The Beginning of 2014

I have so many things to share and so little time to share them in. I'm trying to be a good student and focus mostly on studying this week as I prepare to start my fieldwork on Monday. I had to take a break to say happy new year!

Guy and I took a walk on a trail near my grandmother's house. It was a beautiful way to start our new year. We are excited to see what this year has in store for us. I will be graduating. We will be moving. I will be searching for a full-time job this summer. Guy is deciding what he wants to do in regards to his next career move.

The past few days I have been reading about King Solomon in 1 Kings and also reading through Proverbs. My prayer for this year is that I grow in wisdom and discernment as I grow personally and transition from a student to a working professional.

"If you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heat to understanding; If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God."
Proverbs 2:1-5

Happiest of new years!
Until next time!


**It just took probably 15 minutes to upload these photos... The internet here is sllloowwwww, so sorry if the amount of photos I put up decreases! Also, I'll try to get a post up this week about our trip to Michigan for Christmas.**

Hide Yo Kids

I am so sorry that I have not shared this with you sooner.

Guy made this. I do not remember why we were dressing Beau up like a thug. We dress up Beau a lot, though. When we saw the photo below we immediately thought of Antoine from a new story blooper. We thought Beau looked especially cray-cray.

 

Not sure what we're referencing here? Watch this and then this and it just keeps going.

Beau, Again

Guy and I have had Beau now for 3 years. We can read him like a book. We know what his bored sigh sounds like. We know when he is annoyed with us. We know when he wants to go outside. We know when he is content to sleep all day. We know when he is nervous. We know when he is feeling playful. We know when he is sad. We know what he'll eat (no vegetables or fruit). We know how he'll react to different strangers. We know how he'll react to other dogs. We know his favorite places to be rubbed (everywhere). We don't know when he is hungry. But that's about the only thing we haven't figured out yet.

I talk to Beau. I cuddle with Beau. I play with Beau. I can't imagine not having Beau.

A couple months ago in the middle of a never-ending, hot summer. We took Beau out on a nice long hike. His fur isn't exceptionally long, but it is thick. We got back to our apartment and he just couldn't seem to cool down. So we filled up the bathtub partway with ice-cold water and he hopped right in for almost half an hour. And the cuteness ensued.

 Do you consider pets to be family members?

Happy Barkday, Beau & Fletcher!

So, a couple months ago I was talking with one of my classmates/friends, Michelle, and found that our dogs are the same age! They both were born in September three years ago. We both immediately decided that we needed to have a doggy birthday party. I have been dreaming of doing something like this for - well, ever! So, it was fun to find someone who is as obsessed of a dog mom as I am.
We chose the date and invited all our dog friends and human friends (who we thought would not mind being over-run by dogs). Thankfully Michelle's parents let us use their backyard! Things never turn out exactly as planned, and this party is a testament to that. I had these grand ideas of making a video and whatnot. But with 6 crazy dogs, things didn't work out like that. We still had a great time and Beau was completely worn out by the end of it.

Want to have your own doggy barkday party?
*Make sure you have more humans than dogs. (We just barely met that criteria)
*Do not put the dessert/treat/human food table right where all the dogs like to wrestle, which is inevitably where the humans are! (We almost lost the food to the floor numerous times)
*Keep plenty of treats on hand for photo-ops and distracting other dogs
*Have a safe place for owners to take their dogs by themselves if the dog becomes overwhelmed (Teddy, the smallest dog definitely appreciated that he could fit under the bench away from the other dogs)

Now for the photo dump.

 ^^ Ashley, with her dog Teddy. Michelle with her dog Fletcher. Heather with Michelle's sister's dog, Sydney. Cambria with Beau, my dog. Christina with Riley, Michelle's parent's dog. Me with Cooper, Michelle's brother's dog. :)

^^ Riley the Labrador Retriever. Isn't she the cutest? She would rarely sit still for a photo!

 ^^ Sydney the Weimaraner. I have so many goofy shots of her. This is the least goofy one!

 ^^ Case in point! Look at Sydney in the top right corner!


^^ And here she is again!

 ^^ Us humans had hummus and veggies provided by Cambria. The dog friendly birthday cake we made was definitely less cakey and more bready. The dogs still ate it though and that's all that matters! The blue bowl is full of dog friendly peanut butter cookies, which we taste tested first on Fletcher. He didn't seem extremely fond of them so I slathered the tops of the cookies with peanut butter and that seemed to do the trick!

^^ Sydney, again!

All the non-single ladies! Janelle who is in a picture later on in the post kindly took some picture.

^^ Sydney...again...

^^  Fletcher! He is a mix of who knows what. This is his new trick! And this is no small feat. That was a large piece of dense, bready birthday cake.

 ^^ Okay, I added this photo so you can get a picture of Beau's personality. Do you see how intense his gaze is? He would not look at me and I was holding a treat all for him right under his nose.

^^  Michelle and me with our pups, the birthday dogs!

^^ Cooper the Corgi with Fletcher

Sorry. It's official. Beau is the cutest. dog. ever!

^^ There's Janelle. On the far left.

^^ There was a lot of this going on. Most of my pictures are blurry and full of slobber and dogs wrestling.

Now for some of my favorite photos from the afternoon.

^^This one is my all time favorite. The lighting with his adorable corgi smile. The shadows, the birthday hat. I am proud of this photograph.

  

  

 

We had a wonderful time and I can't wait to do it again. :)

Until next time!

A Sunrise

Guy and I have a very laid-back and spontaneous relationship. We rarely plan very far ahead into the future when it comes to trips and dates and what not. This past week I got it into my head that we needed to do something out of the ordinary. Friday night I brought my idea to Guy. Could we wake up on Saturday morning and watch the sunrise at the beach? He immediately agreed to the idea. We drove to Huntington Dog Beach the next morning and I put together an amateur video. I really needed to be creative like that and am pleased with the results. The song is Holocene by Bon Iver. It has such a nostalgic feel.


September Sunrise from Puffer Family on Vimeo.

I Forgot To Feed My Dog For 24 Hours and Other Things

1// I know.
In my defense - Beau doesn't whine when he is hungry. He doesn't nudge his bowl when it is empty. He doesn't try to eat random inanimate objects around the house. He doesn't even beg for "people" food. (Though that probably has to do with how that is the one thing that I trained him well not to do, rather than how hungry he may or may not be at any given moment.) So, I ask you, 'How am I to know when he is hungry?' I have this routine of feeding him once in the morning and once in the evening. Unless I don't follow that routine. Which, I know you know where that leads. Anyways, I did feed him before I started writing this blog post. He scarfed down his meal and looked at me with accusing eyes the whole time. After he was done eating he jumped on the bed where I am typing and proceeded to curl up in a ball right beside me. Dogs are so forgiving.

image

2// I deleted deactivated my facebook - again. If you know me, then you know that this has happened numerous times for different reasons. I am on way more than I should be. I browse rather than study. I want to avoid people. I get on a lot and it annoys Guy. Etcetera. I just want to live a full, happy existence, and I was allowing facebook to take that away from me sometimes.

I love the image above and what it says. For me, I feel like that is what a lot of social media comes down to - glorifying how busy we all are. I would skim through pictures people would add, hundreds at a time, of all these amazing things they did. Now, this is not to say you can't do stuff and you can't take pictures and that you can't share them with people! Of course not. I just think that sometimes we get into this mindset where we don't know how to just be. Just sit and breathe. Stop for a minute. (I'm learning all about stress and how it really is a killer.) Not having things to "post" had me beginning to compare who I am to who other people are. We all know where that leads to. The minute I start feeling bad about who I am is when I know something needs to change. Sometimes I need to remove myself from the situation and sometimes I need to change my mindset. Anyways, this time, I need a break. Most likely not permanent, however indefinite. That also means that I will be spending more time here! 

Until next time!

Small Pieces

1// Beau being Beau

2// Vibrant flowers

3// Skittles the Australian Shephard

4// Friends

5// Guy

6// Beau's spotted tongue

7// Dead grass

8// Ants

9// Reche Ridge Canyon

10// Something just out of view

1// Beau The Baby, is part Chow Chow, Keeshond, and Shiba Inu, among other breeds. He sheds like it's his job. I finally broke down and bought a furminator, which is fantastic. I highly recommend it. Anyways, if you look closely at the carpet you can see several of his little Beau hairs sticking up. I vacuum all the time! I dream about having wood floors and a giant backyard. Someday.

2// The flowers (I don't know what they are) in front of that house are so bright they could almost be classified as neon. I love them. When you walk by them it is hard to look at anything else. Which is a good thing, because if you would turn around, you would see our apartment complex. Not so pleasant to look at. At least once a week Guy and I can be heard saying, "This too shall pass."

3// Skittles is a friend's dog. She has provided Beau with hours of entertainment. It will be sad when we move away. Notice my use of words ... when ... not if.

4// These are two friends of mine who were at a barbecue we were invited to this past weekend. There is nothing like sitting around a fire, eating barbecue, listening to country music, and listening to good conversation. Guy called our friends at the barbecue, "The Salt of the Earth." :)

5// Guy recently had to sell his dirt-bike, a sacrifice if there ever was one. Riding was his thing. He wallowed in misery for several months before he was able to purchase a remote control car, a temporary substitute for riding dirt-bikes. He is back to his manly ways, just on a smaller scale. <Does that sound funny? haha

6// I know, I know. Beau. Again. I don't have human children, so get use to Beau pictures! I don't have much to say, except that I just love his tongue.

7// Dead Grass. I am continuing to learn how to use my camera, and am becoming faster at knowing what settings to change to create the image that I envision. I'm still struggling and still can be heard saying words I should not be saying when I can't figure it out. It is fun to have a new hobby, though.

8// Whenever I go on a hike, I always spend several minutes observing the numerous ant hills. It is so interesting to me. They just go about there business, doing their respective duties. I have followed trails of ants for 15+ feet, watching them carry things to their home. Don't you just love to watch ants? Neither does Guy.

9// The view from one of my hikes. I despise the Inland Empire, however have oddly become attached to it. I guess that is bound to happen when you live somewhere long enough. For all its smog, traffic, crime, and people, we have made some wonderful connections here.

10// Can you see what Guy almost stepped on? It was a GIANT tarantula. Guy and I have never encountered anything remotely dangerous on our hikes - until now. I get the heebie-jeebies whenever I think about that spider. I was disgusted, however could not pass up the opportunity to get some photos of the monster. And then, Beau decided to come and see what mom was doing and he ended up stepping on the spider. Then Guy and I both started yelling at Beau to get away, and chaos ensued. I ran away. About ten minutes later I could not resist returning to the spider and getting a few more photos. It's like that thing that you don't want to see/do/encounter, but that weird sick part of you just can't resist.

This post was inspired by Longest Acres', "Pictured, Not Pictured" posts.

Beau "The Baby"

Today I did some research about ISO, f-stop/aperture, and shutter speed. I put my camera in manual mode and played around with using manual and automatic focus. I feel like at this stage for me, it is a guessing game. I put in what I feel is the right "formula" and still turn up with photos I don't like. I need to do more research, especially on white balance. I am slowly going through my camera's manual.

 Here are some photographs I thought were pretty good. I bribed Beau to look up at me by placing a treat on my head. :)

Kind of dark. I like elements of this photo.

Yes, we use old dishes for Beau's food and water. No, we don't wash them and use them for our own dinner.

My favorite one of the bunch.

Very warm photo. More so than I like.

Oh, those eyes.