Français.

It's pretty cool that I can email my French professor questions at 12:30 am and she will provide me with her response during the wee hours of the morning.


What's not pretty cool is that I have a French exam tomorrow and I'm crapping my pants about it.

MIA.

I suppose that's what happens when a series of things occur:

1) your boyfriend arrives from far off lands
2) you haven't seen him in 2.5 months
3) you fall prey to 2 somewhat vicious infections.

Sometimes, photographs make me sad.

I have a difficult time looking at photos of South Africa without feeling this blanket of sadness fall over me. And, thanks to facebook, I'm continually exposed to new photos bi-weekly. I wish I didn't have this feeling as often as I do.

I'm officially certified CPR and First Aid. Finally!

I had an amazing lesson with Fran. It was nothing exceptionally out of the norm but it was nice because she pushed us and I don't feel like I push Rowan very often. I think it's in part being a parent and loving him so much which is (coincidentlly) illogical because I also want him to be the best he can be so I suppose I should push him more. We worked on getting him to move diagonally-- inside leg to outside rein. Very basic training concept that we've definitely been working towards. Of course she nabbed us in the one spot that I've been diligently avoiding: transitions. They're such a pain and he braces against me so much that it's easier to just let them be "okay" rather than "good". The canter is coming, it's tough to now how much to work in the canter because so many other areas need focusing but I also think that I should spend at least a good 5 minutes with the canter, not simply for working in the gait but for building his endurance because he's still comparatively out of shape.

The barn people have conned me into organizing and running another barn horse show. Oy.

Also, AVH is arriving this week. At least that's the word on the street. Could I be anymore excited?

We're not dishonest, we're just tactful.

So this evening I came home from dinner with my rents at Vinology where they purchased us a bottle of red wine from Washington (it was pretty darn good too...) to this message from B:

so, i'm applying for the borders scholarship, and i need clubs and activities to list, but i dont have time for those, so I'm going to say that I have a book club and every other week we meet, cook dinner and discuss the book we have chosen. Clearly, what it really is, is you and I hanging out, eating food and talking about whatever we want :-)


That totally made my otherwise useless Friday evening.


Also, Vinology has this amazing dessert-- warm Israeli couscous with figs and strawberries. (I took a picture of it with my camera phone in memory of the lost Californian Pea.)


Bless, delicious.

You kicked my dog, now I'm going to sue you.

After a week of watching various types of domesticated animals I decided to compose this list.

30 reasons why I hate dogs.

1. smell.
2. hair.
3. drool.
4. tongue + drool = wetness on me.
5. yuck.
6. farts. (nasty)
7. poop.
8. barf.
9. barking.
10. early morning wake up calls.
11. crying.
12. farts.
13. dog smell in my car.
14. they follow me around.
15. they seek my attention.
16. you have to babysit them.
17. you're constantly letting them in and out.
18. they smell bad.
19. they poop where they're not supposed to.
20. they chew on things like my shoes.
21. you have to take them for walks.
22. they have no horse sense.
23. they walk in the arena when they're not supposed to.
24. farts.
25. barf.
26. slobber.
27. they like to sniff crotches.
28. you can only leave for specific amounts of time.
29. they're always at my feet.
30. the smell.