Ahhh Monday...

After the crazy (all good crazy!) weekend, I'm actually relieved to be back at work. It's almost relaxing! I **think** this is the last of my out of control weekends. I'm not sure what I'll do when things are calmer.... Sleep maybe? Start back to running? That second one needs to happen regardless. I stuffed my face for 4 days straight. More or less non stop. Moooo.

So anyway, I figured I'd take you along on my weekend adventures since I have no running to talk about. Or riding really. I rode, but no shows this weekend. Let's go see all my outfits and events!

Friday:
I had dinner plans with my friend that helped me at a horse show recently. My treat as a thank you for giving up her Sunday to hold my horse for me. I was super excited though, when she asked if I would rather go to the town fair. DUH! Of COURSE I did! Mmm fair food.... We met up around 8 after I finished riding and taking care of the ponies. We walked around a bit, did some people watching and animal petting, and of course stuffed our faces. We got to watch some hilarious pig races too!

I couldn't stay out too late as I had a braiding job for the evening. It was actually kind of nice to braid after a glass of wine and a full belly!

I got home around 12:30 and hung out with the pugs for a little bit before bed. I REALLY wanted to go to sleep right away, but they had been alone most of the day, and I knew the same would hold true for the rest of the weekend. Thank goodness they're low energy pugs, or they would really be hating me lately!

Saturday:
My barn helper had the weekend off, so I was up at 7 to do barn chores and get the horses worked early.

Next stop on Stacie's busy weekend was a trip to the toy store to get a birthday present for stop #3. Once that mission was accomplished, I ran home to get showered and prettied up for my best friend's daughter's third birthday party! I was zero time between stop #3 (birthday party) and stop #4 (lobster fest), so I had to wear the same outfit to both.

 The party was an hour away and started at 3... Lobsterfest was an hour and half away from the party and started at 6. But I also had to stop home in between to feed the four leggeds. And of course there was traffic... I was late to both stops. But not tremendously at least.
I am lacking in party photos because I don't want to post pics of other people's kids... but here's a present, part of a face, and a hand!

I got home to feed the ponies around 6 and then headed over to my dad's house for LobsterFest. It's exactly what you think... about 25 people, 75 lobsters, 25 lbs of steak, and some sides. Oh and wine of course... Here are the highlights:

Father/Daughter Lobster Outfits

Making friends with my dinner...

It was a gorgeous night for some gluttony of the lobster variety! The best part is everyone's getting... ahem... OLDER, so I was home by 10. The puggers and I hung out watching some tv, I may or may not have napped on the floor with them, and then it was off to bed!

Sunday:
Sunday started out much the same as Saturday. Barn chores and pony play time!

Next was another quick visit with Ducky. Unfortunately I left my phone in the car again and therefore took zero photos. Sorry again! Next time!

After hanging with Ducky for a bit (I groomed him and got to watch him work a little before I had to leave) I drove home as fast as I dared to get ready for my friend's wedding. I only had 20 minutes... good thing it was nearby! So funny thing happens at the wedding... I'm standing around chatting, when my friend Ashley comes up and says, "nice dress!" Yep, you guessed it, we wore the same dress! Oops... We told people we were the fake bridesmaids... It was a beautiful event, not a bad way to spend a Sunday!

My last stop for the weekend was to drop off some leftover lobster with my sister-in-law, visit with my niece, and meet their new rescue husky Sasha!

And FINALLY at 8 pm on Sunday, I got to relax with the puggers:

How was your weekend? Was it fun filled and action packed with decadent foods like mine?

Barkbox!

I recently stumbled upon a code for Barkbox that equaled a 6 months sub for $56.00. That's a HUGE savings as it's normally $29.00 per month. How could I not indulge the short fur kids?! Our first one arrived this past week, so I figured I'd share it with you. Let's see what was in it!

Info Card:

I thought this was a dinosaur, but apparently it's a hippo hybrid of some sort... Anyway it's adorable and squeaky; Artie will love it!

Initially, I thought this was a treat ball, but it's actually not. It's a teaser ball! A ball within a ball, if you will. The outer ball is hard plastic and it has holes in it. Inside is a softer ball that they are supposed to want to try and get out. Only they can't. I'm excited to see them interact with this toy!

The rest of the items are all snacks. I'm not sure if Pia can eat them all, she has a lot of food allergies, but Artie definitely can! I did notice though, they are mostly wheat free, which bodes well for P! Nice work Barkbox!

So that is our first Barkbox! I was definitely satisfied with the contents and am looking forward to spoiling the fur kids with everything. I wish they'd make a sub box for ponies!

Weekend Recap and some news!

Ok, ok we can start with the news. It's nothing all that exciting, but I decided my little corner of the web needed it's own Facebook page. Click here and like Amateur at Large!

Now on to more important things... My weekend!
Saturday was actually a gorgeous spring day. Temps near 60 and the sun even came out! Amazing. Similarly amazing is how much more I can get done when it's nice out.
P had a vet appointment at 8:40 which fortunately was quick and painless. It was also a good little kick in the pants to get me moving early!

Once P was settled inside, I went out to see about working some ponies. My ring is still half covered in snow, but there was enough defrosted land to work them on the lunge line! WOOHOO!

Rio and Jamp were very well behaved. I think they're happy to get back to work! Ducky was a little naughty pants, but that's to be expected from him. Here are some photos!

Rio

Jampy

The Duck

I cannot wait to get back on!!!! Soon I hope.

After pony time, I took the shorter four leggeds out for a stroll. They were probably 85 times more excited that the horses were to be out in the sunshine! I didn't take a photo while we walked but this was the aftermath:

Those are some sleepy pugs! 

Once all the four leggeds were exhausted relaxing from all the fresh air, I headed out for a run. As it turns out, I missed the deadline for the lower price on the half marathon I was planning to run in April. I don't have an extra $70 right now, so I'm going to have to skip it. The good news though, is that I don't have to run long! Woohoo! Instead, I've decided to work on my strength and speed a little. I headed out planning to run some hills over 5 miles. However, after a few miles of hills, I wasn't feeling that distance. Instead I ran 3 miles of hills and then did some sprints. It was actually super fun, and I'm really sore today so that means it must have also been productive.

I took a ridiculously long shower after my run. It was glorious. And then went out to get dog food and something to cook for dinner. It's been awhile since a run has left me with the runger (def: extreme hunger induced by running) but this one REALLY did. I was starving! While I was preparing dinner I let myself have a little treat of low sodium chips and dip. Check out the dip I discovered:

It's actually relatively good for you, and it is DELICIOUS! I love anything dill so this was a major discovery for me. I was even semi behaved and only had a little bit before dinner. I made salmon marinated in lemon and dill, and half sweet/half idaho mashed potatoes. I was too lazy to make a veggie.

Yummy in my tummy. MMmmmmm

That was about it for the evening. TV watching and bed early! (I'm old!)

Sunday was winter again. High of 32 but felt like 22 with the windchill. Ugh. Which means I hid in my house all day and didn't do anything worth writing about really. I shall leave you with my favorite view.