Another Hospital Visit

I waffled over whether or not to share this here. This blog has almost always been devoted to all things horses, with my personal life mostly sneaking in around the edges in a light way when it’s relevant to my barn life. But sometimes it’s cathartic to write things down, and I’m just now starting to get to the other side, so here goes.

I had an ectopic pregnancy recently. And it really really sucked.

I know this subject can be sensitive or uncomfortable for many, so consider this a heads up to not continue reading if that is the case. I don’t plan on talking about this beyond this post, so you will not unexpectedly run into it anywhere else on this blog.

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The short version is that I called my doctor with some concerns a few weeks after we found out I was pregnant, the staff there brushed me off and told me to sit tight until my appointment 9 days later, and I ignored them and went to the ER that night because I know my body. It took several days of repeat testing to confirm that the pregnancy was ectopic. It was a very difficult few days of having hope repeatedly given and then retracted as test results came in.

Since we caught it pre-rupture, I was able to get an injection instead of needing surgery. This was a chemo drug that caused common chemo side-effects, and I experienced them for several weeks. It took a week to confirm that the medication had done what it’s supposed to, and I’ve been getting weekly bloodwork since then to watch my hormone levels slowly tick back to zero. It’s a weekly cycle of fear that things aren’t working, relief that they are, then grief at having to confront the numerical evidence of it every time. I’m still anemic and easily exhausted and have been told it will take several months to build my body back up.

If I had listened to that first nurse, I would have best-case lost an ovary and worst-case had serious life-threatening injuries. When my husband called to cancel my appointment with them, they did not even ask why or note that I had called with concerns a few days prior.

So this is why Frankie’s hospitalization came at a really really difficult time. At that point I had been told to stay within a 20 minute radius of a surgical center in case I ruptured and needed immediate life-saving treatment, so I had to look up hospitals near the barn and vet hospital to make sure I was close enough. My husband had to keep his phone on high and a neighbor on standby to watch the baby in case he needed to come meet me in the middle of the night. It was a physical, mental, and emotional rollercoaster. I know this also is one of the reasons that I pushed to get Frankie to the hospital rather than wait-and-see; I was already dealing with too much uncertainty and needed him to be safe and healthy with more security.

There is plenty to be grateful for: that I know my body and my husband trusts that knowledge enough that I went in to get checked against that initial recommendation, that the doctors at the hospital were extremely thorough and compassionate in a difficult time and listened when I refused to be admitted in favor of being home with my family, that our babysitter and friends and family were able to help with Lina so she had nice normal happy days while we were back and forth from appointments, that we avoided the need for surgery, that both my job and my husband’s job were beyond supportive and understanding in giving us time off to handle all of this, that our friends and family have surrounded us with love, that everything ended with me being healthy with no expected long-term side effects. Lina has been our endless ray of sunshine the whole time, and my husband has truly been an unbelievable anchor of stability and support and love.

But being grateful for all of that does not cancel out the fear, the dread, the guilt, the deep sadness, and how generally hard it has been. Those emotions coexist, they don’t cancel each other out. There are good days and bad, and the balance is slowly but continuously shifting towards the former.

Little Sister Time

All of you that are thriving in lockdown, TELL ME YOUR SECRETS. I am going basically insane with such low human contact – my husband is totally rad, and our new neighbors are great to periodically stand 6′ away from, but guys. I am a hugger. I am a talker. I am a people person. Every time my husband goes to work and leaves me home alone I spiral a little further.

Well, he leaves me home *almost* alone. After literally 1 day by myself in the new house, I told him that this was not sustainable and I needed a buddy.

Enter Frankie’s new little sister, Maggie!

She’s a 3(ish)yo Great Pyrenees that we found through a nearby shelter. The foster had gotten her started on a good track, but poor girl had been on the streets for a while and was extremely emaciated, had ear infections and skin infections and missing hair and kennel cough and all that jazz. But despite the coughing and itching and stress, she has been a sweet good-natured girl since day one.

A few medicated baths, lots of ear drops, and a LOT of groceries later, she’s looking better and better every day. The hair will take some time to fully come in, but shes gained about 20 pounds and has another 10ish to go before we can go to maintenance mode!

 

Much like her brother, she is an extreme weirdo. Homegirl falls asleep like this and then snores like a truck.

But also like her brother, she certainly knows where the camera is and proceeds to smize for it

It’s been fun watching her personality emerge as she’s gotten her energy back. She’s definitely a little goblin that wants to play constantly, but she’s also incredibly sweet and social. The neighbor kids love coming to pet her and despite her size, she’s very gentle with them.

My plan is obviously to turn her into a barn dog so she can come along to shows! Sadly she’s a terrible guard dog – she loves EVERYONE and would guaranteed try to throw a party at our house while we’re gone if she could. We’ve been “practicing” leaving the house by just driving around for a while to get her used to being away from us for longer stretches (I will eventually have to go back to work someday I suppose) but she just curls up and sleeps til we get home.

Morning walks with her sure ain’t ugly

But of course I have to provide you with a Frankfurter update while we’re at it: he is, as always, an angel. He’s been getting extra pro rides since I’ve cut back on lessons and is looking in great flesh with a lovely summer coat coming in. I’ve gone out a few times after hours during the week to love on him, and have snuck out a few weekend mornings for some quick flat rides. I had planned on staying away entirely, but at a certain point my mental health really needed some Francis time. Taking tons of precautions and being super careful, and it’s made a world of difference in my resilience and overall state of being.

In a stroke of genius way to keep us boarders entertained, my trainer is even hosting a mock dressage/flat test show soon! We’ll have ride times to ensure there aren’t too many people on the property and we’ll be using the outdoor, and I’m excited to try it out! We’re currently planning on doing USDF First Level Test 3 and the ANRC Novice Program Ride for the Flat Phase. I schooled through some of the movements over the weekend from 1-3 (at least as much as I could in a ring full of jumps!) and while the movements themselves feel solid I think the main challenge will be maintaining a steady connection through our transitions.

So my DQ and eventing friends: I’d love any suggestions you have! What should I know before we trot down centerline?

 

A Look Back and A Look Ahead

I did my blog recap of 2019 mainly for my own records, but I’m begging your indulgence for a bit more high level recap of what the year looked like for our little family, along with a look ahead to 2020.

Frankie

In 2019 I sat on Frankie without a helmet for the first time ever but dang the pics are cute tho

Well, you already know he was perfect. I started the year thinking that I would be getting back into full training for a move up to the 1.20m after the wedding. For various reasons this didn’t happen, and I’m so glad that we took that pressure off. Frankie spent the year with his confidence soaring at every outing and we built a stronger partnership than ever. He’s another year older, another year smarter, and his coat and muscling honestly look better than ever. He truly thrived this year and we learned so much about what makes him happy.

Looking forward to 2020, I have a couple goals with him. Firstly, I’d like to qualify for the VHSA Adult Eq finals. He was such a pro and got better with every outing in the eq this past year, and I’d love to keep building that skill set together. I don’t anticipate making it to Cap Challenge or anything like that, but the VHSA final is a great show down in Lexington and is straightforward to qualify for. Secondly, I’d like to qualify for Zone finals in the Low Adults. We have totally hit our groove in the 1m classes (you should see just how proud of himself he gets) and this would be a great goal to help focus our efforts. Lastly, I want to have fun with him. 2020 will be our fifth(!!!) show season together and I want to fully enjoy all the adventures, opportunities, and time together that we can. At this point my goals for Frankie are ever-flexible because the one that trumps all others is making sure he’s happy and healthy and enjoying his work. So far, so good!

School

Don’t judge I know it’s a bit of a cluster

I started up my online MBA program back in April, and as of year-end I’m officially halfway through the program. It has introduced a whole new level of balancing act as I tr to meet deadlines while working and traveling and competing and (maybe even sometimes) sleeping and eating. That being said, I’m SO glad I’m doing this, especially in the online format. I’m able to learn something in my course materials over the weekend and apply it at work on Monday. I get to learn new things, debate ideas with interesting people, stretch my skills in different ways. It’s incredibly stimulating.

Looking forward to the next year, I’ll be finishing my program in early October! I’ll be finishing with a dual concentration in Business Analytics (hello numbers my old friend) and Strategic Leadership (which is the first step of my bid for world domination). There’s just a marathon 18 week triple-term this spring, a summer term, and 7 weeks in the fall between me and that sweet degree.

Professional

I dressed up like a dragon at our staff retreat which was probably the most exciting part of the year

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t a huge year for me professionally. Not bad by any stretch, just nothing exciting to report. Worked on some cool projects, got some new coworkers, loved my boss a ton (she’s amazing). I spent a decent amount of time kinda bored, but it sure did pay the bills so I can’t shouldn’t complain.

I am planning to leverage this new degree moving into 2020. There are a few different avenues this can take and I’m hoping to be able to share which avenue this follows fairly early in the year. At the end of the day my motivation for career growth is to (1) be able to provide for my family and (2) not be bored so fingers crossed we can make both of these happen at the same time.

Personal

We had lots of adventures together and guys I like him an embarrassing amount. Giving myself a major high five for getting to be married to him.

Holy moly guys, 2019 was a very full year from a personal relationship standpoint. My best friend got married, my mom came for a visit, our friend kicked off a new career, BOTH my parents came for a visit, we made a surprise birthday trip to LA, my best friend announced her pregnancy (OMG HER LIL BELLY IS TOO CUTE FOR WORDS), we went to a family reunion, we visited my side in RI, we went on our honeymoon, we celebrated my dad’s retirement from the ANG, we went to Cali for a dear friend’s wedding, we went to MD for ANOTHER wedding, we went out to the country for a weekend with BOTH our sets of parents, celebrated Christmas up north, celebrated countless birthdays, went on lots of dates together, saw friends, and spent tons and tons of time with our friends and family. It was a lot of traveling and all worth it. We are incredibly blessed to have these people in our lives. It was also our first full year of marriage and it totally rocked. I like him even more than I did on our wedding day. I also found an amazing new hairstylist in 2019 and if any of y’all don’t think that’s revolutionary then you also need to find a new one.

Our slogan for 2020 is: “Y’all can come to us.” We’re hoping to cut down on some of the constant travel – but realistically, we’ll still be hopping on planes with some regularity. My hope is to be a bit more deliberate about protecting our time together especially as I power through the final terms of schoolwork. I’m trying to plan a vacation adventure for the two of us later in the year as a pseudo-graduation present to myself. Whatever we have going on, it’ll be a ton of fun.

Overall

My most wonderful boys ❤

2019 felt like a year of big change and a year of staying still all at once. My goals changed, my balance changed, my perspectives changed. But I was in the same job, same apartment, with the same incredible support system. There were lots of wins to celebrate and I learned a lot about what the people around me need from me and what I need from myself.

I think 2020 will be a year of greater change, with a lot less staying still. I don’t really know what that looks like yet, which used to scare me. I like to have a plan. But I have the world’s best partner to share the highs and lows and make me laugh, and I have the world’s most wonderful horse (who also constantly makes me laugh). I’m not so worried with those two in my corner.

My Non-Horse Summer

It’s been a wild summer, you guys. Of course I love sharing all my Frankie updates with you, but thought it would be fun to give you a little snapshot of all the other fun adventures that have been going on when I’m NOT at the barn.

Back at the beginning of summer we had our annual staff retreat, which involved decorating and piloting little slide-y go carts. When brainstorming ideas on how to decorate, I loudly blurted out DRAGONS and everyone just kinda rolled with it. I think you can see which one I am here. Earned the nickname Token Extrovert at this retreat. Whoops.

We got a new car! I’ve driven it approximately one time for approximately 90 seconds, but technically it’s both of ours. Ask me how much I enjoy having a car payment, but then ask me how much happier my guy is driving something that has actual air conditioning in the Virginia summer. It all evens out one way or another.

Speaking of which, he also learned how to make the world’s most amazing french fries from scratch and we now eat them all the time omg they’re actual perfection. Better than any restaurant.

Already mentioned this, but pulled off a surprise trip to LA for his 30th b-day where we got to see a bunch of his best friends and chill with them for a weekend. It was awesome to see them and celebrate.

We went up to upstate NY for his annual family reunion, where one morning they all woke up to do hill runs. Like…what. Why did I marry into this??? This family is all annoyingly athletic, it’s wild. I’m going to need to step my game up to keep up.

I cut even MORE of my hair off and guys I love it. Less hair = less heat.

We went up to Rhode Island and got to hop on my dad’s boat for a bit. It was crazy hot but worth it for some time on the water.

And last but not least, we went on our honeymoon down to St. Lucia! It was amazing and gorgeous and relaxing and so so so much fun, and I’m really not loving coming back to reality.

So there you have it. It’s been a whirlwind of traveling all over during the past few months, but it sure has been fun. Just a heads up though that we are boycotting airports in 2020 and our slogan is Y’all Come To Us. We’ll be at home.

Chugging Along

I wish I had something super exciting to share with you, but things are pretty quiet over here!

By quiet I mean that work is very busy but manageably so, school is interesting and fun and not nearly as time-consuming as I had feared, I’ve been spending some wonderful time with friends, and Francis continues to be the World’s Best Horse(TM) at all times forever.

I guess by quiet I actually mean it’s not even a little bit quiet, but it’s been really nice finding a new equilibrium for myself.

I’m now about 5 weeks into my first 7-week term, and I continue to love being a student. Even the dreaded group projects have been great, as I hooked up with 3 other fantastic people who are smart and interesting and great to work with. We share pictures of our dogs every day (we all agreed that Frankie counts as a giant dog) and it’s been a pleasure getting to know them and work with them!

Everyone needs to see this picture of Francis being the most precious snoozler

On the home front, I bit the bullet and hired a cleaning service to come into our house once a month. So far it has been worth every single penny for peace of mind. Could I just do it myself? Absolutely. But with work and school and the barn and other commitments piling on, I want to be able to just enjoy my limited free time at home with my husband without worrying about chores. It took a major source of stress off the table entirely! I don’t know that it’s something we’ll continue once I finish school and my schedule opens up a bit, but for now it’s some very welcome help.

On the random personal front, I finally got that haircut I’ve been talking about! I told you all how much I hated that super long braid coming out of my helmet, so I went ahead and chopped it all off. My only regret is that I didn’t do this sooner bc OMG I LOVE MY NEW HAIRCUT SO MUCH. Seriously, I feel twenty pounds lighter and a million times better.

I’m not so great at selfies but I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER

On to the star of the show: Frankie continues to be a steady rock of wonderfulness, sharing his happiness every day. He recently accidentally got a week off – between school, work, sickness, and my trainers being gone at a show, he missed his training rides and I didn’t make it out – but I didn’t even find this out until after I hopped on and he was absolutely perfect. He’s constantly re-winning the Best Ammy Horse Ever Award. I can almost see my reflection in his coat right now from the shine, he has little dapples peaking out, and is just looking beautiful right now. I know soon enough he’ll get sunbleached and faded so I’m enjoying that spring coat while it lasts!

The lighting isn’t great but just look how handsome he is!!! I just can’t stand it.

We have a show coming up later this month and I’m feeling great about it! We’re planning to do a mishmash of things – some Low Adult jumper classes, some adult eq classes, and if the weather holds and they run it outside I’ll do the hunter derby with him too. We’re not trying to qualify for things, we’re not trying to get the jumps higher, we’re just planning to go out there and have fun doing some different work together. I’m incredibly excited to go play with my best boy!

So there you have it. Things are busy, but a good busy, and I’m thoroughly enjoying this stage of life. Hoping to rope a friend into videoing some rides soon so I can have some media to share though – I realized I don’t have any record of me jumping my horse since last year!! I pinky promise that we’ve actually been doing work and he’s been awesome at it. Can’t wait to share when we have something 🙂

Wedding Pictures!

We’ve had our wedding pictures back for a while, and I’m so excited to share them with you. Between our photographer and her second shooter, we had over 1600(!) images to reminisce over, and I was able to narrow it down to 300ish top favorites. I wish I was exaggerating. Here are a few of my all time favorites that make me smile real big. And if you’re more of a video person, scroll down for that 😉

PC: Samantha Robshaw Photography
VC: Stop Go Love

The most elegant photo of me from that day, hands down. And entirely staged. My earrings were definitely already on.

If you know me at all, you know I have a strong penchant for socks

Mah girlsssss

My best friend knows how to have a good time

My mini-me was just the happiest little girl all morning

She loved being part of the whole thing

Kinda annoying that he can look this good while brushing his teeth but whatever it’s fine

I’m not a big cryer, but I definitely got a little weepy when I saw my dad get emotional. Held it together before and after just fine.

Big brothers and little girls! My middle brother totally looks like he has to poop (but it’s elegant because it’s in a tux, or so he tells me)

We all had pockets for snacks

They were both perfect all morning and then NOPED as soon as we got to the church hahahaha I’m using this picture as blackmail for their entire lives

For the non-Greeks: these were our first steps as man and wife

So happy we were in my childhood church!

Directly after the ceremony, hiding in the back room waiting for people to leave so we could take pictures. I’m so so so happy she captured this moment like this.

Stopped by the State House for pics!

Listen, when I first toured the venue I warned them all I’d do something weird with this torch. No one can say I didn’t warn them.

Parents!

I’ll never ever forget coming into the hall and seeing all our family and friends around us like that. Magical.

Gross

The one battle I fought HARD was to have Dunkin’ Donuts at my wedding, and I was beyond happy to have my doughnuts. I only got one bite because I was so busy with everything, but that one bite was worth it.

We got literally everyone involved in the Greek dancing. It was so cool that my new in-laws jumped in so eagerly!!

10/10 would recommend having a change of shoes to anyone getting married

The evening in a nutshell.

Viva Carlos Blog Hop: My Ideal Day

I’m loving this blog hop, because I’ll take any excuse to daydream about my ideal scenarios. The hardest part for me is narrowing it down to just one day, since there are so many iterations that sound so ideal.

First off, I’d wake up around 7 without any kinks in my neck or back. For me that’s just the right time to feel like I’m not waking up in the wee hours, but not lazing the morning away. And the neck kinks are self explanatory.

I’d then have a nice light breakfast of fruit and yogurt with my husband. Just a little something to wake up. Throw some English breakfast tea in there because in Dreamland I can have caffeine without staying awake for 3 days. I wouldn’t have to worry about preparing any of it or doing any of the dishes.

From there I’d head to the barn, with my magically not-allergic-to-horses hubs coming with to enjoy the fresh air. He would obviously bring a fancy camera with him.

Like this only imagine that he’s not holding back sneezes

My first ride of the day would be on the schoolmaster I bought with my imaginary riches, with a brief lesson jumping the big jumps and learning more about how to ride the big tracks. After cooling and grooming my delightful packer, it would be Francis time. Plenty of time to groom and play to get ready, then a private lesson of learning to work together. I don’t even care what we do in the lesson. Then a nice cool out walk around the neighborhood with my ammy friends to enjoy the sunshine, more grooming time, and a deep clean of my tack while chatting and hanging out.

After that I’d probably want to head to a winery with friends to relax and enjoy trying some new wines. We’d be able to sit outside and pet everyone’s dogs and listen to music. It would be sunny and 70s – warm enough to be comfortable outside, but not too hot or humid.

This one 10 minutes from the barn would do nicely (they have a mini donk there too so it’s literally a paradise)

I’m thinking this would take us to about mid afternoon, at which point I’d want to head home to my house with a quiet yard, garden, and plenty of ducks. I’d go for a leisurely swim in our pool, and we’d have the neighbors over for a barbecue, share a bottle of wine, listen to some music, not get eaten by bugs.

I imagine it looks a lot like this. Source

The house would magically clean itself, and we could go to bed at a reasonable hour to the sound of crickets.

Basically all I ever want to do is ride ponies and drink wine with friends.

Alternative version: pretty much any day I get to spend at a horse show. Lucky me that I get to live my ideal day so often ❤

Kicking Off the New Era

Building on the new-car-news, I have more non-horse related news! It’s been quietly in the works for a bit now, but I’ve been keeping it on the DL as I’ve figured things out.

Basically, I was so relieved by being done with wedding planning that I almost immediately started looking for something else to fill my time. Because I’m garbage like that.

I considered a couple things:

• I could get back into the 6x/week training schedule with Francis that’s worked well in the past. But I’m honestly feeling really good about the slightly lighter schedule that I have while keeping him in training with AT. I don’t have huge competitive goals this year, so I’m happy with this different balance of barn time for a little bit to re-set.
• I could throw myself into my workouts more devotedly. But I also already do them consistently and as much as I like feeling healthy, I have approximately zero desire for it to be a “thing” in my life besides serving a basic purpose.
• I could throw myself into keeping a really beautiful home for myself and my husband. But we live in a small 2 bedroom condo that takes very little effort to keep tidy and clean, so there’s not actually that much to do.
• I could start cooking meals more often hahahahahaha yeah right nope.

And as I was considering and discarding each of these options, I got an email from a listserve I had signed up to on a whim 6 months ago: “Do you want to meet with an admissions rep for X school in your area?”

How I stared at this email 6 times a day for several days

I was about to send it to the trash without responding, but I paused and thought about it. And thought about it the next day. And brought it up to my husband. And then brought it up to my boss which lead to one of the most amazing professional mentorship conversations I’ve ever had.

So after ALL that, I finally responded that yes, I’d like to meet with this rep. I knew next to nothing about the program, I had done zero things necessary to apply to ANY program (let alone this one), but I decided to go for it.

And in the intervening 8 days until that meeting, I had researched 50+ other programs, attended two info sessions in person, talked to 10+ admissions reps, and applied to one. Oops.

SHUT UP AND HELP ME WRITE MY ESSAY

The more I researched, the more I knew what questions I wanted to ask and what was important to me. By the time I got to that originally scheduled meeting that kicked this whole thing off, I had already realized that program was not a good fit. But it seemed rude to cancel.

The long and short of it is that within 2 weeks of seriously considering applying to schools, I had an application in. About 2 weeks later I had an acceptance letter. And in just about 2 months I’ll be kicking off the next phase of my education as I pursue my MBA!

Dad if you’re reading this just know that I’m doing this at least partially to prove that I’m the superior child.

The closer it gets, the more excited I am. Getting my MBA has been in the back of my mind for a while now (as you may remember), and while it will require some sacrifices and changes, there won’t ever be a better time for me to do this.

For those of you worried about Francis, never fear. He’s obviously not going anywhere. Robust employee benefits mean that my financial situation remains unchanged, so my only consideration is time. I’d go crazy if I couldn’t ride at all, but realistically I know there’s no way to support a 5-6x/week schedule while also working full time AND going to school. He’s currently in a 2x/week with a pro and 3-4x/week with me program, and I’ll plan on sticking with that until I have a better handle on the workload. My trainer is on board and I know that we’ll adjust as needed to make sure he’s getting plenty of exercise and plenty of love!

Fewer interrupted naptimes are fine with him.

This will mean fewer horse shows and the jumps will likely have to be lowered a few holes, but I’ll still get my saddle time and the knowledge that he’s healthy and happy in his beloved program. And yes, the flexibility and cost of the program factored into my choice very heavily for this reason. Can’t make any decisions without considering the bestest Frankenbean ❤

I’m not sure how this blog will be affected by this new enormous piece of my life, but I’m excited to find out and bring you along for the journey!

A New Era

Guess who has a new ride! And no, Frankie hasn’t gotten a brother. It’s the kind with four wheels and a steering wheel.

Introducing new red car! And no worries – I still have the best plates. Photo cred to WBH for the dramatic angle.

I’m so beyond excited to have this new-to-me car. But while it’s newly mine, it isn’t completely unfamiliar to me.

Rewind a few years. Before I bought Frankie, I had this tidy little savings account (because I was super boring and never did anything besides pay rent and buy groceries) and was planning to use it to buy a car. I did tons of research, asked tons of questions, and talked to my very wise father about it extensively.

Of course we all know this ended by me blowing my savings on a big bay behemoth instead of a vehicle.

But right around the same time, my dad called me to share the exciting news that he had just gotten a new car. Hooray! And he started describing it. When he finished, I asked why he had picked that car.

“Well, I did some research and talked to people and thought this was a good choice for what I need.”

UM NO FATHER ‘TWAS I THAT PLANTED THAT IDEA because he literally bought the exact car I described. Even in the color that I liked.

Naturally, I spent the next several years trying to convince him to sell me the car. I was not discouraged by failure, because my father also taught me tenacity. See, this whole thing is really his own fault.

Things kinda reached a head this past year when my beloved Jeep started needing more and more attention that I was pretty unwilling to invest in. I knew the inspection would be up in January (and that it would fail), and that I would need to get a new ride by mid-February.

Lo and behold, my parents decided that their car was actually a little too big for their needs, and they were going to be getting a different model.

We negotiated a price, we picked a day, and Nicholas took a one-way flight up to RI to drive it down to VA the same day. Yes, he does win Husband of the Year. And so we have a new big red Subaru.

That same day, the mechanic who saw the Jeep for the inspection (and failed it, obviously) made an offer. I accepted immediately and signed over the title. And yes, there were tears as I let go of my car of 10 years.

So while I spent 4 days and roughly 8 hours at the DMV trying to get all the paperwork sorted last week, it’s at least because I’m now driving a car with solid brakes and windshield wipers that work. I’m in love and really enjoying the Bluetooth connection to talk to my family and listen to podcasts.

But for all its quirks and constant need for repairs, that little Jeep carried me through everything. From the day he arrived in the driveway for my 17th birthday, he carried me to high school, college, boyfriends, breakups, road trips, moving to VA, 6 apartments down here, interviews, my first job, my second job, buying a horse, countless lessons, so many amazing shows, my first date with my now-husband in a blizzard, his proposal, our mini-honeymoon for my 27th birthday. As silly as it may seem, that car was a constant fixture in so many important moments of my life and occupies a large space in my memories. I’ve made countless phone calls to family members from that car, I’ve laughed with friends on our way to adventures, I’ve cried on my way home from bad days, I’ve napped in the backseat, I’ve sang along to the radio as loud as I could,

Cheers to Benjamin, the little red Jeep that helped me grow up. And cheers to the new big red car that will see me through the next exciting chapters!

Blogiversary Math

It’s hard for me to believe, but my fourth blogiversary is already here! It’s so crazy that I’ve been writing about my adventures for so long, and that so many of you have joined the journey. Many of you have even been here since Day 1, and I’m amazed and grateful that you’ve stuck around. You’ve all been an incredible source of support, advice, hilarity, and general awesomeness over the years.

To celebrate, I did what I do best- I analyzed some numbers. Enjoy a few charts of this blog!

I thought this one was interesting! Visitors and views have both increased steadily over time even though the number of posts per year has declined. My hypothesis is that the content has gotten more relevant- while I did enjoy my lesson recaps, those didn’t encourage as much interaction as some of my more recent posts.

Based on the average % change in visitors and views (excluding the jump from 2015 to 2016, which was abnormally high), I can aim for roughly 37k views and 13k visitors in 2019. I mean, as long as I can maintain some decent quality of content, no pressure.

This one isn’t too surprising for me. Basically the number of comments I get on each post is fairly steady, but the number of comments per visitor and per view has gone down. I interpret this to mean that there are a fewer number of people commenting, but those people that do are more active. Like I said- not surprising. I don’t have the largest following, but those of you who stick around are a frickin’ fantastic group that I get to chat with a ton.

These are all the countries I’ve been able to reach over the last few years! My readers are predominantly in North America (consistently about 93% of my traffic), with roughly 4-5% of you in Europe, and the rest of you coming from all over the rest of the globe. Hi everyone!!

Some of the links you all have clicked on most often from here:

My trainer/barn’s website
Instagram
The Printable Pony
The 900 Dollar Facebook Pony
In Omnia Paratus
Amateur At Large
Guinness on Tap

And some of the ways you have found me:

Fraidy Cat Eventing (aka everyone’s favorite blogroll)
A Enter Spooking
The 900 Dollar Facebook Pony (apparently the link-love is reciprocal)
Instagram (weird how linking between my accounts actually works, right?)

Some of my most popular posts by views:

2015: How to Groom Your Gray Horse
2016: Setting the Record Straight (which I didn’t even write you guys, come on)
2017: How to be a Better Horse-Show-Boyfriend (seriously guys?! After all I do for you, you like him more than me?! Uncool)
2018: What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know (Finally. Thank you.)

And some of my most popular posts by comments:

2015: First Time XC Schooling
2016: The Maybe-Not Forever Home
2017: HITS Culpeper: Commonwealth National 2017
2018: Show Recap: WEC 9

And not to get sappy at you, but the fact that these are the ones you’ve commented on the most makes me so happy. Most of these were really big adventures and you guys were so awesome and encouraging about them.

A lot has changed in the past four years: I’ve moved (three times), gotten married, changed my name, changed jobs, bought The Best Horse(TM), traveled all over for shows, tried new adventures with the Frankenbean, and have learned more than I could’ve imagined. This blog and the community I’ve found with all of you has been a wonderful constant, and I’m so excited to keep sharing the adventures with you!

From 2015…

…to 2019 and on. Cheers to 4 fantastic years! PC- Liz Stout Photography