Crying in Public

The 2017 show season has officially commenced, but I wanted to share a little bit about our 2016 successes.

We had a good year within our state association and ended the year as the Reserve Champion Novice Amateur All-Around.  For those non-horse people out there, this basically means that we didn't suck too bad!  :)

To finish up the 2016 season, we loaded up to compete at the American Paint Horse Association World Show in Fort Worth, Texas.  Yes, Texas.  For inquiring minds, that's a 15 hour drive with a truck and trailer, four people and Horse Show Haddie.  It was a LOOONGG trip, but so worth it!

Quick recap:  We left Thursday night.  Hauled through the night.  Pulled into Fort Worth at lunch time Friday.  Settled in and rode.  Ate amazing Mexican food.  Slept.  Rode Saturday morning.  Eat some steak.  Practiced Showmanship.  Washed, banded and prepped for our class.  Practiced again.  Slept.  Woke up at the butt crack of dawn.  Showed Sunday.  Made the Finals!!  Placed SEVENTH at the World Show!  Took pictures.  Loaded up and were leaving at 11:30am Sunday.  

Quick trip, eh?  But it was so worth it!!

While we were in Ft. Worth I'd met a reporter for the APHA Journal and she mentioned that our 'story' might be in the World Show issue of the magazine.  I eagerly waited for the issue to hit the western store in town!  

 

As I flipped through the issue that water works really started...

Last season was pretty remarkable, but I've set some big goals for this year too!  I made the decision to 'level up' my riding and show full time with a the trainer that helped me prepare for the World Show.  She is really helping my riding and I'm already noticing a difference in just two shows.  It's a long season and I'm very excited to see just what Louie and I can accomplish together this year!

This Year It's Not A Resolution, But A Commitment

As last year came to a close I found myself thinking, "What do I what in 2017?"

And then it came to me...

My commitment is 'Do More of What Makes Me Happy'!

I found myself grabbing a scrap piece of paper and coming up with a quick list of things that make me happy.  

By all means this isn't a complete list, but I'll tell you so much of this makes me happy (or will keep me happy) and that's what this year is about!  

Show horses.  You better believe that I'll still keep showing my fancy horse.  Louie and I had a great 2016, but I'd like to make 2017 epic!

 

Baking.  Especially during the winter months.  It's too hot and humid in the summer to heat up the house too much!

 

Hang with my tribe.  I have great friends.  They are near and far; and I'll do as much wine sipping and road tripping with them as I can!

 

 

Snuggle my dogs.  Who wouldn't want to snuggle them?

 

Listen to more vinyl and live Texas Country music.  My turntable has been getting a workout!  I'm missing a few classics, but the collection I have speaks to me.  And Texas Country; lots of back and forth trips to the honky-tonk bar where they play.  Because they wear cowboy hats and boots, not skinny jeans.

Wear more vintage, sequins, feathers and turquoise.  Maybe even all at once!  

Slay in the gym.  I freaking love working out at my gym.  I feel like a rock-star when I hit a PR (personal record) and we just have so much fun!

 

Ag-vocate.  Speak with passion about agriculture.  That may be in-person or online.  People need to know where their food comes from.  Period.  I'm happy help connect the dots!

Let go of negativity.  That could be people, social issues or body issues.  Don't mess with my happy.

Hiatus

Three and a half months.

That's how long I've been on a hiatus from blogging.  It's not that I've not thought about logging in to post a life update or something witty!  I just haven't.  Blogging isn't the only thing I haven't done.  The magazines I haven't read and the books I haven't finished are keeping it company!  So what have I been up to?  Well here you go...

Joined a gym.  For several years, I worked out at home doing DVDs, interval circuits and weight training. I'd reached a point in my fitness that I needed to either purchase heavier weights/additional equipment or I could give the gym a try. I chose the gym and hoped I liked it. I don't like it, I LOVE it! Workouts individually prescribed for me coupled with Advocare products and good food (and the occasional treat!) have yielded some results that I'm proud to show!

Blew out 31 birthday candles.  My friends and family spoiled me!  From handles of margaritas and wine to a gorgeous Kate Spade scarf and pretty accessories.

Listened to lots of live music!  Frankie Ballard, Lady Antebellum, Hunter Hayes, Sam Hunt, Craig Morgan and the wicked amazing, Kacey Musgraves.

Hung out with Meghan King Edmonds at a charity polo match.  Okay, so technically, we were just at the same match.  She was in the super exclusive VIP tent and I... was not.

Get really into vintage vinyl.  So far my collection is full of classic country singers:  Ronnie Milsap, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Mandrell, Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Tanya Tucker.  You get the picture.  The kicker... I don't have a record player to actually play them!  I've got my eye on this one though.

Agvocating.  Over the last several months, I've helped to educate more than 2000 students and their teachers about a variety of agricultural topics through classroom visits, field trips and speaking engagements!  

Celebrated five years of being married to my guy.  In my head I know it's been that long, but wowzers the days really do just fly by!

Registered for AgChat National Conference.  AgChat is a grassroots agvocacy group that strives to connect those of us in the agricultural community using social media and training to engage with consumers who want to know more about how the food they eat was raised and grown.  I'm ridiculously excited to connect with everyone involved!   

Trucked all over Illinois to show Louie.  Our show season kicked off in April and we finished up about a month ago.  Showing horses is equally exciting and exasperating.  You might be on the High Point one weekend and forget your showmanship pattern the next.  Yes, both of those happened this year.  This season did end on a high note; Louie and I locked up the third place slot in the Novice Amateur All Around race and we were Reserve Champion in the NovAm Hunter Under Saddle class!  

 Blog friends, near and far, forgive me for my hiatus.

What have you been up to these days?  

There's no doubt I've missed a lot with you also!

Swappers Gonna Swap

Last month when Crystal announced another round of her Beauty Swap, I totally forgot to sign up and then went into panic mode thinking I was too late!  Thankfully when I remembered there was still a few days to get signed up.

I don't know if it was because Ashley and I both signed up late or what, but I got another GREAT swap partner this time around!  Crystal literally works some serious skills matching us all up!

Ashley lives and works on a dairy farm in Michigan and has a flare for home renovation, agvocating as a FarmHer and enjoys good country music!  We've even talked about actually converging on Chicago at some point to meet up and enjoy some good food and libations!!  Keeping my fingers crossed that we can pull that off.

Okay, so back to the Beauty Swap!  Ashley and I sent countless emails discussing what sort of make-up/skin care items we use on a daily basis and then went from there.  I had told her that I was needing a good bronzer and wanted to add to my lipstick collection.  For Ashley I was on the hunt for some exciting skin care products, since she works on the farm everyday she mentioned wanting some things along that line instead of make-up make-up.  You can check out Ashley's post to see what I sent and her thoughts on each item!

As for me... Ashley sent me some really rad goodies that I'm pretty much in love with!

The Kat Von D lipstick (Lovecraft) is literally like butter on my lips!  It's like the perfect no color, color!  I'm certain Ashley selected Lovecraft for me because I had told her that I prefer to accentuate my eyes when I do a 'full face'.  She totally nailed this item.  The sample of shower oil went right into my shower and is fantastic.  I also received a sample of First Aid Beauty (FAB) face cleanser.  While I haven't used this one yet, the five star reviews are plentiful!  Ashley had previous reviewed the L'Oreal Paris Pro-Last lipstick on her blog and I was so excited to see she'd included it in my box of goodies!  I used this lipstick over weekend and it literally lasted ALL day... just like she said it would!  The UD Naked Flushed palette which features a bronzer, highlight and blush is on point!  This little ditty has definitely gotten the most use out of everything Ashley sent.  And you can't forget the Lindor egg truffles!  They're chilling in the freezer for a rainy day!!!

I'll leave you today with a picture of the handsome pony and myself this past weekend at our horse show!  We're all clear I like love the color purple, right?!?!

Insert Catchy Title Here

Hooray for Friday!

This week really flew by.  Well, up until this morning.  It seems to be really dragging!  I chalk that up to being up almost an hour earlier than I usually am, getting to work for a morning meeting and the fact that there's snow (yes, SNOW!) all over my outside Fall decorations.  I'm just not ready for this winter business!

ONE

The week started off on a great foot!  Bella and I headed down to the barn, she played with the Jolly Ball while I rode Louie.  With horse shows being over 'til next Spring I've slacked off a bit with my riding, but I have to get rides in when the weather is decent!  Last Winter we days when it was -40 degrees with the windchill and this girl doesn't ride in that sort of weather!

TWO

On Monday I started a new workout video series that is part of the Advocare product line-up.  I've really like the videos so far, but there's one guy in the DVD who's entirely too peppy at 5 o'clock in the morning in my opinion.  I may resort to muting the TV to get through that particular video!  Bella really enjoys our morning workouts too!

THREE

Last night Matt made supper and according to the recipe all the goodies were to go in a large 12" skillet, then into the oven to finish cooking.  We love our Pampered Chef cookware for this sort of thing because it goes from stove top to in the oven seamlessly.  Well long story short, I was doing some things around the house and Matt had taken the skillet out of the oven and set it on top of the stove.  I walked by and was irritated that he left the handle sticking out where someone might bump into it, so I grabbed the damn thing with my bear hand... forgetting it just came out of a 450 degree oven!!!  Insert expletives here.  I spent the rest of the evening icing the burn and this morning it isn't feeling too bad, but it's definitely tender!

FOUR

And to reward myself for the bravery exhibited above, I plan on treating myself to some Starbucks today!  I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to "Share Joy" or just drink the second one myself...

FIVE

Sunday afternoon is my monthly book club meeting.  Our book for November was called The Perfume Collector.  I requested the book from the library about 2 weeks ago and just got it Monday night, but thankfully it's quite good and I'm cruising through it!  Be watching for a review here soon!

Linking up with Karli, Amanda and Christina.

Superstitions #blogtober14

I'm not superstitious in the "step on a crack, break your mother's back" sorta way, but there are a few things that I have a very specific routine for!  One routine that sticks out in my head is definitely the motions I go through prior to and the day of a horse show. 

First things, first.  We ride.  Louie tends to get a little keyed up so getting in a good workout beforehand is a must!  Next comes clipping his hair and bath time.  Ya'll have seen Louie... there's a lot of white to clean!  Following his bath, I brush out his tail and band his mane.  Then he gets covered in all his purple clothes to keep him clean overnight!

Here's where I say a prayer (hoping he'll stay clean) and turn him back out in the pasture with his buddies.  This is dependent on the weather to an extent though.  If it's been super rainy and muddy, he has to stay in!  Otherwise, for his sanity and mine, he goes back out. 

The morning of the show, I'm up before dawn.  I get myself all made up and ready and then head to the barn to bring Louie in and feed him breakfast.  If the show starts at 9am, we are generally there by 7:30am.  Why so early?  More routines have to be followed!

The first thing that happens is Louie is unloaded and I take him to the arena were we will be showing.  We walk around the pen, once both directions, so he can see everything and if there's something spooky or scary he can get over it then and not have an issue in the middle of the class!  Then he get's lunged, which means he walks, trots and canters on the end of a really long rope.  Lunging helps get the kinks or bunks out if he's feeling really good!  After I'm satisfied he's tired, but not too tired, we head back to the trailer and start the process of beautification! 

Clean off any 'green' spots... manure.  Brush out his tail.  Whiten legs.  Black hooves.  Put in his fake tail.  Yes, he wears a weave!  Shave any hairs on his nose I may have missed with the clippers.  Spray with Pepi to make his coat shine.  Then I get myself dressed!

After I'm dressed, we practice our showmanship pattern.  But I've learned that if I practice with him too much he gets burned out and he's a dud in the actual class!  It's a fine line.  It's only taken me three years to get in the groove...

Are you superstitious about anything or do you have a specific routine you follow?

 

Linking up with Helene and Taylor.

Happy Happy Happy #blogtober14

There are many things in the this world that makes me as "Happy, Happy, Happy" as Duck Commander patriarch Phil Robertson...

Bella

 Sweet potatoes

 Vacations

Pinterest

Brownies and ice cream

 Matt

 Instagram

Adult beverages

 Louie

Playing Catchphrase

Costume parties

 Making lists

Dairy Queen

Hanging out with pals 

 Decorating for the holidays

Mexican food and margaritas

 

Linking up with Helene and Taylor.

All Hail Friday!

It's sad when you have to refer to your calendar to remind you where and what you've done this week!  This week was softball, two nights worth for Matt and one for me... It was fun playing again!

Top that with meetings, FFA contests and yield checks for work.  

I can't forget those nights at the horse barn either!  Louie is riding really great these days!  We have one more IPHA show this season and then it's our 'off season'.   And all that really means is I'm still riding a couple nights a week, but not showing until next Spring.

To round out the work week, tonight my pal Maggie and I are headed to Springfield for an Aaron Watson concert!  I talked a bit about him in this post and I've heard some amazing things about his shows.  Pretty excited for some 'Red Dirt' country music to come to the flatlands of Illinois!

Then this weekend is the annual Apple and Pork Festival!  Close your eyes and envision: flea markets, crafters, all the apple things... Cider. Dumplings. Fritters.

It's a Fall lover's paradise!  Too bad (or not really if you're trying to keep your horse from putting on his winter hair coat for just another week or so!) there's talk of it being in the mid to upper 80's this weekend!

I'm hoping the festival will inspire me to dig out all my fall decor and get the house in the spirit of the season!

How did you spend your week?  Have any fun plans for the weekend?

Linking up with Karli, Amy and Amanda.  

Thirty and Thriving

Today I'm saying good bye to my twenties. I'm not a mess over being 30, not by a long shot!  I feel better about who I am and what I'm doing now than I ever have. 

That's not to say the last 10 years haven't been good to me, because they have! 

Over the past decade I:

met and married my husband,

made some amazing girlfriends,had some awesome adventures and

rode some great horses

 and of course I can't forget Miss Bella!

I don't think that's too shabby and I'm anxious to see what the next couple years has in store!  Hopefully it will be more of the same!

And in July I...

Vacation.

And show horses. 

Fine by me!

I literally will be working approximately 15 days this month and traveling the rest.  I'm headed to New Jersey for the Fourth of July and then to Colorado later in the month.  And the other weekends I'll be showing that fine horse you see above!

I hope you're July is going to be as great as mine!

Weekend Recap

Holy smokes.  This weekend wore. me. out. 

Friday night after work I headed to the barn to get Louie ready for our first big show of the year.  After getting him all glammed up, I loaded him in the trailer and headed to the show facility.  Matt met me there, thank goodness.  He was a huge help getting Louie settled and me all organized.

It takes a lot of 'gear' to show horses.  Saddles, bridles, blankets, show halters, grooming supplies, feed, supplements, hay... The list goes on.  And that doesn't even count the stuff for me!

Friday night after tucking Louie in the for the night, Matt and I grabbed some Mexican food.  I had a margarita to help calm my nerves!  It was tasty, but I can say that I've never met a margarita that I didn't really like.

Both Saturday and Sunday mornings I was up and at 'em at O Dark Thirty or 5 in the am!  I got my make-up and hair done before leaving the house.  One less thing to actually worry about at the horse show.  I really need to get photos of the whole process that is 'showing horses', but it's really the last thing on my mind on those mornings!  After getting myself all prepped, I drove over to the show grounds to feed Louie and start getting ready. 

Long story short... 

I was worried that he wouldn't settle in and relax at this first overnight show, but he was a trooper!  We had a great weekend!  Louie and I placed in every one of our classes.  We also earned both state and national points with the American Paint Horse Association. 

I owe a HUGE "Thank You!" to Matt, my parents, my pal Maggie (who came over and was my groom/personal attendant/gopher) and my paint horse friends for all their help and support this weekend!

Handsome Louie and I in our finery!

The exhaustion and jello legs are totally worth all the fun I had this weekend!  And I'm already counting the days until our next show... 

26 days.

Do You Remember Your First Love?

Mine was horses.  Surprised?

I wasn't into boys, I was more into geldings.  And a few mares I suppose.

Since before I can really remember, horses have always been my thing.  There has never been a time in my life where that passion ever diminished.  It wasn't one of those activities that I would 'grow out of' once I discovered boys and to this day it still hasn't been replaced by some other hobby!

I've been blessed to call a lot of good horses mine over the years...

But the first, the very first was Big B.

B was white with specks of brown, horseman call that flea-bit grey.  He wasn't a fancy horse show horse or anything of the sort.  If I remember right he was just a grade horse that my parents bought from some friends of theirs.

What was he though?  Safe.  My parents were sure that big ol' grey horse was going to take care of their baby girl!  So maybe there was that one time that he took off at a dead run for the barn and I had to duck against his neck or risk being plastered against the side of the barn as he flew into his stall...  That memory is forever etched in my brain!  My poor mom was hysteric, but I survived!

Time passed and my family sold B, but there were lots of other wonderful horses that came through our barn.

Stormy.  Joey.  Charlie.  Sammy.  Sonny.  Cody.  Another Joey.  Brandie.  Leo.  Scotch.

If Big B was my first love, my horse Fred would probably compare to everyone's favorite elementary teacher.  The one who taught you so much and who you will always be grateful for.

Fred was the first real barrel racing horse I owned.  He was the best!  My parents bought him for me when I was in seventh grade and I competed at every county fair, open horse show and rodeo I could find.  He was a gorgeous red roan that put up with a silly adolescent girl who was convinced all her tack needed to be purple and his mane must be braided.  A little glitter on his hair never hurt either!  Poor guy was probably always questioning his manhood.

Fred is gone now.  Buried at my family's farm.  He was one of the few horses that lived out his life with us.  I sobbed like a baby the morning my dad called to tell me he was gone!  I look at all the pictures of us over the years and I'm still so thankful that he was mine!

Then there's Six.

As much as I love this horse, he was and still is a bit of a challenge.  Always a bit spooky about silly stuff like a dried up corn leaf blowing across the road, but in his day he was a damn fine barrel horse.  He also put up with me wanting to ride him in western pleasure classes and teaching him showmanship.  To this day, I could probably pull him out of the pasture at my parents and he'd kick some butt in showmanship!

Two years ago, I made the decision to retire him from competition because I couldn't keep him sound.  That's horse speak for he was sore and the medicine to make him feel good enough to run at the level we had been at was just too expensive to maintain.  Currently, he's happily munching grass at the farm.  When I go home to visit, I always make a point to stop and see him.  9 times out of 10 the little stinker will run away from me in the pasture! I love you too, pal!

And now, as you know, I have Louie.

He's certainly got some mighty big horseshoes to fill, but he's well on his way!

I'm linking up today's post over with Carly for Thankful Thursdays.  

And also Helene and Sarah for their first #TOTALSOCIAL.