Four

Photo: Ginger guarding the presents ... and sleeping on the job. All she does is sleep. :)


I woke up this morning around 10am thinking that I'd just take the day off from working out. After 2 hours of morning tv, I headed back to bed for another hour, and then sat in the living room with my mom for a couple more hours until Ryan started recording our old family VHS tapes to cds. Some of those were pretty funny to watch. One of the tapes was entitled "The Bickerstaff Family 1954-1967" ... which featured a dog jumping on my dad when he was a few weeks old. Haha.


After basically just sitting all day I ended up going to the Wellness Center. My mom was going to do the beginner spin class so I told her I'd join her. So, I went around 3:30pm to swim 3000 yards and then lifted weights. After that it was on to the spin room with my mom. As we were finishing the class, my dad came into the room because he was doing the 6pm spin class. Somehow he convinced me to stay for a SECOND spin class -- and spin classes are never easy. After 4 workouts in 4 hours, I have to say that my body was beat. Luckily my mom had made one of my favorite dinners -- homemade hamburgers, baked beans, and waffle fries! and right now I'm extremely stuffed. I'm curious as to how my body will feel in the morning as my recent workouts have had no intensity to them like the spin class does.

Okay ... back to watching Texas defeat Arizona St.

Sarah :)

Merry Christmas!

Technically I still have about half an hour until it's no longer Christmas. I hope everyone had a blessed holiday!!!

My family and I attended Christmas Eve service last night at 7pm ... it's always nice to see all the people at your home church whome you haven't seen in a year. After that the Bickerstaff tradition is to come home and open presents! We also drink wine, egg nog, and this year's snack was cheese ball! I think everyone got some really nice gifts. I know I loved all of mine!! :) I got a lot of swim stuff, a sweater and another shirt for work, a hand held vacuum, and season 3 of The Office! I had decoupaged some wine bottles for my parents that had a bunch of pictures of our family on them. I like to surprise people with stuff they wouldn't expect. I hope my parents enjoy them... I tried really hard to make the present special.

I got Ryan one of my favorite books of all time "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. I had read it right out of high school and think it's just an amazing book. It's one of those that after each page you literally have to stop and let the words soak in. My old Pastor in Alva got me hooked on his books. He had given me "The Screwtape Letters" my senior year of high school as a Christmas present and I loved it. I would highly recommend both of those books. In fact, I think I'm going to re-read them soon. I just hope Ryan takes the time to read it. It's hard to shop for him. We see each other about once a year and rarely ever talk -- except for birthdays. I really wish we had a better sibling relationship, but I don't know what else to do at times to make him realize that I'm an okay person. I feel like I've tried and tried but each time I feel like I just fail ... then someone told me once that sometimes you just have to accept another person's behavior and thoughts and realize that it might not be anything you did ... just how that person operates. So, perhaps Ryan doesn't hate me ... perhaps we just operate completely different in life and with people that it's hard for us to get along. At least that's what I have to tell myself so that I don't get sad.

On a happier note, though. I'm really thankful for all the calls, texts, messages, etc that I received today from all my friends. It's so nice to hear from everyone -- even if it's just a simple "Merry Christmas" greeting :)

Oh! and I'm really trying to make it back to Penn State for Blue and White weekend. It's sometime in mid-April and I'm hoping that a ton of my old roomies and alumni friends come back that same weekend. In fact, I probably won't be going unless ya'll come back ... so everyone will have to let me know their plans. A lot has to fall nicely into place in order for me to go --- plane ticket prices are outrageous! So, hopefully it'll all work out and I'll be able to spend a couple days in good ole Happy Valley with some amazing people. :)

Remember the reason for the season.
God Bless,
Sarah :)

Scanner

I really wish my family had a scanner at home. I was looking at pictures from 1985-1988 this evening (2-5 years of age) and basically I have discovered I was a pretty awesome toddler. I should probably confirm that with my parents before I post it to the world, but I just love looking at old pictures. Things I've learned today from pictures:

1. I had no hair on my head until I was 2.
2. I went through a phase where I thought it was awesome to close one eye with my finger in pictures.
3. My corrective shoes had a black stripe.
4. I was scared of our own dog.
5. When I was 5 I was taller than our backyard tree. Now I'm 24 and the treet is about 6 times as tall as me.
6. I loved putting glue on construction paper with a q-tip and then putting packing peanuts on the glue.
7. My mom made some pretty fancy birthday cakes.
8. My brother and I had to wear EXTREMELY BRIGHT ORANGE hoodie jackets when we played outside.
9. I surprised my parents when I was 4 by riding a bike with no training wheels ... when they didn't know I could.
10. There's a picture of me looking 25% alive because I was so sick. It's actually pretty cute -- me with a blotchy, over heating puffy cheek face ... an ice pack on my head .. covered with stuffed animals (because they were the cure for everything) ... and of course a sippy cup. Being 2 and a half or being 24... being sick is the story of my life.
11. My mom liked to include the camera case in numerous photos.
12. At the age of 4 I was a space dragon for Halloween. The pictures look like I was wearing aluminum foil.
13. Even back then I acted silly in half of my pictures.
14. 80% of the furniture in my apartment came from the pictures between 1983-1987.
15. In 1987 I got a ginormous wooden house that my dad built for my little tiny doll toys. I can't think of the name of them right now... but I loved those things! That same Christmas I got my good ole stuffed animal Snoopy. It looked much fluffier and angel white 2 decades ago... it's been loved a lot since then.

And ... there's so more. Every time I come home I have to look at basically all the pictures ever taken in our family.

Home is still going okay. Basically I sleep in, workout, eat, take a nap, workout, watch tv, take pictures of my dog, and catch up with as many people as I can. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, which for my family means gift opening! And with presents comes egg nog! I gave my parents gifts they would never expect this year so I'm excited to see their reactions.

Merry Christmas Eve-Eve! :)

Sarah

Snow and wind

So, I wasn't planning on leaving Omaha until this morning so I didn't bother packing Thursday night. Well, when I got back from work Friday afternoon, I realized that a blizzard was going to be rolling through NE, KS, and OK. This was around 3:30 as we all left early; however, I was sooooo very sleepy so I knew I had to take a nap before I attempted driving 450 miles. I ended up finally leaving (took me FOREVER to pack my car with all the stuff I needed to bring home) around 6:30pm. Which made for a 1:30am arrival with a bit of speeding involved. ;)

But now I'm here in good ole Alva, Oklahoma. It's snowing with 40mph wind gust. Nothing like home. :) I'll be home for a little over a week and hope to relax and stroll around my little town as much as possible. I'll probably make frequent visits to the Wellness center to workout as well... thank goodness for an indoor pool! (Though I will miss my YMCA for awhile ... love that place.)

I finally finished mailing out all my Christmas cards earlier this week and hopefully everyone will receive theirs before Christmas day. Evidently the mail service gets a little slow this time of year. But, I like to keep in touch with lots of people so hopefully everyone will enjoy their little notes ... and adorable cards this year. :)

Well, I better get to that indoor pool I was speaking of... now that my car isn't filled with snow... I must have accidently hit the window handle when I was taking all my stuff out of my car last night. Luckily my Dad saw it when he got up to run at 8am ... so he cleared off the nice layer of snow in my backseat. lol

Oh! and check out this band...
http://www.myspace.com/oxygeno2
I like.

Sarah :)

Nice

I'm overly nice. I admit it. I like to make people smile. I like to make people feel special. So I try my best.
Some people only try to cheer up those that outwardly look sad. But I know others might need it as well.
I know many times I've been a mess inside but outwardly could present myself as I'm the happiest person on Earth -- partly because I giggle at everything.
I do random things for people. Send them little notes in the mail. Give random things.
Try to put a smile on my face as I pass people. But mostly I like to let people know what they mean to me.

I just finished sending out all my Christmas cards. Most of the people I send cards to are the ones I only might see once or twice a year. So when I'm pulling their name from the address book, I get a chance to sit and reflect about shared memories and how that person has helped me grow to who I am today. And so I like to tell people straight up how meaningful they are to me ... and if they are to me, then they are to the world.

Sometimes I think people think I'm crazy for being so upfront. Maybe it's because most people don't share their thoughts every day... I don't know.
It's like the old lady at Barnes and Noble who always has a million magazines or books on her table in the Starbucks Cafe ... I've never told her this, but I appreciate her presence so much. I believe she might be a bit mentally impaired, but I am greatful on the days that we are there at the same time as she reminds me of how simple life can be and how complicated we tend to make our lives.

Anyways... I just finished my cards and wonder what people feel when they receive that little note. I'll end with one of my favorite quotes of all time:

"I do honestly believe that people enter our lives for a reason. That everyone who we meet, who forms an impression, has something to teach us. Everything that happens to us is an experience, and because of that it can never be bad. An experience can only be good because it all serves to shape the person that we are, the person that we become."

And that is precisely why I'm so very greatful for so many people ... no matter how short their stint in my life might have been.

A big thanks... to everyone.
Sarah

Oh December

Photo: Always in my heart.

Dear December ... you have been a tough one.

I attended my Grandma's burial and then memorial service last week in Kansas. Saddest 2 days of my life. However, I don't think I'm as much sad for her as she is no longer here as I am for all the people she had blessed throughout her life. My Grandpa gave me her wedding band that was built into a necklace. I'm going to wear it with pride. Being in her house was very hard as well ... none of her praying to wake up to, or questions about my life, or her crazy casserole dishes, or her ever so distinctive voice. As I look at her picture on my desk though, I can only be happy that she is up in heaven in perfect peace.

I finished up my Christmas present shopping this past weekend and I only have one or two more Christmas card to send out. My list isn't nearly as long as my Grandma's was (152 people! ... with hand written notes in each one!) but I must admit that I tend to go on and on in my letters and so my hand is kinda getting sore.

My eyes have opened up a bit in life lately and it's hard to take it all in. Some days I can think I have a wonderful life and other days I feel like I'm messing up somewhere. Those of you who know me well know about my struggles ... and somedays are good and some are bad. I guess all I can do is pray about it. There are so many good things in this life on Earth to let certain things get to you.

Anyway, it's been a crazy learning month for me and I guess those come around every once in a while to put us back up on our feet. Check out "Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley. Pretty sweet song.

Trying to smile ...

Sarah

Rest in Peace Grandma... You're up in Heaven Now

I miss you.

Rachel Bickerstaff

December 11, 1921 - December 7, 2007

Update

Received a card from my Grandpa and Aunt Connie (who is staying with them to help my Grandpa out). My Aunt wrote "... your Grandma wanted to make sure that her Christmas cards got out. I am so glad she keeps good records. Otherwise I'd be in trouble. Now that she is in her own room she made sure the picture you drew [for her] that says "Jesus Loves You" is taped to the wall so she can see it. So between Grandpa and I we're getting her cards out. Wow she knows so many people."

Guess I just wanted to fortify the fact that my Grandma kept in touch with so many people her entire life no matter how little she saw them and no matter if they ever wrote back. I want to be like her.

I need a HUG.

Picture: Christmas Break 2006. Grandma and I were practicing goofy faces for the camera.

Well, a week ago I wrote and was as happy as could be. But then life just started going downhill... I was having high hopes but my Dad called me yesterday to inform me that my Grandma only has a few days left. Below there's a post from my Thanksgiving visit with Grandma.... She was doing much better the next couple of days in ICU and got her breathing tubes out. She even got OUT of ICU. Right now she has an oxygen mask and they inserted the feeding tube again to give her some energy.

My family sent her some balloons on Tuesday and my Grandpa and Aunt said that she smiled and faintly acknowledged the gift, but that she's barely grasping their hands any more when they hold her hand. Carbon dioxide is building up in her lungs and she seems to be slowly slipping away. Today she had a slightly better report which was good to hear but it's hard to accept that when it seems it's just a matter of time. If she continues to fade my Dad will have to make the decision to pull her off life support and let her die a natural death.

I've never really had anyone close to me pass away, especially someone so holy as my Grandma. She was the type of Grandma that when I would visit I would wake up to the sound of her unforgettable voice praying aloud to God to be with her loved ones and ones she didn't know. She gave me my first Bible. When I didn't want to play pinnocle with the rest of the family she would sit and play cribbage with me. She made the best watermelon rolls which I still have yet to attempt to make. She wrote to me every single month once I left home to let me know she loved me and that I was always in her prayers. She would make me crochetted everything. Once she made me a green hat (see pic below) that evidently I wore every night for a summer waking up with a pool of sweat on my head. She seemed more connected to her extended relatives than anyone I've ever known. I gave her a penn state t-shirt my freshman year for Christmas and even though I accidently bought an XL... she still wore it when I would visit to show me she appreciated it. Every time I would visit in college she would always ask if I had a "special friend" which would make me smile because of her curiosity.

My parents stopped in Junction City to visit my dad's parents on their way up to visit me in September. I was surprised to see a sad looking dog my brother and I had named Samuel in my parents' car. It was the stuffed animal Ryan and I would always fight over. Every time I would visit in college my Grandma would always ask me what I wanted of hers (she always had this negative view of how her life seemed to becoming closer to its end that all of us would just chuckle about because she was fine and healthy). I never really wanted anything of hers ... like the china she gave me and other things like that. So I mentioned to her once, that the ONE thing that will forever remind me of her is SAMUEL. She gave Samuel to my parents in September to give to me because (in her negative view) she might not be alive to give it to me. I went down to see her and my Grandpa towards the end of October while my parents were there for my Dad's 35th high school reunion. That was the last time I saw her as a whole... as the Grandma I grew to know...

Her and I watching TV while my parents were at the reunion stuff. Her asking me about my job and me asking her stories from when she was younger. Her putting her little boombox to her ear so she could hear the football game on the radio and all of a sudden hearing "YES!!!" when her team scored. I love that memory. It truely makes me smile.

So when my Dad called yesterday I felt like I should go down there immediately so I could see her one last time. After talking to him awhile though and contemplating it I realized that I don't want that atmosphere to be my last memory of her. I did see her twice over Thanksgiving, with the first time me being a crying mess, but the 2nd time with all of us showing smiles because she looked so much better. So as much as I want to go see her, she might not even know I'm there and I don't know if I can handle that feeling. She knows I love her and that we're all praying for her. I just wonder what she's thinking right now... like if she's wanting all of us there but just can't communicate that. She doesn't have enough energy to talk, yet I know she wants to talk and I just don't want her to go. I only saw her a couple times a year but I like to think it made each visit that much more special.

I feel so sad for Grandma but then I almost feel worse for my Dad who has to make the power of attorney decision, my uncle who is unable to see his own mother, and my Grandpa who calls her "B" and has been married for 62 years to her.

She's alive right now and I am praying for a miracle, but I guess I'm writing all of this now because in a few days I might not ever feel like writing it, and I want the world to know that Rachel Bickerstaff was a pretty damn good and loving Grandma.

So, right now I just need a friend to hug. This is one of those moments when it sucks to live by yourself. A shoulder to cry on or a friendly hug is quite comforting. And right now that's all I want.

Picture: THE green hat that my Grandma made and that I would wear ALL the time.

The Title of My Blog

It says "Always Smiling" ... and that's just what I did for the past 5 hours. So, I thought the world should know...

I think life just got a big tad bit better ... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMycfdNdlKA

My life this week started off in the most unwanted way ... and ... well, as my Dad says...
YOU have to MAKE it a good day.

Smile.
Sarah

Make It a Good Day.

The title says it. So does Samuel. That face is to die for. lol :)

The Past Week

Picture: My Grandpa and Grandma Bickerstaff ... with Samuel :)

Well, a lot of things both good and bad have happened over the past week or so. I won't get into all of them but let's just say it's been a bumpy road and I'm glad I can pray about it...

Thanksgiving was really nice. It was great to actually be with my family for Thanksgiving in Kansas City... the first time since 2001! I wasn't able to do the Thanksgiving Day 5K that I had been training for because I was still recovering from my stress fracture, but I was able to stop wearing my walking boot! Ryan got 6th overall I think and my Dad ran a lot faster than he thought he would. Go Family Go! :) While Ryan and Dad were running, my Mom and I walked Ginger around... and accidently let her pee on someone's sweatshirt...Oops! Ginger was quite popular at the race though. She's basically the best dog ever.

My other Grandma -- my Dad's Mom -- got really sick the week of Thanksgiving and had to go to the ICU in Topeka, KS. It was really hard to see my 85 year old Grandma with a breathing tube and being so sedated. There was a bucket of stuff they were draining from her lungs -- they think she has non-infectious tuberculosis. It was sad. I cried lots the first visit but had better spirits for the 2nd. I've been praying a lot and I ask you to do the same. She's the type of Grandma who writes every month to every person in her extended family, no matter if you ever write back, because she wants you to know she loves you. A couple months ago she gave me her stuffed animal named Samuel that my brother and I used to fight over each time we visited her. I love that dog. It really means a lot to me.

It was really hard to be alone when I came back to Omaha on Saturday. Being around so many loved ones and then going back to being by yourself is quite hard. It kind of put me in a "I don't care about anything" mood. Not so good.

I started to feel sick Sunday night -- probably from the lack of sleep over Thanksgiving -- and now it has turned into the full Bickerstaffiosis (as Dr. Jeff calls it). It's my usual sore throat that turns into a nonstop runny nose that will then subside to just draining down my throat and then I'll develop a cough. I've been through this a couple times a year from since I was little so I feel like I'm quite used to it. :)

Other than that, I made a new friend this week which is great, it's Christmas season which is AMAZING!, and I'm going ice skating this weekend outside downtown.

Looking forward to getting a better life...

Sarah

Joe and Lou

Spring 2004 collegiate cycling season:
Basically every weekend for 8 weeks I spent with these 2 guys and Lou's girlfriend in a car driving to cycling races all over the northeast. They had made a cd entitled "Madonna's Like a Prayer x 17" ... yes, 17 repeats. EVERYTIME I hear this song it's all I can think about.

Sometimes... they even danced...

Bar Drink Run Pizza Run

Tracey just reminded me that when ever she's out in downtown State College it reminds her of me running. Because I would ALWAYS run. Everywhere. At night. It was always cold. And I would always end up at Canyon Pizza. And then run home. Sometimes I would ride my bike to the bar and run with my bike home. Probably because it wasn't safe for me to be riding my bike at that time. Always running... and LAUGHING! I always had to laugh when I ran because for some reason I would find it hilarious that I was running and everyone else was walking and that I could potentially beat them home and be warm again sooner. But I would end up stopping, cracking up laughing and trying to catch my breath, run back to my friends and then just repeat. You laughing yet? Just picture it. This is why I miss Penn State and my many friends I made there.

Jimmy Stewart

I have made a goal for myself. To watch every Jimmy Stewart movie...

He's like one of my favorite actors ever. And I love his voice.

Here are some photos of him.So far I've seen:

- It's a Wonderful Life

- Rear Window

- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

- Harvey

- The Greatest Show on Earth

Evidently the Omaha Public Library has a handful of them ... so yay!

Okay, that's it. Short post. It's my goal.

People

I have 2 friends back at Penn State -- Tracey and Kelly -- who I keep in touch with quite often because somehow we all seem to lead parallel lives -- especially Kelly and I. Kelly and I became great friends last February after we shared our heartache stories that of course were happening at the same time (the whole parallelness thing). We always seemed to make our way to Barnes and Noble (hence why I LOVE that place so much ... so many memories ... both good and bad actually) to "study", which actually usually ended in us talking about life situations and how to deal with them. Awesome friend she is.

Photo: Kelly and I.

Photo: Tracey and I at a "P is for Party Party" i.e. dress up as something that starts with a P (hence me being a penguin and tracey in pajamas).

Well, both of these women have some pretty amazing and enlightening words. I was corresponding with Tracey last weekend about how I hate how people leave our lives when we don't want them to and we have no control over it. She then told me this quote (which actually comes from some poem, but it's still good and made me think):

"People come into our lives for a season, a reason, or a lifetime."

So this really got me thinking and helped to ease my mind of those I may never talk to again. I'm sure whoever is reading this can put people they have met in life in each of these categories.

For me there are people like some past roommates who I probably won't keep in touch with much, but taught me valuable lessons of how to deal with uncooperative people. Or someone in a semester class that always had something interesting and new to say and taught you little bits of information that made you think, but more than likely I'll never see or talk to that person again. Those are the reason people.

I think the reason and season people go kinda together. I have an ex-bf that was in my life for a "season" and 6 months post-ending the relationship (on my accord) he decided that me in his life was over. Of course, I have a problem with this as I never like it when people leave my life. But I can think of it as he was in my life for a set amount of time to teach me a set amount of things and that was his sole purpose for me. Being in contact now would probably do us both no good at all ... so I guess that's where contact ends ... when your need for each other ends for both people. I also had a person come into my life this past spring... just somewhat of a friend who I met in a class. After my above said "heartache" I needed to be around a completely new set of people and this person provided that. Over time I'm sure our contact will fade, but I'm the type of person who will feel forever indebt and forever thankful for this type of person because they came in just when I needed them -- without them even knowing how they were helping me.

And then there are the lifetime people ... like Tracey and Kelly. They are in my life for many seasons and for many reasons but there's also a bond there that will keep them in my life forever. These are the people I treasure the most. You are constantly learning from them and can always depend on them to be there for you ... no matter how far the distance. Like my best buddy from college -- Jeff --- who I've known since the 2nd week of my freshman year of college. He was always there for me at Penn State and even after he graduated he still let me come home to his family for Thanksgiving in Baltimore when I couldn't be with mine. I know I can call good ole Dr. Jeff up for anything (and usually medicial stuff ... cause he will be a doctor eventually ;) ). I like to think I'm just giving him extra practice with all of my injuries and illnesses. So I'm extra thankful for the lifetime people. I know they'll never leave, and even if we are out of contact for awhile, I know in time we'll be back in contact like no time had ever past.

I love these people. :)

So to the reason, season, and especially the lifetime people... thanks for being in my life -- no matter how you affected it ... you were in it for a purpose. And for that, I can only treasure you.

Chocolate and Bananas

I have an addiction to slim fast chocolate shakes. They are delicious. You mix it with milk and ice and you have one heck of a healthy treat! Sometimes I even put in a banana and get even MORE healthiness going on. I also like rum on occasion. So last night I didn't have anything to mix my rum in ... and then I thought, "If I can put bananas in my slim fast shakes, then why can't I replace the bananas with Banana Rum?"

So I did. About 2-3 shots of rum + filling the rest of the 8 ounces with milk + about half a scoop of shake mix + 2 handfuls of ice = AWESOME.

End of Rum Banana Slim Fast story.

The Weekend

My weekend wasn't very eventful ... productive, but not eventful. I like to get lots of stuff done on the weekends which I've been pretty good at lately. I pay all my bills, clean, swim, go to church, watch football, sleep in, and basically organize everything that became unorganized over the week. Yeah, real world is cool like that. This weekend I spent lots of time at my second home -- Barnes and Noble -- LOVE that place! Saturday I got a Peppermint Mocha around 4pm before church, and I was completely wired until about 1am. It had 2 espressos mixed in it... not such a good idea. I had really wanted to go out and do something Saturday because I had so much caffeinated energy but everyone seemed to be out of town or busy. Bummer.

I've decided that weekends are a bit weird in the real world when you're living by yourself. You have to make your own structure to the day and make a huge effort to socialize with the rest of society. I was wondering this weekend how my other friends are handling it after graduation... then I realized that I'm kinda singled out when it comes to my situation. That is, all my friends went to grad school, or living with their parents while working, or followed their significant other, or live so close back to Penn State that they have mini reunions with their college friends a couple times a month. As for me, I seem to be on a completely different road. Moved to a place where I didn't know a single person, living by myself, home is 450 miles away, penn state is 1000 miles away, and I'm not constantly surrounded by 40,000 other people my age. I'm surrounded by engaged friends and women who are married with children. I love these people, of course, but when it comes to finding someone in your same situation... that's where life becomes hard. I really do like Omaha, though... I think it just takes a little longer to adjust to a life where you feel like you're by yourself. Life isn't as much handed to me now ... I have to create it.

But anyways, this weekend was one of those when I wish I had a roommate. Nothing too much to look forward to this week ... I'm hoping for lots of good stories from work though. There's always something crazy going on there.

Smile at the next person you see -- no matter who they are. You just might make a person's day.

Fun Day at ConAgra

Photo: Atul giving his acceptance speech in front of the turkey plastered door of Al Bolles.

Photo: Al presenting the turkey to Atul. (Notice the turkey in Al's hand.)

Once a month the Refrigerated Group (egg beaters, reddi-wip, snack pack pudding, swiss miss pudding, and swiss miss cocoa) has a Fun Day. Jen and I are in charge of organizing each month's fun day and this month's was awesome. Well, as awesome as it can get for a Fun Day with coworkers ...some of which we are FORCED to have fun with.

So Jen and I collaborated on some ideas and settled on eating pizza from Zio's, playing Cranium (teams of which Jen and I cleverly picked. haha), and making turkeys! Originally, we were to make turkeys out of our hands and feet (see example). For the people not from the U.S.A., who may not have made one of these in grade school, I quickly made one as an example because at the beginning of the Fun Day Jen and I had to run to go get the pizza. So, we left the group with the instructions and left them all of the supplies. To our surprise, when we came back everyone had pretty much made their own spin on the craft. My fav was David's turkey feathers made of circles which ended up looking like the turkey had a bunch of balloons onto it and was floating away -- he called it "abstract art". Jen's was also pretty awesome and had a country kick to it. :)

We then announced that there would be a special award (homemade turkey craft by Jen made from aluminum foil, packing peanuts, toothpicks, and reddi-wip caps) ... and inspired by The Office. After everyone was nearly finished we then informed the group that the Official Judge would be Al Bolles (Executive VP of RQI who reports directly to the CEO of ConAgra). Al wasn't aware he was going to be judging the turkeys, but we talked to his administrative assistant (Karen) and she said we had about 10 minutes to hang all the turkeys on the door before Al came back from a meeting. We watched him walk into his office without even noticing all of the turkeys on his door (haha). He then came out once he looked up from his desk. We then informed him that we would NOT be taking down the turkeys until he chose the winner. He picked Atul's turkey so Jen and I quickly decided that Al should officially present the homemade turkey prize to Atul in front of the group. So, we gathered everyone up, into Al Bolles' office and had the presentation.

Okay, so after writing all of this out, it doesn't seem like all that great of a story, but I guess you had to be there and being in charge of all of the craziness was quite the accomplishment. haha. I guess it also helps to understand the type of personality of the people in our group... and the hilariousness of trying to play board games with them. haha. Anyways, the pictures above give a glimpse of the fun.

Enjoy ... it's the weekend!

Flu Shots with the CEO of ConAgra

We didn't have too many comments on Mr. P.C. today, but Kerstin (see previous post) did dress rather nicely with a skirt and high boots for Hump Day. Haha. Jen and I got lost going to Corporate storage for my shelf life testing of some pudding. We missed the turn and ended up in the worst part of town. When I started noticing street signs that I had hear on the local news, I knew we should probably find the road we needed to be on.

Today I was also in charge of arranging our monthly Fun Day, which happens to be this Friday. It more or less becomes "forced fun day" as it's hard to have your regular type of fun (the fun we have each day in the lab) when people who aren't so much fun are also celebrating "fun day" with you. But for this Friday for 2 hours at work, we're playing Cranium, eating pizza, and making hand/foot turkeys out of construction paper. Yeah, ConAgra's Dairy group is cool like that. I'm excited that I actually get paid for making turkeys and playing games. Cool job, eh?

The past three weeks I've been pretty good at waking up and swimming at the Y before work. In order to do this, though, I basically need to be asleep around 1opm and that just hasn't been happening this week. Otherwise I'll probably just get sick from a lack of sleep, so this week I've been going straight to the pool after work. Today there was a college lady getting into the pool who wasn't very nice to me ... she also jumped into the lane that I was JUST about to put my stuff down in. Argh! But, I don't like that lane anyway (yes, I do have a favorite lane even though it's all in the same water), so I brushed it off my shoulder pretty quickly. I did descending sets today -- 500, 400, 300, 300, 100 in 7:32, 6:00, 4:25, 2:55, and 1:24 ...all with 30sec inbetween. For only my 4th week of swimming I was pleased with those times AND I swam the furthest this season (3400 yards :)).

My arm still hurts from my flu shot yesterday. Everyone with insurance at ConAgra gets a free flu shot, and out of the 1500 people who work downtown, I just happened to be getting my shot at the same time as Gary Rodkin -- aka CEO of ConAgra. We're close buddies now. First a pool party at the COO's house and now flu shots with the CEO. I'm moving up rather quickly. HAHA

I was bummed that the CMT awards were on tonight ... took away my fav Wednesday night shows. Haha. Tomorrow should be a fun evening -- typical Thursday evening with Jen watching The Office. Best show ever, no doubt.

On a completely different note, I read an article today about some school taking away the game "Tag" from schools because kids could get hurt playing. Geezums!!! No wonder the little kids these days are obese. They are taught that the only safe place is sitting on a chair doing nothing. Well, I'm full proof that you can get hurt doing absolutely anything. I've never been hurt playing tag, but I'm pretty good at smashing my fingers in my guitar case and falling going upstairs at work ... anyways, I just thought that was crazy.

Smile like you mean it. :)

Wheatfields and humping

Today = good day at work. Well, it was a better than usual day with lots of laughs ... mostly inspired by Jen and myself. Five of us ladies went to this bakery and eatery called Wheatfields down in Papillion for lunch. Evidently it was nearly a 30 minute drive just to get there, so it was an extra long lunch. The food was super yummy though and on Tuesdays they have loaves of bread for ONE DOLLAR!!! The bread is amazing so it was quite the deal. Not sure if it's just an Omaha thing but I'd definitely check it out... their Swiss Salad is especially delightful.

Other humorous moments included David (our guy from Tanzania that makes Egg Beaters) describing how wonderful he is and how great "his people" are. He also likes to make up stories and try to confuse Jen and I, but we make up our own stories about him so it makes for one great big fun story... "The David Kirunda Story."

We also have this giant PINK blow up Crab at work... it arrived one day back in the spring before Jen or myself were working there. Something about how for a "fun day" they decorated the lab in sea stuff. Anyway, somehow the crab and this blow up fish have survived. I decided to steal the crab from the main lab workbench to the top of my cube so that everyone could see this giant pink thing. Of course ... Jen has even a better idea and decides that we should have the crab holding a sign saying something different each day. Because most of the people are gone by 4:30pm we decided to go ahead and make our first sign -- "Happy Hump Day, November 7, 2007". Not very original ... however, we have already discovered from the last few minutes of work that people from Tanzania (David) and another coworker Kerstin (from Germany) don't know what "hump day" stands for but have a pretty good understanding of the word "humping". Therefore, we are looking forward to what the people from countries other than the U.S.A. think of our signs. Kerstin already informed us that she was going to put her kids in a room watching a movie and tell her husband about this official "hump" day.

Ahh... good times at ConAgra. I'll get a picture of the crab tomorrow. We've named him Mr. P.C. (for pink crab of course).

On another note... I continue to somehow make geriatric friends. Today it was some 70 year old guy at the YMCA pool in an American flag speedo. He wanted to know if I breathe out of both sides when I swim. Then he told me he wasn't too good at it, but that his daughter could. I should get him in touch with my Barnes and Noble geriatric friends. I think they'd have a good time

Smile :)

My life stopped for a moment, so did my blog

Photos 1st, writing 2nd.

Photo: Me and some of my coworkers on Halloween.

Photo: ConAgra takes its employees on a "boat cruise" ... therefore I sit on the pelican since we have the same footwear

Photo: Jen and I after the Monster Dash 5K ... the last time I was able to run.

Photo: Me with my 1st place award! Spooky!

Photo: The Rowes at Soma ... the condos across the street from me.

Photo: Changed up the living room set-up a little bit.

Photo: My walking boot that I have to wear until who knows when.

Photo: Omaha neighborhood in the fall.

Question: What do you do when you don't have anything exciting happening in your life?

Answer: You don't update your blog.

Actually, there are many happenings and stories I could tell over the past 3 months since I've written but they'll all fall into place eventually. To sum things up in 4 categories:

Work:

I'm still in Omaha and working as a food scientist at ConAgra. More specifically I formulate Snack Pack and Swiss Miss pudding and other secret projects that I can't tell you about. I LOVE the people I work with, i.e. the people in my lab. As for working in the corporate world... I'd like to know what those higher up people are thinking when they hire our managers and directors. Perhaps it's all in one big plan that they have for ConAgra ... but to put it bluntly it's VERY hard to manage your own manager and to collaborate when that person knows very little about the company. Though I must say 80% of our humor comes from that very fact.

Sports:

After 2 months of doing nothing (literally nothing), I was finally able to start working out slowly again from my broken rib during mid-July. Still to this day there's something wrong with it. I can't lift my upper body up on my right side, but at least I can move faster than a snail without dying of pain from my lungs trying to breathe. Late August I decided to train for a Thanksgiving day 5K. I ran a 10K in 45:22 about a month after I started training so I was getting stoked for running a personal best in my 5K 2 months later. Unfortunately, about a week or so ago I came down with a stress fracture. I definitely wasn't over training ...unless you say 15 miles a week running is overtraining, so I actually think it's a combo of doing some speed work along with pushing off the wall swimming. The fracture is in my 2nd metatarsal so I've been walking around in my giant boot to help the healing process go faster. Luckily though I'm still able to swim! Yay! So, I've been swimming almost 2 miles 5-6 times a week. I hate the chlorine as it leaves ya all itchy afterwards but it feels great to be swimming laps again.

Family:

I've been able to see my parents more often now that I only live 450 miles away instead of 1300 miles. I drove down for a quick weekend trip back in August, they came up in September for ConAgra's company zoo picnic, saw them again at my Grandma/pa's house in Junction City, KS about two weeks ago and then I'll be seeing them for both Thanksgiving and Christmas! Still haven't seen my brother since Christmas ... but Ryan hates me anyway and is the most belittling person I know, so that's not such a big deal. I actually really wish we had a better relationship -- like so many of my friends have with their siblings -- but I've tried for years and he refuses to grow up. His loss.

Misc.:

I've finally been able to go out again on the weekend thanks to Fargo and Greg getting me in touch in Greg's old college roomie, Eric ... kudos to you two! Eric is super fun and I've been able to see more of Omaha and hang out with a lot of different people, so yay for that! I've also found that I've become obsessed with Slim Fast milkshakes with a banana. So incredibly good! Other food items of choice at the moment are cucumbers and Roma tomatoes in fat free balsamic vinaigrette. I have that at least 3-4 times a week. Oh, and Barnes and Noble is still my 2nd home. :)

Okay, that wraps up my life thus far. I've included some photos. Enjoy!

Working at ConAgra

My Job.

It's been 4 weeks at my new job as a food scientist on ConAgra foods... here in Omaha, NE. The people I work with seem pretty cool. We got a new research technician named Jen who is my age... which is excellent because she's cool...like myself. ha There's been this huge reorganization in the department (Research, Quality, and Innovation) so things have been a bit crazy. I had a pretty cool boss, and now I'm getting a new boss, who doesn't start for like another 2 weeks. So, work has kinda sucked because I'm just hanging there... wondering what the heck I'm supposed to be doing. I don't really have an tasks to complete, besides all the corporate mumbo jumbo like getting company credit cards and figuring out how to travel expense reports by reading 200 pages... I guess this is what I get for working for a huge company. ha. Hopefully things will speed up a little bit soon. I'm sure in a couple months I'll be wishing I had nothing to do at work. Out of the 9 hours at work each day, I literally think I do about 3 hours of productivity. Definitely wish I could just come home for the rest of the 6. ha

I did have a super long week last week. We had pudding plant trials up in Menomonie, Wisconsin. I love saying the name of the town. Basically this is the plant that makes a lot of the Snack Packs and Swiss Miss puddings. We fly into Minneapolis and then drive an hour or so into Wisconsin... it was a pretty drive. Anyway...

So here's the thing about my job. Well, first of all it's 20-25% travel... So marketing tells food scientists (me) "this is what consumers want, now make it". So we have to try to figure out how to make it and make it taste good. We do a bunch of "bench top" work... think making food on a giant counter. We kinda mock up the process that they would do in a plant. After the prototype gets approved, it's time for a "plant trial." Plant trials are to see if the product will actually work on the thousands of feet of equipment used to make your product. So the product we were running last week is a new one and actually the 8th plant trial... this one was just to see how the density holds up throughout elapsed time in the surge tank (where the product gets held before it gets moved to the fillers -- the pipes that put the pudding in the cups!)

So anyways... the Wednesday trial wasn't too bad as i worked from 7am-8:30pm. But the Thursday trial we reported at 10am and didnt' get done til 2am. the plant runs 24/7 and things always go wrong... like one time we lost sterility in the machine that puts the pudding lids on, and that's no good cuz that's how you get bugs in....but, it takes 2 hours to clean out the system and get it up and running again...so there were a lot of systems and machines messing up. We had to weigh 3000 pudding cups... my thumbs hurt so bad from ripping off those lids... but hey, it's all part of the job.

On a super happy note though... the CEO announced wednesday that if you work under 10 years at Conagra you get 3 weeks vacation (mine had only been 2 weeks)..... so YIPPIE Skippie!!!! We can then also get a week of unpaid vacation. Definitely brightened up that week at the plant trial.

Okie doke... more to come... the rib is healing and I'm getting ready to test out my lungs on my bicycle.

Smile :)

It's been forever

Photo: My new home... Omaha!

Photo: My fav bass player of all time... headwhacker... aka Brad.

Photo: Kate, Lauren, and me at the Skeller

Photo: My mad face that someone stole me and Lauren's bikes. We wore post-it notes that said "stolen bike bar tour" out to the bars. Haha

Photo: Quite the special moment at Cafe 210

Photo: Me and Brad...gotta love it. :)

Photo: Ventola and me at the Saloon with our Monkey boys... quite the memorable night.

Photo: Kelly, me and Melissa at Cafe 210... so many good memories

Photo: Climbing a tree on Mount Nittany.

Photo: Me and my parents at the Lion Shrine on my graduation day.

Yes yes and yes. It's been forever since I've posted... forever and a day. Lots of good times and some super sad goodbyes have taken place since early May. To give a super quick wrap up...

There was senior week where I had terrible allergies following me, but of course I still went out. That's when everything started to hit me that I was graduating. Senior week was awesome, though, because I literally saw sooooo many of my friends that week. More often than not I saw about 5 people each night from my ballroom dancing class... loved that class and loved the people. Many memories there. Oh, and my $5,000 bicycle got stolen out of my apartment... but let's not go into that one...

Then there was graduation... Somehow I survived two graduation ceremonies (Schreyer's Honor college medal ceremony and then my two diplomas) without blowing my nose... it's a mystery how that happened. My parents came up and we took some funny pictures, hiked mount nittany, drove the Black Mo bicycle ride, rode with my Dad up Allegheny street in Bellefonte and then Upper Lime, also took my Dad up Pine Grove Mills as we got caught in a rain storm and saw a beautiful rainbow. Those two bike rides really got me itching to start riding my bicycle again. My parents and I ate a ton of Creamery ice cream and I got some awesome graduation/birthday gifts. And it marked the departure of all my roommates.

I had about 2 weeks of nothing but relaxation. I hung out with my best friend Kelly for the majority of the time. I started swimming everyday at the outdoor pool. That was the best feeling ever as it had been 2 years since I had really been able to swim laps outside... amazing feeling. I'd swim around noon, take a nap and then ride my bicycle late in the afternoon. I went on some hikes and just chilled around downtown every night.

About a week before I left I went running on the 6 mile Mount Nittany trail loop and about half way through I managed to trip, take a hard landing on my side, and broke my 6th rib...most painful thing ever. It's been almost a month and it still hurts to take deep breaths. For the first two weeks after the incident, I couldn't even breathe normally because of the pain and was constantly short of breath. Even worse was trying to sleep at night as anything that would touch my back or stomach (like laying down) would affect my rib. I still have to roll out of bed. haha

I also had the most amazing nights watching Mr. Hand and The Mustache Ride at the bars... Brewery, Skeller, and the Saloon. Those were some amazing lasting memories of Penn State. Definitely miss headwhacker and his sidekick, and of course all the groupies!

I have a plane ticket back to Penn State for a 4 and a half day stay over Labor Day... that trip can't come soon enough. I miss my best friend and I miss my favorite moments with the band.

Oh, and yes, I have to buy a plane ticket because I'm now residing in Omaha, Nebraska. So far so good, but I sure do miss my friends. It's hard to move to a place where you know absolutely nobody... it can get quite lonely... but I'm slowly making some friends... nothing can replace penn state though! :) But... more on Omaha another day...

I posted some pics up above... which you already know, but they are just some moments from the past month.

smile :)

KA frat formal

Photo: All the awesome people in our limo... and the lion shrine. :)

Photo: Super cute right outside the frat.

Photo: The look out point of State College... and 3 fanta girls. ha

Photo: James, Tony, Scott, and TJ ... silly boys.

Photo: The limo and the the stadium.

Photo: Super fun time in the limo.

Photo: We like to dance and we were very pastel-y

This past Friday was one of the best night's of the year. My friend Tony from ballroom class asked me on Wednesday... and i thought about it for like 5 minutes... and then he convinced me to go by persuading me with a red rose. I mean... it's not like he's an awesome dancer or anything.... j/k ;)

The night started out with 10 of us in a stretch limo with lots of champaigne and awesome tunes. We went everywhere taking pictures all dressed up. Instantly I felt like I had known these people my whole life... they were all sooo much fun!

We had an awesome dinner too and Tony got an award... yay Tony! Then the dancing began... freakin amazing time. Tony's brother was the DJ and did an amazing job of it. Did i mention tony's an awesome dancer? ha. His friend Brehm is in the ballroom dancing team so we challenged him on the dance floor... Brehm tried to spin me once and catch me... but failed... and my face found the floor. It was actually pretty humorous. Just one of the crazy things that night.

I can't even express how much fun it was ... I just love being around outgoing super fun people and all those guys were definitely that. See pictures above for some moments. :)

Definitely wish it could all happen again. Smile! :)

The past few weeks in a wrap

Photo: Me and Jen at the Gaff on blue and white weekend... i got a lot of sun that weekend. I miss you girls sooo much!!

Photo: Me and Jeff at his med school formal... don't best buddies look cute? :)

Photo: One of the reasons I don't know why I'm leaving the northeast. This is on my drive back from Baltimore

Photo: Dancing Mark Z and I ... he's definitely in the top 3 for the best dancers in class. lol

Photo: Lauren, Katie, Me, and Aly at 210 before the prom. :)

Sooooo much has gone on since the last post.

Too much to write to catch back up. So, I'll wrap it up quickly.

Blue and White weekend April 21st... AMAZING!!

Perri and Jen and a last minute Andrea (all my old roomies!) came up to visit!! It was the first awesome weather weekend of the whole semester which made the town crazy! It was sooo great to see them again! I miss having an awesome group of girls to hang out with!

After Blue and White weekend it was hardcore thesis-ing. I basically didn't do any school work except for my thesis from spring break onward. On April 30th at 3:30pm, I finally turned it in and that put a huge weight off my shoulders. Feels soooo good to be done with that and I basically don't want to hear anything about oats for a very long time.

April 27th was our Ballroom dancing prom... that was sooo much fun to be able to dance with everyone. Half the class went out to Cafe 210 before the prom which made the prom rather interesting... "true story" as Ventola would say. haha ;)

The next day was my friend Jeff's med school formal so I drove to Baltimore to be his date! It's always nice to see my best buddy from freshman year. It was a super quick trip as I had to get back to finish a 300 page book and make last minute revisions on my thesis. The weather was gorgeous!!! (see above) and it made me really wonder why the heck I'm moving to Omaha... damn I'm gonna miss this place.

And now... I'm done with college. I turned in my last final (which was just a 5 page essay) yesterday morning. It was kind of bittersweet going to my last class and turning in my last assignment. Penn State is so much more fun when you don't have any schoolwork to worry about.

I finally found an apartment in Omaha as well! I was going to share an apartment but it fell through so now I have my own place. www.oldmarketlofts.com It's way more expensive to live by yourself but it's going to be amazing to decorate my own place. I'm super excited for that but it's getting harder and harder to think about Omaha when I'm having so much fun here...

Okay, now look at the pictures above for a run down of what all I just talked about. lol

The Clamp

So, the other week I went to the gym with my friend Justin. He taught me this lifting thingy called like a butterfly or a fly or ... I don't know. But, I personally named it "the clamp" because it looked like I was clamping something together. I offered to officially rename it "the prince" because that's Justin's actual name, but he declined, saying he would only be referred to as "the symbol"... so long story short, that should shorter than it already is... it's now named "the clamp."

Anyways.... the point of this post is that I've been doing the clamp a lot lately. Yesterday I managed to lift with no post-day soreness. Which means ... I'm super strong now and can move up 2.5lbs. :) My strength will help me when I want to beat up people. In order to beat up people I thought I would first purchase this scooby doo punch bag. I think it's a good start.
After I get really good at that, I plan on teaming up with McGruff the crime dog and help take a bite out of crime.

Oh, did I mention that I'm NOT procrastinating editing my thesis??

Tummy loves me!

Today marks the day that I no longer have to eat Jell-o and drink super diluted Gatorade for my diet. I have become rather fond of Jell-o though... it's rather tastey... and being a food scientist, I actully understand how it forms into gelatin and why you need both warm and cold water to make it ... did I ever mention I love my major? lol

My tummy seems to be liking me again and I even celebrated by eating at the Pita Pit for dinner!
I love Jell-o.

I made more Jell-o this evening.

A mixture of melon flavors.

Tonight I had grape Jell-o. It's good too.

I worked on my thesis a TON this weekend. I printed it all off today... though I'm not done with it. It will be consuming my life this entire week. I'm meeting with my thesis advisor every day and hopefully he'll approve of it by the end of the week so I can hand it off to my honor's advisor early next week so that he can approve it. Monday, April 30th it's due at 5pm! I'll get it done. It'll feel so GREAT!

I will end now with a poem about Jell-O.

JELL-O

The jell-o that i eat-o

is so refreshing in my tummy-o

when my intestines hated me-o

you were my only friend-o

i love jell-o

and now i post a picture