S:FLSJ JSLFK SF

^^^ THAT IS MY EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!!!! SD:LFK SDJ:f well i just received marsa's email (check if you haven't seen it yet!) and almost peed my pants. i am SO incredibly excited for the fall :) howverrrr i am also bummed because i (like hannah) am ridin solo because i lack a fitness buddy. i'm sure a lot of us do... it's so hard to go from having a whole team to support you and keep you accountable for your fitness and suffer through intense long hills and fitness tests together, to having basically nobody. this makes me sad. it also makes me lazy!! but so far i've been doing pretty well at keeping on top of myself and working out. mucho swimming (ahhhh), biking (YAYy! i love biking now!) and running (meh) so i can get ready for my triathlons in august, but marsa's email makes me want to go hike mountains and run 12098 miles. i feel like i really need to push myself and come back a super strong, fast, and sexy (duh) coxswain.

i am not good at writing novels (ehem jovia) but apparently i'm really swell at using parentheses (yeppppp). basically what i want to say is:

1. i miss you all very dearly

2. i am just JUICED (IRENE!!) for the fall

3. i miss you...

4. lets all come back incredibly fit and ready for a great season :)

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

ps! what's up with this different coxswain fitness test? although tempting (i mean come on... 2 miles!!) i think that we should be expected to do the same one as the rowers! i may not erg, but that doesn't mean that i can't train for a longer fitness test. needless to say, i will be doing the regular one thank you very much. (even though it will suck...)

pss! in precisely 2 hours and 55 minutes, i will be going to my first rowing class!!!! "Learn to Row for Adults" muahahah i am so pumped its not even funny. It's skulling, but still. I will be on the water! IN A BOAT! ROWING! words cannot describe my excitement

reCREWtment

Hey Buds,

So lately my mom has been nagging me, hah imagine that, I'm sure none of your moms do that ever, but she was concerned that we would have to go back to school early for crew to workout or recrewt or somwthing but I did some research and found out that reCREWtment (i wonder how many times i can write that in my post) starts something like the second week of school. However, after all of my nosing around and shrugging-off my mom's questioning about it I realized that I have already started my reCREWtment process:

As some of ya'll know (and as some of ya'll don't know) I am working at my neighborhood pool teaching swim lessons, a great job because I get to mess around all day and get a one-piece tan line (you will all get to experience my uuuber-white belly and mixed up tan lines first hand in september) also it's great because I get to be active which is great for me (since fitness is a part of my identity). Anyways my friend at the pool, Pauline, just finished her first year at Humbolt and as per usual all I talk about is crew and have recently convinced her to do crew next year there!!! She'll be a novice her sophomore year so we won't actually race her but it'll be fun to have a familiar face at regattas, hopefully she won't be too good so we can beat them next year!!

But also my friend Sahalie who graduated the same year as me from high school but at a different school in portland [Lincoln--(that's a refrence for you erin)] and she worked at the pool last year and we would talk about how we both just got accepted to UPS, however she deferred for a year to travel and is starting her freshman year in the fall, but we were talking about how I converted Pauline to Crew and Sahalie said that she was thinking of doing crew next year at UPS!!

..so as you can see from my characteristically long-winded story, I have already started reCREWting and I can't wait until we get back in the fall and get to do it together on campus!

I can remember going to the first information meeting about crew in Jones103 i think it was, anyways that big auditorium style class and seeing all of the varsity girls sitting in front and laughing and hugging and goofing around and telling jokes and I thought to myself, wow, I want to be one of them and I just can't believe that it will be us in just two short months!

Just can't wait for our reCREWnion (didn't work so well) and reCREWtment and to see ROOH ALL soon!!!

love love love KT

A Post from Eryn!!!!!!

Hello to all of you all the way from Ecuador! I'm back here this summer interning with the organization that I volunteered with last spring for 4 months. It has been great! Most of the kids are still here (besides the ones who graduated of course) and it's great to see them again! Last year I was just at one school but this year since I'm an intern I get to go to all three schools that we work in and meet all the kids.

I dont have my own class this year, I mostly just help out with the kids that are giving their teachers trouble and filling in where needed. A couple weeks ago that meant taking grades 4, 5, 6, and 7. All at once. definitely a challenge but good fun! Last week and this coming week are the graduations at all three schools (chicken head soup at one school last week and sheep blood soup at another one on Tuesday...) and then summer school starts! I've been doing a lot of work getting all the plans ready for summer school and now we're finally wrapping them all up! sort of... mostly...

It's been neat to get to see the whole administrative side of things as well. And live in the GVI house with the other intern and director. Only 2.5 more weeks though, and then back way up north to the AK. It's all gone by so fast!

Sounds like you all are enjoying your summers (for the most part at least...) and getting nice and ripped!
Keep enjoying your summers!
Miss you all!
Eryn

Day 4

swelling is going down
and the drugs are QUITE relaxing
i'm going to go nap
<3

ps. i don't really have the ability to go anywhere so thanks for putting up with my picture updates :)

From Sunny LA

From the title, I think you can guess how the weather is... but don't get me wrong; LA isn't famous for its June Gloom for no reason. I think we've had 3 or 4 days total this month on which the sun actually came out in the morning and stayed beautiful and blue skyed and such. Cuz today it was cloudy when I woke up. Cloudy when I returned from a row. And cloudy when I came back from an Indo-Row class. And now (finally) the sun has come out after I showered from my 2-a-day... day.
Here's what my life has looked like before I found Indo-row and this awkward turtle rowing club:
8-9-10 am: WAKE UPPPP and run if I feel like it.
10 am: food of some sort, sometimes of the breakfast variety.
Noon: look for a movie on tv.
3 pm: Tuesdays and Thursdays Lauren and I go to the gym and we lift weights.. she has a personal trainer. I don't. Waaah. But he did give me THIS! (and page two) <-- click it to see the workout complete with graphics. =]
6 pm: Shower... dinner... more movies...

Sometimes I go to the beach... My runs are TO the beach (2 miles to the beach)... My best friend and I ran ON the beach <--- pretty intense. And we also did a hike/run on this beautiful trail in Temescal Canyon.

It's my birthday on Monday... hello 20, goodbye teenage years! <-- WHAT!
I wish you all could be there.
Love love love you.

p.s. Rowing with the LA Rowing Club this morning was tres tres miserables. Except for the rowing part. I was talking to Jovia and I told her that the being in a boat with guys and girls that weren't Loggers was weird... but the connection I had with the water through my oar was magical. I think I'll ask to re-learn Port side so I can be bi-sweptual. I shall be inviting Mariah to join me as soon as she's done going to Mexico and baby sitting the little brosef.

Again, love love love you all.

day 3

threw up today. stitches are not happy with vomit. this day sucks but i love you all

Well
there is day number 2 wisdom-less :) for everyone to see
<3

WISDOM-LESS!!!!!!

i promise everyone i do actually have friends and don't sit at home just refreshing the page until someone updates....most of the time...but next week i will because....
I'M GETTING MY WISDOM TEETH OUT!!!!!!
not looking forward to that
i get them out tomorrow
pictures will be on facebook don't even worry everyone but it will be nice to just take a week off because i think the longest break from workouts i've had yet this summer is like two days. i love it :P
anyway i thought i'd update on my recent run/goal thing :)
i did the midnight sun run in 57:30 but outside factors kinda impacted my performance. i'm not saying thats my excuse because even if it had been totally ideal weather and everything was going my way i knew 45 minutes was PRETTY optimistic :P
but it was a SUPER smokey night
not great for asthma runners aka me.
also i made a poor life choice and ate about a pound of crab about 2 hours before the run. so 3 miles in i had to make a pit stop to deal with the crab's revenge. alyssa don't read this part: yes i threw it up :S. so that ate up... a solid 3 minutes of time
anyway
so all that combined with 6.2 miles didn't really make for a great race but i mean i ran the whole thing and i took 5 minutes off of my time from last year
anyway yes so week off for wisdom teeth. if you guys are bored ever i'll be online for the next week and i think skyping would be funny while i'm on drugs
lets have our fingers crossed that i become a youtube star
i told my mom to video tape me when i wake up :)
i hope i remember enough to not say anything incriminating.
love you all :D

WAAAAAAHHHH, I can't wait till September!!

So first of all I just want to reiterate what my fb status currently says... Today I found a lock-washer on the sidewalk and I literally almost started crying. Really. I'm an emotional human and I just miss you all sooooo much. I don't have a reliable work out buddy here at all, so other than going to spin with my mom, I'm ridin' solo, which SUCKS ASS. You're all the greatest and I just can't wait over two months to see you fools. I was already emotional because of the lock washer, and then I read a few posts which made me even more sentimental (especially Annika's), and I'm honestly about to lose it. I can't wait for fall when we're finally all back together. Nationals was so great, but it wasn't the same without all of you. I can't wait to start working towards that HUGE AND AMAZZZZZING goal with all of you in September, because I know that making it there next year with all of my fellow 2010 novs would 100% make my life. I'm going to stop now before I start tearing up. I love all of you.
- Hannah "the emotional train wreck" Whisler

hello hello

Someone (love you Lindsay Hammond) posted on my facebook that I hadn't posted anything on here so here goes...

Lets see. The sun has yet to come out in Portland (Katie and I are both a little sad). Although on a side note the strawberries are coming in and they are so fantastic it blows my mind. My dad made a strawberry pie last night (and then homemade whipped cream on top, so necessary) and it was so amazing it blew my mind. I am waiting for summer, tragically, it just is not coming. Every night I do my sun/summer dance so I am hoping that will do the trick and we will get some nice weather at least before the 4th of July.

The last few weeks I have been laying low. After a lengthy job hunt, I found a job at a summer art camp that starts in July and I am pretty thrilled about that (not to mention that it is close to maddies house, which automatically makes it fantastic). In the mean time, I am just doing my own thing. Summer is great because I get to play with a lot of different things and ideas, but I have been doing lots of drawing and painting. Also I have painted a lot of shoes in the last few weeks and thats been super fun.

Its been really amazing being home because I get to spend time with mads. Its really nice to be able to actually see her when we talk or to jump in the car and be there in 15 min. But we are both looking for an escape from Portland soon. If the warm weather ever came the beach or the mountains would be amazing (must get back to that sun dance).

Other then that I try to hit the gym a lot. Its been really hard because I am not getting stronger (and that depresses me, almost as much as not working out with all of you does) but I am working with the doctors (and taking many many vitamins) praying that we can figure out what is wrong with me. Until they do, I am just hitting the cardio and the weights (and then a delightful nap after).

I miss you all so much and you should call or text me if you are ever passing through Portland (or the Portland area) because I would love a mini reunion :)

And/or call/text any time just to catch up.

xoxo

erin

JUST TO CLARIFY

I JUST WANT TO KEEP YOU ALL ENTERTAINED! THATS WHY I TALK SO MUCH AND I WANNA MAKE SURE YOU ALL KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON :D
i'm just kidding.
well here in the land of the midnight sun it's 1:21 and my big day is tomorrow
i'm going to sleep soon
but just wanted to write on here that i'm going for my first real goal i've set out for myself this summer. i'm actually nervous :S
but that's all i'll write on the subject because apparently i run my mouth too much on here... or rather... exercise my fingers to much on here :P
so i'll shorten it up for all of you guys of my past two days of life
yoga
snot
running
SLEEPING
too much sun
president of the united states concert
3-11 concert
walking with dogs
soaking wet
SHOWERED :D
cleaned
old lady at work tried to die (stroke)
lost a hat
found a bag
made 100 dollars
new pink wrist band
found dead moose
and missed my ex-novies and future varsity crew mates :)

it's so crazy how much i miss you all... and i know amateur hour is over for reals but if it meant being with you guys i'd go back to amateur hour... but just one hour because we're so amazing that we can only be amateurs for so long before we start... well being amazing

this has already gotten too long...
i apologize and i wonder if anyone really reads through every word i write
banana
who ever knows.
i did that in a paper once. just wrote banana in the middle because i wanted to see if my teacher read the papers or just skimmed
...
he read them
awkward...
okay
miss and love you guys all so much
<3

Shenanigans

So I'm listening to our Wagon song right now getting all sentimental so I thought I'd finally figure this blog thang out...and write down a few things about crooh that I've missed.
1) Wearing spandex (it's hard pulling off cheetah spots by yourself)
2) Saying all of our youtube pick up lines (like "so beautiful and cute" and "ouch charleyyy") and not having anyone to finish them
3) Listening to "Wake up in the morning..." and T-Swift and raving in the car on the way to the lake
4) Witnessing the sunrise as Mt. Ranier peeks his head through the clouds that look just like cotton candy
5) Sitting in my cox box yelling stuff like "Lean out bitches to your damn riggers to fix the bloody set or help me gawdddd I'll steer us into a buoy."

On that last note, I've been working on being more ferocious. I've tried pulling out my coxswain voice in my bedroom just once and had my brother cautiously peek his head in wondering if I was all right. I assured him I've never been better. So ferocious I even scared myself. SQUEEEEEZE. And that's coming from the girl who just choked up watching Toy Story 3. Yup...in 3D. It was baller.

"So rock me mama like a wagon wheel. Heyyyyyy mama rock me." (interlude)

Anywhoo, bout my summer. I just got back from a 14 hour road trip visiting Ashland, Oregon and the Shakespeare Festival. It was epic. We watched Twelth Night and Pride and Prejudice (even though that's not very Shakespearean ahaha) and toured the antiquey touristy town and felt cute in my skirt. Lemme just say that I'm soo glad men don't wear tight knickerbockers anymore. It's like an open invitation saying "hey look here." You all know where "here" is...it rhymes with "stick." Soooo unattractive.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that making money is a biatttch. But at least I have a job. I work at this billing department where I type numbers into a computer for 8 and a half hours a day. It's grueling. And all the ladies there look like pears. So I come home everyday inspired to work out.
Yesss...on that note: I'm gonna do a triathalon with my momma this summer and hope to join Sir Kenzington for the one in Seattle end of August. I've been bike riding till my pubic bone and ass joined forces and rebelled and I couldn't sit on the pot for at least 9 days without grimacing. Ok maybe a leetle too much info. You all could pray to the heavens that I'll be able to make it through the swimming part. Honestly, all I know is the chicken-airplane-rocket and I have no clue how in hell I'm supposed to master the front stroke and breathe without having a stroke for lack of suitable oxygen.

Well, I should probably wrap things up cuz I don't want to steal the long winded award from Jovia. So I hope you're all doing dandy and I miss each of you something fierce.
"Rock me mama anyway you feel...like a southbound train. Heyyy mama rock me."
Rooh infinity and beyond,
Annika

early morning

well for starters... the swiss beat spain! lets all get DRUNK!
actually i've had enough drinking for now
:P ask katie she's my favorite person to attempt to text. i really hope one time i can remember to come and update on here :P
but in all seriousness i haven't actually drank more than two times.

gaelyn i'm so glad you understand my frustration.
yesterday i ended up having to deal with my first really upset customer. he was mad that his bags weren't delivered right to his room and was like
well i'm coming down.
i was so scared i wanted to hide in the back room
and i did
and one of my coworkers dealt with him but it wasn't actually that bad
he just complained a lot.

Alyssa i really wanna see this shed. i think you and your dad working together would be an amazing sight.

so i thought i had my first two days off. turns out i was actually scheduled to work and it's this weird deal but now i have to work until next monday and Tuesday... because my real days off were suppose to be on thursday and friday.
but anyway...

i spent the last two days babysitting two girls and made 100 bucks. not too shabby. we had a dance party. i taught them the cupid shuffle and it made me think of wira warm ups
and then i showed them the party in the USA dance. it was great but i missed you guys so much :P and shelby knows that they also tried to teach me the Ho-down throw down. boy do those girls love miley cyrus.
i also made them scavenger hunts. to anyone babysitting that's a great way to keep the children busy and minimal acticivty for you :) i just sat and timed them. it was great.

other than work work and more work. i find time for running, for stairs, and for erging! whoooooow...
this morning was the first pillar of rowing. i don't think it's as much as stadium but it's about 1000 steps and it's good and hard. my legs are still shaky and i did them at 6 this morning. katie and i work opposite shifts so i have to do it with her before work since i don't get off till around 11.

still training for midnight sun run. it's on 19th. a big goal for me and i'm actually starting to get excited and nervous! haven't felt that way since wiras!

MOODY IS FREAKING NOVICE COACH! YES YES YES IKNEW IT I I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!!!!!!! HAHAHAH oh that's so great. perfection thy name is moody

i love alyssa's facebook status about a yogurt cottage cheese parfe.
everyone should go see shrek four. i pissed my pants laughing. i loved it. it was great.
i'm gunna stay in bed till i have to get up shower and go talk to grump old people who smell like feet
OH and i agree with gaelyn. while i don't cox boats. i do cox busses. i have to organize how to fit like 5ish giant holland america busses in front of a small hotel. it's hell...
and taht's it
again
from the farthest north ups rower!
ps. i now have discounts on tours
so if anyone is coming up
get in touch!!!!
<3

Quick Note

I hope everyone got the email from Rachael with the link to the workout page (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvG4Zcsm0opkdHNwUzF1anp1YkxMb1lOcWZTV08yT0E&hl=en#gid=1) where we can all go in and track our workout progress (and everyone else's) it's great used in conjunction with this website that my mom showed me where you can go back and retrace your steps electronically from the run/bike you just went on and it will calculate the distance and elevation change too if you want to get fancy. Its called mapmyrun.com (http://www.mapmyrun.com/create_new)

Enjoy!

PS I don't know about you but I find myself singing the original song by Moody and Becca "Crew Sister" to myself while I run. Has anyone gotten ahold of the video of it? cough*lindsay*cough because I think everyone should experience it.

PPS Moody as novice women's coach 2010?!?!?!?! A WOO WOO

32 days down

God, how I miss everyone. I forgot about Lindsay creating a little blog for us and I’m happy I was goofing off with my email because I found it. Life in Mass is dull. We have no mountain. We have no lake. We have no bald eagles. But we do have a river and until last week it was fully buoyed for the UMass Lowell crew team’s weekend regattas. I watched them once and realized that rowing is not something I can watch. I wanted to put on my trou and my tank and get out there. A bit more than two months and I’ll be able to. I never though I’d want vacation to end so badly.

In workout news I joined a gym and am doing that 5 days a week with a friend of mine. Let me tell you working out with a non-crewer is not easy. I don’t know why but when you tell a normal person that pain is just a part of the workout and that even though your brain tells you to stop you tell it to shut up and keep going they just stare at you. I miss the encouragement and the feeling of knowing that the person beside me knows exactly what I’m going through. Our little family has grown on me. I can only imagine what year two is going to bring. Varsity, whoa.

Anyway, I’ve been staying busy. My dad is currently building a shed which means I’m trying to keep him from injuring himself with a power tool every weekend. When it’s done I’ll put up a picture so you guys can see my carpentry skill or lack of it. And I got a new puppy. His name is Rudy, he is 2 and ½ pounds and he’s a min-pin. I’ll get a video of him up soon. But that’s my exciting life without rowing. Honestly I have no idea what I spent my summers doing now that I workout. I imagine I just watched a whole lot of daytime talk shows.

Running With Bear Spray

It is official. I am living in the most densely populated bear area in the united states. Alaskans eat your heart out. My manager told me that Many Glacier was the place so it must be true. Although my manager also told me to drop out of school so I don't know whether I should REALLY trust him.

COXSWAINS: I have no Idea how you can do it so consistently. Docking a boat is, no joke, the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I've been close to tears it is so frustrating.

Luckily I am surrounded by mountains, beauty, bears, and a great crew of boat captains. Seven of us are living in a house together. (sound familiar anyone?...). Yesterday night I watched a mama moose and her calf for what seemed like forever. they're amazing. I saw two grizzly cubs in our driveway. I was way to scared to stick around for their mama. But the area is great! We take the tour boat across the lake as our commute every morning.

Jovia, I can sort of commiserate with you. Tourists can be bitches, although I have dealt with the annoying ones by making fun of them. We've started a stupid question log. Some old men think they are being super funny when they say, "What? A WOMAN driving the boat?"

I have a new address for a post office that is a lot closer to Many Glacier, just in case the postcards are coming... *wink wink* You can send it to my PO in kila too it will just take longer to get to me. The new one is PO Box 689 Babb, MT 98411

Routines, etc.

Lovelies!

Well I'm sitting in a car next to Ron Tom's house, loading the season premier of True Blood on my computer before I return to my internet-less house, and thought of no better way I could spent these stationary minutes.

A little life update for you all:

I am officially moved into my house for the next 12 months, which is on Cedar between 9th and 10th. I expect you all to frequent it next year. Unpacking and buying things was a bit of a struggle at first (I spent 4 hours at Ikea with Jill and my bestie/housemate, Eleni), but the house is pretty much intact now, so that's a big load off in terms of stress, and I really like my room and the rest of the common areas.

I'm heading into the fourth week of my job as an admissions associate (with Emma!), and I've started to interview prospective students on my own. I'm really enjoying everything about my job, but getting used to a 9-to-5 is a bit hard. The day seems much shorter than I'm used to.

Aside from all that, my 21st (!) birthday is next week, and Hannah Whisler is coming to visit! So that's exciting. Then over 4th of July I'm heading to Chicago with my parents to visit my best friend from high school and drink beers at some Cubs games. Um... That's about it for now. My life is pretty boring and adult currently, but I'm enjoying everything, so I suppose that's what counts.

I just got back from game night at the crew house and it made me miss you all a ton. Hope everything is going well! Lovelove!

Well... I just got home from the gym where I erged a 10k, so I thought it was only right for me to come write you all a little message. Allow me to now fill you in on my crew and non-crew related recent life activities, because I'm sure you're all just dying to know about my FASCINATING life. (Disclaimer: it's not all that fascinating. But here goes...)

CREW/FITNESS RELATED ITEMS

- As I already told you, I just erged a 10k. This was my first summer erg. I watched Man vs. Food and listened to the techno playing on the gym speakers while I did it. Not all that exciting.

- I have been spinning my life away. I have a membership at the local aquatic center where there are the two pools and also a spin room with lots of bikes and a little weight room. I've been taking like 4 classes a week... I'm obsessed.

- I sometimes swim after I spin, but swimming bores me so I usually spend about an equal amount of time in the lap pool and the hot tub.

- I also have been running, but I'm already bored with the river walk (just what it sounds like... a paved path that runs all along the river in Astoria. Very beautiful but also flat, straight, and with only one route option).

- Yesterday I discovered that my mom had dvr'd the Big Ten Womens Rowing Championships. I watched that, got sentimental, and lost it when the novice 8 that won pulled a 6:45 (which is about what William's top 8 pulled at nationals. jesusfuckingchrist).

IN OTHER NON-CREW/FITNESS RELATED NEWS

- I am waitressing at the same place that I have worked since 10th grade.

- I broke up with my boyfriend which was hard but the correct life decision for me :)

- My Danish exchange student is coming to visit for a month in July! Then we're going to LA for a week to visit Mariah (Lindsay, I would also be interested in see you PLEASE) for a week at the end of July yaaaaay.

- On any given day I generally get coffee, exercise, lay around and watch The Hills, work, and maybe spend time with one of my 3 friends who currently reside in Astoria. Summer '10 is clearly just out of control here in Astoria.

I miss you all sososo much and I'm really glad that there are only two months left in my summer.

LOOOOOOOOOOVE HANNAH =)

whew...

well some of us are longwinded cough*jovia*cough

i mean after reading that i just don't know what to come up with about how my life is interesting...

let's see here

-I just got back from Eugene, OR visiting my other friends at U of O

-my parents are out of town now, a woo woo

-the sun came out for pretty much the first time in Oregon since god knows when, just in time for the Rose Festival Parade :)

-I've just been biking, running with my mom (ew), adventuring, bonfiring, & bugging my brother since I've been home and hopefully continue to do so for the rest of the summer! (besides working at the pool, which won't be too bad)

in other news, if you haven't yet seen it get jovs to send you a picture of her uniform! HA

what is new in my life

well yes pleanty of things have been occuring since the last time i was in contact here
the biggest one being

I AM EMPLOYED

I am a guest service hostess for Holland America/ Princess cruises.
Basically... I talk to about 200 old people who are grumpy because things have gone wrong with their cruises and or vacations and or whatever the hell they're doing. Last night i was suppose to work the 1-10 shift, i did not leave until 1130 because 3 busses full of old people were all pissed off because they had a flight at 6 in the morning, and the only shuttle available to them was one at 4 in the morning. "we paid top dollar and we shouldn't have to wake up at 4 in the morning on our vacation" I DIDN'T BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS?!?!?! CALL THE FREAKING AIRPORT!!!!!! what do you think i can do?? crazy... bitches be crazy.....
anyway the job is about an 8 hour shift and i have 2 days off ever week so I'm full time baby. the job gets pretty wild whenever people come in from tours or are leaving to go on tours but that's only for a few hours. the rest of the time is pretty chill. and the restaurant in the hotel i work in is AMAZING and since i work for the hotel i get 50% off the cost of stuff. i got a like delicious sandwich and stake fries for 6 bucks

what else?
well on a more romantic note. I am 18 days away from Robert coming home from Paraguay and i just emailed my boss about making sure i have the afternoon off so i can see him. I'm kinda really excited. do not worry ladies i'll be sure to get pictures. I'm really excited for you guys to meet him. it's been weird not having him around since he's such a big part of my life, and now it's weird again not having you guys here since you guys are a huge chunk of my life. Its gunna be amazing when those two parts of my world combine. I'm really excited.
oh but this is top secret. lets not tell marsa my boyfriend goes to western washington... lo siento guys i didn't pick his school.

what else??
OH! another thing on my goal list is coming up. In about 2 weeks... (well on the 19th) is the midnight sun run. I've been running 3-4 times a week and i've changed my goal. I originally wanted to do a 6k in under 1 hour. I have already done that now just in training. I wanna do it in 45-48 minutes. I'm not sure if i'll get that but i mean, even thought its slightly out of reach that just means I'm gunna work harder to go and get it.

what else again???
once more i apologize. some drunk texts were sent about a week ago. that night was a good one. Paige (my best friend) told me it would be an awesome idea to try her self tanner. it's a spray and believe me it works. but future note. do even coats and not smiley faces and random streaks. because it lasts. my leg is still awkwardly streaked with tan and orange lines.

WHAT ELSE AGAIN AGAIN!!!!!!
I MET TONI'S BOYFRIEND ALLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D she and him drove up and camped out at chena lakes where there was a bear around and the night before had destroyed a tent. that's how alaskans do! but we met up and she met my other best friend kelsey andresen (the really tall blond one who looks like mandy) and then we went hand had the best ice cream in alaska (HOT LICKS) and we had ourselves a little trip to go lift at the gym. it was fun :D
guys allen is so cool. he would get along with us so well.
he didn't even mind when i almost got us all killed in a car crash twice. ask toni if you don't believe me. okay well one car crash and then i yelled "WOMAN DRIVER" at some lady driving by and she heard me and looked back at me and i thought she was gunna come like curb stomp me. it was a good experience. maybe it's for the best i don't have a car in tacoma...

one more!
watching the world cup right now! england and usa. I'm thinking england is going to take it (they're up by one right now and they scored in the first like 3 ish minutes :S ) but it won't stop me from praying.
i highly recommend watching it in a large setting. I watched last years championship match at a soccer camp. it was the most rowdy thing i've ever seen or been apart of. Soccer Hooligans. that's a career i could really get into :)
ahhh well the usa keeper is down.
i love watching this because it always puts EVERYTHING into slow-mo. there was just a clip of like England's like 17th coach nodding and clapping his hands... that's very important for understand what's going on in this game. :P
alright my lovely ladies.
the smoke has died down
the sun has hidden behind clouds and it will be back
i got a new phone
and i'm starving
this is for you lindsay :D
<3 you guys all so much!

Start it off with a Pun

Inspired by Jovia: ROOHnited we stand.. or, uh, erg.
Yeyuhh. My friend texted me last night for ideas for a title for his proposed "morning breakfast music show"... I sent him a list.. here are some favorites: Awake 'n' Bake'n (or Bacon), Rock n Breakfast Rolls, and Jamm'n Toast... bahahah. I crack myself up..

So far, I've slept in til 8 am.. gone on a hike, ran, biked, and elliptical'd, ab'd, walked on the beach for 1.5 hours with my mom and her 2 friends, and I'm headed to Yoga at 10 am. I recommend Yoga for anyone looking for something to supplement their aerobic workouts.. You really get a good stretch in and you build strength with your own body weight... can you say pushups and squats, here we come?! =]

On another note... I was suddenly hit with the problem facing many of us college returnees while at home for the summer: WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO? We can't find a group of friends to have a dance party with as easily as at the Puge, and well, let's face it... WE HAVE NO MONEY. If you've been to LA, you may have noticed... you need two things: Money and, if under 21, a fake ID. My best friend Cailynn and I decided long ago we would forego the sketch IDs and just wait it out. With one year to go, we are struggling. No good under 21 night scene exists. In fact, it's just plain hard to do ANYthing we haven't already done the last 14 summers that we've known each other...

SO I had an idea. You all know I love writing; I have a self-professed "way with words."

I am going to "Drink my way through LA."
That's right. I'm going to record my experiences of being under 21 and going out for drinks... of the coffee and tea variety, that is. There are so many amazing coffee shops around, and I always go and meet strangers and connect with them via very interesting conversations. So that's what my plan is for this summer... I want to visit a few coffee shops a week and eventually turn it into a book, or a guide, or SOMEthing.
I'll try to keep you posted as I Drink my way through a potentially monotonous summer of runs, hikes, and ergs. =]

Love love love you all.
P.S. Gaelyn, my mom and dad were in Seattle (coming home from their Alaskan cruise [btw they loved Alaska!]) and they went to various components of FolkLife!!! hahah.
P.P.S. My mom looks for boyfriends for me (as a joke) and we've given them all numbers (none of which we keep track of) that correspond with the numerical order in which we meet them and the label "prom date," e.g. she met Prom Date # 73 on a tour in Alaska. He had a boyfriend. My dad overheard.
Oh well!
=]

PEACE AND BLESSINGS.
btw... this is great. he's a champ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU

I MISS THE ERG ROOM

Today I attempted to do my first 2k at home by myself and without anyone pushing me but me. WORST IDEA EVER.

I know 'self motivation' and all that but seriously. I felt like today everything was stacking up against me

first i had planned to do it at like 8 in the morning...

my phone dies and my alarm doesn't go off... i guess that's what i get for not setting 5 alarms...sorry erika :P

So i wake up at 11 go eat and get ready to go. i get to the gym go into the gym... forget my wallet. drive back home. get my wallet. drive back to the gym, get into the gym

i'm warming up on the erg and my ipod dies.

no music = not a happy erg-er

I almost decided to just give up go for a run and try this again later

but then i say suck it up and just do it

and i start, it's going alright

and then it happens right around the first 500 meters down

a very large man sits down on the erg next to me and attempts to erg and fails miserably

he is very sweaty

very smelly

and very very very grunt-a-licious

no exaggeration at about second 14 this is what he looked like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgs8qQkE_FE

that was the last straw. my mind was gone. my split dropped like 10 seconds and i just like had to stop. it was too much.

now i'm frustrated with myself while i sit here watching extreme home make over (its on in the puget sound area!) because i wish i hadn't let it get to me. But i'm slowly seeing how nice having a room where we could go and erg and not be distracted was. my ergs are in like the section with treadmills and other like work out equipment and facing the basketball courts, and it's so easy to look around and find something else to distract me.

another weird thing is that I've never done a 2k without either a coxswain or someone erging right next to me.

that moment when i stopped erging i realized

1 how much i miss you guys

2 how much having everyone there with me makes me better

3 what the team mentality really means for me

It's hard for me to push myself just for me

but if it's for you guys, in the boat, in a race or if its for us, on the ergs, in the erg room, I can push it so much harder. So I know where i need to work now. My mental toughness and being able to push for me.

and also coxswains. I don't know if annika is involved in this but i know kenzie reads occasionally, you guys really do do a lot for me when i'm erging. If you ever think that you're not helping eject that thought from your head because you telling me to push harder is always that little something extra that helps me

i love you guys and miss you all so much

and don't worry

i'm not letting it get the best of me because i'm going to bed early and i'm going to go try my 2k again later this week. I'm gunna get it and i'm gunna kill it

ps. FIRST POST OF JUNE :D dibs

done

okay

bye :P