Last Weekend

So I promised to update yesterday about last weekend... but I somehow got caught in that paradoxical situation wherein you have nothing stopping you from completing a task, yet you somehow can find ways to avoid doing it (by watching teen mom and eating watermelon).

So here I am, a day late and a dollar short, to update on this past weekend.

Friday, Boyfriend and I did ab.so.lute.ly nothing. We got up and did some P90X (which is a horrible, satanic way to ruin your life... in workout form), which Boyfriend rocked and I barely handled. Then we ate and hung out and watched Miracle, the movie about the 1980 hockey team that beat the russians for the gold medal in the Olympics ("do you believe in miracles... YES!" that part always gets me).

**side note on Miracle... two of my three favorite movies are Miracle and D2: The Mighty Ducks, both of which are hockey movies. When people hear this, they automatically go, "Oh, you like hockey?". My reply is a blank stare and... "no". I've yet to actually watch a real hockey game... but I love fictional hockey games on movies! Woo! My best friend Val has the same issue.

Friday night I went out with my friends, Val and Trish, to celebrate Trish's last week in the big LC before she heads out to West Chester University in Pennsylvania for grad school. We went out to eat and then went to our favorite college bar Dublins for some good old times....

(if the good old times consisted of me getting hit on by men that are missing one tooth and openly admit that they just got a DUI but are somehow drinking at a bar...)

But it was fun to hang out with Trish and laugh for a few hours before I got the text that...

Blairre, my dear friend, went into labor with her first child, a little boy named John Carson (John after her husband)! She sent pictures of the baby and he honestly looks like a toddler... he was 9 lbs 9 oz and over 22 inches long. The nurses were like, "well, if your husband's busy, your son can drive you home!" lol!

She was in labor for a loooooong time, so Boyfriend and I dropped off a flower arrangement to let her know we were thinking of her and that we couldn't wait to meet Carson. Then we ate Wendy's frostys and chicken nuggets :o)

Sunday... I don't even want to talk about Sunday. We watched the women final World Cup match... and I don't even want to discuss it.

And we went bowling with Boyfriend's family! I was awful! I bowled like, a 34 in my first game. I'm not usually that bad but I got nervous, I think. I did better toward the end of the game but it was awful for a while.

And now, Shadow is begging for some attention. I just bought him a new toy: he is so spoiled. He probably has over a dozen plush toys, plus a chew bone and a pig ear treat that he just loves. But he takes such good care of his toys that I don't mind buying him a lot. The stuffing literally has to be falling out before he'll start tearing the toy apart, and even then, he'll usually just pick out all of the stuffing and keep carrying around the "skin", sleeping next to it and tossing it into the air to play with. He's so cute. I love him so very much.

Vegas next week! Can't wait!

The End of the Summer? Already?

I've been really working on getting back in shape after what I call the "boyfriend weight". Once I started dating Boyfriend, we ate super yummy, super bad-for-you foods. I had probably had McDonalds twice in the past three years before dating Boyfriend... then it was a couple times a month! And McDonalds french fries are my absolute favorite food and I have zero self-control when it comes to those little golden calorie sticks.

Today, I did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (so exhausting! But a great workout) and collapsed on the floor once I was finished, attempting a half-hearted stretch by going into the splits. Shadow snuck up to me with his ears down (He knows not to bug us when we're working out) and licked my face for a few minutes before settling in right in the space between my legs. He curled up like he was about to go to sleep and laid his head on one leg and let his tail slip right over the other. I was exhausted and tired and with Shadow's cuddling, my heart melted and everything was better! :o)

Boyfriend and I head to Las Vegas in just about a week! I can't believe it's already here! When we booked the trip, it was early April and the end of July felt soooo far away, especially when we had three trips in between (to see Kevin Hart's comedy show, to see The Black Keys, and to see a Diamondback game!). But next Wednesday, we're heading to Las Vegas to see Tournament of Kings (Wednesday night), to have dinner at Tender (a really nice restaurant in Luxor on Thursday), and then to have dinner at Morocco and see the Cirque d'Solei LOVE show on Friday! PLUS we are staying in  Caesar's Palace and I'm so excited. Last year, we saw the Cirque show "O" and it was so so so amazing. I'm really excited because we'll be busy but doing really fun things!

I'm trying to convince Boyfriend to take me to the aquarium but I have a bigger fascination with sharks than he, so it's an uphill battle. But I did download some free Shark Week episodes onto my iPod for inspiration... maybe that will help?

Tomorrow I'll update on my weekend: working out with Boyfriend, Trish's last weekend in Cruces, seeing Blairre's baby boy (so gorgeous), and my awful bowling game with Boyfriend's family!

Take care! Pray for me... I think I'm getting sick and it sucks!

Uh-Oh...

I'm craving orange juice. I only ever crave orange juice when I'm sick.

Uh oh...

Think on these things

Today, I find myself thinking back to my college family: my sorority. I've written before about my choice to go Greek. It started, really, with my mom, who gave me this advice:

Find a place to call home, wherever you are. Be in the band, join a dance team, join a writing club, rush a sorority. Just find family wherever you are.

I was in the band (geeky, I know, but I loved it) in high school, as well as a member of a writing club and a dance team. But for college, I wanted something more. So I rushed Greek and joined, happily, Pi Beta Phi.

I found ritual, stability, and life-long friends in this sorority. I have dozens of shirts that mark days of Greek Sing, Greek Olympics, Lambda Chi Watermelon Bust, sisterhood retreats, kickball games, and rush. For four years, these girls became my family.

I've been thinking a lot about these girls and this time in the sorority because I'm truly noticing how easy it is to drift away from each other. People have a lot of problems with sorority life and that's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion (though I do like to point out that Greeks are more likely to graduate college, have a higher GPA, and go on to big company leadership than non-Greeks...). My opinion is this: I've been involved in a lot of things in my life. Soccer, softball, dance, volleyball, honor society, community service, writing, newspapers, band, jazz band... and Pi Beta Phi is the most lasting of them all. Of course, I still have friends from these other parts of my life- friends that I cherish and love. But there's a connection with my Pi Phi sisters that is hard to explain to people who haven't had their own sisters. Even now, I know that my sorority sisters have the same amount of pride that I feel for them. Our actions reflect on each other still.

I've considered getting a tattoo for a while. Many of my sisters have tattoos that refer to Pi Phi and I always thought about it, too, but I never felt like I could fully commit until I made it all the way through the experience with no regrets and nothing that would make the experience bad at the very end. I've been out of Pi Phi for over a year now and I can honestly say that it saved my life. It kept me involved and busy. Grade checks helped me. Jessica Borchert (my savior) helped me with all of my journalism classes. She was never too busy to read my papers or to answer a PR question, patiently and always prepared. Pi Phi helped me.

To all of my Pi Phi sisters, know I think of you all often! PPL and mine. :o)

Inspirations from Team USA

(I wrote a column about my love for inspirational sports moments... click here to read it!)

Yesterday, Boyfriend and I got up early to head over to my parents' for breakfast and a little USA soccer. The women's world cup was on, and I was ready to watch us play Brazil! Loaded with a breakfast burrito (with a fried egg, bacon, cheese, and green chile) and some fried potatoes, I rode an emotional roller coaster for close to three hours. I was excited, then confused, then mad, then resigned, then ecstatic, then nervous, then jubilated, then EXCITED x 100. I can't believe we pulled it off.

As Hope Solo said on Facebook last night after the game, that come back, that never-say-die attitude, that is exactly what this country is about. It's about playing hard until the end and never giving up. I'm cheesy, now, but what can you do when faced with patriotic inspiration in the form of US women's soccer?

(Cue the Star Bangled Banner, right?)

Now back to my dinner- ribeye with french-cut green beans made by my amazing Boyfriend. Good night!

Happy Birthday, America!

The 4th of July is my second favorite holiday after Christmas.

This might sound strange. I know very few people that love the 4th of July more than Thanksgiving or Halloween or Easter, but I do. I love it. I love that it usually calls for a relaxing backyard cookout with family and friends. I love that there is very little family pressure (when you're trying to split time, as Boyfriend and I do) and instead, you are allowed to hang out with friends for a while if you'd like. I love that the night ends with a big fireworks show. I love that it's summer, which in New Mexico means absolutely perfect summer evenings. I love the watermelon that is in season during the 4th of July. And I love seeing people get patriotic and teary-eyed over what our country has done in just a few hundred years.

This weekend was no different. Thanks to my work schedule, I had an awesome four day weekend to celebrate the 4th of July. We kicked it off with a nice lunch with Mikey and Thomas at Wingstop (amazing), followed by games and reading. Saturday morning, Boyfriend and I headed over to my mom's house to help her and my dad paint my old room a bright yellow. By the end, Boyfriend had no paint on him and I was completely covered.

Sigh.

Then we all showered and got ready and headed out to The Double Eagle for a double date with my parents :o) The Double Eagle is a really nice restaurant in our town, in Old Mesilla, with big chandeliers and beautiful tables and wonderful food. I had scallops in a white wine cream sauce. Boyfriend had chicken with green chile and sauce, my mom had the same scallops, and my dad had steak. We paired it off with pomegranate margaritas (me), chocolate martinis (my mom), jack and coke (Boyfriend), and manhattens (dad). Then... we went to Wendys for chocolate frostys!

Classy, right?

Sunday, we spend most of the day with Boyfriend's mom. We had a little bbq and watched Lord of the Rings. That night, we met up with Mikey and Thomas again to see Transformers 3, which was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be! I love bumblebee!

Monday, we split time with our families for 4th of July cookouts. Shadow wasn't a big fan of the fireworks, so we spent part of the time holding him in our laps while he was a big, 70 lb creature trembling in fear. It breaks my heart to see my little puppy so scared. Boyfriend thinks I baby him (hint: I do).

Going to work yesterday was hard hard hard, but today I had the women's soccer game to look forward to... until we lost 2-1 to Sweden. Oh well. Now we take on Brazil on Sunday! Woo!

What a weekend. How was yours?

Small Insights

I think that...

Women who date bad boys feel like they need to earn love. You don't. You only need to love yourself and then let someone else love you, too. It's not easy, but it's better than emotionally/physically abusive men that make you "earn" the right to be treated like a human being.

Guilty-pleasures are necessary for small joys in life. Mine are inspirational sports movies (like Miracle, Glory Road, and Remember the Titans) and Sonic Diet Coke with strawberry and vanilla.

Your family should be treated like your best friends. The best of friends should be treated like family. All irreplaceable.

Nobody should be embarrassed to speak another language.

Grammar is the foundation to a good first impression these days. As the daughter of a teacher, I grew up with the correct spellings of certain words drilled into my head. For example... you're= contraction for you are. your=possessive. There is a place, their is a group possessive, they're is a contraction for they are. Ensure is to make sure something is done correctly, insure means to insure something through insurance. To is a direction, two is a number, too means also.

No house is complete without a dog in it. :o)

Watermelon is the best summer food. It's cold, sweet, and perfect for summer cookouts.

To be engaged, you have to be ready to be married. Sounds simple, but people forget that marriage is the ultimate destination when engaged.

Most of the time, it doesn't matter where you are going, it just matters who you are with.

If what you want to say will only bring pain to somebody, don't say it.

There are true times for white lies. When someone shows me a piece of jewelry that I don't find attractive, rather than say "oh ew, that's gross" when they are obviously proud of it, I say, "oh, I bet that looks really pretty on you". There's NEVER any need to make somebody feel bad for no reason. If you're the type that believes in honesty all the time, I bet you have never had true honesty from the people around you. It would probably make anybody hurt.

You are who you really are when you are alone at home doing a crossword puzzle or playing with your dog. It is the moments between the big events (marriage, death, heartbreak) that truly define us.