Personal: Love Thy Neighbor and Thy Neighbor's Friend's Dog.

He's house trained. He knows some pretty cool tricks. He's playful and social at the dog park. He's sweet and patient with babies. He's always cuddly with me. He knows that he should never lick my face. He barks at strangers who approach the house. But he doesn't bark at everything. He likes fruits and veggies and most of the time is pretty good at not begging. In short, Ari is a fantastic dog.
And I left this fantastic puppy in a friend's backyard the other night while we went to dinner. He spends a lot of time at this house and we were only going to be gone for a little bit. So I didn't stress. (Which for those of you who know me (aka the crazy dog lady) that's a big deal.) We get back from dinner and I go to get him...  and. he. wasn't. there.
Its dark. He's black. He's little. I die.
I immediately run out into the cul-de-sac and start calling out to him. And no exaggeration, 30 seconds later two men coming walking down the street and all I can see are the ginormous black ears of my baby puppy against the white of this man's shirt. These awesome neighbors had found him at the end of the street and had been walking around looking for the owner.
The gratitude I felt in that moment for all of the things that had lined up in the universe for that moment to have happened so quickly.. was immense. 
So just wanted to put this pic up that I shot of him recently (with a 50mm 1.2 that I rented and am obsessed with).. as a shout out of love and appreciation to good people who do nice things for strangers. And of course, to share with you all the furry preciousness that is Ari.