Happy holidays, everyone!
My sister Rochelle decided to start a pet photography side business! For Christmas, she offered to do a photo shoot with me, Malcolm and Abby. Well… mostly just Abby 😉
Rochelle recently shared her favorite shots with us. I can’t wait to see the others!
Without further ado, here we are with our favorite little reindeer: Continue reading “Wishing You a Very Cheerful Holiday!”
Last month my sister Rochelle adopted a new dog to live with her in her new Brooklyn studio apartment. His name is Henry and he’s a terrier mix!
I had already given Rochelle an apartment-warming gift, and I obviously had to give Henry a dog-warming gift. I knew I wanted to craft him something, but there was one problem: my sister is basically the most crafty person in the world. Anything I made him, she would be able to make for him ten times better and faster.
For this reason I knew I had to keep it simple and effective.
In my internet travels I stumbled across this adorable and incredibly easy craft: “Easiest Upcycled Dog Collar Ever!” from the Sew Doggy Style blog. It was the perfect gift! My sister loves throwing parties and Henry would be such a dapper doggie host in a little collared dress shirt accessory. Plus, Rochelle is the shop owner/seamstress behind Etsy’s Brooklyn Bowtied, so he would look like such a cute little fancy man wearing a collar/bow tie combo.
I decided I wanted to make three different collars for Henry, so I rallied my beloved crafty companion Athena and went to the thrift store. Rochelle told me that Henry’s neck size is 13 inches. Because Athena’s dog is also teeny, we took a trip to the little boys’ section. Some little boy dress shirts are labeled S/M/L instead of by neck measurements, so I brought my measuring tape to double check sizes just in case.
Here are the shirts we picked out!
You have to make sure of two things when picking out shirts for this project: Continue reading “DIY Doggie Dress Shirt Collar”
I have exciting news to announce! October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month and Malcolm and I did just that — adopt a shelter dog!
Meet the one and only Abby, the newest contributor to The Cheerful Times.
Abby is a five-year-old chubby wubby Puggle (that’s a beagle and a pug mix), and is the absolute best, cutest little princess.
Continue reading “Meet Abby: Celebrating Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month”
“I wish I could do something like that but I just don’t have the time!”
said every person ever.
Dedicating some of your time and energy to a good cause sounds so ideal to many, but it’s often dismissed–staying just an ideal and not becoming a reality. Whether we’re spending our time working, going through school, interning, running never-ending errands, or doing chores around the house, it seems like there’s no time to squeeze in something that doesn’t have a direct and immediate impact on our lives. Things we all would love to do we just don’t seem to have time for anymore, including giving back to others.
Hey! Cheer up, busy bee! Doing something that makes you feel good isn’t an added stress, it’s a stress reliever! As impossible as it may seem in your life right now, it is entirely possible to lead the giving lifestyle you’ve been yearning to lead without sacrificing a thing that you’ll miss. Do you want to know how and why?
When you’re giving your time to something you’re passionate about and that you really love, it doesn’t feel like you’re giving up anything at all.
About a year ago, I needed a life pick-me-up… I was growing increasingly tired of the “me”-driven behavior that naturally reigns supreme in my collegiate age group. The circumstances surrounding growing up lead us to act in this way, but it’s just not who I am. So, I began my personal endeavor to start donating my time and efforts to places that could use it more than, say, …Facebook.
As a busy college student, I started with a very small commitment that I actually did not complete until recently:
Since that time last year I tried my hardest to grow my hair out to straggly mermaid lengths, getting it chopped off and donated to Continue reading “How To Be Happy: Give Without Giving Up”
The Cheerful Times 