2013 goes in the books

2013 was definitely a year. There were fantastic highs and also a few rough patches, but I loved it. I figured I would do a little recap because some of the highlights really show just how bizarre my life can be. So here we go:

• Tried and fell in love with a new sport... roller hockey! This became a huge stress release for me during my final semester in grad school.
  
    This is the one and only time I played goalie. Even got to use my softball glove because there was no lefty goalie equipment.
• Mardi Gras weekend: Ran in an overnight team relay race from Baton Rouge to N'awlins along the Mississippi River (126.2 miles!). Everyone ran about 20 miles and we started at 1 in the afternoon Saturday and finished at 7:30 am on Sunday! After finishing we found out we WON our division by 18 seconds!! Drove back to Hattiesburg after the race and right into a tornado. A huge F4 hit Hattiesburg, the first in 100 years. Thankfully campus was empty because of Mardi Gras weekend and no one was killed. Let's just say it was a very long weekend.
  

  

  

Top pic: The Rouge-Orleans winning relay team! Bottom pic: Hburg tornado. Minor detail I left out, I drove straight at the tornado because I was so close to it I couldn't see around it. After seeing what looked like a menacing cloud on the ground in front of me, I decided it was best to turn around. Quite possibly the best decision of my year!

• My car got totaled!! Yes, that's excitement because it wasn't a great car and I had full intention of buying a new one eventually. The totaling just spurred it to happen earlier than anticipated, so...
  

Introducing Cookie Monster, my brand new 2013 Mazda 3!!!

• One of the greatest people I know, Terrod, is still in recovery after his heart stopped during a run. No matter how he was feeling on any run he would run with me, even the days when I didn't have anything. Continuing to pray for this guy every day, because life just isn't the same without his ridiculous morning running texts, and incredibly slow counting on push-ups!
  

This is the best picture of us before we hit up the tough mudder course! No matter the challenge, he is always up for it!

• Went to a post-season Blackhawks game... in style?!?! 3:00 on Friday I get a call saying I can have a ticket to the game on Saturday at noon, if I can get to Chicago. I got that phone call in Mississippi. Needless to say, I just made the last flight out of Jackson to Chicago and had a blast on an incredibly random weekend trip to Chicago, while putting off dissertation writing! Lesson from this experience: Blackhawks w/ friends > Dissertation writing!! :-)
  

Game 2 vs the Redwings... They may have lost, but they won The Cup!!

• Got a real big kid job with  real big kid paycheck!!! Talk about a weight off my shoulders!! Got hired at Cook Inc. up in Bloomington, IN. Such a good feeling to know that I had a place to go right after finishing up my grad school work. And it was somewhat close to home meaning more family time, Cubs games, and Chicago trips!!
• Defended my disseration and became a doctor (PhD style)!!! Finally!! Got family and friends to come in and watch it and celebrate!! Great way to hang out with everyone that was important and start saying bye to Mississippi!
• Moved across country with the help of some great friends! Found a townhouse with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths! So much more spacious than my previous living situation where I was splitting a room! (I love my roommate, but having your own space is pretty fantastic.)
• Adopted 2 cats! Discovered that I am not allergic to cats like I am dogs, so why not get a cat... or two? They are the friendliest cats ever (unless you happen to be a canine, but we're working on that). Love having them around to entertain me.
  
• Stood up in my very first Southern wedding!! I'm talking Sweet Home Alabama setting (note I did not say plot!) style! Tons of fun. Learned I have way more hair than I thought!
• Um... Hit my first homerun ever? Lol. I know it was slow pitch, but I'm taking it. Basically just excited to have a team to play with in Btown. Nothing like softball followed by beers in a parking lot on a Thursday night. If only I could get my teammates to like country...
• Walked for graduation. Basically completely finished off that graduate school chapter of my life. Such a fun experience. Love all the people down in Mississippi and it was great to see them all again. Wish I got to see them all more often, but it sounds like we're going to make it work... Nashville 2014!! :-)
  

Hooded like a boss! With Todd... Started day 1 together and finished together!

So yeah 2013 was a pretty epic year. I can't say I expect to have such insane highlights in 2014, but that's ok. I could use a little calm for awhile... Ha. Let's be serious... I'm not a calm type person. Bring on 2014!! Keep living the dream!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

Titled after one of the best Christmas songs out there. (Thanks NSYNC!) 'Tis the holiday seaon and talk about being different! I think most people get into a routine around the holidays, Christmas Eve spent with certain family, Christmas day with others. Being a lifelong student I've gotten used to a wonderful two to three week break at the holidays. News flash... That doesn't happen with a big kid job!! Do you know what I was doing on Christmas Eve? Working!!!! This may not surprise those of you out there with big kid jobs, but as someone who's been in school for their entire life... it. was. weird. I mean there were actually parts of the day that I forgot Christmas was the next day!! Leading up to Christmas, I had to constantly remind myself to wrap presents before leaving to go home because of how close it was to the holidays. "Normal" holiday routine dictated that I would fly in on the 22 or 23 and at least have a little time before the holiday. Nope. Reality check. This is the big kid world. Time to step it up. But all in all it was a good Christmas... Let's recap:

• Rode in an elevator with a live reindeer while volunteering at Wonderlab. (Reindeer's name was Noel, she was a little anxious in the elevator.)
• Got into work early on Christmas Eve just to be able to leave early, which was successful as most people were sneaking out around lunch!
• Received a Christmas bonus!!
• Drove the 3.5 hours home with no issues, just a few meows from my passengers.
• Discovered that for whatever reason my parent's bulldog really wants to be friends with me, the allergic one. (Just made it through the terrible 36 hours that it takes for me to semi-adjust to being around a dog.)
• Went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church.
• Gave and received some great Christmas gifts (Going to a Hawks game with my dad!! Score!!)
• Ate an amazing Christmas dinner with all my favorites thanks to my mom!

Now I get to just laze around for the rest of the week. Loving it! I do have a few plans I'm really excited about... The 5th annual high school cross country reunion is tonight! Can't wait to meet up with the amazing ladies from that team! Also sounds like for the first time since high school I'm going to see some of girls I played travel softball with for the majority of my teenage years. Very chill break, but I'm loving it! Almost feels like the first time life has calmed down all year! Speaking of all year, look for a few new entries before the new year in which I recap 2013 and set up a few resolutions for 2014! Keep living the dream!

P.S. I opened this entry by giving a shout out to NSYNC and their famous Christmas song... The video below was my other favorite of this Christmas season...

day 1

School has been my life for just about forever, so the idea of my first day of work at my first real career-style job was exciting. Note: the idea of my first day. I guess that's a little harsh. My first day of work was exciting. So exciting it's something I will never forget it. I'd like to recount that first day for you all with all of my very own inner monologue. Without further ado, I present day 1.

All of my excitement for day 1 began in June when I found out I had gotten a job and had a start date of July 29. For those of you that don't know July 29 is my birthday. Inner monologue: Wow! How cool is this? I start my new job as I start a new year of my life, how perfect! What a way to say goodbye to grad school and hello to big kid life! Compound this start date with the fact that I planned to move into my apartment on July 26 and the excitement turned into a wee bit of anxiety. Fear not!! I got a fantastic email from my (at the time) future boss that said let's move your start date back a week. Inner monologue: Best news ever!!! I actually get a week off before I start working!! What a great birthday present!! (Ok, so that may not have just been inner monologue, talk to anyone in my lab and they probably knew this is how I felt!)

After my week of a whole lot of nothing (fantastic, beautiful nothing, and celebrating my birthday in Chicago) I was ready to start my big kid job. Showed up early with (what I thought were) typical first day expectations: tour of the facility, set up my computer, meet some coworkers, maybe some safety training... just the basics. Walking in, I ran into a guy I remembered from my interview and he took me inside and gave me a very brief tour as we looked for my boss. After we found him, we headed upstairs where I was shown my office and introduced to IT as they set up my computer. Inner monologue: So far so good... just what I expected! I can do this working thing! (Cue the ominous music now...)

My boss then calls me into his office and begins with this: Well things have changed around here since you interviewed... Inner monologue: Oh crap!! What does he mean?!?! How changed can they be?!?! Back to boss: The polymer scientist that was working here and we were hoping would show you the ropes has passed away. Shit. What time is it? 9:15? Hmm... wonder if it's frowned on for drinking at this hour. You are our new polymer expert. I'm a what now? Expert?!?! Hahaha... Riiiiiggghht. Also there's a meeting this afternoon I would like you to attend. You want me to attend a meeting?!?! On day 1?!?! Why goodbye frying pan, hello fire.

Surprised at my new found "importance" would be an understatement. I'm pretty sure I just sat in my office staring at my new email account until a wonderful coworker came in and invited me to lunch. Fantastic... I wonder if it's acceptable to lunch drink here like we could in grad school. Over lunch conversation moved away from work to places to go in this new city. I even found out there was a fall softball league and I could join! Score!! Something to do! Did I just make a friend? I think so! Unfortunately lunch ended and I was off to my first meeting.

I show up and obviously have no idea what is going on. Day 1 people, day 1. I, trying to stay positive, decided to use this as a learning opportunity. This is how meetings work, remember to always bring a pen, figure out how to get some business cards, etc. So didn't provide much (anything) to the technical talk. Meeting ended and I went back to my desk. Wow this was a full first day, but I've survived!! I'm a survivor, I'm not gonna give up... Enter boss: You know I really expect you to contribute more. You are our material expert. Exit boss. ?!?!? Haha... you got jokes bossman... oh you're not kidding...Gulp. 

And that is how I transitioned into the big kid world. And discovered the best route home from work... the one with the liquor store :-).

Enjoy the final weekend before Christmas. I'll be out there grabbing a few last minute things like a lot of other people! Keep living the dream!

So it begins...

Welcome to Chapter 5 of me!! Don't worry, I never documented chapters 1-4, so you're not missing out on anything. I've been told that for whatever reason random things happen to me, and that I should share. I know random things probably happen to you readers, well... now you can know you're not alone. So just a real quick breakdown of how we got here to Chapter 5. Chapter 1... My parents brought me into the world and got me ready to start the fantastic journey we all call life. Chapter 2... Elementary (or grade if you prefer)/Middle/High school which I spent doing a little bit of everything. (This is all one chapter because if I separated them then I would sound really old because I'd be in about chapter 9 of life now!) Chapter 3... Beautiful small school on the coast of Lake Michigan, where I seriously fell in love with the outdoors and (I guess) chemistry which lead me to... Chapter 4... Graduate school in the deep southern state of Mississippi. (Tons of stories will be coming from this chapter, because I just finished it.)

This all leads to this blog... Chapter 5. I have returned back to my home state of Indiana with my first "big kid" job. I truly don't know how this chapter is going to go, so I figured why not document it. I like to tell stories just like anyone and this chapter seems like it's going to be a pretty epic story. (At least day one of this chapter leads me to believe that... details to come in a following post) So I invite you to check in regularly/randomly because I promise you never know what might be posted. There will be lists, recipes, workouts, anecdotes, pictures, memories, poems (lol... just kidding!! not poems, really not my style!), movie reviews, etc. I guarantee whatever is posted will be fun, because I have to have a little fun in my life every day! I mean, who doesn't like fun?!?!

But for now, keep living the dream!