This Week in Photos: My Life (and Home) Has Forever Changed Thanks To A Dog Named Piper

My gosh, what a week it’s been.

On Sunday March 15th, we got a puppy. It was a decision we had been in the midst of making for years, but it finally dawned on Shawn and I that we could responsibly take this on finally–we work from home with lots of time and love to give, have a big backyard and plenty of people around if/when we need help.

We had been waiting for the best time to raise a pup, and with everything coming together (finding a stride in working from home full-time, having completed most of the home renos we wanted to do, etc.) it was time–and it didn’t take much time to go from “okay, it’s time to start looking” to “we have a dog”. In fact, it may have only been 48 hours to go from one to the other, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

After finding an ad on Kijiji for “Cute Blue Heeler Cross Puppies” on Saturday evening, we were out the door and Piper was home the next day (who remained unnamed for a day: we couldn’t decide between Georgia, Esther, Ireland, Francis, Pheobe, or, what we settled on, Piper). The day we went to get her, we actually pulled up to the wrong house, which, as it turned out, was also in the wrong town… which was 2 hours away from where we were. And the kicker? We had already driven over two hours. Yeah, that wasn’t a fun discovery after an already long and anxious car ride in anticipation of this meeting her. But nonetheless, we hit the gas, met Piper hours later, and by 8pm we were buying dog toys and food and my parents were visiting us as we all lied on the kitchen floor staring at her.

It’s been such a tiring experience so far, but mostly a rewarding one. I have so much love for this little bundle, but boy does she have a lot of energy! I am zapped. I went into this kind-of seeking a challenge and something to shake up my daily grind, and boy did I get what I asked for. To be honest, I was getting bored with my day-to-day. Don’t get me wrong, work is great and I couldn’t be happier with my life and career, but working from home with no structure can cause you to go a bit stir-crazy and lose focus. I’m lucky that work comes generally easy and I have decent security, so it’s been easy to get comfortable and content, and I wasn’t so sure that was a good thing. I needed something to shake me up a bit, and I got it!

It’s only been a week and she’s already grown inches and inches and affected my life by loads and loads. It’s insane how quick the days go by. I’m sure months from now I’ll look back on this post and shake my head with how fast time flies, and as exhausted as I am writing this, I’m so grateful for this little lady in my life.

But anyhow, here’s some photos from this past week:

It’s spring! Which means my plants are going nuts right about now, but so is Piper, so I’m in the midst of finding new homes for these guys so they’re out of reach. Turns out jade, pothos and ZZ plants are toxic to dogs so up or out they go! I’ve gone from crazy plant lady to crazy dog lady overnight.

Just finished my last juice from Total Cleanse, and am wishing I had more. With Piper I’m barely eating full meals and am definitely not getting enough food or nutrients, haha. I’m typically a snacker in between meals, but that’s gone out the window this week big time.

I got a new phone (and phone case). I finally invested in a good Apple silicone case which was totally worth the higher price tag. But have I used my phone since? Barely. Any time that would have previously been spent reading Bloglovin’ and checking Instagram has been spent with a puppy at my side, teaching her to sit and lay down (which I’m proud to say she’s mastered!) And it’s been a bit refreshing. I’ve been so disconnected and it’s kind of nice.

We’re undergoing a big bedroom makeover at the moment thanks to Leon’s and I just got my sheets in the mail from Unison. I got the Sailor + Regatta Pewter stripe duvet cover and matching sheets as well as the stitch black and white pillow cases and inverse white pillow cases. They had matching pewter stripe cases, but I wanted to mix and match and play with black, white and grey as opposed to a complete, “perfect” matching set. I’ll reveal the whole before and after bedroom makeover with Leon’s shortly.

We re-arranged our living room. Since getting Piper, she’s naturally had a fascination to see out the window and, up until now, our couch was backed up against the window, which blocked nearly half of the window (and beautiful sunlight) and meant she had to crawl under the couch on her belly and squeeze up behind it to grab a view. So it’s definitely not perfect, the gallery wall is now off-center and the rug should now be turned 90-degrees, but it’s so much brighter, airier and lets us actually watch out the window at the birds and pedestrians, whereas before our backs were to the window, which also caused glare on the TV. So a big thank you to Piper for (unknowingly) being our home design/function consultant. It’s funny how that happens. Function wins sometimes in the game of home design.

Still figuring out where everything should go but it’s a work in progress. This gold stool would fare better as a stand-alone piece but Piper was biting at the palm, so up it goes for the time being (until she knocks it over I’m sure). More on my living room later as I fuss with it in this new layout…

One of the first things I’m going to be doing soon is finding a home for this bad-boy. Isn’t it awesome? I found this by fluke one morning when I was running errands at my local Habitat for Humanity Restore. It’s so beautifully hand-embroidered on canvas. If I can’t have as many plants around the home with Piper, at least I can have them on my walls! Ah, the sacrifices.

Couldn’t resist taking this early-morning shot of the TV area on the first day of spring. That 7am sun streaming in!

But now for the cute stuff! Here’s my sister and little Pipe-squeek. (Our counter space has gone from cluttered to completely covered. This house is already getting too small for us!) It’s only been 1 week with her, but she’s already grown so much. Here’s a shot of the first day we got her, just last Sunday.

My baby and me!

Processed with VSCOcam with kk1 preset

I picked up this big basket/sidetable at my local Target (with a crazy big store-closing discount, bye-bye Target, you were good while you lasted!) It’ll house Piper’s toys and brushes and supplies–at least until she’s smart enough to push it over and get inside at least.

Flying puppy! I love when her ears stay up like this, but heck, the floppy ears are cute too. I’m not sure if they’ll stay floppy like a collie or straighten out like a blue heeler, but time will tell.

I actually have hundreds more photos to share, but they’re all of Piper, so I’ll spare you for now!Or if you like an overwhelming amount of her, follow my personal Instagram.

What did you do this week? Please share the outside world with me. Mine’s all poop and kisses and treats and teething.