Let it go

This is for all the days your brain gets overloaded, for all the times you come home and just want to face plant the floor; not getting back up until everything is better, for that moment we childishly wish we could be 10 years old again, building a treehouse, only worrying about what vegetables we’d be forced to eat tonight. 

something like this

I’d say it’s a very favourable characteristic if you are able to always have goals in your life that you are working on achieving. It keeps you going when times get tough and contributes to a certain level of responsibility for your actions. I guess the degrees are different for every ‘stage of life’ but for now I’m talking about being a student. It makes you eager and it keeps you on the right track because you genuinely have an idea about where that track needs to take you to reach your goal. But then sometimes.. it feels like your brain used up the entire pile of responsibility and grown-up-behaviour and seriousness and, and, and… total black out. 
I think it happens when you are carrying the weight of the world while actually, you should just put earth back on the floor and breath for a while. Just sit and listen to songs that can put you in a music bubble and only hear the lyrics. It’s nothing to be ashamed off really, it just means it’s probably time for a time out. Time to realise you are not a machine regarding school/work/future plans, neither a psychologist for the entire world’s population nor a solo nuclear energy plant for any kind of relationship; you can only do the best you can, people need to learn how to fix the problems in their head by themselves and yes; if it ain’t coming from both ways, it ain’t worth it. The answer is short and strong; Let it go. 

That being the lecture of today, it’s now time to lighten up the mood again ;-) Here’s a current song that fits this situation so well, it’s worth sharing. Perhaps it’s not the strongest piece of music, but the lyrics get to me. Below is the link to the song plus a photo from my photo stream that guarantees a smile on your face :-)

Family of the year - Hero

always keep smiling :)

Lemons & Vodka

The body of this blog entry was scrabbled onto a United Airways napkin a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, there has been a slight delay in the uploading process, my sincere apologies for that, but the postponement doesn't make the content any less true so, finally, I present to you;

Lemons & Vodka! 

When life gives you lemons; cut them in pieces, use them to bleach your teeth 'n light up your smile. Then mix the rest with vodka and go out to play.

At this point, that's the most accurate description of my life. I'm slightly overexcited to announce that my oh-so desired Jet Set life has been re-installed; I'm sitting on a plane to that place where the sand is white, the sea blue and the sun makes palm trees grow. It's a place that makes you sparkle and I love it. Yep yep, I'm returning to West Palm Beach after all. (Just 11 days but nonetheless semi-completely unplanned. ;-).. )

Quite the YOLO decision I gotta say! Speaking of which, mr. YOLO really got to me these last weeks.. Not only did I book this flight before even organizing a place to stay or getting permission from school, I also finally died my hair from ultra blondie to super brownie. This, I love too haha! The world and I are still getting used to it (its currently raspberry dark chocolate color and the raspberry part was slightly unplanned) but its so refreshing to try something completely new.

Ok back to my trip. I have the feeling there are far too many people back home who would love to go on a similar trip, not necessarily to the states maybe, but just somewhere new. They don't however, and instead I get asked quite often how I'm able to do crazy stuff like this. That's why I'm gonna write down 5 rules which I think are essential. I'm 100% sure anyone at home can do this too. This is just my point of view and things can be way more complicated, I know, I know, but hey; if you ain't shooting, you ain't ever hitting target!

1. GOLDEN RULE, the ultimate number 1; get your YES!
'No' is the easiest and quickest answer that gets nobody anywhere. We all know that and for some stupid reason, it seems to affect our brains in a way that holds us from even trying. We are soooo much too fast with thinking we're gonna get no for an answer that we don't dare or bother anymore. If you do ask, and you indeed get a 'No', take it with both hands, examine it closely, extract the reason for delivery, use that to construct your next try (it will make the try about 50x more eligible for success) and then throw it out the window or flush it down the toilet--> out of sight, out of heart. Force yourself to that.

2. Construct a plan. Find out what exactly you want to do (if you don't know at first, ask your friend google, there's an ocean of inspiration on the Internet. Just don't forget to also listen to your heart) . Saying; 'oh yeah, I really wanna go to Australia one day' is not gonna help you get there. Australia is not gonna hear you and send you a ticket. (Sucks, I know)

3. Money. I know money is usually the biggest issue. God I know that. But luckily, there's this thing called 'job'. Now before you start, I'm aware of that elephant in the room; not all jobs provide enough to buy a ticket and a living and not all countries are easy paying foreigners but they do exist and you will only find them if you follow rule 1 & 2 completely. Step out of your comfort zone and find a new, better paying job but don't forget to look a bit further then your usual path.

4. Find a place that suits you. :) I love Sweden. I also love snow..over Christmas..by the fireplace..for a week or so. After that, my bones are freezing to death and I crave for sand between my toes and my old sun tan. That's why I don't go work in Sweden over the Christmas break but instead go somewhere summer-ish :-)

5. Trust and respect from your parents. If you are (financially) relying on you parents or guardians, they can be just the support that you need to go thru with a trip like this, especially the first time. But if you continuously lie to them and keep misusing their trust in you, you really can not expect them to just happily financially contribute to your trip and wave you goodbye at the airport. (Don't forget there's more to a trip like this.. There's insurance, visas etc.) Honesty is key. In any relationship.

That was that, I hope you they can be helpful at some point :)

Pff, 4 more hours to kill.. US airways, please upgrade your on board entertainment system. We really need to those individual screens instead of 1 per 25 people!
I can't complain tho, I just woke up from a 3-hours-straight nap, thanks to these super, noise-canceling Dr. Beats I'm wearing.  No announcements, no chatting, barely an engine sound.. Mr. Slegtenhorst, I love and thank you for this privilege, I double broke my record and it makes flying all that more pleasant. thank you ;-)

Additional (up to date) note; I got back to this (European) side all safe 'n sound, so I can now also add the pics of this trip to the entry. Since SnapChat is gaining more and more power, I decided to keep a photo journal in snap chat style, hope you enjoy it! :)

See ya later, alligator! 

Ready for Action!!

food porn to the max #sushi @ #Kontiki

Bahamas Bitches! #takemeback

best-best-best dog <3

frequent flyers will understand #myluckyday

Reunited with my Cookie <3

The 5 senses of WEF

Sight
* the sight of 1 groom hand walking 3 hunter ponies at once, all 3 looking too neat and delicate to be real
* the sight of that brand new Audi S5 parked next to the old barn Chevy. Or better yet; a real life Lamborghini. 
* the sight of impeccable world class horses wearing Gucci.. Hermes.. you name it. Suits the Lamborghini oh-so-perfectly

Smell
* the smell of Magdalena's Mexican Food
* the smell of the everyday show sheen/fly spray cocktail
* the smell of fresh shavings (and dirty ones)

Taste
* the taste of fresh squeezed lemonade
* the taste of dust in your mouth while riding. (or dirt bike or golf cart or even just walking)
* the taste of ice cold bottled water after a dazzling 2PM, clear-sky-no-wind jump off under the Floridian sun

Hearing
* the sound of dirt bikes swarming their way across the show grounds
* the sound of incomprehensible Mexican Spanish
* the sound of buzzers going off not only in your, but everywhere around you, non-top

Feel
* the feeling of a bad cheek/shoulder sunburn
* the feeling of a monday morning hangover
* the feeling of belonging. <3

there's no place like home

School Shenanigans

Hej hej mina vänner! (jaja, I still love swedish :D)

wow, it’s been an awful long time since my last post.. my apologies.. it honestly feels like it’s been years instead of weeks. It’s january now, which means i’ve been at college for a little over two months and I don’t even have the proper words to describe how it has been so far...

But first, I believe a ‘Happy New Year’ is in order! Happy NY to you all, may all your dreams come true while you stay happy and healthy :)) 

Ok, school.. While writing this, I’m sitting on a comfy couch with my feet up, sunshine on my face and some good music in my ears. Sounds like chill time at home? I agree.. yet it’s at school, in the cafeteria. (pictures below)

I really have to say, all experiences I’ve had so far here at school, are incredibly good. It’s been over 8 weeks and I still can’t believe how much i’m learning every single day. At the end of the week, it feels like my head is as full as it could possibly be. I can’t really put my finger on what exactly is so.. filling.. but training is for sure a big part of it. I loved my weekly riding school lessons and I highly appreciate the times Lauren or Sloane helped me the past year, but I never experienced riding like this. Like this means; the same horse every day, always supervised by qualified trainers, flatwork and jumping.. For the first time, I can actually work towards goals as a combination, not just as a rider. I can work on longterm focus and better yet, all the field experience is backed up on paper during classroom hours (riding theory etc.) Riding wise, this school makes you understand what you do with your horse and why, in so much more depth than a regular riding instructor’s explanation. Obviously, that is the whole point of this college, but nonetheless, it’s really nice. 

Apart from my school pony and all the riding, the atmosphere and people at this college are completely different from previous experiences as well. It’s such a delight to be at a, fancy-talk, educational institution, where everyone breathes horses. They all understand, teachers and students.. makes life quite a bit easier ;-) I love my new friends and even tho we’re not all the exact same age, I feel like we learn a lot from each other. 

It’s not all sunshine and roses tho because it’s still life, and life is never easy ;-)

The last year-and-a-half, I lived a complete different life than I do now. I used to say; Americans are great, but their relationship values with friends and family are different than our western European values. Americans seem to be easier.. not as deeply involved in each others lives. I always thought I was just observing this as a fact, without being influenced by the US way.. I thought my European upbringing could not be easily affected. Turns out I was wrong, something I should have seen coming because I know I’m not the kind of person who loves spending every minute of spare time with the same group of people. I’m a wanderer, a traveler.. That was perfect the last year-and-a-half because the people I worked with, changed all the time. When we were together, it was great fun but if not; no problem better luck next time.. Now however, I’m back in a college situation with non-changing classmates and Dutch friends with European values. Our upbringing here, makes us, up to a certain point, answer to our friends. That is, explaining our choices and behaviour to our friends. It is exactly that, that I kind of lost in America. It’s not like Americans don’t care.. It’s just a different set of principles. (I hope I’m not offending any Americans now haha) And I’ve been having a hard time adjusting back to the smaller, closer environment of friends here. I still tend to spend most of my time with people who are little less.. ‘close’.. who seem to care a little less about how often we talk or spend time together, just because it makes me feel more.. free. 

It’s weird really, I can’t really explain. It’s a little tricky tho, because you don’t want to become ignorant. That is why I’m really grateful for my new friends here who force me to actually ‘care’ more about our friendship and who THANK GOD, seem to understand I don’t mean to offend them when I act a little more.. American ;-) I love you all, and I appreciate this more than I could tell you, u know who u are.

Anywaaaays…..enough serious talk. College is Fucking Fantastic, here are some pics, enjoy and be jealous! 

sunday funday @ Asten

Ché on the track at school

cookie pony

he can be pretty if he wants to.. 

cooling down on the track.. so beautiful

hoppla hoppla liten häst :)

show time.. haha

roomieeee :)

Hi Diary!

I dug up my diary today and decided my next blog entry would be a page out of this little book full of dreams, emotions en real life facts about me :) I don't use my diary that often, in fact, I think the average entry is 1 per year. But nevertheless, it's so funny to read back and see which dreams came true and which super difficult problems I had to face 'back in the days' ;-)

This entry is dated July 10th, 2007. At the time, I was 13 years old and in my first year of high school.

10-07-2007
Hi Diary! 
A pony to take care of.. that's gonna be a while. My English speech about DNA went super! I got an 8.8 (out of 10)!! Pony summer camp was absolutely awesome!! On wednesday, july 4th, we had a jumping lesson from Ilse, this was only the second time I ever jumped a horse and it went quite well.
On thursday, we had a jumping competition. There were 23 entries, and I was one of them. This was only the 3rd time I actually jumped but I ended up getting 4th place!! So now I earned my first two ribbons: A blue one for my 4th place and a pink one as a thank-you for competing in the dressage competition. So many people were complimenting me on my 4th place and now Marlou (head trainer) said I can go ride in a different group. So now my lesson is on friday from 6PM to 7PM. I hope I can ride on tuesdays one day cause Ilse is teaching those lessons which means I'd get to jump! Now that I know how much fun jumping is, I'm wondering what I want to be when I grow up...:
- FBI Special Agent
- FBI crisis negotiator
- professional show jumper
- Pediatrician

Well, you'll hear from me soon! Bye!

A few side notes..
When I was 4, I had kidney stones. It hurt like HELL but ever since that day until this diary entry, I said I was gonna be a doctor for children, a pediatrician. Despite my CSI/FBI phase, the pediatrician thing was dead serious, so for me to add 'show jumper' to this list, was quite something. I remember the endless debates in my head from that time and I can assure you; jumping my first (TINY) show that week at camp surely triggered something in me that was quite a bit bigger than that little show. Clearly. ;-)

On my last day at Jos Lansink stables a few years ago, right before I had to go back to school, I remember Jos saying to me: It's back to reality for you, now! Today, nearly 3 years later, summer vacation is over and it's time to go back to school.. again. Only this time, back to reality means: going back to Lansink's!

Sometimes, it's what we least expect that gives us the greatest happiness.

xoxo

my first two ribbons!

the original diary entry in Dutch :)

at home with Marcus Ehning

This week has been awesome. Period. I just got home from the 3 first orientation days at college, which were absolutely unforgettable. The orientation team that I'm part of is called 'the Unicorns' which obviously could not have been a better name. Our team leader Julia is being called Mama Unicorn from practically day 1, that should give you a clear picture of the whole atmosphere! :-) I love my new classmates and this year is going to be golden. Can't wait to go back tomorrow for the remaining days! Be sure to check out some of the pics below to see who else is my super sport class!

But, my tuesday was definitely worthy of a blog post. My friend Carina from Norway, whom I met in Florida, is now working in Germany.......---> on the farm of the one & only Marcus Ehning!
Carina had a day off on monday so we went shopping in Amsterdam, I drove back with her, all the way across Holland to the German border. More specifically: a tiny, very German, town called Borken. I crashed the sofa in her apartment for the night and then, on tuesday, we drove to the barn. I love-love-love visiting big international barns all over the world to see how each top class riders organize things at home. The behind-the-scenes are so useful and interesting. Obviously I was very excited to take a peek at Marcus Ehning Sportpferde!

Marcus shares a property with his brother, Johannes Ehning (who's a successful show jumper too) and their father. The barn is located in a nice green village in Germany, just twenty minutes from the Dutch border. They have a beautiful, sand, outdoor jumping arena with a wide track all the way around to give the horses a proper canter exercise. The whole property is surrounded by large fields, some of which are filled with the 'babies', others with horses like Plot Blue or Sandro Boy. There's a large indoor sand arena too and another outdoor sand ring. Furthermore, there are big walkers for the horses and, off course, lots of nice stalls filled with even nicer horses.

It was great to see Marcus and Johannes jump around in the morning and training their students after, observing activities like these, teach you so much. These people are part of the best at what they do, so basically every word or gesture that comes from them is precious information for a tinie tiny little student like me ;-) Equally super, was seeing some of the best horses in show jumping on their home turf. Plot Blue, Nolte's Küchen Girl and Sandro Boy, just to name a few! They all looked great and happy so hats off to Marcus and his grooms. But it wasn't just horses and dogs walking around....... check the pics below to see if you can find her! I promise, it's totally worth it!

It was a great visit and I hope you enjoy the photographs of this very successful business.

Nolte!

sand arena 2

Marcus on the wall

just some prizes and Küche's little face :)

Nolte's Küchen Girl!

Marcus

Maruc training the students

jump!

nice gym exercise

gorgeous Sandro Boy

Sandro, his little friend and me :)

<3

you found her!!!! OINK

pony is not sure what it is...

my friend Carina and her BFF

sand arena 1

indoor

Plot Blue

Plotty!

main barn

www.sportpferde-ehning.com !!

my super nice new class mates & me :)