5:15 AM: Alarm goes off. I promptly snooze it three times while sleepily repeating my new mantra: "You can't get better if you don't ride."
5:45 AM: I hustle out of bed 15 minutes later than planned and rummage around in my laundry basket in total darkness, trying not to wake up Johnny. I find some questionably clean breeches; I figure I'm going to the barn anyway, so no one will notice if I smell funny.
6:15 AM: Fill water bottle while inhaling two hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Leave house for barn.
7:00 AM: Arrive at barn as sun is rising. Enjoy sunrise. Contemplate napping in car and not riding horse. Looking at the horses is kind of like riding them, right? Listen to NPR while willing the outside temperature to increase. Pray it isn't windy.
7:15 AM: It's windy. Curse self for not buying insulated gloves at work and being stuck with crummy gloves that smell really weird. What did I touch in these?! Say good morning to Moe in his stall with a treat on the way to catch Gina from the pasture.
7:36 AM: Get on Gina and head to hay meadow for conditioning ride. Try to convince myself that it isn't that cold or windy. Ponder on how dorky I'd look in a helmet cozy.
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| Answer: Pretty dorky. |
8:25 AM: Gina has been good; we're both sweating bullets. Today's high is supposed to be 60 degrees; surely it isn't 60 already?
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| You know it's early when shadows are this long! |
8:30 AM: Cover Gina with cooler so she can dry; put away tack. Hear giant commotion from outside the tack room. Gina has inexplicably pulled back and broken her lead rope...again. Curse horse. Curse self for buying wretched horse.
8:55 AM: Leave barn for work. Stop at Starbucks for overpriced hot tea because I am now freezing from sweating while it's 32 degrees outside.
10:02 AM: Arrive at work and hustle upstairs to my office so I can change prices on the website for the store's daily deal, which was supposed to happen at 10:00 AM. Oops. Start drinking coffee. Check store's social media accounts. Wonder why Facebook posts don't have many likes or shares. Fall into rabbit hole of reading about engaging customers on social media.
12:17 PM: Start reading horse and/or style related blogs. Make notes on trends and brands. Offer advice or help when warranted. Agonize about if I sound pushy or 'salesy'. Erase original comment and write something else.
2:30 PM: It's 2:30 PM? Time to stop drinking coffee and eat lunch. Add and update website content/products while eating. Translate descriptions for new helmets from Danish to English with aid of Google Translate. Translate saddle descriptions from German to English; ask college friend who studied German if she has a better translation for "seated leg hump". She doesn't.
3:35 PM: Wander around store. Sit in saddles. Wonder who ordered all the cob sized standing martingales. Contemplate putting two-season old Joules polo shirts on super clearance. Talk with sales staff about what's selling and what isn't; bug coworker about her equestrian fashion column that's due tomorrow. Take photos of coworker in this week's outfit. Edit photos. Envy coworker's ability to wear size 24 breeches despite eating gas station pizza at least three times a week. (And she doesn't even ride.)
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| Tiny coworker puts together cute outfits. |
4:55 PM: Write content for upcoming email campaign. Interact with customers on Twitter. Call 5 vendors to inquire about availability of 5/8" black leather cheek pieces in an 8" length with round buckles. Get laughed at by 5 sales reps.
6:00 PM: Head home. Have a moment of gratefulness for two mile commute.
6:15 PM: Feed dogs dinner. Go jogging when they're done outside. Think about how miserable jogging is; try to concentrate on what good jogging pants these Kerrits tights make.
6:45 PM: Get home from jog; Johnny is home! Complete a handful of strength training exercises while wondering just how strong that plate in my right arm is. Cook and eat dinner. I like cooking and I obsessively meal plan, so this is a pleasant and soothing activity for me.
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| Bacon guacamole burgers & sweet potato fries. |
8:30 PM: Halfway watch basketball with Johnny while reading. Be pleased when the Memphis Grizzlies win and the Oklahoma City Thunder lose. Be really pleased when someone on the Thunder has sprained something and will miss games. (I have a deep and abiding hatred for the Thunder.)
9:45 PM: Get in bed and read. Fall asleep with Nook on face. Wake up to Johnny giggling because he took (what he feels is) a funny picture of Nook on my face. Roll eyes, go back to sleep.
There you have it! It's easier for me to ride in the morning, because the barn's outdoor arena isn't lighted. The indoor is small, and it's difficult to share with lesson students at night. I'm glad to have a job where the hours are flexible and no one minds if I show up to work in breeches and boots. (It totally adds street cred.)
20 comments:
Awesome day! I tried riding before work once, but it's impossible with the barn being 40 min from my work. It's easier to get up at 5:30 am and do all the other things that need doing (running, dishes, bills, bills, bills). :)
We should start a support group for people who try to shill things on Facebook without sounding like they are shilling on FB. I think we'd get a lot of support. Hell, you have my support!
Your day sounds super busy! I am also jealous of your job (hehe) I kind do the same thing, except I work at a car dealership....the wrong horse power if you ask me ;) Glad I found your blog!
There is no freaking way I could ever get up that early on a regular basis. You are superwoman!!
Busy busy! Way to fit it all in :)
It's awesome being able to show up to work all horsey (stinky or not) and totally fit in. Although I am learning which of my breeches annoy me after I have had them on more than a few hours.
The barn is about 45 minutes from my home/work, but the commute is usually low-traffic and low-stress. I'm a very reluctant morning person, but it sure beats trying to figure out how to work on leg yields while a 7 year old learns the basics of steering on a old gelding that Gina likes to kick!
I am totally into the FB group idea- I am constantly nervous that offering a suggestion about a product will sound too much like I'm trying to get someone to buy said product from my store! In reality, I am just trying to be helpful and get someone a discount on something because I know how it is to be a broke horse person!
It is kind of busy, but it doesn't always feel that way!
I am a VERY reluctant morning person!! Like, when it's still dark outside when my alarm goes off, I cry a little inside.
I can't even handle my sole pair of full seat breeches at work all day. They just about come up to my nipples, make my long underwear twist around weird, and are the most unflattering garment on earth. I usually just stick with Kerrits tights!
I work in a for realz office and have actually worn my brown Royal Highness full seats in as capris before. They don't look so bad with a pair of adorable flats and a black button down!
I have a friend who's a professor at the local university and has worn her breeches to lecture once or twice. I admire those of you that can make them look stylish!
so much respect for getting up to ride that early!! also - your job sounds fun :)
Your dinner looks amazing!! I don't know if I'm coordinated enough that early in the morning to ride, I can manage an elliptical or weights but they dont have brains.
It IS fun! I like trying to help people find something that will be the right fit for them!
By time I get to the barn, I feel pretty awake (most mornings, that is...) so it isn't too bad. I about fell off Gina this morning when she jumped sideways at a shadow, though!
What a day, I am exhausted after reading all that!
I admire you even more now!
Pre-work barn time always amazes me! I could never get up that early.
It goes by pretty quickly- I don't usually feel like collapsing until around 9 PM!
I can't do morning exercise. Like, you could not pay me to get up and go jogging at 6 AM. But barn time, I can do that!
Sounds like a great day!
I laughed way too hard at "Curse horse. Curse self for buying wretched horse."
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