La Dolce Vita

While on the topic of death and grieving, most of you know that Drake, my beloved pooch passed away nearly two years ago. I named my company after him, and he remains in our hearts forever. A sassy, loving and food obsessed golden, Drake lived life to the fullest, notoriously stealing Grandma's mantoes and my friend's hotdog buns (all 36 of them). I swore I'd never get another dog again, but Jeff and I fell in love at the shelter with a mutt named Mocha. Coincidentally, all pets in the Chiang family orignally have food names - our childhood dog Maple (as in syrup); Amber the cat's name was originally Honey and Drake's previous name was Butter. I took that as a sign, plus she melted Jeff right away and her sweet and gentle nature won us over. We rechristened her Dolce, because of her sweet temperament, and also since her coat is the shade of dulce de leche. Her full name is La Dolce Vita Lee, Dolce for short.

Tereza's Tragedy

Today I learned some sad news - my dear friend Tereza's second born child - Amalia passed away after only 8 days in this world. Surely Tereza and Tim are coping as best they can, but how can one recover from such tragedy? What do you say to someone in their situation? How many times do they want to hear that others are sorry for their loss? Grieving takes on its own form for each person and we all manifest and cope with grief differently. I often "stay in touch" with Tereza by occasionally popping onto her blog, when neither of us have the time during our chaotic days to coordinate a phone call and relish our times together in person. So it is in her honor that I inaugurate this blog, which I've been putting off for years. This is a picture of Tereza and Jonah taken almost 2 years ago when Sabrina was stateside and we all stayed at a lovely house on the OR coast, where Drake passed away.