damage

2009 has not been so kind to me so far. it seems like the theme of the year for me has been damage. i have accomplished spraining my ankle and my wrist (which have taken 3 months each to heal.) received a tribal marking on my right arm by falling into a steamer. dropped my mac book and destroyed the hard drive 3 days after my warranty expired.

i am not complaining by any means. my wrist and ankle are usable. yesterday i received my computer in the mail. and my tribal scar just looks super cool (at least that what i tell myself.) 

BUT NO MORE. starting today, (because yesterday i tripped over the mats on the floor at work and flew across the room and ended busting my knee up) my new theme for 2009 is fixed, whole, kept.... any antonym of damage!

goodbye summer

things are slowing down here at wrightsville beach. the air is not as humid. i can now sit outside and enjoy the sunsets with the boy i love. i think this means summer is over!

happy friday

going on a run then coming home putting on my bathing suit and walking across the street to cool down by jumping in this....

happy week

my sister is doing happy week. i was going to join in but, due to my mac being broken i haven't been able to participate (which makes me very unhappy.) however, aaron is in the outer banks surfing so i am borrowing his mac until he gets back. i am also puppy sitting his girls while he is gone, which makes me very happy. i have been teaching mako tricks because the only tricks kahlua can do is sit and speak. these are the 3 tricks i have taught her so far!

fight night

unfortunately, i was sick for my roommates fight. luckily someone filmed it. just thought i would share the videos because he worked so hard and did so well!

wordless wednesday

cinco

it's my beautiful nieces 5th birthday today. i hate that i can't be home to celebrate today with her. 

happy birthday canon. i love you and miss you so much and hope you have a wonderful birthday!

baby blues

still hard for me to type. here is more pictures of the blue pitts....if you haven't seen enough. oh well its my blog get over it

sprain part dos

another month of r.i.c.e. different body part :( i should seriously be locked in a padded room.

growing up.

my blog is being consumed by these little pups, but so is my life. they have gotten so much bigger. all their eyes are open. all but one are walking and thats just because she is too fat and can't carry her own body weight. they are fun and playful. i love them all so much and think aaron should keep them all. unless he wants to give me the little brown one, but i wont hold my breath. 

nap time.

i puppy sat yesterday. they are getting so big and are on the verge of opening their eyes and walking. they are so much fun to watch i could do it all day. i have some videos i want to post but they are taking FOREVER to download. hopefully they will be posted soon.

this one is my favorite. she has a huge piece of my heart. 

vitamin c.

im sick again. for three or four nights in a row i have woken up in the middle of the night because i am having a coughing fit. it seems like everyone around me is kind of feeling the same or just getting over feeling that way. "luckily", i have had a few days off of work ( yes leah and nicole just in case you didn't know i only have 3 shifts ;)) and have had no desire to walk down to the beach or be in the sun at all. but i hate being stuck inside when it is such beautiful weather.

yesterday, i decided i would just sit on my porch by myself, this did not last for long. while margo and jessica came and kept me company for a little bit nicole and cyndal drove by the house and said they would join later. in between that time leah came out of her apartment and sat. when nicole joined us on the porch we decided to go for a liquor run (to make skinny girl margaritas with a splash of oj.) by the end of the night brendan, nicole, alex, leah, cyndal and 2 new neighbors filled our porch. sometimes i hate how small this town is but then there are those times when it works out for the best.

i am hoping that after spending time with good people and getting my vitamin c from the margaritas i will feel slightly better today. :) 

its only a number

i made the stupid mistake of getting on the scale the other day to see if i have gained a few lbs since the last time i weighed myself. i have noticed that my body has changed over the last two months and was curious to see what the scale said. it confirmed my thoughts. i know i need to realize that its only a number and that the last time i weighed myself i was training for a marathon. but its still hard to see especially when you live on the beach and are surrounded by skinny beautiful girls everywhere.

i feel like body image is an issue i think about daily. i try really hard to have a positive attitude towards my body and how i look. i even want to build a career on helping  others have a positive body image by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. i feel that i sometimes perceive myself as being bigger then i am because of how i used to look during my college years. its a weight and a lifestyle i do not ever want to go back to. and sometimes i get scared because i think it can be a slippery slope. instead of getting caught up in how i think others perceive how i look i want to concentrate on being more conscious of what and how much i put into my body. for example: instead of eating 4 chocolate chip cookies a day ill cut it back to one per week...we will see how that goes!

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. 

-buddha

the pits.

kalhua is a proud mother of four.  she went into labor last night around 7. unfortunately, i had to go into work at 8 and missed the birthing process. by the time i got over to see them both mama and aaron were exhausted. aaron has his hands full with these little guys for 6 weeks. he is dreading it...i couldn't be more excited! :)

brown. black. white.

i am not a cat person whatsoever. ruby is our 5th roommate. i think she is pretty cute...when she is sleeping.

red

had a bad night last night. nicole brought over a half dozen cupcakes. good friends and good cupcakes make everything better :)

belated orange and yellow.

opps. forgot to post/take a photo yesterday. oh well it just gives me an excuse to post a picture of nicaragua.

green.

i started my teachers assistantship today. it's weird being back on campus, but i love how beautiful and green the uncw campus is.

blue & purple

it's in the 50's today and rainy. there is no way i am going outside so i had to find monday's colors, blue and purple inside.  

this is our refrigerator. i love all of the stickers on it. when we moved into our apartment there were already some stuck on it. we have added a few here and there.

the color blue is for my roommate jessica who got these dockside stickers on saturday night and stuck them on everything and everyone she saw that night (which she found pretty hilarious.) on sunday morning i went to get some milk out of the fridge and saw she had put one on our fridge. i had no idea she had grabbed so many. it made me smile that morning and still makes me smile.

color week.

this week is color week. i have no idea if i will stick to it but i did say that i was coming back to my blog and i love any excuse to use my camera.

coming back.

this past week i haven't been feeling well. i have been waking up and feeling pretty decent but by mid afternoon i just have been crashing. i have had to give up a couple of my shifts at work this week. it is friday and between now and this past sunday i have made $7. 

yesterday, i had my last day off of the week and it was the first time i have spent the afternoon out of bed. unfortunately, it was rainy so i couldn't spend the day on the beach. but the rain did get us beach bums off the island. nicole and i went downtown to talk to a tattoo artist about getting her tattoo (christy we need to get ours.) then we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking a bottle of wine at boca bay with taylor just catching up. 

catching up with the girls. catching up with my blog. i'm slowly coming back.

wordless wednesday

happy cinco de mayo

i am dreading going into work tonight  for cinco de mayo. craziness is sure to ensue in tower 7 bc it always does. here is a prime example:

below is a picture of me coming through one of tower 7's front windows. this window was shattered by a drunk parking meter guy on duty only an hour or so before this picture was taken. 

taylor and i had worked all day on wednesday and decided it was a good day to go on a bike ride and have a few beers at lighthouse. after we went to lighthouse we decided to go visit the new/old bartender at tower and have a few margaritas. when we rode our bikes up to tower we saw the owner of tower and the building owner standing outside with a huge piece of plywood. apparently, one of the wrightsville beach meter ticket guys was drunk on duty and went around the curve too fast and ran smack dab into tower. the police came gave him a dui test and he failed and was arrested. luckily, no one was eating at the window bar or walking in front of the building.

hopefully, tonight will include more crazy stories along with me enjoying more margaritas/tequila. happy cinco de mayo.

wordless wednesday

weekend kickoff.

done with spring semester 2009. out of town visitors. corona in the morning. beautiful 80 degree weather. toes in the sand. good kickoff to the weekend. now only if i didn't have to go into work!

* good luck to my roommate adam who had beach lifeguard tryouts this morning!

wordless wednesday

stealing this idea from my sisters blog (however, this wordless wednesday contains a few words.) starting the wordless wednesdays off with a picture of aaron from this past weekend. happy hump day!

 

happy anniversary?

this was obviously taken at the beginning of my race because i was enjoying my run and smiling. tomorrow will be a month since i have ran. today was my first attempt since i sprained my ankle to walk the loop. nicole, taylor and i took the dogs out for a nice casual stroll. it was a nice day and i did pretty well. however, i can still tell that my ankle is tight but the pain part is pretty much gone. hopefully in the next few days i can test out a jog around the loop.

NICARAGUA.

a little video documentary of our trip in nicaragua. its a little long and boring, but it makes me smile.

courtesy of mr. ross hamilton:

Untitled from ross on Vimeo.

turning over a new leaf

jessica says she is turning over a new leaf and is going to be a better/safer driver.

we picked up her new ride yesterday....

hopefully this one will have better luck then these guys.....

good luck volvo. i dont think you understand what you have gotten yourself into.

too freaking cute.

big smile.

family time.

i have been missing out on a lot of family time lately. as mentioned in a previous post i was going to go home to to visit my oldest sister christy, her family and my mom. but due to car troubles i wasn't able to go. then last sunday was easter. i spent the day in oak island with aaron and his parents. although, i had a great time with his family it just made me miss mine more. now it is my mom's spring break and my older sister, lauren traveled down to concord to hang out. i called my mom last night while everyone was over for dinner & heard my sisters and their children's voices in the background. i wish i was home. i miss them (and my mom) terribly. 

please come to wrightsville sooner then later!

happy bday jrob

its my best friends birthday today. i can't even put into words what she means to me. 

she talks extremely  fast and loud 98.2% of the time. she can bong beers with the best of them. she loves the color purple. she takes her pants off in hotdog shops. she is the best tailgating buddy. she can't drive. she gets lost all the time. she can't do 2 things at once.

jessica, (on a more serious note) you make me laugh. you are intelligent. you are a great friend daughter & sister. you are beautiful. you are intelligent. you are genuine. you are independent. you are fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA! maybe 24 will bring you better luck! :)

stuck.

stuck. kahlua pouted all day today because no one wanted to go throw a ball with her when it was 53 degrees outside and windy. 

stuck. i was supposed to go to home today to spend time with my mom, my sister, alex, canon & elly. i ended up having car troubles (which i should have gotten taken care of awhile ago) and ended up spending $350 and learning i need 4 new tires which will cost around $500. after dealing with all of that and pocketing out that money i was just not in the mood to spend any more money on my car by filling her up with gas. 

stuck. i want my ankle to feel better. i feel like kahlua in the picture above watching everyone run the loop or even walk with ease. i miss going to the gym. i miss wanting to go out or hang out after i get off of work. but my ankle hurts so bad after my shift all i want to do is go home and ice it. 

sorry i am being so whinny. i could have it so much worse. but today i feel stuck.

antonym of graceful.

if you had to describe me with one word graceful would/should never enter your mind. 

my friend jessica has fatal luck with getting tickets. she has just received her 9th ticket (congrats by the way) last week. we are pretty sure 1. her insurance is going to drop her 2. that her dad is likely to kill her. she should have never been given a license and should never be allowed to get behind the wheel. this is how i am starting to feel about myself. i should never be allowed to leave my room. and even then i think my room should be padded.

(sorry jessica for calling you out like that. i think it was necessary in order to make my story more interesting. sometimes you have to take one for the team.)

yesterday, while i was hobbling around tower 7 i lost my balance due to the fact i have a sprained ankle and landed right on the steamer. that thing is mother fucking hot and it mother fucking hurt. the only good thing about this burn is 1. its pretty painful so my mind is distracted away from the pain in my ankle 2. it is on the same side as the scar on my leg from a shaving incident and they match!

sk8ter girl.

kahlua is aaron's girl pitbull. she cracked me up today skateboarding/eating the skateboard. she tends to skate better when she has a tennis ball in her mouth so she isn't trying to eat the skateboard the whole time.

 i love this dog. there probably will be more post of kahlua to come.

sunday funday.

brunch at the basic downtown. sitting on the porch with the roommates and neighbors. drinking cold mexican beer. watching ncaa basketball. wilmington weather 72 degrees. life is good.

R.I.C.E.

this is the position i have been in for the past 5 days. (i know you would think by now i would have painted my toenails.)

rest. ice. compress. elevate.

i am going stir crazy. yesterday i wasn't able to take it anymore. i borrowed my roommate adam's ankle wrap and tried to go to the gym for a small workout and then go to the store to grab some groceries. it blew my mind how many people came up to me to ask me what had happened and then either voice their concern or give me their expert medical advice. i don't care what YOU think i should do. i KNOW what i should be doing. it just baffles me bc i would never walk up to someone i did not know to even say hello. 

a couple of months ago my roommate adam tore his meniscus, which isn't even comparable to the stupid thing i did to my ankle. he had to sit around for 3 months before he could even have surgery. and then had a good month to try and  build it back up. im in awe of how he handled the situation. bc if that was me by the end of the recovery period i don't think i would have any friends left and my roommates would have defiantly kicked me out (christy & mom this is why i have not called you back.) but i guess on a positive note i would have a very up-to-date facebook page.

anyways, this is the last i want to talk about my ankle. maybe if no one talks about it then the pain and swelling will all go away.  so if you see me limping around just pretend its my new walk and its normal.

tonight will be my first night trying to work on it. wish me luck and send me pain meds.

birthday love.

my birthday celebration started friday with a deep fried cheesecake & sparkler at nikkis with my 2 favorite jessica's and adam. then my sister and brother-in-law took aaron and i out for a post-marathon/pre-bday dinner. 

yesterday my friends and family made me feel really special with text messages, phone calls and facebook messages. then aaron came over and gave me my first birthday present of the day! the rest of my day was spent on the beach with kahlua & aaron and hobbling around the beach shops with nicole (which is when i got yelled at about my ankle & not having health insurance by the surf shop owner & when i got a parking ticket.) at 730 i met my closest friends at indochine for good food and sake. then ended the night taking a car bomb with cory and tequila shot with taylor at where else but neptunes. 

i had a great low key birthday. thanks for all the love. 24 should be a good year!

cankle

not sure how i ran on this. i can't even walk now and i have a cankle. (don't look at my feet i know i need a pedicure.)

finish line

yesterday aaron and i finished our first marathon. here are my results:

finish time: 3:55:51

finished: 799 out of 2555

sex placement: 184 out of 982

i say our first marathon bc this one did not go as planned. i really wanted to qualify for the boston marathon, which is a finishing time of 3:40:59. aaron and i started out with a really good steady fast pace until around mile 9. at mile 9 the area around my ankle started throbbing with pain. this pain never eased up and began to spread throughout my foot. at mile 13 i saw my sister and her husband standing cheering for us. i had to go up to her almost in tears telling her about my pain. she told me that she would have some medicine for me at mile 19. when i heard that i had to wait until mile 19 the tears made their way back to my eyes. luckily a woman cheering beside her had some medicine in her purse. lauren then raced towards us to give me my medicine.

unfortunately, the medicine didn't ease any of the pain but i just gritted my teeth ( & screamed a couple of times) until the finish. i have not been able to walk normally since the race has ended, my ankle & foot are quite swollen, and i am awake at 6 am this morning bc it is throbbing with pain. minus the pain in my foot my body felt great during the marathon, my breath was steady and my mind set was good. when all this ankle stuff has passed i will do another marathon and i will complete my goal.

side note: 

lauren and paul you guys were awesome. i don't think i have could have finished without your encouragement. thank you again for everything you did this weekend to make our marathon special.

and aaron thank you so much for training with me. i know you hate running (but then again this was your idea.) and thank you for staying with me during the marathon and making sure i was ok.

trip tidbits

sorry i have been slacking on my blog. after traveling for a straight 24hrs, getting prepared for my marathon, going back to work & school its been hard for me to catch up. here are a few nicaragua tidbits:

* woke up at 4:30am on 3/7/09 to drive to myrtle to catch our flight. we were supposed to fly to ny then to florida then to nicaragua. we got to myrtles airport in time to catch a direct flight to florida, which meant a 12 hour layover. we caught a shuttle (who ripped us off) ate lunch, drank beers and people watched on the beach. then we caught a cab ride back (where we almost died bc i dont think he believed in traffic laws) sat around in the airport for another 4 hrs and then boarded our flight to nicaragua. i am not really sure what happened after this i was pretty delusional. the place we stayed was about a 2 hr car ride from the airport so i slept most of the way. 

* the next day was spent at the beach. windy season was supposed to end march 1st but went on a little longer then expected. the girls tried to lay out topless on the rocks to avoid being devastated by the wind but could not avoid being stalked out by one local male onlooker. while the rest of the group braved the cold water to surf

*unfortunately, nicoles grandmother passed away our 2nd in nicaragua so she had to buy another plane ticket and make the long journey home alone. we really did miss her company and stories.

* about an hour away there were shops where you could purchase handmand things. everything was so cheap, with our big group we cleared out most of the shops.

* drinks of choice were tona, flor de cana, macua...and well anything with rum

*marathon training was put on hold bc we stayed on top of a very steep mt. our view from our place was amazing. the drive up & down could be a bit terrifying in our 2 wheel drive space van. but alex enjoyed throwing us around in the back of the van. thanks again alex for being such a good taxi cab driver. 

*one day we almost rolled off the mt. like this guy

*stray dogs, cows and horses all roamed the street looking starved.

* we ate breakfast in the market every morning for under $3. the plates were huge and the fruit is the best i have ever tasted. the food never comes out together and you must begin eating before the rest of the group bc there aren't enough dishes.

* pelican eyes had a 2 for 1 drink special. we hit that place up a couple of times. all male waiters and TERRIBLE service but it was 2 for 1 so i guess you can't complain.

*experienced a new form of dairy in a bag.

*our host, cory and mandy were amazing and some of the coolest people i have meet

* emily was our translator/ party girl.

* we went on a boat ride one day to go to different surf spots. the water was freezing and the boys in the back of the boat got pounded by the cold water for the whole hour and a half boat ride. 

*took a trip up to the volcano, mombacho 

* the last night the whole group tried to stay out until 4am so we could eat breakfast at the bar ( i dont know who thought this would be a good idea.) we made it until 230am.

* the last day we spent at the shops the headed to managua to be near the airport. we had a nice dinner then went to the vip movie theatre. this theatre had lazyboy recliners and waiters to serve you beer or food.

* then our trip home began when we boarded our flight at 12:50am. we arrived safely in wilmington at 3:30pm.

it was an amazing trip with wonderful people. i can't wait to go back again.

NICARAGUA.

nicaragua: 0 days!!!!!!!!!!

snow.

ok so i took these pictures on my roommates camera from our apartment window awhile ago after one of my runs. jessica and i just figured out how to put them on my computer (ok well aaron did but he doesn't read my blog so we will take the credit.) it never snows here and on this day aaron wouldn't run so i got to take an 8 mile jog in this. pretty to look at not much fun to run in.(if you click on the pictures you can see the snow better.)

quiet.

the start of march has begun the preparation for tourist here at wrightsville beach. parking enforcement spent the last weekend of february setting up parking meters and are now patrolling the streets giving out their bright orange parking tickets. wrightsville beach during the winter is an amazing place to be. due to the cold weather i feel like i have taken advantage of it. 

during the winter season there is no traffic (both cars and people), the restaurant and bars are filled with locals (filled not packed out so you can make it out of the bar without getting puked on which has happened to me twice during the summer), dogs are allowed to play on the beach, the beach is quiet and empty & i'm allowed to drive to work without worrying that my car is going to be towed. the list could go on & on of reasons why i enjoy the slow season at wb.

when i get back from nicaragua (3 more days) this town will have a different air about it. although, i am excited monetary wise i am going to miss the peace, solitude and quietness of this town.

final long trail run

rain. thunder. lightning. cold. anger.

9 miles on the treadmill. boredom. tears. insanity. 

11 miles outside alone. tears. rain. tears. wind. tears. pain. exhaustion. misery. depression.

not really how i thought my final long run before my marathon would go. im over it.

oh, HELLLLL no

its leah's bday today. she is my neighbor, friend and coworker. she is laid back, smart, cool, a hard worker, she makes good decisions according to ross and is truly genuine.  she is always the life of the party (note the picture above... her being in the middle of the dance floor is a regular occurrence.)  i am so glad ive met this short little hawaiian girl! tonight we get to celebrate her starting at the skating rink then ending the night at kefi to listen to organix.

happy birthday leah. here is to you & 70's skate night. i am sure it will be OUT OF CONTROL.