What's Up Wednesday!

Another week of no riding... But I ALMOST got to today! Maybe this weekend. Cross your crossables for me please!
Despite my lack of saddle time, it's been super busy around here because, well. Holidays. I spent last Thursday evening back in the kitchen making cookies for my company cookie swap.

It's kind of funny, most of the Chanukah cookies and a few of the Christmas cookies were left over, but the mittens were all eaten up. I guess my coworkers prefer nondenominational cookies. Noted for next year. We also had our Ugly Sweater contest on Friday. I went for a Chanukah theme this year, and got my dad to play along too:

It's probably our last father-daughter ugly sweater day at work since he's working towards retiring this year. I should have gotten him a menorah hat too... Hindsight. It's always 20/20. Somehow I didn't win the contest. I think it was rigged.

We had this really great phenomenon last week where it snowed literally every other day. Halfway through Friday it started snowing. Which was annoying because it almost made me late to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. My brother rented out a theater so he could see it with all of his friends and some family. It's kind of a fun thing to do if you can get enough interest. It just costs what the tickets cost, so if you can get enough people and they actually pay up, it doesn't cost any more than a trip to the movies. But you get a theater just for you and your friends! Anyway, I won't give any spoilers, but I thought it was fantastic. I'm not a giant Star Wars fan, but I've seen most of the movies, and this one was definitely on my list of favorites.
Saturday I was on a mission to finish my holiday shopping in the morning. It was mostly successful and I was home in time for our holiday card photo shoot.

Selfie while we waited for our photographer

Despite my hatred of snow, it was kind of nice to have it for our photos. Don't tell anyone I said that though.
We had our company holiday party Saturday night. The last few years it's been held at a country club that's pretty close to where I live. I had a great time, but unfortunately didn't take any photos while I was there. I did grab a selfie before I went though:

Yes, you're seeing that correctly. I actually wore heels and looked like a girl! I even wore makeup! Christmas miracle.
Sunday was stupid cold, but I was determined to finish the holiday shopping up once and for all. And thankfully, I was completely successful. I spent the rest of any free time wrapping presents,

can't wrap presents without wine. And a unicorn glass.

addressing cards

and occasionally brushing my ponies.

The pugs think my hanging in the kitchen wrapping presents is stupid though.

They're not entirely wrong.

I mentioned yesterday that I took yesterday off for a ten minute vet appointment. What I might not have mentioned is that it was a balmy 53 degrees and all the snow melted in my ring!

It was really sloppy though so I still couldn't ride in it. I was hoping for tonight, but the temps dropped quickly and the ground was rock hard when I got home. Boo. Maybe this weekend.
That's about it from here really. Lots of events coming up though with our (late) family Chanukah party on Friday, Festivus dinner on Saturday, and Christmas next week.
In the mean time, I shall leave you with this GIF of a reenactment of the Hitchcock movie "The Birds" from my office window this morning.

Have you been riding? What's the weather like where you are? Weirdly warm, or extra snowy? How are the holiday preparations coming along?

Truthful Tuesday

Oh where do I even begin with confessions today?! First off, I just now, TODAY, got my holiday cards in the mail. Yep, those aren't arriving on time to anyone... Also, I have extras so if anyone wants one, shoot me an email with your address!
Clearly, I've got a lot of work to do before Chanukah/Christmas this weekend. Oye. Nothing is wrapped, but at least I have everything in my house ready to be wrapped right? That's something.
Next, I'm super behind on my blog reading list. I'm a solid week behind and you all post feverishly! Trying to get caught up, so I apologize in advance for untimely comments on your stories. Similarly, while I've kept up with my posts fairly well here, I have not at all over at Beejuboxes.

This is Boxanne, our mascot

 I have a TON of boxes to review and the site is hating on me and not letting me log in properly. Grrr. Technology kills me.
My last confession is, well... Cookies. I ate almost nothing but cookies all weekend long. I went to three different cookie swaps, so I have TONS of cookies in the house. Tons. Even after eating so many.

work cookie swap

Friday night's cookie swap goodies

Hey, 'tis the season amiright?!
Anything you need to confess today? How are your holiday plans coming together? Have you also given yourself hypoglycemia from massive cookie intake?

Truthful Tuesday

It's Girl Scout Cookie season. But it's also International Women's Day. In honor of both of those things, I must confess the following:
So far today I have eaten 7 Samoas (or Caramel Delights depending on where you live) and 3 Thin Mints. And it's only 3 o'clock.

Do you have anything you need to confess? Get your Girl Scout Cookies yet? Let's chat in the comments!

What's Up Wednesday?!

Where does the time go? Is it me, or is December just flying by? My second trip to FL is less than two weeks away! AHHH! So excited! In the meantime though, there is so much to do and get done. Holiday parties, Star Wars Screenings, cookie making (and eating), present wrapping... the list goes on and on. But that's just what is yet to come. Let's take a look back at the past week and see what's been up!
Last Friday my sister-in-law hosted her annual cookie swap. So Thursday evening, after riding, I had to make 3 dozen ginger snaps. It was a late evening, but who doesn't enjoy baking cookies? Plus I get to lick all the bowls and spoons since I live alone. Perks.

They came out great, and I was excited to swap them for some of all the other cookies! I forgot to get a picture of the cookie table, but here's my bucket once we were done with the swapping:

So much deliciousness right there! I've pretty much eaten the entire bucket at this point. Everything was delicious.

We had unbelievable weather over the weekend. Temps were in the mid 60's and that meant lots of pony time. I even finally rode Romey! Not only that, but the horses were able to graze for a bit too! And Jampy had a shower! Unheard of in December normally. Here are too many photos for your viewing pleasure:

 

Sunday, I got to come along on a trip to the "North Pole" with my brother and his family! Near where we all live is an old fashioned steam train. It was actually used in one of the Indiana Jones movies. During December they run the Polar Express which is a magical train that gets from CT to the North Pole and back in about 90 minutes. It's an adorable attraction. The kids wear their warmest jammies, some elves serve cocoa and cookies to all the passengers, and we get to meet Santa and Mrs Claus! Santa called my mom and I big girls... I'm not sure how to take that. But we all had a great time, especially my niece!

The rest of the week had been dedicated to present wrapping, holiday card addressing, work, and riding. I'm having a hard time fitting in sleep, but hey, that's what February is for right?
Here's P helping me with wrapping:

So that's what I've been up to. Tell me what's up with you this Wednesday in the comments!

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!

Truthful Tuesday

Time once again for Truthful Tuesday, when I tell you something you may not already know. Or maybe you do. But I'm going to tell you again anyway!

I get irrationally angry when people start in on how unhealthy carbs and gluten are. And how they need to be removed from one's diet. It's as if they are directly insulting my first born. (I told you IRRATIONALLY angry!) I'm not going to get into a long dissertation on why this isn't true unless you're ACTUALLY a Celiac which is only 1% of the population. (As far as gluten is concerned.) Nor why there's no reason to remove carbs from your diet (everything in moderation folks!). I'm just going to leave you knowing of my irrational anger. And some photos of my kids delicious gluten.

PS: Don't forget to head over to Facebook and like Amateur At Large!