seeing horses in a new light

those of you who know my sister lindsay and i, know that perhaps our biggest difference is her love of horses and my desire to keep my distance from the animals. lindsay has been riding for for 15 years and has owned willie for about 4, and the closest i come to touching him is about like this...

i think he is scared of me too. growing up, every time lindsay got to choose what to do for a birthday or special occasion, we could all bank on going to see horses in some form...arabian nights, birthday party at a stable, donkey rides, and other things and places that really stink. i cringed on the inside, and maybe sometimes on the outside, plugged my nose, and went along for the ride.

well, this month cavalia came to atlanta. it's directed by the same guy who helped get cirque du soleil going, and incorporates horses with all of the other crazy acrobatics that make the show famous. since i did dream of being an acrobat at one point in my life, and since lindsay wouldn't miss any local event that involves her equine friends, mom and dad took us all to see the show at the big top last night.

it started out a little slow and i (and i'm pretty sure andy and dad) were feeling a little skeptical, but before long, acrobats were flipping on the backs of cantering mustangs, flying down from the ceiling and landing in the saddle, and amazingly bouncing around the ring while artfully missing the piles of poop that were being produced by the stars of the show. i didn't think it was possible, but for the first time in my life i have decided that horses are really quite pretty and brilliant. it's impossible to explain how talented some of these trainers, acrobats and horses were but here are a few photos so you can get an idea...

this was my favorite part, but since we couldn't take photos, this is the best i could find.

this girl, sylvia zerbini, somehow got 8 horses to all walk in formations together like the rockettes, using her pointer finger and horse language. she was amazing.

after seeing the show, i feel confident that we can have a family act traveling the world...lindsay can do the horse training and i'll work on my acrobatics. andy can sing, dad can set up our tent and mom can sell water during intermission and make trips to publix to get apples for the horses. i think it will be a great success.

welcome to the 21st century

a few months ago we made enough money at our garage sale to purchase a new television. the one we have in our house is about the size of a refrigerator, and somehow the screen is only 19 inches. we were really excited about our new piece of technology, watched our entire dvd library (which consists of the chronicles of narnia, zoolander, juno, fever pitch and how to lose a guy in ten days) in it's entirety at least two times, and got completely caught up on all five seasons of the office. after much debate and many nights at the harmon's watching lost, we gave in a got cable this weekend.

i think the final decision was made on wednesday night when we were watching the magic game via espn.com's gamecast. this is not actual video footage of the game, it's x's and o's on a court that shoot little bubbles out every now and then to tell you about a rebound, foul, or timeout. it was working really well for us, until we realized that it was about as reliable as listening for the cheers and boos coming from the bar down the street to get a real time idea of what was going on. so on wednesday night andy made friends with the man on the other side of the phone at direct tv, and scored not only an awesome deal on cable, but also 2 free $100 visa gift cards!

so far, we have thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of cable. yesterday i learned how to make an entirely deep fried thanksgiving dinner, thanks to paula deen, and we also refreshed our knowledge of wwii events with a documentary on the history channel. i thought we were missing out on much greater things. maybe there will be better stuff on during the week. until next time, if you have any questions regarding the american's sneak attack on the japanese military at guadalcanal on august 7, 1942, you can feel free to give me a call.

happy tuesday

today is a good day for a few reasons.

• starbucks released their christmas drinks and red cups. when i finish writing this, i am walking to starbucks to have a white peppermint mocha with caroline on the phone. despite the fact that she lives in north carolina, we will always drink our first seasonal beverage at the same time.
• we had an ultrasound and got to see janie at a much fatter stage than the last time we saw her. in fact, seeing her size (3 pounds 12 ounces, which is far ahead of where she should be at this point) gave me hope that she may have a chance at surpassing a height of five feet.
• the weather is cool, which means for the first time in quite a while, i am not sweating.
• a lady told me i looked nice, which really beats the rest of the comments i've received over the past few weeks. some of them include "you're enormous!", "that's gonna be one HUGE baby!", "has your doctor mentioned anything about you gaining too much weight?" and many, many more.

this weekend we traveled up to atlanta where the summit christmas album was mastered. it is a masterpiece indeed, and i can't wait for everyone to hear it. all of the folks that contributed to it (including the hand clappers) are so super talented! luckily, we returned home in time for halloween with some good friends. here are some photos to document the evening.

juno and paulie bleeker...we went into publix dressed like this, and the helpful store clerk told me i should be sure not to drink any alcohol wherever i was going, then laughed and said, "i'm just kidding...i know it's just a costume". apparently my stomach looks fake. we fooled him, alright.

this is simon simon, explaining all of his eagle scout milestones. he earned badges for saving lives, tying knots, catching fish with his bare hands, and wearing worlds greatest knee highs, all before his eighteenth birthday.

you're probably thinking, 'this costume wins the contest hands down. she even brought her own horse to the party!' turns out, it isn't a costume at all. my little sister lindsay rides on SCAD's equestrian team and had a few shows this weekend. of course she came in first in all of the events she rode in, which has led me to ponder if it's too late for me to excel in some form of an athletic event. lindsay informed me that the "ribbons" i won during my days on the swim team were merely honorable mentions given to make the losers feel like winners. with that heartbreaking news, i have decided that once janie arrives i am going to challenge myself to rightfully earn a real award by training for (and completing) a half marathon. anyone with me?