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Volleyball is life, part 2

Fall and Winter 2016 was fairly uneventful as well. We started playing in lots of midnight tournaments (start at 6pm and play through the night), which are a ton of fun! With multiple different partners, I came home with the victory I think 3 separate times, and once came in second. That surely was a boost to my confidence in terms of my volleyball skills since I kinda felt like my Smash victories were going to be my career highlight, and I’d just kind of trail off from there. I played in 2 leagues over the Fall/Winter season; coed 6’s at Mechanicsburg which was a hot mess of a team, and women’s 6’s at Lower Paxton. The women’s team had its ups and downs, but we came out with the Win!

Mom got a new puppy in October 2016! His name is Goose, and he’s a very white Golden Retriever (pictures above). Mom and I got matching sunflower tattoos on our ankles in September. Also in September, we drove down to Virginia to visit Tiff and Chad at their new house. They live about 40 mins from a beach, which is serious life goals for me. In December, we took some time off and painted the kitchen, dining room, and some of the living room. It was a big project, but I’m glad we got it done. I really want to paint much more in the house, but I simply don’t have the time or funds anymore. And that was about it for 2016. For New Years, we went to a “private party” in downtown Harrisburg where we paid in advance and then there was an open bar all night, which was a lot of fun.

  Into 2017, and not much happened in the first few months. The end of indoor leagues were wrapping up, and midnight indoor tournaments continued. In March, they opened a Planet Fitness across the street from my house! How convenient :) Also in March, Ashley and her boyfriend moved into the guest room in my house. It was a lot of fun to have them there, and the extra income didn’t hurt ;) Soon after they moved in, we learned that Ashley was pregnant. YES, PREGNANT! There was a lot of girl-talk that went down on the topic like every day. They have since moved back to York and she is due with her baby boy in October :)  

Of course, April is birthday month! This year I turned 27, and it was possibly the most disappointing birthday yet. Not because of the age, but mostly because of Josh. He made little to no effort to do anything/get anything for my birthday. I know how selfish that sounds, but he also knows that a simple card with a nice note and just being extra super nice to me is more than enough of a “present”. But nope, I didn’t even get that. He eventually said, when we go down to the beach in May (Rehoboth tournament) he’ll pay for everything down there as my “present” so I don’t have to worry about it. Well come that weekend, he couldn’t afford part of his own expenses let alone cover for both of us. I resorted to just celebrating with my volleyball friends at one of those midnight tournaments by baking my own cupcakes to bring for everyone (and we won that tournament!). I’m not one to quantify “things” or compare what I got him for his birthday, etc. But we went to the beach for his birthday, including 2 special (expensive) birthday dinners that he requested, Blink 182 concert, and a few smaller presents. It was just frustrating to realize how much more I was putting into the relationship that he was. Regardless, moving on!

May brought the First Rites of Summer tournament in Rehoboth, which is one of my favorites. It symbolizes the start of outdoor season and its on the beach, you can’t beat it! Brie & Kenny have really become very close friends of mine and we spent majority of the weekend hanging out together. At the end of May, Kristen, Mallory and I played in a triples tournament in Mechanicsburg and won that too! That whole day was a lot of fun. Plus Tuff and Chad were in town so I got to see them as well.

June of this year brought outdoor season into full swing, and I literally played every single weekend! It was harder this year not having Josh at home to help with Baron and I felt bad leaving him home all the time. Of course mom was a big help with going over to hang out with him, but since she got Goose, she can’t just take him for the day. 3 crazy dogs would be way too much to handle! At Pottstown Rumble this year, my partner Kristen and I made it all the way to the finals, playing the last match at 10:30pm under the lights! We ended up coming in 2ndoverall, but it was a hell of a day of volleyball. The whole weekend was a great combo of good ball and even better friends. More summer weekends, more tournaments, nothing new there. Mitch and I won the MREC grass league this year. Instead of the OC, D beach trip for Josh’s birthday (since we obviously broke up before that), Brie, Kenny, and Mitch and I went for the long weekend without Josh and had more fun that I thought possible. It just so happens that Brie and Josh share the same birthday, so it worked out well.

I really can’t say enough how much I love my volleyball family. I’m older than the majority of them by 5 years or so, but they never make me feel left out. They are truly a wonderful group of people that I absolutely love spending time with, especially getting to play a sport we all love. Not to mention how helpful they all are when I do bring Baron to a tournament, they definitely make sure he gets lots of love and attention, which we all know just melts my heart.

Alright, I guess that’s enough for now. There are some updates to job-related things and new relationships, but I don’t have the energy to continue this anymore for today.

Until next time blog, JUST KEEP SWIMMING

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My life revolves around volleyball, let's be honest

Holyyyy shit. I wish I had the energy and time to dedicate to fully updating this blog for the last year that I have been MIA. But basically since I met Josh (see a few posts back), I haven’t needed to vent to an online forum because I was happy. And when I wasn’t happy, or Josh and I were having problems, etc I still turned to friends and other outlets instead of the blog. Which I guess is a good thing, but nonetheless, I’ve missed so much here. I’ll attempt to give a brief synopsis of some of the major events over the past year…. Here goes nothin! And as usual, I’ll attach a bunch of pictures for reference.   Let’s start with the topic of Josh, since that’s kinda where I left off last time. We officially started dating March 20th, 2016. All was going great for a long time. He moved into my house in August and started contributing to house costs instead of his apartment rent down in York. He was easily my best friend and I could tell him literally anything without fear of judgement. We hit a lot of “milestones” and went on a lot of adventures together. I could honestly say that I could have pictured myself marrying him and being 100% content with life. That’s not today we didn’t have our problems…there were many times that I came across something in his phone that made me not trust him (an inappropriate picture, text convo, etc). We talked about it a few times, and I probably let it go more times than I should have. His fairly heavy drinking was also a factor in that, to which we know my answer is always “drunk is not an excuse”! There are months’ worth of stories on this topic, but its not worth going into detail. Nonetheless, we broke up at the end of May 2017 when I found his PlentyofFish account with lots of recent conversations with other women. That was the last straw. After cooling down from the break up, we talked and decided we still wanted to be friends, etc. That lasted for about a month, and now we’re not speaking. He moved back down to York and I haven’t heard from him in awhile. While I am sad that it didn’t work out because he really was one of my best friends, and I truly did love him, I know its for the better. I have to keep reminding myself that to stay sane.   Summer of 2016 was 100% packed with as many tournaments as I could afford. It was super helpful to have Josh around to help with Baron, which allowed me to play lots of weekends back-to-back days. I didn’t do much else last summer besides volleyball, kayaking, a few small beach trips, etc. We did go to OC, MD at the end of July for Josh’s birthday, and that was my only real vacation for the summer. Highlight of the summer came at the 2nd largest grass tournament on the east coast, Susquehanna Smash, where I won BOTH DAYS! Becky and I won Women’s BB Saturday, and then Quincy and I won RevCo BB on Sunday! Longest 2 days of volleyball ever, but 100% worth it. There’s a picture above of both of my amazing partners for the weekend. What a way to end the summer

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Damm this is beautiful

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My favorites holy shit I love them ❤

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8 years later, just walked out of my last final exam. 2 years full time, 6 years part time/online, and lots of summer semesters = 2 degrees, both in fields I enjoy. The "college life" wasn't for me, so I took my own path and worked a 9-5 through school instead. And it's only fitting that I'll be playing beach doubles next weekend instead of being at graduation 👍 here's to my next chapter! 🎓

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Things are looking up! :)

It only been 2 weeks since my last update but it feels like so much has happened! I probably won’t be able to touch on everything or go into a ton of detail or I’d be here all day! I’ll attach a few pictures to explain better :) So last I left off I was headed to the Fetty Wap concert in Penn State with Quincy. We got up to state with enough time to stop in and see RKelley play in a tournament, and his team won the whole thing! I love watching him play, there’s such joy in his face and passion for his team. It just makes me so happy! We grabbed some food and went back to RKelley’s place before the concert. The concert itself was so-so. Our tickets were down on the main floor and that was awesome! We stayed relatively towards the back to avoid the mob scene that was closer to the stage. I felt entirely too overdressed compared to all the little college hussies running around basically in bikini tops and shorts. It was almost -20 degrees out! Hello?! I was quite content in my low cut t-shirt, jeans and boots. Quincy fit right in because he looks like a typical good-looking college kid (I mean he is 22, lol) All of the opening acts were awful, no-name rappers on the same label as Fetty, it was not good. Post Malone wasn’t too bad though. Eventually Fetty came on a little after 10pm (mind you we got there around 8:30) and was on stage until about 11. For my first concert in 5 years, this was pretty awesome :) After we left there, we went back to RKelley’s place and ended up staying there instead of at the hotel, which was a waste of $$, but oh so worth it (details of which I will not disclose here, they are for my memory only). Later in the week to follow, we all went to flinchy’s to celebrate Tiffany and Chad moving to Virginia and it was quite the party! They have made such an impact on the Mechanicsburg community, especially in the volleyball family, and everyone came out to show their love and wish them luck. Tiff and I were able to hold back the tears until I left the bar around midnight. I promised her I’d continue her traditions of singing the score in all volleyball games, and calling out her birthday score, etc. She promised she’d send lots of updates and pictures. And then we cried :( I know this is an important choice that they’ve made in their lives and it is such a great opportunity, but we are all going to miss them terribly. Sigh. Nothing else really happened during the following week. My weekends continued to be packed solid though. The weekend of the 27th/ 28th I played in a doubles tournament both days; Saturday with Tracey and Sunday with Dan. Saturday was possibly the longest day of volleyball I’ve ever been a part of. We had a 6 team pool, so we would play one match, work one match, then sit for 2 more before we played again. It was exhausting! We ended up third overall, and lost to these awful/mean old ladies which made it all the worse. BUT Tracey and I played really well and lots of fun for the day so it was worth it. Sunday, Dan and I played coed A doubles. We were 2-4 on our 4 team net, so not good enough to move into playoffs, but we played well nonetheless. And Sunday was Dan’s birthday!! So we had cupcakes to celebrate :) The teams that played each other in the finals both came off our net so at least we had good competition for the day! The following day, Monday the 29th, I had planned as a vacation day to recover from a weekend of back to back volleyball tournaments. And that’s actually how I have my entire summer of vacation days planned. Saturday/Sunday tournament? Monday off. What else did I do on my day off? I got a dog :) I rescued a German Shepherd from a place in Newville. He’s about a year and a half, and his name is Baron :) So far he has been wonderful! For the most part, he has been out and about in the house while I’m at work and hasn’t chewed or got into anything! He’s had minor accidents in the house which I think were mostly nerve related. I definitely need to get him to training classes soon to help him recognize his name and learn that I am the boss :) I attached pictures above. And in the same genre, getting a new dog only solidifies my separation from Sunny and Murphy. Morgan (the girl we got them from) texted me and said that Baron was beautiful, but does that mean no more “lost boys”? (that’s what she called them when she found them). And I explained the rest of the situation with Ryan to her. I had already been discussing it with her through the whole process, it was just hard to tell her I had to give up. I feel like I let her down on top of everything else. Ugh, guilt tripppp :( This past weekend was one for the books as well! Mom was away for the weekend so Baron and I had her dog Porter at the house til Sunday night. THAT was a handful. They got along just fine, but they always wanted to be running and playing, and it was relentless. Saturday we got to sleep in for the first time in foreverrrr. I took one of my HACC exams and laid around with the doggies. Then Lauren and I planned to go see the movie Deadpool, but I went to the wrong theatre and ended up watching it all by myself…. WHOOPS! It was a great movie nonetheless though. Later that evening I went to see the Lower Dauphin High School musical production of The Addams Family, where RKelley’s girlfriend was playing Morticia Addams. AND OMG I’VE NEVER SEEN A DRESS FIT A GIRL SO WELL. If you’ll recall, Morticia Addams is tall, slender, basically skin and bones and always shown in a long sleeve, floor length black dress. And Patty fit that role to a T. Not to mention that she (and the entire cast) performed phenomenally. But that dress, ugh, I will never get that image out of my mind, and the feeling of jealousy for that body type that I had to suppress for the entire show (that was heartbreaking). Mind you, she’s 17 and clearly has not developed her womanly curves yet (my hips didn’t show up until around 23/24) so if I keep reminding myself of that, it helps. A little. Later that night (fueled by jealousy), I went out to the bars with Ashley Koller in downtown York. I’ve known this girl for almost 3 years now but she just turned 21 so I was super excited to go out with her. We had so much girl talk to catch up, and consumed lots of drinks :) We switched bars halfway through the night and ran into an acquaintance of hers, Josh. Ohh Josh. He and I hit it off immediately and by the end of the night, we were making out by the bar :) Somehow I got his number from a drunk Ashley after we all left the bar, and we’ve been talking ever since :) We have a date planned for Saturday night! He’s 22, tall, well built, funny as all get out, and so very sweet. I know I know, I never date younger than me! But just from the short time we were talking at the bar he was talking about how he’s always felt “older than his age” (which is exactly what I say about myself! Especially when I was that age and younger). And I can tell it’s true, he doesn’t carry himself like a 22 year old, more like 26/27-ish. He has his own place, and is veryyyy tech-smart, almost nerdy. It’s adorable, I’m pretty well smitten with this guy already :) And on that note, with all smiles (and warm weather!) on the horizon, I’ll leave you with this mantra… just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming

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Heyyyy tumblr :) Feeling much more positive in the past 2 weeks thank goodness. I spent a lot of time with some close friends doing lots of fun stuff and that made all the difference in the world. One of my co-workers joined the same gym I use, and we’ve starting going right after work almost 3x a week! I didn’t think I’d like having a workout partner, but if nothing else t definitely keeps me committed to going because I know she is depending on me. AND with that being said, this morning I weighed in at 150.8!! That’s 39.8 lbs lost total!! Whaaatttt?! Almost 40 lbs down, holy cow I did not think I’d see this day when I reflect on how miserable I was when I first started. But the compliments are honestly the best motivator out there. Just yesterday I ran into a friend at the gym and she almost didn’t recognize me! Now I don’t think I’ve changed that much, but apparently so! She was so sweet and supportive, and praised my progress up and down. It was really a great confidence boost and much needed. Only 5-ish pounds to go to hit my next milestone. But still the ultimate goal for this summer (which is coming up fast) is to be able to play volleyball in just a sports bra, and I’m not quite to that point yet with the flub around my stomach still. Working on it though! Last Saturday we had a girl’s night out with Steph, Becky, Lauren, and Jordan’s gf Taylor. We all got ready at my house, went to dinner at Cork & Fork, and then went downtown Harrisburg for drinking and dancing. In my almost 5 years of being of-drinking-age, I have never been downtown this late in the season. Actually until this year, I don’t know that I had ever been downtown period. So yay me for branching out! A couple of our guy friends joined us downtown for dancing. Most of them “belonged” to someone, so I was a little frustrated to be the only single girl in the group. Not that the girls, or guys, ever make me feel left out, but in the back of my mind I know that that’s the truth, and that hurts. Nonetheless, the boys drove most of us back to my house (cuz that’s where our cars were). Lauren quickly fell asleep on the couch, which left Becky, Quincy and I awake just bull-shitting until 4am. When we finally decided to go to bed, we convinced Quincy to stay instead of driving home so late, and we all stayed in my King bed, with plenty of room to spare. It was pretty comical actually. I’ll attach a picture I took when I got up in the morning of the 2 of them still sleeping lol. I made breakfast for Becky and Lauren, and Becky and I watched Mean Girls :) That Sunday was the SUPERBOWL!! And the Broncos were playing the Panthers, who were the favorites to win. I went over to Steph&Josh’s house to watch the game, and I was clearly the only person who had a vested interest in either of the teams. So needless to say I was the most excited when the Broncos WON! They are champs of Superbowl 50!!! And we did a group trivia gamble thing, and I won that too! $55, double win for me! Now I just need to buy my Superbowl Champions shirt, and we’ll be good to go :) Tomorrow is finally the Fetty Wap concert in State College! I am super excited and also a little nervous. My friend Quincy is going with me (22, brother of Jordan) and I don’t know him too well. I am looking forward to being able to chat on the way out there, but I don’t want it to be awkward :/ We’re gonna leave here around 1 pm which will get us there around 2:30 with enough time to go watch RKelley play in his vball tournament before we head to the concert at 8. I got a hotel for us afterwards (2 queen beds) but I think he wanted to stay with Rkelley and party it up. Which I certainly don’t mind doing, that would be tons of fun, but I also don’t want the room to go to waste. I’d almost rather just have a party in the hotel haha. Then that Sunday will be Valentine’s day, and I just made some last minute plans with a very dear old friend, possible new interest… but more about him later :)

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see the photos above ^

Hi Tumblr,

Sometimes writing it all out is helpful, and sometimes the thought of trying to conceptualize all these thoughts into words is just daunting.

This has been an unusually rough week+ for me. We had a huge record breaking blizzard last weekend and it left me stranded in the house by myself for 3 days. That amount of solidarity is not healthy for anyone and it definitely sent me into a mini depression that I am just now starting to climb out of.

But lets back up to before the blizzard…I played in a coed doubles tournament with Dan (we didn’t do too well unfortunately, but always have lots of fun). I hosted a housewarming party which was a total success, about 15-20 friends came. And the Broncos beat the Steelers that day too! I dyed my hair a little lighter (with help from Steph), and finally got my washer/dryer installed and working!

Things that ran through my mind during my alone-time in the blizzard…

It’s going on 6 months since Ryan and I broke up. That’s probably the longest span of time that I’ve been single since I was maybe 16. And it’s not to say that I haven’t had fun these past 6 months; I’ve branched out and met so many new people, gone on more adventures, etc. But I am the type of person who thrives when in a relationship. Not just the warm fuzzy happy feeling you get from having someone that cares about you, etc. But the fact that I get such joy out of caring for someone else, it’s unreal. And I happened to stumble across a friend’s photo with his gf, and the look in his eyes while looking at her, purely smitten, damn near broke my heart (again, the cabin-fever was making me emotionally vulnerable). But it made me realize how much I long to have someone look at me like that again. But idk what to do about it, it’s not like I haven’t been keeping my eyes out in terms of potential relationships, but I’m not sure how much longer I can last as “the single girl”. I hate it so much.

And on the same page, I have given up on the previously mentioned Adam. Thankfully I hadn’t invested a whole lot of my heart into that yet. Because my suspicions (and everyone’s warnings) came true, that he truly is quite the player, and hoping from one girl to the next daily, weekly, whatever the case is. And that’s not a game I’m willing to play. So, byeeee Adam.

The topic of my wonderful dogs is one that is entirely too in depth and emotionally crippling to fully write out. I don’t think I could type the entire story without breaking into tears. So I will summarize… Once I moved in to my house, I told Ryan I was ready to start sharing the dogs (as previously planned). But he said he didn’t think that was such a good idea anymore, and that they should just stay with him full time. I refused to give in that quickly, lots of screaming, crying, fighting, and we decided to draw up a sharing-contact to be reviewed by our lawyers and see if we can make that work. I was done with my end of the contract relatively quick, and sent it off to him to send to his lawyer. Over a month goes by and I hadn’t heard back. I went to visit the dogs at his house over Christmas, and I noticed that they weren’t nearly as attached to my hip as they used to be when we got them (of course). And it wasn’t like they were more attached to Ryan, but it was just clear that I was no longer one of their “people”. And that was heartbreaking to see and admit. The tension between Ryan and I continued to grow more and more uncomfortable. And eventually, I decided to send him an email saying this:

“Okay here are my more recent thoughts on the subject of the dogs. You have to understand that this is an unbelievably heart breaking situation for me, and I don’t think you’ve grasped that. My love and devotion for animals sometimes outweighs the caring capacity I have for people, so to try to make me completely give up on the dogs that we rescued together is ludacris to even think of. With that being said, I know that I have been absent since we broke up and I moved out. I am well aware of that. However, that does not mean that I haven’t spent countless hours thinking about them and doing everything I can to quickly get a place that we (myself and the dogs) could call a home too. Ask anyone, my sole motivation for buying a house as fast as I did was to be able to have my dogs with me again. You may have forgotten that we also went through a break up during that time, and while you may have not been mourning the loss of that relationship, I was. Which made all of this that much more difficult.

I agree with your logic that one residence would be the ideal situation for them. I do not agree that automatically means that they should stay with you. You have a house? Great, me too. If you recall when we first got them, I had to beg you to sign the adoption contract and you argued with me, to the point that I was in tears, that why should you bother signing because they’re clearly your dogs? And how frustrated you were anytime I left them alone with you because all they would do is cry until I came back.

I’m sure they are glued to your hip now just as much as they used to be to mine. I don’t doubt one bit that you are fully capable of caring for them and I know that they are safe, well fed, happy, and loved with you. I don’t see the need for anger, spite, or fighting in this situation. They are pets that we both love dearly. And with that in mind, I think the stress of you & I outweighs any long term arrangement that we could ever come up with.”

So basically, I gave in. And it was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I gave him copies of all their vet records, licenses, the adoption contract from Morgan, etc. Thankfully, he did agree that I could continue to be in their lives basically as much as I wanted (take them to the dog park, watch them if he’s away, etc). But I’m not sure how much I want that, it’ll just continue to make it harder and harder to leave them. And I came to this decision right in the middle of my blizzard-solidarity, making me even more depressed which spilled into the following week as I continued the discussion and arrangement with Ryan. Ohjoy.

Quick to note on the weight loss subject; through the blizzard I did a really great job of NOT eating everything in my house out of boredom, which I was very proud of. However, the following week I did not eat so great as the stress of the dogs continued. A lot of volleyball was cancelled because of the storm, but I went to the gym when I could, and did a few workouts in my living room. As of this morning, I am down to 151.9! That’s 38.7 lbs! So I feel pretty good overall. Just working towards that next goal of 145.

This past weekend I really packed full with activities and all things I love to do, which was much needed after my stressful week and stir-crazy blizzard alone time. Friday night I went shopping with Steph (which was nice to get a few things in sizes smaller than I’ve bought in a long time!). Saturday I worked the kids basketball admission table (not necessarily fun, but its extra spending money!) and Saturday night (like 6pm to midnight) I played women’s doubles with Becky down in Lancaster. We played one of the highest levels you can play, A/AA against some really great ladies. Becky is not a doubles player by any means, she is classically trained as an indoor 6’s player so covering that amount of court by herself was a learning experience to say the least. BUT she picked up the ins & outs of the doubles game veryyy quickly, and we had so much fun playing. We actually won 2 games, finishing 2-6 for the day! And taking 2 games from other A/AA teams is quite the accomplishment, so I was very proud of our performance. So I woke up early Sunday morning and drove out to PSU to visit RKelley. Do you ever have that one friend that you feel so unbelievably comfortable around? Well for me that’s RKelley. We realize how much we care about each other and what great friends we really are right before he left for school, literally like 2 weeks before. So having him 90 mins away at school rather than just across the river has been difficult. Thank god for cellphones and technology to keep us in touch in the meantime. I reached out to him during the week when I was feeling particularly blue, and he instantly made me feel better. Without even trying he can make me feel special, loved and supported. (and I know what youre thinking, if you guys are so great together why not date him? No, that’s not a possibility lol). In the past 6 months, I’ve probably made 4-ish trips out there to visit for the day or to watch him play with his team. Well we instantly decided mid-week that we missed each other terribly and I needed to come visit. So that’s what I did Sunday morning. Most days out there are spent not doing a whole lot really, just catching up, spending time together, ordering in, hanging out with his roommates, etc. I think what I appreciate most about our friendship is that he lets me do things for him, like pay for lunch, lets me clean their house (which I know sounds ridiculous, but sometimes I really like to clean haha!). It really helps fill that void of not having someone to care for daily, and I am unbelievably grateful. And I know he appreciates all that I do too, which is also a nice feeling, to be appreciated. I’ve missed that. Regardless, I was only there for a total of 9 hours (he was gone for about 3 of those to coach a girl’s volleyball team, the time in which I cleaned their entire kitchen, floors, and his room haha). But just that short amount of time spent with your best friend does the heart some serious good. I needed that so much.

JUST KEEP SWIMMING. JUST KEEP SWIMMING.

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(This is the continuation of the post below that got cut off. ..) picking back up on the topic of Adam.... He’s out of commission for volleyball at the moment, pending a shoulder surgery in the near future and I think its driving him crazy that he cant play! He is one of those that trains hard, works hard, and excels at everything he does; always wants the best of everything regardless of price tag. It sounds pretty only-child-syndrome-ish, but he’s actually the middle child in his family… hmm I’ll have to do some psychology investigating on that mentality. Somewhere in there was Christmas! For which I stayed here in PA with mom and we spent the entire weekend together. I went over to her house Christmas morning and we exchanged presents/stockings. We actually ended up getting each other a few of the same things, completely random things that no one would think of otherwise (bracelet, speaker, etc). We laughed all morning at how alike we are sometimes J . Then in the afternoon, we went to see the movie Joy with Jennifer Lawrence, came home and made dinner for just the two of us. The following morning I went over again and she helped me bake butter cookies, which are our favorite! She really is my best friend. Oh! And lets talk about my weight loss journey real quick! I have made huge leaps and bounds in the last say, 2 months or so! As of the morning of December 31st, I weighed in at 155.2. ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!? That’s 35.4 lbs! My goal was 155.0 so I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED to have made it to that point by the end of the year. So many of my clothes (pants mostly) are significantly bigger on me now. I can wear spandex with confidence! And my arms look so much smaller. I actually noticed that part the other day and couldn’t stop staring at them. Yay! With all that being said, I moved my next goal down to 145, just another 10 lbs and I am sure I can reach that soon enough. My main goal coming up though is to be able to play all summer long in just a sports bra and shorts and feel comfortable with myself. Arms and legs are starting to tone up, so now I need to work on my abs! I know they’re under there! I just gotta get rid of the jello sitting on top! Lol. I do also need to mention that my mom has also been losing weight and she is doing a fantastic job! She looks so much smaller, and she is also having the problem of clothes being too big (not that we’re complaining!) She started with the NutriSystem food meal plan, hated it, but stuck it out for I think 4+ months. She has done such a good job! We definitely splurged over the holidays though, I think everyone does J And last but certainly not least, are my puppas. In fact, this topic requires its own post entirely after everything is resolved. I am currently in the middle of an emotional roller coaster and battle with Ryan about them. I will update with the outcome as soon as we sort it all out. Ugh. My poor puppies. JUST KEEP SWIMMING. JUST KEEP SWIMMING.

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I am finally caught up with my work enough that I have a few minutes to write a bit. I will probably keep my stories as short and to the point as possible, more of a reminder of the memories that I can look back on later and tell the whole story over in my head. Since my last post on November 19th, lots has happened. Like a LOT. I attended 2 Friendsgivings, one with the Mechanicsburg volleyball crowd, and one with Steph/Josh. And I have to say that the latter was far more enjoyable. Mechanicsburg’s was held at the Green’s house and yes it included Ryan and Kristin (ohjoy). For the most part, I can entertain myself with others around me and just ignore them. But I couldn’t help but watch her be so very lovey and touchy, and he just accepts it like he has no problem with PDA or being cutesy at all. THAT made me upset, and I had to leave before I snapped on one of them. So I went and found Jordan, Adam P., and Jason at a bar and drank with them for the evening (muchbetter). The other Friendsgiving was at Steph and Josh’s house, and it was mostly her friends with the addition of maybe 2 other volleyball friends (Jordan and Crystal). Regardless, we have so much fun building gingerbread houses and playing games into the night. Steph has really become one of my closest friends! On December 6th, I spent my first night at my new house. At that time, I really only had my bed set up and clothes in my closet. But that was all I needed. I’m slowly adding more things and getting more organized (I still don’t have ANY food in my fridge). I have TV/internet set up and my couch moved in (thanks Laura!). We just had new windows installed in the dining room and my bedroom. Still need to finish up the laundry room because the washer/dryer are still sitting in my dining room :) I plan to have everyone over for a housewarming get together Sunday January 17th, so I guess I better get moving on those things! Since the weather has been so unseasonably warm this winter, I’ve been able to continue my bar-hopping and downtown shenanigans well into the month of December! We’ve gone downtown another handful of times since I last posted, each time just as entertaining as the last. One weekend we went down for my friend Lauren’s birthday, and also celebrated Becky’s 21st and took her down there for her first time. THAT was interesting to say the least! There’s one of our friends in particular that I really connect with on the dance floor (same one from the beach trip hehe) and that makes any night downtown that much better! I also stepped out of my comfort zone and participated in an Ugly Sweater BarGolf outing through downtown Harrisburg on a Saturday afternoon. Basically, you get a score card when you start and you have to move through the list of bars on your card getting at least one drink per bar to stay “at par”; 2 drinks would be -1 par, etc. This is far more drinking that I do even on a good night, but I stayed par up until about hole 11! And then I crashed from tiredness. But I joined Steph/Josh and their group of friends (who I had never met) and we had the best time wandering from bar to bar! Let’s move onto my love life… fun subject. And for that we need to back it up to mid-November when I had an interesting conversation with Jordan. To preface this story I should mention that my level of “trying” in this flirtation game was at like 20%, maybe 30 at most. (and I had a conversation with Steph on the same topic prior to this conversation)… So out of the blue one day Jordan texts me and this is what followed: “I was going to tell you this week about what’s going on but Steph beat me to it. I met a girl at a party two weeks ago and I have never had so much in common with a girl before. I definitely still want to be friends with you and play volleyball. You are such a fun person. One thing you said that would not have worked for us is that you could not date someone who is Christian or has faith. But I don’t want to lose you as a friend. I hate hate hate disappointing people which is why I have trouble telling girls I’m not interested. I hope you’re not mad :)”. “Haha of course I’m not mad, seriously were both adults here. And like I told Steph, I am so happy to hear you found someone you’re compatible with on so many levels, that’s the best! And as far as I see it, I enjoy your company and friendship, and skills on the court lol and that’s perfectly fine with me :)” So there was that…squashed that plan… but no worries. Like I said, maybe 20-30% effort being put forth on that one so I wasn’t too disappointed. I didn’t bother clarifying what he said about dating someone who is Christian, (because obviously I would never say that), but it wasn’t worth mentioning. The conversation I had with Steph included mentioning that I am NOT religious at all and that tends to be a problem because they always want me to be more religious than I am, and that’s just not me. Like, you go ahead and practice whatever religion you want and I will gladly support you, probably even join in on the main holiday’s etc, but don’t expect me to go to church every Sunday or change who I am for the sake of religious anything. Yeah that’s not happening. Regardless, we’ve remained super close friends and really, nothing has changed. I am interested to see how he handles being someone’s bf (because they became official right before the holidays), because he’s still kinda acting like he wants to play the field… should be interesting. So moving on, then comes Adam. Oh Adam. I met him and his younger brother at that indoor doubles tournament back in November, and we had been chatting on and off ever since. Well in the last few weeks, its been getting steadily more serious; hanging out a lot, making out in his car when he drops me off (which is a corvette by the way!), texting me “good morning gorgeous” almost every day… just adorable. I actually spent New Year’s Eve with him and some of his high school friends. We had so much fun just at his friend’s apartment, met all his friends and made some new ones of my own, dance party in the living room, lots of wine consumed, and a very special kiss at midnight :) To add to all this wonderfulness, his little brother (who’s 20) is now dating one of my best girlfriends Becky! So we get to double date a lot, and discuss our guys together. I say that like Adam and I are actually dating, which we’re not. I mean we basically are, but without the label on it. He is unbelievably sweet and caring, says all the right things, very supportive, etc. But I was telling Becky that I can’t tell if this is truly who he is or if he’s “playing the game”. Because he does come off as a player, but it might just be the pretty-boy appearance that gives that impression (and he is oh-so-pretty, beach boy, with all sort of muscles, 6’4”, volleyball star, etc

[relaxforadelicatefew]

Happpppy New Year!!!! ❤ 🎉

Tumblr, I did it. As of the very last day of 2015, I have reached my weight loss goal within 0.2 of a pound. I AM SO VERY PROUD OF MYSELF! If nothing else, the compliments I’ve gotten are enough motivation to keep going towards the next goal, which is to be able to play all summer long without a shirt and feel comfortable with myself. I am getting much closer to this feeling, and boy does it feel good! I have SO much more to update you on including Thanksgiving in NH, Friendsgiving x2, moving into my house, Jordan, PSU volleyball, Girl’s nights, my dogs, Adam, downtown adventures, and Christmas. But in the spirit of saving time (because I am super busy at work and barely have the time to write just this small amount), I will limit this post to just my New Year’s Resolutions. I am not usually one for resolutions. I usually go too big, and then feel defeated when they are unattainable within the year. I believe last year I said mine would be to “do more for myself”. I have only accomplished this within the last 4 months, and it truly has been a ton of fun, but I also feel very selfish at times and I don’t like that feeling. So my resolution for 2016 is to limit my money-spending to only include adventures, going places, doing things, making memories rather than spending money on material things. I already have myself jump started because I bought tickets to a concert in State College to see Fetty Wap in February! (#skincheck hahaha) My first concert in 5 years… this should be interesting. I also have a Mud Run planned for the summer, and of course TONS of volleyball tournaments. And tonight I’ll be ringing in the New Year with a very handsome fellow, but more about him later ;) HAPPY NEW YEAR TUMBLR! And thank you again for being my writing outlet.

[relaxforadelicatefew]

I think I neglected to tell the story of the person whose house I bought almost 2 weeks ago…. When I was reading through the property disclosure the first time, I noticed his name and it rang a bell. So I looked him up. Yup, I definitely went on a blind date with this guy maybe 5 years ago! A BAD blind date. It was awful. He was probably one of the strangest people I’ve ever met. And I’ve been to that house! I had to see him at closing on the 6th too. I had told my dad that story when I first realized it, not thinking I would have to be present at settlement. But I did have to be there, and it was UNBELIEVABLY awkward! He didn’t mention it even though I knew he recognized me, and I certainly didn’t say anything. In fact, I kept my head down and barely spoke. During the meeting though, he alluded to the fact that he thought he still had the other garage door opener in his possession. And asked me not to throw out any of his mail, he’d just stop by and get it. UH, NO WAY! That is so very creepy. I told the realtor I would have the post office forward all of his mail. Ew. I can’t wait to change all the locks. Anyways! I had that doubles tournament the weekend immediately following closing on the house. Saturday I played with Kate, and we lost every single game. 0-8. But we certainly didn’t get completely blown out of any of them! We played probably the best we’ve ever played together. The division we were in was the top of the top for women’s, so our competition was pretty stinkin’ tough! And god love her, but Kate is just not a powerful hitter, nor are her placement shots all that great, so offense in general is not her strong suit. I ended up covering majority of the court in receiving so it would set me back up to hit. And I was hitting SO WELL. It feels so good to play on a women’s net where I am so very productive lol. Again, we had lots of fun regardless. Sunday I played with Boo, which I was super pumped about because we also play well together. The gym we were in both days was rough to say the least, confusing lines and very low ceilings with lots of obstacles overhead. It took Boo a good match and a half to get used to the courts. Everything he passed was super high and hit the ceiling. But after he adjusted, we really started to step it up. We finished the day with a 4-5 record and just missed playoffs. But again, so much fun. Doubles is definitely my favorite format, hands down. Throughout the next week+, I slowly started taking boxes over to the house and unloading them. Mom and I took off work Friday the 13th and cleaned everything over there, and put away the majority of my kitchen. I have my bed frame set up, but that’s about it. One of my potential roommates backed out of meeting with me because she found another place. The other one I met with, but she wanted a month-to-month lease, which doesn’t work for me. So back to square one! I’ve got to find someone soon. Also Friday the 13th, I ended up going downtown Hbg with Jordan and his friends for a friend’s birthday. I thought it was gonna be super low key and kinda awkward because I didn’t know the birthday boy too well, but I figured I’d know Jordan and that was good enough. Well low and behold, I had one of the most fun nights with him. (I feel like such a little school girl telling this story because it makes me smile so much hehe). We started at McGrath’s pub, and when Jordan got there, he said hi to his friend (birthday boy), but then immediately sat next to me and began to tell me allll about his travels that week (he had just gotten back from a work trip to Utah); his back to everyone else, completely engulfed in conversation, it was adorable. Then we all migrated to Susquehanna Ale house, all of us dancing, drinking, singing together, having a good time. We did dance together that night which we hadn’t done before, but when you’re single dancing means next to nothing, no big deal. What mattered to me was his behavior towards me off the dance floor. Waiting at the bar for drinks, standing around chatting with friends, laughing etc; all the while his arm around me, hand in my back pocket, keeping me close. Like I said, I feel like a damn giddy school girl just thinking about it! From what I’ve learned from others, he is not a very touchy-feely kinda person (and I am, so I am learning not to be so forward) which I think is why I am holding on to this interaction so dearly. Regardless, I felt so comfortable all night, had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the company around me. Saturday night I went out to visit RKelley at PSU. Nothing terribly exciting, just relaxed and hung out with him and his roommates. Sunday he came with me to pick up my new TV at best buy. Then he had to go to volleyball tryouts for the kids team he got a job coaching for! How exciting is that?! So I took that time to go have dinner with Kate/Jeremy who also live out there, who I rarely get to see. Coming up in the next few days/week: more volleyball tonight, HUNGER GAMES tomorrow! RevCo quads tournament on Saturday, and then going to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving next week.

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TODAY'S THE BIG DAY! ! ! ❤ In an hour, I’ll be signing the papers to the new house. Did I really just say that?! Is this real life?? I am so beyond excited, I can hardly contain myself. Mom and I are going to go basic-supply-shopping tonight after the meeting, and then over to the house so I can show it to her But beyond that, I have a tournament alllll weekend, so I have zero time to do any kind of moving until next week. Not to mention that we aren’t starting the repairs on the plumbing, some of the electric stuff and the windows until after Ted gets back from Utah around the 20th. So I’ll just be slowly moving my non-essential things into the house throughout the month. Wednesday and Thursday this week were the first nights of the MREC indoor volleyball league. Wednesday I play with Kate, Jordan, Quincy, Ben and Joseph. I think this team has a lot of potential and we’ll continue to get better the more we play together. We ended the night with a record of 1-5, but we battled in every game so we can definitely step it up. Thursday night I play with my bestie Cortney, Kevin, Steve, Scott and Justin. And we actually played really well! We won 2 and lost the last one of the night. We all played really well together and they have all improved so much since last year! But the best was playing with my Cortney Coming up the rest of this month….. Meeting two potential roommates next Wednesday (fingers crossed!), lots of volleyball, dinner with Ashley K net week, Visiting RKelley at PSU Sunday the 15th, more volleyball, Hunger Games MockingJay II comes out on 11/20!, Reverse coed quads tournament Saturday 11/21, And then Thanksgiving! Which is really just time off that I can spend moving in PS- I’m down to 162 lbs!!