Find Your Happiness

Both photos straight out of the camera. All God.

My firstborn with my first fur baby. I am looking forward to the sweet days where I will be smiling instead of crying every time I think of Pepper. I really miss him.

Pepper April 4, 2004 to November 23, 2012 Here was Pepper doing what he loved the most: exploring the outdoors. This morning, he went outside for the first time in almost two months. And after I was done taking a few pictures of him, he walked towards me (which is what he was doing in the photo) and then went back inside the warm house. I really think he did this just for me: so I could capture the "real" Pepper. Pepper was a great cat. And he was deeply loved. I just really hope he felt that we gave him a good life.

My dearest beloved 8-year old cat was recently diagnosed with chronic renal failure. And he is dying. He is severely dehydrated and only weighs 5lbs. We have to help him clean his dry coat because he is too weak to do it himself. He is also incontinent and Mom has been very patient with him and I am so, so thankful for that (he lives with my Mom here in Indy). We brought him back to the vet last Saturday as soon as I arrived in town (literally an hour from the time when we arrived) and the veterinarian gave me four options: (1) Do nothing, in which he will die in a few days---we may witness it, we may not. But in between, he will be very ill, will most likely have a seizure and be in pain before he goes into coma and die. Not even an option. (2) Give him IV fluids since he is so severely dehydrated. Start a new strict diet, which can only be purchased at the vet office and continue IV subcutaneous fluid injections at home. He has a 50/50 chance of responding to this t...

This was Nathaniel's reaction when I told him he was getting the Influenza Vaccine last week. Not really; he was just being his normal silly self while we were waiting :) But he did cry. But thankful he did not have any side/after effects from the vaccine. He could have received the mist method but since he has quite a bad seasonal, dander, dust, etc allergy (ummm.... thanks to me), we chose the shot. Also, I edited these photos using my old laptop. We are currently in Indiana and my dearly missed iMac is in Georgia. I cannot believe I used a laptop for editing for years when a simple tilt can completely change the look of the photo. Hopefully these are not too horrible cause I honestly do not know.

Fort Gordon, GA Last night, we attended the 237th Marine Corps ball and we had a fantastic time! It was our fourth USMC ball and this year, I decided to re-wear one of my ball gowns (2010) since no one here in Georgia has seen it before anyway. Michelle, a friend and a fellow Marine Corps spouse, did my hair and make up. And Hubby was so handsome in his sexy dress blues and was such a trooper (he is still sick!). We even stayed up suuuuuper late to watch a late showing of the new James Bond movie "Skyfall." (The movie ended shortly after 3am). This is definitely one of the perks of being in the military: we get to dress up and look all purdy pretty :)

We saw Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy  with our Mom's Club two weeks ago and Nathaniel loved it.  Above is a photo of him growling to Lot's-O like Rex the dinosaur.

I am playing catch up on my blogging! Last month, we went to the Oktoberfest event held on base. It was a last minute decision to join our friends since I already had a very early morning photoshoot and we had spent the entire day at Steed's Dairy that day. But I'm glad we went because Nathaniel really enjoyed it. And I had a great time taking photos of the festive carnival lights. I am so grateful we finally purchased my dream camera this year: Canon 5D MKIII. Just look at the photos---barely any noise/grain and I had the ISO bumped up to 2000! I am so happy that my skills are no longer limited by the camera. It still amazes me every time I use it.

Nathaniel dressed up as Spiderman (of course!) last week for Halloween. He was very shy at first but eventually warmed up to the idea of trick or treating. This is first "real" trick or treating since we just went to the mall last year . Hubby dressed up as dorky Peter Parker and I was supposed to be Mary Jane. Unfortunately, we have been so busy that I wasn't able to plan it well. Hopefully, we will be more coordinated and better prepared next year.

Better late than never right? I have been meaning to share these photos for a couple weeks now but just haven't had the time to sit down and edit them. I tried to keep our Halloween mantle kid friendly since Nathaniel's imagination is beginning to soar and everything is either super amazing or super scary. I know if it was up to my husband, it will be gory and full supernatural things. Yuck. The branches are from our backyard that I spray painted black. (I'm actually thinking about re-spraying them with white and glitter to use for Christmas!) I used one of Nathaniel's craftS from school and made the potions using water and food coloring. I really wanted a stack of potions books too but I wasn't willing to pay what the stores were asking so I just used my Wicked series books. And lastly, the fabric banner is my second sewing project. (We finally purchased a sewing machine last month!). The mantle is definitely still not done to my liking and I ...