Happy (Rainy) Leap Day!

 I hope everyone is having a good "Leap Day," as it only comes around once every four years.  Apparently if you were born on February 29th, you are called a "Leapling."  Learn something new every day :)


According to Wikipedia.com:
"In the British Isles, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years. While it has been claimed that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or Brigid of Kildare in 5th century Ireland, this is dubious, as the tradition has not been attested before the 19th century. Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow. In some places the tradition was tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap year day, February 29."

I might have to wait another four years for that tradition!  OR I might be able to get something good out of a refusal.... ;)

So now that we are fully briefed on the history of this quadrennial day, it is time to start renewing memberships to the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association (CDCTA) and others in order to get the new guy (Waldo) "out-on-the-town" to see what his scores are looking like.  He has been doing fantastic, and has finally figured out where to put those feet in order to not trip and fall on his face over a jump!  He has definitely made this quite a rewarding project for me, so I'm thankful for that.

"Whoooaaaa Britt, that jump is HUGE!!"

Also, it is now a week and a half until my first ever 8k race of the Capital Running Company's St. Patrick's Day 8k! Team "Noob-A-Roo" will be making its first ever appearance running for time in a pretty short race.  It's all in preparation for our half marathon on April 7th.  I'm already starting to get really ridiculously nervous!!



AND, a certain someone starts his return back to Hawaii from Afghanistan in a little less than three weeks, after being deployed there for almost a year.  Keep the prayers running for all those guys to make a safe trip home- they definitely deserve it!!  Not to mention my excitement about them getting home so they can start preparing for the ridiculousness that will be the arrival of yours truly on April 12th!!  Can. Not. Wait.


Go on and enjoy that "Leapling, Pre-St. Patrick's Day" Guiness, in preparation for all that is to come with the very green month of March!

Love,

Brittanie
  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hoping everyone has a great day filled with copious amounts of love and lots and lots of pink and red and glitter and ridiculously unflattering sugary snacks (which is what I will be enjoying today)!!

Lots of love,
  Brittanie, Keana, Wanda & Waldo

What can I say? Best. Gift. Ever.
Sent from my Valentine, who is 7000 miles away :)

Lessons on Waldo and 8 Weeks until the Half

We're getting down to the final 8 weeks before my first ever half marathon.  I'm already starting to get nervous!! My teammate and I decided to sign up for the St Patrick's 8K for March 11th today, so hopefully that will get all the nervousness over with before the half, which will be exactly 4 weeks following.

In other news, I took "Waldo" to a lesson with Karen Nutt (Kingsley) at Angelica Run Farm, and he was an absolute super star!  My friend's dad took a few good videos, and tons of pictures, so I have evidence!  I'm really looking forward to working with him and hopefully finding a good home for him in the next 3 months, which will be when Wanda is ready to start back up again.  Unfortunately I won't have enough time to keep them both going, but I'm having such a good time with him so far!

"Waldo" and I, Karen Nutt (Kingsley), "Bansha" and Chelsea

It's a Good Day for Women

I have to share my two cents, because I am ultimately (if not 100%) proud of what was accomplished today, but not for the reasons I would normally jump on the bandwagon for.

What was accomplished, was an influential movement of men and women who stood their ground and donated millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood over the last 72 hours in order to back their opinions on something so ultimately controversial.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been instrumental in bringing women together to join forces on what is the second leading death-causing form of cancer.  And although breast cancer doesn't only affect women, it has shown to be a strong pull in terms of providing an outlet for women's rights in society.  Bringing together so many women who are hopeless and providing them with medical help and an emotional support system has been the goal of this group for more than 10 years.

This week, Komen made the decision to end any and all funding previously given to Planned Parenthood, on grounds of "attempting to avoid funding any organization under investigation by the government".  And yet, they said it was not based on anything political.  Are you kidding me?

Here's the problem: Komen has been providing these funds to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening examinations; funding the prevention of breast cancer for hundreds, if not thousands of women.  Giving directly to Planned Parenthood for these exams was THE point.  Yet Komen is trying to skirt out of this by saying Planned Parenthood is using that money for abortions.  Komen, for being one of the world's most known entities in cancer prevention groups, you are really dumb. 

Since the start of Komen's "whoops" moment, supporters have donated over $3 million to Planned Parenthood.  OVER $3 MILLION.  Can you imagine what that would do for breast cancer research? Or medical treatment supplies?

Overall, I am more than happy with the amount of people whipping out their wallets to prove that the need for these breast cancer screenings is essential. Planned Parenthood has provided a statement saying they will use this money 100% for breast cancer screenings, which I think is great and a well thought-out plan on their part.  Sorry Komen, I've picked my side and you aren't going to like it.

Maybe Komen could redeem itself and come back swinging.  Maybe they could match all that was donated to Planned Parenthood to be given to the research.  Or to the medical supplies for treatment.  Or for the counseling for family members.

This should be a time when the necessity of breast cancer awareness is shown at full force, not some political garble Americans are forced to "deal" with.

Anyway, I'm happy Komen will be continuing to fund breast cancer screenings for Planned Parenthood, but more happy that people were so up in arms about the situation.  If only we could get people to do this for the debt crisis...

Walter (AKA Waldo)

No, Walter is not the name of a boy. Well, not a HUMAN boy! He's the tentative new addition to the Hardy Eventing clan as a 3-month Pony Club project horse!

I picked Walter up from Maryland yesterday after work, and dropped him off at the barn last night. He is 10 years young, very cute, and a nice-looking bay gelding, just about 15.2 hands. A little small, but easy to work with, so if all goes well for the next two weeks I may have something to ride for the winter while Wanda is in recovery!

We had our first ride this morning, and it was a little exciting. He has two big flaws that drop him a few points:
1. He is VERY behind the leg. To where I've worn huge spurs and still had to accept a less-than-working trot.
2. He has learned from his previous riders. He will throw in a tiny hop, then slam on the brakes because he expects the rider to stop him so they can "adjust". I can tell that he isn't BAD about it, because I've been on those, and they drop their heads during that brake slam so you take a somersault over their ears. I'm too old for that :) Ole Walter at least puts his head up when he slams on the brakes so you have something to stop your momentum!

I have him for 14 days, so we'll see in the next week how much of an improvement a program will be for him. I expect him to shape up quite a bit, and he shows some definite potential as an intermediate Pony Club horse.. the move-up from pony to horse. He's not for complete beginners, which I am still on the hunt for (hint), but I don't think he is that complicated. I'm going to jump him tomorrow, so we'll see what happens from there!!

Here's a little video of the ride:

...and the beginning of 2012!

2012 has taken a sprint of a start, and I can not believe we are already halfway through January!

This year I spent New Years Eve and the subsequent hours of 2011 into 2012 at a Dupont Circle apartment with my brother's closest friends, AKA "The Lawyers". Naturally, after 84-hour weeks and working lunches, the unwind process was nothing but amusing and "ridiculously fun". Decorated with lights and the champagne-a-flowing, we welcomed the New Year with a Skype session involving my brother and his girlfriend, all the way from Washington state. After the "Happy New Year" toast, we headed off in search of pizza, and passed out in the early hours of the morning (4am to be exact). Cheers for "auld lang syne".

So New Years is over (and all its glory), and it's time to hunker down for what is said to be the last year of humans on Earth. Hopefully not the case, but for unreasonable excuses we'll just go with it. After much (read:none) deliberation, I bought an April ticket to Hawaii and back, with the intention of my own unwinding in what would be the warmest and most awesome place personally imaginable. Bring on 2012!

But before that happens, team "Noob-a-Roo", consisting of two ridiculously good-looking "video-gamers", has entered the Charlottesville Half Marathon on April 7th. Consider it an item on the "last year on Earth" bucket list (just go with it). Training has been unfortunately painful, considering the brilliant choice to train for a half marathon during the 3 coldest months of the year, but steadily progressing. Now if only we had the drive to make it to those 7am, 19 degree group runs...

In other news, my Floridian cousin is eating for two these days, and mom and I had the opportunity to join her for a baby shower this past weekend. Little Frosthammer should come within the next 3 months, putting the second cousins number at 7 (more or less). Just another excuse to migrate towards warmer climates for a visit (like I needed one)!

Here comes the end of 2011

Christmas has come and gone (phew!) and now we're on the fast track to the end of 2011. It's funny when you get to this time of the year and realize how much has changed in the last year. Now that I have surpassed the "toy" stage and been catapulted in to the "real world" at 190MPH, it's a bittersweet moment when your heart skips a beat over the new Dyson vacuum cleaner you asked for from "Santa". All vacuums aside, 2011 was a sweet victory of a year.

The year started out with the joys of being an intern for a public relations firm in Alexandria, VA, and living at home with my parents. Not saying there is anything wrong with a 23-year-old intern still living at home after a year sabbatical in the horse world, but it brings with it an array of new challenges and portrays the true personalities that have developed within a mildly bazaar yet functional family. Okay, so living at home wasn't THAT bad. Considering I was blessed with the type of family that doesn't require rent or pet fee, I had it pretty good.

In January I acquired a new job as a marketing assistant working for a political action committee in downtown Washington, DC. Not exactly where I thought I would be, but the potential of being able to pay my own horse bills was right up my alley.

In February I took Wanda to Aiken, SC to work with PD for the winter, which turned out good and bad. The good being that she returned with a positive outlook on eventing, which lasted through the summer competition season. I also had the opportunity to take a class on SQL through work, which was more than instrumental in learning about some key tools we utilize.

In March I completed in entirety an official press release, which was published to thousands of newspapers across the U.S. My interview was less than conventional, but turned out better than I could have anticipated, and we received numerous positive responses. I could not have been more thrilled about that.

In April I woke up one day and decided to head out to Kentucky for the weekend of the Rolex 3-Day Event, which I had dreamed about attending since I was tiny. I used bank points to acquire a flight and friend connections for a place to stay, and Groupon helped me buy some half-price tickets to the Cross Country day of Rolex. It was an absolute dream being there, and I loved that I now knew most of the riders from working at PD's last year. It was a milestone in my book.

In May I unfortunately lost one of my best friends, our horse Dublin. It is incredibly hard to lose an animal, especially one which you spent so much time with and learned so much from. He was truly an amazing creature and one that I will never forget. It was devastating.

In June I celebrated my 24th birthday among friends, and it was nothing short of ridiculous. I learned that Monday birthdays are NOT meant for drinking!

In July I met my soon-to-be roommates on Craigslist, and proceeded to search for apartments in Arlington with them. I also traveled (thanks parents!) to Bermuda for a week with my family, which I had never been to before. It was gorgeous, and I was able to check one more box on thee ole passport.

In August I was given a promotion to manager of membership services, and I moved in to my own place, a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom townhouse in South Arlington with my dog, Keana. I also traveled to Caledonia, NY, where I stayed with a Pony Club connection and went on a foxhunt with the Genessee Valley Hunt. In that same trip, I learned to milk a goat and feed sheep.

In September I competed most weekends and moved up to Training level with Wanda.

In October I traveled to New Hampshire for my friend from college's wedding. I got to see my roommates again for the first time since we graduated in May '09. Reunited, and it felt GREAT! In that weekend, we traveled to New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts.

In November I got to spend a significant amount of time with my friend who had been deployed to Afghanistan, and had returned to Virginia for 15 days over Thanksgiving. I spent Thanksgiving at Millwood with grandma, my uncle, mom, dad, and brother, and was thankful for everyone being able to be there for another year.

In December I got to experience the holiday party tradition of the professional world, which was eye-opening to say the least! I spent Christmas with the entire family, and enjoyed every second of it.

So thank you 2011. And hopefully the world won't really end in 2012 :)