Happy Easter

Mike and I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Easter! This weekend we were blessed with beautiful southern weather in the mid 70s, it certainly lifted our spirits from their winter blues. While its been really tough being so far from all of our family and friends, Mike and I have tried to keep fun holiday traditions alive with each other...so this weekend we dyed Easter eggs! Every time we put our own twist on family traditions we have so much fun reminiscing about our family memories and all of the hilarious stories that have come about from them.We also received a wonderful Easter surprise of goodies from my parents on Saturday so we have been full of Easter joy.

Spring blooms always have a way of brightening the day.

Getting ready to be Easter bunnies

Big kid

Easter Sunday, of course, started with chores out at the barn. Like I've said before a holiday with me just isn't complete without the ponies! After finishing up at Wesleyan we headed up to see Lou pony who was certainly feeling the spring fever today! It is so nice seeing him so happy and so spirited lately. After so many ups and downs with soundness and other leg issues it is really nice to see him truly enjoying his retirement.

Lou enjoying a romp around his retirement field:)

Once we got home it was time to figure out Easter dinner. Mike made an awesome brown sugar glazed ham in the crockpot that made our apartment smell amazing. I made a sweet potato casserole and biscuits to go with the ham and thankfully everything turned out wonderfully. I swear my grandmother must have been watching me make that casserole and slightly giggling but she saved my butt when she sent Mike into the kitchen to ask about the brown sugar...which I had forgotten to mix in! Once that slight mishap was fixed everything else went off without a hitch.

Now its time to relax and enjoy some black jellybeans to end a nice Easter. Love y'all and happy Easter!

In the South...

Living here in Macon has been...interesting. At times it seems just like any other town in America, at times it can be a bit sketchy and then there are those wonderful moments when it feels like the South that you read about in books and see in the movies. Taking a little me time at the hair salon today reminded me of just how southern it can be. You know you are in the south when:

Your hair stylist is wearing cowboy boots...and actually pulling it off.

There are at least five women in the salon wearing something with a monogram...including your hair stylist.

The most popular topic of conversation is what church everyone is going to for Easter service.

You literally feel like you are sitting in a sorority house with the nicest girls you have ever met.

I'd say its pretty obvious why I absolutely love the hair salon that I go to down here, thank God for the south!

On a side note: I found this on pinterest the other day and immediately thought of the Denniston family. So this is for you Mr. and Mrs. Dennniston

 

Bombproofing 101

This past weekend wrapped up the week long Cherry Blossom Festival here in Macon,Ga and Wesleyan College is the annual host of the grande finale fireworks. While this event certainly brings a crowd to Wesleyan and gives the college some much needed community support, it also brings about a large amount of stress for anyone involved with the Equestrian Center. The fireworks were awesome and an odd sight to see in the sky during March but they were also just a couple of football field lengths away from the barn! Anyone who has been around horses understands that loud...very very loud...noises and flight animals just don't mix! To prep all of the horses we stuffed their ears with cotton to muffle the sounds, loaded up some of the most skittish horses so they could be off campus for the show and then prayed that everyone would contain their crazy long enough to get through the show. Thankfully everything went smoothly and most of the horses settled down rather quickly once the fireworks were underway. During times like this I just look at Spence and think "By the time we get out to a show you are going to be so bombproof!" At this point Spence deals with children riding bikes, people fishing, softball practice, tennis practice and construction on a daily basis. Add fireworks to that list and now I'm pretty sure there is nothing that will shake us as a new scary object when we travel out to shows!

Spence with his "earplugs" 

The excitement for this week didn't end on Sunday, thankfully though the excitement became much less stressful after Sunday. This past Tuesday I was able to travel back to Savannah again to meet up with another long lost friend from VI, Erin!! Erin just happens to be in Florida this week for a wedding and when we looked at a map we realized that Savannah would be the perfect midway meeting point....2 1/2 hours seems like nothing when you haven't seen someone in almost a year! It was so wonderful to be able to vent, chat and laugh with someone who completely understands the VI point of view. We also got to explore a bit of Savannah down on River Street, even though it was insanely windy! The streets down by the river were all cobblestone and lined with little shops and cafes. Every where you turn it feels like you have been thrown into a Nicholas Sparks' movie set with all of the romantic details of the town. I am so lucky that Erin has a photographer's eye and we were able to scout out some great spots for engagement pictures for Mike and I. I am so excited for the next trip back and hope that Savannah continues to be a meeting place for a lot more friends!

Please ignore our lovely hair...like I said it was a tad windy!

I love all of the unique gardens, bridges, streets and trees in Savannah

Mike and I hope everyone is having a great week and hoping the weather up north is starting to feel more like spring! Y'all are always welcome to come down to peachy Georgia for a visit!

Tunes and Balloons

Spring break at Wesleyan this week brought about a much needed week of peace and quiet with plenty of riding time at the barn. Henry and Catch have been doing awesome and both are looking at being back in the college lesson program very very soon. We also had another great surprise this week...a new horse! Tres arrived on Tuesday afternoon and has settled in wonderfully. He is a huge...at least 17.2 hands...Hanoverian gelding from Statesboro,Ga. Mike has decided to adopt him as his own as Tres is a tad bit afraid of men, so far though Mike has been able to lead him in and out from the barn and pastures so hopefully he'll come around.

Tres and I after his first ride at Wesleyan..also apparently his first ride in over a month..ha!

Spring break has also brought about some amazing weather down here! Yesterday hit around 70 and today's high was 77, the wind kept it fairly cool though but still very nice. After heading out to the barn to turn out ponies this morning (hot air balloons taking off from across the field did not agree with the ponies this morning so they got a late turnout) we took a nice walk around the "lake" and then went off shopping...Mike's most favorite way to pass the time.

Then we ventured out for some Macon fun at the kick off of the Cherry Blossom Festival which will run through next Sunday with a finale of fireworks at Wesleyan. Tonight's event was held at Macon State College and hosted the hot air balloons along with live music. The great weather along with a really good band made for a nice relaxing evening with our little picnic while we waited for the balloons to fire up. Since it has been pretty windy down here lately they were unable to actually lift off with the balloons but they were still pretty during the sunset.

Sweet tea, fresh fruit and our picnic basket:)

Starting to fire up the balloons.

Glowing hot air balloons after the sunset

We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and Happy St Patrick's Day!!

Homemade goodness

The weather down here has been all kinds of up and down, rainy and windy then kinda nice and so on. So what else to do in the weird weather but experiment in the kitchen! The first test recipe were brownies made from scratch that turned out wonderfully! The recipe was super simple, cheap and doesn't involve any preservatives or crazy chemicals like in the boxes. Next time I will be sure to make a double batch since this recipe didn't make very many.

1 Cup Sugar, 1/2 Cup Flour, 1/3 Cup Cocoa, 1/4 tsp Salt, 1/4 tsp Baking Powder. Add: 2 Eggs, 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil, 1 teaspoon Vanilla. Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Our brownies stuck a bit on the bottom of the pan so you may want to spray your pan down first.

Next it was Mike's turn to take a swing in the kitchen. In the end his experiment turned out super yummy but there were some bumps along the way...and the results were this....

Badger hiding in the coat closet, safely away from the smoke filling the apartment.

Mike decided to experiment with making homemade mozzarella sticks. The first couple of tries produced something that looked as if it had been set ablaze. The third try, however, was amazing!

Our final kitchen trial for the week was to make taco salad in tortilla bowls. I tend to crave taco salad at the most random times and the tortilla bowl is what makes it a real taco salad. These were super easy to make as well. Just put a flour tortilla in an oven safe bowl and spray with butter flavored PAM put in the oven at 450 for 5-7 minutes and ta da!

Thankfully this weekend's weather has been amazing so we were able to venture out a bit. Yesterday I gave a lesson out at Wesleyan and let some of the team members have an extra ride before starting spring break. After work we headed up to Forsyth for the Forsythia Festival and to see Lou pony. The festival was full of arts and crafts vendors and tons of food booths serving up everything from sweet tea to fried everything. Lou was very happy to see us when we arrived at the farm and we were promptly covered in chestnut hair after grooming him...yay for spring coming! Today's weather was even nicer than yesterday with a high 73! I had the noon hay shift at Wesleyan, that I was just a tad late for with all the time change confusion today! After making sure everyone was happy I hopped on Spence for a bit and then Mike and I took a nice walk around the "lake." It was so nice and peaceful out there today and so quiet that we were able to spot at least 30 turtles! It will surely be a great spot for the Denniston turtle release this April!

Crafty Sunday

Sundays have become Mike and I's relaxation day and today was certainly no exception. Today was also much needed after the stresses of this past week. Homemade banana pancakes were the perfect...and most yummy...way to start off the day. ( Mike just added bananas and cinnamon to the recipe on our recipe tab.)

After breakfast we headed off to Wesleyan to re wrap Tucker's legs and begin my pinterest crafts of the day. First step was collecting horseshoes and scrap wood from our pallet pile. Thanks to Mike we got a couple of good pieces.

Next we headed off to visit Lou pony because no weekend is ever complete without his shining face and warm hugs:)

A quick trip to the craft store to collect the rest of the supplies was our next stop and then back home to get started. My first pinterest craft was a sign made from the scrap wood. The sign will be the first of many for our "word wall" in our dining room. If anyone would like one made I'll be more than happy to get to work on some more!

Step 1: Paint

Yummy Old Bay popcorn was the perfect snack for a crafting afternoon

Step 2: Nail on the horseshoe

Step 3: Paint again and done!

I'll be sure to post pictures as the wall comes together...as soon as the landlord fixes the leak in the ceiling that is!

For the next craft Mike decided to join in and make one of his own. They were also pretty simple to make. Simply take a horseshoe and wrap it in twine, when you get to about the center weave your twine through a charm or bead of your choosing and then continue to wrap the twine around the horseshoe until it is even on both sides. Here are our finished horseshoes hanging in our living room.

Happy crafting!!