heart of a champion

I don't even know where to begin on this post. I am in the highest of high spirits ever! My volleyball team has just won Regionals for the 2nd year in a row (only the 3rd time in our school's history) and are headed for Nationals in Florida!!

Throughout our season, my team struggled with staying consistent and staying mentally stable. With such a fresh, young team it was quite typical. Despite our struggles, I still had faith that my team had something hidden inside them that could be brought out. I just prayed it would come out before it was too late! I can say to you right now, I could not be more proud of my girls as they stepped up and played their hearts out on that court all weekend without giving up. They pulled out those special "something"s hidden away and then some! I felt like a proud mother :) We were a completely different team...the team that was hiding was who we really are!
So, now that I sit here (caressing the significantly large, red 2009 Regional banner), I am pulling up old mental (and .jpg) files of my time in Florida last year with volleyball and how wonderful it felt to have the warm sun on my face whilst the rest of the people in my life shivered in the Northern autumn chill (slightly devilish of me...nay, it's honesty).
Thanks to everyone for the support and in 10 days, I'll be on a jet plane (with the soccer guys! Woohoo on their Regional win too!!).

Ciao~

dreams should come true

Weird. Last night I had a dream about me owning some huge, comfy over-sized sweaters. Coincidently, today in my email, I got an update from Urban Outfitters about their new stock of SWEATERS. It is fate, I must have. Considering my little apartment is consistently an icebox, I think it's only fitting (pun kind of intended).

Also, 1 month countdown until I see Lights live in Winnipeg. My favorite song off her album The Listening would have to be Face Up. It's so epic sounding :)

Was reeeeally hoping to go see Moulin Rouge at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet this weekend, but I doubt that will happen...haven't bought a ticket yet. So sad :'(

Fourthly, saw Law Abiding Citizen yesterday. More gory than I thought, but definitely kept me wanting to know what happens!

On a final note.....I freakin' LOVE CANADA!!! I just got word today that the government has given me another Canadian Millennium Bursary to go towards paying back my ghastly amounts of students loans!! This one's even bigger than the last!! O CANADA!!! I'm in love...

Mad Women

So Cam wanted to see everyone "Mad Men'd" (create yourself in the caricature of the show Mad Men). I suppose this is the best I could come up with. Don't know who the mystery man is I'm tappin' martini's with there is, but I look awesome. Except I know I'm not that skinny :) Who cares, I created it, it's my fantasy hehe.

I'm thankful for pillows on roadtrips

I believe I should be working on an English paper right now, but alas, mindless writing seems to trump...

Thanksgiving weekend -- awesome.

Started it out with a volleyball trip down to the wonderful world of the US of A. First game, we stopped in Bemidji and played against a team that shouldn't touch a volleyball; it pains me to think that someone can actually ruin a sport (at the college level) that everyone says is "easy and lame" in the first place (it's awesome, by the way). Needless to say, beat them 3 straight WITHOUT our setter who sprained her ankle earlier. After the game, we continued on towards Minneapolis....but...not without any hitches...

DEER.

Hit one. Yep. Tumbled to it's death (not us, the deer). I ended up making copious amounts of phone calls (Minneapolis hotel, St. Cloud hotel, spoke to the NCU athletic director, etc. etc., oh, and my coaches mom). I'll be expecting a nice cheque from the school to cover roaming charges... It's difficult driving a car when the bearings are out of place. Took the driver (coach) and me to both yank on the wheel to turn the poor vehicle. Ended up pushing our games back and hour and a half cuz we had to stay in St. Cloud rather than Minnie for the night. We made it. Played our games. Beat NCU. Lost to Faith (damn).

Made it back to Canada in time to celebrate 50% of my Thanksgiving holiday weekend with my sisters (one who was out from...ironic...St. Paul/Minneapolis). Had too much pie and early Halloween candy (ow, my tummy). Saw my fam. Did some laundry.

Aaaaaand...weekend over.

But not before I watched "The Talented Mr. Rippley"....can you say bizarre?

Also, as a tribute to Thanksgiving, please watch this video. Too funny and true:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

Hobs

I need a new hobby-

Any suggestions?

It's that time of year again...

It is the first day of October. October means that it is fall. It means Thanksgiving is right around the corner, it means Halloween is coming soon, it means cooler weather (no snow yet, but definitely cooler) with the changing of the leaves and the sharp, crisp rains.

I am feeling really nostalgic today. I don't know what exactly triggered it, but I have been thinking back to my childhood all day today. Fall has been one of my favorite seasons for a long time. A couple of summers ago, I moved out of my childhood home that I grew up in. I hardly am ever "home" anymore because I've got my own life out at school in my little apartment. As I sit here in my room, I'm watching the rain hit my window and run down (like in the movies, ya know?) and can't help but start to feel a deep sense of missing for my old childhood home. When I say old, it's not necessarily just a word I'm throwing in there. No, this house was really old. It had so much character, it was moved from an army base before it was moved to my town and I can't help but wonder a lot what might have happened in that house before me. It was such a wonderful place to sit and enjoy days like these cold, wet autumn days. I would curl up in a blanket with my slippers by the old brick fireplace (yeah, real fireplace with real wood) while my parents had some classical favorite on of the day (quite possibly Handel's Messiah or the likes) and watch the rain. Well, I don't have a fireplace in my little apartment, but here I sit with my blanket and slippers sipping on some hot chocolate (wishing desperately for some fireplace to pop up as my landlords haven't seemed to turn the heat on yet) listening to Mr. Handel's works.

Speaking of Handel's Messiah, I also can't help but miss the times when I was just a little girl sitting around the table on Sunday with a hearty meal of steak and wine with my sisters and me making up our own words to Handel's tunes (they were pretty great). I think back to the times when life was so easy. No hard decisions to make, living the innocent life of a child (I use the word innocent with discretion, but you know what I mean). October is also still early in the new school year. New school years used to mean one new outfit, new pencil crayons, new runners, seating arrangements, walking down the hall single file, and those awesome desks you could hide things in (imagine if we still had to sit in those things). I love being an independent person living on my own, going to college...but there are simply some things that were just super. Today I was watching The Price Is Right (weird, I know) and there was this giant cartoony picture of a honey comb. The memory hit me so hard: computer class in grade 1 or 2 where we still worked on MS-Dos computers and there was this honey comb game that you learned math and spelling on! Oh man, was that ever fun. Oh to be a child again and computer games were so simple...I wouldn't be surprised to hear of 5 year olds playing Halo to learn math...

Perhaps all these memories are triggered by the fact that it's almost Thanksgiving. Last year I missed Thanksgiving as I was in Florida for a volleyball tournament. I mean, Thanksgiving happens at the same time whether I'm in Canada or not, but I missed the family festivities back home. I think this really made me really aware of how important and how "thankful" I am for occasions like it. I missed hanging out with my family (in my favorite season), both immediate and extended (I really miss my grandmas), I missed the huge spread of dinner on the table (turkey or not), and dang it, I would've killed for a slice of my grandma's famous chiffon pumpkin pie. This year I have to miss half of my Thanksgiving weekend again due to a volleyball trip to Minneapolis, but I am excited to be able to spend that second stretch of it home with all those memories that I've been missing lately.

I just need my fill, then I'll be good to go for another year. Although, that pie could stick around all year....