Hurry up and wait!

Today marks five months until our wedding day!

There are times that I think wedding planning could be a full time job. Okay, okay. I know there are such things as wedding planners. But I mean more so that planning my own wedding could be a full time job.

And then there are blocks of time where it feels like a hurry up and wait game. I was so bent on crossing things off my checklist and making sure something got done every day...and now I've about caught up with myself. I feel like I should be doing more, but then again, what else is there to do right now? We have an appointment to meet up with our officiant this Saturday, and I have my bridal portraits scheduled in the next couple of weeks. Otherwise, I think we've done as much as we can for now.

One of the big things we recently checked off our to-do list was booking the cabin we will be staying in for our honeymoon. I know that I previously said that we would be staying in Saint Maarten, but we have since changed our minds and will be going to Puerto Rico instead. Saint Maarten looked beautiful and luxurious, but Puerto Rico seemed to provide more opportunities for adventure--more our speed. We will be staying on the edge of the rain forest within driving distance of the beach, providing us opportunities to go hiking to waterfalls, kayaking on the bioluminescent bay, horseback riding on the beach--a little of everything. Plus, since I speak decent Spanish, I'll be able to converse with the locals and get some practice in ;)

Five months seems so close and yet also so far away. I am so excited to marry the most wonderful man I know and stand up with some of my favorite women in the world (who it would seem I have neglected to mention so far):

Megan, my maid of honor and sister

Patricia, my best friend and favorite troublemaker

Kaitlin, my soul mate in all things writing and Renaissance

And Courtney, my roommate and loyal scorpion killer

I am so honored that these women are all willing to go through the horrors joy of being my bridesmaids! Thank you, ladies. :)

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Regularly scheduled programming

Due to wedding planning, a lot of other important parts of my life have been put on the back burner. One of these things, unfortunately, is training Rosa. Every day I go out to feed her I feel so guilty that she is just sitting in her paddock, not getting ridden.

But! Yesterday, I made an extreme effort to get baaaaaaack in the saddle again. It was probably the first time in two weeks that she had been ridden. And she. was. so. wonderful! I'm seriously still so impressed with her. Since getting engaged a month and a half ago, I've probably ridden her three or four times total. And yet each time I get on her or longe her, no matter how much time has passed, she's always like oh, okay. I remember this.

An example of this is what happened towards the end of our ride last night. I've been slowly introducing her to the back, and it has been a majorly foreign concept for her. And she hasn't had much work on it since I haven't been riding as much these last few weeks. But last night, I shifted my weight back in preparation to ask her to back, and she immediately started shifting her weight backwards, too. I lifted my hands and pulled slightly back, and she backed. We did it a second time to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and that time she backed even straighter.

This horse. She is so smart and so willing to please. One day, once she has more experience under her belt, I think she might make as good of a horse as Chica (well, as close to Chica as a horse can get). I'm just tickled. For one, this little cowbred horse was not what I wanted in my next horse, but she and I click so well, and I'm having so much fun with her.

For two, when I look at where she was a year ago (I'll have owned her a year on October 20th. How is that possible?), she is such a different horse from when I bought her that it's like someone replaced her in the night. She's gone from being an untrusting, difficult to catch, scared of everything, pain in my butt mistake to being a trusting, affectionate, smart, and willing mount. I know we still have a long road of training ahead of us, but just seeing what she can do in a year's time with inconsistent work is very, very encouraging. I'm excited to see where she will be next October.

Happy anniversary, my little Ponderosa!

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