Year in Review

Works for me!

Wow, another year has gone by. Where did the time go? This time last year I decided not to make any New Year's resolutions since I had failed so badly the two years previously. Instead, I did a Year in Review thing. 2015 turned pretty good, so I think I'm going to do it again this year. Superstitious? Maybe.

Jedi had a busy year!

• He competed in 18 dog shows, even going out of state for a few. Unfortunately, he still has zero AKC Champion points.

• He did, however, earn an International Championship Title through IABCA. Woohoo.

• Jedi met sheep for the very first time and passed his herding instinct test. He is a German shepherd after all!

• He earned his CGC in February and passed the GSDCA Temperament Test in June.

• Jedi was introduced to the new sports of barn hunt and nose work. He like them both, and we're going to continue on with nose work in 2016. Stay tuned: there will be plenty more nose work news coming soon.

2015 was a busy year for the blog as well. Apparently I had a lot to say. This post makes number 168 for the year. In April I participated in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge. I shared everything I could about AKC conformation dog shows -- in alphabetical order no less! (You can see all those posts from here.) That was a lot harder than I had expected, and I won't be participating in the challenge next year. By the way, P-- Pedigrees and Registrations with the most popular post from that series. Go figure.

And then there's Drogo, the World's Most Famous Bearded Dragon*. He joined our family back in February and became the Fashion Dragon himself. There will be lots of new pictures in the coming year. Poor Drogo.

My blog life spilled over into real life back in September. I was paired up with Leah from Let's Go Dog during last year's Pet Blogger's Gift Exchange. I was so excited to hear that Leah and her dogs, Zack and Zoey, were coming to Jacksonville during their U.S. Perimeter Trip. Guess what? Hubby and I actually got to meet them! I'm hoping for a similar experience in 2016 with Pamela and Honey from Something Wagging This Way Comes. Cross your fingers!

Finally, on a personal (and sort of dog-related) level, I was elected President of the local German Shepherd Dog Club. That, too, has been a bit more challenging than I had expected. Lucky for me, I've got some great friends in the club helping me to not screw up move things along. You can expect to see more dog club news on the blog over the next year as well. We have some fun things planned, so you know I'll have to share!

Long story short: 2015 was definitely a better year for me than 2014 was. I'm hoping 2016 will be even better.

Before I go, I want to say that I am grateful for my friends and family - both on line and IRL. You all have made a big difference. Thanks for the humor, the encouragement and the accountability. Thanks for sharing your adventures and points of view. I look forward to even more next year. Be safe tonight. Love you, -- K

* There may be a little exaggeration on the "famous" part, but we won't tell Drogo that, OK? I don't want to hurt his feelings -- except for the humiliating photo shoots, but that's for another day.