Has it really been over a week already?
My goodness! Time flies, eh?
Well – the rest of my trip to MA was reasonably uneventful.. I hung out with my family, I saw an AMAZING hockey game (Providence Bruins v. Worcester Sharks) which ended up with a goal in the last 10 seconds, to secure the Bruin’s win, and then on the Sunday, I hung out with my “city cousins” out in Somerville… We had dinner, I had the best veggie burger in the world EVER, and got ice cream, hung out, chatted etc, and then Mel’s husband, Jamie, drove me to the bus station for my bus back to Kingston…
Well – my bus got cancelled, so I had to wait til morning, I stayed with Mel and Jamie, and then got the next bus, at 10am, to Montreal. This journey was somewhat of a disaster to be honest… the driver got lost… twice… and the bus skidded sideways down the highway somewhere in VT. We weren’t allowed to stop for a rest break, as we were about 2 hours late, so Ionly had the sandwich I had bought in the station, and a nutrigrain bar… A little old lady was asking the bus driver to stop for food – she was diabetic, so she needed to eat, and the driver would not accommodate her… she was starting to get really panicked, so I offered her my apple… As it happened, she had dentures, so couldn’t eat my apple, and therefore, I gave her my sandwich.. It nearly killed me to hand over my lovely little ham and cheese, no tomato sandwich… but… Karma and all that! haha!
I finally made it home about midnight, a mere 15 hours after I left Mel’s house! Craziness!
This week has been muddling for lots of reasons, but it’s actually ok… I’m on top of it… I’ve got a wicked tooth ache, and need my wisdom teeth out, but other than that…I’m set. 
Kelsey comes home on Monday, and I CANNOT contain my excitment. She has been gone FAR TOO LONG.
Let’s just say, neither of us are looking forward to being separated again in April… This is gonna be HARD.
Peace out.
xxx
The Day After The Best Day Ever…
Well – I guess the day after a really good day is always going to be a let down, and today is no different…
Yesterday was fun… I got to do 2 of my most favourite things in the world, with some of my most favourite people….
I got up at the butt crack of dawn (AKA 6.40am), got dressed, ready to leave, and jumped on the train to Boston….I hopped on the T, and made it to South Station in time to leap onto my next train, to Franklin, MA, where my friend, Andy stables his horse.
In a kind of funny, and usual twist for this particular friend, he was late… however, he was NOT late… he was simply at the wrong train station! haha!
When he got there, we headed to the barn, I brought Zach in, groomed, harnessed and hitched. He’s just got a new carriage, it’s actually pretty cool – it’s got telescopic shafts, so they move with the horse when it’s turning, which makes it easier for tighter turns. Turns out that his horse, Zach, doesn’t throw as many bones as any other horse I’ve driven – and we pulled out on to the wrong side of the road (I’m BRITISH!) and then Zach presently, halted. And would. not. move. I swear, all the tea in China would not have made that horse move without JUST the right amount of contact… Now, this horse is perfect for Andy, whose job it is to teach people to drive, but yesterday, I could have killed him. But, if I think about my lesson, really I learnt a lot… mainly that I’ve never had to THINK about my contact when I’m driving, as everything I’ve driven to date has either putzed along without a huge contact, or pulled like a steam engine, and pulling my arms out of my sockets… I also learnt that I drive better when I look at the sky…. or just, not the horse! I need to work a lot on feeling the horses mouth, and getting that right balance of contact, to engage the horse… Oh yeh, and I drive from my Biceps, and appear to lose all movement in my wrists the second I pick up the reins….and I drive with my hands WAY too low, and WAY WAY too far apart. Thank you Trudi. I blame all those years of riding with my hands as low as they could go, set it place either side of your withers, trying to offset the head swinging, bit snatching, taking off, or rearing goodness that is my first love.
After my lesson, I drove with Maggie, his numero uno, star pupil. She’s a hoot, and I always forget how flipping young she is! It was so good to see her, I haven’t seen her in maybe 18 months, and she’s talking about coming to university in Scotland, which would be seriously cool. I think she’d love it there. Her pony is generally a legendary superstar, but yesterday, she was being kind of a pig. Which was kinda nice – I’ve never seen her put a foot wrong, so it was nice to be reassured that she is, after all, a normal pony! Maggie did a bit of “hazard” stuff – tight turns around trees, and that sort of stuff, and I backstepped, to stop the carriage tipping over, and so that Andy could watch from the ground. On the way back to the barn, Andy drove, and when we were leaving the airfield, hit a big old pothole, sending me into the grips that the backstep uses to hold onto, and swing off… well he may have a fancy pants new carriage, but those grips are a pain in the ass… I attempted to impale myself when we hit the pothole – I have a lovely purple bruise to show for it!
After Maggies lesson, we putzed about a bit, we went back to Andy’s house, had some lunch, and then headed to the store where Andy had a couple of things to do… Famous last words… We made it out of the store about 3 hours later, and headed to the mountain to get some skiing in… The roads were awful, and it took FOREVER to get there, but we did, and we skiied.
I was doing ok, I think I want to take some lessons though, I seem to be “stuck” skiing right where I am, and not really improving. Conditions were pretty good, it was a wee bit cut up in places, but whatever… It wasn’t too icey, or too drifty, so it was good. Andy’s sister came along too, so it wasn’t just me in slowtown! I’m getting better though… I’m definitely not as slow as I was last year… We skiied a good few runs, Andy and I skied the black diamond run (read: scary) but I survived to tell the tale… the last run I took with Liz, to let Andy get some fast runs in, I WIPED OUT…. in an oh so spectacular way… I kinda sprawled on the snow, Liz came down, and sat down. I caught my breath, nursed my sore wrist, and got up and skiied to the lodge… I iced it, it hurt, and I took some painkillers… Its not so bad today, I think it’s just sprained or bruised etc… Just like my ego!
Today, I slept til 9.15, and its now noon, and I’m still in my pjs… my wee cousin will be home soon, so I need to put some lunch on for her, and I might walk up to the park with her, just to relieve my sense of Cabin Fever… It’s funny, I had a great, and busy day yesterday, and now I just want out of the house again today… I want to be with my friends, doing things I love… ah well, it won’t be long till I’m driving again, the skiing is going to be a tad more difficult in N.Ireland though, that’s for sure!
xxx
Quote of the Day:
My 3 year old “second cousin once removed” (AKA my baby cousin) whilst sitting on my knee helping me facebook, looks at the keyboard, picks out the letter T, and says:
“Hey! T for Momma!”
When I realised she meant that her momma’s name starts with a T, I laughed out loud… Pretty cool for a 3 year old!!
And now,in the words of Mairead:
o,jhih7y65r52222`11767O
That is all.
xx
Update on the Life of Lauren
According to a very dear friend, I live “just outside the realms of reality.”
He said this after me begging and pleading for him to go skiing with me this morning, a BEAUTIFUL morning, and perfect for skiing… He had to work. What I want to know, is, firstly, what is the point of being the Boss if you can’t take a day off once in a while, but secondly, and more importantly, why on earth is living on the edges of reality a bad thing?
I am 20 years old, and I live in MY reality… My reality is somewhat different from yours perhaps, but it is mine. It is how I live my everyday life, with minimal stress, much laughter, and plenty of spontaneity.
Having some older friends, and seeing how much their reality differs from mine makes me want to stay right where I am, for a very long time!
OkOk, rant over. I am back in Concord, MA, and I’m LOVING it… life here goes on the same as always, the kids are adorable, and nothing ever changes here… I sat this morning, drinking my coffee, eating my bagel, and watching the world go by… I love suburban life, but only for short periods of time – I’m a country girl at heart, and I’d rather be watching the cows come in than the “soccer moms” gossiping at the school bus stop!
I’ll try and update some more this week – I’m gonna go play with my wee cousin now…
xx
Photo Update
Ok – so I was looking at my blog today, and I don’t have very many photos… So – I am going to put a big old selection up… sorry if I’ve already posted some!
xxx
Skiing in Alpine
Kelsey's Ski Chalet - looks like a gingerbread house!
On the lift!
Ebony and Ivory, eh?
Ashley et Moi - Dec 08
I love my Kelsey!!
hmmm. This is all for now… I need to get the camera some new batteies, so I can take more pictures!!
Kels and I are about to do our “CostCo Run” for the Superbowl Sunday party! HOORAY!!
xxx
Why I am a closet socialist… and other tales of adventures in Canada-land.
I have always maintained that I am by nature, a “small c conservative.” I hold reasonably conservative values, yet I believe that the socialist side of government is very much required.
Today I definately swayed away from my “Blue” roots a bit…
I discovered today that I have some food allergies, which is not a big deal really, but that I would need to carry an Epi-Pen in case of emergency… eg, I could potentially go into Anaphylactic shock, which, if not treated promptly with the adrenaline in the Epi-Pen, can result in death, as everyone in VCB knows only too well…
Well… the only problem is – the Epi-Pen, a life saving device, costs $150. Now, I understand that if I *need* it – it will be worth every cent. What really annoys me is that there are so many people, all over this province, that simply could not afford $150 on the off chance that they *might* need it…
If I was in the UK right now, my doctor would have written my prescription, and the chemist would have given it to me – perhaps for a dispensing fee of approx £5, or $10.
It just bugs me. I am really cross about it. I paid $400 for health insurance, and now I am being asked to pay EVEN MORE for a drug that could save my life if I need it. I am seriously peeved. Mum is going to look and see if my private health care from the UK will cover it, as I have all-inclusive cover, but we’re not sure. At the end of the day though, I can afford it… what would happen if I couldn’t afford it? I think that governments who deny people proper healthcare should be tossing and turning every night… they, without a doubt, have the lifes of many in their hands.
In other, less grumpy news… I just got back from a weekend skiing in Collingwood, which is about 2 hours north of Toronto….I stayed with Kelsey and her family, in their beautiful ski chalet, and her Mum is just lovely! The snow on Saturday was what my New England friends would call “Sugah” – all powdery, and drifty… It’s actually really hard for me to ski on the powder, and there was LOTs of it! I guess I learnt to ski on ice, so that’s what I know how to deal with… I did some pretty steller runs – and Kelsey promises me she wasn’t TOTALLY bored skiing with me… She claims I ski “not as badly as expected!” What I loved was when I met her younger sister, and Kelsey said
“Hey Christine – you’ll ski with Lauren and I, right? You have to remember – there’s no snow in Ireland though, so she’s only been skiing a few times!!”
Christine couldn’t really contemplate there being no snow in Ireland… must be hard when you’ve been skiing since you were two years old! Christine is a pretty sweet kid actually – she turned around on Sunday night, when we were back in Toronto, and told me she didn’t like me being an exchange student… I asked why, and she replied:
“I don’t want you to ever go back to Ireland!!”
Like I said – sweet kid.
Kels and I drove back on Sunday night – we got in around midnight, which was pretty good… What I love about Kels is that we can just talk about nothing… absolutely nothing… we talk about horses…skiing.. school… our friends, mutual and otherwise… our families, which are each as crazy and confusing as each other, and most of all, we’re good just BEING together… I really don’t know what I am going to do without her when I have to go back to Ireland…
Today I got up early, went to the doctors for my allergy results, and then went up to work… I worked over lunch, then called Mum… I actually spent the evening in bed, I was feeling really queezy, and had a toothache… I’m still feeling not so great, but I drank some milk, and really really really brushed my teeth a few times, took some advil, and I’m feeling ‘better.’ Not great, but not awful… I have a few emails to reply to, then hopefully it’s bed time for me…
You never know – I might watch an episode of ER too. 
xxx
An update from the other side of The Pond
So I’ve been back on this side of the pond for about 10 days now.
I landed in Boston, MA last Sunday night, and proceeded to madly run/take the T, across the city in a bid to catch my train to Concord, where I was staying with my family, Jonathon, Thea, and their gorgeous kids, Aidan and Mairead.
I got into Conc around 6pm, had dinner, unpacked, and crashed out about 9pm. Monday was a ski day – Andy picked me up at like, 11am, and we hit up Wachusett Mt, in Princeton, MA. It’s not a huge mountain, but it’s more than adequate skiing for me – although I am definitely getting better! My new skis and boots had arrived, it took a while to tweek them and get them keeping my toes warm, without losing support, or circulation, but I think I’ve pretty much worked it out now… My skis etc worked out really well for me actually, and I had a lot of fun, despite the freezy cold temperatures – it got down to -1 (Fahrenheit!) at one point! Insanity!
Tuesday was spent hanging out at home, doing school work, relaxing, and then I hopped on the lunchtime train to ski with Andy’s sister Liz, and the delightful Zach, who’s 9. He’s actually a pretty cool kid, and skiing with him is good for me – I have to ski faster to keep him in sight!!
Wednesday was another lazy day, I tried to do some school work, but failed miserably…. I hopped on the train to go skiing again at about 4pm, met Andy in N.Leominster – sketchiest place on earth – and grabbed a quick McD’s before heading to the hill for some pretty relaxed, if FREEZING, skiing. We got there about 6.30, which was perfect – we missed all those pesky school kids!
Thursday was a SUPER lazy day – although I babysat Aidan and Mairead in the evening – they are so easy to look after though – both the kids have awesome routines, Mairead is asleep at 7pm, Aidan at 8.15/30pm latest. It was really easy… I love that – when kids have proper bedtimes, and the kids are so used to having me around now that they really didn’t give me any bother…
Friday I gave up on the poor internet issues with Conc, and disappeared to Rhode Island to visit my friend Barb… This involved getting 2 trains, one at rush hour, and a subway, with a back pack, ski boots and a ski bag… not fun. Ah well… We went to a Brazilian Steak House in Providence, RI, with another couple that Barb and her fiance, George are friends with. (YES – me and two couples… swell fun. *sigh*)
Next day was Saturday – we hung out at Barb’s barn for a bit, it was ICEY cold, then we moved her baby – a 7 month old colt – to his new barn… He was surprisingly good – other than his first attempt to knock me over, and then his many attempts to hang himself on the tailgate of the trailer… He was really good when we got to the new barn though – he settled right in. Saturday night, we went for dinner with Andy – ugh. It was *actually* worse than dinner with the ACTUAL couples the previous night. I don’t know what it is about those two – they just bug the freaking life out of me together. I love them dearly when they’re not together, but being with them is like joining a couple on a freaking date. *Not* my cup of tea. We had a nice meal though – I had Prawn (Shrimp) Carbonara – it was DELICIOUS.
Unfortunately – I am apparently allergic to something – which I can only assume is King Prawns… I woke up on Sunday morning, back in Concord – COVERED in hives, some of which I had scratched open in the night… They were painful, but I put some Benedryl cream on them, and they’ve pretty much cleared up now… I’ve made an appointment for allergy tests for Monday – so hopefully that’ll clear some things up…
Sunday was party day in Somerville, as my Wee Big Cousin, Mel, celebrated her beautiful daughter’s 3rd birthday. Emma was in great form, and we had a lovely meal, but unfortunately, the combination of my hives, my cold, and my blocked sinuses made me not great company, and I passed out on the sofa at about 3pm! Oops! I stayed in Somerville that night, as Andy had told me I had to be at the airport for 7am for my 9am flight – he flies a lot – I believed him – he was wrong, but whatever. I got there anyway, thanks to Mel’s husband Jamie driving me in – superstar!
My flights were very uneventful, I flew to Syracuse(Northern New York State) via J.F.K (NYC) which took like 3 hours all in. Kelsey picked me up in Syracuse and we went…..
SHOPPING!!
Kels and I hit up a Victoria’s Secret, where I made her spend too much money on desperately needed lingerie… (Her boyfriend needs to buy me presents, take me out to dinner etc by way of thank you!) I got the bargain of the century in JCrew – my favourite store EVER, and we got some ok(ish) Chinese food, and Coldstone’s Cake Batter Icecream before heading back up North to Canada-Land…
We rocked into K-town around 8pm, and I was T.I.R.E.D. I cried. I hate Kingston when I am tired. It seems to be a given now that I cry when I come back to Kingston from MA. I hate that… I was so excited to be back, but I was so tired, and all I wanted to do was cuddle up with the kids, or dish some abuse at Andy… or jump on the train… or nip down to Concord Teacakes… ya know – the stuff I do at my home from home…
I woke up on Tuesday morning, and all was right again… I was in Kingston… HOORAY. It was bright and sunny, snowy, not too cold. I went into school, and watched the inauguration of President Obamba with some of my American friends on the big TV in the Cogro – the coffee shop where I work… I grabbed some lunch, went to the bookstore, spent $200 on course texts for TWO courses, and then went to class… My classes this semester are REALLY interesting… I’m taking New Imperialism, and Gender from a European Perspective,and so far – it seems really cool. There’s a lot of reading, and assignments, but they’re actually really engaging, and the Prof’s are awesome, so it’s not so bad.
I finished up class for the week today, and tomorrow I plan on organising my bedroom, going to the library, and catching up with 2 friends… I also need to do a lot of reading. I was supposed to be going for dinner with Ben – a guy I work with, and I adore – he’s the best ever, and has me in stitches all the time – but he had something come up with the Snowboard club… grr. Stupid Snowboarders ruining my fun AS USUAL. haha. Ah well – I have my Ben shift on Monday with him – I can’t wait – it’s been EIGHT weeks since we saw each other! TOO LONG!
This weekend is SKI weekend with Kelsey, we’re headed up to Collingwood to stay with her parents. I can’t wait.
What a mammoth post, eh? This is what happens when I don’t post in forever!
xxx
Search Engine Results:
Someone found my blog using
“testing water bucket choice for horses”
hmmm.
Have I ever written about water buckets?!!?
oh dear!
Leaving on a Jetplane…. (again)
So I’m off again…
I’m currently sitting in Dublin airport, where I arrived 5 hours early for my flight because I am a dumbass. I couldn’t find the booking reference, so had no idea what time my flight was at… Therefore, I shot for the early flight, and of course, I’m on the late one! haha! Typical, eh?
Check-in was blissful, no queues, and I got an exit row seat, at the window! Security was a doddle, even though I had an umbrella, lots of liquids, a computer, dvd player, was wearing a belt, boots, coat and scarf! (Yes, I’m THAT person.)
So now I’m sitting at the gate, waiting… internetting… wasting time… I paid $30/€15 for this internet access, I’m blooming well going to use it! haha!
Dublin is overcast, and wet and windy… Wait, IRELAND is overcast, wet and windy! I’m really looking forward to getting back to Boston this afternoon…
This winter break has been turbulent…I had a great time, and I’m so glad to be home, but I miss Kelsey… I miss Ashley…I miss Lia! I know when I’m in Canada, I miss the OTHER girls, back home though, so it’s a no-win situation really! I’m totally excited for this semester though, I only have 2 classses, and it’s ski season, and hockey season, and skating season, and all things wonderful! Unfortunately, it’s not driving season, but I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it all the time!
Right… it’s cold in this terminal… I’m going to leave this wee update here, and go get a cuppa tea..
xxx
ps – I have: 2 pairs jeans, 2 sweaters, pyjamas, dressing gown, 48 bags of Tayto, 20 odd bars of Cadbury’s and Galaxy, a LOT of Creme Eggs, a box of Giant Strawberries, 36 Walnut Whips, and not much else in my suitcase! The baggage people are going to take a quare look at it anyway! Somehow, that was 19kg!! CRAZY!
Pps – Kate I LOVE YOU! (not Davy!) haha! That’s it- I’m quitting the drink!
