I have decided that we don't throw surprise parties for the sake of surprising the person and having it create an ultimate euphoria for them, but to torture yourself with lies and solo planning and phone number thieving just to hear the magic words,  "he doesn't suspect a thing." When you're planning a surprise party, that is the ambrosia that you seek.  But since it is Dan, and Dan likes things simple and intimate, we got together the good souls I knew were free on a weeknight, ate some chips and queso tailgate style, and then strolled through the new museum. It was perfect. And yes, he was surprised, if not a little alarmed at how much lying I did to get him there. The dudes of the shindig:  The gorgeous dudettes of the shindig (top AND bottom photos, obvs.): And below, the children of the shindig. The most proper and adorable person ever: The blonde bombshell: The high on sugar Buzz(ed) Lightyear: ...

I entered this really dorky horse contest wherein you entered by submitting a picture of you and your horse, and your horse's "song." Yes, some horse people give their horses songs, the way some couples have a song. I think the favorite horse/rider song I'd ever heard suggested was one woman who said her horse's song was "Straight Outta Compton".  Hilarity. This was my entry: And yes, yes, I won. I am more than a little embarrassed about this. Or at least I was until my prize came in the mail, and then my inner child was set free all over again: Yes, that is a previously blogged about Breyer Horse  . Yes, it is signed. By who you ask?  My childhood 3-Day Eventing heroes and Olympic Medalists, Karen and David O'Connor. My fate as a total loser is sealed, and I just can't bring myself to worry about that. Too busy playing with Theodore.

A couple weeks ago when I posted a call for summer tunes, I got some excellent responses all around. But of course I suck, and I only just found time to check out all the recommendations I got, and discovered that my mother recommended THIS: I'm not saying that this is my best vocal work, but I am saying it's the best. My sisters are the best in all the land.

It's been a remarkable summer of enormous highs and profound lows.  Life has forced me to sort of look into the crystal ball and confront what it is I am really here to do, and I feel like I have made it to the other side not with despondency but with fervor; not with fear but with compassion. Though I am sorry to say that I am more impatient than ever. My relationship with horses has been a complicated and emotional one this summer.  My mother and I had a beautiful, absolutely perfect trail ride in California just a few weeks before the injury that stuck her in a wheelchair for a few months. I leased a horse, who is now injured. But I've replaced riding at the barn with coaching 4H, and in a lot of ways, that's better than riding someone else's horse. The little savings account I have entitled "Future Horse" is filling up, and every dollar there is a step closer to what I want most. Seeing it rise is better than all the borrowed rides in the past 10 years...

I want to say that something like this is way out of the ordinary for KSL horse ads, but tragically, this is the rule more than the exception. Sideways pictures, indifference (or ignorance?) to the apostrophe, space bar is optional, she misspelled quarter not once but twice, I have no idea what a Gorolla is (could you possibly mean grulla???) but apparently it means covered in slivers, and I would love to see that horse do some DERSAGE, and, my personal favorite, clearly, repeatedly, shamelessly misspelled the word "AND." AND. I get it. You don't need to go to school to sell/breed/raise/train horses. You don't need to spell to be in the know and win classes and pay your bills. But judging by the number of inbred, skinny, neglected rescue horses being given away on KSL, I would say it wouldn't hurt anyone in the horse industry to up their game a little, eh? Now that I have that out of the way, expect a post on Minneapolis soon, as well as a few photo...