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Birthday Jeopardy (and the best gift ever)

I love birthdays. I can thank my mother for that. She always made our birthdays wonderful. They are one day a year you get to feel special, or make someone you love feel special. Yesterday was Brian’s birthday, so I came up with a fun way to give him the gifts I’d gotten him.

BIRTHDAY JEOPARDY!

Birthday Jeopardy

I made a full Jeopardy board (Brian loves that show & trivia games) and came up with 31 questions to go with it! I  did one round, plus final jeopardy. Each category had a gift associated with it. My favorite category was: Tina, you “fat” lard. All of the answers had the word “fat” in them. And yes, the next category was Come get some dinner.

Here’s an example:

Tina, you “fat” lard

Watching, thinking of, hearing about or listening to Game of Thrones makes Jess this 8-letter word for tired.

What is ‘fat’igued?

Ding ding ding! For that question, B got the newest Game of Thrones book.

The best category and corresponding gift was in final Jeopardy.

Golden Retrievers

Jess’ three golden retrievers were all named after movie characters. Name the three films.

What are The Land Before Time, Indiana Jones and Ratatouille. 

Buzzzz. B got this wrong (he didn’t know my first dog Sarah was named after Sarah the Triceratops in the Land Before Time. Rookie…. Also, Remmy isn’t really named after the rat in Ratatouille. But it worked so well for the clue!).

Since it was his birthday, he still got his gift.

Birthday Portrait

A custom portrait of Remmy!

So this is basically the best, most amazing, adorable gift ever. As a blogger a super small small smallllll business owner (really, I can’t even claim that.. but whatevs), I always love to share other fantastic small businesses. I bought this print from Kathryn Selbert Illustrations, who has a shop on Etsy. I sent her three pictures of our pup with a few details, and she made this graphic drawing, basically combining all three into one adorable cartoonified Rem. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. I ordered this for B on Nov. 4, originally planning to give this to him for Christmas. But she sent me the file on Sunday (you can opt to print your own or she’ll send you a print) and I had it printed just in time for his birthday! Talk about amazing timing.

Here are the photos I sent her:

PupPortraitPic1 PupPortraitPic2 PupPortraitPic3

Here’s the illustration she made:

JessicaS_lowres_web_1

Is she talented or what?!? I love that she pulled in Rem’s bandana (which I think has since been destroyed) and that his big ol’ tongue is hanging out. I also love that it looks like a watercolor painting.

Let’s be honest, this was a gift for me just as much as it was a gift for Brian. We both love it. It’s definitely one of my favorite gifts I’ve ever given.

Kathryn has all sorts of other adorable illustrations available in her shop, so you should definitely check them out. She does two-week turnarounds, so there’s still plenty of time left to order your pet portraits before the holidays!

OK, I’m done raving now. Happy day-after-your-birthday to my main squeeze. Glad you liked your birthday game & gifts.

If you want to check out Brian’s other fun birthday “game,” check out my post on his beer scavenger hunt!

 

Life

Holiday Pup

I love the pictures of pets wrapped in lights. Love love love.

I came home from work the other day and decided I was going to try to do this IMMEDIATELY. So I walked in, unplugged some colorful lights and grabbed my pup and a treat. Here’s how this whole thing went down.

Enjoy…

Rem and B waiting
Brian and Remmy waiting for the lights to go on. Brian has a treat in his hand, hence Remmy’s patience. And yes, sometimes he sits that pretty.

Imagine about 30 or so shots or total blurriness….

Remmy lights confused
Remmy thinking: WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE LIGHTS DOING ON ME!?
Rem's feet
This one could have been good if the whole dog was in it. Probably time to abandon solo Remmy.
Rem and B
Brian jumps into the picture. Too bad we didn’t think to turn off the TV. Oh, and B is blurry.

The only “good” shot I got. Brian’s body is in it, but he isn’t. Weird. But Rem still looks cute. I’ll take it!

Remmy in Lights
I’m in lights! Are we done now? — Remmy

My only advice for anyone else who wants to try this?! Bring more than one treat 🙂

Life

My dog is adorable

I can’t help myself sometimes… I just need to share pictures of my dog. He is adorable and I pretty much adore him. He’s our test baby and we spoil him like crazy. This weekend we took him to the river to swim. As you’ll see from the photos, he had a truly wonderful time.

Rem and B

Cheesin’ it.

s

“S” for “Smith”

… except I didn’t carve it. I would feel like I’m hurting the poor tree.

Smiling b

Handsome hubby!

smiling rem

Happy, happy, happy dog.

smiling b2

“Stop taking pictures of me!”

stripe trail

The trail to Doggy Beach. Red Stripe Trail fo lyfe.

Swimmer Dog

Swimmer dog 🙂

Swimmer dog1

Wet dog.

swimmer dog3

Content dog.

swimmer dog4

Check out that form!

swimmer rem

Get the stick, get the stick, get the stick!!!!

He sure is a pretty dog.