lost pups

i was on my way back to work after lunch and as i was driving, i saw a couple of dogs trotting along the road. they looked like they were having fun, stopping here & there to sniff stuff. and there was no owner in sight.

since we are owners of two very loved dogs and would be horrified if they went missing, i made the decision to turn around & park on a side street. i got out of my car, wished that i had dog treats with me, and knelt down to say hi to the pups headed my direction. they ran right up to me and gave me a very happy, friendly greeting! they looked well fed & had collars with tags, quite obviously someone's pets.

i called (and called and called) the numbers on their tags, and decided to put them in the car so they wouldn't run out into traffic. after a few minutes, the owner called. apparently the dynamic duo had dug a hole under the fence & snuck out of the yard. their owner gave me directions to the house & i drove them home.

i didn't manage to snap a pic of both dogs, but i did get this one (with a little photoshop improvements):

i believe her name is abby & she is an 11 month old silver lab. she was so sweet. yay for happy endings!

weekend

this past weekend, we actually managed to get a few things accomplished AND be social. usually it's one or the other. we had dinner with friends and both times were able to bring our pups along - which we appreciate a ton. because even when we aren't home for a bit, we still worry about them. plus, they had a couple opportunities to get out & meet new people & pups - always a ton of fun for them.

custom order: i carved up a linoleum block, making a smaller version of one of my heart card designs, and printed it over the weekend. i did a very small run, so i hand inked everything - but it did give me an opportunity to print letterpress & a lino block at the same time, which turned out well. i'll post some pics soon.

sunday night, vito snuck into the dining room and ate a pound of raw bread dough. he's eaten a lot of things over the past two years, so i didn't think much of it. but (thankfully) hubby looked up the consequences of eating raw bread dough and two major ones kept popping up: the dough will still rise in vito's tummy, causing bad pain (or worse) & a major possibility of alcohol poisoning. OMG. so we had him at pet emergency about 15 minutes after he ate the dough and they gave him something to make him throw up all the bad stuff. poor pup was a wreck for the next couple of days - he couldn't get comfortable all night & his tummy was making some awful noises. vito is back to normal now - playful & perky! we had a couple of scary days and are glad to have our sweet mischievous puppy back in action.

photoshop practice with vito

here's another photoshop attempt.

the original (phone picture):

the edited version:

on the edit, i tried to adjust the exposure & take out some of the yellow lighting. i also cleaned up the carpet (i wish cleaning carpet was that easy). i selected vito and brightened him up separately from the background. again the pic quality was poor...i wonder how i would fix that graininess, if it's even possible.

vito lays like this all the time. he's such a goof.

photoshop practice

i've been working a lot on my photoshop and decided that i needed to start practicing with some of my photos. ideally, i would like to post them once a week or so, but we'll see.

the image quality of this picture was poor to begin with, since it came from my phone. but i figured i'd give it a go anyway.

here's the original:

and here's the photoshopped version:

mia is pretty grainy and i'm not thrilled about that, but at least now you can see her face. keep in mind i only just got through my 3rd photoshop lesson. what i learned from this attempted edit: good picture quality is a must! and editing an all black dog is hard.

i'm guessing you'll be seeing a lot of photos of the dogs being adjusted in photoshop since i have about a million pictures of them :)

vito

today is vito's 2nd anniversary with us! i can't believe it's already been two years since we picked him up from his foster home.

he was SO tiny

and cute (a terror too)

now he's all grown up!

we couldn't imagine our lives without him :)

goal list

hubby & i were talking the other day & he pointed out how incredibly busy we both are.

i was thinking about everything i do already, as i worked on a list of goals for this year, and had a hard time thinking of achievable goals to fit into my already jam packed schedule. here's some of the stuff i do:

- work at a full time job
- work part time at my friend's shop
- maintain & am trying to grow my side business, tama press
- am taking online courses in graphic design

in addition to regular house chores (laundry, dishes, etc), hubby & i have a huge responsibility to take care of our pups and spend time with each other!

i created an "everything" list that contains everything i want to accomplish this year, ranging from cleaning out the closet to setting up a facebook page for tama press. there are a zillion things on the list & it keeps growing...but it felt like a bit of the weight was lifted off my shoulders as i wrote things down. i tried to break projects up into smaller, manageable pieces too, which will help me feel like i'm getting something done, even if it's a little part of the whole project. now that we are almost 3 weeks into the new year, is everyone working towards your goals? or have you already crossed a couple off your list?

charlotte

we met this 6 month old cutie over the weekend.


she's a riot - banging into tables, wagging a mile a minute...she's ALL puppy. can't wait for ours to meet her!

weekend & boots!

hello! hope everyone had a nice weekend...i was a busy bee...worked out, went to a meeting, worked at my friend's shop for a few hours, had dinner with friends & met their super cute puppy.

on friday afternoon, i received a phone call from a older gentleman who heard through the grapevine that i rebind books. i met with him later that evening to inspect the book and see if it was something i could fix. the book is an old Bible given to him by a friend that he's used for decades & the covers had fallen off. i took the job :) it was a pleasant surprise to hear that my book binding skills are making it out into the world by word of mouth.

on saturday, while waiting for our table to open up for dinner, hubby & i browsed in a few stores. and i found these:

source

i've been on the search for new dressy boots, since my old ones finally died. i had found some gift money that i had stored away a long time ago (when i was switching my stuff to a new wallet) and decided i had better get the boots! they're comfortable and make me about 3 inches taller which is awesome.

sunday was great - hubby & i relaxed all day together. even though we had a ton of stuff to do, we've been so busy lately that we needed to spend some time together. i wonder sometimes how we are able to add more activities to our already crazy schedules. how was your weekend?

custom wedding order meeting

i had the pleasure of meeting a very nice couple last night. they are getting married this year & wanted some custom pieces by yours truly. the groom to be saw my work in town at a shop that picked up tama press in december...and as it turns out, the shop is owned by his mom! and, he was friends with my brother in elementary school...and i was friends with his sister! such a small world.

the couple were so pleasant to work with - it sure makes a difference to have sweet clients. i'm looking forward to starting on their package. they requested a custom guest book, recipe cards (to send with their wedding invitations), a recipe card box, a photo box, and a larger clamshell box to house their custom made cake cutting utensil set! lots of stuff - it will be made from indigo chiyogami, printed with a bamboo design & chocolate bookcloth. i can't wait to start on it!

so hungry!

i've been doing this workout program (at 5am) for about a week and a half. while it's too early to notice physical appearance changes (i'm not doing it for that reason; it's more to get into better shape), i have noticed that i'm hungry. CONSTANTLY. in fact, i'm eating right now.

in addition to working out, i'm trying to improve what i eat a bit - cutting some of the sweets that i adore and replacing those with more nutritious snacks. hubby found some nut/seed/fruit bars that are surprisingly tasty. and i've been eating cottage cheese & peaches. omg cottage cheese has never tasted so good.

does anyone have some suggestions for quick, healthy snacks? eating baby carrots & celery sticks as a snack doesn't really excite me.

new year funk

it's the new year and i disappeared from blog world for a week longer than i anticipated. i think of how i felt at this time last year...my mind was teeming with goals and plans. and this year...well, i feel blah. i haven't been in the greatest mood and i've been getting overly frustrated with small things.

some words to better describe this "mood":
anxious
overwhelmed
pessimistic
annoyed

i'm feeling unappreciated & taken advantage of, to a certain extent (not by husband though - he's been supportive & positive & is really doing a lot to help me out with stuff).

so is it just me? maybe i am in a funk. i'm working on narrowing down specifically what the source of the problem is and wading through all of the symptoms is a slow process. this year will bring forth a lot of changes and the unknown...

on a positive note, hubby & i have started a workout program in the mornings together (at 5am!!) while the workouts are HARD, i've actually enjoyed the additional time in the morning to myself. my typical morning is workout from 5-5:45ish, clean up & make coffee (until 6:40ish), then work on homework until it's time to go to work. being productive in the morning is pretty awesome. the downside is that i can barely keep my eyes open after 9pm.

hope everyone's year started off well! i'll be catching up on your blogs in the next few days...