DC & WIHS

I had a ridiculously fun weekend.  In my almost 8 months at iContact, I can count on one hand the times I've sort of dreaded going into work, and today was one of those days, just because I had such a good time this past weekend.  Mother and I went up to DC to check out the vendors at the Washington International Horse Show.  We figured if any show might have vendors doing the same thing as what I want to do, one of the Indoors shows would be the place to see some competition.  While we went to DC for the horse show, we sure did have a great time playing in the city.  Its been 9-10 years since I visited DC, and I hope I don't have to wait that long to go back again.

We left Thursday after I got off of work, drove to Richmond, and stayed the night in the Jefferson hotel there.  It was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l and I hope I'm lucky enough to go back one day for more than one night.  Bonus points for the Jefferson - KILLER smoked salmon and creme fraiche for breakfast, Friday morning.

We arrived in Washington at about noon, and figured we wanted to do a little sightseeing before dinner and the show.  Georgetown was only about a 15 minute walk from the hotel, so we wandered around some stores we don't get to go in often (Frye! Barbour! drool...) and also walked back in the neighborhood away from the hustle and bustle for a bit.  I love love love Georgetown.  It was like Charleston, but in its own, less coastal way.  It was especially beautiful because it was fall and the leaves were all changing.  I will definitely go back there next time.  I also really liked Georgetown because we went in a great designer consignment store with a lot of really nice items, which just makes me all kinds of excited.  It's like treasure hunting for discount Chanel, Hermes, Louboutin....

Anyways!  It was getting late in the afternoon and we had an early dinner at the Blue Duck Tavern, and then on to the show!  Dinner was DELICIOUS!  I had a surprisingly good sparkling wine from VA, foie gras, crab and a cheese plate.  If only I could eat that every day of the week!  We arrived a little late to the show, but still in time to watch the Puissance (high jump).  While there were only 5 entries, it was still really exciting because neither my mom nor I had ever seen a Puissance in real life.  The high height for the night was 6'11" - pretty incredible, even though it was nowhere near the record.

Adorable ringmaster!

Darraugh Kenny

ADORABLE horse with Chris Jayne that bucked all around the ring, every time he came in the ring!

Tim Gredley & Unex Valente with the Puissance

Saturday we slept in a little, before heading out to do a little more touristing.  We went to the Hirshorn Art and Sculpture Museum, which I remember really liking when I was in DC a long time ago.  It is easy to see everything, but the pieces are still really intriguing.  We then ran through the Natural History museum, cruised by the White House, and arrived at the Jefferson hotel in DC for tea!  We needed a midday snack because we were not planning to eat until after 10:30 or later when the Grand Prix ended.  I love tea, so of course I was totally embarrassing and took a million pictures.

Hirshorn Museum

We had a little time to kill after tea, but before the show, so we met up with one of my mom's horse show friends who was in town for a gala with her husband.  We had drinks in the lobby and it was a fun break in the day.

We arrived at the show pretty early, because I wanted to walk around all the vendors to see their spaces, how they set up, and most importantly, what was there.  It was almost embarrassing how bad some of the vendors were.  WIHS is advertised a lot to the public, so I think some of the vendors were bad because their market was not horse people, but some of them were just the total opposite direction of what I want to do with my business.  Which is good, because I don't have a lot of competition, but also bad because there wasn't a lot to learn from.  I'm hoping to maybe go to Wellington in the spring for one last show to check out potential businesses doing the same thing as I, and also seeing what the set ups are at the biggest shows in the country, since I haven't been to many.

Celebrity Barrel Racing!

Celebrity Barrel Racing

Terrier races!

Brianne Goutal & Nice de Prissey

Kent Farrington & Blue Angel

Kent Farrington & Blue Angel

Beezie & Coral Reef Via Volo

Kent Farrington & Blue Angel - Grand Prix winners

It was such a productive weekend.  I feel so inspired and motivated by what I saw, that I'm about to bubble over with excitement.  I think I didn't want to come to work today because I am so happy at horse shows and it was hard to come back to my not dream job (although I still love iContact).  I have so many things on my to do list, and so many exciting things in the works, that its hard to stay grounded and keep everything in order.  I still need a name!!  That is my number one priority!!  Once I have the name, everything is going to fall into place.  But it's sort of daunting thinking of a name, when I'm really hoping my business is going to turn into something really spectacular.  One thing I am really excited by, that keeps distracting me is the possibility of designing my own furniture to sell.  A number of people have told me that there are people in High Point who can build furniture for me, if I just make the design.  That's something that I think I could be really good at, so its hard to not have the creative juices flowing in that direction, when I need alllllll my brain resources thinking of a name.  Stay tuned.....