Haiti Trip Video

A few of the members of the Mission Trip to Haiti created a video about the trip....

Enjoy!



I really like this video because several of the group shared their experiences. It was truly a great experience that I will never forget.

My intent was to write a reflection about each day while I was there but I haven't gotten very far....So far I have this:

Haiti Day One and Two 
Haiti Photobook

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great day with their family/friends.

This was my first year not being home with my family. It definitely wasn't the same without them, but I still had a great day. 

I got to spend some time with these two....

Allison and Sean! Aren't they cuties? They are my cousins. I also spent time with my aunt and uncle too.

On Wednesday we ate dinner together and hung out. 
On Thursday, I went to a spin class with my aunt, which was start to a day full of food. After the gym, Allison and I got started on some baking. She loves to bake (just like me) and loves chocolate as well. When she heard that we were going to make chocolate pilgrim hats, her eyes got big! We ended up making plain cheesecake and pilgrim hats. They both turned out great!

Pilgrim hats made from chocolate swirl cookie, mini reese cup, and orange icing. 

Allison busy at work

I was able to Skype my family at home and see all them. It won't be too long until I see them for Christmas (I can't wait!).
After baking and getting cleaned up we headed over to my aunt's parents' house and celebrated Thanksgiving. There were 5 kiddos there all under the age of 6, including a 3 day old newborn. I enjoyed hanging out with everyone and ate a delicious meal. 

Allison holding Baby Drew

After we left, my uncle and I headed out for "pre-Black Friday" at Walmart because he was thinking about getting a TV. After we saw this and walked around a little, we gave up and left! Too crazy for us.

On Friday, the Christmas decorations began at their house. 

Allison's tree

Sean's tree

Later that morning, we made a trip to Petsmart and Home Depot. At Home Depot they picked out their Christmas tree. And they also got a mini Christmas tree for me! I have absolutely zero Christmas decorations at my house so it was great to get my first one. Sean had a buddy on the car ride home....

We went out to lunch and then I headed back. It was fun hanging out with these guys and I'm thankful that I have some family that lives so close and welcomed me for Thanksgiving. 

John Mayer Concert (Plus Phillip Phillips!)

I went to the John Mayer concert last night at the Yum Center. It was awesome! I love John Mayer...and also Phillip Phillips who opened. 

I went with two girls in my class, Katie and Sarah, and two of their friends. Last week I was looking on Groupon (instead of studying, ha!) and found a really good deal for the concert. Only $30 for a $60 regular priced ticket. We weren't really close to the stage, but I think they were still pretty good seats. They had two jumbo trons for when John Mayer sang so we were able to see him close up. He makes the weirdest facial expressions! But I guess that makes him a great performer! 

I love John Mayer's older songs so I was hoping he would sing a lot of those. He ended up singing about half older and half of his newer stuff. I was familiar with the newer albums, but wasn't able to sing along. They were still good though. I really like "Dear Marie" and also "Age of Worry" (check out the lyrics of this one...I really like them!). 

I promise to get some better pictures. I only brought my phone (stupid that I forgot my camera) so these pictures aren't the best quality. 

Songs John Mayer sung (I will update when I find the official playlist):
Queen of California
Belief
Who Says
Waiting on the World to Change
Wildfire
Stop This Train
Dear Marie
Something Like Olivia
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
Age of Worry
Half of My Heart
Gravity

Whiskey Whiskey Whiskey 

Paperdoll 

Why Georgia 

Come Back to Bed 

Journey's Don't Stop Believin'

Phillip Phillips was great too! I really like him and he is a great performer as well. I didn't know any of his songs so I listened to his CD a little before the concert. When I find his playlist I will add it here. He did sing his most popular songs "Home" and "Gone, Gone, Gone"

You to hear something exicting?!? Phillip Phillips tweeted me back! Check it out!

Call me a weirdo, but I was pretty excited about it. 

The speech gang! Me, Katie, and Sarah.

Speaking of speech...we were talking about how these singers could acquire vocal nodules because of singing so much and straining their vocal folds. #SLPProbs. We just couldn't get away from school ;)

Seeing Doubles: Penny #2

Want to know something funny? There is a Vizsla puppy out there that is only one month younger than my Vizsla puppy named Penny too.

Long story to short, I know this Penny! The kids that I used to babysit in Louisville just got this new puppy. She is a cutie too. I got to meet her the other day. She is very sweet!

These (4) kids that I used to babysit once had a Vizsla named Churchhill who was sweet and Bailey's "boyfriend." He was so friendly. He passed away even before Bailey did. But welcome two new Pennys!

Penny on Social Media

Since I'm not home social media has been my friend to talk to my family and also, see the cutest pup ever! 

Skype has been great to see Penny live. Here are some snap shots of Skyping her. 

This is when Nick went to go pick her out. She was so tiny! As you can see, Mom, Chris, and I are all huddled around the computer screen. 

Above and below, this was the first weekend that they picked her up. She was sleeping and kind of out of it. She was so squishy looking! And Dad popped in to say hi too!

Below is a video of Penny. I took this on my phone when I was home for Fall Break. I need to work on figuring out hot to upload a video. Not sure why it turned out like this. 

Almost everyday, Chris is sending me Snap-chats. He sent me one yesterday with a UofL blanket on her and said "Go Cards!" Too funny. Mom is sending me picture texts of her as well. Thank goodness for social media and technology :)

Mom sent me one and said "Two cuties" I totally agree ;)

Impressive New Gym

Hello there! 

I'm trying my best to keep the posts coming. Busy busy busy is all I have to say.

Do you know what else keeps me busy? Working out at the new Student Recreation Center on UofL's campus. The facility opened up two weeks ago and I can't get enough! It is super nice. All the machines are brand spanking new with TVs on them, with music videos, cable, etc. I wanted to share some highlights of this place with you....

** Sorry about the poor picture quality. It's hard to take a picture when you're in action ;)

First floor workout room. I was trying out the elliptical. BTW, this is a great place to people watch :) It's funny to watch guys hit on girls. Very entertaining. 

Girls locker. There are probably 200+ lockers in here. There are also toilets and showers for us. I like that it's clean. 

TRX CLASS!! I love love love this class! It kicked my butt and I love the challenge. The past two weeks I've gone with girls in my class, which makes it fun. It makes me feel good when the guys can't even perform some of the moves while I can ;) (But it can be vice versa too). Last class one guy kept telling me his hands were getting to sweaty. I think that was his excuse that he's not being a wimp. Ha! 

Above and below are pictures of the same thing. Sorry they're not the best quality. I was struggling when taking these. This is a stationary bike that I've never seen before. This is a live system in which you can race other people at the same time. You pick a course (length) and begin. The handle bars even move so you have to steer. Let me tell you, this machine loves hills. My heart rate was around 170 the entire time. It was a great workout. My shirt was drenched afterwards. 

This is the running track. 1/10 is a lap...I've only run on it during group classes. But it overlooks the first floor, which is cool. 

Nice basketball courts. Not my forte so I doubt I'll ever step foot on these.

 I walked through Chicago at the gym. That's right! They have this virtual option where you can run/walk/elliptical through different places. The other ones were along the beach, hike, Europe, etc. I chose Chicago because I'm headed there next week. 

Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds

Easy (and healthy too!) Pumpkin Seed Recipe:

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Seeds

Agave Nectar

Cinnamon

After rinsing and drying the pumpkin seeds... in a bowl, pour in agave nectar until the seeds are just wet. Then add as much cinnamon as you would like. Stir together and put in the oven for around 20 minutes (or until they are crunchy). Enjoy!

I made this all by myself. Original recipe from Erin, yay! 

All Signed Up!

Happy November!

I'm so excited to share that I will be running the Louisville Triple Crown and the Derby Festival Mini-Marathon this Spring (2014)!

I haven't run all of these races in the same year since my junior year of high school. I'm quite happy about being back in Louisville and having the opportunity to do them. There's a girl in my class who will be running with me. I'm glad that I will have a running buddy once again. My Mom will fly down for the mini-marathon and run it again with me like she did last year. She's already excited about it too.

If you have never heard of either of these races...let me tell you about them.

The Louisville Triple Crown is a set of three races.

The first is the Anthem 5K on February 22.
The second is the Rhodes City Run 10K on March 8.
The third is the Papa John's 10 miler on March 22.
All three of these races are great to prepare for the mini-marathon on April 19, 2014. They are all located in Louisville. There are thousands of people that run these. I enjoy a bigger crowd because there is a lot of energy in the air.

I've been running here and there but I will officially start my training during winter break.

I'm determined to beat my time from last year. I know I can do it!

Throwback Tuesday...if there is such a thing ;)

Past Mini-Marathons:

Mom and I- 2013

My friend Hannh and I running in 2012

Mom and half of me...running 2009