Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Fun in Hickory

The biggest fear I had about moving back home was not having anything to do!
We have kept ourselves very busy working on the house, wedding planning, but we have had time to enjoy some things around Hickory.

Justin and I went to the Hickory Farmers Market a few weeks back in order to hand out business cards to the local agriculture producers.  It was very nice chatting with people and we had a great time!


Cooper is a fan of adopting homeless animals!

Also a few weeks ago the Catawba County Fair took place and Justin, Mom and I had a date night to the fair and then out to eat at the Station. The weather was fantastic and it was so much fun just wandering around looking at everything.

It is sad to think that we will be missing the State Fair this year- not only is it not (literally) around the corner anymore but we are getting married during the second weekend of the fair so I don't think a quick trip up to Raleigh will be happening unfortunately.

Tomorrow I have my bridal portraits taken by a dear friend Britt Gillis- check out her Blog I have been very fortunate to have her photograph me and my horse on many occasion, she is very talented and I am so excited for tomorrow! I just have to remember I can't share any of them before the wedding day! Those of you who had bridals HOW DID YOU DO IT??? I'm so excited and I haven't even had them done yet!

Monday, September 8, 2014

Sage

Thanks to Dana I have had a horse to work with while Star decides how to be sound again. He is doing well again but he goes through bad days where he just needs some rest. Sage is a blast from my past. Star was used for an IDA show back in Hickory during Vet School and Dana sent Sage with me to try and sell him.
Sale photo when he was a 5 year old.

He did not find the right owner to buy him during that time and came back to the barn. Since then he has not found his rider yet. Dana has been nice enough to let me work with him and I love the time I spend with him.

We are hopefully going to a hunter show in a few weeks so we have been working on our jumping.  Our goal is to event next fall so we spend half our time doing dressage working on suppling in front of the withers and the other half getting ME comfortable jumping again after being a DQ for 9 years!!

Trot flat work:


Canter flat work:

Heres a video of our last gymnastic school.  He isn't picking his knees up great because he really isn't challenged yet- he is a really big boy. Unfortunately the battery died when we pushed up the height. 





Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Wedding festivities

Wow my friends are putting my blogging to shame- I am so behind!

My wonderful maid of honor has blogged about both my wedding shower and bachlorette party.
For now here are her links and I will be sure to put my take on both days as soon as life slows down.


Bridal Shower

Bachlorette party

Thank you to everyone that could come down and celebrate I had a fabulous time :)


Monday, August 18, 2014

Life and Home improvements


Moving in and getting settled with the new job has kept me pretty busy! I am grateful to my horse network which got me a running start with the business.  The first 3 weeks were very steady and I had my first week last week with no calls. That is unnerving.  But that time allowed me to catch up on wedding preparations- get ready for a post wedding DIY post (don't want to ruin surprises now!!)

Justin has improved so many things around the house. The hallway going down the stairs has probably a 12 foot ceiling and the light went out (go figure). So he had two choices build scaffolding and try and change the light bulb or be handy and re-wire new lights on the side that would be easy to change in the future. With a little encouragement from me he ended up doing the 2nd option - I didn't want him climbing up there!!!!


Monster hallway and the light is all the way at the top!



Aren't the lights beautiful?


Also we now have a fence and on our way to my childhood dream of having horses in the back front yard! Sam my first horse that I started from a baby has been retired to the mountains after a long battle with lameness. He is now going to come back and live close to me again which makes me such a happy little girl! He is a great man and I'm excited to have him close again soon.

This is my favorite picture of Sam and Megan. He has such a great personality!



More to come- I promise to keep updating more regularly!

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Blogging hiatus

Sorry for being so MIA in the blogging world. Life has really picked up. The business got a great running start and I have been relishing the last couple slower days to catch up on the business aspect of it!  Cooper is being a great dog and we love having him in the family!  The house is really coming together thanks to Justin's hard work and determination- it only took him 3 weeks and multiple plans to get the outside speakers working :). He is the best! I will detail some of our home improvements and give a wedding update soon!!!


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Cooper- puppy woes

So you are probably thinking this is the beginning of the end. To be honest with you I didn't think I would get a dog after only being home a few days.  It was by chance really- I was talking to a friend of mine about my future truck dog who exclaimed she knew the perfect match.  A facebook friend of hers had found a dog and was fostering it until she found a home.

Here is the first picture I ever saw of him:

Well the foster mom was out of town but we got in contact and I agreed to meet Cooper.  After a meeting in a driveway at dark I decided I would try him out.  I saw really good things- he didn't pull at the end of the leash to get to other people/pets.  I had Fletch with me who acted like an idiot and came after me when I tried to coax him out of the car...thus began Fletch's hate of Cooper.
We agreed to meet the next morning and I try out Cooper for a few days.  When I brought him home it wasn't instant love for Justin.
Cooper's first ride home


Cooper kept trying to play with Fletch and he was having no part of it. He chased the cats a few times, pooped in the back bedroom, and ate Justin's flip flop- lets just say he didn't have a good first day.  That night he barked in the crate but only for about 5 minutes.  The next few days continued to be trying- we contemplated many time to take him back.

He made up with Pete the next day.


We had friends, Somer and Steve, visiting that Thursday and decided to wait and see how he did with them and Kiwi (their dog/our niece).  The first day they also weren't crazy about him but he and Kiwi became fast friends.  For the fourth we went on a hike at Pisgah National Forest- the road was pretty curvy and Cooper was in the back. Lets just say when we were all about to puke from motion sickness he actually tossed his cookies- poor guy!  The hike was great and he was a perfect gentleman on the leash!  He actually saw across the creek crossings where we had to pick up Kiwi and Fletch (chickens!).

He continued to be a perfect angel until the last day that Somer and Steve were here when I let him go off leash to run with Kiwi. He proceeded to take off and play keep away- damn dog!  I had had enough at that point but Justin reminded me my parents were coming home the next day and we wanted to get their opinion. When mom and dad met him I was sold when mom said he was a great dog and when dad obviously loved him.
This week has been fantastic for Cooper he has been a great dog!  Monday I did a dental on Star and brought him with me tethering him to the area where I was working and he just was content laying down and chasing flies. He got car sick again so I realized I just got a truck dog that gets carsick on country roads---uhho!
The next day was Coopers day to get really smart- he was getting neutered!!! He did great during the procedure- shoutout to Blue Skies Veterinary Hospital! He came home and was so excited to be home and jumped around and played while we caught up on the Germany game. Yesterday was a full day at the barn doing dentals and with some Dramamine on board he was a much happier camper in the car- again he was an angel at the barn and passed out after a long day at work with me!

I think I got to perfect truck dog but will for sure have some blog updates with funny Cooper stories- the last one being that we tried all week to find the perfect name....we couldn't get one to stick but I started calling him Goober because lets face it that is what he is!  So his "real" name is Cooper but he will always be my Goober!
Welcome to the family bud!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Home is in Hickory!

Who would have thought I would say that again! Of course home is where you grow up but after 9 years in Raleigh it was my home. We are officially moved in...a week tomorrow. The house was very well unpacked and lived in thanks to Justin (I'm so lucky!). The cats had their first successful day outside and LOVED it.  Here are a few pictures of the house and adventures. Longer post coming soon!



Pete! How did you get up there???

cautious

Don't worry Sofee it's FUN!!

Ok if you say so!