Puppy love

When I was four, I remember coming home from kindergarten and opening the front door. Across the living room were my mom and step-dad sitting on the couch...and a pair of eyes, which suddenly burst forward at lightning speed. I was being chased! I screamed and ran upstairs to my bedroom and shut the door.

His name was Karly, an English Springer Spaniel puppy. 

I loved this dog. I loved him so much.

We briefly owned a teacup poodle, named Ashley. It didn't work out with her... She was just annoying and didn't work out well with Karly. We ended up giving her away to family; and she ended up having puppies, which were distributed among more family! Every time we go to visit someone, I always hear stuff like "he's Ashley's pup!" or "she's a descendant of Ashley!" Kind of neat.

I also got to get close to my Grandma's dog, Rocky - a mixed breed who looked mostly like an Irish Setter.

He was very loving, and was incredibly well-trained! He could sense my Grandma coming home from down the street, and would have her slippers ready at the door. Unfortunately, he got sick and suffered somewhat the same fate as Karly...

Karly had to be put down two days after Christmas in 1997, when I was 11. He'd eaten something bad (I was told), and he got sick and developed an autoimmune disease. At Christmas, he'd stopped playing, was always sleeping, and hardly ate. I was so devastated. This dog had been a part of my family for the majority of my young life.

To ease the pain of his parting, my step-dad thought to immediately get another dog to take our minds off Karly (I was 11, my brother was 3, my sister was 5). So he got a Dalmation, named Chloe.

She was an unruly dog - vain and stupid are the best adjectives for her. She was just so dumb! She would sit in front of the oven and stare at her reflection. She wouldn't listen to commands, and had a tendency to destroy things. I think they could tell she wasn't going to work out, because soon after, we got another dog. We came home one night, and Chloe had destroyed her kennel throw pillow - cotton everywhere. She was gone within the week.

And then there was Max.

As much as I loved Karly, I truly feel Max was my puppy soul mate. He was protective of me. Caring, concerned, and totally lovable. My mom insists he was intended to be "her dog", but in the end, I think that dog loved me most. I still have dreams about him. I never had to deal with losing Max the way I lost Karly, but not long after I moved in with my grandparents (at 15), my mom decided to get rid of Max. She ended up giving him to one of my brother's friends, and I saw him once years later (and he seemed to remember me!). I still miss him, a lot.

I love Spaniels. I love Beagles. I love Pugs and Blood Hounds and Yorkies and Irish Setters. But, when it comes time to get a dog of my own - though Wes pay protest - I think I'm going to have to search for a black Pomeranian. <3

New additions

Well, the bedroom is facing another challenge: the addition of a few new pieces. For Christmas, Wes bought me a jewellery armoire.

He also bought me a Washburn acoustic guitar. Both of these have to live in our bedroom, as space is at a premium in our apartment. That said, our already-cramped and needing-a-makeover bedroom is now a much tighter space. My guitar is currently on a stand sticking out like a sore thumb in front of the dresser and closet. With the corner book case unit we're hoping to get this or next month, the bedroom's going to be set up like this. Still no rug and we haven't painted the dresser or bench, but the lay-out is where we're at.

Living in a rental unit is so limiting. If we had a house, there would be no discussion - the book case wouldn't need to be in the bedroom. As it stands, there is no room for it elsewhere (even if we put off getting a new corner unit, the current book case is still an issue). And, adding that corner unit will free up much-needed closet space once Wes can stuff his books onto shelves instead of in boxes.

Bedroom

In our apartment, nearly every room feels complete. It's getting close. The living room entertainment unit could use some love, the dining area as well. The bathroom needs only a new over-the-toilet stand. But the bedroom? Aside from the new TV unit, it looks practically the same as it did when we moved in July 2009.

I apologize for the poor quality images; they were screen-capped from a video tour of our apartment when we moved in. Since these pictures were taken, the only additions have been the black Baroque curtains from Jysk and TV unit (Geneva Credenza) from Liquidation World:

I would ideally like the room to be laid out like the second (right) image:

I'd like to add a rug beneath the bed (colours/pattern TBD), a reading chair and small table on the left side of the bed (with a lamp), update the existing book case to a corner unit (top left), paint the dresser and wooden chest (black) and hang some artwork. I'm afraid the room will be overwhelmed by black, though, so I'd like to incorporate some blues, grays, purples, and/or silver - the easiest way to do so being the bed set (need a new one). I'd also opt for a white wing-back or slipper chair and pedestal table for Wes' bedside to break up the black. I'm also toying with adding a padded seat top to the wooden chest in similar colours to the new bed set (TBD).

The laundry will need to be moved into a tall closet bin that can be hidden away. I'd like to remove the blue tote from the room entirely and stack it in the large living room closet after paring down its contents (and that of the second tote in there already). Oh, and I desperately want a headboard.

Thoughts?

About

Welcome to Heart, Mind, Home! My name is Amy, I’m 24 years old, and I live around Toronto, Ontario with my boyfriend and our barely-hanging-on peace lily. I've previously started blogs and let them die, and I think it's because I spread all my thoughts over several different mediums: a blog for fitness, a LiveJournal for personal dilemmas, another blog for apartment changes... It got to be too much. Now I've got one space for everything in my heart, mind and home!

Heart. Things I love. I love interior design. I love my family. I love my boyfriend. I love my friends. I love food.
Mind. Things I'm learning. I'm learning about proper fitness and nutrition. I'm learning to cook. I'm learning guitar.
Home. Things that keep me grounded.

I hope you stick around; this little blog doesn't look like much yet, but I hope to fill it with all the little things in my life that make me happy.