Can you believe that tomorrow is the first day of 2013? I can’t wrap my head around it, honestly. 2012 has been such a crazy, wonderful year for my little family – especially for me. In August I graduated with my second master’s degree, making me a bona fide librarian. While I’m still searching for the perfect faculty position, I received a promotion with my current job and am much happier as a result. Emma turned two years old in August (it was a big month for us!) and although she’s as puppyish as ever, it’s amazing how smart/hilarious/sweet she is. More than ever, she’s our baby – and sure, she could do with some extra training, and perhaps we should revisit the whole Since When Does the Dog Get to Sleep in Our Bed? conundrum, but for the moment we’re happy.

In short, 2012 was a pretty awesome.  There have been some equally great posts on Pawesome, so here are a few of my favorites:

• The Ennui of Henri: Henri the cat was one of my favorite cat memes this year. I just love his existential moanings and groanings. We also featured him in Henri 3, Le Vet and Henri The Cat: Look-a-likes and Feel-a-likes!
• Do Pit Bulls Really Exist? Some of the sweetest dogs I know are “pit bulls”, which is why I really appreciated Terri’s post on the difficulty of pinning down to what that loosey-goosey term is actually referring. After the demoralizing ruling in Maryland (Tracey v. Solesky) that stated pit bulls and pit bull mixes are “inherently dangerous”, some clarification was definitely in order.
• Bad Dog! Judgey McJudersons in the House: Tara hit on a great point with her post, which was a response to Leda’s previous one titled Self Help: Judging Other Pet Owners: good and bad pet behavior is relative, especially when it comes to pet owners judging their own dogs. Emma has been called “chunky” by complete strangers more than once, and as a result I’ve wanted to tell them “she’s not fat, she’s a bulldog! ask her vet if you don’t believe me!” But have I, myself, in the past referred to a dog as a “chunk-a-dunk”? Um, maybe? Guilty as charged.