WHOA.

August really has been an amazing month for this amateur. Some big changes, some small changes, and lots of overall general greatness!

General Greatness:
I blogged already about my trip to VT with two of my equine. The trip only got better from the last post, as my horses went like champs the second week! They both brought home lots of great ribbons, but that's just a bonus. They went so well, I couldn't find enough treats to reward them with! Good boys!

Small changes:
Notice that amazing looking granite behind those ribbons? Yep, that's right, I came home from my trip to find those gorgeous counters installed! The kitchen isn't quite done, but it's almost there! Here are some photos:

I can't wait to see what it looks like with cabinet doors... I also can't wait to have the entire contents of my kitchen off my dining room floor and in said cabinets where it all belongs! All in good time I'm sure...
Big Changes:
I welcomed a new family member when I returned home from VT. That's a BIG change for sure!

His name is Arthur Fonzarelli. He's 3 years old, part pug and part something else (not sure what). He's 18lbs of happy dog! He came from Double Dog Rescue. He was found as a stray in Alabama, went to a shelter that has a high put-down rate, and was rescued by Double Dog and transferred to CT. He is a GREAT dog! Already house trained, loves to play with toys, loves to give kisses, and (most importantly) respects Pia and her personal space. I'm not sure if P is super happy about the addition, but she seems to be coping at least.

 Rough life they lead, huh?
Double Dog Rescue is a great organization if you're looking to bring a new friend into the family. Check out their website if you're interested! The process was really easy, and they only want what's best for the dogs. If things don't work out for ANY REASON, they will take the dog back and place him/her in foster care until a new home comes along..

A little more overall greatness:
This is a biggie for me. This past weekend was the CHJA Medal Finals.
For my non-equine readers, I'll give a little insight into what that means. First off, this is judged on my riding, and what I look like on my horse. So my horse's form isn't judged necessarily, but if I don't do a good job, neither will he. So really it all counts. The finals are split into different age groups. I was in the older adult section. To qualify for the finals, riders need to accumulate 12 points in the CHJA medal class which is held throughout the year at horse shows in CT. I showed in the class two times this year, and was second both times, resulting in my 12 points. I chose to take Rio to finals because he's the most experienced of my horses.
The final consists of up to 3 phases. First we are given a course of 10 jumps to navigate. There are two judges, and together they give you one score. After my course, I was given a 79.5. This is an OK score generally, but the class was not scored particularly high. After everyone had jumped, the high score was only an 86. This put me in 5th place after the first phase.
Phase 2 is a flat class. Which means the top 12 riders (there were 18 at the start this year) all return to the ring at once to show together without jumping. We show at the walk, trot, and canter both directions. After this flat phase, the top 4 are called back for more testing. I knew I was fifth coming back to flat, so I waited anxiously to see if I would be called back to test. And I WAS! I only moved up one place, so I was in 4th going to the test.
Phase 3 is the test. They generally have you test in reverse order, meaning the lowest rank goes first. That was me. This is actually a good position for me, I hate waiting around. The test was fairly simple. Canter directly to fence 8, trot fence 5, canter fences 1 and 7 and return to line. Rio was PERFECT for the test. Good boy! I watched the other three go, each with a little mistake. But had no idea where I'd be at the end of it.
Once the test is complete, the top 12 are all called back into the ring for presentations. They do this in reverse order too. I was ready to collect my white (4th place) ribbon, but it wasn't my number they called. WHOA! Top three! Again I was ready for the 3rd place ribbon, but that wasn't me either! I finished up in the second position. AMAZING! So proud of my Rio. I really feel like I can't take any credit, he's THAT wonderful! Sorry for all of the rambling, but this is a huge deal for me! Generally, I hold my own in the ring, but a top 2 finish at finals was not something I ever expected. I shall leave you with some photos from the day, including all the awesome swag they give to the second place finisher!

Ahhhhhh.... Vacation.

I've been on vacation since Thursday. And by vacation, I mean two of my horses and I are in VT enjoying some beautiful scenery and doing a little horse showing too.  It is GLORIOUS!

Not very impressive prizes week one, but the boys were very well behaved!

The first few days were pretty busy. Jamp showed Thursday when we arrived, and Rio showed Friday and Saturday. Sunday wound up being a day off for us as was Monday. Tuesday is warm up day at the horse show, but since my boys don't really need to practice a whole lot, we just went out for an easy workout on the flat. More of that today (Wednesday). I think tomorrow will be a lesson for Jamp and one last easy ride for Rio. Showing Rio again Friday and Saturday, Jamp Saturday and Sunday. Phew!
Show days are always really early mornings, so I wasn't able to get any runs in. But I figured Tuesday would be a perfect day to go since Monday was for resting. It was pretty chilly in the morning, so I saved the run for after working the horses. It was the perfect plan, temps in the low to mid 70's with a light breeze. Gorgeous day for a run:

This was toward the end of my run. Fortunately I've been coming here for a long time, so I know the entire end of the run is up hill. I planned accordingly and ran farther into town, so I could have a nice cool down stroll up the mountain when I was done. Cheating? Maybe, but I'm on VACATION!
I also got to exercise my wallet while on vacation... I have yet to decide if that's good or bad. Shopping makes me happy, but I really need to start behaving myself! When I get home, the reckless spending must end. Sad face. I have two weddings to go to in September so I found two dresses marked down to $49.00 each. They both retailed around $200, so that was pretty good! Here are some bad photos of them:

They look tons better on, trust me. I do need to find shoes for them when I get home, but there's a small chance I have something already. (Hopefully!) Speaking of shoes.... I also got these:

Bad photos I know, it's dark in my motel room. The bottom ones are for wearing at the horse show, the ones that look the same up top there are actually gold and pretty silly. And I love them. Yay shoes!
Not to be completely selfish though, I also got presents for everyone helping me out at  home. I hope they like their gifts!
The HIGHLIGHT of my shopping happened at the Vermont Country Store.

Have you ever been? You should definitely stop in if you're ever in Southern Vermont. They have lots of old fashioned toys (in old fashioned packaging no less!) and all kinds of delicious snacks. You can pretty much find anything you could ever need there from housewares to clothing. Though the clothes... we'll just say are also old fashioned.
My second favorite purchase here was for my niece:

Adorable right? She's too young right now to care, but I think she'll love this next year. Raggedy Ann was one of my faves when I was little. My neighbor made me one of these dolls even. I still have her :)
But here it is. The HIGHLIGHT of my entire trip to VT:

NEW BROOMS! Seriously. I'm not even being facetious. These are the best brooms for sweeping my rubber barn floor, and I just put my last unused one out on the floor. I bought all they had, but this should hold me over until next year.
So that's what I've been up to! Spending money, horse showing, and a little running thrown in there too.
How is your summer going? Do anything fun and exciting? Do share!

Oops.

I'm soooo bad about blogging lately! Summer is just so busy. I'll do my best to play catch up soon!
Right now, I need to tell you about July's Stridebox. I was a little not so excited about June since there were a few things we'd already seen. Well I feel terrible about even mentioning that because July's box was amazing!

Look how much stuff is in there! This month was focused on hydration and it was perfect timing here in New England. We've had I think four heat waves already with temps over 90 and heavy humidity. I'm not gonna lie, I haven't done much running in that.
But before we get to the awesome hydration part, let's look at the other items:

The Guide

A new brand of gel to try! I haven't tried this yet, but I'm sure I will soon!

This is that fancy tape you see the volleyball players wearing in the olympics. I've never tried it, but am super curious about it. 

Um. This is AMAZING. Seriously. See how it says apple pie? Yep, it tastes like that. I may need to buy more of these.

Ok,  here's where it gets fun:

I was excited to see this little easy to carry bottle. But I had no idea how many items were packed inside!

A second guide! Seriously, that's how much stuff was in the bottle.

Look at all of that! I haven't used these yet, but I definitely plan to. Hydration is super important this time of year!

So that's that! Pretty impressive Stridebox this month! I'm definitely keeping this sub going for awhile.

These Mondays keep sneaking up on me...

I'm not sure where this weekend went... It was kind of a split weekend for me, since I had to work Friday. Maybe that's why it went so fast!
Thursday was July 4th. 'Merica's b-day! So most people do things like drink beers, go swimming, BBQ. But we all know I'm nothing like most people. I got up early and ran a 4 mile road race with my friend Katie right in my own little town! (Check out Katie's blog here).
This is us pre-race:

See how happy and not sweaty we look? That didn't last long. It was already over 80 degrees at 8 am and we won't even discuss the humidity. Now I'd like to point out, I am merely discussing the weather, NOT COMPLAINING! I am fully aware that because of how much I HATE WINTER, I cannot ever complain about heat. (Though I think it's fair to complain about humidity. It's awful when it's hot OR cold.) This lovely 4 mile tour through our small town is very pretty, fortunately somewhat shady, and UNfortunately VERY hilly. Ugh. I hate hills almost as much as winter. But not quite. I mean, at least hills are good for me in the long run (get it? See what I did there?) Due to the weather and the hills... This is us after:

(We accumulated some more friends along the way. Well before really, and then they found us again after. Details...) Notice we are soaking wet and the smiles are much smaller. But we finished! I have to give HUGE props to Katie for running with me the whole time. This race was a struggle for me and my old lady legs. I even walked a bunch. Katie was feeling great, but stayed with me anyway. So nice of her! Nothing worse than a rough, lonely run. Definitely helps to have a buddy by your side! Also a huge help are all the neighbors who had hoses and sprinklers going for the runners to cool off with along the route. I love living in my small town and all of the camaraderie you see.
I already mentioned I had to work Friday, so not to much to discuss there. Work, work, work. Fortunately, after a surprisingly busy morning, it did quiet down, and I got to leave at 4 to go ride. Yay!
Saturday was more horse show fun for me! It was still very hot, so I decided that I would just take Jamp to the horse show. Rio is getting up there in years and doesn't do very well in the hot weather so he got a reprieve. Jampy, though, is in his prime; he can handle anything! He was such a super boy Saturday, but I was a little off my game. We ended up with lower ribbons in all of our classes:

For those not in the know... yellow is third, white fourth, and green sixth

I checked the mail when I got back from the horse show and found these photos had arrived from the Saratoga show in June:

Rio being perfect

Jampy also being perfect

They are just the cutest, aren't they? Love them so much.
So after checking the mail, Ducky got a schooling ride from my trainer (which was long overdue!) and he was great! Then I cleaned the stalls and rode Rio... Phew, long day!
And finally... SUNDAY! I've been looking forward to my Sunday off for weeks now. WEEKS! I got up at 7 to feed the horses and clean stalls, and then had the whole rest of the day for ME! Well mostly anyway. After barn chores, I went to the farmer's market in town. Once again, I was reminded how great it is to live in a small town. Fresh grown veggies from local farmers? Yes please! Not only that, but my favorite breadmaker was there, and I even got some fancy cheese! I know it's fancy because it's really expensive. And delicious. Mmmm, cheese.
Post farmer's market, I checked on the ponies and then jumped in my pool for a swim. So nice to finally use it! P joined me for a bit too:

After relaxing poolside for about an hour, I got a call that my vet was nearby and could stop by for a little maintenance Jamp has been needing. What good timing is that?! Perfect! So we did that, and then I tackled laundry and house straightening. All in all, a very productive, yet relaxing Sunday. Ahhhh. So nice!
How did you all spend your weekend? Do anything fun? Relaxing? Crazy? I hope whatever you did was as relaxing yet productive as my weekend!

Still playing catch up!

I bet you were all like what happened to Ophelia's Apothecary this month? Did the amateur unsubscribe?! Fear not, my readers, fear not. I just haven't gotten around to posting. So here goes!
I didn't bother with a before opening photo, but here's a just out of the box photo:

I'm always super excited to see what's inside. Ophelia does a great job of picking things to match your profile and once again, she's spot on!

This is a loose powder eye shadow in a sparkly whitish color. Gorgeous!

This is a rollerball scent called Summer '13. I LOVE it. It smells like summer in a tube. Seriously.

Green scrubby mitt! I use a lot of body wash and am always wanting to replace my scrubby ( I mean you can  only use them for so long before, well... EW) So I loved getting this one. And I love green, all shades. Win-win!

I forget the actual scent of this soap sample, but it smells great. And all of Ophelia's soaps are non greasy feeling. Another love!

Ok so you all probably don't know me that well. But I really think Ophelia knows me very well... I often joke that people invite me to BBQ's and outdoor events simply because they need bug control. Mosquitoes LOVE me. Love. Seriously. I went mini golfing the other night and came home with 11 bites.  11. And they all itch. So Ophelia included BUG SPRAY in the box this month. Yes, that's right, homemade, natural bug spray. I really wish I'd had it with me for the putt putt outing...

And now for my FAVORITE part of the box. You all know of my love of arm candy. So it's not shocking that I LOVE this wrap bracelet. It's hard to tell in the pictures but it has an adorable little butterfly charm on it. Also it's a really nice shade of purple which didn't photograph very well.

 So as per the norm, Ophelia's Apothecary sent an AMAZING high value box. I really love the products, especially that everything is homemade. OH! I nearly forgot, I didn't do an individual pic for some reason, but you can see way back in the beginning of my post there was a bubble ring! Go ahead and scroll back up to see, I'll wait......
See it? Adorable right? How fun for summer! So nostalgic to blow bubbles outside.
As per the norm, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this sub!
Want to try it? You really should. It's 15.00 per month and you get so much for the money. Go visit Ophelia's Apothecary on Facebook to sign up. Tell her Stacie from an Amateur at Large sent you. If four of my lovely readers sign up, I get a free month! Yay! And should you sign up four people you'll get a free one too!

June Stridebox!

Ugh, sorry for being so behind this month! I've already used most of this month's Stridebox and am pretty sure July's will be here soon! Hopefully I'll be more on top of things for July in general. So without further babble, let's see the goods:

I love the logo sticker :)

Info Card front

Info card back

This is a must for long distance!

I actually haven't tried this yet, but I'm kind of excited to. I'm intrigued by these squeezy bottle things.

I was a little disappointed about this one as we've gotten them before. But it is a nice product so no real complaints!

These are GREAT for a quick pick me up mid run. They're easy to eat and taste pretty good!

Another repeat. But it's been super hot, so I was actually really excited to get another one.

ANOTHER repeat. I got yellow laces last time, so i guess they're a little different. But <<confession>>  I haven't actually used the yellow ones yet...

The extras: some stickers and additional info

I saved the best for last! I'm always wanting, no NEEDING a good foot rub after running. But alas, I live alone and have no one to rub my feet. Well welcome home little Foot Rubz! This little ball of awesomeness is probably my most favorite Stridebox product EVER!

Seriously, you should go get one of these. It's happiness in a ball.

So there it is! June's Stridebox. It probably would not have been my favorite box due to all the repeat items. I mean the whole point is to try new things, right? But that little green ball of foot happiness definitely made me happy with June.
Like what you see? Want to try it out? Go visit Stridebox and sign up for next month!

Monday already?!

Happy Monday everyone! I had an exhausting pony filled weekend once again. But it was a great one!
Saturday was spent cleaning stalls, riding, and bathing horses. Because on Sunday, I took Jamp and Rio to a horse show near the farm. I LOVE nearby horse shows! Especially this one because we did really well:

What good boys I have! Fortunately, the classes went first thing, so the horses and I were home by 2 to take care of Ducky and unpack the trailer. I gave the Duckman the day off. I had to get up at 4 to have the other two braided in time for the show, and I was pooped! I think he appreciated it though:

I had all kinds of plans to get a four mile run in this weekend, but that wasn't meant to be. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day! Tomorrow morning will be a 3 miler with hills though, and Thursday is the Chester Rotary Four on the Fourth! It's a tough race, 4 miles of nonstop hills. Ugh. Sometimes I wonder why I do these things... Then I remember: I love eating.
What did all of you do this weekend? Anything fun? Exciting? Yummy?