Happy Birthday to me!

It's official.  I'm now 28.

It has been a good year.  It's been a hard year.  It's had ups and downs and big things happen as well as a million little moments that define life.

On my birthday last year I was driving to Best Friends with a whole world of possibility open to me.  I did a lot of thinking on that trip.  Although that is an amazing place that I thought I wanted to be at more than anything, turns out I learned a lot about myself and decided that wasn't where I wanted to be.  That was a huge choice that has really changed my life.  Either choice would have changed my life but I am glad I came back to CO and decided to look for other opportunities.

I started with WagNWash, which is a job a generally enjoy.  Of course I can't really make a living at it but this is the first time in... forever that I've really liked the people I work with and I've made some real friends there.  That's an incredible step forward in my life.

I lost Gerani.  Learning to live without her has been hard.  She was such a huge part of my life and I almost didn't realize.  I miss her everyday.  This is the longest I've gone in a long time with only one dog.  I'm dragging my feet though because I know Gerani isn't replaceable.  No dog will measure up to her.  All dogs are different of course but I just miss her and what she was in my life so much that it's hard to replace.  I'm doing an interview with CCI today though and moving forward to get another puppy.

Got to go to Indigo Mountain and work with bears and wolfdogs.  That was way cool.  I want to do more things like that in the future and widen my scope of training.  Training doesn't just mean dogs.  There are a lot of cool things to do out there and I really need to remind myself of that when I'm feeling stuck.

Zombie pub crawled.  That in itself wasn't a huge deal but that's a sign that I'm getting more comfortable in my own skin.  I haven't felt comfortable in my skin enough to really show everyone who I am without worrying about being vulnerable.  That's something that I've made a conscious decision to work on.  That's probably led to a lot more developments in my life like actually having a group of friends and a boyfriend.

Met my man and fell in love.  Honestly, never thought that would happen to me.  I didn't really believe in "love" before I met him.

Got another tattoo!  Two more to come this year I hope.  Much to my parents horror I'm sure.

I went to Seattle this year.  That is probably one of my favorite places in the world.  What a cool city.  Someday maybe I'll think about moving there.  Although my brother moved home, I've always wanted to move to the Pacific Northwest.

Went to the APDT Conference.  Honestly, I am still paying for that but what can you do.  It was a wonderful experience.  I didn't learn as much training information but I did learn about what I want to do and how to get there.  Oh Chicken Camp was incredible.  I want to do that more!

Flew out to St. Louis for Christmas.  That was absolutely crazy and I realize I need to get out there to see family more often.  I am really thankful to be a part of such a crazy huge family that loves each other.

Saw some video production for training.  I would work for Tawzer Dog in an instant.  That would be such a cool job.  Of course... then I'd have to move to Boise.  That doesn't sound like as much fun.

Made a huge decision that was a long time in coming to pull out of Central training.  I am glad I did it because it was toxic in my life.  However, I knew that I was giving up a lot of things like I really enjoyed.  Pulling out of that means I pull out of LDU to a certain extent.  I have met a lot of wonderful people that I love through that and it was hard to pull out knowing that I would lose some of that.  And it has happened.  Fault on both sides I guess.  That does hurt some but ultimately I know it was the right decision.

And now I'm 28.  I'm so OLD!

I feel the need to grow up now.  I mean, of course I am an adult but I really need to start taking control of my life and stop being so lazy with it.  Things need to get on track now that I'm 28!  Man...  I can't believe that.  I still feel like a youngster just bouncing around in life trying to figure things out.  I've been doing that for too long.  Either that or every adult feels that way forever.

Anyway, happy birthday to me!

It was a regular day really.  Mom made me her lasagna which I love and look forward to every year.  After dinner we played charades which is another tradition.  Poor Jake had to play because that's what we do.  He survived.

Love to all of you!