{Jemma} First Engagement Shoot

I promised to share more photos from mom and dad's engagement shoot, so here they are! This is only a small percentage of all the photos they got back. Enjoy!















You didn't think that they'd leave me out of it, did you? Of course not! I have been there with them from day one, so I'm a big part of their 8+ years relationship. I'm everywhere!





Please excuse me, I had a lot to say that day. Had to voice my happiness for them, you know?



Happy family! (Mom: Missing Tofu! It would've been too stressful for him to come along for the shoot, but we really wished he were a part of it! Wedding day ;)








Mom: It was because of this shoot that I groomed Jemma a bit longer than usual this time. After a regular groom, it usually takes about 2 weeks before she looks her best after the fur grows out a bit. We had no time to wait this time because of my travels, so she had a longer groom. The benefits of being able to control all this as Jemma's personal groomer :)

Anyway, I love every single one of our photos from the engagement session and will forever cherish them! Here I get all sappy which I rarely, if ever, do on Jemma's blog, buuut... I feel so lucky to have met the man of my dreams and to get to spend the rest of my life with him. He treats me and the furkids so so well, we're all super lucky to have him! And we love being able to share bits + pieces of our life with our readers. Thank you always for following and reading!

P.S. Post title is FIRST engagement shoot because the SECOND is coming! As I type this, I'm waiting for my nail polish to dry in preparation for our next photoshoot tomorrow. I am CRAZY about photos and preserving memories, can you tell?

{Jemma} Chihuahua Paws

I have tons to update about, but first Mom needs to find some t-i-m-e. She's going away this weekend...again...and this time I'm not going with her, so maybe when she gets back, she can help me blog more updates before we get too far behind.

For now, have some Chihuahua paws! I don't make it easy for Mom to get good shots of my paws because 1) my paws are tiny and 2) I like to get up and move from my position when Mom approaches. She's lucky to have this.

{Jemma} Save the Date

It's creeping closer and closer. Mom and Dad has just sent out their Save the Date cards to wedding guests. It's high stress time. Stay tuned for more of their engagement photos!

{Jemma} Grooming Lesson #1

I got a bath and groom yesterday. Mom kept my fur longer this time around than she would normally have me groomed for reasons that will be disclosed very soon in the near future! For now, let's concentrate on my current groom.

Okay, so nothing wrong in the front here, right?


Well, I want to show you what happens when you half air-dry me and I sit or curl up for a snooze before I'm fully dry.


Yup, ruffled rump. Now there's a wait of a couple days before it settles itself and looks normal again. Grooming Jemma Lesson #1!

{Jemma} Mostly Words

We have a lot of new pictures, but mom and I are currently out of town and will be for most of this month + mom only has her iPad with her, so it's rather difficult to do a long photo post at this time.

Whenever mom travels, she loves to bring me with her if possible. I've been told I'm so lucky to have traveled via airplane so many times in my life. It's not the most fun thing to do, but I suppose it's a privilege I should be thankful for...

We were away to attend a large grooming convention earlier this month. Aside from meeting some cool new industry friends, mom also took the opportunity to purchase a lot of high quality grooming tools that she needs for business. After much consideration, she decided to start off with grooming at home (renovation in progress, more on that later) until she establishes a larger client base. She has always dreamed of running her own business with a physical shop space, so this will be a very exciting new venture for our whole family!

Out of everything she does (aside from dad, Tofu, and ME of course), the grooming will take top priority because not only is it something mom absolutely loves doing, but also will be her bread and butter, if you know what I mean. She does pet photography on the side, but the photography market is so saturated that it's hard to make a decent living out of it. Therefore, it's more of a hobby than anything. An expensive hobby, if you will. She is so ecstatic to officially start accepting grooming clients soon! She makes me almost just as excited, but not quite... Maybe as long as she doesn't use ME as a grooming subject!

Anyway, after the weekend grooming convention, we spent almost a week in Orange County to relax and to play in the sun. A much needed break. And now we are visiting family in Alberta before heading home. It has been a super duper crazy month so far, but extremely productive at the same time.

Whew, I'm tired from even just thinking about it all. Time for a nap!

Early April Update

Hello friends! In keeping to my promise of two updates every month for the time-being, I'm making mom stay up a little later tonight to help me post a "quick" update.

Now that spring is upon us, we've been getting some very fabulous sunny days. During our rainy season, I generally don't ask to go outside because I hate getting wet, but when the weather is good? Bring me outside now! It's time for our walk! What are you waiting for? Let's gooo!


Car rides are more enjoyable, too! (Mom: Carrier escapee!!!)


I got to check out a new park this past weekend.


So many beautiful sights and new smells to explore!




Summer life is GOOD.


Vancouver is pretty darn beautiful...when it's not busy crying, aka raining.




I like being able to see my own shadow again.


In other updates...
For the last couple of months, mom has been attempting to reduce her computer time outside of work. Social media can really suck up a lot of time. She will sometimes go on to check a message and next thing you know, an hour has passed and she can't even remember doing anything productive in that time. To prevent this problem from happening too often, she has deleted my Facebook account (which I mentioned before) and tonight, she also got rid of my Twitter account. Yep, that woman is narrowing everything of mine down. This blog is where it's at. However, it also means that the wasted hour she would've spent on social media now goes towards extra walkies and time spent with me and Tofu. We're not complaining!

Break Time!

Two weeks ago, I said that after a bunch of scheduled posts finished running, I'd have an announcement to make. Well, the scheduled posts are finished running and I guess I can share now that my initial plan was to stop this blog altogether and even take it down. I was thisclose to doing it.

I am getting too busy to update it on a regular basis and haven't even been able to visit any blogs, which I feel plenty bad about. But then every time I would log on, read your comments and private e-mails, a part of me also felt that it would be a waste to take it down completely -- I have been working on it since 2006. I also spoke to J about it and asked for his opinion. He's a man I can always count on for rock solid and sound advice. He has never failed me before (afterall, that's one of the reasons why I'm marrying him, right? ;). He told me that even if I don't have time to blog nowadays, to keep Jemma's blog running for informational purposes and that who knows, maybe I'll have time to come back to it one day. I don't doubt that I'll eventually find time to do it again, but for some reason, I always felt it needed to be updated on a regular basis. I feel that's where the pressure comes in.

Then, I asked myself...what was the purpose of me starting this blog for Jemma? It was basically to document her life and to keep track of it. When I started it, it was for my own record more than anything else. The fact that I have gained so many friends from it is a bonus that I'm ever so grateful for all the time. One of the reasons why I haven't bothered to make a public Facebook page for Jemma is because it doesn't work well for record keeping purposes. Old posts get pushed down further and further and it's not even searchable. For that, I have stuck to a blog where I am able to control everything. In the end, I can make a book out of all these entries and it will sit on my bookshelf where I can read it over again and again. Thinking about it that way makes me want to continue blogging and it quickly eliminates any thoughts of taking it down.

So...it will stay up for now, BUT that doesn't mean I won't need a break from it. I cannot keep up with my treats and photography businesses + another in the making + wedding planning + my photography blog + Jemma's blog. At least not until after the wedding. It's simply getting too stressful and if I continue down this path, it won't be healthy.

Have I mentioned yet that I had been taking grooming classes? Yup, I'm crazy. I know because my lovely friends tell me so :) I'm proud to say that I've successfully completed the program. And since then, I have been grooming and practicing on a lot of dogs. A lot. That means I'm qualified to groom your dogs now! (I will do all breeds except terriers. Because I have an awesome good friend who can work miracles on terriers and all terriers should go to her.) This week, it was time for Jemma's groom and I finally remembered to take a pic of her right afterwards. It feels so nice to be able to groom my own dog up on that table. I must admit that she's been the easiest on me so far, LOL. Of course, I tried to adorn her with as many accessories as possible after her appointment with me, ha.

Oh my DOG, bad news for me! My mom is now my groomer, too!!!


I've always wanted to be able to groom her myself because I see how stressed out she can get from being dropped off at the groomer's and for various reasons, I prefer not using mobile groomers. Not to mention I'm someone who finds it hard to truly trust people when it comes to my pets. I'm going to love being able to do this on my own! Anyway, this all has something to do with my "another [business] in the making" statement up above. Hint: I am "store shopping" now ;)

Therefore, I am taking a BIG break from Jemma's blog. I hope I've done a good enough job of persuading you, my readers, that I really need this break, lol. Instead of spending time writing updates, I'd rather be spending those extra 10 minutes giving personal attention time to Jemma and Tofu or taking them for an extra walk. However, you can expect 1-2 longer posts every month until around September when HOPEFULLY we can do more regular updates again. I also can't absolutely promise the 1-2 monthly posts, but I will try my best.

How to keep up with us in the meantime?

My Photography Blog
Flickr - Most of my photos have been friends only, but I'll make sure to make more future Jemma and Tofu pictures public.
Tofu's Instagram
My Twitter - Mainly photography business updates, but some personal ones tossed in the mix, too.

I'm ending this long post with some recent photos from my personal Instagram to prove that I somewhat have a life outside of work...sometimes.



Until next time!

Yours truly,
Kathy