After a 4.20 wake-up alarm this morning, I had a cold cup of coffee (accidentally), found my way to Lexington airport in the midst of MORE rain and was in Chicago before i knew it. The SVP of Marketing (aka my boss) Kathy Meyer was on the same flight so we chatted and had breakfast in the windy city Las Vegas could give Chicago a run for its money with the wind. I got to the MGM where I'm staying (it was totally sensory overload), I'm a first-time starter in Vegas (to borrow a term from racing) and it is pretty unbelievable. I haven't been on the ground for 12 hours yet so I won't judge too much but there is A LOT going on here.

The wind was incredible by the time I got to the venue to see the Jumping horses jog up. They were still putting the finishing touches on the Thomas & Mack Arena so it made for some spooky horses. The Thomas & Mack Arena is the home to the UNLV basketball team and it took some coaxing to convince some of the college kids that running stairs during the jog wasn't ideal.

US horses all looked super flash. There are 14 World Cup horses here (as Richard Spooner and Ashlee Bond each have two). Many of the world's best are here and it was a little like being back at the Olympic Games... I have a new horse crush (two actually) the West Coast horses: Flexible and Cristallo. George Morris (Jumping Chef d'Equipe) I spent 1/2 hour watching some dressage practice with Gil Merrick and Jenny van Wieren (USEF Dressage gurus), Jessica Ransehousen (Dressage Chef d'Equipe), and Chief FEI Steward Lloyd Landkamer. There were some frisky horses with all the wind. I also got to see my good buddy Rubin (who grooms for Debbie McDonald) from the Olympic Games and Brentina. Brentina looks great considering her colic scare this winter, she will be officially retired here on Friday. She truly is the legend of US Dressage and it is awesome that she can get a proper send-off from the venue where she was the World Cup Champion!

I did a bunch of running around and caught up with California Jumping rider Ashlee Bond.
Here are 10 things, 11 actually, she cannot live without (as told to me...)
1. My family: Mom - Cindy, Dad - Steve, 18-year-old brother Dylan, and my boyfriend Jason.

2. My friends. Lori is here, she is also a working student for me, but the rest are cheering me on from home.

3. Cadett. He is such a character. He has so much personality. He wants everyone to pay attention to him. Since we started winning, and doing all the victory gallops this winter he has gotten really full of himself. The more victory gallops, the more full of himself he gets. He thinks he is the hottest thing that walks the planet. He is very confident. I'm so excited to have him here. i'm taking one day at a time and concentrating on clear rounds not winning. I just want to keep doing what I've been doing.

4. My BONDIES. We just debuted at the Oaks three weeks ago. It is sportswear lingerie. I'm the president and co-founder of the company. They are for any woman that lives an active lifestyle. They are gorgeous, sexy and comfy. We just got the website up: www.bondies.com. Its only a splash page now, but we should have more up soon

5. No nail polish. Well, I used to always wear blue nail polish but I wasn't wearing any when I started winning so now its no nail polish.

6. The evil eye bracelets that my horses wear. they wear them 24/7 and they are just a little piece of leather braided and loosely tied around their pastern. They ward off bad energy.

7. Vampire books, I read all the Twilight ones and now I'm onto the series by Lindsey Sands. I read five last week and I brought two with me!

8. Dr. Pepper chapstick. It is made by Lipsmackers.

9. NERDS Rope (candy)... I like the original flavor, I eat all the NERDS off then the rope.

10. My Car, I have a black Porsche Carerra. It is has a sparkly rhinestone license plate holder.

11. (Pretty good considering she was struggling at 4) Anything sparkly. My boots have this sparkly part on them, my horses' bonnets. I like a little pizazz and bling. I like bling.

PS: IT IS ASHLEE"S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!!!!!!! She will be 24!
Trying to catch up on a missed day of work.
More tomorrow!