What a day. It rained and rained and rained. Not very hard, just a steady, chilly drizzle. I was sure glad I decided to put on that extra vest this morning. And many thanks to the man at the hotel desk who gave me free ponchos this morning! He was a lifesaver.
With the aid of ponchos keeping me and my camera dry (or as dry as possible), I watched every single rider today. I took notes on every rider, and took as many pictures as I could, but the light was not very good for photography even with the stadium lights on, so I am not sure how some of them will be.
It is now very late already, almost 11:30pm, and I just got back after attending the most fantastic concert I have been to in recent memory. I heard the American Spiritual Ensemble (that had sung at the opening ceremony) at the 1st Presbyterian Church in Lexington. They were amazing - each and every song gave me chills or brought me almost to tears, or both. Look them up.
As for the horses, wow. The first big wow was Hans-Peter Minderhoud riding Exquis Nadine, who is a spectacular horse. His score of just over 72% was no shock at all. Could have been even higher without a few little bobbles in the test. Other rides I liked out of the morning session were Anabel Balkenhol (Germany), whose horse Dablino has a lovely passage and a well balanced canter, but was very tight and nervous in the walk, and Emma Kinerva (Finland) who is a lovely, soft rider. Her horse Sini Spirit started well but they had some mistakes in the canter zig-zag. A bit of controversy in the crowd after Anabel's ride since the judges scores ranged from 62% up to 72%. Interesting. Yet another reason I want to enter the USDF "L" judge program.
After a break for arena maintenance and the medals ceremony for Endurance (complete with victory gallop) there were six more rides before the lunch break. Oded Shimoni (Israel) rode a steady test but had some issues in the changes. I loved watching Luiza Tavares de Almeida (Brazil) ride. Her horse Samba was a bit heavier bodied and he needs to develop more thrust and power, but they were a lovely pair to watch and I will keep my eye out for them in the future.
After a very wet lunch break where I managed to score a free sample of some french pork dish at the booth advertising the next world games in France, our first US rider, Todd Flettrich, had a very good test. Some lovely piaffe work, but the last piaffe was quite stuck and tense, and Otto's flying changes tended to be a bit short behind. But a good showing for the first US rider with a score of over 66%.
The next few riders all had some nice moments, and some not so nice moments. The four riders after Todd ranged in scores from 64% to 66.5% or so. Then the next Dutch rider, Imke Schellekens-Bartels entered the arena. Wow. She gave Hans-Peter a run for the money, and she stole it. Her horse, Hunter Douglas Sunrise, was amazing. But for one bobble in the canter zig-zag, they would have scored even higher than the 73.4% they received.
The next horse to go was quite a contrast - a Spanish horse ridden by Claudio Castilla Ruiz from Spain. VERY different horse than the previous. Typical Spanish style stallion - very thick neck and crest, and a much more compact stride, especially in the canter. But he rode a well balanced test, and scored a respectable 67.3%. After that, a young German rider by the name of Christoph Koschel entered the arena on Donnperignon. Very nice, uphill moving horse with big extensions. Perhaps something of a sleeper after the Dutch horses were so flamboyant, but I loved him. And Christoph has a lovely seat with forward energy and none of the tension and backwards push I had seen in some of the other riders. Keep an eye on him too.
Belinda Trussel from Canada had a great ride, as did Sune Hansen from Denmark and Rackel Sanna from Australia. Last to go today was the other US rider, Katherine Bateson-Chandler, riding Nartan, a horse she has only been riding for about 6 months. They had a very good test, but there were a few errors that very much could have been due to the newness of the partnership. Must be nice to have a sponsor to go out and buy you a million dollar horse so you can qualify for the WEG. She did show well, ending with a score of 69.6% to put the US in fourth place after today.
I will try to get pictures up tomorrow!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The finale of the opening ceremonies
The final portion of the evening was titled "The Cadence of our Country" and was, I guess, somehow supposed to showcase the role horses have had in the history of the United States. Or was it supposed to touch on different cultures across the country and how the horse is a part of that? I am not really sure.
It opened in "The Big Apple" with Mario Contreras (who, if you don't know, is actually from Medieval Times in Chicago, nowhere near New York!) riding an Iberian horse. It was, perhaps, to the average person, lovely to look at. I was not particularly impressed, but he di
d put on a show. I did appreciate the moments that involved a solo dancer from the Lexington ballet mirroring the horse's spanish walk, but had enough of the horse doing the spanish walk backwards about two strides after it started.
Staying in the New York theme, they brought out renowned opera singer Denyce Graves, who sang some fabulous selections from Carmen. I had a bit of deja vu here, as I was once a member of the University of Miami Chorale singing these same pieces behind soloists from the French Opera under the direction of Alain Lombard. Great memories of that time. Again, I digress. So the singing was phenomenal, and the soprano Cynthia Lawrence was beautiful opposite Denyce singing the Flower Duet from Lakme. Look it up on YouTube - you will recognize it instantly. They were really top notch.
Unfortunately though, there was not much going on with horses during this segment, and a significant number of people left at this point. Really quite a shame, as it was musically a highlight of the evening. Note to future WEG planners - keep the horses coming or the horse people will get bored and leave. The tenor that joined the ladies for the last piece from La Traviata was fine, but just not really in the same league as the stars from the Met.
From the Big Apple, we headed to the "Wide Open West" where we met the California Cowgirls, and saw Vince Bruce and the Riata Ranch Cowboy Girls do some trick roping before Eitan Beth-Halachmy came out and demonstrated his "cowboy dressage." I have heard of Eitan before, and maybe seen a video or something, but never thought much of it. Last night, I was really impressed. Sure, it is not exactly dressage in the same manner that competitive dressage is. Then again, how often is competitive dressage really what "dressage" is meant to be? Another discussion entirely. I loved Eitan's riding. Quiet, soft, lovely to watch. Headset of course a bit different than "on the bit" in traditional dressage. His aids were virtually invisible though, and he rode like a true gentleman.
Following the cowboy dressage came an entirely different pair of cowboys - Tommie Turvey and Dan James, who both do a kind of natural horsemanship trick riding sort of show. Fun to watch; crazy to imagine training a horse to do what they did. Each rider (Tommie is from the US, Dan from Australia) came out bareback on their respective mounts, and later, a matched pair of each was sent out at liberty to join the show. Tommie had two paints, Dan two bays, and they both rode one horse while the liberty horse followed and mirrored their movements. Even to the extreme of laying down prone on the ground on command. If they can train their horses to do such things, shouldn't we all train our horses to do the simple things like stand still to mount or walk politely on a lead? It is all about consistency, and if we as the rider or handler are not consistent, the horse would never think it necessary either.
A visit to the Heartland was the next stop on our tour of America. This was perhaps the simplest part of the program. To me, it was the best. Sarah Lee Guthrie sang some of her grandfather Woody Guthrie's classics (including This Land is Your Land, for which the audience was asked to sing along) while Stacy Westfall rode with no tack. No saddle, no bridle, not even a rope around the neck. The music choices were a beautiful soundtrack to one of the best horse and rider relationships I have ever witnessed in person. Stacy rode from a walk to a flat out gallop and looked as if she was part of the horse. I kept noticing the horse licking and chewing now and then throughout their performance as if it was having just as much fun as its rider. Really made me want to have that level of bond with a horse again someday.
The final stop on tour was to "The Big Easy" of New Orleans. Again, another great musical moment with the American Spirtual Ensemble singing some well-known spirituals that even got some of us singing along. Once more though, no horses involved in the moment, so more people got up to leave. Gotta keep the horses coming! As the singers finished up, the Jazz at Lincoln Center group started to play traditional jazz while a parade of circus carriages came in and around the ring. The carriages were neat to see, and there were some cute "acts" interspersed between them (a miniature donkey got a few laughs when he stopped and refused to move!) but as a finale sort of thing, it was not very exciting.
The closing musical number was "The Impossible Dream" sung by Ronan Tynan, whose voice was as great in person as it is on recordings. I personally felt the song choice to be a little bit cheesy, but the addition of children's choir members from Haiti was touching. And then it was over. I think they brought some of the previous performers back out for a final curtain call, but to be honest, I don't remember, since by that time I was tired and ready to go. And so was everyone else! Add a bit of aggravation to that once we got to the parking lot where I literally sat still for 20 minutes before my lane could start to inch toward the exit. By that time it was almost 11pm. At least I had no trouble finding my car - there were quite a few people looking very lost and worried. Plenty of security staff around to help them. Wish there could have been more staff to help figure out traffic flow!
Pictures to come tomorrow - I have an early wake up call tomorrow for the first day of dressage competition - pray that it doesn't rain!
It opened in "The Big Apple" with Mario Contreras (who, if you don't know, is actually from Medieval Times in Chicago, nowhere near New York!) riding an Iberian horse. It was, perhaps, to the average person, lovely to look at. I was not particularly impressed, but he di
d put on a show. I did appreciate the moments that involved a solo dancer from the Lexington ballet mirroring the horse's spanish walk, but had enough of the horse doing the spanish walk backwards about two strides after it started.Staying in the New York theme, they brought out renowned opera singer Denyce Graves, who sang some fabulous selections from Carmen. I had a bit of deja vu here, as I was once a member of the University of Miami Chorale singing these same pieces behind soloists from the French Opera under the direction of Alain Lombard. Great memories of that time. Again, I digress. So the singing was phenomenal, and the soprano Cynthia Lawrence was beautiful opposite Denyce singing the Flower Duet from Lakme. Look it up on YouTube - you will recognize it instantly. They were really top notch.
Unfortunately though, there was not much going on with horses during this segment, and a significant number of people left at this point. Really quite a shame, as it was musically a highlight of the evening. Note to future WEG planners - keep the horses coming or the horse people will get bored and leave. The tenor that joined the ladies for the last piece from La Traviata was fine, but just not really in the same league as the stars from the Met.
From the Big Apple, we headed to the "Wide Open West" where we met the California Cowgirls, and saw Vince Bruce and the Riata Ranch Cowboy Girls do some trick roping before Eitan Beth-Halachmy came out and demonstrated his "cowboy dressage." I have heard of Eitan before, and maybe seen a video or something, but never thought much of it. Last night, I was really impressed. Sure, it is not exactly dressage in the same manner that competitive dressage is. Then again, how often is competitive dressage really what "dressage" is meant to be? Another discussion entirely. I loved Eitan's riding. Quiet, soft, lovely to watch. Headset of course a bit different than "on the bit" in traditional dressage. His aids were virtually invisible though, and he rode like a true gentleman.
Following the cowboy dressage came an entirely different pair of cowboys - Tommie Turvey and Dan James, who both do a kind of natural horsemanship trick riding sort of show. Fun to watch; crazy to imagine training a horse to do what they did. Each rider (Tommie is from the US, Dan from Australia) came out bareback on their respective mounts, and later, a matched pair of each was sent out at liberty to join the show. Tommie had two paints, Dan two bays, and they both rode one horse while the liberty horse followed and mirrored their movements. Even to the extreme of laying down prone on the ground on command. If they can train their horses to do such things, shouldn't we all train our horses to do the simple things like stand still to mount or walk politely on a lead? It is all about consistency, and if we as the rider or handler are not consistent, the horse would never think it necessary either.
A visit to the Heartland was the next stop on our tour of America. This was perhaps the simplest part of the program. To me, it was the best. Sarah Lee Guthrie sang some of her grandfather Woody Guthrie's classics (including This Land is Your Land, for which the audience was asked to sing along) while Stacy Westfall rode with no tack. No saddle, no bridle, not even a rope around the neck. The music choices were a beautiful soundtrack to one of the best horse and rider relationships I have ever witnessed in person. Stacy rode from a walk to a flat out gallop and looked as if she was part of the horse. I kept noticing the horse licking and chewing now and then throughout their performance as if it was having just as much fun as its rider. Really made me want to have that level of bond with a horse again someday.
The final stop on tour was to "The Big Easy" of New Orleans. Again, another great musical moment with the American Spirtual Ensemble singing some well-known spirituals that even got some of us singing along. Once more though, no horses involved in the moment, so more people got up to leave. Gotta keep the horses coming! As the singers finished up, the Jazz at Lincoln Center group started to play traditional jazz while a parade of circus carriages came in and around the ring. The carriages were neat to see, and there were some cute "acts" interspersed between them (a miniature donkey got a few laughs when he stopped and refused to move!) but as a finale sort of thing, it was not very exciting.
The closing musical number was "The Impossible Dream" sung by Ronan Tynan, whose voice was as great in person as it is on recordings. I personally felt the song choice to be a little bit cheesy, but the addition of children's choir members from Haiti was touching. And then it was over. I think they brought some of the previous performers back out for a final curtain call, but to be honest, I don't remember, since by that time I was tired and ready to go. And so was everyone else! Add a bit of aggravation to that once we got to the parking lot where I literally sat still for 20 minutes before my lane could start to inch toward the exit. By that time it was almost 11pm. At least I had no trouble finding my car - there were quite a few people looking very lost and worried. Plenty of security staff around to help them. Wish there could have been more staff to help figure out traffic flow!
Pictures to come tomorrow - I have an early wake up call tomorrow for the first day of dressage competition - pray that it doesn't rain!
Opening Ceremonies Part 2
After the parade of (human) athletes was finished, the orchestra began to play a haunting melody from "Scheherazade" and the audience hushed before a rider on an Arabian, in full native costume, rode out into the arena. She was joined by another rider in costume, plus others showcasing their discipline of western pleasure. Again, the horses and riders were winners of multiple championships and handled the electricity of the crowd like the true professionals they are.
Next came an appearance by a group that rarely comes to the US - the Koninklijke Vereniging Het Friesch Paarden Stamboek. How's that for a mouthful of Dutch? For those of you requesting translation, they called it "The Friesian Train" in English. I think it must be something less than a literal translation, but I can't say for sure! They started out with one rider, then two, in dressage attire of black coats and white breeches, trotting out to New York, New York. Eventually, there were ten horse and rider pairs doing quadrille work together. In terms of entertainment value for the non-dressage rider, it was great. The crowd loved it. I could not get past how tight the horses necks were, and how a couple of them almost looked as if they were actually touching there noses to their chests. Not really my training cup of tea, but it was another show of very precise riding set well to musical accompaniment. I am not sure I would have selected "Aquarius" as part of that segment, but since it is from the musical "Hair" and the friesians were all shown with their opulent manes left unbraided, I suppose it was appropriate!
After the friesians danced out of the arena, it was time for the business side of the opening ceremonies. The dignitary parade included the Kentucky bigwigs (Mayor Newberry and Governor Beshear) along with HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan. These dignitaries were driven into the arena in beautiful coaches that were immaculately turned out - there were pairs, and coach and fours. Someday I will get into carriage driving - the little I have done before has been very much fun, and I would love to feel the power of driving four in hand! Muhammad Ali was later driven in a classic car as a special guest. There was another car as well, but I can't for the life of me remember who was in it. Anyway, I digress. There is not much to say about the speeches other than they took to long. They were all very well spoken, and the Princess is very eloquent, but come on, we were all bored after 10 minutes. Finally, she said "Let the games begin!" and we were off. But not really - little did I realize there was still another hour of show to go.
Next came an appearance by a group that rarely comes to the US - the Koninklijke Vereniging Het Friesch Paarden Stamboek. How's that for a mouthful of Dutch? For those of you requesting translation, they called it "The Friesian Train" in English. I think it must be something less than a literal translation, but I can't say for sure! They started out with one rider, then two, in dressage attire of black coats and white breeches, trotting out to New York, New York. Eventually, there were ten horse and rider pairs doing quadrille work together. In terms of entertainment value for the non-dressage rider, it was great. The crowd loved it. I could not get past how tight the horses necks were, and how a couple of them almost looked as if they were actually touching there noses to their chests. Not really my training cup of tea, but it was another show of very precise riding set well to musical accompaniment. I am not sure I would have selected "Aquarius" as part of that segment, but since it is from the musical "Hair" and the friesians were all shown with their opulent manes left unbraided, I suppose it was appropriate!
After the friesians danced out of the arena, it was time for the business side of the opening ceremonies. The dignitary parade included the Kentucky bigwigs (Mayor Newberry and Governor Beshear) along with HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan. These dignitaries were driven into the arena in beautiful coaches that were immaculately turned out - there were pairs, and coach and fours. Someday I will get into carriage driving - the little I have done before has been very much fun, and I would love to feel the power of driving four in hand! Muhammad Ali was later driven in a classic car as a special guest. There was another car as well, but I can't for the life of me remember who was in it. Anyway, I digress. There is not much to say about the speeches other than they took to long. They were all very well spoken, and the Princess is very eloquent, but come on, we were all bored after 10 minutes. Finally, she said "Let the games begin!" and we were off. But not really - little did I realize there was still another hour of show to go.
Let the Games Begin!
The ceremony opened with a classic orchestral prelude - Fanfare for the Common Man. Think "Field of Dreams" if you aren't familiar. The opening involved two-legged performers first - some beautiful ballet, and the "celebration crew" which were people dressed in white wearing artistic horse heads. Our first equine stars were ridden by representatives of Native American tribes, and a Lakota chief spoke a prayer for all the nations. His horse sure looks a lot like one we used to have at OBF! Casino, anyone? And here is some eye candy for the ladies:
I am sure I might recall some of this out of order, or leave something out, but it was a long day and I could not manage to stay up and write this when I got back to the hotel!
We watched the riders from Culver Acadamey's Black Horse Troop and Equestriennes do some very precise drill team work as their colorguard brought in the American flag. Horses behaved very well, and the girls did a great job riding. Each one was carrying a full size flag in one hand and holding the reins in the other, and every one hit their marks. A few of the horses got a bit antsy while the
American Spiritual Ensemble sang the national anthem (quite lovely arrangement with the orchestra) but even the riders with horses that started acting up never seemed to lose their composure. The anthem was done well, but if you have ever been to a Chicago Blackhawks game, you know that nothing compares to that experience!The program moved on to a section entitled "Salute to Kentucky" which featured a group of American Saddlebred horses, both ridden and driven, and some great bluegrass music performed by the group Cherryholmes. William Shatner even drove one of his Saddlebreds as a special guest. People kept exclaiming about the long tails the horses had and I didn't have the heart to tell them that the horses wore extensions! It was fun to watch, and amazing to learn that the 8 or so horses in the arena at that time had won over 40 World Championships between them. They did bring some Thoroughbreds in for a "race" around the track, which was won by the great Chris McCarron. I was impressed at the way all of the other horses seemed nonplussed by the small group of TBs literally racing around the outside of the ring.
The salute to Kentucky closed with Wynonna Judd singing "My Old Kentucky Home." I was surprised that it looked like she was reading music off a stand - heck, she's a KY native, I would have thought she would know the words :)
Next it was time for the parade of athletes, which while not as long as an Olympic parade, sure took a long time. The roar of the crowd when the US team was announced was pretty special. I have never been at an event like this where riders are representing their country for a world title, and it made me really want to be in their shoes. Someday.
More to come later - I have a free day and plan to head over to Churchill Downs after a stroll around Louisville. Weather has been great so far! I have so many pictures, but as it got darker after the sun went down, and while my seat had a good view, my flash could not do much from so far away. Should have better pics from the dressage competition starting Monday!
Getting to the Opening Ceremonies at WEG!
So I made it! Just a 5 hour drive to my hotel in Louisville (where there was some trouble locating my reservation, but all is well) and then just over an hour to get to the Horse Park. Parking is $20, but was easy enough to access and then an easy walk to the front gates. I did not have much time to browse through the vendor areas yet, but there will be plenty of that later this week.
Tried to grab something to eat before the ceremonies started, but I was not hungry enough to pay almost $9 for a hot dog and stand in line with 100 other people to pay for it. Definitely going to try NOT to eat at the games. Could have had a banana for $1.50 I guess.
Got through the masses to where my seat was - the stadium is fantastic. Long lines to get your ticket checked, but shorter once I went around to the back side of the main seating area, which, it turned out, was right near the section where I was sitting. There was definitely an excited buzz through the crowd, and people turned out in anything from shorts and T-shirts to suits and cocktail dresses. My seat was in the main stadium area, under a roof, about 40 rows back, with a great view of the arena area. Had a post in the way of my view of the stage, which was not terrible, since they were showing the people that were on stage on big screens in the corners of the stadium. I settled in to my seat (not bleachers, thank goodness!), took a quick look through the $5 program, and got my camera ready to go.
Tried to grab something to eat before the ceremonies started, but I was not hungry enough to pay almost $9 for a hot dog and stand in line with 100 other people to pay for it. Definitely going to try NOT to eat at the games. Could have had a banana for $1.50 I guess.
Got through the masses to where my seat was - the stadium is fantastic. Long lines to get your ticket checked, but shorter once I went around to the back side of the main seating area, which, it turned out, was right near the section where I was sitting. There was definitely an excited buzz through the crowd, and people turned out in anything from shorts and T-shirts to suits and cocktail dresses. My seat was in the main stadium area, under a roof, about 40 rows back, with a great view of the arena area. Had a post in the way of my view of the stage, which was not terrible, since they were showing the people that were on stage on big screens in the corners of the stadium. I settled in to my seat (not bleachers, thank goodness!), took a quick look through the $5 program, and got my camera ready to go.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Chap Stick, or should I say Lip Balm
How many of you know exactly where at least three different sticks of lip balm are, in your possession, at just about every moment in time? Let us now admit to ourselves that we are indeed addicted to emollience. I currently have one in my nightstand; one lives in the kitchen; one should be in my purse but has been lost; one should be in my car but never made the transfer to the new Mazda 5; there are at least two other places in the house where I know I have a stash, and I have one at each of my places of work. Now I sound more than a little bit obsessed...but I will share with you my favorites anyway.
This time of year, I will admit to not really using my supply of chap stick (or whatever brand it is), but come the dry Chicago winter and I cannot live without it. Funny thing is, as much as I will shortly tell you that I have a definite favorite, I do not have more than one stick of any particular brand. Wierd.
Sugar Lip Treatment by the company Fresh is by far and away the absolute best lip balm I have ever tried. Comes at a hefty price though - $22.50 retail. Ouch. My stick of Sugar has lasted almost two years, but I will admit to using it very sparingly. But it is so good, put it on once in the morning and you honestly probably won't need to reapply except on the driest of winter days. This one is kept on a high shelf in the kitchen cupboard so there is no way the 2 year old can try it on!
So now on to the more "everyday" lip balms (or chappie, as we tend to call it in my house). Another favorite is actually the Whole Foods store brand, tangerine flavor. This one generally lives in my purse. They usually sell it near the checkouts, and it also comes in mint. I love the tangerine though, so have never strayed. If I remember correctly, it has olive oil and coconut oil in it, and the moisturizing qualities last for quite a while, as does the yummy citrus flavor.
My admiration of tangerine lip balm originally came from a stick of Badger Tangerine Breeze balm. Check out the other flavors that they have here. They are even certified organic, and only cost about $3. I have a partially demolished stick of Badger in the nightstand right now - you guessed it, an inquisitive two year old felt like he needed to use it. And push it back in the tube with his finger. But that was not as amusing as the cherry scented body lotion that he (and the carpet) recently tried on....Anyway, I have found Badger lip products at Ulta and Whole Foods, and on occassion at Bath & Body Works.
Speaking of Bath & Body Works, they carry C.O. Bigelow, whose "My Favorite Lip Balm" is recommended by many, but I have never actually tried it. Can't say I shop there much anymore. Same with The Body Shop - as much as I love their lip butters, you do have to apply them with your finger, so they are not always the most practical option. But the flavors are quite nice, and they do leave lips feeling moisturized without being greasy or sticky.
I was about to admit to not even having an actual Chap Stick anywhere, but lo and behold, I have just remembered the stick of vanilla mint that I keep in my husband's car. While not my favorite (just go splurge and buy the Sugar, or at least try it on at Sephora), the good old Chap Stick does the job and doesn't break the bank.
Let me know if you have any other favorites I have not mentioned - I am always up for trying something new!
This time of year, I will admit to not really using my supply of chap stick (or whatever brand it is), but come the dry Chicago winter and I cannot live without it. Funny thing is, as much as I will shortly tell you that I have a definite favorite, I do not have more than one stick of any particular brand. Wierd.
Sugar Lip Treatment by the company Fresh is by far and away the absolute best lip balm I have ever tried. Comes at a hefty price though - $22.50 retail. Ouch. My stick of Sugar has lasted almost two years, but I will admit to using it very sparingly. But it is so good, put it on once in the morning and you honestly probably won't need to reapply except on the driest of winter days. This one is kept on a high shelf in the kitchen cupboard so there is no way the 2 year old can try it on!
So now on to the more "everyday" lip balms (or chappie, as we tend to call it in my house). Another favorite is actually the Whole Foods store brand, tangerine flavor. This one generally lives in my purse. They usually sell it near the checkouts, and it also comes in mint. I love the tangerine though, so have never strayed. If I remember correctly, it has olive oil and coconut oil in it, and the moisturizing qualities last for quite a while, as does the yummy citrus flavor.
My admiration of tangerine lip balm originally came from a stick of Badger Tangerine Breeze balm. Check out the other flavors that they have here. They are even certified organic, and only cost about $3. I have a partially demolished stick of Badger in the nightstand right now - you guessed it, an inquisitive two year old felt like he needed to use it. And push it back in the tube with his finger. But that was not as amusing as the cherry scented body lotion that he (and the carpet) recently tried on....Anyway, I have found Badger lip products at Ulta and Whole Foods, and on occassion at Bath & Body Works.
Speaking of Bath & Body Works, they carry C.O. Bigelow, whose "My Favorite Lip Balm" is recommended by many, but I have never actually tried it. Can't say I shop there much anymore. Same with The Body Shop - as much as I love their lip butters, you do have to apply them with your finger, so they are not always the most practical option. But the flavors are quite nice, and they do leave lips feeling moisturized without being greasy or sticky.
I was about to admit to not even having an actual Chap Stick anywhere, but lo and behold, I have just remembered the stick of vanilla mint that I keep in my husband's car. While not my favorite (just go splurge and buy the Sugar, or at least try it on at Sephora), the good old Chap Stick does the job and doesn't break the bank.
Let me know if you have any other favorites I have not mentioned - I am always up for trying something new!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
An hour of peace...with my Nikon D200
If anyone out there actually reads this, you may have noticed that I have been suspiciously silent for the last few weeks. Chalk it up to life with two kids (or with the husband is that three?), two jobs, two dogs, and too much to do.
Finally, I have been granted a reprieve. Everyone else in the house is asleep, even the dogs. And it is not even the middle of the night! But I better go put that last load of laundry in the dryer before I forget - be right back :)
If the load that just came out of the dryer doesn't fold itself, I guess it will still be there in the morning. Oh well. At least getting the other load in to dry means my kids will be dressed in clean clothes tomorrow instead of staying in pajamas all day. I am sure my clothes will be wrinkled, as usual.
Even before the rest of the clan went to bed, I managed to squeak out a few minutes of time on the computer between making dinner and attempting to tidy up and get laundry and other assorted chores done. In the short bits of time, I finally downloaded about 500 pictures from my digital camera, the lovely digital SLR Nikon D200.
I have been an avid photographer for years, and my husband finally got me to go digital about 3 years ago. I won't get into all the details (and apparently they are obsolete anyway as this model has been replaced by the D300) but I love this camera and the pictures I get from it.
But it is sad, in a way, that now I might wait until I have 500 pictures saved up before I even look at some of them. Once, I honestly had over 1000 to download (how's that for a compact flash card!). Back in the old days when I used to use film (and sometimes carry two cameras to be able to shoot black and white at the same time as color) I used to take my rolls of film immediately for developing. I could not wait to see the finished results.
Now, it is just like those commercials. The poor pictures wait, and wait, and wait to be printed and shared with people in the great big wide world. And every time I look at the pictures I have taken, I love what I see. Keep in mind, anything I didn't like was deleted immediately after shooting! Really though, I love to catch a great shot, be it a smile or not, human or animal, vegetable or mineral :) I just have to get my act together and print them out and share them with people.
I guess I better put printer ink on the list, since my photo printer started printing all red last time I used it. And while I'm adding to the technology shopping list, a faster internet connection would be nice. Or perhaps a faster computer would help too. I have been sitting and waiting for some of my photos from a recent horse show to upload to photoshop.com and it is taking forever. I suppose I should just be glad that our internet connection hasn't randomly timed out in the middle of this upload, since I would just have to give up at that point tonight and start again someday...
Finally, I have been granted a reprieve. Everyone else in the house is asleep, even the dogs. And it is not even the middle of the night! But I better go put that last load of laundry in the dryer before I forget - be right back :)
If the load that just came out of the dryer doesn't fold itself, I guess it will still be there in the morning. Oh well. At least getting the other load in to dry means my kids will be dressed in clean clothes tomorrow instead of staying in pajamas all day. I am sure my clothes will be wrinkled, as usual.
Even before the rest of the clan went to bed, I managed to squeak out a few minutes of time on the computer between making dinner and attempting to tidy up and get laundry and other assorted chores done. In the short bits of time, I finally downloaded about 500 pictures from my digital camera, the lovely digital SLR Nikon D200.
I have been an avid photographer for years, and my husband finally got me to go digital about 3 years ago. I won't get into all the details (and apparently they are obsolete anyway as this model has been replaced by the D300) but I love this camera and the pictures I get from it.
But it is sad, in a way, that now I might wait until I have 500 pictures saved up before I even look at some of them. Once, I honestly had over 1000 to download (how's that for a compact flash card!). Back in the old days when I used to use film (and sometimes carry two cameras to be able to shoot black and white at the same time as color) I used to take my rolls of film immediately for developing. I could not wait to see the finished results.
Now, it is just like those commercials. The poor pictures wait, and wait, and wait to be printed and shared with people in the great big wide world. And every time I look at the pictures I have taken, I love what I see. Keep in mind, anything I didn't like was deleted immediately after shooting! Really though, I love to catch a great shot, be it a smile or not, human or animal, vegetable or mineral :) I just have to get my act together and print them out and share them with people.
I guess I better put printer ink on the list, since my photo printer started printing all red last time I used it. And while I'm adding to the technology shopping list, a faster internet connection would be nice. Or perhaps a faster computer would help too. I have been sitting and waiting for some of my photos from a recent horse show to upload to photoshop.com and it is taking forever. I suppose I should just be glad that our internet connection hasn't randomly timed out in the middle of this upload, since I would just have to give up at that point tonight and start again someday...
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