For the 12 days of Christmas, my Nerd Horse gave to me… 12 Christmas Pug Vines, 11 prose revisions, 10 Tinder creepers, 9 festive light shows, 8 Snapchat filters, 7 MFA apps, 6 cocktail parties, 5 GLASSES OF WINE! 4 work dramas, 3 wild dogs, 2 Thoroughbreds, and a festive Quail Manor house! Though we are not quite up on Christmas yet, I am in my last sprint of productivity for the year. I leave on Thursday afternoon to visit…
My love of equestrian Christmas ornaments is well documented on this blog. Just as it has globally in the second half of this year, horses have taken more of a back seat in my life. I’m more than just an equestrian, and my Christmas tree is more than just horse ornaments (although… it’s mostly horse ornaments). Last year I didn’t even put up a Christmas tree or take a single ornament out of the box. It was an activity I used…
Last year I did my best to skip Christmas. While I attended holiday gatherings with my family, my heart wasn’t in it. As a lifelong lover of all things holly jolly, I can’t tell you how weird this was for me. Weird, but understandable. The goal of Christmas 2015 was survival. This year, the stakes are higher. Grief has stolen so much from me that I’m not going to let it take my holiday spirit. I’m not back to my…
I recently finished the most relate-able book to my situation, The Mediocre Widow. There are lots of gems from this book that I could tell you about, but the topic I’m thinking about today is milestones. In her novel, Tidd talks about how widows will dread a milestone and be depressed about it far in advance. Often they aren’t even aware that they’re doing it, but many times when the day comes it’s not nearly as bad as all the time…
I know it’s a little late for Christmas posts, but in my family we always considered Christmas a season that lasts until New Year’s… and therefore this still works 🙂 Even though we’ve been in Austin for four Christmases (five?), we’ve never been to the Trail of Lights. For those of you who aren’t local, the Trail of Lights is a Christmas “winter wonderland” located in our most famous and beloved park near downtown. Zilker park, home to the lights, is…
I love Christmas. Love love love love. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been collecting horse ornaments. It started with a tradition from my great God-mother. Every year, she would give me and my brother an ornament for Christmas. When everyone figured out I was horse crazy, a lot of the yearly ornaments became horse themed. Over the years, I’ve collected and received a lot of horse ornaments as gifts. To me, it’s a collection that can never…
The past two years (Read 2012 and 2013), Simon has grabbed the keyboard for me and written a guest post about his Christmas needs. This year I let him borrow my iPad after a ride so he could yet again make his request. What Simonpants Wants, Needs, and Desperately Deserves for Christmas – 2014 Edition Likits Did you know that in the winter you have to stall in your stall SO MUCH MORE even though it is NOT COLD ouside!…
I believe it was Ainsley Carter who first brought the phrase, “Monogram is a lifestyle” to my attention – and I certainly love it! There are lots of great vinyl monogram companies out there for the equestrian world (sneak peek – we may be visiting one later this holiday season), but Swanky Saddle first caught my attention on instagram with an entirely different kind of monogram. Check out this saddle plate folks. Have you ever seen a saddle plate as cool…