WU basketball, life as a coach's wife

The basketball season is under way! The Washburn University men's team is 2-1. They've played two exhibition games (University of Nevada-Las Vegas & UMKC) and three "real" games. The pic is from the KU game last Thursday. (I tried to get him coaching in the huddle but it's kinda far away). Matt's having a blast! He loves what he's doing, fulfilling his passion, coaching basketball full time! And it's definitely a full-time job. They travel a bunch and he frequently forgets to tell me that he's going to be gone overnight until the day of...but I'll adjust. It's a transitional time for us. I just can't wait until I have an actual teaching position that I can immerse myself in. :) Maybe student teaching will be good practice for that?

MHS Cheer at CheerFest 07 in Olathe

I should have zoomed in more so it's kinda hard to see, but you get the idea. There were a few stunt bobbles, but nothing I was angry about. :) This is the first time MHS cheerleaders have ever gone to a festival and only the 2nd time some of them have prepared a routine. Most were brand new to this kind of thing! Dedra's choreography is alway fabulous so I thought we got robbed a little. Their average score was 87/100 which gave them a "2" rating--think choir and band festival rating. Hopefully they learned from watching other groups and will continue to improve.

Friday nights under the lights!

This is where you can find me! Hanging out with Dedra (who I keep forgetting to take a picture with, we have the same hair so everyone thinks we're sisters) and these fine little ladies: the MHS cheerleaders. It has been a fun year so far and actually not that cold yet! (Knock on wood, I don't want to jinx it!) These are just some pictures I pulled off of the girls' facebook sites. I'm commuting an extra 2 days a week and subbing in the Manhattan district just so I can continue to coach these girls. As my third and final year coaching at MHS, I can say it has been a great experience. This year we've worked the girls pretty hard and we're headed to a cheer competition November 10. This will be a new experience for all of us so we'll cross our fingers and hope it turns out well! So, every Friday night of the school year so far has been spent in the "Blue & White, Friday night lights" and I must say...I can't wait for basketball season!!!

Matt's Birthday present!

A little background, Matt was dared in college to attempt a backflip in the yard. He landed on his head because he obviously hadn't had any training on how to do a backflip. So it was kinda a (forgotten) life-long dream of Matt's to be able to do a flip. For his birthday this year I arranged a private lesson for he and I at a gym so we could perfect some of our tumbling skills. At first, Matt was very embarassed that I had given him a lesson as a gift and was "pretending" not to be excited about it. And I'll admit too, when we walked into the gym and saw all the little girls and their parents sitting in the bleachers watching them...I felt embarassed. But they cleared out when our lesson started and it was a lot of fun! Watch the video below to see Matt's progress at the lesson. He's so talented!

More views of the new place

Scroll down to read the entry before this if you haven't already. I am orienting everyone to our new place 5 pictures at a time. :)

My new mat from K-Mart. Not to speak poorly of our neighbors...but I do check every morning to see if the rug got stolen or not.


While we're on the subject of rugs, here's the new kitchen rug that I searched high and low for. It had to be just the right shade of red to match the canisters and spoon rest. Finally, my pride and joy, the perfect shaped and perfect color rug for the hallway kitchen.

Now Matt's pride and joy...the 2nd bathroom. I never knew how much he hated sharing a bathroom with me! I can't say that I blame him though. His new bathroom is red and black (you know, GB panther colors) and it's off the living room. The black and white pictures are shots from our trip to Seattle to see Jason and Stephanie this summer. It's our tribute to the city!

In the upstairs bathroom (which is green and purple) I hung these trivets on the wall that Mom and I made at a ceramic place right before I got married. Trivets in the bathroom may be weird, but they went with the color scheme and kept me from having to buy something new. And I like the reminder of the GPhi Mom's Weekend when we made them.
Here's a shot of our bedroom. Believe it or not our bedding is a bed-in-a-bag thing that was on sale for $20! We've had it for 2 years and I still really like it. The master bedroom has a nice walk-in closet that I am loving!

The New Place

Thought I'd post some pics of the new place...mostly so my mom can see. Since Topeka is a whole hour farther up the road from Manhattan, some people (my dad) have a hard time planning a trip to see us! So I will let you see our new home virtually! ;)



The living room. I just got some new throw pillows. It's a little "God Bless America"-ish with the red, blue & tan...but we like it. Matt says it's okay because we've got American pride.

I never could get these shelves to look right at our last place but I'm quite pleased with the set up here. They are loaded with pictures...Matt's a little nervous to sit on the couch underneath the shelves.
This will be my new "corner of despair" where I do my homework. (See earlier post). This townhouse is bigger than our last apartment so there's actually a place for our kitchen table. I've turned part of it into my study corner with the computer and a place for my school books so I can study in the same room while Matt's watching TV.

This is our little hallway kitchen. It's little, but I really like it. Actually plenty of cabinet space and some drawers this time! (Last kitchen had 1 and a 1/2 drawers). The appliances are nicer too. I'm getting good at finding the positives to living here!


This is my favorite view. Our kitchen is khaki, red, green and navy. I'll upload a pic of my new prized possession--the kitchen rug--soon. It wouldn't let me add any more pics to this blog.
I'm actually starting to like living in Topeka. I'm finding my way around and we actually met some people today at church. Tonight there was a pep rally thing for Washburn University and Matt got introduced as a new assistant coach. School starts tomorrow, therefore my commuting starts tomorrow. Bring it on, the sooner it starts the sooner it ends!

The New Do!

Before

After!

I did it! After much thought and comtemplation...an impulse decision prevailed and I now have short hair! This morning I donated this 10-inch ponytail to Locks of Love (where they take donated hair and make wigs for cancer patients) after I achieved my "Victoria Beckham Look-Alike" haircut. After realizing I have had pretty much the same hair style for the last 5 years, and the fact that it hardly ever looks like it does in that before picture, it was time. I'm still getting used to it and I think I'll add some more colors to it to create a more "hip" feel..I'm not ready for a "Mom-ish" do. (No offense to mothers out there!) If you hate it...please don't tell me...I couldn't handle that yet. :)

Our travels

Bet you're wondering how we've been handling living out of a suitcase and being homeless until August 9th?! It's actually been great! We've been having so much fun! To me, this is a great way to transition into our new life in Topeka as well as the new unexpected responsibilities that may come with Matt's job. I'm not going to lie, I'm afraid things will never be the same when he starts his new job in August. I don't know what to expect. But being low-man on the totem pole at a Division II NCAA basketball program and my own travels back and forth from Topeka to Manhattan could combine to give us little alone time and little free time together compared to what we've been used to. So I'm soaking up all our time together as we relax and travel together.
I'm a little sick of eating out, really wishing I would've packed some jeans and a jacket for Seattle, but other than that it's been wonderful! We had a great time in Osage Beach relaxing at the pool and dining out with my parents and Grandmama & Papa.
Then it was off to Columbus, Ohio (via a Skybus airplane...yes we're alive and it wasn't bad! I was skeptical since we paid $35 each for roundtrip tickets...only complaint is that they didn't serve snacks). We made the trip for Brooks' wedding to Kendra. It was very nice and well worth the trip. I had a great time with Matt's parents and was thankful they went as Matt was busy with groomsman duties most of the trip.
Now we're still in Seattle on the last leg of our adventure. Jason & Stephanie (and everyone we meet) are trying to get us to move here. Which, if it was as nice as it has been this last week all the time, I'd think about it. It's been perfect. A little chilly for summer, but still sunny and nice. The views are amazing as my mind can hardly handle taking in the ocean and mountains at the same time! We've done all the touristy things. We started off at Pike Place Market. The place where they throw the fish and sing, ever heard of it? It was cool. You could get fresh fruit, beautiful flowers, fish, pastries, t-shirts, souvenirs, etc all really cheap too! Then we took a "cruise" to the San Juan Islands to whale watch. It was SO cool! It was a 12 hour trip and we saw over 30 whales! It was awesome! We spent a day in Olympic National Park fishing and hiking. Beautiful sites! We got to go on a youth group trip with Jason's church to a place called Bullwinkles Family Fun Center. It ruled! We played mini-golf, laser tag (I had the high score--apparently this is my calling), bumper boats, go-carts, arcade games, and I jumped on a trampoline hooked to a harness so I could jump really high. I may have enjoyed it more than the rest of the youth group kids. :) I could've spent hours there. Today we went to a Mariners game and our good luck continued. We had great weather and a fabulous game. They beat the Oakland A's 14-10. Even though I missed Sexson getting kicked out of the game because Stephanie and I were in the bathroom! Dang it. I'll have to watch the ESPN highlights to see if they cover it. :) Anyway, now you know what we've been up to over the last month. No promises on the blogging...I'm still a homeless nomad until the 9th and my internet access may be sporadic. But don't worry. I'll update once we get settled in Topeka!

Goodbye, Manhattan!!!

Well, we finally have an answer. Is it what we (I) wanted? I'm not sure...but it's a great opportunity for Matt...and the start of a new adventure for us. I'm referring to the recent news of a job offer for Matt. He's joining the coaching staff of the men's basketball team at Washburn University in Topeka, KS as an assistant coach. He applied for the newly created position in late April. As time drudged on we figured it was a no-go but he interviewed and was finally offered the job on July 13th. Being in the coaching business is going to be tricky. First example of many, you can't really tell anyone you're looking to leave, so you have to be sly and practically move out in the middle of the night! At least that's what I've felt like. Long story: Our apartment complex needed to know in March if we'd be returning for another year. Since they were raising our rent and we knew Matt was exploring job opportunities elsewhere we said we'd be out in July. Little did we know, as we drew closer and closer to mid-July that we still wouldn't know if our future would be in Manhattan or Topeka! Matt had a great idea in early July that we should put our stuff in storage in Manhattan since we'd be traveling with family from July 15-24th anyway. We figured surely we'd know by our return whether we'd need to find another place in Manhattan or start the search in Topeka and we really didn't have any obligations in either town until August. (Since my summer courses ended on July 12, which, by the way, I got all A's in! YES!!!) So we planned to move to a storage unit and hope for news soon. As mentioned earlier, Matt found out on July 13th we'd be heading to Topeka and we moved our things into storage on the 14th as planned. Moving was not that fun...especially since we know the work is only 1/2 done because we still have to move everything out of storage and to Topeka. Point of story...we found a townhouse in Topeka and will be moving in August 9th. Until then, we're traveling fools living out of our suitcases. We spent July 15-18 in Osage Beach with my parents and grandparents, July 18-23 in Ohio with Matt's parents, and July 24-30 in Seattle, WA visiting Jason and Stephanie (Matt's friends from college, who are now my great friends too) since they just moved here last month for Jason to be a youth pastor. Expect to see pics of our journeys arriving soon. The pics above are the last ones I took of our old apartment. In hindsight, it really was a great place. But I'm excited about what the future holds and thankful for God's timing and provision through it all. I will commute back to Manhattan (about an hour drive each way) for class and cheerleading for this next school year. This will phase me out of the town I've called home for the past 6 years. It's super-hard for me to break ties with the ones I love in Manhattan and come to grips with the fact we're moving on. But I'll have this last year to hang out with Gentry, walk the campus of KSU (I'm actually getting sick of doing that anyway), and coach my MHS cheerleaders. Then it's time to actually move life to Topeka. But for now, I'll just move my address there. 

My Birthday

Yea, so it's been awhile. I'll attempt to explain why and make up for it today. :) Here's my birthday cake from this year. Good thing I'm not a parent yet--I'd be terrible. I forgot to take a picture of the cake before we cut it so I took a pic post-party. I'll work on that before we are celebrating kiddos' b-days. (Which is not anytime soon...I just thought of that for some reason). My birthday was July 11th and was relatively uneventful this year. This is the first time in 24 years of life that I have had to attend school on my birthday. I was in my summer class all afternoon and on top of that...my husband was out of town. But I still love getting calls, emails, and cards from friends and family wishing me happy birthday. That's the best part! Joel and Jen adopted me for the evening and took me to Chili's which was a wonderful treat! My mom had this pretty cake made for me and we celebrated the weekend before my birthday when they were in Manhattan for the Kansas Swine Classic. It is my favorite...strawberry! I practically ate this whole remaining portion by myself since Matt doesn't really like sweets. So anyway, thanks to all who sent birthday wishes my way. Touching base with everyone is what makes the day SO special!

So many excuses...

The picture has no relevance. I just like to include pics on the site, it makes it more fun. But I do love these 2 cool cats in the pic with me. And I miss them A LOT! Both of them are very busy this summer so I thoroughly enjoy when I get to chat on the phone with them to catch up. And P.S. I'm never going the whole winter without tanning ever again. Look how nasty-white I am?

The title refers to so many excuses not to blog right now!! 1. School is kicking my butt and I have to spend the majority of my free time in my "corner of despair." But my research presentation was today so at least that's over. I worked on it for over 24 hours between Friday and Sunday. Crazy. It went well though. 2. Our internet is down at home. I definitely didn't realize how heavily I relied on the internet until it wasn't there. (Internet: I'm sorry I took you for granted...please come back to me!) To get online Matt and I have been frequenting Bluestem Bistro but I always have to do homework during that precious online time and don't get to blog.

Okay, so there were only 2 reasons...but it looks like they'll keep me offline for awhile. So...we'll chat again in a couple days (or weeks) or so, depending on the internet and school. Boo.

The Corner of Despair

Welcome to, what I call, the corner of despair in my living room. This has become quite an unpleasant place to be...yet a place that I am banished to due to my schoolwork this summer. I'm taking nine hours of graduate classes this summer. I had kinda always wondered why everyone gasped so much when I told them how many hours I was taking this summer. I now know why. Because taking 9 hours is crazy. Not to mention, possibly humanly impossible. We shall see. Okay, now I'm just being dramatic...it's not that bad. But due to my relaxing weekend, I've been having to read about 80 pages a day and just had to spend the last 3 hours sitting in this corner writing a 7 page paper. Now I see why you should never procrastinate. Ahh, hindsight is always 20/20. Just wanted to give you a glimpse of what I've been up to. Now, back to work! I can at least take comfort in the fact that it will all be over on July 12. Ahhh.

Relaxing Weekend

This weekend was quite relaxing. The calm before the storm you could say. On Saturday Matt and I had a great day of watching movies and relaxing at the pool at our apartment complex. It's a nice pool that's great for laying out and just dipping in whenever you get too hot. We rented the movie "The Guardian" with Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner. If you haven't seen it I strongly recommend it. Great movie. Really makes you think. It's about rescue divers in the Coast Guard and the sacrifices they make for others. Inspiring. One of those things that just made me stop and think twice about just how selfish I can be. Anyway, see the movie.
We also went to the Country Stampede to see Phil Vassor and Gary Allan play on Sunday night (we had free tickets). It was fun for about 2 hours, then it was hot and dirty (and we only had one lawn chair for the two of us) so we went home before it was over. All in all a relaxing weekend. Just what summers are for!

What a beautiful bride!

Last Friday Matt and I went to the wedding of one of my friends from the sorority. It was so much fun seeing everyone again, and she was such a beautiful bride!!! I love, love, love her dress. Not a great picture angle, but I hope you can still see her dress and see just how elegant she looked. AND, my favorite part, they had a little "candy bar" for you to fill up goody bags that had "Jamie & Drew" on them with all sorts of white candies (this was their take-home gift for the guests). What a great idea! The middle picture is me filling up my bag and the bottom picture is me talking to my friend Kelly and behind us you can kinda see the candy bar in the pretty glass containers with scoops. It was really pretty...and tasty! I'm still kicking myself for leaving my goody bag on the table when we left the dance at the end of the night...dang it!!!

Road Rage!!!

The picture choice was based on the fact that this picture was taken while we are in a car. Matt is driving and I'm in the passenger seat. You can kinda tell because Matt's left eye is on the road. :) And although this picture is from 2004...it's the closest I could find to illustrate me in a car. Look at my young little husband with the shaggy hair...I pretty much look the same. Anyway, man I've got to get better at getting to the point of my blog a little faster, my road rage. I would categorize myself as a 9.5 on a 1-10 scale when it comes to road rage. I just get so angry when people around me are inefficient with their driving time. I am not ashamed to lay on my horn at any moment if anyone around me angers me. I've probably used my horn 3 times in the last week...which in my mind is a maybe a tad above average. For example, I'm turning into the Wendy's parking lot this weekend and the car in front of me is having some sort of mental battle on whether to dine in or drive thru so they hesitate, keeping me from being able to pull in all the way and leaving me in the way of oncoming traffic. I quickly lay on the horn to alert them of my presence. Matt then refuses to get out of the car to dine in because we'd have to walk in behind the people I "assaulted with my horn." (Drama king). But today when proceeding to leave the Wal-Mart parking lot I was not so quick on the trigger. As I'm driving down the aisle a beat up truck (with 3 punky kids headed to the Stampede) starts backing out, clearly not seeing that I am coming--actually that I'm right behind him and he's about 2 seconds from hitting me. And I freeze under the pressure. Here's an instance when I REALLY NEED to use the horn, and I can't find it! You know, that feeling of running your hands all over the steering wheel, nervously trying to make a noise. Seriously with one millimeter to spare, the truck sees me and stops...barely avoiding the collision. I then, a good 2 seconds after he sees me, proceed to lay on my horn and glare. I'm not sure why...I guess at that point it was a natural reaction. I drive on and for the first time, feel kinda bad for my road rage. I guess it's just not that fun when it's a delayed reaction...then it seems kinda mean. A lesson should be learned from this. Stay out of my way! :) Honk, honk!!!

CHEERLEADING!

I love, love, love coaching cheerleading. If you know me, then you've probably heard me talk "cheer talk" or tell a cheer-related story at least once or twice. I started coaching because there was an opening and it sounded fun. I couldn't have predicted how much I was going to enjoy working with the girls and getting to be a part of the high school sports scene again. This will be my 3rd year and it's sure to be the best yet. It's really fun working with the other cheer coaches and we all take it pretty seriously so the program has recently experienced a vast restructure...for the better! This year we're planning to take the girls to some competitions, which will be a lot of extra work, but also should be great fun! As you can see, 99% of the time, I love these girls. Sad but true how much of my life revolves around cheer, but since it does, stay tuned for more cheer-related updates. Oh, and the pic is from our cheer camp. Some of the senior girls are making funny alien-like signs with their fingers. It's hard to tell and it kinda looks like some of them are making a not-so-nice sign...but they're not. :)