Jam on the Hill

Several months ago, I discovered Yellow Brick Home, the gorgeous Chicago blog of husband and wife team Kim and Scott.  Their blog has become a regular read for me - I love Kim's friendly and approachable writing style and her gorgeous photos.  I like to think that we'd be friends if I lived in the Windy City.  Their blog posts range from awesome room redesigns to adorable photos of their pets.   And they have a shop where Kim creates tiny custom portraits of four-legged family members.  Which brings me to the purpose of this post, which is to share with you (a) some adorable photos of our dog and (b) the fabulously perfect portrait that Kim made of our little man, the Jams himself.

Navah made fun of me for wanting a portrait of the little man - I think she was invisioning a giant watercolor of Jammer romping through a field of daisies or posing in a little doggie tie.  Even after I showed her the website, she wasn't convinced.  But once the little portrait arrived and I set it up on the mantle, she was sold.  I mean, who wouldn't be?

It kills me.  Just the cutest thing ever, and Kim captured his personality so perfectly!  I sent her several pictures and told her that I really wanted her to work from this one:

It's from a hiking trip in Maryland, but that particular over the shoulder look is one that we see all the time from Jammer.  He likes to run ahead to check things out, but then he'll stop and turn back to make sure we're with him.  Adorable.

Kim loved the over-the-shoulder shot, but in her infinite wisdom, she asked if she might use one of the smiley photos to paint his face.  I looked back at the pictures and agreed that it was an excellent idea.  I congratulate myself for knowing a good thought when I see it! Pat on the back for me.

She captures both his playfulness and his coyness with this picture.  The result could not be better. 

Unless of course, you're talking about the real thing:

And just in case you're wondering, we don't normally dress Jammer - except in the winter when the wind is blistery, and then he has an adorable pea coat.  Or when it's raining, and then he has a very useful yellow rain slicker.  We have shag carpet, folks - keeping him dry is not optional.  I, much to my dismay, have a deep desire to clothe him every day in little doggie shirts with collars and sweaters with dinosaurs on them, but Navah keeps it all at bay.  Right now, he's having some allergy issues, and we put him in some of my smaller t-shirts to keep him from scratching and biting at the itchy spots.  Poor guy.  On the upside, he's channeling his inner 80's teenager. 

A final thanks to Kim for the awesome portrait.  It looks splendid on our frame wall!

Katie