Wendy came with me to the Jerz to meet Lee and Gina. We were cooked a meal of chicken, and chicken, (that's no typo - my dad made a chicken dish and then my mom requested that he make another chicken dish that she'd wanted to try, so we had chicken and chicken) and then Wendy and my dad played through his giant record collection that's chock full of classic rock gems. I knew that'd do the trick. Next day the plan was to meet Michelle for a horseback riding lesson at her barn, but first Wendy and I went to brunch.
She asked me to mix her coffee for her and snapped me pensively testing it out.
On our walk through town back to the car, we passed the little square that was covered in snow and looked serene and gorgeous, and sitting on the outskirts of it is this bizarre little bronze statue of a boy with an ice cream cone and a dog. Wendy thought it was hilarious.
Wendy licked the boy, the ice cream cone, and then cooed at the dog. And then almost busted her ass on the ice. That was my favorite part. Oh! Wait, no, my favorite part was at brunch when the waiter brought little spheres of butter the size of melon balls in a bowl and they looked so funny I dared Wendy to eat one (ok fine she said "Dare me to eat one?" and I said yes definitely, so she dared herself, is what I'm saying). I whipped out my camera and Wendy picked up one melty butter ball between her thumb and forefinger and was poised with it in front of her mouth as I framed the shot, just as the waitress brought our food. I put down my camera and cracked up, while Wendy continued to hold the butter and look sheepish and the waitress put her food down.
Dressed in her pea coat and Michelle's riding helmet, Wendy looks like she was born into the Hilton family. And that there is Michelle's pony.
And she's on!
Michelle gave a nice little lesson to Wendy, who'd never ridden a horse before at all.
I love this picture. It looks as though she was riding like the wind! I had my flash off so the pony's legs are just blurry. They were walking. No but seriously she did a really good job, considering at one point the pony got a little saucy and reared up for a second! Only a couple inches off the ground, but when you're up there it can be scary cause I mean come on, it's a large animal with a mind of its own. My mom always said that even when I was a little kid taking riding lessons for a couple years, and it never did much for my confidence, as you might imagine.
This is Michelle, who really does ride like the wind. It was sort of terrifying being so close to her while she rode a giant horse over 3 jumps in a row. Pretty impressive y'all.
Wendy has the shots of me on the horse on her camera so I'll throw em up here later.
Now a quickie hair update. My friend Noel from good old Trader Joe's came to school for a cut. I cut her hair months ago and she hadn't had it done since, so I was flattered that she waited for me. Here it is before:
And after:
The end.