Pet Photography: Nikolai in Natural Light

When I was in Florida, I got the chance to photograph someone else's dog, my sister E's Nikolai! So if you were getting tired of my Tessa, this post is for you. If you were getting tired of Chihuahua's, well, I can't help you. You'll just have to wait until I get to photograph M & W's pug.

Nikolai was rescued by E and her boyfriend, after he wandered into her mom's yard. The pup had been abused by his previous owner, and left outside all hours of the day. He's technically a long-haired Chihuahua, but most of the hair on his back is gone. Hopefully with E's love and care some of that will grow back.

I loved shooting Nikolai because of his wild and expressive eyes, crazy mane, and loving personality. Enjoy these pictures of this cutie pie!

Dress Up Tess: My Chihuahua Valentine

The Boy is working late on Valentine's Day, but that's okay. It means there's literally no pressure to make a reservation and get dressed up and go out to eat a prix fixe dinner that is far too overpriced. It also means that I get to spend the evening instead cuddled up with my little Muffin.

This dog has so many nicknames, but Muffin is one I probably use the most (other than her actual name, Tessa) if you include all of its various incarnations. Muffin became Puffin - a combination of puppy + muffin, which became Puff.

Her full name, which honors her Arizonian heritage is Teresita Cascabel. It means Tiny pepper of the earth, which is pretty appropriate for an itty bitty Chihuahua. I like portmanteaus when coming up with nicknames for Tess, so I often call her Tessabel. Occasionally she's Fluffkin, a matchup of fluffy and pumpkin.

The dress she's wearing in these pictures was a Christmas gift from Aunt A, my best friend in the entire world. I thought the soft red skirt was perfect for my little Valentine. You may recognize the heart pillow from my Disney-themed living room. Enjoy the photo shoot, hopefully more than Tess did!

Because the dress was a gift, I don't know where you can find this exact one. However, I found one that's similar. Note: that is an affiliate link. If you click on it and make a purchase, I can earn a little money at no extra cost to you!

Things I Loved This Week (And Last!)

Sneak peak: Next week's multigrain cocoa-cinnamon buns!

What I'm Reading

All Roads Lead to Home (Bellingwood Series): I started reading this book series, and I absolutely love the characters! But Diane Greenwood Muir doesn't let the plot suffer either. There is mystery and intrigue, and I am totally hooked! Here's a quick plot description to draw you in: "Polly Giller returns to small-town Iowa from Boston ready to start a new life. She is renovating an old school building and while getting to know new friends, two sets of bones fall out of the ceiling."

Around the Web

When I see the phrase "Amazon bestselling author," I assume your book hit #1 in some obscure category like Underwater Locked Room Mysteries.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) January 27, 2015

A backlit Belgian Trippel, follow me on Instagram for more!

#TheWriteParty: I joined my first Twitter chat this week and it was awesome! I met some fantastic writers, and learned some new points of view about the creative process. Are you a writer too? Join in Thursday at 7, hosted by TheWriteWoman

I write by pen and paper. Tedious, yes. Old school, yes. But, oh the catharsis. #TheWriteParty
— amber thomas (@mrthomasandme) January 30, 2015

This article from Business Insider uses Richard Feynman as an example to show that having more mental models can make unsolvable problems solvable: "If you only have one framework for thinking about the world, then you'll try to fit every problem you face into that framework."

An extremely interesting story by Zachary McDermott, where he discusses his mental illness from a first person perspective: "I could tell the people on the sidewalk were actors, but just barely. They resembled the normal East Village lot, but they were archetypes"

Awesome Instagrams

• This shelf office set-up is basically my dream. Loving the vertical space use!
• This hippo is so happy! I hope everyone has a day like this.
• Food52 regrammed this delectable looking salted hot chocolate. Yum!
• The hot air balloons just make these rock formations even more stunning.
• Beautiful watercolor and good advice all in one gram? Love it.
• Take me to New Orleans please! I can't resist the French Quarter arhcitecture.
• These gorgeous drinks are making me consider some day cocktails
• Canyonlands is definitely on my list. I need to get to traveling!
• Can everyday be National Peanut Butter Day if we get these cookies?

The whiskey is downstairs. I am upstairs. This is #thestruggle.
— Jessica Stapf (@jstapfinator) January 24, 2015

Dress Up Tess: Yoda T-Shirt

My Chihuahua, Tessa, has huge ears.

Seriously, we talk about her "wingspan" and joke that she is about to fly away. Sometimes, when she's relaxing her ears stick straight out to the sides and she looks a bit like Yoda.

When I put a blanket over her head, it looks like a hood, and I call her my little Jedi master.

But this shirt doesn't just celebrate my Chi's ears. It also makes a solid point about how people perceive my pup. Tessa may be a Chihuahua, but that doesn't make her any less sweet and loving than any bigger dog.

She still goes nuts when I walk in the door, jumps up and licks my face, plays tug-o-war with her rope toys, and begs at the dinner table.

Judge her by her size, do you? Don't.

Love this shirt that Tessa is modeling? Get it here.

Genesee Country Village

I love historical buildings and home design.

To be fair, I also love modern home design so I think I might just be into interior decorating. Anyway, we went to this cute little village in upstate New York that has restored old homes from the Civil War to the turn of the century called Genesee Country Village.

June in Review

Wow. Can you believe that June is over already. It's July, and 2013 is halfway done, which is completely crazy to me. Time is a strange phenomena. It's amazing how quickly and slowly it can go at the same time. Thinking about that always reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

Texas Sheet Cake! My favorite summer picnic dessert. Yum!

“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.” - Albert Einstein

ZooBrew

So our local zoo has this cool festival each month in the summer where they set up beer stands around the zoo, and only let adults over 21 enter.

Basically, it's drunk people and animals - so that's pretty fantastic! Welcome to ZooBrew.

In Like A Lion

One of my favorite things about March (And I'm reaching here, as March is probably one of my least favorite months ...) is that old phrase that it "comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb."

I probably only like this phrase because it mentions lions, and I've always sort of related to lions in a strange way.