Stop and Smell the Roses

Sometimes I get so caught up in school that I forget to realize that there is life existing outside of school.  This weekend, for example, I had a wonderful time just slowing things down.  Don't get me wrong, I still did a butt load of homework, but I did some other fun things too.

• I unwound with some junky tv
• I went out to dinner (just me and my parents, no sisters!)
• I baked my mom scones for Mother's Day breakfast
• I gardened with my mom on Mother's Day
• I had a great time taking pictures at my weekend house (I got some really great reflection shots because that was my photography assignment this weekend)

Overall, I was able to really decompress this weekend which was a nice treat.  Unfortunately, as soon as I got back to school this morning a whole flood of problems, irritations, thoughts, and other daily troubles came back to me.  It's great to unwind sometimes, but then it feels pretty awful to have real life come back and settle on your shoulders.

I don't have to worry too much longer, though, because I only have 5 days of classes, 4 days of review sessions, and 4 days of exams left.  Whew! 

It really is starting to sink in that soon I will be on summer break with almost 3 months of no school.  My oldest sister is coming home from college tonight, so we're opening gifts for my mom tonight instead of yesterday.  

Oh, and as a last minute thought, you know sometimes you need a break from things or people you love? It's like you spend every moment of your time with them that sometimes you just need time away from them.  Not alone time, just time with other people...

The pond was full of critters this weekend.  I got pictures of most of them, but there was a huge bullfrog that kept getting away from me!

I especially love these tadpoles.  It's so cool to see an animal in sort of "textbook" style.  You always imagine just a frog and maybe the younger tadpoles, but these guys look like they're pretty far along...maybe next week they'll have the beginnings of legs!

I'm Doing the Limbo in Horse World

Ok, Sunday was such a great experience.  I had never been to a show away from the barn before with Zeus.  I'd say we both did pretty fabulous, but it was a "learning experience" nonetheless.  We got 7th in dressage and then moved up after jumping to come in 5th overall.  So either we did something right, or a few people did something wrong. haha ;)

So the dressage test got me a little discouraged.  I looooove practicing dressage at home and really connecting the with horse while I ride, but I just don't think I like competing in it.  Jumping on the other hand, I love nailing it during practice, and then when it comes time to the show, I love it then, too.  

I think this experience just tells me that a.) Zeus is not a dressage show horse (or a show horse or a dressage horse for that matter).  He is a school horse--and a mighty fine one at that.  and b.) I looooooove jumpers (but I already knew that!)

So the best case scenario for me would be to be riding a horse that can keep up with what I want to do.  It breaks my heart to think that it is pushing Zeus too much to do what I want to do with him while still having to haul beginners around the rest of the time.  He's such a trooper...

Plus, I would really love to advance as a jumper rider.  I'm lucky (and unlucky!) enough to live in an area where there are huge rated shows.  Anyway, my dream would be to ride in one of these.  And unfortunately, neither Zeus, nor my current barn in general, is suited for this.  

And thus we have limbo.  I'm torn between staying at a place I absolutely love and going somewhere to advance my riding "career".  My current barn is so friendly and familial feeling.  My trainer is amazing.  Zeus is my love.  But, then again, I'm being restricted here because I can only go so far with these horses and this barn.  That's why I'm contemplating going back to the barn where I first started off for sorta the same reason that I left.  I used to think I didn't want anything to do with shows.  But, I'm realizing more and more that the occasional show is kinda like a soccer match.  Sure you can practice all you want, but it is just not the same as showing your stuff at a real match.  The same goes for riding it feels like.  

I know I will never have a horse as long as I'm living under my parents' roof and I know I will never be one of those girls who shows every weekend and goes to Florida and misses basically the entire winter of school.  But, I don't really want to be one of those girls.  I'm happy playing hard and training hard in my lessons and then occasionally showing my stuff.  

Luckily, despite my parents insistence that riding is merely a hobby that they can take away from me at any time (which they have done) they are willing to let me ride at all.  I can always count on having my weekly lesson (unless of course I'm being punished).  And, even though I only get to ride once a week, I get to go to riding camp in the summer.  My dad is actually paying for my new, near budget-less saddle.  I think for my parents, they think that if they can outfit me with all the material possessions that I could ask for, then I wouldn't mind only riding once a week and not having a horse.  Oh, parents...

And speaking of saddles and limbo, I'm also in a state of saddle limbo.  I just listed my old saddle on consignment with Beval Saddlery and am in the process of shopping for a new one (thanks, Daddy!).  I'm looking for a definite upgrade from the Collegiate I used to ride in.  I've tried a bunch of really nice saddles and it feels rather luxurious being able to ride in top of the line saddles for my once a week lesson. hehe ;)

Anyway, I'll definitely have a post when I finally decide on a saddle.  

Oh, and only 7 days left of classes and then review days and finals!!!! Summer, here I come!! :D

Mini Update on Frazier Combined Test

I will do a longer post later about my day at the Frazier Farm combined test. Overall, it was a fun experience. Let's just say that things ALWAYS turn out differently then when you're practicing at home.  But, that being said, I was super proud of how Zeus did today and I enjoyed myself.

I got 7th in dressage but the jumping results weren't ready before I had to leave.  When I found out how I did overall I'll put that in my next post.  I'm also in the process of uploading a TON of pictures.  My mom took over 200!

It went from me thinking I would be by myself with my trainer to having my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and cousin come watch me!  I really liked having all that support there.  Plus, my little 4 year old cousin looked absolutely precious feeding a carrot to Zeus.  She was about as big as his head! ;)

Rue Lala!

Rue Lala

Have you guys heard of it?  It's like Pinterest in the sense that you need an invitation.  But it's for shopping!

They offer huge sales on designer clothes, accessories, etc.  It's the real deal.  No knockoffs.

I'm waiting until a favorite name turns up and then I'm sure I'll go a little online shopping crazy!  The sales change daily so it's worth it to check often.  You can even have them send you reminders.  (I have a Vineyard Vines reminder ready for tomorrow!)

Anyway, that link is an invitation at the top of the page if you're not already a member.

Punch in the Face--REBOUND!

If you've been reading lately, you'll know that I have been having some not-so-great days lately...

To be less ambiguous, I'll explain why Friday particularly was so bad.  Originally, I had run for class president for 10th grade.  I sort of knew I wasn't going to win, considering who one of the other candidates was (think friendly, popular, super outgoing...).  Well, it was still a mini punch at my self esteem when I heard he won--with no run off!

Not to worry, I still had a chance to run for student council rep.  I wasn't really worried at all for this considering I was a rep this year.  Anyway, fast forward to Friday when I found out I didn't even get voted for rep.  It did not compute!  There are a whole slew of reasons why I think the results were bogus, but I'm going to keep them to myself.  Had it been Friday afternoon when I wrote this post, yes, I probably would be listing them (in addition to reasons why I hate people in general) ;)  But, I've had the weekend to get over it.  Every time I think about it I still feel a mini punch in the gut, but oh well.  As my mom continues to say: Student politics are fickle.

Now, I'm viewing this as a learning opportunity.  At least I tried.  I gave a speech in front of my whole grade.  I may have even left some ideas that stuck with the people that did make student council and will hopefully consider them for next year.

Anyway, Friday was such a down-in-the-dumps day for me that I didn't really fully appreciate something good that also happened.  My trainer, Barb, asked me if I'd take my favorite horse, Zeus, to a combined test that they're going to next weekend.  I like to think of this as proof that at least some one, somewhere values what I do.  There are plenty of other riders that could've taken Zeus to the show (just as there were a whole slew of candidates for student council), but, it was ME that was asked to take Zeus!  YAYAYAYA!!!!

Anyway, she said that they might be going.  I really hope I'm not getting my hopes up for nothing...

But if we are going--WOOHOO!  I'm so excited!! It's at Frazier Farm on May 6th.  And you can guarantee that it will make for some super awesome blog posts!

Butterscotch Cheerio Treats

Nice, Mel! ;) She was on the farthest courts from the stands and I couldn't get any closer...lucky I had my new zoom lens!  I did get some really cool shots of random girls on the closer courts.

Ok, after lots of bad news and an overall bad day I really needed to take my mind off things.  I went to the movies with my sister and downed a large popcorn and a box of pretzel m and ms while watching The Lucky One with Zac Efron.  Well, it helped a little bit...

I decided that I would make something easy for Mel's tennis match today.  And by easy I mean no-bake, using up ingredients I have on hand, and not spending more than 20 minutes on it.  Well, Butterscotch Cheerio Treats it is!

Butterscotch Cheerio Treats

Ingredients

1 bag of marshmallows

1/4 cup cup plus 2 Tb butter

7 cups dulce de leche cheerios

unknown amount of coconut that I had in the freezer*

*I'm not sure if I actually added enough coconut to make a difference in flavor or texture, but I wanted to use up the remains of a bag so I tossed it in...

Directions

1. In a large bowl dump entire bag of marshmallows and butter.

2. Microwave for 1 minute or until butter is melted.

3. Stir in cheerios and butterscotch chips.

3. Spray a 9x13 pan and dump marshmallow-cheerio blob into it.

4. Spray your fingers and press the mix evenly into the pan.

5. Let set up for about 30 minutes (you can put it in the fridge to speed this up).

Yes, you guessed it.  This is just rice krispie treats but with cheerios and some other crazy stuff mixed in.  I also used a spastic amount of butter but I was using up the butter that was in our butter dish so that's how I came to this amount.  Hey, whatever works... ;)

I cut it into 24 squares but you can definitely cut however many you'd like depending on what size you want.  

There was only about 1/3 cup of coconut left in that bag so you can just pretend it's not there...

Bowl o' marshmallow (uhh and butter!)

Stiiiiiiir

Mmmmm butterscotch...and some stupid leftover coconut (except coconut is not stupid, the amount of coconut I used was stupid)

Spray your fingers...do it or you will not end up with a pretty pan like this.  You will end up with a chunky monkey pan that's half stuck to your utensil.

Isn't he cute?!!?? 

I resisted these guys until after the match...and then I had 2 small ones biggest ones I could find.  They were super yummy.  I definitely think the cheerios held up well with the butterscotch chips because they were similar sized if you get what I mean.  But, I think there's something about a classic rice krispie that just trumps all others...  Lucky for me I bought 3 extra bags of marshmallows at the grocery store this morning.

Inspiration?

The bread lasted barely 24 hours...maybe 25.  I brought one and half loaves to school (sliced) and it was gone by the end of the day.  And I may or may not have had half a loaf after school...  I can definitely say this bread is better the next day after having been in an airtight container over night.

Grrrr...I should start making stuff that I don't like to eat.  Perhaps my next post will be Bacon Brownies.  Other people will eat them (which is what I aim for when baking) but I will be able to resist (I don't like bacon).

Y' know, that doesn't actually sound like a bad idea at all....HAHAHA get ready everyone..I'm gonna make bacon brownies!