Meet The Robinsons

Should I stay or should I go?

2011-09-20T12:03:00.005-04:00

I've been blogging since 2001. It all started with LiveJournal in high school, and moved to Blogger after marriage in 2008. I feel like this blog is part of my identity and has really captured my life over the last few years. However, I also feel like I've started to outgrow it. I spend the majority of my time on Facebook and a few topic forms, and I feel like most people keep up with me via Facebook, not this blog. So who am I writing for then? Me? The online world? Google Spiders? Aliens? (hey...you never know) I'm not really sure. I'm lacking in time and lately, motivation as well. It's hard to write here and leave out the personal things going on in my life. So I post less and less, and the spend all my time playing catch up on mainly horse-related topics.

I'm merely brainstorming here, but I think I need to do one of three things. 1) Shut down the blog, 2) Convert it into a horse-focused blog or 3) Close up shop and start over with a horse-focused blog

I think Facebook/social media (and my lack of time) have really contributed to the demise of (my) blogging. Thanks Facebook ;)

I need some time to think about this and then will be back with an answer. Thanks to everyone for following me for this long - it's been a pleasure so far!

The Best Laid Plans...

2011-09-20T10:55:00.002-04:00

I know, I know. Making plans in the equestrian work can lead to bitter disappointment. Goals are ok, but plans? Horses laugh at plans.

However, in my case, it wasn't the horse that messed with our competition plans for the rest of the season. It was me! And unfortunately so. My company went through some major changes in August and as a result, my job is not as secure as it was. I don't like discussing job matters on here, but this time it can't be avoided.

As you can imagine, I was hesitant to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on lessons and shows with a shaky job outlook. So those shows I talked about in late August/early September? Didn't happen. In fact, I haven't even taken a riding lesson in almost two months (*gasp!*).

To add to the fray, Scarlett, the TB we rescued/adopted, decided to impale herself on a fence post when we had that freakish earthquake in late August. It was the scariest horse injury/situation I've ever dealt with. Luckily the hubs was at the barn when she did this (he saw it happen!) and was able to catch her and keep her still until the vet arrived. He kept telling me over the phone that there was so much blood she might not survive. Talk about scary! When I got there, I had to admit the situation looked pretty grim, but luckily the vet arrived and was able to stitch her up. I've never seen that much blood in my entire life (but luckily, horses have a lot, and can lose a lot!).

The past month has consisted of me driving to the barn every evening, first to clean the wound and medicate Scarlett, then to clean and hand walk, etc. She even coliced minorly about half way through the ordeal because she had been on stall rest and was stressed out. Poor mare. And my poor wallet. My poor, screaming wallet. Our training hadn't been going well either. Scarlett is super jumpy/spooky, and while trying to back her, I've already fallen off twice. Once when she took her first step with me on her, and the other when we were being led around at the trot and going from trot to walk. So not only is she injured, but she's a spazz, and I'm not sure if I can handle getting her under saddle. I only have so much time...(and money).

Sometimes I wonder why I put the hubs and myself through so much horse drama. I am starting to believe that I am "second horse cursed". Meaning that all of the horses I've gotten in addition to Sierra (aka - second horses) haven't lasted:

Second Horse #1: TB/Oldenburg Cross Mare - Injured in the field the first day I brought her home, and she never recovered. I had to find her a home as a companion horse.

Second Horse #2: Hanoverian Gelding - Purchased at a sport horse auction and grew almost 1hh in a span of a few months. He ended up being 17.3hh and too big for me so I put him up for sale, figuring if someone offered me enough, I'd be willing to part with him (he was awesome and the hubs loved him). Then I found out he had inoperable bone spurs, and basically had to give him away to a trail riding/dressage home.

Second Horse #3: TB Mare - Decided she hated jumping (at least with me) and we just stopped getting along. Sold her to a dressage or light jumping home.

Second Horse #4: TB Mare - I still currently own this one. Key word being "still". I'm undecided on what to do with her at this point :(

I'm actually undecided on a lot of things right now. Lots of changes and life drama going on and I'm getting pretty weary of it all (luckily, the hubs is the best, most supportive spouse ever). Can I ever catch a break?

I also really hurt my hand (thought it was broken) during one of my falls off of Scarlett, so I haven't been able to work out much because of it. So much for my outlet for frustration, right?

So if you were wondering where I've been, now you know. Keep your fingers crossed things quiet down soon. 2011 started with a bang and had been quite a year up to this point. I'm hoping it doesn't end on a sour note...

Sierra - Meet Beginner Novice

2011-08-08T10:36:00.004-04:00

Another weekend and another combined test! Sierra and I went to the MOC Pony Club CT on Sunday, and never having been to this venue before, it was a nice change of pace. I entered us in the Baby Novice CT and a Beginner Novice jumping round. Our first Beginner Novice jumping round? Yikes! (Baby Novice is 2'0" and Beginner Novice is 2'6")

The Baby Novice CT went first, and I was pretty flustered to start off due to a fiasco over an arm band. Although it was an unrecognized show, the show admins decided they would go by USEA rules. Being a newbie, I didn't realize this required competitors to wear a medical arm band for all phases of an event, so I didn't bring one! Yikes. The show secretary was really nice and found a solution for me, but by the time I got that sorted out, I only had 10 minutes to warm up for dressage.

We got into the warm-up ring and did some quick walking, and a lot of trotting. Since we were doing the Intro A dressage test, I didn't even bother to warm up our canter (there's no cantering in that test). Then I ran down to the ring, explained to the dressage steward and judge about the arm band, and they rang the starting bell. I'm not a huge fan of the Intro A test because it has a ton of walking, and without a proper warm up, Sierra is tough to get a good walk out of (so you can imagine I was a bit peeved going into this test). We got in there and did our thing, but by the time we got to our final salute, I thought our ride felt like crap :P

I went over to the hubby after our ride and when he asked how did did, promptly told him "Not that well...Sierra was distracted". Oh, and to top it all off, we had the camera, but I had forgotten the camera battery, so no video! *sigh*

Jumping was up next, so we did a few warm up jumps and then headed to the course. It was an interesting course...10 jumps crammed into a tiny ring. Awesome. Went into the ring, did our canter circle and headed to the first jump. Sierra jumped it - Hooray! Came around to the second jump, and Sierra took a huge look and knocked it. Nice. That got me too distracted for the third jump (which was on a broken line) and Sierra stopped. UGH! Did a circle to regroup and we got over fine. Then cantered on to finish the rest of the course like a pro. After we finished I learned the rail we knocked stayed up, so that was good news ;). But we still had a refusal, so I was frustrated. We just can't get through a course without a stop! And of course without a working camera...no video to see what happened. Oh well.

My theory is that we're both inexperienced, so when I get distracted, Sierra gets distracted. Then we have a stop. I'm hoping this is just a case of practice makes perfect. And hey, at least we didn't get eliminated!

Then we waited around for awhile while they raised the jumps up for Beginner Novice. Eric heard the stadium steward say they set the jumps at 33 inches. My reaction - "WHAT?". So I asked and they confirmed...Beginner Novice jumps set at 2'9". That's high!! Beginner Novice is supposed to be 2'6", so not sure what was going on there. We watched a few people go and then I decided it was our turn. The course was pretty much the same, except they added a jump to make another two stride line. So, 11 jumps at 2'9" in a tiny ring. My heart was beating out of my chest! Did the canter circle, and headed to the first jump. Success! Headed to the second and third jumps, the root of our troubles in Baby Novice...and, success! We got all the way around the course cleanly.....UNTIL the last jump. I'm not sure if Sierra was tired, or if I set her up incorrectly or even if she read my mind (I was thinking "we're going to make it clean! WOW!") and decided to prove me wrong, but whatever it was, she stopped. So I did a circle and she stopped again. Did a circle for our third and final attempt, and success!

I was feeling pretty down at this point, because we couldn't even get through a round without a refusal and I felt like we had a crappy dressage round. So, we headed over to pick up my dressage and go home. When they gave me my test, it came with a blue ribbon and a yellow ribbon! I just stared at the steward. We sucked! How did I end up with ribbons? Turns out we didn't suck. We had the best dressage score in our division (a 30, which is our best score at a CT yet), so we got a blue ribbon for that. And with 4 jumping faults, we landed in 3rd place overall for our CT division! Eric was holding Sierra so I could get the results, and when I came out with two ribbons, the look on his face was priceless. He said, "how the HELL did you guys get ribbons?" I told him that's exactly what I was thinking. HAHA!

Apparently, our dressage was much better than it felt, and our jumping was decent despite the refusal. I mean, Earth to Jen! We got around a tight, colorful 2'9" jump course without knocking a rail. Sure, we had to stops, but we finished without getting eliminated. That's actually pretty impressive for our first outing at BN. I guess I'm much too hard on myself and a total perfectionist. :P

Anyway, since we forgot the camera, here's the only picture we got from the whole thing (took it with our phone):

Our jumping still needs work, no doubt about it. My alloted "show funds" for this season are just about out, so we only have a few more opportunities to get out to some shows. Here's what we have planned:

Baby Novice CT on August 21st
Jumper show on Sept 3rd
Intro Level Horse Trial on Sept 11th

The goal is to get us out there to continue exposing us to jumping rounds, with our last show of the season at a real horse trial! Unrecognized, of course, but still a horse trial. I'll keep you updated on our progress :)

Sierra Needs a Jump School

2011-08-05T15:12:00.000-04:00

After our performance at the last combined test (jump refusal), my trainer thought it would be good to take Sierra off property for a jump schooling lesson. I completely agreed - Sierra just needs to get out more! So last Sunday we headed over to a state-of-the-art training facility called Morningside Training Farm, and had a 90 minute jump lesson.

First we worked on the flat and over cavalettis to work on adjustability and stride:

Then we worked over some warm up jumps (a single and a 2-stride):

Next, we got down to business working lines:

And finally did two full courses:

It was an extremely productive jump school and we only had one refusal the entire time. And it was because she was distracted (because we weren't getting the right lead and I kept asking). She's going to have to learn to deal with just jumping what is in front of her no matter what, but I think we're slowly getting there!

We have another combined test this weekend (our 4th), and we're doing Baby Novice and a schooling round at Beginner Novice. Should be fun :)

And you know what? I think I'm all caught up now! Finally.

Scarlett Under Saddle - Sort Of

2011-08-05T11:30:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I mentioned Scarlett, so let me reintroduce her to you. Scarlett is our 4 y/o rescue Thoroughbred, who came to us in February 2011. It's been a long, challenging road with her, not because she's a bad horse, but because she didn't know anything, had bad habits and didn't trust people or objects (no joke). You can see the beginning of her training and read her full story here.

Since that post in March, we've made a bunch of additional progress, including:

Getting used to fly spray/spray bottles
Getting used to water and bathing
Learning to tie again (she flipped out and started pulling cross ties out of the wall about 2 months of training - we had to retrain her completely)
Learning to lunge

Being introduce to saddle pads, the saddle and the girth

Being introduced to the bit and bridle

Learning to lunge with tack on
Learning to hold a rider (this included months of me laying over her, standing in stirrups, making noise with the tack and doing all kinds of crazy things to get her ready to be ridden)

It's been slow progress due to time constrains and her learning curve. She is smart and wants to please, but gets nervous pretty easily. Two weeks ago, I decided she was ready for me to sit on her. So, with the hubby there as back up, I mounted up:

Scarlett is only the second horse I've backed (Sierra being my first), so this was a pretty proud moment!

She was perfectly calm and actually looked like she was taking a nap with me sitting on her. So, we decided to ask her to walk. Bad idea! Bad, bad, bad. She took one step, freaked out and flew sideways. I wasn't holding on to the reins or anything to avoid pulling on her mouth, and once she stopped going sideways she crowhopped (kind of a mini buck). It caught me off guard and without reins or stirrups, I fell off. Well, I prefer unplanned emergency dismount, but really, I fell off. Poor Scarlett stood there next to me with her head down acting very sorry :(.

But being the horsewoman that I am, I hopped right back on! Although this time enlisted by hubby to lead us around like a pony ride. That seemed to work much better. First we started off by walking her with me laying over her back. Then I sat on her again and Eric lead us around. She was great.

So the lesson here? Scarlett needs me to go slowly. When I backed Sierra, we were doing walk/trot/canter within an hour of being under saddle. Scarlett will probably take weeks to get to the trot, and months to canter under saddle. If we're cantering under saddle by the end of October, I'll be thrilled! That gives us three months, so we'll see.

I'm pretty embarrassed that I fell off like that, but it happens. The important part is that we move forward with her training slowly enough that it doesn't happen again.

This past weekend we did Scarlett's second ride. Luckily it was less exciting than the first ride. Eric lead Scarlett around calmly on a loose lead (at the walk, of course) while I sat on her and got her used to the idea of a rider moving all around. Hopefully this weekend we'll do her third and forth ride, and maybe get us walking by ourselves on a lunge line :)

Combined Test #3

2011-08-04T14:08:00.001-04:00

Sierra had a nice break while I was gone on vacation, but after I got home it was back to business. We had a show the following weekend! The time off was good for Sierra, but it also made her a little cranky. She doesn't like to be left alone to long. (Mares...) She was fussy during our early practice rides that, making me a bit skeptical about our ability to show that weekend. Luckily, we had a great ride on the Friday before the show, so I felt more confident.

We signed up for the Baby Novice division (moving up!) which meant doing the Intro B test in dressage and moving to 2ft jumps in stadium. Our dressage went great! We actually got a standing ovation from those watching and even had two people come up to us and tell us what a nice test we had. I was such a proud pony Mom ;). Our score ended up being a 33%, which is not bad, but apparently some people felt we were judged down because Sierra isn't a fancy warmblood. The judge was kind of a stick-in-the-mud, but whatever. A 33% still isn't something to complain about.

Our stadium round was ok if you take out jump #2. It had these huge yellow wings with red ladybugs painted all over it and Sierra freaked out. We came around the turn at a nice canter, and when she saw the jump she went from 60-0mph in a sliding stop. Ridiculous! I got mad at her for acting so silly, and gave her a whack. She went over it, but we got 4 penalty points for a refusal (it wasn't a true refusal - she slid to a stop about 15ft from the jump and I had to circle her to get her mind reset). So, that was disappointing. I was mainly disappointed in me for not predicting her behavior and being proactive. But I have to keep telling myself that she's not a seasoned show horse - she's green and still learning! Time and patience is key...although sometimes (like in this case), I feel like she truly was just being a nut. *sigh* Oh well!

See, I told you we needed jumping practice :P Even though we didn't place, the show was good experience. The more shows we go to, the more experienced Sierra gets!

Here are a few pictures from our dressage test:

And a few from our stadium round:

This was the "scary" jump

Summer Vacation 2011

2011-08-03T12:34:00.000-04:00

I'm still desperately trying to catch up on posts, and am just now getting around to posting about our summer vacation! It sum it up in three words, it was amazing. We decided to drive to our destinations this time, and while waking up early wasn't my favorite, my husband (who should win an award because he's so amazing) surprised me with a toy to amuse myself with on the long drive: an iPad2 (64GB with Verizon 3G!)

Staring at my surprise not believing my eyes (haha)

Seriously in love with this thing!

To make a long story short, my husband had been teasing me about an iPad for months. Months! I had stopped even paying attention to them because I knew there was no way in hell I would get one. About a week before the trip Eric started teasing about the iPad non-stop. Seriously. I still knew I wasn't getting one. The morning of our trip we got up at 2am and I fell asleep in the car for a few hours. When I woke up at 7am, hubby asked me if I wanted a surprise. Of course I said "YES"! He told me to reach under the seat, so I did, and pulled out a wrapped package. Inside were two iPad covers (blue and pink). Hubby said "I thought we could look at iPads on our trip, so I got some covers to get us started". I believed him and was like, "Really? Sweet!" Then he asked if I wanted another surprised, and I was like, "Ummm, ok?". It was early and I was confused :P. I reached under the seat again and pulled out a bigger, heavier wrapped package. He urged me to open it so I did, and found myself staring at an iPad2. I couldn't believe it. I think I asked him "really? is this for real?" twenty times lol. He was so pleased with himself, and still is. I wish I had a picture of his "pleased with himself" face haha. Anyway, the iPad2 was a total blessing on our trip - we used it for everything! But that should be a separate post. On to the trip!

Our first stop was Atlanta, GA for three days!

We stayed at the Marriott Marquis and enjoyed every second of it. It's a HUGE hotel (no seriously, it's huge) with about 50 stories. Our room was on the 38th floor, which made for breathtaking view both inside and outside:

View from our floor down to the lobby!

View from the lobby to the top of the hotel

View from our room

Eric on lobby level 1 (there were 3 lobby levels)

Me on lobby level 2 showing off my new iPad (lol)

To add to the height element, the elevators were glass. It made for an extra fun ride ;)

We had both been to Atlanta before, so we checked out the things we missed the last time around. First we made a stop at The Varsity for the best hot dogs around:

Walked around the Olympic Park:

(can you find me? lol)

Then we went to the Georgia Aquarium. This is definitely a must see - it's incredible:

The whale sharks!

At the tropical exhibit

A happy beluga whale

Eric with his "dolphin twin". This was hilarious! They're both engineers and dressed identically :P

The only disappointing part was that we saw the dolphin show but they didn't allow photography. So to remedy that, Eric got me a dolphin:

Then it was on to Florida! We really enjoyed our stay in Atlanta, but couldn't wait to hit the beach for 6 days.

Ponte Vedra Beach = amazing

We needed this vacation extremely badly, and had so much fun. It was hard to come back to reality, and we can't wait to go again soon :)

CHAMPION!

2011-08-02T12:11:00.005-04:00

On June 26th Sierra and I went to another dressage show to fine-tune our Intro C test and make the leap into Training Level dressage. My trainer had been raving and raving about our dressage progress, but I hadn't realized just how much progress we had made until we got into the ring.

Our first test was Intro C, and I felt pretty confident. After all, we'd already done this test 3 times at prior shows! Sierra put in an awesome test and after the final halt and salute, the judge told us, and I quote, "That was a beautiful test, I have nothing to say! I wish the other riders here today had watched your test - they would have learned something". That was the most complimentary feedback a judge has ever given me. I was grinning from ear to ear!

Next up was our Training 1 test. This was our first time attempting Training Level, so I wasn't sure how we'd do, or if I would even remember the test! (Training tests are much longer than the Intro tests). We got into the ring and did our thing, and by the time I was done a grin had appeared on my face again. Sierra had listened to me perfectly AND I remembered the test - couldn't ask for much more than that, right? Wrong. The judge told me it was an excellent test and only said that we need more "jump in the canter". I was seriously the happiest person ever :)

After we packed up and got Sierra loaded on the trailer, the hubby and I went back to pick up my tests and check the results. When we looked at the board my mouth dropped open. In our Intro C test, we received a 79% (a 79!!!!) and won first place. And in Training 1? We received a 74.5% and won first place. I couldn't believe it. I showed up at a dressage show with my little, modest mustang to practice our tests, and we cleaned up :D. My husband had been teasing me all season that Sierra hadn't won a blue ribbon yet and at this show we picked up two of them. So THERE Mr. Hubby! We did it ;)

(at the show with our blue ribbons and prizes)

A few days later...I got an email from the show secretary saying she needed my address because I had won High Point/Champion for the entire show, and she wanted to ship me my ribbon.

Champion!! And I haven't let my husband forget it ;). He affectionatly calls Sierra Ms. Champion now. How cute is that? My little mustang is a true dressage queen now :)

Now that we're making huge strides in our dressage, it's time to shift the focus back to jumping a little bit. I know we can put in a solid dressage test. Now we need to put in solid, consistent stadium rounds! Stay tuned...

Second Combined Test!

2011-08-02T11:59:00.003-04:00

Sierra and I completed our second combined test (CT) in mid-June, and made some drastic improvements! Although we just competed at the First Timers level, it was appropriate because I think it really helped our confidence. We scored a 32% in our Intro A dressage test (8 point improvement over our last Intro Adressage score at a CT), which meant that our walk had improved dramatically. Hooray! Then we had a clean stadium round, which was HUGE :). She was looky at a few things but we made it through. I was so proud of her.

As a result of our many improvements, we earned a nice, red second place ribbon. Go Sierra! Next time...on to the Baby Novice division :)

Our First Jumper Show

2011-07-07T11:32:00.000-04:00

See how much you missed due to my blog slacking in June? Writing all these posts as catch up makes me feel silly, but I would completely regret it if I didn't write them. Sierra and I have been through a lot, and have worked really hard to get to where we are today. 6 years ago, Sierra was a mustang foal out on the range of the Sierra Nevada mountains. 1 year ago, she was in the middle of a year of rest due to her injury and I had no idea if I would even ride her again. Now, she's an emerging show horse/eventer! Imagine that. :)

Anyway, somehow in the middle of combined tests and cross country schooling and running 10k's in June, Sierra and I made it out to a local jumper show. It was my first one and hers as well, so I really had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that based on her stadium round at our combined test in May (previous post), she was very looky and sticky over strange jumps (at least in the ring - she seems more brave out on cross country).

We entered four classes - Puddle Jumpers Jump Off (18"), Puddle Jumpers Speed (18"), 2ft Jump Off and 2ft Speed. The result? 6th place in Puddle Jumpers Jump Off, 6th place in Puddle Jumpers Speed and 2nd place in the 2ft Speed. And I think we had the most fun jumping in a ring than we'd had in a long time! Take a look:

This show was a big breakthrough for us because we cantered all of the courses, and jumped confidently. Sierra was a powerhouse! We placed 2nd in the 2ft speed round because she didn't hesitate at any of the jump and cleared them all with room to spare. HUGE improvement from our prior stadium round at the combined test! You can bet I was happy! I don't think we will do too many jumper shows, but will definitely be returning to this one at the beginning of September.

First Combined Test - Memorial Weekend

2011-07-06T12:04:00.002-04:00

Memorial Day weekend Sierra and I went off to our very first combined test! For those that have never heard of a combined test, it is a horse show consisting of two phases: dressage and stadium jumping. Your score is based on penalty points for both your dressage test and stadium jumping round.

Sierra and I entered the First Timers division (which is appropriate, right?) that included the Intro A dressage test (just walk/trot) and 18" stadium jumping. We also entered a separate dressage test only - Intro C - just for additional experience.

We ended up being the first rider to go for the entire show, and things were a little unorganized. By the time they gave me the "go-ahead", the show was already running behind and I was a little stressed out. We did our Intro A test, and did marginally well. I didn't give Sierra the best warm up (my fault) and as a result, our walk really suffered. And Intro A has a lot of walking. I just couldn't get her to give me a decent overstep, so we ended up with a score of 40 in dressage. Ouch! Oh well...it was good experience, right? Here's my only picture from our Intro A dressage (I have an entire video but I think it's too long to post!):

Moving on to stadium jumping, Sierra jumped the warm up jumps like a pro, so I was feeling confident. She doesn't have much experience jumping strange jumps in a ring yet though, so I had a feeling she would be looky and sticky. I was right! As we stepped into the ring and passed the judges box toward the first jump, she side-stepped at the judge's box, didn't focus on the jump ahead until the last second and stopped. I ended up having to circle her, which is a refusal. *sigh* Not the way I wanted to start our stadium debut, but I definitely either contributed or caused the refusal so....lesson learned. We got over the jump on the second try and continued around the course with only minor issues. She looked at a few of the other jumps (they were scary!) and did some side stepping but we got over them fine.

Saluting for the judge

Right before the spook and refusal

Last jump on course

Due to our lackluster dressage score and our jump refusal (actually, it was the jump refusal that killed us - would've finished 4th), we finished 8 out of 9 in our division. I was disappointed, but considered the outing a learning experience. After all, we did finish! lol

After our combined test I did one more dressage test - Intro C. This time Sierra and I had a great warm up and we were able to show off our walk, trot and canter. What a difference! We scored a 32 on this test, which is funny, because it's more complex than the Intro A test. But I felt much better after this test and score, and was able to leave the show feeling good ;) I got a few more pictures out of this test:

Down centerline

So no ribbon, but a valuable experience for both of us! And that's what counts!

Cross Country Schooling - Outing #3 (June 2011)

2011-07-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

So, still playing catch-up here! Middle of June, Sierra and I went out on our third cross country school at Gordonsdale Farm in Berryville, VA. Gorgeous property, just FYI. We had a lot of firsts here, including combinations, trotting off banks to combinations, a real water complex, jumping in and out of the water, and finally, ditches! Sierra was an absolute pro over everything, especially water and ditches. After my ditch accident with another horse last year (I pretty much ended up in the ditch), I was super nervous. I know my horse and I know she's brave, but I just didn't want to mess things up. Well, no worries, she took care of me! And took care of me over pretty much everything else on course too. Check it out:

First combination (log drop to log up a bank to regular log):

Then we added the bank into the combination:

Bank - We practiced dropping off and jumping up, and going at it from a trot and canter:

Next, the water complex!! Lots of work done here: Bank into the water:

Then we added on to the bank drop into the water and did drop to log jump:

Jumping out of the water (took a few tries to get this one right!):

Then came the part I was dreading. The ditches. I shouldn't have worried! :)

And a few fun log jumps at the end:

And hanging out with my trainer and her very talented horse after an amazing cross country schooling day:

Isn't my little mare the best? Betcha didn't think a mustang could do all that ;)

The Herndon Festival 10k Race!

2011-07-05T22:13:00.004-04:00

So, my second 10k! Even though the 10k was a month ago, and I'm horrible for not blogging about it, I still want to share :). Better late than never, right?

This will be a short post, because the race was awesome. AWESOME!

I woke up at 6am to a cloudy sky and chilly temperatures. Perfect for race day :). It was in the mid 60's, which is optimal running temperature for me, and a drastic change from the race last year (which was stifling hot and humid).

My Mom was running the race too (hubby opted out this year - too much school/work and not enough time to train), so we met up at about 7:10 and warmed up and stretched together before the race. I was nervous because I had forgotten to take my inhaler (sport's induced asthma - sometimes), but my Mom was great at getting me to chill out lol.

The race started at 7:30, and I ran with my Mom for a few minutes, then told her to go ahead. She's faster than me (how great is that? lol), and I made the mistake last year of busting out on the first mile (8 minute mile) and having to fight my way for rest of the race. The course is really hilly, so if you kill yourself on the first mile you're in trouble. This year I came into the first mile at 9:02 and feeling amazing. The best part was that each mile I felt better and better. I've never felt like that before, and can hardly describe the feeling. It was like I had wings! The harder my feet pounded the pavement, the better I felt. Miles 2-6 I came in either at or right under 9 minutes. And when I finished? I felt good! Really good :).

I improved my time from last year by 4 minutes (I did 55 minutes this year) and was absolutely thrilled! My Mom, aka "Mrs. Speedy", also improved her time from last year, coming in at 52 minutes. My goal next year? Keep up with my Mom! haha (no seriously - that will be my goal).

The icing on the cake was that my Mom actually came in second place in her age group and got a medal! How cool is that? :)

Hooray, we finished!

Pose!

Hahaha

Go Mom Go!

Happy with the race

I'm looking toward another 10k race at the end of August or middle of September. We'll see if I sign up!

Cross Country Schooling - Outing #2 (May 2011)

2011-07-05T21:51:00.006-04:00

So, following the hunter show in May in my last post, my trainer took us out for some cross country schooling. This was our second outing on cross country ever (our first being the Frying Pan Park outing in March), and just as exciting as the first! We worked on giving Sierra confidence over never-before seen obstacles, and really worked on encouraging her to be forward and have a "take-charge" attitude (within reason, of course!). She was a very brave girl, and we only had one refusal (that was my fault, because we came around a corner and I didn't "show" her the jump in time). So, without further ado, here are some pictures of us having a BLAST out on cross country :) (Disclaimer - I always wear my vest when riding. Even in the ring. I had forgotten it and schooled without it under my trainer's watchful eye. My husband wanted to kick my ass. I wanted to kick my own ass for doing this and will never do it again - I swear)

Warming up

Baby log

Bigger log

Our first bank - down we go!

Back up the bank

Wheee - bigger bank/drop

Around the corner

Up and over

Grinning ear-to-ear

Success!

We're both green and learning as we go, but having so much fun. I've wanted to event my entire life, and we're getting closer and closer to that goal!

Getting out there - Hunter show

2011-05-26T23:55:00.004-04:00

I posted a little over a week ago about my first horse show with Sierra. And, well, last weekend we were at it again! This time it was really a practice show, because Sierra tends to get really "looky" at strange jumps that are off property (meaning, not at my barn). So we wanted to see if she would go around and make it over the jumps at a small, local hunter show.

We weren't expecting much, which is good, because the whole thing was very entertaining. Hunter shows tend to be unorganized and hectic, and this one proved no different. There were kids, parents, families and trainers running around everywhere, people yelling, the loudspeaker booming constantly and lots of scary tents, chairs and tarps. Sierra was on brain-overload. She's never seen so much activity before!

When our turn came up, she didn't even want to go in the ring! haha. We did a California warm up (which means you get to jump the course without being judged) and then we did a judged jump round. During the California warm up Sierra was freaking out a bit and looking at everything, but we got around haha. Got around is being generous ;). We did much better during the judged round!

We didn't place because we trotted all of the jumps instead of cantering, but that wasn't the point anyway. Sierra jumped and handled herself without completely flipping out, so I'd say it was a victory after all!

Here are some funny pictures for you:

Sierra was probably cursing me at this point lol

She hated this jump

Patting her and laughing after our California Warmup

Yay, we did it!

The show was held at a horse park that also has a cross country course, so after the hunter show we did some cross country schooling! I have some great pictures/video from that, so I think it deserves its own special post ;)

My 10k is in 10 days!

2011-05-26T23:26:00.004-04:00

I wish I had kept up with blogging so that I could've documented my 10k training strategy this year. I started off training a little later than I did last summer, mainly because I just wasn't sure if I could handle adding to my routine with my busy schedule. But, I decided I just couldn't skip it, so I started running! This year was a bit more painful because I really slacked in the workout department after my surgery at the end of December. I really didn't get going at the gym again until February, and I didn't start seriously training for the 10k until late March (I don't consider running on a treadmill every time training lol).

I started off slow, and started adding outside running and hills to my normal workout routine. I have to say that all the cross training I've been doing has worked wonders. I can now go out and run 4.5 miles and think of it as an "easy run". How awesome is that?

My workouts have gotten more interesting over the past few months. I started branching out at the gym to incorporate more machines and more varied cardio. High reps and lower weights tend to work best for me - I get toned, but not too muscled (for some reason I have it in my genes to really build muscle lol).

I also started going to a class at the gym called R.I.P.P.E.D. This class is AMAZING. I'm typically not a class type person, but my Mom and younger sister convinced me to go, and now I'm hooked. It's a full hour of body numbing cardio, weights, abs, reps and basically just non-stop movement. If you think you've ever sweat during a workout, try this class. I was so sore after the first one I could barely walk the next day. No joke. And I'm not out of shape either. I'm a big fan - Love It!!

AND I also hired a personal trainer. I wanted to add to my workout routine and also have someone guide me toward exercises for runners and equestrians. I really need to strengthen my core, and my personal trainer, Chris, has a plan for that! I've only done two session so far, but that combined with my new workout routine, 10k training and R.I.P.P.E.D and I'm seeing a HUGE different. I may not be in the best shape of my life (that was high school/college swimming), but for the first time in 5+ years, I'm feeling well-rounded. I can see the difference in my body, and when I ride and run, I can feel it. My endurance is even greatly improved.

So anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about things right now. :) And I'm super excited for the 10k. I'm very hopeful I can beat my time from last year. A 58.56. Think I can do it? I think I can.

The only frustrating thing I've had to deal with the past few weeks is my diet. With all the effort I put toward getting in shape, I tend to eat 1-2 bad meals a week. With as busy as we are, its hard not to. We get home and are exhausted, and pick up and easy meal from somewhere. *sigh*. I have this awesome calorie counter on my Droid that lets me keep track of my daily eating and exercise habits (it finds the exact foods, serving sizes and calories). But it's also bad because when I eat something unhealthy, I know exactly how bad it really is. And when I eat something unhealthy, I then feel like I've wrecked all the work I've been doing! But it seems to be hard to avoid. Anyone have any tips to eating healthy on a busy schedule? Am I the only one that cracks and eats a bad meal or 3?

I also can't say I've lost a lot of weight, but I think it's because I'm really building muscle. I can tell by the way I look! So it's not frustrating, but it is a bit perplexing. I wish I could continue to get fitter and lose the weight. Maybe that will come in time? I do have 7 pounds I need to get rid of.

So anyway...the countdown is here. 10 days until the 10k! Lots of hard work between now and then. BRING IT ON! :)

After 6 years...Sierra's first show!!

2011-05-18T23:09:00.008-04:00

Ladies and Gents....we've finally done it! This past weekend (Sunday), Sierra and I went to our very first horse show together (well, it wasn't my first horse show, but it was hers, and ours together as a team!). For those who don't know the background, I adopted Sierra in June of 2005 as a yearling. She was a completely wild mustang and I've done all of her training myself. She was injured in 2009 and had to take an entire year off. After getting a clean bill of health in 2010, we resumed training, and finally, finally, made it to a show :).

We started at a dressage show hoping it would be a nice, easy introduction to the show scene, and it was! We rode two dressage tests: Intro B (just walk/trot) and Intro C (walk/trot/canter). Check it out :)

Sierra was amazing for being a newbie to the show ring, and we scored a 63.1%, and 3rd place in our Intro B test and a totally awesome 69%, and second place in our Intro C test. Her very first ribbons! I'm such a proud horse Mom right now :)

We're continuing our showing journey with a small hunter show this coming Saturday, followed by a bit of cross country schooling. It's slow going, but we're finally getting out there! I'm so excited. Could I have a more awesome horse? I don't think so! <3

What's going on?

2011-05-13T23:09:00.002-04:00

I never post anymore. I mean to, but it just doesn't happen. I guess that might just seem lazy, but let me try and explain. I really do wish I would do a better job of documenting everything that's going on, because there are some pretty big things (at least to me!). So, what have I been up to lately?

- Work (duh)
- Training for a 10k on June 5th
- A gym schedule that involves at least four days (not including outside cross training)
- Training my mustang, Sierra, for the upcoming show season. We have our first horse show ever, together, this Sunday (it's a dressage show!)
- Training our rescue Thoroughbred, Scarlett. I've had to start from square one with her and it's been extremely time consuming!
- Getting a new car - we were finally able to purchase a new car after ours got totaled in February (this involved a flight to Chicago and a long drive back to VA in April)
- Easter with the family
- Starting our Belgian Tervuren, Roxy, in sheep herding lessons! (definitely more on this soon)

So, I've been slightly busy ;). The worst part is I could've had so many fun posts about these things. I just haven't been able to stop and breath! By the time I get home at night and I'm cleaning up from dinner, it's 10:30pm and I'm exhausted :(. So I thank you all for sticking with me and my horrible "non-blogginess". I hope I can post again soon and update you on all the fun stuff I listed above! We also have some summer trips planned, so should probably write about that as well :)

Adventures in Cross Country Schooling

2011-03-24T11:30:00.000-04:00

After Sierra's carpal canal diagnosis and year-long rest period, I never believed I'd see the day that she'd jump again, much less, school cross country. So you can only imagine how ecstatic I was when the day finally came! It was a dream come true :) Me and Sierra, on a cross country course. Sure, the jumps were tiny. And yeah, it was just a schooling day and not an actual event. But who cares? We had a blast! And if all goes well, you might see us at an actual event soon enough ;)

Warming up in the ring at Frying Pan Park

Sierra and I getting some tips from my trainer :)

Trotting around

Haha - look at those knees! It was a scary log ;)

Good girl!!

Down a little drop

Another little log

And into the water!!

All in all a great intro to cross country for both Sierra and myself. Can't wait to do it again soon and try some harder questions!

End of the line for my Mason Patriots

2011-03-23T22:38:00.003-04:00

So my George Mason Patriots made it to the NCAA tourney. First they took out Villanova in the second round! Then they were pitted against Ohio State in the third round. It seemed pretty hopeless but I knew if they were really "on" that day they'd have a shot! After all - "George Mason IS this year's George Mason", right?

Well, not really. Everything went wrong :(. haha. They had a good first 4.5 minutes and were leading by 9! Then there were some bad calls, they went cold, couldn't make 3's and to top it all off, Luck Hancock was back at the hotel with food poisoning and couldn't play (he made the winning shot in the 'Nova game and is a star player).

We lost the game by 34 points. Ouch. I made myself watch the whole thing anyway since it was the last game of the season. It sucked, but at least it gave the guys the experience of playing the #1 team in the country. Even our freshmen got to play!

With such a huge loss on national tv (prime time, nonetheless), it was hard to remember how amazing the season actually was. But it was! And here's why:

1. A record breaking 16-game winning streak! This broke both the university record and the national record. Longest winning streak in the country.
2. A regular season title! The Patriots were the regular season champs this year :)
3. A win over Northern Iowa in the Bracketbuster (on national tv!)
4. Earning "Player of the Week" on ESPN (Mr. Ryan Pearson!)
5. Earning the second NCAA at-large bid in school history - 8th seed
6. A win over Villanova (finally!) in the second round of the Tourney
7. Beating ODU at our homecoming game by over 20 points
8. Beating VCU on their turf by over 20 points
9. We finally played as a TEAM.
10. The majority of our team is coming back next year and based on this year, I'd say they've learned a lot.

Ten awesome reasons why this season was awesome (hey - don't judge my word choice. It was AWESOME!). I was so sad to wake up Monday morning and realize I couldn't text back and forth with all of my friends about team gossip, the upcoming games or the Tourney. But hey, that's why everyone loves it so much. It's only around for a short time!

I think everyone will definitely miss Cam Long and Isaiah Tate (our graduating seniors), but I'm looking forward to next year and the excitement our senior team will bring! There are already rumors that Mason will be invited to the pre-season NIT. I say, bring it on. So until the fall.....

Green and Gold forever!! Go Mason :)

....Now for the good news

2011-03-19T11:58:00.000-04:00

I started a post at the beginning of March with, "First the bad news". I realized I probably left you hanging and wondering, well what the heck is the good news?

We got a new addition to the family. And no, it's not a baby (I guess we're getting to that age where everyone is wondering when we're going to reproduce, so just have to put it out there - not yet! lol). Her name is Scarlett, and she's a Thoroughbred! I know we just became a one horse family again in December, but we had to save Scarlett. Why?

My friend at work told me about these Thoroughbred horses that had to be adopted out by the last day of February otherwise they would be sold to slaughter. Of course, my interest was piqued. I had to learn more. My friend put me in contact with the woman adopting them out, and I learned all about their situation. As it turned out, all of these horses belonged to a wealthy race farm owner who died and didn't have a plan for his horses. His two daughters ended up being in charge of the horses; one daughter didn't care about them and wanted to sell them off (to slaughter) while the second daughter fought to save them. She won the horses a month of time to try and get adopted out.

After talking with the hubs, he actually encouraged me to go look at the horses and see if we would fall in love with one to save. So one Saturday in February my husband and I met my work friend and her husband out at the race farm to look at the horses. It was SO much fun, and the horses were wonderful. Most of them needed a lot of work (both physically and training-wise) but I found one that I just couldn't leave behind:

Evaluating Scarlett at the race farm

Eric trotting Scarlett for me

Scarlett with her buddies in the field

After a bit of thinking and coordination, we decided to bring her home! It's been quite the adjustment for both of us. It was a miracle she got on the trailer (and she was SO good about it too) and she really didn't have any training, despite what the farm manager told me. Luckily she has a great temperament and is a true sweetheart. She tries so hard for me and is a total people pleaser. I love that :)

When we got her she was so untrained and shy that she could hardly stand for people to touch her, catch her or groom her. Slowly but surely, she's come around and now loves grooming and rubs (she'll do anything for a face rub), lets me catch her and put the halter on, lets me pick up her feet, and is excellent at leading. She's also learning some basic ground work such as backing, yielding the hindquarters and forequarters and being desensitized to noise, touch, etc. She's also lunging at the walk! I can even put her in cross ties and put a blanket on her :)

I'm hoping I can post regularly about her progress (this whole car thing has just thrown me for a loop). Here are some pictures with me at her new home!

First two weeks at home:

Third and Fourth week (notice how her mane has been evened up?):

Working on going over and through obstacles

Advanced leading

Asking her to respect my space :)

See? She will do anything for a face rub!

Yielding the hindquarters (I'm doing it to! haha)

Lunging at the walk

I can't wait to show you the progress we've made this week! :)

GOOOO MASON!!

2011-03-18T22:32:00.004-04:00

March Madness is in full swing and my beloved George Mason Patriots are right there in the thick of things! After having the nation's longest winning streak (16 straight games!) and then putting in a lackluster performance in the CAA Championships (although they received the regular season championship), everyone was a bit shocked. How can a team go from being so hot to being so...not?

Cockiness. The Patriots got cocky (and I guess who wouldn't after a 16 game winning streak?). Luckily the conference loss put them back in their place and prepared them for their NCAA at-large tournament bid!

That's right - we're in as the #8 seed in the East! And today, after a heart-pounding (and I wasn't even playing!), nail-biting, painful (at times) game, George Mason beat Villanova. Now, being that we were the higher seed, that should've happened anyway. But this was our first time finally beating Villanova in the last five tries, so it was huge for us!! Plus, after being down almost the entire game, those last two minutes were THRILLING :)

I was watching at work on my computer and didn't think anyone else was watching, until that pivotal 55 second mark. People started making noise. Then Luke hit his 3 with 20 seconds to go! Then we got the rebound, Mike dunked it in FOR THE WIN, and the office erupted! Lots of Mason grads, so we were all high-fiving and celebrating. It was kinda awesome ;)

The good news is that we're advancing to the next round. Something we haven't done since our Final Four Run in 2006 (Eric and I were there- remember that? Although I think that was before this blog existed). The bad news? We're facing #1 seed Ohio State on Sunday. If people thought the 2006 run was a miracle, well, we need a miracle now to knock out Ohio State! If we're hot, we actually have a great shot at beating them. If we play the first half like we played today? Not so much.

But I'm just so thankful the season was extended to the Tourney. I love our guys and our team this year so it's just great fun to watch them play a few extra games :)

Go Mason!!!!

Pictures from today's game v Villanova:

In a strange turn of events...

2011-03-18T22:06:00.003-04:00

...I learned that my car was totaled.

Monday I got a call from Farmers and based on the message they left, "please call when you can", I assumed it was just an update on the repairs. When I finally got the guy on the phone, he starts off with, "well, I think we're going to have to total your car".

Wait, huh?

I was basically in shock as the Farmers adjuster rambled on about finding more damage as they took more pieces off and estimating damage at almost $18k. I just didn't understand. The damage looked bad, but not THAT bad! I had even driven the car to the body shop after the accident and it felt relatively ok for being smashed up.

Apparently I was wrong and the damage was really that bad. And they were totaling my car. The next morning I stopped at the body shop to get all of the remaining things out of my car and the car looked terrible. I understood then why they totaled it and I wish I had a picture to show you! The front passenger door had been ripped off, interior taken off, quarter panel off, crushed metal, computer components damaged.....I felt really sad that my gorgeous car (that I had planned to keep until it dropped dead) had met an end like this. The worst part was that if you looked at it from the other side it still looked brand new. :(

After it was officially totaled and towed away to wherever cars go for salvage (they going to get so much money for that car because so many things on it are fine), I had to work on the insurance settlement. Unfortunately the hubs has been out of town for his spring break visiting family, so I had to handle most of it myself. And let me tell you...it wasn't fun. Their original settlement figure was ok I guess, but not appropriate. I had to actually put together a document with comparable car values and present that to Farmers in order to get an appropriate amount. It worked!! But the whole situation was pretty stressful.

Hopefully once we get our payment I'll be able to get a new car. I'm actually on the hunt for an exact "twin" car to replace the one that was lost :). But there's still a lot to go through before then. At least I have the rental car until next Thursday.

So, I had you for less than a year Baby L, but you saved my life! And I'm thankful for that.

Belated Valentine's Day

2011-03-10T10:48:00.001-05:00

Eric and I are not usually big Valentine's Day people. We're not into lavish dinners in crowded restaurants filled with other Valentine's Day diners. We're not into stuffed animals, candy or lavish gifts. We do usually exchange cards, and Eric never fails to get me a gorgeous bouquet of roses, but that's about as far as we go to celebrate such a commercial holiday :)

However, this year I missed the memo about changing the lavish gifts rule (I think Mr. Hubby was holding out on purpose). After we talked about not doing anything at all, which was perfectly fine by me, I came home to an impatient husband wondering what kept me at work so late. He announced we were going out to dinner, so we went right back out the door and off to "dinner". I was so confused! Us? Dinner out on Valentine's Day? What had gotten into my husband? As we drove, I noticed we weren't anywhere near restaurants. Then we turned onto the road where my horse is boarded and I got suspicious. All Eric would do is smile and say "Just wait!".

We did end up going to the barn with me still as clueless as ever. When we arrived Eric pulled up next to our brand new horse trailer (well, new to us), told me I had a surprise, and gave me the key to open the dressing room. I opened it up, and saw this:

Gorgeous roses and a card!!! The rest may not look like much to a non-horse person, so I'll explain ;) This dressing room was completely empty when we purchased the trailer. Eric had actually listened to my ramblings about all the things we needed in order to trailer to competitions, lessons, schooling days, etc. He had acted like he wasn't really listening, when in reality, he was making a mental note of everything I mentioned (water buckets, muck bucket, rake, mirror, water tanks, shipping boots, etc) :) How impressive is that? AND he got everything in my competition colors (blue - haha). See the rake hanging on the wall on the left? That rake was red and he painted it himself earlier that day, just so I'd have a blue rake. So awesome :)

Then just because he couldn't stop there, he told me to open the rest of the trailer. And I saw three more things: blue hay nets, a fold-up travel saddle rack and an awesome blue folding chair!!

My amazing hubby had gotten off work early so that he could deck out my trailer by the time I got home from work. *sigh* How romantic is that? And all I got him was a card - albit a cute, sweet card, but still. I thought that's all we were exchanging :(. Luckily I think he got a present he was pretty happy with in the end ;)

Happy Valentine's Day! Ours wasn't belated...but my blog post about it definitely was! I need to get on the ball with posts again :P

A Moment of Comedy...

2011-03-09T22:08:00.004-05:00

I think we all fall into two camps. The "If I hear one more thing about Charlie Sheen I'm going to punch someone" camp, and the "I can't stop reading/watching it because it's a huge train wreck and I find it sad/funny" camp.

I'll admit that I didn't watch any interviews, but I did read the articles those first few days. At first, while the whole thing was weird/funny, it quickly turned sad for me. All I see/hear is a guy who needs help and is a bit lost in his own mind. So with the whole thing going south fast, someone at work brought it up on Monday in a meeting. That somehow turned to this website going up on the projector screen:

Live The Sheen Dream

If you haven't seen this website, check it out! It consolidates all of the craziness that Charlie Sheen has said over the past few weeks into a fun, clickable page. Get your fill of the ridiculousness and move on. I have to say...there are some real gems (I mean, who says these things??):

"I don't sleep. I wait." (Wait, isn't that a line for Chuck Norris?)

"Let's hook up and just bring fiery death"

"Sorry my life is so much more bitchin' than yours. I planned it that way."

"They really can't ruffle this assanin's feathers."

"I am special and I will never be one of you."

"Imagine what I would have done with my fire breathing fists."

"Duh, WINNING"

So, enjoy! It'll cure you of wanting to/having to read anything else about Charlie Sheen, and for that, I'm grateful ;)

First, the bad news...

2011-03-04T10:18:00.005-05:00

I know, I know...I'm failing at my attempt to blog twice a week. However, this time I have a most unfortunate excuse that I wish I didn't have to use. Last last Tuesday (as in 2/22), we got a little bit of sleet and snow. Not even an inch, and the roads were clear. Usually I'm a wuss about driving to work after snow or ice - not because I'm a bad driver, but because Northern Virginia drivers are idiots and do not know how to drive in precipitation. This time, I felt that the roads were clean enough, and the Hubs confirmed that they were ok (he leaves a bit earlier than me). So off to work I went!

Bad decision. Very, very bad decision. I was driving along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden...WHOMP!! Something struck my car and pushed me onto the other side of the highway. Luckily oncoming traffic was stopped at a light, so I was able to move my car out of the way safely. It happened so fast I had no idea, literally, what had happened or what had hit me. Turns out a guy was trying to pass me on the right (I was in the left lane) and he hit some slush, spun out and slammed right into my front passenger door/quarter panel. Nice.

Since we were going 55-60mph (cop says he was going faster), the damage at that high speed was pretty severe:

These pictures kind of mask the actual damage for some reason (it looks much better in the pics than it does in person), but just trust me when I say it's bad. Blew my door out on the inside, crushed my glove compartment, did something to the leg airbag (didn't activate since no one was in the passenger seat, but I guess damaged it?), crushed the pillar, quarter panel, underside runners and god knows what else. Estimated damage before pulling all the pieces off is $8,000, but the body shop may increase that if more damage is found in the shop. The good news is that if anyone had been sitting in the passenger seat, they would have been fine (which is why we bought such a safe car). The hubs now wants me to drive a tank to protect me, but that's not going to happen lol.

*sigh*. My poor baby Lexus. We haven't even owned it for a year, and the pisser is that this accident was absolutely, in no way, my fault. I didn't even see the guy coming because he was coming up quickly from behind me. One minute I'm driving, the next, my car is crushed. Please, just imagine now much that sucks, ugh! The cop was super angry at the guy too - yelling at him, giving him a really hard time and issuing a ticket. That made me feel marginally better.

Since the other guy is at fault, his insurance is handling it, and they were/are REALLY slow. Didn't help that the guy who caused the accident didn't call to give his statement for almost a week. Jackass. At least we had a police report to fall back on! But, that's why I haven't been blogging. I've spend the majority of my evenings on the phone with that insurance company pushing my claim through. I also had to share a car with the hubs until I could get my rental (I could've technically gotten my own rental and had insurance reimburse me, but I didn't trust them and didn't want to get stuck with the bill).

My car is finally in the shop and I finally have a rental....10 days after the accident occurred. My Dad keeps telling me how after a car is in an accident, it's never the same. That depresses me :( Someone tell me this is not the case! Amazingly, it drives beautifully except when making a sharp turn (the door is only hanging on by a thread, so it makes a groaning sound), so I'm holding out hope. Plus, I took it to the shop that did the hit and run repair for me last summer. They did a great job, and I'm hoping they can do it again.

Estimated time for repairs is 15-25 business days. So if I'm lucky, I'll be back in my car by April 1st. It really sucks to pay our car loan on our super nice car that we saved up for, and I'm now driving around a crappy rental (it's super crappy, I promise) due to someone else's negligence. I just hope I'll get my car back without any signs of an accident. I was planning to keep this car forever.

Be careful when you're driving guys. Watch for others and be careful of others. You never know when someone is going to come out of nowhere.

How about them Patriots?

2011-02-21T22:18:00.005-05:00

The George Mason Patriots, that is! Currently on a 13-run winning streak - the longest in the nation! I will admit that I didn't see this coming when the season began - they looked a little rough :P. Once January rolled around they really started getting into the groove and playing like a team. Their Homecoming game against ODU was awesome, and I was thrilled to be able to make it. And their Bracketbuster against Northern Iowa this past Saturday was a nail biter - it was an away game, being broadcast on ESPN and was against a really good team!

They've been getting a lot of media attention the past few weeks and I've been afraid it would rub off on them. Luckily it sounds like they're just "doing work" and getting it done! Two more conference games (CAA) and then on to the conference tournament! And then...maybe...possibly...the Tourney!

Go Mason! <3 my Patriots!

Playing Dress Up

2011-02-11T20:21:00.006-05:00

When you were little, did you ever have My Little Ponies? And did you ever play dress up with them? I did. I brushed their hair, I put outfits on them, I paraded them around the house (my collection of 30+ ponies) and took on everywhere.

So, it only seems natural, that as an adult, I would continue with my love of My Little Ponies. Only....unlike those I had as a child, this one is real ;)

I bought a few things for Sierra this past week....namely, shipping boots and a nice fleece cooler/blanket. I heart the shipping boots:

Here she's saying, "See Mom, I'm stylin'!"

Close up of the boots - love the extra heel protection on the back!

"Mom, maybe if you washed my sheet, I'd actually match. This is embarrassing."

I also got her a really awesome Rambo fleece cooler/dress sheet. I'm 99% sure it was too small size (69), so I already exchanged it for a bigger size, but couldn't resist posting some pictures anyway :)

Sierra's "color" is blue - so this is very fitting!

Cute Pony!

Au naturel

She is a super good sport when I play dress up with her! I think she secretly likes the attention ;)

Some Current Reads

2011-02-08T10:33:00.000-05:00

Despite my crazy schedule, I have a few books on my list that I can't wait to read!

Book I just started: Decision Points

Book 2: The Hunger Games

Book 3: Catching Fire

Book 4: Mockingjay

Super excited to get started. Anyone else read some good books recently or have any recommendations?

Why is it so hard to find dressy boots?

2011-02-04T21:00:00.000-05:00

Think boot shopping can't be a saga? Guess again. Here's my personal boot shopping saga, complete with a surprise ending ;)

Apparently I have the worst calves ever. Well, the hubs says I have the best calves ever, but I think I have the worst because I don't fit any fun fall/winter boots :(. I spent days at malls and stores and probably tried on at least 100 pairs of boots. Maybe more! None of them worked. Why? My calves are so skinny everything just gaps on them and looks ridiculous. Now I know..I know...I shouldn't complain about having skinny calves. And really I'm not. I'm just complaining about the fact that no one makes boots that fit my calves! I even ordered from DSW online and Zappos and none of those boots worked either. :(

As a last ditch effort, my Mom (who was also having trouble finding boots) met me and Eric at Nordstrom to see if we could find something. Nothing in the normal shoe area worked. I was aggravated. Eric could see that I was just fed up - how was I supposed to wear any of my cute outfits without an awesome pair of boots? (now obviously that's an exaggeration, but it's how I felt!). When my Mom mentioned the only place left to try was the designer shoe section on Nordstrom's third floor, I immediately said "no way". But guess who said "let's go"? Unbelievably, my lovely, amazing husband.

So, me, feeling like I was walking into a very expensive death trap, followed my husband and my Mom upstairs. The expert shoe lady (who apparently has been selling multi-thousand dollar shoes every day for 25 years) took one look at my legs and said "The only boot that's going to fit you are these Jimmy Choos". I groaned. I had seen them on display when we got to the top of the escalator, but purposely ignored them. To my surprise, my husband told the lady, "well go get a pair!" I just stared at him like he had no idea what the heck he just did.

So out come the boots. The amazingly soft, supple, stylish, leather-smelling, gorgeous Jimmy Choo Kirby boots. I tried them on. They fit......perfectly. I walked around in them, looked in the mirror and my stomach sank. The only @#&*!$%!$^*@# boots in the entire world that fit me are Jimmy Choos? Bah.

So we bought them, of course. Well, my husband bought them, with me protesting all the way. And my Mom encouraged him. I couldn't believe the blasphemy - if I had come home one day with Jimmy Choos, I have a feeling my husband would've shot me. But now he's buying them?

Turns out Nordstrom only had them in brown in my size, so they ordered the only black pair left in the country from Massachusetts. After about a week they arrived at our house. I put them on immediately and strutted around, putting on a fashion show with all my cute outfits. Super cute. Sophisticated. Perfect for work or every day. Stylish. Mature. Perfectly balanced. Have you ever walked in a Jimmy Choo heel? It's like your feet are in heaven. Gone are the aching arches...the soreness and rubs...the instability. You feel perfect. In fact, I suggest to you, my dear readers, that you never try on a pair of Jimmy Choos. Every other shoe will just be sub-par after that ;)

Anyway, I told hubs that I loved them (who wouldn't), but that since we had 30 days to return them, I'd hold on to them and see how we do with our tax return and my possible work bonus. I kept them in the box and thought about them every day, trying to justify the cost. In the end, I just couldn't. I couldn't wear those shoes without feeling guilty. Without feeling stupid...or irresponsible. They're shoes. Sure, they're amazing. Yes, I want them. But they're shoes. We have 2 dogs and a horse. Eric just started back to school. I have medical issues (sometimes). We're trying to save. Things happen and we might need the cash way more than I need the shoes.

So, this week I returned them. It sucked. I was in a "shoe depression" all the way home. Then I looked at the refund on the credit card and felt better. Definitely the right thing to do. I may not have boots, but I feel better about my decision. Besides, who needs stupid, cute outfits anyway? ;)

Hubs couldn't believe I returned them. He legitimately wanted me to have them because they would probably last 5-10 years and still look stylish. But, for once, I wanted to be the fiscally responsible one. And I'm proud about my decision. But when fall comes around again, I'm going to be back on the boot hunt. And you know what? Maybe if I actually make an effort to save up specifically for the boots, I can afford them. Maybe. So it's not a total loss. I know what I want. Now I just have to get there, responsibly. If that word can even be used in a post about Jimmy Choos. ;)

Here are the lovely boots. You have to admit - hard to turn down!

Some real ski pictures!

2011-01-26T12:19:00.005-05:00

Just wanted to share a few pictures from our trip over MLK weekend! I should be ashamed...not posting pictures for almost 2 weeks? What's gotten into me? ;) The good news is that the hubs is now completely hooked on snowboarding! If we had tons of money he'd take me every weekend, but since we're not millionaires (haha), we're going to try to at least go two more times before the season is up. We're looking at Valentine's weekend for our next trip. Woo :) And now, some super sick pics and a video too (hey...they are snowboarding pictures...thought I'd use their slang - haha):

The hubs getting ready to go down a double diamond!

Hubs heading down the mountain

Laughing with some random people...Eric had an impressive wipeout on the way down and the lady was so impressed. She asked him "Did you do that on purpose? It looked like you meant to do it!" Go figure :P

Me, Eric and Andrea (her hubs is taking the picture)

Everyone on the lift!

Love this picture of us!! :)

Video of Eric snowboarding! This was only his second day out:

Long weekend ski trip!!

2011-01-18T21:42:00.004-05:00

While we normally don't make a big deal out of holiday weekends, this past weekend was an exception. Eric and I both had Martin Luther King Day off from work, so we decided to plan a ski trip to Pennsylvania with some friends!

The week before we visited our local ski shop (in preparation for our trip, of course!) and discovered that they were having their huge after New Years sale. Although we really didn't plan it, we both ended up purchasing our very own ski/snowboard gear! (I am the skier and Eric is the snowboarder)

My Dad got me into skiing when I was about 10 years old and we were serious skiers until I graduated from high school. Some winters, my Dad and I would jet off to ski once every weekend :). Anyway, I never had my own gear because I was either growing (young kid) or just not willing to fork over the money for it when my Dad would pay for rentals! So I was kind of like a kid in a candy store picking out my new ski gear - it was awesome! I had everything except boots, skis and poles, so I had a lot of fun picking that stuff out.

Eric, on the other hand, had only been snowboarding a few times in his life, so he needed everything. Snow pants, snowboard jacket, goggles, helmet, gloves....and then the snowboard, bindings and boots. He learned a lot about getting properly outfitted for snowboarding, so I think he's a pro now ;)

Our ski trip was awesome. We drove up Saturday night and stayed at a Comfort Suites about 20 minutes away from the ski resort. We shared the room (two queen beds, a sleeper sofa, mini-fridge and microwave!) with the couple we went with to defray costs and we all got along famously staying in the same room. It was actually quite fun :).

Sunday morning we got up early and hit the slopes! It took us awhile to get organized and get our lift tickets (lines were insane!), but we got out on the slopes about 10am. While the couple we were with had been skiing once before this season, I hadn't skied since last year (and before that, I hadn't skied in 5 years!), so you could say I was a bit rusty ;). Eric was just learning to snowboard, so we spent a fair amount of time on the front of the mountain doing easy stuff. After our lunch break we hit the back of the mountain for some intermediate and expert slopes. I was getting my "ski legs" back and only stuck to the blues, which was fine. Eric did a black diamond with our friends, which was crazy! He had only been snowboarding for one day! We skied until a little after 5pm, then went back to the hotel for dinner. We were so exhausted that after dinner we put a movie on and all fell asleep around 7:30pm! And we didn't wake up until 7:30am the next morning. If you want a good night's sleep, go skiing! ;)

On Monday we all felt much more confident and got out on the slopes around 9am. It was much less crowded, which was a relief! And the quality of snow was great...not too many icy spots. We skied really hard on the back of the mountain until around 1pm, and then took a much needed lunch break. I was excited because I had gotten my confidence up enough to ski the black diamond slope! After lunch we skied until about 4:30pm, when we had to stop because we were all seriously exhausted and sore. My legs were burning and felt like they were going to fall off! We all finished the trip off by skiing down the black diamond (woo hoo!), and made it back home by 7pm. It was SO much fun!!

It was a bit of an investment for both of us to get gear, but worth it (I would highly recommend it, as your gear can last for 10+ years!). After years of freezing, cramped feet in rental boots, my feet were comfy and toasty warm in my new boots for both days of skiing, and I didn't even need toe warmers! Awesome. And it was a nice change to have poles the right height for my arms, and skis I could use day after day. The skis are a bit above my level (I think), because I'm trying to get back into things, but I think once I get back to the level I used to ski at, they'll be perfect.

Eric also enjoyed his new gear and the board seems to fit him very well. He was going down double diamonds by the end of the trip!!

Here are a few pictures of Eric and our friends (I took video too, but it's on my phone and too big to transfer via email, so I need to upload it). Eric is the snowboarder in the red jacket toward the end of the video :) My friends took a bunch of pictures but I don't have them yet. I'll definitely post them when I get them!

Seen any good movies lately?

2011-01-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

Eric and I watched a bunch of movies last week (trying to get some movie-watching in before he starts school again in a week!) and some of then were surprisingly worth recommending to others! So, I thought I'd post some quick reviews here in case anyone is looking for some new things to watch :)

1. Salt - My husband and I both really enjoyed this movie. If you enjoy a bit of mystery/suspense with some great action, as well as decently developed characters, I'd say "rent this movie"! We'd heard mixed things about this movie and were pleasantly surprised with how much we enjoyed it.

2. Knight and Day - I'm the first to admit that I'm not really a Tom Cruise fan, especially after he went a little crazy ;). However, I thought this movie looked kind of cute, so I gave it a shot. It's kind of a cross between a chick-flick and an action movie. And, the script is pretty clever and funny (surprisingly). My husband and I also enjoyed this one, and I would recommend it as well.

3. The Last Airbender - This movie got rocked by critics and even some regular viewers really knocked it. However, neither my husband nor I had seen the Nickelodeon TV show, so we weren't familiar with the series or storyline at all. I think that because we didn't have prior expectations, we were actually able to enjoy the movie. Sure, the character development was a bit rushed. And yeah, the dialog wasn't brilliant. However!! I found this movie refreshing because it was able to tell a story without a lot of dialog, and without sex or profanity. I don't mind that kind of thing at all usually, however, it's just nice to see someone do a film without someone shouting "f-you!" ever two minutes, you know? I also thought the cinematography was great and really added to the story to make the world of the "Benders" believable. I wouldn't say the movie was brilliant, but would recommend it to others who haven't seen the TV series (apparently if you're a huge TV series fan, you hate the movie lol).

4. Dinner for Schmucks - Ok, this movie was nuts. Absolutely nuts and off the wall. And embarrassing. And awkward. But although there were some parts I had to cover my eyes at because I was so freaking embarrassed for the main character(s), I enjoyed it. It was a great movie to just put on and rot too. Steve Carell and Paul Rudd really carried this movie out (I don't think anyone else could) and made the characters believable. Steve's character is just so crazy and weird, but he somehow manages to make him human and kind of lovable! Plus, the other crazy people on the cast really made it hilarious. If you just want a comedy you can put on and not really worry about if it's Academy Award material or not, I'd suggest watching it. It's just kind of enthralling because everything is so weird and awkward! haha

5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - This movie was crazy fun! Just good, plain fun, and hilarious too. All I can say about this one is.....see it! The hubby and I both loved it :)

We're a one-horse household again!

2011-01-06T21:41:00.003-05:00

I don't think I blogged about this in detail, but in December I successfully sold my show horse, Sparkle! This was a big decision for me after competition with her all summer. With Sierra's medical miracle and the chance of her possibly being able to compete with me, plus the differences I'd been having with Sparkle, I didn't see a need for two horses. I'd never sell Sierra, so Sparkle was the obvious choice. But, it was very important to me that she go to a great home, and I wasn't really budging on price since she is a talented dressage prospect, trail horse, etc.

Don't get me wrong, the decision wasn't easy. I got the idea in September and it took me over 2 months to actually list her for sale. It was so hard to bring myself to do it! We had some really fun times together, and she was (for the most part) a super sweet horse and I loved her :) I will miss you Sparkling Silver! If I had a farm, you can bet I would've kept you. But I rest easy knowing you are in the best new home possible with an owner that absolutely adores you. And that is the happy ending every horse owner wishes for :)

Some (actually, lots of) memories:

The day we brought Sparkle home

Jumping with Sparkle for the first time

Trying out dressage

At our first show together

In the ring at our very first show

Second place!

Our first combined training event - dressage phase

Combined training - stadium phase

More dressage

The end of a great 2 years together.

I'll definitely miss her (already do!).

Embracing Scars

2011-01-05T22:34:00.003-05:00

In the spring of 2009, I had surgery for a basel cell carcinoma (skin cancer) on my face and I wrote the post, "This is what skin cancer does to you". Moh's surgery is a lot different from just going to the dermatologist and getting something cut or frozen off (not that those things aren't crappy too - they are!). Moh's is a surgical procedure where they slice out the cancerous cells/growths, analyze them and then determine if more needs to be removed. They then "clean it up" and stitch it back together so that it's cosmetically acceptable. Well, unfortunately, on December 21st, it was deja vu for me. Skin cancer surger......again.

This time, there were two spots that needed to be removed. And just like last time, both spots were on my face. As you can probably imagine, I was not thrilled. More scars on my face? Great. Actually, I was a bit depressed about it, since I would now have three scars on the same side of my face, but I figured it had to be done.

So I went under the knife again on 12/21. The surgery went well and my surgeon was happy with how things went. I was optimistic! The first few days were pretty painful and I couldn't bend over, lift anything, do any type of physical activity or even sleep flat (I had to sleep upright with pillows). Plus, I had huge embarrassing bandages on my face as well as swelling and a black eye (since the surgery was close to my eye), so it was lovely ;)

Luckily I was healed enough by Christmas that it didn't look too bad in the family pictures! I was able to hide a bit of it with make up (just not the bandages lol).

One week after surgery I went in for a post-op check up and after getting re-bandaged I got the "ok" to start mild exercise and to take the bandages off in another week. I starting riding my horse again a bit and doing some light exercise, and things were going ok. I still couldn't life anything heavy because it would pull the stitches and make it swell up, but other than that I coped ;)

Then this past Tuesday, I got to take the bandages off and see the damage for the first time. Let's just say I was freaked out. Two big, raised scars at least an inch long (each), and one had a "divot" underneath it that looked like a terribly unnatural dimple on my cheekbone. Although I'm not typically a drama-queen, the tears started rolling. Eric heard me and came upstairs to see what was going on. He tried very hard to console me and tell me that things will not look great only 2 weeks after surgery, and that it's totally normal and needs time to heal. I was just beside myself (that divot in my face was really freaking me out) and because it was late at night, I was just not thinking straight. After crying for a few minutes about how I'd be "scar face" for life, I got a grip and went to bed.

The next morning I tried to look at it again and was just too freaked out, so I put a lot of make up on it and went to work haha. That night I felt a little better since the hubby and everyone at work told me it looked pretty good, which was nice :). It actually didn't look nice, but that's ok lol. I also called my surgeon that morning to tell him I thought my scar with the divot wasn't normal, and he told me that it was caused by the two under-skin sutures that I had, and that they would take an additional 1-2 weeks to dissolve. Once they dissolve the "divot" would disappear. I was SO relieved!

So, now I'm getting used to my new face. Last time I had the surgery done my scar was pretty visible for at least 6 months, and really didn't start to fade until a year or more. So, I will try to be patient and wait for these new scars to fade into the background as well (I just hope they do). In the meantime, I think my makeup does a good enough job for now. And, my husband tells me I look beautiful no matter what, so it's all good :)

I didn't take any pictures on surgery day this time (and I should have, because I had an awesome black eye with swelling, and a huge bandages lol), but here's what I looked like at Christmas. Not so bad! I was a pro at covering up the bruised eye!

Ringing in the New Year....Happy 2011!!

2010-12-31T19:09:00.017-05:00

We are mere hours away from 2011! How exciting :) I cannot believe we're here already. 2010 was an amazing year. So many good things happened this year and I just feel very blessed with the way everything turned out. If you remember my New Years Eve post last year, I had very high hopes for this year. And you know what? This is the first time in my ENTIRE life that I can say I conquered everything on my 2010 goal list.

1. Actually save the amount of money we say we're going to save. - DONE! (and now, to save more!)
2. Lose the remaining 6 pounds that I said I'd lose. - DONE! (although I gained some back lol)
3. Research grad schools and expand my career - DONE! (found a new job, researched grad schools and came up with my Top 5, and started studying for the GMAT)

Unfortunately, achieving my goals listed above (and some made after New Years Eve) really took away from my blogging. I went on hiatus in September and haven't really been back. I made a poor attempt in October and just never really made it back. *sigh* I am so happy with the way this year turned out, but I just wish I had made more time to document everything. Which brings me to my goals for the new year!
My Goals for 2011:

1. Run another 10k by July.
2. Compete in at least one dressage show and one horse trial with Sierra.
3. Continue to expand my career (not sure exactly what this one means yet, but I have a feeling it'll shape into a concrete goal soon).
4. Continue to save for our future both in personal savings and 401ks.

and my 5th and last goal for the new year...

5. Blog at least twice a week, every week

I realize that I have two more goals here than I did last year, but since I achieved last years goals, I figured, why make it easy? Add two more and really work for them ;) So here's to 2011!! I have a feeling it's going to be a spectacular year :)

And to halfheartedly make up for my lack of blogging the past few months, here's a 2010 Highlight Recap for you!

January

Hubby and I bought a horse trailer! We never got around to fixing it up (needs some repairs), but that's on the list for 2011!

We also got our second and THIRD (yes, three blizzards in the 2009-2010 winter season) blizzards this month (within a week of each other). We affectionately refer to this incident as the Snowpocalypse. Ended up just shy of 3ft of snow. It was ridiculous lol. I tried to find a picture to show just how much snow we got, but even pictures can't really describe it!
February

Nothing much of note this month. But we had a wonderful 2nd married Valentine's Day together :)

March

The hubby and I (along with my sister Katie and her boyfriend) attended Muse in concert!!! I had been waiting for over 6 months for this one, and it lived up to my wildest expectations (we had gen admission tickets). One of the best nights of my life...it was incredible!

April

This was a very exciting and busy month! I quit my job and moved on to one that allowed me to expand my career and move up in my profession. We also bought a new car (as pictured above) :)

May

We attended a good friend's wedding and I rode in my first horse show in 5 years (and first dressage show ever) with Sparkle!

June

Another amazing month...Eric and I ran our first 10k race together! We also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with a trip back to St. Lucia! We stayed at the Grande St. Lucian (Sandals resort) again and had the trip of a lifetime! (well, in addition to our honeymoon lol)

July

We celebrating the 4th of July with some of our best friends, and I competed in a few more horse shows, including my first ever combined training event (and won first place)!

August

Another month full of great things (are you sensing a trend? 2010 was awesome!) ;) We attended Green Day's summer 2010 tour (AMAZING!!!!!!) and I had a wonderful 25th birthday. Eric gave me a Coach purse I had been coveting for almost a year...what a sweetie!

September

This was actually our quietest month in terms of activities, but a busy work month for both of us. This is when I began my blogging hiatus. No picture for this month!

October

This month is what I call the "Miracle Month". Almost a year after my horse, Sierra, was diagnosed with major knee problems (osteoarthritis, carpal canal syndrome, etc - basically a very poor prognosis that she would ever be a sound riding horse again, much less jump or compete), we re-evaluated her and found that she was sound, had kicked osteoarthritis to the curb and was managing her carpal canal syndrome very well. Basically, the trial treatments we had tried had worked - Sierra made a miracle recovery that no vet involved with her diagnosis and treatment had predicted (and she has a very prestigious vet helping with her treatment). Everyone was astounded and thrilled!! I had never expected that outcome, and have just been beside myself ever since. It truly was a miracle. Sierra is now getting back into normal "work" and we will see where it goes from there!

November

We traveled to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with Eric's family. I have the nicest in-laws :) We had so much fun (and had a "white Thanksgiving" too)! (I'm the one in the picture in this one)

December

Our Tree

The "little tree" at my parents - look at the snow!

The "big tree" on Christmas morning!

The family on Christmas! :)

We had a wonderful December and a very merry Christmas! It was a white Christmas, which was so fun :) We stayed home this year because my family is local. Our tree was gorgeous and we enjoyed spending a lot of time with my family (my parent's tree was gorgeous too - the one with all the presents! Our is the one with the dog in the picture).

So that's it! Have a safe and Happy New Year, and see you in 2011 :)

In the Spirit of Halloween...

2010-10-29T09:37:00.004-04:00

I know, it's not quite Halloween yet. But I had to share, because I found this is just so crazy, and cute!!

Meet the Tiger Dog: Chinese Owners Dye Pets to Look Like Wild Animals

Think I'm joking? Check it out :)

Beware of the Tiger Dog!! I bet he'd do a great job guarding your house ;)

Believe it or not, these are dogs. They sure had me fooled!!!

Of course, there's been some controversy over whether dying animals like this is humane or not. I have no idea what went on behind the scenes, but at least from the article, the dogs look happy and loved. I don't know if my dogs would put up with being dyed, but I'm sure there are some that don't mind being fussed over :)

I think these canines deserve some extra treats on Halloween - their "costumes" sure beat anything I could come up with!

Medical Miracle

2010-10-27T23:05:00.003-04:00

Hello fellow bloggers! Thank you for not abandoning me during my absence! It was a long absence and I didn't really mean to be away for that long. But the good news is now I'm back, and hopefully have a lot to share with you :)

First up, do you remember my post last year about Sierra's accident? On November 15th, she collapsed during a routine ride and we were both bruised and shaken up.

Her official diagnosis was scary and the prognosis was bad. We made the decision to treat her knees aggressively, but didn't know if she would ever be more than a trail riding horse, or if she would even be sound again. Everything was so up in the air.

I went through with the treatment, which took about a month and then started lightly riding Sierra again in January. Since we didn't know how successful treatment would be, I didn't expect much. I figured if she was sound and not collapsing on me, we'd call it a success.

Fast forward to this week, Tuesday to be exact. I decided that it was close enough to to the 1-year anniversary of her diagnosis to get new x-rays taken and tests done to see if Sierra was progressing, regressing, or just what the heck was going on!

Our vet did the lameness and flexion tests first, and was shocked and thrilled by the results. Sierra was sound, with really no discomfort. Her carpal canals were also free of synovial fluid and inflammation. With everyone pleased with the results, we moved onto x-rays, which tell the rest of the story.

And somehow, miraculously, her x-rays were even better! While she still had an osteochondroma (bony growth) by her carpal canal in each knee, her carpal canals were clean and free of inflammation. Relief!!! As if that wasn't amazing enough, her knees had also restrengthened (remodeled) and the demineralization in the bone seen last year was completely gone. Gone!! Her joints and cartilage looked great as well.

I think my vet was rather proud- Sierra's condition is not common and we had to come up a rather experimental set of treatments. And although we were all pessimistic, it worked!! We also sent the x-rays to a specialist my vet uses a lot (and who also looked at Sierra's original x-rays) for a second opinion and to tell us if Sierra really was recovering as well as we though.

I ended up getting the good news from the specialist today. Sierra's x-rays look, and I quote, "excellent!!" and she can go back into regular work now. And she can JUMP!!!!!! Amazing. Absolutely amazing. This may seem dramatic, but I believe this is a medical miracle :) No one expected Sierra to recover this well, not even half way close to this well.

She will probably need maintenance her whole life (Adequan shots) and may need her carpal canals injected again in a few years (or we may look at shockwave therapy), but both vets seems to think that she can stay comfortable and in work with the variety of treatments out there. At least now that we're no longer dealing with the threat of arthritis and are just dealing with carpal canal syndrome.

I don't think I can express in this blog how excited, elated, relieved, emotional (I just about cried from happiness when I got the news at work today) I am about this. Sierra is my horsey soul-mate, and I only want the best for her. And somehow, we managed to find something that helped her beyond anyone's wildest expectations :) You can insert a huge grin from me right here hehe.

I'll keep you posted in the coming months, but after never expecting to jump my pony again, I'm now envisioning competing in our first baby combined training test this spring, or maybe, just maybe, our very first horse trial in the summer or fall. Hey, it can't hurt to dream right?

As I saw over the last 11 months, slow and steady wins the race (and lets things heal!), so, even though Sierra has been cleared, we're going to take it nice and easy. I'm so excited to see where we'll be as we come out of the winter months.

Sierra and I are ready to take on the world :)

It's truly, truly a miracle!!

What a way to come back to blogging, right? I'm happy to be back!

Taking a break from blogging

2010-10-01T21:45:00.005-04:00

To all of my lovely readers:

As you may have noticed, I have been completely absent during the month of September. You could say that my life has become quite busy, but that would be an understatement. I can't tell you how many posts I've started, only to have to abandon them because I didn't get back to them for days, or just never had the time at all.

I promise I will be back, and that I'll be boring you with my mindless babble once again very soon ;) But right now, I'm on a blogging break. First order of business? Getting this computer of mine in order. Long story short- it died. I've been recovering ever since. Can't blog without a computer, right?

This is the excuse I always give my husband, so I'll use it here too ;)

Looking forward to seeing you guys soon!

Playing with horses

2010-09-06T22:55:00.000-04:00

Everything has been pretty normal lately. We've been working a lot and Eric's back in class, so we've been eating easy-to-make meals and watching our TV shows on the weekends so we can spend the few hours of evening we have together.

So where have things been a bit interesting? Horses!

I've done more this year, competitively and educationally, than I've ever done in my life. No kidding! Unfortunately, all of the competing I've done has been with my Thoroughbred mare, Sparkle, because my mustang mare, Sierra, is still in limbo after her injuries last winter. However, I can't deny that I've had tons of fun!

We've done dressage shows, combined training shows (dressage and stadium jumping), taken dressage lessons and jump lessons, gone trail riding and practiced gallop sets, and most recently (today!) did our first cross country schooling at a real cross country course. I've had so much fun competing on my own horse and getting into new riding disciplines.

I previously rode hunters (from age 5 through college), and while it was fun, hunters just isn't for me. I will save the explanation as to why that is for another post :)

My dream has always been to do eventing, but I've never been able to do it because 1) I didn't have my own horse (or my horse was too young) and 2) I didn't have someone to help me train to learn the sport properly. Eventing is a combination of three areas: dressage, cross country and stadium jumping. I was always intimidated by the fact that I didn't have an ounce of true dressage experience, and I felt like I could never go to an event because I'd be laughed out of the dressage ring.

I changed that this spring and Sparkle and I have been working very hard on our dressage! We're now working our way through the Training level tests.

But, the best part out of all of this is that I'm going to do a real event this fall. On October 10th to be exact! I'm so excited. I hope Sparkle is excited too ;)

I'm actually thinking about starting a second horse blog so I don't bore you all with all my horse blabbing. Do I bore you? Let me know! It may be worth it to keep things separate.

Here are my two lovely horses (for your viewing pleasure lol):

Sierra, my mustang! We're just goofing around here.

Sparkle (my Thoroughbred mare) and I at a combined event!

Been busy.....

2010-08-31T23:16:00.002-04:00

I've been quite busy over the past two weeks, and somehow, we're almost into September already! Where, oh where, did the summer go?

A quick recap of the past two weeks:

- I hurt my calf either riding or working at the barn and limped around for a week and a half. It was pretty bad. Lots of icing, ibuprofen and resting did the trick, but man, it was painful while it was healing.
- I had a last lesson with my riding trainer before she moved to Wisconsin. It was a good lesson, and we're hoping to keep in touch, but I'll miss her very much! She helped me and Sparkle come such a long way and really put us on the right track to success. I really enjoyed our lessons, and hope that we'll be able to take some lessons again with her in the future when she comes back to this area to compete!
- I competed in another dressage show and did fairly well! We scored in the mid 60's in Training 1 and Training 2 and placed second in both classes. I was pretty pleased :)
- One of my best friends came to visit from California and Eric and I were able to have dinner with her, her family and my family. It was great fun! My mom took some pictures, which hopefully I can post at a later date
- We were able to have dinner with some good friends in Maryland, and although it was a pretty long trip to get there (3 hour and 15 minute round trip) it was so much fun, and definitely worth all the driving.
- Tonight I was able to have dinner with another best friend visiting from NYC! It was so exciting to see her and hear about some exciting new that may occur in the next few weeks/months.

It's been a good two weeks full of horses, friends and even a little R&R for me and the hubby. I have to admit that I'm really looking forward to September. August went out with a bang, with a high of 95 degrees. We need a break from the heat! While it's possible we may get a hurricane (or residual weather from it) over Labor Day weekend, I'm hoping that's not true. Go out to see Hurricane Earl, and stay there!! We want sunny, cool weather for the long weekend :)

I like 25 after all

2010-08-31T22:57:00.003-04:00

I have to admit, I was a bit afraid to turn 25. I loved being 24. I felt old enough to be professional and respected, but young enough to still feel like I had the world on a string and could get away with making silly decisions. For some reason, 25 marked a point where, in my mind, I had to grow up. Make decisions. Think about starting a family at some point. Decide when to go back to school and what to get my graduate degree in. Save money.

However, I've decided that while turning 25 may mark many reasons to get more serious about life, it doesn't mean I'm not young and that things can't be as wonderful. I just need to do things with a renewed focus on future goals :)

I had a great birthday! I celebrated with my parents and sisters (and hubby, of course) the weekend before my birthday since my youngest sister was going to college, and we had a great time. I also celebrated my real birthday with Eric, on my birthday. He got me a card, a cake and a really amazing present:

What a good hubby, right? I was absolutely in love with this Coach handbag in the store, and he managed to get it for me (and keep it a secret for 6 months) without me noticing!

I think this will be an exciting year and I'm glad to be 25. It's not as bad as I thought ;)

Mixed Emotions- A life ends, another continues.

2010-08-17T23:05:00.006-04:00

I turn 25 years old tomorrow. A quarter of a century. A day to celebrate and excitedly think about the next 25 years.

I also received tragic news. Around Noon today, a friend of mine, the VP of Operations at my previous company, passed away. I will call him J for the privacy of his family. J battled brain tumors for two years, and despite the hundreds of thousands of prayers from family and friends, and his always positive, strong outlook, finally lost the fight. He found so hard and never gave up, and many of us believed he'd beat it at the 2009 Christmas party. He was truly an inspiration, not only in his fight against illness, but in the way he lived his life. J was selfless, inspiring, and a harder worker than anyone else I knew. He could get the best out of anyone, could push without being impossibly demanding, and seemed to overcome any obstacle. Everyone at work loved him, and he was popular with whoever he met.

When I first started working for my old company, I was fresh out of college, and ready to be molded into whatever my employer needed. J helped hire me, got me acclimated to the world of work, and worked closely with me in all of the sales/marketing projects (as the Operations VP, he also oversaw Sales).

I remember the day he got sick. It was during the morning, in the office. He was complaining of being sick to his stomach and a massive headache. We all thought he had the flu and urged him to go home, but he refused (although a few months earlier, he was happy to send us all home early from work due to snow!). Then he collapsed and panic ensued. He ended up at the hospital (which was luckily 5 minutes away) and it took days to correctly diagnose him. We were all very shaken up and just wanted him to get better as quickly as possible.

The tumor took J out of the office a fair amount, but he was never out of touch. He even called to talk though things while in chemo, or while recovering. And when he could, he'd stop by the office. He always made an effort, no matter how bad he was feeling, to attend company functions (going away lunches, engagement parties, and all holiday parties).

When I announced I was leaving the company for a job closer to home, J had just gone through a serious round of chemo and was unable to make it to my going away lunch. I figured it was the last thing on his mind, but he kept trying to reach me on my office phone. Finally, a few days before I left, we connected. That was the last time I ever spoke to him.

Although J was very sick from chemo, we spoke for many minutes about my experiences with the company, how we enjoyed working with each other, and how much I would be missed. He dismissed my questions about how he was doing and in a typical, selfless J way, he told me that he would always be around if I needed him, whether it was for a job recommendation, advice or just to say hello. I felt honored. If J wants to recommend you, that's the highest possible compliment :). But I don't think J was giving me special treatment- he was like that with everyone. He cared and he wanted you to succeed.

Now he's gone, much before his time. I only knew him for a little over 3.5 years, so I know I didn't know him as well as many other people. However, in the time I did know him, he inspired me to better myself, take risks and to treat others with the utmost respect. And he taught me to cherish life, even on the bad days (after all, if J wasn't complaining, then how could I complain?). The world has lost a true, special person, and that is devastating. My heart goes out to all of his friends and his family, and my prayers for J will now be replaced with prayers for them.

So my birthday begins, and a life ends. So bittersweet. I will always remember you J. You helped shape me into the young professional I am today.

You will be sorely missed by everyone you knew and everyone who's lives you touched, whether you knew it or not.

Rest In Peace. I promise I will enjoy my birthday for you :)

Dressage.......in the rain!

2010-08-16T13:30:00.009-04:00

Sparkle and I competed in another dressage schooling show on Sunday, and contrary to what the Weather Channel said (30% chance of showers), it rained. No, actually, it poured.

I woke up to rain that morning, but the oh-so-reliable Weather.com said it was just passing through. My friend and I dutifully loaded our horses onto the trailer, packed up all our stuff, and off we went! About halfway to the show, it stopped raining. Thank god! Things were looking up.

We got our horses groomed and tacked up, threw on our show jackets and went to go warm up in the grass. The warm-up area wasn't that great. It was just grassy space on a hill, so it was hard to establish dressage-like gates with the horses constantly going up and down and tripping on divots in the grass.

Then the rain came back, right when my friend started riding her first test. It started as a drizzle, and she finished without really being impacted. Then right as my ride time came up, the sky open it, and it started pouring. The show officials couldn't decide whether I should ride or not, so Sparkle and I stood there, getting completely soaked (my riding breeches were quickly becoming see-through, and thank god I had a white cami and sports bra under my white show shirt!). Luckily, I had given my show coat to my Mom right when the rain started, so it remained dry in her van. They decided I would ride, and just like that the rain slowed. It drizzled through my first test, but nothing too terrible, aside from the fact that Sparkle and I were completely soaked.

It was not our best test. We had started having canter issues while practicing the day before and I was unable to resolve it before the show. We got our left lead correctly during the test, but the right lead was a whole different story. When I asked for the canter, we almost got the correct lead, but she threw her head up and switched sides. I had to ask her twice to get the correct lead, and by then we were already starting our canter circle. Ugh. The rest of the test was ok, but we were both a little discombobulated from the rain and the soggy footing. But, no excuses!!! It was a good learning experience.

Despite our glaring canter error, our score ended up 1 point below our best score from the previous show (66.5%) where we won the class, so I guess that's not too shabby. I'm just completely baffled by what's going on with the canter. Our dressage lesson last Tuesday was amazing, and we made real progress at the canter! Then it just all fell apart. I can't tell if I caused it by asking incorrectly, if she's in pain somewhere, or if she's just being obstinate. I'm hoping our lesson tomorrow will help us figure it out.

We also made our Training 2 test debut at the show. And once again, right before my ride time, it started pouring. So it was our first time doing Training 2, and we had to do it in an absolute downpour. Eric also couldn't get video because of the rain, which stunk. We were so wet that the saddle was squishing at the posting trot, water was pouring off my visor, water was dripping out of my gloves and I swear my outfit was completely see-through. It was pretty hard to see and stay focused on the test, but we managed. The positives? We successfully completed the test (I remember it- hooray), which is a big accomplishment, because it's a much longer test than Training 1. We did really well staying straight on the center line and straight and square at the halt! And, we had a decent canter to the left. The negatives? Our right lead canter was still ugly (although I only had to correct the lead once). Ok, I guess only one real negative isn't too bad. I was amazing at the score we received for the test- a 68.5%. Wow. That's actually a great score. If only our canter was up to speed.....;)

We ended up placing second in Training 1 and third in Training 2, which I'm proud of! The conditions were terrible and our canter was off, but we made it through and placed. The most important part is that we got experience riding in terrible conditions, and got some good comments from a tough judge- Sally O'Connor (she's David O'Connor's Mom, so I was pretty intimidated to ride in front of her, and I'm glad I didn't totally embarrass myself!

We have another show on August 28th, and I'm hoping we can get our canter ironed out by then. Stay tuned! :)

Here are pictures of our sopping ride (if you look closely, you can see that the top half of my breeches are soaked lol):

Punished for being a happy person

2010-08-16T13:27:00.003-04:00

With my birthday coming up on Wednesday (turning 25- a quarter of a century!), I received a notice that I had to renew my driver's license. And since Virginia is now issuing the new "secure" licenses where you can't smile in your picture, I couldn't renew my license online, and actually had to go to a DMV location.

If you have ever been to the DMV, I'm sure you're cringing at the thought of the lines, the impatient people, the screaming kids and......the wait. The long, torturous wait.

I first attempted to renew my licence at the DMV last Wednesday. After waiting in line for 30-40 minutes, I got up to the desk (to get my number to go wait some more) and the guy proceeds to tell me how "no licenses could be renewed". I said "What?? Then why did you guys send me the renewal form?" It took him awhile to find the appropriate English, but he managed to tell me "systems are down in all of Northern VA. Cannot do licenses". Nice. Glad they told me that AFTER I waited in line during my lunch break for 40 minutes. :-|

So I left, and attempted to go to the DMV again during my lunch break on Friday. After waiting for about 45 minutes just to get to the entrance desk, an officer came by and announced that the wait was 90 additional minutes once we got past the entrance desk. I was so pissed. My lunch break isn't that long!! So I had to leave, again.

Now I was desperate. Two trips to the DMV, and all I accomplished was emptying my gas tank and going hungry. At the end of the work day on Friday, I made a last ditch effort to leave work at 5pm and go to the DMV at the mall (it stays open until 6:30pm). The line was really long, but I decided I would just stand there until it closed. The officer told me there was no way I'd make it in the door before 6:30pm, and that he had to close the doors on me if I didn't make it in the doors, even if I had been in line for the past hour. I didn't care, and decided to stand there anyway.

I guess the DMV gods finally decided to stop torturing me, and I made it in the doors about 10 minutes before 6:30pm. Talk about cutting it close! Then I had to get my picture taken (and they don't let you smile anymore, so I'm sure it's a horrible picture lol). By the time I got home, I was exhausted. Too many hours spent trying to do something as simple as renewing my license!

And all because my license picture was a happy, tan, smiling picture (we had just gotten back from our honeymoon!). My husband, on the other hand, was able to renew his license online because he refused to smile for his license picture. I've always joked that he looks like a terrorist or a criminal, and the DMV loved him for it! lol

So now I feel like I was punished for being a happy person. Sorry that I had an amazing wedding/honeymoon! Sorry that I wanted to smile in my license picture! Thanks for making me wast 5+ hours of my life because I smiled! Ugh. Stupid DMV. Now I'll probably look like a criminal too. They make your new pictures look like mug shots :P

The customer is always right!

2010-08-13T08:43:00.004-04:00

You and I both know that this is not always the case. However, I've noticed over the past few years that retails stores are becoming more restrictive and less tolerant. Example- I used to shop at Express all the time. Love their jeans and sometimes they have some really cute skirts or tops. However, it used to be that you could buy something and return it within 60 days, with the tags and receipt (didn't matter if the tags were attached or not, and usually they'd accept a return even if it had been washed once!), and get your money back. Not the case anymore.

Now they have some ridiculous 15 or 30 day policy (can't remember), and they won't accept the return if the tags or off, if you lost the receipt, etc. It sucks! I know a bunch of stores that now operate the same way. It's also rare to find a store that will actually stand by the products they sell and support the customer if it breaks, fails or falls apart.

BUT. There is one store that has restored my faith in retail. The store is called Dover Saddlery, and it's a chain on the east coast that serves as a one-stop-shop for all things horse related (except the actual horse lol).

Last Tuesday I was taking a riding lesson with my trainer, when she noticed my reins were splitting apart. Whaaat? The bridle was my $300+ show bridle, that I'd only owned for about a year, and treated it with the utmost respect and care. The reins were pretty much held together by one remaining thread, and looked like they would split at any second. So, the next day I stopped at Dover, with the faulty bridle in tow, to see if they could help me out. I wasn't expecting much, but I didn't know what else to do!

I showed them what had happened, and they were shocked. The bridle I have is expensive for a reason- it's great quality! They inspected the bridle further, and found another area of the reins that was ready to split, that I hadn't even noticed yet. I was really impressed with their willingness to help, even though I had purchased the bridle a year ago, and even more impressed when they assured me they would fix the problem right away.

At first, they tried to find a matching set of reins, but unfortunately, my bridle has a special pattern on it that couldn't be matched. And, even more unfortunately, the reins on my bridle are not sold separately. Once they told me that, I was really bummed, because I thought I'd either have to purchase a brand new bridle (which would suck, because it's over $300), or have to get reins that don't match.

Much to my surprise, they just told me "Don't worry, we're just going to give you an entirely brand new bridle right now." I was shocked, and THRILLED! They just wanted to make things right, no matter what. Luckily, they had the correct size in stock (there was only 1 in the store!), and we just did an exchange! They took my damaged bridle (and hopefully went to go yell at the manufacturer lol), and gave me a brand spanking new one, complete with matching reins. WOW!

And the icing on the cake? The price had somehow dropped since the time I purchased it, so they gave me cash to make up for the difference in price. They paid me!

Awesome.

Dover Saddlery, you rock!! And that's why I always go to you for all of my horse shopping needs.

You have one satisfied, happy customer :) How's that for a success story?

Other retail stores should take note- That's how you run a store!

Green Day Rocks My World!

2010-08-12T22:59:00.007-04:00

Eric and I went to the Green Day concert last night (it's their 2010 Summer Stadium Tour) and since they're my favorite band (and one of Eric's favorites), we were prepared for a seriously awesome time. We had GA Pit tickets, so I was beyond excited to be able to get so close once again- we had Pit tickets for their American Idiot Tour in 2004/2005 (and that concert was AMAZING!!!).

The concert was at Jiffy Lube Live, which is an open pavilion, so it was really, REALLY hot. Like, 90 degrees hot, plus being in a crowd and under lights. However, I guess because it was outside, and there was actually a breeze, it was never smelly or unbearable.

AFI opened the show, and we grabbed a bite to eat while they played. We could hear the music perfectly, so it was nice to sit down and chill before going crazy for the next 3 hours :)

We got down into the pit about 10 minutes before Green Day came onstage, and we just hung out in the back of the crowd. By this point the pavillion had filled to capacity and everyone was screaming for Green Day. Eric kept laughing at me because I was bouncing up and down with excitement lol. When the lights dimmed and Green Day came on stage, the whole place erupted and everyone in the pit surged forward. We ended up in the middle/front of the crowd off to the right side. While I wanted to be more front and center at first, it was actually a great place to stand. The crowd was really thick right at the center, so we actually got closer by staying off to the side a bit! At some points in the show, we were only about 10 feet away!

Billie Joe was just as amazing as ever on the vocals and guitar, and Mike D. rocked the bass (as usual!) and Tre made everything as loud as possible :). I was just escatic to see them in concert again!! Ever since I got to see them in concert for the first time for their American Idiot tour, I'd been dying to see them again. They were flat out amazing, and it was the best concert I'd ever seen!! Of course, it took them a few years to get another album out, so I had to wait almost 5 years :P But it was worth the wait. If I thought their '05 concert was amazing, this blew it out of the water!!

They rocked for 3 straight hours. They played 21st Century Breakdown, they played American Idiot, and they even played oldies but goodies like King for a Day! They spent a lot of time interacting with the crowd, having us sing, bringing people up on stage, and doing a really creative rock cover medly for us (they did Highway to Hell, Guns N Roses, Shout, etc). The crowd LOVED it! I wish I could describe all that they did- if you haven't seen them in concert, go. They work their asses off for you and give you the best show you could ever imagine!! :)

Green Day really loves their fans, and appreciates them more than any other group I know. I don't know any other group that plays as long as Green Day, and interacts with their fans as much as they do. Oh, and they use fire, ticker tape and lots of other fun effects that I always love (Eric is a huge pyro so he loves the fire and explosions lol).

By the end, after they finished their encore, I could barely even scream my approval (I lost my voice from all the singing and cheering!). I was almost deaf and my legs were killing me (not to mention I had probably sweated out all existing water in my body haha), but it was worth it. It was SO worth it.

I love Green Day :) I *hope* they do another album in the next few years. I want to go to another crazy, kick-ass Green Day party/concert before I get old ;)

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures that I took with my awesome new phone: the Droid X! Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to zoom (cut me some slack- I've only had the phone a few weeks haha), so the pictures are kind of far away. Still good though :) I also got a bunch of HD video, because my phone does that too, so I posted one below!

Waiting for the show to start and watching the bunny (see, far left?)

BJ rocking the house!

Um, yeah. He decided to moon the crowd right as I was taking a picture. I *swear* I didn't take this picture on purpose hahaha

Fans up on stage dancing!

BJ and Mike!

Woooooo!!

Well hello there Mr. Billie Joe!

Again, rocking the house ;)

Encouraging us to sing and scream!

Yesssss, fire! And this wasn't even the finale haha

Look at Tre! Seriously :)

Hell yeah. Love you guys!

True Blue

2010-08-01T23:08:00.011-04:00

Last weekend was a busy weekend! Sparkle and I went to two horse shows, and Eric (my most amazing, supportive and patient husband) went along to help us out. Actually, it ended up being more than just Eric- my mother in law came along and so did my sister Katie! It was great to have everyone's support, especially on days that were as blistering hot as those were- Saturday was 105 degrees and Sunday was 98 degrees.

We had dressage on Saturday, where we competed in the Intro B and Training 1 tests. I've been working really hard and schooling mostly dressage lately, so I was really looking forward to giving these tests another shot. We did Training 1 first and things just clicked- Sparkle and I were completely in-tune with each other and just had a blast. Even our canter work was decent!

We ended up getting some nice complements from the judge and received a score of 66.5%. We improved from our last test score by over 5 points! And the icing on the cake? We won our class and received our first blue ribbon :)

Intro B came next and we've done that test so many times that we pretty much had it in the bag (I signed up for it thinking it would be our warm-up for Training 1, but they reversed the show order and we ended up having to do Training 1 first- go figure lo1). Again, we got many compliments from the judge - she even told us we were not allowed to do Intro tests anymore because they were too easy for us! - and we improved our last score by about 1 point to get a 71.5%! Annnnnnd, we won that class as well :) However, we left before they handed out the ribbons (it was too hot!), so I didn't get my double blue ribbon picture. Oh well ;) At least they mailed it to me, right?

Sunday was the day of our first Combined Training show. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. I've never done one before and really had no idea how we'd do in the stadium jumping portion. Sparkle and I hadn't shown in jumping yet!

Our dressage test (Intro B- I signed up for it before the judge "banned" me from doing them hehe) went well, although Sparkle was a bit distracted by the atmosphere. She even did a little spook at some scary jump standards in one corner (and a "Sparkle spook" is pointing her ears and doing a small side step, so it's not bad)! Despite that I felt it was a decent test.

Then we were rushed directly into jumping. We did the "first timers" division, so the jumps were tiny (only 18"), but it was a great beginning jump experience for us. Sparkle did a stellar job, of course, especially considering the jump course was in the middle of an open field:

And guess what? We won our division on a score of 34 and got our third blue ribbon of the weekend! How's that for a successful show weekend, huh? I definitely didn't expect us to do that well, and am totally thrilled!! Our dressage could've improved (she wasn't quite as collected as I would've liked, and the spook definitely marked us down on accuracy), but we still had a good, solid score.

Since we're probably going to move up to Training 1 and Training 2 in dressage and Beginner Novice at our next combined test, I'm not expecting that many blue ribbons again for awhile ;) My main goal will be to keep improving our dressage scores at each show and successfully complete our first Combined Training show at the Beginner Novice level. However, getting blue ribbons is a sign that you're doing well and ready to move up a level, so I feel very confident that we're ready for the next step.

Best scores all weekend and 3 blue ribbons? Go Sparkle!!! I seriously have the best horses ever :)

My hubby was so helpful and supportive at both shows, and I seriously couldn't be doing this without his help and support. He deserves his own blue ribbon (don't worry, he got one hehe)

Inception

2010-07-26T21:02:00.004-04:00

*Spoilers at the bottom*

In my mind, summer is for movies. Every spring, I eagerly look at the anticipated releases and try to guess the next big blockbuster. This summer had pretty slim pickings and both Eric and I were disappointed. After Iron Man 2 (which was, of course, awesome), and Eclipse, there was pretty much nothing we wanted to see. It was disappointing!

Then we started seeing commercials for a movie called Inception. It was intriguing and every time we saw a commercial we'd talk about what a cool concept that was. Plus we're both fans of Mr. Leo (Blood Diamond and The Departed!), so we thought we might want to see it.

Then one Friday morning a few weeks ago, I logged into my Twitter and Facebook accounts at work (don't worry- I can do that. It's part of my job!) and saw the absolute frenzy about Inception. I saw there for a second thinking about where I'd heard that name, and then I remembered the commercials. Of course! I read tweet after raving tweet about the movie, and then status post after raving status post on Facebook and decided that I was going to see the movie that night.

It was tougher than I thought to get tickets- everyone apparently had the same idea as I did :P I was able to get tickets for me and Eric, and for my sister and her boyfriend who also really wanted to see it. I was dying for another good summer movie, and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed.

From the minute the movie started until the moment the screen went black, the movie blew my mind. Let me say this again- Mind Blowing! lol

It was rich. It was gorgeously woven, brilliantly acted and wait for it- creative. Actually creative. It was heart wrenching (story of Dom Cobb and his family) and heart stopping (pretty much the entire thing) at the same time. The cinematography was incredible and I swear I don't think I looked away from the screen or blinked the entire time.

Awesome.

I loved it. I still don't know how it really ended and that's part of the brilliance. Everyone wants a cookie cutter formula with a beginning, middle and well defined end these days. Me? I want creativity. I want mystery. I want to think about what I just saw and want to see it again because I didn't quite get it. I want a storyline that pushes limits and dialog that goes beyond the common vocabulary, populated with fart jokes and penis references.

And Inception? Well, Inception delivered. Leo DiCaprio delivered. Ellen Page delivered (which was surprising, but great!). Actually, the whole cast delivered. Joesph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Cain were also favorites of mine (Gordon-Levitt was dashing!). I still don't know if the top really did falter at the end and if he's really home or not. My gut reaction was that he was, but the top threw me (as it was supposed to). The great debate is whether it wavered or not, and if that really matters. Or was the entire thing in his head and he still hasn't escaped? :)

And if you're still sitting here ready this post, and you haven't seen Inception, I order you to get up out of your chair and go to the movie theater right now! Or at least go to Movietickets.com or Fandango and reserve your tickets for later.

You won't want to miss this.

In fact, if I didn't have a budget, I probably would've seen it 4 or 5 times by now :P

Eclipse

2010-07-26T20:35:00.004-04:00

I am a quiet Twilight freak. Not a lot of people know it, but I guess it's just because they aren't inclined to ask :P But I am. I've read the series more times than I'd like to admit in public (ok ok, 5 times all the way through, but you know what? I've ready Harry Potter more!), I have a "Sure, sure" shirt (Team Jacob, btw), a "Sparkle" sweatshirt and I go to the midnight showings.

However, the night Eclipse was released, I was on an airplane coming back from St. Lucia. It was almost agony. After loving New Moon so much, I was DYING to see Eclipse. Dying. I ended up having to wait to see it for 3 days because we were so busy when we got back from out trip. I don't know if all the anticipation caused me expect too much from it, but by the time I saw it, I was less than enthralled.

Yeah, it was good. I really enjoyed all the Jacob scenes :) and the camping scenes. Charlie was freaking hilarious and I thought the cinematography was excellent. The wolf pack was really well done too, and I loved that they gave Jasper a ton of attention in the movie. BUT......

Edward and Bella were awkward. The long dialog was excruciating and the sappy scenes were just bad-sappy not even good-sappy lol. Plus, they'd go from a hyped up action scene to some terrible long-winded Edward/Bella discussion that just killed the whole thing (scene cuts were awkward). And most of all, I hated the new Victoria. She was terrible, awful, no good and just didn't cut it!!! Considering that was a big part of the movie, it kind of ruined things. All I could think about was how much I missed the old Victoria and how much better the movie would've been with her in that part. Ugh.

If I had to give it a grade, I'd give it a B. Much to my surprise, I liked New Moon more. I don't know why, but I guess I just felt like it flowed better and the emotions were really well expressed (sincere!!). This one was a little strange. I also think these books are tough to translate onto the big screen, so I should give Eclipse a break :P. I did enjoy it (a lot) and will definitely buy the DVD and watch it a bunch. But I feel like New Moon is still my favorite. however, as my husband graciously pointed out, I've only seen Eclipse once, and I've seen New Moon more times than I can count on both hands, so that might be part of it.

Even if the jury is still out on Eclipse (at least for me), I do know this. I am NOT looking forward to Breaking Dawn on the big screen. What are they thinking? Helllooooo? I know they want money, but it's going to be a disaster. I'll probably at least go to Part 1 out of sick curiosity, but whether or not I see Part 2 will be purely dependent on how they pull off Part 1. They're already at a disadvantage- almost all Twilighters think Breaking Dawn was a cop-out and poorly written. It's like we're eagerly expecting a disaster? lol

All I have to say is Team Jacob rules. ;)

Cleaning House

2010-07-18T23:54:00.003-04:00

This past week we got news that Eric's family will be stopping by for a few days on their way down to New Orleans. We've been meaning to purge our house of a lot of unnecessary stuff for a long time, but this was just the push we needed. We spent the weekend making piles of unwanted clothes, games, furniture, books and more random stuff that I can list. Then we loaded up the truck and made stops at the library and Goodwill. By the end of our trip, we had donated everything we needed to get rid on, and we have so much more space in our house now. It's amazing!! :)

We now have room for a china cabinet! Sweet. Now we just need to find one that will work in our house. Once we get a china cabinet, we can empty our spare room closet of the 20 or so boxes with our wedding china and stemwear in it. Then we can get our closet back.

See, I do have a plan ;)

Our study is probably the room that still needs work before the in-laws arrive. We have 5 days before they arrive. I think we can make it presentable!

After the in-laws visit this weekend, I think we're going to start remodeling our upstairs guest bathroom. We have the tile, toilet, vanity and new light fixtures. All we need to do now is pick a paint color (or colors), get a new shower curtain and get all the installation materials.

It's been a long time since we worked on our house (2 years maybe?) and we're definitely overdue. I'm just thrilled with the impact we've already had by doing some spring cleaning.

I love all the new free space! Hooray for a productive weekend :)

Second Dressage Show- Compass Rose

2010-07-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I tagged along to a local dressage show with one of my friends. It was my second dressage show ever, and after doing so well at our last show, even kept telling me that we needed to do at least one test at the next level. So, I caved and signed up for the Intro B test (which we did last time) and the Training 1 test, which we'd never done.

Training level tests have cantering, which Sparkle and I are still working on, so I was nervous. I was also a bit nervous about learning the new test, which is longer than all of the Intro tests. I forgot the Intro B test half way through at the last show- nerves I guess - but we still did great!

We successfully completed our Intro B test (I memorized it successfully!) and improved our score from a 69% to a 70.5% and got 2nd place! I have such an amazing horse :)

After I was done riding, my friend's trainer (the one I hopped a ride with) gave me a whole bunch of tips and had me ride in my friend's dressage saddle, which is a handmade, custom Lauriche saddle. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I have never ridden in something so awesome in my life. I wrote a post awhile back about how the dressage saddle I bought last summer didn't seem to fit right at all, because I couldn't ride in it. It either didn't fit, or I just sucked at riding in a dressage saddle. Well, after riding in the Lauriche saddle, I knew my saddle was ill-fitted. I was able to immediately ride in the Lauriche saddle and the trainer, my friend and my husband all convinced me to use it for the Training 1 test. So, I did! And here's how we looked:

100% better. My position is balanced and even and I'm not sitting in a chair position! We did great for doing our first Training level test. I memorized the entire thing and completed the test :) We also did all of our trot-to-canter and canter-to-trot transitions and circles! We have a lot to work on, reflected by our not so perfect score of 61.5%, but we placed 3rd and I was super happy with how we did. Bringing home a red ribbon and a yellow ribbon isn't too shabby, eh? ;)

I'm planning to sell my dressage saddle to save up for a used Lauriche dressage saddle! I'd love to get a new one, but it's twice the price, and believe me, they're not cheap!

Our next dressage show is on July 24th, so we have some time to work on things before we're in front of a judge again. We actually have a show the next day, on the 25th, and it's a Combined Test, which means we'll be doing dressage and jumping! I'm really looking forward to it :)

St. Lucia- Part 5, Scuba Diving!!

2010-07-14T10:00:00.001-04:00

We took full advantage of Sandals free scuba diving (we're already open water certified divers) and went on 10 dives during our vacation. The first few dives we did were practically private, and we actually had one private dive. No one else showed up, and the scuba guys liked us so much that they took us out anyway! So it was three guys, and us, in a huge Sandals diving boat. We did two dives that morning- one was a 60ft wreck drive and the other was my absolute favorite dive, the marina. I was a bit nervous going out with just the two of us, but it ended up being fantastic! With no other people to worry about, we were able to get the fully attention from our dive guide and saw so many amazing sea creatures :)

See if you can spot some of them below (hint: there are a bunch of puffer fish, angel fish, eels, a gold spotted eel, lobster, and a sting ray!!)

Me!

Eric

Me after our first dive of the trip

Eric again

Me

Our new wetsuits were awesome!

Gold-spotted eel

Angel fish

Our guide during our wreck dive

We purchased our first wetsuits for this trip, and man, did they make a difference! Instead of getting cold half way through the dive and wanting to just get it over with, we were both toasty warm the entire time, even when we dove the deep wreck. What a nice change! I highly recommend buying one. We bought 3mm suits and they were plenty thick.

I can't wait to go diving again in the future! Eric is really into it, but I really got hooked this time (probably because I didn't get a bad ear infection and end up in the ER lol).

We can't wait to go on another Sandals vacation in the next few years, and while we were there, we actually booked a trip for 2012 at their "Soon Come Back Desk" because if you book then, you get the best rates and a full deposit refund if you have to cancel at any time. Plus, you can also change the dates of your reservation and/or the resort and room level you want to stay in, at no additional cost! We booked a trip to Sandals Antigua for June 2012, but actually have no idea if we'll be able to go then, or if that's actually the resort we'd like to go to (we're also contemplating the new resort in the Bahamas). We would love to dive both locations and they're supposed to be gorgeous resorts (although I have a feeling the Grande St. Lucian is the best!), so I think we'd be happy at either place. Wait, I take that back. I know we'd be happy at either place. Sandals is amazing :)

We have no idea where life will have taken us two years from now, but if it allows us to include a Sandals vacation in there somewhere, you can bet will be thrilled!

St. Lucia- Part 4

2010-07-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

Our last few days in St. Lucia were just as amazing as the first few. We finally got our private dinner on the beach :)

Our personalized menu

Back in our room after dinner

The rose Eric gave me at dinner!

At the Returning Guest dinner!

On our second to last day, we decided to do a photo shoot and had a lot of fun! Eric was a bit skeptical at first, but I think he ended up really enjoying too.

We love St. Lucia :) My next post will be the last vacation post, all about scuba!!

St. Lucia- Part 3 (Hiking Pigeon Point)

2010-07-12T20:36:00.016-04:00

When we honeymooned here, we ran out of time to hike Pigeon Point, the national park right next to the resort. This time, we made a point to leave time for it, since we'd heard it was fun and had breathtaking views! It didn't disappoint :)

Starting the hike!

We found a crab on the trail. Poor guy!

I didn't know they had cactus in St. Lucia

Going up to the fort

Almost to peak #1!

We made it!

The view of peak #2

Amazing view

Off to peak #2!

Rest stop :)

View of Sandals

Trail to peak #2

Caribbean side on the right and Atlantic side on the left

Almost there

At the very top of Pigeon's Point

Lovely!

View of the fort we hiked on peak #1

This was part of the trail

Pigeon Park

It was so much fun and only took about 3 hours! I have so many pictures, but I think I've posted enough. Tomorrow I'll try my best to post St. Lucia- Parts 4 and 5: Scuba and the end of the trip!

St. Lucia- Part 2

2010-07-07T21:57:00.013-04:00

Over the next few days of our trip, we did a lot of breakfasts on our balcony:

Relaxing by the pool:

Playing in the pool:

Playing pool:

Relaxing on the beach in our private cabana:

We also reunited with our local St. Lucian friend, Bono, and he took us on another horseback ride through Castries (and got to eat some yummy local food):

The grounds at Sandals Grande are stunning, so I want to share a few pictures with you :)

I love, love, LOVE this resort :)

Tomorrow, Part 3- The Hike!

Our Trip to St. Lucia- Part 1

2010-07-06T22:29:00.007-04:00

We had an amazing trip and an amazing anniversary. Couldn't have asked for more :)

We got back last Tuesday (6/29), but I've been so busy with settling the dogs back in, unpacking and doing laundry, getting the house in order, celebrating my sister's birthday, celebrating July 4th and oh yeah, work, that I just haven't been able to get on here and post (or read and catch up with everyone)! It's been killing me! So here I am, back to report on our vacation a full week after our trip ;) I'm going to do it in parts, since I don't have time to document everything tonight!

We had an amazing honeymoon at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian resort 2 years ago and were beyond thrilled to be able to make the trip again. However, the entire experience went above and beyond our expectations! Since we were returning guests (Sandals Select Members), they treated us like VIPs. We thought we had the best room and best view on our honeymoon, but we had an even better room/view this time! We were in the same building, but on the 4th floor (the top) a few doors down from their premier suite, the William Jefferson Clinton suite. The view was stunning!!

The drive there was tough (hour and a half from the airport) but we stopped along the way for some great views, so it worked out.

We spent the first few days there relaxing and getting signed up for some scuba dives, and celebrated our anniversary by sleeping in, going for a 2-tank dive, doing a couple's massage, and ending it with dinner at their "famous" French restaurant, La Toc (we were supposed to do our private dinner on the beach, but that night was the big resort beach party, so they recommended we wait on the private dinner to avoid the noise and they got us reservations at the French place). They gave us special service at the restaurant and dressed our table up since our concierge told them it was our anniversary. They even gave us a card signed by the entire staff :) It was an amazing day and were thrilled Sandals took the time to recognize our special day and go above and beyond to make it even more special!

(La Toc is at the other resort, the Sandals Regency- we took a shuttle from the Grande)

I will post part 2 tomorrow!

Happy 2-Year Wedding Anniversary!

2010-06-21T10:00:00.004-04:00

*This post has been scheduled*

Wow. June 21, 2008. Two years of marriage. Two happy, fulfilling, challenging and amazing years. We faced some pretty tough times, but they helped us to grow together as a couple and make our relationship even strong. We also had some truly wonderful times (definitely more of these than the negative ones), and we realized just how much fun and rewarding marriage can be. It's one thing to be together for almost 8 years (as we have), but it's another for some of those years to be marriage. While it's not different, it is different at the same time. We're a team, and that's something really special :)

Right now we're probably enjoying laying out on the beach at the Sandals Grande, looking forward to our couples massage and dinner on the beach :) St. Lucia is such a jewel of an island, and I can't wait to share all of our pictures and experiences when we get back!

Here's to two years of marriage, and here's to many, many more! Looking forward to the next 60 years (at least!) :)

So cute and romantic

2010-06-16T23:23:00.003-04:00

With our two-year wedding anniversary coming up, we've been having fun reminiscing about our wedding day, honeymoon and our past 8 years together (wow, we've been together almost 8 years!) :)

Last night, Eric said, out of the blue, "Wouldn't it be fun and romantic to renew our vows at Disney World? Like for our 10 year or something?"

We had seen something about weddings/parties at Disney World in the past month or two (maybe a TV show?) and while I'm definitely not one of those Disney obsessed people, we both love the parks and there are some seriously beautiful hotels there!

He went on to talk about how it would be just a fun way to renew our commitment with each other and maybe get our families together for a fun time (they're spread all over). I was just over the moon! Not that I really want a vow renewal or anything (planning a wedding was enough, thanks! hehe), but it has crossed my mind as being a fun, low-key thing to consider in the future and was surprised the hubby felt the same way!

Who knows...maybe we will do something like that some day :)

Our anniversary is coming up on Monday, and since we'll be on vacation in St. Lucia, we're going to do a couples massage and a private dinner to celebrate! Neither of us have gotten a massage before, but we got a huge spa credit with our resort booking, so we might as well use it. I have to say, I'm reaaaaallly looking forward to it!

I can't believe that in 3 days, we'll be back at the Sandals Grande St. Lucia, lounging on the beach. I CANNOT WAIT :D

Hit and Run. Twice.

2010-06-16T22:45:00.003-04:00

Monday started off like any other day. I got up, went to work, parked in the parking garage, and went to my desk. At lunchtime, I went out to my car to go to a doctor's appointment, and saw some white marks on the side of the back bumper. My first thought was that it was bird poop, because I've been cleaning my car daily to get all the bird poop off (there's a tree by our driveway and the birds sit there all morning lol). But as I got closer, my stomach sank as I realized that it wasn't bird poop.

Someone hit my car. I quickly looked for a note or some kind of notice but came up empty- handed. Someone had swiped the crap out of my car and RAN. My brand new Lexus (well, it's an '07 but in pristine condition and we just bought it two months ago) had been mauled and someone was dishonest and mean enough to hit my car while it was parked and just leave. I was really upset and felt like crying (stupid, I know), but I went to my doctor's appointment and called my husband about it after I got back to the office. We didn't know what to do about it and decided to wait until he could look at the damage after we got home that evening.

The next day, still lamenting how humans can be so disrespectful and dishonest (and wondering how much it was going to cost for me to fix) I went about my day. Eric and I went to Barnes and Noble that evening to get some books to read for our upcoming vacation, and when we came out of the store (closing time), a man was crouched in front of our car. I didn't really know what to think, and when he saw us he asked us if that was our car. Yes, of course it was.

He proceeded to tell us that someone had backed into the front of our car and then drove off. Wait, WHAT? My car was a victim of a hit and run yesterday! How could it happen again? Eric and I were just in shock, but were thankful to the nice witness because he got their plates and description. We called it in to the cops, but it ended up that there wasn't enough damage to report (luckily, there was just one scratch and no dents), and the plates didn't come up (the cop thought they must have been expired and used illegally) so we only needed to report what happened to me at work.

Ugh. Seriously? Two hit and runs in two consecutive days? Did someone put an idiot magnet on my car? We still can't believe it happened.

Anyway, I could probably rant about this for hours, but to give you the short version, it's all worked out with insurance now, and because it's a hit and run, we have a much lower deductible. It turns out that the person not only scratched our bumper and took a bunch of paint off in some places, but they also got some of the quarter panel, which isn't good (it can rust). So it'll be an expensive fix, and will take 4 days to repaint and fix up in the body shop because my car has 3 different layers of paint, and now they have to blend it up through the corner panel. They're also concerned that there may be damage on the inside of the bumper, so I guess we'll deal with if they find something.

Ergh. I don't usually wish bad things on people, but I hope karma comes full circle on the two people that did that to me, my husband and my car. Not only do we now have to pay hundreds of dollars for something that is completely NOT our fault, but we had to spend hours on the phone dealing with this, missing work to get an estimate done, and have just been generally stressed. Thanks a lot, idiots.

Sometimes I really question my faith in humanity (I always try to see the good in people).

5 Reasons To Love June

2010-06-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

1) Vacation!! We’re traveling to St. Lucia for 11 days (in less than a week, WOO HOO!)

2) Eric and I celebrate our two-year wedding anniversary on June 21st!

3) Graduation festivities- I can’t believe my baby sister is graduating from high school.

4) Eclipse comes out on June 30th, and I’m way too excited for this

5) This isn’t really an event, but we’re now into that time of year where it stays light past 9pm. It’s amazing and makes it so much easier to ride my horses after work.

While I know I haven’t been a heavy blog poster as of late, I will definitely be absent while we’re on our trip (although I do hope to have a pre-scheduled anniversary post!). I’m sure I’ll have 8 million posts to write when we get back, and will be looking forward to catching up with all of you. So for now, here’s to an awesome June, and an equally amazing rest of the summer :)

My first 10k! - Herndon Festival

2010-06-08T23:03:00.005-04:00

Sunday dawned hot and hazy, and the hubby and I got up at 6:15 to prep for the race. I was pretty excited (and a little anxious), but managed to choke down some Gatorade and yogurt with live cultures (I had planned to have a power bar, but we forgot to pick them up the night before).

We made it to the site and managed to park with about 30 minutes to spare. After putting our race numbers on and the chips on our shoes, we walked to the start and found my Mom. It was also her first 10k race!

We walked/jogged/stretched for a few minutes and then we were off! There was a lot of nervous energy at the beginning, and we probably started further back than we needed to, and had to weave around a ton of people. I lost my Mom and Eric in the crowd, but we all knew that we'd meet up at the finish and never expected to run together anyway, so it was ok.

The first mile was downhill and fast, and I ran it in an 8:30 (they gave us our splits at each mile marker). Oops! That's waaaay fast for me. I really paid for that mistake dearly on mile 2, since it was almost entirely uphill, and I had to slow down a lot. I think my split for the second mile was around 11 minutes. Ughhhhh.

After getting through the second mile, I started to recover, and got better and better with each mile after that. The course, while described as flat, was seriously not flat. There were tons of hills, and much more uphill than downhill. And that's saying something, because Eric and I train on a pretty hilly route all the time. The last mile had a great downhill, but was then uphill until the finish line. So tough! I had to walk a few steps (seemed like everyone did) and while that made me kind of mad, the combination of the hills, heat and humidity was brutal (it was ROASTING).

In the end, I crossed the finish line with a time of 58:56 (I achieved my goal, woo hoo!), an average pace of 9:30, and 7th in my age group (out of 30). I was pretty proud, especially since it was my first race :)

Eric did amazingly well too (and he kicked my butt!). He finished with a 56:50 and an average pace of 9:10. He's convinced he can go faster and just let the hills and heat get to him. He wants to amp up our training and can't wait to do another race, which I'm very excited about, especially since he started off just doing this to get in shape.

My Mom showed both of us up (haha) by finishing in 53 minutes and 3rd in her age group! She's seriously the Energizer Bunny :) Go Mom!

The race was a success, and I can't wait to do another one! We're looking to do another 10k in late summer or early fall, and then will hopefully aim for either a 10 miler or a half-marathon late fall.

Here's a few pictures of us after the race:

Going for a 10k!

2010-06-04T12:06:00.000-04:00

Going for a 10k! When I posted back in early April about running a 10k race, I didn’t actually know if it would work out. It was mainly motivation for me to get on a solid workout schedule again and to drop those few pounds before our summer Caribbean trip. I’ve gone from struggling (ok, sometimes dying) through a 3 mile run, to practically hopping through a 6 mile run, looking for more! It’s a great feeling, and is actually even more satisfying than when I ran in high school, even if I am slower ;P. I’ve done 6 mile runs a few times now, and have consistently stayed under 1 hour (hooray for sub-10 minute miles!). Eric even did his first 6 miler with me on Wednesday this week and stayed with me the whole time! He’s done less running than I have, so although his endurance may not be quite as strong, he’s waaaay faster than me ;).

We originally planning to run in a 10k on June 12th, since it seemed like good timing. As we got closer to the cutoff date, we realized that weekend was going to be nuts (sister’s grad party, etc), and signed up for a 10k a week earlier. Which means………the race is THIS Sunday!

Eeek. I think the 6 mile run we did on Wednesday was great prep, and we’ll do a taper run this evening (an easy 2.5 or 3 miles) to get ready for Sunday. I know we can run a 10k. We’ve done it! Just not at 7:30am on a Sunday with thousands of other people on an unfamiliar course lol. I’m excited though. It’s something different and I think it’ll be fun! My goal is to run it in under an hour. Unless something catastrophic happens (cramp or going out to fast), I think I should be able to achieve my goal!

I already hinted to the hubby, but if I do this successfully, I’d like to aim for a half marathon in the fall. I mean, what the heck? It’s only double the mileage ;) Wish us luck this weekend! Hopefully I’ll be back with some fun stories for you after the race.

Sometimes, second place is GLORIOUS :)

2010-06-01T22:35:00.009-04:00

Sparkle and I went to our first dressage show this past Saturday, and guess what?

Look at those ribbons ;)

Awwwww!

We got two second place ribbons! Not bad for our first try, eh? :)

We did two dressage tests- Intro A, where we received a score of 69.5% (that's really good!) and got 2nd out of 7...

and Intro B, where we got a score of 69% and 2nd place out of 10! Intro B is much more competitive, so I was even more thrilled with that.

Since it was our first show, and I'm just now getting into dressage, I didn't expect to place at all (or get a good score either). I thought it would just be a good first experience.

Apparently I have a super horse that all the judges love, and I guess I'm not a half bad rider either. Anyway, now that I've shown one of my own horses for the first time (ever), I'm hooked, and can't wait to go again! We're not doing any shows in June because we're going on vacation and the timing doesn't work out, but I'm hoping to get to 2-3 shows in July! Plus, I had an awesome lesson tonight and my trainer is really pushing us (and says we're making amazing progress), so I'm very excited about the rest of this season!!

Anyway, check out our show dress spiffyness (that's a word, right? haha):

Saluting the judge at the end of our ride

So Forgetful

2010-05-22T22:17:00.006-04:00

I always think of really great blog posts while I'm at work during the week, but then when I actually get the time to write, I can't remember any of my awesome ideas.

You'd think I'd be smart enough to email them to myself or something :P

Because of my lack of creativity right now, you'll just have to endure a rundown of my week. Hopefully it's not too painful for ya ;)

I was a bad runner this week. I got rained out on Monday, and while I could've duked it out on the treadmill, I just didn't feel like it. I've gotten so used to running outside that the thought of the treadmill makes me cringe (I love the fresh air, the sun and the fact that there isn't someone else running 5 inches from my right elbow lol). I promised myself I'd make it up later this week, but as you can probably imagine, that didn't happen.

Eric came home Tuesday evening and my boss was nice enough to let me leave work a little early to pick him up from the airport. I think she could tell I was bouncing in anticipation, and it's not like I hadn't worked multiple 11 hour days the week before ;)

Monday and Wednesday were long days at the office, but I got lucky on Thursday and was able to leave with enough time to make it to my riding lesson. Things are progressing really nicely and I'm excited about our show next weekend! I need to get a lot of riding time in next week and then I think we'll be ready. I'm not expecting a first place ribbon or anything (hell, if we just get through both tests without being disqualified I'll be thrilled lol), but I'd like to kind of look like we know what we're doing!

Yesterday (Friday) we attended one of my old friend's weddings. It was beautiful and we had a great time! The bride and groom were a stunning couple, and I hope they're having an amazing honeymoon in Jamaica right now :). Unfortunately, the strap on my dress broke right as we started dancing (damn you, Ann Taylor) and the strap was so think I couldn't safety pin it, so that kind of ruined the dancing, which made the hubby grumpy. But, I can't dance with everything swinging all around, ya know? haha So I missed out on some of the dancing- however, all of us young couples thought the DJ was terrible (not the bride and groom's fault- they actually didn't pick a playlist!) and he kept playing all this obscure, slow stuff. We finally got him to play a few good songs, but by then, the hubby and I were both exhausted after a stressful week (it was 11:30pm!), so we left about 45 minutes early. It was great fun though, and I can't wait to go to some more weddings!

I got to practice my camera-skills (you have to say that like Napoleon Dynamite lol):

Here comes the bride!!

Walking down the aisle with her Dad

Our place setting :)

Me and the hubster ;) (see the skinny straps? Ugh)

Me and my parents! My arm tan is so bad that it's awesome ;)

First dance

Cake cutting

The bouquet toss is serious business!

The hubby went to visit his best friend this weekend to help him out with some house repairs. Turns out his best friend is moving again (he rents) and a few parties got out of hand and there some um....ok, A LOT of drywall repair that needs to be done. Eric is so nice to help Chris out :) Although I guess that's the least you can do for your best friend of 14 years (who was also an awesome best man!).

While Eric is away, I'm just hanging out. Actually I'm really busy, but it's fine. It's mostly fun stuff :) I spent over 6 hours at the barn today riding both horses, cleaning stalls and giving them baths (washing a horse takes time!). I also had a lesson with our dressage trainer this morning and I got to practice both dressage tests in her dressage ring! We actually did really well and she's confident the judge will love us because Sparkle is well-behaved and a cutie-pie. I guess we'll see!

Since I haven't run since last Sunday (but I have been cross-training), I'm going for a long run tomorrow. Not 6 miles, but maybe 4 or 5. I'm still in fine shape for our upcoming race, I just need to make sure I get some road time in this week!

An unexpected 6 miles

2010-05-17T22:09:00.002-04:00

I went for a run Sunday morning, and based on my 10k traning schedule, it was time for my long run- 5 miles! As I mapped out my route, I had to get a little creative. 5 miles isn't long enough to need to go out of our neighborhood trails, but I did have to find some good circles. Once I figured it out, I went on my way!

Then, a little over 3.5 miles out, I realized that the new part of the route I had picked didn't have a sidewalk (it was just grass along the street, and I'm prone to hurting my ankles because the grass is so thick and deep), so I had to improvise and go a different way, which was much longer. Then, it turned out that they had dug up part of the street along the new route (I live in a big planned community and they're doing a fair amount of construction in some areas), so I had to do some more improvising (like running up man-made dirt hills haha). When all was said and done, I ended up doing 6 miles, and still feeling GREAT! I still had some left at the end. Annnnnd, I did the 6 miles in 54 minutes! 9 minute miles, what??? I couldn't believe it. Ok, maybe it's not 100% accurate, but it's within .1 or .2 :)

I didn't even feel that sore today, which surprised me even more. Although, I am glad I took the day off (Mondays are rest days). Tomorrow will be an easy run day, and then since I already did my 6 mile long run ahead of schedule, I'll just move it up to 6.5 miles this Sunday! The 10k race is less than a month away! I feel ready and surprisingly pain free. I think my shoes are wonder shoes. My knees have never felt better!

The hubby has been out of town for the past week (my sister in-laws graduation, and I unfortunately couldn't go because new job=no vacation time), so we'll see what he thinks about that running plan! He missed the 6 miler, so he has some catching up to do ;)

Our first show!

2010-05-13T23:56:00.004-04:00

I have been working really long hours this week to prepare for a product launch next Tuesday, but I wanted to make sure I posted this!

Sparkle and I are going to attend our first show ever together! Sparkle did a few shows with her previous owner, and I've done a bunch of shows in the past, but this is the first time EVER that I'll be taking my own horse to a show. Pretty cool :) It's a dressage schooling show on May 29th, and we're entered to do the Intro A and Intro B tests. For all you non-horsey people, here what a dressage arena looks like:

The letters are markers for when you're supposed to do things. For example, you typically enter the arena at the Letter A (top) and walk or trot your horse until you get to the letter X (in the middle). Then you stop your horse at X and salute the judge! The test will have us do things like walk from C to M and trot from K to X to M (diagonal across the arena). Hopefully that makes sense :)

For all your horsey people, here's how the Intro B test goes (and anyone not familiar with dressage can probably figure this out too based on the diagram):

Enter at A- Working rising trot
At X- Halt through medium walk
Salute- Proceed medium walk
At C- Track right medium walk
At M- Working trot rising
At B- Circle right 20 meters, working rising trot
At B- Straight ahead
Between B and F- Medium walk
From K to X to M (diagonal)- Free walk
At M- Medium walk
At C- Working trot rising
At E- Circle left 20 meters, working trot rising
At E- Straight ahead
At A- Down Centerline
At X- Halt through medium walk.
Salute.

The end :)

Sparkle and I have been taking a bunch of lessons and I've been trying to ride a lot so that we can practice. The trainer really has us working on elementary collection (if you can call it that), but I think Sparkle has really made some improvements and I'm thrilled with her progress. We only started taking lessons three weeks ago, so both the trainer and I think she's a superstar ;) Here's a few pictures-

She's gone from this (see how she's sticking her nose out and isn't using her hind end at all? She has no impulsion):

To THIS! (see how she's rounder now and using her back and hind end? Beautiful!)

And some more pictures for fun:

I'm so proud of our progress! Now if only I could get Sierra back into training (she's being leased and I don't have the time to ride both right now). Sierra and I were actually the pair that was supposed to show this spring, but her injury in November messed that up. Now that she's doing better, f I get some time this summer, hopefully she'll be looking just as good as Sparkle :)