Thursday's Threads

Outfit Day! On Christmas Eve! I know I'm a big ol' Jew, but I can get into the Christmas spirit with the best of them. Especially when it's a balmy 65 degrees outside...

It's also overcast and foggy, so the lighting is terrible. My apologies. You'll see better when we look closer.

T-shirt: Target
Cardigan: The Loft

It would be easier to see without the cardigan, but it's not THAT warm out to only sport a t-shirt. This is a pug in a santa hat with the caption Selfie. Hilarious! I've been dying to wear this since I found it on clearance last year! The cardigan I've had awhile, and though it's hard to see here, it has gold thread throughout it. Very festive! (And most importantly, not itchy!)

Jeans: Tinseltown

Ha, I didn't realize when I picked these out to wear today that the brand is Tinseltown. How appropriate! These are a hunter green with a blue "distressed" look to them. They're super comfy.

Belt: Mane Jane

You'll be seeing a lot of this. Clearly I'm not over my obsession.

Shoes: C.Label

I'm pretty sure you've seen these before? They're an ankle bootie, covered almost entirely in gold glitter. Not much better than glittery shoes! They're done in such a way that the glitter doesn't come off, which is a miracle if you ask me. I love these shoes!

Arm Candy:
Lefty:

In keeping with my pug theme, I wore my pug charm bracelet today, along with my gold H bracelet, and my trusty watch.

Righty:

My mom spoiled me rotten for Chanukah this year. She must have spent a fortune at the Kate Spade outlet near us. The two matching bow bangles are just part of my gift from her this year. The first two came from the now defunct Little Black Bag. I figured bows were gifty so they fit with today's holiday theme.

I hope you all have a great Christmas if you celebrate! If you don't, I hope you enjoy the day off! And if you don't have that either, have a safe day at work!

That's what I'm wearing today! What do you have on? Do you have big plans for the holidays? Is it ridiculously warm where you live?

Thursday's Threads

Outfit day!!! And a half day of work for this girl! Better for me than the horses, they're getting fall shots today. Sorry boys... It's a dreary cool day here in New England. Apparently autumn has arrived. So here's what I'm wearing:

I know that photo is horribly dark. I was ridiculously late for work this morning and no matter where I put the mirror, it still looked like this. And finally I had to settle! But you'll see better when we look closer.... Let's do that!

Top: Sun & Moon

I think this top is pretty nifty (yes, I said NIFTY)! It's a lycra material, so very soft and stretchy. What I love best is this built-in infinity scarf look. It actually is all one piece that crisscrosses to give the illusion of wearing a scarf. I also like that the cuffs match the scarf part.

Jeans: Seven Jeans

These are oldies. I'm certain they've been on the blog before. I just cleaned out my jeans closet and re-discovered these in the process.

Boots: Steven by Steve Madden

These have been on here before too. Now that Autumn has arrived, the boots are all back! Woohoo! The Steven line is my favorite from Steve Madden. The materials are higher quality than the other lines, and I have yet to find a pair that wasn't super comfortable. I love the giant zippers on these!

Arm Party!
Lefty:

Are you tired of this look yet? I'm not. My Keep Collective bracelet was the perfect match to today's outfit! The band is black like my top and the lapis stones match my jeans... So matchy matchy!

Righty:

First up is my delicate H bracelet with the black enamel. Next is a new addition to my collection that I picked up in the recent Kate Spade clearance sale: A Pretzel! I love ridiculous things like that. And lastly is my Rebecca Minkoff bangle that my sister-in-law gave to me. I'm loving this stack!

So that's my work outfit today. But I also have a riding outfit to share! This is what I rode in last night:

I'm full-on embracing this plaid trend. It's a total throwback to my freshman year of high school, but I'm loving it all the same. Maybe I'll listen to some Nirvana to really get back there...

Top: Target

It's a little tough to see in the photo, but the buttons only go part way down the shirt. I really like that, it puts a little twist on your basic plaid button down shirt. (Aside: Have you all seen the new trend in calling those shirts button ups? What is that? Do you button from the bottom up? Because I always button down. Hence the term button down. When did this change?!) My only complaint with this shirt is that the back is kind of small. It fits great if I'm not moving much, but it doesn't allow for much arm movement. Snapping this photo was a challenge! I think had I sized up though, it would have been too big.

Breeches: Grand Prix

I think these have been on here before. I love the dark gray color, but my favorite thing is the lavender stitching. Just a little something different.

Belt: No brand

I'm loving the blue on the belt. It's so different from any other I've seen! It's not really navy, it's kind of bright, but not too bright... It's just right! Ha. Poet and I didn't know it... Ok, sorry. I'll stop.

This was Jampy's outfit last night:

He just got this baby pad for being such a good boy lately. Ok, that's a lie. He just got this baby pad because I'm a shopaholic and there was a coupon code. It's from Sporthorselifestyle and I LOVE their logo! I think they should make a bracelet with it... Maybe I'll email and make that suggestion.

Ok, that's all the outfits I have for today. Do you have a favorite item from today? What's your opinion on this whole button up controversy? And most importantly, what are you wearing today?

What's Up Wednesday!

Hey you guys..... SPRING IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!! Which means a few things: My mood is 10000 x's better, I have too many things to do, I'm riding again, and trying to get into a running routine. Phew. I'm also having to shell out ALL of my money to fix everything winter ruined. But that's ok, because SPRING IS HERE!!!!
Here's What's Up this Wednesday:

-Pony Slackers
This time of year is a real challenge riding-wise. The horses, though terribly unfit, are also a little crazy in the head from all the time off. Not to mention how not strong my stems are... not a good combo! The weather doesn't REALLY want to cooperate between frequent rain storms and this wind we keep having. (Watch out Chicago, Chester is challenging your Windy City title!). Since that's not enough, Jampy decided to add a few more challenges to the list in hopes of an extended vacation. First he developed a cough. The vet and I believe it to be allergies, so I moved him to a clean stall (free of any allergens that might have found their way to his), started wetting down his hay (we're at the end of the last load, so it's a bit dusty from sitting around), and gave him a couple vacation days. Rode him one day, and he pulled a shoe off. Thankfully, they were all ready for new shoes anyway, so the timing wasn't so bad. They all got new shoes the next day. He seems to FINALLY be on the right path to getting back to work.
Ducky has actually been a very good boy! I'm looking forward to starting him over some small jumps soon. And Rio of course is perfect in every way. Boy do I miss riding him though. Here are some fun pony pics from the past week:

Sometimes I'm too lazy to walk my horse into the barn, so I ride him in... thank goodness for high ceilings!

-Lazy Running
Emotionally I'm super committed to getting back into a running routine. But physically, it's tough! The old lady body is having a tough time adjusting to my riding after work. I finish up around 9 and then first have dinner. So I'm getting to bed late, and that 6 AM alarm just doesn't whine enough at me I guess. Working on it. Vanessa and I have committed to running Thursday mornings together. That will be a huge help. Knowing your friend is dragging her self out of bed to join you is super motivating. All that aside, I DID get out for a run on Sunday! Just a 3 miler, which turned into a 3 mile run and .7 mile walk because I can't do math when running... I thought I had to go further on the second out and back than I really needed to. It was so gorgeous out though, I enjoyed the extra walk time!
The run itself went great! I didn't allow myself to look at my speed which obviously was slow. I just went out and enjoyed the run. I did take a couple walk breaks, one after each mile, but only for about 30 seconds. I felt great, though a bit sluggish toward the end. Running outdoors is SO MUCH BETTER than the treadmill. Of course I was so sore this week, I haven't gone back out yet. Tomorrow with Vanessa though, no excuses! And I'm actually looking forward to it!

Scenes from my run this weekend:

There's still snow!

-Pugs!
Artie has been dying to do something fun and when he saw me getting to run, for some reason he was SURE he was coming. He wasn't. But I promised him when I got back we would go for a walk. I took him and P up the road a bit and back. We did 3/4 of a mile. They were both looking a bit parched by the end, and pretty much passed out the rest of the day. My whole family is really out of shape.

-Other stuff
This weekend was full of errands... I had two appointments to take care of early on Saturday so I asked my barn helper if he wanted to work. Thankfully he did! That way the boys could get their time outdoors and the chores could get done while I did my errands. P had a 9 am vet appointment, and I had to bring my car Betty in for an oil change at 11. P's appointment was quick and I headed up to the car dealership. I was actually EARLY (shocking, I know) so I stopped at Target first. A horse lamp caught my eye so I stopped to look at it and found this:

Cutest bedding set ever. I had to have it for my guest room. Plus it was on clearance so the entire set was about $50. Not bad! A little bad since I really didn't need it... But you don't leave a pony bedding set on clearance behind. You just don't do it. I did not get the lamp at least! Of course I found all kinds of other things I didn't need too. What is it about Target? You never get out of there with spending a bunch of money. Thankfully I kept it under $100 this time.
Betty wound up having to stay at the dealership for some repairs and a mouse nest removal from the engine area. $2000 later.... That hurt. I got to drive this for a few days though:

It's a nice little SUV, but unfortunately it's last owner was a smoker. Gross.

So that's what's been up here since last Wednesday. What have you all been up to?

Truthful Tuesday

Truthful Tuesday definitely needs to be lighter than last week! So this week I shall show you all my laziness and a small waste of money.

First off, I haven't filed at work since February:

I think today should be the day. That's definitely going to fall soon. And THAT would be a mess!

Next, this is what the floor of my laundry room looked like up until Sunday.

Sometimes I do wonder if maybe the shoe thing is becoming a problem.... but then I get them all put away, and I realize it's not at all. Laziness is the problem!

And lastly, I bought a sticky note pad at Target that looks like a sandwich. I hardly ever use sticky notes. But how could I not? It's great on my desk, cracked my supervisor right up when he saw it! I mean look:

 Anything you'd like to get off your back? Buy anything stupid and semi-useless lately?

Monday again!

Rio judging me

 Ever have one of those weekends that seems to last forever, yet nothing on the to do list gets done? Yep that's the weekend I had. Here's what I should have done this weekend:

Sat:
Bring in car for service
Stop at Target
Ride and tend to the Equine
Dinner at Dad's
Braid Horses

Sun:
Farmer's Market
Ride and tend to the Equine
CLEAN THE HOUSE
Take out stall windows for summer
Squeeze in some pool time
Laundry
Run

Actually... now that I spell it all out, most of that did get done. Except for the CLEAN THE HOUSE, take out the windows, and go for a run parts. I guess all-in-all that's not so bad!

Saturday I knew was going to be a LONG DAY. Yep, capital letters LONG. I had a 9 am appointment for my car at the dealership which is about 35 minutes away. Obviously I had to stop for coffee too. Thankfully it was a relatively quick wait while they topped off some fluids and gave Betty a wash and I was at Target by around 10:30. I had stopped in at the Target in Saratoga last weekend when I was there for the horse show. I was shocked to see a Starbucks inside the Target! But all the girls at the show insisted that all Targets have a Starbucks. So my main reason for visiting this weekend was to verify whether or not that was true. Well folks, I'm sad to report, that is not true. No SBucks at my local(ish) Target. Sad Face. I still managed to spend a bunch of money on things I didn't really need. That always seems to happen there!

After Target, I went back home to hang out with the dogs and horses. I decided to take an hour to enjoy the sunshine at the pool. Somehow I was super matchy:

The horses enjoyed some lunch while I was being lazy. Around 1 PM I went out to the barn to work Jamp and tend to Rio and Ducky. They were just as happy as I was to enjoy some sunshine and each other.

After riding, I headed over to my Dad's house for some family time and a delicious meal. It's so fun watching my little niece getting to be a big girl! She eats what we eat (more or less) already and is toddling around like a champ! So cute. Can't wait to get her on a pony!

Once my belly was full, I had a full night ahead of braiding horses. I had 6 of them to do, which meant I would expect to be done around 2:30 AM. LONG NIGHT! Here are the before and after photos:

I actually was finished right around 2:15 am and was home just after 2:30. Snuggled the pugs for a little bit, then headed off to dreamland! I woke up around 9:30 Sunday morning. Let the Pugs out, then got a text from the pool guy that he was there to work on the pool. I said thanks for the heads up and let him know the pugs were outside, and not to let them out of the fenced area. So what does he do? Leaves the gate open. So in my jammies (sweatpants and a not entirely opaque white tank UGH!) I went on a frantic run around my property hunting for Artie. I was so sure he'd run out into the road, but I couldn't find him ANYWHERE. He usually comes when you call, but he wasn't. Terrifying! Eventually he turned up at the door, and looked at me like I was the crazy one. Damn kids.
Once I was dressed and all the four leggeds were accounted for, I headed into town to get some fresh produce at the farmer's market. We have a GREAT market every Sunday in the summer. Next time I will take pics of the delicious items I got, but I forgot to this time. Here's the entrance though:

Yep, we have cupcakes at the Farmer's Market!

After stuffing my face full of farm fresh goodness, I headed home to ride Jamp and Ducky and hang out with Rio. Ducky is still in his "I'm a tree" phase, so really I just sunbathed on him.

Once the barn was all cleaned up and the horses all settled in, I straightened up the house and threw some laundry in. Then I sat like a lazy bum by the pool for an hour. I even went swimming for a little bit! That was about it for the weekend. Other than finishing laundry and feeding all the animals.

What did you do this weekend? Do you have a weird talent you can make money doing like braiding?