Long Time, No Talk

Hi! Just wanted to write you all (well, anyone that is still following this blog, anyways :P) a quick note to let you know that after a long hiatus and some soul searching, I will now be blogging over at The Prairie Wolf Files. Hopefully I will see you there! xoxo

Product Review AND GIVEAWAY: Printcopia Canvas Prints

Awhile back (okay, an embarrassingly long time ago), the lovely people at Printcopia contacted me asking if I'd be willing to do a review of one of their products: canvas prints made from your own photos! Printcopia is a really cool company that allows customers to create a wide variety of prints (including canvas, acrylic, decals, etc) based on the customer's own photographs and art. Pretty awesome, eh? Never the type to turn down blog swag, of course I agreed to do this review!  I chose one of my favorite photos of Ember:

The online ordering process at Printcopia is SUPER easy and user-friendly. Their step-by-step process allowed me to choose from all sorts of options, from the size, type, and color of the canvas, to how I wanted the photo positioned. My canvas print arrived in just a few days and it is BEAUTIFUL!  Seriously, I love it. It's hanging on my wall.

Ready for her close-up

I definitely would order from Printcopia in the future. I'm thinking a 4' x 6' giant portrait of me and the girls dressed in wild west costumes would look nice on the wall in my living room, wouldn't you agree?

I kid.

Or do I?

Anyways...

In addition to the services Printcopia provides, their sister site, BuildASign.com offers a wide variety of custom products including bumper stickers, signs, magnets, banners, etc. If you're in the market for something along those lines, I'd definitely recommend this company. They are great to work with and designing what you want/need is super easy.

And now, what you're all probably really here for! :P

As a part of this review, Printcopia has offered to provide a free 8x10 canvas portrait to one of my readers. Hopefully I haven't bored you all away with my lack of blogging as of late, because this is a great deal! Unfortunately, they only ship within the continental US, so I'm going to have to restrict entries for this contest.

To enter, all you have to do is:

1) If you haven't already, "like" Cedes of Change on Facebook. 
2) Leave a comment on this post.
3)  For an additional entry, tell me the funniest knock knock joke you know.
4) For another chance to stack the odds in your favor, "share" the link to this post on Facebook. Just make sure to let me know you've shared it.

I'll announce the winner two weeks from today, May 15th. 

Hiatus

Well, I've done it again it seems. Gone another few months without blogging :P

I promise to start posting more again soon!

I do have a few more reviews to post, and another giveaway to do soon, so stay tuned. It'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming post haste.

GIVEAWAY Winner Announced!

This morning, thanks to a highly complex mathematical equation, I have determined the winner of the Taste of the Wild giveaway!

(Okay, truth is, I had a few friends pick a number between 1-11, and then averaged those numbers to get the winner. That's about the extent of my math skills. And I used a calculator.)

Anyways, the winner is....

Wyatt!  

Congratulations! Please contact me at ElementBCs (at) gmail.com within seven days to claim your prize! If the winner does not email me within that time frame, I'll choose a new winner.

Lists

I don't know what it is about this winter, but I've really been dragging my feet, at least when it comes to training the Border Collie women to do anything productive.

What we have been doing:

1) A lot of snuggling.

2) Lots of walking, and even a bit of hiking, now that the weather has warmed up a bit. 

3) Disc dog!

4) A little bit of agility.

5. Twitter. Yes, Twitter, as in tweeting, hashtags, and all that shizz. Turns out it's pretty fun! Follow Ember @EmberBCracken here! 

A few "official" things before I bring this rambling to an end:

1) The Taste of the Wild Giveaway ends Saturday. If you haven't entered yet, check out this post for details on how to win some free stuff! Winner will be announced Monday, 2/25.

2) Speaking of free stuff, I have a couple more reviews, and yet another giveaway coming soon, so stay tuned!

Review (AND GIVEAWAY!): Taste of the Wild Southwest Canyon Dog Food

Last week, I received an email from one of my favorite dog food brands, Taste of the Wild, asking if I would be willing to review their newest dog food, Taste of the Wild Southwest Canyon. The Southwest Canyon formula uses red meat (beef, lamb, wild boar) as its main protein source.  It also uses chickpeas and peas instead of potatoes as the main sources of starch/carbohydrates, creating a food lower on the glycemic index. This helps to stabilize blood glucose levels in dogs. From  the ToTW website:

Southwest Canyon was made specifically for those dogs that thrive on a red meat diet. This new Taste of the Wild formula was developed to provide a food that featured a unique protein source, wild boar. This red meat alternative was chosen to help satisfy your dog’s instinctual cravings.

Because I love and have fed ToTW (and, okay, I'm a sucker for free stuff LOL),  I wrote back immediately expressing my interest in doing the review. Within a few days, the samples arrived.... just in time for dinner!

Of course, Ember had to come check out the new stuff when I was taking pictures outside. She assumes that everything that comes in the mail is for her.... and really, most of the time she's right ;)

The dogs went absolutely nuts when I opened the sample bags, jumping up and sniffing.  The kibble is lighter in color, and has a pleasant (well, for dog food) smell. 

All three dogs absolutely loved the food and inhaled it even quicker than usual!  Cedar, my pickiest eater, liked it, too. And, a few days later, I can tell you that the food was good to their systems as well...if you catch my drift ;)

I would definitely recommend giving ToTW Southwest Canyon a try if you're on the market for a new, high quality kibble to feed your dog. Thank you so much, Tara, for the opportunity to do this review!

If you aren't sure where to find Taste of the Wild close to you, visit their dealer locator here.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS!!!!!!

And now.... the reason y'all are probably here in the first place, the giveaway!

In exchange for my review of Southwest Canyon, Taste of the Wild has offered to sponsor a prize pack for my readers. That's you!  Well, one of you anyways ;)

This prize pack includes samples of Southwest Canyon, a $25 gift card to PetFoodDirect.com for your dog, and a $25 gift card to Omaha Steaks for you  (a little red meat for everyone!).

To enter, all you have to do is:

1) If you haven't already, "like" Cedes of Change on Facebook.
2) Leave a comment on this post!  
3) If you "share" the link to this post on Facebook, you'll receive an additional entry.

Winner will be chosen by random draw on February 23rd (two weeks from now!)

Wintertime Blues

Womp wommmmmpppp. It's still winter.

Dark.

Cold.

Dreary.

Needless to say, winter has never really been my favorite season. I don't particularly enjoy winter sports... my one experience with snowboarding was a hilariously epic fail.

Here in the Tri Cities, this winter has been pretty mild in comparison to much of the country.  We've only had a few days of snow, and even then, it hasn't been too bad. I don't know about y'all, but what really gets me during the winter is the darkness. Up here, at its darkest, it wasn't light out til after eight, and then got dark again around four. Thankfully, there's a bit more daylight these days, and along with the extra hour or so of sun, my motivation for dog training and exercise has grown.

Please, Mama... train us!

Ember and I are currently enrolled in a Novice Rally class, and that has been a lot of fun. She is great, of course. Still very much a puppy, but great. I am hoping to have her ready to compete in the spring or summer.

I've been teaching classes for the local dog club up here for almost a year. The current session is five weeks in. I am teaching a CGC class and an agility class, and also assisting a friend with her STAR puppy class. So far, classes are going pretty well. I am enjoying teaching agility the most, obviously. This is the second time I've ever taught an agility class, and the first time teaching this particular class (Beginning Directional Handling). It's been really interesting transitioning from being an agility student to teacher. The hardest thing has been dealing with my insecurities. Part of me still can't believe that I have anything of value to say! Ah well, it'll come :)

In other news, we have a couple of really awesome reviews and giveaways coming up on the blog!!!!!  Trust me, y'all will definitely want to put in for these!  More details coming soon :)

I leave you with the song that's been stuck in my head since the Super Bowl:

Oh yeah, and Go Ravens! In my defense, I'm normally a Patriots fan. I just had a good feeling about the Ravens this year.

And that's my daily dose of random!

This is what happens...

...when I don't pay attention to Cedar for five minutes ;)

In case you were wondering, yes she did collect all these toys and sticks and put them at my feet in the hopes of playing a little fetch.

Border Collies....

Ermagherd Snerw! A photo series.

Wut iz this white stuffs fallin from the sky? Must investigate dis. Tastes funny. 

It feelz funny on my face. 

I don't trust it. Seemz kinda shifty.

I might need more time to investigate this snerw stuffs.

Wordless Wednesday: Lazybones

Footwear for Agility

Let's talk about feet. 

As someone with extremely sensitive, injury-prone feet and ankles, I have to think a lot about my footwear a lot. Whether for walking, running/exercise, or agility, I have to choose my shoes carefully. I have extremely weak ankles, so for my running and agility shoes, I need something that will support them without decreasing my range of motion.

When I began my agility journey, I didn't put much thought into footwear (or sports bras, but that's a whole 'nother blog post, LOL). But I found out pretty quickly that my crappy sneakers just wouldn't cut it on wet grass. The spring after I started competing, I invested in a pair of Merrells... snagged on sale at REI for over $50 off.  I love them so much, but after almost two years (I know you aren't supposed to wear sneakers for that long, but I just love them so!), they are falling apart.

I have been thinking about what shoes to get next for agility, but there are so many options that I don't know where to start, LOL.

The obvious choice would be another pair of Merrells, but I'm not necessarily stuck on that brand. 

I know Vibrams are trendy, but I worry they wouldn't be supportive enough for my feet and that a shoe like that would make it easier to re-injure my ankle. Those of you that wear them, do you find your feet hurt more (or less?) at the end of the day? Can you wear an ankle brace with them? 

My current Merrells. Lovely, but on their last leg. 

For running (not dog related), these are my favorites:  

 Asics GEL-Nimbus 14 Shoes (Blk/Digital/Neon Pnk) - Women's Shoes - 6.5 M 

I LOVE these shoes. It's like wearing little clouds on my feet. My feet don't get tired, and they support my arches and ankles without going up too high on the backs of my heels. I ran a 5k in them without any problems back in November. I pretty much only wear them for running, because they were expensive and I don't want to wear them out! 

I'm not sure if I want to invest the money in another pair of these for agility. I trial primarily on dirt, and the thought of getting a $100+ pair of shoes covered in arena sand makes me upset. LOL. 

I guess I should go to REI and try on some shoes. I am looking for something low profile, with lots of tread and built for narrower feet. I also have big, oddly sized feet (I'm either, or in between a 10 and an 11, depending on the shoe). 

Any suggestions? What brands, or models (is that the right word?) have worked best for you when it comes to shoes for agility? I would love to hear your input. 

Wordless Wednesday: My Little Writing Buddy :)