Hey peeps…I’ve (finally) posted a few back dated entries…scroll on down and have a little look-see if you are interested!
More to come (probably tomorrow). For now, I must change into vball clothes and head up to meet my team!!! Let’s Go Dune Dawgs! We can DO IT!!
Work again was work, and after work I changed into my volleyball gear and walked up to the volleyball courts where I met my team.
It was really nice seeing everyone in their red shirts! I felt really unified and after our long hard practice a few days earlier, I also felt READY!
We played a team that really did seem to have their sh*t together, but this time, so did we (with the exception of an occasional hiccup here or there). We won the first two games and came VERY CLOSE to winning the third but lost the final game 21 to 19. It was a slight bummer, but really, it felt SO GREAT to play and have our team really working like a well oiled unit!
Also, to be quite honest, it felt kinda nice to win for once. Our standing is pretty sad. I think we are currently 3 – 9. Eee…not too good. But we are making huge improvements and covering each others weaknesses with our strengths. Loved it! GREAT team effort! (I forgot how much I enjoy being part of a team – and being team captain is even more fun!)
After the game we hit up John Barleycorn for pitcher specials and snacks. It was a lot of fun just hanging out and bonding with everyone! After filling up on goodies we each headed out on our separate ways home. It was nice to shower and get all the nasty sand off my legs and feet. Ha ha…I’m a dirty hippie sometimes, but even I don’t wanna have the sand on me all day long!
Before I hit the bed officially, I plan on snuggling with my kitties and Jasper and hopefully will then drift off into a peaceful sleep. Already starting to get excited about the upcoming 4th of July weekend. ONLY TWO MORE DAYS OF WORK! YES!!!
Well, I’ve waited too long and now I cannot remember what I did on Friday the 26th. I must have prepped for the following day which was a beautiful day of volleyball on the beach with my team.
Several of my teammates met up at North Avenue beach for some early-ish morning practice. Got there around 11 and played a good part of the day until roughly 3 when we started to disband. We brought some drinks and some snacks and generally had a great time playing other times and honing in on our skills as a team. I LOVED it. It felt GREAT! It was gorgeous out, sunny and warm. The sand was HOT AS HAITI however which really sort of burned my unhappy little feet.
We didn’t get there early enough to get our own court so we played with other people when they needed/wanted other people to play against. It was so much fun I cannot even tell you. I LOVE being on the beach and I could easily stay there all day.
I wore SPF 15 on my body and 45 on my face. I walked away as pale as I had gotten there. Kinda sad.
April and I (one of our newer teammates) went down to Castaways and enjoyed another beer each while we sat and chatted on the overly crowded sand. Finally she had to head off and I decided to meet Nick and his gf (who had been playing vball with us all day) down at the Taste to see Counting Crows perform for free.
Amazingly, Nick had gotten perfect seats dead center of stage all the way in the last row. I have to say, for a free show, the seats kicked ass and the performance was (quite surprisingly) good. I had a great time and loooooved when they sang Color Blind. I still love that song.
Meghan met me for the show as well. Finally it was over (and the rain clouds stayed away for the entire performance) and we hit up a store so I could quickly pick up a shirt for the following day’s Pride Parade.
When I got home it was late, but I prepped a couple veggie burgers and my outfit for Pride so I could get down in time without missing too much of the action.
All in all, the entire day spent outside laughing, playing volleyball, throwing back a few drinks, hanging with good peeps and listening to a great free show totally rocked. The night was topped off with a snuggle down with my babies. God do I love coming home to those little fur balls of joy. I have the best cats in the world!
Yesterday was an interesting day…work was work, but after work I had plans on being ACTIVE and the day was hot. HOT. And I loved it. It has been feeling so wonderful to me to have such warmth again finally. My friend and I are supposed to do hill training on Wednesdays together for the marathon. We haven’t been able to yet (primarily schedule issues but also me not running) and yesterday we couldn’t do hill work but she joined me for a slow run.
It was slow, but in the heat, no one can blame us (rather me since she could have gone faster). It was my first run in what felt like AGES…and I was sweating like a man. It felt really good to get out and go though. Afterward we did ab work. I hate ab work, but my friend is hard core and it pushed me to be better. We did crunches and the plank and leg lifts and MAN, I felt it a bit this morning. I’ll take it, sign of building back muscles!!!
After getting home I cleaned up the messy kitchen. I took out trash, emptied kitty litter, watered plants, swept the floor, even prepared a bagged lunch for myself! Then I showered and went to bed. While I didn’t make my 12AM bed time goal, an hour later I was snuggling down for a nice long nap.
I woke up feeling great and enjoyed both the sun shining through my window and little Jasper’s good morning songs to himself. THAT BIRD IS SO ADORABLE!!!
As I was falling asleep, I was thinking about how great I feel when I run, though I push it off like the plague sometimes.
I hope that this feeling helps push me back out there to do what I gotta do in preparation for San Fran in October. I really would like to do better than a 4 hour marathon if at all possible…it is currently unlikely, but we shall see.
At any rate…I hope everyone out there starting their marathon, triathlon or various sports trainings is doing well and sticking with their programs while remaining injury free! Good luck to all!
"Chicago North Avenue Beach volleyball courts" by willitrun (from Flickr)
It was another cold day in the Windy City and yet the volleyball team I captain for – The mighty mighty Dune-Dawgs – took court 27 on against strong winds and a seriously intimidating team in matching gold shirts.
I was having quite an emotionally shittastic day to be quite frank and there was nothing I wanted more than for my team to really pull together and kick some beach volleyball ass! I wouldn’t say we kicked a TON of ass, but we did kick some (and sand) and really gave it a solid go. While we lost games 1 and 3, we did win game 2 – and let me tell you, THAT was a SERIOUS win! We ended up winning that game 24 to 22, clawing our way to a victory after volleying back and fourth like madmen and women. It was FANTASTIC. It felt great.
I’m so happy to report that I did make a game saving play unlike any play I’ve ever made before – wicked ball sent over the net was saved by one of the Dawgs, someone else hit it and was REALLY trying to get it over the net…it wasn’t happening…it was headed straight towards the far left corner on a serious angle that always freaks me out. There was nothing to do but sort of do a dive and make contact with the ball in hopes that it went over the net.
I dove, arm extended, made contact, tried to send that ball over…BAM! They weren’t expecting it and it landed smack in the middle near idle hands. AWESOME. That really bumped us up (we were already pretty pumped at the prospect of possibly beating the other team). We rallied, we came back, we won.
AWESOME.
One of our teammates was a no show, which seemed alright by me since she didn’t seem to into the game last week. I think she was looking for something social, and wasn’t interested in really playing well. We are truly a beginner team – BUT, I think we’ve got hella potential and a desire to do better (so we can celebrate and socialize afterward) and I really think we can pull together and have some great games. We don’t need anyone on the team who isn’t interested in trying to play well with others…no one needs that!
Anyway, after realizing the power behind the intimidation, I’ve resolved to get my team shirts! We are thinking bright blue (you KNOW I was trying to sell everyone on green – sigh) and I want to have everyone’s name on the back. OH YES…this will be fun. This *might* be my Sunday project depending on what all goes down this weekend…
In any case, despite loosing and now being 1 – 5, a good time was had, a few beers shared and some new companions were made which is always nice. I really love beach volleyball, even though I’m not that great at it (yet) and it destroyed one of my fingers last year!
Hopefully, next week will be much warmer. This 50′s sh*t is for the BIRDS…I want me some real summer HEAT – ya know?! BRING IT CHICAGO…let’s get sunny and warm already!
Cheers!
d
Where the Streets Have No Names
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 12:44 amIvan sent me a link to this video. It really touched me. It’s my favorite U2 song, written by my favorite band member (The Edge), used during Super Bowl 2002 as a way of honoring those lost during the 9/11 attacks and also to bring this great nation together during one of it’s favorite past times…yeah…just kinda moves me.
I was already a pretty big U2 fan…didn’t adore Bono or anything but dug that he was a real human rights activist and it seemed pretty genuine. But after seeing his show this summer and recognizing him to be someone who uses his fame for GOOD and then seeing how he’s been doing it all along – well you just have to have more respect for the man and the band. Which I do. Already looking forward to next summers show that I was able to score pre-sale tickets for so that Ivan, Terra and I can go see them again…
I love this video and I love this song even more now.
God Bless America. And God Bless the World.
Please, to enjoy…
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