My birthday snuck up on me this year, and I feel like that speaks to how much my day-to-day life has changed over the past few months. Time feels like it’s moving so quickly, and so strangely, that I haven’t even registered that it’s September despite it being my favourite month of the year—it’s Virgo season, Pumpkin Spice season, the gateway to Halloween, and my birthday. What’s not to love?
As a birthday present to myself—which also coincided with this month's California Wild Adventure (working title)—I decided to book myself a trail ride up in the Sierra National Forest! I’ve been riding regularly for a month now and I got the itch to ride out in nature which led me to Shaver Stable.
The last time I went on a trail ride I was barely a tween, and my family took a summer road trip down to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. I really wanted to ride a horse, and we ended up finding an hour-long trail ride tour in the area. I remember riding an all business, no non-sense palomino named Dillon.
For this trip, I got to ride a Mustang mare named Dusty. She was actually my favourite out of all of the horses because she reminded me so much of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. So I was surprised and delighted when I was told I was going to ride her.
I left my phone at the stables so I didn’t get any pictures of the scenery. But it was a beautiful ride that took us through a small section of forest and past the lake. I ended up seeing a few birds including a Raven, possibly a woodpecker, and a gorgeous Red Tailed Hawk that flew at eye-level into the trees. It’s such a different, unique way to experience the outdoors on horseback and I think it’d be fun to try a horseback camping tour sometime in the future.
I missed Eden and I felt a little sad that she wasn’t there with me. But there are so many dog-friendly trails up in the Sierra National Forest we can explore together, so I’ll be back next month with my best girl by my side.
I love being in my 30’s. I feel like I’ve really grown into myself and that my life is starting to gain momentum. Things were a little bumpy when I first hit 30 (hello, Saturn Return), but they’re now really coming into their own and I’m falling more and more in love with my life.
I hope for big, beautiful, positive changes in our world during my lifetime.
I hope for a better future where we can all thrive and live our best lives.
I hope for True Love to finally find me.
I hope for even more blessings, success, and moments of magic both big and small.
I hope to continue being my ancestors’ wildest dreams.
Happy birthday, to me.
Here's to 33 more revolutions around the Sun.
Here’s to 33 more years on our beloved Pale Blue Dot we all call home.