What's been going on...July

Once again, it's been too long since I have updated this! I guess I haven't really done anything exciting or interesting lately so I haven't been doing a good job of writing updates.

Here's what has been going on lately...

1) BACK PAIN. I don't know what I did to my back but one day about a month ago I woke up with a "crick" on the right side of my back. I sort of ignored it and thought it would go away. I was still able to work out, run, etc. Suddenly about a week ago it got MUCH worse. I couldn't run, do the elliptical at the gym, etc. When I did situps it felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife in the back. After taking three days off from working out and discovering that walking was the only thing I could do that didn't hurt, I became very frustrated yesterday and decided I was going to the gym no matter how bad it hurt. I hopped on the elliptical, thought I was going to die after about five minutes (because of the back pain) but I pushed on through and a strange thing happened. It was like the pain shifted from the right side of my back to the middle...but it felt better! So I stayed on the elliptical for an hour and 15 minutes and then decided to ride the stationary bike for 15 minutes after that. Suddenly the pain wasn't quite as severe and I felt sort of "okay" for the first time in a long time! Today I woke up and was afraid of how it would feel since I worked out yesterday, but surprisingly it felt much better than it has for about a week and a half! I think working out might have worked out some of the pain somehow...who knows. I am just hoping that this trend continues and I'm fully mended soon. I want to start running again!!! Walking just isn't the same! (Although it has allowed me to have some great conversations with my friend Erin, whom I have convinced to walk with me a few times!)

2) Visit Home. Last weekend Karl and I made our first trip "back home" to Southern Indiana since we moved to Bloomington. It was WONDERFUL seeing so many of my family members and visiting with a lot of them! We went down Thursday night and got to my aunt Joan's just in time for my cousin Marvin's wife Mallory's birthday party, then on Friday we hung out with my grandma during the day, visited my grandpa Pop, and then spent the night at my dad's. We also got to see my aunt Janice and uncle Marc, which was great. We rarely get to see them when we go home so it was definitely a treat! :) On Saturday I helped to host a baby shower for my best friend from home, Lori, and that was a lot of fun. She is going to have a baby boy in September! I can't believe it!!! We spent the rest of the weekend visiting with my grandma, aunts, cousins, etc. We also got to see my cousin Josh and his wife Amy's kids, Myles and Sydney. They are growing up so fast. Every time we see them they've changed, matured, grown up a little bit more. We also got to see Marvin and Mallory's new house in Evansville and it's just beautiful. It has a lot of uniqueness and charm. I can't wait for our next visit home. I missed our frequent visits to see my family so much last year when we were living in California. They are the most loving, thoughtful, and selfless people in the world, in my opinion! Not to mention FUN! :) I think we'll probably go back in about a month and squeeze in one more visit before school starts at IU. Here are some pictures from last weekend:

Lori & me at her baby shower. She's due September 13.

Butterfly in Nanny's backyard.

Visiting with my dad.

Nanny playing cards with Karl & me on a gorgeous day!

Karl dunking the basketball in Nanny's backyard.

3) Pontoon Trip this weekend. This year I'm in charge of planning the Kappa Delta pontoon trip on Lake Monroe in Bloomington that my friends and I have been doing for the past few years. It's stressing me out a little bit. Hopefully on Saturday I can just relax and have fun. I like planning things, but I've been so busy with a lot of projects with my new job recently that this pontoon thing is just an extra pressure that I don't really feel like I have time for. I need to learn not to take on so many of these outside activities. I think I say that a lot...and never follow my own advice! I guess I just don't know what to do if I'm not BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!! I'm ready to get on the boat and just relax (and also looking forward to seeing so many of my friends that I haven't seen in a loooong time. That will be the best part of the weekend)!!! Please keep your fingers crossed for us that it doesn't rain.

4) Karl is featured on the CROSSFIT website AGAIN!!! Last night Karl and I went to see the movie "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp. It's about the famous bank robber John Dillinger, who just happens to be from Indiana. It was a great movie. I highly recommend it. But that's all beside the point....we got home from the movie and Karl found out that he was featured in another video on the Crossfit website! It was filmed before we moved from California and I think he had sort of forgotten he even did it. It's a really good video in a beautiful setting...San Francisco skyline in the background. Make sure that you watch the entire thing - there's a nice interview with him at the end. Here is a link to Karl's post on his website about it. You can watch the video in either wmv or mov format (click on one of those links).


That's all for now!