Getting jacked up (on caffine)

Original post date: 14 April 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a simple stove-top espresso maker and yesterday I finally got around to buying ground espresso beans at the grocery store. I just made my first batch! I do believe it makes at least two espressos, but seeing as I don't have the properly sized espresso cups, it's hard to tell. I'm drinking it out of a small-ish mug but it looks like a lot of espresso. Anyway, yummm! And I'm prepared to be buzzed for the rest of the day.

So horseback riding on Friday was tons and tons of fun. I rode a black lady horse named Limo, and James rode her boyfriend, Tonto. Too cute! Limo was fond on plodding directly behind the horse in front of her (nose to rump) and if I put even the slightest tension on the reins, she tugged at them until I let go. She was even worse at this on the way home, I couldn't hold her back for anything. I like holding my horse back and then making them trot to catch up because trotting is the most fun. Anyway, Limo wouldn't really let me do that but I got a couple good trots in anyway. Tonto was constantly trying to eat the mustard grass on either side of the path, and every so often I'd hear "Tonto, no!" from behind me, and I'd look back to see James futilely tugging on the reins as Tonto buried his nose in a clump of grass. We rode an hour and a half in through the Hollywood hills (right past the sign!) to a little Mexican restaurant, where we had dinner. Mmm, enchiladas! (I never had enchiladas as much before I met James, but now I love them!) Then we got back up on our horses and rode an hour and half or so back to the ranch. I was soooooore Saturday morning. And Saturday day. And Sunday. And a little bit today, too. James wasn't so bad. Lucky duck. It hurt so bad to sit down to breakfast Saturday morning that I had to ask James to go back upstairs (climbing stairs hurt my legs too much) to get a pillow for my tender bum! But it was worth it. I just loved every minute of being on the horses. And being around the horses before the ride, just seeing them at the ranch. There were also a few dogs at the ranch and when I sat down and waited for James to go back to the car for something, all the dogs started climbing all over me and begging to get petted. I loved them, too. Typical Tonto behavior Very very excited to be on a horsie. Wearing my new shirt from Target, which I thought looked appropriately cowgirl-ish for a horseback ride. :) And my Target sunglasses, which broke sometime during the ride from being in my jacket pocket. :(

We had a very lazy Saturday (which was good because of my soreness), but around 3:00 we got it together and went out to do lots of errands - we hit up Target and JC Penney and the mall (Sees candyyyyyy yummmm!) and Bed Bath and Beyond and Home Depot. We got lots of good things. And we did some exploratory engagement ring perusing at different stores. We saw some reallly chintzy yucky ones and a few nice ones and only two that I really liked. I actually tried a few on, the first time I've done that since high school when my girlfriends and I went into the Zales in the mall and the nice lady behind the counter let me try one on for fun. So now we have a really good idea of what I like (some things I didn't realize until I actually had a ring on my finger and saw how it looked). It's good information to have... for just in case, you know? ;)We had a nice lazy Sunday morning too (I made a smoothie with the new blender we got at BB&B, it was super yum), then James had to go back into work so I did all the grocery shopping and errands that I needed to do. I wanted to bake a strawberry rhubarb pie, but didn't have enough time, so I'll do that this afternoon. When James got home from work, we went on a lovely bike ride to the Manhattan Beach pier, where we saw seals (!!!) swimming around. We also went into the cute little aquarium at the tip of the pier and touched sea cucumbers (squiiiishy!). When we came home, James helped me make a yummy dinner, then we watched one of the episodes of The Life of Birds BBC documentary series with Steve. It was a lovely day and a wonderful weekend.

Mmmm my espresso is all gone and I'm wiiide awake now! :D