Showing posts with label shasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shasta. Show all posts

The Gift of Thoughtfulness



It doesn't take much to make me smile normally, but this past week was rough.  There's nothing worse than waking up and realizing our puppy wasn't going to be waiting for us while we ate our breakfast. 
Yesterday, though, I went to get the mail and came back from the mailbox beaming. A package came and it was addressed to me! {always fun to get something in the mail, right?!} In the package was a sweet and very thoughtful gift...an angel holding a puppy.  Tears of good memories, happiness, and an overwhelming sense of someone else thinking of me, hit me all at once.  Shasta is our little angel, so it's a perfect little figurine. She's on my desk and to say I adore her would be an understatement. 


I'd give anything to squeeze our doggie like that one more time.


Maggie, the sweet blogger who sent it to me... I cannot thank you enough for this kind gesture. You truly knew how to make me smile. Thank you for the joy you passed on to me. There's nothing like a bloggy friend to cheer you up and gift you with something you'll treasure forever.


I'm going to try to pay it forward and do something out of the ordinary for someone I come in contact with this week. Won't you join me?! Together, we can make someone's day by gifting them with thoughtfulness!


Happy Sunday!
Love,
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One Thousand Things

I'm so overwhelmed with you loving and kind words in response to my post yesterday about Shasta.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.  Your prayers and words of encouragement were such blessings to my family and I {they read all of the comments!} One of my favorite books, One Thousand Gifts, talks about how during every storm, every pain and every heartache, God's grace follows.  We are thankful for the comfort in that truth.  Today I'm working on completing Shasta's baby book. We have filled it with pictures and facts about her from when she was little, and I think a great way to conjure up the best memories are to print out pictures to complete the book.


In reading the book One Thousand Gifts, I've learned that a thankful heart leads to joy.  The author of this inspirational book was challenged to write a list of 1000 things she's thankful for, as a way to constantly be basking in joy.  Even among the storms of this life, we can always find one thing we are thankful for.


I love this idea; the challenge of thinking of 1000 things I'm thankful for.  I try to write a couple each day, but I love knowing this challenge will take me a long time. I'm hoping to be so overflowing with joy, that I'll get past 1000 and still be able to come up with more!


1. God's grace being enough for me.
2. The warmness of summer air.
3. My pink Bible from when I was little...all creased, highlighted and worn in.
4. Puppy kisses.
5. Shasta's velvet soft ears.


6. Journaling.
7. Patterns- all kinds.
8. Rosy cheeks.
9. Little one's giggling.
10. Being carefree.
11. Catching up with a teacher from high school and learning about life through her. Watching her with her kids and wanting her servant's heart.
12. Photographs of our dog.
13. Trips to Disneyland.



{brother}
14. Birthday cake.
15. Butterflies.
16. The sound of ocean waves.
17. Lavender nail polish.


18. Pajamas.
19. Interior design coffee table books.
20. Grande Passion Tea Sweetened (:


and lately, I've been very thankful that a much needed vacation is coming up.  


21. Going to visit Megan {from Mackey Madness} in Louisiana.  Good friends, girl time, and site seeing right when I need it most.  See? God's grace is already in abundance.




She's going to show me where she went to college, I'm going to meet her family, friends and adorable dogs {They are in for some serious lovin'}, then we're exploring New Orleans.  I've never been to the south and I sure haven't been to a Wal-Mart, so I'm excited! Megan truly is the sister I've never had and always wanted. Her sweet southern heart has blessed me more than she'll know.  I'm so thankful we've met through blogging and can't wait to share our vacay pictures after the trip {2 weeks and counting!}


22. Forming relationships and sharing my passions for love and life and design through blogging.


Those are twenty-two out of one thousand things I'm thankful for. I've got a whole lot more where those came from {978 to be exact!}. So, will you join me in creating a list of 1000 things that bring you joy?


Have a joyful Tuesday! I will try to do the same even during this grieving process...
Love,
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Our Sweet Puppy Girl

Dear God,


How to even start a prayer when your heart is so heavy? The only way to remedy the sadness is to remember the joyful moments and be thankful we were blessed with a little golden retriever 11 years ago.


Thank you, God, for allowing our family to have the joy of raising our sweet girl. Even when she chewed up our carpet, had accidents in the house, or when she would famously run around the yard with the newspaper in her mouth.  We loved her even more.
Thank you for the sneaky puppy who would come around the corner with a pair of socks in her mouth, just waiting to be chased. Thank you for a dog who loved adventure; hiking, jogging, swimming, boating and even riding the jet ski.  
Thank you for the way she would come over and rest her head in our laps. She sure had a keen sense of our emotions. Thank you for teaching us not to take life too seriously through her. We learned to laugh when she jumped up on the counter and eat our entire plate of raviolis, or decided to roll around in the horse corral up at grandma's house.
Thank you for giving each of the four of us a best friend in our dog. And a different type of best friend to each.  Amazing how one little furry ball of golden locks can be so touching, loyal, and loving to each of us in different ways.
Thank you for the way she would run to the door when I'd come home from college, the way she'd stick by my side the whole night, and the way she'd guard the door when she knew it was time for me to leave again.
Thank you for her cute little black nose, so curious and sniffing everywhere...especially on Christmas. She knew we put something in her stocking each year.
Thank you for the time we got to spend with Shasta even after we found out her diagnosis. Thank you for letting us tell her what we love about her and that she's the best dog we could have ever asked for. She brought our family together, that little golden, and made us appreciate Your creations even more, God.  Thank you for her sweet soul, for giving my 10 year old self a secret keeper and best friend, thank you for the way she so innately cared about people, and thank you for those velvety soft ears. I will never forget them.


More than anything, though, thank you for blessing us with a dog who taught us how to love better, with no bounds. Help me always remember that.


I pray that she makes new friends in doggie heaven, because God, believing she's in dog heaven is the only thing getting me through this day. Thank you for loving her as much as we did and for loving us enough to gift us with her.


As her brown eyes looked up at me last night, we knew.  We just had a mutual understanding. She knew she would always have a special place in my heart. I knew I would have one in hers, too. She's my girl. She knows how much she was loved, and no one can ever take the bond between our family and our sweet girl away, that's for certain.


In Jesus Name, Amen.


We love you to the moon and back, precious girl.
Love,
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Puppy Love & Learning to Embrace Change

I cannot tell you how thankful I am to have received so many prayers and sweet emails over Shasta.  I just wanted to check in and give a quick update.


Shasta does, unfortunately, have cancer of her blood vessels, but she is home and doing quite well.  She's panting, smiling and begging for our food still....which I'll be honest, she's been getting a lot of lately. Today she tasted an egg bagel sandwich for the first time and she loved it. She told me (: Shasta is now the princess of our home and we're totally okay with it.
She spoiled and she knows it!


She could rip up the newspaper a thousand times and we'd still tell her she's the cutest thing we've ever seen.

For now, we're just thanking God she made through her surgery and has some life left to spend with us at home.  Making her feel loved is all we want before she goes home to doggy heaven.  


Please keep her and our family in your thoughts and prayers, as losing her soon will be a huge and unwelcome change.  However, we know God is faithful and we will get through it!
Speaking of changes, our family is also in the process of getting our house up on the market.  Our offer was recently accepted on another home, so this week the goal is to get ours sold.  It's crazy, stressful and we will be leaving special memories behind, so we're all just all trying to keep it together over here.  We're going to embrace this change and know good things are in store!


One thing is keeping me sane: I get a couple thousand square feet to design very soon! (:


Well, that was a hard post to sit down and write, and I don't even know why. I try to keep things positive and beautiful on my blog, but sometimes life swoops in and you've just got to be honest about what's going on. So there ya have it (:


Back tomorrow with some muchhhhh needed prettiness in the form of a styled photo shoot Cristin and I helped with! Hooray!
***
I'll leave you with one of my favorite verses that I recently saw on one of my friend's blogs...and let me tell you, it was just what I needed...


The LORD gives strength to his people;
   the LORD blesses his people with peace.

~Psalm 29:11


Hope you've had a blessed weekend(:
Love,
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Fashion Friday #41: It's Gettin' Hot in Here

It's Friday! I kind of can't believe it's here already.  I survived my first day of being at work at 6am. And I rolled in 2 minutes early holllaaa (:
This week has been unbearably hot. Today is the first day I could actually breathe when I first got into my car.  Shorts and dresses {and lots of AC} were a must this week, and since I wear dresses a lot in my fashion posts, today I mixed it up.  I actually really don't like wearing shorts....like, ever.  I'm not sure why- maybe it's because I wasn't allowed to wear them to high school or because I never need to wear them in college. Or maybe it's purely because I'm still 6 and like to wear dresses everyday(: 
Nonetheless, today my favorite pair of shorts are making their debut on the bloggity. 


I'm also so excited to show off my new necklace from Ex Voto Jewelry! The lovely Elizabeth was so super sweet to send me one of her stunning pieces. Take a look!









Top: Nordstrom B.P.
Shorts: Abercrombie & Fitch
Shoes: Anthropologie {on sale!}
Necklace: Ex Voto Jewelry
High Bun Tutorial: go here.


I'm loving the necklace for many reasons- it's comfy, it's bold and it's gold. I'm really into gold right now.  I love that it goes with my shoes so well. I've worn it almost every day since receiving the kind package in the mail!
The exciting part is that if you keep on coming back here, you'll be able to enter to win the same necklace during my Blogiversary's week of giveaways! {Last week of July} (:
Thanks Elizabeth- you rock! Go explore her shop here. And follow her on twitter, too, why dontcha!


*I was not compensated for this review. All opinions are mine. I genuinely love Ex Voto Jewelry's products (:
***
What do y'all have planned for your weekend?
We're currently trying to nurse my little buggaboo back to health. Poor thing has a fever and some other little sickness that is too long {and too hard!} to spell out.
Shasta is beyond thrilled that her new diet is boiled turkey and brown rice. What a health nut.


Have a great weekend, friends!
Love,
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Fashion Friday #40: First Day of Work

Happy Friday!!
This was my first week at my new job! I'm working at Pottery Barn. So far, I've had 2 days of training and it's been fun. I had to study all the furniture, fabrics and company products. It was basically a review of my textiles class, so it was great to see the information I learned in my class applied in my new job!
Pottery Barn is classic, business casual...so here is what I wore for my first day!







Ruffle Shirt: Ann Taylor
Printed Skirt: Ann Taylor
Wedges: Nordstrom




Today was 80 degrees.  And let me tell ya, it felt like 100 smack in that sun!  I'm trying to catch up on my tan since, you know, I had been deprived of it for 9 months in Washington, so I laid out today.  I could only stand it for 15 minutes before I started sweating too much for my liking. 
Shasta was upset with me because she wasn't done gettin' her tan on.  Little diva fur ball, of mine (: 


Love her to pieces.


Happy Weekend!
Love,
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She's a Movie Star

Happy Weekend!

You all know how much I am obsessed with love my sweet pup.  She went on an adventure a few weekends ago with my dad to the Tahoe Mountains to visit my grandparents.  My dad filmed Shasta while she was frolicking and then made this over-the-top-adorable mini film.  I can't help but smile when I see her ears whippin' back 'n forth {yep, just took it there.}

Enjoy my little diva:


Love and Weekends,

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Puppy Love

Last week Shasta helped me pack for Seattle.  And by that I mean she laid next to me and occasionally would start panting smiling and wagging her tail.  Then she'd put her head down like this:


It's her way of saying don't leave please! So I whispered to her that I love her and I'll see her real soon.


She proceeded to start rolling around on the floor. Not sure what that meant, but it sure was cute.
She's still my puppy, even if she's 11. 
**********
In other news, today I'm finalizing my application for officially getting into the Interior Design Department. I'll be sure to share my short essay and project I created with you next week (:

I'm off to grab some tomato soup and grilled cheese from Nordstrom Cafe. It's only $4.99! And it rocks.

Happy Weekend, friends.

Love,

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My Girl

When I was 9 my life changed.  We brought a little ball of of fluff home. She was our families pet, but she was my best friend. My secret keeper and my cuddle bug.  She's the cutest golden retriever ever. Don't even try to challenge me on that (:

I love her because she poses for pictures:

She's up on the latest technology:

She loves sports and will always most of the time bring the ball back:

She admires herself in the mirrors, which is completely justified, seeing as she is the cutest:

She's sneaky:

She has the biggest brown eyes:
this is her "don't leave me" face. Or..."stop taking pictures of me". I'll go with the first one.

Always makes us laugh:

She guards the hallway when she knows I'm leaving:

She cuddles when she knows I'm sad, begs for the food I'm eating when she knows I'm in a good mood, we have sleepovers when I'm home for a short time, and she helps me pack for school:

And sometimes she doesn't cooperate:
which is also pretty cute.

She always wants to be the center of attention:

And she'll always be my girl:

She's one of the many reasons I'm excited to go home in 2 weeks!

Do you have a furry best friend?
Have a wonderful weekend!

Love and My Girl,

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Happy Saturday!


This weekend I'm practicing my watercolor skills, going to a little girls birthday party who I babysit for, going to church tomorrow morning, painting my nails with my new OPI color (deep lavender) and relaxing.


Just like this cute girl (:

Love and Saturdays,
Michaela

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Welcome Wednesday!

Take it from me, a new blog I found, does this great link up every Wednesday! It's for new people to have the chance to meet new people and gain more followers.  So I thought it was a great idea, since I'm new and all (:


So if you're getting to my blog through the Welcome Wednesday link party, then thanks for checking my blog out! I'd love for you to read my About Me and My Favorite Things (the buttons at the top of my page) to learn more about me and my blog. 



For now, here's a cute picture of my sweet puppy (she's actually 10).  Although right now, she's not so sweet.  She's sitting right next to me with her nose on my lap waiting for me to drop a crumb of french bread.  I told her to go lie down because I don't bother her while she eats!

Happy Wednesday!
Stay tuned for a new post coming soon on a bathroom redo I did recently!

Love and Welcome Wednesday,
Michaela

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