Happy Friday, and happy June!

I started this post last week and it had an intro about how hot it’s been and how much I’ve sucked at blogging and blah blah blah, but then I decided to go run errands and finish it up Friday evening, but then… Sam. (See my last post if you missed it.) It was weird to re-open this post to finish it and see those petty complaints from Friday morning. It’s hard to take your previous concerns seriously after something like that.

I also mentioned that I’m working on a big thing, something I’m hoping to accomplish by this fall. Keep your fingers crossed!

(Friday morning post script: Well, shit, Anthony Bourdain. I’m going to miss your moody music-hotel room instastories. Thanks for making travel writers look cool.)

 

Here’s what I’ve been loving lately!

 

1. I found this tote bag at Dollar Tree of all places:

When I leave the house, I usually have several things besides my purse, like a notebook, bottle of water, etc, so I’ve been loving tossing my purse plus all of the extras in here when I go. Plus, I then have a reusable grocery bag handy, as long as I’m not buying anything too heavy. (I mean, it was $1, it’s not super sturdy.) They also had some super cute anchor and pineapple-print bags, so if you live near a Dollar Tree I’d suggest stopping in to check them out!

 

2. I got to hang out with my tiny perfect pony friend last week:

 

 

The down side of being freelance is that I’ll occasionally have a REALLY slow work week, and that throws my budget off. I had one of those last month and thus had to cut some non-essential spending, which meant no riding for a whole month. I missed it so much! While I was away, someone else rode Folklore in a local show and he was awesome. Such a good boy!

I moved my lesson to 10 a.m. instead of my usual noon in hopes of escaping the super hot heat, but it was still HOT. I took a few breaks to walk but I didn’t want to “waste” lesson time just walking, so I tried to keep them short. I was SO HOT by the end, though, that I only let Folklore graze for a few minutes and then untacked him and groomed him as fast as humanly possible so I could go drink water and blast the AC in my car. I didn’t have as much water as I wanted, so I drove straight to Walgreens (about 10 minutes) and stopped in the bathroom there to splash some water on my face, but was surprised to see that it was still BEET red. At first I thought it was sunburn, but nope, just flushed from the heat. Bought a liter bottle of water and drained it in record time, considered going back in for another one.

So basically, I need to come up with a better plan for riding this summer! My trainer said I could start coming at 9 or earlier instead, so hopefully that will work? I might also look into getting my own riding helmet – I use one that belongs to the barn and it’s the black velvet kind, which is obviously NOT the coolest thing to have on your head in the summer sun.

I’m not a fan of how the white ones look, but I guess not passing out would be worth it?

 

3. My cats’ favorite day of the month is always when we get a big box from Chewy.com that’s full of kitty food or treats for us to review for their #ChewyInfluencer program. This month, we got a 24-pack of Purina Pro Plan cat food, which Captain Kitten was kind enough to model for me:

 

 

We got the Seafood Variety Pack, which had salmon, a seafood stew, and tuna.

 

I don’t usually buy small cans like this since I have several cats to feed, so it’s a huge treat for the cats when Chewy sends some over! The variety pack had three different flavors, and they all seemed equally popular. These are finely diced meat, which my cats seem to prefer over pate or big chunks. Definitely kitty-approved!

 

 

4. I always stop and look at the chameleons when I’m in a pet store (If I wasn’t convinced the cats would find a way to eat them, I would TOTALLY have a pair of chameleons.) but last night I was treated to the following surprise:

 

This might be the single greatest thing I’ve ever captured on video- both the tongue and the way he tries to play it cool once he notices me. #Ifreakinglovechameleons

A post shared by Crystal Ward (@crystalward11) on Jun 7, 2018 at 4:26pm PDT

 

5. The Show Us Your Books link-up is coming up on Tuesday, but I had to go ahead and share a note now! I’m listening to the audiobook of Mary Roach’s “Gulp”, and in the chapter on pet food I learned that outdoor cats are usually either birders or mousers – rarely both. I don’t know why, but that struck me as so fascinating! I always assumed they just saw prey as prey and were equal opportunity hunters. What else do I not know about the tiny weirdos who live with me?

 

May your weekend be lovely and summery and full of beautiful things!

 

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