Things To Be Thankful For

I had an exhausting holiday weekend. 

Starting with a doctor’s appointment after work Wednesday, followed by cleaning up my house quickly, and then dinner with my Aunt from out of town. 

Thursday, Thanksgiving day, I was at another Aunt’s home for a traditional dinner and catching up with relatives. 

While waiting for Santa Claus to make his appearance during the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade, I tried to think of all the things I was grateful for. 
Sure there are lots of things I am thankful for this year, but for some reason it’s been hard to think of the right words. 

I am truly thankful that I’ve had such a great pregnancy so far. The love and support from my family and friends has been overwhelming.  The excitement and joy that I see in Mike’s eyes when it’s the least expected has been a blessing.

The holidays have been tricky to get excited about despite all of the above.  I’m limiting what decorations I set out for Christmas, knowing that I’ll hardly want to have to take them down after. And trying to think of things I’d like for Christmas is tough when all I can think of is the healthy baby boy I can’t wait to bring home. 

Once Thanksgiving was over, I was able to settle in and relax for a night before buzzing about all day Friday with Gabby and my sisters getting the last few things done for the first baby shower. (The second baby shower will be in January, hosted by Circuit for all of our derby friends).  There was also another lovely dinner out with my Aunts.

And Saturday was the shower.  I can’t say how happy I was that everything went so well! My sisters, mom & Margaret, and Gabby, with help from Barb & Eileen, did a fantastic job with food, decorating, games, and so much more.

I was so happy to have so many people attend, and the gifts were all thoughtful, cute and they put my mind at ease knowing that they will all be helpful in taking care of Itzy when he’s here.

Of course Sunday was another day of cleaning and organizing. With only 10 more weeks or so before we find ourselves busy in a whole new way. 

Thankful. It’s a small word, but it sums it up well. 

Brewhaha 2014

It’s been a busy month since getting back from the United Kingdom.

A few weeks ago I got to travel to Chicago for work. It was a great experience only made better by dinner with Nora. I love that I have made so many friends in so many places.

Right now, I’m sitting in the crowd at Brewhaha. It’s the 3rd day and I’m done officiating for the weekend.

Going to these tournaments is like going to a family reunion. I love seeing and working with everyone. 

This has been a weekend of very little shenanigans. It’s been tiring, and my first time as Crew Head NSO. It’s been fun watching Slim and Jack have their first Brewhaha experience. And Mayor has been getting exceptional feedback.

edit: I accidentally hit publish before I wrapped this post up.

Overall this trip has been good. I’ll be going home with feedback, and writing lots of evals. Looking forward to seeing how things play out over the next few weeks. Head Official elections will be in a week and a half. New Season! New Things!

On the Go: Getting Back

I haven’t really done much of anything since I got home. 

Mike had been working late the week I got back. That was kind of a bummer but I did get to spend an evening with Robyn & Hi-Death. And I had a beer with Beaver at Clubhouse BFD which was also a treat.

This past weekend, Mike and I went up north to his property to take a break. It was a much needed rest. We hiked a bit, and found a cool old log cabin that had been abandoned.

This week feels more like being back to the grind than any. Seems like the next few weekends will be busy. Stat Army Basic Training this Saturday. Baby Shower next week, a double header in Lansing following that and then the last home season game with DDG.  And then I am sure there’s something after that.  Pretty soon it will be Brewhaha weekend again. 

Well, gotta get back to it. 

On the Go: Dublin Day 5

Another great day in Europe.

We started with free breakfast at the hostel followed by some quick exercises before Meryl, Cookie, Tigs and I headed out to the National Museum of Ireland. 

There were some really neat exhibits particularly about the mummified remains they’ve found under the peat bogs.

After that, we met up with our new friend, Violent Bob, the coach of Dublin Roller Derby, who hooked us up with tours and a tasting at the Jameson Distillery. 

I split from the group after that, and headed over to the Guinness Storehouse. After all that walking, my aim was to sit down and enjoy a pint 7 stories over Dublin. And it was completely worth it!

I then met back up with the girls who had joined VB at The Porterhouse Pub.  Another great pint, and a slice of Bailey’s cheesecake and the day was complete. 

On the Go: Edinburgh Day 3

What a great day!

Meryl and I slept in this morning, which was nice. We woke to sunshine and near 60 Temps.  We decided to get breakfast at The Elephant House, a café known as the “birthplace” of the Harry Potter novels. On our way there, we ran into Cookie and Tigs who were back from running and looking for food as well.  The four of us had a great little meal and then headed back out into the city.

Meryl and I split from Tigs and Cookie while we looked for a comic book store we’d seen the day before.  It unfortunately was closed. So we headed to the National Museum of Scotland.

The National Museum of Scotland is a lot of fun and I recommend you visit if you get the chance.  Dinosaurs, science, ancient artifacts, and Dolly the Cloned Sheep. 

After that we stopped to get crepes before joining the Harry Potter Walking Tour. Again, totally fun. And yes, I know, I still need to read them all. 

We met back up with Cookie and Tigs and headed out to dinner. Cookie and I sampled a few Scottish ales before settling on a tasty house ale. The pub was unfortunately out of fish and chips, haggis and Scotch eggs, but I did get a proper meal of Bangers and Mash. 

And no trip to the UK would be complete without a Cornetto. Cornettos that Cookie literally ran to the store to buy for the four of us and our cute waiter, Johnny.

We walked around the city a bit. I got my pictures of 2 pubs from the Simon Pegg movie, ‘The World’s End.’

Today, was great fun with great friends.

On the Go: Edinburgh Day 2

Day 2 in Edinburgh found myself up at 8am. I got dressed and made my way out into the sunshine.  A quick walk to the pharmacy and a stop at Starbucks.  It was kind of drizzly, but fairly nice weather. 

Back in the room, I found Meryl up and dressed. We headed back out to get some good snacks for the day. 

Later, after a bit of a miscommunication, we met up with the rest of the girls and got breakfast at Biddy Mulligans.  I had a really great meal of smoked salmon, spinach, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce over a piece of thick whole wheat toast.

We then headed over to the castle where most of us took the tour. Not what I was expecting, but did get to see the Scottish Crown Jewels.

We grabbed some coffee and a small snack, and then headed back to our rooms for a bit.  The girls got in their workouts and then we got ready for dinner.

It was pretty late when we finally made it out for dinner. We stopped at a Frankenstein themed pub,  had a drink and danced a bit.  Our next stop found us searching for food, and finding a little take-out place where we got pizza and shawarma.

Our group then got a little smaller, as we headed into the 2nd pub, a place called The Advocate.  And that’s where I learned to play the card game Kings and drank an alcoholic ginger beer. 

The last stop of the night was in the brew pub next to the hostel. It was 1am and time to have one last pint before bed. 

On the Go: Bout Day!

Happy Bout Day!

I’m sitting in my favorite local breakfast spot sipping coffee and enjoying my favorite bout day breakfast.

Please note that this is not skater fuel, this is get me through the after party fuel.

I’m excited for today’s bout. It’s the first Detroit Derby Girls sanctioned bout of the season, going up against the closely ranked Tampa Bay.

It’s also my first sanctioned bout as a Head NSO and certified. I have a great crew of officials and I have no doubts that this will be a fun, fair and safe bout.
If you are looking for something fun tonight, come down and see us! Tickets available at the door, doors open at 5pm. Bout starts at 6pm. 500 Temple, Detroit Masonic Temple Drill Hall

Sometimes, you need to be told you don’t suck

And sometimes you really need it to come from the right person more than anything.

DDG Zombie Apocalypse

Zombies and the Detroit Derby Girls? Witness the apocalypse this Saturday as the D-Funk Allstars take on The Pistolwhippers. Tickets are quickly being devoured! Zombies from the Gleaner’s Food Bank Zombie Walk will be on site collecting can goods. Dress … Continue reading →

Pay It Forward

Today, I was busy cleaning the house. It’s been a few weeks since I have been home long enough to do any real thorough cleaning. And with my sister’s wedding coming up this week, I really needed to get it done.

Looking like a slob all day, I worked my way around the house. At about 4pm, my dad showed up. He’d driven up from Nashville.  We caught up and then we headed up to Meijer to get some things for dinner.

Well, I must have done something right today, or I just looked like a poor schmuck who needed it.  While in the check out line, I offered to let the man behind me go first, he only had two items to my cart full.  We chatted a bit, he paid for his stuff, and then he handed me a folded up bill, and told me to put it towards my groceries. I kindly put it in my pocket, thanked him graciously, and continued on with my purchase.

I get home, pull it out of my pocket, totally expecting like a 5 or 10 or something, IT WAS $50! Could not believe it.  But what I can believe is that I will be paying that forward.

Some times it just pays to be kind. Literally. 🙂