Review

I went to go see Breaking Dawn, part 1 last night.
I may or may not have LOVED it. I'm sad I have to wait an ENTIRE YEAR to see the last one. Heartbroken.

Mach is feeling better. Not sure what was upsetting him, but lately he's been a little off.

I'm tired and I'm going to go eat and have an afterschool nap. And watch tv. All at once. That's right, I'm talented.

Also, I need to review for my math quiz tomorrow. Boo.

But today was an awesome day, full of happiness. And I'm thankful for that.

Also, I watched this TED talk video the other day and it totally was what I needed in that moment.

There is hurt. Here.
That can't be fixed by bandaids or poetry
So the first time she realizes that Wonder Woman isn't coming
I'll make sure she knows she doesn't have to wear the cape all by herself
'Cause no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal
Believe me, I've tried.
- Sarah Kay, If I Should Have a Daughter

'Tis the Season

Before I begin, I think I have figured out what I want to do. With my life, that is. Well, maybe. I mean, probably. Most likely.

I will stay home and go to UNBF for Kinesiology. Then, off to Dal for PT, then off to the states for Canine Rehab courses.

Done.
 Future = planned. I'm feeling good about it.
Applications + Scholarships = Not done. = Needs to be done. Pronto.

MOVING ON.

We are going to get our tree on the 4th. I'm excited! Every year, a bunch of us get together and go out to a christmas tree farm to get our trees and then we all go back to town and eat brunch together.  When we were all younger, it was a much more awesome time. My brothers have grown up and are stupid and are "too cool" to spend time with the fam, though they came along anyways ... just for the food.

Since Ty is all moved out, it'll be a little different, Ry may not come.
But it doesn't really matter, they just cause headaches anyways. I, however, LOVE it. I love old traditions. I love christmas. I love old christmas traditions. Best ever.



Last weekend my mom and her friends went down to the states for their annual christmas shopping trip. Those girls (minus my mom) just loooove to shop! They love it so much that they wanted to go down this weekend for Black Friday and thought it would be a good idea to bring me along with them!

So off we went.

I hate shopping.
Always have, always will.

I was in so much pain in the first hour, I didn't know how I was going to last the day. But I managed.

We found a little homemade native apparel shop...and I nearly died. Everything in there was PERFECT.


Today was the Santa Claus parade here in Freddy. We weren't in it..err...supposed to be in it.
A guy from our club said he was walking in it with the Greyhound rescue group. His wife has the greyhound and he has the border collie. He asked if anyone wanted to join.

After we were done with our things this morning, we remembered we needed dog food. So we ended up at the market, to get samosas, to walmart to get christmas doggy things because we decided that we should walk in the parade, to sears, to the dollarstore, to zellers and then to home, only to have an hour before we needed to be back in town for the parade.

Needless to say, our costumes for the dogs were awesome, we were late for the parade, had to hop a barrier to meet up with them, even though we are not even a part of the group ... yeah, we crashed the greyhound party.

Mach didn't really like his costume, though. "Santa's Little Helper" wasn't too impressed.

He's so cute, though :)

Rowdie was a star! He was the crowd pleaser, helped hand out the candy canes (that Mach carried) and took everything in stride. I suppose he was kinda cute, too....

Little "Santa Paws"

Toffee wasn't too happy about being left behind and being forced to wear a hat. Not impressed at all.

We listend to Christmas music all day, and yes, it's safe to say that I'm in the Christmas spirit and sooo ready for Christmas Break!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Falling into place

Well, it's trying to anyways.
Life, that is.

As you probably know, I am graduating from high school this year. That means university and real life is coming near. Did you know that it is the second half of November already? Yeah, it is. Time is a funny thing, eh. Sneaks up on ya, that's for sure.

I've really gotta decide what I want to do with my life...pretty freakin soon. I have to get scholarships and applications all figured out. Oh, and the thing where I decide which school I want to go to, too.

Everyone keeps telling me that I don't need to figure it out...that they don't even have it figured out and they're all adults. I don't like that...I need some stability in my future. It just scares me.
Last week, our school put on a career fair. In the back of my mind, I know I'm going to UNBF. I get to stay at home, with my dogs, my room, my mom's food and everything familiar. I like familiar.

On the other hand, I am clearly freaking out, because I honestly don't know what I want. Do I really want to do this for the rest of my life? Wouldn't that be so much fun to do? Oh, but it would be cool to volunteer for a year and not to go school. But, if I don't go to school right away, I would not want to go back after being free.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A teenager who doesn't know what to do with their life, how weird. With me, though, I've always known what I wanted to do. Yea, it changed over time. I wanted to be a princess, then a hair dresser, then an architech, then a dog trainer, then a vet, and then a animal rehab practitioner. Now....notta.

Yes, I would LOVE to do rehab. How fun! Getting there, however is what is keeping my mind a little grey. But you know what else I think would be wicked? Training dogs and travelling the world teaching others. Now, that's my kind of life. I want to be like Susan Garrett or Nancy Gyes. Training, teaching, playing. All the time. Sure, it would take lots of work, just like anything in life. But I LOVE teaching, and training and playing. More than anything.

Of course, it only happens to a select few. You have to get a name for yourself first. Maybe it could happen, maybe not.

I'm obviously just not gonna not go to school, waiting for a distant dream to come true. Nah, I gotta be a real person and go to school and learn boring things. Well, some boring things.

So, back tracking to the career fair, I got talking to a lady from NSAC (Nova Scotia Agricultural College). They have some really cool programs. They have animal science, and pet specialty with a buisness diploma attached, and other cool and earthy things. I like earthy.

I lady who I have known for a while, taught agility to and cool things like that told me that's where she graduated from and loved it there. She said there's lots of farm people who have John Deer sheets on their beds. And they wear overall's to class. So they're all awesome.

If nothing else, I would be surrounded by a bunch of people who love animals and and cool that way.

oof. Deep breaths, right?

In other news, Mach's dogwalk seems to be getting much better...getting lower hits and more speed. Im trying something a little different. And today, I drove myself and Tof across town and went to the FSPCA's Pet Expo and did demos. Ahh, growing up. Ain't it a treat...

Dog World Adventures

I have many of things to talk about in the dog related world.
I will try to keep things short and sweet, however, that has proven to be near impossible for me.

Superdogs. Yes. I was invited to be a part of the Superdogs show in Moncton a few weeks ago. Toffee and I struted in there with our bling and did our thing. No, we didn't do any of the three "events" correctly, but hey, life's not meant to be perfect. Tof handled the weirdo agility just fine and didn't seem to mind the commotion and the crowd much either. I think her favorite part was the "Pat and Chat", where everyone could come meet them, hence belly rubs for Toffee....what do you think?

I think yes.

I do have video...but  haven't gone through any of them yet...yes...procrastination at its best.

Also, the OJAC came up...it's kinda short notice for me to go, since it's in February, and since Tof mesures over the cut off for medium, she would have to jump 26"...which is not going to happen. That of course, would leave Mach. I'm not so sure he's ready for something like that just yet. BUT, I think he will be by next year's, and it'll be my last year being a junior handler, so why not? I'll get fundraising, like...now. And I suppose Anthony Clark aint so bad. ;)

Some Superdogs bling


November 5-6 was our last trial for the year.
Sad, yes. But it was pure awesomeness.

Toffee was a superstar. Need I say more? Seriously, this dog couldn't get anymore awesome, because she's totally rad and cute. Like...so cute.

She was running just awesome all weekend. Her first run was superb! It was a gamblers, and she was just running like craaazy! We got 128 points, I think, and first place. Usually gamblers aren't where we do so well, so that's good news :) We even beat Marco. And Blaze. ..Yuh. Her other runs were equally as awesome, where she hit EVERY.SINGLE.DOG.WALK.CONTACT. That's great news! Okay, maybe two of them were a little iffy...but hey. Beggers can't be choosers. So...she went 6 for 6. I think she won every class? Maybe, maybe not. I could be making these things up.

Let's talk about Mach.

He was a rockstar! So great!!!

His first trial on turf, first trial indoors.

His first run, he was a little sketched out. It was gamblers and I think we got like 29 points. He just wouldnt do anything. And then I got flustered by it. BUT, both of his dogwalk contacts were perfect. Win. His next run was much better. The only fault was his dogwalk contact. I could tell he wasnt going to get it when he got on it. Oh well. All of his other runs that weekend were beautiful, only knocked 2 bars (both caused by me). His jumping has become much better since I started training him at 26".

No Q's on Sat, but nice runs anyhow. Sunday was better! His first run, a standard, and just a hardlywassuperclosejustmessedhisstridesorsomethingclose missed dogwalk contact. The rest was beautiful. The second standard was it. I needed just 1 standard to get our starters title...and it was the last one of the year. And we got it!! He was moving, too. He messed up the weaves, so I had to take him back (it took 6 seconds....yes, I counted when I watched the video later...) and we finished with a time of 36 seconds. (yep...basically did it in 30 seconds.) We got first place and our title!! In advanced now. So excited :)

Our very last run of the season was an advanced jumpers. We also only needed 1 for our title. It had a tricky opening, and I knew I couldn't do that far of a lead out pivot. I decided to run into it, but lead out to a Toffee position. I completely forgot for the 0.00043 seconds it took for him to get to me that he is much faster than her. Oops. Way late getting into my serp after, but I managed. His turns were all so beautiful and he was moving on top of it! We got another Q! And 25.95 for a time! And first place! And a title! And we're in MASTERS! My baby dog! Best way to end the year! Such a great weekend! So many exclamation marks! !! !!!

Some TNT lovin'! 4 dogs got their ADC title on the last run...Mach, Quake, Pip and Quick! So exciting! Yay baby dogs!

So the tallies for the year is as follows:

Toffee: 70 Q's, Lifetime Achievement Award, National Champion, Steeplechase Champion, Top Junior Handler [Champion], Riverside Steeplechase Champion [500$, aw yea], Superdog Extraordinaire, Bellyrub Masters of Excellence.

Mach: 13 Q's, ADC, AJDC, [a VERY close SGDC{I just had to put it]}, World Team Hopeful, Quirky Dog Champion, Blue Eyed Boy Heart Melter belt of strength.

Okay, I'm not sure what that last one was supposed to be. Moving on.

At the trial, there was a very special person. So, anyone (the one person) that reads this blog knows that I love Tori Self. Yeah. I mean, who doesn't? She's awesome and inspirational and wins things and has a rad dog named Revolution. Everything about her is awesome and I wish I was as awesome as her to be her friend. Lols. And through her, I somehow got watching videos of her friend's dogs, Reef and Caper.

I was watching the starters gamblers class and this girl and a border were running. The girl was bare foot. And her border collie had running contacts. *Erin freaks out a little* I loved this girl already.

I went over to the gate to try and figure out who it was, but everything was all scratched out and there was so many people there, it was too hard on my brain.

I wanted to go up to her and talk to her, but I'm too much of a little nugget to do something so human.

But later, my mom got talking to her and called me over. She goes.."Guess who this girl is friend's with?" and I go "TORI SELF?!!!!!!!!"

I lost my cool. Damn.

So turns out Tracey, with Reef and Caper knew about me, through Tori. And my life is just so awesome all the time now. And I knew Tracey through Tori. And the world is such a small and wonderous place sometimes. :)

Mach lost his cool, too.

We went to our first Jessica Martin seminar the other weekend.

It was quite possibly awesome.

Mach was a radicalrockstar!

I jumped him at 26". I thought he would get tired....but he never did!

I remember getting so nervous going to seminars with him, because I never felt we were at the same spot as everyone else. I was so nervous, I felt sick to my stomach and I couldn't eat and I would always want to back out of them at the last minute.

It was much different leading up to this one, however. I was excited. Pure excitement.

Before, at seminars, because I was so stressed out, Mach stressed hard core. (Remember the running away incident?) He couldn't work for very long. Half day seminars zonked him right out. We would be out training for 5 minutes and then he'd be done done done. And getting in and out of his crate, alone, exhausted/stressed him.

Mach was a different dog at this seminar. It was a full day, jumping and handling at 26. My group mainly consisted of the same dogs and people from the other seminars, so it wasn't bad that way. But it was a new place, and he's notorious for stressing in new environments. He was a little sketched the first time I left him at the startline, but he opening ip and loved life after that!

Jess picked up on something major, that will most definitely help us become the best we can be.

Because he recall sucked and his retrieve suck[s] and something could trigger stress at any second, I really worried about him taking off, so at the end of a sequence, or anything at all, he would always have to turn back to me for the reward. So, where I should have been throwing the toy ahead to cue extension, I was getting him to check back into me. Sure, it helped with him not running away, but now he doesn't know when he should extend his stride, and adds check strides in everywhere, therefore taking more time to get to where we're going.

Sure, his turns are incredible, and it's partly because that's all I really have room to work on at home, but the ground speed is also important. Finding balance in everything in life, eh?

So that is our homework, and I think it'll be an easy fix. Who cares if he does a victory lap with the toy every time I give it to him? .... Okay, I HAVE been working on it...it's getting better, I swear.

Some Rowdie Lovin'











Heartwarming

So much in my life has been so full lately.
My heart has been exploding.
.......

I started this post about three weeks ago...look how far I got. Clearly, my life has been busy busy.

So lets see....
School has been going pretty good. I mean, my morning classes are great. I love all the subjects, I'm doing well in all of them and it's just great. Afternoons suck and I hate them. Oh well.
My friends are awesome. I've found my twin and I'm wondering why the heck we haven't been best friends since the beginning of time. But I'm so glad to have her in my life. I'm not such a hermit this year. I actually go out. It's kinda awesome.

A good friend gave this to me...how awesome? :)

A few weekends ago, I went out golfing with my dad. Wow. So much harder than it looks. Like, much harder. I think I got about 4 good hits out of like the billion that I took...on a 9 hole round. My arms hurt for a week afterwards.

I am now obsessed with Adele, more so than ever before. And also Ed Sheeran. Oh and I've been watching the XFactor. I. Love. It. I love Josh Krajcik even MORE. Now....that's a lot of love. I really loved this performance. Oh, and this one.  That one gives me goosebumps. I suppose I should just say that I really loved his second live show, too. But his third show's song has been stuck in my head, and because I love Joe Cocker.

It snowed. A lot. We had like 4 or 5 inches. And this was before halloween. I made a cyclopse jack-o-lantern.  The snow eventually melted...way after everyone else's melted,  but it melted.

I came across this, thanks to Tori and ... well, isn't it the cutest thing ever? I think so. Music and Agility. Best combination ever.

For leadership, we have been doing reading buddies with a local elementary school during third period every tuesday. I was a little nervous going into this. I'll be the first to admit it; I'm not the greatest with kids. Frankly, they terrify me. But I lucked out. My girl is the best. I'm really enjoying it. It's so interesting going back into an environment with children. Their spirit and innocence is heartwarming.

Also for leadership, we were assigned a wellness project. We were to choose something to improve upon to balance out our wellness wheel. I chose sleep. I have never slept well...ever. And what d'ya know...I'm getting more sleep because of this project! My mom also picked me up some Sleepytime tea, and I love it.

My oldest brother, Tyler finally left the nest. He left to go out west a couple weeks ago. I haven't talked to him much, but he's anxious to get a job and get his own place...yikes! ;) I think it's going to be a great experience for him. He really needed to get out. For his sanity and for the rest of the family, hehe. Although he did cause stress, as any person may in a family, and as much as I wanted him gone, I've noticed that I keep expecting him to come home in the evening....or at 3 in the morning, like he loved to do.

Last week was my favorite teacher's last week teaching. Of course, she had to go get pregnant...and have to leave half way through the first semester. Of course, she did. Grr. I'm sad that she's leaving, she's honestly changed my life. And I thank her for it. However, we're getting a super rad and respectable replacement...just a super rad guy. And I'm excited.

I've been pretty inspired by people lately, trying to find the little things in life and use them in my life. Just enjoying life, no matter how exhausting, is most important.