Smashing Pumpkins

The pumpkin that Sam and Candace bought me made the trip to Candace's house for a pumpkin demolition derby! We had fun with it :).

Before.

After.

Ocean City

Today we went to the ATLANTIC OCEAN!!! So we went to Ocean City, aka The O.C. lol. It was a really nice day but the wind made it really cold. We spent just about the whole day walking around looking at everything. I got a pretty cool collection of shells that I am going to make a frame out of.

We had Mac & Manco pizza with Curly's fries for lunch. Yum! So much food! It seems to be a theme ;).

Jess, Me, Candace & Sam.

There it is!

Ocean City.

I had to go in lol.

Candace and I.

I've done this! :)

Tons of Sea Shells!

A Monkey and a Teletubby. IDK.

Carriage Rides.

Singers.

The Pier.

Sunset.

Me, Jess, Beast, Sam, Candace & Mr. H

Amish Market

This morning we went to the Amish market with Candace's grandparents to get sprinkles for their cookie making day. We thought something exploded when we walked by this the first time!

Turns out it was just rice cakes lol. Then their grandparents were so sweet and bought me a piece of shoo fly pie. Apparently you can't visit an Amish area without having some. It was yummy.

Black Friday

Black Friday meant getting up at 3:30am and going shopping! Never before had I ever done anything close to this. I have gotten up this early before but I was at a horse show, not to shop. We stood in line at Target for an hour before it opened.

Today we went shopping at Target, BJ's, The Deptford Mall, Old Navy, Walmart, and Best Buy. And after 12 hours of straight shopping the day was done! Somehow I managed to stay on my feet and going the whole time.

Chick-fil-A.

The Damage.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Candace and I babysat Haley and Evan last night, Candace's second cousins?, and they were so adorable! We watched Spy Kids and then they were off to bed.

This morning we went to Mrs. H's condo for breakfast. It was a delicious time. Then we went to Candace's grandparent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Yum! There was so much food! I literally ate all day long.

When we got back to the house we watched Anchorman. Funny movie :).

He is in the details.

Today is the last day before Thanksgiving break and after some hang ups I was able to sign up for my classes. My riding level classes were all full so for this next semester I have to go down to the Limit level but I do get to ride with one of the IHSA coaches Michael Dowling.

I will also be taking Practical 2 with Michael, Fundamental Theories of Riding with Heather Clark, Integrated Business Perspectives with Cheryl Veronda, and Contemporary Social Issues with Anthony Devincenzo.

With not being able to sign up right away I was really worried that I was going to have a really early morning riding class and class on Friday. But God was there in the planning and I only have one night class and it worked out to where I don't have class on Friday!

I rode Pandourasaurus today for my lesson and it was fun to work on counter cantering. After our lesson we went outside and had a total "Saddle Club" moment and posed for a pic :).

After Candace finished up with her lesson we hit the road and headed to South Jersey to Mullica Hill. I'm so grateful to the Humans for letting me come to their house and invade their family for the Holiday.

At It Again

Yet again my favorite words come in to play for today. I went to my third IHSA horse show back at Briarwood. Briarwood isn't actually a college in case you were wondering, it is just a very nice facility and they are kind enough to let us use their horses repeatedly. Today I got to do both jumping and flat! :)

For today I drew Cooper, a chestnut gelding, for my jumping class and Snickers, a black gelding, for my flat class. I haven't ridden either of these horses before so I was excited to watch them go. I was told that Cooper needed a lot of leg and that carrying a crop was a 'yes.' Oh joy.

He totally surprised me though because once we stepped into the ring he was ready to go. We started cantering and kept pressing for a gallop. Go pony go!!! Well he went. We got the 6 stride line in 5 and one of the 5s in 4. He was such a good boy and took those longer distances when I didn't think he would.

Because of our forward round we won first place! :D And apparently my chin strap was "too lose and had ground for disqualification." :/ Yikes! I had no idea. I immediately tightened that puppy up lol. In one way that is kind of a compliment because my round was so good they had to look hard for something that was wrong. Obviously it didn't have an effect on my placing but still. Now I know.

For my flat class I rode Snickers. He looked like a bit of a pokey pony when I watched him go but I just figured I'll put on more leg right? Haha just kidding. For some reason that pony trotted slower than a slug on a hot day. We were just creepin along as all of the other horses wizzed by us. Once we were cantering though it was fine, but that trot I think was our downfall. We still placed fourth though. All in all it was a good day at the show and Centenary came in reserve overall!

Taylor Duncanson and Me.

The additions.

My first place cup. :)

Jillian, my roomie's birthday is on Tuesday right before Thanksgiving break and because we are all heading out that day we celebrated early. Surprise style! :) Kathleen and I worked it out and I drove Candace and Sam over early then Kathleen brought her in later. We went to Ruby Tuesdays and it was the first time I had ever been there. It was fun and I think she had a good time.

Can you translate the code? I sent this text to Kathleen once we had gotten to the resturant. I want to know what you think I meant by it :).

"We are in the nest. Don't lay your egg next to mine, and the crow caws from the far corner on the left."

Love

Peace. Love. & Happiness.

They seem to all go together don't they? With love we live peacefully and find true happiness. In just about everything I've been reading it has talked about the importance of love. Not the mushy gushy love but the legit love. The love that knows no bounds, that kind. When I was reading "The Irresistible Revolution" Shane talked about how community is formed when people love their neighbors to the point of being a family, sharing their possesions and eating meals together. Then in the new book I'm reading "Blue Like Jazz" Don shares that through simply loving people the Church grew. It was because of love for you as you are that started to draw people to God, not how well Christ was being 'sold.'

This made me think about TWLOHA. This non-profit was started because of loving one person. By loving that one person she was able to redefine life and although they are not a Christian organization it is hard to avoid God when you are talking about this kind of love since God is love.

This then made me think of the verse that says "because He first loved us." I couldn't think of the reference but it happened to be on the back of the shirt I had worn the day before. 1 John 4:19. I then flipped to that passage. I pretty sure that 1 John 4 sums up it all.

Love. Such a powerful thing. It can do so much and without it so much is missing. Both of the authors mentioned how all the world's problems would be solved if we truely loved one another. I'm starting to agree. What would my life look like if I truely loved? Would things be different? Would goals still be the same? I don't know, but I am committing myself to love. ♥

There's no place like home!

Special Delivery! Uncle Larry had a business trip out to my parts today and so he stopped by for a tour. He also brought over a package mom was going to mail me, full of yummy home made food, magazines, pudding, cold medicine and a cd of pictures from one of my last lessons before I had to leave for school.

I showed Uncle Larry around the campus and then we walked down to main street and had sandwiches at one of the deli's. It was so nice to see family from home! I miss everybody and can't wait to come home for Christmas!

I miss my boy! :(

Wilma <3

Wilma!!! She is such a great horse! After riding her on Tuesday she went right up to being my favorite horse here at Centenary. We had a few problems when we jumped today. She refused three times :(. She is a lot different than my boy at home so I was expecting the wrong thing.

We did get it fixed and I really like her! I want to ride her again. And maybe try to show her with the Hunter/Jumper team.

:).

Yay Wilma!

Medieval Times

Medieval Times! We went as a class, so pretty much all of the Freshmen equine students. It was really fun and we tried to cheer on the red knight. That was made difficult by his failing attempts :/. Nonetheless we had great fun and got really into it! Our throats were sore coming home.

This time I ordered the vegetarian meal and I am so thankful for that!!! Last time I could not handle the fact that a whole bird was placed on my plate. This time I got rice, a mushroom, potatoes, and hummus with chips. Yum! Good stuff.

Go Red Knight!

Rehab

For IHSA practice we rode rehab horses. It was nice to just get out and hack. When I finished riding Renny they asked me to ride another one so I rode Rasin. It was such a great way to start of my day!

Play-Offs

We made it to play-offs! The first time ever in Centenary history! We came in 5th place so we played Baptist Bible College. Sadly we lost meaning the season is over. I have no idea what I am going to do now with so much time on my hands.