Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

Blogging: A Daily Practice

“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.” –Proverb

Some bloggers have an easy time posting each day.  I am not one of those people.  Writing everyday is a discipline and it is hard work!  I practice and blog as a part of my daily workflow, and I have met so many wonderful blog readers and “dog friends” through this blog.

Because writing can be difficult, below are a few tips that you might find useful to support your online voice.

1. Keep it Consistent — There is nothing worse than blogging with two-week lapses in between blog posts.  Most times, I blog Monday through Fridays.  It is difficult to cultivate readership when people waste their time visiting a site without new content.  At the very minimum, a blog should be updated at least once a week.  I visit other blogs that post frequently because I know that there will be new content waiting to read!  Keep in mind that not every blog post is “jaw dropping.”  However, because of the daily consistency of blog posts, you start to become connected with the writer of the blog on a personal level.  I really think that this is what makes a blog successful.  One of my blog readers recently shared with me that she loves checking this blog first thing when she wakes up in the morning to see what is new!

2. Personalize — Personal stories and sentiments also help to create a great blog.  It makes a blog relatable and likable.  I think incorporating snippets of your life is powerful.

3. Schedule — I am a list person.  I am always making lists and I have made lists ever since I can remember.  I also love to organize.  (Doug tells everyone that I am our “official calendar keeper” — yes, I keep a paper and pencil calendar — I like the hard copy!)  If you think about what you are going to blog in advance (most of the time), it takes the pressure of sitting in front of  your blank computer.  Usually on Sunday evenings, I make a list of what I want to blog about for the week.  Yes, this may seem crazy to some, but it works.  However, sometimes, I deviate from my list and new ideas come to me during the week and I incorporate those new ideas into my blogging schedule.

4. Create a Series — In the past, I have posted about our outings and adventures with Biscuit along with many photographs of Biscuit augmenting the posts.  These types of posts give readers a peek into our lives.  I have an “Interview” series where I regularly interview artists and other people related in some fashion to dogs; I have a “Good Reads” series reviewing books that I have read; and I recently started a new series entitled, “Things I Love!”

5. Keep it Simple — I try to write the way I would talk/write to a friend.  I believe that it takes the pressure off and allows you the freedom to express yourself just the way you are.

When it comes to writing about commissions, I like to write a personal post about the commission!  Clients like this and they end up sharing the post with their family and friends!

I hope that this post is helpful!

A Baby Panda!

Recently, Doug and I went to the National Zoo and we learned that there was a “panda watch” for a baby panda to be born in September 2013!  Well, on Friday night, August 23, 2013, when we arrived home from dinner, we learned a baby panda had been born!  For those who have been following the blog know that we love cheetahs and pandas!

You can read more about the new baby panda here; you can watch a video of Mei Xiang giving birth to the baby panda here; and view photos of the baby panda’s first check-up here.  We really hope that Tian Tian, the male panda at the National Zoo, is the father!  Doug is a huge fan of Mr. Tian Tian!  However, we think that this is a good omen that a baby panda cub has been born — a rare event here in the states!  We hope that this baby panda will continue to be a healthy panda cub — and we are pulling for a little girl panda cub!  Additionally, here is an interesting New Yorker article on panda breeding in zoos.

However, we were sad to learn that on August 25, 2013, Mei Xiang gave birth to a second cub, a stillborn.

Over the years, we have seen litters of cheetah cubs born at the National Zoo; and we saw little Tai Shan, the first panda cub (a male) born in 2005 at the National Zoo!  Mei Xiang  and Tian Tian are the mother and father of Tai Shan, who now lives in China and we hear that he may be a father soon, and he is now a “big brother” as well!

Happy Wednesday!

An Engagement!

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” ~Aristotle

My sister is engaged!  Several weeks ago, my sister, Kassie, called me and told me that she and her now fiance, Jason, were planning to get engaged in August — she told me that she (along with Jason) had already picked out her engagement ring and it was ordered and being made at that time!   Jason proposed to Kassie during a recent trip to Quebec City and Montreal, Canada!  How exciting!

A date has been set, and Kassie and Jason are having a fall October 2014 wedding!  Doug and I are so happy for you, Kassie!  It will be fun to help and see your wedding plans take shape!  We know that your wedding will be beautiful — the fall is a gorgeous time of year!

Below are some old and fun candid photographs of me and Kassie together — circa 1980s — don’t you love some of our matching outfits!

Happy Tuesday!

Daring Greatly — Daring to Fail

I woke up this morning and found my favorite Theodore Roosevelt quote, shown below.  If you are feeling frustrated, intimidated, or afraid to get into the arena and face your fears, this one is for you…

The Man in the Arena

 It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly

A Daily Practice

“The secret to your future is hidden in  your daily routine.” ~ Mike Murdock

Blogging is a daily practice for me.  This blog was inspired by Biscuit, and this blog is like my little heaven.  It is this place where I get to talk about things and ideas that are on  my mind, what inspires me, my projects, my life, and people I love — and who doesn’t like to do that?  I do not have advertisers on my blog so that I can keep it about what I want, ideas that are important to me, without worrying about anything else.

What I really have become to realize is this blog is like a photograph as it captures little snippets in time forever.  I also like keeping a blog as it creates a daily record, that I can refer back to at anytime.  Often times, we do not remember the small events that happen on a daily basis.  My hope, with this blog, is to share, capture, and preserve.  Later this year, I also plan to have a blog book made as well, and I plan to do a blog book for each year worth of blog posts.

I have met some really wonderful people through this blog.  Biscuit certainly gave us so many gifts in the short time that we spent with him and his gifts he gave to us, which we continue to receive today, will be with us forever.  Doug, Biscuit, and I really made the most of our time together, and I hope to carry out this theme in my own life — making the most of each day and each opportunity.   Often times, I have found, that the best opportunities and gifts present themselves in ways I could not have imagined or planned!  So, the lesson, I have learned, is to be open and let life fully in your heart.

For anyone out that has any desire to begin a daily blog, I highly recommend it — remember you can begin anywhere.

Happy Birthday, Doug!

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

We had a wonderful weekend in the Brandywine Valley in Delaware celebrating our birthdays!  The weather was gorgeous!  It was very nice to have some time away before our move to the new house!

Happy Birthday, my dear sweet Panda!  I cannot believe another year has gone by and that we have known each other just shy of nine 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 are the yin (panda) to my yang (cheetah).  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.  I love you.

Love, me

“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wings of time.” ~Jean Paul

Right Now

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.  Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land.  There is no other land, there is no other life but this.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

It is our “Birthday Weekend!”  Our birthdays are one year and one day apart!  I guess we can never forget each other’s birthday this way!  We miss that Biscuit is not here to celebrate with us as we made Biscuit’s Birthday August 8, as that was the day he was rescued off the street in North Carolina.  (I am giving Doug a special birthday present, which I will share more about in a future blog post!)

Doug planned a nice weekend for us!  Doug and I are leaving for Delaware today to stay at one of our favorite places, the Montchanin Inn — a very quaint, peaceful, and serene place located in the Brandywine Valley.  (We have not been there since we rescued and adopted Biscuit as furry family members are not permitted).  We are looking forward to getting away for a few days before our move to the new house, which is rapidly approaching!  I hope that you have something fun planned this weekend, where you take some time for what matters most, to turn you brains off, let go of the pressures you put on yourself, and just spend some time soaking in where you are at this exact moment.   This life is made up of a series of right nows — Biscuit taught me this.

Until then, thank you for sharing in our journey.  It means more than you know.

Happy Friday!