Blog Hop – 30 Things

This whole thing began on May as Well Event.

30 Things About Me

1. I started riding at age 10 and for many years felt like I had a ton of catching up to do because all of my barn friends started at 6.
2. Before I ever sat on a horse, I knew I wanted to ride dressage. It all started when I read a book featuring a Mustang who was adopted, trained, and eventually competed at Grand Prix. Throughout my life I’ve tried out other disciplines (several years of hunter/jumper lessons, some cross country schooling, tried saddleseat once and had a blast, took a reining class in school, and did a lot of goofing off/trail riding as a kid), but dressage has always been my passion and focus.
3. I was born and raised in Washington state, where I lived until finishing my Associate’s degree at a community college. I then lived in Lexington, Kentucky, for close to seven years before living in Wisconsin, Florida, and now Vermont.

   

4. If you need an expert plant killer, I am your girl. And it’s not even on purpose.
5. Nobody in my family rides. My Grandpa grew up around horses and still loves them – he rode them through the mountains on many hunting trips, and he’s the one who put me on my first horse as a baby. A couple of other family members have had horses, but when it comes to dressage/competitions/careers in the equine industry, I’m the sole member of that club.
6. As a kid/teen, I was absolutely obsessed with the Chronicles of Narnia the way many people are all about Harry Potter today. I used to write fanfiction, spend a lot of time on forums chatting with other fans, I tried to learn all of the most obscure facts about the characters and series I could find, and draw my favorite scenes. I have read every book at least seven times, and I still love them. I also love everything else C.S. Lewis has written.
7. Speaking of Narnia…when I was younger, I found the address of Douglas Gresham (one of C.S. Lewis’ stepsons) and started writing to him. He was incredibly kind to my young, starstruck self, and we wrote back and forth for awhile. I even sent him some fan art I drew. I often wonder if he still has it.
8. While I’ve had a handful of horse jobs at different barns, I’ve also held a couple of non-horse jobs. I worked at a cheese factory in Wisconsin for a bit (it was delicious), and I worked in Student Programs on the Activities Board at my community college (an office job where I created/maintained the website and did some marketing for the student activities we planned for the year).
9. When I was younger, my dream was to work for Disney. I still think that would be cool, but I don’t want to give up my current job, and I love doing art for my own business. It’s extremely rewarding to develop my own style that invokes the nostalgia and appreciation I have for animated films, while still remaining uniquely true to myself.
10. I am the oldest of three siblings.
11. I had probably been riding for a year or two before I actually got to watch dressage in person. I still remember that day. My instructor at the time had planned to take me with her to a big show to watch, but she had to cancel at the last minute. As a pre-teen…I was devastated, and remember crying a lot, because I wanted to see what dressage looked like SO BAD. (Dramatic? Maybe. Honest? Absolutely.) My mom – who has no interest in horses beyond supporting me – saw how much this meant and took me to the show herself. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to watch one-tempis and extended trot/canter for the first time…all I wanted after that was to ride them myself.
12. I’m a 4-H alumni. Because of my 4-H leader and the help of my Grandma, I can sew pretty much anything (yes, even my own clothing) and don’t necessarily need a pattern.

    

13. When I was about 15, my friends and I had created a group that went around interviewing Christian music artists and sending out newsletters to local churches. We interviewed a then-16-year-old Katy Perry, and I still have a signed photo from her, somewhere.
14. From the very beginning of my horse addiction, I worked for everything. When my parents couldn’t drive me to the barn, I rode my bike or walked. I earned all of my lessons and extra saddle time by cleaning stalls, doing chores, and helping at camps.
15. Our barn used to borrow a Fjord mare for weekend lessons, and she lived at a house about halfway between my home and the barn. She was greenbroke and we were teaching her to be a vaulting horse. I used to walk to her house, hop on her, and ride to the barn with my backpack over my shoulder and only a halter and lead for steering. The barn was less than half a mile away, but it took forever because the first half of every ride was just me trying to get the mare to leave her friends. 🙂
16. Out of all the friends I’ve had throughout my life, my closest/longest friendships are all with fellow horse girls.
17. If you had asked 18 year old Emilie where she would be in ten years, she would have said “Running my own farm in Washington with my best friend.” It’s strange and wonderful how much things change and what adventures life brings.
18. Coca-Cola is my guilty pleasure. I may or may not have a collection of various Coke paraphernalia tucked away in my parent’s house still (vintage ads, an unopened bottle, a dish set, a chunk of the glass they used for bottles, items purchased from the factory in Atlanta…). I’m the person who answers the question “Is Pepsi okay?” after asking for a Coke at a restaurant with, “Ummm…no?”
19. I find it very difficult to concentrate on drawing if I can’t have Netflix or some form of background noise running.
20. I love my close friends and family with all of my heart, but I’m also a true introvert through and through. There are only a few people who I can spend excessive amounts of time with and not need a break.
21. Along those same lines…if you’ve ever taken the Myers-Briggs personality test (I highly recommend it, it’s super cool if you’re a nerd about what makes people tick) – I’m an INFJ.
22. If I have to cook, I prefer to create desserts.
23. My family is so awesome that we once took a photo together where we all pretended to be zombies and my brother pretended he was fighting us. It’s still my favorite.
24. One of my best friends is someone I’ve known since she was 10 and I was 13. While we’ve had our ups and downs like any relationship, we are still close, and we still get together when I visit home, and we talk as though we’ve never been apart. I’m not exaggerating when I say we used to spend 5-6 hours in Starbucks just hanging out and discussing all of life’s deepest topics. I’m so excited to get to be a bridesmaid in her wedding this year!

    

25. I probably have the world’s lowest caffeine tolerance. A small coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin can last me three days. I can only take a few sips at a time throughout the day, and have to stop around 2:00pm if I want to sleep that night.
26. The main things I miss after giving up gluten and dairy are bagels with cream cheese and greasy pizza. I’ve had dreams about both.
27. And, talking of dreams – I’ve had extremely vivid, detailed dreams from the time I was pretty young. Think epic tales of adventure and weirdness that would take an hour or more to tell. As an adult, it doesn’t happen to me as often, but it still happens. I have even had dreams about things that a) I shouldn’t have known about, b) hadn’t happened yet, and c) came true in real life.
28. I used to write a lot of short stories as a kid. I started a novel at age 11 and finished the first draft at 14. Since then, I’ve re-started it several times, only to get too busy to finish. I still think I have a good concept/idea…and I still think it would be cool to finish for real. Although I might be like 80 by that time.
29. I once had a dream that I fought a bear in order to save Avery.
30. I’m don’t usually consider myself super girly…like, I don’t get my nails done and I am really just guessing about how to put makeup on. But I do know something about fashion (I think that’s the artist in me) and I love well-fitting clothes. Putting outfits together makes me happy, especially when other people let me do it for them. And I LOVE shoes. A good pair of heels makes my introvert self much more extroverted.