Any Day Now...

It's almost puppy time! I'm still debating back and forth between names and which one would work and which one wouldn't. What sounds good, what will work, though I'm sure I won't know until I know for sure who I'll pick. I'll be pretty busy for the next couple of weeks though, so hopefully my mind will someone be kept off of *constant* puppy thoughts. Beach next weekend with Shimmy, Mom, Debra, Jenni, and Shelby. Should be a great weekend filled with fun in the sun and on the sand. I'll be sure to get tons of pictures. Facebook I'm sure will get bombarded with a) beach pictures and b) puppy pictures (depending on when they are born). August 20-21 is the weekend Shimmy and I officially move into the new place at College Station. It'll be a busy weekend and then Gig 'Em Week followed by school starting on August 29th. Is it really almost time for the torture again? I'm sort of not ready. I'm also fairly certain I was either drunk or high when I picked my classes for this semester...did I seriously think this would work? Eh, we'll see how I do. The sooner school starts though, the sooner I'll get back into the busy rhythm and it'll be great to have about a month to get back into the swing of things before I have a psycho little border collie running around the house. For now, I'm just continuously enjoying my best little Omelette dog. I do treasure just the moments I have with her. She's my best girl. Currently drying up from her bath after the dog park (yes we still went because I don't want to be unfair seeing as she loves it so). Of on another topic, we went to IKEA today and purchased my shelf for super dog stuff organizing, and maybe a couple of textbooks will be worthy of sitting on the shelf as well. Knowing me, the textbooks will most likely get dumped somewhere in a corner (but up high so that the puppy doesn't decide that they're a snack). That would be bad considering I'm poor by the end of the school year and I'll need to sell my books back. I'm excited to decorate my new room, but it's not nice that anything that's not "normal wear and tear" which does not include nailing anything to the wall is not allowed. I wish I could hang the dog butt up again...I now have two-one for each dog. Also, there will be no hanging of other stuff. I might try tickytack or some other kind of adhesive stuff. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to share. I kind of like having my walls not be completely bare. Either way, I'm sure I'll find some way to make the room unique. :) Lots of fun stuff coming up for the month of August!

Omelettes and Agility Classes

So, I figured I'd do a post about agility class last night. I figured Shimmy would still be up for class, but be a bit chill since we had just finished 4 days of showing. I was sort of wrong. As Renee put it, "She's on fire!" And, I really think she enjoys class. It's so great being able to drop in, she gets so excited and really gives me her all. She loves seeing all of her friends, dog and people. After running our sequences she even ran towards the teeter on the side of the field as her own reinforcement...my dog has made huge strides. We were also able to go into the other field to practice a bit on our own afterwards. Shimmy wow'ed me as usual. Her contacts were super speedy and she read me so well. She had one of those fly over the aframe moments. I guess low-fat omelettes are light enough to do that occasionally. :) We can't wait to do it again next week! I'll be so sad to go back to College Station because I'm really going to miss the occasional drop in, but hopefully we'll be able to come by during our winter break. It's been great to practice and see how she grows. She did great on the first sequence and surprised me by being super perfect on the tricky part that a lot of dogs were having problems with. Of course I messed her up on the easy part. Shimmy says a new handler just might be in order if I can't get my act together. The second sequence was a tad more flowy though my arms were sort of everywhere. Thanks to Renee for reminding me to not epically flail while running my dog. That's kind of a plus...She rocked that one as well though. She did great and had that super big smile on her face. I'll try to be good and get some clips at class next week if my camera decides not to be difficult. It's unpredictable though, so I can't make any promises unfortunately. Not sure why it's having a midlife crisis....

Ranting on Adulthood...

It occasionally sucks. I look back and realize now how carefree and cool life was when I was a kid. Sure, not everyone told you everything, you had to be good, go to bed on time, you couldn't buy what you wanted all the time, but life was pretty darn awesome. I think what gets me most about financial aid, the fact that they send you an e-mail, you have no idea by what time you need certain paperwork filled out, and they just give you a website url. Then it's up to you to scavenger hunt the website for hours, trying to find what paperwork you need to fill out and then second guess yourself. Of course, you can always call the people at the financial aid office, but even they don't know exactly by what day you need this and if this paperwork applies to this loan or what not. Why not just send me an e-mail with a link or download to all the applications you need, the addresses to which they need to be returned to, and the deadline for each. My wonderful cousin was going to help me, since she did last year, but sadly she's on a business trip until beginning August, and being the worrier I am, and distribution starting on August 20th, I don't want to be late or miss the deadline. The sooner you get things in, the quicker you get your money distributed to you. But, no, they have to make it super complicated. So now I have 3 or 4 different forms pulled up, none of which I'm sure I even need, except maybe the one...but that's still a maybe. Aside from that, the social responsibilities of figuring out how to set things up for the new house and the lack of communication there is really doesn't help the situation. I kind of just want to crawl back to bed and sleep for a while, but no, adults don't do that. They deal with things...all I can say is, "This sucks."

Reliant (Sunday)

Day 4 was a bittersweet day. This is our favorite show of the year, and to have it end so quickly was really sad. We did our best to enjoy the last day though. We only had Exc A JWW as well as Open STD. I'm glad I didn't do T2B because someone was super tired! Poor girl worked hard. I'm really excited because we found a comfortflex for her that was maroon and her perfect size. One very good purchase made at Reliant along with oodles of treats for my girl. Here are the results from today's show.

Exc A JWW-NQ
She had a refusal at the second jump. Totally my fault for not encouraging her enough for a quick start. We redid the jump though and ran the rest clean with a good amount of speed. She handled the crowds well today. We also made the super tough weave entry a lot of dogs weren't getting, so I was very happy with that.
Open STD-Q/1st
Exhausted by this point, we started out really slow and had the most pathetic weaves you'd have ever seen. She had a great performance on each contact obstacle though an read me well. We still came out with the Q though. Only one more Q until this girl is in excellent standard...who'd have thought it?

All in all I was incredibly amazed at her ability to handle the show this year. She ran 7/10 runs clean with 6 firsts, 1 third, and her NA title. Out of the three NQs, the first was a minor mistake made by me, the second was due to stress which we overcame (yay), and the third was due to another minor mistake by yours truly. One more Q for her AXJ, one more Q for her OA, and one more Q for her OF. Hopefully we'll be able to do one AKC in October or something. Next thing is hopefully the USDAA in September in College Station. My girl and I have worked really hard and are getting to where we want to be. I couldn't be happier with her right now. I have the best little dog. Truly do. She tries so hard and it really shows. This next week we'll rest up after this crazy show and just enjoy relaxing. It was fun, but we're definitely ready for some good sleep! Farewell, Reliant...until we meet again next year. Let the countdown for Reliant 2012 begin! :)

Reliant (Saturday)

Day 3 started a bit rough as I wasn't feeling well and Shimmy was distracted by the crowds. Her Exc A JWW run I pulled her. She knocked the triple due to lack of forward motion and "trotted" past a jump. I figured there was no point in dragging out the agony she was feeling and pulled her. Good choice as she stress yawned a bit as we went to her crate. Poor girly. She rested for a while, I got my head back in the game, and she came back strong in Open STD and Open FAST! :) Here are today's results...

Excellent A JWW-E
Pulled her due to being distracted and neither of us was feeling it.
Open STD-Q/1st
What an awesome come back! We both took some deep breaths and went in there for the fun of it all. Fabulous performance by her. The crowd really made her feel special after that run.
Open FAST-Q/1st
Another wonderful run. This was only offered twice this weekend, but both runs went well. I don't recall earning as many points as we did, but I guess we did...64 points when we only needed 55 total. Works for me!

After that we did some walking around. She got lots of pets and treats from people. We also racked up on samples and what not. We'll get some more tomorrow and I was able to find what I was looking for. I can't believe tomorrow is the last day again. I'll be super sad when it's over, but I'm thrilled we have one more day to really have a great time. Exc A JWW and Open STD tomorrow. I'm so lucky to have her and she's exceeded my expectations yet again this year. Goal for tomorrow: Just enjoy the day! Afterall, Reliant comes but once a year!

Reliant (Thursday-Friday)

So, I figured I'd break this up into two posts since, one, I want to update, and two, it would be incredibly long if I did just one update. So far, Reliant has been everything I've been waiting for. The company is great, the judges have some really fun courses, and Shimmy is adjusting well and dealing with everything like the awesome superstar she is. It was great to see some people I haven't seen in a while and cheer on some of our friends. Here's how days one and two went....

Day One (Thursday 7/21/11)
Excellent A JWW-Q/1st
What a great run by my girl. A super flowy course that gave her tons of confidence.
Novice STD-Q/1st/NA
Wow, we've been working hard for this one. Flawless performance by her. What a girl!
Open FAST-Q/3rd
She had the fastest time, but places 1 and 2 had 62 points while she had 60 points. Either way, I just wanted to get our points and get out. Not like one can get a SuperQ in AKC right?

Day Two (Friday 7/22/11)
Excellent A JWW-Q/1st
This was a super neat course. Lots of turns but a great handling challenge for me. Shimmer rocked it out like always saving my butt as I almost ran into a jump...special.
Open STD-NQ
This was totally my fault. I was rushing to the teeter concentrating on that performance. We disconnected and I lost eye contact, therefore causing her to run past the panel jump. The panel and chute were right next to each other and I can't recall if I even gave a command. Odds are I didn't and she did just what she was supposed to-no command, no obstacle. Contacts were wonderful though, and I'm perpetually happy with her!

We also got our official CGC certificate in the mail today which made me very happy! :)

Tomorrow we run Excellent A JWW again, and our goal is to get our AXJ. We'll also do Open STD and my goal is to just have another confident run, Q or NQ. Open FAST will be the other run and we'll just go in to play that for the fun of it, also, Q or NQ. Sunday will only be Excellent JWW and Open STD. FAST was only offered on Thursday and Saturday. T2B was offered other days and I don't really feel like pushing for speed on this carpet flooring. Despite that she's doing exceptionally well. Her front paw pads got a bit sore, but thankfully not ripped. I put neosporin on them and wrapped them earning me looks of death all evening yesterday. Protect a pad helped today as well as her booties when we walk around. Everyone thinks it's funny and keeps asking what the "balloons" on her feet are for...silly people. We did find out though, the reason her paws on the front were starting to wear down was because she was using her front to power due to her rear being pretty stiff and kinked out. Thankfully, Ken worked on her after our runs today and made her feel a lot better. I can already see a difference in the way she moves and have no doubt tomorrow she'll be able to use her rear a bit more for that force instead of just reaching out and pulling herself through the run. She's currently crashed, oblivious to what the world holds in store for her tomorrow. We'll go around some more tomorrow, collect samples, pettings, as well as the "non-dog" people questions. For now, we're gonna relax, get a good nights rest, and enjoy the next two days of Reliant. It's been an amazing show so far!

Terramar Beach Weekend

The beach was absolutely amazing this weekend. I missed my little Shimmy lots but we had such a great time. It was a perfect weekend for the beach. The weather was just right, it was a great amount of people, and we had plenty of ways to entertain ourselves. Sexual Trivia was super interesting...to say the least. Aside from that we played Monopoly which for some reason went extremely well for me for once. It was the Nascar version-maybe I should purchase that one. Then we headed to the beach which was actually pretty packed but it was a great day. The seaweed didn't eat us too much. Galveston water isn't the greatest either, but hey, it was the beach! We also did some tanning and what not...like I need any more color! People always tell me, "Oh you got so and so many shades darker." REALLY? What the hell constitutes a "shade"? Is there some strange measurement tactic I haven't grasped yet? Alas, I can see that I did tan because there is a line from my scrunchie on my hand and I did get a bit red...but not really sunburn red, just red as in my skin saying, "Hey I got sun". I'm fortunate enough to never have gotten an actual sunburn. We came back and played Cranium last night which was hilarious considering all the sketching with eyes closed and silent doodles among the charades and cameos. Those were priceless and epic. Lots of pictures and videos on facebook...look them up hahaha. Good times with friends are so great! We headed out this morning, but Aaron, Albert and I stopped by the gift shop and got a few things. Found a gorgeous dried seastar for the madre since she lost hers a while back or it got broken, I can't exactly remember. I also bought some shells for Oma to put in her care package and ship off to Germany soon. A little piece of Galveston for her... Also bought a really cute anklet that has seastars on it. All for a fair price. It was certainly a good weekend! Hopefully the next beach trip will include Shimmer, but either way, I can't wait to go back! :) Even though Galveston is not the prettiest and clearest beach, you can't help but love it...

The Neglected Blog

It must be blog month. Is there even an official blog month? Seems I've neglected the blog a tad since I made it. (As I knew I would.) Every month has had less and less post, although I have kept up with it to a certain extend posting when necessary to tell a life story here or there. I'm going to try and keep it updated more frequently now though, especially since July seems to have promise for being a busy time of my summer. Beach happens this weekend-it's finally official. I'm super excited to enjoy the sand, the water, the seaweed that clings to your body like a stalker...not really that last part. Then of course, Reliant is now only 16 days away-am I getting annoying with that? I just can't help it...It's been nearly 2 months since our last trial. Along with that I've got a few other small plans here and there for this month. Today has been fairly fun, nothing too amazing really. We're not doing anything special for the holiday, just staying in and relaxing, and taking Shimmy to the dog park later. That's what the holidays are all about for me. Kicking back, enjoying the time with family, and a little bit of fresh air (if you can consider Houston air fresh)....Happy 4th of July!

The Idiots of the World

So, second blog post today. Usually don't do that, but man, today was so super perfect, up until a certain someone ruined it. You know those people? The ones that just have a special knack for pissing you off? It's like an olympic event... Yeah, those people need to be put together on a boat, shipped off to the ends of the earth, and stay there forever. That would make me pretty damn happy right about now...ok, I'm done now.

My Brain Just Might Explode

Too much to be looking forward to. I thought I was a bit more patient than this. Reliant is now 17 days away and I've got about a month before my puppy is born. Yesterday was a pretty productive day and we got lots done. Today is more relaxing, but it'll be fun to go out for a late lunch and maybe see the aunt and uncle and cousins this afternoon. As always, dog park will be in order later on. How can it not be? My morning was made when my grandma from Germany called. I miss her so much. Hopefully she'll come visit for Christmas, but it's still a matter of trying to convince her. I would go visit, aside from the fact that it's more expensive to fly to Germany than to the United States and if I went, I would want to bring at least Shimmer, if not the puppy as well which would be expensive, and I'm not sure how all that quarantine crap works. Definitely not enough time during winter break. I miss her though. She makes me smile. Sometimes I wish my entire family wasn't all over the place. I've got family in Germany, Australia, Indiana, Missouri, and Texas. People scattered all over the place, not enough time to go visit, and too poor to fly where I want and frequently see family. Either way, I'm lucky to have some family here. It'll be good to see them later or tomorrow. Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July. If you're somewhere where fireworks aren't banned, enjoy shooting them off...Texas isn't allowed this year. Hopefully no one does anything stupid and just accepts the fact that this year it's too dry. Texas weather....enough said.

Life. Is. Awesome.

~Piper is pretty much confirmed pregnant
~Shimmy loves licorice cats
~Broke down and ordered a giraffe print collar for Omelette
~Reliant is 18 days away (not counting the rest of tonight)
~I really want a trip to the beach so I can wear my new swim suit
~So ready to do some agility soon
~Currently, Life. Is. Awesome.