This depiction of Paris on a north-south axis was initially completed by traveler and cartographer Albert Jouvin de Rochefort, one he first created in intricately hand-colored detail in the 17th century. You can even see the Luxembourg Palace (Palais d’Orleans) and the Louvre.
His original was later discovered amongst a collection once owned by the Duke of Choiseul, Foreign Minister of France under Louis XV. This one is a reprint of the procured original.

It is hard to resist the cute, innocent faces of the puppies and dogs that you see either at a shelter or my favorite, as you are purchasing dog food at your local Pets Mart with kids in tow now begging you to bring them all home!  Well here is your chance…October is national adopt-a-shelter-dog month, so this month if you happen to come eye to eye with that puppy and asking yourself should I? or Shouldn’t I? Read on and I think the answer will be yes!

When I sent out the email to our Wisteria offices asking if anyone had adopted a dog, I was happily surprised by the response that I received.  It was hard to choose who we would feature but, once you see this cute Jack Russell terrier, you will understand why!

Introducing Coco…mom is Jennifer Niehaus, our Associate Director of Merchandising and Planning.

I have the best dog in the world.  I know a lot of dog owners would say that, but I promise it’s actually true for me!  I have been lucky to have Coco in my life for the past 7 years. When I first decided to get a dog, I knew it was important for me to adopt from a shelter.  So for about a month, my roommate and I would go to the local animal shelter every Saturday to look for the right one.  I remember walking the rows of kennels and seeing all the dogs- I swear they knew why I was there, and they would look up at me with such hopeful eyes.  It broke my heart to leave empty handed every time, but I just hadn’t yet found the dog for me.  Then one weekend, my friend Mark was in town visiting and we went to lunch.  We had to wait for a table, and so we decided to take a walk around the outdoor shopping area where there just happened to be a dog adoption happening.   I saw a scruffy little brown dog, and asked if they could take her out of the cage.  As soon as they did, the dog walked right up to me, looked me in the eye and started wagging her tail.  Well, how could I resist that?

Look at this- I mean, is she serious with that little face??

As I was filling out the adoption paperwork, it occurred to me to ask what the shelter knew about this dog.  It turned out, they didn’t know much- someone had found her living in the shed in their backyard and brought her in to the shelter about a week before, where they had immediately spayed her.  Since then she had been recovering from surgery, so they weren’t sure if she was trained or what kind of temperment she had.  These things should have worried me, but they didn’t at all- I was already in love, and there was no turning back!

We took Coco home that day, and Mark and I gave her a bath.  As soon as we got her in the tub, the brown started to come off- it turned out this dog was actually mostly WHITE!  The shelter had named her Ally McDog, I guess after the TV show, Ally McBeal.  It didn’t take long for us to decide the name was awful, and  Mark suggested Coco.  It was perfect, and somehow she seemed to know her name right away.  Over the next few months, Coco and I got to know each other.  From the beginning she was the perfect dog.  In fact, I think she trained me during this time, not the other way around.

Coco’s “blue steel.” And yes, the hair on top of her head does that on its own- there’s no stopping it!

Now here’s where I have to stop and explain that I may just be a teeny-tiny bit crazy about my dog.  Some people talk to their dog and buy them clothes, but I have proudly taken these things to the next level!  In fact my poor husband, Zach is probably reading this right now, and shaking his head because he knows where this story is going. Coco is truly a part of our family- she has many nicknames, including Coconut, Coco-Bean, Coco Monster, and Cokes.  I know, so creative right?  By now our friends and family know that if they invite us somewhere and it is even remotely socially acceptable for a dog to be there, Coco is with a doubt coming along!  In the past, Coco has modeled in a fashion show, seen a dog psychic, earned 2^nd place in a dog duathlon, and guest starred on The Office.  OK fine, that last one isn’t true, but a dog that looked EXACTLY like Coco was on The Office.  I’m sure you can imagine how much my husband and I flipped out when this came on TV. AND now we can add “blog star” to Coco’s list of accomplishments!

Is that an exact Coco replica or what?

I truly believe that Coco has been such a great dog because she knows that I am the one who helped her (plus the dog psychic confirmed this, but THAT is a whole other story!)  To anyone considering getting a new pet, I can’t say enough about my experience adopting from a shelter.  These animals just want someone to love them, and they deserve only the best.  So before you support that breeder or pet store, at least go and take a look at the local shelter.  You may just get lucky and meet a new best friend.

What, you’ve never seen a dog wear a necklace before???

Our good friends, Kelly and Quinn, are not shy in letting you know that not only do they love sweets, but they love to eat!  However, you would never guess their love of food, because they are a very petite mother and daughter duo…

Knowing their love of donuts, I knew they would be the perfect pair to give us a review of Hypnotic Donuts in Dallas.  And of course, they did not disappoint!

Who doesn’t love donuts?  Well, my family really loves donuts.  We even have them on our birthday instead of cake and ice cream – complete with candles!  So when I started hearing the buzz about a new, different kind of donut shop, Hypnotic Donuts, I had to check it out.  It did not disappoint.

Like so many others, we caught the Pinterest bug and still can’t help ourselves. Here are some of our most popular pins:

Board: Outdoor Living

Board: Food + Drink

Board: White

Board: First Impressions

Board: Travel

Board: Entertaining

Board: Tree Houses