Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Happy Birthday to ME!

Ahhhh! Finally! Today was my birthday! Yay!
So maybe it's not AS exciting as when we were little and there would be tons of presents and a fancy paper crown to wear... But still I had a GREAT birthday! From start to finish!
I went outside to bring the trash can to the end of the driveway, and when I walked out, I saw some stuff on my car. Weird? I knew I hadn't left anything on my car...
It was my jewelry that I had ordered at my friend's Lia Sophia party! But that wasn't all. Oh no. Because I really do have awesome friends, there was also a great card referencing cake (mmm cake) AND cupcakes!
They're super pretty AND delicious. I decided that was a suitable birthday breakfast for sure! Mmmm.
So about 20 minutes later, I got to work (20 minutes + or - late for work.... oops) and what do I find??
MORE CAKE!
A WHOLE cake! Just for me! I mean I did share it. I'm not THAT gluttonous. Well... not always anyway.  It was a really busy, stressful day at work, so all this cake was super helpful in getting all that done!
I even got some cards:
Dinner was just my mom and I. She cooked up a feast for her and I to share! Mmmm more eating. And then of course for dessert, we had CAKE!
AND I got these:
So clearly, this was a fantastic birthday! I gave the ponies the day off. We all needed a little break, and I wanted to get to dinner at a reasonable hour. So to summarize my b-day:
Cake, Cake, work, food, presents, CAKE!
So I guess... 365 days till my bday!




Just kidding, I don't start counting down that early.
Hope you all had a great day too!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Finally Friday!

On top of all the normal busy-ness that comes with being a full time working grown up and having a small horse farm, this week I've also been braiding horse manes. It's a great talent to have, as it's a quick way to make some extra money. There is a horse show running Thurs-Sunday near me. Unfortunately, my horses aren't quite ready to start showing after their winter hiatus, but that means I can be a little extra tired and make some bank!
Yesterday I just had one horse to do. It was a little tough getting up at 5:30 (SO NOT a morning person!) especially since it was rainy and cold. But then this happened:
Something special about a rainbow, especially in the morning! The horse I was working on was a rather busy, so it took me a little longer than normal to get her mane done. But the completed product was pretty nice!
After finishing up at my neighbor's farm, I went back home to get showered and ready for work. Worked all day, then home to exercise the horses. After running a quick errand and stuffing some food in my face, it was off to bed!
This morning I had two to do, but a little further away. It's even harder to get up at 4:30... Just saying. But I dragged my lazy self out of bed and was on my way:
(Did I mention how cold it was?) My first one this morning was such a gentleman! I don't think he moved a muscle the entire time I was working on him.

Only took me about a half hour. The next one had a really tough mane. VERY thick and wiry. But luckily she was a little pony so it all balanced out. I think she took me about 40 minutes. I don't have a finished photo of her. People were arriving at the show and I didn't want to look weird taking pictures of my own braids... Plus, not my best work with the tough mane. But here's a mid-way through photo:
I have both of these two again tomorrow, so I am going to try and do a better job on this little gray one.
After all that braiding, it was off to work. Then riding the boys at home, and MORE BRAIDING! I have two to do tonight, and then the above two again tomorrow morning. So while I may be exhausted, I just funded a nice little shopping trip or two... I'm sure there will be a post on that later!
Happy Friday everyone!


(PS: 4 days till my birthday!!!)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY RIO!!!

Today is a VERY special day. It's Rio's 17th birthday! I believe birthdays should always have cake, so I got him a carrot cake bomb at the grocery store tonight:
Unfortunately he was a little unsure about digging into it...
I tried force-feeding some to him to no avail. Oh well. Jamp thought it was delicious! Ducky sided with Rio, but he doesn't seem to like sweets very much. There were normal carrots for everyone too, those were enjoyed by all three boys. Such a fun b-day party for my main man Rio!!

And you know, I've been neglecting the countdown, but there is now just ONE WEEK until MY birthday!
Hope you're all having a great day!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Sunday Funday!

Here at the farm Sunday Funday means cleaning stalls and playing with ponies ALLLL day! This Sunday I didn't have anything pressing to do other than the aforementioned stall cleaning and pony playing, so I decided to take my time.
My morning started with a drive into town to get breakfast. MMMMmmmm
Egg and cheese sandwich my fave!
I then drove to the lake by my house and stuffed the above sandwich in my face while enjoying this lovely view:
Ok, so really I was just procrastinating. It was really cold out, and I was waiting for it to warm up a bit before tackling the barn chores. But it was peaceful and pleasant either way.
Today, though chilly, was a beautiful day. It's been crazy windy lately but today it was pretty calm. Horses REALLY prefer a nice calm day.

Yesterday they were all worked up during their play time outside but today they were much happier and relaxed.
After chores, it was time to work the boys. I usually ride Ducky first. I'm still trying to get to know him, so I like to ride him before I'm tired. I think today was the best ride we've had yet. He was much more focused than he's been so far and really seemed to be happy about working. I'm so anxious to see if he jumps, but want to wait until I have someone around just in case things don't go well. But in the meantime, I've been introducing him to the jumps:


Jamp is usually my next victim horse. He tends to be nervous when you start, as he's quite sure there are monsters breeding at the end of the ring. Fortunately today he got over that pretty quickly. I even jumped him over a few small fences. He hasn't jumped since before winter as I don't ride once the ground freezes. He seemed really happy to be back at it again! I can't wait to get him show ready!
What a handsome boy!
As per usual, I saved Rio for last. Today was going to be a BIG day for him! Rio recently got the ok to start jumping again. He hasn't seen a jump since June when his leg started acting up again. I really thought he was done jumping forever. So this news was really exciting to hear! Anyway, today was the day for his first tiny jump!

On the way to the first one I grabbed a little mane just in case he got excited and I needed a handle. But evidently, this was much more exciting to me than it was to him... he didn't even jump the fence, he just kind of trotted over it like a pole on the ground. Figures. I did one more from the other direction (you should always do everything in both directions with horses much like when you lift weights, you want to be even and balanced) and this one he actually jumped over. I quit with that since I don't want to overdo it the first day. He felt GREAT after his jumping session. Now we just have to wait and see how great he feels tomorrow...
Like with any athlete, after a strenuous day it's not a bad idea to ice anything that's been a problem in the past. And I generally err on the side of crazy caution. Fortunately, Rio is used to my neuroses.
I finished up in the barn around 6:30 and had a few options with what to do with my time. The appropriate thing that I SHOULD have done was go to the grocery store. Option two was go for a run. I've been really wanting to try a loop I discovered awhile ago but haven't gotten around to it yet. It's a little too long for a morning run, and part of it is in the woods, so it's definitely a weekend run. I decided however on option 3. Take Pia for a walk!
It was clearly the right decision. P loves going for a walk, and she's not all that fit so 1 mile pretty much zonks her right out:
Since I didn't do the responsible thing and go to the grocery store, this is how my day ended:


I hope you all had a great Sunday too! Anyone do anything fun?

Friday, April 19, 2013

What a week!

I haven't posted all week because really, I wasn't sure what to talk about. I don't want to drag on about all the horrible people in the world doing horrible things. That's what they want. Attention. I don't want to give it to them.
BUT, as a sometimes runner, I feel obligated to at least acknowledge my community. And so I will say this: Runners are awesome. They're not going to quite running. They're not going to quit racing. And they're not going to quit being awesome.



And now on to the fun stuff. Cause we all know I can't be serious for too long. I'd like to announce that I have officially come out of retirement.
I have no idea what the 4:32 on the bottom is. But not bad for the first time out in several weeks!

The boys (as I lovingly refer to my equine) are all back to work after the longest winter ever. They had their annual spring vetting done this week and it seems like they're all in great shape! Rio may even get to show this year! That's super exciting for me because I thought his show days were over. And he IS my number one. I've been working on getting them prettied up too. Ears are trimmed, manes are shortened, and braided over as needed:



 How cute are they?? You'll notice Ducky's ears are not done. It seems the clippers bring out his best running man impression. I've chosen to tackle that project another day.

And my last bit of news... I finally broke down, left my Droid behind and got an Iphone. So far I pretty much hate it. Nothing has worked right. First two weeks of back order. THEN I get it, and was told, you just plug it in to your mac and off it will go! Well no, that didn't happen. So took an extra day to get set up. Then nothing works right. No notifications of emails or anything like that. All the apps show errors... UGH! Ok, so my uber smart techie brother to the rescue. After fighting with it for me for two days, apps seem to be working. But none of music loaded properly. (Found that out when I went running). I did a little Google research and discovered I just have to keep syncing the phone until it all shows up properly. That's not ridiculous at all. I **THINK** everything is in running order now. Except Google+ which means no auto upload. <<sigh>> I really hate change. Have any of you had a similar experience? Love your Iphones? Hate them?



Thursday, April 11, 2013

Something new!

It's no secret that I love presents. And that includes presents I buy myself :) This must be why I love the subscription boxes that have gotten so popular. Scroll down to my post about Stridebox for an example. Recently I signed up for a new one that's just starting out. It's from Ophelia's Apothecary and April was the first month!
My friend Lacey from My Boyfriend Hates Makeup had shared Ophelia's Apothecary on her Facebook page, so I went over to see what it was. Ophelia makes her own lotions, lip gloss, jewelry, soap... All kinds of neat things. I was at first reluctant to sign up as I'm terrible about remembering to moisturize and I don't wear a lot of makeup. But for only $15.00 a month and no commitment, I gave it a try. I am SOOOOO happy I did!
It doesn't come in a box per se, but rather just a plain envelope. On the one hand, I appreciate fancy boxes and packaging, but on the other, I'd rather my monthly payment go toward useful items than packaging. Plus the items inside were bundled up very neatly and with the same string they used at the bakery my grandparent's took me too as a kid. Ahh nostalgia...

I was impatient so I didn't I take a photo before opening the envelope. But look how many items were packed in there! I was impressed by all the packages in there. But was even more impressed when I opened them up and most had multiple things wrapped up inside! But that's for later.
My favorite part about this subscription is that Ophelia sends a survey to find out more about her subscribers. What scents you like, and allergies you may have etc. I noted on mine that I can't wear anything but gold for earrings, but that otherwise I'm allergy free. (Well truthfully I'm allergic to hay and penicillin but I don't think Ophelia uses either of those things in her products ;)) Included in the package is a page describing what all of the items are and their ingredients. At the bottom of the page is a hand written note from Ophelia.
Bonus points for using the word swell. (I'm working on incorporating that into my everyday vernacular) EXTRA bonus points to Ophelia because she actually read my about my earring issues and not only acknowledged it, but substituted a necklace for me (other subscribers got earrings in their packages). On top of all that, it's GORGEOUS!
full view of necklace
close up of pendant
The other items from Ophelia's Apothecary were a full size lip balm and samples of  soap, face cream, hand and cuticle lotion, lip gloss (YES!), and a face scrub called "Dirty". (Haha, I like that!) I haven't tried them yet since they just arrived today, but everything smells AMAZING!


Now that seems like plenty of stuff for $15.00 don't you think? The necklace alone has to be worth much more than that! But that's not all that was in there. Nope, there were 3 more items! These were from a friend of Ophelia who sells her items on Etsy. Here they are:


Awesome, right?! The two smaller towels are sized somewhere between a wash cloth and a hand towel. One is organic and one is "regular" but they feel very similar to each other. Great to have around! The tie dye one is gorgeous, and quite large. About the size of the towels they have in hotels to use as a bath mat... you know what I mean right? Only it's a lot prettier that those are.
So to summarize, this "box" is FULL of awesome things to try and love. Also included were coupons for use on full size products.  I'm almost nervous what next month will bring, I mean, how can Ophelia top this?! I shall leave you with some photos of all my new loot:


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Springtime Mani!

As promised, I finally got unlazy last night and did my nails. Though I'd like to first warn you all... My nails have suffered tremendously lately. I have a small wound on one finger, my cuticles are peeling off, and the nails are nothing but nubs... But alas, this is why I'm an amateur! Without further ado, here it is:
I think it's pretty cute! Keep in mind, I don't own any nail art tools. I do this just with whatever brush comes with my polish so my lines are not straight and the dots are uneven but I kind of like them that way. More abstract :)
I used Sinful Colors Cotton Candy for my base. I wasn't super happy with it, took three coats and some spots still seemed bare. Fortunately I covered those areas up with my diagonal stripe of Pure Ice Kiss Me Here. The purple dots are Sinful Colors Sweet Tooth and the mint are China Glaze Aquadelic.
Oh and here's my thumb:
 And in case you think I'm THAT big of an amateur, here is my right hand too:

Thoughts? Opinions? General discussion?

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Random Thoughts

I shall prepare you ahead of time. I haven't mentally organized this post in any way at all. It shall be completely random. Feel free to ask questions.
Random photo of P, just because she's so cute.

It's finally feeling like spring today! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who know me, spring is the best time ever! Well, other than summer. I really love summer. I love tank tops and flip flops and skirts. And sunshine and green grass and leaves on the trees. And riding in the evenings with daylight. Ahhhh.
The only problem with the beautiful weather is that I'm completely distracted by it. You know when you were in school, that feeling on the last day before April vacation? When you're just looking out the window of your classroom, so excited to be out in that warm(ish) sunshine? That's totally how I feel. And it's becoming a problem.
Last week when I went shoe shopping, one of the boxes only had one shoe in it. I was cheerfully chatting away with the sales person while she was ringing me up, so neither of us noticed. Thankfully they found my shoe when I called and set it aside for me. Then this morning, I was planning to wear an adorable new bracelet with big mint green flowers all the way around it. But instead of cutting off the tag, I cut the bracelet. Obviously not wearing that today.
On the bright side, I'm soooo ready to start running again. I took a little break since I was hating it so much. I've been back in the saddle, so riding 3 horses a day after work is enough to keep me from getting too fat. But I'm ready for a nice leisurely run through the neighborhood I think. Hopefully this weekend.
I don't have a pretty spring manicure to share at the moment. I've been too tired/lazy after riding the last few days to paint them. But maybe tonight.
I do however have some cute spring outfits to show you:
This is today. I'd also like to note that my belt is actually a seat belt from an airplane.

This was yesterday. I <3 neon. So. Much.

I wore this to my sis-in-law's baby shower on Sunday. Yes those are little chairs on my dress!
Ok, that's it for my rambling. Hopefully I'll have a delightfully organized post about an adorable spring mani for you soon! Or maybe about running? Or horses? We shall see!