Throwback Thursday

So, my excitement over Throwback Thursday got slightly crushed when I joined Instagram finally and realized that everybody and their mother does throwback Thursday on Insta.  Only they do it with those obnoxious hash tags #tbt (which I still have a problem using sometimes because I think they are super stupid.... hypocrite?  Absolutely.).

But I decided that I was still going to be excited about my own little blog Throwback Thursday, so here you are:

Once upon a time, I was a high school senior.  As such, we were granted the wonderful, magical right to go off-campus for lunch.

I lived in a glorious little town called Wake Forest many moons ago at this time.  In Wake Forest, there was an ice cream outdoor place called "Goodberry's."  And I miss them dearly because they rock.  Key lime flavor day was my favorite.

On the very last day of our senior year at WFRHS, we all went out to a large group "lunch" at Goodberry's for our last hurrah.

Goodberry's has a fountain.

Logan, Chelsea's brother, and Matt, my boyfriend at the time, were evil.

My friends were instigators.

I got thrown into the fountain.

It was full of smelly pennies from people.

I stank all day.

But they were nice enough to take off my new rainbow sandals that I just got so they didn't get all wet and ruined (see foreground of the picture).

Stuff on Gunner's Head: Part 2

Even though Gunner turned one year old on Valentine's day (!!!!!!), he still lets me do this.

Sorry some are blurry.  The second to last one is a headband :)

Other than occupying myself by torturing my birthday pup, life goes on as usual.

Lots of baby ponies being born (including a Valentine's day colt).

 Got a new pair of boots (oh happy day!).

Had a super fun wine tasting/food pairing class with my buddies.  Hannah's family owns a vineyard in Michigan, so she is super knowledgeable about wines.  And I am not.  But after 11 different bottles and 4 separate instruction exercises, at least I can pretend like I know what I'm doing now :)

And Syd and I spent some quality time enjoying the sunshine and 70 degree weather beach-style.  So much dog love!

ttfn!
ap

Food for thought:
Trust fall fails are funny
Birds are smart.  Scary smart.
This is hilarious because it is true.

Concerts and critters

Ready for a catch-up of the last two weeks?  Ready..... set..... PHOTOS!

Oh, speaking of photos, I am now on the Instagram machine.  Follow me at @aparsons01 (thanks for the peer pressure to join, 2 phines ;))

Today was a pretty phenomenal Sunday.  I got to teach two amazing and wonderful kids riding lessons (this is Ethan, I need to get a picture of Antonia on a horse):

Don't worry;  I just teach him how to ride, not how to rope!  I also got to ride my mule, worked my dog on some cattle, went to church, and enjoyed a beautiful sun-shiney day.  God is so good :)

Back to business...

Two weeks ago I had the chance to see two incredible artists perform a really awesome show at my friend Carol and Carrie's house.  Seriously go check out Nate Currin and Brian Fuente.  They are for real.  Nate is a phenomenal singer/songwriter and some of y'all may know Brian from The Voice season 2 (he was the runner-up).

They were on the first leg of their tour together and stopped by SLO on their way to LA and the Grammys and agreed to do a house show thanks to our mutual friend (and my Bible study leader) Christina.

Aside from being amazingly talented musicians and singers, these guys were so awesome to hang out with.  They were both very humble and kind and super fun.  I left with 2 CD's and a promise to follow them in the future!

Here is sample of the awesomeness, Brian's song "Fear of Getting Over You":

Other than the concert fun, we got some goats at the horse unit to mow our grass,

Gunner hunted ground squirrels, per usual,

I hosted a Super Bowl party that included lots of beer (and my non-American friends, which are the majority of my friends, brought a projector so they could watch the Colombia vs. Paraguay soccer game that was on at the same time..... it was a very un-American Super Bowl...ha),

we had some bad weather (yes, that is hail!),

went to two shows with the Cal Poly Equestrian Team (who are all fast asleep when I drive them up to Stanford at 5:30 am),

caught some beautiful sunsets,

and had our first foal of the season born on Sunday.

In short, life is grand :)

ttnf!
AP

Food for thought:
Puppy vs. Treadmill

Sharing the SLO life

So..... I'm about 2 weeks behind on posting.  Again.  Dang it!  I was doing so good for a while!  Oh well.

So 2 weeks ago, I returned from my vacation and got to have a little stay-cation when some of my favorite people came to visit me!!!  Chelsea, Caroline, and Emily came to California!

They enjoyed a day in San Fran and I drove up to meet them after work last Friday night.

I was still recovering from the black plague that I was stricken with following the cruise and I didn't have much of a voice (think pre-puberty 12 year old boy).  So when we did a little late night walk to Ghirardelli Square, I just got tea instead of ice cream (and got criticized by the Phines).

Side bar:  many photos stolen from Caroline and Chelsea.

We woke up to an absolutely beautiful morning filled with sunshine and Golden Gate Bridges.

Fail....... trying to hold up the bridge.  Not raise the roof.

Then we began our drive down to SLO.  Stopped for lunch in Monterey, of course.

And then took the always-beautiful drive down highway 1.  I have made this drive about half a dozen times now, and each time it still takes my breath away.  It is such an absolutely amazingly beautiful sight that I really  can't describe it to you even through pictures.

Right before Emily left those sunglasses on top of that rock....

We even made it to San Simeon to see the elephant seals (the dark blobs in the picture below) before it was too dark.

The next day we were blessed with another beautiful day, so we rose bright and early to go on a ride.

I love our Cal Poly broodmares.... I think they are so pretty :)

Then we cleaned up and headed down to Avila Beach for some sunset-watchin' and classy wine drinkin' (red solo cup.... I lift you up.....).

Saw some random guys  jump off the pier.

For a different account (and slightly different photos) of this trip, check out here and here.  Now is a great time to give a shout-out to the brand-new Caroline and Chelsea blog, aka 2 Phines.  They post some pretty good stuff (and tell you how to make yummy edibles).

I am so, so, so incredibly lucky to have these girls in my life (you too Hales!  You were greatly missed.).  They have been by my side since elementary school.  Well, OK, maybe they weren't totally on my side all the time in elementary school, but in middle school we got our mess together.

The last time I saw them was in August for only a short 2 hours at a dinner while I was in town, before they left town (to come out west, ironically).  It is amazingly wonderful that after so much time apart, we still have the same kind of friendship.  We've changed, and life has changed, but the way we work together hasn't changed at all.  And I love that. I haven't lived within 1,000 miles of them in almost 5 years, and we still laugh at the same stupid things, feel perfectly at home with one another, and at the end of the day we are still perfectly content to call it a night at 8:30 pm and watch Friends re-runs on TV.  I know that they still have my back and still love me the same way that they did when we were in 11th grade, even if we do live 3,000 some miles apart.  And that, my friends, is freakin' awesome.

love,

ap

Food for thought (I should probably stop calling it this, since I'm not giving y'all much food for thought anymore.... I think I'll change the name of this section to "Mostly stupid YouTube videos that are good for a laugh with an occasional deep-meaning video most likely related to agriculture")

Music is powerful

God bless the 90's...and jellies.... 

Simulated labor....for men.  HA.