Huge Holiday Savings!!

 

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It’s the time of year when people say what they are thankful for. Here’s one of mine...

It’s the time of year when people say what they are thankful for. Here’s one of mine.

Sometimes in life the smallest things make a huge impact. Sometimes a kind word can make you smile when your day has otherwise been unmemorable, or a funny story can bring a chuckle when worry had previously creased your brow, or sometimes the gentlest of souls can find their way to walk alongside you and their presence can change you profoundly, unexpectedly, forever. That has happened to me.

Three years ago I came across an ad seeking a home for an 8 year old female long-haired dachshund. She was recently rescued from a puppy mill. She was a mommy, having litter after litter of pups and left to live her life behind bars. Listening to bits and pieces of her story when I called to inquire, I felt my heart breaking for this little dog before I’d even met her. She had health issues, fearfulness issues, potty training issues, and no one to help her through any of them. So, Michael and I decided to take her in, get her healthy, and give her a good home.

She was silent for 2 months when we brought her home, not a bark, a whine or a whimper. She was more of a shadow than a dog - nearly soundless as she walked, peeking around corners before she entered a room, and watching from afar when treats were handed out. She was a tiny black dog with less than 10 teeth, a few scars here and there, and a dirty, matted coat holding a lifetime of horrible memories.

It took her two years to trust us as kind hands, and another year for her to lick my cheek for the first time. And now, three years later she is here, happy, healthy, lying in front of the fireplace on a warm clean blanket sleeping soundly as I write this. And when I scoop her up and press my face to hers, I whisper to her how very thankful I am that she came to live with us. That she needed a good home and she moved into ours.

She is so gentle and brings a joy to this house that I never expected to find in her frail little body. She is a small being who has made a big impact on my soul. She’s teaching me patience, compassion, and to never overlook the beauty in the world around me. She runs freely through the grass in our back yard, barks loudly when something piques her interest, and never passes up a chance for cuddle.

Gracie has seen a world of darkness but now she lives only in the light and I am so very thankful to walk in that light alongside her. She is dark as black velvet, as soft as the silkiest fur, and the sweetest soul I have ever known.  

 

Birthday Wishes & Magical Moments

This year I spent my birthday with the people I love most walking among the autumn leaves.

Photos from my big day.

A little Inspiration

When I was a little girl I was a full-fledged fraidy cat, believing in goblins, and ghosts, and werewolves that loomed outside my window. I remember sitting up in bed, breath frozen in my chest, watching shadows swirl and merge into monsters outside my window, then race across my bedroom wall with the flicker of headlights. My imagination was my biggest threat back then. I’d shove my head under my blanket and reach for my little sister’s hand to protect me from myself.

Sarah would squeeze my hand and tell me, nearly 5 years her senior, that it was just the wind, or the traffic passing by and to go back to sleep. Closing my eyes tight, I would hold onto my sister and try to forget the fear. Instead, I’d fill my mind with positive things, like bunnies and berries and magic, and then just before I’d fall asleep I’d focus on fairies. I would imagine them flitting through my imagination, fluttering among the trees outside my window, and resting quietly alongside me.

 

Some of my faves from online...

 

Great Fairy books:

Moderne Faerie Tales

Wicked Lovely Series



Witches Witches Everywhere

For the past three years I have been lost in a world of magic, spells, and incantations – all the while hoping that this interest of mine had not become so passé that no one would care when my trilogy was complete. After all, weren’t witches and fantasy popular back in the 90’s?

I laugh because I was absolutely oblivious of the supernatural wave of that time…so much so that I have still never seen an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and only caught0 one or two episodes of Charmed – ever. I worked too much, slept too little, and missed out on the magic going on around me. Heck, I even missed out on Harry Potter and Twilight until they became movie deals – then I devoured the series in a matter of weeks.

For those of you who are always in the know, I love that you have kept this genre alive and well. I noticed recently that on television it truly is the season of the witch. TV shows like American Horror Story (voodoo workers and teenage witches), then The Witches of East End (similar to Lyla’s family of casters), and then fantasy tales like Vampire Diaries, and The Originals (witches) and finally Sleepy Hollow with its discording covens set in present-day brings magic into our living rooms and more importantly our minds every week.

Magic allows us take control of a situation that we otherwise could not. A small teenaged girl can overcome a grown man; a child can defeat a wild animal with the wave of a hand. She can correct a wrong, punish an enemy, save a loved one…it’s empowering to believe that an internal power can manipulate the world around us.

I’m not saying you need to believe in magic to enjoy these shows. I’m just suggesting that you kick back and let your mind escape for an hour while you try one out.