The Player's Championship

Today Bo and I are flying to Annapolis for a close friend's wedding!  This wedding has been a long time coming, and we feel very blessed that we have the opportunity to be with Matthew and Jamie on their big day!  We are heading out of here in just a couple of hours, and in that time I need to:

• finish packing;
• shower and get ready;
• take Lola to the doggy hotel;
• get to the airport - oh, and of course;
• write this quickie blog post!

On Wednesday, I accompanied my Business Partner, Sara, to The Players' Championship golf tournament held here in Jacksonville, FL.  Sara's husband loves the game of golf and plays pretty frequently.  According to her, they attend the tournament every year, and this year they had an extra ticket for Wednesday - the day of the last practice round before the official tournament began.  Having never been to a golf tournament before, when Sara invited me to join her I was happy to respond with a resounding, "YES!".

Obviously I don't know much about golf tournaments, but in my opinion - for a practice round - they had a pretty good turn-out!

The Players' Championship is played at the TPC Sawgrass course, and of all the golf courses I have visited in my time, this one was BY FAR the most beautiful.

Most of the time I felt like I was walking around a botanical gardens that just happened to allow people to play golf in it.  Just look at that little botanical island oasis!

P.S.  The first three pictures in this post were taken from the Benefactor's Tent where Sara and I had lunch. It was great because it was set-up right in front of the 17th hole, which for those of you who don't know is a world-renowned hole because player's t-off onto an island...and many of them end up losing their ball to the water.  It was also great because it was in the shade!

I'm wasn't sure who the majority of the professional golfers were; but regardless, we were able to get pretty darn close to several of them.   Honestly, unless it was Phil Michelson, Tiger Woods, or Bubba Watson I doubt I would know who they are...pardon my ignorance?! 

On a side-note: I love that one guy's yellow pants and teal shirt!

Gotta love the quirky golf fashion...hahaha!

There were spectators a-plenty as well.  

While some spectators seemed to really be paying careful attention to the game, the majority seemed to care more about socializing.  I guess that supports the theory that a lot of business gets accomplished on the golf course!

Me, posing in the shade.  It was SO hot! :)

Sara and I found a sweet employee to snap a picture of us in front of the playhouse.  Isn't it beautiful?!  I think it looks like a castle.

Although you can't tell as well as I had hoped in this photograph, the flowers in front of the playhouse were gorgeous too.  The color combination of white, yellow, and blue really stood out from the building and made it POP...now that's good landscape architecture!

The greens were so...well...GREEN!  

I couldn't help but snap a few pics for you to see.  My camera really didn't do it justice.  The course was truly stunning!

There were also dozen of tables and chairs set-up right outside of the playhouse for people to sit, eat, drink, and be merry!  As you can see, almost every chair was taken.

Don't forget, this was just a practice round day!

I can't imagine what the course is like once the tournament officially begins.  It must be swarming with people! With that said, I am very happy that Sara invited me to join her on the day that she did.

Hand-held face shot in front of the playhouse. :)

And finally, the fountain at the entrance of the course.

What a beautiful world we have been blessed to live in!

Next time - either an update on growing out my hair, or all about our wedding weekend in Annapolis.

Don't worry - eventually you will end up getting both of these posts...I'm just not sure which one I will want to write first!

Question of they Day:

Have you ever been to a professional sports tournament?!  If so, tell me about your experience!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo

A Weekend Filled With New Things!

So far this weekend I have experience THREE new things, and they have each been wonderful and memorable in their own right!

This post has LOTS. OF. PICTURES.  Each one was taken with love, and with you in mind, so enjoy!

New Thing #1: I rode a horse!

One of my most dedicated yoga students, Catherine, owns The Corpus Christi Riding Center.  On Friday, she invited Bo and I for a visit.  Thankfully, as a result of Veteran's Day, Bo was off for the day, and I had the morning free from teaching.  So, for about three hours on Friday morning, we visited with Catherine at the riding center. 

The Riding Center covers over 70 acres of land.  At the center, Catherine currently has 14 horses (here are pictures of a few of them):

Sky



Ravon



Magic





Magic...again :)



This is my favorite of the horse pictures!


roosters, hens, and guinea hens:


Let me tell you, he was one cocky rooster!



Flying the coop! :)

 a small herd of cows:

and countless dogs and cats!

Catherine definitely has her hands full, but from the smile on her face, it is obvious that she loves her center and all the animals in it!  It was such a joy to witness someone that truly loves what they do for a living.  Not only that, Catherine's excitment for her land, her animals, and her equine training was contagious too! 

Towards the end of our visit, Catherine let both Bo and I ride Sky.  I had never ridden a horse before, so this was very exciting for me (and I can't lie, just a little bit scary too)!  It turned out to be so. much. fun.  Sky was calm, well-trained, and an all-around smoothe ride.


Bo needed a slightly larger horse :)



Sky and I really worked well together!


Catherine even taught us how to "trot" (sort of like a light jog for the horse).  Although we both "trotted," Bo forgot to take pictures of me at that juncture (insert sad face here), so here are a few of him.  I promise I did it!

By 12:00 p.m. we were both getting tired and hungry, so we decided to say our "thank you's" and our "good-bye's" and head home for lunch.  We had such a good time!

Catherine has already invited us back for another ride and a hike, so look out for future posts on this topic!

New Thing #2:  I played golf!

Ok, maybe I didn't feel that graceful, but I did have fun!  Unfortunately, as we were pulling out of the driveway, I realized we had left our camera in the house.  Oh well, personal pictures will be taken next time, I promise!

On my first day of ever playing golf, here's what I learned:

1. People aren't lying when they say golf is hard.
2. People really aren't lying when they say golf is hard!
3. If you look at the ball when you swing the club, you are much more likely to actually make contact with the ball, DUH!
4. Swinging hard isn't necessary.  If you hit the ball correctly, the club will do most of the work for you.
5. This might actually be a sport Bo and I could play together. Hallelujah, I hear the angels singing!

New Thing #3:  We bought, and decorated, our first little Christmas tree as a married couple!

Since we won't be spending actual Christmas Day here in Corpus Christi, we decided to get a small tree, put it up a little early, and enjoy it for a full month!  We don't have that many decorations or ornaments yet (hint hint hint), but we put what we do have to good use.  Here are a couple of close-ups!


Santa's Little Helper - from Great Aunt Dolly via Mee Maw Rives



A gift from a dear friend in Enid, OK.


So that's it! 

1. We rode horses.
2. We played golf.
3. We bought and decorated our first Christmas tree. 

So far it has been a wonderful weekend.  And guess what?!  It's only Saturday!  The possibilities for Sunday are practically endless... :)

Question of the Day:

Have you done anything for the first time recently?  If so, I would love to hear about it in the comments!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo