Queen Of Denial

Oh my. I think I'm in a great state of denial right now and I have a feeling it may come back to bite me in the booty. I could be wrong, I may just really not have all that much prepping to do, but something tells me I'm going to seriously regret my laid back attitude right now next week when I'm running around like crazy.

And it's not like I've been sitting on my butt getting nothing but relaxing accomplished either. I've been busy! I had birthdays to celebrate, new kitties to play with and clean up after, horses to ride, drill practices to attend, 4th of July parties to go to, etc. etc. etc. It's been a crazy busy couple of weeks. I think I might finally be recovering from the long weekend last weekend. It was exhausting.

But see, here's the thing...next week is the one and only drill competition I'm doing this year. NEXT WEEK! It's a big competition that lasts 3 days and we go in the afternoon before so I will be there for three nights.

I have really enjoyed being an associate member this year. It's been a much more relaxed summer so far. I believe my team has already done 4 or 5 competitions this year, which means that is 4 or 5 weekends that I wouldn't have had at home, had I been a full riding member. That's a lot. It's made a huge difference. Huge!

Nevertheless, this one competition has managed to sneak up on me. I'm not terribly surprised, competition season always does. I just can't believe it's next week! I feel like I should be super busy getting ready, but then I try to think about what I actually need to do and it doesn't seem like all that much. I really should try on my jeans and make sure they still fit and check out the status of my "competition tubs". I have everything I need in great plastic tubs and am usually really good about cleaning and organizing everything in them when I get home from a competition so they are ready to go for next time, but by the end of the season last year I was so beyond burned out that I may have just not wanted to look at them ever again. I really need to get them down from storage and check them out. Among other things. I know there is stuff I really should be doing.

I think this year is going to be a lot more relaxed for me though. In past years I've been in charge of stall decorations and the team scrap book. Of course, since I am also the queen of procrastination, I was usually throwing the scrap book together the week or two before state and doing last minute replacements/additions to the stall decorations, rider/horse names and pictures, etc. It also made for a whole lot of packing and preparation that I needed to do going into state. This year I am not doing any of that. I just need to bring me, my stuff and my horse. You don't even know how fabulous that is.

The best part of this whole thing though...I'm in four drills. Since I am taking others spots in 3 of the drills, I have hardly practiced them at all and the 4th drill, Compulsory, we only perform at state so we just haven't practiced it much period. We are also not doing extra practices this year so in the two weeks between their last competition and state I have 2 practices to learn the drills. I'm trying not to stress about it, I know I can do it, but I do get a little worried about it on occasion. I certainly don't want to let the team down if I forget a part and screw every one up! That's not fair to them and all the hard work they've put into the drills.

In Freestyle I carry a flag (one of two flags in a column of ten riders) and lead part of it and have my own special little spot for part of it, so if I screw up it's bad. I have been able to fill in in "my" spot a couple times in the last month so I know the drill a little bit. In Short Program I lead for part of it and am mostly a follower for the rest, but I rode that drill for the first time last weekend so it's not as familiar to me as Freestyle. The quad that I am a part of is the quad that I've been riding with for the past few years. I wrote the drill so I know it, but I'm in a different spot then I had been riding so I need to basically learn it backwards from what I was used to riding. I think I mostly follow in it though so hopefully it will be easy enough.

To make the weekend even more interesting, there is a cutting show on that Saturday. I'm leading the standings for my class right now, but the boyfriend is sneaking up on me, along with a couple other people that could take the lead if I miss a show. The arenas are about a half hour apart and my ride time for drill is later in the afternoon so I'm hoping that I can sneak out and get my cutting class in before I have to be back for drill. Should be interesting. Fingers crossed that it works out! I'm not holding my breath though.

So wish me luck with drill! I'm going to need it! Kitten updates coming soon, promise! I hope to have a little time this weekend to get some pics of them up. Thanks for some really cute name suggestions! I really liked Ethel and Lucy, Patch and Tabitha (love it!), and Romy and Michelle. Great ideas! I was going to call them Rita and Tini, like the drinks, but they just weren't fitting. I think I have some cute ones picked out though, I'll let you know what they are if they stick.

Hope you all are having a great week and enjoying some good weather! Any fun adventures for you guys on the horizon?