Wish it. Want it. Do it.

Stolen from Brian on ‘Family Guy’ as a bit of an inside joke these days..Ha. You’ll not find me as an inspirational speaker (not my style!) but I do have to side-eye folks who are self-proclaimed inspirational gurus. What makes you an expert in others lives?

BUT I do have to say that my weekend was super-fant-astic! Loved it, all of it.

Friday, I had tickets to see Wintersleep, as we had missed them when they were in town last spring- a great opportunity to catch them again. And I would highly recommend them, they were just awesome. Good energy, came out for encores and seem to really appreciate their fan-base. Fun show all around.

Me with long hair, Oct.

And after my hair cut last week!

Saturday, I rode Oats and he was so great, I was goofing around over some small fences, and doing a little bit of homework: lateral work. Good pony. I did run with my husband- a tempo? run at 6k to see how my knee rehab is going. It was ok…Not great yet though. Sighhh…

Saturday night we hosted friends for some fondue and it was a blast! It was hilarious, it took alllll night to eat the fondue, but hey we had some great conversation and some laughs so it was all good.

Sunday, rode Oats and the fun and successful work we were doing over poles/small fences completely disappeared. I have no idea WTF was going on but we were just not on the same wavelength….He was supermanning over everything, just taking huge flyers. I know he has issues with small fences= kowabunga!! He does not respect them, at all. Jeeesh, it was so ugly!

I gave up on that and was like, well, maybe some flat work is in order before you land on a jump and kill us both.

He’s still fun to ride but man, he needs to get in another jump lesson to start hiking those fences UP!

I did a practice run after riding, to see how my knee would handle things. Ran just under 6k, and it was quite shaky and kept threatening to dislocate to the left. Hmm…So, I am stuck trying to rehab it still.

That evening, I went to Hillside Mall’s ‘Night of  Lights’ event. The tickets were $5, and you came and shopped and there were some deals to be had. Honestly? I wouldn’t do it again. The deals were ‘eh’ and it was PACKED. Swarming with people, and quite overwhelming. I don’t like crowds on a good day, and so it was too much for me. Also people who don’t really walk, more like barely crawl, drives me absolutely bananas.

No thanks, not again. The ticket prices do go to charity, so that is at least a nice thing!

A lovely weekend, and I am again lucky to enjoy the great weather here in the PNW.

Setbacks and Advancements: Weekend Recap

Weekend recap:

Friday night: Had a great (and mostly free!!) time at Lighthouse Brewery’s open house BBQ- got tix for a free beer and a burger, and the rest of the beers were $4…So no reason not to have more, haha. AND their new rhubarb beer is amazing, I had it twice. Good food, good beer and good friends- who could want more?

Seems legit.

I even won a door prize- $10 to Hanks BBQ joint downtown. Hilarious eh? I did question if it was real…

Saturday: Woke up feeling less than spectacular. Apparently more beers don’t really agree with me anymore, particularly when I have a jumping lesson! I felt so draggy and tired and out of it. Lucky for me, Oats brought his A-game and was a star! We worked on the gymnastic line (not set high though, prob only to 2’4” or 2’6” ish) and then added on to the course, which I wanted to bail after once because, hello, tired…But then took a break and did it again, even better! Go us!

Sunday: Rode Oats in the morning and he was good! We did a fair amount of cantering, circles, large, more circles, and I was quite pleased with him. I then jogged downtown with my husband to go watch our friend in his dragonboat race- we missed the race but managed to catch up with him later, so that was a win! We even got some free pizza slices courtesy of Dr. Oetker’s travelling van, and it was sooo good. Wrapped up the afternoon by running out to Songhees and back, and then home…And my knee didn’t make it.

Shit shit shit

I couldn’t run anymore, and we ended up having to walk home. I could feel pressure building under my kneecap and my kneecap was shifting too much and it hurt quite a bit. ARGH. Setbacks…

I hope it is temporary! I iced my knee at home, and worked through my exercises. I have also made another appt. to talk about it with my knee doctor.

We then headed out to pick some blackberries and it was significantly less joyous than it has been- the blackberries seemed to be out for blood! And they were either overripe or red on one side. Gah!

But, we finished the day with a lovely dinner, and I really enjoyed my weekend of not blasting off to another race or travelling to anywhere. Sometimes you just need a weekend at home, I guess!

Octopus stew and other handicrafts

Well not technically octopus stew- we braised it in wine, and then grilled it and then served it over salad. Delicious! Very beefy texture.

Octopus stew?

We made this awhile ago and I never had the chance to showcase it, haha.

Also sparked my mind because we were very handmade this weekend, making an apple crumble and apple chips in the dehydrator. Yum! Love them!

And how did other things go? Oats was good, got a big clip (hahaha) and so did Gidget. Haircuts for all! So no ride for Oats Saturday, because he had to stay dry and clean for the clip and tranq.

Sleepy clipped Oats- photo courtesy of Nicole

He rode really nicely on Sunday, I schooled a few small fences outdoors and was quite pleased with his ride. Kept it short because I was so happy!

Gidget also gets a haircut

I went on a ok run on Saturday and a better run on Sunday- after getting my knee checked out by professionals on Friday, I feel like I have a better idea how to manage my knee pain- starting with a better running brace to hold my kneecap in place. Getting that tomorrow, yes! And I am also getting my knee x-rayed- hope to get that done next week.

All in all, a more productive, less stressful and happier weekend.