POW 2.4

January 24-30, 2011

In terms of training, if I could describe my week in 1 word it would be “blah”. It’s been a sluggish week for me. I can’t say that I’ve felt the greatest. My goal this week is to do better at sleeping. I’ve kind of been slacking in that area a little bit lately. I also realize that this blog has not been as running oriented as I would like it to be… but, that will change now that I am healthy and will have exciting things to write about so that I can keep you all updated on my quest to the Olympic Trials.

Anyways, we found a new place to get some hill training in with the UCSB athletes this week. We may or may not have had to jump 3 fences in order to get to it…but it was totally worth it and the view was amazing.

top of Delta Force hill.

I was blessed this week with an incredible sunset which came after a pretty crappy run. The run was awful, but this sunset made it totally worth it. Man, I love Santa Barbara…it’s going to be hard to ever leave this place if I ever have to….

Just another sunset in SB.

POW 2.3

January 17-23, 2011

I received some great news this week! As of mid-February I will be taking over a 9th grade Algebra class for a teacher that goes on maternity leave! Some of you know this is something that is a total answer to prayer in terms of finances and I am excited to get some teaching experience. I also got the blessing of babysitting for some totally cute kids this week! 2 of my favorite families from church asked if I could watch their kiddos.

My little Peanut!

Ella & Lana in their butterfly bath towels.

POW 2.2

January 10-16, 2011

A pretty uneventful week finished off with an amazing weekend! I love when old friends come to town! A few summers in college I worked a week long camp with Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Through those camps I met a fabulous group of young women and, while we don’t get to see each other all that often, it’s always a great time to be had when we get together. I was sort of M.I.A. for the Friday night and Saturday afternoon because of recruits, but that didn’t slow us down from having a great time.

To make things even better ,the weather in SB was perfect this weekend! I can’t complain with mid-70s weather in January. Our weekend consisted of staying up late, movies, speed scrabble, loaded questions, pizzookies, Sambos, Goleta Beach, Blenders, country music, and euchre. I love these girls so much and only wish we could hang out every weekend!

POW 2.1

January 1-9, 2011

Year 2…week 1…let’s keep this going!

I’ve been “coaching” at UCSB since I graduated back in 2008. It has been such an awesome experience and every day it confirms that this is what I want to do with my life. This year my main responsibility has been recruiting. It has definitely been a learning experience and I think I am starting to get the hang of it. The next few weeks are going to be super exciting because we will be starting to get them on to campus and get the process started of who will become Gauchos in the fall!

The highlight of my week, however, may have been getting to use my new ice cream maker for the 1st time. My parents, who know me ALL too well, got me one for Christmas along with a box of Trader Joe’s candy cane joe-joes. I was a little bit nervous about having it turn out right…but oh boy, was it amaaaazing!

the prep.

the process.

the final product.

P.O.W. #53

December 27-31, 2010

I know it’s not a full week but it’s the END OF THE YEAR!! Holy cow! I feel like I just started doing this. What this means though is that I achieved one of my resolution’s for 2010! I don’t know if I have ever done that before! I really enjoyed doing this and will continue to do it in 2011 and hopefully add more to my blog than just the P.O.W’s.

It’s kind of fun to know that I ended the year pretty similar to how I started the year. My 1st P.O.W. was taken at a winery and my last P.O.W. was taken at a winery. The “crew” decided to go wine tasting today to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Everyone was very excited about celebrating an “East Coast New Year” so we went wine tasting then had dinner then rung in the New Year at 9:00pm. It was fun to hang out with my favorite people in SB to end 2010…here’s to an even better 2011!!

Oreana Winery

dinnerrrrr.

 

P.O.W. #52

December 20-26, 2010

Christmas week is finally here! I love Christmas and I love spending Christmas at home! I spent much of this week catching up with all my friends from all different points in my life and spending time with my family. It was a great week finished off with a great Christmas day at the Nickless house.

FCA friends!

church friends!

soccer friends!

Christmas night run in the rain!

P.O.W. #51

December 13-19, 2010

This week finally started to feel like winter in Santa Barbara. Okay, maybe not like east coast winter, but the temperature dropped drastically and the rain started. Of course I am not going to let a little rain get in the way of my training so I layered up and hit the roads.

can't really tell...but I'm soaked!

I can’t take credit for the next photos. They were posted by Annemarie on her blog. She hosted a very crafty Christmas party where we made fun little ornaments and magnets and had lots of delicious food. It was such a fun afternoon inside, dry, and out of the rain!

Photo booth!

arts and crafts time!

P.O.W. #50

December 6-12, 2010

Yes, It is December in Santa Barbara but you would never know it based on the weather. I spent most of this week in a t-shirt and shorts. Lauri and I had a picnic on the beach…yes, that’s how nice it was!! Santa Barbara also hosted the College Cup, which I helped work, and got to see every game. It’s funny to think that 10 years ago my dream was to play in the College Cup…oh how things change!

Picnic on the beach...in December...no big deal.

75 degrees out...perfect weather for the Championship game!

P.O.W. #49

November 29-December 5, 2010

I think I’m all caught up on POW’s now! woo hoo! Hard to believe this is already #49! 3 more after this and that’s it for 2010. 😦 I’m enjoying doing this, and hope you all are too, so the plan is to keep it going in 2011. I don’t think I’m quite ready for a POD (Picture of the Day), but hopefully I can work on putting more into it than just photos. We’ll see how it all goes.

Anyways, spent the weekend in Fresno with 1/2 of my Fiji team which was so great! It’s hard to believe it has already been about 5 months since we’ve been back and it was fun reminiscing on the trip a little bit. I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures. Oops!

When I got back from Fresno I made it a priority to go visit the Blackwell’s and visit the newest addition to their family, Sebastian, who was born the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I met Avery & Katie through the Altitude Project back in 2006 and Avery started coaching at UCSB in 2007. From then on they have become very close friends of mine and have since had a daughter, Selah, who is the most precious thing in the entire world! I call her my little Peanut and am absolutely in love with her. They are an amazing family and a perfect example of what I can only hope my family will look like! 😀

Sebby

My little Peanut is a big sister!

P.O.W. #48

November 22-28, 2010

Thanksgiving week! Also, my AMAZING mom’s birthday! I love this time of year! Lots of time spent with great friends and great family!

Happy Birthday, Joe!!

Also, just to make things really interesting, I decided to do the Dana Point Turkey Trot 4 days after the PA Championship race. Needless to say, it didn’t go very well, but it was still a fun way to start my Thanksgiving morning!

Trotting.