writing

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 9

Nothing is more of an honor and a compliment as a writer than to have a friend ask you to write for them. I’m not talking a term paper, but something personal, like content for a wedding website, like my friend recently asked me to do.  

It is also rather nerve wracking, because you want it to be great, especially something like this that 200+ of their closest family and friends could read.. but such an honor. 

I finally finished it today, and it took everything in my power to not just write “these two are just F*ing great!”, because they are.  I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard as I did during my 48 hours I was with them in Dallas last month.  

Your twenties on up are such a cool time to be a part of major events in friends’ lives, and you really get to see an amazing side of them.  Family, hopes for the future, fears; engagements, showers, weddings, babies, it all has the capacity to pull you closer to people and impact those events in your own life.

My new experience for today was pretty cool.  I got to share my “talent” with someone who I so greatly look up to and love.  She is almost like a big sister to me (something I have never had).  I adore her, admire her, get advice from her, and respect her ( and she always looks so damn great!). 

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The bride to be on the left and me. It was an awkward group shot at a table, so forgive our poses, but do you see what I mean! Eyebrows to kill for, fantastic hair. If I didn’t love her, I would want her dead 🙂

I still have a run and workout yet to get to tonight, but I will chalk this day up as a success.

Happy Tuesday, kids 🙂

Let’s talk lame duck and workouts, shall we?

So here we are, staying late at the office, all thanks to lame duck. 

I don’t mind, I really don’t, because it is exciting, and stressful, and frustrating, and unpredictable.  I just really enjoy it.  I am sure I would feel very differently if I was one of my legislative coordinators down there at the Capitol, but it can be pretty cool from where I sit.

To deal with all of this stress, I have been very good about my workouts. I had a great strength/lifting session yesterday, a killer metabolic conditioning session today, and am about to initiate my training plan for my first half-marathon next year (Martian Half-Marathon in Dearborn, MI).

So, on we move, with workouts and the unpredictability of lame duck… right now, craziness and soreness is being soothed by a nice beer.

Gotta love it 🙂