Not in Kansas Anymore

So my blog took a summer break.  Now, that it is August again, I think it's time to get back into things.  In the past few months, I have watched all of the seasons of Bones and The Office, attempted an impossible puzzle (Starry Night) and played a lot of board games.

Sunday, I made the move to Florida.  I will be starting Physical Therapy School at UF in a couple weeks!  The road trip to Gainesville took 2 days.  The first day, we stopped four times in the first five hours... not very efficient!  We made it to Nashville that night, but were too tired to stalk any country singers or do any other fun Nashville things.  Maybe next time!  Day two was a little faster.  Once we got to Gainesville, we made a Target/Walmart run and started unpacking my stuff.

The next day, we wandered around campus.  First, we tried to drive.  When finding a parking spot was unsuccessful, we just decided to walk!  After getting yelled at by a cop for taking a picture of a building, we finally found where my classes will be and the union.  Sweaty and disgusting, we went to the bookstore to get some Gator gear and ate some lunch.  We considered walking around more of campus, but decide that it was a little too hot for that.  After a quick cleanup, we headed to the mall.  Then, I successfully got my wireless internet and TV hooked up and we headed to dinner.  

Wednesday, we went to St. Augustine Beach!  Kaleigh attempted to make a sandcastle and we played in the waves.  We picked up a few seashells and accidentally soaked our towels when the tide came in.  Oops!  After an afternoon of sun, our sandy, burnt bodies headed back to Gainesville.

My mom and Kaleigh left Thursday morning to head back to Kansas.  My roommate and I went to Walmart and I got some groceries.  Last night, we went to Chili's for her Birthday.  Upon seeing my Kansas ID, the server said "Oh!  You're not in Kansas anymore!"  Original...

Anyways, the next couple weeks I will be enjoying the sun and relaxing.  I'll keep ya updated on my life in Florida!

I wear my sunglasses at night

I go through iPods and headphones faster than I go through running shoes.  Shoes I replace about twice a year, but headphones probably last me a couple months before I step on them, lose them, or, in yesterday's case, catch the cord on a bush branch and rip them apart.  I can't stand the earbuds that come with iPods.  They seem to be too big for my ears and when I finally get them in there, they fall out when I sweat.  Fail.  I prefer the old school over-the-ear phones even though I'm sure I get made fun of for them.

Yesterday, my latest earphones came to rest.  I've had them since January.  And that is why I refuse to spend more than $10 on them.  Another thing I buy cheap is sunglasses.  Expensive name-brands will never be caught on my face.  I think the one thing that has worse luck than my earphones is my sunglasses.  (Maybe one day I will learn to NOT leave things on the floor...)

Anyway, I have been working on figuring out my plans for fall.  I will be moving to Florida in August for physical therapy school, but have no idea where I'm living.  I've been talking to some classmates on facebook, but don't have anything planned out for sure.  I have, however, officially signed up for the important stuff--football tickets.  (Well, the lottery at least).  I don't think anyone from Kansas understands the need for a "football student ticket lottery."  We will stand in line for a week to get seats to a basketball game, but space at the football stadium is typically not a problem.  It is definitely a new concept for me.  Hopefully I get tickets so I can see what this is all about!

In other news, last weekend I went to a Walk for Wishes in KC!  We walked a few laps and they had great rides and blow up games.  It was pretty awesome.  Saturday night, I went to my last Chi O formal.  We ate some food and played some "The Game of Things" beforehand.  If you haven't played before, it's like Apples to Apples (if you haven't played this, go to Target and purchase it ASAP), but better.  You get to write your own answers for things like "Things that make you cry" or "Things not to watch).  For some reason, "Lindsey's dancing" kept coming up.  Thanks Tony.  Anyway, it was at the new hotel near campus and it was a decent time (I think I would have more fun at these things if they played country music).  Afterward, we ate some Wheel Pizza.  I am slowly convincing my non-Lawrence friends to love the place.

Nothing too exciting has been going on this week.  I just cleaned Rascal's cage.  She smells a whole lot better.  She is currently sleeping with her face smashed up against the corner as usual.  I think I may be succeeding in making her non-nocturnal...  Speaking of non-nocturnal, I'm off to bed.

Toodles.

P.S.  Apparently this post doesn't want to double space.  I need K Stro or Brenna to teach me some computer skills...........

26.2 thoughts on 26.2 miles

Dear mom and dad,

You can finally stop bugging me about not keeping my blog updated.  I am currently in the process of baking white chocolate cranberry cookies.  The dough was delish.  The first batch was burnt.  The second batch I believe is underdone... but I am too comfortable to get up and check.

I realize that I missed the month of March entirely.  Oops.  I would much rather skip the month of February.  Not just blogging.  The entire month and everything to do with it.  Why?  

1.  It's cold.  

2.  The term "wintery mix"  

3.  Scraping ice off of my windshield  

4.  Valentine's Day (except for the movie... that was pretty good)

5.  Winter clothes

6.  So many other reasons I don't even remember because I have blocked all Februarys from my memory.

ANYWAY.

I ran the Eisenhower Marathon this weekend in Abilene, KS.  Today at my internship, a patient asked what goes through your mind for 26.2 entire miles.  Here is my breakdown...

1.  Man, I'm glad we made it out of that porta potty line in time!

2.  That's my cousin!  (She was handing out water at a water station)

3.  I wonder if we made a wrong turn?  (The route through the park was a bit questionable)

4.  What a pretty sunrise!  (I actually said this out loud to Laura... she doesn't recall)

5.  Look at that guy wearing the all lime green outfit.  He's speedwalking.

6.  I'm feeling pretty good!  Hopefully it lasts another 20 miles...

7.  The half marathoners are turning around now.  I'm jealous.

8.  It is a really nice day outside!  (Or... It's was too cold, hot, wet, windy, etc.)

9.  This breeze is nice, but I hope it doesn't pick up too much.

10.  Hey mom and dad!  (And sister and grandma and grandpa and aunt and uncle and dog and Laura's mom and Laura's boyfriend...)

11.  "Rain makes corn.  Corn makes whiskey.  Whiskey makes my baby... feel a little frisky."  (Lyrics that made me embarrassed to be a country fan... until I two-stepped to it.)

12.  I wish we had our running games (we are planning to make portable games for long distance runners.  Who doesn't want to play Apples to Apples mid stride?)

13.  Shouldn't we be turning around here pretty soon?

14.  Good, over halfway done!  Oh... only halfway done...

15.  There's our cheering section again!  Is this a smile or a grimace?

16.  Only 10 miles to go.  Oh, and .2.  NEVER underestimate the .2.

17.  (Rap music blares) - Laura:  "Was that my mom's car?"  (We pass.  Rap music fades.) - Laura:  "It definitely was..."

18.  Hmmm, my calves kind of hurt.  So do my arches.  And my thighs.  And my toes.  And my knees.  And...

19.  "I'm so much cooler online.  Yea, I'm cooler onliiiiine!"

20.  Stop taking pictures!  I hope they all turn out blurry.  This is blackmail material...

21.  Just a quick 5 miles left.  I run 5 miles on an easy day so this should be easy, right?

22.  Wrong.

23.  Speaking of wrong, this mile marker (23) was where the 22 mile marker should have been.  Which led to my thoughts at mile 24...

24.  Yes, that cone coming up is 25!  One mile to go!  Wait a second... that looks kind of like a 4.  Holy mackerel.  (Looking around)  Does anyone else think we ran an extra mile somewhere along there?  Anyone else outraged?  No?  Guess I'll just keep running then.

25.  Dear fellow marathoners,  It is not cool to jog back on the course as a "cooldown" and "cheer on" runners who are still finishing.  No I don't think you're cool.  No I'm not impressed that you finished before I did.  No you are not motivating me to finish.  Please leave me to shuffle my way to the finish line alone.  Sincerely, me and every other runner that passed you.

26.  Somehow, this mile seems to be taking longer than all of the others combined.  I'm not sure if my feet are even getting off the ground anymore.

.2  I'm sprinting!  I see the finish and I'm sprinting!  (To onlookers this looks somewhat like a slow motion video of a person's first run.  This may be the one and only time it is appropriate to yell something along the lines of "Run Forrest!  Run!")

So that's the breakdown.  No seriously, that's it.  Brain function slowly deteriorates throughout the run until at the finish, all you can manage to mumble is one syllable words (or non-words...)  "Wa."  "Ouch."  "Feet."  "Done."  "Sit."  And for this, I apologize to anyone who had to attempt to speak with me after the race.  Or after any race.  

And while I'm at it, I should probably apologize to that lady who I passed once at the end of a fun run 5K who was pushing a stroller.  I just couldn't let someone pushing a stroller pass me.  According to my running partner Joel, my all out sprint at the finish was inappropriate in the situation.  He was wearing a Bleaker outfit though, so I don't give his opinions on the situation too much credit...

Recipes and DDPs

So I gave up sweets for lent.  This is my third year of doing so.  (The first year I found myself eating candy the next day before I realized what I was doing... oops)  Last year, though, I successfully turned down cookies, cake, and candy until Easter.  So far, I have held strong!  It can be hard at my internship (patients really love to bake treats for their physical therapists).  Other than that I haven't had too much temptation.

I have, however, been bookmarking some great dessert recipes that I am definitely going to try mid-April.  A friend told me about foodgawker.com and I have been spending a little less time facebook stalking and a little more time staring at food.  It is a website that has multiple food blogs with sweet looking recipes.  Yum.

Another thing that has been keeping me satisfied has been Sonic.  Happy Hour is truly one of the great joys in life.  Half price bevs are right up there alongside the first warm days of spring and being front row at a KU basketball game.  My personal fave is the Diet. Dr. Pepper with Vanilla, or as I like to call it, the DVDP.  Yes, I'm drinking one right now.  Yes, I get one whenever I get done with my internship a few minutes early.  Yes, sometimes I switch it up.  Every once in awhile I will add some cherry for a DCVDP.  Once, I mistakenly got a DCDP.  Yes, it was still delicious.

And with that, I must go.  KU is down by almost 20 points right now and they need my entire focus to be on cheering.

Puzzles and Prom

For Christmas, my dad got me a "Days of Tips and Inspiration for College Students" calendar.  It has daily bits of advice such as "Make a new friend in class today" and "Save quarters when you receive change--you'll need them for laundry."  You know, information that is vitally important... when you are entering your freshman year.  (Sorry, dad... I still love it.)

Today's earth-shattering revelation said "No doubt about it--you're super busy.  But be sure to make time for yourself."  So true!  I look over at the two ginormous stacks of paper that are the reasons that I will be super busy over the next few months:  my new Sudoku and Hidato daily calendars.  730 mind-challenging puzzles.  What a challenge!  

Don't worry, though.  I will take breaks for myself.  You know, to do things like figure out where I'm living next year, who I'm living with, how I'm funding my education... little things like that.  I will keep you updated both on the status of my puzzles and the status of my future.

Almost as important as my Hidato success or failures is the prom.  Yes, t

hat's right.  I am that college girl going back to the prom.  Never thought it would happen, but what can you do when true love strikes?  Here is a picture of my date.  He's dreamy.

In other prom news, I went prom dress shopping with my sister today.  She has a real date.  Well, not technically a date, but a to-be date.  She's "on reserve."  Anyway, assuming that her "on reserve" date will actually ask her, we went dress hunting.  After hours of wandering around Kansas City, we found a winner.  It's a cute black and white dress with some lime green ribbon.  It was a great success!

Anywho, it is almost Olympic game time (remember who you are cheering for!) so I'm going to go make some festive treats.  And maybe do a Sudoku or two.  Here's another bit of advice until next time:  "Experience something new.  Participate in an activity you've always wanted to try."

Oh Canada!

I am very excited for the Winter Olympics.  Is there anything better than watching men wearing sparkly purple and pink spandex dance around on ice skates?  Men sweeping the floor in a bulls-eye-esqe game is pretty great too.  Not to mention the excitement of people racing down a mountain, track or slide at faster speeds than my car would even consider.  Opening ceremonies are Friday and we will be celebrating with Olympic Ring cupcakes and games.  You are all invited.

  At my internship we are having an Olympic competition.  Today was draft day.  I will officially be cheering for Canada, South Korea, and The Netherlands.  Plus one more.  That will be determined tomorrow morning.

In the spirit of the upcoming games, here are some fun facts about my countries... you should cheer for them too.

CANADA:  

1.  The baseball glove was invented in Canada (which will help tremendously in the winter Olympics)

2.  Santa Claus is from Canada

3.  Canada also claims to have invented basketball...

SOUTH KOREA:

1.  Has the world's highest estimated national IQ

2.  On the first night of each year, they hide their shoes so a ghost doesn't try them on and steal the pairs it likes - your shoes are stolen, you will have bad luck for the entire year

3.  Bulldog and live squid are popular delicacies

NETHERLANDS:

1.  Home of Heineken beer.

2.  Also home of the Red Light District

3.  There are twice as many bikes as cars

So there's my info. for the day.  I'll keep you updated on my 4th country and its fun facts!

I very strongly dislike winter.

I hate winter.  I hate the feeling being cold more than being sick, being picked last, and being short enough to be an armrest.  I am in more pain walking 10 steps to my car in January than I am at mile 25 of a marathon.  Not only is winter painful, but winter clothes are ugly, uncomfortable and more expensive.  Who would rather wear a winter coat than shorts and a t-shirt?  Flip flops vs snow boots?  Not even a question.

This is why I am pretty upset with Mr. Groundhog.  He has decided that winter gets to last another 6 weeks or something.  Today is February 6.  This means I have approximately 66 days until I feel safe from winter.  The latest I remember it snowing was on my friend's April 13 birthday one year.  So after that date, I consider spring to officially begin and I put away my winter scarves.

Anyway, tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and I'm still undecided about who to root for.  After asking almost everyone I know and meet who they are rooting for and why, I still really don't care.  So, if you have a convincing argument as to what colors I should wear tomorrow, let me know.  Until then, I will be officially cheering for funny commercials and good food.