The idea to write her book came from the desire to share the cool places in Austin with her young nieces in hopes they would want to visit her someday. When she realized that other people actually liked the book for their children, she decided it would be fun to combine her love of travel and dogs into her books while exploring and photographing other popular cities. The revised version of the first book became "Jake and Angel's A to Z Adventures in Austin." Mary Beth had the opportunity to live overseas as a child, and realized the value of being able to see some of the world's famous places