Michigan State

Who Doesn’t Love a Fresh Start?

Happy January 2nd everyone! A January 2nd post is way less cliche than a January 1st, New Year’s post, right? Probably not so much, but we are going with it anyway.

I have always loved the start to a new year. Who doesn’t love a fresh start? Sure, it isn’t like all of your problems dissipated into thin air once the ball dropped, but there is something about the calendar starting over that makes people think that things can be new again.

I am one who is extremely susceptible to the romanticism that is the new year and a fresh start, but there is something about 2015 that has me especially excited. I had a great 2014, but I have big hopes and plans for this year, and am feeling refreshed and ready to get back to the things I love; particularly running and writing, and possibly even tackle a few new passions and challenges.

For starters, my poor blog needs to stop being ignored, and I need to be more diligent about following all of the amazing people I have connected with through WordPress. You all inspire me so much whether it be with your running, writing, or creativity. Just exposing myself to all of this more will help fuel my writing again.

As far as my running goes, I am already signed up for two half marathons this spring. The Illinois Half Marathon on April 25th, and the Indianapolis Mini Marathon on May 2nd. This should set me up for a fall marathon (fingers crossed) come the fall. I might even add the Chicago Triathlon in August to my list.

How about you guys? What are your goals and hopes for the new year?

I have plenty of personal and professional goals as well, but I am still hashing those out. I think there is always room to be a better person , and I am sure 2015 will award me plenty of opportunities for growth.

Happy New Year everyone. Let’s have an amazing 2015.

Cheers!

P.S. A little MSU, Big Ten Cheer for everyone out there. Probably the best football game I have ever seen in my life!

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A hiatus of the mind and the body:

I will be the first to admit it: I have been pretty lazy the past month, and I am completely okay with that.  Sometimes, you just have to give yourself some time off.

Running wasn’t fun or motivating for a while, it had become just a chore.  Workouts weren’t getting me excited for my next bout at the gym.  I didn’t know what to write about.  I just kind of wanted a break.

So, I took one.

This isn’t saying I was unhappy in anyway, I think I just recognized that things had started to shift from passions to items on my to-do list.  After taking some time to reflect on the first two-thirds of the year, I realized that my body had been through quite a bit.  I deserved some time to just slip back into neutral and recharge the batteries.

After about a month off, I started the final third of the year yesterday, went out for a great, fall run; no pressure, no goals, just a run, and kicked off a refreshed mind-set.

Sometimes we need breaks from personal pressures. I, personally, have a very hard time staying in the moment, always thinking about the future and my next run or where my career is going to take me.  Where am I going to go to grad school or where will my next job be?  How will I reach my goals?  I don’t want to be so caught up in the next step that I miss the beauty of getting there.  This is why I sometimes need to give myself time to do a status update on life. 

What have you missed?

A Michigan Society of Association Executives Diamond Award that I took home for my association’s e-newsletter.  It was a big win and a huge honor for my whole team who help put it together.

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George Blaha was the MC that night.  If you are not a Michigan sports fan, you probably don’t know who that is, but to Spartans, he is the voice of Michigan State athletics.  When I bounced across the stage in shock and amazement at our win, I was so excited I didn’t even shake his hand!  When I realized I had passed him by I just turned around and cheered, “Touch Down, MSU!”

I felt like an idiot the whole way home for not shaking his hand. Any respectable Spartan does not pass up the chance to shake George Blaha’s hand!

They always say when God shuts a door…

The very next night, who would happen to be sitting at the next table at the bar, but Mr. Blaha himself.

God had opened a window!

Freaking out, I told Paul that God does not present you with George Blaha two nights in a row only for you to not make up for your social blunder from the previous night.

So I walked up to his table, introduced myself and explained that I was the girl who was too excited to shake his hand the night before, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to do so now.  He couldn’t have been nicer and more congratulatory on my award 🙂 

Other than that, I am down about seven inches of hair. I decided that I needed to refresh my look while I refreshing my mind. I now look more like my mother than ever (not a goal, and not a bad thing, just something I noticed after it was cut).  

With my body and soul restored, I am feeling pretty damn good.

I hope all of you are also doing well 🙂

Cheers!

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30 Days of New: Day 18

Day 18 I had two amazing new events.  The first was having the honor of delivering food to Coach Izzo and the MSU basketball staff (and some of the players) for lunch.  The office was amazing, and I have never met Izzo before (who is great friends with my boss).

I could meet any celebrity on the planet and keep my cool, but you put me in front of any one Spartan related, (football players, Coach Dantonio, basketball players, Coach Izzo), I pretty much lose my cool.  So I was completely geeking being on these hallowed grounds of the Spartan basketball home base.

No big deal....

No big deal….

 

Later on, I had an appointment with my new doctor; my specialist for George.  I LOVE HER!  Dr. Tremp out of Dewitt.  She is fabulous.  Very thorough, explained everything, and just really put me at ease about the whole thing.  I love it when you have a doctor who actually acts like they care about you and your well-being.

Surgery is set for Tuesday morning!  From the ultrasounds that Dr. Tremp did, George looks to be completely fluid filled (good sign, not cancer), and has thin walls (don’t know why this is good but it is).  They are not sure the origin of him, and need to be sure what he is attached to.  To do this, she is going to go in laproscopically (minimally invasive through little holes) to get a better look at George and see if they can drain him and see what he is connected to.   She will only cut me open if she absolutely has to, which is a possibility seeing as he is so huge.  I basically have a second uterus in there that is pushing down on my actual uterus.

I mean, go big or go home is what I always say.  If you are going to have a cyst, why not make it epic, right?   My best friend, Julie, yesterday said, “well now that you are producing Olympic sized cysts I know there is nothing you can’t do”.  She is fabulous.

She then proceeded to say, “I wish McDreamy did cysts and ovaries”.  What more could you need in a best friend?

After the appointment, Paul and I went to the grocery store where he proceeded to buy me “recovery foods”.  He is so good to me 🙂

I am not sure what I have on deck for today, but it will be a great weekend chalk full of new events.  I hope you all have a great weekend as well!

Friends in Boston, be safe and my thoughts are with you, friends in the north, sucks about the snow, and blessings to everyone else 🙂

 

 

I love spring time.  There is something so hopeful and rejuvenating about everything coming back to life after winter (even if we had very little winter to speak of this year).  

I took these on a lazy Sunday while roaming around campus with Max and my boyfriend.  

I caught myself in a funny habit while sitting on a bench waiting for Paul at one point; I always search for 4 leaf clovers.  I don’t even really do it consciously, I just sort of do it.  I have never found one, but I just had to laugh at this never ending journey to find one.

More to come later about my exciting weekend…