A year and a half after losing our beloved chihuahua, Pico de Gallo, our home still felt the quietness of loss. The spaces where water dishes, beds and toys once occupied wasn't the bonus we expected. It just looked empty.

We missed bedtime tuck-ins and his chupacabra imitation during UPS deliveries.

Suddenly and unexpectedly” is a phrase we often hear before burying a friend, something that happens far too often these days—but without warning, a little black bundle of puppy-love dropped into our laps and brought balance into our lives, filling the silence.

So, if you were hoping for a story about careful planning and making sensible decisions… then you might want to lower your expectations right now.

The post Stellaluna: Hitchhiker of the Heart appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Happy Holidays to all! ✨and thank you for waiting for us.

We’ve just returned from a three month European‑style sabbatical. We feel rested, restored, and just smug enough to pretend this was all part of a carefully executed life plan. In truth, our “surprise” 50th Wedding Anniversary trip to Vienna, Austria was launched by Beauty & The Beast, a bathroom faucet, and Billy Joel.

One stormy afternoon while playing Five Crowns, Billy Joel crooned Vienna through the Bose. Carmen tenderly took my hand and flashed "the look" – eyebrow arched, sideways smile, the one that makes me wonder if she's Elvis' secret love child. This look has ended arguments, redirected life plans, and once caused me to apologize for something I hadn’t done yet.

She said...

"No more bloody knuckles for you. Let's do something crazy for our 50th wedding anniversary. In early Spring, we'll limp slowly up the coast to Vinnie's. His new place has secure Airstream storage. Then I grab our backpacks and call Uber, while you hand over the keys and that *gosh-darned Fix-It list. Thirty minutes later we're at the Sacramento airport heading toward our plane. Vinnie and Vienna! Whadda ya say?"

She’d clearly been rehearsing this.

Hey, 50 years of marriage is a big deal.

Life has been good to us. We should celebrate.

Fifty years together taught us this: love endures, homes evolve, and the right song - or city - can still change everything.

The post Vienna Waits For Y’all appeared first on Living In Beauty.

First, you should know that we're okay!

Second, the beauty of our campground hosting adventure is that we got out of it alive – but it was a close one.

After fourteen months of pain, denial, healing and stewing over what could have been, we are finally able to share our sorry work-camping story without having to post a red FOUL LANGUAGE warning at the top of the page.

We'd hoped to just keep it quiet, move on, nurse our wounds, wash our mouths out with soap and pretend it never happened. But trauma doesn't work that way. If you don't "go there" it will come and get you.

If what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, then we hope our story helps others.

The post Campground Hosting Almost Killed Us appeared first on Living In Beauty.