An Open Letter to the Dog I Failed

Dear Carli,

The moment I met you, I knew there was something special about you. When most people look at you Carli, they see Weimaraner . . . crazy, uncontrollable, stubborn . . . I saw something else in you. I could tell when you looked at me with your sad beautiful eyes that you just wanted to love someone with your whole heart and have someone love you equally back.

Your start to life little girl was everything but fair. Someone had left you and let you wander around the unknown downtown covered in fleas, ear mites, and hungry. If it hadn't of been for a big hearted neighbor, life may have only gotten tougher for you. You were lucky enough to be taken to a new and clean home where you were taken care of. You lived in your new home just two short months before you became mine. The big hearted neighbor saw what I saw in you on a different level. He saw your sweetness and loving spirit, but he also saw "Weimaraner" and that weighed more than your other beautiful qualities. Lucky for me, that meant you got to be welcomed in to my home.

Carli, there wasn't a day that we didn't share together where I didn't love you with my whole entire heart. I'll be honest with you Carli, the moment you were welcomed in to my home, I had no intention of having you become "my dog." I wanted to find you the perfect home. I had criteria that had to be met and I wasn't going to shy away from those just because we may have had a difficult day or so.
My Carli's New Home Checklist

• Has to be someone I know 
• Has to be someone willing to feed you quality food
• You have to be the only dog
• Someone who is established and won't ship you off to yet another home
• Someone who will keep me updated on your life
• Someone who will be active with you and keep you active

I knew my checklist for you was a very select and very limited number of people I knew in my life, but I was convinced when it was right, the perfect person would emerge. 

327 days later, I found someone who not only meets all of my criteria, but someone who really fell in love with you. Almost ten months of you being apart of my life, I didn't think it was possible to find another perfect home for you. I didn't think I would find someone who would love you and see you for everything that you are and understood how to communicate with you. 327 days later Carli, I found you the perfect home. 

My Carls, the moment I let you meet your new family, my greatest fear was that you would feel like your mom; someone who took care of you, loved you, shared my life with you, just abandoned you and left you yet again with someone new to get to know. Three different homes in a one year time span can make you feel that way I am sure. But guess what Carls, my fear that I thought you'd feel like that went out the window when I dropped you off for your trial week. The second you walked in that door to the most perfect life, I knew you wouldn't ever look back on life before. 

I couldn't of asked for a better new home for you Carli. I can't even tell you how blessed we both are that there are people like your new parents in this world. You will be given everything you need and a million more things that I would of never been able to give to you. You have only been in their life for short period of time, yet it feels like you've been a member of their family forever. 

My favorite time of the day is getting the recap text of your day. I get to hear about all the fun you are having, all the places you get to explore, all the people you get to meet, and so much more. I love hearing that you love watermelon or that you have spooked yourself of the driveway, so your new mom drives you down the driveway in the car just to take you for a walk. I love hearing you have a crush on your new dad and love to make him proud by listening and showing him all you can do. I even love to hear about your new found friendship with the kitties :) 

Originally Carli, I wanted to tell you I'm sorry that I couldn't be what you needed. That I couldn't understand exactly what you needed and didn't have the time to dedicate to giving it to you. Sorry that you had to split your attention with another dog and were forced to wear yourself out most days. But as I am finishing this letter to you my sweet girl, I realized I don't have to be sorry because it led me to find you the most perfect home to be in. That feeling right there makes me feel like I did something right for you.  

So thank you Carli for letting me fail you, for forcing me to reach out and find you your happy ending. If you hadn't of let me fail Carli, I would of never gotten to make you as happy as you are now and more importantly, I would of never known what I truly wasn't giving to you. Thank you Carli for being you, for letting your heart love someone else as much as you have loved me and for letting someone else love you with their whole heart. I could not have asked for you to do anything more. 

You'll always be my Carls, Carls Barkely, Houdini, Little Shit, Sweet Pea. But most importantly, you'll always have a spot in my heart as my little girl. I love you Carli and will love you for the rest of your life. Never doubt that. But I send you off on your new adventure knowing you'll never go a day without everything you deserve and more. 

July 2016- My all time favorite photo of Carli 

Tell Me a Story- May

The sun is out and the weather is finally getting warmer. This last week has been such beautiful weather that I regret having to work all the time. I was really lucky today and got a chance to get out and spend some time with my girls while getting some pictures in. The lighting today was beautiful so I took full advantage and tried to get some great close up's in.

One of my favorite things about the weather getting nicer is that Lu loves to just lay outside. She would spend all day outside if she was allowed. Catching her in the moments of her "deep thoughts" are some of my favorite to get.

The lighting was so beautiful I had to get a couple of landscape photos in as well!

Keep the blog circle going by visiting: LUPJi Photography |Northern Virginia Photographer

Tell Me A Story- April

March was a blur, I barely remember the month starting and before I knew it, it was April and I once again had neglected my photos and camera. Easter Sunday (March 27th) was the first time I had picked up my camera the whole month.

Easter in our house is always a big family day...I can imagine it is like that for most people... We have a pretty standard group of about thirteen of us. Everyone comes over to my parents house for an early dinner and it is always a nice time.

Easter in Ohio was a beautiful day. It was almost 60 degrees that day and the perfect weather to be outside. What I love about it being beautiful outside is that it means inside the house there is always beautiful lighting that is perfect for taking photos!

I took full advantage of waiting for family to arrive and grabbed my camera and started taking photos of some flowers I had been given.

The weather was too beautiful not to go outside and take some photos with the girls :) I'm getting really into working with shadows and hope there are more days this summer I can keep practicing. 

Help keep the blog circle going by visiting:  LUPJi Photography |North Virginia Photographer

Tell Me a Story- February

It is hard for me to believe that I haven't picked up my camera since November. Actually, it is kind of painful to say that... Between work and life, I have found zero time to just get outside. I often find that after the New Year and the holidays, we all tend to get a little of the "winter blues" and getting out of that funk is sometimes a little more difficult than we would like.

Ohio's winter has been everything but a winter this year. We have experienced amazing temperatures, like 50's since January! As of February 20th, we have had maybe 2 snow "storms" and today, it was sixty degrees. After watching the world enjoy the beautiful weather all morning long, I got off of work and decided that today, I would get out of my "winter blues" and be outside with my two dogs who have been begging for some attention. It also gave me a beautiful excuse to get my camera out and do something that always makes me feel better.  

Carli has officially been apart of mine and Lu's life for six months now. Some days, she really pushes my buttons and I wonder how I am ever going to be able to handle two dogs. However, she makes up for it every day when she subtly thanks me for giving her a home when she cuddles up next to me. I feared that Lumen was going to hate Carli and have that "annoying little sister" she didn't ask for, for the rest of her life, but they have come a long way and seeing them playing with each other reassured me that they do actually like each other. 

Every now and again I find a photo that I have taken that I can't decide how I like the edit. Sometimes the color version is better and sometimes the black and white is better. But every now and again, there is a photo that I think looks great in both. I may be a little biased because I'm in love with the subject and think she is beautiful, but I couldn't decide which version I liked better. 

Poor Carli is the definition of the "second child" I often forget that I don't have nearly as many photos of her as I do Lu. I try and make sure I get a couple of her every time, but Carli isn't as use to just ignoring me and my camera when I try to take photos of her. Lu has been "trained" to the camera after dealing with it for the last two years! I do always call it a success when I get one decent photo of Carli each time I pull out my camera. She definitely makes me work for every shot I get of her. Part of her charm!

Please continue our blog circle and visit: Rene Hermosillo Photography

Tell Me a Story- November

Hard to believe that September has come and gone and where the hell did October go?! As we are flipping the page to head in to December I'm realizing that time is moving faster and faster. Before we know it, it will be 2016.

My favorite time of the year is definitely fall which happens to be when my favorite holiday occurs. Thanksgiving. This year for Thanksgiving was the first year in 5 years that my whole family go to be together. My brother has moved back from living in Alaska and my sister came in from Chicago to celebrate with family. Since it was the first time all of us were back together in such a long time, we decided we needed to get a couple family photos.


My sister and her fiancé who are set to be married this coming June.

My brother and his girlfriend. You can feel the love between them!

A traditional siblings photo. Love them so much.

I love this crazy crazy family so much!

Please keep the circle going by visiting: Beth Williams Photoblog

Tell Me a Story- September

Fall is my favorite time of the year and to me, September means fall has started. Last year, at the end of August through the middle of September a local family planted a sunflower field for their daughter who had died from brain cancer. This year the family decided to plant the field again, only this time it was bigger and stretched across an amazing amount of space. The planting was a little later this year and personally, I think a better time.

 The field stretches for miles and runs along a highway and is seen by thousands of people for the two months these flowers are standing.

I love going to the field, I love seeing how there are some flowers standing taller than others and some who have opened up more than others. Reminds you have children who have cancer are fighting a battle that is individual to them all. Some children are able to stand a little taller than others while some are just starting their journey.

This photo below is my favorite from the bunch. I love how the flower in the middle is standing tall and bright while others surrounding it are waiting for their moment or fighting for their chance to stand tall. 

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Tell me a Story- August

My oh my, has August just flown by. I can not believe that we are entering September and fall is on it's way. August was a slow yet incredibly fast paced month. This month, I said good bye to my baby girl Hannah (the black and tan shepherd) she and my aunt are in Arizona for 16 weeks doing a traveling nurse job. It was really hard at the beginning of the month trying to adjust without having a second dog.

Lucky for me, my neighbor started traveling for work and asked me to watch his dogs for him while he was gone. It was a nice little distraction from missing Hannah and my aunt. My neighbor SK (for short) just rescued a dog he found while he was working on a job. She had been chained to a pole and left. Luckily SK has an incredibly large heart and decided to take her home with him and give her a good life. However, after cleaning her up and giving her some love, SK realized she was a lot of work. So, he asked for some help . . .

Meet Carli:

This beautiful girl is a 6ish month old Silver Lab/ Weimaraner mix who is about as sweet as puppies get. She is a ball of energy yet loving and cuddly. She made me work hard for this photo above, I had been trying for about a week to try and get it after seeing a similar looking piece online. Carli is quickly reminding me how much I forgot how much work a puppy can be. I promised SK that I would find her a good home with people I know who would take really good care of her. Until then, Carli will be mine. So far, I am enjoying the time and focusing on training. 

Before I had taken Carli in to my home, Lu and I had a little bit of "us" time to spend together. She really enjoys the time her and I get to spend together and it reminds me when it is just me and her how much she loves me and how sweet she is. One of my favorite traits about Lu is that she loves to wear bandanas. For Lu's whole life I have been putting them on her and trying to find her "color." After about 30+ bandanas, I found the perfect color for my girl.

The lighting the night I took these photos of Lu was really great. It was a soft evening lighting that I just couldn't pass up.

I love this shot of her whiskers as she was looking to see what was happening in the world around her. Reminds me of her soft, sensitive side that makes me fall in love with her a little more every day.

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