For Christmas I received a $100 gift certificate to a fancy pet boutique. I was so excited about it. I spend a lot of money taking care of my dogs but I have a frugal side so I rarely go for the fun stuff. I was tempted to use the gift certificate for something practical for the dogs but then I convinced myself to enjoy the gift and go for fun stuff.

I picked up a Christmas ornament with a papillon on it and a hand painted papillon mug. They looked too much like my Happy to pass up. If they’d had versions with my Joey’s likeness on it, I would have gotten those too. I also got new collars for both of my boys. My foster dog chewed up Happy’s collar which bummed me out because it was his original collar from when I adopted him and Joey’s collar was original — and a little frayed — too. The last thing I bought was a dual leash connector (I’m sure there’s an actual word for these things) so I can walk Happy and Joey together on one leash. I tried it out this weekend and they looked like they were playing tug of war…so that will need some practice.

It felt great to splurge a little on things for my pups and myself. I think we deserve it every now and again. Best part is I still have $20 left to spend at the store. If you had a free 100 bucks to spend at the fancy pet store, what would you choose?

Image via Katie Redmiles Pierson