thankful that we were a part of Biscuit’s journey. We know that Biscuit will send us the ‘right’ sheltie dog who is also in need of a second chance similar to Biscuit.

Below is a small sampling of photographs from our last trip together with our little Biscuit to Vermont. We all had a grand time together!

Biscuit you are forever imprinted in our hearts. We love you with all our hearts. You will always be the most perfect and handsome sheltie dog ever!

Sep 6

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Honoring Biscuit: Biscuit and Me

“The love that flows through your heart purifies not only your own spirit, but the love you share with others.” ~Caroline Myss

Tomorrow Biscuit will be gone for two months. We miss Biscuit very much. Things just are not the same without him. It feels like an eternity since we last saw him. Doug and I think about Biscuit each day, and we feel so lucky that he was in our lives.

Today is a special day for Doug and I — if all goes as planned, we are closing on our new home today. However, we wish that Biscuit was here with us to share this moment with us. Biscuit came to the closing with us when we sold our former home back in November; in December, Biscuit was with us when we executed a contract with the builder to build our home; and this spring, Biscuit accompanied us to our pre-construciton meeting with the builder. Fortunately, we have a photo of us in front of our lot with our little Biscuit along with countless photographs of Biscuit at the new home construction site. We are taking a photograph of Biscuit to closing with us — we know that he will be there in spirit. After all, Biscuit went every weekend with us to the home construction site. I think he knew that we were building a home for all of us. Even though Biscuit will not physically be with us in the new home, our new home will be adorned with his photographs.

Shown below are a few self-portraits of Biscuit and me atop Mount Equinox on the last day of our trip to Vermont. Doug and I are very grateful that we made it to the Orvis Flagship store in Vermont with Biscuit. Biscuit represented the Orvis Petfinder Commitment, supporting and promoting dog rescue. There are so many dogs who need a second chance, and Biscuit’s story is living proof of this sentiment. Vermont was our last trip with Biscuit before he became sick. Biscuit had such a wonderful time as did we! We are grateful for our many trips and adventures together.

Sep 5

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Pursuing What You Love

I love this quote below that I recently came across, which I believe rings so true.

“If everyone had the luxury to pursue a life of exactly what they love, we would all be ranked as visionary and brilliant. … If you got to spend every day of your life doing what you love, you can’t help but be the best in the world at that. And you get to smile every day for doing so. And you’ll be working at it almost to the exclusion of personal hygiene, and your friends are knocking on your door, saying, “Don’t you need a vacation?!,” and you don’t even know what the word “vacation” means because what you’re doing is what you want to do and a vacation from that is anything but a vacation — that’s the state of mind of somebody who’s doing what others might call visionary and brilliant.” –Neil deGrasse Tyson

Some Inspiration — Earlier this week, American 64-year-old long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim across the Florida Straits from Cuba without a shark cage. This was her her fifth attempt!

I love this quote from Reuters — “Her face sunburned and lips swollen, with barely enough energy to speak, Nyad waded ashore at Key West after a 53-hour swim and delivered a simple message to onlookers: ‘We should never, ever give up . . . You never are too old to chase your dreams.'”

You can view Diana Nyad’s inspiring 2011 TED Talk here.

Happy Thursday!