Not so wintery winter

I look forward to winter. Not in the sense that I enjoy cold or snow (I hate both), but in the sense that I get a break for at least a few weeks since we don't have an indoor at the farm. Kind of like teachers look forward to summer vacation, I look forward to January and cold weather.

My brain and body needs a vacation in January/February and then again at the end of August. (It won't get the August break this year either since my cousin is getting married over Labor Day. Warning everyone now...) While we have dialed it back a few notches at the farm so that our lesson horses get a vacation, the boarders and active horse show-ers are still at full speed.

And I am tired. Like," I didn't realize how important this break was until I didn't get it and now I'm constantly irritated by everyone and everything and I feel like I'm dialing it in at both jobs" tired.

So this week I will not be at the farm at all, regardless of the fact that it will be in the 60s and sunny. I am giving my brain a brief chance to chill out in the evenings after I get done at the office, catch up on Downton Abbey, and possibly get a few extra hours of sleep. I will clean my apartment, go to the Visionary Arts museum, and maybe break my diet long enough to have a drink with friends.

And of course, I already miss being at the farm. Such is my life.

Teenyboppers on Broadway

We went and saw Darren Criss (from "Glee") in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Saturday. When they announced the casting, I convinced my mother to buy tickets right away, which was good, we had fabulous seats on an aisle so my poor 6' father could stretch his legs. (Side note: most of these old theaters were not meant for tall people to attend shows. The worst was the time we saw Finian's Rainbow at the St. James - lots and lots of ridiculously tall Irish people crammed into tiny seats and absolutely no room between rows.)

I clearly misjudged what was going to happen that night. First off, the line wrapped around the block just to get IN. It was crazy enough that people were stopping to ask what was going on. And they didn't open the doors until almost quarter till, so it was a mad rush to get in, use the bathroom, and get to your seat before curtain. The theater was packed with 2 types of people: teenage girls (there for Darren, obviously) and their parents, who were all super excited to see Beau Bridges. When Darren Criss appeared on stage it was like I'd gone back to 2000 and was seeing an NSYNC concert again. Every time he said or did anything remotely funny, the entire theater would go ape-shit. Thankfully my parents and Kate found that almost as amusing as the actual show, so everyone was entertained.

It was pretty much the perfect part for Darren to play, although a couple times I wished he had more of a musical theater-type voice, as he tended to be too quiet in some of the group numbers, especially when there was dancing involved. The real show stealer was Christopher Hanke, who played the "villain." Every single thing he said or did was absolutely spot-on perfect. The only time I ever saw Daniel Radcliffe play the part was on Thanksgiving before the Macy's parade started, so I really didn't have a gauge on how much better or worse things were, and of course everything online is so skewed depending on whether they're a Harry Potter fan or a Glee fan, so it's easier to just take it for what it is in front of you.

I had also intended to go to the stage door, but as everyone can see from the photos I put on Facebook, there was no freaking way that was happening. There was police tape everywhere, and girls were climbing trees in order to get a better view. Absolutely nuts. I think I prefer it when the actors are just "Broadway famous", but it was still a fun night.

Apartment living

So as some of you know, I rent an apartment in a lovely section of town referred to as "Paradise." This might be true in some respects, but my apartment is trying very hard to make things less "paradise" and more "structured learning environment." Since moving in, we've covered the following topics:

1. What gas smells like. Fixing this led me to also learn about shut-off valves, seeing as how my gas line didn't have one. My new stove spent a good few days sitting in the middle of my kitchen (no small feat, it's a galley kitchen on its best days) since apparently Home Depot cannot install a new stove unless there's a shut-off valve.

2. How to patch cracks in the paint. They're everywhere. I'm hoping to paint the entire place this spring. 

3. Which mouse traps work (only the old-school ones where you can see the dead mouse). Also, it's useful to go around and try to fill in every single tiny hole in your apartment walls and cabinets (around the water pipe under the sink appears to be the favorite for the mice in my neighborhood). Also, mice are apparently allergic to peppermint. Not allergic enough to keep them out permanently, but it did deter them for a couple days.

4. How to deal with roaches. Yes, really. Thanks sketchy neighbors! This also taught me interpersonal skills relating to dealing with not only the people downstairs, but also the houses on either side of us who also have bugs. I just set traps out again this week, I think they're coming upstairs to get warm since I'm the only one living in the house right now. Funny how my neighbors were supposed to have an exterminator in months ago...

5. Those little battery-operated lights are quite useful when your neighbors stop paying their BGE bill and their power is shut off. This is only applicable when your front porch and hall lights are attached to their meter. It's so much easier (and safer) to be able to see where your locks are.

That said, I do adore my little apartment. It's cute, (very) cheap, and close to both jobs, which is really all I need. Also, my landlord loves me. Something about how I pay my rent on time makes me the favorite even though I'm high maintenance... ;)

Today I am happy...

1. It's not raining. Finally.

2. I'm going to spend the afternoon finishing up some paperwork and then reading a book (and getting paid for it).

3. Fall TV. Even if my new guilty pleasure has already been cancelled, I'm a little too excited about all the TV I'm going to be watching this year. And yes, I just admitted to watching Playboy Club.

4. I survived coaching at Capital Challenge. Brushes with fame included Frank Madden and Steven Spielberg. Non-horsey types, you should at least get the second name. ;)

5. There's no horse show this weekend, so I have Sunday off.

Going back to number 3, let me introduce to everyone what their January should involve:

SO EXCITED. Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Brian d'Arcy James (and his eyebrows), Annaleigh Ashford... pardon me while I go have a massive Broadway freakout.

End lame-ish post. I hadn't updated in a while, and I promised my mother I'd stop writing posts that made her cry. Although knowing I watched Playboy Club might still fall under things that would do that.

End of the year

Natalie and Chico

Some people track their year by the calendar.

Some people track their year by school sessions.

Some people track their year by the seasons.

I track mine by the horse show schedule. The year begins December 1 and ends November 30, with the height of the season from April through September when the HCHSA shows are running. Sunday ended the regular shows for us, with a weekend off this week before Medal Finals and the official end of HCHSA for the year.
I live, breathe, eat, and (don't) sleep horse shows for those 6 months. I love hanging out with my kids and their ponies. I love watching them learn something every single time we leave the farm. I love figuring out what we need to work harder on at home, and what we've finally mastered. I love watching them smile their faces off when they get a ribbon, and how well they handle themselves when they don't. I love that they always want to be perfect, but that they understand sometimes we have to settle for the best we can do that day. I love that they love their horses/ponies no matter how perfect or how naughty they were on a given day.

I also love that I have the most fantastic, supportive, and hilarious group of parents to work with, most of whom have no idea how they ended up involved, but who are game for whatever I want to do and can put together a mean lunch spread! (And that my own parents, who no longer have to get up at 4am on Sundays themselves, are willing to dogsit as often as I need them to.)

The next couple weeks will be spent prepping child and pony for their first medal finals, and then we have 3 or 4 weeks before the fall schooling shows start. I plan on doing an excessive amount of sleeping on the weekend, finally finishing Storm of Swords, and possibly even sitting around drinking wine and catching up with all my wonderful friends who understand that I all but disappear from reality during the regular season.

And then shortly it will be time to dig the North Face out of the closet, buy another carton of toe warmers, and dream of April and the start of another year.

Vacation/Staycation

First things first, the top things I learned while driving to the beach (Littlestown, PA to Nags Head, 7+ hours)

1. There are a few hard-and-fast rules regarding radio airplay: (a) there is never normal country music on Sunday nights, just twangy religious stuff, (b) the second you find the awesomest station ever, you will go over a mountain and lose the signal, (c) People play way too much Sting. Like, WAAAAY too much Sting.

2. When in doubt, stop to get gas before you really think you'll need to. Especially if you're alone and it's raining like crazy. As much as you may want to tell yourself that you're fine and you'll wait until it stops raining, it will not stop raining before you run out of gas. (Thankfully, this rule is unbroken in my world.)

3. Washington, DC traffic makes me want to kill someone. Seriously, how do people deal with that traffic day in and day out without going completely postal?

All in all, it wasn't a bad drive down. I left PA around 2:30 (after Ashley freaking ROCKED her first 3'3" medal. I might have cried a little after the show was over since she was heading off to college, but don't tell her that), got to Nags Head just before 10. Spent the next few days baking in the sun (I will never learn that I can't play that game without wanting to die later from the sunburn), learned how to fly a kite, and then was evacuated Thursday morning because of that bitch Irene. We even felt the earthquake, although by "we" I mean, my dad and I. No one else noticed it.

So vacation turned into staycation, which thankfully only involved a loss of Verizon and not the electricity in general. I am heavily into the Game of Thrones books at this point, so I spent a lot of the weekend lying on the couch with the puppy, my Nook, and a glass of wine.

The pony welcomed me home by trotting sound on all 4 legs for the first time in weeks (it was an abscess, but Dundy was fairly certain it was reason for amputation). So I got to ride and teach lessons all day yesterday in the gorgeous weather, and am now safely stuck behind my desk staring out my windows with a pile of subpeonas that need writing up. So back to reality I go!

GLEEEEEEEE

I can't watch 3D movies (or IMAX). I end up with the whole headache/nausea deal, and it tends to linger into the next day. This puts me in a little bit of a tight spot since EVERYTHING is 3D/IMAX these days. Usually there's a "regular" option to the movie as well, so I just force friends to go see that version with me.

Clearly though, someone involved with Glee hates me. They only have the 3D version of their concert/movie deal that's out right now. I didn't end up going to the actual concert because Laura and I decided tickets were too expensive (which they were), so I sucked it up and we went to the movie last night.

First of all, the movie requires you to suspend reality. Go with the idea that this high school glee club went on a world tour, and just ignore the voice in your head going "wait, really?" Also, get over the fact that it's just the kids (and Gwyneth Paltrow as a surprise guest). Don't be like Laura, who kept asking where Sue was the entire movie. The only thing that I found frustrating was that they obviously changed the song order, so people's outfits (and the amount of confetti on the stage) kept changing around bizarrely. Also, Lea Michele disappeared for like half the movie.

That said, it was SO MUCH FUN. Singing was awesome, the dancing was amazing, it was everything one would expect from Glee. Sure, there was some lip synching going on, but whatever. I can't wait to get a copy of it (in not 3D) so I can play it until my neighbors all know all the words as well. ;)

And yes, I feel like crap this morning. I even busted out my linen pants that look/feel like I'm in my pajamas so I could spend the morning curled up on my office couch since my boss is in court. Have I ever mentioned that I have the best job(s) ever?

P.S. Mom, I'm assuming this satisfies your need for me to stop writing things that make you cry?