What's Up Wednesday

'Tis the season to be busy! Holy moly, I feel like I've been running around like a crazy person for the last week. And Mother Nature was of zero help throwing this at us on Saturday:

Thankfully, I live in New England where the weather has severe mood issues. Sunday was 50 degrees and most of this was gone by the afternoon. But I've gotten ahead of myself...
I spent my time after work Wednesday first grooming ponies, and then making three batches of cookie dough for my three cookie swaps. I got done just in time for bed. Sigh.
Thursday after work I picked the ponies' feet, fed them dinner, and got to work making the cookies. I chose ginger snaps again this year because they are both festive and simple to make.

So many cookies. These photos are from mid process, eventually all the racks were covered. I think I made around 250 cookies. That's a lot.
Friday we had our cookie swap at work as well as Ugly Sweater day. If you've been reading along here for awhile, you know I don't balk at the chance to look like an idiot. Friday was no exception. I even dragged my dad down to my level:

 

What's that? Oh you'd like to see my outfit better? Sure!

Hat: Oriental Trading Company

Zero shame.

Sweater: Kohl's (But I actually got it from the Pug Rescue of New England fundraiser.)

Skirt: Modcloth

Phone case: Forever21 I think...

Unfortunately, the fair isle leggings I overnighted from Amazon got sent second day and didn't make it on time. Guess I'll save them for next year.
I unloaded 4 dozen cookies at the swap, and took back just 2 cookies each of the ones I liked from what others brought. Trying to minimize the damage to my waistline....

Friday evening was cookie swap number two. I was kind of a loser about taking photos but here's a shot of my bucket full of cookies that came home with me.

It might not look like a lot of cookies, but there are two layers under what you can see here... So much for minimizing the damage. Those almond ones on the top were my favorite. They're all gone already.

And then Saturday happened. My helper is a trooper and made it out, but is nursing a bit of an ankle injury, so we worked together on chores. And also I waited too long to shovel the snow. It had started raining so by the time I got around to snow removal it weighed a TON. Ugh. So sore, much tired. But no rest for the weary! After finishing horse laundry and grooming all the ponies thoroughly (because wet, snow, mud....) it was time to get ready for my company holiday party! I was worried all day I wouldn't get to go because Bruce 2.0 STILL HASN'T ARRIVED! But luckily the roads were clear by evening, and my snow plower  finally arrived around 4. Cutting it close!
Since I was completely frozen by the time I got in the shower, I picked out a nice warm cozy outfit. Which was pretty unnecessary and a little too warm for the party, but whatever.

It probably would have been perfect without the fleece lined leggings. But I much prefer to be a little too warm than freezing. So mission accomplished. I didn't take any party photos, but it was a lovely evening full of good food and a pretty great DJ.
Sunday morning at 10 am was my third and final cookie swap. I have no media. Clearly, I was a terrible blogger this weekend with my lack of photos! Sorry guys. But trust me when I say, I have enough cookies for a family of 50. If anyone needs me, I'll be in a diabetic coma on my couch.
This week has been really busy at work. Everyone needs their orders asap which is fun and mildly impossible given that no trucks are running Friday. Way to plan ahead customers...
It's also been ridiculously cold so no pony riding. It's for the best though since I have so much to do that's not horse related the next few days. Like wrapping all the presents. And family dinners. And Chanukah. And Christmas. Oye. The older ponies are enjoying their vacation, but I think the grumposaurus that is Romey needs something to do. Maybe I'll teach him some tricks over the winter. Or maybe I should just focus on teaching him manners?
That's what's up this Wednesday! What's up with you? Are you ready for the holidays? Are you STRESSING OUT over the holidays? Have any of you seen Bruce 2.0 and if so, can you tell him to get here already?! Talk to me in the comments! I promise I'm getting caught up and will reply!

What's Up Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'm still stuck in the land of muteness, and it's a dreary, rainy day... but at least it's not snowing! It might even get into the 70's tomorrow! Where am I living? #notcomplaining
It's been all kinds of busy around here. ALL KINDS OF BUSY! Though to be honest, my photos this week will look an awful lot like the ones last week. I try to make an effort to be present during family functions and other such events, and sometimes that means I don't get photos. So sorry about that...
Friday we had Ugly Sweater day at work. It was super fun, and I wore my ridiculous dress that I wore to Christmas last year:

I think everyone made a good effort! My favorites were the ones that lit up, and my brother's which fit his cell phone inside so it could play a clip of Santa jumping down the chimney. Hilarious!
After work I fed the animals as quickly as I could and changed into a sweater and jeans. My brother had rented out two theaters for screenings of the new Star Wars movie. It was so fun to be in a theater with only people you know! The movie was fantastic! I can't wait for the next one. After that we met up at a local bar to discuss the movie and socialize. It was a fun night!
Saturday morning I awoke without my voice. Seriously, if anyone knows where to find it, please help me out! I spent the morning making cookies again. I made the same ones I had for cookie swap #1:

Once that was done, I spent some quality time with the ponies. I didn't ride because the wind was HOWLING and it was pretty chilly out. Still warm for December, but only in the upper 30's. Combined with the wind, I knew if I attempted riding, it wouldn't be fun for anyone involved. They were pretty happy to be groomed instead.
Saturday night was our office holiday party. It was at a local golf club this year. The food was fantastic. It was a fun evening! I don't have any photos, though I did grab a quick one of my outfit before I left:

Sunday morning I dragged my tired self out of bed, ran a few errands, and rode Jamp and Romey. They were short rides as the ground was semi frozen and I was super pressed for time.

They were both quite good despite all the days off! Thank goodness because there was no time for naughtiness!
After riding I headed out to cookie swap #2. It was nice to see friends I haven't seen since last year's swap. It was just kind of a bummer I couldn't talk to anyone! I figured a cookie swap is the perfect venue for my hot cocoa skirt and knit shoes:

I came home with enough cookies for 100 people. Thankfully, my family was finally celebrating Chanukah that evening so I brought the cookies along.

Gifts for the family!

My mom made a delicious dinner, complete with latkes and we had a great time opening all of our gifts.

Giraffe rides the horsey...

My mom spoiled me rotten, as did my brother and sister-in-law. I can't wait to play around with this:

I know! I'm so excited to finally have a real camera. Hopefully I can step up my photo game on the blog once I figure out how to use this thing!
This week has been pretty normal so far. Monday I was able to ride after work, but yesterday it poured rain all day and the ring was pretty muddy. Instead of riding after work, I ran a couple errands and got to work wrapping presents for Christmakah with my Dad and that side of the family. The Pugs were super helpful too...

Tonight is our annual Festivus Chinese food dinner. I've been dreaming of egg rolls for two weeks already!
What's up with you this Wednesday? Do you have any plans tonight, or are you waiting for Christmas Eve and Christmas?

Truthful Tuesday

It's the Tuesday before Christmas, and you know what that means? I've been attending holiday parties! Today's first confession is that I become an utter slob when trying to get ready to go out somewhere fancy... We'll use Saturday as my example.
Saturday, thankfully, I had a barn helper to take care of the horses in the morning. I had a cookie swap party locally at 2:00 and a dinner party at 6:30 an hour away. That meant time was tight between the two parties to feed and tend to all of the animals and get attired in the appropriate clothing. I planned my outfits ahead of time and hung them in the bathroom:

casual for the cookie party on the left, slightly more dressy for the dinner party on the right

I decided at the last minute to send off an email to my dinner party hostess to make sure I was properly outfitted. While at the cookie party, I found out my clothing plan for dinner might not be fancy enough. Yikes.
Upon arriving home, I tried on every non-summery dress I could find in the closet.... Not too many fit. (Someone needs a diet.) And soon my bathroom looked like this:

But worse than the pile of dresses, was the pile of jewelry and make up on the counter:

Yeah.... Getting pretty comes with a consequence- A Dirty Bathroom! (PS don't you love my hideous wallpaper?)
Thankfully I found a cute dress, some crazy shoes, and got my face put on. Not 100% on time, but close enough. Here are the results:

obligatory bathroom selfie (pardon the crows feet)

My cute little dress from Modcloth

These crazy shoes from Poetic License got a lot of compliments!

So can you guess what confession number two is? Yep. Cookies. I went to a cookie swap on Friday evening too. Friday's party left me with a bucket full of cookies. And Saturday's... well it left me with a bag full! In the photo below you'll see the roomful of cookies, we each took one of each package. 30 total cookie packages each! I LIVE ALONE! Running consistently starts ASAP after Xmas.

Friday's bucket, I used my hand to show scale

inside the bucket

Saturday's spoils.

Phew. Anything you feel you need to talk about this holiday season? Share below in the comments! I can't be the only messy cookie monster out there!