The countdown begins!

It's officially time to start counting down. It's only 11 days until my twentieth birthday (goodbye teenage years!) and 14 days until the big move to California. I've been putting off packing mainly because I'm not packing for a trip, I'm packing to move and that means most of the stuff I'd pack is stuff that I'm actually using day-to-day. I am going to go through all of my clothes though and actually get rid of stuff that I won't be keeping at all.
Dr. Jackie, at work, gave me some awesome books that I'm really excited about. She gave me one on pathology, one radiology book that I love flipping through at work, a couple clinical nutrition books, and then the small animal nerd book. I'm going to miss working with Dr. Jackie quite a bit. My boss said she'd keep me on as seasonally employed, but she mentioned this in passing, so I'll have to see if she was serious about that. It'd be really nice to come back and pick up hours over breaks.
As promised, here are videos of the regional championships in Atlanta! Yeah, they all start the same way, but I promise they're different videos!

First team qualifier
First individual qualifier, second team round
Final team event, and victory gallop!

The victory gallop is definitely one of my favourite parts! The victory gallop in New York, after M&S Finals was too much fun. I showed in the adults, and so a lot of them didn't want pictures afterwards, in front of the banner and with the president of the organization so I very sheepishly approached him, asking for a picture. I wasn't missing out on that opportunity! And then mum, Peggy, and I stood in front of it as well and made Lauren take pictures.
I'm taking off to Venice on Sunday for three days, then coming home for a couple, and then leaving again from the 25-28 (my birthday!). It'll be Bruno's first time in Venice, so hopefully he behaves. Nick loves Venice, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Also, I have three followers now, so hi followers! I'm at 299 page views right now, so hopefully I break that soon!

End of week 1!

Week 1 ended pretty well! The horses were great. Nick ended up champion in his adult jumper division, and Bruno even managed to get a fourth in his hunter classic! Bruno is definitely not a hunter so I was pleasantly surprised by that. I think switching his bit made him a lot happier. We showed in the schoolings today and he was really excited but he was also willing to work and to listen which was nice.

Bruno hacking in the big field

Nick ended up showing in the Grand Prix ring the last couple days of the horse show, which was pretty fun! The Grand Prix ring at this show is actually the ring that was used for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics so it's amazing to be able to show in there. Our first class in there was so fun and so crazy. We had to canter up and over a hill, jump a vertical and then turn left and canter up this bank right next to the bleachers (I could have leaned out and touched them!), jump a one stride, and then turn left and come down the hill to jump another vertical before continuing to the rest of the course. I was really worried, thinking Nick would spook or balk or something, but he didn't care at all. So proud of him!

Nick over the liverpool 

Pretty!

We went to Six Flags on our day off, on Monday. I'm not really a roller coaster person but it was still fun! I ended up going on a log ride and then one of those water rides where you sit in this round raft thing with about eight people. I guess it's like a tame copy of whitewater rafting (which I definitely want to try one day!). I bought tons of candy too, that I'm currently munching on.

Hanging out with Bugs

The train track was pretty!

Pretty archways 

Tim bought a Green Lantern cape

Trying on hats

The hat I got for Demie!

We saw Man of Steel after Six Flags too, which was really good! I love all the new superhero movies coming out. I still really want to see the new Iron Man too, but I think it's out of theatres by now. I want to see Epic and World War Z too. We went to see the Purge yesterday, which was really good too!

Ended up getting mani/pedis too. Only my second ever!

Nick had to jog for his regional adult jumper thing today, which was interesting to say the least. I had to wear breeches, tall boots, and an orange polo shirt. Nick had to be in a normal hunter bridle with a plain snaffle and a leather lead rope. No boots, nothing covering him. He jogged great, I think he just thought the whole thing was kind of dumb but kind of fun. We got a bunch of free stuff from our sponsor, Cavalor. By a ton, I mean a TON. I got a shirt, a regional championship hat, a USHJA hat, a couple interesting bags of feed from Cavalor, and a saddle pad that I have to show in for the team event. Plus I got some free pamphlets and stuff like that too. Oh! And a regional championship bag. 

Waiting to go in to jog 

I'm a jogging pro by now

The next couple days should be fun, I just hope my team doesn't get bumped on day one!

Georgia

So, I'm in Georgia! It was about a seven hour drive during which I slept and did a lot of cross stitch. I think I'm going to finish my galah pattern while I'm here. 

The horses have been great. Nick has been his normal self. Bruno was really calm to hack on the first day and pretty good yesterday. He marched around both hunter rings but got a little upset and threw in a buck and a squeal when one of the maintenance ladies was messing with the trash bags. Can't really blame him! 

A very calm, very tired Bruno

It's really pretty here. These are probably the prettiest, most well-maintained show grounds that I've been to. It's really cute too, they have horse paths everywhere so you don't have to walk on the pavement. Even when you'd have to cross it, they have mats down for you! 

Bruno and I exploring the show grounds

The view from our barn

I just can't believe how green everything is! I'm used to Clarcona, Ocala, and Jacksonville where you have to fight for shade and the "green" grass isn't all that green. It's a really big show grounds too and I've already gotten lost a couple of times. 

The hotel is pretty nice. We discovered that the shower head won't change from the massage function so we asked if they could change it for us. Came back to this note in our room:

So, we thought that was pretty nice! I'd have to say I'm impressed.