musings in a CrossFit sort of way...

So, in January I  started coaching at my local CrossFit box, CrossFit Marysville. One of my biggest passions is working with people, and this is what spurred me to take my Level 1 certificate class and become a coach. It's hard, because I already work a (more than) full time job, and working in coaching on top of working out has been a huge adjustment for me.

At first, it was a big struggle. I take my professional life very seriously, so the first feelings I had walking into the gym after being hired as an intern was, "ok, so now this is my job too". I began to resent it a little because all of a sudden the place that I go to escape from work became work also. Luckily, that feeling only lasted about a month (which seems like a long time, but I think it was just my normal adjustment period).

Now I realize that being a coach at CFM is really pretty freaking awesome. I'm still pretty bad at it- I've coached 35 total classes, so I think that's ok- I'm still figuring this whole gig out.

Some reasons that I love this job:

• I have gotten to know more people at the gym in the last 4 months than I did in the year before that. I would say that when I first started crossfit I met tons of people. But then I got comfortable with my friends at the gym and didn't feel the need to be as social with everyone. Coaching forced me out of my bubble, and I've met some SUPER cool peeps as a result. 
• I realized that I can actually help people with crossfit. Before I started coaching, I knew I had all this knowledge about crossfit, but I was pretty bad at expressing that knowledge (at least in my opinion). Coaching has given me the opportunity to practice talking about what I do know, and given me experience with watching people and giving suggestions for improvement. I'm still not great at this- my favorite disclaimer is "do as I mean, not as I say"! I also really appreciate being able to help out behind the front desk- coaches are so busy, and if I'm just hanging out before or after a wod, I can easily help someone purchase a t-shirt.
• It has pushed me to be a better example at the gym. I definitely consider myself an honest person, but there have been some occasions in the past where I maybe didn't quite get my chest to touch the bar during chest to bars, or maybe missed the bar with my toes during toes to bar... and still counted it. I think we've all done that? Well I certainly no-rep myself a lot more now that I'm a coach. People watch me, and if I could tell it wasn't a rep, they could too.

That's is a short list, and there are lots of other little things, but it's some of the big stuff! As I settle into my role at the gym, I feel better and better about it, and I really love it.

On a personal note, yesterday was fantastic. The wod was 3 rounds for time of 16 burpees, 8 toes to bar, and 4 muscle ups with a 1 mile run buy in. Last week, I managed to get through 10 of the 21 muscle ups in 'Nasty Girls', so yesterday I was determined to finish all 12 muscle ups. I paced the mile run a little so that I wouldn't be too tired, and got through the first round pretty quickly. The middle 4 muscle ups took quite a while... and the next class started their warm up. The last 4 muscle ups took forever. But I DID THEM! I finished my first wod with muscle ups prescribed. The best part was that the whole 6pm class was cheering for me through their warm-up, and a couple people from the 5pm class stayed to cheer for me. The on-ramp class was there cheering as well, and then I posted about it on facebook and got so much love! The community we have at CrossFit Marysville is truly wonderful. 

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

I'm really bad at updating this.
Recent news...
I just (about 20 minutes ago) finished my last assignment from my first class at Gonzaga University. I am almost positive I will get an A. Primarily because I only need to get 1 point out of 10 in order to get 90% in the class, and I've gotten 10/10 in the other 3 similar assignments. So, most likely, I will be getting 99% for the course.

My mom and my brother are coming to Washington for Christmas. I'm excited to have them here again, but it looks as if we won't have any snow, which will be sad. We did have some flooding, but none where I live, so it doesn't really matter. Flooding isn't very Christmas-y anyway. It snowed for thanksgiving but not since!
Camp is beautiful when it snows...
I do have a Christmas tree (a $5 artificial tree from the thrift store and it's not even ugly!), and new this year, I even have some ornaments to hang on it! Last year I just put lights and a homemade garland on it. It looked nice, but I'm excited to add a little more sparkle. I also went shopping last week and bought a whole bunch of stuff that I needed or wanted anyway or was something for Nick, and wrapped it all, so that I could have presents under the tree :)

Nutella was on sale at costco... so I have that. In great quantities.

I start a new(ish) job in January. I am no longer the Program Director at Camp Killoqua, I am now the Summer Camp Director at Camp Killoqua. So, no new change of scenery, but a job that I have wanted for a long time, and a new challenge and experience which I am very excited about. I get to stay in my house, and it's now a part of my salary so I don't have to pay any rent on it. Before my salary was rated for the apartment I used to live in, so when I moved to the house I had to pay the difference.

In other news... I'm obsessed with a game called Angry Birds. It fills my time. I have beat the game but I still play it.

Juneau is doing well. She is happy and healthy and crazy and made of springs. She can jump so high! She's like a child that can't talk. She'll nuzzle in and you know that she wants to be petted. She's so spoiled. And she can tell Nick's truck apart from any other vehicle that drives in to camp. She gets so excited! Here she is when it was snowy... she loves the snow!

Nick is good, he's working and hunting a lot, and when he's not doing that, he's grilling something delicious on our new barbecue that his parents gave us. It's so great! Here's a picture of Nick and a fish he caught a while back. It's not really fishing season any more, but he's excited to start fishing sturgeon as soon as hunting season is over!

Grad School

I applied for grad school. I took the MAT which is the Miller Analogy test, and did pretty well I think. I googled my score in all sorts of different ways, and I still can't figure out what it means, but 400 is average and I got 420. The range is from 200 to 600, and I'm pretty sure that it's really hard to get into the 500's. It's all scored based on how people have done in the past. My admissions advisor said that the highest score they've admitted into their program was 470... So, I really have no idea, but I think I did well. I'll find out early next week if I'm accepted in to the program.

Today I have to get a filling. I hate being numb from the dentist. It is a really gross feeling. at least it's on top so it won't make my face look too weird.

Nick is on a hunting trip all weekend. It's the opening weekend of duck and geese season, so I won't see much of him for the next few weeks. He's so excited it's like a kid on christmas eve!

It's been sunny the last few days, which is really nice. It's been chilly at night and warm during the day, so it's been really feeling like fall. It's funny though, out here when it starts to get rainy is when people say it feels like fall. I always think of blustery days that are sunny or at least partially sunny with a chill in the air.

I'm really not good at updating this.

Things have been busy at work lately. There are now two of us doing three jobs until January. It's not bad at all, just have to keep thinking about all the things that need to be done and when.

We've had a really rainy fall. It's been raining most mornings and then having a period of a few hours of sun in the afternoon, and then raining all night. Everything is so wet.

As far as catching up on things... Summer was great. Cooler than usual, so mostly jeans and t-shirt weather, which is not what I like, but not bad. We had a really great staff at camp, and lots of great leadership amongst the Unit Coordinators, which lead to a smooth summer with not too many problems. We had ACA this summer, and it went without a hitch, so that was great. I plan on taking the ACA visitors course this winter so I can be a visitor. ACA is the American Camp Association, which is an association that sets forth best practices standards for camps.

I got a new macbook pro in september. It's been a lot of fun figuring out all the little things about the computer. I haven't had a mac since the imac in middle school... So a lot has changed. I also got my first smartphone this september! So, it's been a month of lots of new gadgets, and spending money. October is going to be a saving month.

On Wednesday I take the Miller Analogy Test (MAT) for and entrance test to get into Gonzaga for a Masters in Organizational Leadership. We'll see how it goes. I think I'm going to do fine. Once that is done, I'll find out if I get in and then I'll start school on October 25. Yikes! It's so soon. My parents figured out all my financial aid for my undergrad, so figuring all that out for grad school will be interesting and a new challenge.

I have 11 days of vacation that I have to use before the end of December, but not a lot of money. Any cheap vacation ideas? :)

I'll try to update this thing more regularly!

Well, It's been a while...

I'm definitely not very good about the whole updating the blog thing.
I've done a lot of things in the last few months! a lot of work mostly, but I went to Denver for a conference and saw lots of my EF friends in Feb, Val came to visit and we went to Zac Brown Band in March, in April I went to Eastern Washington with Nick and some of his family on a fishing trip, I went to Portland for my sister's graduation and bought a car (2005 Jettta TDI)while I was there in May, and that brings me to June, which is recent enough that I can elaborate a bit more :)

I have been taking a CDL class since March, and finally took the driving and knowledge tests! So I'm now a licensed passenger bus driver. This means I can drive the camp bus filled with kids. yahoo!

We've been doing lots of planning for summer! It still feels like summer is a long ways away, since it has not gotten even remotely warm yet. We've had a few warmer days, but there has been SO. MUCH. RAIN! It's miserable. It's rainier now than it was in February and March I think. Every once in a while someone will call out in the office "when is summer coming?!" I spent some time today sitting on my office floor in front of the heater. It's COLD! I still believe that it will get warmer soon.

Mandy and AJ came to visit last weekend, from Cedar Falls, IA :) it was really really great to see them. Nick and I took them to the San Juan islands. We had amazing weather (weird) and saw both Mt Rainier and Mt Baker from the top of Mt Constitution. from Mt Constitution you can see the Canadian coastal range and all the cascades and the olympics too. It was breathtaking. Our camera was back at the campsite. So, that was lame. We have some great pics on the cell phones though!
We camped all weekend, and had a blast walking around on the beaches and enjoying the sights and relaxing back at the campsite in the evening. We almost got to see Orca Whales, which would have been AMAZING, but they weren't supposed to swim past the park for 2 more hours, and we had more to see and more to do, so we moved on.
This weekend we're supposed to go to eastern washington to go camping. I'm really excited about that because it's warm there! It is over the cascade mountain range, so it is not in the weird rain convergence zone that is NW Washington. So, most likely it will be warm and good weather. I'm bringing the bikini and the sunscreen :)

After this weekend, Summer officially begins with our first staff coming in on June 23. We have supervisor training and then the first campers come on June 26. That's grief camp, a special camp for kids who have lost a loved one. It's an intense week in a lot of ways, but also a very happy and loving week, and a great way to kick off the summer. After grief camp comes pre-camp training, and then the regular summer season starts. It's crazy to think that it's so close. There's lots to look forward to, and lots to love about being a Camp Director. It's an amazing job that is super rewarding in a lot of ways! I get to contribute to the experiences of so many people; kids and adults and help them create the best summer of their lives.
Also, that means I never get any time off in the summer. Sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like to have a summer vacation. And then I start thinking about different careers. Most of the time though, I love my job! And who loves their job 100% of the time anyway. :)

I can't believe it's already December 15. My whole family will be here in the next week. I think it may be a little crazy that I'm having them all out here... but I hope that it will be fun. Tace gets here on Friday, Dad on Saturday, Toby on Sunday, and Mom on Tuesday. I still really have no idea how to arrange sleeping. It will all work out. I need to wrap presents though.
Today is my last day of work in 2009. I have to work on the 20th, but it's a christmas party/staff reunion that we're putting on, so that will just be fun and stuff. I'm pretty excited about it. It's going to be nice to have a long block of time off.
well, it's 9am, and I'm still laying on the couch in my pajamas. I should be in the office, or at least walking down there... I should go.

Thanksgiving!

SO, it's thanksgiving break. and yes, i have thanksgiving break!

i don't have to work til monday, and i'm thankful for that. work is slow in the winter, and it's extremely boring to sit in the office for more than about 2 hours.

lately, nick has been stressed about this potential job that he interviewed for. so him stressed=me stressed... which is unusual. i don't usually get stressed. i just really want the best for him, and i really want him to get whatever he wants, and i know that he wants this job and it would be great for him. and he deserves it.

it's nearly december... no snow here yet. mt baker has had over 5 ft of snow... and that's only 2 hours from here, so i know there's good skiing somewhere. just need to find it. i need to figure out if my skis are still the right size for me. also, i think juneau would like skiing... well, running to skiing.

i really should go to bed. i have company over, and they went to bed about an hour ago, as did nick.... i did all the dishes and am now sitting on the computer... avoiding bed. it actually is starting to sound nice though... i'm off to brush my teeth :)