Thursday, March 5, 2009

Work hard, play hard

This weekend saw Armani and I working hard and playing hard. I attended one dinner party, hosted another, had a house guest snowed in with me, and spent many hours at the barn.

I was planning to host a dinner party for coworkers and spouses on Saturday. As I was house cleaning Thursday my best friend (and fellow equestrian) called from Connecticut. "Hey, I have some free time this weekend! I'm coming up to visit!" No problem, I thought. My house will be clean anyway. And she met many of my coworkers at my wedding.

I told my barn owner my friend would be visiting. "Oh, I'm having a pot-luck dinner party Friday. You two are invited!" No problem, I thought. I'll be cooking anyway for Saturday's party. What's another dish?

At work, we were talking about Saturday's party. "I can't get a babysitter," said the mother of a 4 year old boy, "so I won't be able to come." Everyone was disappointed. We agreed none of us would mind if he came. No problem, I thought. There will be enough people there anyway.

Friday we watched the Olympic dressage highlights with other horse ladies and ate rich treats. When we got home, I finished organizing my house. Saturday morning I prepped teriyaki, for the timid, and marbella skewers, for the brave. (See photo and recipe. I made skewers rather than whole chicken.) Then my friend, my mother, and I went to the barn. When I got home I showered and changed into a hostess outfit. Then I made salad. My friend made brownies. The other guests started arriving and I cooked the skewers and heated bread and oil for dipping. Everything went wonderfully but I slept well that night.

Sunday morning a major snow storm was brewing. No problem, I thought. I invited my friend to stay longer. We went back to the barn. We rode in the ring. But as we were untacking, we were invited to go on a trail ride. My barn owner offered another horse to my friend. "Well, Armani. You can just work twice." I announced. Armani gave me a look as I put his bridle back on. "It's no problem, Armani. I hadn't even taken your saddle off yet."

2 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

You sound like a very organized person. Glad everyone had a good time with friends and food. How did Armani enjoy his second go-round of riding? I'll bet he enjoyed himself whether he acted put out or not.

Christine said...

My goodness! Have you got special powers or something? What an eventful time it was for you!

congrats on pulling it all off - when I'm so busy the first thing that suffers is my time and motivation to work my old boy.