it's been awhile

it's been awhile since i have blogged, and i have no real reason why i haven't. sorry out there to all of you who actually read it. so whats been shacking in jojos life these days; well...

1. grad school. one more week of class, 3 more papers to write, and than i get the whole month of July off..

2. celebrated dad's day with, of course, my dad. drove north to home that Sunday morn to meet him at church. than drove further north to kick it for lunch with my older brothers family (we had burgers off the grill and DQ ice cream cake...yum). mom is off in Jamaica with the youth group from church- they are on a missions trip, so i decided i would help dad with chores. we cleaned his big old beautiful red semi-truck, and let me say that is not a small task. than i cleaned the whole house for him. we just sat after, had a beer and watched TV...pretty low key my dad. his health (for those of you that are wondering) has returned to complete normality (is that word?). his heart is fine....is head is fine. he went to the chiropractor and i guess popped his ears and pushed on his temples and dad said it felt like his whole head was draining....which i guess was a good thing since he has not had any vitergo problems, headaches or throwing up spells since! good news there. i love my dad- couldn't have asked for a more solid male role model in my life. he has taught me so many things....i cant even beginning to explain them all. but this past sunday i learned from him that cows dont let other cows calfs suck milk from them...even if one of the other cows dies! gosh, i thought cows would be a bit more caring for each other than that- guess not! my dad loves his cows! oh yes, i did take a ton of pics of my day with dad- but found out upon my return to the big city that i left my camera north- whooops!

3. working out has been my daily adventure. i have worked my body senseless the past 7 days. and i feel it. i had a session with Fawn (my trainer) Friday morning and i was so exhausted she told me i had to take two days off from training. it felt really good to do nothing yesterday (i did go for a hour walk though- does that count as working out?) today i might get a short swim in. anyways- working out has been the one thing this summer that i do almost every day. i am enjoying it. just wish i was seeing results from my hard work.

4. went to Ocean's 13 yesterday with my friend Nate. I had free passes that were going to expire soon- so needed to use them up. Nate is hilarious.....! the movie was good.

5. dog sitting. spent a couple days with Linus. He makes me laugh and was good company.

6. LOST. i did something i probably shouldn't have. i went to best buy the on Thursday to get a ink cartridge for my printer...(those darn papers use a lot of it), and just happened to walk buy the DVD's of LOST (TV show). man, i love that show. so i splurged and bought session 1- and since than have not been able to spot watching them. i told myself i can not watch any episodes today- we will see if i can stand firm in that. i love Matthew Fox, he is dreamy!!!!

7. did my nails- when does that ever happen.

8. made my friend Patrick very happy. i love making people happy. i went to nwc bookstore (the one in roseville is going out of business) and bought him a bible. He is a good guy, just has made some really bad choices for himself and has been stopping over on his lunch break to seek advice, which has lead to some pretty intense "Jesus" talks. it has been good. he mentioned to me that he has never owned a bible- well....he does now! when i handed it to him, he could not believe it and kept saying "really....you did this for me". it made me smile. now my prayer is that he actually picks it up, reads it, and does something with what he reads.

9. i've slept in most of the week....yip, til 7:30. that is so awesome.

10. catching up with friends is always a must! i am lucky to have such good friends in my life.

1:37:12 - Loon Lake

i am not sure why i do the things i do sometimes. i decided to do a Triathlon this morning west of Mankato in a small rinky dink town called Lake Crystal. i have been training (working out) the past couple months and thought..."i can do sprint (1/4 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, 3.2 mile run), no problems". now, lets take into consideration that all my training has been done inside (no heat factors)...and usually only one portion at a time. for example- i swim and than lift. or i go for a run. or i go for a bike ride. i had yet to train in doing all three together, along with transitions- but, again. i thought...'no problems.' i packed up this morning at 5:00, got in the car...drove through rain, thunder, lightening; more rain! thought for sure we'd not be getting into the water. arrived at 7:ish to check in, warm up, stood in line for the port-da-potty, got my bike ready, tested out the really green water, got nervous and than wondered..."why am i doing this again." at 8:05 i entered the water. i decided that i was going to enjoy my swim so i let most of the swimmers ahead of me go so i could just get into the grove and enjoy the cool water. i finished the swim in 8:38. got on my bike and made it a goal to pass 10 people while biking. thus, i hammered it out! i did pass 11 total people, finishing the bike in 46:something! i was pumped! than of course the sun came out, the wind died down, the heat index went up and off to the run i went. i hate running. my body was not made to run. i am top heavy (for those of you that know me) and it hurts...my knee was bugging me from lifting hard with my trainer on Wednesday so that didn't help - and it was HOT; my feet felt like they were on fire. (note to self, where socks...don't save time in your transition....put them on!). i have no real excuses besides the fact that i really suck at running!!!!! i finished the 3.2 miles in 41 minutes ( i am not sure why i am even admitting that to you all). embarssing!!!!! total time, including my transitions was 1 hour 37 minutes and 12 seconds. my goal was to finish under 1 hour 30 minutes....so again, i did not meet my goal. i was thinking about it afterwards and wondered why i do triathlons. what is my purpose in doing them? do i enjoy them? why if i hate running so much? it was a good conversation i had with myself while waiting for my friend Scott to meet up with me for lunch (he lives in fairimont about 45 minutes away). i am not sure of my conclusions yet. but i do know that i do them for self satisfaction and to keep myself disciplined and in somekind of shape. i have a hard time when i finished 9th to last....and cant finished three miles in under 35 minutes...i have a hard time not letting the competitive side of me get the best of me. i am 32 years old and i love swimming. and i love biking. is the enjoyment in doing those things enough. or should i remain competitive. and what about the running peice; how do i get better? any answers!!!!! i am in wonder at why i do some of the things i do! huh??????? (sorry no pictures)

GIRLS WEEKEND

On (last) Friday after i handed in my keys and checked out with administration, got in my car and headed south to Heather's house. There we got into her car and headed to the airport. There we meet up with Tammy Sue and got on a plane and headed east to Chicago! Girls weekend!!!!! a weekend away. a weekend of crazy cab rides, tons of people, lots and lots of shopping, sore feet and calf's, tall buildings, great drinks, great food, great dessert, great conversation, the navy pier, time to sleep in (although i did not...my body always seems to wake up at 7:00ish, no matter what), a weekend of fluffy pillows and blankets, the blues festival, sun tanned feet, niketown, sharing food, and of course experiencing the subway/train system that runs throughout Chicago. this picture is of course the most popular corner in all of Chicago- or so we were told!


of course i am addicted to niketown and of course when we stopped in to 'shop' i had to get myself some new shoes. these are sweet kicks...or so my students would say! there are the new Nike Free style- which are super light. they are not really made for training, but are suppose to toughen up and rebuild muscles in your feet- and i have been having some arch issues so thought i'd give them a try, + they look cool on my feet.

on of our afternoons we spent getting make overs at Nordstrom's. of course, we loved it and of course had to buy $25 worth of products so we could get a free little bag with make-up goodies in it. so fun. and dont we look great. ok, my old college roommates look good- me on the other hand can use a more 'intense' make over.

isn't this a great picture? there bye far are the most expensive drinks ever! we went up to a bar called 65 floor in one of the tallest building to get a view of the city. Chicago is a massive city, and the view was great! our drinks took us almost 2 hours to down and cost us $38 total. insane huh! but it was worth it!

so this is Buckingham fountain...i think it is called that. anyone know if this is the same fountain that is on the TV show called 'Married with Children'...at the beginning of the show? is it the fountain. we weren't sure, but it sure does look like it. anyways- right around the corner was the blues festival...not that that is why we went to Chicago, cuz it wasn't. but it was cool- good music, great hot dogs and tons and tons of people to watch. so there you have our girls weekend in a nut shell.

Allan

I love it when good friends show up in town and a spur of the moment get together is called. Allan, who was a foreign exchange student from Costa Rica when I was a 10th grader in high school was in town. We got together for some dinner in Stillwater MN- good times. Allan and i have stayed in contact through the years, but don't get to see each other much. He is still so much fun and has so many ideas! He currently works for a moving company that is out of Washington State, is married and seems to be enjoying life! One of my most vivid memories of the 10th grade is of Allan. It was his going away party... i was in tears cuz i didn't want to say goodbye. we exchanged quarters (i gave him a US one, and he gave me a Costa Rica one...whatever they are called) and hugged each other and told each other we'd stay in touch....i still have my Costa Rica quarter and we still stay in touch. Some day I am going to head to Costa Rica to visit his stomping grounds- that will be fun. anyways- i am sooooo tired. not much else to say. headed out to Chicago tomorrow with Heather and Tammy for girls weekend. that'll be a hoot. till than. goodnight! Love you Allan!

Oh yeah- Praise the good Lord- it was the last day of school today. Man oh man, do i need a break from that place. I love teaching, i love my kids, i love what i do...but a break couldnt be needed more. yahhh- summer is here!!!!

my weekend

lots happened this weekend so i am going to sum everything up in one blog.

i was suppose to go to my friends cabin this weekend and thankfully enough...we decided not to go. so Friday after work i came home...was hoping to go workout, but decided i needed to do some shopping, so went to target and cub. while at cub i got the coolest blessing ever. that's rightyou see a $100 bill. i was walking in the parking lot and there at my feet was a hundee (slang for $100). i picked it up...heart was racing...looked around to see if anyone was around, and no one was in the parking lot. does that every happen? i was the only one there. so...after looking around and waiting, i put the bill in my pocket and did my shopping. the bill covered my cub and target adventures. nice!!!! who thinks it was bad of me to take the bill? anyone? after shopping i spent a very lonely, but needed, evening in my home. cleaned, did the dishes...ya know- daily chores that get piled up during the week and get put on hold. i than feel asleep on the couch at around 9:30- how boring am i?

Saturday i woke up at 6:00 and decided I'd make good use of my time. did a little reading and than got ready to go workout with my trainer. her name is Fawn and let me tell you she is nothing like a fawn. (the deer, get it!!! hehehehe) she worked my butt off and almost made me throw up. i was a bit light headed and needed some food intake during my 1 hour 10 minute workout with her. she is insane, but i love her. our goal is to whip my body into shape and see if i can lose about 35-40 pounds in the next 3 months. we will see. that afternoon, after a much needed shower and some lunch, i went over to a friends house. there a bunch of us are painting. Just tyring to do a good deed and help a freind out with some house upkeep. here Sara and Heidi are having a good time painting, not to color we planned, but painted it anyways. had a good time with one another working hard to make a friends house look nice. while there a shared my $100 story and my friend Nate said "ya better tithe"... i ended my evening with the Anderson family; eating at Don Pablo's. yummy

Sunday i woke up at 6:30, again....and started in on grad school. i have spent so many hours reading out of this book already and we are only half done. grad school is a whole heck of a lot of

paper work. i am learning bits and pieces here and there, but could totally do with out the papers. yuck. so all morning i read and drank coffee. at 10:30 i got in the car to go to church. there i was challenged with forgiveness...which is something i have been thinking a lot about due to a circumstance at work. it's a long story! don't ask. and i took Nate's advice and tithed the $100- so....that was good. came back home and did more grad school work til 5:00 and decided i needed a much needed break and went to the gym to get in a 3 mile run. my butt was on fire from my the butt kicking i got yesterday but it felt good....a bad good, if ya get what i mean. that brings me to now....watching a bit of tv, blogging - than off to bed. got a big week at work. last week of school- cant wait! ready for summer!!!!