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!

TGIF!!

Thank goodness its finally Friday!! It has been one crazy week of ups and downs but I'll start at the beginning...Memorial Day weekend or the calm before the storm. With the arrival of summer there comes the arrival of vacations, well at least for all of the barn help. Which, of course, really means that Courtenay and I get to pick up all of the extra shifts, so I spent most of Saturday out at the barn which ended up being completely relaxing and fun. Then on Sunday Mike and I set out to enjoy the wonderful weather and found some interesting friends along the way.

With it being Memorial Day weekend we just had to grill out because well, what else do you do on an American holiday:) Shrimp, chicken and steak kabobs were on the menu and s'mores as dessert. It just isn't summertime if there aren't s'mores!

Mike was a tad over enthusiastic with the fire

 Mike had to work on Memorial Day so I spent the day between the Wesleyan barn and visiting Lou pony up in Forsyth...and then Betsy decided that she wanted out. On the way home from Forsyth she decided that screaming loudly all the way home was super fun. Of course, after the 45 minute drive home I was in a full panic and spent the rest of the day safely at home. Thankfully I have a wonderful fiance who drove me to work in the mornings this week and wonderful students who gave me rides home when Mike had to work late. 

Then Thursday came, all week long I literally could not think past Thursday. It was an early morning starting off with picking up my car at Wesleyan so Mike could drive it up to Forsyth to get fixed, then we loaded up Lou pony and Colonel to head back to Wesleyan. Lou got to spend the day at Wesleyan while we took Colonel and Spence up to the vet.

I think he enjoyed his day at college...so much so that he didn't really want to leave at the end of the day!

Spence was a trooper about going back to the vet and was a gentleman about his minor eye surgery to insert the catheter under his eyelid. He will stay at the vet for a couple of weeks to receive eye treatments through the catheter every two hours. Dr. Jennifer was much more optimistic about Spence's eye and things are looking up for being able to treat the infection.

Everything is all set for treatment and Spence settled in well in his new stall

Dr. Jennifer said that I am welcome to visit anytime, so there will be lots of Spence updates coming soon! Upon returning to Forsyth with Lou and Colonel in tow after work, I got to pick up Betsy. Now if you know Betsy you know that she squeals and squeaks on a good day...not any more!! Betsy the Blue Explorer is alive and kicking! I am beyond excited and beyond grateful to Phillip and Steve for spending the day figuring out what was happening! So now that Betsy is back up and running I will get to visit Spence man and continue to spoil him during his recovery:)

Now that it is Friday and every horse in the barn has been worked this week, its time for a relaxing weekend....hopefully!

A short tie and Mother's Day

While Spence has been going through his eye issues he has never once moped around or acted like the world was ending...life has certainly taken a cue from Spence and has continued to give Mike and I lots of blessings and things to look forward to. We are so lucky to have each other here supporting our dreams for the future. We are so lucky to have our families and friends' support in everything we do. And we are so lucky to have such great opportunities to pursue all around us. This week Mike reached out and grabbed one of those opportunities by the horns and sold 3 cars in just 2 days!! As a result, however, he had to sacrifice a tie for his first sale! He said it was a tradition at the dealership.

It was a great reason to get out of the apartment for the night and go celebrate. So, of course, we headed out for sushi!

Mike and I would also like to wish our mothers a very Happy Mother's Day!! Thank you both for always being so supportive of us in our choices, it truly means the world to us!

Even the geese and turtles were celebrating Mother's Day today. And we do believe that is a Denniston turtle on the left enjoying the company of some new friends:)