New Adventure

After many years of trying to decide if my health was important enough for me to do something about it, I have decided to join people at work in a "Biggest Loser" type competition.

This was really brought on by a conversation that I had during my Dallas Weekend. I had an amazing talk with Heather about dating, my weight, and my dreams of having a family one day. It really prompted me to be proactive about myself (Thanks, Heather). Don't get me wrong, it's not because I don't love myself the way that I am...because I do. I have accomplished so much in my life. I have a Master's degree, a great job, tons of great friends, and I think I'm attractive and funny.

So I began last week and lost 14 lbs and 3 inches in one week! Can you believe that!!!!??? I held down my excitement but all I wanted to do was jump up and down and yell! So I got back to work this week, or I'm at least trying. It's hard when you are back home with nowhere to work out!

If you are interested in joining in with us let me know and I will make sure to include you. If nothing else but to make yourselves more healthy! Look forward to post more about my time at home and my upcoming trip!!

Back to the Grind

I don't know how many of you know what my job exactly entails. I work at a Division 3 school in Southwestern Vermont. Yes...Vermont. It is a really small school, so small that many of the students call it SVC High School.

Anyway, I spend my days listening to my SAs talk about their crazy adventures and trying to keep them healthy. I spend most of the morning trying to catch up on paperwork that I have acquired throughout the afternoons and evenings. I schedule doctor's appointments, set-up meetings with physicians and sales reps, and get kids to come in for rehab to get them back from injuries. I spend at least 12 hours a day here:

So I returned to work after much needed days off and many hours of sleeping. It has been pretty hit the ground running around here. The semester is winding down and there is about 10 days left of work for me. I will be attempting to go home during finals week and spend extra time with my family before heading to the ATL for Christmas...

If you send me questions about myself or about my job I will do my best to answer them over the next couple posts. Also anything else you would like to learn about I can post with regards to athletic training.

Visit Home

Well I made the 9.5 hour trek to Toledo, Ohio the great city of my birth, to see my mom, trade cars and pick up some of my things that I couldn't take out to Vermont on the move in August. You see I have been driving this amazingly nice 2007 Saturn Vue...

So I had to return the nice SUV for my little 2003 Chrysler Sebring...

The trip was super boring and there was a ton of traffic. Because my birthday was on Tuesday and I didn't get to celebrate it with my family I got presents on Thanksgiving and over the next couple days from my family.

Thanksgiving dinner was super tasty, and I contributed potato salad to the meal. My mom did an amazing job with the turkey and all the fixings. Of course because I come from a family of cooks they made fun of how "crunchy" my potatoes were in my salad, but everyone said that the flavor of it was great. After dinner we settled in the front room of my grandma's house and enjoyed each other's company.

The next day was Black Friday and of course in my family it is a tradition for myself and my aunt DeMeeta and whoever else to come along for the excursion, this year because my aunt remained in Atlanta I was left to fend for myself with all the crazy people. I met 2 nice ladies in the line at Target...I was up and in line by 4:30. Yes I said 4:30...and made it in and out of there by 5:30, I was truly on a mission. I decided to run to Walmart before returning to bed. I made it in the store for 10 minutes and had a lady block my way because she didn't want to let anyone else through. So I decided that instead of fighting all the crazy people to go home and return later.

The highlight of my trip was spending the day with my mom at my favorite store, that I've never been too, IKEA. It was like an out of body experience for me. Many square feet of everything that I could possibly want...Instead of getting all the things that I wanted I had to settle for curtains, wine glasses, measuring cups, drawer organizers and amazing cinnamon buns. I will definitely be making a trip to the store again in the near future to purchase the bedroom set that I want...

I will be returning to Vermont tomorrow to return to work and unpack all my goodies that I am bringing back with me...

Dallas- Sunday

I'm trying to learn the properness of blogging...I realize that it's almost a week later and I'm blogging about last weekend still...but anyway...Onward to Sunday. After having a fitful sleep, I'm totally blaming it on the meat...We went down to say good bye to John and Alyssa as they would be the first to leave. Because we were all hungry we decided to take a ride over to McDonald's and grab some food. There we said goodbye to John, Alyssa, and (not so) Little R. I did an amazing job holding back the tears!

We went back to the hotel and talked about keeping in touch better, planning for the wedding and really just spending the last couple hours together. There were lots of jokes and torture going on. From there we all checked out of the hotel and made our way to a park for Sassy and Little A to expend some energy before their family headed back to Kansas and before we met Nicole and Bastian at Joe's Crab Shack!

We arrived at Joe's and waited patiently for Nicole, Bastian, Brandon, and Jaimie to show up. The girls took in the pond and we went inside to wait. Because I only had a couple hours left with them I was really trying to get in as much time with the girls as possible. They are my nieces and I love them to death. So finally the other half of our crew arrived and we sat ate and drank and attempted to watch as much football as we could. It was getting close to time to leave and so I snuck away to the bathroom...Upon my return I noticed the waitress had this shark on a stick. So of course because I was turning 25 on Tuesday they told the waitress and I had to ride around the restaurant on this thing. Of course I couldn't just ride in peace I had to say, "Yee-Haw, it's my birthday!" After that we all proceeded to say our goodbyes and depart to our final destinations...

Let's just say I was doing good until Sassy asked why I wasn't going with them to Kansas...I about lost it in the restaurant and had to tell her I would be seeing her soon...After leaving the restaurant I realized that I only had 35 minutes to get to the airport before my flight left. I of course was crying the entire way to the airport because I was sad to be leaving my friends and Brandon of course comforted me for the first 5 minutes and then fell asleep. As it turns out we were cutting it extremely close. My flight left in 35 minutes and I was nervous that I wasn't gonna make it. Luckily for me I made it, checked in, and went through security with all of 5 minutes to spare.

I got on the plane and made a new friend. We talked about all kinds of things and about how our lives were and all the injustices of student loans. I eventually touched down in Manchester, NH and had to make the 2.5 hour trek back to Bennington. Luckily for me this time there was less fog and no rain...

It was a great weekend with friends and now the next step is to figure out a way to get to Germany for the German official wedding...

Dallas-Saturday

After the long night of talking, we reconvened in the lobby...our makeshift hangout place for the weekend. We were late getting down to breakfast because some person in my room took an extremely long time to get ready and so we were 15 minutes late...that's neither here nor there.

We decided to walk to breakfast because it was right around the corner. Off we went...We ended up at a little diner-like place called the Oasis Restaurant and proceeded to have a fantastic breakfast. I of course opted for the usual fanfare (pancakes, bacon, hashbrowns) while some of my other counterparts took in some spicy eggs and breakfast burritos. We finished breakfast without any major catastrophes from the kids and set off to go back to the hotel. We decided from there to go to Heather's and my favorite store Target and see what the Dallas one had to offer. We of course drug Brandon along with us, with promises of movies or shoes or something...None the less we had a successful trip at Target plus me making Sassy cry...I really didn't do anything to her...I promise! We stopped to make sure we had enough to proceed with our "game faces" and returned to the hotel to get dressed for the big ceremony.

Brandon, Bastian, Alyssa, John, and I all made it to the beautiful house where the ceremony was to take place. We ate and drank while we waited for everyone else to join us. Soon it was time for the ceremony to start. Because Bastian and Nicole aren't traditional people, we did not know what to expect from the ceremony. But it was fast and we all got to take a part in it. Here are some pictures taken by Brandon because I got to weld Heather's camera because she was the "surprise Best Man":

The 3 beautiful ladies pre-ceremony

In the midst of vows/promises...Not kidding this was the fastest ceremony ever. Only took about 5 minutes just the way they wanted.

Heather doing her "Best Man" duties.

Finally the kiss!!!

After the Teary Toasts...which if you don't know this about me, I cry about everything. Someone could tell me that a dog died on the side of the road and start cry and therefore so would I...Anyway...after everyone cried and ate delicious cake. We proceeded out to the front yard where there was a "special surprise" for all of us...

Sassy was the first to have a go at it and she was really excited!!

Then it was Nicole's turn to "Beat her Groom"

After all the excitement we piled into cars and headed to dinner...I don't know how many of you have heard of a Brazilian Steakhouse but it might have been one...well the best meal of my life.

I'll fill you in on the concept...#1 begin with a salad bar full of marinaded mushrooms (eww fungus), asparagus as big as a banana and other assorted salads. #2 they come to your table with 16 different meat choices, yes I said 16 and yes i probably ate at least 10 of them. #3 Save room for desert because you will be having that as well...By the way, I forgot to mention that all of this is as much as you can eat. So if you eat 20 lbs of meat so be it. After eating all of this food we proceded back to the hotel, although we wanted to hang out and talk some more we just were too tired after the food and the long day...

I apologize for the length...more to come about Sunday

Dallas- Friday

I traveled to Dallas this weekend for a wedding of one of my best friends from college, Bastian. We all (Heather, Brandon, Bastian, and I) met when I worked football at Iowa State. And we became fast friends, pretty much inseparable for the next 3 years. During this time we all became close with each other's families and eventually spread out across the country and world. Myself to Vermont, Brandon to San Diego, Heather to Wichita, and Bastian back to Germany. Which takes us to this weekend...

The "Dallas wedding" was to take place on Saturday. This was a substitute wedding for those people who meant a lot to Bastian and Nicole who might not be able to make it to Germany in April when the official ceremony would be taking place. I began my travels on Friday morning at 2:30 am, driving through the mountains and fog of Vermont and New Hampshire.

I even saw 3 or 4 of these. Really!! Moose Crossings?!?! But I eventually after 2.5 hours of driving up and down made it to Manchester, NH to fly down to Dallas. After arriving, I was greeted by a huge guy running at me! It scared me but then I realized it was my friend Bastian. After grabbing a quick lunch we returned to the airport to meet up with Brandon who had just arrived from San Diego. Wow what a California boy he has become...

After picking him up we headed to the hotel to check in and meet up with the Kansas crew (Heather, Tyler, her parents and the kids) and everyone else. We hung out at the hotel and got settled in our rooms, had preliminary catch-ups. Off to dinner we went!

We went to a cool little place called Gordon Biersch for the "Rehersal Dinnner". It was a new restaurant to the Dallas area. After eating and drinking a bunch of food and commenting on the abundance of garlic in their fries...we returned to the the "Suite of fun" to enjoy each other's company!

Many of us applied our "game faces" and enjoyed the talking, laughing, and having "adult conversations." John and Alyssa joined us at the hotel with their little guy. John is another one of my football player friends. Alyssa has been adopted into our group because of being married to John. After much discussion we decided that we should begin to have get togethers every year in different locations so that we can see each other more. It began to get late so we decided to go to bed and get ready for the ceremony the next day!

To be continued....

Day of Reflection...

I thought that I would start a blog like everyone else in my life! Today is my birthday and although I have lots of depressing thoughts about turning 25, I guess I should be happy that I made it this far in my life and have accomplished most things that I have wanted to...

I made it to 25 with a Bachelor's Degree, a Master's Degree, and a great job that I love coming to everyday.

I have great friends and family, that have been there for me through all the tough times in my life. To all those that have been a part of the last 25 years...thank you and I am so blessed to have you in my life. I am so lucky compared to others that I know...

Happy Birthday to me! I look forward to seeing what this day brings me!