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Welp, I’ve been back from Alaska for about a week and half and am just now getting around to posting pictures and a recap of the trip. One reason is because my parents actually came down here the same night I did so I’ve been a little busy doing stuff with them. And another reason is just because I’ve been lazy and enjoying my days of having few responsibilities. But things are changing today! I’ve posted some pictures on facebook and now I’m writing this post. Crossing stuff off the list. 
So make yourself comfortable, I think this is going to be a long one.
The trip was great. One of the best trips home in recent years. I was able to see quite a few of my friends (sadly, for only quick visits with most of them), I got to spend quite a bit of time with my niece and nephew, I got to hang out quite a bit with one of my closest friends Carlie (and help out with her brother’s wedding), and I got to attend (and plan and set up) my 10 year high school reunion. The weather was amazing. As in pretty hot – it was in the mid 80’s for most of my trip. I only remember it reaching those kind of temps maybe once or twice growing up. I had of course packed completely inappropriately. Luckily I’d brought quite a few tank tops for layering, so I just dropped the extra layers. And I never once touched the fleece jacket that took up tons of space in my suitcase. Oh well.
The first weekend I was there, my niece (A) and nephew (Z) stayed with us at my parents’ house. A is 4 1/2 and Z is about 15 months. They arrived on Saturday evening and we had them until Monday morning. It was fun, it was exhausting, and it reminded me of just how amazing my sister in-law is to be able to keep up with them on a daily basis. It took my dad, mom, and I all of our effort to keep just 2 kids in line. Dad and I took A to the park where she ran around for 2 hours straight and someone thought my dad was either homeless or a creepy old man because he laid down in the shady part of one of the jungle gyms and was taking a snooze. When another lady asked me about him I was confused at first and then realized that she was talking about him. A little embarrassing to say the least.
That evening we took the kids to Kepler Park for a boat ride. A decided that her life jacket was killing her after my mom tied together the top set of ties. So, much of the ride was spent listening to her complain of choking and saying that her vest was “sooo heavy”. Finally she perked up a bit when she got the chance to row the boat with Granny. Then Z started fussing and we couldn’t figure out what his deal was. Turns out he wanted to row too. He’s very mechanically minded, which doesn’t surprise me a bit seeing as how my dad is a civil engineer, my brother is an areonautical engineer, and Z’s other grandpa owns his own construction company. And while a bit small for actual rowing, he did seem to have a grasp on the concept and was as happy as a clam after that.
That night Z fell asleep in my arms while we watched Black Beauty (um, how sad is that movie?) and when I went to put him down on his makeshift bed of couch cushions, I couldn’t believe how much he actually looked like a little cherub. It helped that he was just in a diaper and wrapped up in his champagne colored silky blanket. His blonde hair didn’t hurt either. I wish I had a picture of him at that moment. So adorable.
I met up with lots of my friends for lunches during the week. I went with one of them to this newer restaurant called the Red Beet. They don’t have a full menu there. Instead, they make one entree a day and that’s what you get. It helps that the food is totally gourmet and delicious. I can be a picky eater so I was nervous they’d be serving something I really didn’t like, but the food was fabulous. I thought it really couldn’t get much better and then we ordered dessert! I got this amazing almond cake with cream and I couldn’t believe how good it was. I’ve been craving it ever since that day. I can taste it right now it was so great!
My friend Carlie was up from Tennessee for her brother’s wedding and our high school reunion. Her husband is originally from Florida and has only been up to Alaska once before. It was actually when he proposed to her and it was a pretty short trip with disappointing weather, so he was excited about the chance to visit again. I asked my dad if he would take the three of us up in his plane to fly over a nearby glacier. The sky had gotten pretty hazy because of wildfires up by Denali, but the view was still amazing. I think Tony had a great time and it turns out it was Carlie’s first time having a scenic flight like that (and she grew up in AK).
I spent my last Friday and Saturday there helping with the wedding. Friday was pretty fun because Carlie and I got to zip around in my dad’s Miata going from place to place. There was the normal wedding stress, but I had fun for the most part. Saturday was a bit of a different story. I had fun, but was a lot more stressed. I’ve coined the day as “running a marathon in bad shoes”. Seriously, one of the worst blisters I’ve ever had on my heel. But it all worked in the end and the bride and groom are married (they were high school sweethearts!) and everyone survived! (But I’ve only worn flip flops since then.)
Oh, and that Friday night we celebrated my brother’s 31st birthday. I made him a spice cake because my sister in-law told me that whenever they eat spice cake somewhere he always says something to the effect of “why isn’t spice cake in our life more often?” I got him the first season of Lost on dvd because a couple of months ago he called me on a Wednesday night about 10 minutes before it was on. I told him I could only talk for that bit of time because Lost would be on and I couldn’t miss it. And he had the audacity to ask me, “What’s Lost?” AAAAHHHHH, are you kidding me? I understand to some degree – they don’t have regular tv and basically just watch things through Netflix. But Lost just seemed up his alley especially with all the conspiracy theory stuff. So now I hope he does actually like it seeing as how I went ahead and just bought the season for him instead of telling him to get it on Netflix.
That night the kids ran around my parents’ yard for quite awhile. I just sat down in the middle of it and started taking pictures.
Sunday was our reunion. We had planned on having a potluck BBQ at one of the local parks. I’d gotten kind of anxious about all the details of it (but not about seeing any of the people). Luckily my friend Hailee really stepped up to the plate and got lots of decorations and nice things to make it feel more festive. I spent the better part of the week worrying about parking, which of course turned out to be a non issue. I’d say about 40 people from my class (out of 216) along with families came. So a little dissappointing size wise, but it was so great to see the people who were there. And everyone was so gracious about thanking me for putting it together. I was really glad we did it, even if I had anxiety about it for a whole stinking year. Everyone looked pretty much exactly the same and it was weird to see little miniature versions of them running around on the park’s jungle gym. And their were quite a few little babies there. So sweet.
That night I took the red eye flight back down to WA. My parents were on another flight that was scheduled to take off at the exact same time (I’m pretty sure we were on 2 different runways). Once we were in Seattle I took the shuttle bus and they had a layover and then a commuter flight up to B’ham. And I beat them there by 5 minutes.
I can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day in June. It went by really fast. But looking back I realize I did so much and had a good time throughout it. Three cheers for June!
I just got back from cheer camp on Saturday. It was by far the best camp I’ve taken my squad to in the last 5 years that I’ve been a coach. It was a fairly small camp because some other schools that had been signed up were still in school due to making up for snow days. Can you imagine? Still in school during the 4th week of June? Ugh. But it made camp nicer for the teams that did make it because we got a lot more individualized attention. And the girls did great! I think 16 (out of 21) of them were nominated for All American and 6 actually made the All American team (I think there were only 12 total for the entire camp). One of the girls was named Top All American of the camp for the second year in a row (and she’s only going to be a junior this year). One of the seniors was “apped” at the end of the camp. That means that the NCA staff thought she was good enough to try out for their staff next year and she got a special application to do so. The team as a whole won the “Top Performance Team” award and received a Nationals bid. And the other coach and myself won a “Been There, Done That” award acknowledging our commitment, knowledge and dedication to our squad and to cheerleading as a whole. All in all it was a fabulous 4 days. Except for the mattresses we slept on in the dorms – we called them our “cement slabs”. It was seriously an adult version of a crib mattress. And there was a ginormous hill that we had to go down and up 3 times a day. Which was never fun, but at least I felt like my legs and butt were getting a good workout. Makes up for all the cafeteria food we ate there (which was actually pretty tasty). And now I have a break until August!!!
On to other summer plans. I’m leaving for Alaska this Friday. I’m going to be there for about 10 days, but already I’m wondering how I’m going to cram in all my plans. There are a lot of people to see. Last time I was there it was for a short trip around Thanksgiving so I didn’t get to see a whole lot of my friends for very long. I’d like to be able to spend a little more time with everyone. And some of my other out of state friends will be up there because it is our 10 year high school reunion and we’re all heading back for it. (Can I just say that I’m so looking forward to the day after the reunion? Not because I’m nervous about seeing anyone, just because even the idea of planning this event has caused me anxiety for the past year and now I won’t have to think about reunions again for another 10 years.) I also get to help with one of my best friend’s younger brother’s wedding. He is getting married to his high school sweetheart who I actually knew when she was just a wee toddler. And I’ve known the groom since he was in middle school. Whenever I think of him I just think about him doing calf raises on their stairs because he wanted to get stronger so he could make the 8th grade basketball team. And now he’s getting married! And of course I’m excited to see the neice and nephew. I sent a card to my neice to tell her that I’d be coming and that I hoped we could have a sleepover. My mom told me that she was very excited about this prospect and had already decided we’d do it at Granny and Granddaddy’s house rather than her own (I have a feeling that’s because she gets spoiled more there).
Anyway, lots of blah blah blah here in this post. But I’m excited. Excited about what this past month has brought my way and what’s coming around the corner. And thinking a lot about how blessed I am. And that I have a good life. And that I’m a lucky girl.
This past Sunday was my half birthday. I know most of you are thinking, “What? A Half Birthday? That’s absurd.” But my mom always celebrated our half birthdays growing up – no big deal stuff, but when my brother and I were little she would make a half of a round cake for dessert that night to celebrate. Anyway, the half birthday this year reminded me of my birthday post from this past November where I made a list of 27 things I wanted to do this year (27 because I am 27 years old) and I realized I should check in and see what I still need to get crackin on. I’m nervous because I’m pretty sure I still have about 23 1/2 things to get done and that’s pretty embarrassing. But let’s see. (My updates and new thoughts are in blue. And sorry it’s so dang long.)
27 Things I Want to Do This Coming Year (as of 11/17/08)
1. Go to Alaska (this one’s easy – I’m going next week). Yep, I went right after my birthday for Thanksgiving and I’ll be heading up again in July.
2. Get my passport renewed (this has been on the to do list for almost 2 years – I’m ridiculous) Umm…still have NOT done this. Ridiculous. Ridiculous!
3. Go to a foreign country. See above – no passport means no foreign country.
4. Read the books from my current “to read” pile before buying any more I’ve actually been pretty good about this. I’ve read from my pile (which is still quite large) and I’ve been going to the library instead of buying books.
5. Oops, except for I want to read Twilight so that I can see the movie in the theater if I end up liking it. Yep, saw it in the theater twice. And I’ve seen it on On Demand too.
6. Downsize the amount of stuff I own. Have sort of done this, but can do a whole lot more. The one thing I’ve been doing well on is using up stuff like toiletries that I seem to just collect and then not finish before moving on to something else. Plus I have big plans for cutting things down more in a couple weeks when I’m taking the week off work but not going anywhere.
7. Take more ballet classes. Nope.
8. Actually go to the gym. Maybe twice?
9. Celebrate at Naomi’s wedding. Yep, in December and it was a lot of fun! But we’ve been playing phone tag ever since. Seriously. Have not actually spoken to her since then.
10. Watch my cheer squad compete for the first time (and hopefully a second time if we qualify for state). Check and check.
11. Take more pictures. Haven’t been too good about this.
12. Blog on a regular basis. Would like to do more.
13. Stop eating out for lunch so much. Not so much.
14. Get my 3rd full body scan to check for any more skin cancer. Appointment is set for September.
15. Figure out a next “step” in my life. Actually decided to just commit to working at my current job at least through December. But nevertheless, this is always on the forefront of my mind.
16. Drink more water and less soda. I’m drinking more water but not really less soda. Basically my fluid intake is just up.
17. Go to my 10 year high school reunion (which I might have to plan 
). The word is out and yes, I had to plan it. Its the reason for my trip to AK in July.
18. Volunteer at a food bank. Not yet.
19. Do a better job keeping my room/house/car from looking like a bomb went off. Actually I have been better at this! It helps that we got another cat and I needed my room to be clean enough to let her be in there during the day without worrying about her knocking crap all over the place.
20. Take time to actually enjoy coaching during basketball season. Totally happened. Was probably the season I’ve enjoyed most so far in my coaching.
21. Continue to send birthday cards to friends and try to keep in better touch with them overall. Sort of, kind of. In different ways than I expected.
22. Write more thank you cards. Unfortunately, no.
23. Try out yoga. Not yet.
24. Clean out my email inbox (how boring am I on this one?!?!). Done.
25. Spend more time with my Grannie. Yes, but sadly because she broke her hip and was in the hospital and is now at a care facility. So I’ve gone much more often to see her – especially when she was in the hospital and it was just about every day.
26. Not allow my social life to disappear because coaching and work take up too much time. This has sort of happened, but sometimes I feel like my friend group here has drifted apart regardless of my own schedule keeping me from joining in on things.
27. Work on focusing on the positive and trying not to allow anxiety to get the best of me. Always a struggle, but I’d say I’m doing better on the whole.
Ok, so I’m going to say I’ve got about 13ish done or at least incorporated in my life regularly. Not quite as bad as I originally thought, but there’s plenty to get working on.
So there is a lot to catch blogland up with, but I don’t have the time or thought process to do it right now. But I did feel like telling you about a brief little part of events that happened this weekend and hopefully I’ll follow up with more actual detail on everything that’s been going on.
Anyway, Saturday was my very good friend and old college roommate Naomi’s wedding. I was a bridesmaid (and got to wear a very fun, cute dress!) and was really happy to be a part of the whole event. But what I want to bring up is a very specific part of what typically happens at a wedding reception. You know, they do the cake cutting and the first dance and the father/daughter dance and blah blah blah. And then…they throw the bouquet. Now is the time to tell you that I have had somewhat of a history with this wonderful wedding reception tradition. :S At my brother’s wedding, I caught the bouquet and my cousin (who had brought a guy on their first date to the wedding) actually jumped on my back trying to get it from me. I just remember being shocked and leaning over with her still on top of me while I tried to elbow her off. And come to think of it the guys were even worse – wrestling all around like crazy. But in the end the groomsman (my brother’s freshman roommate in college) that I walked down the aisle with (of course I was a bridesmaid in that wedding too!) caught the garter. Little did I know that my new sister-in-law subscribed to the tradition that the catcher of the garter had to then put the garter on the leg of the bouquet catcher. Good times, good times. My brother was quite the chaperone for that memorable moment.
Ok, so time goes on…I obviously don’t get married (not as the traditional wedding lore says is supposed to happen to a bouquet catcher). Then my cousin’s wedding comes along (ya, so it looks like she didn’t need to attack me for that last bouquet – she actually married that first date guy from my brother’s wedding!), I am the maid of honor and it is time again for the toss. This time I stood more near the back, I wasn’t too excited about the prospect of having a random guy put a garter on my leg again. But still the bouquet makes a line drive right to me and I have no choice but to put of my hands to catch it or else its just going to hit me in the head (I love the SATC episode where that basically happens to Miranda – “Ok, now you’re done”). Luckily my cousin did not prescribe to the same bouquet traditions – in fact I can’t even remember if there was a garter toss.
After these two memorable experiences you would think that perhaps I would be smart enough to just avoid the whole situation and not stand up when they call all of the single girls out to the dance floor. But here is the problem. People know that I am single and I’ve found that the bride at weddings seems to know who all of the single girls at their wedding are. Like somehow they’ve memorized their guest list and I’m in the section with a specific heading like Girls Who Couldn’t Come Up With A Date or at the very least Bouquet Catchers. So they hunt you down and the DJ calls out your name over the mic and EVERYONE at the wedding has to swing their heads around to see who the crazy single girl is who won’t get up for the damn bouquet toss. “Why won’t she get out there, she’s ruining the whole wedding!” And if there is one thing you should know about me it is that I am a people pleaser. I am not going to ruin the whole thing – I am going to give the bride what she wants and what she wants is to have a big group of girls who she can throw her bouquet to. Plus I’m saving myself the embarrassment of being searched out and dragged up there. So I think that I’ve caught a few more bouquets, although I don’t know for certain because none of them have been as memorable as the two I have already mentioned.
But on to the wedding at hand. I do my typical thing of going up when we are called – and actually Naomi was cool enough to make all the single people go up for the bouquet toss, both men and women. But I really don’t think one guy came up…I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure they all just stayed in their comfortable padded seats, leaned back and waited to see the spectacle unfold. So again I stand to the back and actually our whole group was pretty far away from Naomi. Far enough away that I thought for sure it would land on the ground in front of the group and some young, naive girl would dive for it. But apparently Naomi has a strong arm. It flew to the back of the group and I instinctively stuck my hand to the side because I knew it would fall on the ground otherwise. And remember, I am a People Pleaser – bouquets cannot hit the ground at a wedding – it would “ruin everything!”. Luckily, one of her younger cousins grabbed for it too, so I was able to just push it at her and she “got” it. I thought I was safe. But suddenly this cousin’s older sister thrusts it back into my hands and declares “She’s still in high school, she cannot have this!” So I have caught the bouquet yet again. And come to find out from my mom who was a guest at the wedding – Naomi looked over her shoulder for me and my current roommate who was also a bridesmaid right before she threw it. Mom is convinced that she wanted one of us to have it. Thanks Na, thanks.
Obviously it hasn’t really helped me in the past in terms of being the next girl to get married and I pretty much doubt its going to help here in the near future. Maybe for me it is some sort of reverse work at hand – the more bouquets I catch the longer I will be single. Or not. Whatever. I just find it interesting that I’ve got such a good reflex for catching flowers. This is not the case with any type of balls in sports. No, I let those just fly past me or hit me in the head (yes, this has happened!) or I cringe, squat down and let someone else jump and get it for me. But I guess there’s something about flowers that call out to me. I’m starting to rethink the getting up at receptions – if I time it right maybe I can figure out to be in the restroom at that moment – but, oh how embarrassing if they called you out and everyone waited for you to come from the bathroom!
