Reminiscening..... =)

Just felt like putting up a cute picture of Bonk =)

After the Trip

Home from our trip. We had a great time!! Although, if we never see Indiana again, we're perfectly fine with that. I have a lot of pictures that I have up on Facebook, but I will put up another post with a few select pictures.

More later on the trip. At the current moment, I have managed to get a sinus cold and I need something to drink.

~linds

The countdown is on!!

About this time next week, we will have arrived in Lexington, delivered the necessary paperwork that I won't have time to mail in, maybe made a few purchases already at the swap meet, and hitting the sack early to get ready for the show at BreyerFest! I can't wait!!! First, we're swinging through Dyersville, IA, to see the Field of Dreams. Then down through the Quad Cities to hit up Whitey's, then to Peoria to see my Gramma. Then to Kentucky for a weekend, and one our way home, we stop overnight in Chicago and get some Italian Beef at Steve's Gyros. It is going to be a great trip!!!

And also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLEY!!! Love you my little sister!!

~linds

3 Years

Yep - it's been 3 years! Where has the time gone?! It's been a pretty great 3 years! We're just hanging out today. Gonna hit up someplace for breakfast, go see Star Trek, then a little shopping at Best Buy and elsewhere. And in one week, we're on the road for our trip!

~linds

Summer Trip and BreyerFest

Ok, for our summer trip this year, we're going to take a little tour.  No, not a 3-hour tour, a 7 day tour.  I figure if we could successfully navigate our honeymoon in the car without killing each other, we'll be fine.  (just kidding...)

Our itinerary includes Dyersville, IA, to see the Field of Dreams.  Hey, they built it, we're coming!  Then we swing down through the Quad Cities where I was born to pick up some Whitey's ice cream (only the BEST ice cream around) to Peoria to see my Gramma and say hi to my Grandpa at the cemetery.  We'll stay overnight there, then swing over to Lexington, KY, to attend BreyerFest.  This is the 3-day expo that Breyer puts on every year for collectors.  For those out of the loop, I collect Breyer model horses.  Close to 300 in my collection now.  And during BreyerFest at the Kentucky Horse Park, they hold a model horse show.   (Before I go explaining that, let me finish the road trip destinations.)  After BreyerFest, we swing back over to Louisville to tour around and catch a Louisville Bats game.  (That's the local AAA baseball team.)  (Can you see that we're blending our interests into this trip?  Baseball and horses.)  After a night in Louisville, we head for home through Chicago.

Ok.  Model horse shows are similar to real horse shows, except the horses are plastic and about 12 inches tall or smaller.  Read this or this to get an idea of how things work.  Here's my....problem.  I'm competing in this for the first time against very experienced showers.  And those with a lot more money to get the pretty, fancy, rare horses.  There are two classes I'm anxious about - the Collector's Classes.  These are classes that basically allow a collector to exhibit some of the finer points of the collections.  The first is a theme class.  Pick a theme and show 8-12 horses in that theme, like all one breed, one color, one mold, etc.  I have chosen to show the horses that were created to depict horses from the Marguerite Henry Books.  In case you need to catch up, she wrote "Misty of Chincoteague", "Stormy, Misty's Foal", "King of the Wind" and many, many more.  I have the horses, and I'm displaying the oversized paperback books with each horse.  The second class is a Collectibility class.  Basically, a variety of models.  

But, I ask myself, how am I displaying these collections?  Herein lies my problem.  I have no clue.  I used Google Image search to look up some past collections that people have put up pictures of, and basically, I'm sunk.  (I think the link will work right.)  These are not only impressive horses (wedgewood blue Fury model!?!?!), they are impressive displays.  And I won't be able to use the same display for each class, they get set up at the same time.

Sigh.

So......this part of showing, besides getting all the horses cleaned up and ready to travel and show, will be consuming my brainwaves until the show is over.  Because I'm sure I will be making last minute adjustments until ribbons are awarded.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!!!

Where Have I Been?

Ok, so I've been negligent on updating my blog.....  ::hanging my head in shame::  We've been busy!  

Ok, let's see...what's been going on.....we survived through winter, though there are some days it feels like it hasn't ended.  The average high temp for this time of year is low 70s, and we keep dipping down to the low 50s and in the 60s for highs.  It's crazy.  We get the warm days now and then, but they only come in short bursts.  Sometimes we wonder if we're ever going to see the warmer temps and be able to enjoy being outside on the deck.

And speaking of deck, we now have a gas grill and some patio furniture!  We got it at the beginning of May, and we love it.  Cooking on a gas grill is so much easier than a charcoal.  Yeah, you miss out on the flavor, but I grew up on a gas grill, so I don't really miss the other one that much.  It makes it so easy to cook!  We also have the sunroom cleaned up again and able to be used.  It became storage over the winter, since we have no basement or attic.  We need to get a new shed outside to be able to store stuff out there.  The two we have are in pretty sad shape.  One has doors that don't work quite right (warped and slightly rusted) and the other one had a leaky roof which finally caved in a bit and the door has completely pulled away from the shed.  Lovely.

I finished my online class for the semester.  I took Intro to Cultural Geography online through the UW system.  I only need 2 classes to finish a general associates degree in order to pursue my bachelors.  The degree I have from Brown in Minnesota won't transfer over because it's not accredited.  >=(  So I have to start from scratch, in a sense.  I just have one class to take this fall, and then I have the AA!  Then it's on to figuring out what to major in for a bachelors and figuring out where to go.  (And I'm not doing law school, contrary to what a friend of mine thinks!!)

Ok, I think that's about it for now.  I have pics that I'll get up on here soon....promise, Cole!