Last night was the 3rd annual Jeff Allen Birthday Texas Hold 'Em Tournament. This was the first year I decided to play, and I am so glad that I did. I didn't win anything, but I did a lot better than I hoped to do. My goal was to not be the first person out. I was the 5th person out at my table, and I lasted longer than my online poker addicted husband. Not too shabby considering how lowly I had set my personal bar for success. I won a few good hands and overall had a really great time. What took me out? I had 2 pair and my nemesis, Ryan, had a straight. He had been betting big on crap hands all night, so I called him with what I thought would be a sure fire winning hand. Oh well...c'est la vie!
I don't know why, but up until very recently I was super intimidated by Texas Hold 'Em. It seemed too tricky to figure out, I could never remember what consituted a good hand versus a bad hand, etc. After watching people play, and after I took part in a small tournament a month or so ago, I decided to go for it. Who else out there had a fear of Texas Hold 'Em only to find it not so bad once they gave it a shot?
Anyway, I am looking forward to my next chance at playing in a poker tournament. It's a really good time, even if you don't win the big prize. Oh yeah, and if you're reading this - happy birthday, Jeff! I had a blast.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
feeling old
*Disclaimer* In no way, shape, or form do I honestly believe that 25 years old is truly old. Okay, now you can keep reading.
Last weekend found me on adventures with a group of 16 teens at "THE ULTIMATE STATE CONFERENCE" for Arizona Keystone Clubs representing Boys & Girls Clubs from across the state. It was a great opportunity for the teens to connect to other Keystoners from all over Arizona, and it was a good time for me to get to know other Boys & Girls Clubs professionals from within the East Valley organization. The weekend was full of great educational workshops and a decent amount of fun, too.
Now, I like to think that I stay up on trends in pop culture pretty well. I may be a twentysomething married woman with a career, but I am certainly not dead. One event of this Keystone weekend turned all of that thinking on its head. A dance. Seems harmless enough, right? I went to lots of dances in high school and junior high, and I've done a good bit of dancing at various events since leaving the hallowed halls of high school. Heck, I even went to what Playboy magazine considered the #1 party school in the nation at for the better part of my adult life (I heart Arizona State). Not that much could have changed in terms of popular dances, right? The macarena was pretty much a mainstay from late elementary school through my senior prom, the electric slide will never die, and who doesn't know the little birdie dance? Newcomers to the catchy group/line dances I've learned from the Club kids are the cha cha slide and the Cuban shuffle. Then I see the dancing of the high schoolers at this conference. Things like "The Stanky Leg" and "The Jerk" and two-step (no, not the country line dancing version). And when they would start to dance a leetle bit too closely to each other, I found myself wanting to find a firehose to break up all the teen-on-teen friction.
I guess when I wasn't paying attention, I was slowly but surely getting old(er). At least in the way I think about dancing. I wonder what the next thing to make me feel old will be...time will surely tell.
Last weekend found me on adventures with a group of 16 teens at "THE ULTIMATE STATE CONFERENCE" for Arizona Keystone Clubs representing Boys & Girls Clubs from across the state. It was a great opportunity for the teens to connect to other Keystoners from all over Arizona, and it was a good time for me to get to know other Boys & Girls Clubs professionals from within the East Valley organization. The weekend was full of great educational workshops and a decent amount of fun, too.
Now, I like to think that I stay up on trends in pop culture pretty well. I may be a twentysomething married woman with a career, but I am certainly not dead. One event of this Keystone weekend turned all of that thinking on its head. A dance. Seems harmless enough, right? I went to lots of dances in high school and junior high, and I've done a good bit of dancing at various events since leaving the hallowed halls of high school. Heck, I even went to what Playboy magazine considered the #1 party school in the nation at for the better part of my adult life (I heart Arizona State). Not that much could have changed in terms of popular dances, right? The macarena was pretty much a mainstay from late elementary school through my senior prom, the electric slide will never die, and who doesn't know the little birdie dance? Newcomers to the catchy group/line dances I've learned from the Club kids are the cha cha slide and the Cuban shuffle. Then I see the dancing of the high schoolers at this conference. Things like "The Stanky Leg" and "The Jerk" and two-step (no, not the country line dancing version). And when they would start to dance a leetle bit too closely to each other, I found myself wanting to find a firehose to break up all the teen-on-teen friction.
I guess when I wasn't paying attention, I was slowly but surely getting old(er). At least in the way I think about dancing. I wonder what the next thing to make me feel old will be...time will surely tell.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
time flies when you're having fun!
Friends in the blogosphere, I must admit that time truly flies when you are having fun. Steven and I have spent the past few days celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. On September 10, 2004 our lives changed forever as two became one. Here we are, five years later, marvelling at how quickly time passes. It really does seem like yesterday that I put my wedding dress on, carefully placed my veil, and walked down the aisle to become a Dial.
In the past 5 years we have....
taken 7 vacations
moved twice
changed jobs 9 times (counting internal position changes)
owned 7 different vehicles
gained a total of 80 pounds and lost almost all of it
lost 3 grandparents
celebrated 1 sibling's marriage
become an aunt and uncle (twice!)
and completed 2 college degrees.
We've laughed enough times to make up for the times when we've cried. We fought against each other and fought side by side to save our marriage from falling apart. We've watched dozens of friends marry, divorce, and have children. We've stood by each other through sickness (ask Steven about my wisdom teeth extraction some time...great stories!) and health. We've been there for richer or poorer. We've had some tough conversations, but plenty of silly ones, too (especially when we should be going to sleep!).
To celebrate our big day, Steven planned an evening of suprises. Men in the blogging world, take note. My husband is the master of surprises! He comes up with the most thoughtful gifts and does some really fantastic things for me. We started off with dinner at Baci, a great Italian place about a mile from our house. After a delicious dinner and yummy spumoni for dessert, we took our leftovers to Steven's brother's house for safekeeping in the fridge while we went out for our night on the town. Steven purchased tickets to see Peter Pan performed at the Herberger Theater by the Valley Youth Theater (Jordin Sparks is an alum of this group). Peter Pan is one of my favorite stories of all time, maybe because Peter refuses to grow up, but nonetheless Steven took me to see it performed live. It was fantastic!
After that, we came home for part 2 of the evening. I was in for a huge and very romantic surprise. Steven had hired a company to come in and do a rose petal turn down service at our house! There was a trail of rose petals from the garage door to the bedroom. In the bedroom, there were candles and sparkling cider and towels folded like kissing swans and chocolates. Playing in the background was a playlist of love songs Steven hand picked for the occasion. When we walked through the door, our wedding song was the song playing. I highly recommend Special Night In!
The surprises didn't stop there! Steven got me a new iPod for our anniversary and had our friends (and fellow BODYCOMBAT instructors) put all the BC music on it! Have I mentioned how thoughtful Steven is? I am one lucky lady.
Our fourth year of marriage was the hardest we have had, but year number five is off to a fantastic start! It is nights like last night and the thoughtfulness I was lucky enough to experience that makes all the tough times worth it.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!
In the past 5 years we have....
taken 7 vacations
moved twice
changed jobs 9 times (counting internal position changes)
owned 7 different vehicles
gained a total of 80 pounds and lost almost all of it
lost 3 grandparents
celebrated 1 sibling's marriage
become an aunt and uncle (twice!)
and completed 2 college degrees.
We've laughed enough times to make up for the times when we've cried. We fought against each other and fought side by side to save our marriage from falling apart. We've watched dozens of friends marry, divorce, and have children. We've stood by each other through sickness (ask Steven about my wisdom teeth extraction some time...great stories!) and health. We've been there for richer or poorer. We've had some tough conversations, but plenty of silly ones, too (especially when we should be going to sleep!).
To celebrate our big day, Steven planned an evening of suprises. Men in the blogging world, take note. My husband is the master of surprises! He comes up with the most thoughtful gifts and does some really fantastic things for me. We started off with dinner at Baci, a great Italian place about a mile from our house. After a delicious dinner and yummy spumoni for dessert, we took our leftovers to Steven's brother's house for safekeeping in the fridge while we went out for our night on the town. Steven purchased tickets to see Peter Pan performed at the Herberger Theater by the Valley Youth Theater (Jordin Sparks is an alum of this group). Peter Pan is one of my favorite stories of all time, maybe because Peter refuses to grow up, but nonetheless Steven took me to see it performed live. It was fantastic!
After that, we came home for part 2 of the evening. I was in for a huge and very romantic surprise. Steven had hired a company to come in and do a rose petal turn down service at our house! There was a trail of rose petals from the garage door to the bedroom. In the bedroom, there were candles and sparkling cider and towels folded like kissing swans and chocolates. Playing in the background was a playlist of love songs Steven hand picked for the occasion. When we walked through the door, our wedding song was the song playing. I highly recommend Special Night In!
The surprises didn't stop there! Steven got me a new iPod for our anniversary and had our friends (and fellow BODYCOMBAT instructors) put all the BC music on it! Have I mentioned how thoughtful Steven is? I am one lucky lady.
Our fourth year of marriage was the hardest we have had, but year number five is off to a fantastic start! It is nights like last night and the thoughtfulness I was lucky enough to experience that makes all the tough times worth it.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!
Monday, September 7, 2009
BODYCOMBAT updates
So in updating the world on the past 4 months of my life, I left out a couple of details. I finished my BODYCOMBAT certification in June, so I am now "unleashed" for worldwide BODYCOMBAT domination. Well, maybe not worldwide, but in my world I am (trying to) dominate.
Remember the 5:15 am class I was assigned to for training? Did I mention that since February 17 I have taught every single Tuesday at that time? Oh yeah, I have. Perfect attendance since February 3 in that class. I may have missed some sleep, but I come ready to rock it every Tuesday morning with Cindy (and sometimes Sarah).
We just launched another release last Monday celebrating BODYCOMBAT'S 10th birthday. Pictures to come later...we didn't take as many as we probably should have, but I got some. Between the 4 main members of the team I teach on, there were 9 BC classes we launched the new release in over the past week. NINE CLASSES!?! That's crazy. I only taught in 4 of them, but still...good times.
I just got release 41 in the mail last Thursday. The theme is Backyard Brawl. Nobody talks about it. It doesn't exist. Come toward the end of October to check it out (but don't tell anyone *wink*).
Remember the 5:15 am class I was assigned to for training? Did I mention that since February 17 I have taught every single Tuesday at that time? Oh yeah, I have. Perfect attendance since February 3 in that class. I may have missed some sleep, but I come ready to rock it every Tuesday morning with Cindy (and sometimes Sarah).
We just launched another release last Monday celebrating BODYCOMBAT'S 10th birthday. Pictures to come later...we didn't take as many as we probably should have, but I got some. Between the 4 main members of the team I teach on, there were 9 BC classes we launched the new release in over the past week. NINE CLASSES!?! That's crazy. I only taught in 4 of them, but still...good times.
I just got release 41 in the mail last Thursday. The theme is Backyard Brawl. Nobody talks about it. It doesn't exist. Come toward the end of October to check it out (but don't tell anyone *wink*).
Sunday, September 6, 2009
deja vu all over again
It seems like every time I get on here to blog about something, it's been a long time since I last posted. This is my newest record for a dry spell. Nearly 4 months people! I promise I didn't fall off the face of the earth. What did happen, though, was summer day camp. Eight very long weeks of it. And I was the only full-time staff member for 5 of those 8 weeks. Needless to say, spare time was scarce, and the little that I had I did NOT want to spend blogging. I wanted to spend it sleeping...
Recap of the past 4 months: survived summer camp, lost another 6 pounds (hit a milestone of 20 total pounds lost...and 12 of them came off in the last 6 months!), read a LOT of books (shocking!) and discovered a new favorite author (Lisa Samson is a great writer...her character development is top notch and I love the way her stories unfold), rode on a motorcycle for the first time (passenger, not driver....I do have my limits!), was offered and began teaching two BODYCOMBAT classes of my own at Fitness Works, and started off another school year with the Boys & Girls Club (average daily attendance = 137 kids...how do you spend your afternoons? ha!).
I also have spent a lot of time reading up on my friends out there in the world on blogspot. While I may not have felt up to writing - the synapses weren't firing at that level of output - I did get to read up on the adventures of my friends. Like The Rogans, who just had TRIPLETS on June 15. And the babies are beautiful and healthy. Or Kemra, on orchestra friend from high school who sent her oldest daughter off to kindergaten four days after having her THIRD child. Or Amanda and Matt in CO who experienced a home robbery and the baddie got caught. And Amanda just celebrated the 6th anniversary of surviving an attack. This couple is one of the strongest, nothing's gonna stop me now sets of people I know. Needless to say, there's a lot going on out there in the world that is worth reading about.
Now that life is slowing down (a smidge), I'll have more time to blog. Ok, I guess my life is never slow. I'll find time between working, teaching 4 days a week at the gym, spending time with my husband, going to church and Bible studies, etc. to blog. Either way, I like sharing my thoughts with whoever decides to read them out here in the blogosphere. It's cathartic at the least to get the thoughts and life updates out there. So blogging world, the Saharan stretch of nothingness from me is over. I hope you're ready for the ride!
Recap of the past 4 months: survived summer camp, lost another 6 pounds (hit a milestone of 20 total pounds lost...and 12 of them came off in the last 6 months!), read a LOT of books (shocking!) and discovered a new favorite author (Lisa Samson is a great writer...her character development is top notch and I love the way her stories unfold), rode on a motorcycle for the first time (passenger, not driver....I do have my limits!), was offered and began teaching two BODYCOMBAT classes of my own at Fitness Works, and started off another school year with the Boys & Girls Club (average daily attendance = 137 kids...how do you spend your afternoons? ha!).
I also have spent a lot of time reading up on my friends out there in the world on blogspot. While I may not have felt up to writing - the synapses weren't firing at that level of output - I did get to read up on the adventures of my friends. Like The Rogans, who just had TRIPLETS on June 15. And the babies are beautiful and healthy. Or Kemra, on orchestra friend from high school who sent her oldest daughter off to kindergaten four days after having her THIRD child. Or Amanda and Matt in CO who experienced a home robbery and the baddie got caught. And Amanda just celebrated the 6th anniversary of surviving an attack. This couple is one of the strongest, nothing's gonna stop me now sets of people I know. Needless to say, there's a lot going on out there in the world that is worth reading about.
Now that life is slowing down (a smidge), I'll have more time to blog. Ok, I guess my life is never slow. I'll find time between working, teaching 4 days a week at the gym, spending time with my husband, going to church and Bible studies, etc. to blog. Either way, I like sharing my thoughts with whoever decides to read them out here in the blogosphere. It's cathartic at the least to get the thoughts and life updates out there. So blogging world, the Saharan stretch of nothingness from me is over. I hope you're ready for the ride!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)