What's Up Wednesday!

Lots going on around here—we got back late Monday night from a weekend trip to visit family in Atlanta. We had an absolute blast! They live in Reynolds Plantation, on Lake Oconee. Each morning we would wake up, go to breakfast, and then spend the day tubing, wakeboarding, wake surfing, and cruising around on the boat. As soon as I upload the darn pictures I will post about the trip. So until then, here is the scoop on the rest of the craziness.
*I did in fact complete my trial 10K (give or take…I was running at the park). I completed it in a time of 52:18 and I was excited to have finished it so well (this is what is leading me to think the park may not be accurate in their mileage of the trails) but nonetheless I was happy! In the mean time, I have been running my usual 3-4 miles and am hoping to do another 10K trial run on Saturday—the race is only a week and a half away!
*I head back to school on Sunday, which has me in a mad rush to pack everything up. I finally feel I have settled in after moving back from school to my house and then to Chris’ house and now I have to repack up all my stuff and head back to school. It is definitely not fun to feel like a nomad. Which I do.
*We cleaned out the fridge before we went to Atlanta and apparently we have decided that eating is an optional activity that we are no longer partaking in. We have absolutely nothing in the fridge. Nadda. Zippo. Zilch. Not even a box of baking soda in there. So I know where I will be headed after work…
*Speaking of the store, I love grocery shopping and I can’t wait to head to Costco this weekend to get lots of things that I need for heading back to school!
*On a lot of the blogs I read, everyone is talking about dieting and what not. Personally, I have never been on a diet, so I am not really at liberty to make too many comments but it has caused me to think a lot about diets. I don’t think I could ever do the diet thing. It’s not because I don’t have the willpower, I have A LOT of willpower, but I don’t think I would be happy on a diet. And since you only live once, I would much rather enjoy a few treats here and there than be miserable and on a diet. I guess it also helps that I like to run—but don’t let that fool you—I like to eat even more! So, for all you dieters, kudos to you, but don’t forget to enjoy every delicious moment of life—you only live once!
*I have not done too much shopping this summer but I have done a lot of working and so before I head back to school, I want to buy myself a little treat. I am thinking about getting a magazine subscription, because I LOVE getting mail and I also love to read magazines. I would love any suggestions on a good magazine to subscribe to!
*I started a fabulous book the other day—it’s called South of Broad by Pat Conroy. It is set in Charleston, NC and it tells the story of “a unique cast of sinners and saints…Leopold Bloom King, our narrator, is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at a local high school. His mother, an ex-nun is the high school principal…” Since I just started, I took a little recap from the back cover to describe a little about the book but seriously, it is really great—I have laughed out loud about a hundred times already!
*Last, sorry to digress—but I am not too excited about heading back to school. It’s not that I don’t like Dayton. I love the school, my classes, my friends, and the independence. I am a very independent person and I like being able to decide when/how I want to do things. Its more the fact that, as my mom always says, “I was born at the age of 30.” I am just kind of over the whole college lifestyle thing. Anyone else ever feel this way when they were in school? I always hear everyone say that college is the best four years of your life…but I am hoping for greener grass on the other side!
*Well, I don’t want to bore all of you too much, hope you are all having a good week and I promise that my next post will have pictures and hopefully a little more pep and excitement!

Chinese Water Torture

This post has absolutely no point, so I apologize in advance. If you want to stop reading now, I would completely understand, in fact, I may even recommend it. So if you get about half way through and are questioning if this post is some kind of cruel Chinese water torture, just remember…you were warned.

1. Normally I am not all that into slapstick humor but lately I have been finding the most ridiculous things funny. What types of things you ask? Well let me try to explain. So as I am talking to my friend Becky on the phone (a feat in and of itself because I truly despise talking on the phone), she begins to tell me about the date she went on to a restaurant called Steak on a Stone. Naturally I ask her what type of steak and side she ordered. If it were me going, I would go with a filet and a baked potato covered in enough butter to make Paula Deen cringe and I would probably want a roll or two to sop up the steak juices and also probably dessert. But I digress. So anyway, Becky tells me that she ordered chicken and steamed broccoli. Thinking I may have misheard or her or perhaps been in a caffeine-induced coma (I had about 4 cups of coffee that morning) I asked her to repeat what she had gotten. No worries, my ears and fine and no coma to report—instead I got a full-fledged ab workout from laughing, at the fact that my friend ordered chicken and broccoli at a customized steak restaurant, where they grill the steak in front of you. About ten minutes later, after I finally recovered from my hysterical laughing, I asked her why exactly she chose chicken and broccoli and she claimed “I no longer like the taste of steak.” Which set me off laughing again. For at least another ten minutes. And that is only one example of the ridiculous things I have been laughing at.
2. We put our house up for sale last Friday and someone is doing a walk-through tomorrow. Apparently these said home wreckers (in case you are a bit behind on my posts, I am not too thrilled with this whole moving thing) are from New Jersey. Which has lead me to imagine a woman with a Bump-It in her hair and a man popping ‘roids walking through my house and snarkily commenting on the lack of any Italian paraphernalia or a built-in tanning bed. Disclaimer: I have in fact NEVER actually watched the tv show Jersey Shore, nor have I ever been to New Jersey. I am sure it is a great state with many wonderful people. And I am also sure the tv show details the lives of very down-to-earth, normal people—I mean it is, after all, reality tv.
3. I have a slight obsession with watermelon. It is my all-time favorite fruit and since it is in season, I am addicted. Seriously. I may need to be in rehab when the fall hits and watermelon is no longer available. I am cutting up one of these bad boys about every 3 days.
4. I think I may have overfed my fish Felix. I feed him ever y night before I go to bed and the other night I accidently dumped in about ¾ of a container of fish food. He is looking rather lethargic and even after I tap on the glass he is still just kind of floating around—NO he is not floating around because he is dead. I think he just overate and can’t figure out how to recover, kind of like how I feel for about 4 hours after eating on Thanksgiving…

To try and redeem myself I will try to wrap up with a few comments that may in fact have some sort of substance to them.

1. As I have mentioned a few times before, reading is one of my all-time favorite hobbies. Currently I am reading the book The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. It is set in the 1960’s and chronicles the lives of several different women living in the South. Specifically, it contrasts the experiences of 4 white women and from what I can tell so far, 3 African American women. It is a stellar read thus far and I am having a hard time putting it down.
2. While I love, love, love to run I have rarely tried out my abilities in a competitive context. I have run a few 5K’s here and there but nothing too serious. However, on August 14th I am training to hopefully run my first 10K. If you live in the Cleveland area and want to support a great cause, please sign up for the LifeBanc 5K/10K/1.5 Walk. LifeBanc is a terrific organization that needs help to spread awareness about all of the wonderful things it does to help support families who have individuals who are donor candidates as well as families who are donor recipients and of course the recipients themselves. Click here to go to the link for the event. My family is sponsoring a team called The Drewin Crew and would appreciate any runners/walkers/donations. Thanks in advance.

Well, if you made it through to here, kudos. I will try to post something more meaningful next time but I can’t make any promises!

Half Empty or Half Full?

Lately I have been kind of bummed out. I just feel like I have been dealt a crappy hand and so I fold and hope the next hand is better…but instead it just keeps being dealt right back to me! I don’t like being down-and-out, no one likes to hang out with a Debbie Downer and it is even worse when YOU are the Debbie in the group! And while I don’t have too many blog friends just yet, I can already tell that I can be open and honest here without anyone judging me or thinking I need to be on Prozac! So, I decided to take a little inventory—while I do have some tough stuff going on right now, I know that I am blessed a million times more, so here is the count.
Tough Stuff:
1. Losing my sister, Erin, and my brother, Andrew in a car accident .Obviously this is the biggest obstacle right now. It has been so hard to lose not only one but two of my siblings—especially since it was in a car accident and thus completely unexpected. I have my good days and my bad days and I am trying to take each one in stride. One thing that is really helping me is the upcoming LifeBanc Fundraiser. Erin and Andrew were both cornea donors and Andrew also donated 5 of his organs. It is such a blessing to know that they continue to live on through the cornea and organs they were able to donate. The LifeBanc is a wonderful organization who has helped my family to accept and embrace the unique gift that my siblings were able to share with others and they are having a 5K/10K/Walk in a few weeks. We are looking for both walkers/runners or donations to help support the team we have created…I will have a post all about that ASAP!
2. Moving. I have lived in the same house my whole life. My parents were in the final stages of building it when I was born. My earliest memories to my most recent memories all center around our family house. We have a huge yard, a pond, garden, trampoline/swing set—all the things that make a house a home. The reason we are moving is twofold. First, my mom just remarried and second, because of the accident (which occurred right in front of our house). While I am thrilled that my mom has found someone who makes her so happy, it is hard to be moving away from my house, the only home I have ever known. My mom says that she will miss our house too but that it is just too hard to be there, especially having to pull out of the driveway each morning and seeing the skid marks and what not from the accident. Obviously I get that, but it doesn’t make it any easier for me to move.
3. School. I really am not looking forward to going back to school. I am not ready for homework, exams, and papers. I am not ready to have to be perky, excited, and nice to freshman (I am an RA in one of the freshman dorms). Plus, I am not really that big of a “partier” so having to go back to dealing with drunken idiots doesn’t sound to exciting either! Blech…
4. My nomad status. On a bit of a lighter note, since my mom just got remarried, she is changing her last name to my stepdad’s last name. I find it kind of strange not to have the same last name as my mom. I told her that I wasn’t too thrilled with the change and she pointed out that when I get married my last name will be changing anyway…Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that…but that doesn’t make me any more content with the situation. I feel like a wandering nomad, I have already had my family downsized by 3 and now I feel like I lost another piece!
Well, that’s enough complaining. To complement the glass half empty attitude, here are a few things that I feel so blessed and lucky to have.
Blessings:
1. Family and Friends. My family and friends have been so supportive, not only throughout the past few months but throughout my entire life. I am a big “family” person and love to hang out with my cousins, aunts/uncles, and especially my Mom. My mom and I are truly best friends and I know that I am so lucky to be able to say that. A lot of people do not have too good of a relationship with their Mom and so I know that I am blessed to be so close to my mom. And, my Stepdad is truly one of the greatest guys I have ever met. He not only takes care of my Mom but he spoils my brother and me to death too! From family vacations to trips to Costco (my all-time favorite store!!) I know I am blessed to have him in my life.
2. Hobbies. I have a lot of hobbies—my top 4 are: 1. Reading 2. Cooking 3. Sewing 4. Running. Jeez, looking over that list I seem like an old lady! But honestly, I love, love, love to read—I will read just about anything. And I am always looking for new recipes to try out, I cook all the time when I am home. My mom loves the break and I love being able to make things that people enjoy! Recently I have begun sewing and it is a blast! I have been working on sewing shirts for my sorority (pictures to come) and I love it. It brings me so much joy to see people’s reactions when I give them a finished shirt, decked out with the patterns and thread they chose! I know a lot of people are not too fond of running but it is one of my all-time favorite things to do. I like the challenge, the time to myself, and the thoughts I am able to reflect on as I run.
3. My freedom. I am so blessed to live in such a wonderful country, where we have soldiers who lay down their lives on a daily basis to protect us. Thank you to all the soldiers and veterans—I wouldn’t be here without you!
4. My internship, my education, the farmers market, the library, my i-pod, going to the movies, trampolines, gardening, peppermint gum, sunshine on my face, watermelon, holidays, vacations…my list of blessings can go on and on.
So, even on days when I am feeling down, it only takes a second before I remember that I am truly blessed and that is what is most important. My glass isn’t half full and it certainly isn’t half empty—rather it is overflowing with blessings! How do you all feel blessed?
Have a great weekend! :)