The good, the bad and the ugly!

Hi readers!
I know I have been silent for quite a while, but I'm back to blogging here now (more on that later).  Lots has happened so I have decided to divide it up into 3 sections:  the good, the bad and the ugly. 

The Good

• You may or may not know of the infamous Eventing Nation blog.  Us eventers swear by it for all of the most up to date information, gossip, and insanity in our world.  They have a blogger contest each year, and this year, I decided to enter.  I wrote a little silly entry and sent it on to EN, not expecting to hear anything back from them.  Little did I know that they would like it and I became one out of eight finalists!!  Our next assignment was to write on a given topic, and unfortunately I didn't make the final finalists.  But I was thrilled to just be a part of the finalists!!  Thank you to all my friends and family who voted for me, I really appreciate every one's help.  And especially thanks to my friend, Bryan, who helped to inspire the entry topic, and Erica, for helping with editing.  You guys rock!
• I entered a SHOW!!  My first show in 2012 and since the broken arm.  YAY!!  It's a little tiny schooling combined test this Sunday, and we are only doing the ground poles division.  Hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?  Well...hold that thought until The Bad. 
• I got a promotion!!  YAY again!!  Starting in August, I will be a Research Nutritionist for Buckeye.  Basically, I will get to do more science and work with the R & D Team.  But don't worry, I will still be doing sales as well and won't be moving to Ohio.  I'm excited about this new opportunity and being able to work with my good friend, Amber, more closely.

The Bad

• I know that several of you have been watching all the coverage on who will make our Olympic Equestrian Team.  I was especially intrigued this year because Buckeye sponsors Allison Springer, and she made the short list.  After an eventful trip to England, she competed at Barbury, the final test for the Olympic team hopefuls.  She did great, ended up 12th and 2nd highest American horse and rider combination.  Unfortunately, she was not chosen for the team, and will stay in England to serve as an alternate.  My heart broke for her because I know how hard she worked to get a chance to be on the team, and it seemed like the right time for her to be considered.  Regardless, I wish the team the best of luck.  The Olympics are only a week away and I really thing the Canadian team looks supreme...and the British team with William Fox Pit of course is sure to be at the top (plus he has home field advantage :)

William F-P:  It can't hurt to have legs that long!

Allison & Arthur at Rolex this year

• My horse.  He has a tendency to get himself in a lot of trouble.  Lately he has been coming in to the barn with several bite marks, and I am certain that they are instigated by him.  Today, he came in with several more of the usual and even some scrapes on his face caused by who knows what.  On top of that, he is very sore on his right side around the loin area.  The left side is fine, just that right side.  So....the aforementioned show plans may be on hold until Mr. I-need-to-wear-body-armor-24/7 decides to stop messing around in the pasture. 

The Ugly

• Poison Ivy!!!!  Yes, apparently I have it around my house.  I first noticed my itchy-ness a couple days after pulling weeds in my yard.  Apparently I was pulling poison ivy, and I'm lucky it was only on a few selected areas of my body.  I had another mild case last week that I think was related to my cat hiding in the weeds pretending to be a "wild jungle cat".  That was the final straw for me.  It was time to bring out the heavy artillery:  WEED SPRAY!! 

I think that about covers everything.  Now that my big national blogging dreams have been squashed, I will be sure to come back to reality and just keep doing my little blog here.  Until then, please send Smokey some good "pasture" vibes to keep him out of trouble!!  Either that or I'm starting a bubble wrap fund.