Linda Arredondo

I have a hard time balancing work and play. It’s hard to turn off inspiration and put exciting ideas on hold to make time for other important things. That said, the more I learn my way through my “business”, the more I value the free time I have, and realize that spending time away from my work helps inspire it.

I started out the year settling into our new place in Santa Monica. One of the most exciting things was thinking of how to make the best use of our new yard! I bought a fig tree at the farmer’s market last year, which quickly unravelled into an overeager desire to fill my garden with veggie and fruit plants!

As I was flipping through my new gardening book one night, I turned to the page on ‘Making your own Plant Bed’ and Matthew coincidentally caught a glimpse of it, saying “I can make that”, as any manly man would. That was that. We dove right into it, finding ourselves at Home Depot the next day buying wood. Little did we know we’d end up with around $250 worth of redwood, completely unaware at the time of what it would cost to buy 35 bags of organic soil to fill it! Yikes! Spontaneity ain’t cheap sometimes!

But such is life! It’s not just the food we will be able to grow ourselves, it’s about spending time outside tending to the garden every day, and becoming lost in it in a meditative sort of way. Watching your seedlings grow is wondrous. So there, financial investment completely justified!

As you can see above, we were assisted by not one, but two little mutts! Those of you who have known me for a bit, know that our chihuahua Cocoa is a sort of deity in our household. We are devoted to making sure she is always in a complete state of comfort and bliss. Any of you who have met her, understand why. I am speaking objectively here.

I had been half-seriously joking about getting a second dog. Since our love for Cocoa is the overflowing kind of love, we need a second being to receive the overflow. It’s simple math really. After months and months, Matthew caved, and I immediately began my online quest to find a good fit from nearby animal shelters. It is heart-breaking to see so many dogs eagerly awaiting adoption, but I knew I had to stick to my criteria to make a choice that would be permanent; that would work with our lifestyles and would be healthy for the new dog.

On the second day of searching we came across “Angel” at the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter. I saw her frightened but sweet stare for the first time in her cage and my brain turned to action with a subtle anxious overtone: “we need someone to help us. We need someone to get this dog out of the kennel for us before someone else sees her. Find someone. Where is someone?” She had been there for at least 4 months, so I was the only one in a rush to get her, apparently.

We have had “Fig” (as we re-named her) for several weeks now.  She is gaining confidence each day, and continues to be utterly loyal to Cocoa, following her like a shadow. Cocoa is taking it quite well, surprisingly… most of the time.

It has been an adventurous start to 2012, by my standards. I am now getting ready to shift gear a little bit and start devoting more time again to my work with the approaching engagement and wedding season, for which I am beyond excited!!