Memorial Day Weekend

I had a very fun-filled weekend.  It started out kind of slow, with not much going on Saturday.  I tried to ride but couldn't catch Bingo, so that didn't happen.  Jake and I did make a yummy dinner though!  We had Hawaiian barbecue chicken and this potato, broccoli, and sausage dish that we learned from someone who we met while grilling a while back.

Sunday started out with a great service at church.  We had a visiting minister from Africa give the sermon.  Afterwards, we were served ethnic food from Africa which was really yummy while we were able to stop at all these booths to see how we could help minister to those in Africa.  Jake and I ended up sponsoring a child in Kenya.  His name is Benard and he's adorable.  I'll have to post a picture of him later.  We get to write to him and send him pictures and he'll write back to us about 3 times/year.  As far as sponsoring goes, it will ensure he is able to go to school and has clothes and is able to learn about Christianity at his school. 

Afterwards, we headed out to the west coast to go to various marinas and look at boats.  Despite the stormy weather, it was a lot of fun. 

Here's a cool wooden sailboat we found.

I started out Monday by going riding.  Luckily I was able to text someone at the barn and have Bingo left in so that I didn't have to worry about catching her out in the pasture.  I decided to try riding her without her martingale, just to see how she'd be.  We rode outside in the dressage ring.  She was ok.  They got some new horses in and one of the new horses was in a pasture by itself and whinnying and they were bringing horses in and out, so it was quite distracting.  We didn't canter, but got some nice trot work in the end.  Bingo is definitely better with the martingale, but I think I might try riding her without it once a week just to see how she does and hopefully help gradually wean her off of it.  After our ride, we rode up to the jump arena again and just kind of walked around while chatting to Ashley and Maddie.  Bingo got a bath afterwards since it was so hot out.  She was really good and stood while I held her and hosed her off.  Then she got to go back out to the pasture, which she was excited about.

Getting ready to ride.

Trotting out to eat grass afterwards.

So nice and clean and shiny after her bath!

The rest of Monday was spent at the pool, where I got an awful sunburn (but only on my back... this might lead to an interesting tan!)  Then Jake and I snuck away to set up for his roommate's surprise party.  We decorated the whole apartment (well, Jake's other roommate and I did, Jake just kind of stood there) along with the birthday boy's car.  He was completely surprised and his girlfriend was so excited to have pulled it off.  We spent some time grilling hot dogs and spent the rest of the afternoon playing frisbee (I learned this cool new throw!  Although it took me a few hours to get the hang of it, haha) and then playing Nerz. 

Overall a very fun weekend!

Bingo Update

Just a quick Bingo update for her owner, Christine...

We rode out in the dressage arena today.  Considering it was COLD (where's summer???  I swear it was like 40 degrees out today!) and windy, Bingo was good.  We had a few discussions about bending, especially to the right.  I tried something new today where if she's refusing to bend (usually by stopping or backing up) I just sit there and continually ask her to bend.  She kind of fussed and raised her head and started backing up, but I just sat there and kept my leg on.  When she stopped backing up, my leg came off and I let her stand there and think about it for a moment.  Then I put my leg back on, asking her to move forward.  If she went forward, great.  If instead she started backing up, we just repeated the process.  It took a while, but she seemed to get it and we got some great trot work.  We worked a little bit on leg yields, which she did with minimal fussing.  We also did a little bit of work on turn on the haunches.  I'm not sure if she's done those before?  But at any rate, she did them, they just weren't entirely pretty.  But she understood the general idea of what I was asking for, so that's good.  I just wanted to start doing some work getting her to understand she can move her haunches and her shoulders when I ask her to.  I think that will help a lot with the bending issue and her trying to evade by dropping her right shoulder.  We did a little bit of canter, but it wasn't the best today.  We ended with some nice stretching trot and then to cool out, we went for a walk up to the upper jump ring.  She was great, even though we were up there all by ourselves. 

I checked on Oliver too today and gave him some treats.  He was so funny.  As I'm walking towards him, he decides to lay down and then while he's laying down, he's munching away on the grass in front of him.  It was so cute!  He lost his shoe again :(  But James knows and is taking care of it (Christine has an awesome boyfriend!)  Luckily, Caitlin found one of his shoes today too.  But we're not sure if it's the shoe he lost most recently because it looks a little different from the one shoe he still has on.  Oliver also ripped his blanket last night :(  He must have been having fun with his buddies!

And quick edit:  Today (Saturday) I went to ride Bingo in the morning, but she wouldn't let me catch her :(  We tried everything from treats, to grain, to haltering her buddy and trying to take him out to see if she would follow.  Nothing worked, so after about 30 minutes we gave up.  If I ever decide to ride her in the morning again, I think I'm going to text Caitlin to have her kept in, since apparently Bingo doesn't think she should have to come in so soon after being turned out, lol.  Caitlin also found another one of Oliver's shoes, though, so that's good news!

Getting Connected

It's been an eventful last few days.  I decided I don't want to live where I'm living now for next year, so I spent some time shopping around and finding a new apartment.  Everything ended up falling into place perfectly, and we'll be subleasing an apartment from a couple of med students for a month, and then just staying in the same apartment for the following year.  It's perfect.  The only unperfect part is that I move in just after Jake moves out.  It will be a little strange living there at first I think because I'm so used to seeing him whenever I go there.

Rode Bingo yesterday too.  It was raining, so the horses were inside.  As I was walking around on Bingo, I saw Brutus's old owner, Ashley, so I sat and talked to her for about 15 minutes.  Bingo was surprisingly calm and stood the entire time.  I think it upset her a little, though, because afterwards she went a little crazy.  She kind of started rearing/bucking and generally being uncooperative.  There were also dogs running around barking, which she didn't really like, and we spent a lot of time trying to remain calm and relaxed and forward but not running around like crazy.  Oh well, I guess 2 good rides in a row is a lot to ask for.  Maddie said she took Bingo for a hack outside Tuesday too, so that might have gotten her a little hyped up.  I'm sure with her not getting to go outside because of the rain and me making her stand while I talked to Ashley was just too much for her.  Lesson learned.  We did get some good trot work in the end though. 

Anyways, in talking with Brutus's old owner, she said she had some old photos/videos of him and we should get together sometime to watch them together.  I think that would be a lot of fun.  She also offered to let me ride some of her horses if I want, which was nice of her.

Today I went to the vet school to get my picture taken.  Another fellow student was there at the same time, so it was nice to get to know someone from my class.  I commented to Linda, the person in charge of scheduling our photos, that I was going to visit one of my friends in the hospital after the pictures.  She knew the person I was visiting, and so had me wait while she wrote her a card for me to take.  She then introduced me to Dr. Abood, who apparently already knew of me from my AOP job and from Brutus's death.  It's neat to get to know more people from the vet school so that it doesn't seem so scary and unfamiliar and will hopefully make the transition easier.

Ended the day stopping by home because it was my sister's senior prom today.  Ahhh!  Senior prom?!  She's my baby sister!  She's not supposed to be going to prom!!!  Crazy how time flies.  She looked absolutely gorgeous, and it was fun helping her get dressed and doing her nails for her.  I just can't believe that was me 4 years ago!  It seems like college flew by!

Summer Retreat?

Well this past weekend I was house and dog sitting.  I was told the dog was quite skittish and since they were having their roof redone, I was expected to stay there the majority of the time to make sure she was ok.  No problem, I thought.  I'll just make this into my own mini-retreat.  So I packed up a few books I've been meaning to read along with my Bible and headed over there Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, between my lack of sleep the night before and the loud roofers, I didn't accomplish much.  I ended up taking a nap, catching up on missed episodes of Grey's, and watching TV.  By the time I felt awake enough to start doing some work, it was raining outside, which was terribly disappointing because there was this beautiful, English-style garden I really wanted to read in.  Oh, well, I figured I'd leave the retreat for Sunday.

Now, sleeping in strange houses all by myself really freaks me out.  I mean, sleeping in my own apartment by myself is scary enough.  Somehow, in my sleep-deprived mind, I got to thinking.  I believe we all have our time when we're called back home to be with God.  Whether we die by a disease, accident, or old age, I believe it is our time to go.  But what about if you're murdered?  Are you really being called home?  Or are you forced to leave before your time?  Now, I believe God is able to use all events to fulfill his greater plan, so this confused me a bit.  After talking to Jake, we decided you can be forced to leave before it is your time, but God can still use the horrible event to fulfill his greater purpose.  Great.  But not exactly comforting as I'm sleeping alone in this strange place.

Well, fortunately I did survive the night.  After a great sermon Sunday morning about the similiarities/differences between Christianity and Hindium, I felt ready to try to tackle this retreat thing.  So I set up a chair in the gardens, got all my books together, grabbed a notebook and pen, and got started.  I did have a fairly productive half an hour or so until the beauty around me distracted me.  I just had to grab my camera and take some pictures of the beautiful flowers.  Ok, now time to focus.  Oh wait, there's a flower I didn't notice the first time around.  A few pictures later and the dog decided she wanted to go inside.  Ok, get her inside and make sure she has plenty of water.  Sit back down.  Roofer guys decide to move from the front of the house where they have been working to the back, near where I'm sitting.  Perfect.  As if I wasn't already having a hard enough time concentrating.  However, after another hour or so, I'm done with a chapter in each of the 2 workbooks I've been working through.  Phew.  Time for a break. 

This retreat stuff is harder than it sounds.  I'm a pretty introverted person, and normally don't mind spending some time alone each day.  In fact, I'm a much more pleasant person to be around when I've had my "quiet time" for the day.  However, even I was starting to feel isolated and in need of some human interaction.  Luckily, Jake came to the rescue and after a game of Ultimate frisbee, I was feeling much better.  I met some new people, got a great workout, and had a fun time. 

Today, I was extremely productive.  Woke up by 6:30 to feed the dog, and after a quick shower, I packed up all of my stuff, made homemade french toast (YUM!), worked a little bit on Bible study stuff, cleaned up the house, dealt with some vet school stuff, and checked my email, all before the owners got back at noon.  Then off to the barn to ride Bingo.

It was a very windy day, so windy in fact that the small dressage arena outside has blown over.  So we headed to the arena next to it and did some quick trotting and cantering around.  Bingo was very excited because not only was it super windy, her friends were all whinnying to her.  But she was a good girl and didn't whinny back.  We did have some issues with popping her right shoulder, but overall it went well. She was getting more and more excited in this wide open space, though, especially with her friends trying to say "hi" every few minutes, so we headed over to the dressage arena.  She wasn't spooky at all, even with the blown over arena.  She didn't want to bend to the right, so we had a bit of a discussion about that, and afterwards I got a couple of strides of awesome, awesome canter work.  The best I've felt on her so far.  So I decided to be done with that.  As I'm walking her around, cooling her out, it suddenly starts POURING.  Seriously, it was a down pour.  And it came out of nowhere.  But she didn't even flinch.  Good girl!  Since it was raining, she got hosed off in the indoor wash rack.  She did great, with minimal dancing around.  However, as I was sweat-scraping her (getting off all the excess water, for those of you who are non-horsey), she backed away and into a broom.  She freaked out, broke one of her cross ties, and then stood there shaking.  I felt so bad for her.  So I took her out, and back to the normal cross ties to settle down while I put her stuff away.  Then I got lots of treats and had her go back into the wash rack and she got lots of treats while she just stood there.  Hopefully she won't be scared to go back in next time.

Oh, and here's some photos from my (Almost) Summer Retreat this weekend.

The flowers on this plant were in the shape of hearts! How cool!!!

Busy Busy Busy!

Well it's been a crazy past few days! 

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent working at the Copper Creek horse show.  Friday was scorching hot and a lot of the work done was manual labor, so by Saturday I was extremely sore.  Not a promising start to the weekend.  However, despite the yucky weather and long days, it was actually enjoyable to be at a horse show again.  I would have preferred to be showing, but luckily I was kept very busy so I didn't have time to think about Brutus.  I showed him at Copper Creek quite a few times last year, so there were lots of memories with him at the showgrounds.  I remember showing him there 3 or 4 years ago back when we were doing 1st level.  He was a naughty pony back then.  Then last year we made our 3rd level recognized debut there.  We also scored our 1st ever "10" (well our only 10!)  We qualified for regionals at 3rd level, had our first show season where I wasn't scared of him for even a second, and won every single class we entered at Copper Creek last year.  I was hoping to make our PSG debut there this spring.  Man I miss that horse.

Anyways, Saturday night after the show, Jake and I went to a party of a friend of a friend.  We watched Tangled which I have wanted to see for a while now and played Nerz.  The movie was really cute, especially since it had a horse, Maximus!  While super fun, the late night didn't make the 5AM wake-up easy the following day.  Sunday night was spent with more friends, Rex and Christine.  While Christine's Chicken Tortilla soup was delicious, I have to say the best part of the night was sitting in front of the fire at Grand Traverse Pie Co. eating pie, chatting, and getting strange looks from the other customers.  And I learned that apparently my love life involves my future husband riding a horse to my apartment to profess his love for me.  Hey, who could complain about that?!

After working 36 hours in 3 days, along with hanging out with friends late 2 of the nights, most of Monday was spent sleeping.  I slept in until 1 PM!  I don't ever recall sleeping in that late!  But it was really nice to have a relaxing day after the busy weekend.  Today's been spent cleaning, since that was something that desperately needed to be done after this past weekend as well.  Something about horse shows makes my apartment and car look like a tornado just passed through. 

I went to ride Bingo, my friend Christine's horse, again this morning.  She's adorable and while a little naughty today, nothing too bad considering it was cold and we rode outside.  Christine leaves for Ghana this Friday, so for 1 month, I'll get to ride Bingo pretty much as often as I have time for.  I'm looking forward to it!  She's a fun little mare.

In vet school news, we got information on how to get our ID card to access the vet school building.  I also need to go get my picture taken for the vet school and order a lab coat.  Fun stuff!  This vet school thing is getting closer!

Sorry this post has been a bit jumbled, but I kind of feel that's how my life is right now.  Lots of little pieces that somehow come together to make up my life.  I think this is probably because I'm a little lost right now.  No longer in undergrad, but not yet starting vet school.

As one last random piece of information, I've been working through "Discipleship Essentials" with my mentor from Church, Kerri.  This week's lesson dealt with "Being a disciple."  The author states, "Being a disciple is one who responds in faith and obedience to the gracious call to follow Jesus Christ.  Being a disciple is a lifelong process of dying to self while allowing Jesus Christ to come alive in us."  Along with the memory verse for the week, Luke 9:23-24, ("Then He said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.'") this made me realize this journey is going to take a while (ok, a lifetime!) and requires me to make an effort every single day to deny my selfish desires and ask God to show me what he has in mind for me.  After all, He knows me better than I know myself, so I'm sure whatever he has in store for me is better than I could imagine (1 Cor 2:9!) 

Summer Goal: Enjoy Life

So yesterday I had an interview on campus for a job with the vet school, talking to incoming freshmen about the pre-vet program at MSU.  Campus was eerily quiet.  I arrived early, so I sat on a bench outside, enjoying the warm weather and scenery.  There were beautiful flowers everywhere and they smelled amazing.  I couldn't help but think I better enjoy this peace and quiet now, because once vet school starts I bet I won't have a spare second. 

The interview went well.  One of the questions was, "Many incoming freshmen don't understand why they have to take general requirements.  What would your response to them be?"  I answered, "Well I was one of them 4 years ago..." I did end up adding a little bit more to my response and luckily both interviewers laughed!  I guess I didn't mess up the interview too badly though, because today I was offered the job!  :)

I'll be talking to freshmen at AOPs this summer about MSU and preparing for vet school.  I'm so excited!  I think it will be a great opportunity for me to meet more professors/staff at the vet school and overall transition to vet school life.  I think it will be good for me, too, since I tend to be more of a reserved person.  I'll be forced to be open with these incoming students.  I can't wait to talk to them about all the reasons I love MSU and hopefully help them transition to college life!

Well, off to the barn for me now.  My friend Christine has generously allowed me to ride her pony a little bit this summer!

When one door closes, another opens...

... or so I hope.  Graduation was Saturday.  I still can't believe it's over.  An entire chapter of my life has come to a close.  Next year will be strange, since I'll be staying at MSU for Vet school, while a lot of my friends move away to start the next chapter of their lives.  So many memories on campus... 

I still remember the day I moved in Freshman year! 
And walking on the frozen Red Cedar.
Ice skating at Munn.
Moving into my 1st apartment.  And then my 2nd.
All those late nights studying (or procrastinating) in Chem. 
Racing the rolly-chairs in 136 instead of studying.
Seeing if an orange would bounce (ok, you're right, Jake!)
Thai kitchen with lab-mates.
Dressage game days. (Raspberry Mango Juice!!!) And clinics.
Playing frisbee in the middle of the night.
Sleepovers in friends' dorms.
Taking a self-defense class with my roommate freshman year.  It was in the study lounge and we had to scream whenever we punched the dummy.  Haha.  We got all sorts of looks.
Hot tub nights.
Dressage club nationals 2010.  Squid with her blankey.  Grilling.  Winning the game day, even if it meant being attacked by George in order to win. 
Pre-ride stretches with Carrie. 
Building a snowman with my roommate and hearing a little girl get so excited about it once we had gone inside.
Grey's nights.  Which of course included manicures.
MSU IDA shows 2009, 2010, and 2011.  So much work, but everyone pulled together to get it done.  So proud of my girls!
Building a snowman out of mashed potatoes and veggies on a cafeteria tray. (Sorry dish people!)
Making a christmas chain for our dorm room freshman year.  But we didn't have colored paper, so we drew all over the chain links instead.
Raising chickens for an ANS class.  And then killing them.  :(  And eating them.
Dressage club scavenger hunt.  And the bus driver who refused to take a picture with us.

So many memories.  It will be odd to walk around campus next year and not be with the people who were with me when those memoreis were made.  I'm grateful for my time here and the wonderful people I've met along the way.  Many of you have impacted me greatly.  I've found so many great friends these past 4 years, and am worried about not having the same solid friendships develop during vet school.  I definitely need to continue to be open and trust the Lord will provide me with great friends to share my life with.

So, I guess I'll leave you some lyrics from one of my favorite songs (lyrics I need to remember!):

Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
...Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say.