While doing my daily routine I have lots of time to think. I would like to post some of the things I think about on a daily basis on here too, naturally.
Today I was thinking about Billy, as I often do. I was thinking about the first time we said "I love you". I had wanted to tell him so badly but I was trying so hard to keep it in and wait. Finally the day came where I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I hemmed and hawed and debated whether or not it was a good idea. I didn't want to scare him off. It was love at first sight but should I tell him?? Finally I made my mind up, I had to tell him before it ate me up inside.
I was meeting up with him after work for a midnight bike ride. (This is back when I was still a waitress) I decided to ride down to the place I first realized I wanted to be with him forever. It was a field not far from my work where you could still see the stars. For one of our first dates he had set up a picnic blanket there with candles all around it. We drank Pino Noir and ate chocolate covered cherries. We talked for hours. I was so smitten.
So I wanted to take him back to that place and tell him under the stars. We rode our bikes down to the field and I dropped my bike and ran to the exact spot. He followed me and gave me a huge hug spinning me around in circles. Nervousness set in so horribly, I hoped what I was about to say was going to be alright. Just as I get my lips and mind to come to agreement and utter the words...he looked into my eyes and said it first. I was so shocked! I couldn't believe my ears!
This was almost a year ago that we spoke those words to one another for the first time. We say them every day now and every day they carry more weight than the day before. It is an amazing feeling to truly love someone more with each day that passes.
It was nice to think back on that today. I have so many amazing memories with him. I am so happy to know that I will have many more to come.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Daily Grind
I have finally settled into the routine. Now that I understand it the day seems to go by much easier. Not to mention when you can break it down to tasks rather than hours of work it seems much shorter. This is my routine: I wake up at 5:30 each morning get ready and head to the shuttle by 6:20am and we head to the tent. Normally there is a much needed stop by Starbucks first. When we get to the tent we open up the stables and get bales of hay to feed the horses.I need to get an exact count and see how many there really are in the stable. The day is just so busy I never have uninterrupted time to do so. It is somewhere around 60 Someone grabs a hose and fills all their buckets. Next we have to get the cedar chippings for each horse. Each stall gets 2 with exception of the 6 large stalls that get 3 each. Now we muck stalls! I normally do about 10 stalls, give or take a few. We sweep and then it is feeding time again. After all the hay is passed out for the second time we have to sweep again.
That is the morning. All of that takes place between 7 am and noon.
Now it is lunch time! I head over to the kitchen and see what my amazing Mr. has prepared us for lunch. He always makes me yummie vegetarian goodness ^_^ !! We get to take a nice hour long lunch which gives me time to spend with Billy. We don't get days off together so this is a very special part of my day. When he is too busy I just go hang out with my favorite horses and shower them with love and attention. This bonding time with the horses is vital. It is important for them to see me as a friend not just someone who has to boss them around. They are far more apt to listen to me if they consider me a friend.
After lunch is over we have to clean. Normally we have to wash all the horses water buckets, pick the paddock, scrub the grain buckets, and/or scrub the walls of the stalls. The problem with having an all white stable is it can easily look dirty so we spend a lot of time keeping it sparkling. In a normal afternoon we have to do two of those tasks. After that is done it is time to re-pick the stalls we did in the morning. We sweep one more time and it is time to go home!
About 3 hours after I get home Billy gets home and we get to see each other for a few hours before we have to go to sleep and start the day over again.
That is the morning. All of that takes place between 7 am and noon.
Now it is lunch time! I head over to the kitchen and see what my amazing Mr. has prepared us for lunch. He always makes me yummie vegetarian goodness ^_^ !! We get to take a nice hour long lunch which gives me time to spend with Billy. We don't get days off together so this is a very special part of my day. When he is too busy I just go hang out with my favorite horses and shower them with love and attention. This bonding time with the horses is vital. It is important for them to see me as a friend not just someone who has to boss them around. They are far more apt to listen to me if they consider me a friend.
After lunch is over we have to clean. Normally we have to wash all the horses water buckets, pick the paddock, scrub the grain buckets, and/or scrub the walls of the stalls. The problem with having an all white stable is it can easily look dirty so we spend a lot of time keeping it sparkling. In a normal afternoon we have to do two of those tasks. After that is done it is time to re-pick the stalls we did in the morning. We sweep one more time and it is time to go home!
About 3 hours after I get home Billy gets home and we get to see each other for a few hours before we have to go to sleep and start the day over again.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Play time!
All work and no play makes Collette really pissy and no fun to be around! So needless to say it was time to get out of our apartment and go see Manhattan! We are staying only 20 min. away from the city in our NJ apartment so it was time to get out and explore! Our first outing into the city was for Billy's birthday! We headed out with our good friends Dominique and Colin to see what we could see! We went to an amazing Indian restaurant that Colin knew about. Thank goodness he knew where we were going because I was in shock seeing all of the lights and glitter of Time Square at night! The restaurant was a small hallway lined in hologram style green and red Christmas wrapping paper with thousands of strands of string lights hanging low on the ceiling. Standing up your head was in the ocean of lights. It was an amazing meal with amazing friends!
After that we all went to a local bar called the Shrunken Head that happened to be a tiki bar holding a goth music night. Very interesting combination if I might say so myself. We had a couple of their signature drink a "shrunken head" some dreadful combination of liquors complete with fun umbrella fruits on the glass and a hanging monkey from the rim of the glass!
Since that night Billy and I have taken many day trips to see Manhattan, there has been much exploring and shopping! I hate that I don't have many more pictures. I will be better about it on our next city we stop in, I promise.
After that we all went to a local bar called the Shrunken Head that happened to be a tiki bar holding a goth music night. Very interesting combination if I might say so myself. We had a couple of their signature drink a "shrunken head" some dreadful combination of liquors complete with fun umbrella fruits on the glass and a hanging monkey from the rim of the glass!
Since that night Billy and I have taken many day trips to see Manhattan, there has been much exploring and shopping! I hate that I don't have many more pictures. I will be better about it on our next city we stop in, I promise.
The first month
So much has happened so far it will be impossible to recap everything as it happened. We arrived in NYC at the start of June. When we arrived we were already exhausted from many nights of little sleep and the stress of making this huge life change with only 3 days to do so. My eyes were tired and swollen from all of the tears shed during our departure. I was in total shock that everything was actually happening. It felt as if we were walking through a very strange dream for a while.
We joined at the very hardest part of the show, set up and tear down. There are workers there working literally 24/7 to put up the tent and set everything up. On my side we had to build the stables which is more work than I would have ever imagined. It included laying a thick rubber jigsaw locking floor (about 1000 tiles each weighing about 40lbs of floppy rubber), placing and locking in hundreds of walls to create the individual stalls for the horses, running water lines and setting up the paddock and tack rooms. There were many other smaller tasks as well. The hours were long and the work was hard. It is not usually work that the girls in the stable do. However I had no choice when I joined it was the only option. After a week of this the horses arrived at the stable. When they got there things got back to "normal". My body wasn't used to this "normal" yet. It certainly became used to it quick, it had no choice.
Billy works in the kitchen. He had to feed the hundreds of workers. This meant preparing large catered style meals about 8 times a day. Meanwhile he still had to set up the kitchen. All of this in a kitchen with no organization, a head chef that didn't want to be there and no recipes or meal plans. He was so overwhelmed. We have been here a month now. Billy and I have asked ourselves many times if we made the right decision to and if it were wise to have thrown caution to the wind and run away like this. I can confidently say now that we made the right choice.
We joined at the very hardest part of the show, set up and tear down. There are workers there working literally 24/7 to put up the tent and set everything up. On my side we had to build the stables which is more work than I would have ever imagined. It included laying a thick rubber jigsaw locking floor (about 1000 tiles each weighing about 40lbs of floppy rubber), placing and locking in hundreds of walls to create the individual stalls for the horses, running water lines and setting up the paddock and tack rooms. There were many other smaller tasks as well. The hours were long and the work was hard. It is not usually work that the girls in the stable do. However I had no choice when I joined it was the only option. After a week of this the horses arrived at the stable. When they got there things got back to "normal". My body wasn't used to this "normal" yet. It certainly became used to it quick, it had no choice.
Billy works in the kitchen. He had to feed the hundreds of workers. This meant preparing large catered style meals about 8 times a day. Meanwhile he still had to set up the kitchen. All of this in a kitchen with no organization, a head chef that didn't want to be there and no recipes or meal plans. He was so overwhelmed. We have been here a month now. Billy and I have asked ourselves many times if we made the right decision to and if it were wise to have thrown caution to the wind and run away like this. I can confidently say now that we made the right choice.
Begining
Every story has a beginning. Or at least that is what they say. Not sure who this mysterious "they" is but aren't "they" always saying something? However that is beside the point. It is hard to place a beginning on what led me to work with the Horse Circus.(reader note: I will be leaving names out of this blog because I want to keep journalistic integrity. I want to be open and honest about my experience, no matter what)That been said, a lot of things led me to travel with this group. I have always had a love for the circus and yearned for travel and excitement. I certainly found it! I worked as a body piercer and waitress in my home town. I did a bit of performance art, singing, dancing, and circus side show shenanigans. All of those things led me to meeting people from this traveling equine extravaganza. Needless to say, within their month long stay in my city we met, became friends, and my boyfriend Billy and I left with them. We packed up our lives into a few suitcases and threw away everything we couldn't give to a friend or donate to charity. It was such a blur. One second we had settled lives with homes and jobs and the next we found ourselves on a plane to NYC. We ran away with the circus. Life hasn't been the same since.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)