Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas Eve!
Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours! I can't believe that Christmas is already here! This year has really flown by. We're spending our second Christmas as married couple, but first as a married couple at our house (we spent last Christmas in Indiana with my family for my grandpa's 80th birthday...it was wonderful). We're taking it easy today since we've already finished up all of our Christmas shopping. I am not even venturing out to the grocery store today. If we don't have it by now, we don't need it! So bring on the Christmas movies, the hot chocolate (and maybe a glass of wine or two), and the QT with my sweetie.....it's almost Christmas!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Ski Trip to Sugar Mountain Part 2: On top of Grandfather Mountain
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| Awesome, right? |
Aside from snowboarding, we took some time to explore the other sites there were to see in the area. Number 1 on our list was Grandfather Mountain. It's one of the mountains next to Sugar Mountain, where we snowboarded. The mountain is a state park that has amazing views, hiking trails and a wildlife preserve.
At the top of the mountain there is a swinging suspension bridge that is a mile above sea level you can walk across. I was a bit apprehensive since I am not a huge fan of bridges, especially ones that move. It was not as bad as I was expecting it to be when we got up there so I braved it (when there were not a lot of people on it of course). I am so glad I did, because we were able to take some absolutely incredible pictures!
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| Had to get a picture of me on the bridge so my family would believe I went across it! |
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| looking back at Sugar Mountain from Grandfather Mountain |
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| my handsome hubby |
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| T-Mo and I holding up one of the rocks |
That same day we decided to try out a local place for breakfast...btw there are NO fast food joints within a half hour of Sugar Mountain that we saw....awesome, right? We ended up at a little pancake house and had a delicious breakfast. The place was definitely unique, and I have decided that I NEED a light fixture like the one they had in the entry way.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Ski Trip to Sugar Mountain Part 1
I am well aware that I have been MIA for a few days. This Christmas season has been crazy for me and last week was the culmination of it all. Between 3, yes 3 separate work Christmas parties, a Christmas party for the basketball team and two away basketball games (and not to mention having to be at work all week), I was not sure which end was up by the time I got back from Georgia (yes we played one of our away games in GA).
But I did not have time to relax because we left the next morning for a much needed VACATION! My BIL and FSIL took a ski trip last winter and had a blast so they decided to get a group together, rent a cabin and do it again this year, so we got a group together and headed to Sugar Mountain in North Carolina. This place is so pretty, the scenery is amazing!
I had been snowboarding once about 8 years ago, but it was not a pleasant experience and I ended up turning in my stuff and spending the rest of the day in the lodge while the people I was with played on the slopes. I promised my brother who has become a snowboarder extraordinaire that one day when I finished playing basketball that I would let him teach me how, but we've just never had a chance to get together on the slopes since he is in college now.
I was a little apprehensive to get on my board, but most of the people we were with were inexperienced, too, so we all figured it out together. The first day was much like my first snowboarding experience. I spent the majority off the day on my @ss, or my knees. I felt like I'd done a full body workout every time I got to the bottom of the [bunny] hill. Let's just say I am glad we rented the snowboards for 2 days up front, because I finally got the hand of it on the second day and it was soooooo much fun! By the end of the second day, I could get down the hill without falling, steer myself, stop myself (very important skill), and even get off the ski life with out busting it on the ramp--the ski life was seriously the worst part; I have 4 bruises on my left leg and 3 of the 4 are from a nasty spill I took trying to get off the chair lift.
I was so excited that I had to call my brother to tell him that I could snowboard! I am ready to get on the slopes again to show him my moves...and get some much needed pointers.
Of course snow boarding was not the only thing we did on the trip....we got to spend one morning on Grandfather Mountain......more to come on that tomorrow!
But I did not have time to relax because we left the next morning for a much needed VACATION! My BIL and FSIL took a ski trip last winter and had a blast so they decided to get a group together, rent a cabin and do it again this year, so we got a group together and headed to Sugar Mountain in North Carolina. This place is so pretty, the scenery is amazing!
I had been snowboarding once about 8 years ago, but it was not a pleasant experience and I ended up turning in my stuff and spending the rest of the day in the lodge while the people I was with played on the slopes. I promised my brother who has become a snowboarder extraordinaire that one day when I finished playing basketball that I would let him teach me how, but we've just never had a chance to get together on the slopes since he is in college now.
I was a little apprehensive to get on my board, but most of the people we were with were inexperienced, too, so we all figured it out together. The first day was much like my first snowboarding experience. I spent the majority off the day on my @ss, or my knees. I felt like I'd done a full body workout every time I got to the bottom of the [bunny] hill. Let's just say I am glad we rented the snowboards for 2 days up front, because I finally got the hand of it on the second day and it was soooooo much fun! By the end of the second day, I could get down the hill without falling, steer myself, stop myself (very important skill), and even get off the ski life with out busting it on the ramp--the ski life was seriously the worst part; I have 4 bruises on my left leg and 3 of the 4 are from a nasty spill I took trying to get off the chair lift.
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| this is how we spent much of the first day |
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| so excited that I figured it out! |
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| snowboarders |
Of course snow boarding was not the only thing we did on the trip....we got to spend one morning on Grandfather Mountain......more to come on that tomorrow!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Getting a W
I feel like when you play a sport in college, people automatically assume that you want to coach when you graduate. That was not the case with me. I barely gave it a thought. I got a job, started working, and revisited the gym once a year for our Lady Hawks Alumni Game. I noticed a year or so ago that the further away I get from my playing days, the more I wanted to be back around the game. I finally got that opportunity this year.
I have not talked about it much on here, but I have been helping my FSIL coach the girls high school basketball team in the town where we live. Neither one of us has ever coached before but we played together at Huntingdon College, and between the two of us we have a decent amount of basketball knowledge. Two heads are better than one, right?
This team has had a rough go of it the past few years. They have won just a handful of games in the past 4 years, and they did not win a single game last season. We came in with an open mind, knowing that we had our work cut out for us with a young team: we have 2 seniors, 7 sophomores and a freshman. As young as they are, they seem eager to learn and do (almost) every thing we ask (they are high schoolers after all).
Our first few games were tough. We lost our first game pretty bad. The second we lost, but it was not a total blowout. At halftime we were only down by 7, which the girls were thrilled about. We realized that these girls were not even used to being in a ball game, never mind winning a game. We lost our next two games, as well, and we could tell that it was starting to wear on the girls, especially the seniors.
We had a nice break last week where we did not have any games, which gave us a great opportunity to put some new things in and refine the things we were doing already, and Friday night it paid off.......we WON! We actually won the game! The girls were elated! It was like a huge weight had been lifted off everyone's shoulders. Later we realized that only one girl on the team had every won a varsity game, because none of the other girls were on the team the last time they won.
We didn't have long to celebrate because we had another game Saturday night. Unfortunately we lost that one, but only by 4 points. We played the entire 2nd quarter without 2 starters and a third in foul trouble. If we'd made a couple of lay-ups and free throws we could have won it. The girls were disappointed, but the good news is that we get that team again this year. I have a good feeling that that game will have a different outcome.
Our girls know now what it takes to win and how great it feels to win, and we're going to keep moving forward!
I have not talked about it much on here, but I have been helping my FSIL coach the girls high school basketball team in the town where we live. Neither one of us has ever coached before but we played together at Huntingdon College, and between the two of us we have a decent amount of basketball knowledge. Two heads are better than one, right?
This team has had a rough go of it the past few years. They have won just a handful of games in the past 4 years, and they did not win a single game last season. We came in with an open mind, knowing that we had our work cut out for us with a young team: we have 2 seniors, 7 sophomores and a freshman. As young as they are, they seem eager to learn and do (almost) every thing we ask (they are high schoolers after all).
Our first few games were tough. We lost our first game pretty bad. The second we lost, but it was not a total blowout. At halftime we were only down by 7, which the girls were thrilled about. We realized that these girls were not even used to being in a ball game, never mind winning a game. We lost our next two games, as well, and we could tell that it was starting to wear on the girls, especially the seniors.
We had a nice break last week where we did not have any games, which gave us a great opportunity to put some new things in and refine the things we were doing already, and Friday night it paid off.......we WON! We actually won the game! The girls were elated! It was like a huge weight had been lifted off everyone's shoulders. Later we realized that only one girl on the team had every won a varsity game, because none of the other girls were on the team the last time they won.
We didn't have long to celebrate because we had another game Saturday night. Unfortunately we lost that one, but only by 4 points. We played the entire 2nd quarter without 2 starters and a third in foul trouble. If we'd made a couple of lay-ups and free throws we could have won it. The girls were disappointed, but the good news is that we get that team again this year. I have a good feeling that that game will have a different outcome.
Our girls know now what it takes to win and how great it feels to win, and we're going to keep moving forward!
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