Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

Summer Bucket List

Last year, I did our summer check list for the first time, and I am doing our summer bucket list this year. It is super, super hot outside here! It feels like summer. We spent the past several days at the pool, and Alex has loved every minute of it, especially diving for her rings and sharks!

So, on our bucket list is the following for this summer…

Swim. Enjoy a lot of swimming time at the pool together.

Play more games. Alex likes playing games, for the most part, and we are building her resilience as she does not like to lose, so we are working on building this ‘muscle’ with her. So we hope to play more family games such as Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, and Bingo!

Grill more food. Doug is a really good cook, and we hope to use our Big Green Egg, more this summer, to enjoy more grilled foods!

Go fruit picking. We are going to pick strawberries soon, at a local farm, and we hope to pick some other fruits this summer. Alex loves fruit!

Go to the beach. We plan to take a trip to the beach, and Alex and Victory also love the beach, and we always have great memories together!

Visit Family. We plan to visit family this summer, which will be fun.

Do Fireworks. We plan to take a short trip to Pennsylvania to get some child-friendly fireworks for the Fourth of July!

Celebrate Alex’s Birthday. Alex has been unable to have a proper birthday party since she turned one, due to COVID, and she is very excited to have a birthday party this year, a rainbow themed party!

Go to Dutch Wonderland. Alex is quite tall, and she is excited to really enjoy her first theme park this summer, as she can get on most all the rides now!

Building in more down time. I literally feel like the time is flying by way too fast, and, at times, it is hard to keep up with. Sometimes, there is so much going on, that we do not plan enough down time, and I plan to do better about planning down time together.

Snapshot: Winter 2022

I know this blog post is a little late; however, I do my best to keep up with the editing our family images, which is not always so easy with everything going on! This winter felt a little long, at times, and we are so happy for the arrival of spring days that we have recently experienced, here and there! I think we are all ready to spend even more time outside in warmer temperatures!

This winter, we had a nice trip to Michigan for Christmas, and Alex had a great time visiting family! She also tried ice skating, while in Michigan, for the first time, but she was not a fan, and we may try again when she gets a little older. (This has been the first activity Alex has not liked, to date!) We spent as much time as we could outside this winter, and we enjoyed the snow and sledding! Alex and Victory had a nice Valentine’s Day together! And, right after Valentine’s Day, Alex moved into her new twin bed and we gave her bedroom a little facelift. Alex and Victory love story time together, in the evenings, in Alex’s new bed, with their Daddy! We also took a trip to the National Aquarium and the Maryland Zoo, with friends, which Alex loved, as she loves animals! Alex has been enjoying her time outside, on nice days, riding her scooter and playing with her new favorite rainbow ball! Alex loves rainbows! Alex also had her first manicure and pedicure in her favorite color, orange, at the spa! It was so fun! And, as of this winter, Alex is back in gymnastics class and she is also back on her horse. She is doing well in gymnastics; and she is doing really well and learning more how to use the reins to steer the horse, and she is riding on her own now! We are so proud of her progress!

A few images from this past winter is shown below!

Here is Alex riding Storm!

Sending Art to Friends and Family!

Our sweet Alex has been busy at work making her art and sending it out to friends and family! She has been sending out a couple cards with her art work each week! Everyone has enjoyed receiving Alex’s art in the mail, and they send me photos, some are shown below, to share with Alex about displaying her art, which she loves! She decorates all of her envelopes with stamps and stickers! And, it seems, most all of her stickers have made it thought the mail in tact! I love that Alex loves sending cards as much as I do. I keep cards on hand for her to use, she loves picking cards out at the store, and Alex always comes to me with a new piece of her art and lets me know who she wants to send it to, and I address the envelopes for her, and then Alex works all of her decorating magic on the envelopes! It has been a lot of fun, while simultaneously making others pleasantly surprised and happy, too! And, Alex’s favorite part is placing the finished works in the mail all by herself! Then, Alex usually says to me, “Mommy, she is just going to love getting my card and art in the mail!” And, she is right, people are delighted!

I cannot believe we are in mid-April, already! The time is flying much too quickly! Wishing you a Happy Easter! Alex is so excited for the Easter Bunny to come visit her, and she is looking forward to her egg hunts!

Happy Heart Day!

We celebrated Valentine’s Day a little early, this weekend with Alex and Victory! They are quite the pair! I am so grateful for our little family.

Happy Heart Day!  I hope you have a great day celebrating with the ones you love.

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

Ten Year Blogiversary!

Today is the ten-year Blogiversary of the blog!  I can’t hardly believe it! It is extremely difficult to believe that ten years, a full decade, has already passed by so quickly!  The time moves so quickly, these days, and I often wonder where the time goes? Many things have changed, but some things remain the same, fortunately.  I am grateful for this little space here.

If it were not for our beloved Biscuit, I am not sure I would have ever started blogging and I know that I would not have started my long-term photography project, for which Biscuit and Victory are my inspiration.  Biscuit was such a blessing and gift to us.  Biscuit permanently changed our lives in so many positive ways and he sent us our precious little rescue sheltie, Victory, who we adore and love, shown below!  We have savored our time together with Victory during the pandemic. And, coincidentally, Victory is the same age (we suspect as she is a rescue dog) as the blog!

Thank you for reading this blog for however long or short you have been visiting!  I truly enjoy creating content for the blog to share with all of you, and I hope that you continue to enjoy visiting and reading the blog!

Thank you so very much!

Snapshot: Fall 2021

This post is a little late, as we are already fully into the new year. However, I have been fervently working to catch up on editing our family photos along with making family year books via Blurb to document and archive our family year, by year. However, somehow, I always seem to be catching up on my photo editing, a never ending process.

During this past fall, we picked apples; took a trip to the pumpkin patch; took Alex to horse riding lessons and she is currently riding on her own now, which has been so wonderful to watch her progress; celebrated our thirteenth year of marriage (along with celebrating seventeen years of being together); celebrated Victory’s tenth birthday; spent time with my parents who came to visit; celebrated Halloween with our two little peacocks; and Alex met Santa outside! (We do miss our regular Santa visits with the girls due to COVID.) Overall, we had a fun fall together! Below are a few images from this past fall!

Here is Alex riding Edge!

One Little Word: 2022

I hope you had a nice Holiday. We visited with family, we had some down time with our girls, and we got some sleep and rest, which was so nice. And, I cannot believe our little girl is turning three-and-a-half-years-old this week! She is growing in every way and she loves learning and she is curious about everything, which I hope never goes away!

It is a new year, which means there has been much talk about fresh beginnings. For me, I keep things simple and I select a word, an intention, for the year.

I have reflected on my word for this year: present.  Last year I chose grace; in 2020 the word bliss; in 2019 the word embrace; in 2018 the word peace; in 2017 I chose relax; in 2016 I chose present; in 2015 I chose flow; in 2014 I chose trust; and in 2013 I chose the word create.  The idea of picking an intention has worked well over the past few years. 

I have nothing against resolutions (or goals, or plans, or to-do lists), but for me, I have found the most impactful way to embrace a new year is to pick a word — just one word, intention — to keep in mind.

As 2021 came to an end, I know that things were really hectic and busy in 2021, for a number of reasons. I could feel the tiredness and exhaustion throughout my entire body. I realized, that there were times that I was not present in the moment, and I want to work on this this year — to truly embrace the moment. “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.” —Buddha

For me, it is an easy reminder to take whatever small steps I can to create clarity and feel better. For anyone similarly overwhelmed by resolutions, I recommend the practice of a New Year’s Word. Plus, since it is so simple, and you can change it at any time.

Happy New Year!

Happy Pawlidays!

“All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only human. He wasn’t a dog.” — Charles M. Schulz

Happy Pawlidays! I wanted to thank you so very much for checking in over the past year — I am very grateful. I know it has been another strange year with a few more normalcies in place.

Below is the front of our Pawliday card (the back of our card containing text is not pictured), along with our matching envelopes using little photo seals of our beautiful girls, Alex and Victory! Unfortunately, custom stamps are no longer permitted by the Post Office. (You can view our previous Pawliday cards here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).  Sending our Pawliday card is one of my favorite parts of the Holiday season!   This is my way of sharing our Pawliday card with you.  Thank you for reading this blog for however long or short you have been reading.  I sincerely enjoy creating content for the blog to share with you.

I will be taking a break from the blog to enjoy some down time with our little family, and I plan to be back to the blog sometime early next year.  Meanwhile, if you are in a blog-reading mood, you are warmly invited to visit the archives — the links are shown below.  Warmest wishes to you for a safe and Happy Holidays!

Dog Related posts

Dog Rescue posts

‘Dog-Centric’ Artists Interviews

For Artists posts

Photography posts

Personal posts

Victory Related posts

Wherever You Are, Be There Totally

It is a busy time of year for most people, and I have been trying to work on being more present and totally all in the moment, so that I do not miss anything. Our minds tend to vacillate between the past and the future, and we consequently miss these important, ordinary, fleeting moments. What I love about animals is how present they always are, regardless of their circumstances. These words really resonated with me by Lisa Congdon, shown below.

Given the fast pace and hectic schedules of our lives, we have grown used to living with anxiety, stress, and general unhappiness, as if all of those things are a necessary condition of life. Our tendency to ruminate over the past or trip on the future can leave us exhausted and drained. Sometimes just being in our own skin can feel uncomfortable. When we pay attention we realize that we spend a lot of time avoiding and distracting ourselves from uncomfortable feelings — like not knowing what’s going to happen next, or whether someone is going to text us back, or feeling lonely or disconnected. But the antidote to anxiety and distraction is a conscious awareness and a commitment to staying ‘in the now.’ When we focus on our feelings and whatever is happening in the present moment, instead of distracting ourselves from them, we begin to eventually feel a sense of ease and calm. We can practice this habit intentionally through meditation, which strengthens our ability to be present in the rest of our days. And we can also practice it at any moment in the day when we feel ourselves tensing up with annoying thoughts or worry.