My friend Mel sent me a text yesterday saying "Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? I'm going for a drive. I'll pick you up at 9:30 a.m." I was tempted to answer "Hey, what do you think I am - a jobless hobo with nothing to do on weekdays?"

Except that I am.

I asked if I had to wear a party dress or heels or something stupid, and she said yes, wear your Sunday best. So I humoured her, and I put on pants and actually brushed my hair before leaving the house.

The first stop we made was to drop Mel's computer off at the local Mac Dealer. It just so happened to be iPad Release Day, which apparently means FREE MAPLE DIPS AND LARGE (or if you subscribe to the new sizing system, extra-extra-extra-micro small) DOUBLE DOUBLES FOR EVERYONE.

Someone could have walked into that Apple-Fritter dealer and opened fire, and I would have gone down smiling. As far as I was concerned, road trip complete!

But Mel didn't take me home. Apparently, we were headed south to Claresholm, Alberta. You know, good ol' Claresholm ... where our elevation is almost as high as our population. (Hehe. That turned out to be funnier than I had planned ... )

Yes. I made Mel pull over and take a picture of me. It was punishment for making me get my A&W to go, and therefore denying me a frozy mug full of frosty root beer. WHO DOES THAT? I am seriously going to have to reconsider our friendship. And yes. I fell into the water below the sign while trying to pretend I am more flexible than I was as a college gymmast.

So, why the roadtrip to Claresholm, Alberta, hometown of rodeo champions Chad and Levi?

Um, saddle shopping. Duh

Guess which one I chose?

Obviously.

I even wrote on my Customer Satisfaction and Suggestion Form that if I knew how to ride a horse or even owned a horse, I would definitely buy my turquoise saddle here.

I don't actually own a horse, in case you were wondering. Although, I do have three My Little Ponies (except one is a seashorse, don't know if that counts) and a cowboy hat from Texas.

I learned a lot of horse things at the saddle shop. Like, you can buy matching turquoise booties to go with my saddle. And you can totally bling out your horse with rhinestones. And the little pocket on the stirrup is not a cell phone holder. Also, just like when you aren't sure if a dress you have will go with the shoes you want to buy, so you bring the dress to the store in order to try them on together (that's completely hypotehtical, it's not like I own a dress, one, and two, am concerned about whether it matches my Vans), you can bring your horse to the store and try the saddle on. For example, I could be like, oh hey, I really love this turquoise saddle, let me just run out to the car and get my horse and see if it fits.

I'm on a horse.