Southern Pines in Springtime!

I loveee the weekends I get to go to Southern Pines.  I happily took a half day Friday so I could get down there at a decent hour, and it was a beautiful drive (maybe more beautiful because I wasn't inside answering the phone?).  Once I got there, Mother gave me the grand tour of her condo down there, because I had not yet seen it.  She started renting it in February, and its really cute!  Once we had baby Sienna all settled in the new place, Louise, Mother and I all set out to wander around the "downtown" area of Southern Pines.  I love walking around that area because there are so many cute stores and everything is so quaint.  The Monkees in So Pi is the best one - I literally want everything in it!  We stopped at one of my favorite cupcake stores for a quick snack and relaxed in the shade for a little while before going back to the condo for a while before dinner.

Downtown So Pi

All the children on the daybed 

Our friend Rachel came over for about and hour and a half before dinner to have some drinks and catch up. Rachel moved to Middleburg, VA two or three years ago to work with horses, so unfortunately we see her very infrequently.  We had so much to catch up on and talk about that an hour and a half was nowhere near enough time for visiting!  We hope to go up there sometime in the future, to visit Rachel, but also Middleburg, which is heaven for the horse person.  We bought Dutch from a farm in Middleburg way back in the day, and the whole Upperville/Middleburg/Warrenton/The Plains area of Virginia is absolutely gorgeous and totally horse-centered.

After Rachel left, we went to Rhett's, my favorite restaurant in So Pi.  It is always amazing, a great atmosphere, and their bread pudding is k i l l e r!  Mother and I walked back to the condo because it was a perfect evening, and she's not but around a half mile from town.  A very happy end to a great day!

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Saturday morning, we all woke up and headed out to the Carolina Horse Park to watch some of the show going on this weekend.  We got there just in time to watch the division I used to show in, so it was fun for me to watch people I used to compete against.  Also a little nostalgic, but I daydreamed about showing in the future whenever I can afford my own horse!  Hopefully in a few years that will be possible for me.  It was great fun to see horse friends from all the different barns that I see infrequently, and the weather could not have been better!

Once the Adult Amateur division finished, I went to ride Dutch, who lives just down the road from the horse park.  I watch my mom ride her little lease horse, Cowboy, and then I rode Dutch.  He can be opinionated and lazy sometimes, but he was a superstar on Saturday, so it was great fun!  He was so good, my mom mentioned showing him in a little dressage schooling show this coming weekend, which I think I'm going to take her up on.  I guess there is no guarantee he will be as well behaved as he was this past weekend, but it will be fun to do something different nonetheless!

Olivia & Cowboy

Olivia & Cowboy

Olivia & Cowboy

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Dutch & I

Dutch & I 

After watching the show and riding in the sun, I needed a little nap before dinner at Chef Warren's!  It was another great meal with lots of good food and conversation.

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We didn't do much on Sunday because it rained off and on.  I just drove back to Raleigh and watched some Downton Abbey with Kyle before he went to set up for Billionaires at a music show.  Sienna and I snuggled and tried to catch up on our Vampire Diaries.  I think she and I did some bonding this weekend, because she was much more of a snuggle bear last night than she usually is.  Or maybe she was just tired from all the excitement of the weekend.  I'm going to pretend its the prior!