bionic knees

so a catch up on life. the last two weeks have been crazy and are getting crazier!

jump!

go cubbies! with some coworkers

i was in chicago for a few days working and then playing. i LOVE chicago. love it! the conference was a fun one. great coworkers that week and a good group of students. sadly i missed any st. patrick's day fun as i was in conference mode but i was crazy that weekend working with the first/second round of march madness. i couldn't watch many games due to work - but i was checking scores like crazy on my phone. and then sunday afternoon - tuesday i had a wonderful few days frolicking around chicago. it was in the low 80s and just gorgeous weather. i had some fun with co-workers and also some erin travel adventure time but took it the sights and did an architecture tour which was awesome, saw a second city show, saw sue the t-rex, walked along lake michigan, did the magnificent mile, saw both wrigley and solider field, played at the bean and ate deep dish pizza and a chicago hot dog. soooo glad i had a chance to go to chicago and i also was able to cross it off my 30 by 30 list! wooooo! and by officially going to illinois i've now been to 32 states! for the last year i was counting illinois as my 31.5 state, as i've flown in and out of o'hare a lot for transfers, but until i actually do something it is counted as a state.

name twins - aaron & erin

and then i was home for approximately 18 hours where i repacked, ran some errands and met my momma for lunch before heading to a zeta event and then on my way to my next conference in princeton which is luckily only about an hour away from home. so it was nice to be close. it was an interesting conference - fun coworkers and a lot of basketball talk, plus we were playing a hunger games game so we were all paranoid trying not to do silly things as we tried to get our coworkers to give us high 5's, thumbs up, dance around or take off our shoes among other things. and yes i did die - my coworker got me to take off my shoe. uugh. but it was funny! and then i didn't stay to play since i had to be back home monday morning. but it was an entertaining weekend.


so monday morning i headed across the border to pennsylvania to pick up my new knee brace. for when i start playing sports/being more active i need a heavy duty brace so i was able to get her on monday. so i have my second bionic knee. for the next year or so whenever i do anything physical i'll wear it on my right knee (the one i just broke) and then gradually i'll wear it less and less depending on the activity but i always wear them to ski and to hike. so i took a picture of the two bionic knees! and omg, the new brace is so sexy. it is soooo light and just amazing compared to big red. i need to think of a name for my new brace - yes i know i'm crazy! and then i had an appointment at my knee doctor where he said my knee was doing awesome! woooo! i no longer need physical therapy - which is good as insurance said they would no longer cover it. i just need to work out 4 times a week which i have been doing. so that is good news! and that i can return to sports and an active lifestyle in 3 months! so i have to wait a bit more to start running more than 5 minutes but i'm happy to hear everything is healing well! annnnnnnd since i'm done with physical therapy is means I"M HEADED BACK TO CHARLESTON! woooooo! i'm driving down to dc on wednesday and seeing some friends and then on thursday making the trek down! so excited! eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

so that is my big fun news! back to charleston! yay! so excited to be back in the south!

so maybe i'll get back to blogging regularly again?

three years

Three years ago today I hopped on a plane back to the states after almost two years in Ireland. It was a tough decision to decide to come back and not pursue living abroad longer. the last three years have been a roller coaster of life with some crazy adventures and a few low points thrown in there, but overall I have been extremely happy with my decision to move back. I miss Ireland everyday and living in Europe but I am so happy that from 22-23 I took the opportunity to move abroad and do something different. I know I will always look back at my experience and I am grateful that I had the chance to follow my dream. But on March 24th I remember stepping onto the plane in Shannon with tears in my eyes knowing my Irish adventure was over but that I had a whole new one waiting for me. And well it has been an adventure but I wouldn't have it any other way...

chicago

so i LOVE chicago!

LOVE it!

it probably didn't help it was unseasonably warm - 80s in mid march in chicago

but i had a wonderful few days frolicking about and getting to explore the windy city

i'm off to princeton tonight for my next conference and oh so excited for 120 middle schoolers from my home state. so maybe a blog post soon that isn't pictures?

the BEAN

so excited to be in chicago

da bears!

have i mentioned my LOVE of t-rex's? I LOVE THEM! SOOOO EXCITED TO SEE SUE!

little walk by the lake

go cubbies!

roar says the art institute lions

hull house - i <3 jane addams and the progressive movement

march madness!

i'm off to chicago tonight! woo! excited for a fun conference weekend plus getting to explore a new city and crossing off something from my 30 by 30 list!

and tomorrow starts one of my favorite things! march madness! my dad and i always do brackets and just have fun with it, in college we would have bets with it and this year i'm joining my friends for a girls only bracket with money! so should be fun! i know they've had a good season and i have to go with my team the carolina tarheels winning it all over kentucky. and joining them in the final four is florida state (after their acc run) and marquette.

so here is my bracket!

are you a big march madness fan?

upcoming fun

so i've obviously been in a bit of a blogging slump. i guess i haven't been up to much recently so i haven't been compelled to write about what i've been doing. but life is starting to get interesting again so hopefully i'll be writing more.

because honestly my life the last few weeks has been b-o-r-i-n-g. i wake up at 5:15 am and i'm out the door by 6:35, at school at 7:10, taught 4 classes of street law & 2 of freshman world history was done with school around 3, drove to the gym and worked out for an hour, drove home and ate dinner with my family and then either read or watched tv and was in bed around 10pm. super thrilling! i did go out to dinner with my friend erin last friday and spent a few hours chatting about life and teaching and susan was home seeing her mom so we also met for lunch, so those were nice visits with friends! and i did go to a few zeta events - which i always love going to. i have gone to more events the last few months than when i was really living in nj! but overall i've been pretty quiet. it was great to sub for the last 4 weeks and feel like i had a semi-normal job though. i do really miss the relative routine of having a job and regular events to go to. the only thing missing is fun weekend road trips!

but the next few weeks are picking up! wooo! i'm off to chicago on wednesday for work! and sooo excited! illinois is the state i half count as going to last year. i flew in and out of o'hare 4 times for connecting flights and spent a lot of time there but now i actually get to go outside in illinois! so i get in late wednesday night and then work the conference thursday-sunday and after that i'm in chicago until tuesday night! so i have all day monday and tuesday to play in chicago! so any recs?

and then the weekend after i'm going just down the road to princeton, nj for a conference. which still should be fun because well conferences are always entertaining! and then i have a doctors appointment on the 26th and i'm hoping my 2nd knee brace will be in by then because i'm done with physical therapy annnnnnd i can go back to charleston!!!!!! so it is officially looking like the last week in march! woooo!

and april will be crazy too i have conferences in atlanta & irvine, california! and on the way home from california i will be going to COLORADO! to see the wonderful annie! sooooooooo excited to go to colorado! it will make up for not getting to go to idaho because of subbing. so lots of fun adventures coming up soon!

and also this week march madness starts! woooo! i can't wait! i watched a lot of basketball this weekend with all the conference tournaments - the unc games this weekend were crazy!

so hopefully back to more regular blogging!