This Past Week ( I clearly struggle with creative titles)

Where, oh, where have I been? I will give you a quick run down of my week and then a follow up with some pictures.

1. Tried to squeeze in several work outs this week. A seven mile run that was supposed to be an eleven mile run. A sprint work out that should have been longer. It was one of those weeks where I had to convince myself to just get out the door and move. No drive whatsoever.

2. Worked at Baja Fresh for six hours every day Monday to Wednesday. And then gave them notice that I will not be working there for the remainder of the volleyball season. Its quite hard to bounce all over town through out the day.

3. Had a parent confrontation that I ended up gracefully exiting by crying. She was not so nice and purposely intimidating. I truly enjoy coaching. When those girls got their first bump, set, spike, I could hardly contain my excitement. However, I could do with out the parents.

4. Took Aspen on a play date last weekend. We took her to a local pond and she was loving being able to run around freely in the water. Besides a trip where she face planted in the water, she looked like a young-pup. We also took her hiking yesterday and she came nose to nose with a curious horse on a trial ride. She quickly loses all her dominance when overshadowed by a beast that size.

7. Purchased a couch at the resale shop for our quaint studio. I now have a seating area other than the bed. Aspen is clearly enjoying the purchase as well. I also bought an over-sized man's dress shirt at the thrift store.

8. Will and I completed our last long run today. It was another hilly 18 miles and might have caused me to shed a few tears. Seriously, this crying thing is annoying. It feels great to know that our weekends do not have to be devoted to running anymore. Three more weeks and we will be in Denver running 26.2 miles. The picture of me stretching is after the run today. And I am holding up a huge pickle in the other picture. After long runs, I always crave salt (probably shouldn't have 1000 mg worth).

9. This was quite boring, I am well aware. After viewing the collage, it must seem as if I no longer have a husband. Which is far from the truth. If it was not for him, I would not have made it to the weekend, let alone finish running 18 miles. It is a wonderful thing to have an ally in him when life is really getting me down.

This Disgusts Me

Will and I have pretty much formed a strong opinion against fertility treatments, but this is article is a whole new level of unbelievability. What has our world come to? Adoption seems like such a viable option for people, yet it is often their "last" resort. Why do people feel that their genes are so much better than those millions of babies that need adoption? I could keep going about why fertility treatments bother me, but what would the point be. Here is the article, it truly is sickening.

(rough summary: a woman chose to use fertility treatments, got twins surprise, surprise, and then decided to abort one of them, after choosing which gender she wanted to keep.)

http://www.elle.com/Beauty/Health-Fitness/Fertility-Treatments-Would-You-Get-Selective-Reduction

Adoption is something that Will and I both desire to do someday. We are still unsure of the timing of when we want to embark on the whole parenting thing, but the choice to conceive our own or adopt is pretty much equal at this point.

Of course I am curious to know what our "own" children would look like, know what pregnancy is like, etc. However, we can not ignore the need for adoption.

Our purpose in life is found in Christ. We fall incredibly short of His example and struggle daily to remember His sacrifice on the cross, but we want to continue to strive and serve Him. This life is very temporary and our hope is spending eternity with Him.

The point of the above paragraph is to set the stage for the verse that we can not easily shake from our minds.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after ORPHANS and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
James 1:27

I see no better way to look after orphans than adoption. I guess it is pretty clear to me, but obviously there are many differing opinions.

I apologize, well sort of, for the past two posts consisting of things that bother me. Will says that too many things bother me. Which is probably true, I will just try and keep the majority of them to myself (and Will).

Five Quick Etiquette Rules to Follow While Dining Out

[1] When the lovely waitress has a tray packed full of food and her tiny little wrists look as if they might snap in half, please make eye contact with her while she attempts to unload all your food on the table. It is really not polite to continue your merry little conversation and ignore her existence, this makes her want to smash your food in your face.

[2] Along the same lines as number one. Please remember what you ordered. It was a maximum of fifteen minutes ago and the waitress who is delivering your food does not remember what you asked for (especially since I did not take your order).

[3] Oh, and when the waitress asks you oh so nicely, "Who had the burger?" and you just stare, please do not be offended when she puts the food down in front of whoever. She feels you are capable of picking up the plates and switching it yourself since you did not respond to her when she asked.

[4] Please do not ask the waitress, "What is the best thing on the menu?" We have like over 50 things on the menu, you really think I tried them all?

[5] Hang up the cell phone.

[6] Ok, I am on a roll... Parents, I understand you do not believe in discipline this day and age, but Please, Please get your child under control. When I am bussing a table and have a tray full of nasty remains, the last thing I want to do is try and push my way through your fighting/screaming toddlers. Well, unless of course, you want me to spill that tray of germ-infested food on their heads.

[7] It is not my lot in life to clean up your child's spilled drink for the fourth time. Please do not look down at me for working in a service position. There is really no excuse for having your child spill its drink that much and demand the staff to clean it up just because, "that's what we are made for."

I have only worked at Baja Fresh for maybe two weeks, and I have encountered all these things. However, the nice customers make up for the ones who fall into the categories above. For example, the other day I was bussing tables. Because I am so incredibly diligent, I got to work on a table as soon as this man got up to leave. Well, I noticed some stuff had been eaten, but basically his entire burrito remained. I thought this was odd, but went on my way. As soon as I get back to the dining room, this man is standing with his drink refilled and says, "I think someone just threw away my entire burrito." Ha, oops! He was completely understanding and we served him a new one right away. I was incredibly thankful for his realization that we all make mistakes.

I am off to go run a bit then go serve some food. We are going to a rock-climbing film tonight with our new married friends.

Happy Monday!

My life has been a bit out of whack lately. I really thrive off of routine, and when no routine has been set for me, I am a bit of a mess. The volleyball schedule is still scattered and every week my Baja Fresh schedule changes. This has thrown a wrench into my marathon training and my life in general. So last week, I was full on anxiety and not sure how to handle it.

The end of the week was really the best part. I actually had places to go where I could wear clothing other than work out clothes or my Baja Fresh uniform. I had my first games as a coach. We also spent all day outside on Sunday rock climbing.

On Friday, we went to a math party. Every year the math department hosts a party for the faculty and graduate students. The appeal is fried chicken and two kegs. So I got to wear my Eddie Bauer sweater that I bought with the remainder of a gift card I had. As seen in the pictures, my boots made their appearance twice this weekend.

On Saturday, I woke up early again (We had 6:30 am practice on Friday) to ride the bus with 30 squealing junior high girls to a tournament. I was quite nervous about coaching. You know dealing with equal playing time, parent's complaints, etc. I ended up really enjoying myself. It comes really natural to me to coach and instruct them on how to properly play volleyball. (Mom, dad, I guess all that money you paid for me to play club volleyball is worth something) I only had one moment where I got "mad" at them. The game had started and we were on serve receive. However, for the first three points all my girls were standing straight up staring at the court next to us. Ha, really? Could you girls please look at OUR game!!

After the tournament, I crashed. We then took our friends dog (puppy) running. Dogs NEED exercise and it frustrates me when people complain about the behavior of their dogs when they aren't giving the dogs what the need. Anyway, we offered to take her dog running since we are running anyway. Then we went out to eat at Baja Fresh. The food is pretty good and I get a 50% discount. We headed to Target to just browse. We ended up being those people who take ridiculous pictures with ridiculous merchandise. We also got a good laugh out of a married couple shopping together. The man was following the wife around carrying all her pink items.

On Sunday, we went rock climbing with a couple that goes to our church. Will had advertised for a climbing buddy and this guy replied. We took Aspen with us and had a great time being outside all day. I did not climb, I just went running along the road they were climbing off of. I got a bit wigged out when every 50 feet there was a warning sign for bears. After, we had burgers, onion rings, and a shake. It was amazing!

OH! I forgot the mention that it was Aspen's Birthday! She is eight years old. We were a bit busy to really celebrate, but Will made her a birthday hat.

I am off to go work and the coach another volleyball game.

My Day in Pictures

[From Top to Bottom]

* My new knitting project. Its going to be a "Ladies Shrug." Pretty much a chunky sweater with out the sleeves.

* I made myself a peanut butter and apple sandwich. I have Will to thank for this creation. I had never heard of such a thing until we married.

* I took the Aspenite running for 35 minutes. Now that it is colder, I have started running her more often. This run it actually felt like we were running together versus me pulling a 90 pound bag of sand.

* Yay, pictures of the Adirondack chairs we worked so hard on. We got a good laugh out of trying to get Aspen to stay.

* After the run, I did some exercises with the dumbbells. This picture is posed, if you couldn't tell.

* I took a turn sitting in the chairs. Doesn't the red compliment the color of our house so well??

* The outfit I decided to wear today. Those are my new Sevens. I bought them on Ebay for $20 and they are like new, I was thrilled. That is also the replacement sweater Will bought me for shrinking my other one that was almost identical. And of course, my Toms that I have nearly worn out. I will only have a few more times I can even wear them this year. Water proof boots that keep feet warm to -20 degrees will be all this girl has on.

I have a parent's meeting tonight for volleyball. We finally get to announce the teams. This means that we actually get to practice as a team for two days before the tournament on Saturday. I also have to go into work for a few hours after the meeting. I have closing duty and will be there until 11 pm. Yuck! At least I got the whole day to do what I please.

Polaroids

I really like the color tone change in Polaroids, so this program is pretty neat if you ask me.

(this idea was also found off of this blog, http://yellowsongbird.blogspot.com/)

Sixish Things on Saturday almost Sunday

1. On our walk last night with Aspen, we had quite the scare. We were heading around the block when a van pulled up next to us. They just wanted to let us know that there was a bear down the street and they had followed the bear while it hopped through yards. Needless to say, our walk was cut short.

2. My day mostly consisted of work and sleeping to recover from work. I am confident my body will get used to the exhaustion that occurs from constant movement for six hours, but right now its rough. The only uh-oh I had at work today was taking the manager out with the door to the kitchen. I was zoning out, shoved it open, and immediately heard drinks spilling everywhere. She was not too happy.

3. Speaking of work, here is my uniform. The tips really roll in when I look this good.

4. Apparently my hands have turned into sissy hands. After hitting a few balls to the seventh graders last week, I had a massive bruise on the palm of my hand. It does not really show up in the picture, but just imagine the discoloration. (look closely under the thumb) Oh well, I can run for a really long time, that has to count for something.

5. I have started getting a subscription to US Weekly. Its somewhat exciting, but also causes a bit of worry. How did they know I have a weakness for celebrity gossip?

6. It is late and we have twelve miles to run tomorrow.

College Degree = $8.00/Hr

Try-outs for volleyball started this week. Lets just say, I am very thankful I am coaching seventh graders. Something must have overtaken those little girls during the summer between seventh and eighth grade. The eighth graders have attitudes, woo they have attitudes. (and short, shorts) After correcting one girl in particular about her cheetah print booty shorts, I got a quick glimpse into what my parenting might look like for our potential teenage daughter. (its not pretty...) Between her fake yawn while I was talking and the eye rolling, I had to fight to keep from pulling her bouncy pony tail straight out of the gym. Baby girl lived, if you were wondering.

Well, the volleyball skills are seriously lacking. I have already started to combat my competitive nature and re-think goals for these girls. I really want to give them confidence, in volleyball and in life. I want to teach them the basics of the sport and hopefully get them to value physical activity. There are more, but honestly, the season is seven weeks and only so much life change can occur during that time period.

Once I receive my t-shirt for Baja Fresh, I will include a picture of my work outfit. Should be super cute.