my four loves

In the past few months since I've been doing the 40+ hours per week office job, I have made sure to utilize my Saturdays to the best of my ability.  Almost every week I have a schedule written in my planner to make sure I can get it all in- running, riding, going to dinner with a friend, horse shows, bike rides, temple trips, hiking, shopping, etc.

This past Saturday was one my favorites.

Made a friend on my 8 mile run.  I usually park a couple miles from the W&OD trail, hop on the trail for a few miles and turn around and come back.  Shortly after I joined the trail, a girl came the other way in Vibrams. We did the "sweet shoes" comment to each other, and she turned around and asked if she could join me.  We had a grand time talking about running, cycling, triathlons, families, the church, and all sorts of things. 

Then I went to a dressage clinic with Lorna Donahue at the barn. 

Learned a ton and Beau was able to come watch as well.

Beau and I went to Middleburg, one my favorite places in the world.  It is hunt country and horse person heaven.  It seems like every little shop has something horse related in their name, decor, products, or logo. At the grocery store, the ratio of people in barn clothes to normal is about 1:1. The locals are all snobby and I love it.

After picking a few things up at the Tack Exchange, Beau and I went to lunch at the Upper Crust bakery, which was documented by the Daily Dollar!

Then we went on a bike ride through Middleburg and Philomont. Beau's new smartphone showed our elevation profile like this:

yikes.

"How come I'm always the one in pictures?" "Because you're prettier than me."

To finish out the day, we changed clothes and went to a friend's wedding reception. 

There are few things I see at weddings that I feel are actually worth the time and money that went into them. Here is one exception: after going through the receiving line, we were escorted to a little bench and the photographer took our picture.  At the end, we were handed the framed photo to keep. Genius!

Best Saturday so far. Running, horses, cycling, and Beau.

i got the moves like jagger

This week was a good week because...
- Cheddar Bunnies were on clearance at Harris Teeter.
- My bike and I became best friends again. We had a little bit of separation and she got jealous that I was spending more time with the Vibrams.
- I competed in my first dressage show and it was fantastic.
- Beau had more fun at said dressage show than was expected.
- There is a not-dead turtle somewhere in the woods by rt 606.
- I completed my first bid proposal at work.
- I learned the magical properties of fabric when cut diagonally to make it stretchy.
- We saw HP7.2 with Katie and Joe
- I unexpectedly needed to buy a new dressage saddle this week and found a smokin deal on CL.

I have started so many blog posts in the past little while and have yet to finish any of them.  On one hand, we are super busy over here with work, riding (horses for me, cycling for both of us), vacationing, looking for an apartment, deciding to not move, making future plans, etc., but then when I look back to see what needs to be updated, it doesn't seem like there are many exciting things to tell. And a lack of photos, as per usual.

Thankfully, I have sisters-in-law that DO take pictures, so I can give a decent account of our lake vacation to Colorado!

The main reason for this gathering was to celebrate Beau's brother Brady coming home from his mission in Brazil. Yay Brady!

 errbody

Check out these beautiful children.

Beau's family is big into waterskiing, and they are all amazing at it. I prefer to watch from the boat.

Isn't this the cutest?

Models, I'm telling you.

This is me surviving and feeling uncomfortable because water is frightening to me.

Other stuff? We went for a jaunt on the AT with the Anna and Rob and baby.  This is us in the swanky Ed Garvey shelter.. when I die I want my money to go to building nice AT shelters like this. Well, some of it anyway. The rest can go to the church.

I don't think I've introduced the world to my new man, Jimmy (who also answers to Jimmer). He is a super athlete, imported from England, and a former Advanced level horse.  Which means he used to do stuff like this:

And now he has to be bored and do this:

Okay, we usually jump much higher than this, but it was our first show when I'd only had him for a couple weeks.  But we competed in my first dressage show last weekend, and did really well.

The End.