Memorial Day

This morning I attended a wonderful ceremony in my hometown's town square honoring our Great Nation's veterans of past, present and future. I hope we all take this day to recognize and remember all of those who have put our lives in front of theirs to give all of us our freedom and rights that we have today. I have the great honor of remembering and celebrating many in my family who have served our nation and who we can all thank today for their honor, love and bravery.

My Grandpa Jim served in WWII, along with his brother, Ben. My great grandfather James and great great uncle Charles both served in the Civil War and my great grandfather William served in WWI.

Thank you to all of our great veterans for your service.

Wicked!!

For Mother's Day this year, Dad and I went in on a special treat for Mom and Kelly, tickets to Wicked!! Luckily, I get to partake in the festivities and join...hey, I have plants - who do you think takes care of them and "mothers them"...ME! Anyway, that's how I'm going to justify it ;)

The show was absolutely amazing and Mom and Kelly just loved it. I have had the soundtrack for several years now but have never seen the production and boy was it worth it. I had goosebumps, the hair was raised on my neck, I could feel my face moving from looks of excitement and anticipation to joy to sadness to amazement at the range these performers had. Oh my goodness were they awesome. And the theatrics were off the heezy and there was a great ending to boot! 

If you have not seen Wicked, you seriously need to find a showing near you. It's worth the money. It's something you will never forget and it really a fun night out for moms and daughters, sisters, friends and even couples! 

So, why don't you all go ahead and defy some gravity today because in the end you will be changed for good. (hint hint...go see the show and you'll know what I mean)

Expectations, people!

I had a very interesting and insightful lunch today in the Neb. I went out with some coworkers and our new intern, who at the young age of 22, made all of us think on a little deeper level than a usual Friday lunch conversation. I don't even know exactly how we got onto the topic of relationships, but we sure do know a lot about intern, hereby known as OG, and his girlfriend. Let's start with the conversation takeaway: EXPECTATIONS! Know what you want and expect, know what your significant other wants and expects and then do everything you can to exceed those wants and expectations. But remember, you need to meet them first then work on exceeding them.

It was very interesting to hear such a young person's (not that I'm THAT much older) point of view. Especially a young male who met his possible soul mate at the age of 20. Who does that anymore? Where are these people and do they have signs around their necks that say "Hey! I'm single and may just be your soulmate!"

Keep in mind that this young guy is talking to 3 women who are older, one of them by nearly 10 years, 2 of which are completely single and one who is just waiting for that ring to be slipped on her finger. You would think he would be a little intimidated right? Wrong. Not this kid. We have since invited him to our weekly lunch outings. If nothing else, he serves as really good entertainment and brings up things that we really do think about all the time but never have a male's perspective. It brings a new dynamic to our Friday lunch discussion.

So, as I look back and try to remember what exactly OG said I needed to do, shit...I just forgot a lot of it. Oh well, I guess I'm on my own for this one. EXPECTATIONS! That's what it was, oh yes, expectations. Well, maybe unfortunately for men in the world, or possibly this is unfortunate for me, I do have fairly high expectations so for one to meet them and them exceed them could be slightly tiring. Good thing I like to nap and will let my significant other partake in the napping as well. Well, that's enough on relationships for one day. For many people, I can see not being in a relationship but thinking about being in one is maybe almost more tiring than actually being in one! Good thing I'm not many people and don't think about it enough to be tired. In my estimation, when the time comes and Prince Charming walks through the doors I'll be ready.

Let's just hope it doesn't take me eating a poison apple or being locked in a tower for that to happen ;)

Pinterest

Have you heard of Pinterest? Ohmygosh, you need to hear of it, you need to get it and you need to become obsessed. Oh wait, you really don't "need" to do any of that, you automatically will do it!! One of my best friends, L, isn't really interested in getting the whole blog thing going, but she said this is the closest she will come and she loves it. Immediately, I was intrigued and asked her to "add" me to it.

This awesome little concoction give you boards that you "pin" things to. Your favorite foods, your style, places you want to go, gadgets you love in the kitchen, what do you grow? You can create any board you want and name it anything you want and then, when you find something cool online that you want to "pin" on one of your boards, the site gives you this little link that you bookmark and put on your toolbar, click it and you can choose the image and link you want on your board. Confused? Why don't you just sign up and check out the drift I'm sending your way. It's awesome. It's fantastic. It's addictive. And I love it.

I also think it's a great way to get creative, let your mind wander and see things that other people think about and find interesting. You'll learn a lot about yourself and about others. Alright, now get pinning!!!

Marathoner

It's official. I am going to do the Omaha half marathon. I'm going to do the Omaha half marathon. I'm going to do the Omaha half marathon.

I'm hoping that if I say it enough, it will sink in and not be so scary. One of my colleagues and I are going to train together and we are going to do this thing!!  I will be giving updates....wish me luck for I will need it.

Rapture. Yes or No?

Alright all of you rapture believes, are you sure the date was last Saturday? Because I feel like there is some continuance of what could qualify as pre-rapture happenings. First, Joplin was hit by the worst tornado in their history. Please say some prayers for all of the folks down there and for those who have family because I honestly cannot imagine digging through absolute wreckage trying to find my best friend, let alone a member of my family. And now, more tornadoes are on their way?! I think we all need to take some precautions and think about what we would do if we were in that situation. Where would you go? What would you grab? I know I would be hustling my little hiney to my bathtub and throw my mattress over me and hang on for dear life.

In other weather-related news. It's raining in the Heartland and our office building feels like a combo of the jungle and as our new intern put it Mesozoic times. Obviously, he must have studied a lot about Dinosaurs. Snazzy.

Do you still think we are in for the rapture?

Svenska

Is it bad that I have done the same thing two days in a row now? And I'm not talking about the good-for-my mind and body yoga, enter Starbucks outside computer in hand listening to tunes perusing the 'net and blogging. What can I say, I just want a little consistency in life. And...there is no way I could have done a yoga class today. F that noise. I did go for a nice little run last night and will do it again tonight. It was actually perfect because I had a hankering for a movie and my closest Red Box is a little over a mile away so I laced up my sneaks and took off. Look at that, I got in a 2ish mile run and I got my movie!!

Well, as I sipped my iced coffee I had a lovely Skype date with my friend A who is currently vacationing in Sweden. Yes, Sweden. The land where I am headed in a short week and a half! I am so extremely excited for my vacation and I can't wait to see my friend, David, who i am staying with and the country I have heard so much about and have wanted to see for so long. I have been planning to visit for a few years now and was finally in a position to go ahead and do it so back in March I booked my ticket and have been anxiously awaiting takeoff. My trip goal: meet a royal and become the next Commoner to take her place in court ;) Hey, a girl can dream!!

Be ready for a lot of Svenska (Swedish for "cheeky") updates and stories, I have no doubt there will be a plethora.

POWER YOGA

Ok, friends. How many of you have ever taken a yoga class? I can see at least half of you raising your hands. According to Webster, the definition of yoga (not capitalized) is "a system of exercises for attaining bodily or mental control and well-being". Well, that makes sense. You always hear about those yogis in California and Colorado (please include my two besties, Court and Mel who, respectively live in both of those states) and think they're super weird and have dread locks and smoke a lot of weed. Definitely not the rule, possibly an exception, although, I feel as though my bests have both embraced their inner yogi or "granola" as Court calls it in the most positive and energetic way. And to be honest, I absolutely love it. Why not embrace a culture, lifestyle, exercise, healthy mental state that only encourages well-being and a positive way of living? I may be stuck in the middle of the country, err,  I mean the Good Life in Nebraska but we have gotten with the times on many things including health and fitness clubs offering magnificent yoga classes.

I started taking "pilates" classes when I was in my early teens as a way to build strength and flexibility to compliment all the dance classes I had been taking since I was a little rugrat. I could tell a major difference in my core strength, balance and focus. I was loving pilates! But, I really wanted to try yoga and because yoga is, at the root of the word, a Hindu theistic philosophy, the Christian-centered YMCA in my hometown did not offer it.

I kept up with pilates, got really into outdoor cycling and spinning and never stopped dancing, but there was still a little tug in my core that wanted to try yoga - at least just to say that I did it! As I got older, went to college, moved out on my own and tried out different fitness clubs, I took a lot of yoga classes and loved them just as much as I thought I would. I always felt so centered at the end of class. It helped me deal with frustrations in my life, stress at work and my overall happiness. Yoga really helped me maintain my happiness so Sassafrass grudge-holding Sarah stays at bay.

Alright, now on to the good stuff. I just started a new yoga class. Let me be real with you for a second, this is a POWER YOGA class. (Which, by the way, it does not say on the class schedule). Now, as I had mentioned above, I have taken many yoga classes, I was a dancer, an athlete, a pilates lady, and a cyclist so I didn't think anything of trying a new yoga class. My friends Q and K and I woke up bright and early on a Saturday morning and with a rush of excitement and the smell of our post-class lattes wafting in our minds, we stepped into the yoga room. Full class. Toned, sinewy and muscular bodies surrounded us. We grabbed mats and made a nice little line of 3 in the back row. The instructor asked the class if there were any newcomers to her class, we hesitated and kind of/kind of did not raise our hands. Then, she asked the class who had never been in a yoga class. Well, with our inflated heads we practically scoffed and considered ourselves, of course, experts. 

Class started. Shit, what the hell was this?! I can't lift my arms, my legs are shaking, if I do one more plank I think I may collapse and break my face. Wow, she wasn't kidding when she asked who had never been to one of her classes. This was not your typical yoga class. Our bodies were screaming at us, sweat was dripping out of every pore in our bodies and we were exhausted by the time class was over. "What happened to a nice relaxing stretching yoga class? Q exasperatingly asked. "Where was my flexibility work?" K pondered. "What the heck just happened?" was all I could think. We talked to the instructor after class just for a sec to introduce ourselves and make friends and then we hobbled our to the car in need of our caffeine. 

The next day, with my effort in part by my entire core and my arms, I propelled myself out of bed. I texted Q, told her my body hated me and I was being punished, she and K agreed wholeheartedly and we were just glad to have each other to whine and not feel bad about it. 

Q had to work a 12 hour shift today and K wanted to go for a run, but I soldiered on and went to POWER YOGA without them and once again, punished my body, sweat buckets, went for some caffeine and know that I did my body good and will feel better after some pain killers and a couple days of recovery.

Who knows, maybe in a couple of months I'll be drinking nettles like Mel!