Jods & J. Crew: The very beginning.

First things first, I'm Audrey. I'm a junior at a teeny tiny liberal arts college in North Carolina, where I'm studying English with no real sense of direction of where to go afterwards. (Graduate school, the family-encouraged insurance business; it's anyone's guess) More notably, I'm a member of our Hunter Seat Equestrian Team, which engulfs my life. For the past decade, I've adored horses with all my being. Corny as that may sound, it is inevitably the truth. I was privileged enough growing up to own two of my own creatures, who we can call LV and C, who both have places in my heart that I'm not sure anyone can fill. I have had a collection of creatures since selling LV my senior year of high school, but they have all been just time fillers, as sad as that sounds.

Past riding, I adore music and books. Ben Folds, Guster, Wilco, Pete Yorn among others are at the top of my "Most Played" list on my nearly ancient iPod. There is not a drive, walk to class or shower that is not filled with music. I am by no means musically talented myself, but I love to wish I was. There is just something about a piano, a guitar and a soft and somewhat croony male voice that just makes my heart flutter. Books have a not-so-secret honored spot in my heart. Often referred to as a nerd or a geek, I am happiest with my nose buried into the pages of some book, school-related or merely pleasurable. While my boyfriend still finds this to be more along the lines of painful versus enjoyable, I beg to differ. Also, I am a very passionate Kansas Jayhawks fan. This is something you'll figure out over time. (:

I'm a transplant-kid, the product of seven moves over the course of my 20 year lifespan. One of those was a choice I made for myself, but the rest have been well, forced. Born on the East Coast, I have been shuttled back and forth from the great Midwest back to my where my WASP-y routes started. At the moment, my "place of residence" (according to my license and my parents) is Northern Virginia, when I'm not at school of course. Horse country, not so much. But, I'm only about an hour away from it. (: Having "grown up" in Kansas, it's a place that holds a great number of fond memories for me, but I'm ultimately glad I've gotten out of there.

Well, here goes nothing. Being the English major that I am, I find myself full of thoughts and ideas, things I wish I could write down... somewhere. Today, I'm full of horse-shopping nerves. This spring, for the second year in a row, I'm planning to compete in the ANRC National Championships. Last year was a rather extraordinary learning experience, and I would not have changed a thing about it. However, the sweet and darling mare that I ultimately ended up riding has returned to a life of school horsery, and I want something that gives me the chance to well, win. I'm talented enough, so I want to freakin' win. Thankfully, I've found one. I just need things to work out. Things including the price tag, shippers working in my favor, father's cooperating.

As much as I should love this holiday, I'm not really loving it. Being apart of this "Blizzard of 2009" that struck Virginia, I am stuck amongst hordes of people who are fearful of the snow, creating multitudes of traffic and in the long run, stressed out people. We are leaving for the Shore on Christmas Morning, and I'm totally hoping to sleep the whole way there. The likelihood of that happening is so close to slim, it's sad. Oh well, I can dream right?

Now that I have fed my insomnia for two hours with the start of this wonderful thing, I'm going to attempt to fall asleep. Without my usual 6'5" and wonderful bed companion, this is getting harder and harder every night. Miss you.

Thus begins the countdowns: