Category Archives: Uncategorized

breaststroke

Posted on by
Reply

After running 13.1 miles last Saturday (and I use the term “running” loosely), it became apparent just how out of shape I am. And then, in speaking with my brother afterward about his knee pain research, I realized that I really do need to cross train much better than I have been. Not only that, but I have this very strange desire to complete a full Iron Man at some point in my life (I don’t know that it will ever happen, but right now it’s a seed waiting to be planted in my garden of goals…geez, the analogies that I come up with at 1:20 am).

Anyway, my point is that I decided to start swimming again. My mom was a swim teacher and coach, so I started on a recreational team when I was four-years-old. Yes. Four. I was never very fast, but I always had great form and could teach, so for a number of summers I followed in my mom’s footsteps and taught lessons. I made this decision on Monday. I’m happy to report that I swam twice this week (among other things). I had forgotten how much I love swimming and just being in the water. I had also forgotten how much I hate smelling like chlorine. But whatever, it does remind me of some of my happiest childhood memories.

When I started my laps on Tuesday, I just began with freestyle, not really taking into consideration whether that was the best decision. And then I had bathing suit issues. I won’t go into the details of it, but freestyle and my swimsuit were not getting along. I was really frustrated because I felt like if I wasn’t swimming freestyle, what was the point? (I’m not a perfectionist or anything…now do I have any unreal or unnecessary expectations about what I should be able to do.) I tried backstroke and that worked just fine with my swimsuit, but I didn’t want to just do backstroke. Being that I am no longer accustomed to swimming laps…and that I’m not in great shape, butterfly was out, so breaststroke it was.

I seriously compare breaststroke to walking on the treadmill. Can it really be doing me any good if I’m not gasping for air? But I decided to just go with it. I happily swam for 30 mintues (that’s all the time I had), got out of the pool feeling great (read: not winded) and was off (after immediately attempting to shower of the chlorine).

I was happy to discover the next day that I was sore. Not like “can’t move” sore, but just sore enough to know that I’d been working different muscles. This was encouraging. Swim #2 I had more time, so I swam for an hour. I was wearing a different bathing suit this time around (no issues with freestyle), but I continued with my back/breast routine. This time, though, to be sure, I checked my pulse every 10 laps or so, just to make sure that I was in a good fat-burning range. Happy, happy…I was. The hour passed like it was nothing. And there’s something so therapeutic about water (and not listening to music or talking to anyone).

I think I’ve found my new love at the gym: the pool. Now, if I could just convince everyone else that they don’t love it, so much the better (it was a little crowded on Friday). We’ll see how this continues, but I have a feeling I might make some space sacrifices in New York in order to be in a building with a pool. How great will that be?!

out of control

Posted on by
3

So, as you may have noticed, I totally dropped the ball on my month of gratitude. Since it is now officially Thanksgiving, I think I will go ahead and give you all thirty reasons why I am grateful.I’m not sure why I decided on thirty, but whatever.

  1. I am grateful that I can cook (from a recipe anyway) – my turkey is currently brining, a pumpkin cheesecake is chilling in the fridge, and meals are planned for the rest of the weekend for my brother, sister-in-law, sister, and dad.
  2. I am grateful that I was taught to work hard through great examples. Now, I didn’t always follow the examples set before me, but as I’ve grown up, I’ve taken on the work ethic that both of my parents instilled in all of us. Sure, this means I am tired a lot, but I definitely don’t ever worry about wasting my life away in front of a t.v.
  3. I am grateful for books. I love reading. Tonight (it’s actually barely Thanksgiving), I sat on the couch with my nephew for about an hour just reading books to him–I am such a fan of Dr. Seuss! I love that I love books and I love that my nieces and nephews do, too.
  4. I am grateful for video chat and the fact that my technological stunted sister is slowly learning how to use it. It makes the fact that I haven’t been to Arizona in months not nearly as painful as it would have been otherwise.
  5. I’m grateful for a grandmother who loves musicals and introduced me to them when I was just an itty-bitty little girl. I have spent the better part of today with Broadway playing through my speakers and singing at the top of my lungs.
  6. I am thankful that I believe in God and can feel his love constantly…no matter how much I screw up.
  7. I am thankful for forgiveness and for forgiving people.
  8. I am thankful I called off my wedding three years ago. I learned so much through that experience and even though I have my moments where I am just really tired of being alone, I am never sad I didn’t go through with it.
  9. I am grateful for the amazing opportunity I have to be in graduate school. My whole life has changed as a result of this experience. My future looks so different than it did just a couple of years ago.
  10. I am thankful for parents who were crazy enough to send their 14-year-old daughter across the world to live in Belgium with a family they didn’t know. That was another experience that probably altered the course of my life forever. It was there that I understood that the U.S. does hold a monopoly on the “right” way of doing things. It was there that I learned how to be sensitive to different cultures and backgrounds. It was there that I learned just how much I love my family. It was there that I learned that I actually believed in the religion I’d been taught my whole life.
  11. I’m grateful for down comforters. Seriously, is there anything better on a cold night?
  12. I’m grateful for MAC cosmetics. (Yes, I’m kind of vain and superficial.)
  13. I am thankful that I have learned how to own who I am. It’s not perfect–or even close to it–but I can at least look at myself and say, “Yeah, this is who I am. There are things about myself that I really like and think are fantastic and then there are things I can’t stand, but this is me.”
  14. I am grateful for fabulous friends who listen to me whine (and sometimes cry) about the dumbest things for hours on end and never make me feel bad about it.
  15. I am thankful that I already have a job lined up for when I graduate next year. The stress that that has taken out of my life cannot be measured and I feel extremely blessed to be in such a fortuitous position. I just hope that I can show just how grateful I am through the help I have given and will continue to give through others.
  16. I am grateful that my mom taught me that “it always works out.” This has helped me remain hopeful and happy throughout my life, even when stuff is pretty dang sucky.
  17. I am grateful for a body that is extremely healthy. I am rarely sick, and even when I am, it is never anything to complain about (a cold, a 24-hour flu, etc.)
  18. I am thankful for wonderful siblings! I adore my family and my siblings are what makes not having a mom bearable. I don’t know what I would do without them or their spouses. My life would be awful.
  19. I’m so thankful for my dad. Sure, we have our moments, but living with him the last few years has been such a good experience for me…that’s not to say the move to New York next summer will not be welcomed, but I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to spend so much time with him over the last few years.
  20. I am grateful that I get to move to New York next year. I had a fantastic summer there, but I am super excited to call it “home” and to have all of my stuff back out of storage…well, at least everything that will fit in whatever apartment I can afford.
  21. I am grateful for my green eyes. I kind of love them.
  22. I am grateful for friends who teach me through example.
  23. I am thankful for my memories. I have so many fabulous ones and so many that aren’t so fabulous, but that remind of mistakes I don’t want to repeat.
  24. I am thankful for pictures. I love them. Especially since they can help the memories remain so much more vivid
  25. I am grateful for the wonderful jobs I’ve had over the years. I have been extremely blessed to have never been unable to find work. This might also be because I am willing to do anything…including cleaning houses of college boys, but I feel blessed just the same.
  26. I am grateful that I was able to learn French. I love having more ways and words at my disposal for expressing what I’m thinking and feeling.
  27. I am grateful for hair and nails that grow fast.
  28. I am grateful for planes, trains, and automobiles.
  29. I am grateful for clean, running water and water heaters that allow me to be comfortably clean and healthy.
  30. I am grateful that I get to celebrate a holiday that is devoted to gratitude and that it revolves around eating, which therefore means cooking (in my world). I love Thanksgiving and I love that it’s always on a Thursday!
  31. I lied…one more. I am grateful that this year is not one of those years in my life where I have to really think hard to find things for which I am grateful. I have had those years. They have been pretty dang crappy. If you are having one of those years, I am so sorry. But know that they won’t always be this bad.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

just like heaven

Posted on by
1

  1. I am grateful for little people who love to say things like, “Come get me Auntie Chlo-chlo!” and “I’m gonna getcha. I’m gonna getcha.” And “Don’t weave…you can’t weave…I want you to stay here with me.” Being an aunt is seriously the best.
  2. I am grateful for photoshop.
  3. I am grateful for the sunshine…and these short days make me appreciate it even more.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
–Melody Beattie

pictures of you

Posted on by
Reply

  1. I am grateful that I have a fabulous digital SLR with which to capture photos of my favorite people, places, and things!!!

  2. I am grateful that my mom taught me how to bake so that I could bake a fabulous cake, from scratch and using the recipe for the first time, for Julie’s birthday without too much stress.
  3. I am grateful that my new hair color agrees with my skin tone. This is always a fear when making a drastic hair color change…and it worked out!!! Yay!
“Gratitude is a state of appreciation, an act of thanksgiving, which causes us to be humble because we recognize an act of kindness, service, or caring from someone else which lifts us and strengthens us.” –Elder Robert D. Hales

let it go

Posted on by
Reply
  1. I am grateful that I blessed to be able to speak a foreign language and that it is French. While it is not the most useful or practical language out there, I really do think it is the most beautiful and I absolutely love it.
  2. I am grateful for my besties. I don’t know what I would do without them.
  3. I am grateful for the decision I made last night to stop having full conversations through chat or text. It paid off today in ways I could have never anticipated. I hope I can keep this trend going.
“Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable. Gratitude turns a meal into a feast and drudgery into delight. It softens our grief and heightens our pleasure. It turns the simple and common into the memorable and transcendent. It forges bonds of love and fosters loyalty and admiration.”
–Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin