Splendor And Folly

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Click here to see more pieces from the artist Dalton Ghetti who creates sculptures from pencils.

Like most people, I have a soft spot in my heart for animals;  and as I have made very clear here, baby animals especially. This is why it is very very tragic and sad to see photos of baby elephants being trained for the Ringling Brother’s Circus. I was brought to tears by the harsh treatment, terrible conditions and lack of respect for these wild creatures.

After seeing these photos I will never attend a circus with animals and I urge you to do the same. There are plenty of shows like Cirque Du Soleil where the entertainment is provided by people who love to perform, rather than animals that have no other choice.

Click here to see the photos but please be warned that it is very sad. But I feel it is important enough to share so no one else supports this practice.

On a lighter note, here is a cute video of a baby elephant that looks much happier and playful, like baby elephants are supposed to be!

I realize there is also a lot of animal cruelty involved with mass food production, and that is one of the reasons why many people choose to become vegetarian or vegan. Obviously that issue deserves attention as well and is something that has been on my mind lately.

What stands have you taken for the sake of innocent animals or your own personal peace of mind?

Capturing your pet on film can be pretty difficult, especially when your pet is known as ‘The Crazy One’ and tends to think the camera is just another treat you are offering him.

Well on the day I was taking photos of the new room, stars aligned and I was able to capture some good shots of Raleigh.

We don’t know the EXACT date, but based on getting him around 9 weeks old, we estimated Raleigh’s  birthday to be May 15th. He blew out the candle on his doggie cupcake (with yogurt frosting) and got a new toy which is now known as his ‘Birthday Buddy’.

If you have a dog that rips through stuffed toys in 20 minutes, I highly recommend the “Go Dog” brand of toys. Yes, they are more expensive, but they have a chew guard technology that makes it a lot more difficult to rip open the seems, and provides hours of entertainment!

You can find where they are sold near you here.

We just love him so much!! Here’s to another great year!

I have been reading a lot lately. Well when I say a lot, I mean reading two books in two months, which  is a huge accomplishment for me.

Usually I can never get through books because I end up reading them a few pages at a time before falling asleep and then I give up halfway through the book. 

When I have long plane rides though, I can breeze through them in a few days. Here are my two most recent reads, I recommend them both!!

And here is the next batch I picked up at the library yesterday…interesting mix! I have heard good things about the first two. The wedding book I just saw and picked up.

I want to remember to focus more on the meaning of our wedding than the style of our wedding. Even though I love planning the visual and style aspects, that is not the part that REALLY matters!

What are you reading??

This is a little color palette I have put together for our wedding. Keep in mind, I won’t be using the actual objects (well maybe some), but they represent the colors that will be used for invites, bouquets, centerpieces, etc. Of course this may change, but for now, I love it!

I promise to talk about stuff besides weddings soon :)

Hey all! Sorry I am becoming only a sometimes blogger, such is life! Even though having this blog was a big goal of mine and I had grand dreams of making it amazing, I’m just not feeling it lately. And I don’t feel like adding something to the pile of things to feel guilty about.

Similarly, I’m trying hard not to feel guilty about not having the most amazing, beautiful, unique, put-together, meaningful, special and cutting edge wedding around. Where would I get this idea that I needed to put together such an event?

Wedding blogs that’s where! Both wonderful and evil at the same time! Wonderful in the sense that they provide beautiful inspriation photos and ideas, evil in the sense that my wedding will never compare. Either way, I’m still going to look, so here are some pics I like via snippet & ink (Can you tell I like green and white?). Other pretty blogs include Once Wed and Style Me Pretty

I wanted to show off pictures of my beautiful engagement ring! At first I couldn’t figure out how to get a good photograph up close, then I discovered the macro setting on my camera, its awesome!

So the story behind the title is that when viewed from the side, the ring resembles a crown. Jake asked me once or twice before actually giving me the ring ‘do you like crowns?’.  I’m sure I responded with ‘uuhhh, I guess soo…’ because at the time I had no idea what he was talking about! But as soon as I saw the ring, it all made sense :)

I love gazing at it and thinking how lucky I am to be loved so much! Of course I don’t need a diamond ring to feel loved, but it is a symbol of a pretty big commitment…

Our baby is all legs…and ears!