Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Words to Live By ...

In my scouring of the local shelter sites ... I came across this fantastic article in the Humane Society of Loudoun County newsletter.

It's such a great depiction of how growing up around animals changes your life. Just reading it brings me back to when I was a kid trying to teach the kittens to use pencils and chasing the dogs around the house outside until we all collapsed with sheer exhaustion.

I hope that it brings back the same memories for you ... or ... ones similar to mind but from your own past ... you day dreaming about my childhood would be a bit creepy.

The Tao of Dog
By Belinda Recio, Organic Spa magazine

Bill's Lake.11 wk.7.10.04.Sleeping Maizie

As a writer, I have the good fortune of being able to work at home, which has many advantages. But the greatest advantage, by far, is that I get to spend a lot of time with my dog. At first glance, it might not seem like Spooner is very good for my productivity. After all, he has a persistent habit of periodically interrupting my work by pushing my hands off the keyboard with his snout. Once he succeeds in breaking my concentration, he dives into what is known in dog world as a“play bow.” He lowers the front half of his body onto the ground, keeps his back end raised, and wags his tail like there is no tomorrow. This is dog-speak for “What are you waiting for? Come play with me!” A play bow invitation is very hard to resist, and so I often find myself taking unplanned breaks in the backyard.

As anyone who works at a computer all day knows, sitting at a keyboard has its health risks. Prior to sharing my life with a dog, I didn’t take the breaks my body and mind needed. My body needs to move and stretch, and my senses need engagement with nature. Before I had a dog, I was often so focused on my work that I didn’t even notice the weather, let alone which perennials were blooming or which birds were singing in my own backyard. So much for working at home! I might as well have been confined to a stuffy cubicle for all the attention I was paying to the world. But Spooner reminds me to get outside, breathe some fresh air, soak up some vitamin D,stretch my muscles, and actually notice what’s happening around me. I might spend a little less time at the computer, but the time I do spend working is more productive because the breaks revitalize me. Spooner hasn’t just changed the way I work–he has also changed the way I walk. Although I can appreciate a brisk“power walk” to get my heart rate going, there’s also something to be said for a meandering, Thoreauvian stroll. When we take our daily walks, Spooner looks at, sniffs, listens to, tastes,and touches nearly everything he encounters. Now, I take my cues from him, and when I walk, I try to engage the earthly world with all my senses. Before Spooner, I had become so trapped in my mental abilities of abstraction and analysis that I often forgot to stop and smell the proverbial roses.

This is what dogs–and other animals–do for us: They help us to come to our senses-to regain an honest, primal consciousness based on experience, not abstraction. In her book, Animals in Translation, author Temple Grandin theorizes that one of the big differences between people and animals is that animals don’t have all the complex defense mechanisms that people do. Animals don’t repress their fears, or deny what’s going on around them. Spooner certainly engage scoping strategies (like not making provocative eye contact with big, unfamiliar dogs we encounter), but he doesn’t “lie” to himself about the dog not being there. If I find a chewed-up sneaker and look at Spooner, he doesn’t “pretend” he didn’t do it. Instead, he lowers his head in confession and apology. Though our human world undoubtedly requires a certain amount of pretense and repression in order to cope with the constraints of culture, most of us would benefit from the kind of uncomplicated honesty that dogs practice.

Walking and playing with Spooner helps me gain perspective on what’s really important in life. Spooner wags his tail like there’s no tomorrow, because for him, there really isn’t a tomorrow. For dogs, life is all about the here and now because they are natural Zen masters, living in the moment from the day they are born. Unfortunately, for most of us, it takes a serious crisis before we try to live for today. But dogs can help us to remember that age-old axiom: Worry won’t spare us any sorrow tomorrow, but it will sap today of its joy.

Speaking of joy, I recently had the pleasure of howling with Spooner. I was joking around with him (dogs have a great sense of humor) and started howling. Before I knew it,Spooner tilted his head back in wolfish majesty, pursed his black velvet lips, and let out the most amazing howl. It was so beautiful and primal that it took my breath away, but just for a moment. I then immediately joined him and we howled in harmony for several minutes. Of course, I know that Spooner is not a wolf, but let’s remember that every dog’s lineage goes back to those howling ancestors. Most scientists who study wolves speculate that howling strengthens and reaffirms the social bonds between pack mates. This may be just a theory, but tell that to Spooner, who, once we finished our duet, covered me in big, sloppy dog kisses. The lesson here? Find ways to harmonize with your pack.

There is much we could improve about our health, both psychologically and physically, if we followed the Tao-or way of dog. Perhaps the most important lesson relates to how we treat one another. People tend to forget how much family and friends matter to them. Work deadlines, financial pressures,multi-tasking–these facts of life often prevent us from remembering, let alone expressing, how much other people mean to us. Like dogs, we are pack animals, and most of us really do need a pack to be happy. But unlike dogs, we often forget to treat other people in ways that reflect our warm feelings for them. Dogs are always happy to see their family members and friends, and they always express this happiness. This is one of the reasons we like dogs so much–they never let us forget how much they love us. Imagine how much warmer the world would be if we could do the same for one another.

Borrowing a Page from the Captain

I've recently been inspired by my wonderful *hot* fiancee (a Vol Fire Fighter) to "follow my bliss". And I'm realizing ... with a surprising amount of shock ... that work just ain't it. So, I'm looking elsewhere ... like the local shelters ... animal shelters to be exact and rescue agencies. I don't have much time to donate but what I do have is all theirs. Although we are currently waiting for the right time to adopt, I got to thinking about how amazing it would be to help make those connections happen.

People say this all the time but I was an animal fanatic as a child ... just to be clear ... while other girls were reading this (the Babysitters Club for those who were too lazy to click) ... I was reading this (Animal Inn - which oddly enough doesn't have a cover picture on the site ... because I was the ONLY loser to read them all!!) ... then they were saving their money to by these (Seventeen) magazines ... I was getting newsletters from these (the Thoroughbred Club of America) guys.

You see ... When I was born my parents were raising and sledding huskies and taking care of a friend's horse ... we lived on a not-quite farm my whole life. We had a few goats, chickens and rabbits at pets. Inside the house, it was always a zoo. We took in every injured or mistreated animal we could ... including those the cat mistreated. These ranged from dogs and cats, to rats and iguanas ... you get the picture. Since moving to the DC area ... I have limited my pets to a cat and few ferrets to accommodate my time at the office. For a girl who dreamed of being a vet her whole childhood,.. it doesn't get much better than helping animals find the lives the deserve. Its something I'm pretty passionate about and its about time I do something about it.

I know that sounds corny, but I really think I can do this. Though, there are people out there who give me one month until I've brought home my first adoption. I can't say that they are wrong ... yet. I'm just going to say that I'll try. I truly just want to do what it takes to help get these animals into homes where they will get the life they deserve.

If I can't save the world ... maybe, just maybe, I can save one corner of it.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Sorry M ...

With genes like these ... she never had a chance ...



So Cute She Deserves Her Own ... Everything

While I am sitting in 4+ hours of DNA training ... FUN!!! (No really ... its going to be so cool! - GEEK .. i know) You guys can enjoy catching up with the numerous reasons I've not updated ...





In the midst of my cousin's visit my dad tried to make me jealous by sending my this little pic of he and my Nana ...

It didn't really work because I truly have some of the coolest cousins EVER!

This one needs no introduction ... this is Munchie ... eating. This picture comes just one day before he tried to sell us the fact that he was taking so long eating because he wanted to "enjoy" his burger ... not that there was a cool movie on where things were blowing up ... I would say this is photographic evidence to the contrary ...

About 20 minutes after we hit lunch ... we stopped by the pet store. They were having a rescue day. I was lucky to drag Munchie out of there without this little guy ... more to the point, I was lucky I was able to drag myself out of there with ALL of them. Woo Hoo responsibility!! In case anyone asks ... this whole being an adult thing ... S.U.C.K.S!


And then ... there was book club ... contrary to the pictures I actually read the book and partook in conversation. However ... If I wanted to post pictures about a bunch of ladies sitting around, drinking and talking ... I think Sex in the City has that market covered ...


I'm thinking this little JuJuBee it totally a Charlotte ... she only loooooks cute and innocent.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The World is My What Now?? ... Again!?

Sometimes things will pop up and remind me that I've not shared any wedding information with anyone for a while ... today, this thing happened to be the Etsy Finds email. If you don't get these ... they are the cutest and give me GREAT ideas for future presents. Anyway ... today's edition was called: Nice Day for a White Wedding ... how fitting ... and alluring. In perusing through ... I know I already bought my blue ... but I constantly see things that I think would be the cutest ... and for a more adult wedding ... the most beautiful. The best part about that ... we haven't even decided on a location yet ... so I'm free to do whatever I want ... still!





In all seriousness ... no plans have been made and I'm ok with that ... sorta / kinda / not really. I have a dress? Does that count??

Every now and then things happen that make me wish I had been more aggressive with my planning and that it was all done already. A couple (family of the Capt'n) got engaged right around the same time as us ... and my heart sunk when we received their Save the Date (STD in wedding terms ... I know... how awful) ... and now their Rehearsal Dinner Invitation. This is all ok because they are getting married before we were planning to ... so it makes sense that we receive these things before we send ours out (or before we decide on a location / date / etc ... as the case may be).

Worse yet ... we have friends who got engaged just over 3 months ago ... and we got their "STD" in the mail last week ... for their wedding in October. I KNOW! That breaks my heart a little as I wanted October for us (though we already know other October brides ... I was ok with them). Oddly enough, it was just a random month we picked because the rates were cheaper and the weather better in the Outer Banks. Perhaps the heartbreak is caused by the fact that the fourth, and only real plan that we had, has recently fallen by the wayside. Its ok ... we are now going to just DO what we WANT to DO (something that many people - you know who you are - told us to do in the first place - thank you, a year later, we listen ... ). Also, due to some personal affairs that need to be put in order potentially this fall (and because I haven't gotten off my a$$ and planned a damn thing) ... we are going to be hard pressed for a wedding this year at all. So ... the slate is clean ... again ... and the world is our oyster ... again ...

For those who aren't reading between the lines ... cliff notes:

1) Wedding in OBX this year is not happening

2) Get your passports ready ... for next year ... maybe ... if you're lucky (ok ... if we're lucky)

3) I need to get off my a$$ and actually make this happen (yeah ... right)

4) Don't hold your breath ...

Monday, June 15, 2009

Daily Horoscope



Not everything that seems great really is great -- but you knew that already! You may need to take even longer to come to that final decision that it seems like everyone you know is waiting for.

Sorry guys ... no wedding plans as of yet (clearly). Keep saving your pennies though ... the locales seem to be getting more and more exotic with every Internet search ... unfortunately, as evidenced by my horoscope ... it may be a while longer ... if only work would give me wedding planning days off ...