February isn’t my favorite month, mostly because I am not a huge fan of winter in general. It was also a particularly tough month because we had to say good-bye to our beloved 15 yr old Boston Terrier, Molly. We rescued her when she was just 2 from a horrible, abusive puppy mill. The first couple of years of her life were absolutely awful, and when we first got her, she was unbelievably shy. Even though she warmed up to me relatively quickly, it took some time for her to come around to others and learn to trust. Over the years, and four kids later (my oldest wasn’t even 2 when we brought her home), she remained sweet, loving, trusting, playful, and loyal. She loved playing with the kids in her younger years, and even as she got closer to the end of her life, she would play with our house rabbit, Pepper. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She never chased small animals. I’ve never heard her so much as growl. She’s never bitten anything. She followed me everywhere and would greet me at the door every single day.

She just genuinely loved her people, and she is sorely missed around the house.

Finding beauty when you’re going through difficult times can be extremely challenging. Even though winter isn’t really my thing and there were days when I struggled to even pick up my camera, I pushed myself to go outside; to keep moving forward…and I managed to find beauty in the most unexpected places.

If you ever find yourself in a similar place, slow down and look around you. Take a walk and explore. Pretty things are everywhere.

I hope you enjoy the first part of this month’s photographs.