Furry 5K

I am super excited to announced Second Chance Pet Adoption's Furry 5K! This event will take place on November 3 at Bond Park in Cary. It includes a 5K run, 2K dog walk and 1K senior dog walk!

This event will go to help the hundreds of homeless and abandoned animals that Second Chance helps each year! Second Chance is the oldest no-kill animal rescue in the Triangle - long before it was the thing the cool kids did!

Sam came up with a pretty genius idea for generating pledges for the Furry 5K and I'm pretty much doing the same thing.

For every $1 I get in pledges, that will be one mile I have to bike or walk during my routine workouts. I'm doing this to a) get back in shape and b) get money for Second Chance.

When November 3 comes around, whatever I haven't matched during my workouts, I will match in a personal donation to Second Chance.

For example, if I raise $300 in pledges but I only run or walk 200 miles, I will match that extra 100 and make a $200 donation to Second Chance on top of the pledges I've gotten.

I know, right! It's a win/win!

You can find my personal pledge page at www.secondchancenc.dojiggy.com/saram

I'll be posting pictures, and maybe if I'm brave enough, video of me working out and why I need to do it as times goes on.

For those of you who don't know, I had knee surgery about a year and a half ago and I've never fully recovered. Doing this will give me the encouragement I need to get back into working out again and hopefully get my knee healthy.

Now, let's all go and register for the Furry 5K and start pledging! You can find it at www.secondchancenc.dojiggy.com

Summer Dragonfly

A new bracelet, found in my Etsy shop here.

Tuesday's Top Pick

This week's pick is so creatively awesome, I wish I had a real use for it so I could buy it! ;) This week's pick comes from Rifle Paper Co. where you can purchase illustrated note and calling cards with a little portrait of you. I KNOW!

Here are some of the pre-designed portraits you can choose from:

 

Suddenly makes you want to bring back calling cards, doesn't it?

Glimpse

 

Some of the jewelry that will be making it's way to my Etsy shop over the next couple of weeks.

Around the House

There's 41 days until the NFL Preseason starts! And I can't wait to use this, I got it right when the season was ending last year. I have complete faith that the Panther's will have the biggest number in the win column. ;)

Tuesday's Top Pick

 

This year I've been on an 'creating an outdoor space' kick - which you might have noticed. ;) 

In continuing this theme, this week's pick is an awesome weekend project for an outdoor terrarium. The best part is that this terrarium also doubles as an end table, so it's definitely that conversation starter piece.

For instructions on how to make one of your own, visit PoppyTalk.

Face time

I thought Kitty needed some face time on here instead of the usual Bandit or Biscuit - but don't worry, I'm sure they'll make appearances soon enough. ;)

Crescent Moon

I love the moon - this was taken as I was walking back to my car from class one night.

Dreams

As I'm sitting here gathering all my paperwork to send off and get signed to make Bella deLuna Designs an official LLC, I can't but take a moment to reflect on how this all got started five years ago and where I hope to be five years from now.

Fittingly, Etsy recently came out with a new way for shop owners to create an 'About' section of their shop, and I created mine this morning. It includes the story of how Bella deLuna came to be and what inspired me to get to where I am. If you're interested in reading it, you can find it here.

As far as where I want to go... my ultimate dream is to do what I love and make a living from it. Sam and I have talked with one of Sam's friends about starting a wedding photography business together and that is one part of my dream, but my heart believes we can go even bigger than that. My dream has multiple pieces and is in reality a complicated, convoluted mess that I could only do with people I know and trust.

I've always wanted to have a wedding planning business, but not just any wedding planning business. The picture in my head involves some kind of grand house, either old or one designed to look old. And in that house you would find a venue for your wedding and reception, a wedding planner, a team of photographers, a baker, a florist, perhaps a hair and makeup artist.

The one thing I hated about planning my wedding was that you had to go to multiple places to get all the vendors you wanted. You had multiple contracts to sign. Some of the vendors would work through your planner so you didn't have to remember when to contact them, your planner did it for you. Others didn't want to work through your planner and so you were frantically trying to remember who to call and when.

Ever since then I've wanted to create a space where a bride could have access to as many or as few vendors as she wanted in one space and with one contract. I know in reality that is a huge deal and involves a lot of people being willing to work together, but it is still my dream. I honestly have no idea how to even begin making that dream a reality and how to get all the pieces together, but I'm willing to try. Because if I don't then I'll always be left wondering if it could have happened and, if it did, how amazing it would have been.

Durham Bulls Bark in the Park

 Once again, I had the pleasure of taking photos on behalf of Second Chance Pet Adoptions at a recent event in collaboration with the Durham Bulls - Bark in the Park. Here are a few snaps of the pups at the game. Want to see more? Visit Second Chance's Facebook to see all the pics I took!

Tuesday's Top Pick

Behold! The book trailer for the book "Darth Vader and Son" - which looks pretty funny. You can also go over to the Wantist here to see some of the pages. This would make a great Father's Day gift if you Dad is a Star Wars fan.

Sadly, my Dad isn't a Star Wars fan or this post would be about how I just found him the perfect Father's Day gift (seriously, what do you get the man who has enough money to buy himself whatever he wants?). However, there may be hope as Jeffery Brown, the author, also wrote a book called "Cats are Weird." Which we all know is right up my Dad's alley just based on the title.

Garden Adventures

Mailbox flowers.

Bee & Lavender.

This little guy caught me by surprise.

And then I saw the female and understood.

Pairs.

Around the House

 

I'm not sure where this pillow originate or how old it is. I remember it being in my Dad's house as long as well, as long as I can remember! I got it from my Mom's house once she passed away. I think it's the combination of cats and the fact that it has had a place in my memories for so long that make me like it so much.

Rain

Rain in the garden.

Tuesday's Top Pick

This week's pick are a collection of videos ranging from movies to video games that I currently find interesting. Enjoy!

Dog Days of June

I spent this past Saturday taking pictures on behalf of Second Chance Pet Adoptions at the Town of Cary's annual Dog Days of June. Dog Days of June is a free event that the Town of Cary organizes along with the help of a rescue and there is usually a free microchipping and rabies clinic, dog washing, dog agility shows, a dog frisbee contest and lots of vendors will cool things to sell and sometimes some free goodies!

Here is a random sampling of some of the pictures I took. If you want to see more, you have to go to Second Chance's Facebook page over here ;)