This is the time of year when things start looking up again. January is my least favorite month– let’s not sugar coat things. It’s dark. It’s cold. The holidays are over, and winter is stretched out before us for miles and miles.

Once February hits, however, we have a glimmer of hope. January is behind us. The days get longer and maybe just a little warmer. I especially look forward to longer evenings and a later sunset. Each day we get a few more precious minutes of daylight.

Earlier this winter I entered into the busiest stage of my life (yet). I began working a second job that, when added to my teaching position, made for a full-time work schedule. On top of raising two young children, caring for a puppy, (and a house and all that entails)– whew! It was a big adjustment.

But one I’m finding a rhythm with now.

I do miss having the bits of free time now and then to write ‘just for fun,’ but I trust those will come again. In the meantime, it’s been interesting to start my copywriting job with Chewy.com, the gigantic pet supply website you’ve probably seen commercials about if you don’t already have pets and shop there.

Teaching twice a week in a school setting has been invigorating too. It frees up weekends and evenings to help care for (and chauffeur) my kids to various activities, squeeze in extra writing work, take Sunny on walks, and to enjoy those rare evenings where we are all home at one time.

Oh, and how the world turns: Sunny the Pup? She turns one today. What a game changer she’s been. She has brought me along with her to countless new, unexpected experiences, from a Pheasant Fest convention to hunt training nights on a farm to a crazy-fun puppy agility class– none of which I would have done without her.

Animals enrich our lives in countless ways, and I’m still honored every time I get to write about it.

In the most recent edition of North Oaks Living, I got to write about a good friend of mine and the dog they adopted as a puppy (the one they thought was a lab but turns out to be part Great Dane). He’s now like a brother to my friend’s girls, and it was a special one to write.

I also have a cool project coming out soon in the next few issues of VHD Magazine (the North American Versatile Hunting Dog publication), featuring women from around North America who train and hunt with their dogs. It was a huge (HUGE) effort and one I’ll be happy to share with readers soon.

In the meantime, next time you’re shopping on Chewy, I might have been the one who wrote that dazzling product description for the item you’re adding to your cart…

~Julia