We WON runner-up from SFLA!

YAYAYAYAY! Hilltoppers for Life won the Runner-Up Group of the Year at the Students for Life of America Conference. This is HUGE for us and very exciting. SFLA is the largest pro-life student organization in the WORLD. We were honored and happy to receive this award! HFL has only been in existence for 3 years and we have made lots of progress in our pro-life efforts. Six members and I were at the SFLA conference to receive the award. Our president, John Sohl was called up to stage to receive it, while the rest of us cheered at the top of our lungs in the audience, among the other 2,000 pro-life students. This award stands out because they created it for US. They normally only have one group of the year award. They decided to create a runner-up because they knew we needed an award for all of our efforts this past year. Just wait and see what else Hilltoppers for Life has in the future. We definitely are the pro-life generation abolishing abortion!

Here is the link from the article from SFLA's website:

"Runner-up for Group of the Year: Hilltoppers for Life from Western Kentucky University

Hilltoppers for Life really wanted to wake up their campus and do it in a big way. This past spring, they got serious about confronting their peers with the reality and harshness of abortion. They decided to host a Life Week, with a Cemetery of the Innocents and a week’s worth of activism. They took what used to be a football stadium, and covered the bleachers in red and black cloth to spell out “LIFE,” and made 3,300 crosses out of popsicle sticks to represent the 3,300 babies killed by abortion every day in America. Life Week included speakers from Silent No More, an outdoor screening of Juno, and engaging students through various educational displays.

At the very end of the week, in the middle of the night, an art student walked up to the display and started placing condoms over all of the crosses. Luckily, students from the group were outside, keeping a vigil, and immediately confronted the vandal, who insisted she had a right to desecrate the crosses they had created. Campus security wouldn’t do anything to stop the vandalism either and eventually the student left on her own, but the damage had been done. This group courageously stood up to their school administration and faced down overwhelming animosity from their peers to defend their rights and those of the pre-born.

Hilltoppers for Life followed that up this fall by bringing Created Equal to campus, chalking pro-life messages every month, holding weekly meetings, and the first ever 40 Days for Love campaign, working to turn the tide of sexual immorality and to instill a culture of love and life among all people. For their courage in fighting the abortion culture, SFLA congratulates Hilltoppers for Life!"

HFL: Cassidy, John, Zach, Maggie, Matt, Kevin, and Me

There was also an article written in our school's newspaper. Click here for the article from The Herald. 

This past weekend has been an AMAZING experience. I will tell more about the March for Life and Students for Life of America Conference :) Check for posts soon! 

Music Monday: Flash Mob Gangnam Style

I was in my first flash mob ever! How cool is that? At the Students for Life of America Conference some of the leaders were invited up on stage to dance to Gangnam Style. It was fun! It is hard to see me because I was hiding in the back (not so good of a dancer). I'm on the floor on the right side of the stage wearing a grey shirt.

March for Life in 2 Days

Tomorrow night six other pro-lifers (Hilltoppers for Life) and I are headed to Washington D.C. for the March for Life on Friday. The March for Life is when hundreds of thousands pro-life Americans march around the capital of the United States to show that we value every human life. This year is the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, which made abortion legal in this country. The March happens every year on the anniversary. This year is HUGE because since 1973 over 55 million children have been aborted. So shocking and devastating that that many individuals were denied life. This will be my first time going to the March for Life and I am very excited! On Saturday we will be attending the Students for Life of America National Conference. I'm anxious to hear all the speakers and meet other student pro-lifers. 

Want to hear something cool? We were on a news release on the WKU website: 
http://wkunews.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/hilltoppersforlife-2013/

Click here for more information about the March for Life. 

I will be sure to update you on Monday when I get back :)

From Google

Mini Marathon Training (3) plus back in KY!

Erin is back in Kentucky! Woohoo! I love spending time at home with my family, but I was ready to get back to see everyone and begin my final undergrad semester. I had a (really!) great first weekend back. 

My flight arrived in Nashville around noon on Friday and my roomie, Hannah picked me up. It was good to catch up with her! I then spent a little bit in Bowling Green, unpacking, went for a run, and then was on my way to meet up with Kevin in Owensboro. Once I got there, we left right away to head to Louisville. We met up with my high school friends. I was happy to see them because it had been awhile! My birthday was on the 16th, so it was kind of a celebration in a way. We went to 4th street for a few hours and then spent the night with my friend Brie. The next day Kevin and I went shopping in Louisville and then went back to Owensboro. That night we had a game night and watched movie with some friends. Oh yeah, and it was Kevin's birthday, Happy Birthday! On Sunday we went to mass and then hung out and watched football. Now it's Monday, the day before my last semester as an undergrad, what?! Time flies by fast! I'm ready to start this semester and learn lots of new things. 

My friend, Maura and I 

Maura, Brie, and I 

And of course, since I'm still training for the mini-marathon in April, I wanted to update you on my running. Not too shabby this week! Friday was my first outside run of 2013. It felt good to run in the fresh air. I'm ready to run regularly outside AND with my running buddy, Hannah! 

Here's a recap of the second week:

1-13-13: Ran 5 miles 51:49

1-14-13: Weight class 60 minutes, elliptical 30 minutes

1-15-13: Gym Fit Class 60 minutes, Ran 2 miles 20:49, Walked 30 minutes

1-16-13: Ran 2.5 miles 25:48, Elliptical 30 minutes

1-17-13: Weight class 60 minutes

1-18-13: Ran 3 miles 28:42, Elliptical 20 minutes

1-19-12: OFF 

Total mileage: 12.5 

Bye Bye Hair!

I FINALLY donated my hair! My hair has been long for WAY too long. I donated 10 inches after growing my hair for almost two years. My head feels so much lighter and it definitely looks better than the plain long straight hair I had. 

I'm donating to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They will use my hair to make a wig for a cancer patient. You need at least 8 inches. I decided to use this organization because they have the lowest minimum requirement (Locks of Love you need 12 inches) and I wasn't about to grow my hair out any longer! It is simple process. Go to any hairdresser to have your haircut and then you will mail in your ponytail. That easy! I donated my hair back in August 2008 and sent my name along with my hair. A few weeks later they mailed a thank you note, which was nice! I plan on doing the same thing. 

BEFORE

AFTER

My NEW DO!

This first time I donated in 2008. 

Music Monday: Suit & Tie by: JT and Jay-Z

Justin Timberlake is coming out with a new album! I'm excited! I'm a big fan of his. Not necessarily music but in general. I don't think this video/sound is the best quality but I wanted to share his new song called Suit & Tie.

Week 2 Mini-Marathon Training 2013

Week two down. I'm happy that I got a few runs in this week, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it much this week, so they were slower than I would have liked. But practice makes perfect, right? I'm tired of running on the treadmill so I'm ready for running outside in KY. I'm hoping that my toes will finally get better too! I'm okay to run on them, but I can't bend them. I can't do lunges/push-ups/planks without them hurting. It's been two weeks since my injury too, geeze! 

Now for a stupid story to share. On Friday when I ran on the treadmill at the gym, I bumped my MP3 player and it fell through the treadmill. I put it on the highest incline to see if I could see it underneath, but no luck. So, I went to the front desk and tell them. A personal trainer came over to help me look for it and he tried to take it apart. Finally, he pulled the treadmill forward and we found it, yay! I continued my run while the trainer got on the treadmill next to mine. And what do you know, I do it again! The trainer looks at me with this "what the heck?!" face and said "You just did it again, didn't you?" I was embarrassed! But luckily this time it landed on top of the treadmill. Thank goodness! I think that treadmill was unlucky. That run definitely had some breathers in it. 

Here's a recap of the second week:

1-6-13: OFF 

1-7-13: Weight class 60 minutes 

1-8-13: OFF  

1-9-13: Ran 3 miles 29:49, Elliptical 40 minutes

1-10-13: Weight class 60 minutes, elliptical 30 minutes 

1-11-13: Ran 3 miles 30:00, Elliptical 20 minutes

1-12-12: Ran 3.5 miles 36:00, Walked on TM 30 minutes (hills)

Total mileage: 9.5 

Countdown and Excitement

So, I have to share with you that I'm excited for the next few weeks! Here is what is going on....

1. January 16th is my birthday. Nothing really exciting going on, but by my request I wanted to try out the new frozen yogurt place in town. My Grandpa will be visiting us too, so he will be here to celebrate. 

2. January 17th I will be donating my hair- 8 inches that is. I have been growing my hair for almost two years now and it's finally ready for the big cut! I hope my new haircut will look okay..I'm anxious about it. I will post more about where I'm donating it and how it all turns out!

3. January 18th is back to Kentucky time! I fly back to school after being home for five weeks. I love being home, but I'm ready to get back to my apartment and spend some time with my friends. That night, I will get to see Kevin (yay!) and we will be going to Louisville to hang out with my high school friends. I haven't seen them in forever. The rest of the weekend (including Monday) I'll be visiting Kevin in Owensboro. It's his birthday too, so we will celebrate that!

4. January 22nd school starts. I'm excited for my last semester as an undergrad student. It could possibly be my last semester at WKU. I'm curious to know if I will have the same clients for speech therapy too.

5. January 24-27th is the MARCH FOR LIFE in D.C.!!! I'm so excited for this and have been forward to it for a long time! I'm so ready to speak out with all other fellow pro-lifers. I'll be going with 6 other people in the pro-life group on campus: Hilltoppers for Life 

That's all I have for now!! I'm ready for all this excitement! I'll be sure to keep you updated on all these things. 

Live with Kelly and Michael

Today was the day for Live with Kelly and Michael! This show is on ABC on 9 am EST every weekday. I've seen it several times and I was very excited to be part of the audience. My Mom received 4 tickets. My Mom and I went with a wife of a guy that works for my Dad, and her daughter as well. We left the house at 5 am this morning since we drove and wanted to beat the traffic. We arrived a little before 7. We stopped to grab a drink and something to eat, then we waited in line for about an hour an half until showtime! 

The studio was really nice! The only downside was we were at a weird angle, in the second row but far from the center. We could see Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan easily, but it was harder to see the guests because they were facing the other way. As usual, the show started with current events/interesting music. They also had their daily trivia when someone calls in and answers a question and wins a trip. If they get the answer right one audience member will win a prize. I got #100, which I thought was pretty lucky...but no, the guy said #15. Boo! The two guests were Jessica Chastain from The Help and Zero Dark Thirty and Busy Phillips from Cougartown. They both seemed very friendly. After, they had a woman talk about saving money for the New Year. I really enjoyed this show! Better than The View, I thought! Kelly and Michael seem like very sincere people. They joked around during commercial breaks, gave hugs, and signed some autographs. The women were crazy about Michael. It was a great morning!

Jessica Chastain

Busy Phillips

Michael signed her NY Giants jersey

Me, Mom, Rose, and Kacie

This and That

Sometimes I feel like my blog is feast or famine around here for posts. During school I either don't have time to blog or there is nothing interesting going on besides classes...so that would be my famine time. During breaks though, like right now I have lots of things to blog about. Probably because I do exciting things with my family or I have more time to contemplate what I should blog about. As you will see this will be my second post of the day! Weird, huh? Looks like in 2013 my blog will be on fire! 

Now for a this and that post...

1. On Saturday my boyfriend, Kevin, sent me beautiful flowers and a little box of chocolates. It was very sweet of him! They are displayed in the kitchen and they smell so good!

2. My Mom and I dropped Nick off at school in Boston on Sunday. It was actually a nice day. Not too windy! We ate lunch at P.F. Changs. It was delicious as usual. That is probably the last time I will see Nick until May. So sad!

3. This is really random, but I had a picture for it so I thought I would share. My Dad is really proud of his bird feeders in the backyard. It's only a few feet away from our window, but he really gets into it and sometimes will use binoculars! We do get pretty birds that come around. He is convinced though that it is only birds that eat the food....but no. Squirrels take advantage and today I captured it on my camera! I have proof to show my Dad because he's in denial. Ha!

Music Monday: In My Life / A Heart Full of Love - Les Miserables

This is one of my favorite songs in the Les Miserables movie!

Mini-Marathon Running Schedule 2013

It's mini-marathon training time! January 1st is just the beginning until the race in Louisville on April 27th. I'm excited! My Mom is planning on running it with me. Too bad we don't live in the same place to train together, but I'll be able to do the first three weeks with her. I think my roommate is planning to run as well (I hope so)! Here is post from the race last year: Recap: Louisville Mini-Marathon! 

I'm pretty much using the same running schedule as last year. I plan on posting my weekly updates on how my running went. My goal this year is to run it in 2 hours. That's a 16 minute difference from last year, but I think I can do it! I'm going to push myself and work on my speed. Go for it, Erin!

If anybody is interested in my running schedule, check it out!

Here's a recap of the first week:

1-1-13: Ran 3 miles 29:00, weight lifted 30 minutes

1-2-13: Ran 2 miles 19:49, walked (hills) on TM 45 minutes

1-3-13: Weight class 60 minutes, walked on TM 20 minutes 

1-4-13: Ran 2 miles 20:11, Elliptical 30 minutes

1-5-13: Cardio/Weight Interval 60 minutes (Ran 2 miles total, 20:00)

Les Miserables

I finally saw Les Miserables in theaters today. Ever since I saw the trailer months ago I knew I wanted to see it. It was really really really good. Even better than I expected. The music was great and very emotional. I love musicals so I was hoping that it would be good! Every single actor in the movie did a phenomenal job. The costumes and make-up were impressive. I'm glad that they received many Golden Globe nominations, they deserve it! There were many famous actors including: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, and Russell Crowe. I was surprised to hear some of them sing, but they didn't do too bad (speaking for the men mainly, women did awesome)! 

I would highly recommend going to see this movie. You won't be disappointed! 



After the movie today, I discovered the soundtrack on Spotify. It's awesome! I will probably be listening to it a lot now :). Does that ever happen to anybody else? You keep listening to the same music over and over again once you first hear it? I hope I'm not the only one. 

The Many Faces of Bailey

My dog, Bailey, is so dang cute! We take lots of pictures of her, especially since it's winter time and all she does is burrow down and sleep on the couch. Since I have so many pictures of her I thought I would share :) Some a recent and others are a few years old.

So here are some pictures of Bailey Girl, Bail, Boopers, Fattie, Stinky Pete, Cutie....

A Family Affair

From Google

While I was on vacation I read the book A Family Affair by: Mary Campisi. It was a good book and not what I expected when I first started reading. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't terrible either. It definitely kept my attention. I have to say, this book has one messed up family! I'm glad mine isn't like that. 

Summary from Amazon:
When Christine Blacksworth's larger-than-life father is killed on an icy road in Magdalena, New York, a hundred miles from the 'getaway' cabin he visited every month, she discovers a secret that threatens everything she's always held to be true. Her father has another family which includes a mistress and a daughter. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father's secret life, Christine heads to Magdalena, prepared to hate the people who have caused her to question everything she thought she knew about her father. But what she finds is a woman who understands her, a half sister who cherishes her, and a man who could love her if she'll let him. The longer she's around them, the more she questions which family is the real one. . .

Note: This book contains sexual content and profanity. While the author believes these situations are handled in good taste, she acknowledges some readers will choose to pass on this book.

Onto the next book. I love having time to read over breaks! 

Aruba: Day Six, Seven, and Home

Happy New Year! 
Now, to finish my Aruba posts. This will be the last one. 

Day Six:
We went "SNUBAING" Have you ever heard of it? I hadn't either until I visited Aruba. Basically they say it's a mixture between snorkeling and scuba diving. You are attached to an oxygen tank that is on a raft. So you don't have a tank on your back. The raft will move with you and the tube is about 20 feet long, which means you can go pretty deep. Only Nick and I tried it. We stopped at two spots. The first one was where Antilla, a Dutch ship during WWII sunk. It was cool! Snuba was a neat experience, but I'm not sure I would do it again. I kept getting water in my goggles and my ears hurt A LOT from the pressure change. My ears were clogged for a few days. I actually almost quit in the middle, but I kept going! After, I went snorkeling in the reefs and saw lots of cool fish! The water was rough so it was work to swim around. We did that in the morning and went swimming in the afternoon. It was a fun day! I have to share something dumb I did that afternoon at the pool though. As soon as we got to the pool I jumped right in because I was hot. I definitely didn't realized I wasn't completely in the deep end because I hit the bottom of the pool, hard! I took a chunk out of my toe (lots of blood) and I stubbed/bruised my other toe. Ouch! I will spare the picture of my toe. 

On our way to snuba/snorkel

Nick Snubaing

Yeah...I don't look too happy

Dad is excited to be snorkeling!

My studly brother ready to snorkel

Day Seven:
Last full day in Aruba- so sad! Which meant last day to get some sun! That morning, my Mom and I went for our last walk of the trip. They have good walking paths in Aruba, which is great because you can walk right along the water without being actually on the beach. You can also check out the beautiful resorts on the island. We went to the pool that day. Later that night my Mom and I went to the shopping mall. Underwhelming shopping...so we met up with the men to watch the second half of the UL vs. UK basketball game. We went to a bar on the beach and enjoyed some drinks.  I had a delicious Mai Tai and Pina Colada. When we were there, the sun was setting so I had the opportunity and took LOTS of pictures. After we went home and headed to bed relatively early since we had to get up early the next day. 

The men watching the game

Mom and I watching the game

Amazing sunset!

Home: 
The next morning we went to mass at 7:30 am and then came back to pack. We headed for the airport at 11 and we were off at 3:40. Lots of resting/reading/listening to music while we waited  We arrived in Charlotte at 7 pm and our flight to JFK wasn't until 10 pm. We didn't get home until 2am! Long day, but AWESOME vacation! Aruba is a beautiful Island and I would love to visit again! 

Here are the other Aruba posts:
Preview of Aruba
Aruba: Day One & Two
Aruba: Day Three, Four, & Five