Thats what you get for waking up in Vegas....

No I didn't wake up in Vegas, but I think I need to give it a try, hopefully sooner rather than later!!

I want to thank everyone for the nice comments and I was just in a bit of a funk earlier, but feeling much better now. Too often I let others in turmoil drag me into their own personal hell and being a Libra I do all that I can to make it right. Not that's a bad quality to have, but if it effects how I function its simply unhealthy. For the most part I have a very balanced group of friends that have stood the test of time. Occasionally a new friendship is just not what I need. I have recognized my reality and and really very pleased. I did a bit of purging and now I feel as if the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. I can only look back and Thank these people for showing me something that I will now be able to recognize in the future. For some time I thought that I was unable to really feel, and I think it has come on like a tidal wave now that I am present in my own body again.

So that's the update on that front. My personal life is pretty wonderful, especially when I just allow it to be exactly what it is.

Booster and I had a great ride on Sunday. I am over thinking my riding but it is getting better. I do find it funny that once you fix one part of your body seven others crop up that need to be fixed all while trying to remember to fix the original problem. I must say that I have my doubts that I will truly ever be an effortless rider and I am not sure many people are. There is so much to think about in dressage that your mind is constantly running through a check list. I am happy to say that I have finally gotten to the point that I no longer have to think about the half halt, it has become an instinctive part of my riding. Now if I could get my right heel to stay down!! ahhh its always something and what keeps me coming back for more!

I need an instruction manual

OK so sometimes I can be the DUMBEST smart person I know!! My life is all brand new right now and I am not 100% sure on how or what I am supposed to do with it!! To often I let life live me instead of the other way around. I am slowly getting grip on things and learning to be Jewel. I am not an idiot, I just sometimes think I could do a lot better at a few things. So that being said I need to make some choices and decide where I want to be as a person. Quite possibly I need to get the hell out of my own way, and be as fabulous as I know I can be!!!

Enough about me....

I had an amazing lesson on Thursday and the muscle pain has almost subsided!! Booster can be LAZY, very LAZY. Especially in the right lead canter, he seems to think that he can be a WP Diva, and 4 beat along like a comatose camel with a full belly. We cantered and cantered and then we cantered a bit more. We have started work on changes, and we got them, not saying they were pretty but they were there. I need to take some lessons on a horse that already knows how to do them cleanly as it seems that I have so much to think about in setting it up that by the time I am ready we have passed the window of opportunity. Either that or my brain function needs to be sped up. I will keep you posted on the progress, it might be a slow go, so be patient.

Abu is sooo furry, he looks like a big gray YAK. Not pretty. I am not going to clip him so I am in for many a long winters night waiting for him to dry. He looks like a ghetto pony! But he is healthy and happy so I can live with the less than stellar coat he is sporting.

That's all the news that's fit to print.

xoxo Jewel

was I the trick or was I the treat???

I know how crazy that I totally stepped out of the box and dressed as an Equestrian for Halloween!!

But SHAZAMMMMM! If I don't say so myself I was looking pretty good. So good in fact a guy walked into a planter box staring at me and another ran a stop sign.

This was Friday, sad part..I hadn't even been drinking!!

And hey when you find a drag queen dressed in Lingerie, well that's just a photo op that you can pass up. The funny part is I could feel the 5 O clock shadow on his chest and back!! EWWWW!!

Somewhere out there....

Not exactly sure where somewhere is, but I am fairly sure I have driven by it once or twice. Life continues to move at a lightening pace for me. At some point I am going to need to back it down just a bit!! This week has been filled with getting my little condo really turned into my place, not Jewels Flop House. I guess one would call the new Decorating style Bordello Barbie. I don't think that Martha has done an episode on that particular style yet. My personal tastes run to the very masculine side of French. No light blue, but rather deep reds, rich fabrics with gold and black accents. I am close to having the living room, dining room and guest bath done. I need to keep working at it but now its at a point that it can come together slowly.

Booster and I have been having a little fun getting out for trail rides in the last few sunny days when its not dumping rain. Arena work is now going to be the norm until late spring. He tends to get a little arena sour by the end of the rainy season so a few trail rides was most likely a good thing. We are still trying to perfect that pesky half pass, we have good days and bad days. His Travers is amazing so in theory he should have an amazing half pass, I do think that there is some Pilot adjustments that need to be made.

The Piddle rats are enjoying Weenie dog play land!!! A friends husband (aka my rental husband) came over and hung a very nice baby gate on the kitchen so they have tons of room to play everyday rather than being in the crate. While I had rental husband in my possession he also hung pictures, moved furniture, changed light bulbs, killed spiders and other things that boys like to do. I fawned over his manliness and fed him Pizza and Beer!!

My personal life is going well and I have re connected with so many old friends recently my social calendar is quite full. I am enjoying life and am the happiest I have ever been. Its no where but up from here on out!!

Hell bent for leather!

I had an awesome ride tonight. That ride where you actually get to feel some of the satisfaction of what you have been working for. That moment where you can actually execute the theory you have been working on for 2 plus years. Its rides like tonight that keep my love affair with dressage going. I don't have the words to explain the feeling but I know you have all had it at sometime, where you go WOW this is really it! Tonight was more work on changing the stride with just the seat, and gaining that full range of motion with you pelvis just didn't come easily to me. Tonight however it all really came together and I felt that moment when it really is easier to ride correctly.

The weenies are being pesty tonight!! Eddy seems to think that my little MAC is an awful white puppy that hogs up my lap and he wants no part of that. Charly on the other hand cant understand why not all waking hours are appropriate to play FETCH!!!! THROW THE BALL ALREADY!!! I am so glad they are with me!! They have become quite the city dogs, now only if they were friendly. They have a few people they tolerate and one person I am pretty sure they like more than me!! looks like they are taking a little road trip with me to Seattle on Friday, not real sure how that's going to go, but its cool out so I am sure they will be fine. They sleep all day anyway, sleep here sleep in the car its all the same to them.

My weekend was wonderful. I was not real excited about being......ahem.........41!!!WTF!!! but whatever. I cant change it so I may as well not worry about it. Although I suppose my Birth Certificate could be lost in a tragic fire or something. Hmmmmm I need to think about this.

I got a microwave for my birthday, and I am practically a gourmet these days. No really I wasn't going to get one but the leftovers from my Birthday Dinner at the CHEESECAKE FACTORY were so delish , a microwave was in order. Well and there was the little "fire" last week when I tried to make popcorn the old fashioned way IE: Jiffy Pop. Lets just say the cooking room and I aren't on the best terms, and its best if I spend as little time as possible in that room.

So all is good and I am simply basking in the glory of being me right now!!!

Lucy......you got some splainin to do!!!!!!!!

Hmmm me slightly neurotic??? well maybe just a tad. We all have vices and perhaps that just happens to be mine. I did what I needed to do and darn if it DID NOT BLOW up in my face. All that worrying and lamenting was for not. Note to self, its ok to trust gut. The last 48 hours have been a bit of a pressure cooker and I learned that I do not have to be so independent and that its OK to let people care about me. I have a tiny PRIDE problem and I need to remember to keep it in check and in the long run I will come out the other side a much better and happier person.

I had to do a a little self inventory these last few days and come to a few conclusions about who I am and where I want to be. I have settled in the past and I am now longer willing to do that. I have not been willing to take risks, but now I know that I have let some opportunities pass me by because I was to fearful to put myself out there. I know now that I must accept that not everything is going to be perfect all the time, but if I don't give it chance then the chances of it turning out well are gonna be pretty slim.

I will admit that I did not come to this revelation on my own, I happen to have some very wonderful people in my life that handed out the correct dosage of ass kicking and bull shit calling. For this I am blessed.

Sooooooo at the end of the day, damn if my life is not the VERY best it has been in a very LONG time. I can simply rejoice in the fact that I am HAPPY. My life is full on all levels, both personal and career wise. For the first time I can honestly say I want for nothing. It truly is an amazing feeling to know that you are fulfilled on all levels of your life.

So begins our winter of discontent

No news to report. But I have a gut feeling this is not going to swing in my favor. I am signing off for a few days to deal with some life issues.