Happy New Year! What's up with The Rex Center?

Happy new year everyone!

Its been an interesting month or two since I’ve written an update. Lots of major changes and events -

What's happening with the Rex Center facility?
- The application for our city planning request was accepted and we were told that 1/5 was the next available meeting. Next week we get a 10 minute slot to present to the city planning commission and pending that they approve (that is the recommended action) then we start construction! We have to find a plumber, but think we have an electrician and contractor lined up. We have to add drains to the floors and re-arrange how the pool is setup so that we can get ADA approved ramps up to the deck of the pool.

- My dog trainer (Natalie 3RsAgility) that I've been apprenticing with at Sirius puppy training is planning on staying in the bay area so she's going to lease the facility to teach agility fundamentals and we've asked Sirius to consider The Rex Center as a location for Puppy classes too.

- Susan's got a plan for paint and lovely colors thanks to a book from my friend Alessandra! We're going to use a blue that is a couple shades darker than the logo, a light yellow, an orange, and a grassy green! Bright and cheery but still sporty.

Any other business plans?
- The text for our website is done and its off to Mel Barti, our designer, so hopefully our website will be done in a month. She's even included our logo and one of the business card designs in her portfolio (under Brand Identity).

- Veronica at dogTEC has been helping me figure out a marketing strategy and critiquing a packet of related articles that Louisa (The Swimming Dog) and I have put together.

What's happening with Cathy?
1. Took canine massage and Reiki classes at the Rocky Mountain School of Animal Acupressure and Massage! I discovered that massage (on land) is interesting and got some great knowledge and techniques, but also found that I didn’t love it as much as being in the water and working with the dogs there. Many of the good things are similar – such as using your intention to inform the dog of what you’re doing and working on noticing reactions from one spectrum to the other. The classes also taught me two very good head-to-toe routines. I’m now working on case studies for those massage certificates. (6 dogs each for 6 weeks, documentation, documentation, etc.)
2. I really loved the Reiki class and have continued practicing on myself and my animals. I am also taking further coursework with Kathleen Prasad of the Animal Reiki Source in San Rafael. She offers an internship that I’d like to do in the future, so hopefully I will get to meet her eventually. (She co-authored a book called Animal Reiki.)
3. Swimming dogs . . . I've now swum with the aformentioned Natalie's agility Bichon Frise! He's a sporty little 9-year old who was having some health problems. After his first swim, he was crazy excited and mom was very happy. :) We've had a little hiatus because his chiropractor was concerned about his neck and swimming. But hopefully we'll get into the 'pool' (a.k.a. the 7x7' spa in my back yard) soon. Natalie's also been lining up her agility students/friends to come swim at The Rex Center -- if only we could open soon!!
4. I've become an aromatherapy fanatic. I took an aromatherapy class in Colorado (along with the Reiki & Massage) by Frances at Frogworks. I have bought a zillion oils and we had an aromatherapy party where we made sugar and salt scrubs, lipgloss, and 'signature scents'. So far, the massage dogs and our dogs have been benefiting from oils too -- Stella likes Frankinsence, Sumba Vetiver, Dewi was getting Eucalyptus, and Vaastu was attracted to Thyme. . . I've been using Spikenard for sleeping better . . .


What else??
- Dewi -- referenced in "The Swimming Pomeranian" -- went to the Rainbow Bridge in early December. She slid downhill pretty quickly with collapsing trachea to the point where she would turn purple multiple times a day.

- We have two new housemates -- two 19 year old college students. They are renting the room downstairs. So we've re-arranged our house so that most of our living space is upstairs now.
I like my new office. Its connected to the main area of the house and I have more cabinet space for mixing oils and a small sewing setup. Hopefully it doesn't explode with stuff soon. :)

- Started a new job in December! Its always a bit brain taxing to learn a whole new industry -- so apologies for the update delay and no holiday cards this year! I've been fairly exhausted with all the changes and things to do plus learning a lot!

Gotta run, Sumba needs to go outside!