Lattes and...redneck lights?

Less than 2 days and we'll be packing up and heading out for Christmas up north aka the tundra. All of the baking and wrapping is done and now we just have to clean, pack and drive. Until Tuesday Mike and I are enjoying our new traditions down here in Georgia. Mike has been awesome and been helping me out with the extra shifts at the barn, as well as hanging out on the unbearably windy days at the barn. Tonight we grabbed gingerbread lattes and drove around town to find Christmas lights. The lighted houses were a bit sparse but we found a few that took the cake. This one in particular made us, as honey boo boo would say, "redneckignize."

This lovely display was of Santa driving an old Volvo with elves popping out of the back. All of this complete with a stoplight...yep we found a winner!

The rest of the weekend was full of shopping, baking, wrapping and Lou pony visits. Oh and napping for Mike while I baked up a storm:)

Chloe is never one to miss out on a cuddle session.

Yummy pecans. I may be getting the hang of Georgia baking....everything includes pecans in some form!

The two boys that can always put a smile on my face:)

Lou and I will be celebrating our 8th Christmas together this year. I love this horse so so much! It is so nice that Mike and I can share down time with him now and he always lifts our spirits.

Remember to count your blessings

I have been doing a lot of reflecting over the past week, especially after such an awful tragedy in Newton,CT, and honestly I realized that I am living my dream. Back when I was a little girl I'm sure there was nothing I wanted more than to be able to get up every morning and head off to the barn as my job. As soon as I sat on a horse for the first time, probably about age 7 when Aunt Patti took me out to the barn, I never stopped asking for riding lessons and a pony. Once I got riding lessons it was all downhill from there. I remember skipping around in my riding pants and tall boots and telling my parents that I would be so happy if I got to wear my riding clothes everyday. Then at age 15 I was blessed with Lou pony and the dinner discussions about college began. After quite a lot of differing opinions about my majoring in Equine Studies I chose Virginia Intermont and headed out on my path towards happiness. During that time I remember my dad looking at me and saying "Do what makes you happy, then you'll never work a day in your life." In that moment I knew I was doing the right thing and never looked back.
There are days when the work load seems impossible, everything goes wrong, feet get stomped on, you can't get a darn thing out of your horse undersaddle and burnout seems unavoidable. However, when I have those moments I think back to my younger self who would most certainly look at me today and say "Oh my gosh your job is awesome! You get to hang out with horses everyday, ride and teach plus you have two horses!" And you know what younger me would be totally right, I have an amazing job, two loveable horses, two goofy dogs and an amazingly supportive fiance. I am so lucky!
While I was reading some of the news reports after the shooting at Sandy Hook one story really stuck to me. On that day a little girl named Jessica was taken away from her family. Her parents shared that their daughter loved horses and was going to receive cowgirl boots for Christmas. She had also been promised a pony when she turned 10. Her parents have vowed to live each day to the fullest in memory of their daughter. This past week every time I got on a horse she ran across my mind, a sweetly sad reminder of how lucky I am to do what I love everyday. It is so easy to get stuck in what we wish we had or what could be better but especially now it is so much more important to look at what we already have and see what we are so blessed with. Remembering to reach out to others even in the simplest ways is also so much a part of this time of year and we should all strive to do so throughout the year. In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy a boutique by the name of Mosh Posh in Tampa,Fl created a teddy bear drive for the children of Sandy Hook that are dealing with the sadness around them. Such a simple idea that will bring some form of comfort to these children. Mike and I sent a teddy bear from Georgia to Florida and this weekend the teddy will make the journey up to Newton where we hope he brings a sense of comfort to a child who needs a teddy bear to hug.

Christmas picture torture

If my mother or sister are reading this I'm sure you already had a good chuckle about the title. As a kid it seemed every picture of the year somehow revolved around the Christmas card picture. Sometimes the torture started early in the fall when Mom would suddenly dress us up in our warmest (and "cutest") sweaters and drag us to the nearest park, lake, farm or otherwise middle of nowhere type place. Of course, without fail if we were dressed warmly then the weather was above average warm...turtleneck sweaters in 70 degree weather ugh. There were times, however, when the year had been insanely crazy so pictures were pushed til the colder months at which time Mom would go into winter denial mode...crud I go through the same thing! When Mom's winter denial and Christmas card pictures collided we would be sitting on a beach in Maryland or Virginia in late November wearing white button downs, jeans and barefoot...freezinggggggg. Now I cannot deny that the pictures were adorable, however, I have no idea how she shifted through all of the whiny, miserable looking ones to find the perfect one fit to be sent out to family and friends.

Back when Sep and I were adorable...notice the hokie love started young:)

Some years other family members were drug along...poor cousins.

So since Mike and I have been continuing our Christmas traditions down here in Georgia we just had to do a card. The day started off with a couple of hiccups. Speed bump number 1: finding Santa hats. Wayyy more difficult than we thought, we couldn't even find them at Walmart! Good ol' Kroger pulled through for us and we nabbed the last 2 "Mike approved" Santa hats. Speed bump number 2: the weather. We crossed our fingers all the way to the lake that the skies wouldn't open up on us and we got lucky with just a few sprinkles. Speed bump number 3: this...

So yes we are in a bit of a drought down here. I didn't expect the water level to be quite this low. The posts in the ground are normally the farthest point of the swimming section! And off in the distance a bit you can see lovely construction vehicles that have apparently been pushing sand up into huge mounds on the beach. Thankfully the camera Mike got me last year is awesome and we were able to crop all the icky parts of the scenery out. In the end we got some great shots and only a couple of pouty ones from Mike. We hope everyone enjoys their Christmas cards this year:)

Holiday whirlwind

Finals are finally over for the students at Wesleyan College and everyone is starting to head home, its kinda strange being on the other side as a coach/professor. I'm actually a little excited though for a nice quiet barn and being able to get in some real ride time. Look out Spence and prepare for boot camp! And, of course, Mike and I are super excited to travel up north to visit our families for Christmas.
So far our itinerary is as follows:
Christmas day: work at the barn (like I said before its not a holiday without ponies) leave Georgia at 12 noon
Dec. 26: Arrive insanely early in the morning in New Jersey
Dec. 29: Leave early from New Jersey to go to NoVA
Dec.30: Family Christmas in VA
Jan. 1: Head back to GA
In the whirlwind of the trip we are looking forward to catching up with as many family and friends as possible so if you're around let us know! We are also very excited to go see the national Christmas tree again. Last year we went for the first time together and met another couple who was there for the 32nd time! They were the sweetest couple and each year they go and have their picture taken with the tree all lit up. Of course after meeting them I was determined to do the same...so even though life moved us to Georgia we are going to make it happen!
One tiny down side to visiting up north? Well we are just a tad used to the super warm winter we've been having down here. Just the other day it was 83! Not quite sure how I'm going to handle normal winter temps again...I never handled them very well when I lived up north!
Hope to see everyone very soon and hope you are all having a very happy and safe holiday season so far!

Mike and Colonel (Lou pony's retirement buddy)

Lou pony:)

And by popular demand...some of Mike's work buddies.

Handing over the reins...

Before I hand over the reins for this blog update I would like to announce that I am in no way responsible for what may happen next. Have fun with Mike's updates!

     Updates?! You mean I'm going to be allowed to write more than this one time? haha. We've tossed the idea of me writing a post back and forth since she started this blog; so here we go. What a whirlwind year I've had, the holidays make me think back and reflect a lot. It has been almost two months since Jess and I moved to Georgia and we're still settling in and finding some routines. I'm working on a cattle ranch part time while also working for a landscaping/hardscaping company. It is such a nice change of pace from all of the inside warehouse work I've been doing over the past 2 years. Life is starting to settle down a bit now that I'm working more regularly. Macon is opening 2 new firehouses soon so I'm hoping to get my foot in the door and start a career with the fire service.
     We had a successful Thanksgiving and we're really looking forward to traveling north to see our families for Christmas and New Years. I don't think I've been back to New Jersey since June, maybe even longer than that so I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends and getting a chance to introduce the new fiancee to those who have not yet met her. I'm pretty sure she'll like showing off her ring for 2 days. The whole 16 hour drive is the only thing I'm not looking forward too though.
     I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't say how thankful and blessed I am to have the family and friends that have been there for me throughout this last year or so. I've made so many life changing decisions, made two big moves, changed jobs, proposed, and a few of those changes wouldn't have been possible without those special people I have in my life. My family has been there for me at every turn and has done nothing but reassure me that I've been making the right decisions. I love being able to pick up the phone to call my parents, brother, or sisters to catch up or maybe even have a more serious talk. I've found support and parental advice in Jess' parents as well. We're so lucky to be surrounded by such loving people and parents that are such good role models when it comes to loving relationships. Of course, I wouldn't be doing any of this or be as happy as I am if it wasn't for Jess....maybe she'll let me write another post some time down the road now ;)

My couple day old working buddy the other day.