A Long Weekend Resisting Animal Thievery

This weekend I had Monday off, which is always fun! What made it way way more fun was that L had come up to Norcal to visit Peony and I totally crashed their weekend because I don't have any boundaries.

I rode TC on Saturday morning and then immediately zipped up to Peony's. When I got there, Andy, Peony, L, and I hopped in the car and went over to the Chinese bakery to get some delicious lunch. From there, we zipped over to where Nicole was participating in a clinic. Peony had brought her Pixio, so it was super cool to watch her set it up and see the video afterward. It definitely has different strengths and weaknesses from the Soloshot and I have some thinking to do about that. Luckily I haven't saved up quite enough for either yet so I've got time...

Best blogger meetup yet! Kate, Nicole, me, L, and Peony! 

Ellie has so many brains that I had to hold
her head up for like... most of the clinic

While we watched Nicole's lesson, we got to hang out with her awesome dog and also eat some delicious brownies and various other food served at the clinic. Nicole rode the shit out of the mare she's been riding even though she's a tricky ride and it was super fun to see the other two horses and riders in the lesson too. It even made me want to jump a bit!

We went back to Peony's while Nicole went back to put the horse away and pick up Kate. It turned out that while Kate had to work most of the weekend, her boyfriend (Kathy) had to drive up to the area anyway. So she tagged along and we ACTUALLY got to all hang out together! We've all met each other quite a bit but never once have had all five of us in the same room. It was SUPER fun. We ordered ramen and ice cream to Peony's house (um I'm moving) and basically pigged out and watched horse videos that night.

Nicole, me, and L (also Rio the best dog!)

Soon, Nicole and Kate had to leave and it was just the three of us. We went to bed way too late but that's par for the course with this crowd. I was really grateful for that particular evening, because L came up with the PERFECT barn name for me and gave me a really cool idea for a logo too. I'm starting to work on my website and trying to stop hyperventilating at the thought of having a dedicated facebook and instagram page. I'll definitely be sharing that info later on.

The next morning, Andy made L, Peony, and I breakfast and we had a quiet morning watching more horse videos (Robert Dover clinic this time, who inspired us to praise our horses more). We finally pulled ourselves away and headed out to see Spot! We brushed and fed Spot (well, Peony did) and wandered around the property. At Peony's barn there's a small cross country field with everything from giant Prelim + jumps to little logs and cross rails for mere mortals. It was super fun to imagine the various combinations you could ride through and I also got all excited at the idea of doing field dressage/cavalletti work.

After the cross country course, we walked over to the pasture. There are two baby horses in the pasture, as well as a young horse and a few other horses too. We played with the babies and I looked at their adorable little baby teeth, I can't help but to look at baby horse teeth.

I stole Peony's jacket because I'm a wimp. L is wearing a down
jacket because she's also a wimp. 

After playing at Peony's barn, we zipped up to the local tack store to wander around a bit. I'm really glad that the first thing I picked up was the resident cat, who distracted me quite a bit so I avoided buying anything.

The only thing I really considered buying was a somewhat obnoxious saddle pad, but I resisted. I do love a good obnoxious saddle pad, but this one was only borderline obnoxious. And Peony and I found some really cool braid bling too, though I couldn't quite bite the bullet on those. I don't quite know how I feel about putting bling in TC's braids.

I was concerned... 

Tack store kitty is the sweetest

So cute and cuddly

We zipped back down to Peony's to pick up Andy and then headed over to Nicole's house! Well, first we stopped to get some taco ingredients. It's not a blogger meetup without tacos. The evening was really delicious and super fun. I got to hang out with Nicole's awesome dog again. Unfortunately her cat can smell desperation and was NOT having it with me. Nicole said that he was probably a Republican so I guess that explains that.

The tacos were delicious! Nicole and her fiance are amazing cooks. I can't believe I only had two tacos, L totally out performed me. I kind of regret only having two at this point because all I want right now are more tacos.

Yesterday was my last day up there and it was also pretty great. We had a leisurely morning again, then I took L out to Nicole's barn to see Murray and also PUPPIES. They were SO cute and totally feisty.

L didn't leave with this dog but she did leave
with a butternut squash

Okay I swear I'm not crying, but maybe I was
because I wanted all those puppies

The one sitting in my lap didn't fit in my pocket
so that's why I didn't take him home, oh well

Soon it was time for me to leave to go back down to the bay and ride TC. I dropped L off with Peony who had just finished riding Spot, which was perfect timing. I was sad to go, but at least TC was basically the best horse ever in his ride that night. And we made some pretty awesome plans to hang out again so I'm really stoked to see everyone again soon!

Overall it was an AMAZING weekend with some of my favorite people. It's so crazy that these totally random people who I met by reading their blogs have become some of my best friends.