Introduction

Smalltalk is awkward...

Well, hello there. Welcome to the inner workings of my mind *insert maniacal laughter here*

Scared yet? You probably should be. If not, buckle up, it'll be a ride!

My dear friend,  DressageBarbie, inspired me with her blog and shenanigans. So I decided to follow in her footsteps. I'm giving it the old college try.

The excuse I used to begin ye-olde-blog here is to chronicle the journey I am about to embark on with my baby horse, getting her broke to ride. But there will be plenty of other stuff mixed in. My brain is spinning in a million different directions at any given time, so getting me to focus on one subject is difficult. SQUIRREL!

A little on me:
-I was born and raised in a medium sized city in Minnesota. I say charming things like 'uff da' and 'oh fer cute' and 'I'll just sneak by ya'. My Os sometimes have the long sound characteristic of the stereotyped accent displayed in the movie "Fargo". But no, I don't talk like that all the time. I don't think so anyway.
-I love theater. Musical theater mostly.  But I love any excuse to get dressed up and go out for a night at the theatah.
-I wear my heart on my sleeve
-I love all animals, but horses have my heart. I am owned by three of them. They are my Nerd Herd. More on them later, I think each of them warrant their own post.
-I'm a sports nut. I grew up in the State Of Hockey and am an avid hockey fan. As well as football, baseball and some college basketball (please do not ask me to watch the NBA, I will likely fall asleep) I am fiercely loyal to my teams. You'll very likely hear about them when things of note happen.
-I went to a small liberal arts college in Missouri called William Woods University. It will occasionally be referenced (fondly) as Camp Billy Twiggs. I majored in Equestrian Science. You have no idea how thrilled I was when I found out I could skip the veterinary field altogether (I don't think I could remain stoic when having to euthanize an animal...) and major in horses. I spent 4 of the best years of my life completely immersed in the riding, training, teaching and business aspects of the Equestrian Industry. I also joined a sorority (ohmygod, like, totally!) and found out that most of the stereotypes are not true. Except the naked pillow fights, we did that. All the time. Would I lie? ;)
- I spent the next portion of my life working as a show groom at some amazing, national caliber Arabian Horse show barns that allowed me to travel to shows in many states and live in different places (Baton Rouge, LA; South Carolina; Scottsdale, AZ). I worked my way up from lowly groom up to Breeding Manager of an internationally reputable Arabian breeding farm in Illinois where I spent the better part of a decade loving, breeding and raising the next generations of incredible horses. It was an incredible experience and my employer's family adopted me as one of their own.
-I moved back to my hometown about 2.5 years ago as I was homesick beyond belief. With the exception of my genius sister (I don't lie, she's racking up higher education degrees and works in the field of biomedical engineering. I don't even pretend to begin to understand what she does on a daily basis but I am stupid proud of her). my entire family still lives here. I got tired of missing birthday celebrations and family functions. I thought I had found the perfect solution, Managing an Arabian farm, in my hometown?! I tearfully said goodbye to my life in Illinois and set off on a new journey. Sadly... that next chapter was a very short one. The smoke and mirrors cleared out quick and within 6 months I was burned out. Promises from the employers to get me there were never followed through on. I was disheartened, disrespected, overworked and got fed up with it very quickly and left. I spent a month unemployed (Contrary to popular belief, being unemployed is not fun. After the first like 5 days I was over sleeping in, sitting around and I was BORED). I applied for many jobs. Interviewed for a few, and I finally accepted a job at my current place of employment, a telecommunications company that provides cable/internet/phone/home security to several Midwestern states. It was originally just a 'this sounds fun until something better comes along' job, but here I am coming up on my 2 year Anniversary with no plans to leave. It's a fabulous place to work and I have some pretty amazing coworkers. It's a complete 180 going from work in the barn to work at a desk. It's fun to use my story when mentoring new hires. Hey, if I can do it, anyone can!
-I'm a homeowner as of 2016. I wasn't intending to buy when I did, but when the rent of an apt that accepts 2 cats and a dog over 50 lbs (you'll meet them later as well) was essentially a mortgage payment (plus a pet rent, what the hell is the deal with that?! What happened to a good old deposit and done?), it seemed like a no-brainer to start building some equity instead of just throwing my money at a landlord and having nothing to show for it beyond an apartment that isn't mine. You may be privy to some of my remodeling projects. See? This blog is a jack of all trades! 😜

That's me, the short story. Hopefully I didn't scare you off... yet.