Weekly Snapshots

1. Nymeria is officially one of the family, she was adopted last week and will live with my grandparents.

2. Murderface is in the Christmas spirit.

3 & 4. I had my Going Away/Christmas get together over the weekend with #teambaddecisions, I decided to channel my inner Carrie Bradshaw with an extra poofy tulle skirt since I doubt I'll be dressing up much in Kanab. Can't believe I'm moving in less then a week! Still so conflicted about it.

5. Went to a baby shower and finally got to play in a photo booth with my love and my friends. 

It's almost Christmas! I can't wait!

NKLV Rescue Only

I was finally able to start working on my photo project from my internship once I got home.

Even though I'm moving, this is still something I plan on continuing whenever I'm back in town visiting.

The No-Kill Las Vegas movement is very important to me. 

Las Vegas will always be my home and I care about what happens here no matter how far I roam. 

That's why I started the NKLV Rescue Only photo campaign to bring awareness to how many animals die in the high kill shelter unless they are pulled for rescue, usually those that are saved are pulled from Rescue Only lists.  

Wilbur, the cockapoo dog photographed above, was on the RO list for dog aggression and dog bite wounds on his back. It's likely that he may have been used as a bait dog due to his wounds and fear of other dogs. He was pulled by a local rescue, fostered, became a foster fail and now lives in a forever home with other dog siblings. He came to his new home already house trained and obedience trained. 

Duffy was on the RO list due to a lame leg. He had to have surgery on it after pulled by another rescue which resulted in a stumpy leg but he was also a foster failure and lives in a home with other animals. Duff was also house trained and obedience trained when his foster/forever mom took him in.  He's also a purebred Pomeranian. 

Both dogs were at the high kill Animal Foundation.

Rescue dogs turn up in shelters for various reasons but are often put on the RO List/euthanized for reasons from shyness, old age, injuries, and mostly for lack of space. Most of the dogs are already trained and have home experience and many are purebred dogs. This is why spay and neuter laws are so important and why we try so hard to end puppy mills and backyard breeders. 

I would love for you guys to support this campaign by following on:

 Facebook 

or

 website. 

I also have links on my website with resources and advice on how to help Las Vegas go No-Kill.

If you plan on adding a new furry friend to your family this Christmas, do me one favor.

Please Adopt. Don't shop.

Goodbye Las Vegas

The good news has arrived.

I've gotten a position at Best Friend's Animal Sanctuary working with dogs.

I'm moving to Utah at the end of December, right before New Years Eve.

This is my first time moving out of state, away from all my friends and family.

I'm nervous, stressed, sad, and excited.

The thing that makes it easier is that everyone is so supportive and I'll only be three hours away from Vegas so I can come back often and continue my photography business here.

Still, this is a huge change, a big city girl moving into the tiniest of towns.

It's worth it to be working a dream job that I know tons of people would kill to have.

Now fingers crossed I can find a place to live in two weeks, I've been struggling so prayers are welcome. I also hope you guys will stick with me and enjoy the ride to Utah and the adventures that comes with being a Best Friend's Dog Caregiver. 

It's going to be amazing.

Christmas Time is Here

It's really good to be home.

It's already been a jam-packed schedule since I got back.

So much to do, so little time.

Christmas photo sessions, christmas shopping, starting my NKLV Rescue Only photo project, drinking as much christmas Starbucks drinks as possible since I've been having withdrawals for a month...

Preparing for the follow up on hopeful good news I should be getting today.

Not to mention enjoying time with my boyfriend and friends and celebrating the season.

We took our Christmas card photos last night, the two black and white photos made the cut and I'm excited to send them out to everyone.

We also went ice skating at the Cosmo yesterday with my best friend and her boyfriend which is one of my favorite things to do. They have the most amazing holiday drinks, The Ugly Sweater and The Griswold were my favorites not to mention they now have a snow machine so you can ice skate while it's snowing. It's lovely and a lot of fun.

I hope you guys are all enjoying the holidays as much as I am lately.

Home for the Holidays

I'm officially back in Vegas and have gone straight into Christmas mode. Determined to make this Christmas amazing as the last few have been totally awful due to death, death, and more death.

So to start getting in the holiday spirit, Jasper decided to dress up for a holiday photo.

He's so damn cute.

Whiskers

(Grover & Nero)

My internship at Best Friend's Animal Sanctuary officially wrapped up last week however I'm still here for one more week and then head home to Vegas on Saturday with hopefully some big news to share.

However I still have loads of pictures from my last two weeks as an intern, my second to last week was spent in Benton's which is a house for special needs and social cats.

(TJ)

While I'm mostly a dog and horse person, I do have a fondness for cats thanks to the everlasting impression my first cat Siamese (I named her when I was 4) had on me growing up. She loved me, let me put her in baskets, would knead on me when she felt safe, and always slept with me. Sinatra, the cat I have now, is the complete opposite of her but I love him just the same. So I do have quite the soft spot for long whiskers.

(Bob)

In Benton's I met TJ who was completely blind but got around just fine, Slidell who is completely paralyzed in her back legs but can still climb cat towers and doesn't let her backend slow her down. There was Aaron, the champion door dasher who has Manx related issues and Blackjack who loves to go on walks on a leash. 

(Nero)

Inspirational cats.

Jellicle cats.

All these cats are looking for forever homes,

find more info here.

Enjoy these fabulous felines.

 (Tara)

(Hannah)

(Charisma)

(Patti)

(Edward)

(Hobo)

The little cat above is also part of the 12 Cats of Christmas promo which you can find out more about here.

Thankful

Thankful to be finishing my last week as a Best Friend's Intern tomorrow.

Thankful to be starting my employment trial at Best Friend's next week, fingers crossed.

Thankful that I've finally started following my dreams and things are falling into place.

Thankful that my photography business keeps growing and expanding to new opportunities.

Thankful for all my wonderful family and friends that love and support me.

Thankful for my best friend/boyfriend who drove up here to spend Thanksgiving with me.

Thankful for my Murderface, Jasper, Sinatra, and Nymeria because I wouldn't be doing what I do if it wasn't for animals like them.

Thankful for my life.

And this schmuck.

Sensual Sunday

"This is the best I've ever looked, 

part of doing this is for my boyfriend but mostly I'm doing it for me."

The explanation my friend Amanda gave during her boudoir shoot of why she wanted these images and I absolutely loved her answer. What better reason to do a sexy shoot than for yourself? Enjoy a teaser of our session here and then go check out most of the rest over here.

Celebrate yourself, book a boudoir shoot. You won't regret it.

Me.

"Cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed as a daydream"

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge {Pets}

Most of you remember Nymeria, the border collie I rescued after being dumped at a Nevada Power Plant and took on as a personal foster to get her healthy again. You can find the whole story here and then realize why I had to choose her for this Photo Challenge.

The Before pictures were taken on my iPhone the day I picked her up and took her to the vet, the After photo... Well you can see the huge difference (in her and picture quality). She's like a new dog. She's learning to chase balls after watching my other border collie play, loves to cuddle with me, and she enjoys going on walks now that her paws have healed. We are still working on her fear of strangers (men in particular) as well as her extreme separation anxiety but luckily someones usually always home in my house so she's never alone for too long. 

Nym is still currently in my care but she is looking for a forever home. We would love to keep her but my big guy and her are having a hard time getting along if there's not enough space between them so we are def keeping the door open for someone who might be able to give her more than we can but she won't go to just anyone!

Hooves & Snouts

I'm wrapping up Internship week 2 and 3 in Horse Haven and Piggy Paradise (they are combined areas) and got the chance to give the pigs and horses their own photoshoots. The staff here are unbelievably awesome and have even been posting my work on each area's respective Facebook page! You can see my photos for the pigs here and the horses here.

I've always loved horses as most of you know, I have been riding for almost as long as I could walk. However, I have a new found respect for pigs. I've always liked pigs and have never been a huge pork eater but spending time with them on the day to day made me realize just how smart and social they are. The horses and pigs here are trained in Parelli Natural Horsemanship which focuses on positive training methods and building a positive bond between horse and rider and the pigs learn this way as well. It's something I haven't really gotten a chance to experience yet but I'm hoping to learn more about it before this week is over. 

I encourage everyone to do a little more research when it comes to pigs. There is no such thing as a teacup piggy, these small pigs are starved to keep them small and are even explained in their contracts to underfeed the animals to keep them small and these poor pigs experience many health issues because of it. Pigs also turn vicious when kept in homes if they don't have another pig friend which is why Best Friend's adopts them out in pairs. I'm not a vegetarian by any means, I've tried and failed many times, but I have so much respect for people who are and I have definitely cut down my carnivorous ways since I've been here.

If you get a chance to volunteer at the Sanctuary, make sure you spend some time with the pigs and horses. It's a really great time feeding the horses and giving pigs belly rubs. 

If you want to know more about the pigs at Best Friends, one of the other interns is running a blog specifically about them called Friends With Pigs! She also makes the cutest pig cozies as well as other animal cozies so be sure to check her out!

Dogtown

(Bruno)

So I'm currently writing this from cloudy Kanab UT where I've wrapped up my first week of my internship at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I spent my first week in Dogtown, learning how to be a dog caregiver and what goes into training and rehabilitating the dogs in my specific section. I have yet to meet someone here that I don't like and I even ran my section, The Gardens, by myself the last morning because of a mix-up which I think happened for a reason so I could perhaps prove to myself and staff that I'm meant to do this. 

(Sinatra)

The dogs here are incredible. There's Bruno, the large gray and white Pit Bull Terrier who is incredibly smart and stubborn and instantly became one of my favorites. There's Sinatra, the Australian Shepherd with beautiful blue eyes (hence the name) whose extremely shy and avoids being petted. He has to be hand fed to help him bond with humans and prove we aren't so bad and he will come up to you and snuffle your hair if he's curious and comfortable enough. Beautiful Pearl, another Pittie, who suffers from Babesia which is a blood disease she contracted from a fighting ring in Texas but is the sweetest little gremlin I've ever met. Then there is Nita, a bouncy and lovable American Bulldog mix who thinks she's part cat. I wish I could take them all home with me.

(Pearl)

I loved every minute of being with the dogs and I'm pretty sad that I can't spend my entire internship there. However the good news is that this week will be spent in horses, my other favorite area, and I also summoned my courage and put in an application to be a Dogtown caregiver. Fingers crossed.

(Nita)

All the dogs seen here are currently for adoption. 

You can find more info/adopt here: Best Friends Adopt a Pet-Animal Sanctuary

Peace, Love, & Pitbulls

A few months ago, a local Las Vegas Bully rescue was shut down leaving 30+ dogs homeless and in danger of ending up at the high-kill shelter. Luckily all of the dogs made it into temp foster homes or into boarding but unfortunately the story hasn't ended happily with many pups still needing permamnt foster/forever homes.

Rollo was one of the dogs in need of rescue who was suffering from emotional seizures due to the kenneling environment. I took him on as an independent rescue and have desperately tried to find him a long-term foster or adoptive home with little luck. 

It's hard when the dog in question is a 90lb Pit Bull. He's an incredibly big goofball and is a lover...Not a fighter. It's his size and intense golden eyes that seem to throw people off, judging the cover before reading the book. Yes, he is particular about the company he keeps with other dogs but with people it's not an issue. He's a large puppy that needs basic obedience training and consistency after being in boarding for so long.

I did this Peace, Love, and Pitbulls shoot to help find Rollo his forever home and to show that even a 120lb girl can handle a lovable 90lb gentle giant.

Please share Rollo's story. 

He's available in the Las Vegas area for adoption but out of town adoption will be considered for the right home. Email jessicaraquel_e@hotmail.com if interested. 

My best friend's are having a baby! {Maternity Session}

Mike was one of the first friends I ever made my freshman year in High School. Junior year, Eva became one of my best friends. We all hung out in the same circle even after graduation so when Eva told me her and Mike were dating, I remember saying... "Hey, that makes a lot of sense." A few years later they got married and now... My best friends are expecting their very first baby in November. I'm beyond excited to meet my little niece. This maternity session is my favorite for many reasons but most of all because it's focused around people that I adore.

You can see more from this session here.

28

Wednesday brought me another year closer to my dirty thirty, I celebrated my 28th birthday with family, my love, my closest friends, and fireball and had a hell of a good time. 

I don't feel 28 at all.

Apparently I don't look it either according to being constantly carded which is fine by me.

Still not completely where I would love to be in life at this age but I can't complain.

Life's pretty good.

Happy Birthday to me!

Oh hey... I'm in a Relationship now

Sometimes you really do end up being with your best friend.

It only took years of friendship and 5 years of bad timing to figure it out. 

Johnny was worth the wait, it's nice to have someone who loves and cares about me enough that he's willing to knock down my walls little by little and actually truly waited for me to be ready. 

I'm a lucky lady. 

Twosday {Animals}

Benny

Pickles.

Both currently up for adoption in the Las Vegas area.