She went to Texas, part two

Although we've read each others' blogs and chatted on and off for more than a decade, prior to last weekend, Lauren Mauldin and I had never actually met in person. 

I shared this information with Mary Jo, who shared it with another friend who was concerned. She asked, "How do you know that Jennifer's "friend" isn't a serial killer?"

I mean, I guess you never really know, but still, I felt completely at home from the moment we arrived at Lauren's house in Austin.

Everything from the art on the walls...

to her dog Lucie was exactly as advertised.

The conversation flowed easily, and by the time we went to bed that night, I felt like I'd known Lauren forever.

The next morning, Mary Jo went to her cousin's service, and Lauren and I went to the barn.

I met Lauren's brand new horse, Captain, who she imported from Europe earlier this month.

Since Captain is so new and Lauren's trainer was away, it was a hand walk only day.

That was fine with me, especially since Lauren had arranged for me to hand walk Bob.

We walked and talked and "jumped" a few tiny fences.

So much fun!

We had lunch and did a little shopping. Then we picked up Mary Jo and Lucie and went to a dog park with a bar. After that, we had dinner and went on a driving tour of Austin.

Somewhere along the way, I mentioned that I was casually horse shopping. Lauren decided I needed a Texas horse, so the balance our evening was checking out some of the local candidates. 

This was such a good day.

Thank you so much, Lauren. I'm so glad finally got to meet in person. Blog friends are real friends.

P.S. Definitely not a serial killer.