I still need to arrange shipping, but once I have that squared away we’re going to be on the official countdown until Simon gets here. Though I’ve been on extended breaks from horses before, this is the longest I’ve gone without riding or touching an equine while owning a horse. Even though I’ve never been the kind of person that feels compelled to go to the barn every day, this is far too long of a horsey break for me….
I’ve been a west coast resident for an entire month. So obviously, I’m tanner and I’m thinner than I was when I left Austin. That’s just what happens here. Something in the air. Don’t hate the beautiful people! Jokes aside, I am starting to get in a better place with my health. To help Pascale cope with losing her big backyard and barn time, I walk the dogs 2-3 miles a day. Plus the university’s baseball complex by my apartment…
The thing I am most proud of last week is that I didn’t cry in a golf cart while being shown a beautiful farm in San Jacinto. I waited until I got into my car, and then had my meltdown on the interstate driving home like a proper adult. I knew finding a farm near me in Southern California would be a challenge. Simon and I are both used to the wide open spaces of Texas. At his current barn,…
Things are looking at lot different around here — at least in my apartment. Last week, my pod came two days early to my utmost delight. For almost two weeks my bed had been my primary area for eating, sleeping, entertainment and study. An IKEA trip, some Amazon orders and about a million trips to Target and/or HomeGoods filled in the gaps from the furniture I didn’t bring from home, but my apartment felt sterile and strange without my belongings….
My apartment is finally to the point that I’m not walking around piles of boxes. The counters aren’t covered in stacks of mementos. All my art is hung on the walls. But I’m still a little out of sorts. Don’t get me wrong – things are better than they were one or two weeks ago. When I first got here, I didn’t predict how much the lack of structure would unnerve me. For the first time since I was sixteen,…
I’m here. I’m settling. I’m still collecting my thoughts on California, but in the meantime I wanted to tell you about the other time I moved across the country from Massachusetts to Austin. Otherwise known as the time Tim and I set my car on fire. Every time Tim and I made a significant move, we rented a big U-Haul truck. We’d tetris all of our wordly belongings into the back in some precarious kind of way, and Tim would drive…
I made it to Riverside. Even though I had a temper tantrum somewhere in Arizona, the journey went really well. No blown tires. No giant mishaps. No overheated engines. Couldn’t ask for better. Moving with the dogs though, is a bit of an adventure. See, my dogs reflect the two opposing sides of my personality. Eliot is the wounded poet. He has a lot of feelings. As a deeply emotional dog who hates change, the hardest part of moving for him…
When I was in high school, I said “Howdy” a lot. I used it as my default AOL instant messenger greeting (these were pre-texting days). I wrote it on my notebook. Howdy was part of a horse lover, upbeat, awkward identity my adolescent self was struggling to find. Because of my howdy’s, my friends would joke with me that I belonged in Texas. Back then, fourteen-year-old Lauren would never have guessed that she’d end up living in the Lone Star state…