biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Oct 31

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I cannot believe how quickly the time is flying by that it is already time for Halloween! Victory was a fifties girl last year; a lioness two years ago; a butterfly three years ago; a ladybug for her first Halloween, four years ago; and, this year, she is Wonder Woman, shown below! You can see over the past four years how much Victory has changed! Victory will help us hand out candy tonight in her costume, along with her pumpkin masterpiece carved by Doug, also shown below. Doug spent a few hours carefully and diligently working on his Halloween friendly ghost-themed pumpkin! Additionally, here are links to pumpkins carved by Doug last year; two years ago; three years ago; four years ago; and five years ago — mostly all dog-themed pumpkins!

We hope that you all have a wonderful Halloween!

Oct 27

Around Here: October

Happy October! October is one of our favorite months of the year, and we cannot believe it is almost coming to an end! This month literally flew by. Below are some items that have occurred around here in October!

-still working on finishing final edits, which are very tedious, and continuing to work on the next steps concerning my long-term photography project.

-Doug and I celebrated 9 years of marriage!

-to celebrate our anniversary, we took a trip, with Victory, to the Shenandoah Valley! We had a wonderful time together!

-we celebrated Victory’s sixth birthday, commemorating her four years with us since her adoption from the Michigan Sheltie Rescue! We had a gold, white/ivory, with a splash of champagne themed birthday this year!

-we are excited to celebrate Halloween next week! Doug has his plan for carving our annual pumpkin; and Victory, shown below, is going to be Wonder Woman for Halloween this year — we truly believe she is our wonder girl!

-started back at yoga class this month, which has been great!

-enjoying date nights together! Doug and I are aiming to try at least one new restaurant a month to expand our horizons! This month we tried Sweet Nolas in Winchester, Virginia.

-enjoying time together outside. We have been taking more walks outside during the evenings, when it is cooler, and Victory still loves the walks while she rides in her Hound About!

-continuing to work on getting fine art prints made, framed, and hung in our home, an ongoing endeavor!

-began the second season of Fortitude, a good series.

-finished reading Cultivate by Lara Casey.

-listening to a myriad of podcasts, especially, at the gym and on walks!

-continuing to make incremental progress on our ever-growing to do list!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Oct 23

Victory: A Birthday Celebration — 6 years!

On October 12 it marked four years since we adopted our dear little Victory! We decided to make October 12 Victory’s birthday — the day we went to Michigan and adopted our sweet fur girl.

We recently celebrated Victory’s birthday marking her four years with us since her adoption! This year, for Victory’s birthday, we did a gold, white/ivory, with a splash of champagne in honor of Victory’s beautiful fur coat! (As shown below, last year, we did a light pink and gold themed birthday; two years ago we did a pink themed birthday; and three years ago, we did rainbow themed birthday for Victory!) We purchased some fun gold and white/ivory themed decorations, balloons, confetti, party hat, and new ivory sweater for Victory in honor of her birthday! Victory also enjoyed prime rib and smoked turkey in lieu of birthday cake, which she gobbled down in no time flat! Victory looked absolutely adorable on her birthday, as always, shown below! (She is always so cooperative with my ideas, and Doug blew up every single balloon and helped to keep Victory’s attention during the photos!) She had a fun birthday and she enjoyed being over fed along with a trip to the Eastern Shore for crabs! We are the lucky ones to share our lives with this wonderful, loyal, and loving being.

For Victory’s birthday, we gave her a new: ivory sweater; a custom, handmade ceramic dog water bowl; an Orvis embroidered name blanket; a Jax and Bones rope toy; and a Ware of the Dog toy! Victory also received, for her birthday, a water rover and a gift card from her Grandma and Grandpa Carver! We all had a great day together!

(All birthday decorations are via Oh Happy Day and Sweet Lulu.)

A look back at Victory’s birthday time over the years…

If you are considering getting a dog, I hope that you consider adopting a rescue dog. There are so many dogs in need of a good, loving home. As shown below, Victory, a rescue, has changed so much physically and emotionally over the years since we adopted her, pictured on the left (image from Victory’s foster mom via the Michigan Sheltie Rescue). You really can save a dog’s life, while simultaneously enriching your own life/lives.

Oct 19

Loving: Fall 2017

Happy fall! We are happy to be in the season of fall, a season of harvest! Below are the items I am loving, so far, this fall!

1. Get To Work Book – I love this annual planner/work book. I always like to keep a paper planner versus using an app, iPhone, etc. I have this planner all ready to go for next year and I love the extra pages included as well for notes, big projects, etc. So, if you prefer keeping a paper planner, I highly recommend The Get To Work Book, which offers much more space (pages) than a traditional planner and it is a perfect size!

2. Align Crop Pant, Lululemon – I love these pants; and I live in them — they are the most comfortable pants I own! I cannot say enough good things about these crop pants, which are wonderful for working out, yoga class, and for wearing around the house! Also, there are some nice, new colors available this season as well!

3. Satya Jewelry – I somewhat recently discovered this line of jewelry. The style is quite simple, elegant, and inspirational, while created with global consciousness.

4. Jeni’s Ice Cream — We first came across Jeni’s ice cream in Charleston when we were on vacation this summer. This ice cream is delicious and we get it at our local Wegmans! The Brown Butter Almond Brittle is one of my favorites. And there is a new scoop shop in D.C., which is much closer to home! (You can find a local grocer who sells Jeni’s ice cream here.)

5. Signature Candle, Magnolia — I love candles, and we generally have them lit around the house when we are home. I especially love the Magnolia signature candle. It smells really wonderful!

6. Mrs. Meyers Soap – My normal dish soap was out at the store, so I decided to try Mrs. Meyers lavender dish soap — it smells great and it is a keeper!

You can view other things I love here!

Happy Thursday!

Oct 16

#FindYourFido: Adopt a Shelter Dog Month

It is the #FindYourFido Adopt a Shelter Dog Month via the ASPCA! Anyone who has been reading this blog, for any length of time, knows that dog rescue is near and dear to our hearts. Victory is a rescue and Biscuit was a rescue. So, when the ASPCA asked if we could share in this campaign, we were happy to participate and help spread the word about this important topic.

How can you get involved? The public can get involved by visiting here and by using the hashtag, #FindYourFido, to promote shelter dogs, and searching for local adoptable dogs across the country.

Outlined below are two ways that you can get involved:

1. Post a Photo: You can post a photo of your pet looking adorable and share why dog adoption is important to you, along with this social media language like this: “Visit ASPCA.org/FindYourFido to join the adoption movement and help shelter dogs around the country! #FindYourFido @ASPCA.”

2. Fido Cutout, “Virtual Foster”: Additionally, the ASPCA can also send you a cardboard cutout of Fido and you can be a “virtual foster” by posting photos of him (with or without your pet) on social media. Below are a few samples of the cardboard cutout and here is some social media language you can use along with your image of the Fido “virtual foster:” “This is Fido, an ambassador for shelter dogs around the country. Visit ASPCA.org/FindYourFido to find out how you can help! #FindYourFido @ASPCA.”

*All images (except for the image of Victory) contained in this blog post are courtesy of the ASPCA.

Oct 13

Photographs: Shenandoah Valley

This past weekend we took a long weekend trip to the Shenandoah Valley with our fur girl, Victory, to celebrate our anniversary along with Victory’s birthday! Doug found a dog friendly pumpkin patch and animal farm, Hill High Farm, located in Virginia, for us to get this year’s pumpkins! Doug is still figuring out what he is going to carve on our pumpkin for Halloween this year! (Speaking of pumpkins, can you spot little Victory in the pumpkin below?) We also went to Black Draft, a dog friendly distillery in West Virginia where we had a private tour and tasting! We also took Victory to Zaxby’s in Winchester, Virginia, which she loved! We all love Zaxby’s and we wish one was located closer to our home. We first learned of Zaxby’s while we were in Charleston earlier this summer. Victory got a Kiddie Finger meal, shown below. (Of course, she just had some of the chicken, which she loved.) We also spent some time in Old Town Winchester, which had some cute shops to pursue. Through a friend’s recommendation, we found an excellent cajun, authentic New Orleans restaurant, Sweet Nola’s, where Victory got her own chicken and rice bowl on the house, which she actually ate at the restaurant, which is a first! The food was delicious! We enjoyed our time away together; and a few images from our trip are shown below. We hope to return again!

Happy Friday!

Oct 11

Nine Years In

Nine years of marriage. 13 years together. You are my favorite human being. Life without you would be totally unfathomable. You are the most supportive and patient person I have ever met. I admire your character, steadfast patience, and your kindness that you show to everyone. Most of all, you are my very best friend. You are the greatest gift of my life, and each day spent with you is truly a gift. I look forward to many, many more years together, knowing that we can get through anything together. Happy anniversary, my love!

Oct 6

Pups in the Park!

On Saturday evening we took Victory with us to Pups in the Park at the Nationals! This is our third year going to Pups in the Park with Victory! The weather was beautiful and we had a fun time together! Victory was brave and sniffed and met many dogs! However, we did not see any other shelties at this game. Victory also enjoyed part of a Shake Shack burger, which she loved! Below are some iPhone photos from our visit! We look forward to going back for more games next year and we plan to get Victory a Nationals’ jersey for future games!

Happy Friday! We’re headed to the Shenandoah Valley for a long weekend with our fur girl, Victory! Have a great weekend!

Oct 3

Mornings…

Mornings.

Over the past few months I have been rising in the mornings with Doug, around 4:45 a.m. At first it seemed quite early to rise, but I have adjusted; I pretty much wake up now on my own around this time, on most mornings during the work week, and even sometimes on the weekends. (We do make sure we go to bed early during the work week). I am working on final edits for my photography project, and I find that I work best in the early morning, versus other times of the day, while the entire the house is very quiet, Victory is back in our bed resting (after potty), and meanwhile, it is still dark outside. It is also nice to watch the sun rise. So if you are trying to get a project done or trying to find extra time in your day to get something done or begin something that you always wanted to do, I highly recommend utilizing the early mornings. You will be amazed how much you can actually accomplish during this time frame.

What I have found from this practice is that it is best to show up every single day, even when it’s hard. I have also found that it is best to suspend expectations and the be present and in the flow of work and not be occupied or concerned with what gets done or how. Some days you will be ‘in the zone’ and everything will flow; and other days, you will feel tired, the work will feel more difficult to wade through, and it feels like little progress is being made. Sometimes, however, when you hit a roadblock, it helps to step away and work on something else and come back to the issue that is giving you a problem or difficulty; giving space, during these times, will help the issue resolve, without much effort. It is amazing. Sometimes I will be stumped on an image that I have been working on for a long time, without resolve, and them I step away for a couple of days, and it finally resolves, i.e., I figure out what I need to do to make the image work. Nevertheless, just keep going. Roadblocks are not permanent, they are chance to persevere.

“I work all the time. I never leave home. I mean, I just stay honed in on what’s ahead.” — Sally Mann

“It is the thousand of days of trying, failing, sitting, thinking, resisting, dreaming, raveling, unraveling that we are at our most engaged, alert, and alive.” — Dani Shapiro

Sep 27

Around Here: September

Happy September! Happy Fall! We cannot believe a new season is here, and it is almost October! We love the fall, one of our favorite seasons for various reasons! Below are some items that have occurred around here in September!

-finishing final edits and continuing to work on the next steps concerning my long-term photography project.

-Doug and I celebrated 13 years together from our first date this month! The time goes by too quickly!

-we went to a Navy football game at the Naval Academy, in Annapolis, which was great fun and we had beautiful, fall like, weather! The Navy even won!

-this weekend we are taking Victory to Pups in the Park again at the Nationals!

-Doug started taking a French class this month, which he is enjoying greatly!

-we had plans/reservations to return to Dewey Beach this month, but with Hurricane Irma, and the forecast up the coast, we decided to postpone for another time.

-enjoying date nights together! Doug and I are aiming to try at least one new restaurant a month to expand our horizons! This month we tried a few new restaurants: Vin909, in Eastport, (which took over, a while back, for a restaurant, the Wild Orchid, which we loved); Founding Farmers, in Tysons Corner, a new favorite, which we both loved; and we made it to Tupleo Honey in Arlington (Rosslyn) with Victory, (which we were introduced to in Raleigh, North Carolina), which was excellent!

-enjoying time together outside. We have been taking more walks outside during the evenings, when it is cooler, and Victory still loves the walks while she rides in her Hound About! In fact, we have done so many walks, that the Hound About needs new tires, which we ordered!

-we got small drywall repairs; painting; and caulking done around the house as a result of our home settling since being built and ongoing construction near our home.

-we got our home ready for fall with mums, fall wreaths, and candles etc.

-we are getting ready for Victory’s 6th Birthday next month! (We cannot believe that Victory, our sweet fur girl, has been with us for four years already, commemorated on her birthday!)

-we are getting ready for Halloween — we have Victory’s costume!

-continuing to work on getting fine art prints made, framed, and hung in our home, an ongoing endeavor!

-finished watching the second season of Witnesses, an excellent French series.

-began the first season of Fortitude, a good series.

-began reading Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown, a really good read so far!

-listening to a myriad of podcasts, especially, at the gym and on walks!

-continuing to make incremental progress on our ever-growing to do list!

Happy Wednesday!