biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Jun 19

Inspirational Stones

I love inspirational quotes and sayings. In fact, my fridge is covered in roughly 65 magnet quotes, give or take! On my desk, I have a bowl of stones that I have collected over the past couple of years from my travels, each engraved with a word(s). I find having them nearby inspiring, and I plan to continue to collect these types of stones! These stones sit next to my wish ball and daruma doll. I believe these all channel positive energy.

On another note, we are excited for Doug to come home this weekend from his travels! During Doug’s trip, due to service and connection issues, we were unable to speak on the phone and Face Time together. This has been the longest period of time that we were unable speak since we started dating, nearly eleven years ago! Thank goodness for email and texting! I know Doug is excited to see his fur girl, and we have missed him! Tomorrow we are going to dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants and, after dinner, we are going to see a play! And, most of all, Victory is ready to celebrate her Daddy for Father’s Day on Sunday! (We think being ‘puppy parents’ counts!)

(We truly hope that Victory is on the mend from her infection, which we have been battling for over a month. We should know for sure how she is doing in a couple of weeks when we complete a urinalysis after she finishes taking her current antibiotic.)

We hope that you have a great weekend and Happy Father’s Day!

Jun 17

2 Comments

Start Now: What Will You Regret When You Are 80?

This week I started reading, The Power of Starting Something Stupid, by Richie Norton. I am about half way through this book, and it is a good read thus far. I thought that I would share an interesting insight, the Bezos Test: Will I regret it when I’m 80?

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon. Bezos stated, “If you can project yourself out to age 80 and sort of think, ‘What will I think at that time?’ it gets you away from some of the daily pieces of confusion. You know, I left this Wall Street firm in the middle of the year. When you do that, you walk away from your annual bonus. That’s the kind of thing that in the short-term can confuse you, but if you think about the long-term, then you can really make good life decisions that you won’t regret later.”

Bezos did the “crazy thing” and became a legend and changed the world as we know it with his idea to start Amazon.

The Bezos Test: Will I Regret It When I’m 80?

The Bezos Test sets forth a set of questions to ask yourself, which leads you to the ideas that are most important to you, thereby outlining the ideas for you to focus on first.

Question 1: Do you have a pressing thought or idea that simply won’t go away?

Question 2: Looking at your list, what would you regret not doing?

Question 3: If you had only a short time to live, and you were required to rid yourself of all things from your list except for three or four, which three to four ideas would remain?

Question 4: If you had to prioritize these few things in order from most important to least important, which order would you choose?

“The common question that gets asked in business is, why? That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, why not?” –Jeff Bezos

So what is your ‘crazy idea’ that you would be foolish not to start? The best time to embrace your ‘crazy idea’ is now.

Jun 15

3 Comments

Victory: Photography Project — 62

Beginning in January 2014, I started a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog this year! My goal is to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories, while capturing moments of our everyday.

We gave Victory a bath this weekend, which is not her favorite activity, to get her all cleaned up, before Doug left for his work trip. She feels great — her fur is silky smooth! Victory started her third round of antibiotics this weekend, and she appears to be keeping it down ok. She is on this antibiotic for three weeks, and we really hope that it clears up her infection. Otherwise, Victory is doing well and she, along with us, is ready for a little cooler temperatures!

Below are some images of our beautiful and serene fur girl from this weekend!

Happy Monday!

Jun 12

2 Comments

Around Here: June

Well, the year is nearly half over, and it is really difficult to believe how fast this year is going by! Below are some items that have occurred around here in June!

-received positive feedback on the first portion of my project from my first reviewer. I have been hard at work working on final edits for the first part of the project. Also, the photographing for the project is near completion.

-started reading this book — so far a helpful and good read. I am trying to get through all the books that I want to read!

-making breakfasts together on the weekends with Doug.

-finished watching the Witness, a French series, on Netflix. It was very good!

-enjoying evenings and dinners together on the deck with Victory!

-still selecting and printing images for the house — my goal is to finish framing prints by this fall.

-having date nights with Doug! Tonight we are going to see John Mellencamp; and next weekend, we are going to see the play, The Price, by Arthur Miller.

-still enjoying my yoga class (and the gym) and hopefully improving my skills each week!

-Doug leaves this weekend for a week-long work trip overseas. We will miss him.

-Victory let out her first loud bark last week before ‘night-night!’

-Victory started a new round of antibiotics, which is upsetting her little stomach. We are working on trying a third antibiotic. We hope that the right antibiotic will do the trick and hopefully she will finally be able to get over her urinary tract infection.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend! (It’s a real hot one here!)

Jun 10

2 Comments

Big Magic: Inspirational Quotes for Creatives

I am excited for Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear to come out in a few short months. I have been following Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Motivational Mondays,’ where she quotes from her forthcoming book. Below are a few of my favorite quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book!

“Let inspiration lead you wherever it wants. For most of history people just made things, and they didn’t make such a big freaking deal out of it!”

“Most of their lives, most people just walk around saying: No, No, No, No, No. Then again, someday you just might say yes.”

“Keep your eyes open. Listen. Follow your curiosity. Ideas are constantly trying to get our attention. Let them know you’re available.”

“One of the oldest and most generous tricks that the universe plays on human beings is to bury strange jewels within us all, and then stand back to see if we can ever find them.”

“If you’re alive you are a creative person.”

“Don’t abandon your creativity the moment things stop being easy or rewarding — because that’s the moment when interesting beings.”

“You have extraordinary treasures hidden within you. Bringing forth those treasures takes work and faith and focus and courage and hours of devotion. We simply do not have time anymore to think so small.”

“What is a creative living? Any life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.”

“Be brave. Without bravery, you will never know the world as richly as it long to be known. Without bravery, your life will remain small — far smaller than your probably wanted your life to be.”

“What is creativity? ‘Creativity is a crushing chore and a glorious mystery. The work wants to be made, and it wants to be made through you.'”

“Possessing a creative mind is like having a border collie for a pet; if you don’t give it a job to do, it will find a job to do — and you might not like the job it invents.”

“But it’s a terrible master-because the only thing your ego ever wants to reward, reward, and more reward. Always remember this: you are not only and ego; you are also a soul.”

“This is how I want to spend my life — collaborating with forces of inspiration that I can neither see, nor prove, nor command, nor understand.”

“Fear is always triggered by creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into reals of an uncertain outcome. And fear hates an uncertain outcome. This is nothing to be ashamed of. It is, however, something to be dealt with.”

“If I am not actively creating something, then chances are I am probably actively destroying something — myself, a relationship, or my own peace of mind.”

“You own reasons to make are reason enough. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”

“Passion can seem intimidatingly out of reach at time — a distant tower of flame, accessible only to genius, and to those shoe are specially touched by God. But curiosity is available to everyone.”

(Top image via Elizabeth Gilbert)

Jun 9

2 Comments

Victory: Photography Project — 61

Beginning in January 2014, I started a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog this year! My goal is to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories, while capturing moments of our everyday.

Victory’s urinary tract infection is back with a vengeance. We spent most of Saturday at the vet’s office, which required two visits to the vet in order to get a sterile urine sample. Fortunately, the vet was able to get a sterile urine sample (unlike last time), and we are awaiting the urine culture results in order to determining how to best treat Victory’s infection. In the interim, the vet did another exam and took an x-ray of our fur girl, shown below to check for abnormalities and stones. Fortunately, Victory’s insides look healthy; there are no bladder or kidney stones present; and her internal functions look good. The vet was able to easily review her x-ray because Victory is slender.

Victory is on another round of antibiotics along with this supplement. Part of Victory’s ‘lady parts’ are recessed, which may be contributing to her infections — a breeding ground for bacteria. We are going to clip furs and continue to use baby wipes to help keep her clean and everything hygienic around her ‘lady parts’ in the hope that this will help mitigate future infections. If the infections continue to occur frequently, the vet recommended possible surgery — we really hope never to reach this point. None of us were happy to be at the vet; however, Victory was really good and cooperative through it all.

Here is another view of Victory.

Here is a happy and smiling Victory enjoying some fresh air!

Happy Tuesday!

Jun 8

A Refreshing Summer Snack

This is not a food blog, but I thought that I would share a really tasty, easy, and healthy summer snack that I have been making. You can also prepare this as a side to your lunch or dinner.

1. Cut up a fresh cucumber.

2. Add sea salt to your taste.

3. Add freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to your taste.

4. It also tastes good to add a splash of a good italian dressing for additional flavor. (I really like this dressing.)

This makes for a really refreshing snack that takes only a few minutes to prepare!

Happy Monday!

Jun 5

Recap: Our Time Away!

We returned home earlier this week from visiting family. It was nice to get away from everything, if even for a little while, especially since we have had a really busy spring thus far. Our Victory is very happy to be home in her familiar surroundings and predictable routine! She let out the loudest bark while playing in bed before ‘night-night’ earlier this week — a sure sign she is happy to be home! I think we are up to about a handful of barks now!

One of the highlights of our trip was seeing the Rolling Stones! (Doug has seen the Rolling Stones five times before and he wanted to see them again before it was too late. It was my first time seeing the Rolling Stones.) We traveled down to Columbus with my sister and brother-in-law! Some photos from the concert are shown below! We had fun talking and catching up since we do not get to see each other often enough. Fortunately, the rain held off during the concert and we all had a lot of fun!

Since we stayed over night in Columbus for the concert, Victory also had her first ‘sleep over’ with her Grandpa Dick and ‘Uncle Nick,’ my parents’ dog, pictured below! Victory slept in the bed with her Grandpa Dick, and Nick slept in his bed beside the bed — Nick never likes stray too far from his Daddy! Victory did very well, and this was the first night that we spent apart from our fur girl! At least we know that she likes her Grandpa and Grandma’s house! Doug and I were happy to see Victory when we returned to my parents’ house the day following the concert.

Nick and Victory get along well, and they are both pros at begging for food, especially for chicken at the dinning room table! (I know, this is a bad habit to encourage.) Victory made her rounds under the dinning room table pushing her wet nose against everyone’s shins — her way of requesting more food! Meanwhile, Nick sat waiting for food, specifically chicken, his favorite food, and he jumped up and barked — reminding everyone that he wanted more chicken! Maybe Victory can learn to bark more from Nick who is a very vocal guy!

We also took Victory with us to Culver’s while in Michigan. She and Nick shared a burger! They had a good time!

It was nice to catch up and visit with family and we also enjoyed some favorite restaurants such as LaRosa’s Pizza; Skyline Chili; and we also enjoyed eating Graeter’s ice cream several times! We also tried a new restaurant as well, Smokehouse 52!

Happy Friday and hope that you have a great weekend!

Jun 2

Dog Products We Love

We are back! I plan to share more about our travels later this week after we get settled! In the meantime, in addition to Victory’s ‘Beauty Uniform,’ below are some dog products that we use and love!

Place Mat: We use the Orvis dog place mat for Victory’s feedings, and it is even monogrammed with her name!

Food: We use Fromm dog food, a company who has never had a recall on their food. Victory loves it!

Treats: We primarily use Zukes and Buddy Biscuits, and Victory loves them!

Clothing: Our number one go-to clothing is RC Pets, a Canadian company. The clothes made by RC Pets hold up and fit really well.

Puzzles: Victory really likes the puzzles made by Nina Ottoson. They hold up well and they are very easy to clean.

Collar: We use the all-nylon Premier Martingale collar, and it works well and keeps Victory from slipping her collar.

Leash: We use the Orvis leather leash, which has held up and worked well.

Happy Tuesday!

May 21

Taking a Breather…

We are headed out-of-town to visit family, and we are looking forward to our time away! We decided to disconnect during this time and enjoy our time off. It has been a really, really busy spring, and we are looking forward to a breather!

Meanwhile, if you are in a blog-reading mood, you are warmly invited to check out the archives — links are shown below.

Dog Related posts

Dog Rescue posts

‘Dog-Centric’ Artists Interviews

For Artists posts

Photography posts

Personal posts

Victory Related posts

We’ll see you back here in early June! As always, thank you so very much for visiting and reading the blog! I am most grateful for you! Thank you!

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