Friday Favs – Catching Up
LONG TIME NO SEE, Y’ALL!
It’s been a rollercoaster of a month over here at Casa Crystal. I went through a breakup from something that wasn’t even technically a real relationship, which was surprisingly SUPER painful. I’ve been cleaning the house like crazy. My new car got side-swiped in a parking lot. I went to church for the first time in like… 20 years?? (It’s a super liberal hippie church where they started by singing “Let Your Love Flow” by the Bellamy Brothers. My kind of place.) I reconnected with an old friend, and catching up has made me super happy. And I’ve been learning a lot through it all. Eventually I’ll get around to writing about THAT, but for now I’ll share what I’ve been into lately!
1. I worked my second and third full days at the new trail ride job since I last posted. Spent both days on Bailey again – I think we’re bonding. I did 3 1/2 out of the four rides the first day, which is pretty uncommon with three people working. On the second one the heat kinda got to me so I asked to sit the third ride of the day out, and then they didn’t need me for the fourth one, so a really chill day!
Despite a few months of being a trail guide at a different place last year, I’d never taken a ride out solo before, so when I was asked to do that on my second day I totally panicked and begged my coworker to follow along in the back to make sure I didn’t get totally lost and wind up in Arkansas or something. I was surprised that I only had to ask her about which way to go a couple of times, and I was able to take the next group out solo without freaking out. YAY ME. It’s so hard to learn the trail when you’re riding in the back because you’re so focused on taking care of your guests – I just had to get up front and actually DO it once to figure out where I was going.
I’m working two days a week in July, and I’m a little nervous about how HOT it’s going to be! The trail is mostly shaded, but our barn doesn’t have electricity, so there’s no cooling off between rides. The last couple of times I’ve worked it’s only been high 70s/low 80s but I’ve still gone through tons of water and sports drinks, so actual summer temps are a little scary. I’m working both days this weekend, and they’re both supposed to be sunny and 90. I’ve stocked up on Body Armor (it’s the only sports-type drink I can stand – the Peach Mango is my favorite and Target had the huge ones on sale for $1.19 last week, so I’m all set!) and big 1.5 liter bottles of Fiji water (I know, I’m fancy) so I hope I make it through! I need to find a way to bring ice packs to cool down with when the afternoon heat hits.
Any other suggestions for staying cool when doing physical labor in the heat and humidity? Besides hopping into the water trough between rides?
2. I totally binge watched Dating Around on Netflix last week. It’s a Netflix original reality dating show where one person goes on five blind dates and (usually) picks one person to go out with again. The episodes are all set up in the same format – drinks, dinner, sometimes a post-dinner activity, and the cab home. The people, however, are diverse – the first few are the sort of stereotypical dating show people – straight people in their late 20s/early 30s, but then there’s a gay man, an older man (I’m guessing 70s?), and a lesbian. It made me realize how rarely we see older people on any kind of dating show!
The episodes are basically just the dates themselves with nothing extra. It’s kind of the fun of a Bachelor-style picking one person from several without all of the drama – actual “reality”with regular people instead of crazy helicopter adventures with people who want to be famous. Makes it way more fun to watch the chemistry and try to guess who they will pick. I hope they do another season!
3. Back when I lived in Orlando, I used to go see local bands play several times a month. Since I’ve been back in Missouri, I don’t think I’ve gone AT ALL. Last weekend I wanted to get out of the house, so I picked a place at random and went to see some music there. The band specialized in late 90s/early 2o00s music which was a lot of fun. The show came close to getting rained out – they play at a bar/restaurant that’s right on the lake and the stage area is kinda covered but not really well enough to play if the weather gets bad. I did wind up dancing in the rain towards the end. It just seemed like way more fun than sitting. Although man, sitting next to that fire pit pictured above and sipping my drink was also pretty darn good.
4. This is Quigley, who I rode for my first dressage lesson this week! I’ve done just about every type of riding, but I’ve never done dressage so I finally found a barn near-ish me (a little over an hour away) and booked a lesson. I can already tell it’s going to be SO GOOD for me. Dressage involves SUPER subtle cues, and the barn really focuses on good horsemanship. They also have the most organized tack room I’ve ever seen! Everything is super clean and labeled and that makes life so easy. I can probably only manage lessons every other week right now, both in terms of time and money, but it’s fun to look forward to!
5. I’ve been wanting to get more vegetables into my diet but I’m basically a toddler in terms of being a picky eater. I can usually do green juice, though, so I grabbed one of these Suja green juice things a few days ago. This is BY FAR the best green juice I’ve had. I’m guessing it’s a bit heavier on the fruit than the vegetables, but still. They’re hard to find near me, so I need to grab like 6 next time I’m at that grocery store. Definitely recommend if you don’t usually like green juice!
I don’t have any writing work to do today (About every 6 months or all there’s a lull for a week or two) so I’m going to try to catch up on ALL THE THINGS before my crazy work weekend.
Have a great weekend!
Linking up with Bright on a Budget and A Little Bit of Everything.