Glam mom life

When you got your pants wet while sitting on the corner of the tub to watch your little so changed in your pjs because you're home for the night, but then the dogs start whining to go out and hubby is putting the little to bed... Out you go in your donut pants and his hoody :p

Warm fuzzies

Photo belongs to Jenny Hine/SAINTS

Thanks to sales of specific items at my winter markets this year we raised $20 to donate to both SAINTS and HomeFinders animal rescues ($20 to each charity). This makes me happy! Here is a blurb about each charity:

"SAINTS is an end-of-life sanctuary for senior and special needs animals that have nowhere else to go. We provide a special place to be loved, cherished, and receive proper medical care for the rest of their days. All animals deserve to have hope for a better tomorrow." Check out their website here.

"HomeFinders strives to house, rehabilitate and rescue abused, abandoned and otherwise homeless animals, before placing them in new, loving homes. HomeFinders has a special interest in animals from small communities in Northern BC, and strives to assist these animals through placement in the lower mainland." You can check them out here.

Thanks to everyone who shopped honeywild this season! These rescues do awesome work and I am grateful to be able to help them out. I plan on putting some items that include donations in the online shop soon, I just need time & good lighting! :)

Happy holidays to you & yours!

Anthropologie Pet Adoption Event!

Anthopologie, one of my favourite stores, is holding pet adoption & pet supply drives at many of their locations this September! I think this is SO AWESOME, you guys! Not only is it great that people will get to meet some sweeties looking for their forever families and maybe meet someone they'd like to take home, not only will supplies be collected for pets in need, but even bigger than those things, more people will be introduced to rescue pets and realize how great they are! I think it's very cool of Anthro to hold an event like this. To me rescue/adoption is just kind of obvious but lots of people are still stuck in the "get a pet from a pet store or Kijiji" frame of mind, and if that changes for even a few people, that's super! So thank you, Anthopologie, from the bottom of my sucker-for-animals heart. The Vancouver event will be at Anthropologie (2912 Granville st.) on Saturday, September 22nd from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. To find an event near you, check out their page here.

Can't make it to an event but are on the hunt for a new furry friend? Check out Petfinder: most shelters and rescues post their adoptable pets there and you can search by pet type, breed, age...  It's great!

Emergency!

Well, ok, not quite an emergency, but a small, mini mental money crisis. My best girl Josephine (how can you resist that face?) has broken a tooth, the little stinker, and it is costing oh so very much to fix! I have money set aside for vet emergencies, but this is wiping it clean and I had to do some last minute fancy banking in order to be able to pay the bill later today. If you'd like to lend a hand, or would just like a good deal, then I have the answer my friend! I'm having a sale in my jewelry shop right now - use the coupon code "RUHROH" (without quotation marks) at checkout to get 25% off your whole (honeywild) purchase!

I'm not able to offer a discount in my vintage shop, but if you make a purchase there and mention the code "RUHROH" in the notes to seller I'll send you a wish bracelet as a bonus/thank you!  If you feel inclined to share this post, or re-tweet my sale tweet, my little family would really appreciate it! I'm also adding a Paypal donation button to the right >>> if you'd like to send 2 bits our way :)
xo
- Stina & Josie

{gotta save this smile ;) }

Take me home, please!

I'm feeling a little blue tonight, thinking of people & pets that are without a real home or family of their own. I wish I had more rooms/space/less strata rules so I could take more in.

Here are a few furry loves looking for forever homes:

DUKE: Adorable, loveable 3 yr old rotty who is ready to live the good life with his forever family! Loves playing with his toys, walks, visitors. Currently at the Burnaby BCSPCA.

ODIE: Sweet little 3 yr old chihuahua who came from a hoarding situation and needs a slow introduction to real life and how awesome it can be. Currently at the Burnaby BCSPCA.

OREO: Timid 9 yr old shih tzu/poodle. Came from a home where he didn't get as much attention as he deserved & would like a second chance, please. Currently at the Burnaby BCSPCA.

Dog on the Mantle

Should we start taking photos of Josephine on things like the famous Maddie? ;) Ben had some fun while we were taking product photos today.

Phone photos that make me smile

Even though they're poor quality :)

snoozing boo

swinging

hopping boo with her hood stuck on her head :D

rainy day girls

Ben calls this "checking the message board"

she's a goose (between Ben & the cushion)

my favourite snugglebunny

Cute for a cause

ADORABLE! Little white and grey poodles are probably my favourite kind of poodle. They are so darn cute and I am a sucker, even for the one that barks every time it comes into the store I work in. So I want this one, and the super sweet hand-woven cowl she's wearing! What's even better is that 20% of the sale price of all items from this shop go to the Riverside City Animal Shelter in California. Check out this cowl and more in the Charlie Hearts Diesel shop here.

*image belongs to CharlieHeartsDiesel

Lola for the Holidays

Ben and I (and Josephine and Penny) took care of Sarah's dog Lola for the holidays. She is such a cutie! She's an adopted love-mutt, they think she's a border collie x bull terrier. Josie wasn't impressed at first but they got along quite well for the week! It was fun having her around and we kinda miss her! She did a lot of sleeping in little dog beds (and under small, confined spaces!), waiting (for me to come home or get up [to feed her]),  and frenzied tricks for treats. She plays dead and it's pretty darn cute. She can get a bit frantic about treats though and one of her "play dead" 's turned into a roll-over and she kicked Josie in the face. It was pretty funny, though Josie didn't think so. She also had a crazy dream (chasing sheep?) and fell out of bed. It was good comedy.

waiting for me to get up while Ben makes coffee

waiting for the dogs' stocking to be opened

Come back soon for a visit, love!

Penny's Guest Post!

Hey loves,
my pup Penny has a guest post up on Beca's blog today!

Check it out!
xo.

I am still alive.

Josie Triceratops! Grrr!

So, life has been kind of busy & overwhelming lately! My internet presence has suffered (some things just had to go!) so I am behind on reading my favourite blogs (and therefor behind on what's going on with a lot of my friends. Sorry guys! Still love you!), updating this blog, my Facebook page, my Etsy shop!! Which I really want to get new items into if I can get some decent photos taken. I also am behind on making new jewelry for Dream, and for the holidays (and and and). SIGH. Oh well. I am slowly trying to get back into doing these things and hope to get to some semblance of "caught up" soon.

This week has brought some upsetting news. Some of you caught my tweet a few days ago about being really angry and frustrated. That was in regards to my position at the PHSA. I still (STILL) haven't been paid for the two days I worked at the beginning of August, and still hadn't been able to get a hold of my boss or someone in payroll.  So, I finally got in touch with someone in payroll at the beginning of the week. She tried to tell me that I needed my boss to send in the hours, but I explained that I had tried contacting her by phone and e-mail about 6 or 7 times so far on the issue and hadn't heard back from her. I was transferred to someone else in payroll. Do you know what she told me? I have been terminated and my file would have to be re-opened to deal with the issue and I should try someone in HR. Yes, I had been fired and no-one had told me. I have no idea how long I have not had that job. Maybe when I was stressing about whether I should take the pet supply store job or not (because of my PHSA position) it was a moot point because I'd been fired! I have no idea! I was a bit infuriated. This lady has not only not submitted my hours so that I can't be paid, and ignored my phone calls and e-mails, but also fired me for some nebulous, unknown reason, and not felt the need to inform me. So I talked to someone in HR and she said that it still has to be my boss who submits my hours and explains to me why I've been "terminated." She sent an e-mail to my boss and her co-worker and copied me on it explaining this and guess what?? I still haven't heard from her. It's not that I'm heart-broken about not having that job anymore. I've had hardly any work there and obviously it's given me way more stress than is normal for four days of work, haha. It was almost a bit of a relief because the decision of what to do about that position was made for me. It's just that I worry about what she put down as the reason for my dismissal if I were to want to apply to a real job (ie. not casual) within the PHSA at some point. Ok. That's that. Time for a new topic before I pull my hair out.

Amidst all this RA nonsense and job stuff, Ben and I found time to go to the bank and get pre-approved for a mortgage (say what?) and to talk to a realtor and we saw a few townhouses last night! Crazy talk! Unfortunately our realtor sort of squashed some of my hopes & dreams. Apparently there is no such thing as a townhouse with no pet restrictions. So even though I've felt so good about squirreling away all this money, and trying to grow it, and even though we're looking at moving a bit further away than we'd like, to a neighbourhood that is not at the top of our wishlist (etc.) we can still not afford all that much! And even though we are looking to -buy- our own place, with no-one above or below us, with our own yard (I mean come on! It is it's own house, it just happens to be right beside another one!) we still can't do what we want in it. I was really upset. We really wanted to adopt an older big dog, and maybe a cat, but MJ, our realtor, said that she's never seen a strata that allows more than 2 furry pets, and of course all townhouses are strata. So I'm kind of struggling with that right now. We obviously want to buy a place that we'll want to stay in for awhile, like at least 5-10 years (because who wants to move a lot, and moving when you own is reeeaaally expensive!) and so for that time frame we'll be constrained on the pet thing. Our realtor knew it was a big deal to us and was sort of suggesting we could try to get away with another pet, but I know I would feel really stressed about it and I don't want to feel that way about my own home, you know? Always worrying someone might see/make a complaint. And then what happens if someone does? I would never consider giving up one of my pups, and it's not like we could "just" move into a new townhouse because they all have those rules. Sigh.

Ok. I got that all off my chest. I think that's that for now. I have errands to run before work today :) I will try to share some FUN things here soon :) We are looking at some more places on Saturday in a neighbourhood I feel more excited about then the one we were in last night so wish us luck!

Take Me Home - Marlena

I can't get over how much this dog looks like our Penny! It's nutty!

This is Marlena: they're calling her a chihuahua/pug and believe she's about a year & a half old. She sounds like Penny too: they say that she likes to snuggle with her people, run and play with other dogs. She unfortunately seems to have a hip injury but doesn't let it slow her down. She's up for adoption in Beaverton, Oregon and you can see her Petfinder page here. I had to share her with you since I keep going back to look at her and wonder at her resemblance to our pup :)

Wordless Wednesday - Puppy Growth

Penny on one of her first days with us, wearing Josie's hoodie with the sleeves and bottom rolled up. Puppy face!

Penny about a week ago. Look how she's grown into the hoodie!

Sorry about the photo quality, they're just from my blackberry. Penny was about 8lbs when we got her, now she's over 11lbs!

Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week - The Dogs

Petfinder has designated Sept. 17-25, 2011, as "Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week." You know I'm big into rescue. Less adoptable pets include black dogs and cats, senior animals or those with special health or behavioural considerations, and pit bulls [due to breed misunderstanding and prejudice (in my years of volunteering at shelters and grooming dogs I've been bitten by a shih-tzu, never a pitty)]. Here are a few of my favourite local cuties in need of a good home!

Ruby: staffy/pitty, spayed female, senior; happy, loving, outgoing; Vancouver, BC

Cherry: chihuahua?, tiny, spayed female, senior; sweet & needs lovin & tender care; Mission, BC

Cola: pitty x, spayed female, young; playful, sweet, "woo-woo's" for attention! [my Josie woo-woo's :) ]; Vancouver, BC

Amber: pitty, spayed female, 7 yrs old; wiggly, snuggler, good with other pets; Vancouver, BC

Baron the Best!

Ok, so I know I often share adoptable pets that I think are lovely on here, and have gushed about many of them, but SERIOUSLY THIS TIME, I want to take this guy home!!!

He is so gorgeous!! And his description sounds like *exactly* what we want in a big dog. They believe he's a pitty/mastiff cross, around 7 years old and about 70 lbs. He's a volunteer fave, loves people and dogs and is apparently the "resident 'grandpa' to the naughty puppies and just tolerates their antics with endless patience" (sounds like Daddy from the Dog Whisperer, who we love!). Anyhow, the list of his loveliness goes on. He has arthritis in his hips which makes me more of a softy for him. We can't have him where we live now (too crowded for three dogs!!) but have been planning on looking at new places after Ben gets his ticket (for work, as an electrician) which should be this month! If we find a new place and Baron is still at the shelter I think he has a home with us. I'm so smitten. I haven't met him in person but that's because I probably wouldn't be able to leave him at the shelter, and then I would be in trouble. I would rename him Baron Von Cheeseburger, in case you were wondering. He's at the Vancouver Animal Control Shelter, and you can see his page here.

Tired Thursday

I've been absent from the net this week and feel like I am slowly going crazy isolated here on my couch! I started a new medication for the joint problems and it hasn't started working yet and I've had a rough week. Hopefully it starts changing soon! No diagnosis yet. But, I do have a new family doctor. Yay! I'll leave you with a few goofy photos of my crazy little mutts.

Gertie dear

This adorable photo jumped out at me from the Petfinder page when I was browsing it the other night. Gertie is a staffy cross, under 4 years old and weighs 32 lbs. Just a little girl! She's a "ready-made family dog" with good house manners: she's housetrained and great with kids and other dogs. Is your house (or a friend's) lacking in furry lovableness? Gertie is available for adoption at the Vancouver Animal shelter: view her Petfinder page here.

I add adorable furry friends that I fall for on Petfinder to my Pinterest board called "Take Me Home," if you want to have your heart-strings tugged too.

Blanket ID

The girls have new ID tags! I thought we had some photos that showed the new tags better, but Ben took the photos and I didn't check them until later. They are from Blanket ID: rather than having your personal info on the tag, Blanket ID's tags have their website and an ID number on the back. You register your tag online and enter your info, which is super simple to do. Whoever finds your pet can go online and enter the code from the tag and get all pertinent info on you & your dog. As well as contact info you can include things such as medical issues and food allergies. You can also update your info whenever you want, which is great if you want to travel with your pet. You could change the info to the hotel you're staying at, for example. The really cool thing about this service is that when you mark your pet as lost on the Blanket ID site, your pet's info and photo is sent to local shelters, vets and local Blanket members. Pretty great! Also, the tags are really cute, and the clips you can order along with them to make switching tags from collar to collar are really great. I bought a different one for Josie awhile back but it was terrible and fell off her collar shortly after I attached it. These ones are small but very strong and won't be going anywhere. They've been on for at least a week on both dogs with no problems. I still have tags on both girls with our phone numbers so there's an easy way to get a hold of us if the finder weren't near a computer (or computer literate :) ).

This post isn't sponsored, I just think this is a great product, and I love Cate, one of the founders of Blanket ID. She is the sweetest. An added bonus is that more than %15 of the profits from these tags go to helping animals in need. Awesome! They also have a great program called "Funds Forever" which helps provide more funds for animal organizations. I'm feeling pretty wiped after my day right now though (which I'll tell you about later) (I'm writing this on Wednesday night) so I'll let you find out more about this awesome program at the link I added above.

Here are images of the girls' tags, pulled from the website. Penny's is the bubbly one called "Bounce" and Josie's is the flower one called "Peony Green."

New items

I've started experimenting with making dog collar charms although they would also make a cute addition to a keychain or something like that as well. I think the one above is the first one I did. I'm going to be at the Richmond International Film & Media Arts Festival (I posted the info here) so I think I'll bring them there, unless I get a request for one before that.

I've also added new earrings and bracelets to the shop, as well as two necklaces, if you missed those. Here are a few of the new additions:


available here


available here


available here


available here and here

There's more in the shop, check it out!

Sunny weekend!

We finally had a gorgeous sunny weekend, and on the long weekend no less! YAY!! I used to carry my camera around with me EVERYWHERE and take tons of pictures, but I've gotten out of the habit in the past couple of years. I've been meaning to change that so I will make a more concerted effort to bring one and take pics in the future. I didn't know Ben was taking these photos, which are brought to us courtesy of his iPhone. We were dogsitting our friend's dog this weekend so we took all three mutts to the dog park at Ambleside on Saturday and let them run wild. Which was surprisingly not as wild as we'd imagined. Due to some of her earlier shenanigans we've been afraid of trusting Penny off-leash, so she's always been on leash when we go out. We've been working with a dog whistle at home though, and on Friday when she was tearing around the backyard with our friend's dog Luke she came right away every time I blew the whistle (knowing she was going to get a treat - she is HIGHLY food motivated). So Saturday we let her off leash and sort of expected her to go tearing off into the trees, but she didn't do that once. She stuck around us for the most part and when she did go for a run she didn't go far or out of sight. She also came back every time we called her or blew the whistle! Awesome! So it was a really good day and we felt great about our little dog :)

I was wearing my new Roxy sun hat, I think its pretty cute! I've wanted a hat like this for a couple years but I'm super picky and I couldn't find one that fit my fat head that I liked once I got it on. Now I also want another one I saw when I got this, a round wide brim cutie, but I can't really justify the purchase right now. It would be nice to get the extra shade, especially when we go to Osoyoos or Ruby Lake, but I still haven't been called into work so we're on a really tight budget right now. Oh well. It's tough but it's making me work on my shopping habit, haha.

We had a pretty low-key Canada Day celebration at my mom's on Friday night: she had a bunch of friends and family over and we can see the fireworks (from far away) from our windows and sundeck. What did you get up to this weekend? Any Canada Day/Fourth of July partying?