Washington and Horse Show....along with Couch to 5k and Pampered Chef!

So, the horse show has finally come and gone...and after a complete and total meltdown during our lesson on Friday, Morgan and I pulled it together (with the help of our trainer) and managed to make it through the show on Saturday with minor adjustment.  Instead of doing Training Level 1 and 3, we backed off to Intro B and Training 1, seeing as how it was our first show.  We learned a lot, have a lot of great tips to work on, and look forward to our next show (whenever it is), as well as future lessons with our new trainer, who we love.

To get a few other bits of news out of the way, I'm trying to do the Couch to 5k program.  For those not familiar, it takes a couch potato and makes them ready to run a 5k in 9 weeks.  Now, I'm not a total couch potato, but I've also NEVER been a runner, so it's a bit of a challenge for me.  Tomorrow will be the last day of week 1 which involves 60 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of fast walk x 8.

AND, I've begun selling Pampered Chef.  So, once I reach my first selling goal, I'll be able to set up a website, which everyone will be able to order through, no matter what area of the country you are in.  Look forward to more updates on that later.  If you're interested in ordering/hosting a show/becoming a consultant, let me know!

As for Washington, had a great time wandering around.  Spent a couple of days visiting my dad, we went to the Puyallup Fair, played a lot of Cribbage, went for some walks, then rented a car and headed down the ocean.  I love the WA/OR coast.  It's so relaxing.  Spent a day in Portland, went to the zoo, then headed back up towards Seattle via Mt Rainier.  It was cloudy and rainy that day, so couldn't see the mountain itself, but the waterfalls were gorgeous, and I found a rainbow that ended in a lake.  It was a little too cold to take a dive to find the pot of gold, so headed back to Seattle before heading home.  It was a nice little reprieve from the daily grind, and took the edge off my wanderlust for the moment.  The plan is to head to New Orleans in January.  Hopefully with a few friends.  If anyone wants to join me for that trip, let me know and I'll keep you in the planning loop.

April 29th - Toronto Zoo

Spent the day at the Toronto Zoo. It is supposed to be one of the best zoos in Canada. I must say I wasn’t impressed, though it could just be because over ½ the exhibits were not out/were being worked on. The price was high ($30 between parking and entrance), and the maps of the zoo (both paper and posted), were horrible. Having said that, the exhibits themselves were large and spacious, with very few not having any place to get a good picture from. One of my pet peeves at zoos is the kind of fences that it’s very difficult to get a picture through.

I love Toronto’s “interstate” system. They have expressways and collectors. Expressways are like freeways, and every once in a while it intersects with the collector, which is where all the exits are, and does exactly what it’s name says, it “collects” the cars trying to get on and off the freeway, basically eliminating the blockage that causes on American interstates. I also noticed that once I got out of Niagara Falls, there were NO US license plates, which I thought was kind of sad.