the big, big news!!

hey y'all!!! i swear i am still alive, just writing to from a very different part of the country now...statesboro, ga to be exact!! now let me do some explaining.

after finishing my masters in january i started job searching all over the us. and after quite a few rejection letters i finally got the email i was waiting for, an offer for an interview in georgia! so while in boise i was making plans to return home sunday of memorial day weekend, shop monday for a new suit, and then hop on another plane down south for what i was hoping would be the start of an amazing new adventure. after a whirlwind of interviewing i was back home waiting/crossing every limb i have for the good news phone call. on wednesday, june 5th while on lunch at whole foods i got that fantastic phone call witht the job offer!!! i accepted the job friday morning and started a whole nother whirlwind of my own. there is A LOT more to the craziness of the story but i dont want to bore you with all the details:)

literally the moment after my new boss
offered me the job:)

so i turned in my notice the following wednesday, the 12th, making june 21st my last day of work, and then planning to leave monday the 24th for georgia for a start on july 1st!! told ya it was a whirlwind:) i was lucky to have a great boss that opted to let me make that monday, the 17th my actual last day so i could get ready for the big cross-country move. it was amazing to have a few more days at home to get things figured out, uhaul trucks rented, goodbye parties planned, running in there, and time with the family.

my fantastic parents!

a quick change of plans happened and we actually ended up leaving sunday the 23rd to go stay the night in flagstaff on our way! my bff jessica lives in phoenix, she and my mom came up with a plan to stay that sunday night there so i could see her before leaving! theyre the best:) so my mom and i bid farewell to my dad sunday afternoon and piled into the uhaul for a very slow trek up to 7000 feet flagstaff. it was during the 1st day that we realized a 30 hour gps drive time was going to be a little unrealistic haha. we didnt really take into account a uhaul truck pulling a dolly with my car on it!

my dad giving last minute instructions:)

our route!

of course a stop for late for the train!

after a great night of visiting mom and i headed out to the 40 for the next few days of our adventure. we decided on the way to collect state signs to help pass the time! plus ive never driven cross-country and i needed something to remember it all by:) instead of capturing the arizona sign we opted for a famous one instead...

and so began a crazy 3 day long trek across the us, literally from one coast to the other. i still cant believe my mom put up with that long in a truck! it was incredibly bumpy but the landscape getting greener and greener on our drive across was kind of awesome. we were super lucky to not hit any substantially bad weather. it was however windy from the moment we left vegas consistently until we got to oklahoma city! that was kind of awful i wont lie.

we were only in tennessee for about 2.5 seconds
there wasnt even a good sign for us to stop at!

finally, finally, finally wednesday afternoon we crossed into georgia!! made our way through atlanta to statesboro pulling in around 1030p. 1st thing we did after checking into our hotel was get my poor car off that damn dolly! plus we were so happy to be in something that didnt feel ever rock/crack/pebble/bump when we went over it to go find dinner that night, which unfortunately meant another night of fast food:/ thursday though we actually got to sleep in and spent the day house hunting! i had a few leads on things it was just a matter of physically seeing them and then making a decision. after seeing a few great ones, and a few not so great things, i decided on a 3 bedroom house with a roommate! she amazingly let me move in the next day-well to the living room at least. she had just started roommate hunting and didnt know they would find someone so quick so they still needed to paint etc. which was ok because we had plans to spend the weekend in savannah with my great aunt and uncle anyway before my mom went home.

my new digs:)

my fantastic mama!

that sunday i had to put her on a plane back to vegas and it was very sad to be honest:( we are super close and she was so amazing to drive all that way with me and help me move in. it was nice that she was on summer vacation! last monday the 1st i began my job. let me tell you, working a full week after being off for 2 was rough lol. and i am no longer living in the living room! i spent just about all last week moving in and getting settled. my new comforter arrived monday, the last big piece to my new room.

oh, i forgot to tell you what im doing! i am working in admissions, running the campus visit program, advising the volunteer tour group, and coordinating different recruiting events on and off campus! it is so seriously right up my alley and has already been a great adventure! i am almost done with week 2 already. i have met some amazing people and everyone here is sooo super nice, welcoming, and just darn excited im here:) i have been waiting for an opportunity like this for a really long time and am so excited its finally here!! its the start of a grand new adventure in life both professionally and professionally:) did i mention i was really, really excited about it all??!! i cant thank everyone enough for their love and support these last few months in helping me get here:) so follow me along this new adventure of working, running, and living in the south. i cant wait to experience and share it all!!

welcome to the south.
we have margaritas in mason jars here:)

the big secret.

so yes i have been absent for a few days, i know. but i just couldnt be here posting about other things when i couldnt yet tell you the thing i really wanted to. it was just too hard. plus i wasnt really ready to say all these things out loud yet because as soon as you do they become real. and you have to stick to the things you say, for real. 

after great support from a loving boyfriend (whos having just as hard of a time keeping it a secret as i am), supportive family, and friends cheering me on...i am now ready to tell the world. i have finally decided on my next race, and its a big one. i am going to do a... TRIATHLON!!!! omg, i know. 

source

i realized a long time ago that i dont have a full marathon in me. i have mad, mad respect for those that do seriously. but its not in me. i love coming home from a 10/11/12 mile long run and know that the finish line is not far from that. i cant even wrap my head around coming home from those long runs and know that i am not even halfway. so i was in my spin class on january the 4th and thought hmmm...maybe i could do this.  i came home and put it out of my head for a few days knowing that tinkerbell was coming and thats what i needed to focus on. then i started to do a little research which quickly took over and completely freaked me out. there was so much, and things to buy, and theories to subscribe too, and nutrition. i couldnt handle it all. so i put it out of mind, i had to and continued soaking up my tinkerbell training. 

after 2 weeks i was ready to tell richard. he was the only one (sorry mom) i was ready to even think about it with. and i hadnt even said a word to anyone about it. i told him the night we went to see phantom over dinner and got no reaction. like literally none. he just looked at me and said i knew it was only a matter of time. i cant lie, i was a little disappointed. then he started making comments here and there about how cool this was going to be. and that he would be dating a triathlete, or what a cool medal to put on the wall, and i cant wait to see your moms reaction when you tell her. so i knew he was in. i even decided on my distance, the olympic. thats a 1500m (.93 mile) swim, 24.8 mile bike, and a 10k run. holy crap.

he has been there supporting me
since my very 1st race!!

once i finished tinkerbell i texted a family friend that was a competitive swimmer and just completed her 1st 1/2 ironman last year so i could ask questions. i met her for lunch and got the perfect reaction, excitement! being a swimmer herself, she was great to talk to since i am terrified about the swim. she was sooo helpful and knowledgeable about the technical stuff and the girly stuff like what to wear. i had let it slip to my runner group friend and he had given me a few pointers that satisfied me till i was really ready to start having conversations about it. i had decided before pushing it all aside that i would do a local one at lake mead on april 21st called rage. it had the 3 distances, which i had just learned about, and i didnt have to travel. with all the other costs going into this i wasnt ready to add more. 

source

after talking with her it was time to tell my parents. i was thinking my dad would be totally ok with it, but my mom, probably not so much. she worries that im not taking enough rest and that im beating on my body. she wanted me to take at least 6 months off after tinkerbell from training/running anymore than a 10k, i talked her down to 4. i was nervous/anxious/excited all day i damn near blurted it out. my dad was soooo stoked. the whole meal he just kept grinning and saying a triathlon! it was seriously cute. my mom was instantly worried instead. she instantly whipped out her phone and started counting weeks. luckily i had real things to tell her from other athletes and the things i had read. she wasnt totally on board but did offer to ask around at her school about a bike, so i knew she was supportive. 

they are always there by my side!

since then its kind of taken on a life of its own. i started telling a few friends and the guys at my runner group. my running partner derrick was so excited he signed up for the same race and distance. i got advice from another friend and scored in her volunteering her road bike to complete the race in. my mom also came through and found 2 people the first day that were willing to let me borrow theirs if i needed it. richard has been concocting his 1st facebook status as soon as this goes up for days :) its seriously so cool to have him be so supportive in something completely opposite!

i have been doing some concocting of my own, as in a training plan. dang was this hard. i mean to fit it all in, and school, and work, and sleep, and a little bit of a life. wow. i dont know how people do this with kids. dang. after much research and blending plans together i have decided to swimming 3 days a week because that is my biggest weakness, biking 2 days, and running 2 days. i had to give up a rest day to make it all work so i made it count and put it on sundays so i can sleep in too. i kept in body pump so i can strengthen my upper body to help with the swimming and keep my lower body strong too. i have also added 2 double days. i have avoided these like the plague for years, i wont lie. but to get all this in and my body ready for things to come i had to. here it is though, always a moving target and subject to change. but the 1st week has been successful. check back tomorrow for the recap on that!

now dont worry, i will always be a runner. it is my first grown up sport love. this is just the next challenge and something i cant wait to try. i wont be the skinniest one out there or anywhere near the front. but i wont finish last. i will always return to running. it will always be my therapy and make my heart the happiest. 

source

source

 

the day mom came over.

as soon as i made the decision to move out, i knew eventually i was going to have to get the mom approval.  its something required of all big decisions, its what moms do.  now you may make a decision without her input or whether she is going to like it or not, as i did by moving in, but you know in the back of your mind that sooner or later your going to want her approval.  now my mom reacted much better than i expected her to when i told her my decision, so i was hoping the approval would come pretty soon after.

the next weekend after our move in we decided to have her over.  mom had given us a gift card to purchase new dishes and we decided she should definitely come with us to spend the money.  im not really sure who was more nervous, richard or myself.  the day before we really worked hard to put on the "we really live" here touches.  we got rid of the last of the boxes and hung pictures, trying to match our mismatching things together.  the morning of we made sure to clean the bathroom and had the kitchen looking spotless, well as much as we could.

after some logistics delayed her coming down at the original time we thought, she finally arrived.  when i opened the door she was standing there with arms loaded with things i had left at the house, looking about as nervous as i was.  i quickly invited her in and helped unload while hugging, we are multitaskers, what can i say.  when she walked in there seemed to be a look of disbelief on her face.  now im still not sure if it was because we had actually cleaned, she realized i really lived here, or there were no boxes in sight.  we gave her the grand tour, which took all of about 3 minutes, it is only our first apartment.  and decided we were all starving and needed food asap.

she asked all the typical questions.  how are things going?  are you adjusting?  how are the opposite schedules working?  we answered these and the many others she came with honestly, and i think she was a little surprised by it all.  after we finished lunch we started with the shopping, this is where it all got interesting.

my mom is one of my best friends.  yes she drives me crazy sometimes, in the ways that your mom or best friend always does.  we have a lot shows we watch together, we do 1/2 marathons together, we now both have iphones, we eat pretty similar, we also now both drive volkswagens.  when we go places people always ask if we are sisters, mostly men because they are trying to hit on one of us, what can i say its the truth.  i am often her fashion advice, and connection to things like the social media world.  she is my conscience and will always help lead me down the right path.  we are close in a different way that mothers and daughters are, it something that i cherish very much.  which is why the mom approval is important.

back to the shopping.  we started aiming a little high, browsing through pier 1 and looking at all of the things we are hoping to start purchasing probably this time next year.  being that was our first group shopping experience i was really curious how this was going to work.  when my mom and i shop we ask each others opinion on just about everything that goes into the cart, with the exception of the grocery store.  now some of these questions might be rhetorical, but many are genuine opinion seekers.  except in this shopping experience we have a whole nother relationship to consider, richard, and the fact that we are buying things for our apartment.  so who has the more important opinion?  who do you really listen too?  i mean mom gives the good/practical opinion and richard gives the lets have some fun/be young and enjoy this opinion.  now it kind of makes my mom sound old and richard like maybe he wasnt taking this serious enough, which was not the case in either instance.  its about finding a balance.  merging the stable life that you have always had with your family with this new adventure you have with your boyfriend.  i mean really, who cares if the silverware matches, or if the laundry detergent is a powder or liquid, or if you eat cereal with a little spoon like a normal person and he eats his with a big spoon like a savage.  like i said its about finding a balance.

we never did find dishes that day, or buy everything we needed in the way of basics.  mom really did give us good advice on the things to buy, such as why do you need a mop if you dont have a broom to sweep up the pokeys.  or isnt it really more important to find dishes you both love over settling on some dishes just to get rid of the ones you hate.  it also opened my eyes to how my mom was dealing with things and how our relationship was really going to grow out of this.  she is still adjusting to the fact that we live together, which is ok, at least she is willing to take an open mind.  i am still adjusting to living away from home and figuring out the grown up thing.  when she left that day i thought she was upset with us that we didnt buy dishes.  i realized later that for her, that day made all of this real.  my things are on shelves, my clothes are hanging in the closet, my desk is set up, i really live here with richard.  the next adventure in my life had really begun.