Miniature Australian Shepherd- 11 weeks

When I was trying to research Miniature Australian Shepherds, I had a hard time finding photos of the puppies at different ages. So I thought I would post some of Fender at 11 weeks. He is growing but is still quite small. He is all fluff. When we bathe him we realize how small he really is. He is so smart! And the pup has ups. He literally jumps right onto the couch and right off the bed. He is a character!! We love him so much.

Proud Wife

So Erik and I had to make a pretty hard decision recently. We had to decide whether or not Erik should move up to NYC to pursue his modeling career. He has modeled for several years but never full-time. It was more of a hobby that he did to make extra money while he was a starving rock star. But he kept getting modeling opportunities without really trying. He definitely has a gift. Besides being gorgeous, he is extremely photogenic and is completely comfortably in front of the camera. I like to brag on my hubby because he is never brags on himself! haha!

He spoke to some folks at the Ford Modeling Agency up in NYC and they explained that they would love to represent him but they needed him to live in New York City for awhile. Castings come up last minute every day and a lot of their clients are located in the city. So in order to pursue a modeling career seriously, the move was pretty necessary.

It was a hard choice to make. We just bought a beautiful house in Nashville, TN. We just got a new puppy. The members in Erik’s band, Florez, are all in Nashville. And my job requires me to stay in the south. So… what to do?

I didn’t want Erik to regret not pursing the modeling thing a few years down the road. He has so much potential and such an amazing talent that I would hate for it to go to waste. His success is still uncertain but I wanted him to at least give it one good try. He felt the same way. He had to give it a shot.

So we decided that he would fly up to NYC this past Wednesday and he would work his butt off and try to have a successful modeling career. It is a hard profession because work is never guaranteed and you are not on salary. You only get paid when you get booked. So we really had to step out in faith that He will provide. Sometimes faith requires us to take a bold step to reach our personal goals. Sometimes there can be just as much faith involved in taking personal initiative as there is in waiting passively for the Lord to provide. As Erik moves forward in his modeling career, unexpected obstacles will arise which throw us back to waiting on the Lord for guidance. But for now, we have decided to take initiative and start working towards his ultimate goal of becoming a successful model.

So Erik just left for New York City on Wednesday. Yesterday was his first casting. He got awesome feedback and the job it between him and one other guy. So that is really good news. I have a good feeling that he is going to do great up there.

I am so proud of him. Now I just have to figure out how to entertain myself. We usually entertain each other. It is going to be a hard couple of months but I know we will work through it!

Cancer Sucks

For the most part I try not to talk about my mother’s cancer. When she was first diagnosed, I really didn’t want to talk about it with anyone. It was too soon, too new, too hard, and all too real. I think I have tried to avoid the subject because it is so much easier to pretend that its not really happening. I just tried to convince myself that everything was fine and it would all blow over eventually.  But then it didn’t. The prognosis just kept getting worse.

I remember when I first realized my mom was sick. I had just moved to Nashville so I spoke to my mom on the phone pretty often. I noticed her voice sounded different. It was hoarse, but not soar throat hoarse… something was definitely off. She would cough uncontrollably.  I begged her to go to the doctor. We actually got in an argument about it once. She eventually went to get it checked out and the doctor thought she had acid reflux. Some of the symptoms of acid reflux are dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and hoarseness. So the diagnosis was believable. But after more than a month of taking medicine to treat it, her voice still sounded funny.  Eventually she went to an ear, throat, and nose specialist and they found her tumor.

My parents right before mom's diagnosis

I will never forget that call. I was driving to Zoe’s to pick up some food on my lunch break. My dad called my cell. I answered it and immediately knew something was wrong. “Jaime, your mom has been diagnosed with cancer.” It was like a dagger in my stomach. I felt nauseous. I felt weak. I felt helpless. Then I started balling. I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t stop sobbing. “Are you sure dad? Is she going to be ok? I want to come home right now, I want to be with you guys!”  I could tell my dad was crying. My dad crying? Until that point I didn’t even know that was possible. I knew things were really bad.

The feelings I felt that day are really hard to explain. It was such a deep sadness. I had never felt anything like it. I was sad and even mad in some ways. Why my mom? She was supposed to have a sore throat, at the very worst tonsillitis. She was only 48 years old when she was diagnosed. She wasn’t a smoker. HOW DID SHE HAVE THROAT CANCER?! It wasn’t fair. I was devastated and wanted to drive to Spartanburg to be with my family. I called Erik and he came and found me hysterically crying in the parking lot.

Do you remember when you were little and you would cry so hard it was actually hard to breathe? Then your stomach would start convulsing and you couldn’t even say a full sentence? Yeah, thats how I was. I was helpless, like a little three year old. My whole world was crashing down right in front of me and I didn’t know what to do.

At first we thought her cancer was stage two. Treatable and not life-threatening. Less than a week later they determined it was stage four. When I got that news, I didn’t know much about cancer. So I didn’t really know what “stage four” meant. So I was upset but a little clueless. Within a week she was going to Wake Forrest for a major operation. The doctors determined they had to remove her larynx. We knew this was going to be a possibility but we didn’t realize it was going to happen so soon. We had planned to have mom tape record herself talking. Making funny remarks, telling jokes, telling stories… that way whenever we missed hearing her voice we could just listen to one of her recordings. Unfortunately the procedure happened so fast, there was no time to prepare, and no time to record her voice.

I was in Nashville at Mercy Ministries the day of her operation. It was on the same day we had the Christmas celebration for the girls in the home. As I sat in the Mercy home, watching the girls open their gifts, I worried about my mom’s outcome. My dad finally called, several hours later than I expected. The surgery had taken longer than the doctor originally thought it would take. Those were the longest hours of my life. The surgery went well. They removed mom’s larynx without any major complications. It was a blessing. But at the time it felt like a curse, at that very moment I realized I would never hear my mom’s voice again. So now, I call home when I know everybody is gone, that way I can hear her voice on the answering machine. I close my eyes and pretend it is her talking to me. I usually cry when the machine beeps. Cancer really sucks!

Luckily my mom is a fighter and her strength has been an inspiration to everyone around her. I think I am done writing about her cancer today. Its wearing on me a bit. I will try to finish writing about it some other time.

I’ve gotta feeling…

I have a funny feeling that if someone is constantly coming on my blog to write the same negative comment, over and over again, they are one of three things:

#1) One of Erik’s ex-girlfriends from middle or high school

#2) One of my ex-boyfriends from middle or high school

#3) Obsessive, psychotic, very unattractive, and not that bright

And if it happens to be #1 or #2 they probably possess all of the traits mentioned in #3.

With that being said, why  on earth would someone take the time to come read my blog posts and then leave a negative comment? It amazes me that people have so much time on their hands. There are so many better things one could be doing with their lives. Hmm lets see, rather than being Negative Nancy you could:

*Spend time with your family

*Read a good book

*Read the Bible!!!!

*Watch Jersey Shore

*Write a poem

*Volunteer at the local soup kitchen

*Take yoga classes

*Take anger management classes

*Play Nintendo Wii

*Make a few friends

*Play with a puppy

*Plant a tulip (I am a big fan of tulips!)

*Order a cheesy gordita crunch from Taco Bell (best item from TB for real!)

*Learn how to make an origami bird (now wouldn’t that be neat!?)

*Listen to Mariah Carey’s song “Obsessed” over and over and over again

*Look in the mirror and evaluate yourself. Why are you so mean? Why do you lack self-confidence? Why are you a jealous person? What can you do to make yourself a better person?

*Make your own blog so that you can share your thoughts with someone that actually cares!

With that being said, I am going to go take some of my own advice and read a good book and play with my puppy!! YAY!!

PS. If you are going to leave a negative comment, at least be a big enough person to own up to it and use your name rather than a fake one. AND if you are going to try to hide your identity… REMEMBER to hide your IP Address… (and that is why characteristic #3 includes “not that bright!” hahahaha)

Sew Fabulous!

So I actually started working towards one of my New Year resolutions!! I started sewing school on January 3rd at Marguerite’s Sewing School .

It has been an amazing experience so far. I go to one three hour class every week. At my first class we learned all of the basics and talked about sewing, notions, patterns, fabrics…pretty much all of the fun stuff. Then we received our first pattern to start with. Our first sewing project is a skirt. It is pretty simple but I think it will be really cute.

Amy Butler Fabric

I found an awesome fabric store in Nashville. It is called “Textile Fabric” and right now the entire store is 40% off. So I went a little crazy. So far my fabric fabrics have been made by Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner. Anna Maria is actually from Nashville!

On the second day of class we pinned down our fabric on the pattern and cut it out. Then we practiced sewing on an actual sewing machine. It was great. The first few seams I tried to sew on my practice fabric were a little crooked. But by the end of the class I was really getting the hang of it. If you live in Nashville and want to learn how to sew, I definatly recommend checking out Marguerite’s Sewing School.

I will keep you updated with our skirt project and I am going to take photos at the next class! I can’t wait.

New Year Resolutions

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to look towards the future and determine what changes you want or need to make in your life. So this New Years I had quite a substantial list of New Year resolutions. Here are my top five:

#1) Start a daily workout routine- there was a point in my life where I enjoyed working out. That tight and sore feeling in my legs and behind made me feel good, like I accomplished something for the day. I looked forward to my time at the gym or in kickboxing class. Now, it is a pain in my rear… both literally and figuratively. Whenever you take a break from working out, it is always hard to start back up again. There is that initial burn and feeling that you can’t do half of what you used to. And it is really a complete lifestyle change. You have to make time in your day to workout. Unfortunately I don’t have much free time these days and working out hasn’t really been much of an option. But this year I want to force it into my schedule and make a serious effort to start out a daily workout routine. So hopefully this will happen soon.

#2) Eat a healthy and well balanced meal everyday- I grew up eating very healthy meals. My mom is an amazing cook and always cooked amazing food. So I always had a very healthy lifestyle as a child and young adult. In college I would get into cupcake or monkey bread kicks every once and awhile (I love to bake) but I still had a pretty healthy diet overall. Now, my eating habits are horrible. I work late, very late. I am usually up until about 2AM working on research for casting. So, I don’t wake-up until mid-afternoon which means I never eat breakfast. If I have to pick up the kids from school, I usually grab some green tea and a granola bar for lunch. Then I snack on kiddy food for the rest of the day. We have fruit roll-ups, organic mac-n-cheese, cookies, and candy. Not a good combination. For dinner, I try to wait until I get home to eat which is about 9PM. By that point it is too late to cook so I grab Chinese or Blue Coast Burrito. I want to make a good effort to start eating healthy again.

#3) Learn how to sew- I have had several moments in my life where I realized the importance of being able to sew. I never really learned as a child so I find myself paying a ton of money to a professional seamstress to alter my clothes. Not to mention, this past year I was cheated out of several hundred dollars because I did not know the normal prices of fabrics and notions and was overcharged. So, I figure it is about time I learn how to sew. I want to start with the basics…. mending clothes, sewing up holes, and using a sewing machine. One day I would like to sew my own clothes and sew clothes for my kids. That would be so cute!

#4) Get organized- I never feel like I am organized. I think I have so much going on in my life and so much going on in my head that I have a hard time getting everything in order. I really hope this year I can figure out some system to get everything simplified and organized.

#5) Read everyday- I want to start reading again. I love to read but the problem is I get so into books that once I start I literally can’t stop. Sometimes I will even bring my book to the dinner table and will try to continue to read while I eat. Bad habit. So I find it easier to just not read at all. But this year I want to find a happy median and at least read a little from the Bible and a little from a novel every night. I think it will help me unwind and will be a great daily activity.

So here is to 2010! What is your New Year resolution? Do you have any suggestions to help me fulfill mine?

A Personal Touch

It has been awhile since I shared my fun finds from Etsy.com. So I thought I would make a little gift guide with all of my favorite items. I think it is great to support artists and the best part is you end up with awesome, personal, and unique gifts.

I love this Personalized Hammered Copper Cuff! You can personalize it with names, short phrases or messages, birth dates, wedding dates… really anything up to 30 letters! Each cuff is actually personalized by hand! (They are not engraved.) So every singe bracelet is one of a kind! They best part is they are very affordable!! Only $29.00. Check them out here!

For all of the golf lovers in your family, here are really cute custom golf tees. Erik and I were actually thinking about getting these made for favors at our wedding. We decided to go with the photo booth and candy bar instead but I think they would make a great wedding favor. I also have a really hard time finding fun gifts for my dad so I bought him some that said, “Sean don’t break me!” for Christmas. They are just a fun, cheap, and a great unique gift. A whole pack of 20 personalized tees is only $8.00. If you want to order some check them out here!

How cool is this custom hand-carved face stamp!? You actually e-mail your photo to the artist. She sends you back a drawing for your approval. And if you don’t like it, she will actually make you another one! Once you approve her drawing, she carved you out your own personal face stamp. The artist lives in France so she estimates about 8-10 days before it will arrive. For $20.00 you get your own personal face stamp in a cute wooden box to keep it in. You can add an ink pad to your order for $4.00. I think this would add such a fun touch to personal letters, invitations, and cards! If you want to check out this artist, go here.

Wax seal Monogram Fob Necklace- Each letter is made to order from fine silver (99.99% pure silver)and comes on a sterling silver 16 inch Venetian Box Chain. This pendant comes in shiny silver. You can pick any letter. Each pendant is handmade and as such no two will ever be alike! The necklaces are $35.00 each. If you want to check this artist out, go here!

If any of you all order one of these items, let me know what you think of it!!

Unique Christmas Ornaments

Well this year was a year of “firsts.” It was the first time Erik and I ever had our own Christmas tree. I was so excited to get our tree and decorate it but I realized it takes a whole lot of work and money to decorate the tree. Especially since we didn’t have any Christmas ornaments. So I decided to go with cheap ones from Target and Wal-Mart for the most part. But I also wanted to get a few special ones to remember the year.

Since Erik and I got our first puppy this year, I wanted an ornament for our new pup. I looked for one at several retail stores but I didn’t have any luck. So I decided to take a look on Etsy.com. Sure enough, I found an awesome artist that made custom dog ornaments. Her name is Michelle Dugan, (what an awesome last name) and I decided to get one from her. I sent her several photos of Fender when he was only 7 weeks old. And she sent me back the most adorable ornament. It looks just like him! If anyone is interested in checking out Michelle’s work, here is a link to her Etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Moonikins. Her custom ornaments are $23.00. I think these would make a great gift for all of your pet lover friends and family members! Or just for yourself!

Avatar- Simply Amazing!!!

Avatar is phenomenal! Although it was 162 minutes long, the plot and visual effects were so intriguing that it kept me on the edge of my seat. To put it quite frankly, Cameron is my hero. I am amazed by everything he puts out. First he created Terminator 2 and then Titanic. Yes, I will admit it, I saw Titanic several times and LOVED it! I am secretly a hopeless romantic. I was kind of a skeptic before I went to see Avatar, but he managed to do it again! It was seriously awesome.

Cameron is known for his extravegant productions. Titanic cost about 200 million dollars to make but  it brought in more than $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office after its release in 1997! Avatar cost an estimated 300 million dollars to create. But it has already brought in over 150 million dollars in the last two weeks. I have a feeling it is going to continue to bring in the big bucks over the next few weeks. Maybe eventually break a billion dollars in revenue? I think people will actually go back to the theatres to see the movie for a second time.

The movie takes place in the middle of the 22nd century on the planet of Pandora. After watching the movie, I want to pick up and move to Pandora! It is whimsical, magical, and everything glows in the dark! My kind of place! The creatures are fantastic! My favorite were the little glow-in-the-dark flying jelly fish-like animals. They looked so cool, way better than fireflies. I want to catch some and put them in a jar next to my bed.

Well Jake is a paraplegic but decides to go work for the company in Pandora, as an avatar driver,  in order to carry out his deceased twin brother’s work.  His job is to get in a capsule that plugs his brain into that of creature that is part human and part Na’vi (a Pandora native.) While Jake’s body lies in the capsule, his mind controls the Na’vi avatar while it explores Pandora. When Jake wakes up, his huge blue avatar sleeps. Jake is supposed to make friends with the local Na’vi in hopes he can gain their trust and convince the Na’vi to move so that the company can extract the very valuable mineral, Unobtanium, from Pandora to sell on Earth. The humans are willing to completely destroy Pandora in order to obtain the substance.

When Jake gets to Pandora he is attacked by a crazy and creepy forrest beast, that kind of resembled a black panther. He is saved when Neytiria, a princess of the Na’vi tribe, comes to his rescue.  She brings him back to her village and is put in charge of teaching him the ways of her people. She finds him to be very ignorant at first and seems irritated to be stuck with the new task.

Jake learns the Na’vi survive on this planet by living in harmony with nature. They live their life in gratitude. He starts to realize how greedy and ungrateful humans have become. I think there was an underlying “green” and “anti-war” message throughout the movie. Maybe Cameron was using Unobtanium and Pandora as a metaphor for oil and Iraq? I could be wrong but I kind of got the feeling that he was comparing the humans attack on Pandora to the Americans attack on Iraq. Or even a comparison to the Native Americans being driven out by the English settlers? Those of you who saw the film, what did you think?

Jake finds a new life on the planet, and finds himself falling in love and battling humankind with the planet’s Na’vi race. There has been some criticism of the movie’s plot but I personally loved the story and thought it was well-executed.

Not to mention, this was the most visually brilliant movie I have ever seen. The colors, the special effects, and the eye-popping scenes provide a visual splendor. The forest sequences are unreal. The characters were so life-like and somehow even the fictional characters looked real!  I would recommend seeing the movie in 3D. It really added to the overall experience. I actually gasped and said, “wow” outloud on several occasions.

Avatar raised the bar in movie production and has set a new standard for 3-D films and visual effects! So if you haven’t seen it yet, go go go!!

Doggy Dramamine

So we went on a little road trip down to SC last weekend. We had to go to a wedding in Charleston, SC and we decided to make the 9 hour haul in Erik’s jeep. We were a little nervous about the journey because we had our new puppy with us. He had only been in the car two other times and he got a little car sick both times he had traveled. So we decided to ask the vet if there was anything similar to Dramamine for puppies. It turns out that car sickness is very common in dogs, especially puppies. Our vet told us that we can actually give the puppy human Dramamine to help. There is also a prescribed medication that you can give dogs to help with the motion sickness that is supposed to have  less side effects. We decided to go with the prescribed medication and it worked like a charm. It was called Cerenia. We drove him all the way to Spartanburg (6 hours) and he was a perfect angel. He didn’t have any accidents and he seemed to feel great. He slept in my lap for most of the trip and we stopped every two hours for a quick walk and potty break. Then we left him with my parents and sister for the rest of the weekend. They loved him and my parent’s pug, Pippi, took care of him and acted like his mother. It was so cute!

For those of you who want more information about doggy dramamine, I read this online:

Dog Car Sickness:

Dogs generally become sick in the car because they are frightened, not because they have real motion sickness. It is necessary to reassure your dog that these fears are groundless (which might be hard depending on how you drive). You need to get your dog used to the car by taking trips that are short enough that your dog does not exhibit the typical signs of car sickness- drooling, vomiting, etc. It may be necessary to start out by just sitting in the car together and giving your dog a treat after a few minutes. Then take very short rides followed by a treat – even if you can only make it to the end of the driveway. Gradually increase the length of the trips until your dog enjoys the car rides.

If you don’t want your dog in the car, but find it necessary on occasion, you can use tranquilizers to control the nervousness with good success in most dogs. Your vet will have one that works well for him or her.

Some dogs really have motion sickness. It is possible that dramamine will work in these dogs but even in these dogs tranquilizers like acepromazine that also have anti-emetic properties usually work well.

Mike Richards, DVM