I Am All About The Bling!

From my very first piece of jewelry I mail-ordered as a grade schooler (we lived rurally, no malls way back then either :-) ), I have always had a thing for bling! In my teen years it was Native American silver and turquoise pieces which I still love, to the gold chains popular in the 80's. I can definitely say I have a weakness for pretty baubles. Somewhere along the way, I started buying special pieces as souvenirs on vacations. I have a very lovely pair of gold dolphin earrings to commemorate a trip to Jamaica. They have certainly lasted well past the point any T-shirt would have survived!

As my dog hobby took off, I began to see more and more dog-themed pieces creep into my collection. To commemorate my first Cardigan Welsh Corgi National Specialty, I got this wonderful pendant. I searched high and low for the artist's business card to give her credit, but I couldn't find it. Based on her TM on the pendant she is B.Braumuller. Her work is beautiful and if you don't get to her vendor table ASAP!, you find she is sold out!

 

When Jimmy and Wilson got their HTs recently, as hard as it was to believe, there was actually a jewelry vendor out at the farm. She had the cutest little ribbon with paw print center, and of course I had to have it! Now when I wear it, I think of how fun it was to go herding.

Next a great paw print ring at the end of a good weekend of agility, and a Cardi ring by the same artist as the pendant above.

In my area, Italian charm bracelets were all the rage. I don't think they are quite as popular now, but I have kept mine going as we have a vendor who makes the best charms, Beauty of the Beasts . These pictures didn't turn out as viewable as they looked in my photo viewer but there really are some great charms here. I add one for each title we earn, so the lettered ones represent that. This first one is Jimmy's and a couple of the ones you probably can't read say things like " I am barking and I can't shut up" and "The King of NOT Quiet". Both are SO Jimmy :-) There's a little sheep to commemorate the HT, a squirrel since he loves to chase them, and a tennis ball, plus a nice black Cardi head and full Cardi.

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Wilson's has his titles, a little sheep, a set of weave poles which was always our nemesis in the ring, a little dog face with Zoom!Zoom! Zoom! on it. That one would really be better for Jimmy but I got it because we always drive to the shows in my Mazda and that's their moto. There's one that has the red circle with the slash through that says Agility Gremlins. It commemorates the time Wilson gave me the prettiest, fastest Excellent B Standard run, and as we were in the homestretch, I  bumped the jump stanchion as I ran past and the bar fell. I ruined his beautiful run and it took a very long time indeed to get that Q back.

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Now at the Gettysburg CWC National Specialty in 2010, Jimmy just could not pull off a single Q. Wilson saved the day by giving me his very first (and only since he is retired) Double-Q toward his PAX/PACH title. Not only did I get a beautiful  Double-Q ribbon from the National Club, but I added this adorable brindle Cardi pin to my collection. Seeing it reminds me how hard Wilson tries to please, and what a good boy he really is.

So, of course, I needed something to celebrate Jimmy's recent first Double-Q on the road to his MACH. For the longest time, I have had my eye on this pendant but then Kathy put up a very pretty Cardigan specific piece on her Etsy site, and I was torn between the two. After a bit of back and forth discussion, Kathy combined the two ideas and here is the result:

Kathy's website:  http://pangaeapugs.com/

I love it! I also love the message because it is so easy to lose sight of why you are doing this, and get overly focused on the end result. This little pendant not only celebrates Jimmy's accomplishment but helps to remind me that this is all about having fun, playing with my dog, and not a high-speed race to a big title.

Of course, between the training fees, seminar fees, agility trial fees, and all this memorabilia (aka The Bling!), I'd probably be years closer to my retirement savings goal! But, it's all about the journey! My dogs and this game called agility are a big part of that ride. I want to remember every precious moment!

Have a great weekend, everyone!