Flashback Friday--winter sports

After spending a healthy amount of time in the pool rehabing, I figured I would share someone else's pool experiences.

This is what happens when my sister gives me school pics.

Random girl at they Y (who comes around the corner in the locker room to talk to me):  That's a really cute bathing suit.
Me:  Thanks, it is getting a little wore out.
Girl:  Oh, it's old.
Me:  Not really.  I guess I have just used it a lot.
Girl:  Were you a swimmer in high school?
Me:  Yes, but I wasn't good.
Girl:  Where did you swim?
Me:  [Insert high school.] 
Girl:  [Random facts about the high schools merging, the last cross town basketball game, and recognizing alumni.  Not sure if the girl thought I was supposed to be invited to this.  Or cared.]  Do you swim much?
Me:  Some, I have an injury now, so I am swimming more.
Girl:  You look like a runner...no offense.

What just happened?  Umm...thanks...I think.

Last week she gave me tips on running shoes for a brand that doesn't fit my feet.  I was just trying to go to yoga class.

It has been bitter cold and snowy here in Indiana.  I guess that is pretty much the story everywhere (Florida doesn't count.  In fact, I vote to cut it off from the U.S. after a few fb posts complaining about the warm weather from the locals.)  I am super happy to be off Facebook so I don't have to see people whine.  The piles of laundry have multiplied and I spend more in gas and time heating my car in the morning.  However, I have to admit...it is pretty.

1150.  Finding more Cuddl Duds in my drawer
1151.  Scarves, vests, and sweaters.  Translation:  lots of layers, lots of combinations.
1152.  Being able to gain access to my storage unit.  (Albeit, while the keypad was ripped off the front of it, the gate was propped open, and I had to leave a running car to trek through an unplowed driveway to obtain...)
1153.  ...my space heater...
1154.  ...which was gifted to me by an old co-worker....
1155. ...and heated the pipes in my parents' house...
1156.  ...to get the laundry started.

1157.  Having a seemingly infinite stock of hot teas.
1158.  Lots of chances to get really good at taking pictures snow pictures.
1159.  At least the winter's not brown.

Today I take my GRE.  Thoughts and prayers as I hope my patience proves to be more than this weekend.   Here it comes, for better or worse.

This may explain some of my studying habits.

If I can survive a practice GRE after several hours with clawing at the door and my parents blaring a movie, I might just turn out okay.

Then I can take a nap.

Laughs, schamphs

I accidentally texted a random stranger yesterday who helped me with a math problem.  It kind of got me thinking about the other times this happened.

Tee hee hee

Adding a little spice to my mom's to-do list

The time I accidentally texted a book about systematic racism and incarceration to someone else instead of myself.

The time I sent a picture of someone else's cat to the wrong number.  Then I sent more.

And how exactly do you decide plans for the next decade?

I generally don't like to share half-baked ideas, but here is where things currently stand for my life.  I am currently working pretty much full time between a couple of jobs.  I am taking my GRE Monday and likely will be applying for grad school within the week.  However, I am not sure what PhD program I am doing.  Long story short, I keep getting pulled back to social work.  I have fought it for various reasons, but it seems to be a match.  So, I have an application for a completely different program due in a week and have to decide if that is how I want to dedicate the next few years of my life or if I want to go somewhere else, or give up this dream all together.  I have to turn in up to four school on Monday for free when I take my GRE or pay $25 to send them out.  So, prayers appreciated I trek forward on how I will be spending the first half of my 30's.  Big decisions, little time.

On a positive note, this seems to be the perfect time to contract plantar flaciitius and a case of cabin fever (1130).  Snow storms, tornado warnings, subzero temperatures, part time work, it's like God has been leading me to take this for months.  Sometimes it take natural disasters to do it.  Thank goodness He is persistent (1131).

1132.  I am also grateful for places to study,
1133.  a deep rooted desire to do well,
1134.  a gracious and ever patient math tutor,
1135.  a random stranger who answered a math question from an accidental text,
1136.  wisdom and guidance from people who are much wiser and older than me,
1137.  a free GRE book and flashcards that my sister used,
1138.  a deep rooted desire to do more, to be more than I am right now,
1139.  small steps in the right direction,

1140.  friends who understand my weekend of studying,

1141.  the availability to just study for the weekend,

1142.  a local coffee shop where I can just crash for hours,

1143.  not having to work weekends,

1144.  not having any more obligations that I currently have taken on,

1145.  the beginning of the semester=few papers to grade or things to turn in,

1146.  students who I already know,

1147.  encouraging words from loved ones,

1148.  knowing that no matter what, God's got this (or so he keeps telling me).

Flashback Friday--Thesis Presentation

In the midst of preparing for my GRE (and deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life), I have reconnected with some old professors (more on that later) and search for my thesis, I attempt to rectify everything I have ever done and put it on a piece of paper. 

I hope my memory serves me well.

Real Beauty

I come from the land of hooded sweatshirts and no make-up.  I wear high-heeled boots to work and look high fulutant.  I guess that it why I don't understand going into debt to take millimeters off someone's nose.  Recently, the Miss Korea contest released pictures of their finalists which looked eerily similar.  Kind of breaks my heart, really.

http://blog.birchbox.com/post/48944004767/the-resemblance-between-miss-korea-contestants-causes-a

In the world of realness, I thought it was pretty rocking' that American Eagle put real, untouched images of girls in their lingerie ads recently.  Kudos to them!

http://glamazondiaries.com/2014/01/aerie-lingerie-campaign-uses-unretouched-photos-real-women/?utm_source=lady_and_the_blog&utm_medium=pubexchange#1

(P.S.  Can I just say...I think that these girls are totally cute and actually had to second glance to find out what was "wrong" with them?   Don't tattoos and a different body types make life a little more interesting?)

And there was an article about the world's ugliest woman.  AND WHO DETERMINES THAT???

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140119172209-281874400-labeled-world-s-ugliest-woman-would-you-hire-her?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

I was at church Sunday and saw a girl who was well dressed with a larger than normal frame.   I had been instantly attracted to her and it took me a minute to figure out why. I realized that that her smile was what made her so beautiful.  Something so genuine, so beautiful about a happy girl.  That's nothing all the plastic surgery, fashion designers, and photoshopping can add.

(Source:  Pintrest)

Snow withdrawal? I don't think so.

Although I will become very unpopular for saying this, I am actually kind of glad it snowed again.  I wasn't ready to put away the boots, wool socks, and warm sweaters.  It is only mid-January in Indiana.  I know that this isn't over, so don't give me false hope.  I am not ready for the warm up until it's officially here.

1125.  Ripples in the snow.

1126.  How snow can be so varied, so soft, so hard, so light, so compact.

1127.  My first souffle.  Delicious and semi-nutritious.

1128.  Art appreciation in very public placed.

1129.  A great conversation with a barista, who said that when people are kind and nice, then they actually have better lives overall.  I tend to agree. :)

Flashback Friday--winter weddings

A good excuse to get out in short dresses with heels in the snow.

The weekend

1108.  I got to see my college roommates, all three of them, last weekend.  It was wonderful.

1109.  Delicious food.

1110.  A willing photographer.

1111.  A pregnant girl who got us away from kitchen seating (private room, anyone?)

1112.  Late, late night conversations.

1113.  Princess beds (my Friday night destination).

1114.  Baffling preschoolers on how I got out.  (Okay, myself too.  NOT the bed to crawl out of after 4 hrs. of sleep.)

1115.  66 cent Arnold Palmers.

1116.  Comfortable couches.

1117.  Roommate stories.

1118.  Friends who get me.

1119.  And still love me.  No matter what.

1120.  Beautiful pregnant gals.

1121.  That all of my college roommates were blessed with children at just the right moment in their lives.

1122.  That they all have caring husbands who are great life partners.

1123.  Gifted vinyls and signs that speak reminders of good.

1124.  That I survived living with these girls...and we are still this close.

1099.  Yoga classes included with my Y membership.
1100.  Running into friends at the Y.
1101.  New pajamas.  On clearance.
1102.  An alarm clock on my phone.
1103.  Not needing a converter for my electrical devices.
1104.  Not needing fuses when the electrical outlet blows.
1105.  Clearance winter running clothes.
1106. Cloud wisps in the nighttime sky.
1107.  Delicious berries in the winter.

Flashback Friday: Harmony

I get to spend a lot of time in the car with this chick today.  I am pretty excited!

My college roommate is awesome.

Me vs. Winter

I now know why no one like Jackfrost in Santa Claus 3.


You know sometimes attending to be an optimist get a little bit difficult the weather has been beautiful that day off from work wonderful the amount of work it is taken to get ready for work? Not so great.  The amount of snow I had to scrape off my wheels...not so great. Good the commute to take three times as long...not so great.  However, I am glad to live in a place where I can experience is the four seasons fully (1081). And to be able to fully revel in the rotation of the sun (1082).  I will be more than ever grateful for spring but in the meantime I actually am enjoying the winter (1083). As an excuse to wear the half my wardrobe every day (1084). And said to wear cute snowboots for practical purposes (1085).  

1086. I really am very grateful for snow shovels and plows and salt and for all the modern technologies that make all of this a little more livable  
1087.  I am grateful for schools who have prioritized children's safety for the past five days when they closed. The winter has changed lethal school children enter the little monsters as they continue to rip your siblings apart by shreds of the words I was playing with her Christmas toys is gotten boring and being inside for that for the last seven days of been a little too much. 

1088.  The snow is made what a running challenging but I've been able to get in workouts every day including a rotten I feel like it's a good excuse to really really get down to business and not even small runs about something big.  

1089.  I'm grateful for windshield wipers that work. 
1090.  Both of them. 
1091.  I am grateful for warm boots a boot rack and a couple carrots spit pairs of ski socks that of My toes warm.  
1092.  I'm grateful for parents who suggested that I keep the dog at their house while I'm one dog sitting. Because who by the house in the middle the country on a dead-end road and a residential neighborhood?  Going to care for the cats still at the house...that it was an adventure and another itself. The road is plowed, but my the front door to the split-level house was anything but clear. I took a chance walked up the steps and off only once been another itself. And then had a shovel myself out of the house which became even more difficult than shoveling myself up to the house. I don't really believe of ever been in knee high snow but I guess that everyone should experience at least once-in-a-lifetime. These of the things as dramatic school stories are made of. 

1093.  I'm grieving over time for my best friend for Arizona the fact that she got in and got out okay even with some delays.
1094.   I'm grateful for people who are dedicated to their jobs and her willing to come to work everyday even though the snow is nasty the roads are slick and the temperature is anything but warm.  1095.  And grateful for Facebook and social networking sites the key people connected will be stay warm in their homes. 
1096.  I'm grateful for people who have made the choices stay in and while the roads are being plowed and what people have to go to work to make them at least a little more safe. 
1097.  I'm grateful for electricity when Indianapolis had several outages.
1098. Cuddly dogs on a cold winter night.

Funny story:  I recently took out my nose ring for a few hours (to pretend to be grown up) and the bottom fell out while I was talking to someone.  I put the bottom in the top upside down and attempted to put it together later at the Y.  I lost the back in my nostril.  Up my nose.  I swam a few laps in the pool, spewed out all my snot, and used a Netipot twice to no avail.  I asked my mom where nose pieces go.  She didn't know and refused to touch my nose to help me put in a new one.   She is a RN. She has touched stranger's body parts in places that would make me cringe for longer than I have been alive.  (read:  30+ years).  Party pooper.  She told me that it was probably a sign that I no longer needed a nose ring.  So I marched to Claire's and bought a cheapie one looking like a drenched dog.  On Friday night.  Hole in my nose saved.  Barely.

It has been a little harsh, but I will win this war, winter.

100 days of running: Day 18

Today was a snow day for most of the Midwest.  Flights are grounded, schools are closed, and employers canceled their daily parties.

I felt a little bit of the cabin fever today.  Partially because the gym was closed, partially because we have no treadmill, and partially because I have a schedule.  A date with my running shoes.  I have vowed to run for 100 days straight.  Thus far, I have logged long(er) and short runs, one on the treadmill, the rest outside.  One was 11pm at night in the snow, another in subzero temps.  After shoveling snow, I ran around the neighborhood. The plows decided to join me (afterward).  The total snowfall?  About 10 inches.  The windchill?  About negative 40.  But I still don't believe it's that cold.

I guess running 120+ laps around my parents' house wasn't enough.  

The cold and snow seem to be a common, binding archenemy for all.  So I blew frozen bubbles and made snow ice cream and relished in the beauty.  No sense in freaking out.  There is a warm fireplace here.

So I cleaned the house and organized a bit, and enjoyed the wonder of how my eyelashes could almost freeze shut.  I am loving this weather.  Temporarily.

1054.  The beauty of this snow
1055.  Having compassionate enough political leaders to push for the day off.
1056.  The binding force of a snowstorm.  I met some neighbors today who I have never seen and helped shovel them out of a rut in the street.  (Yep, this is how badly our streets needed plowed.)
1057.  Street plows.  Who graced our neighborhood.  I actually cheered when I saw them.
1058.  Hot, hearty soup.
1059.  Snow ice cream.

1060.  Having exercise equipment at home to do my own gym.

1061.  Having parents who want the dog I am sitting for to come to the house.
1062.  How much my parents like the dog.  And how much he likes them.

1063.  Getting things cleaned out while being at home.
1064.  My cousin is still stuck in Chicago waiting on a flight to the Dominican Republic.  Twice good-byes.  Twice hellos.
1065.  Colored lights reflected in the snow.
1066.  The sheer giddy of my friends enjoying snow, the cold temps, and snuggling inside.
1067.  Hearing from both my cousins that they landed in the Philippines and Israel okay.
1068.  Viber
1069.  Having lots of time with friends to be goofy.

1070.  Insulation.

1071.  The people risking their lives to care for others.

1072.  Snow shovels.

1073.  My parents' snow blower.

1073.  The fact that modern marvels can allow for us to live comfortably (relatively) in the winter without hunkering in a cave for months at a time.

1074.  Warm snow suits.

1075.  Having a hefty amount of base layers.  Thank goodness I'm a runner.

1076.  The freedom of getting outside after a day in the house.  In the driveway.

1077.  My church had a service yesterday and my parents came.  It was good to see everyone before the storm hit.

1078.  Salt and chemicals for the roads.

1079.  Snow pups.

1080.  Having electricity.

The storm won't last forever.  I'll relish it while I can.