A Little Whining and Some Weekend Recapping

 Do you ever feel like you go away for a couple days and everything sort of falls apart? That seems to generally happen for me, but I imagine it can't JUST be me. I arrived home yesterday around 4:30 with Jampy to find my poor handsome boy Rio has some serious facial muscle atrophy.

It's like one side of his face just deflated. So very strange. Waiting to hear back from my vet on this one.

Went outside to pick some strawberries, which happily they were there! Last year the wild bunnies ate them all before I could get any. But I found my pool looking like this:

In case it's hard to see, it's green and completely clouded over. Ew. I do not recommend swimming in that!

So not much I can do about either of those issues on a Sunday evening, so I head off to dreamland. Around 10 am this morning, I get a call from Greyhound Bus asking if I bought two people who aren't me tickets from someplace in CA to Reno, NV. Um. No. No I definitely did not do that. So the very nice Greyhound man says he will not process that charge, and that I should call the credit card company. So I do, and find out these people also charged two nights at some ritzy $800 a night hotel in CA. Lovely. Thankfully I'm not held accountable, but sheesh! This is the second time this year I've had my info stollen. And both times it seems by someone in California. Whoever you are, please STOP IT!

Ok, that concludes the whining portion of this post. Now on to more exciting things! My horse show weekend part II!

Thursday it was raining at home when I left, but fortunately, it cleared up about halfway there. I arrived back in Saratoga to sunny skies and just in time to watch my horse show with my trainer's daughter. He went great which was exciting since she was getting him a little extra ring time to prepare him for when I would show on Friday. I wish I could show you all the pics I took of them, but I didn't take any. Ooops. I then was treated to a ride on one of my trainer's horses, which was super fun for me! I don't get to ride other horses that often!

I decided this week to move up a division and jump a little higher. Which also meant I could sleep later as my classes weren't until the end of the day. It was another gorgeous day, so I was happy to hang around watching horses show for the morning. Eventually I got Jampy all braided.

Isn't he handsome?! He was SO GOOD for me Friday afternoon! My trainer even said he thought those were the best rounds he'd seen us have EVER. Whoa! The only bummer is that as hard as we try, and as good as he is, we don't have the wow factor that some of the others have. Despite that we still earned ribbons in every class. Good boy Jampy!

Saturday was pretty much exactly the same as Friday. I showed at the end of the day, so spent the day watching the horse show and braiding the boy. Jampy got a nap in too!

He was, as on Friday, SO AMAZINGLY GOOD! And again he ribboned in every class! What a good boy! We also had our alumni classes Saturday afternoon. (This horse show, as you may recall from last week's post, is a fundraiser for my Alma Mater Skidmore, so they hold alumni classes just for fun.) There were only three of us competing, and sadly, we were last in all the classes! But Jampy was a good boy, just a little tired. Hey, it happens!

After showing Saturday, I hung out with my buddy Browzer:

His sister Moxie was much too busy to take selfies with me though.

Sunday was another beautiful day at the show, so I spent a few hours watching the last few classes before heading home.

After ridiculous drivers and some toll booth traffic, it felt great to be home. Rio and Jamp were super happy to be reunited:

And I was super happy to have my puggies back!

(They weren't as excited for photos) So that's it! The 2014 Skidmore College Saratoga Classic is a wrap. I'm often a little sad on the last day of the show since I have so much fun! But it's ALWAYS nice to come home and see all the kiddies I left behind while I was away.

How was your weekend? Have you dealt with identity theft?

Thursday's Threads: Horse Show Edition

I warned you it may happen again.... and it did! Today I headed back to Saratoga for the second week of the Saratoga Classic. And thus, I'm wearing riding clothes again. Here it is:

Let's start at the top with my favorite polo shirt: Ariat

It's from Ariat and has cantering ponies ALL OVER IT! It's a little second grade, but whatever, I love it. I wish it came in green. I'd wear that too. (Please excuse the attached pug hair, it's a hazard of being a pug parent.)

The Belt: Uno Magnetic

This belt has magnets instead of a buckle. I was skeptical that it would be strong enough to actually hold up my pants and stay in place but it totally does. I had a 50% coupon around the holidays that I used to buy it. Good deal! It has a little race car that sticks to the front with a magnet also, but I was afraid I might lose it while riding so it stayed home.

Pants: Ariat

Seriously, these are the least flattering pants I own. Two years ago the style of riding breeches changed to these, and they are NOT for the large bottomed woman. What can you do? Sometimes you just gotta look chub.

Socks:

We talked about these last time. These have horses in a field all over them. Seeing all the runs in the photo though, it may be time to retire them!

The shoes are the same as last week too:

So that's it! I should be home next week so maybe I'll have a normal person outfit to share!
What are you wearing today?

You're not gonna believe this...

But I've actually gone running TWICE this week! I know. I swear I'm not lying. To prove it, I will show you some photos and tell you allllll about my runs. (So if you're not into that, no need to keep reading. No hard feelings.)

Monday evening I was all, it's kind of hot... maybe I should wait until the morning. But then I saw the morning wasn't going to be much cooler. So after this:

I headed out for a 3 mile run. I don't know about you, but I'm always making up rules. Today's rule was "No walking." I wanted to make sure I ran the hills and the entire three miles without pausing. But I was ok with it being slow. Fair is fair. I'm happy to report I followed the rules, and survived the three non-stop miles. (How sad is it that I ran a half marathon in March, and now in June am so happy to finish 3... sigh.) As I figured, it was slow. But slow miles are better than no miles. One goal at a time folks!

I was happy to have my rest day Tuesday. I took both boys out for grass, ran some errands, packed for the horse show, and played with the pugs (and also our guest Morkie Juno).

As per the norm, I hit the snooze button about 800 times this morning. But finally I made myself get up and out the door. The first mile I was thinking, maybe I'll just run 2 today since I'm so late. And then decided no, I need to do 3 miles. I did allow two very short up hill walks though, as it was already quite warm, and VERY humid. I know asthma isn't a reason not to run, but humid days do have a big impact on breathing. Could I have pushed through? Probably. But since I'm just starting back, I prefer the safe, slow, and steady approach. I paused my watch during the walks though, so I was sure to get 3 miles of running in.

I run a lot faster when I don't time the uphills! Haha, yeah yeah, I'm a cheater. I saw some more ducks out there, and the lake was gorgeous this morning:

Having pretty things to look at really helps the run go by. It's nice to get back out there! Honestly, as much as I don't want to admit it, I feel so much more energetic during the day after a morning workout.

Have you been getting some runs in? What's your favorite morning workout?

Truthful Tuesday

Well... it's 3:00 PM on a Tuesday. So far at work today I've entered nine orders and returned a handful of emails. And that's about the extent of my productivity.

So today's admission is that I've been internet shopping at work (and I guess also blogging). I stopped over at 6pm.com and ordered a new swimsuit:



a sneaker/boot hybrid:

 

and a pair of running pants for the winter (hey, it's good to plan ahead):





Oops. I guess this sort of ties in with last week, too, since I bought shoes. What can you do?

What have you been doing today? Working hard? Hardly working? Done any internet shopping of your own?!

Horse Show Weekends are my Favorite

For those of you that don't know, my Alma Mater is Skidmore College. It is located in the quaint little city of Saratoga Springs, home of the historic race track. Every summer in June, they host a horse show that serves as the largest single annual fundraiser of the college. The money raised at the horse show goes toward scholarships for local kids to attend Skidmore. OF COURSE I have to compete at this one!

 

So last Sunday, as you may recall, I drove Jampy up to the track and left him with my trainer. My plan was to go back up Thursday morning. My estimated time of arrival was around 11 am. I started out on time, but after two hours of driving, I realized my saddle was still at home. UGH! Thankfully I didn't have to show that day, so I turned myself around and went back for it. I finally arrived around 2:30. It had been raining in Saratoga for two days straight and as a result the horse show was already done when I arrived. Fortunately, the rain took a break and I was able to ride for a little bit. Good thing since I hadn't worked a horse since Saturday!
After riding I headed over to campus to make use of the free wifi and work for an hour.

It felt just like old times! I really loved my four years at Skidmore, and every so often, I wish I could go back and do it again! Once I was caught up on work, I headed back to my friend's house where I freeload when visiting Saratoga. I get to play with this guy and his sister while I'm there too:

Browzer thinks rainy days are for sleeping. He is correct.

Due to the schedule changes from the rain, my classes were moved from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday. So Friday was basically a free day! I slept in (till 7:30!) and then headed over to the horse show to ride Jampy. It was pouring again, so I had to get a little inventive with a place to ride. I found an almost empty shed row to work around that was covered:

The rest of the day was spent doing some shopping and a little work. Around 3:30 the rain took a break and I brought Jamp out for a snack:

I then went back to my home away from home to get changed for dinner. I was meeting an old friend 6, but wanted to stop in at Flores Gallery to visit with another old friend and see some pretty Thoroughbred themed art. After all that, I had tickets to a show at 8 pm! (Busy day off!)

The show was great, though ran a little longer than I'd hoped. I HAD to stay till the end though, as I wanted to hear "Barely Breathing." I knew he would play it for the encore. And he did. And it was fantastic. Brought me right back to high school summers! The Zankel music theater at Skidmore is a fantastic venue. It was built after I graduated so I didn't get to enjoy it as a student, but I think I probably would not have appreciated it as much as I do now anyway. It's a smaller venue, making the event feel very intimate. Not a bad seat in the house! You can read more about it here.

4:30 Saturday morning arrived extra quickly after my late night at the concert. But I was excited to get up and braid Jampy since we were actually getting to show finally! My classes went first thing so I was on by 8 am. He was FANTASTIC! The jumps just kept coming up right out of stride. I couldn't believe how relaxed and easy he was to ride. Unfortunately I don't have photos of us, but you'll have to take my word for how perfect he was. We finished in 5th place in our first class and 3rd for our second, both out of 17 very fancy horses. Good boy Jampy!

I was happy to be done showing early, so I was able to make it to my friend's baby shower. It was an hour south of the horse show. I only get to see her maybe once a year, so it was perfect timing! AND I even made it back from the shower in time to watch the hunter derby in the evening.That ended a little after 9, so I went straight to bed for another 4:30 am wake up call.

Sunday was slightly less perfect than Saturday, but Jampy was wonderful. No complaints at all! We were less consistent with the jumps coming right out of stride. Which means I had to make adjustments to our pace. When this happens the picture is less smooth. But we still held our own and won two 6th place ribbons.

 I stayed for a little bit and watched the horse show before heading back home to Rio and Ducky. I fed them dinner, unpacked the car, and picked the Pugs up from their weekend at Grandma's. Thanks to her for taking care of them, AND for having pizza ready when I arrived! How great are moms?! The Pugs were super happy to see me, as was I to see them! We got home and they pretty much passed out while I paid some bills.

Weekends with Grandma are exhausting

I couldn't wait to do the same to be honest. What a long, but fantastic weekend! Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Oh! and I received the photos I bought at the Mystic Horse show two weekends ago. As promised, here they are:

What a stud!

Thursday's Threads: Semi-Horse Show Edition

So this is the semi-horse show edition of Thursday's Threads! The first of a few I imagine. I say semi because I'm not competing today, so my outfit is not what I would wear for competition. It's just what we call "schooling attire." Also my footwear will be different for actual riding, but I didn't want to wear boots all day while I was driving. Not so comfy.

Full outfit:

 Let's start at the bottom today!

Shoes: Margaritaville

I got these shoes in Vermont last year. I had been in town in nice normal person clothes and shoes, but needed to check on the horses and didn't want to go back to the hotel for other footwear. These were on clearance for $10 bucks. Perfect for trashing!

Socks: Zocks

Ok truth is, I can't remember if these are Zocks brand. But I'm pretty sure they are. Those are horse heads on them. Cute right?! The reason for the long socks, is that back in the day we used to pull our tall boots on. Wearing long socks on the outside of our breeches (pants) helped the boot slide on while also holding the pant leg down. Nowadays our boots have zippers all the way down the back so it's not so necessary, but we still do it anyway.

Breeches: Custom Riding Apparel

These are just everyday riding pants. They're cotton and stretchy and a nice dark brown that hides dirt! Those patches are for added grippiness in the saddle!

Top: Equine Couture

(Please excuse my unmade bed photobombing the photo) Basically just a rugby shirt with an awesome saddle printed on the back! This is cute enough to wear outside the barn too.

So that's it! What are you wearing today? Anyone else participating in a sporting event this weekend?