October

Welcome, fall.  Even though as I write this today, it is sunny and 84 degrees here in Missouri.  Usually I am excited for October to arrive.  Halloween, orange and black decorations, beautiful fall colors surround me.  Usually I am excited for playoff baseball.  Not this year.
Last weekend started baseball playoffs.  I love it.  The Phillies have been hot, I mean they had the best record in baseball.  The last day of the season, the broke the franchise record and won 102 games.  They also knocked out the Braves from the playoffs.  Yet, they drew the short straw.  Their opponents in the first round...the St Louis Cardinals.  Ugh.  They got hot late, had great offense all season.  Yet, it shouldn't have been a match for the best pitching rotation in MLB right?  WRONG!  It was all wrong.  Living in Cardinal nation usually isn't a big deal.  But now that my team and their team were playing, it's all I freaking heard about.  People who don't normally stop in my office to say "hi", now stopping by to talk about baseball.  Seriously? 
J was already gearing up to lose the series.  His words "they are going to lose the first round of the playoffs and get knocked out by the Cards".  I didn't believe him, but then again I never do when it comes to sports.  He is more a pessimist, I on the other hand, am an optimist.  Always have been.  Believe they can pull it out at the end, as they have so many times before. 
Last night was game five of the series.  Winner moves on, loser starts their golf season earlier.  Phils main guy was pitching, Doc.  I mean he has been great all season, minus the first innings of games.  But, it's just the first inning right?  You still have 9 chances to come back.  And the game was at the Bank.  The 10th man would bring it.  He would be there.  He was one of the only ones to show up last night.
Everything was wrong, just wrong.  Doc had a typical first inning, the kind where he gives up runs early.  He gave up a triple with the lead off hitter.  Before you know it, they score.  The game is 1-0 Cardinals.  After that inning, Doc was himself.  Stellar, stopping any other Cardinals from crossing that plate.  Getting himself out of jams.  I thought, they have to come back right?  I mean, they are down by 1 run.  One swing of the bat can fix that.  I sat in my chair, hopeful, they wouldn't let me down.
I tried shifting, I tried waving my imaginary rally towel.  We even ate the same dinner we did when they won in game 3.  Another must win game.
By now, everyone knows how it ends.  The Phils did not come back.  Ryan Howard, ending the season like he did last...by not getting a hit.  On top of that, he tears his achillies tendon.  Great.
My hubby, I love him, but he gets a little crazy.  He is in a funk, and probably won't get out for a while.  I understand.  We all bleed Red in the summer, Green in the fall, Orange through the winter.  We are passionate.  We are all passionate.  Are we too passionate?  Some might say maybe.  Maybe we are crazy when we live this much through our sports.  We are up when they win, but when they break our hearts...man are we down.  Probably more down than the players themselves.  They put our emotions on a rollercoaster.  You think they know the ride they force us on? 
Last year when the Phils lost to the Giants in the NLCS...we cleaned and rearranged the living room furniture.  My husband just had to do something, anything.  I must say it looks really nice.  Last night, he was ready to move again.  So there we were at 12:30 am starting to rearrange our bedroom.  Something we haven't done since I moved out here 5 years ago (rearranged that is, not cleaned).  I wonder if cleaning and moving is a way we deal with all the emotions.  Clean our slate, get it out, wipe it down, so we can start all over again in April.  I must say though, I love the way we arranged our furniture.  It looks so nice.
While we finished after two am, I was up early today to go support the organization I volunteer for in the homecoming parade through town.  Today is Truman's homecoming.  The parade started at 9 am, but we had to check in and be there by 7:15.  I am tired.  And as I sit here, the sting of last nights game has not yet gone away.  Like I said I live in Card Nation, and I had about a half dozen people apologize to me during the parade today.  Really, you bring it up already?  Luckily I can let it go easily.  I mean being a fan of Philadelphia sports, you get used to say "well, there is always next year".  Maybe I, we, are not lucky enough to feel the high of more than one championship in our life time.  I mean, they did just win in 2008...what were we expecting anyway, a dynasty?  We aren't the Cardinals, or the Yankees.  Afterall, we are just Philly fans.
Luckily for me, the Eagles and the Flyers are in season now.  Time to bleed Green/Orange and give probably too much of my life riding this crazy rollercoaster of sport fandom.  For some strange reason, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Back To Reality

Well, we have gone to Jamaica and are back...already.  :(  Sometimes, time just goes by too quickly.  Although our vacation was fantastic and we had awesome time with really great friends...I wish we were there longer.  In a way, but in a way the amount of time we were there was perfect.  Almost everyone has asked what we did on our vacation.  My answer is absolutely nothing.  It was perfect.  We would wake up and meet for breakfast.  Then we would go to the pool, or the beach.  Maybe join in on some pool volleyball (okay we only did that once).  Mostly we would have adult beverages, swim, and lounge either pool side or on the beach (I almost always fell asleep on the beach).  It was the most relaxing vacation I think I have ever been on.  At night we went to dinner, had some more adult beverages.  We went to a couple shows...the steel drum band was awesome and the talent show was good too.  We ate at a different restaurant every night, my favorite is a toss up between the Italian place and the Jamaican restaurant.  We hung out at the Piano bar where there was a guy playing the piano every night and the crowd in the bar would sing.  It was pretty cool.  Every day there were two guys in between the pools.  One guy had jerk chicken and the other had fresh pineapple and fresh coconuts that he was cutting up.  We had the jerk chicken and coconuts several times.  The coconuts were great!  They would chop the tops off until there was a hole, then they stuck a straw in it and you would drink the coconut water.  Yum.  It was great to spend the time with our friends Jen and Josh too! :)  J and I are ready to go again next year.
The first week back was tough though.  Work was long and it felt like the week took forever.  An interesting story came out the weekend we got back.  The journalist is from the KC Star, and he wrote a story about sports and the rich and the poor.  His idea I believe was a good idea.  He was basically showing how athletics can help the poor have chances for something better.  With college scholarships, or even just having a sense of belonging.  He used Kirksville as a "poor" town for his example.  While there are areas in Kirksville that are poorer areas, the area he chose as the poorest area in either the state of Kansas or Missouri was the campus of Truman State University.  And he painted a poor picture of Kirksville.  The way he went about it was just wrong.  My hubby wrote a nice editorial in response to KC Star's article.  However, what got me  boiling the most were a lot of the comments I read.  People saying that sports in our public education are way overrated.  I believe strongly in our education system.  I feel it is extremely important for all children to get a quality education.  Academics are very important, and that should always be at the top of our education goals.  However, I also believe strongly in extra curricular activities.  I am a softball coach, and see first hand how athletics help children become productive members of society.  Athletics can teach discipline, responsibility, a sense of belonging to something important, setting goals and problem solving to reach those goals...most importantly athletics teach teamwork and how important it is to work together toward a common goal.  I also believe that students need something other than academics to make them a well rounded person.  It doesn't have to be athletics, students need to find what they are good at.  Whether it be the arts, volunteer programs (Key Club, Junior Achievement), or athletics.  Students need more than just books and information to teach them, and all extra curricular activities help them become better members of our society.

Counting Down

 This time, one week from today....I will still be sitting in my living room.  Actually, I will probably be packing.  9 days from today my hubby and I are leaving for Jamaica.  I am extremely excited, and ready to go!  We are going with some great friends, Josh and Jenny G.  :)  I am so happy to have a week to hang out with them.  It will be great.  Sitting on the beach (which I haven't seen in about three years) and drinking nice cold drinks.  It will be fantastic, I may never want to leave mon!
Let me tell you how much I love Skype.  It has to be the best invention ever.  I have Skype, some of my friends are on Skype..my parents are on Skype.  That is why I love it so.  Recently, my parents were babysitting my favorite niece Olive.  She is just so darn cute.  I got to skype with her and my parents, and she is just so funny.  She talks up a storm, and loves for me to be on the computer...I have no idea what she is saying half the time, but she does and that is all that matters.  Last weekend I started singing head, shoulders, knees and toes (yes I know...it's in my head now too), and she was doing the motions along with me.  She could say head and toes.  Shoulders and knees were a little harder for her to grasp.  In fact, her shoulders were her arm pits.  It's okay .. she will figure out the body parts soon enough.  Most of the time she went straight from the head to the toes, and just skipped the shoulders and the knees.  It's fine...you don't need those parts anyway.  It was just so funny to see her do this.  And then we stopped, and about 10 mins later...she started the song again...on her own!  Little kids are just so smart.  I think they are way smarter than us adults.  The things they can do at such an early age is just amazing.  I think my niece is a genius (but then again, who doesn't think highly of their own family?)  I cannot wait until my next Skype date with them.  Hopefully it's soon.  I cannot wait to go home in September.  She always seems amazed when I am there...like "how did you come out of that computer screen"?  One day it will all click for her.  But if you don't have Skype...get it!  Call all your family and friends that are far away or down the block.  It is the best thing ever! :)

Motivation

J and I at the finish line of our second 5K race :)

I just read my friend Jenny G's blog, and it made me want to write my own post.  Her blog was about her first 5K race.  :)  I am so proud of her for just going out there and running.  We talk every day through email at work (yup it is listed as party of my daily duties).  We always talk about running and training...kind of motivating each other to our running goals. 
I started running maybe 2-3 years ago.  I completed my first race in March for St Patty's day.  I did not run the whole thing, but I finished, in 36:24.  Which for me is fantastic.  I played softball in high school, but when it came to running the mile...let's just say I had no interest in doing that.  I never thought I could.  Finally at the age of 27 I went on a healthy/lifestyle change kick.  I dropped some weight and thought, why not start running.  I started slow...walking/running until I build up to running 2 miles.  Then I thought if I can run two miles, why not the 3.1 needed to do a 5K race.  I will admit, those thoughts didn't come until March when I actually signed up for my first 5K race ever.  With much encouragement from my hubby and my friend Jenny G I set off on that adventure.  I survived.
This past week, there was another 5K race in town.  The person who runs the gym talked me into signing up, though he didn't have to twist my arm very hard.  I was already thinking of signing up.  Ever since March I have been working on my running routine trying to finish a whole 5K and shave time off my first race.  :)  SO...I did.  I signed up without my husband even signing up at first.  He signed up later, so we were off for our second race together.
Guess what?  No I still didn't complete the whole race running (I only made it up 3/4 of the killer hill..but started running again right at the top) but I did beat my time from the first race.  I was so proud of myself.  At the end of the race, who was waiting for me...my biggest supporter and motivator, my hubby.  He was yelling "push it you can beat 36:00 if you push it!".  I was so grateful for the extra boost it helped me sprint to the end, where I came in at 35:38.  I almost shaved a whole minute off my time.  This does not make me an elite runner obviously, but I was so proud of myself that night.  :)  For the first time, I cannot wait to sign up for the next 5K race.  This coming from a girl who hated running.  Now I cannot imagine not running.  Amazing how sometimes the older we get, the better we get at certain things.  Maybe one day, Jenny G and I can sign up for a 10K race together, as that is what I will be training for next.  And who knows, by the time I am 40 maybe I can do a half marathon.  Thanks to my friend Jenny G and my fantastic hubby for continuing to push me to new levels!

Rattles

I haven't posted for a while.  I am sorry all my followers :)  I shouldn't ignore you like this.  It's just that I haven't had much to say.  So, I will just dot down some random thoughts for the day.
It is the wonderful time of year where the Cicada's come out to join us for a month.  As I sit here typing this, they are being rather noisy.  How rude of them.  It sounds like there are 1 million babies playing with rattles.  Rather annoying.  But at least they are only here for a month, right?  Yay, fantastic.
I cannot believe it is June already.  Lots of good things going on in June.  My hubby's birthday, our wedding anniversary, catching some baseball games.  :)  It's a good time of year.  My 5th anniversary is coming up next Friday.  I cannot believe it has been five years already.  It feels like it was just yesterday I was gearing up for the biggest party of the year.  I also cannot believe I will be celebrating living in Kirksville for five years.  Who would have thought we would still be here?  Not me.  But the town kind of grows on you, and we have made some great friends here.  Now if we could move the state next to Pennsylvania that would be even better.  Who needs Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana anyway?  And would it make a difference if we just moved some things around?  I don't think so either.
We got to go home a few weeks ago.  J's sister graduated from college.  It was really nice.  I got to hang out with my family, J's family and of course our friends.  Always a good time when we go home.  We went to a Phillie's game with J's sister and we had awesome seats.  We were two rows behind the Phillies dugout.  When I finally get around to loading the pictures on my computer I will post some. 
Finally, in 65 days we are going on vacation.  I am super duper excited.  We are headed to Jamaica for sun and beach and drinking.  Our good friends are coming along too!  It's going to be one week of partying.   I don't want to rush the summer by, but I am ready to leave for Jamaica!  Well, not really, I need my passport and to pack.  :)

Saying Good-bye

Today is Friday April 22, 2011 at 5:37 pm.  I have exactly three days left in my 20's (weird, because I was born at 5:23 pm - so I guess a little less than 3 days).  Three days of being 29.  Then I embark on a new adventure...my 30's. 
Last weekend my husband had a surprise birthday party for me.  So this past week, I have been reflecting on my last 10 years...that being my 20's.  Most people are sad and depressed when they turn 30.  I thought maybe I would be this way.  Especially now that my high school friends have started to have babies.  Babies, I think, officially make us old.  As I have reflected, I thought about everything that has happened in the past 10 years.  I finished college, which was a huge feat.  I was married, which was the best day of my life.  I moved away from everything I knew and all my family and friends in Pennsylvania to start a new adventure with my hubby in Missouri.  I made new friends, worked a few different jobs.  I became an Aunt (have I mentioned she is the most beautiful girl in the world?)  Started to think about going back to school.  I embarked on a huge weight loss/get healthy adventure.  I am still tackling this adventure today. 
People have asked me if I feel any different (which I don't yet because I am not 30 technically speaking)...but, I don't think I will either.  I have had so many great things happen in the past 10 years, I am wondering what is in store for the next 10.   I have decided I am going to welcome my 30's and be excited about it.  If my 20's were that good, it can only get better right?  I have many great things to look forward to.  I tackled my first 5K at 29.  Maybe I will tackle a 10K at 30.  I am healthier now and feel better about myself now, then I did when I turned 20.  I am married to the best person in the whole world, and I get to spend the rest of my life with him. 
To me, 30 is just a number - age is really a matter of how you feel.  I feel like I am still 21, ready to party at any moment.  So welcome 30...I greet you with open arms.  Hopefully you are as good to me as the 20's were.

My First...

Tomorrow is St. Patty's day.  A day to hunt for leprechauns and gold (I hope I find the gold).  Eat corned beef and cabbage and drink green beer (or Guinness if you prefer).  However, all those things will have to wait for me.  Tomorrow, I am running my first 5K race.  Its through downtown Kirksville and I am pretty excited about it.  I practiced the route yesterday, it's a pretty tough route with lots of hills.  I think I should be okay though.  It's sponsored by a bar downtown, so that is where the start and finish point for the race is.  So I guess I have green beer to keep me running to that finish line.  I will be dressed in green as I run through the streets of Kirksville.  Then have a green beer to re-hydrate myself obviously...and to finish off my  night, well its bowling night of course!  I am sure there at the bowling alley is where I will find all the little leprechauns and their gold.  Happy St. Patty's day.  I will try to get some pictures of this historic event and post after race day.