I Love Winter

Seriously, I do.

I love sitting by the fire, since I'm super lucky and we heat our house mostly with a wood stove.
I love hot chocolate
I love fuzzy ponies.
I love snow.
I love snuggling in warm blankets and being cozy
I love fashionable sweaters and coats. And boots!
I even love the nippy air and the pretty icicles.

But what I don't like is the mud....
...the biting wind.
...the miserable half soggy, half frozen ground.
...the numb fingers.

One of my goals for January was to work on some liberty stuff with Lady. Well... due to the rain and the mud, I don't have a proper place to work with her on that. Yeah, it just hasn't happened like I wanted it to.
Also because of the rain (freezing rain at times, I might add) I haven't ridden as much. I prefer not to ride in the cold when its muddy because Lady tends to get a bit frisky when I get her out and we usually end up pulling a muscle or slipping around or something like that.
If the ground could just dry up, I would be somewhat happier....

Totally boring, complaining post - but at least now you know my opinions on winter.

Seriously.... I don't know how all of you that live north of Texas manage it.

Brrrrr..... <3

Travel Planning Monday II - Where to Go and Transportation

Part I - Making Decisions

Since I was 2 years old (which hardly counts) I have never been on a plane. Not a little one, not a big one, not anything. Is it very strange then that I'm more than a nervous about flying all the way to Europe? I hope not.

We bought airline tickets back in early December, once we had nailed down the correct dates. We have 2 stops on the flight into Germany, and 1 stop on the flight back to Texas. Part of me is pretty happy about that because I get to get off the terrifying planes for a few hours in between and don't have to be cooped up for a straight flight. The other part of me is a little anxious about dealing with airports, losing baggage, missing a flight, and that kind of thing.  What do you prefer? My friend is a little more excited about flying than I am!  ;)

Palace in Karlsruhe, where we're headed.

Our second question regarding transportation was about getting around once we're actually in Europe. There are the options of renting a car, getting a taxi, using the bus or taking the train! Yipes. 

For the most part when we're in a town or city, I think we'll be doing a lot of walking. We really want to see the country and the culture instead of flying by all the little things. For one week of the trip, we'll be travelling with my aunt and uncle and the plan is to rent a car since we'll be stopping at all sorts of places along the way.  

For the remainder of the time, when we're travelling more on our own, we've purchased a Eurail 4-country train pass that is valid for 10 travel days within 2 months. I had to figure out how exactly a travel day worked and it is really cool... Basically, one travel day lasts from midnight to midnight on whatever day. Once we get on a train on a certain day we can ride as many trains as we want until midnight of that day, and that counts for only one of our travel days. Even better is if we need to make a longer trip - we can take a night train that leaves after 7pm and arrives after 4am. That train ride doesn't take 2 travel days, it only counts into the day we arrive. I'm definitely using that to our advantage!

The Black Forest - in south Germany

Also on our decision-making list was the question of where can we all go?  Obviously, we want to go everywhere, and depressingly, we can't go everywhere. So we had to decide what was important and what we could afford and what was not too far away. Harder than it sounds.  :(

We finally settled on "only" visiting 4 countries.

Germany (obviously). We plan to take day trips out and about so that we can see the countryside and small towns and the like. Maybe even snow! We also have some various stops on our way to Austria.

France, because its right across the border from my aunt and uncle's town. We are going to be in Paris for up to 4 days and the three main things to see are the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Notre Dame. You can't imagine how strangely excited I am to see the organ in the Notre Dame!

Austria, because I cannot refuse the world of music!  We'll be spending several days in Vienna and visiting the Spanish Riding School, and some historical musical places (Mozart lived there....).

And.... Italy, where we'll be spending at least a week. Venice for an afternoon, Rome for 2-3 days, Florence for a day, and a smaller town for about 2-3 days as well.  

I'm still working out a more exact itinerary, but that's what we have so far, and its quite exciting! 

What would be the place you would most want to go to in Europe, and why?

WW: January Conformation Pictures

Seriously, mom?

Fat, fuzzy pony. Wow.

How to Enjoy a New (to Me) Saddle

Step One:  Admire it from afar (aka across the internet)

Step Two:  Get a little closer by putting it on your horse.

Step Three:  Look it in the face and smile :)

Step Four:  Check it out from all angles.

Step Five:  Does the color match?

Step Six:  Add accessories.

Step Seven:  Pose and look fancy!

Step Eight:  Look ahead into the exciting future!

Travel Planning Basics: Making Decisions

I have mentioned my trip to Europe several times now, but I've never elaborated on it.  While planning this year's blog posts I decided it would be a good idea to put up a series of posts about travelling, since its not something I normally do.
For the longest time (more than a few years) my best friend and I have been wanting to go to Europe. We wanted to go in the fall and then in the spring and it kept getting bumped further ahead.

I can't remember all the details but we finally decided on this spring. Dates got tossed around and we finally decided on this spring. Dates got tossed around and financial questions and we eventually settled to go for 6 weeks in February/March of this year.

I'm not sure that its necessary to explain why we want to go to Europe... with all the history and countryside and artwork. We won't get to see nearly everything we want to see, but we have quite the list!

We will be making our base out of south Germany, where my aunt and uncle live. From there we will be spending a few days in Paris, France, close to a week in the Vienna area, and almost a week and a half in Italy. In between those times we'll be exploring the area around my aunt's town.

We are mostly looking at things related to art, music, and horses. We'll be seeing some of the normal touristy spots, but since its not tourist season we are hoping for more of the cultural experience.

Have you visited Europe, or are you reading from Europe?!  How did you go about planning? What was/is your favorite highlight?

December Analysis/January Goals - Looking Forward!

This is the last of these posts for a while - I promise.

December Personal Goals

• Stay sane through finals week and the rest of the Christmas show.
• Get accepted into university.  Didn't finish my paperwork.
• Complete 2014 goals as well as possible. 
• Have an awesome Christmas holiday.
• Smile and relax.  Mostly... I did pretty good.

December Equestrian Goals

• Complete 2014 goals as well as possible.
• Spend at least 30 minutes with the horses every day. I forgot about this one.
• During Christmas break, take a whole day to go trail riding.
• Get Tempest through basic groundwork again.  Not quite.
• Really work my lower leg and get it more stable.  Lots better!

January Equestrian Goals

• Get into the habit of keeping records of all my rides.
• Work with Lady at liberty on good balanced circles and transitions.
• Get Lady more sensitive to leg aids.
• Keep up the canter work and build strength in both of us.

January Personal/Blog Goals

• Complete all the paperwork and applications for TTU.
• Write 10 pages of notes about plot, twists, characters, setting and other ideas for my second novel.
• Get all the arrangements made for leaving for Europe.
• Get an editorial calendar set up for the rest of the year for both blogs.

Hopefully this is a great start to a great year! :)

2015 Resolutions - Happy New Year!

1. Go to Europe for six weeks in February/March and have a safe, enjoyable trip. Come back with lots of great memories and experiences and ride at least one horse during that time.
2. Write my second novel by finishing all the character development, plot structure and background work before actually writing. Possibly use Nanowrimo to complete the writing part. Have a completed first draft before Christmas 2015.
3. Go back to school in Fall 2015, at TTU if all works out, and move out on my own. Move Lady to a barn nearby, find a decent job,a nd get settled into a new life.
4. Ride Lady 120 times. Keep track of this by recording every ride, its length, type of work, and good/bad thoughts. Add a page to this blog to keep this record.
5. Take the opportunity to ride horses of varied disciplines, ages, and levels with the goal of riding 12 different horses for at least 30 minutes each throughout the course of 2015.
6. Take at least 10 riding lessons, preferably spread out throughout the year. Try to have at least several that are discipline-specific.
7. Improve my lifestyle to be healthier by having a full food allergy/intolerance test done, exercising 4x per week, taking daily supplements again, and creating better sleep habits.
8. Become more balanced, organized, and stress-free by spending more time outdoors, keeping a daily journal, and utilizing Tech-Free Sundays. Say no more often.
9. Keep up with and improve on both my blogs. For this blog: post 5x weekly, host at least 3 guest interviews, and clean up categories and tags. For Katharine Marie: post 3x monthly, become more active on Facebook and Twitter, and start monetizing.
10. Improve my riding ability so that I can ask for transitions properly, ride the canter and gallop, jump up to 2' with decent EQ, and see/feel/change diagonals well.
11. Continue to work with Lady, especially in fitness so that she can gallop for 3 minutes/canter for 7 minutes. Work also in balance so that she can work in a 50/50 frame (not on the forehand) and not throw her shoulders in.
12. Work Lady through her trailer issues and prepare/go to an event (trail ride, parade, clinic, show) in the summer/fall.
    

I know that I've put down quite a bit of things to work on in one year and some of them are rather large things. I have already bought plane tickets/train passes for the trip to Europe, now I just have to enjoy myself.  The other big one is making the move across Texas to go to university - and it is one of the most important ones to me. The others are all in line with continuing the progress Lady and I, and me personally, have been making.

Happy New Year!  All the best to you in 2015!!