Different Place ... Different Person??

I've been in Virginia just over two weeks and it occurred to me that maybe I'm not the same person when I'm traveling that I am normally. I feel more confident and independent here, having no problem going out to dinner by myself, seeing a movie or being solo at a tourist spot. I almost feel compelled to do these things as opposed to sitting on my butt. Tomorrow, I'm seriously contemplating going to the water park because I LOVE water parks! What kindof 32 year old person goes to a water park by themselves?? (Other than creepy types wanting to stare at women and children in bathing suits?) But why I should forgo the water park just because I don't have anyone to go with me? I'll still have a good time and when I'm on my own, I find I'm even more social with strangers. Like tonight, I went across the street to a local pizzeria and sat at the counter for dinner striking up a conversation with the waitress and a cook. I may be on my own, but that doesn't mean I have to lead a pathetic, lonely type of life. I actually find it liberating to do things on my own, maybe it would be more fun having somebody else to tag along, but it is what it is. I know a lot of people wouldn't be doing this - taking a travel job and living a slightly itinerant life, so I should embrace it because eventually I'm going to want to stop and stay in one place ... maybe buy a little house and start acting like a grown up.

Do you workout??

I've been meeting a lot of people since starting my new job and in general the questions are your typical where ya from? how long have you been a nurse? are you married? any kids? The other night one of the girls asked "Do you workout?" to which I immediately replied "Yes!" We then started talking about local gyms, where to run etc. Later on I was thinking about it and wondering at what point did I become one of *those* workout people? Let's be honest, I really never liked those kindof people. In college, there were the girls who were like "oh, I feel so fat because I haven't done aerobics for 4 hours." There was also the girl who used to iron her t-shirts AND underwear before going running but she had issues so I didn't like her for other reasons :)

Since starting this whole fitness thing, I've always considered myself out of shape and most definitely a beginner. When my friend Mary referred to me at her 4th of July party as the "runner" I was like "No, not really - I just jog a little." At some point, I've come to the realization that I AM the workout sort.
I AM a runner.
Yes, I'm pretty slow and I definitely have tons of room for improvement, but it has become an important part of how I define myself. When I moved here, I was stressed because I had been so busy that I hadn't had time to workout, and to top it off I didn't have the faintest clue where to run around here. Since then, I've found a great place to run, the trails at First Landing State Park which is a just a few miles down the road. The main trail is a multi-use one that is 6 miles one way through the woods and apparently at some point (to which I have yet to make) it connects you out to the oceanfront and the boardwalk. I've been running there exclusively since discovering it.

Speaking of running, though it hasn't been mentioned recently I am still planning on doing the Lewis & Clark half-marathon in St Charles,MO on September 17th. My cousin Travis is doing the full marathon, and Dean "Ultramarathon Man" Karnazes will be starting the North Face Endurance 50 quest of 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 days. I must admit that I have not been remotely following my training plan and as such I expect that I will be doing a lot of walking and not breaking any speed records. At this point, I don't care how long it takes me, I just want to do it and push as hard as possible. I've got plenty of time to actually be able to run a full half-marathon and in the end, 13.1 miles is a pretty big accomplishment for someone who used to be irritated by workout type of people.

Goodbye Columbia!!!

Three years and almost three months ago I left Denver and embarked on a great adventure.

I quit my well paying job and left the wonderful weather of Colorado to become a 30 year old nursing student at the University of Missouri. I traded my fancy city apartment for a federally guaranteed student loan and my easy-going 9 to 5 state job with thousands of holidays for a night shift of bed baths and wiping bums in the SICU for $8.75 an hour. And did I mention the Missouri humidity and my intolerance to heat?

By the end of that first summer as my savings was dwindling to nothing and three semesters of study still loomed ahead, I SERIOUSLY questioned my sanity.

But then Columbia grew on me ... maybe it was the dichotomy of living in a town where there are bleeding heart liberals trying to end the war, save the animals and end capital punishment on the same street as a person born and raised in Boonville – thinking that moving to Columbia is the “big city” - and angered by all those people around here who don’t speak English. When I finished school, it didn’t seem like the end of the world to hang out for a while – so I did.

In my time here, there are some things I’ve truly come to love and other things that I am more than ready to leave behind. In that spirit, I thought I’d make a list.

Things I Won’t Miss About Columbia
1. The need for a Super Walmart on every corner
2. Blonde, college aged girls haunting downtown in ridiculous pieces of fabrics some call a shirt
3. The general lack of shoulders on the road.
4. Spectacular car accidents on I-70
5. The lack of unmarried men over the age of 18
6. Meth moms and/or people without teeth (either due to or completely unrelated to meth)

Things I Will Miss About Columbia
1. Hyvee – I LOVE that store and almost found myself crying as I wandered through a pathetic Virginia Beach Kroger supermarket
2. The Mizzou Rec center – again almost cried as I toured a local YMCA here
3. The MKT and KATY trails
4. The ability to get anywhere in town in 15 minutes or less
5. Low rent
6. The University atmosphere

Though not mentioned on my list, I will definitely miss all of my fabulous friends and NICU co-workers!! I’ve made it a habit in my life of moving on every 3 years of so, therefore I am used to leaving people behind. I always focus on the adventure ahead of me and try not to dwell on the sad part so don’t take it personally if I haven’t shed tears or sobbed a time or two. It probably won’t hit me until I’m at work one night and see a particularly FLK (funny looking kid) and then I suddently realize that I can’t make a joke about it with my normal partners in crime. Or when I have a really inappropriate thought and I can’t just say it to my pod partner because they’ll think I’m really strange (whereas you’all have long since figured that out so I don’t even try to hide it).

No, I’ll really miss you and I’ll place those fun times and memories in the back of my head and pull them out when I’m needing a laugh ☺

There's salt in this water!

Today I had a day off - see it was so rigorous having 8 whole hours of training yesterday. I had to fill out forms and read papers ... let me tell you I was long overdue for a day of rest.

So today I decided to brave the tourists and the souvenir shops and I headed to the Virginia Beach resort area. It's just a left turn outside of my complex then a mere 12 miles down the road. On the way, the road takes you past First Landing State Park which is on Cape Henry. This is where the original Jamestown settlers landed back in 1607. Apparently they hung out here for a while and didn't like it (can't imagine why, likely the men thought the women would spend too much time sunbathing) so they headed up the James river a ways and built Jamestown. I think there's something or other there like a lighthouse and a monument but I'll explore that another day.

Anyway, I quickly turned onto Atlantic Avenue which goes along the ocean front. Large hotels line both sides of the road with the fanciest directly on the ocean front. Along the avenue there are dozens of shops, mainly your garden variety tourist traps where you can get a VA Beach magnet with your name on it (unless of course you're born in our NICU and are named MaKayiTeita), exciting tshirts of all varieties including the world famous "My (insert family member) went to VA Beach and all I got was this lousy shirt," and my favorite touristy thing- the cheesy postcard. My favorite was one with teddy bears in the sand stating "Having a Beary good time in VA Beach." I was thinking to myself - what kindof idiots buy this crap? Then I got a souvenir Virginia Beach towel, coffee mug and postcard.
After buying my souvenirs and having an ice cream cone, actually point of fact it was a frozen custard cone - who knew they had frozen custard outside of mid-Missouri?? but I digress - so after eating my custard cone I found a spot on the beach. It was relatively crowded as the picture on the left shows, but it wasn't ridiculous and there was plenty of sand for anyone to claim. I laid out my brand new Virginia Beach souvenir towel and headed into the Atlantic for the first time!

I should mention that my ocean experience is pretty limited, or more precisely non-existent. When I was about 12 my family went to Panama City, FL so I have swam in the Gulf of Mexico. Of course I got so sunburned on the first day there that I could barely move and my eyes were almost swollen shut ... that was a fabulous vacation - excrutiating pain and people staring at me as if I was a circus freak... again I digress. So other than that experience, I haven't been in the ocean.

It was so fun to hang out in the waves and I completely forgot about the salt water until I got the first taste of it in my mouth. I bobbed in the waves and body surfed like a little kid until my fear of overwhelming sunburn kicked in and I went back to my souvenir beach towel for more sunscreen.

After the swim, I walked along the "boardwalk" which any person from farther North will mock given that it's cement and there's not a board in sight. As you can see in the pic on the left, it's basically an oversized sidewalk, but it does run 3 miles along the beach and seemed popular with runners. I headed up to the fishing pier (seen in the distance on the pic on the right) but refused to pay the $2 charge to walk out on it - it was $8 if you were planning to fish or catch crabs, though I would think that the marine life would spread the word to stay away from there. Thus concluded my first day at the ocean. I should mention that I didn't see many single men, except for ones that appeared homeless ... and I'm not THAT desperate :)

also, FYI my friend's baby is much improved. Still in the NICU, but it looks like he'll be out in a few days which is great news!! I think they should come surfing here next month - after all he does share a name with surfing legend "Bodie" the surfing bank robber played wonderfully by Patrick Swayze in Point Break. For those of you reading who are movie snobs (ahem ... Dave ... Mary) it also contains the cinematic legends of Keanu Reeves and Flea the bassist from Red Hot Chili Peppers. Seriously, it's a tour de force!

This is Bode's going home picture, ain't he a cutie??

First Days ... Hey there's a beach here!!!

It's been a busy few days since arriving in Virginia and I just now feel like I can stop and catch my breath. I'm about as settled into my apartment as I'm going to get and the dogs really seem to have adjusted without any problems. On Sunday, I started the day by taking the dogs to the beach for the first time. I'm about a mile and a half from Chick's Beach which is on the Chesapeake Bay. The ocean side is about 10 miles down the road but apparently the locals avoid it like the plague because of the sheer volume of tourists, difficulties parking and overall craziness. Unfortunately I can't walk to the beach because of the sporadic nature of sidewalks, but either way it's super close. Dogs are allowed before 10 a.m or after 6 p.m. so we went nice and early in the morning - well early for me which is 9 a.m.. It wasn't crowded but there were a lot of folks walking, throwing sticks into the surf for their dogs, and even leisurely drinking their coffee on a beach chair. It has a really laid back feeling and I'm looking forward to starting my days off here. From where I'm at, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel which takes you up to Delaware is visible and to the south the tall resort hotels. The waves are nice little rollers and the beach is by no means pristine, but it beats the hell out of Lake Michigan or Lake of the Ozarks. As we walked along there are some fabulous houses on the other side of the dunes, sailboats in the sand, and people just hanging out everywhere.

Both dogs were a little leary of the water, and when it would creep up by their feet they would instinctively take a step back. Tosca kept trying to sniff the washed up jellyfish while Oakley was just happily trying to say Hi! to every dog we passed. I was so wishing that I had well behaved dogs ... you know the type that will listen ... even off leash. But anyone who's met my dogs knows that's not the case which is why there aren't any pictures that include them, they were busy wrapping their leashes around my legs as I tried to snap these shots.

I'm not beach savvy, but for a midwestern girl like me - it's absolutely beautiful!