I hate to jump onboard celebrity bashing but this video is disturbing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73VgnemjobU

Seriously I don’t think I can even go to his movies anymore. It’s sad it’s come to this, Tom.

 Well I did! I got my dream ride!

Whenever I  look at my lifetime goals and dreams there was always ONE that made every list. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to own a horse. I rode every chance I got which was never often enough. I took some English lessons but they just weren’t my thing. I’ve always been a Western gal at heart.  There was a woman who owned a Quarter Horse in my neighborhood in North Carolina. I’m not sure how she pulled that off but on the edge of the street was a little corral for the horse. I’d help her groom, feed, and exercise her.

Ah that smell of horse. Hmmm. Simply heaven. I even taught myself how to draw horses. Someday I’ll dig up an old sketch I did and show you. I was obsessed with them.

Of course as the years went on other interests took up my time but I never lost that passion for horses.

Recently I’ve been paying more attention to what I want out of life and I realized getting a horse was completely attainable. That was a little scary…realizing I actually have had the power all along to get what makes me happy. So I started investigating.

True to my style I went with my gut on finding a horse. My plan was just to take lessons actually for the opportunity to be near them and get a little extra exercise. Being the big fan of ONLINE things I found a stable on the Internet about 20 minutes away and immediately hit it off with the owner, Renee.

It turns out she had a mare that needed to be leased or she was going to go to pasture named Skeeter. (Skeeter probably would have enjoyed eating grass all day but after all the training that went into her, Renee was heartbroken to turn her out.) So I went out and met them both and take a lesson. Wow! I fell in love!

It turns out Skeeter is 100% Quarter Horse, trained in the Western competition of “reining” - a discipline of cattle riding. Riding her is like steering a Ferrari. A light touch to her side and she responds right away. Look up “reining” on www.youtube.com and you’ll see some fun examples of what they can do.  I especially love when they slide on their hind legs dragging their butts almost to the ground like a cartoon.

And Skeeter is mine. I’m leasing her, not owning her, which means I get the best of it all. I don’t have to care for her everyday but I can enjoy her as often as I like. I didn’t know having a horse could fit into my busy schedule. But now it’s become a mandatory meditation for me now. Riding Skeeter is like therapy (probably cheaper too). My mind is truly in the present moment when I ride her. I can’t think of ANYTHING else or I could get hurt. Every brain cell focuses on her muscles and mine. It’s soooo completely relaxing and fun.

Best of all, I know now more than ever, you really CAN have anything you can dream. Life is good!

Skeeter (”Skip and Skidaddle” is her bred name) and me

As always, John and I took the boys (who hate to be photographed by the way) for a ski trip to Mammoth Mountain in northern California. The weather was unbelievable! See I’m a fair weather skier and I like it warm. Even though it was December, the temps were in the low 50s! One day was nasty and windy so we just didn’t go. But all in all, it was a beautiful way to wind up 2007.