Hitting the wall

I guess I should start with saying that I hope everyone had a wonderful, warm and food filled Thanksgiving! Mike and I enjoyed the warm fall day by hosting two of my riding students for Thanksgiving dinner and hanging out with the pups, of course! We very much missed our families but are so grateful that we have such wonderful families to miss. We are also extremely thankful and excited that we get to visit with Mike's parents at Disney at the end of this week!! It will be my first trip to Disney so if anyone has any "must do's" please let us know! Mike and his family have been many times so they are very excited to show me everything and I can't wait to experience it all.

Any of you who know me very well know that I suffer with severe migraines that started when I was in middle school. No matter how many medicines we tried or how many journals I kept I still haven't been able to figure out exactly what triggers my migraines or how to prevent them. Recently my migraines have become more frequent and so I've hit a wall, I'm over it! If you suffer from migraines you know that you get to a point where you will try anything to find relief. Well Mike and I watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" the other day on Netflix about a man who does a juicing detox and shares his journey and benefits that he finds. During the documentary he meets a woman with migraines who agrees to a juicing detox and one of the side effects for her was that her migraines stopped....boom I'm sold. So Mike invested in a juicer and we bought out the produce section of the grocery store.

I found a bunch of juice recipes meant for migraine sufferers and Mike found a bunch of detox juice recipes and we are hitting the juicer full speed. So far so good even though the first round of juice was a bit rough, since then we've figured out to make everything taste a bit better. I'll be sure to keep y'all up to date on our progress and post some of our tastier juice recipes.

For now I'll leave you with this cozy scene of our spoiled puppy , Badger, and our soon to be decorated Christmas tree. Love y'all!!

Thankful Thursday

As many of you know Lou pony had quite the colic scare the week that Mike and I returned from the wedding. He ended up spending the weekend at the vet clinic and was sent home that Monday with a clean bill of health and all of us scratching our heads but he's home which is what truly matters. Thinking back to those long scary nights at the clinic makes me realize how blessed I am that even in the scariest moments I could look up and there was Mike patiently waiting, hoping and praying next to the stall. I am so thankful that I have such a caring and supportive man by my side. Mike also fielded many of the Lou related questions and kept my friends up to date in the happenings when I was too out of it to handle much more than wandering through the work day. Speaking of friends, I am  so thankful to have so many caring people in my life! Thank you to all of you for your phone calls, texts and messages asking about Lou and sending up prayers. Thank you also to everyone who continues to check in on him...he is happy to be home and on a fattening up diet. I am also so thankful for our wonderful vets the Bakers. They were and always are wonderful about answering all of my questions, sending updates and letting me visit at crazy hours. Plus they always know just when you need a hug.

Having Lou pony back home at the college has been wonderful and I'm pretty sure he'll be spending the rest of his retirement well within eyesight!

This weekend I am heading up to Charleston,SC to close out our hunt seat shows for the fall and then I will be judging at a show in Perry, GA on Sunday so things continue to be crazy busy here. But I will be sure to blog more often in the quiet days of Thanksgiving break and I'll be sure to add the recipe for the super simple and yummy pumpkin spice macaroons I made last week. Thanks so much to the Gaspard family for the food processor as it made the macaroon process so simple!

Love y'all!

Absolute Bliss

Oh my goodness my heart is overflowing with happiness as I write this post and think back to our wedding weekend. Mike and I could not have been more blessed to have been surrounded by our family and friends for multiple days...days y'all!! We loved every single second! Now that life has hopefully settled down for a couple of minutes I wanted to share a bit of our wedding weekend while we await the wonderful images from Sarah Schubel Photography.

 All of these amazing ladies in one place?! How lucky am I?!

The guys that helped Mike survive college...or vice versa.

Having all of our closest friends and family in Savannah for a weekend was the absolute most wonderful feeling. Thank y'all so much for making the trip! A future blog will certainly have to contain the travel adventures of everyone just to get to our wedding. But for now enjoy the memories captured of our time prepping for the wedding during rehearsal.

True Meagher laughs and smiles

My college roomie who swears she knew Mike was "the one" the whole time.

 And now we get to join all of these wonderful people in married life!!

 

After a successful rehearsal (thank y'all for being so patient and wonderful) we headed over to Fiddler's on River Street for a true Savannah seafood feast. My wonderful Aunt Sharon also surprised us with the cutest nautical cookies ever! Thank you so so much and happy anniversary!! It was so much fun to get to celebrate the multiple birthdays, anniversaries and mini reunions that occurred over our wedding weekend! Of course that includes Mike's birthday :)

After dinner the gang headed out to pub crawl through Savannah thanks to the work of our maid of honor September.

It was so great getting to truly enjoy our time with family and friends!
I will be sure to share more details about the actually wedding day as more photos and fun memories come in but for now I will leave you with the biggest thank you to all of our family and friends who helped make our big day so special. We could not have done it without your love and support, plus we would have had no decorations without y'all! Huge thank you to our bridal party, my parents and Uncle Johnny for setting up our venue sites! Thanks to Ashley for getting ordained, Erin for reading and Sarah for keeping my sanity as soon as I woke up on wedding day. Thank you to all of the girls for running around and stuffing taffy into favor bags, putting up benches and making me breath. Thank you to September and Sean for shuttling us all around Savannah. And thank you to Papa and Cynthia for the hours of help with our gorgeous flowers. I mean how great are these bouquets?!

We are so so blessed to have y'all in our life! Be sure to check back super soon for wedding day details and pictures!! For now here's a little sneak peak of my dress...

Wedding checklist and Friday night fun!

Hey y'all! We are less than a month away from the wedding and things have been insane!!! There seems to be a never ending list of things to do and I just pray it all gets done by October 18th, especially when you sprinkle in team practices and our first horse show this coming weekend. Alas things will get done and we'll keep chuggin' along. In the meantime Sep and Mom came down for a whirlwind visit 2 weekends ago to help with wedding planning. Since we had to travel on the lovely I-16 we had to stop at the petting zoo and hang out with the goats and llamas for a bit. Then it was off to Savannah to scout out just about everything for the wedding weekend.

So here goes the wedding checklist:

-Get insanely excited about planning a wedding: check

-Realize weddings are crazy expensive and consider eloping: check

-Freak out and want every single detail that you find on Pinterest: check

-Come to a realistic vision of your wedding: check

-Become bridezilla and scare the heck out of your mother and sister: check (sorry y'all!!) Mike's edit: scaring the heck out of your fiance too!

But in all honestly Mike and I are so so thankful for everyone's help and well wishes and we are so excited to see everyone very very soon. Things really are coming together and big details are completely nailed down and ready to go.

As we get closer we would like to invite all of our guests to join us on Friday October 17th as a welcome to Savannah. Details about the evening will be up on the wedding website soon so be sure to check in. We hope that you will all take this chance to come see Savannah, meet the wedding party and other guests and help us celebrate Mike's birthday as well as our last night of the unmarried life!

Can't wait to see y'all super soon!

Love y'all!

Check out our wedding website for details! Click here.

Because of Today (A Mike Special)

     September 11th to me is a day for reflection. I have officially lived half my life in a post 9/11 world, 13 years after that fateful day. This was my generation's Pearl Harbor, it was our call to arms, it was our call to give back to which we've taken so much from. I've had an entirely too slow traffic day on the car lot but it has given me some time to reflect on where I was that day, how I responded to it, and how it led me to grow as a person. I've gotten through all of the sad memories like watching smoke drift down the beaches for weeks afterwards, and gotten into some of the happier memories I have from my days as a volunteer firefighter. I always tell Jess I don't write as much as she does for the blog because I struggle to always keep it as positive as she does, but for today I want to reflect on the other side of 9/11, the side that led people to give back. Maybe it's just a little bit of a memory lane for me, but I think about my time as a volunteer every year when this day comes around.

(18? year old me cheesin it up for the camera)

     There are a million different reasons to want to become a firefighter, not all of which are right, but it's a profession that I have the utmost respect for. Little boys are conditioned to want to be cops or firemen from the get-go with all the themed toys we play with growing up, but I didn't know I'd ever get to play firemen for real one day. In the northeast, most towns have all volunteer fire departments, our budgets just can't sustain a fully staffed fire department, and most kids grow up seeing their neighbors or their friend's fathers running out the door to make it to the firehouse in someone else's time of need. These guys go through all the same training as a paid firefighter would, practice the same techniques, and sometimes make the same ultimate sacrifice as their paid counterparts. Small towns can get away with a volunteer department most of the time though since they're not running nearly the volume of calls that some larger areas run. Anyway, getting away from my point, I never really thought I would join the fire department until after 9/11. Those men and women did what they did because it was their job and it was the right thing to do, there were people that needed them. I went down to the firehouse shortly after my 16th birthday and found myself a member that would sponsor me as a junior member. I can remember being asked why I wanted to join and the best thing I could say at the time was "I want to give back." I was 16 years old, I don't think I quite fully understood what I was "giving back" to yet, but I would learn.
     About two years later I had spent 5 months going through the fire academy and was already well ingrained with my local fire department as a little brother to most, an extra son to a few, and even an added grandchild to some of the old-timers who would enlighten this starry-eyed young man with a few of their old war stories(with embellishments). I was also still a probie, working my butt off and training hard to be faster and more proficient then some of the older guys, also still doing most of the dishes after a big meal on a meeting night and packing what seemed like miles of hose after drills.

(The two guys that took me under their wing immediately and always watched my back, Richie and Mick)

     Time went by and I started to spend more and more time around the guys, they became a second family to me. I got to take part in more community outreach and service then I had ever thought I would. Going to the local schools for fire education week in early October was always a blast, showing the little ones all of the equipment, teaching them what to do in case of a fire, and letting them ride the truck always put a smile on my face for a few days. The kids always made it time well spent. Around Christmas we ran a present delivery with Santa included, making a few dozen stops on our way around town, hands down my favorite night of the year. It's amazing some of the little guys didn't blow up when they got the combination of Santa, presents, and a fire engine parked out in front of their house with the lights flashing haha.

(James, Pat, and myself. The "elves" had a long, cold night on the back of the engine that year...so worth it.)

     As I put more and more time in at the house, I got more and more out of it. I learned skills I'll take with me for the rest of my life, I met people from my small town I otherwise never would have known, and I felt fulfilled. I celebrated milestones with my new extended family, both theirs and mine.

(Just a tenth of the entourage for my 21st birthday. Can you believe your daughter is marrying this knucklehead in a month Mr. and Mrs. Meagher?)

     It may not start out in your blood, but once you've been bitten it's always there. I never imagined myself getting in to some of the things we got in to over the years. I never thought that about a year after that last picture above was taken, I'd be posted up at the firehouse overnight waiting for Hurricane Irene to break loose and chaos to ensue. I actually acted as an officer for that one with a crew of my own, all 18 and 19, waiting for their 22 year old officer to tell them how to take action. Experience I can't and wouldn't want to replace. I stayed up most of that night texting Jess to make sure she was still doing okay in Maryland, reassuring her I was okay, and trying not to think about what a direct hit would mean to my little shore town come sunup. We ran calls all night and come morning had a burner the next town over. 

(We're actually on a street here pumping water to the house fire in the background.As the flood water started to recede we had to get out and maneuver.)

     Little did I know that Hurricane Irene was just a warm up for Hurricane Sandy another year down the road, but I would be in Georgia for that one. I don't know if I would have joined if it wasn't for 9/11. I came to find out after I joined that my grandfather had volunteered for years when he was younger so I guess it actually was in my blood. To me it was the right thing to do at the right time, it was a way to give back to a community that I grew to know a little more completely. I can never replace the times I had with my brothers. I'll never let 9/11 go by without thinking of those men and women running up those stairs in the towers without fully knowing what was going to happen, but doing it anyway because they were the last hope for the hundreds of people trapped above them. Take a moment to think about their sacrifice, their service, and give your loved ones an extra hug and kiss tonight because 13 years ago today, we were all taught that life can change too damn fast. 

Southern Living Truths

Living in Georgia has reaffirmed a lot of the truths that I thought about the South, as well as brought about some truths that I could have never imagined. While I still stand firm on my opinion of Maryland technically being in the South (it is below the Mason Dixon line!), Mike and I have certainly experienced a whole new south being down here in Georgia.

#1 Sweet tea is always an appropriate drink choice. Sweet tea does not know a time of day or an event where it is not appropriate, seriously you can get sweet tea with breakfast and not a soul will look at you strangely. In fact, sweet tea is pretty amazing in the morning with Chickfila breakfast. On the flip side of sweet tea always being appropriate is the fact that unsweetened tea is a sin and if you order it everyone will immediately realize that you are not from around here. And no adding sweetener to your tea does not make it sweet tea....ever.

#2 Sweet tea comes in many forms. I've seen sweet tea popsicles and just the other week I made a sweet tea cake with lemonade icing, yes it was amazing and you can find the recipe in Southern Living or on our recipe tab. Sweet tea also comes in alcohol form in sweet tea vodka which is absolutely perfect when mixed with lemonade...this will be making a major appearance at our wedding so prepare yourselves!

#3 Ma'am and Sir know no age limits. I'll admit it was quite difficult for me to get used to having students say "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" to me when we first moved down here but I have come to realize it is a sincere form of politeness and has nothing to do with how old you are. In fact I now expect it.

#4 Fall means college football....period. Yes, I grew up in a football obsessed household and Mike and I are die hard Hokie fans but the South ups the ante. Never have I lived in a state where absolutely everyone talks about the upcoming football game and the majority of people in any room at any given time can give you up to date stats on their favorite college football team...mainly being UGA around here.

#5 Bless your heart is not something you want to hear. In the north people start off a harsh statement with "No offense but.." well down here in the South harsh statements are preceded by "Bless your heart" or "Bless her heart." To give you an example, one might say "Bless her heart she just can't pick a decent guy for her life."

#6 Monogramming is a way of life (and I love it!). You can literally get anything monogrammed and there is no such thing as too many monograms. I have always been a fan of the monogram as a result of being in the horseworld but I'm now obsessed with monograms and my entire equestrian team has followed suit. In fact I call them my monogram monsters :) This whole waiting until I get married to put my new monogram on anything is killing me! But not to fear one of my team members purchased a monogramming machine this summer and has already been warned that I will be delivering large bag fulls of items to her dorm as soon as Mike and I return from Savannah.

#7 The South does comfort food better than anyone. Seriously who can resist a plate of perfect biscuits and gravy after a rough night? I fell in love with biscuits and gravy a long time ago but college in southern Virginia solidified that love as they served some of the best biscuits and gravy every Sunday. Some other Southern favorites include grits, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles...ok anything fried!

#8 People get ready for Christmas way too early. Not even kidding Hobby Lobby already has their entire Christmas section set up...in August they set it up!!

#9 But God forbid we have a white Christmas. If there is even the slightest threat of snow the world is sure to end. Good luck finding any bread or milk at the grocery store because 5 minutes after the weather channel announces snow possibilities every single Kroger, Publix and Piggly Wiggly (yes we have Piggly Wiggly) is sold out. And then after they sell out the store closes!

As much as we may poke fun at some of the things we have encountered in the South, I love it. I love the warmer weather, the Southern hospitality and the love and respect of tradition here. I can't wait to share some of the South with everyone at our wedding!

Love y'all!

Holy cow 2 months!

If the picture above is any indication of how interesting life has been then you may be starting to understand the craziness. As the summer came to an end here in Georgia I was able to wrap up summer camp and start to prep the horses for the return of the college girls. All 14 team members!! I'm so excited and insanely overwhelmed by all of the interest in our equestrian program this year, from a huge team to lots of phys ed students and an ever growing community program things are always busy at the barn. Amongst the craziness of getting the school horses ready I have also been searching for a new place for Lou pony to enjoy retirement. Sadly his retirement buddy had to be put down a couple of weeks ago so for the time being Lou is hanging out at college with his brother Spence. Searching for a new barn has been nothing short of interesting! I mean what could be more interesting than bumping into a zebra while snooping around a barn in the middle of Georgia?

And oh yea...we are less than 2 months away from the wedding!!!! Holy cow where did the time go?! Things are falling into place and invites are on the way so fingers crossed that things continue to go smoothly. Mike and I made a trip to Savannah a couple weeks ago for a hair trial and cake tasting. I am so excited about my hair and how wonderfully sweet everyone at Salon Twenty Ten is! We decided to try some local bbq at Wiley's Championship BBQ before our cake tasting and could not have gotten a better lunch. Be sure to stop in for some wonderfully yummy bbq during your Savannah trip. On the way home Mike and I made a pit stop at exit 98 and found some furry and feathered friends. So if you ever find yourself traveling down I-16 don't miss out on this hidden gem!

While we are in complete wedding planning panic mode we certainly aren't the only ones prepping to walk down the aisle and this past weekend Mike and I made a whirlwind trip up to Richmond,Va to celebrate the marriage of the beautiful Kristen and adorable Hass Wooten!

Y'all I got Mike to like bowties!!!

The weekend was a bit crazy with Mike and I hitting the road from Georgia on Friday night and arriving crazy early in the morning on Saturday but it was so so worth it. Being reunited with two of my best VI girls and all of the love was exactly what we needed. Plus everything about the day and wedding was absolutely gorgeous...and very well timed thanks to Kristen's schedule. I may need to get her to make my day of timeline! I'm not kidding everything was timed right down to the minute...just the way it should be.

After a night of celebrating the Wooten's, Mike and I were back on the road on Sunday but not before a quick visit with the Doyles and their absolutely adorable twins! It was so great to finally meet Timmy and Dory and made me even more excited about the family that I am joining in October! Fingers crossed our future children are that adorable and well behaved.

And drumroll please...... we just had to stop at South of the Border on our roadtrip back south. Y'all it is pretty much just as you would imagine it from all of the billboards, certainly a place we will only stop in the daylight but it was a great spot to stretch our legs and get some giggles. Plus you can follow "Pedro" on instagram at @sobpedro....and no I'm not kidding that is truly their name on instagram.

We made it back to Georgia safely and to two very happy pups. Now we are back to work and back to our own wedding plans. So bring on the ice cream so I can get through the final weeks of wedding prep!!

As well finalize more of our wedding plans please be sure to check in on our wedding website for updates on hotel room blocks, places to visit during your stay and much more!

Wedding Website!

Weekend escape: Kentucky Style

Praise the Lord summer camp is over!! Actually it ended last week and I have just been enjoying the freedom from campers all week by working like a crazy person but I did have a lovely escape last weekend. You know those times when you just need to run away for a bit? Yea that was exactly what happened, so much so that I didn't even mind sitting in crazy traffic on Friday afternoon as I headed north to Lexington,Kentucky.

One of my awesome college friends, Erin, landed a job with the USEF this year...which is crazy awesome and I am still super excited about it...so it was about time I made the pilgrimage to the home of Rolex and all other things horsey.

Thankfully Kentucky all does wine and vineyards pretty darn well plus we were blessed with amazing weather in the high 70's...in July!!

After a day of soaking up the gorgeous weather and sipping on delicious wine...Talon Vineyard was amazing...we ended the day out in true horse person style. We headed over to the Kentucky Horse Park for the grand prix show jumping and got to visit the headquarters of the governing bodies for the American horse world!

The horse park is so beautiful in the evening.

Sunday brought in some crazy weather but in the breaks of rain, hail and insane wind were glimpses of the perfectly green Kentucky horse fields.

Thank you so much to Erin and Juliana for letting me crash with y'all and showing me around! It was exactly what I needed for the weekend and I literally got to come home with a much more clear mind that was ready to tackle the week ahead. Plus I got to come home to our newest boarder and my newest dressage partner, Drummer! One of my students bought this big boy as her first horse so we are looking forward to lots of learning and great rides for the two of them. And added bonus he has some pretty awesome dressage training on him already so I'm looking forward to schooling second and third level movements with him.

I hope that y'all are enjoying the end of the summer and have been able to escape some of your everyday stresses as well! I'm so happy to be back to a place of sanity again...so now bring on the college students and wedding planning!

Getting the most out of your riding lessons

I will give fair warning, this is a blog post for the more horsey of people...perhaps I need to attempt to do two blogs so that one is dedicated to all horses...

I have taught at a couple of different types of barns, in fact I've even dabbled in freelance teaching, and after some thought about it here are my tips for getting the most out of your riding lessons.

First of all be up front and honest about your ability level and what type of riding interests you, this also goes for parents of children taking lessons...be honest about what they know! Telling your riding instructor that you know how to jump when in reality you are terrified of trotting will NOT help you! Everyone takes lessons for the same reason, to learn, so be honest about what you have been working on so that your new instructor can help build upon what you already know. That being said, we as instructors are not judging nor do we think badly of you if you tell us that you have only trotted on the lunge line or you just started learning the canter depart. We will, however, judge you if you tell us that you have been cantering but when you pick up the trot you have no idea what a diagonal is...you will make us wonder what you were learning.

Be realistic about your goals. I'm not saying don't reach for the stars but start with more short term goals. Rather than coming in and telling me that you want your kid to go to a show next month start with wanting your child to learn how to safely control their horse at the walk and trot and then consider doing a schooling show. While being realistic about your goals you must also work with your instructor towards your goals....so tell your instructor what you want to accomplish, we are not mind readers.

Give ample amounts of time to reach your goals. If you want to be showing think about how many times a week you should be riding. If you just started riding I can almost guarantee that you will not be ready to show in a month if you decide to only take one lesson a week. Riding takes practice and once you have one skill down there is another one to learn. Put in the time and effort and you will reach your goals.

Going along with the topic of time, be sure that you block out enough time in your day for your lesson. If you are worried about the next meeting you need to get to or the next sports activity you won't be truly focused on your riding lesson. Typically riding lessons last from 45 minutes to an hour, however, that does not include tacking up and untacking your horse. Taking care of the horse is part of your responsibility as a student...if you are not learning how to care for the horse then what are you really doing there? It is amazing what you might learn before and after your lesson just by being in the barn, observing another lesson or chatting with some of the other riders. Enjoy the barn and allow yourself to spend some time there!

Think about the type of barn that you want to ride in; do you want to go to big shows, are you content with taking lessons for pleasure, would you like to do trail rides? All of these things are important to consider so that you are truly happy with your lessons. If your instructor is taking clients to big horse shows every weekend but you want to trail ride instead then you might want to consider if your goals match the goals of the lesson program. And vice versa if your goal is to show but all of the other riders at the barn want to leisurely ride around the property then you may want to ask about the possibility of showing before you commit. There is no right or wrong choice when it comes to what you want to get out of your riding, there is a lot of frustration though, on both sides, if you put yourself in a program with opposite goals.

Ask questions!!!! Please ask questions, instructors love to share their knowledge and we love it when you want to learn! If you are curious about something just ask, trust me we would much rather give you a lengthy explanation of anything horse related than hear what you might come up with on your own. The same goes for during your lessons, if you don't understand something ask your instructor to explain it differently or perhaps show you what they mean. If you never ask you might never know how simple the solution is. Why struggle with something when you are paying someone to help you!

After you have asked the question be sure to listen! For instance, you decide you want to buy your first horse so you ask your instructor what you should be looking for. Your instructor tells you that you should look for horses that are advertised as suitable for an advanced beginner rider and that are in the age range of 7-15. Instead you fall in love with a 4 year old horse that has only been ridden in a program by a professional. Then when things don't work out perfectly you blame the instructor. This may sound like a crazy scenario...and trust me for the instructor it is!! Listen to your instructor, they are there to help you on the path to equine happiness and they want nothing more than to match you with the perfect horse for you, not the perfect horse for the next Olympian. 

My girls ask questions all the time...as they should!! 

And finally....welcome to the horse world you are now broke. The equine world is not cheap, its a lifestyle that will drag you in smiling the whole way. Horses do not have to be the most expensive thing you have ever experienced but I promise they won't be the cheapest (unless maybe your only other hobby is flying helicopters). Prepare yourself to spend some money for quality instruction, quality tack and apparel (remember you have one head!!! The cheapo helmet that your neighbor gave you might not be what you want to trust your brain with), and eventually a suitable horse. If you work really hard a lot of things can be made less expensive as far as money goes but instead you are giving your time. For instance, maybe your local barn will give a discount on lessons if you work a couple of feeding shifts a week (this is how I paid for many a lesson in my life!). 

If you work really hard, dedicate yourself fully and love the horses then you will reach your goals and more. Remember that instructors are here to help you on that path, so let us help you by being honest, giving us your undivided attention and giving yourself time to learn.

Happy riding!!  

 

Real Talk

Hello long lost blog readers!

I know that I have been an awful blogger lately and have been a bit MIA. I am totally going to use the work excuse on this one though...saying that Mike and I have been swamped with work would be an understatement. I am going on week #7 of summer camp and I'm pretty sure my brain is oozing out of my ears daily. Don't get me wrong I love the ponies (God bless them!) and I love kids but after answering the same question for the 15th time in one riding lesson I'm about ready to throw in the towel. I am desperately missing my more challenging lessons so the fact that the college girls are coming back in just a few short weeks is super exciting and super daunting all at the same time!

The ponies and volunteers have been troopers during the long summer camp days!

Do you ever feel like you have so much to do that us the thought of it all makes you tired? Yep I feel ya on that one! Between summer camp, recruiting (which reminds me I have a summary to do...oops), pitching new ideas to the show board (fingers crossed on a very big announcement soon), construction on the barn (our new stalls were worth the craziness), planning the wedding, attempting to ride all the school horses and pop on Spence when I get a chance, building the community riding program with lots of extra lessons and oh yea squeezing in having a life...hahaha. Thankfully Mike has kept me grounded and we have managed to start having a date night once a week which is a sanity saver for sure! The wedding pieces are starting to fall together but I still have minor panic attacks when I think of everything else that needs to happen before October. And this year's team is shaping up to be even bigger than last year's team and we have quite a few riders with some stand out talent...yay!

 Spence is a big fan of our new stalls now that they are completed!!

I was lucky enough to grab a bit of a vacation during a break in summer camps and headed up to Boston to visit with my parents. After my body decided that it didn't want to reject being on vacation I was able to get in some chill time to relax by the pool, catch up with Mom and Dad, grab lunch with Mike's best man, Ryan,  and of course fill up on tons of lobster. Needless to say I was one very happy girl:)

Just dancing in the Boston rain with Mom

 Fenway on a rainy day is better than New York anyday :)

To celebrate the last Monday of summer camp I will be enjoying a nice glass of wine tonight, The Bachelorette (yes it is my guilty pleasure tv) and attempting to make French macaroons...so be on the lookout for a new recipe or disaster story soon! Thank you all for bearing with me through this crazy time in Mike and I's life as we strive for personal and professional growth and please forgive me if I look like I'm about to lose it every time someone asks me about plans for just about anything. I am so thankful to have so many supportive people in my life and I am very excited about where everything is going...sometimes I just need to remind myself of how blessed I truly am and I am very lucky that I have all of you to remind me of that!

Love and miss y'all tons!!