Springtime in New England

It's officially Springtime here in New England. According to the calendar. And my seasonal allergies. But it really doesn't feel anything at all like Spring. Normal temps this time of year should be in the 50's. We've been quite lucky if we see 40's. Friday into Saturday morning we had a snowstorm leaving about 5 inches in its wake. But thankfully, the sun came out and it warmed all the way up to 42 by the afternoon so some of it melted. Then it refroze because the high Sunday was 31. If anyone knows where actual Spring is, please send it to CT. I promise we will be very hospitable! In the meantime, here are some gorgeous spring photos from the farm:

Thursday's Threads!

It's pseudo spring-like today! Finally! So I went with a pseudo spring-like outfit. I think it's maybe more suited to autumn, but you all know I'm an amateur at everything I do. And thus, I wear what I want when I want to. (Within reason of course, I would really like to wear my onesie jammies everyday, but that's going a little too far.)
Overview Photo:

The boots:

You may recognize the boots from Truthful Tuesday... I wanted to get them worn just this once before they go back to where I found them for the summer. They're from Nine West, suede, and I love them. Wish I had remembered them sooner!

The pants are by Earl Jeans. I think maybe you've seen them before? I can't quite remember, senility is setting in already! But they are very comfy. I love the light blue stitching on them. Though it looks white in the photo. You'll have to trust me on that!

The top is by a company called Between Me and You, which is an odd name for a company in my opinion... Also it puts that Shaggy song in my head. Anyway, I really like the little speckles of color in the fabric. So cute and different! (Plus they make the top a little more springy with the coral and yellow in there.)

Arm Party time!
Left is wearing the geranium bracelet you may recognize from here, along with my usual watch. Right is really partying hard today... First is a bracelet I made awhile ago, then the Jules Smith Spike Bracelet which I got from LBB, the thin beaded one is from Alex & Ani, next is my Hermes bracelet, and last is a chevron bracelet from Ettika. Ettika is having a sale today because they were featured on Good Morning America! Use code GMA for a discount on select items.

So that's it! What are you all wearing today? Is it Spring where you are?

No Mani Monday today...

That was short lived huh? I have a good excuse though! I got to ride MY PONIES this weekend! I also did a lot of running, but I'm thinking I'll split ponies and running into separate posts today.
Saturday was a relatively gorgeous day. It started out a bit cloudy, but eventually the sun came out and it warmed all the way up to 60! SPRING! I had an eye doctor appointment in the morning at which they dilated my pupils, so I had to hide in the house until about 1 when I could see again. But even then I was bit blinded by the sun (isn't that a lyric?). I really dislike the whole riding in sunnies look, but I had to do it.

Seriously, look at that sky! What a day!

Ok, enough about the sun. Let's talk horses. I know most of you readers probably aren't horse people. So let me fill you in a little on what my equine have been doing all winter. A whole lot of NOTHING. They go out, but with the ice and snow, they can't really run around or anything. As a result, they are WILD. Seriously, WILD. Caps lock wild. The older boys will go out on a lunge line and get their crazies out there before I get on. A lunge line is a long leash like rope. The horse (ideally) works around you on a circle, allowing you to control their antics somewhat. Here are some pics to explain (and show off my handsome steeds):

Ducky is a bit more of a challenge. He prefers not to lunge. I'm pretty convinced he knows how, as I have had a few moments of success with him, but he's really not good about it. He tries to come stand with me or will refuse to do anything other than walk on the circle. Very frustrating. Especially since he's definitely cuckoo in the brain from all the time off.

There are a few things that do not help when dealing with fresh ponies. Mostly noises, wild animals, and wind. So of course we were having gusts up to 30 mph. Why wouldn't we? But I put on my big girl pants and got to work. I decided for my own safety to give Ducky a little bit of a sedative so I could ride him without getting either of us injured. It takes about a half hour to forty minutes to take effect, so I started with Rio. He was a little frisky on the lunge line, but not at all out of control. I think he was excited to start working again too. Once I climbed on, he was pretty great! Just a few moments of excitement the first time we picked up the canter. Who can blame him with the wind?

My favorite view!

Ducky was ready for me by the time I was done with Rio. I decided not to push my luck with him. We worked on a small circle so I could keep his attention better. The wind had really picked up, and I didn't trust that he would keep his mind on me. Plus my neighbor was outside making all sorts of weird noises. We just did walk and trot for about 20 minutes, and he was really a good boy!

I saved the Jamposaur for last. I was a little apprehensive about lunging him at the end of the ring because he's quite certain that's where monsters breed. Also with the gale force winds, I was a little worried I was going to wind up with a horse in my lap. Thankfully he kept himself in check and lunged very nicely. I wasn't at all worried when I climbed aboard. He was actually a bit tired by the time I rode which was nice, but my poor legs had to work to keep him going! Quite a feat after not riding for 3 months. Ouch. I didn't get a photo from aboard Jampy but here's another of him looking handsome on the lunge line:

Alas, all good things must come to an end. So with sundown Saturday night came the return of winter. High on Sunday was about 39 degrees. Waaaaaahhhhhhhh. I couldn't ride early due to running obligations (more on that to follow!). By the time I was ready to ride it was getting really cold out. I told myself to stop whining and go work horses. I started with Rio and then did Ducky, similar routine as Saturday. While on Ducky though, the wind really picked up and it was getting colder by the minute. I thought I was being a baby, but checked the weather anyway. Low and behold:

Yeah. Feels like 30. No wonder I was freezing. I decided to let Jamp off easy with just a good grooming session in the barn. I think he was grateful. He had fun taking selfies too:

This week is looking very cold with the chance of a snowstorm on Tuesday, so the horses get to go back on vacation until things thaw out again. I'm hoping it's only a few days. I can't wait to get back in shape and get to some horse shows!

Mani Monday

Since Sunday was winter once more, I had time to prepare for Mani Monday again this week! I know you're super excited. This week I'm trying to force Spring with my mani. If I paint it, maybe it will come?

You'll have to excuse my stubby little middle nail... He had an accident. Anyway, today I used Julep Denver as my base coat and Julep Antonia is the pretty pink glitter top coat.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Denver goes on. It's not a very thick polish, but the color goes on really well. Two coats were full coverage with no brush marks or anything.
On the contrary I was kind of disappointed with Antonia. In the bottle it looks like a total glitter bomb. See?

But when you apply, it goes on very thin, with just a few tiny pieces of glitter left behind. I had to really fish for the larger glitters. It took about three coats to get a decent coverage. I do love the look though, just a little bummed out by the formula.

What do you think? Do you have anything springy on your nails today?

PS: Head on over to Facebook and like Amateur at Large!

Stacie and Katie's Not so Excellent Adventure

It's a BEAUTIFUL day here FINALLY! About 55 degrees and sunshiny goodness. Ahhhhh. So what better day to get the long run in, right? Yeah I guess.
Katie was running 15 today, but I needed only 10, so she went out a little early and did her 5, then we met up and drove to a nice flat nearby town to run together. All started out well. We headed out slowly toward the water for a lovely view for much of our run. About a mile and a half in I realized my trusty iPhone was no longer with us. UGH! So we turned around, eyes to the ground hunting for the phone. The positive thing here, is that the 1.5 miles we backtracked flew right by. No complaints about running there! We passed lots of runners, none of who had seen the phone. <<Sigh>> Katie said lets go back to the cars, and she'd call my phone from hers, maybe someone had picked it up. Someone had! Another runner! So off we went again in search of the runner with the red shirt. We found her at about mile 4.25. Yay! How lucky is that? A fellow runner rescued my phone (from the street!) so it wouldn't get run over. Runners are good people. She even tried calling my dad to see about returning it to me before we had called it. Good people runners are. Here's my new favorite runner and I upon my reunion with the phone:

Don't we look happy?!

So we still had about 6 miles left but the road we wound up on would actually dump us out right around the same route we had planned. Imagine that? What luck! Found my phone and still ran the pre-planned course, just backwards. Win!

For whatever reason, the rest of the run was pretty tough. Probably a lot because I have primarily been training on the treadmill. And for Katie because she had already run 5 miles BEFORE we headed out for 10. Rather than let the difficulty get us down, we decided to take some short photo breaks along the way. It gave us a chance to rest briefly and provided great photos for you!

So we did somehow finish the 10 miles. We lost a phone and Katie's gu along the way. But we actually found BOTH items eventually. Crazy. In a good way! The run itself was HARD. There were puddles, mud, and ice along the way. Seriously, look how filthy my shoes were at the end:

But we managed to get it done. Which is always a win in my book. We're equestrians by sport, running is our hobby afterall!
I shall leave you with our final thoughts on the run: