Back to School

Yep its already back to school down here in the South. The public schools in Bibb County officially started the school year on Monday and the private schools won't be far behind. The international students at Wesleyan move in this weekend, boot camp for the equestrian team starts Monday afternoon and classes start on the 21st; needless to say things are getting super busy! Of course, with back to school comes the endless lists of things to get done and things you need to get through the year. So here is my personal list of things that get me through the coming school year.

1. Patience...Patience...Patience

If I could buy patience by the bucket load, I'd do it! I think any teacher or coach can relate to this, patience runs thin towards the end of the week after a couple of rough lessons but you just have to keep on chuggin' through.

2. Lots of happy, healthy ponies

The past 2 weeks have been filled with vet appointments for all of the beloved Wesleyan horses. All of the horses got annual shots, dental floats, Coggins and any necessary joint injections. Being a program based on donations means we often have a lot of maintenance to keep our horses comfortable in their jobs but when they are such saints we can't really complain! Spence and Lou also got to be a part of the vet marathon. Spence was able to get his eye catheter out and go back to being a normal horse! And Lou pony hopped right on the trailer to head to Wesleyan for the day. Of course, both boys got loved on with baths.

                   

                                Lou pony                                                     Spence man

3. Coffee...lots of coffee

If it weren't for coffee I don't think I'd make it in to work much less through the whole day. And goodness gracious when show season starts (Sept. 28th is our first show!) I will be living off of coffee for all of our road trips. 

Apparently Henry is not a morning "person" either and thought I was crazy for being in the arena before breakfast.

 

4. Comfy Shoes

Being on my feet all day calls for a comfortable shoe soooooo bring on the Sperry Topsiders.

My Sperrys have been put through the ringer over the years but I have yet to find another shoe that I want to stand in all day and still like the way they look. Of course, working at the barn I wear my Sperrys 50% of the time and my tall boots, that I love love love, the other 50% of the time. Sadly my tall boots don't always love me back and at the end of the day my feet scream about it.

5. Support

When it comes down to it I truly could not being living out my dreams in the equine world if it weren't for all of the support I receive everyday from my family, friends, students and amazing fiance. Thank y'all so so much!

Coming home to Mike and the puppies at the end of the day always puts a smile on my face.

 

6. When all else fails...

 

A glass of wine fixes the stresses of the day:) That and looking forward to pony kisses in the morning!

 

 

Thanks and random updates

I am still in disbelief of how quickly this summer has gone...its already August?! Just crazy. Talking with one of my college friends earlier made me realize how quickly time flies by and how much has changed in what seems like such a short time. Two of my best friends from college are now married, one of my good friends from high school is married, my sister is starting to look at graduate programs and I'm planning a wedding for next October, holy cow! While this summer has flown by it has also brought with it many changes. I officially became head coach of the Wesleyan Equestrian Team this July and my parents moved to Boston at the start of the summer...by the way Happy Birthday, Dad!! Thankfully through all of the craziness and changes it has been so nice to know that a friend or family member is just a phone call away. I truly have no idea how I would have gotten through everything or still be getting through things if it weren't for y'all, thank you so much!

Speaking of thanks, I owe a huge thanks to Katie and Jill. Through a lot of connections, that would be insane to try and type out, Jill has graciously given Mike and I are first official start on the collecting of wedding decor by generously "donating" mason jars and chalkboard signs to us for our wedding. I have never personally met Jill and am still in awe of her generosity and just can't thank her enough! And, of course, I have to give Katie a huge thanks for being the major connector and for storing said items until we can meet up in Savannah,Ga. Thank you both so so much!! And thank you to Kristen for keeping an eye out for wedding bargain sites for me! If anybody has any budget friendly tips please feel free to leave a comment:)

Now onto other random happenings. As promised here is a photo of the lovely Sperry tan line on my feet...it went away for a little bit thanks to self tanner but the sun won out and has brought it back since Gray's wedding.

There is just no getting away from it...oh well :)

Last weekend Mike and I continued our search for a new sushi place in Macon (we have one but might as well keep trying them all!) After hearing one of my students talk about a certain place called SushiLove for awhile I decided to brave it and try it out. For being in Macon, the place has a really neat concept of having sushi on a conveyer belt that travels around the dining room and you just pick up what you want.

The belt as it came by our table.

The sushi was pretty decent and when we picked from the belt it wasn't horrendously expensive which was nice. I also loved the appetizer that we got...it was imitation crab sticks stuffed with cream cheese and lightly fried, so much yummier than it sounds.

The rest of the week was filled with meetings and vet appointments at work along with random rainy days. Tuesday ended up being an all day athletic department training day which literally ran from 9-5pm. While there were lots of great ideas thrown out we still have a lot of work to do for a successful athletic year...I have faith though! The highlight of the day for me personally was lunch...not because it was a break ;)...and the conversation with Coach Hightower. He is our softball coach and is one of the most welcoming people you'll ever meet, he also happened to go to VMI so he actually knew what VI was when he asked where I went to school. He also informed me that once upon a time the VMI guys had a song/cadence about the VI girls! He claims he couldn't remember all of it otherwise I would totally post it..I can only imagine what they said back in the day!! The other highlight of the day was the sheer shock on everyone's faces when I brought up my age and the likely issues with me trying to rent a van from an outside car rental. Its funny because people often see me and think I'm much younger than I am but then when they meet or work with me suddenly they think I'm far older than I am...I'm hoping and guessing this is a good thing, at least I'm learning to like it!

Welp sorry I blabbed on forever but Mike's on his way home after a big day on the car lot so its out for a small celebration of ice cream:)

Love y'all!

Week of love

Last week and weekend were wonderfully exhausting...when a week is packed with wedding festivities you can't help but be happy! On Thursday Gray's maid of honor, Whitney, hosted a beautiful bridal luncheon at her mother's house on Lookout Mountain. Everything about the luncheon was beautifully organized, right down to the decor of shades of green throughout the house. All of the food was delicious and the desserts were adorable...the dessert even held a little secret. Apparently it is southern tradition to hide a key in the dessert and the person who finds the key will have a wedding in the near future, thankfully both Gray and I found keys so there won't be any wedding cancellations!

A mini VI reunion with the girls!

 

After the luncheon it was back to Macon for me but Mike and I were on the road bright and early on Saturday for wedding day! All of the bridesmaids got our hair done together at Ect Salon in Chattanooga,TN...the hairstylist that did our hair has literally cut Gray's hair since she was 4 years old!

After hair was done we all hung out and did our makeup and sipped on wine and mimosas...can't ask for much more of a chill day than that! As far as time went we had plenty of it on wedding day, which I'm sure is an anomaly but it was so nice to have time to spend with all of the girls, Gray and Gray's wonderful family. There were a lot of tears but they were filled with joy and laughter!

The entire evening was gorgeous and full of southern hospitality. I will let the pictures speak for themselves (many of the photo credits go to Mike this week!)

Mr. and Mrs. McCurdy

Aren't Wade and Gray just adorable together! Wade absolutely adores her and being around them is such a lesson in love, they truly beam with happiness in each others presence. I feel so blessed to have been a part of their big day and cannot wait to see them again very soon!! After the vows, we all danced the night away.

It is amazing how far we have all come since graduating from VI. I absolutely love these girls and I must say that we have picked some very special men to share our lives and adventures with.

(photo credit: Katie Fischer)

Wade is most certainly inheriting the most wonderful roomie in the whole world! I love you tons, Gray, and I am so happy that you have found your other half. Of course, if you ever want to skip on down to sunny GA and relive our college days, I'm always here for you! Love you lots!

 

 

A Rainy Fourth

Holy cow I cannot believe it has already been a week since Ashley came to visit...which also means far too long since my last update! I swear this summer is trying to fly by without letting me catch a breath. Perhaps I think its flying by because it has barely felt like summertime at all with all of this rain. Now everyone down here has explained to me over and over again how this is very unusual for Georgia but it has seriously rained for weeks straight...thank goodness we did get a break this week though. The rain, however, was not phased by Ashley coming to visit and just kept on pouring down.

Heading to pick up Ashley looked like this....

Even though we had the rainiest 4th of July in Georgia history, it was so nice to have Ashley down here. Its crazy that we have known each other since middle school! While things have certainly changed and we've both moved away, its like nothing has changed at all when we get together...which is great!

We'll just smile right on through the rain

Of course, since Ashley and I met as a result of our horsey love we had to go out to the barn for a ride and a grooming session with the old men:)

Ashley hadn't ridden for two years...and she still looked great in the saddle! Move to GA Ash so that we can ride together more often!

And I'm pretty sure Colonel will miss you too!

Sadly Ashley had to head back up to Maryland on Saturday but we were lucky enough to sneak in a few hours of sunshine before she had to head out...and lots of fun wedding stuff all week! For those of you who haven't yet heard, Ashley became ordained this year so that she will be able to marry Mike and I next October (yet another thing I need to update everyone on). We are so excited that we will be able to have a close friend share in the moment with us and very glad that she is someone we both feel very comfortable with, especially with planning a wedding away from many connections. Thank you Ashley!! And thanks a ton for watching a thousand wedding shows with me and reading through a bazillion magazines!!

Speaking of weddings...this coming week my wonderful college roomie is getting married!! I am so excited to be a part of her special day next week when she gets to walk down the aisle and day "I do" to Wade! I will be sure to take a ton of pictures...well Mike will be sure to ;)...and report back all the fun details. I still can't believe that 5 years ago I walked into Intermont Hall having no idea what the next years would bring and what I got were some amazing memories, an awesome education and a best friend!

Back when the puppies were small enough to carry...this seems like forever ago.

At Katie and Paul's wedding...and now its your turn Gray!!!

 

 

Sweet Summertime and Answered Prayers

Sweet sweet summertime is officially here! The days are longer, the lightening bugs are out and hello tan lines! Summer brings about some of my most favorite sights of the year and also makes me long for long days on the Bay followed by crabs smothered in Old Bay. While Mike and I are far from the Chesapeake, I'm still lucky enough to get to spend my days outside with the horses soaking up the rays.

The arrival of summer means that I now live in my Sperrys...at the barn, on the water, at home, everywhere. This also means that my lovely Sperry tan line is now in full swing and it will only get worse from here (I'll be sure to post a picture of this beautiful phenomenon at some point).

Summer also means summer camp and don't all of the horses look thrilled...haha. Summer camp makes for long days with shortened patience levels by the end of the week but every once in awhile you run into a group of kids that makes it all worth it. When you see a student finally have an "ah ha" moment it makes the whole week better. Something as simple as a brand new rider being able to navigate an obstacle course at the walk on their own can put a smile on my face.

This summer I got especially lucky and have some team members that decided to stay over the summer to work and ride. Watching the riders who really want to improve work their butts off and get some great results is so rewarding. Every time I have a student who asks me for extra work so that they can get an extra lesson that week it makes me want to jump for joy. Talented riders are great but give me the hard working rider any day!

Summertime in the horse world also means its time to whip out the check book...you're either spending money at horse shows or on vet bills and clearly this year I got the vet bills end of the check book. With Spence's current state (which is improving by the day!) there won't be any horse shows for us this summer outside of my coaching students. I did, however, get a huge pick me up last week during a vet visit. Spence has been racking up the vet bills at a much higher rate than I've been able to save up to pay everything off so I've been praying to God to give me some guidance through it and to somehow help provide the funds to get everything taken care of...well goodness gracious did He answer! Dr. Jennifer informed me that someone had sent a money order to them for Spence's bill that took care of a significant amount of our remaining total, they didn't leave a name or anything and I haven't been able to get anyone to tell me who did it. To the amazingly generous person who helped us...THANK YOU! You have no idea how much that meant to me and the amount of stress that was taken off of my shoulders that day. I know that God put it in someone's heart to do this for us and I just can't get over how amazing it truly is :)

Outside of the horsey life...still not sure if I actually have a life outside of the horses...summer equals cookouts and s'mores. If s'mores aren't a part of your summer than your summer just isn't complete. I remember sitting in the back yard as kids making s'mores and listening to Mom's "scary" stories all night. Now as an adult sitting around a campfire, or a grill if that must suffice, and making s'mores is such a comfort.

Of course, summer also means trying to find new ways to even out my "tan" without ending up like a lobster! And no I have not yet figured out this balance. Between a mix of sunscreen, hats and rolling up sleeves I attempt to prevent the inevitable farmer's tan....it never works. Maybe I'll bring back my pink floppy hat from last summer to protect my face.

This summer has also opened the flood gates of weddings! Mike and I are so excited and grateful to have been invited to be a part of so many of our friends' big days! I love going to the mailbox and finding save the dates and wedding invites as well as all kinds of wedding magazines and catalogs for our own wedding. Gray and Wade's wedding is quickly approaching in July and the fact that I have picked out a strapless bridesmaid dress is a tad worrisome...Gray I promise to try and fix my tan lines in time!! Any suggestions on self tanners anyone?

Mike and I hope that everyone is enjoying the summer so far and has exciting 4th of July plans, I know we are both super excited to have Ashley coming down for a visit this week! I'll be sure to update soon as to how our first 4th of July down south goes and on my new position as head coach, which starts on Monday!! Now who wants to send us some Maryland blue crabs???

 

Pushing Forward

     Mike here, taking hold of the wheel from work while Jess is at work herself. Being caught up and even ahead on my work plan coupled with light foot traffic on the lot today means I have a lot of down time, a whole lot. I always try to put my two cents in when Jess updates everyone on what's going on in our lives down here but there's never too much for me to add. Don't get me wrong, there's a multitude of things going on down here, we just kind of prioritize what we talk about I guess. The reason I titled this pushing forward is because the one thing that's constant for us is resistance. I wake up every day and thank God that I have someone to push back with though. As soon as we feel like we've taken a step forward, something comes up to knock us right back a step, sometimes even two or three. As I've been told many times, "That's life." Whether it be from our jobs, the wedding planning, even lately our animals, there always seems to be something that can go wrong. It's hard to focus on the good in our lives when the bad always seems to rear its ugly head. When I'm feeling overwhelmed I have to remind myself how lucky Jess and I really are though. We've been blessed with families that despite being a little chaotic (what families aren't?) sometimes, have always been there when we needed help or needed to talk out some problems we're facing. We've been blessed to find each other at the right time in our lives and grow together. We've been blessed with the opportunity to make a life for ourselves as a couple. When things seem truly overwhelming I look at my parents and Jess' parents and tell myself that I know we can make it when we're not even facing half the difficulties they faced starting out. The support and advice from our families mean the world to us.
     Not sure if Jess mentioned it in post earlier or not but I'm working for a Honda dealership selling cars in Milledgeville, Georgia. Quite an eye opening job, I'll put it that way. I never saw myself selling cars, everyone has that preconceived notion of what a car salesman is and it just makes me shudder to think I'm being lumped in with that group. I think it's a combination of the guys I work with and still learning something every day, but I enjoy it. My sales manager says I have a higher percentage of customers that return to the lot and buy from me than he's ever seen, the only problem with "be backs" is that it tends to be hard to make any money off those deals. I approach selling cars by picturing the customers as someone like my parents or siblings and that's probably why my customers come back and feel comfortable buying from me. Not making the big bucks but at least I still feel like I have my integrity and can sleep at night. Those of you who have done sales jobs before please feel free to reach out with advice or relay any stories or things that may have held your sales back at first. There are so many little details that impact a sale but I'm getting more comfortable and actually closing most of my own deals now.
     With all of the things going on in our lives we haven't lost sight of how important it is to laugh every day and I feel like this ties in perfectly with my new found profession.

P.S. Remember there's ALWAYS a little wiggle room.

Am I missing something here?

Its been a tad crazy around here with the start of summer...aka summer camp at the barn, Mike's job and Spence's eye treatment journey; so sorry for the lack of updates! The arrival of summer has brought about rises in temperature, humidity and crazy thunderstorms. Honestly though I'm pretty sure the Georgia heat hasn't truly hit us yet; however, the Georgians are already over the heat. Maybe the years of driving around in Maryland and DC heat with no AC in Betsy has prepared me for the heat down here...of course, driving Betsy around down here come July should be fun...ha ha. In order to keep everyone happy I have been getting to the barn by 7am to ride with some of the girls from the team before the campers arrive and then riding a horse or two after the campers leave for the day. I guess we shall see if we all survive the Georgia summer!

On a happier note...Spence got to come home this weekend! He will still be receiving his eye treatments through the implant that the vet put in his eye for the next 2-3 weeks, but at least he is back home and seems fairly content. Dr. Jennifer also gave me the ok to go ahead and put him back into work but I'm a tad bit afraid of his dispenser getting stuck on the reins and popping out...he did after all manage to lose it in his field today (Thank you Mike for finding it and reattaching it to him!!!). As of now his eye is still pretty dark from the blood vessels covering it to attack the fungus but Dr. Jennifer said that he should only have a small scar and should have at least 75% of his vision in that eye. All in all things are going well, I'm just ready for the light at the end of this tunnel.

As of now, Spence's medical bills have put a pause on wedding planning and travels for the summer so if anyone has any money saving ideas for weddings, please feel free to leave a comment! Mike and I are still hoping to have the wedding next summer but are starting to explore all of our options. At this point as long as Mike is there and I can see some body of water, I'll be happy.

Well now that Mike and I have conquered one stress event for the day I'm off to enjoy some Old Bay popcorn and hopefully sunshine and the pool this evening! I hope everyone is enjoying their Father's Day weekend! Happy Father's Day!