Adventure Woman

Hey all! Looks like it's been a while since I last blogged. A lot of things have happened since then. I actually decided no to go to CA after all, for a number of reasons. I weighed my options and decided it was a better bet to work with what I had going on in Portland, but definitely not give up on the dream! Recently I was on a local reality show called Wanted 2 Adventure Woman where I was vying to be the next adventure host on Comcast Sportsnet NW. Great experience. Didn't win, but made some great friends out of it, and an awesome girl named Bethy, who is an amazing person got an opportunity to host that show. Was I going to let that stop me from pushing forward??? Absolutley not! Things like that happen to give me more drive... but that is a whole other story.

So to fill you in, last summer I was in a motor vehicle accident. Not my fault. Pretty sure a kid (and when I say kid, I mean an adult kid that's 24) was racing another vehicle, they lost control and came at me straight on, didn't hit me straight on, but definitely shook up my world. Almost a year later, I had surgery on my shoulder from the accident. I became the Head Varsity Softball Coach at Madison High School this year (a dream job for me) so I waited until the season ended to get the surgery. Great season. Great girls.

I am now 5 weeks into the recovery process and I see my DR tomorrow who is hopefully going to give me the OK to release me from my sling. Meanwhile, for a girl who is so active and who ran her first marathon last fall, I have been going crazy cooped up in this contraption that stabilizes my shoulder. I hate running without a purpose with a passion, but I find myself wanting to sprint lines only because I'm told I can't. What is a girl to do to keep active???

It is now officially summer in Portland (after the 4th of July) and I am slowly but surely loosing my bikini body I once had (or like to think I had)... It's funny that you never seem to be content with your body, until you look back at pictures after gaining a few pounds, and that's when you think "Damn, I looked good." Never fails. But that's part of being human, or at least for me.

So in honor of my "release from sling," I have decided that I need to get creative. I want to come up with 365 different ways to exercise in 365 days. That's right. Although math was never my subject, that adds up to one full year of a different daily activity/exercise. Holy crap! That's a lot of different things to do. I hope to keep it free, or at least affordable for the most part, considering I am not made of money. I am going to have to start light, and gradually work into different activities that I can use my shoulder more. Some days might get boring considering I have to come up with so many different activities... but some days might be super fun and crazy (hopefully more days than not)! Once I get the run down from my Doc of what I'm capable of... there's no telling what I'm gonna do... so follow my blog and adventure with me!

I'm Hungry!

Like most young adults, my hunger lies within "finding myself" and finding the perfect job, or the perfect boyfriend in my case, or at least the perfect balance. For the past 6 months I have been seeing a career counselor, and an educational coach waiting for them to feed me the perfect answer we all seek, not realizing that I'm already full with these answers.

My whole life I've known what I was here for. After seeing my career counselor especially, she has opened me up. She has showed me that I can't live here for what anyone else wants out of me. Only myself. Knowing this already, it felt better coming from someone else. If I fail, I have to live with it, and if I don't fail (which is sometimes scarier), I have to live with it. Me and only me.

My counselor has been in her position for over 20 years and over the years she has seen many walks of life come in to her 10x10 office with hunger and determination, as well as lost hope and pity for themselves. I think to an extent you have to have a little of both in order to bring yourself to her. More times than not she has helped people who have dreams to get their name in the spotlights, but never had she met someone with such hunger as I. The ones with only the dreams, usually decide on another career, but to me, although a dream at the least, I feel it is my destiny. It gave me greater hope and the boost of confidence I needed for someone without a biased opinion to notice that trait in me. Your family and friends can tell you as many times as you want that's what you were meant to do, but to have a stranger that is supposed to give you a reality check start believing too, that's when you know. And I know...

I know that no matter what happens I am going to give it my all, because as a Brown girl, that's what I do. I don't have all of the training I need, and I may be starting late, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I know that I can succeed if I want to. Success isn't necessarily putting my name in the spotlight, although I wouldn't object to it. Success comes from giving everything you have to something you believe in. No matter what twists and punches are thrown at you, success is still giving everything. Because if you never give everything, then you never really tried. I believe the same can be said for love.

I love to sing. I love to make people laugh. I love to draw a crowd. I love to be #1 in everything that I do. If there's a competition, I want to beat you. I love to free style dance. I love to learn. I love to give people the benefit of the doubt. I love to say yes. I love adventure. I love to be believed in. I love to believe. I love to be loved. I love to love. I love Wiener dogs. I love piggy back rides. I love to day dream. I love playing name that tune. I love to help others. I love popping your toes. And I especially love my mom!

Out of all of these things that I love, (and I'm sure there's more but I will spare you) ;) I have decided to finally make the trip to Los Angeles. I've been skating around it for the last few years. I tried Nashville which I'm so glad I did, and I have some of the most amazing friends in the world because of it. I've gotten my feet back on the ground and although it has been tough living back at home, I would do it all again. For every action there is a reaction. Every choice in life that you make, brings you to where you are now and where you are going. Although it's hard to admit, I have actually learned a lot about myself in the last few years while I have been living at home.

So look for big things from me. Maybe this adventure will lead me down a completely different path than I imagine, or down the exact path that I imagine, but either way if you know me at all, you know that I am going to have fun and make people laugh and smile along the way. I will keep writing blogs to keep everyone updated on my adventures, and I will share the good and the bad. Because life isn't always about the pretty things, but it makes you appreciate it that much more when you've struggled. So look out Hollywood 'cause Dallas is Starving!