Weekend Wrap Up

As stated earlier in the week in went horseback riding. On a real horse- with horseshoes, a saddle, and reigns!! I'm not talking a pony here either. 100% bon-a-fide horse. That little girl in me was jumping for joy!!

{be advised} I have run out of mascara and refuse to fork over the amount of cash at the moment to replace my favorite make up item. So please excuse the extreme hot mess.

Salento

Royal and I

 All my life I have thought that if I tried enough things I would stumble upon something that I was an absolute savant at. When I was 17 I thought it was archery. Strange, right?? And in case you were wondering....it wasn't archery. When I got on to my horse it took a few moments to get my bearings but after that I was completely comfortable. I was even out in front of our guide. He complimented me through out the day which only made me blush, because when I was galloping through the countryside I felt like I was Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride {lol}

Pretend Pioneer Woman an MM

Cheese

Time of my life!

Beautiful right?

At the end of our ride:(

I was so surprised at how natural it felt for me to hold the reigns and ride. I absolutely loved it and told Royal so every 10 minutes. Time of my life kinda stuff. I have found my new hobby my friends. I would never get into competitions or anything, but I want to go out and ride all the time. Especially after my bottoms heals because man those saddles are HARD and we will leave it at that.

Have any of you ever been riding? "If you have the means....I highly recommend one." Anyone? {name that movie} Anyone??

Have a happy weekend my friends:)

xO-Etheline

Weekend Wrap Up

This past week we jumped on a plane and left Bogota and headed to another city in Colombia called Armenia. Wait until you hear about this place. No, seriously you'll have to wait till next week. ;) For the moment though here's some visual candy of what we have done in the last week.

@ Jardin Botanical Garden

Playing in the Butterfly Farm

The Little Girl is Starting to Tag Along

Apples at 3000 feet

In addition to our photos I decided earlier in the week to help you all get to know little old me better we'd start off slow and I'd share 4 things about myself every Friday. Let's see how this goes over instead...shall we-

1.  I love to write. I've been working on a book for sometime now. Did you know that? I would love some feedback. If I posted the 1st chapter would you be interested?? DO tell...

2. Yes I am the {more often than not} responsible mother of 3 children, but love listening to Nirvana and Raidiohead {especially Creep}. I love stumbling upon new music, but to be honest I love listening to the same old stuff. Tuesday Night at the Music Club by Sheryl Crow circa 1994 baby!

3. Reading was never my favorite thing growing up. In 2008 I read Twilight {i know, i know} and that all changed. I read 50 books that year.

4. Now with the boom of Nooks, Kindle, and audio books I am afraid that words on paper will become obsolete. Because we are traveling now I have an Ipad and read books on my nook now and audio book on iTunes. Tell me, what does "I read a book" mean to you. Does listening to an audio book count as reading?

5.I'm the kind of girl who hates the words flighty and indecisive. I prefer the idea of, depending on the mood I'm in, wandering around from passion to passion.

What are your plans for the weekend? Will you be enjoying the sunshine and spring flowers? Working on a DIY project that has been on your mind ever since you fell in love with it on pinterest? Taking in a baseball game? Whatever it is, I hope you all enjoy yourselves.

 xO-Etheline

Words To Live By

Over the weekend I was followed around by a metaphorical, as well as literal dark cloud, that taunted me with a torrential down poor at any possible moment. And therein was the excuse I needed to let the major chip on my shoulder loose on whomever or whatever I pleased. I knew I was being terribly irrational and cold to loved ones as well as perfect strangers, but I felt like I had hit my first wall since we had left home. It had been a little over two weeks since we arrived in Colombia and the romance of a new language had fizzled out for. Instead I found myself angry that I couldn't communicate beyond a "Hello, how are you?" I was tired of it being cold and rainy, and my never ending supply of patience with my kids was running low. Royal decided to come down with a gnarly cold and share it with Margot, and when she is sick...she flips her switch and becomes something similar to a raging little lamb! So we have been hulled up in our tiny apartment for what is turning into a long weekend and everyone is beginning to show symptoms of cabin fever.

During the minutes I was experiencing these hardships I wanted to cry to someone about how horrible life was, because at that moment I was so blinded by what I was feeling that I thought the sun would never reappear.

When I woke up this morning after being up with Margot for 3.5-4 hours last night I was expecting to be irritable and tired. To my most happy surprise though I felt well rested and chipper. I came down with the kids at 7am and made pancakes for everyone while Royal slept upstairs.

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While I was flipping pancakes I couldn't help but remember this quote I found a few weeks ago because you see I was acting ridiculous. Even though it wasn't the greatest of weekends of my entire life it forced me to stop and take a step back. I needed to look at the whole picture so that I could realize that I am truly blessed. My family is all healthy and we are traveling this great world. My husband and I had the means for him to quite his job and still be able to take care of all out other responsibilities. I get to spend every day for the next {at least 6 months} with my husband without anyone or anything getting in the way. How flippin' lucky am I??!?!

I'm so grateful for words like these that happily break into my thoughts when I'm in a rut of feeling sorry for myself. A real "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" kinda quote. So this week let's all try to shake off the negative we are thrown up against and focus on things we do have and are blessed with. Who's with me??

Happy Tuesday Friends--

xO- Etheline