Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Rest of March

We met Amy and sweet Hannah at McAlister's one night for dinner.  It is always fun to catch up and to see that sweet little girl, too!  After dinner, we went to Dairy Queen for free ice cream cone day, and apparently everyone in Coppell had the same idea!  We spent like 10 minutes just trying to get into a parking spot!  Anything for free ice cream! :)

During the week after Spring Break, I had to attend a conference for work in Houston Wednesday through Friday.  At the last minute,  the other math coach Diana could not go, so Brooke took her place.  I knew it was going to be hard for her to leave her baby girl for a couple of nights, but I was SO glad she went!  I miss working with my "teaching soulmate" so much this year!!  We just work so well together and think on the same page all the time.  Maybe one day we will get to work directly together again!  On the way to Houston, I happened to think about texting Tori!  She lives in the Woodlands area now, but I figured it would be out of the way or too last minute.  We happened to be 30 minutes from her house when I texted her.  It was only like 10 minutes out of the way, so we stopped by her house.  I got to see her and her precious girls for just a few minutes before we had to get back on the road.  It was a really short visit, but I was SO glad to see her!! I wish I had taken a picture with her!

We try to make an effort to have old team dinners at least every few weeks, but with the craziness of Spring break and the snow days, it had been awhile since our last one.  We met at the usual JMacklin's, and baby Brier got to join us this time!  I LOVE laughing and catching up with these sweet friends, and I miss seeing them every day!!


We celebrated the Crossfit Open on Saturday, March 28th.  The Open is 5 weeks of workouts.  Last year I was only able to do the last one because of my back injury.  This year, I was determined to do the Open simply just because I could.  I may not have done that well with my scores, but it is always fun to compete alongside everyone at Bolt, and it is great to be part of the larger crossfit community.  We celebrated after 15.5 with a cookout and lots of pictures in the photo booth              



Cassidy was also in town and got to join us for the workout!  It was great to see her...the 8th fittest woman in the world!  We are ready to cheer her on to the Games again!


We celebrated Cinnamon's 31st birthday on a Sunday night by going to the Bishop Arts District.
We knew Emporium Pies would be closing soon, so we stopped there to get pies to go to take home and eat later.  I got the "Smooth Operator" chocolate pie.  So good!  
We ate dinner at the Dallas Grilled Cheese company.  I had a grilled cheese with bacon and dijon mustard,  It was all yummy!

             


I always love my time with these sweet friends.  They make me laugh!!  Happy 31st birthday, Cinnamon!!


And March...that's a wrap!  I am SO glad the longer days are here and that it has been warm and sunny!  I look forward to more sundresses, wedges, and 80 degree temperatures!  I can feel summer getting closer by the day!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Zambia

Over Spring Break, I finally got to put all of my pictures from Zambia into an imovie!  It has been on my list of things to do since this summer, and I am so glad I finally sat down and worked until I finished it.  I will treasure this video for years to come!

After a lot of praying, a lot of going back and forth, and a lot of tears, I made the decision not to go to Zambia this summer.  I would not have been able to go on Trip 2 because it coincides with Cinnamon's wedding (which I would never miss!).  Trip 1 is a shorter trip this year, which would have been okay, but I knew that I would also be trying to buy a house this summer, and trying to time that all and then possibly being gone was just too difficult.  It is hard to feel like you are doing the right thing, when it feels so hard!  As it gets closer, I am having a more difficult time knowing I won't be seeing those precious faces, or my sweet friends who live and work over there.  I know God can use me here, and I am praying that something is going to come along that I can get involved with locally this summer.  I know my heart is restless, longing to be a part of something this summer, and I am praying God will make that apparent as to what that is.  For now, Tia has asked me to help develop a document with a few math strategies/games the teachers in Zambia can easily implement.  The Teach ONE teachers will help them learn those strategies while they are there.  I am so excited about helping with this and being a part of the trip in a small way!  God is good and faithful, and I can't wait to see what is next for me, even if it is not Zambia right now.  

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Spring Break 2015

I didn't take a trip this year over Spring Break so that I could save money for buying a house this summer!  The first Sunday morning of the break was spent running 13.1 miles with April.  We ran the Rhythm and Blues half in Irving.  We knew it would be a smaller race since it was a new one, but it was only $75 instead of the $125 Rock n' Roll, so we went with it.  There ended up only being about 300 people running the half!  Part of that might have been due to the weather.
Whose idea was this??!!
It started raining on our way over there, but we decided a little rain wouldn't stop us from having fun.  We decided that we would take a selfie at every mile marker.  It definitely kept me motivated!  I had not really trained as much as I had in the past.  I ran a 6 mile, 8 mile, and 10 mile long run ahead of time, but I really skipped out of my runs during the week and relied on crossfit.  I was feeling okay until around mile 9, and the last 2 miles were brutal.  Thankfully, April was sweet enough to run much slower than her normal pace so she could stay with me the whole time.  Overall, we ended up coming in at an okay time for me.  We finished in 2:32.


After the race, we met Cinnamon, Mike, and Lara at Blue Mesa for brunch.  It was yummy and a great time with friends!  Cinnamon and Mike even checked off a wedding list to-do item and decided to rent Blue Mesa for the rehearsal dinner.

I spent Monday through Wednesday just relaxing and getting things done.  I had Lara and April over to watch the Bachelor finale on Monday night, which is always fun.  I have sadly never missed a season, except for the first one.  I always think the couple is going to work out in the end, but this time....I'm questioning it!  Tuesday I got to catch up with two friends that I haven't seen in awhile!  I went over to Jackie's house in Dallas that morning to spend time with her and her two twin boys, George and Charlie.  We just talked and played a little with them.  That afternoon, I met Chelsea in Southlake at the Town Square.  We walked around to a few shops and got Starbucks to sit and catch up.  I haven't seen either of these friends in way too long, and there is no excuse because they both live close!!  I hope we make it a point to schedule in time to catch up again soon!

I went to Jacksonville on Thursday to visit the family.  Kristen and Bret came over and spent the night so we could hang out.  Tennison was there on Thursday afternoon, and we also kept her on Friday during the day.  She had Spring Break, but Melissa and the boys don't have theirs until next week.  She is absolutely precious, and I love her age right now!!

We watched cartoons.  

We played with play-dough.  

We worked puzzles.  

 We played outside and blew bubbles.  

She is talking so much, and you can see her little wheels spinning in her mind all the time.  She learns something every day, and she has such an imagination.  She is so sweet, too!!

She got my keys and this "purse" and said she was going to drive the car to go to work with Nana.  :)






We went over to Melissa and Tony's on Saturday night to celebrate their birthdays.  We brought BBQ, and mom made a cake.  We had fun playing with the kids and watching old home videos of the boys when they were little.  Love my family!

watching home videos on the couch with these cuties 


It was a great week, and I am thankful for a job where I can enjoy a week off.  Now I am just ready for some sunshine! :)

Swiss Strikes Again

"Swiss Strikes Again" is now a familiar phrase amongst my friends.  They lovingly named me "Swiss" because my memory tends to have holes in it.  Luckily, they help me fill in the gaps when I have no recollection of things. :)  The things I tend to remember most are things/events of which I have pictures.  I have had this blog for awhile, usually only using it for my Zambia pictures, but I thought it was time to start blogging so that maybe my memories won't be "holey".