EOW No. 7

Here we all are, lined up at the starting line of the holiday season.  Do you have your running shoes on and credit card in hand?

This week, we knocked out our Christmas card photo and ordered the cards - Minted is so quick, the cards are already here!  The picture is hilarious and I can’t wait to send them out.  Last night we put up the Christmas tree(s) and glittery wreath inside the house.  We may spend this weekend wrapping lights around the outside.  Even though we’ve caught some flak for putting up the tree before Thanksgiving, I quite enjoy getting a jump on Christmas, just because everything seems to come so fast and furious when you actually get into December.  The twinkly lights help usher in the holiday season.  I even got some early Christmas shopping done!  A ton of e-tailers are having early Black Friday sales so I picked up some Corkcicle insulated wine glasses from Williams Sonoma for my coworkers.  Bryan’s sister-in-law bought us a pair for Christmas last year and we really like them and I think they make a great gift.

This past weekend, I baked a meat pie, which was really my excuse for practicing pie crust and also not having to eat pie for dessert for a week straight.  It was really tasty, and my pie crust came out extremely flaky.  Who knows, maybe I’ve finally figured out the whole pie crust thing!  I took some tips from Great British Baking Show and made sure that I had even distribution of water and butter in the flour while mixing it, as well as rolling it out and folding it on itself before resting, which I think helps with the flakiness and layers.  This weekend, I may dress rehearsal with a pumpkin pie to make sure that it’ll turn out the way I want it to on Thanksgiving.  

Mae and I had a really good week riding.  I watched this video on how horses develop kissing spine that Susan shared, which really emphasized correct form and core strengthening exercises.  On the back of the video, I went to the barn and took a more critical look at Mae’s topline.  She’s no European warmblood and lacks the overall beefiness and thick neck, which is fine, but we focused on a ride that worked on her engaging her neck and back more.  I pushed her to drop down onto the bit and drop her head at all gaits.  She is responsive to voice commands and will continue behavior that she gets positive reinforcement on.  I think it probably also felt good for her to stretch her neck down and lift her belly.  As I said, she responded really well and is more willing than I’ve seen her vs. when we’ve steered her toward a jump.  

I’m only working part of the week next week (thank god), but I’ll be battling the crowds at the grocery store to get Thanksgiving ingredients.  Throw them bows folks, and be safe!