East-Coast Invasion

This past weekend was super busy but fun and exciting at the same time.  First of all, Blair came in from Virgina really early Thursday morning.  I didn't get to see her until dinner Friday night, but afterwards we came back to our apartment and talked as a class until 2am.  We tend to do that a lot and I love it but this time it was rough because I had to back at the gym by 8am Saturday morning.  I was tempted to call and cancel my private lesson but I thought better of it and ended up getting myself out of bed on time.

After work on Saturday I had to pack up and drive to Sacramento.  My grandmother passed away a little over a month ago and this weekend my family from Boston flew in and we had somewhat of a celebration in her honor.  I got home around 6pm and then we got dressed up and headed out to downtown Sac.  It was fun to be there because the jazz festival was going on so there were a lot of people out and about.  It was also nice to see the sun setting over the bridge and the river; I got some nice pictures with the new camera I got last Friday!  I finally replaced the one that was stolen in Paris and I'm already over the shock that was caused by the money I spent on it.

We met up with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins at The Firehouse and had an amazing dinner.  I can't remember the last time we were all in the same place (usually one or two of us is missing) and it was great to be able to catch up with everyone.  The dinner took over three hours because we were just talking so much and enjoying all the wonderful food.  We went our separate ways afterwards, got some sleep, and then met up the following morning to clean out Nana's apartment.  As a family we went through her possessions and divided it up between all the cousins; whatever was left was donated to charity.  The best part was looking through all the old photos, which definitely brought us all back to those good times when we were younger.

I had to leave Sunday night because the Twisters girls had practice at 9am Monday morning.  It was really late before I got out the door (I didn't want to say goodbye to my family!!) but the drive was smooth and everything worked out just fine.  After work yesterday Tenaya and I decided we wanted to do a BBQ for Memorial Day so we organized some people, whipped out our George Foreman grills, and made some burgers.  It was nice to have people over (it ended up being me, T, CJ, Weedge, Brownie, JP, and Bryant) and I think we all enjoyed the company.  I got to bed late last night after Megan and I decided to purge the stuff in the fridge and do a major cleaning.  It was hard work but made it really nice when I opened the fridge this morning.  All clean and organized, just the way I like it!  :)

23 Club

Today I am proud to welcome Alex to the 23 club.  It's a pretty solid group with exclusive membership and all I can say is we're excited to have him.  Unfortunately my membership expires soon so he'll have to quickly learn the ropes and step up to the plate to take over as president.

It was a fun day, starting off with birthday breakfast on University Ave.  Afterwards I dropped the boys (Cale was with us) off on campus and drove to work.  Luckily I planned ahead and worked extra hours earlier in the week so I was able to go in a little bit later today.  As I was driving I formulated a plan in my head that would allow me to have the afternoon to celebrate, and it worked!  I picked the boys back up and we ended up (after a lot of debate and plan-changing) at Shoreline for a mid-afternoon showing of Dark Shadows.  It was pretty good...a little weird at first, but definitely came together at the end.  After that it was a side-trip to Best Buy and then back to Alex's house where he opened some presents (gotta love gifts!!), we played games (Phase 10), got dinner, and watched TV.  Overall it was a great afternoon and hopefully special for Alex.

Because it only comes once a year, I'll say it again...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALEX!  Already can't wait 365 more days; I better get going on talking to Sandra Bullock so you can meet her on your golden birthday :)

New Furniture

Saturday evening was a lot of fun because CJ, T, and I got dressed up and went out.  We were supposed to be celebrating Weedge and the fact that she'd finally finished the MCAT, but in the end she was nowhere to be found so we went out in our nice clothes anyways.  We started at Nola's where we were able to just talk to people and then ended up at The Patio.  Once we arrived there CJ and I were getting tired and so we didn't stay long.  T made a new friend, however, so she was all excited to stay and see where that was headed.  We made it home at a decent time and I fell right into bed because I had been up since 7am (woohoo Saturday morning private lessons!).

Yesterday I woke up and immediately began cleaning the house because my parents were coming down with new (well, slightly used, but like new) furniture.  Megan, T, and I moved a lot of the stuff we already had into the garage for storage.  T is going to be taking it with her when she goes to school in the fall but needs a place to keep it while she's gone for a month in Nepal.  It was great because it gave us a chance to clean a lot of stuff out; I think I took six separate trips to the recycling and garbage bins throughout the morning.

As the afternoon approached, Megan and I decided to head out to IKEA to see if we could find a dining room table.  That was one thing we weren't getting from my parents and needed to be taken care of.  We found a couple of tables we liked and were mulling over the prices when we stumbled on an amazing deal (four chairs and a table for $129).  We eventually picked it up along with some picture frames and a very large photo of the Golden Gate Bridge we are going to put up over the new couch.  It all managed to fit in the back of my little car and soon we were home assembling the pieces of our table.

My parents finally pulled up in the U-Haul they rented and we quickly unloaded everything:  couch, coffee table, side table, lamp, cabinet for the kitchen, my bike, a new mattress...and the list goes on I think.  It was nice that my roommates were around to help because the process only took us a grand total of 10 minutes.  Our house was transformed and now it's our job to just put the finishing touches on everything.  My mom also brought me some presents in the form of clothes for work, which is always exciting.  Of course she made me do a fashion show for her which took us up to the time we had to get ready for dinner.  We picked up Alex on the way to Reposado's and after a crazy parking experience we were safely inside.  My parents have never been there before so Alex recommended a few things.  Everyone enjoyed their meal, the conversation was good, and laughter was rampant so overall I think we had a great time.  From there we had to take a trip to San Jose so my parents could catch an 8pm Amtrak back up to Sacramento.  It was sad to see them go after such a short trip but I'll be heading home next weekend so I'll get another opportunity to spend time with them.

By the time I got home it was getting dark but my roommates and I threw around a football for a little while.  It was fun but I'm much better at catching than throwing; I've got the distance thing covered but not so much the spiral thing.  Once it became too dark for us to really see we went back inside and I broke in our new couch by watching Beauty and the Beast (yeah, Disney!) before heading to bed.  It was a very productive and exciting day so with my new mattress and box-spring it was easy for me to fall asleep.  Now another week begins, but there are fun things up ahead so I'm excited!

Telomeres

One of my former teammates, Dani Ikoma, now works for a company conducting a study centered on telomere length, which is related to your health.  Apparently the longer these telomeres are (they are part of your chromosomes) the healthier you are.  In order to participate in the study there are certain criteria you have to meet and this morning I went in to get my blood drawn, give a saliva sample (it's really hard to spit on command), get my blood pressure taken (my HR is still really low, hmm), height, weight, etc.  How they will be utilizing all this data I'm not too sure, but I do know that I have to go in twice more in the next year for follw-up parts of the study.  I had to get up really early because I needed to get it all done before I went in to work around 9, but it was worth it because I was paid $50 for my participation.  It's weird because at work I watch surgeries all day and it's fine but getting my own blood drawn makes me a bit squemish.  My elbow also continues to be a problem because they like to take blood pressure and the blood sample from the left arm but with my nerve issues that just wasn't possible.  Way to be the difficult candidate in the room...

Last night was fun because I was asked to join in on celebrating SWG 2012 at their annual banquet at Jimmy V's.  Not only do I miss the food there (training table!!) but the company of the coaches and the girls is always heart-warming.  Allan came and brought Remi, so I was kind of on baby-sitter patrol, but I didn't mind.  All the girls thought she was just the cutest thing and she was sure eating it up.  The girls were presented with their awards and I was given a couple of things as well.  The seniors handed out gifts for the coaches and I just can't get over how grown-up they are; so well-spoken and their passion for SWG is evident with everything they do.  Dani put together a great highlight video and it was fun to watch, if not just a little bit painful.  She used one of the songs in my freshman year highlight reel and it took me right back to when I was on the team and filled me with too many fond memories to count.  T, CJ, and I talked about the festivities after getting home and it made us a bit nostalgic, but also served as a reminder of how lucky we were to be a part of something so special.  The holes in our hearts are quickly filled when we look at the seniors of this team and see that they have become beautiful young women who truly understand what SWG is all about.  It's one of the most fulfilling parts of the journey, seeing the young ones take charge after you're gone while giving back to the ones looking up to them.  It was also really nice to see Kristen and Swiz, though a sad because it reminded me that I don't get the opportunity to do that every day.  It's something I took advantage of when I was on the team and I just wish there were more hours in the day so I could see them on a more regular basis.  The lessons and love they instilled in me are with me in everything I do on a daily basis and I owe so much to them.  I'm already excited for SWG 2013...is it season again yet??

St. Louis Bound

It's official!  I will be jetting off to Missouri in the beginning of June to attend the Visa Championships.  I knew I wanted to go but it never feels real until the tickets are purchased and an itinerary is set in place.  I'm really excited because I've never been to Missouri before and the competition should be fun and pretty intense.  Everyone there will be trying to obtain a spot at the Olympic Trials (in San Jose at the end of June!!).  It's an exciting time for the sport of gymnastics, especially for crazy fans like me :)  To get myself prepared I've been flipping around in the gym and discovered that I was still able to do a double back!!  Originally it was Allan who said he wanted to see one (he likes to take a look at the technique I use...who knows why) so after some warming up I finally decided to chuck it.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated, which was exciting!  I went back a few days later and added some beam to my workout, but I had to draw the line after I did a back-handspring on the floor because my elbow was not at all happy.  Some things never change...oh well.  T and CJ were in the gym too and we decided we were going to make a comeback.  I still have a year of eligibility left, so why not?

After a draining week (Intuitive is great, but on top of gym it's all getting really difficult...especially because compulsory season is upon us and all the parents want private lessons for their kids; just not enough hours in the day for that to happen), today was really nice and relaxing.  I got up and right into my to-do list for the day, starting with cleaning and laundry.  I went to run some errands after that and came home to bake, yum!!  I settled on chocolate cream cheese cupcakes...SO GOOD!  It was great to be in the kitchen with my music going, frosting cupcakes that smelled amazing.  Afterwards I made a tuna casserole for dinner and picked up a couple of movies from Alex's house.  CJ and I are planning on watching Dream House in a few minutes, which is supposed to be very good.  Hopefully it's better than Cabin in the Woods, which we saw last night (it was TERRIBLE and I would never recommend it to anyone).

Lastly, and probably most importantly, May is a celebratory time for the Carter family...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  Funny story:  I sent my mom some flowers but the company somehow messed up the order so she received a card in Spanish from a Ms. Hernandez.  Fortunately, the note still had nice things to say (thanks to Alex for the translation) so not all was lost.  Anyways, I love you, both!  I have to thank you for always being there for me and for providing me with the very best.  Your unconditional love is what keeps me going and I'm so grateful to have you in my life.  I hope your days were as awesome as you are :)

The Journey Continues

Another stepping stone to London 2012 was conquered yesterday at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  There were 14 gymnasts who qualified to the Visa Championships held one month from now, including Alex and Ryan as well as former teammate Josh who is now training in Colorado.  Alex went in and hit 6-for-6 (that means he HIT POMMEL HORSE!!!) and came out third in the rankings.  Definitely a confidence booster heading into the next stage of the race.  Read about the competition here:  Qualifier.

Tonight the East Creek residents had a potluck dinner that included a nice salad made by Dani and her boyfriend Chris, chicken and pasta made by T, CJ, and I, and an angel-food cake with fruit brought by Weedge and her boyfriend Mike.  We sat outside while we ate but then the bugs started coming out so we came in and entertained ourselves with good conversation.  There was a lot of laughter before everyone finally had to leave.  Now my roommates and I are getting ready for another, hopefully productive, week of work  :)

Twisters Banquet

What a day!  I woke up this morning and gathered all the things I would need for the afternoon before heading out to the gym for one of my weekly private lessons.  When it was over at 9:30 I ran to Target to pick up a couple of last minute things, got back to the gym to change, and was at the banquet site just before 11.  There was a lot going on when I arrived and I was quickly put to work handing out programs.  Afterwards I mingled with the girls and some of their parents while I waited for the formal event to begin.  Allan started with a welcome speech and then we all broke for lunch.  The food was really great but the line was super long so the coaches decided to wait.  Once I finally got up to the front of the line I put some lettuce on my plate and then I had to rush to the front of the room because Allan had started the coaches recognition section of the presentation and I was up first.  I miss the days Allan and I had in the gym together when I was younger, but it's been great getting to know him as a colleague and his speech about me was very nice.  I received a gift of new Twisters shirts (nice ones for meets) from him and Ericka and we exchanged hugs as well.

After the coaches it was time to get cracking on recognition of the girls and all of their accomplishments from the season.  Allan put together picture slideshows for each level and he did a really fantastic job.  It was so cute to see the little ones come up for their awards in their pretty dresses and nice hair-do's.  I had to present one of the awards for the optionals and I was really nervous but it turned out fine.  After the awards were given and everyone was happy most of us went outside to look around the golf course we were sitting on.  Pictures were taken everywhere and it was an honor to be asked to be in so many of them.  I was given cards from the girls and gifts from the parents club; everyone seemed so grateful for everything the coaching staff had done and it was just a nice, heart-warming afternoon.