Gaming = Chocolate

We're so happy to welcome our gamer customers!! We've had a great response to our World of Warcraft inspired pendants, and I've been delighted to converse with WoW gamers from around the globe. 

Thought I'd fess up on my gaming history. I don't play World of Warcraft, but my husband/co-designer does. Actually, I used to play a game called Asheron's Call---perhaps you've heard of it? mwahhaha. (That's me, back in the day). Well, I'd end up spending the entire night flitting from town to town, questing, chatting, and just being a social butterfly of sorts, in between making spells and collecting ingredients. I realized that I couldn't be a casual player---it was all or nothing for me. (Kind of like my relationship with chocolate --- see current stash below).

 

So I've decided I won't even think about playing WoW. After all, if I did, I'd never have time to make jewelry, now would I? ;-)

Two Months Ago Today...

...I lost my precious, beautiful, angel dog, Poco. That's his picture to the left, which I use as my avatar. I can't let today go by without writing about Poco. Truth is, I'm still crying every day for him. I went to a wonderful pet loss support session last night, which was very helpful. But, like any loss, it's just the dragging passage of time that eases the pain, but also, sadly, takes you farther and farther away from your lost one.

Poco was my Buddhist monk. I'm not saying that lightly. He truly personified (dogified?) every aspect of goodness: kind, loving, peaceful (a proactive peacemaker), accepting, brilliant....I could go on and on. We experienced lots in the 10 years we spent with him, and I was grateful for every day he was a part of my life. From peacefully dealing with an aggressive foster dog, a house disaster, movie-making, modeling, and so much more, he was a shining angel star. 

Then there was the intoxicating, unique, most wonderful smell of his fur. 

Logically, we know that dogs live shorter lives than we do. We know we will be faced with the inevitable pain of loss at some point. But for some reason, logic went out the window, and I stupidly thought I could wish him to live for 30 years or more. And it wasn't just for my own selfish reasons--the world was a better place with Poco in it. He danced and made so many people smile. He was loved everywhere he went. He was so beautiful, inside and out. 

Some pictures of him...

I did this painting about three weeks after he died:

It says "Dog is Love" in the center (same design from my pendant) and "we will be together again" on the bottom.

For Poco, with every bit of my heart.

Cutie Patooties

I've been finding so many cute, adorable things lately, I just had to share a few. You can bet there will be more of these type posts in the future from me, as I love all things related to animals (who are inherently cute). If you didn't already know, I've been a dog welfare/rescue/rights volunteer for many years. So it's not just about how they look. ;-)

1. Okay, I don't have any feline family members. My allergies to cats prevent that (I'm also allergic to dogs, but we don't discuss that). But if I did have kitties, I'd have a house filled with these things.

 Not just because of my Italian heritage, but because the thought of kitty catnip in ravioli shapes is simply too perfect. Seriously....plush kitty ravioli! With catnip! Hats off to Organic Dog for this clever, adorable invention.

2. My husband recently came up with the idea to do a dog toy exchange club-- you share used dog toys with others. The dogs would love it, no? "Another dog's toys? For moi? Oh Daddy, that's a brilliant idea!" Anyone who has a doggy family member knows the scenario----oh yippee! a new toy! chew, chew, slobber, slobber.....next, please. Okay, some pups love their toys and keep them. But for those with doggy toy ADD, the doggy toy exchange program seems like a good idea, eh?

Well, while sniffing around about doggy toys, I found a whole website dedicated to honoring dogs and their successfully decommissioned toys. Yes, here it is: LickedToys.com. Now, instead of getting frustrated with your pup, cleaning up the puffs of toy filling and reminding him "how much that toy cost," and "what a waste it was to chew it to bits" within five minutes of receiving it, you can pull out your camera, document your proud pup amidst the destruction, and submit it to LickedToys.com. Now isn't that a much better way to react to your pup's natural desire to chew and shred and tear and... :-)

3. The sweetest collection of (forest) animal illustrations I've seen is from an illustrator on Etsy, her shop called In the Forest. The bear paintings had me in tears, as they resembled my precious angel dog, Poco, who passed at the beginning of this year. Just take a look...you'll see what I mean. Sweet, folksy yet hip, beautiful illustrations.