Today, I celebrated my final day of my vacation by going to Bok Tower Gardens. This is a location that I have been meaning to visit for a long time.

Bok Tower Gardens was donated to the American people in 1929 by Edward Bok, an author and one of the original editors of the Ladies' Home Journal. The gardens are laid out in several different sections including a children's garden, edible garden, endangered plant garden, wetland, and several ponds and reflecting pools.

The highlight of the gardens was the Singing Tower. The Carillon is not an instrument that I am actively familiar with or have had the opportunity to experience. Sitting and listening to the concert performed on the carillon was an amazing experience. I was able to snag a spot by the screen that allowed me to view the carillonneur as he performed his art. It amazed me that carillonneurs have to use both their hands and feet to perform on the carillon. The amount of talent that requires simply blows my mind. I look forward to going back to the Tower and experiencing another performance.

From the Singing Tower, I headed over to the Pinewood Estate. Initially, I believed that the estate belonged to Edward Bok which isn't actually the case. Instead, the estate was the winter home of Charles Austin Buck, a Bethlehem Steel Vice President. In 1970, the estate was obtained by Bok Tower Gardens and added to the areas that visitors could tour. While I did not go into the house, I did walk the grounds and admire the Christmas Tree. My favorite part of the estate was a small pond with a waterfall just off the main entrance. This area begged to have you curl up with a book and a cup of tea.

Overall, I loved the Bok Tower Gardens and fully intend on going back. Because I could apply my admission price from today to an annual pass, I may or may not have purchased one! I promise next time I'll get more, and better, pictures.

Today's color preview made me extremely nervous. It appeared to be a red/brown and I was not cool with that.

After opening it, I was pleased to see that it was from the NYX Liquid Suede collection and was actually a purple/brown which is much more doable for me.

This color is called Vintage which made me smile when I first saw it.

Vintage applied nicely but did settle into the lines on my lips fairly quickly. It didn't look half bad but was not a good color for my skin tone. It's a bit too dark for me but not bad enough to where I couldn't pull it off. Honestly, I would not hesitate to wear this again. Providing it is not in a professional setting. If this color seems like something you would like the I would definitely test it out!

One of the things I love about Cupid is her willingness to please me. When I asked her to walk through water she did after realizing I was asking her to do it and I wasn't leading her into a bad situation. When I moved her to our current barn she loaded onto the trailer like a dream because she trusted me. Most recently Cue has learned the start of a turn on the forehand. She still needs to learn that both front feet can move but she picked up the general idea extremely quickly.

Because of her willingness to please and her intelligence, my trainer and I are currently working with her on dressage basics. Last year I had inquired about trying dressage with Cupid but nothing ever came of that. I quickly discovered that my current trainer is a dressage fiend. Not because she wants to see her riders compete and win in dressage, but because she's a strong believer that all horses should know basic dressage. This is a belief that I have held for a long time so there were no complaints from me when she laid out the plan to work Cupid through some of the dressage pyramid.

Cupid's eagerness to please, combined with her quirky nature and my haphazard riding style have made this journey interesting. We started our lessons with getting my saddle taken away. My trainer instantly realized that I was relying too much on my stirrups and not enough on my legs to support myself. I was handed the vaulting saddle and instructed to do as much walk trot work as I could to strengthen my leg. Thankfully, I was allowed to use two of the school horses until I figured out my balance without the saddle. Because Cupid is fairly levelheaded she didn't seem to mind the use of the vaulting saddle after I transitioned back to working her.

After almost two months of "bareback" work, we have finally transitioned back to using the saddle but still maintain the use of the vaulting saddle once a week. My balance has gotten so much better and Cue has finally figured out that darting out of the arena is not the goal of riding in the arena.

While working without a saddle, Cupid and I began working on the dressage pyramid. Cue quickly picked up that her walk and trot need to be adjustable. With the right instructions from me she has begun to perform a working walk, and a free walk in addition to a nice working trot. All three of these are performed consistently and with a nice rhythm. I would love to see her gain the endurance to maintain the working trot longer but she truly tries to give me that nice consistent rhythm. In addition to the walk and trot, Cupid has also started to perform a nice consistent canter.

Picture credit: http://www.fccds.org/the-scale-of-training.html

Our current focus is teaching Cue to engage her hindquarters and round herself properly, as opposed to picking her head up like a giraffe and hollowing her back. She has figured out that stretching down at the walk is much more enjoyable than sticking her nose in the air, but this has come with its own disadvantages. Cupid has started to hold herself on the bit, at the walk, even when I am riding on the buckle. Our trot work still starts with her pretending to be a giraffe but after a few minutes, she relaxes into a rounder, more engaged frame. We're still working on the trot but once we've mastered that I hope to start working on the canter and encouraging her to use her hindquarters more.

It's hard to believe that we're on day five of the NYX Lippie Countdown! If you're wondering why I'm talking about then please see this post. Yesterday featured the reemergence of a great color from last year so I was excited to see what today's color would be. The preview showed a bright, bold, hot pink shade which is always a good choice in my book. 

After opening the tab I was thrilled to see that this color was part of the soft matte lip cream collection. I had eyed these at Ulta but wasn't sure if I liked all the colors in the collection or a select few. The hot pink was one that I definitely wanted to try though! 

This shade is called Paris, which seems totally appropriate because it's bright, sassy, and a classic fashion statement. 

This shade does need a bit of a heavier application than other NYX colors, but it applies nicely and mistakes clean up easily. This shade was super easy to wear and lasted a long time. It complimented my skin tone nicely, it wasn't too bold but it wasn't too flat. Overal, this will be a color that I purchase once this sample runs out. Paris might join the ranks of my signature lip colors!

One of my favorite experiences is picking up a new book and falling so in love with the story that you can't stand to put it down. The book fully consumes your mind and all you want is to see what happens to the characters. The most recent book that consumed me was The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson. This was a book that had frequently popped up in recommend reading lists so when looking for a new lunch time read I decided to give it a chance.

Picture Credit: Goodreads.com

Initially, I didn't think I would like the main character of Leia. She makes her living as a graphic novelist which is a genre that I have never been interested in. The story immediately opens onto Leia talking about her pregnancy and debating about how to break the news to her stepsister, Rachel, and other family members. On the day Leia has decided to break the news to her family she is suddenly informed of a possible health crisis with her Grandmother, Birchie. Leia rushes to a small Alabama town, almost like Mayberry, where Birchie lives with her childhood friend Wattie. This story follows Leia, Birchie, Wattie, and Rachel as they deal with family secrets, and discover the meaning of sisterhood.

Like I stated above, I initially didn't like Leia because I didn't feel like I could relate to her. But as the story continues I discovered that Leia is actually likeable and a strong character. The author, Joshilyn Jackson, brings each character to life, from minor to major, and gives them each a distinct personality. This really helped draw me into the book because it brought the characters from being on a page to people I could have actually known in real life.

Not only are the characters well done but the story surprised me. I was expecting "fluff fiction" about a family that's full of happy endings and lacking any deeper meaning. Ms. Jackson takes what could have easily been "fluff fiction" and turns it into a thinking piece. The character of Wattie is an African-American and a large portion of the book is dedicated to something Ms. Jackson has dubbed the Second South where Wattie has experienced discrimination simply because of her race. The picture that is painted of this Second South makes you stop and think. You suddenly start seeing that despite it being 2017 many of these issues are still alive and well.

Overall, I am a complete fan of this book and have already recommended it to several friends and family members. I look forward to hunting down other works by Ms. Jackson and devouring those as eagerly as I devoured The Almost Sisters.

Today is day four of the NYX Lippie Countdown! If you're wondering why I'm talking about a random lipstick then please see this post. Yesterday was a bit of a flop. It wasn't a bad color but it wasn't a color that I would normally wear, so I was excited to see that today's color looked like it was a nude shade.

Upon opening the box I was happy to see that this color was from the NYX Lip Lingerie line which had been the entire advent calendar last year!

Once I pulled out the color I was even more excited to see that this was the Push-Up shade which is a nice, soft peachy nude.

This is extremely easy to apply with the doe foot applicator and because it is almost a perfect nude shade for me I don't  have any issue fixing mistakes. You do need to be careful with the Lip Lingerie line because occasionally they do get a bit clumpy so check your wand before applying. This color lasts a long time, there will be some flaking onto glasses and things but for some reason it always looks fresh on my lips until around lunch time.

Now one fun thing that I did notice was that this shade is a touch lighter than the one I received last year. They both look the same when applied but in the tube they're a bit different.