Road Bloggin'

This is the first opportunity that I have had to blog in a while and I happen to be in a car with 3 collegiate ADPi’s. We had District Leadership Conference this weekend in Columbia, Maryland. I don’t think I was really looking forward to it at first. Maybe it was because of the 5-mile run that I did Friday morning. But my feelings now about attending are one of gratitude. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to join these 12 ladies. The conference itself was, um, *ok*. I can’t really get into specifics, but the learning aspect of the conference wasn’t that great. On the other hand, I was able to get to know and actually bond with 12 new ladies. These ladies are AMAZING.

I joined Alpha Delta Pi in the spring of 1997. I was a sophomore at Virginia Tech. Since I am from around the area (Kevin and I both graduated from Giles High School in Pearsiburg), I knew a couple of the girls going through recruitment with me. There were four of us. As the week of Invites progressed, I saw something in ADPi that I wanted to be a part of. The last night of invites, called “Pref Night”, I knew that this is where I wanted to be. The sisterhood was just too good to be true. I remember going home and telling Kevin how strong my feelings were for this sorority. Like the strong feelings when you want something so bad. The next day was Bid Day, or the invitations to be in a sorority. At the time, I was working p/t at Kmart, in the pharmacy. Bids were to be distributed by like 2pm or something. Well, it was going on 4pm and I had not received a bid from either one of my choices I submitted the previous night. I was getting quite discouraged. Finally, I saw my Rho Chi (as they were called back then). As she rounded the corner she pulled out 2 balloons from behind her back…..one white and one powder blue. Instantly I knew that those were the colors of my #1 selection, Alpha Delta Pi. I was so overwhelmed I could barely read the invite. All I knew was that I had to be back on campus and accept my bid by 5pm….and it was 4:30. Anyhow, it was definitely one of those moments where complete happiness and success was felt throughout my entire body.

So these amazing ladies that I was able to get know this weekend….completely wonderful!! They exemplify the true ideals of our sisterhood through attributes like leadership, scholarship and community service. These ladies were newly elected officers of the sorority, and to hear their words of excitement about their position was just inspiring. They treat their positions as if they were part-time jobs. And with the amount of hours that they put into the sorority, it really is like a part-time job! I think it’s amazing to see how a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds can run an organized society such as ours, especially one with so many rules and regulations as overseen by international officers. These efforts were recognized this weekend by the numerous awards we received. Way to go ladies!!!

My Little Valentines

Small Surprises Rule

It's always a nice to have a little surprise waiting for you when you get home.



Notice the smaller plate for Jordan! LOL! We had filet mignon and salad and it was simply awesome! The pinot noir was excellent too. ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

In the Books

I have completed the first week of my ½-marathon training and I am happy to report that it wasn’t really that bad. The entire program itself looks rather simple. I guess you just have to make your mind up to do it. So this morning I had to run 4-miles. I was surprised, shocked actually, that I was able to do it without any major pains or cramps and do it at a pace just under 10min/mi. I had to run on the treadmill today because I forgot my watch. (yuck! forgetting a timing mechanism won’t be an issue once I get my nano!!) I like to be able to see what kind of pace I am running and to push myself to go harder. But I was amazed at how *fast* the time went by, and it usually doesn’t go by quickly when you are on a treadmill.

The hardest day of the workout, in my opinion, was probably Wednesday. I had to do a 3-mile run and then do free-weights. I got up around 4:55am to get to the gym early enough to run 3-miles and then do the Strictly Strength class at 6:00am. The SS class involves free-weights and works every muscle group in the body (with legs getting hit twice). The class is great, but yet intense. So by the time I finished that class on Wednesday, I was exhausted. Running the 4-miles this morning was easy compared to that day!

Luckily, this week’s training is exactly like last week, no increases in distance for running. Whew! And as for an update on my goal, after almost 6 weeks I am down 15 pounds. (Technically, 14.8….so I gave myself 0.2 pounds for the weight of my clothes & shoes. ;-)

Only 10 more pounds to go before I get my next (much anticipated) reward!!....lol.

January In Review

I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I thought I would state some highlights of January.

*kept up with my weight loss goals and worked out about 26 times in January and shed about 12 pounds and won the workout challenge at work

*signed up to run a 1/2 marathon (what was I thinking????)

*helped create a more smooth & streamlined sign-up process for our resellers

*thought of a way to make my job easier (and to save a rain forest the size of Texas) and asked my favorite developer to help implement the *small* change ;-)

*signed my daughter up for gymnastics

*helped (haha, sort of) my niece hit her Girl Scout cookie sales goal (these little troopers are always learning ways to get involved to fight obesity, but they still sell the most unhealthy, yet addictive, food on the planet.....hmmmm)

*made some new friends

*helped my friend pick out a wedding dress!

*oh! went to the driving range for the first time in about a year. what fun! i have a lot of practicing to do!!


So anyhow, just a few things that I can think of at the moment.

There are a few things to look forward in February:

-more weight loss!!! (and my first ever massage)
-training for the 1/2
-Webmail.us 30-day Free Trial
-leadership training for ADPi
-some new clothes (finally)