Keira-anne.com

With a little over two weeks until the SPCA’s Paws For A Cause, excitement is certainly building! Our fundraising efforts have been met with an overwhelming response and I, for one, am incredibly grateful for the generosity and encouraging words of support. Being that so many of you have chosen to give to the animals, I would like to give something back.

Amongst those who have made contributions of more than $20, I will be raffling off a $50 gift card to the shop of the winner’s choice (Future Shop? Home Depot? Urban Outfitters?). In addition, MatthewGood.org’s very own accomplished photographer, Duane Storey, is giving away an 8″x10″ print of one of his phenomenal HDR photos snapped in and around Vancouver. A couple examples are seen below; more of his HDR work can be viewed here.

Photo: Duane Storey on Flickr

Photo: Duane Storey on Flickr

If you would like to donate to the SPCA’s Paws For A Cause and support Benji, Casey, Pete and Bella as they march for their furry friends, visit the donation page here.

To learn how your dollars can make a difference, visit the SPCA’s Paws For A Cause website.

Thanks again!

Originally posted here.

Okay, okay, so I know I haven’t exactly been acting like much of a blogger this week. I haven’t posted in two days and even then it was only a video clip, so even I can admit that was a half-assed attempt. Work has been a hellish gong show for me over the last two days. On Wednesday after work, I sat on the floor of the shower, letting it run over me for 20 minutes, pretending I was sitting in a summer rain shower on Chesterman beach, not unlike the last time I was there. It actually worked.

However, now it’s Friday and my hell days allowed me to accrue enough overtime hours to stay at home today. Because my brain is essentially fried after completing 110 pages of written submissions, here’s a Friday link fest for you.

Photo: iheartsharts on Flickr

Thanks for providing me with an outlet with which I can not only make productive use of my time, but also to pimp the pups. Yes!

P.S. Sorry, Amy.

It’s probably been at least a 67 years since I last posted a link fest, so here you go, Tuesday. Here’s a link feast…

Photo: John Bollwitt on Flickr

P.S. I love my MacBook Pro

Allow me to be completely honest with you for a moment. I love meat. I love steaks, I love ribs, sometimes I love chicken and I have a new found love for fish and chips. Proscuitto is fantastic and salami often makes a sandwich. I also love cooking meat. With countless recipes designed to create and tantalize, it’s hard for me to stay out of the kitchen.

Photo: Another Pint Please… on Flickr

Here’s my problem: how do I go cruelty-free? The truth of the matter is that I am not able, nor do I want, to go completely vegetarian. I, personally, take no issue with the consumption of meat as a food source. I do, however, take huge issue with the ways in which animals are treated before being prepared as food. As an animal lover, I am becoming more and more aware of the absolute importance of humane treatment. I also don’t want to become one of those pretentious, selective eaters.

It’s becoming a gray area for me. One can go so far as to say: “well what about leather handbags and shoes?” That’s an extremely valid point. What about them? How is the source of that leather traceable?

I refuse to rely on PETA’s website because I would presume that everything there would have to be read with a fantastically large grain of salt. I’d find it hard to believe their facts and information wouldn’t be largely biased. This is where you, my readers, come in.

I’ll not lie to you though…giving up McDonald’s and Chinese food will be no easy feat for this chica.

Over to you…

My drive and desire behind participating in 2008’s SPCA Paws For A Cause has remained completely unchanged. My passion and love for four-legged friends - and dogs in particular - is what pushes me to speak for those who have no voices.

Being that one of my very best friends feels the same way and is a committed dog lover himself, I asked Matt to come on board. Paws For A Cause is really and truly about the animals, and only the animals, and so I re-vamped my participation profile to reflect that.

While I will still be holding the leashes, it is Benji, Casey, Pete, Bella and Jorja that will be walking on September 14 to speak for their furry friends. I know my girl Charley would participate too if she were in Vancouver. Between the donations I’d already raised and those we’ve raised by way of Matt’s blog, close to $3,200 over $3,300 is going to the BC SPCA - all thanks to you!

This West Coast weather cannot get more gorgeous, and so with all the sunshine and heat, I’m trying to make the most of it. Lucky for me, I am in charge of my favourite charges, Benji and Casey, for another fun-filled week. We hit Crab Park yesterday for a long while, are hitting it with Becky tomorrow and had a play date this afternoon with Amy and Peanut.

Photo: Amelia Burrows on Flickr

Not only did all three of them have an absolute blast frolicking and playing in the sun and the grass, they also met a few new friends. Harley was a 2.5-year-old Pomeranian who was unbelievably soft and had a friendly face that was almost identical to Benji’s.

Soon after, the boys met Beans, a four-month-old Norwich Terrier. Beans was, without a doubt, so cute that it hurt to even look at her. She had the happiest face, beautiful fur that made her look like a cross between an Ewok and a teddy bear and did this cute thing where she’d get down real low on the ground whenever she approached another dog…like she was being all slinky and sly.

I have got to get one for myself. Need proof? Check out these little dumplings. Norwich Terrier breeders are few and far between, but I managed to find one online in South Surrey/White Rock. These babies don’t come cheap though…one can expect to pay about $2,500.

As Jen and I strolled down Robson Street this evening, I stopped in front of a boarded up construction site that had been plastered with random concert and record posters. One cluster of ads, however, caught my eye. On September 14, 2008, the SPCA is holding its annual “Paws For A Cause” at Vanier Park in Kitsilano.

Let’s hope for sunshine, as I’ll be heading out to Kitsilano in September to march and rally with a menagerie of four-legged friends (and some very compassionate animal/SPCA supporters). My goal is a lofty one, but I firmly believe that the animals undoubtedly deserve every penny.

If you’d like more information on this event, visit the “Paws For A Cause” website, and to sponsor me directly, head on over here and search for “Keira-Anne Mellis” to pledge.

Any and all support is humbly and graciously appreciated.

Please take a minute to watch the video below to see how much work the SPCA does to help animals - not just domestic pets - across our Province.

After two long, lovable months of puppy-sitting two of my most favourite dogs, tomorrow is the day on which I have to hand back the leashes. It’s impossible to not become attached after having these two as the entire focus of each and every day for weeks on end, and one would be silly to think they haven’t grown somewhat attached to me more than they already were. To go from everything to nothing is very difficult, but thankfully I’m headed to the Island on Wednesday evening (to help one special little girl celebrate her first birthday), so it’ll be a great opportunity for distraction.

Being that today is my last full day with them, I grabbed my friend Phaedra after work and took Benji and Casey down to Crab Park for some off-leash fun! These were the times that ensued…

…we just live in it.

The more I live, the more I experience.
The more I experience, the more I grow.
The more I grow, the more I learn.
The more I learn, the more I understand myself.
The more I understand myself, the easier it is to conclude what I want and need.

Photo: sirenbrian on Flickr

I still want to win the lottery, but not so that I can be wealthy. Though, that’s not entirely true, because my dream has expanded, and to accomplish what I would wish to do would require money…and probably a lot of it.

Photo: sirenbrian on Flickr

I love dogs (let’s all say “duh” in unison here). In fact, I am beginning to enjoy the company and spirit of dogs almost more than that of people. It isn’t to say I don’t love people, of course, but there’s just something about canines that is so unconditional.

I love walking dogs and playing with dogs and taking pictures of dogs and feeding dogs and spoiling dogs. The joy and satisfaction is, I could say, even greater than that I experienced while teaching preschool some years ago.

Being in the middle of a growth spurt of the internal kind, some conclusions I have been drawing have struck me as somewhat surprising. I have always dreamt of the married life with 2.5 kids and a minivan. And now? Not so much. Perhaps that will change, but today, it’s definitely not where I am at.

I want to be the old lady who lived with her dogs.

Photo: mosilager on Flickr

So here is where my expanded dream comes in: were I to rake in the big one, I know precisely what I’d do. I’d buy a spacious chunk of property, somewhere in the range of 20 acres, nestled somewhere between Parksville and Coombs. After building a comfortable home for myself (and pepper a few little patio homes across the property for family and friends), I’d build a kennel. But not just one or two little concrete and chain-link kennels. I’d build 30 or 40 kennels, built of warm cedar with soft blankets and countless toys.

And while I wouldn’t want 30 or 40 dogs of my own, I’d hire a round-the-clock veterinarian and create a sanctuary for abused, abandonded or lost dogs. The veterinarian could take care of the physical health aspect; while giving the dogs ample fields in which to play, run, rest and socialize would help rehabilitate them on the inside.

To say it would be my “dream” would be highly understating the truth.

If you were bestowed unlimited funds to build your philanthropic dream, what would you do?