Exciting new development: Jasmin might be coming up for a week in July! Of course, our moms are lecturing us about straight A's, and my stepmom is warning me about working really hard on riding and violin - I have a solo competition on the 24th! - but other than that it's probably going to be okay! She won't be able to see Romeo and Juliet, but it's going to be filmed, anyway, so no big deal. She can't come up earlier because she has training with the Audobon and her zoo, and there are only ten days all summer she can come up. She is really into animals; not like Nicole, though, Jasmin is into ocelots and lemurs and jaguars and things like that. In her room she has all these gorgeous animal photos on the wall above her desk. She says it inspires her.

I should probably describe my room. It's big, and it's all painted pale green. My bed is a sleigh bed, all painted white, and it's good to hide under because it's just high enough to wiggle under, but low enough that it's pretty dark and hard to see under (which can be a bad thing if my homework is under there). The duvet cover is plain old mint green, but my sheets are mint green and white striped. My desk is white, too, and so is my closet. But my favorite place in my room is the windowseat. it's built into the wall, and there's a huge window that's like a rectangle with a half-moon on top. the cushions are white and soft, and the pillows are green. Also recessed into the wall, perpendicular to the window so you can't see them from the outside, are bookshelves. They're stuffed with books: The Redwall series, Eva Ibbotson, E. Nesbit, Roald Dahl, Harry Potter, Sisters Grimm, the Phantom Stallion, the Saddle Club, The Betsy-Tacy series, Charlotte's web, Judy Blume, The Black Stallion series, Wild Horse Island, Artemis Fowl, etc. It's my favorite place.

Gabrielle was used by another student for dressage yesterday, so I rode Chrysanthemum, who is a really sweet palomino. She doesn't have quite the spark of Gabrielle, who whenever she sees a jump perks up, but she jumped well. Ms. Aarons said we could try cross-country next week! I am so excited.

GTG.
Natasha