Frappuccinos, Crochet, and Magazines

I'm not going to lie, my day has been pretty slow. I didn't roll myself out of bed until after ten due to the lovely insomnia I've been having lately. I went to the kitchen to make a frappuccino (mix a cup of ice, a cup of milk, and about three tablespoons of powder de-caf/sugar free coffee) and blend. I then went to the sink to clean the blender and, for the first time in my life, the blade won and my finger was in mucho pain. If that wasn't bad enough, I freaked out so much from the slight injury that I had to quickly sit down so as not to pass out. Am I the only one that's ever experienced this feeling? This was a first for me and pretty scary. I don't know if it was from seeing the blood or thinking that I hurt myself more than I really did. Feel free to call me a wimp. But, I moved on fairly fast and enjoyed my frappuccino even though it was the culprit of my morning's misfortune. 

With a band-aid on my finger and nothing to do until work in the late afternoon, I turned to my favorite hobby: crochet. Before you jump to conclusions about me, crochet is a craft for those of ALL ages to enjoy. Yeah, I know what you were thinking. 

Anyways, I grabbed a project that I've been working on for the past month. A Tunisian crochet blanket. When finished it will measure in at 47" by 56" which is about 47" by 56" too big for this crochet beginner who has taught herself everything about the craft. It's been a month and I've managed to crochet about 15 percent of the blanket. I'll be lucky if I finish this thing by Christmas. It's a fun way to pass the time nonetheless. 

Of course, I have the attention span of a three year old, so every so often during my crocheting I would pick up my phone and get on Instagram or Facebook or check my email. When I checked my email, to my surprise, there was a new message with the article design of my VIE article to be published in next month's Artist Issue! I was pretty ecstatic. Being able to see your hard work come together in its final form is quite fulfilling. I can't help but smile thinking about it right now. For those of you who have ever had anything published, you know the feeling. Be on the look out for my article next month.

I'll stop here with further boring you on my not-so-interesting day. Instead, take this quote and make the most of it.

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream... " 
- C.S. Lewis 

Never Fear

Today, my boyfriend and I ventured to the Florida "country" for a BBQ with his friends. It started out laid back with everyone posted up in chairs overlooking a private pond while soaking up some good ole vitamin D. Then some gunshots sounded in the distance and immediately my boyfriend was ready to go to where the makeshift shooting range was.

"Do you want to come with?" he asked me.

My first reaction was Heck no, I don't want to come with. You know how much guns scare me. But then I told myself, the only way I'm going to start getting over this fear is by facing it. So I did just that.

"Sure, I'll come with," I told him, feeling nervous and excited at the same time. 

We got to the area where a few others were watching and waiting to shoot their gun next, and after they had their turn I was asked if I wanted to give it a try. I had only shot guns one other time in my entire life. My mind said yes, but apparently my body didn't agree. I went for it anyways. I aimed a .40 pistol at the target and shot. And shot a couple more times.

"Take some breaths. You're shaking like a damn leaf," one of the guys said to me.

So, I took some breaths, and realized that at that moment I was conquering one of my fears. It felt liberating!

With that said, the next time you are faced with one of your fears, look it straight in the eye and control it with will power. 

One of my other fears is of heights. Guess I'll have to find the tallest roller coaster to overcome that one!

"To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." Bertrand Russell

Love What You Do

Yesterday was a very proud day in my young coaching career. Two of my team gymnasts got their standing backhandsprings AND running roundoff backhandsprings. Impressive, I know. The most rewarding part was seeing my gymnasts' faces light up (kind of like when someone has just heard great news and doesn't know whether the messenger is pulling their leg or not) after they stuck their pass for the first time, gaining more and more confidence in their gymnastics abilities. And also bringing back my own memories of learning the skill when I was about seven. Who'd have thought I'd be back in the gym coaching 16 years later!

Before I continue, let me give you a head's up on something... I am absolutely terrible at math. We're talking I just had to think for a few seconds about how many years are left over if I take seven away from my current age. It's exhausting sometimes, but hey, I majored in English for a reason, guys. So if I make a math error, you can call me out for it, but I assure you that it won't help my adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing/working out how long it will take train A to arrive at the south station if bananas are yellow skills one bit.

Needless to say, I had a great day at work yesterday. Not just because of my gymnasts' achievements, but because I LOVE MY JOB. I'm telling you right now if you don't love what you do in life... If you don't love what you spend more time doing during the week than you do sleeping... If you don't love what could potentially be your job for years to come... then stop. For a minute. And think. What is it that I can see myself doing for the rest of my life and be completely content with? Plan how to make that happen and just GO FOR IT. "You can do ANYthing you put your mind to."

Ok, I'll stop my preaching and turn to a completely different subject... That's right I'm talking about gambling! (I'm sure you saw that one coming). Today, I went on a brief trip to Wind Creek Casino with my boyfriend and his family to blow some money, but most importantly, to indulge in the surf and turf buffet of champions! Holy cow did we eat a lot. I had a stuffed crab cake, cheese grits, a mushroom/onion/pepper mix, beef tips, crab chowder, side salad, chocolate pecan pie, oatmeal cookie and my first-ever bite of a macaroon. Phew. That made me full all over again. Half of us left breaking even while the other half lost a few dollars. All in all, we left full, so we were pretty darn happy.

It's a beautiful (slightly teeth chattering) Saturday night in April, so I hope you're enjoying it.

On a comedic side note, check out the latest in sanitary toilet technology that I encountered for the first time at the casino. I spent the three seconds that it takes to change the cover with my mouth wide open in utter amazement. Why hasn't anyone thought of this until now?

Wave your hand and the seat cover magically changes.

"Life is too short to be anything but happy."

There's a First Time for Everything

So I caved. I told myself I would never do such a bandwagon thing as create my own blog, but here I am, having allowed myself to take on a new title—blogger. I assure you I have good reason.

In all honesty, I'm taking this new title for a spin because the act of writing in my life has gone from an overwhelming amount of news stories, to an almost non-existent batch of magazine articles in just a couple of months.

In other words, this WRITER needs to write!

For those of you who are interested in reading about my life, may it be on a daily or weekly basis, I am flattered... I think. But be forewarned. You've just hopped aboard my ride as a blogger where I will tell you about my days at work when my students tattle tail on one another because someone burped and didn't say excuse me, because someone cut in line, or my favorite... because someone let one rip. There are also those wonderful days when one of my gymnasts gets a new skill or overcomes a fear. Those days truly lighten up my life. Then, there are those days when I'm not coaching gymnastics or writing magazine articles, and I'm just trying to find fun things to do with my time, so that my parents don't start giving me a list of chores to do... Yes. I live at home with my parents. Free rent and free food? I'd be crazy not to. 

In my spare time, you can find me crocheting (don't judge me), tumbling on my in-ground trampoline (it's even cooler than it sounds), laying out by the pool, going for walks around the neighborhood, playing disc golf at the park (against my own will), watching Friends on TV (every single day), playing Apples to Apples with my family (again, don't judge me), staring at the guitar my dad got me because I don't know how to play it, riding bikes with my bro, getting my British-accented boyfriend to repeatedly say the word "little," and then some. 

I promise that my next post will be much more full of color and life, so be ready for it.

Cheers to the weekend!

"The grass is greener where you water it." - Neil Barringham