Why Do You Ride?

http://ariat.votigo.com/ariat/

Do You Ride?

"A bond with a rider and a horse is priceless and irreplaceable."

It's addictive. It's good for you: mentally and physically. It's a stress reliever. It's a passion. It's a love. It's a way of life.

I ride. I love it.

It's my way of life.
Now.
&Forever.






"There is something on the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."
~Winston Churchill

Derby Fever!

Got Derby?

So this Friday is the Kentucky Oaks and Saturday is... The Kentucky Derby!
Also known as "The Run for the Roses!"
I rootin' for Awesome Act and Lookin' At Lucky.



Since I'll be away from the TV Saturday evening I'm going to have to find something that keeps me up to date on Derby News!

Nikon D3000

So, recently my family and family friends went to this annual camp out called, PWYP or Practice What You Preach! It's a week full of catching up with friends, relaxing, and enjoying the great outdoors! PWYP takes place up in the mountains of North Carolina.

The whole place is just absolutely beautiful! I love it- 100% breathtaking!
While I'd love to talk more about camp, I'm going to post a few pictures that I took and added to my "Photography" folder.

I've just discovered how when I enlarge the photo the picture quality goes down quite a bit. One of these days I need to set up a Flickr or something of the likes to display my photography.

I was really excited when I figured out how to hold my shutter open, which is how I took the photo to the left. I love waterfalls and wanted to take a photo like that one for a long time; that's when I just happened to adjust the settings just right, and viola!

I don't own a portable tripod (Birthday present maybe??? Mines coming up soon!) and with these types of photographs the camera has to be held 99.99% still. I was getting slightly frustrated with myself because I just couldn't keep my arms still. Then I had the brilliant idea to find a large-ish rock--- that was dry, as to not get my camera wet! :} And let me tell you- it worked! And I was sooo happy! I don't think I've ever been so excited about taking a picture in my life!

(My sister took a picture of my rock/tripod.)
Nature photography is something I really enjoy. The thing about nature photography is really the same as any type of photography, you might take 60 photos and only end up with one really good one, but it's that one good photo out of the 60 that makes you feel accomplished. I know I took a dozen or more of the waterfall but only about 3 or 4 turned out really good. And I was (and still am) really excited about it.



Rosco, my older sisters boxer is a favourite of many people everywhere! He's such a sweet boy and he has one heck of a personality! When we were at camp a few people went out towards the range and Rosco and I decided to head the opposite direction. While we were on our fun "field trip", I couldn't help but take some great shots of my "nephew"! One of my favourites is over here to the right. I don't know how long he stood like that but it was for a while. He probably knew right where his mommy was even though he couldn't see her; and I'm pretty sure if she were to call him he would of taken off and have left me behind! He's such a mama's boy! :P


Jessica, (my older sister), Laura, (a good friend of ours), and I had gone on a hike one afternoon up to the top of Chestnut Mountain. And let me tell this, that was one heck of a hike! It wasn't too steep but it was so much fun. There were a lot of fallen trees and we moved some of the smaller ones out of the way and went around the rest. At one point we even used a handkerchief to mark a fork in a trial that way we wouldn't get confused on our way back. I loved how we worked so well as a team and considered all ideas we had and all the information and experience and combined it all.(That was a lot of "and"s! lol) We made it back alive and unscathed! Even though we were almost worn out once we reached the top, the breath taking view was worth it! (And we didn't get eaten by a bear so BONUS!) On our way back down Jess pointed out this purple flower, so of course, I snapped a picture.

I definitely enjoyed this years PWYP (always do!) and look forward to next years.