Baby Steps

In my quest to make myself an all around better person, I have come across a couple of hurdles. Bump in the road numero uno...ME! I have always had the self-confidence of a caterpillar I assume theirs isn't the highest but it's taken me 20 years to finally come to grips with it. It's not like any one has ever really put me down or made me feel inferior, it's just the way I think. I realize that when I lose sight of loving myself, I become a worse friend, daughter, sister, and girlfriend. I am trying to learn to always be there for me and really have a vested interest in taking care of myself. 

Having said that, it's really hard for me to gain the strength to get the wheels moving. I am working every day to better myself and find my true happiness. I know it will always be something that I'm working on, probably for the rest of my life. I'm not depressed or angry or sad. I just know that I'm not living my life to its fullest potential, and isn't that all anybody ever really wants?

Well, at least my knees are still here!

This past weekend was the big weekend! We finally ran our half marathon! It was me, Geoff, Margaret, Katie Sepanski, the Kimball's and my my mom. We all finished which was an accomplishment and Geoff and I ran the whole time! I didn't care if I ran fast (we finished in 2 hours and 30 minutes on the dot!) but I just wanted to keep a running motion going. I'm not really sure if it could be considered running since we "ran" next to a speed walker for quite a bit...I was especially proud of Geoff and my mom. This was the first time Geoff had ever run a race in his life and this is not an easy one to start off with! He did great! My mom had run a half marathon before but it was when she was in her twenties and now she's in her fifties...a bit of an age difference. She ran the whole thing too which is great (slow and steady finishes the race, that's what we kept telling ourselves)! I hope I can be that energetic at her age! Marge was the fastest of the group and finished under two hours, and she always tells me that she's a slow runner!

Geoff's parents drove us down and back which was great because I don't think we could have gotten back safely on our own. We were pooped! And since the came we went to Williamsburg and then they came over to our house for dinner. It was kind of cool that they got to see where I'm from, I always love showing it off! Margaret's dad also flew in and was able to see her run and drive her!

I was in a lot of pain afterwards and my knees and ankles were killing. I never noticed how many steps there are in the world until I had to walk up and down them. The next day I was pretty sore but now I am feeling great! We're thinking about signing up for another one in September. Pretty soon we'll be Grade A runners!!

Almost to the finish line!

Mom after the finish line!

The church van group minus Margaret

We finished!!

Loooonnnnggg Overdue!

Like I said before, I feel like I have a million things to do! However, I'm really trying to keep my promise to myself to blog and keep track of my life. Even now, I'm really busy but at this point I'm doing everything in my power to procrastinate so here it goes!

I haven't written since THON and it was an absolutely amazing weekend! We raised over $9.5 million to help fight pediatric cancer and my dancer did really well! My mom was able to come up for the weekend and I was so glad she was here to witness all that we had worked for. She also made me dinner which was a big plus! My dad and brother weren't able to come because Adam had a soccer tournament but they came up for Monday so that Adam could take a tour of Penn State. Here's some pictures from the weekend...

All the girls on my team!

Paul and Chris, my two dancers!

$9,563,016.09 FOR THE KIDS!!

After THON weekend and once I had caught up on sleep! I got back in to the swing of things. That is until State Patty's day the next weekend! Probably the best student invented holiday ever! A little hypocritical that we go from one weekend of such philanthropy to one of partying. But it is fun to let loose a little. Geoff and his roommates had a party which was fun but I was asleep by 8:30...long day! We got matching pinnies from the day so we were looking fiiiinnneee! Pictures follow...

Blurry from FB...

So again, after recovering from State Patty's I had an EXTREMELY long week of classes and then was off for Spring Break! During the week, I found out that I had been offered a job at Science U summer camp, run by Penn State to teach kids about various aspects of science. I was offered 3 weeks and decided to accept because that's the only definite I have right now. Still have to find another job for the days I'm not working. Hoping that won't be too difficult...


My mom and I decided to meet up in DC for the weekend and my dad got us a room at the Hilton near Tyson's Corner. BIG mistake dad Well I drove down Friday night and we decided to go to the Cheesecake dinner for dinner. While we were at dinner I got an email saying that I had gotten in to the PDS program! I had been really nervous about finding out about student teaching and was THRILLED that I had made it! The rest of the weekend was filled with shopping! We went to Eastern Market, a farmers and flea market in DC and then headed over to Georgetown to check that area out. We had never been there but it is wonderful! So many cute stores and we had so much fun! My dad had told us that there was "nothing" to do, but of course he would say that with all of these cute shops!

Well you can't tell they're cute, and this isn't my picture!

We also hit up Tyson's Corner and tried to go to a museum but parking was a bitch so we gave up. But we did get one picture to prove we were there!

Wasn't a pretty day, but we're looking hot!

We drove home and the rest of the week I just kind of hung out, did stuff around the house and tried to get work done. That was not successful. What I was successful at was making bread! I got an urge to try making bread when I spotted a recipe on another blog for some bread. My mom and dad have a bread machine so it makes it super easy! I just bought a couple of ingredients at the store for honey whole wheat bread, threw them in the machine, and it did the rest. All of the kneading, rising, and baking were taken care of! The bread turned out pretty good and it was great with dinner and for breakfast with peanut butter. I made a second loaf and brought it up to Geoff when I went to visit him on Thursday!


So I drove up to Geoff's early because I was bored with being home and figured I should just leave. Thursday had horrible weather all the way up the East Coast, which was not pleasant, but I was glad I made it safe and sound! We went over to his friends house Thursday night for a little party and it was nice to meet some of the people he's been hanging out with since being there. Geoff had to work Friday so I got to sleep in, did some homework, ran some errands, and got a pedicure helloooo student discount! It was a beautiful day so I walked around downtown Princeton for a bit but my feet hurt and Geoff got out early, so it was short lived. I would still love to walk around the campus at some point! 

Saturday we decided to take a day trip to NYC with Nick, Geoff's roommate. We took the train in and went to the Empire State Building, Lombardi's (the first pizzeria in America), and walked around Central Park. It was all stuff I had done before but neither of them had so it was kind of cool to experience it with them! 

Us at the top!

Nick eating some Lombardi's

One of my favorite views, a little city and a little park

Back in to the swing of things at school...it's a little tough to get back at it. Had an eventful weekend this last one too but this is too long to add on to and I just don't really feel like it!! More when I feel like it!

Spring Fever

Busy busy busy!! Will update more when I have the time but right now I'm balancing school, running training, and having the spring is coming itch. That sounds like some sort of disease...yuck. THON is over and my life is getting back on track but I will have a nice long update when I get the chance! All that and I have a bunch of other things going on, figuring out family stuff, fun stuff, and getting a job stuff! And I have the sudden urge to be artsy craftsy so we'll see how that goes! Ha!