If you aim to build blog traffic and maintain any sort of active blog, it’s never a good idea to go a month without blogging…However, if you’re currently just blogging sporadically, it can be kind of fun to look back at the month since you’re last blog post and see all that you did that month. (It’s rather obvious which category I fall into at the moment…)
While I’ll spare everyone the hundreds of photos that have somehow accumulated on my iPhone camera roll in that month (oh hey 50 pics of Pumba sleeping in different spots; no idea how you all got here…), I’ll hit you with the highlights!
Starting with the Devon Horse Show! I didn’t get to spend quite as much time there this year as I have most years, but I did spend the bulk of Junior Weekend at Devon covering the WIHS Shetland Pony Races for work (a few of my photos of that here), watching the junior jumpers and hunt teams with Justin and great friends, and seeing my friend Brendan kill the Devon leadline game for the second year in a row!
For those not familiar, Devon leadline is kinda a big deal. (Some of my past Devon leadline photos here and here.) Roughly 100 ponies and adorable riders compete each year, judged solely on…cuteness? their last name, who is leading them, or who they know? how fancy their pony is? what their handler is wearing? That’s all very questionable, but what I do know is that I love everything about it; my child will be participating, and I will be leasing them a nice pony on which to do so. I may also need to hire Brendan for leading duty, because for the second year in a row, he claimed a top four finish, taking second this year! (I mean, how can you not get a ribbon for that outfit!?)
That’s far more information than needed about Devon leadline for this post, but when your photos have such adorable subjects, they have to be included!
The following weekend, I had the privilege of being a part of one of my best friend, Nicole’s, wedding, and it was SPECTACULAR!
I spent the night before the wedding with the fellow bridesmaids and Nicole at the chosen guest hotel, and we had all day Saturday to relax and prepare for the wedding in the hotel rooms/Nicole’s suite. Note to self for my own future wedding: I loved being able to just wake up in the hotel room and do hair and makeup and everything right there. It was so nice to just have everyone in one place, to relax and not have to worry about going anywhere until heading to the wedding itself.
I cannot wait to see the wedding photos from the photographer! If Nicole looks this beautiful in just a cell phone picture, I know the actual photos are going to be stunning!:
Continuing the string of back-to-back fantastic weekends, Justin told me to clear my calendar for June 10 in particular for a surprise. As of 7 a.m. on June 10, I had absolutely nooo idea what the surprise would be. As of 8 a.m., I was in Justin’s car headed to a location two+ hours away. By 9 a.m., I had determined that we were going to Newark, NJ and had pulled up a list of best things to do there, and I was internally confused and potentially disappointed because Newark, NJ is not something that I think you generally clear your calendar for…
But by 10 a.m. – ONCE WE’D PARKED AT PENN STATION (*face palm* how did it take me so long to think that maybe we weren’t staying in Newark!?), I realized perhaps we were headed to NYC! And sure enough!
We spent part of the afternoon and evening on Saturday doing rather touristy things like picnic-ing and rowing boats in Central Park, which I loved so, so much! (My sisters, who have both lived in or spent a lot of time in NYC, will forever give me a hard time about being a NYC tourist and not doing ‘actual New Yorker’ things, but I love the touristy things. 🙂 )
The real reason for our visit though, became apparent when we turned down 51st Street, and I saw the Wicked sign outside Gershwin Theatre!! I had mentioned to Justin, probably back when we’d first started talking or dating, that while I’m obsessed with the music from Wicked, I’d somehow never seen the show on Broadway! Being the remarkably great boyfriend that he is, Justin recalled that and took me, and the show did not disappoint! So good!
All in all, not too shabby of a month! 🙂 Looking forward to what the next one holds, and this time, maybe I’ll even update before a full one has passed. (This blog post dedicated to Diana for being the first person to ask me when/if I was going to post again.)
xx
