Days Go By

Holy moly!  Why is it already late-ish July?  I know I've done a lot this summer, but it seriously feels like the clock is ticking and I've done very little.  Italy? Check! Work? Check!  Hmmm...those are two good things, right?  I guess I've had little pleasures here and there like the concert, hanging out with friends, swimming, etc.

I go to camp on Tuesday and will be gone for 3 and a half weeks.  When I get back I immediately start preseason for field hockey which means I'll be heading back to school everyday...Now that sure makes me feel like the summer is over.  Anyway, I'm really looking forward to camp and as much as I dread the end of the summer, I look forward to field hockey.

Today is my sister Natalie's 19th birthday!  We are actually going to celebrate her birthday tomorrow because she's going to a concert tonight.  I can't wait for her to see the present I got her.  Wait for it...Wait for it...it's a Shakespeare tissue box cover!  Sounds weird, but I have a feeling she's going to looooooove it!

Good Life

I had a less than pleasant night last night but today made up for it almost completely.  I had a good morning at work (can you say, "I love photoshop!"), then I went riding and had a pretty fantastic lesson.

Two more pairs of breeches that I ordered (multiples of a pair that I liked) arrived in the mail.  These are the pants.  I love almost everything about them:

• They look fancier than they are because of color, material, and awesome euro seat design.
• They have coolmax in them which is great for summer although they feel very sturdy.
• They are about $100 less than tailored sportsman (although I love those I think these are just as good and even fit kinda nicer hehe).
• They have the side zip which I love and look really good with my belts.
• I feel like a boss when I ride in them...and because they are like bargain breeches compared to TS I actually can ride in them for lessons (now I have a total of 3 pairs).

Now for the one con:

• The CS2 system on the bottom (comfort sock system?).  It seems like a well intended idea that I would probably love if done a little better but it just wasn't working for me.  The bottom is meant to accommodate any sized leg without using velcro to be more comfortable.  But, for me it started off fine but throughout my ride I felt a rubbing and realized it had slid up and was indeed rubbing.  I will try to find a solution to this because I already bought the 2 more pairs and I just love everything else about them...

I satisfyingly unloaded the dishwasher...pinned some stuff on my pinterest...browsed Rue Lala (here's an invite)...aaaaaand planned my evening around watching 90210 on Netflix.

Sounds like the good life to me!
Oh, and enjoy this hilariously true statement:

Where Have I Been?!

Enjoying my summer, that's where!  Italy was absolutely incredible--definitely one of the best vacations yet.  Now that I'm back I'm happily working as a camp counselor and just soaking up the sun.  I go off to camp at the end of July, but for right now life is about as good as it can get.

4th of July was great--we saw a nice fireworks show and perfectly escaped the rain (it started right as the show ended!).  We went with some friends and had a pleasant time.

I made a very productive trip to Target the other day.  I got some accessories for my room and new bedding.  Wow! It looks sooo good!  Lately I've been going a little crazy with the online shopping, though.  I bought a new camelbak water bottle (the insulated kind!), a vera bradley travel toiletry bag, new riding breeches (4 pairs *cough* *cough*), aaaaaand a cute bikini top.  Hmm...Maybe I should lay off for a while...

After a little chink in perfection I think I'll be able to ride a few times this week (as opposed to 0 times last week...).  After a clunker of a lesson two weeks ago, I really want to push myself to improve before camp where I'll be riding 5 times a day!  I am soooo excited to go (which reminds me, I should tentatively start packing in case I need to buy anything new).

Well, that's about all that's necessary for this little update.  Take a look at some of these pictures from Italy!

P.S.  I went to an LMFAO concert a few weeks ago!!!

Ciao Italia!

Tomorrow we leave for Italy.  I am so, so, so, so excited!  I am packing tonight because although we have an evening flight, I don't want to be stressed tomorrow.  Tomorrow I think I may actually head out to Barnes and Noble to pick up a few books for summer reading...

This week I was definitely living it up--summer style!  Late nights, sleepovers, pool, movies.  It was a nice little preview of what's to come after I return from vacation.  When I return I will be starting my job as a camp counselor, but that's not all day, I still will have my summer nights!

Do you want a good laugh?  Picture me hobbling around with a grimace on my face while my friend just laughs at me for my misfortune...We decided to do this little 10 minute workout.  It's 1 minute each of 7 different ab workouts and then 3 sets of 25 jump squats/10 pushups.  I thought it sounded like a piece of cake so I went ahead and tried it on Wednesday.  My goodness!  I could hardly walk the next day!  Then, for some bizarre reason, I did it again on Thursday, and then again today!  I am incredibly sore.  Usually it only takes a day to recover from things like this, but I don't remember ever being this sore from a workout...  It's probably a combination of the fact that I have hardly worked out all spring and also because I did it 3 days in a row with no day off.

Anyway, despite having issues walking upstairs/downstairs (downstairs is the worst!), sitting on the toilet, sitting in chairs, sitting on the couch, getting up from a chair, getting up from the couch, and probably a whole lot of other things, I feel muscles under my squish! teehee ;)  This little workout reminded me that I definitely want to be super active this summer (and not just active as in busy, active as in fit).  

Also, I rode in my new saddle today.  It was a dream except for the fact that my stirrup leathers hadn't arrived yet so I used nasty, crispy, crunchy ones from a school saddle.  My butt just makes it because I took the risk in buying a half size smaller than usual.  Anyway, this saddle is extra motivation to well maybe not have such a large behind! haha  Oh, and because life just works that way, my beautiful new leathers arrived today in the mail...after I went riding... HAHA

I have to get packing now...I'm not sure what the computer situation will be in Italy, but I probably won't be able to post anything.  I will definitely return with great pictures, so get ready!  Arrivederci!

Pool Party

Yesterday I had some friends over at my house for a celebrate-the-end-of-school-and-beginning-of-summer party.  It was really fun!  Even though the weather was less than desirable I still had a good time.

The rain held off long enough for us to be able to swim before dinner (even if the air was cold, the pool was heated to 86 degrees!).  We had chicken fajitas for dinner which were definitely crowd-pleasers.  Then we watched Mrs. Doubtfire and made s'mores inside.  I had originally hoped to use the fire pit outside if it had been a typical summery feeling night, but alas, we did the winter style s'mores and made a fire inside.

It was a great way to get everyone together one last time before we go off on our own summer plans and don't see each other until September.  Inevitably, I do usually see my closest friends a few times over the summer, but this was a good kickstart to the summer festivities even if it was 60 degrees and drizzly...

Also, I'm basically in crunch time for packing for our family vacation to Italy.  We leave on Saturday so I really should get myself together...I know what I'll be doing tomorrow...

Summer Freedom

I officially finished my last bit of academics for this school year on Friday when I took my AC1 final.  As a whole, finals weren't bad this year (come on, we're freshman, how bad could they be??) except for Latin.  Latin was that bad...I won't even go into how I screwed up the easy stuff, completely blanked on the hard stuff, and basically drowned on paper.  BUT, it's over and done with now ;)

Now that I'm free I've been able basically enjoy life more.   Sometimes people forget that school honestly stresses out kids...a lot.  It's a full time job...even more so considering we can't leave it in the cubicle at the end of the day.  It's our life.  Yeah, I know, it's important, everyone does it, blah, blah, blah.  But, I can guarantee that what we do in school now is more pressure-filled than "back in the day."

Anyway, I've officially sorted through, packed up, and organized all of my school things and won't be seeing them until September.  That even inspired me to clean my room.  Basically, I'm feeling a positive snowball effect!

Here's my agenda now that school is out:

1. Hang out with friends I haven't seen in a while
2. Have a party to celebrate the end of freshman year
3. Prepare for Italy (shop, pack, learn Italian...)
4. Read Harry Potter like it's nobody's business
5. Spend time with the family
6. Be thankful I go to private school and don't have another month left like the public schools do...

Ok, I've basically done a lot of the stuff on this list already.  I've seen friends, I'm having a party Wednesday (small gathering), I've had umm..multiple shopping sprees to get ready for Italy (but haven't actually packed yet), read Harry Potter, went out to dinner with my family, and aren't I always thankful I go to private school?? 

Some other things on my mind:

• Horseback riding.   pfff...this is it's own post! Let's just say it makes me dizzy in the head thinking about it (ok, not really, but whatever, it sounded good!)
• I'm going to Boston tomorrow for a class trip woooohoooo!!
• I ordered new towels for my bathroom (random, but a total excitement for me nonetheless)
• I got a new saddle...finally after searching for a bajillion years (ok, maybe just a few months...)

So I know this a jumbled mess of a blog post, I definitely need to get better about focusing these things...I think it's partially because it's the first one in a few weeks.  But don't worry, they will get better, more organized, and hopefully more frequent now that I'm out of school.  I'll also be sure to put pictures and doodads besides just plain words.

Almost There!

So this is going to be a really mini post.  I am in the middle of review week for finals.  In 10 days I will be done with all work related to freshman year!  I'm really busy right now with review but I think I will be prepared for my finals come Tuesday (math and bio on the same day! yuck!).

Anyway, I have a lot of things on my mind right now, but of course I have no time to blog about them with finals looming... But, I will mention some mini things that won't take a lot of time.

1. a few of my friends are at a One Direction concert tonight  (have fun, guys! I wish I was there!)
2. I plan on having a pool party to celebrate the end of finals/school year
3. I had Chipotle for dinner tonight ;)

So, that's my mini, random update. Expect some bigger, meatier, all-around better posts once I'm on summer break.