Steele From The Heart

Every little girl dreams of having a pony. I dreamed of a grey pony named Tinkerbell or a black pony named Stardust. My childhood dream was slower pushed aside and I never got my pony. But, as a 25 year old adult, I have finally achieved my childhood dream and got my pony.

"Well hi everyone"

In May I finally found a barn in Florida. It is close to my apartment, close to work, and the riders at the barn are extremely welcoming. After having a few lessons on various horses I was asked if I wanted to try the green pony. She needed a short rider (check), who had time to ride her consistently (check). I said yes and tried her in a lesson.

During that lesson I fell in love with her. She knows her walk, trot, and canter, and how to jump. But she still has her "stupid baby" moments, such as not hitting her correct lead for the canter every time. My trainer asked if I wanted to lease her and my immediate response was "yes". I wanted more than anything to have the chance to work with this pony.

Since June I have been proud to call Cupid "mine". I get to see her as often as I like and work with her on her little quirks. We're focusing right now on building muscle and maintaining a consistent pace for the walk and trot. When I feel like we have both gained some strength I hope to work on her canter leads. Once she gets her leads down (and finds a child) she will be unstoppable in the pony ring.

So, expect to see more of Miss. Cupid, hopefully she'll be around for awhile.

The heart of on her shoulder that earned her her name

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As part of a funny introduction to Cupid I'll share a moment from a few weeks ago.

Some other riders in the barn were cooling down their horses and one had taken off her saddle to do a bit of bareback work. The saddle was sitting on one of the jumps so nothing would happen to the tree or anything. I don't remember if I saw the saddle and disregarded it, or just didn't notice it. Strange things tend to end up in the arena of this barn as people work on desensitizing their horses.

Cupid and I walked over to the mounting block, I tightened the girth, dropped her stirrups, and flipped the reins over her head. As soon as I lined her up next to the mounting block, Cupid saw the saddle and panicked. Thankfully, she isn't the type of horse to run. She began to back up slowly which gave me time to flip the reins over her head so I could maintain a grip on her. I did not want her to start to run and catch her leg in the reins.

She's always following me

After letting her back away from the jump and talking to her in a calm voice I was able to get her to stop and think. We stood for awhile and just watched the pony eating saddle. After standing for about 2 minutes, Cupid let me lead her a few steps towards the saddle. With each step she stood directly behind me as if I were the sacrificial lamb.

Something like this. But in this instance she was trying to find the treats that she thought I had.

Slowly we inched our way towards the saddle and jump, until we were close enough that I could touch it. As soon as I touched the saddle it was like something clicked in her mind. This saddle was just like the one on her back, only it was sitting on a jump. We took a few minutes to sniff and touch the saddle, then she was comfortable enough for me to lead her back to the mounting block and start our ride. (I did ask one of the other girls to hold her in case we had another spook. I did have to throw myself off our mounting block to keep a hold on her reins)

One would think that her reaction to this saddle would indicate that she is extremely aware of her surroundings. Today, my trainer had a whole new set of gorgeous jumps along the one side of the arena. Both of the horses who were in our lesson had "what the hell is that" moments. Cupid glanced at them and kept doing what I was asking her. Some days she's extremely smart, others she's willing to defer the thinking to me.

Just another day in the life of a green pony.

*Correction - I found out at our show in September that her show name is actually "Steele My Heart". whoops.

Lush's Love Lettuce Review

I love face masks. To me there's nothing more relaxing than using a face mask after a stressful day.

One of my favorite lines of face masks is Lush's Fresh Face Masks. I used to use them religiously in high school, then I stopped because life got too busy to take the time and use a face mask. Recently, I've been able to find the time for luxuries like face masks.

While at Mall of Millennia I stopped by Lush to see if they had anything that could help my skin. Recently I have been having more breakouts than normal and wanted to correct this issue. As I mentioned in a previous post the sales girl recommended Love Lettuce and let me tell you, that girl is a genius.

My Lush haul from that trip, including Love Lettuce.

Lush describes Love Lettuce as "our exfoliating ground almond mask that scoops up dirt, oil and debris and washes it all away. Exfoliation is an important part of good skincare, as it removes the buildup of dead skin that can clog your pores and cause impurities. Love Lettuce is a great example of how just a few ingredients can make a fresh, effective product for the skin. We blend calming French lavender oil with seaweed and honey to nourish and soften skin, and to balance oily T-zones."

While I personally hate to fully support the description that companies issue for their products, I do have to admit that Lush is spot on for their description of this face mask. 

While the pot this mask comes in seems fairly small I was able to get four and a half uses out of it. The four uses were full face with part of my neck and the final use was focused on my breakouts and T-zone. While I do wish I was able to get more applications out of this mask, I am pleased that I was able to get about five applications. At a price of $7.95 (at the time of this post), that breaks this mask down to $1.59 an application. I feel that is a fair price for a quality mask.

What it looks like when first opened. You can see the almonds used to exfoliate. 

This mask gently exfoliates but is also strong enough to help banish any rough spots. Towards the last two applications my face became very dry from forgetting to moisturize while running late for work. This mask assisted with the dry skin without being irritating. It was not an instant ticket to soft, moisturized skin but it did help my skin repair itself faster than it normally does. (Forgetting moisturizer is a pretty regular thing in my life)

I also felt this mask lives up to the claim that it clears pores and draws away oil from the skin. Oily skin is not a huge issue in my life but it does occur from time to time, especially when it gets extremely hot and humid out. This mask helped clear up an oily patch that was present when I started using it. Unlike other masks that clear up oily patches it did not dry out my skin or make my face feel "tight". 

Smooth application and even coverage! 

I wish I could claim that Love Lettuce cleared up my breakouts but unfortunately I can not say that. What I can say is that I believe this mask kept my breakouts from becoming severe and prevented anything major from forming. As someone who can occasionally resemble an appaloosa this was greatly appreciated. 

Overall I would happily recommend Love Lettuce to individuals looking for a good mask. It will probably not be on my list to clear up breakouts, but it will be on my list for a good exfoliating and cleaning mask. Plus, the ingredients are mostly natural which is always a plus in my book!

Back of the pot with ingredient list. Not the expiration date and production date.

Fresh Ingredients: Agar Agar Gel (Gelidium cartilagineum) , Kaolin , Honey ,Fullers Earth , Glycerine , Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis) ,Ground Almond Shells (Prunus dulcis) , Ground Almonds (Prunus dulcis) , Lavender Oil (Lavandula augustifolia) ,Chlorophyllin , *Geraniol , *Limonene , *Linalool ,Fragrance . *Occurs naturally in essential oils

Please note all of the black pots that Lush products are sold in are recycled. They have a program where you can bring in 5 empties and receive a free face mask, so remember to save those pots!

Orlando, The City Beautiful

When I was young my mom enrolled me in a program called Safety Town. The idea behind the program was that young children would learn about fire safety, road safety, and playground safety among other things. I lasted a few days in the program before my mom removed me. The idea that I would be in danger gave me nightmares. To this day I don't like dealing with the idea that I might be in danger. (Pretty ironic for an equestrian isn't it?)

On June 12, my adopted city was attacked. For the past week I have felt like I did when I went through Safety Town; scared, and threatened. But I have also never felt prouder of this city.

I have watched this city pull together and stand with each other. Individuals have organized blood drives, fundraisers, support events, and so much more.

Today, I attended the Candlelight Vigil at Lake Eola with a friend who is a member of the Orlando LGBTQ community. Seeing all the support for the victims and first responders was amazing. Everyone was there with one goal; to let the world know that we will never be knocked down, we will never waiver from being a city where everyone is welcome.

I fell in love with Orlando because of the "vibe" of the city. The diversity and acceptance that can be found in here is what makes this city great. It is what encouraged me to make this city my home.

From what I saw tonight I know that Orlando will rise from the ashes of this disaster and be greater than ever. We will never forget what happened or the individuals who fell, but this city will recover and we will learn from this experience. No matter what you believe in or who you love, The City Beautiful will always welcome you with open arms.

The following images were taken today at the Candlelight Vigil:

This banner was flown around Lake Eola before the Vigil.

Just one of the many memorials that were/are located at Dr. Phillips

A small portion of the people at Dr. Phillips honoring the fallen. 

Florists were handing out these flowers to everyone. This was one of the many acts of kindness and community I witnessed at the Vigil.

The organizers of this heart were inviting everyone to come and place a flower on the heart. They had pre-cut flowers available. 

Ribbons that were hanging on trees around Lake Eola.

The flags are still at half mast. This image gives you an idea of the amount of people that were present. It was taken around 5:00PM. Well before the official beginning.

This rainbow appeared over Lake Eola right before the Vigil officially began. 

The entire lake was one large group of people. I've never imagined this many people would show up.

You can faintly see all the candles. Everyone was sharing lighters and matches to help keep the flames lit despite the wind.

The fountain was light as a rainbow. I'm not sure if this is an everyday thing but tonight it felt special.

Goodbye May, Hello Curling Wand

Well, May ended on both a positive note and a negative note.

To get it out of the way, I am no longer in the audition process for Orlando Concert Band. It was a fun audition process, I am extremely thankful that I had the opportunity. But I feel it's for the best for both parties involved. Orlando Concert Band is a bit more intense than I would like, and towards the end of the audition process I was starting to burn out. I wish them the best of luck with their upcoming concerts and look forward to seeing them perform in the future!

In the mean time I will be searching for a band that better fits my personality and playing style.
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On a high note I received a huge honor at work. I don't really want to go too much into my job, but I was one of five people selected to start this group in our Orlando office. I can't say that I'm not super nervous about this but I am so grateful that my manager saw the potential in me and is giving me this opportunity.
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So, the rest of this post is pretty much covering random minor things that have happened since I last posted.

Florida Tan, or Arena Dirt?

If you guessed Arena Dirt then you're right! I have officially found a barn in Orlando! It is a mostly adult barn and extremely relaxed. I am currently working on finalizing a lease on one of the resident ponies. The same pony who I may have fallen off last week. When you go from riding an extremely seasoned schoolmaster to a "green" (maybe more on the yellow side ;-) ) pony, I guess there might be a spill or two. Hopefully, I won't keep leaving covered in this level of arena dirt.
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I wandered over to the Clermont area to meet a friend for dinner last night and ended up at the Crooked Spoon. This was probably the best dining experience I've had in the Orlando area. The wine selection was awesome and different than most restaurants. It seemed like everything they had was organic or from a smaller winery. I got the Eggplant Terzetto and it was to die for. Perfectly made, with the right amount of flavor. I am definitely dragging my mom to the Crooked Spoon when she's back in town. 

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I've discovered that one of my coworkers is a huge Diamondback's fan. We've been enjoying taunting each other about these games.

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Perks of being a Disney annual pass holder that lives locally. Now I've got to figure out what to do with the whole set of these.

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I went to Ulta today, on the hunt for hairspray and something that will work better on my hair than a curling iron. My hair will not hold a curl no matter what I do. My coworker had recommended this curling wand. With the $20 price tag I figure it's worth a shot. 

Here's a preview of how my hair looks with no product.

I'll be back with a review at a later date. Hopefully it works!

While at Ulta I also saw this palette and seriously considered it, until I saw the price. I love Urban Decay and I love the colors in this collection but there is no way I can justify the $60 price tag at the moment. I'm hoping to get a good coupon so I can go back for it. 

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Finally, enjoy the cat photos of the day. Bailey was very curious about what I was doing with the curling wand box and needed to see how it tasted. The silly cat has decided to take an interest in everything I touch. 

This is how we sit when I write any of these posts. She always has to be touching me when I'm home. 

Lush Haul 5/21

I am an absolute lush for Lush Cosmetics. ;-)

(I feel like this post calls for that.) 

When I realized that my skin was threatening to breakout on a level that could compare with my high school experience, I decided it was time to splurge on my skincare and take a trip to the local Lush Cosmetics. 

I am extremely lucky that my nearest Lush is 20 minutes away as opposed to 90 minutes from when I lived in Illinois.

When I got to Lush I was immediately welcomed by one of the sales girls who was doing a bath bomb demo. Because I already have a pretty big stash of bath bombs and bubble bars I started to wander around the store.

It has been over a year since I last stepped foot in a physical Lush store and I was curious about several new products I had seen online.

Having used their Big Shampoo in the past I was curious about the new Jersey Bounce shampoo. The salesgirl reassured me that it had the same volumizing properties as Big but it was not as drying as Big. I decided on a small pot of the Jersey Bounce and continued my lap around the store.

The next product I hunted down was Lemony Flutter. Lemony Flutter is a cuticle cream I have used for years with great success. After my trip to Chicago last week my cuticles have been extremely dry and cracked. This product has always been able to restore my cuticles (and dry hands) to a softer state in no time.

After getting these two items I was approached by another sales girl asking if she could help me with anything. We spoke about the fresh face masks for a bit and she recommended Love Lettuce based off my skin type and issues. Here's hoping Love Lettuce keeps me from looking like an Appaloosa this week!

The final item I got was a complete impulse purchase. I had heard about it from another blog and liked the idea of a mask with caffeine in it for the mornings. Hopefully, Cup O'Coffee was worth the purchase! So far I like the scent and the texture looks pretty decent!

Lush Haul

I'll try to comment about these items after I give each one a few uses. My rule of thumb is that you never know how a product works until you've tried it for a week or two.
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As far as other fun updates in my life:

Congrats to my little brother who graduated with his Bachelors last Saturday!!! I'm so proud that he joined the ranks of the NIU Alumni! Go Huskies!!!!

NIU CLAS Graduation

If it wasn't obvious from my Chicago comment earlier, I went home for his graduation and got to see my family and my moms pets.

If this doesn't qualify Pumpkin for sainthood then I don't know what will.

I also got to go to the Kenosha outlets and hit up White House Black Market. For some reason the Kenosha White/Black is so much better than any of them here. While I was at White/Black there were all these boxes around the store. This initially irritated me because normally all the clothes are hung up, but one of my favorite sales girls quickly rushed over and informed me that the boxes contained sweaters that were $10 a piece! Apparently the Kenosha White/Black had gotten an overload of inventory from one of their stores and they needed to move it quickly to make room for the new items! 

Yellow isn't my favorite color but who can resist for $10!

The final update I have is that I am currently in the middle of the audition process for the Orlando Concert Band! While I lived in IL I had played with the Crystal Lake Community Band. I love playing in band so when a friend told me about the Orlando Concert Band, I knew I had to try out. Currently, they do not have any spots open for a full-time flutes so I am auditioning as a substitute flute. So far I have played with the for one rehearsal, I have three more to go before I find out if I will be accepted as a sub or not. 

It's nice to have this out again, even though the music is mostly marches.

As a parting note, enjoy a picture of the trouble twins. They're so not happy that I won't let them sit on my laptop while I type this. 

They look innocent but I swear they're not.

Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon

Waking up at 2:30 am is not my idea of fun on any level. All I want to do is get back in bed, snuggle with the cats, and refuse to wake up until they demand to be fed. Which is usually 6 am because they've decided that "yes, you have the day off but we're going to die if you sleep an extra two hours."

Anyways, this morning I had to be up at 2:30 am for the Dark Side Half at Disney. Not my idea of a good time to wake up, but super exciting because this was the first year they were going to run the race.

I dressed, fed the cats, and was out of the house by 3 am. I got to the Disney area around 3:30 but didn't actually get to the Epcot parking lot until around 4:00. Traffic wasn't bad but everyone was taking it slower than normal. If I had one piece of advice for those driving to a runDisney event at Epcot it would be to stay to the left when parking. That would have gotten me one parking lot closer to where the bus drops off which would be greatly appreciated.

Once I parked and got the rest of my costume settled, I realized that I forgot the water bottle I always run with. It was still sitting in my fridge back home. After digging out a disposable water bottle, from the black hole I call a trunk, I walked over to the staging area. The walk from the Discover lot took about 15 minutes, and bag check took less than 2 minutes. I like that Disney has clear signs directing runners to bag check and bagless check.

When I got past the bag check area I headed on over to the corrals. This walk seemed further and a bit more convoluted than the walk to the corrals for the princess half. There was one LED board directing runners to the correct corral area but that was about it.

When I reached the corrals I was greeted with the typical giant "balloons" that Disney uses to mark the corral. I was in E and it was fairly simple to find. While I was waiting for the race to start I didn't feel like my corral was too crowded or pushy. There was room to stretch and room to sit and wait.

It seemed like the first few corrals were released pretty quickly and the next thing I knew it was time for E to get sent off! The rest of the runners in my corral set a nice pace and I was content to just get caught up in the flow. At almost exactly the 1 mile mark (according to my GPS) there was a meet and greet for R2D2. Because I had based my outfit off R2 I knew I had to suck up the time loss and wait for him. The line took about 10 minutes and, according to a gentleman behind me, it was much faster than the line for R2 during the 10K.

Once I had my coveted picture with R2 I hopped back on the course and took off! If you've ever run the Princess 10K then the first two miles follow that course with some slight variation. Instead of going to the left towards the Boardwalk Inn and Villas you go right towards the Yacht and Beach Club. I was happy to avoid the Boardwalk area because those boards scare me. One of my positions at Disney was at Boardwalk and after seeing how slick and uneven those boards can get I was happy to not have to run on them.

*Quick note, the Yacht and Beach Club also have a Boardwalk but for some reason I'm less freaked out by that one*

The course after the Yacht and Beach Club narrowed a bit. If you've ever walked from the Crescent Lake Resorts to the Hollywood Studios then you'll have an idea of how narrow the path can get. It's a nice even run that allows you to set a relaxed pace without worrying about potholes or hills. As a quick note, when transitioning from the Boardwalk area by Community Hall to the canal path there was a temporary section that appeared to be concrete but was actually painted boards. Because I had expected concrete I was not expecting the "give" that comes with boards. This wasn't a dangerous area but it threw me for a moment.

The loop through Hollywood Studios (MGM, DHS, or whatever you prefer) was disappointing. I found it too short for the park and very brief. This might change later after the construction is completed but I'm sure that will be revealed at a later date. I had hoped to run past Launch Bay just because it was Star Wars themed and because a friend usually works there early in the mornings.

Once we exited out Studios, past Tower of Terror, there was a nice chunk of road running. The section from miles 4-7 took you to Disney's Animal Kingdom along the roadway. This was not a hard stretch of the course but it was boring. This leg of the race does "double back" with an ending section (miles 9-12), I couldn't help but get envious of those that were almost at the end of their run. I was still in the first half and they were getting ready to get food!

The longer it took to get to DAK the more stressed I got. DAK is hot and awful during the day when I just walk around the park, I was not looking forward to running through DAK during sunrise. To get into DAK you have to fishtail through the parking lot and enter the park by Dinoland U.S.A. The Cliff Shot table is located just before you enter the park. I found it amusing that runDisney set up this table at the parking lot so runners didn't leave too many gel packets in the park. As a friend reminded me DAK is very conscious about trash that can get to the animals.

DAK was a shockingly easy run, it wasn't too hot or humid and despite the uneven walkways I did not encounter an issue. Once you exit out of DAK you're thrown right back onto Osceola Parkway. This is the section of the race that "doubles back". This is also the section that pushed me to my limit. The sun had come up while I was in DAK and it shined right into my eyes for this whole section. I should have thought to bring sunglasses but I am the person who forgot my running water bottle so I obviously can't expect too much.

It was around mile 11 that I had my first sighting of the dreaded sweeper vans. During Princess I didn't even see the balloon ladies, but on the "double back" I saw them heading towards DAK. About half a mile after seeing the ladies I saw the bus. My heart broke as I saw a runner stop and wait for the van to stop for them, I can't even imagine how upset I would be if all my time and work would end on a bus.

Seeing the bus forced me to rally and go harder than I should have. I knew I was in the clear, but I just panicked. Because of this rally my last two miles hurt more than I ever imagined they would. There was a med tent around mile 12 that I stopped at for BioFreeze for my shins. I really credit this little bit of BioFreeze with getting me through the last leg.

For a quick note about the kindness of runners, there was a gentleman dressed as R2D2 (I believe) who ran close to me duirng this section. He must have noticed that I was hurting or simply wanted to give some encouraging words to a fellow runner, but he spoke to me for a bit and commented that "we're almost done, I can smell ESPN. Can't you?" Now I don't know who this gentleman is but I really appreciated him saying that. I gave me a bit of a push to keep going at my pace. Thank you, R2 guy. You are awesome!

Along mile 12 there was a dirt road to get into ESPN WWoS. This was a nice easy section on my legs, it gave my shins a break and let me relax into a comfortable pace. Getting back onto the pavement at WWoS was not fun. I had really hoped they would keep the dirt section going or have a grass section. My legs would have loved that. This last chunk was filled with spectators cheering and encouraging runners that there wasn't much more left.

The finish line came up a bit faster than expected and before I knew it I was getting handed a medal and a wet towel. Like most Disney races the post-race support was amazing. There was a self help medical tent, plenty of water, Powerade, and snack boxes. The lines moved quickly and before I knew it I was at the bus for the Epcot parking lot.

This line took forever to get onto a bus, and my bus ended up being a Disney bus where some passengers had to stand. I felt like we were on the bus forever, but before I knew it I was back at my car ready to head home for my food and a nap.

This a race that I will probably participate in next year. I felt it was organized, a good course, and a fun theme.

If there was one big fault of the race it's that I didn't mark down where I parked. As a former parking CM I should know better than anyone else to ALWAYS mark my parking location. I was that idiot after the race walking around, clicking my alarm, trying to find my car. Thankfully none of my parking friends saw that one.

One last note, my costume idea and shirt template were taken from the following link. http://www.brit.co/r2d2-star-wars-costume/

Shout out to Brit + Co for providing detailed instructions and an adorable idea!!!