The Big Apple+ Women’s Sports Foundation=Amazing!!! Pt. 1

Although I'm not normally a blogger I thought that it would be appropriate to become one on this occasion. One of my student-athletes, Sherrita Hall, and I had the luxury of being selected to attend the Women's Sports Foundation dinner in NYC on October 12, 2010. This awesome honor was bestowed upon us by Bennington, VT Businessman Richard Ader and SVC President Karen Gross. So after weeks of planning yesterday we were off!

This was a number of firsts for me…I've never been on a train, other than a subway (in France & Chicago), for an extended trip. So we left Southern Vermont's Campus at about 8 in the morning to begin our day long journey to the Big Apple! We hit some snafus first thing in the morning. Neither one of us ever having traveled by train before were a little lost as to the process of boarding, whether to check bags or not, and just where to sit. Our train was delayed 30-40 minutes to begin with. I think we were both getting very anxious. Finally came our time to board the train… We made our way and found two seats and settled in for what would be a 2.5 hour train ride to the city. Along the way we made many stops along the route, they included; Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Younkers and many others. The scenery was absolutely beautiful as we traveled along what I believe was the Hudson River. As we could see the city we had to wait for another train to clear the tracks…after another 15 minute delay, we were soon making our way into the city.

Nothing is more thrilling than walking out of NY Penn Station and seeing and immediately feeling the buzz of the city! Not to mention that when we walked out of the station we were immediately greeted by Madison Square Garden…yes I said Madison Square Garden!!! Not did we see MSG, but right across the street is one of the biggest Post Offices that I've ever seen in my life. Sherrita and I made a plan to go and see if our room was ready in the infamous New Yorker Hotel, then grab lunch, and explore. Our room was unfortunately not quite ready so we left our bags with the concierge and made our way to lunch.

Sherrita was really excited to go to TGIFriday's so that was one of the first places that we saw and so that was our destination. We decided over lunch that we would try in the short time we had to see as much of the famous NYC sites as we could. It was a good thing that we had on our walking shoes! We walked from 8^th St to 2^nd St and then from W. 35^th St to W. 42^nd. We started off walking to see all of the shops and find the Macy's. Let me tell you that we walked into the cosmetics and perfume floor of the Gigantic Macy's and all I could think was how overwhelmed I was.

Sherrita and I made it through most of that first floor before we decided that it would be a good idea to continue our journey. You know how you expect something to look way different than it actually does…that was the way that we felt about the Empire State Building. Matter of fact, we almost walked right by it. I just happened to be looking at the signs on the street and spotted the sign. So we checked that off of our list.

We called Coach Quinn, Women's Basketball Coach at SVC, to find out where exactly all the other sites we needed to see were. He gave us instructions on how to get to all the other things that we were looking for. So we started walking. Me being the great tour guide that I am, I may or may not have had us walking almost all the way to Queens…Oops! But again Coach Quinn was our savior and gave us directions to get us unlost. So we decided that whatever we could find would be the next landmark we stopped at. Finally Grand Central Station appeared in front of us.

Wow what an amazing building from the outside, we had no idea that the inside would be just as spectacular. The ceiling was absolutely amazing. Painted up there were the constellations in gold paint.

Not only that but it was awesome to see all the shops and all the places that movies have depicted so many times. So after spending some quick time in there we made our way out and headed toward Time Square.

We could feel the electricity of Times Square as we headed toward it. Not only the electricity in the air but the increase in the amount of people that were on the streets. As we got closer we noticed that we could walk right down the middle of the street and not have a problem so we did and immediately began taking pictures of all the things that we saw.

On our list of places to go was the Toys'R'Us in Times Square. It is at least 3 floors and has a normal sized ferris wheel inside the store. There were special sections for everything: Wonka, electronics, video games, leggos! Really an awesome place to take kids. We even saw Spidey!

So after exploring the store we decided to make our way back out to the street where we would take in more of Times Square. We saw the famed Minskoff Theatre, where Lion King was playing. (One of my favorite Broadway shows.)

As it was getting late in the day we decided to make our way back to the Hotel to check-in and start to get ready for our night out on the town. But before we left we got to see another one of the NYC/Times Square Icons…The Naked Cowboy!!

On the way back we walked down Rogers and Hammerstein Boulevard and checked out all the musicals that were playing. Heather...thought that this sign would work for you even though we couldn't go see it!

We finally made it back to the hotel after our day of walking…To Be Continued….

Try Again

After speaking with my friend, Heather, who has the most amazing blog ever with a lot of followers, (check her out here) I thought I would try this blogging thing again.

More to come soon!!

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