Life Last Week 2015-4

I'm surprised that I didn't sleep until noon today after last weekend!  The whole week was pretty hectic.

Monday was another get-ready-for-Craft-Club day.  I host two Craft Clubs, the second Tuesday of the month and the third Tuesday, for two different groups.  The third Tuesday group is my favorite as some of the Ladies of Leisure are in this group and we always have a good time.  There were four of us on the list but we ended up being only three which was fine because then we could all work at the same table.  We had coffee, projects to work on, and lots of conversation.

On Wedneday, it was Mustang Spouse lunch day.  Our Mustang Spouses group is for spouses whose husbands were once enlisted and are now officers.  It's a bit of a unique transition so that's why we have a group of our own.  We use the term Mustang rather broadly since it has a rather specific definition but for our purposes, once enlisted and now an officer is all we care about.  How the servicemember made the transition is not the criteria for being a member of our group.  We are nationwide, but we meet regionally for lunch or other gatherings.  Again, we were supposed to be four but one cancelled so we were three (plus a little who is absolutely adorable and quite well-behaved).  We met at a local eatery (we're working our way through the various towns here on the peninsula) and had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch.

Thursday was a prep day for my weekend away.  A double-header horse show weekend in Oregon with Oregon State University hosting the Saturday show and the University of Oregon hosting the Sunday show.  MudLynn was going to stay at the Doggie Hilton so I prepared all her food for the weekend, packed my bags, and headed out on Friday morning to drop her off and hit the road.  I had Peter Mayle's Year in Provence for my listening pleasure and just over three hours later, I was in Beaverton, Oregon.  I checked into my hotel, drove around the corner to Whole Foods to pick up a salad for dinner, and went back to the hotel to wait for Sophia to arrive.  I packed my laptop and spent the evening organizing my photos, a huge task considering I just downloaded all the pictures from our East Coast to West Coast trek and hadn't labeled any of them.  Sophia arrived and we went to bed as we had to be up early in the morning.

Up at 5:30am on Saturday and out the door by 6:30am.  We had to be at the venue by 7:30am but we decided to pick up doughnuts at Krispy Kreme and then stop at Starbucks so we allowed plenty of time.  The venue was very nice with an indoor heated viewing room and the rest of the team soon arrived and things got underway.  This was Sophia's first show in her new class; she earned enough points at the last show to move up one level so I was a bit nervous about the new, stiffer competition.  She had a good ride and placed third in her class and came away with a few pointers from her teammates on things she could do differently.  Show over, we headed to Barnes & Noble/Starbucks so Sophia could do some homework and then stopped at Ulta for her to get her brows waxed while I whizzed through the store and hid some purchases in the car.  I'm still working on her February Care Package.  We stopped at Whole Foods for some dinner to take back to the hotel and made it an early evening.  Sophia was asleep by 8:15pm but I stayed up a little later which was a good thing as one of her teammates texted to say they needed to be at the venue an hour earlier the next morning.

So, up at 4:30am on Sunday and out the door to stop at Starbucks and be at the venue for 6:30am.  Another great show day made even greater by Sophia's first place finish.  I was a wreck - there were two other riders in her class whose numbers started with a 3 including one whose number was 382 and Sophia is number 385.  As the placings were announced, she wasn't sixth, fifth place started with a 3 but it was 304, she wasn't fourth, she wasn't third (by this time I was thinking "Is she in the top two?"), second was announced 3-8-2, and then I was really a mess (could she, could she really be in first place, or I didn't dare to think that maybe she didn't place at all!), and then there it was, first place, number 3-8-5!  Yippee, a blue ribbon, one proud momma with tears in her eyes.  Sophia is now only four points away from going to the Regional competition with one more show to go this coming weekend.

The show wrapped up at noon and I was on the road to get home in time to pick up MudLynn.  We came home, had dinner and a quick walk, and then I hit the computer to go through the Grow Your Blog posts to meet some new blogging friends.  I have four new followers for a total of seven - thank you, thank you, I'm looking forward to getting to know you.  I took a break to watch Downton Abbey and then read some more blogs.  I'm slowly working my way through the list, following blogs that have a similar lifestyle theme as mine and admiring the many, many crafty bloggers whose works are amazing.  Finally it was time for bed (MudLynn had been snoring consistently since about 7pm!) to get some rest before I do it all again next weekend.