Daisy......................trouble in pink

On the wrap table last Sunday afternoon.

 Looking for trouble in all the wrong places...............again.

Photos by Sande Chase

Sunday morning blogging.................with Daisy

Up on the table yes, the outdoor one with the white tablecloth looking for trouble in all the wrong places.

todays Objects of Desire here

Hipsmatic photo by Sande Chase

Nature Girl(s)...........at Percy Lake

Just checking in to say hello from Northern Ontario and share a few relaxing pics of Daisy at my friends cottage because no one is enjoying this rustic setting more than Daisy. This group of 5 women (my friend, her 2 daughters, me and Daisy) are being exceptionally well-fed by my friend's son who is a gourmet cook, a culinary feast each and every night. My friend and her family are healing in this peaceful setting, they lost their husband and father a few months ago and being at the place where they enjoyed so many family memories is good and right.

~ Lovely Fiona with Daisy ~

We sleep in, drink morning coffee for hours, sunbathe on the dock, walk, girl chat, boat Daisy over to a stretch of beach, lake swim, eat a gourmet dinner, then boat over to the middle of the lake to watch the nightly sunset. That's it. None of us have gained weight by indulging in nightly ice cream sundaes and even if we did I don't think we would care. We also don't care about make-up, our hair, or what we wear. Nature girl(s)............times five. 

~ Snail Digging ~ 

We joke that city girl Daisy is going to need what we call "freedom re-hab" when she gets back home. She loves swimming, the no leash policy, following the girls, napping on the deck, boat rides, and digging holes at the beach, snails we think. We now call her "nature girl" and she might have a hard time adjusting to restrictions when she gets back home. Me too. 

As my good friend says " life is good at Percy Lake". And it is. Just ask Daisy. 

Photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

hip daisy

Blogger company. 

Daisy ~ taken with Hipstamatic photo app. 

My new favorite things. The puppy and the retro photo app.

Available at itunes.

Photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Best New Puppy Gift............and Daisy update (because you asked)

When a friend, who is a cat lover, told me that puppies might like bubbles too, it made perfect sense as our Daisy certainly exhibits cat-like behavior. And rightfully so, Daisy is a Mi-Ki, a rare toy breed known for their cat-like behavior at times, the Mi Ki breed is a combination of the Japanese Chin, French Papillon, and Maltese. The breed was developed 30 years ago to be highly intelligent, affectionate, lovable, mild-tempered, and non-shedding. Their most social, gentle, and well-behaved manner  is well-suited to therapeutic hospital programs. Something I may look into when she is a bit older. I get asked so many questions about Daisy when she is out and about with me that it actually ran through my head to get her a set of her own business cards.

Watching a puppy who likes to hop instead of walk, swat her paws like a cat is a sight to behold when blowing bubbles into the air. This got me to thinking how a simple thing like bubbles and other puppy items would make for a thoughtful new puppy gift. Something to earn you puppy kisses ( if you like that sort of thing) and the appreciation of the new family who is delighted with the canine addition to their family. Puppy gifts are simple, balls, chew toys (Martha Stewart has good ones), a bag of organic treats, and don't forget the easiest of all...............bubbles. I was going to say that puppy gifts don't require gift wrapping but I have a princess here who absolutely adores ribbon so I could be wrong.

My husband tried really hard not to fall in love with Daisy. Not another dog, we want to travel more, the usual excuses you have when you have had 30 years of dogs. But Daisy has captured his heart too and I find him whispering lovey things in her ear when he thinks I am out of the room. To me, dogs are a gift of pleasure and love and Daisy has already brought a bundle of it to our home in this short time

My daily routine now includes bringing Daisy along for my daily latte run. I will admit we are a covert pair and her diminutive size makes for easy camouflage (we aren't in dog-friendly Paris after all). She now knows to lay low in public places but she quickly pops her head out to say hello to all the cafe girls who watch for her visits. When I missed a day this weekend, guess where we found her waiting at 1:00 in the afternoon? In the hallway, waiting to go visit her new BFF's. 

Photo 1 and 2 from Pinterest/Photo 3 and 4 by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

A couple small addictions.....................

For the past few weeks while my new puppy Daisy was napping I would stay pretty close by her sleep quarters which is located during the day in our kitchen sitting where all the household activity takes place. So besides a surprise cooking and baking binge (much to the guys delight) I also got to know what people feel like when they have a online poker addiction. I became addicted, or perhaps I should say I became well-acquainted with the photo sharing site Pinterest. All in the interest of intense puppy-bonding and work inspiration of course. One of the things I learned about myself through blogging the past few years was how much I enjoy looking at photographic images. I know I am not alone in this visual pastime, photo sharing is the foundation of blogging. Without images, whether original or borrowed, most of us could never get a blog off the ground.

As you know, busy puppies nap quite a bit so I made a good dent last weekend in creating my Pinterest photo boards. I now have 14 categories and these images shown today are from the category that I titled Inspiration for Gift Wrapping, many of the images had me thinking " I would never have thought of that". This is a good thing, gets the gift wrapping mind working in all types of new directions.

It took me awhile to "take" to Pinterest, I couldn't quite get the drift so to speak. But once I did, I found I look forward to viewing new photo "pins" each day. In building your "boards" you simply "re-pin" a photo you like, the "pinning" in Pinterest. The site works as multiple inspiration boards and since each photo is linked you can always trace it back to the original post. Handy when it is a food shot and has a recipe attached or when you will use for a blog post and want to properly credit the source.

I am still figuring it the system out, apparently you don't "pin" your own photos but I got over-eager when I started and did in a board titled My Gift Wrap. I guess if you want to display your own photos you head over to Flickr or Tumblr. Finding new photos also leads to finding new blogs, new products, new Etsy shops, all sorts of inspiration. You can view my Pinterest boards here.

Speaking of puppies............Daisy and I are in a lovely groove and she is one behaved little lady. She is all paper trained, playing fetch, sits pretty, slept all night, loves to shop, and kisses us a million times a day. Too sweet and totally addictive.






Photo 1 to 4 via Pinterest/Bottom photo by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life