Thursday's Threads: Holiday Card Edition

 

Heh... since December is nearly over I figured it was time I take photos for the holiday card. I've been waiting (not at all) patiently for P's shirt to arrive which it hasn't... But I could wait no more. The cards need to be ordered and then addressed and mailed, and well, they're likely going to be late anyway. Fortunately, I figured I could use the holiday card outfits for Thursday's Threads this week, so yay for two birds, one stone! Here's what we all wore:

Yes, that's right! I finally dressed everyone! It's possible they all wore the same pad. Most of them shared one pair of boots... And Pammon and Al even shared a bridle. But whatever. They all got their photo taken in the same outfit! Finally!

Bridles:
Shiny and Eros- Joseph Sterling
Al and Pammon- Pinnacle
Browband: Made by me

Al'd Joseph Sterling bridle's arrival has been pushed back to sometime in January. I am excited for it's arrival as the Pinnacle is FINE, but the JS ones are so much nicer. 

Boots: Equine Star

Aren't they adorable?? I'm not sure why Shiny's have a different color strap, but if I remember correctly the first pair I ordered for her were too big, and these I bought separately. So that must be why. I like them both ways though, so no complaints.

Saddles:
Al, Eros, and Pammon- Butet
Shiny- Custom Saddlery
Saddle Pad: Equine Star
Half Pad: Ippico

Currently, Al and Eros are sharing a saddle. At some point in the spring I'll have the Butet rep out to get Al his own. But how cute are the peppermint pads? I feel like even though they're sort of holiday themed, they work all year round since horses like peppermints no matter the season.

Okay, my turn! Here's what I wore for holiday photos:

I almost wore a minty green colored pair of breeches, but the mint color on the sweatshirt isn't quite the same as the saddle pads and adding another not quite the same shade seemed a bit much, even for me. So I went with black. I also stayed boring with black boots and helmet. I guess I toned it down... Kinda. 

Helmet: Samshield Matte

I know. I'm a sucker. But I really like the look of this helmet.

Sweatshirt: Artscow

Yep. I did in fact have this made. I couldn't find something similar in a material that wasn't awful. So I went to Artscow. It's cute. Not sure I love it, but it suited my needs.

Belt: C4

Okay, honestly this entire outfit is all C4's fault. I saw this belt when it first came out and loved the colors together and the peppermints. Just thought it was adorable. So then I had to have a set made to match. And here we are.

Breeches: Just Togs

So I threw these breeches in my cart when I was buying something for Pammon's stall to keep him entertained. The breeches were on sale for $40 so I figured why not give them a try? I was already paying ridiculous shipping from the UK anyway. Might as well get my money's worth! They're nice. Not my favorites but definitely good enough. Especially for the price point.

Socks: Um... I honestly have no idea where they came from.

They're a little different than the rest of the outfit since they have candy canes instead of peppermints, but whatever. Close enough.

Boots: TuffRider Regal

Confession: I came thisclose to ordering myself a pair of black De Niro's the other day. Equiport again has a pair in my size for right around $300. But I did the responsible thing and did not order them because these aren't dead yet. And as mentioned earlier... Al needs a freaking saddle. So no more boots. For now.

And that's it for today! The holiday cards I think came out okay considering everything is happening in a rush and so late. I'll know for sure when they get here in a few days. Either way, I gotta use them! Lol! If any of you want one, I have plenty to mail out! Send a PM on social or shoot me an email with your address and I'll get you on the list!

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

Ok, so TECHNICALLY it's already Wednesday, but I haven't gone to sleep yet, so I'm counting it as Tuesday. I have three confessions today. The first is super short, so we'll start there. I had a vet appointment scheduled for today for the boys to get their vaccine boosters. So I took the whole day off! For a 10 minute appointment. Yep. Sure did. But I used today to address all of my holiday cards and do almost all of the wrapping. So it was super productive. Which leads to my other confession: I'm RIDICULOUSLY late with my holiday cards.

They're done now and are going in the mailbox tomorrow. But I usually try to have them out the first week of December. Here's what happened...
Originally I was thinking I would dress my ponies in their new buffalo plaid outfits for our holiday cards. But being Jewish the red outfit seemed a bit too Christmassy. So then I had this brilliant idea to get them Chanukah outfits! Of course this was right around Thanksgiving which didn't give Tara at Hopeful Equestrian a whole lot of time to make it for me. But she said it could be done, so I waited. And waited. I didn't want to nag, because it was my own fault for deciding this kind of late. Finally I got shipping notice, woohoo! It was going priority mail so I waited a couple days and still no Chanukah outfits. So I tracked them... They don't track. Tara then contacts me that they came back to her, but she's got them headed back out again. Phew. Ok so that got them to me Friday. Saturday my friend met me to take pics. I picked out cards from Walgreens because they offer same day pick up. It was late night Saturday so I hoped they would be ready Sunday. Nope, website said Monday. But that's ok. Ish. Well, Sunday I'm minding my own business, finishing up the last of my holiday shopping when I get a call from Walgreens. They're having a problem with their printer and it won't be fixed until Friday! FRIDAY! Yeah, that won't work. I asked if I could have the order sent to a different store. But I have to do that myself because their system won't let them do that for me. But also I'm told I should call around because several stores were having troubles. Awesome. It took three stores, but I found one that could print the cards for me. Finally. I go online to re-place the order, only to find that my 50% off coupon had expired. Ugh! I ordered 140 cards, so that 50% was pretty necessary. Another phone call to customer service and 25 minutes later I have a new coupon code. Important to the story is that all of this is happening from the parking lot of my local outlet center. Ok, maybe not important, but it does add to the frustration of the ordeal. Thankfully, I picked the cards up without incident yesterday, and spent a good portion of today getting them addressed and stamped. I'll share photos of our outfits after Christmas when hopefully they will have delivered to everyone. I have a few left so if anyone wants one, send me your address!
And now for confession number three... I sent out my secret blogger santa gift today and wrote a note stating that I would disclose the small businesses each item came from on the back of the note. And then promptly forgot to write them on the back of the note.... So if you were my secret santa recipient, I'll comment where the items are from on your post, or you can comment here and I'll share! So sorry about that... My brain is shrinking I swear.
Anything you need to confess today? Do you send holiday cards?