Christmas photo-shoot outtakes #1

She was trying so hard to be good...

Uh, Bella, the Santa hat is supposed to go on your head...

This had so much potential if only she'd kept the costume on.

Closer...

I admire her determination in trying to keep the hat from slipping off.

But she's just such a goof.

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'Tis the season

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog post for this important announcement:

I need to take to a moment to share my appreciation for the truly good hearts and gentle souls of our blogging community. I am ever in awe of how much you people do and how quick you are to reach out to offer a kind word, a helping hand or simple gesture to brighten another's day.

1. First, I've been participating in the 2012 Blogville Christmas card exchange and have been so enjoying all the lovely cards and creativity from blog friends old and new.
   
   If I were the type to actually keep track of these things, I might have noticed that Bella has received 21 holiday greetings whereas Bella's mom and dad have received, as of this posting, exactly 1.
   
   Hrumph.
   
   
   
   
   
   




2. Next, we have joined in the fun of Something Wagging This Way Comes' Pet Blogger Gift Exchange. The 'gift' is simply to offer some social media love to the blogger with whom you've been randomly paired. A word of encouragement, a tweet of appreciation, a share on StumbleUpon or Facebook.
   
   
   
   Can I even tell you how lovely an idea I think this is?
   
   And then, on top of it just being a fabulous idea in theory, I got paired with a blogger who has left a real and tangible mark on Bella's life, not just the life of the blog - Kristine and Shiva from Rescued Insanity.
   
   I'll be writing a post specifically about how awesome I think they are but the long story short is that it was Kristine's blog and her efforts to reign in Shiva and all her anxiety that set us on the path of pursuing agility with Bella.
   
   Just knowing it was attainable is a gift they gave us which I will never be able to repay.






3. Finally, a little over a week ago, I received an email noting that our friends over at Roo's Doins had sent us a gift. Since I was part of the Christmas card exchange noted above and some of those cards were coming to us electronically, I'm embarrassed to say I didn't fully appreciate this gift right away.
   
   See, I thought Roo had sent us a Christmas card because they were on the Exchange list with us. It wasn't until I had time to stop and explore this weekend, after having finally signed and addressed all our Exchange envelopes, that I realized Roo wasn't participating in the Exchange.
   
   They had just sent us this gift out of the kindness of their hearts.
   
   And what they sent us was a Jacquie Lawson Alpine Advent Calendar.
   
   
   
   
   I admit it, I am a sucker for the holidays - I adore the music, the lights, the greenery and decorations, the holiday spirit and the hope for peace on earth.
   
   This advent calendar offers a new little activity every day from visiting the post office to see what new gifts and goodies have arrived to building a snowman and decorating your very own Christmas tree. It was such a sweet treat and so unexpected and every day I look forward to seeing what's next to come and think fondly of our friends at Roo's Doins who so graciously sent it to us.
   
   Your friendship is a gift beyond measure.

And on top of all of that there are the daily efforts everyone in this community puts in to getting around to each other's blog to tweet posts and share content on StumbleUpon and Facebook, leaving comments and helping bring fans and attention. Every day. (Even when some of us haven't been able to get out to your blogs in far too long.)

What a lovely community I stumbled into when I stepped into this role of 'pet blogger'. I really had no idea but I am ever so grateful.

I know that not all my readers celebrate Christmas so I wish you happiness in the season of holidays you do celebrate. Be it Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas or Winter Solstice, I hope you are surrounded by love, family and peace this holiday season. And if perhaps you aren't, know that if you're here, you are within our circle of care.

Thank you for sharing your time and your holidays with us.

One last thing: There is something about Blogville I am reminded of whenever I hear this:

"If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last

By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask."

Thank you for welcoming us into your cyber-family.

Black & White Sunday: Elvis impersonator

Love the lip, Bella.

Oh and if you're grooving on that funky lighting and soft-focus effect we're sporting today, thank Bella for it. She nose-smeared my camera lens half-way through the shoot and my eyes are so bad, I didn't even notice until I loaded the pictures to my computer. Thanks, Boo. Grr. Arg.

PS - Have you entered the giveaway for the 8x10 canvas print by PRINTCOPIA? Contest ends Monday at midnight so what are you waiting for?!

(Not quite) Wordless Wednesday 67 - She's learning

(AKA: "My nephew's going to kill me.")

In Monday's post, I mentioned that no one has ever been able to pet Bella except us. That was true up until a little over a month ago when my neighbor's daughter managed to win Bella over. That is its own story and one for another day. However, we recently had a visit from my nephew, Jared, and he too, managed to get Bella to take the trust plunge.

Evidence:

A little nervous...

Gimme a kiss, pretty girl.

Oh, so close!

What are you looking at?

This isn't so bad after all...

I know a lot of my readers are worried about Bella and there are still stories to tell about how we got here. Over the last year since she has been on the medication, along with adjustments we've made to her diet and exercise and the 'Agility for Reactive Dogs' class we are taking, I thought folks might like to see for themselves how Bella has come such a very. long. way.

For the record, I'm not quite sure who I am prouder of in these photos - Bella or Jared. Let's just say I have an unspeakable amount of love for both.

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Review Tuesday: Printcopia Printcopia

Recently I was contacted by one of the good folks over at PRINTCOPIA to take a look at their website and review their products. Their tagline is: "PRINTCOPIA creates eye-catching wall art out of your photos!" and, I have to tell you, they really do.

They offered me a free 8x10 canvas print to check out their work and I jumped at the chance. It's not like I don't have a few bazillion photos of Bella hanging around. In fact, I have so many pictures of her that I had to ask you folks to help me decide which picture to use for the review.

That was certainly the hardest part of the process because, once it was decided which picture I would use, it only took about 15 minutes to upload, tweak and order my print. And that's only because I'm a whacky fanatic about both my pictures and technology - hey, it's a review, I had to put it through it's paces, right?

And put it through its paces I did. And I am happy to say, it passed with flying colors. I'm a web developer by trade so I can be pretty hard on web applications but PRINTCOPIA really did live up to my expectations. The site was easy to use and there were enough options to be able to customize my print but not so many that it made the choices feel overwhelming.

Click on the picture for better detail.

It didn't take long at all after ordering to receive the print and the delivered product was really very good quality. The image quality is superb and the canvas material gives the product an artistic feel. The colors are deep and rich. And the seams are tight - the whole thing is just nicely done. It comes with a little hanging clip so you could put it right on your wall although mine is propped up on my desk right now.

Some of the options they offer on the site range from physical frames to modest or even considerable touch-ups (although I can't speak to the these features as I didn't use them.) And I really love the fact that you can upload directly from Facebook and Instagram.

The only real complaint I have is that in order to use a picture that is formatted for portrait orientation (rather than landscape), you have to select a custom canvas size height and width. That's not a big deal - it doesn't seem to cost any more to use the custom sizing - but it struck me as a minor oversight that could prevent frustration for the user community. Quibbles really.

PRINTCOPIA also offered me an 8x10 canvas print to give away to one of my readers so here's your chance to win a nice gift for the holidays. Just leave a comment letting me know you want to enter and then click on the Rafflecopter thingie there. (I've never hosted a giveaway nor utilized Rafflecopter on the blog so do please leave a comment letting me know you entered so I can make sure that even if things don't work correctly everyone who wants a chance to win gets to enter.)

What it looks like in 'real life'.

I'm quite pleased to be able to offer this as my first 'give-away'. So good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


PS - PRINTCOPIA has some sister sites that I did not work with but if they're anything like this one, they are probably quick and efficient offering good value. If I get the time, I will check them out and report back but if anyone else has already done so, please let us know in the comments.

car magnets * custom banners * cheap signs
Disclaimer: PRINTCOPIA gave me a free 8x10 canvas print to review their services but anyone who knows me can tell you my opinions are my own.  ;)