Hey! Where'd You Go?

Fear not!

I'm still here, you just need to link over to my new blog.

www.blogfullyyours.com

Please update your RSS feed and if you link to me just update the link to blogfullyyours.com instead of this Blogspot address. Stop by and let me know what you think!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Sometimes Men With Muscles Scare Me

I'm a pretty tough chick most of the time. I kill my own spiders (granted I freak out a little and feel like they are crawling on me for next 10 minutes, but I still do it), I hike up mountains, I take out the trash, I wakeboard, I assemble my own furniture and I hang my own pictures. I consider myself an independent woman who takes care of herself and doesn't take crap from anyone.

Yeah, I'm tough like that.

At the gym last night, right in the middle of their busiest time, I strutted up to the free weights section to work on my arms. I used to rarely venture into the "man zone" as I liked to call it, but since I have been working out with my personal trainer boyfriend ED I have become a lot more confident in my ability and my knowledge of what to do with all those dumbbells.

So I strutted up there, full of all my tough girl confidence, wearing my pink workout clothes and black workout gloves with the fingers cut out and began going through the exercises ED had shown me. I glanced in the mirror and saw two muscle heads working out together and looking at me. No biggie I thought, I'm sure I'm just blocking their view of the mirror. I scooted down a little and started on my next exercise.

The few girls who were also brave enough to be in the "man zone" slowly disappeared and in their place sweaty men with wandering eyes emerged. I continued on. A large serial killer looking man walked between me and the mirror, staring at me while he does so and positions himself next to me still looking right at me.

That's when panic started to set in.

Everywhere I looked I felt eyes on me. Man eyes on me. Apparently all of the women in the gym, including Karina the Russian, were upstairs in the Zoomba class. My heart started to race for reasons other than my work out until finally, in the middle of a set; I had to get out of there.

I left because too many men encroached in my space... at a gym… in the “man zone”.

So much for my tough girl persona.

Am I alone here? Do you ever get intimidated when you go to the gym?

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Grace in Small Things - Realizations

Grace in Small Things - Realizations

1. Realizing my trip to Chicago for BlogHer is only 16 days away.

2. Realizing my trip to Mexico is only 36 days away.

3. Realizing even though it will be tight, I'll be able to afford both.

4. Realizing I don't have to buy a new wardrobe, the clothes I have will be sufficient enough.

5. Realizing summer semester will be over in less than a month.


Blogfully yours,

Summer

My 4th of July Weekend has Inspired me to Join the Circus

A weekend full of surprises, that's what I had!

Surprise #1. Finding out that we would not be traveling to St. George (Utah, not the island) the night before we were supposed to leave due to some issues with accommodations. I was absolutely crushed because I had really been looking forward to getting away, but after killing myself on the treadmill I decided to suck it up and make the best of my weekend vacation time no matter what we did.

Surprise #2. Discovering that my 50 SPF spray sunscreen was not as effective as I would have liked. We went boating on Friday and Sunday at Utah lake and who goes home looking like a lobster? Me, that's who. Of course it helps that my sister is already tan and my parents keep almost all of their clothes on except when entering the water. Regardless, I got burned and it hurts.



Surprise #3. Crashing on the wake board and jacking up my sunburned neck. I fell 4 or 5 times so it's hard to be sure which one caused the damage. I think it was number two...but at this point what does it matter?

Surprise #4. Getting to meet a group of ED's best friends that he has been keeping hidden. Actually I'm not sure if it was me he was keeping hidden or them... The best part of this surprise is that they were all amazing. I loved getting to know them, and in the end they seemed to "approve" of me, and I them. I'm looking forward to spending more time getting to know them in the future.

Surprise #5. Learning how to hula hoop. Also known as making a complete jack ass out of yourself and being caught on video while doing it. FOR THE RECORD: I had no idea my future brother-in-law was recording us!
The blond closest to the camera is my older sister who brought the hula hoops and is very good, the other blond is my younger sister who has a day more practice than me and I'm (obviously) the uncoordinated brunette. I will say though, this is after practicing for about 2 hours. I'm not sure if that makes this video impressive or pathetic...


Surprise #5. Remembering how great it is to just lay on the lawn while the neighbors light illegal fireworks that they bought and paid for. No parks. No crowds. Just family, friends and a dozen or so neighbor kids running around shooting bottle rockets at each other.

Just the way our fore fathers would have wanted us to celebrate.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Instead of a Hard Hat I think I Need Some Valium

I'm not huge on change.

If you are familiar with The Color Code personality tests, I'm a blue. Most people are a mixture of several colors, but not me. I'm a blue-blue. One of the traits of a blue-blue is that they are very resistant to change at first, but once they have embraced it they are the strongest supporters of said change.

My mother introduced the The Color Code to my sisters and me when we were in our teens. Growing up she used to make whoever we dated take the test so she could psychoanalyze them. She would guess what color (or color combo) they were before they took the test and most of the time she was right. I remember being a young teen sitting in our family room reading the quiz questions to a guy I liked.

"What word best describes you? a. Relentless b. Indifferent c. Suspicious or d. Naive"

"Um... what does relentless mean?"

"DAAAAD! What does relentless mean?"

What? My father is a human dictionary, encyclopedia and thesaurus all rolled into one! If I was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and had to pick one life line, it would be him. Growing up it was a normal thing to hear one of my sister, my mother or of course me, yelling out questions to him while we did our homework.

"Dad! How do you spell conscience?"

"Dad! What's the capitol of South Carolina?"

"James! Do you say afterwards with an s or afterward with no s?"

"Dad! Can I borrow ten bucks?"

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the Color Code... or rather my resistance to change.

I'm changing my blog and it scares the shit out of me! I am not an expert and I'm learning this whole technology/programming/hosting/domains/bribe people with booze thing as I go. I am completely dependent on friends helping me in their free time, which means it's taking a little while. WHICH IS FINE (please don't stop helping me)! I'd rather it takes a little while, you know, so I can ease into the transition and embrace the change. I'm telling you all this so that if you are a blue-blue like me, you can anticipate the change and prep your embracing skills. It will be great! GREAT I tell you!

<--Insert nervous yet hopeful laugh here.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Don't Invite Red Headed Sluts to Russian Birthday Parties

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARINA!!!

My lovely BFF, Karina the Russian had a birthday! Every year her birthday is a time to celebrate. This year by comparison was a lot more toned down than last years 5 day long celebration, but still an amazing time complete with the most important things: friends, food and cocktails.

The standard pre-party picture.

Staci and Codi

The girls! I love when they put me in the middle.

We were all so happy my babe ED could make it... that is until he invited a Red Headed Slut to join our party...

That bitch makes things all sorts of crazy!

Karina I love you so much! We have been through so much in such a short time. I hope that 27 (the second anniversary of your 25th birthday) brings you all the love, passion, success and "moments" you deserve! Thank you for always being there for me. You'll never know how much it has meant to me.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

PS - no actual Red Headed Sluts were hurt in the celebration of Karina the Russians birthday party. They were however consumed by way of shots

A Small Fish in an Ocean of Blogs

It's silly I know, but my little blog really means a lot to me. What started out as a hobby and fun way to keep friends and family updated on my life, has become an accomplishment of sorts that I am actually proud of.

I started blogging just over a year ago. My very first post was called "The world is your oyster", a brutally honest raw exposure of myself. I didn't have a name or an identity to my blog then, and truthfully I had no idea what I was doing, I just knew I wanted to write.

A large part of my inspiration for going back to college was this blog. I knew I had ideas and stories I wanted to share, but I also knew from a technical standpoint my writing left a lot to be desired. So last summer, I walked into the Salt Lake Community College, 2 weeks before classes were scheduled to start, and enrolled. Again, I had no idea what I was doing. No game plan. I just knew it was where I needed to be.

Sitting here reflecting, feet propped up on a chair - laptop warm in my lap, it's fun to think of some of the highlights my silly little blog has brought me.

- I remember the first time I got a comment from a blogger I, for lack of a better work, idolized. People like Caveat Emptor, Black Hockey Jesus and the amazing Jenny the Bloggess. It may seem silly, but it totally made my day to think that something, however small and trivial, in my blog sparked their interest enough to visit AND leave a comment.

- I remember coming up with the name for my blog and asking my friend and blogging mentor Sarah what she thought of it. "Honestly I think it's fucking brilliant and wish I would have come up with it." A better compliment has never existed. She helped me register the domain name and set things up.

- I remember getting approved to have ads on my blog through the BlogHer network. It only took 6 months of having them, but I got my first check too. I celebrated by going to coffee with Sarah just this last weekend.

- As it turns out the whole being a student and a blogger really worked out in my favor recently too. I am headed to the BlogHer convention in Chicago in a little over 3 weeks. Truthfully there is no way I could have afforded it without the discounted student rate and I am so happy they offer one. I'll try not to cuss when I pay next months tuition now.

- Last but certainly not least (cliche much?), the highlight of my evening. Getting mentioned on the "Here is the good news happening around our GiST network" email for finally getting the balls to get the tattoo I have been talking about for over 2 years. Seriously, how cool is that?

I know I am rambling on a bit and a lot of these things may not seem like a big deal, but I am a firm believer it's the little things in life that count and you should celebrate ALL victories.

Thanks lovely Internet for giving me more reasons to celebrate! Oh, and the local wine store says thanks too.

Blogfully yours,

Summer