Goodbye 2011...reminiscing about some firsts...

Soon to be 2012 or Twenty Twelve...whichever you prefer...I kinda like the way Twenty Twelve sounds...and another December birthday...mine...eeewww I don't wanna be 51 but since there's not much I can do about that, happy birthday to me...

So here I am reminiscing and thinking about the last 40 or so years of my life and some of the special "firsts" in my life...

My first dog ever...a mini chocolate poodle named Candy...looking back now, I believe she was one of the smartest dogs I've ever known and when I was 12, I knew nothing about training a dog...but she was like a little person that just did whatever I told her to do.




Me, Candy, and my sister Cheryl





My first boyfriend and the first love of my life, Marc...who I later married, divorced, and am now dating again...



Marc - high school 1976



The first time my picture was published in a magazine - Surfer Magazine - this was me playing in the waves on Miami Beach in 1976...

My first hair cut...I always had long blonde straight hair and then I had long blonde permed hair and then I got a hair cut...I was 26 in this picture...oh I wish to be that age again and to look like I did then...

My first kitty named Shagg after the surf shop in New Smyrna beach where I got him...

My first competition dog, my Rottweiler, Jake...a one in a million...so full of life and ghusto and enthusiasm for anything and everything we did...he was a joy to train and so much fun to show...he was my constant companion, my guardian, my best friend...one day he was running and playing and swimming and the next day he was holding up his right rear leg...he died at the age of 8 from bone cancer with a UD and 3 Otch points...it was one of the saddest days of my life.


Jake gets his CD title - notice he is holding his ribbon



My first agility dog, a rescue Rottweiler, Cookie...who in 1995 was ranked by the AKC and the American Rottweiler Club as the No. 1 agility Rottweiler in the country...she was a tough "cookie" and quite a challenge and taught me MORE than I wanted to learn about behavior...but she was a good girl...

The first place I lived with Marc when I moved to Orlando from Miami in 1987 - an apartment in Casselberry, Florida...

The first house Marc and I bought together in Cassleberry...

My first and only wedding...1989

my first Jack Russell Terrier...Pauli

My first border collie, Burn...I got him on Valentine's Day and his registered name was going to be Shepherd's Moon Struck Valentine but I changed it to Shepherd's Moon Fire in the Hole...here he is at 6 weeks...

The first house I bought by myself in 2000 and still live in today with my four dogs...it is the cutest little house...

My first agility trial of 2012 will be the 3-day USDAA trial in Vero Beach...Triumph is on a DAM team with half sister, Legend and half brother, Dapper and for the first time, Burn will be showing in Performance...

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HERE'S TO A FABULOUS TWENTY TWELVE!