Taking a break from Women's History

Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing well! My life has been insane, as usual, but I really cannot complain. (:

This week I've had crazy amounts of homework, an all-nighter, an IDA (Intercollegiate Dressage Association) Horse Show to help with, and a lesson every day of the week. Thankfully, my lesson on Cooper today was postponed because of the gale force winds that have decided to cross the southern North Carolina counties. It was beautiful on Tuesday, I rode my horse in a short sleeve shirt and was perrrrrfect. Today, I didn't even attempt to sit on my horse's back for fear of getting ejected because of the wind that was roaring in the barn.

However, Spring Break starts tomorrow afternoon and I don't really have any plans. Not too sure what that makes me, but I have not ever been the big Spring Break travelling type. I like just being able to take the week off, ride when I want, read, watch TV and get my mountain of laundry finished. However, I don't get to drive back to Virginia till Monday morning because for ANRC we're heading out to the Carolina Horse Park to hop around on their cross-country course. Needless to say, I'm already trying to figure out what to wear so that I can look cute if/when someone comes to take pictures. I'm thinking my chocolate breeches and cream colored long sleeve RL Polo. Looking good is just as important  as being effective when it comes to riding.

Boyfriend is heading down to Florida on Tuesday to play lacrosse with the team. I'm glad that he's got something to do. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy his company a great deal, but I want to be able to have some time by myself, to realize how much I miss him. So, I'll just check in each night and see how they're doing. They are not exactly the best or the most intimidating team and they are going against some really big competition, I'm just hoping they come back with at least one win?

Anyways, I wish I had something more exciting to share, but I sadly don't. Ha!
Have a great day everyone!

I promise, I'm alive!

Wow, I apologize for dropping off the face of the planet for the past month, needless to say it's been insanely crazy and busy. Just a run-down of events:

• Jacksonville Horse Shows, Week 1 & 2
• ANRC Tryouts 
• School starting, after missing a week of classes to go show in FL 
• Judicial Committee meetings 
• IHSA Head to Head Competition against Duke University
• IHSA Horse Show @ Home, and all the planning to go with it 
• Catching up with school friends! 
• Elon IHSA Horse Show, this coming sunday 
• Being a good girlfriend, and watching lacrosse scrimmages in the cooooold. 

Regardless, my life has been crazy. Amazing, but crazy. The boyfriend is still wonderful, the new horse is amaaaaazing, and classes are much better than last semester. Here's a brief recap of the past month: 

The Week 1 Group @ J-Ville, Schooling Day! 

Week 2, Schooling Day! During the coldest streak of Florida weather for the first time in 75 YEARS. 

Friiieeeennnddsss! At our "Jersey Shore" Party. Being a true NJ Girl, I went alllll out.... 

Now, I get the chance to introduce the second man in my North Carolina life, "In Disguise," also known as Cooper. I found him the day after New Years outside of Raleigh, and fell in loveeeee. He's a 8 year old Thoroughbred gelding who's done the First Years, Large Juniors and the Children's. He doesn't care about anything, and I'm totally in love. Also, have I mentioned, he's 17hh? Freaking huge, so amazing. 

He was an ANGEL in Jacksonville. We pinned in almost every single class, sometimes being the highest pinning SAPC rider. I, needless to say, was amazed. I'm so so sooooo happy to have him, I cannot wait to see how the rest of the semester pans out! 

Working without irons Monday, such a hunk! 

Jacksonville Week 1, Adult Amateurs (: 

His goooorrrgeous hot pink halter. (: He loves it. 

Anyway, I need to keep reading about boobs for my Politics of Sex class tomorrow, finish "Light In August" by Faulkner, read two critical essays on Othello, and then go crawl into bed with the Boyfriend. Oh, I love life. 

New pony, new year.

The most exciting/busy/fun part of my life is getting the chance to go horse show. Since August, I have been "horse-less." So, this Christmas Break I have been in a frenzy trying to get a horse that will fit my "criteria." Thankfully, right in the nick of time, I found Cooper.

Cooper is a 8 year old, 16.3hh Thoroughbred gelding that is a total ham. He's got a pretty independent personality, but he's such a lover. I found him online (of all places, ha!) on Wednesday, went down and tried him yesterday, wrapped him and put him on the trailer and he was cozy (in his snazzy, new purple blanket) by 4:30 in Laurinburg. I'm so excited, I finally have a horse again!

So, I'm back at school crazy early, but not for long. I'm leaving on Tuesday morning for the hopefully warm Jacksonville, FL for two weeks to go take "In Disguise" (Cooper, heh) down to horse show. It's going to be a learning experience, that's for sure.

Kinda blurry, but there's Super Cooper's face. (: So excited! More pictures to follow this afternoon. 

Two thousand and nine different photos.

Since I'm still very, very new here, I figured I could fill you in on the last 12 months of my life, accompanied by stories, short ones, that describe my past year. It's been... a strange year, to say the least. Each and every day has been a blessing for me, and I'm thankful for it!

I started the year, at home, in Northern VA with a trip to DC. Here, I'm at the World War II Memorial on the Mall in the heart of the Capital, posing with my favorite state. (:

For one of my closest friend's at school's 21 Birthday, we rented a limo and drove to Raleigh and clubbed on a Thursday night. We were promptly invited to dance on the bar, so of course we took part! (: Lots of outrageous dresses, booze and laughter made it a night to remember.

In February, I qualified for IHSA Regionals at home. Here was our home show in February, with some of my closest friends. Sadly, one transferred, one graduated and the other one goes to an entirely different school, it makes me smile being able to think about the laughs we shared on the fence that afternoon, holding horses.

Riding one of the two horses I've "had" over the past year, Romo, home after the horse show. He was just as happy as I was to trot back across the field at the end of the day!

Me and CMT gossiping after one of our in-house horse shows. She and I were the two winners of the afternoon!

Me and Romo clinicing with one of the top trainers in the nation, Scot Evans

My guilty pleasure all spring, themed Kickball with the team. Featured; 80's Night!

At IHSA Regionals, winning the class and making it onto Zones! I was lucky enough to pull Romo, and my close friend pulled Samantha, who I would later do ANRC on in the spring.

KP, RJ, JG, JA and myself along with our wonderful coach at IHSA Zones, in Fredricksburg, VA. Rob qualified for Nationals, and then went on to WIN! (:

Me and my sweet girl Samantha, taking 16th Overall at the 2009 ANRC National Championships. (:

Happy it was all over, Samantha, RJ, CMT and I wait for the overall results at the ANRC National Championships.

Basking in my post-ANRC freedom in April, I got sunburned. Badly. Here I am with my lovely old roommate, also named Audrey, who also loves J. Crew. (:

Deciding that we needed GOOD sun, AC and I put together a trip to Wilmington Beach one afternoon. (:

Graduation in May, watching two of my closest friends walk. It was a very bittersweet afternoon.

Joining me in Virginia, Samantha and I moved to Century Manor Farm for the summer, meeting a number of great people who we both adore! Here we were at the Fox Chase Farm June Horse Show, and won enough money to pay back our entries! (:

For my 20th birthday, my wonderful new friends at CMF, like Alicia here, got me a ticket to join them to see Rascal Flatts on my birthday! It was a great way to spend my birthday. (:

I went and visited KP post graduation at her amazing, but little house at her new job in PA. I only nearly knocked myself out 2 or 3 times on this stairwell!

Deciding to be brave girls, I took a day off from work and went to Frying Pan Park with Samantha and other lovely ladies from CMF to go play around. Samantha loved ALL of it, except for this drop into the water. She wanted nothing to do with getting her feet wet!

I went out and surprised my best friend (middle, right) for her 21st Birthday by flying out to Kansas and not telling her (but telling everyone else!) that I was coming. (: Here, we had our ceremonial dinner with friends Trouble and Freddie, and goofed off the whole time.

Then came August, and in true North Carolina fashion it was 90 degrees for the first three weeks. We took advantage by going to the pool and "studying." (;

Then we had a couple "themed" parties in the suite. This was our Black night. Very inventive, we're aware. (;

New year, new roommate! Here we have Lor (or so we'll call her from now on), my pint sized roommate!

(Being 6'1", that makes everyone tiny, but she's only 5'2"!)

The safest way to party at school is outside, so here we are, making a wonderfully awkward photo.

(This was also the night that I met my boyfriend, the tall, cute one on the right. (; )

One weekend in September, I went to Greensboro, NC along with Grandma to horse show. (Her real name is Happy, or "Happyness," but we like Grandma better. She's 22 years old and still a rockstar!)

Here's Grandma sleeping while we wait for results on the first day. It's a hard life being a show pony. (;

For Halloween, the boyfriend and I had "matching" costumes. He was my Mountain Man/Lumberjack while I was Sarah Palin. I'm a diehard liberal, so it was very entertaining. We ended up winning Best Costume Overall at the campus wide Halloween Party. (:

Grandma and I again, cuddling up in the same coolers at a horse show at the Carolina Horse Park in November. It was chiiiiillllly that day!

Traveling for IHSA is one of my favorite parts of the whole year. (: Here's the team at Virginia Intermont after we took Reserve Highpoint Team behind VI!

Traveling can sometimes drive us a little crazy, like here at Virginia Tech. All the way to Blacksburg and back in a day, along with horse showing made us all a little wild, as you can see. It didn't help that it was only 40 degrees when it had been a toasty 65 in North Carolina!

Here's Boyfriend and I, along with my goofy roommate and her boyfriend before Winter Formal in December. Our room is always full of laughs!

Some of my closest friends and I at Winter Formal, getting our groove on. (;

Boyfriend is a Lacrosse player, so here I am invading the "bro time" before Christmas.

Riding Council, the executive group of individuals who run the student side of the program. It's a lot of work, but they all make it so much fun!

Now, just two weeks ago during the "Blizzard of '09" that hit the DC Area. And, I look short for once!

All love, just all love.

Short post today.

1. I want to ride so badly, my bones ache. My heart aches, I'm bored out of my mind. I hope that changes tomorrow/soon. I'm gonna cross my fingers. 
2. Still no horse for Jacksonville. Yuck. 
3. I have watched Season 5 of Grey's Anatomy in a record 2.5 days. Go Audrey! 
4. Top productive moment of the afternoon: I ate a whole bag of chips over the course of the day, put new sheets on my bed and washed the others. Top that! 

Today hasn't really been a good day. I called four trainers today, trying to go try horses. Let me tell you, it was not fun. NO one called me back. ): That means tomorrow has be to be better, right? 

Suzy Homemaker?

So, with nothing to do here in Northern Virginia (for me at least), when I am not talking to friends, skyping the boyfriend, reading books, doing laundry or horse shopping, I'm coincidently knitting.

I learned how to roughly... twelve years ago? My grandmother gave me the yarn and the pattern for a American Girl sweater. I promptly took up the needles, and tried my hardest to figure it out. So, I finished it, with the help of Grandmom Virginia, and it soon became Becky, my American Girl doll, best outfit. I've made many things, including rainbow arm warmers for riding in the winter, but I love making scarves. I think that it stems from the fact that they are easy, don't need a pattern, and I can make them however I want.

More than anything, I love to give homemade scarves as gifts. I have so many, that I like to give them to friends to enjoy, and see them wear something that I know I put a lot of time and thought into. So, my boyfriend is from Minnesota, and an avid ice fisherman. Go ahead, laugh. I do, allll the time. So, I've decided that he needs a big scarf to keep him warm. He's 6'5", so when I say big, I mean big. I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. I'm mailing it to him on Tuesday, because I was not planning on getting it to him by Christmas. He, however, was, so I had to get on it and finish it!

I'll leave you all with a goofy picture to enjoy, modeling his nearly finished scarf. I'm hoping he wears it better than I do. (;

End o' the year.

The end of the year always makes me kind-of excited. I know it's only a day after Christmas, but I love seeing the "Top (insert thing here)" lists. With this being the end of the first 2000 decade, it's been really interesting to look at my life as a whole. I know I'll do more reflecting as the year comes even closer to a close, but it really makes me think about how much has happened in these 10 years. I mean, this is the first decade that I can actually remember all 10 years. I was only ten years old at the last decade, so the early 1990's were lost on me. In the past decade:

1. I became an aunt, five times. 
2. I traveled to New Zealand, Dominican Republic and Fiji. 
3. I graduated from high school, and entered college. 
4. I owned by first and second horse. (Hopefully not the last either!)
5. I had my first boyfriend. (; 
6. I learned to drive, and then got in my first accident. 
7. I moved on three separate occasions, once on my own accord. 
8. I finally stopped growing, at 6'1". 
9. I became a vegetarian! 
10. I met my best friend, who I love and who drives me CRAZY! 

I could go on, but that's where I'm at right now. Earlier this afternoon I found this great listing, for any of you who also like the alternative/indie stuff. Top Songs of 2009, indie style. It's a bunch of great songs from the year 2009, along with videos for you to hear each song. Pretty snazzy! 

Also, I learned that my name, Audrey, was number 78th for the most popular name in the 2000's. Sweeeet! 

Driving back home to Northern Virginia tomorrow, wish me some good fortune for a quick and easy drive down!