Recovering

Uggg... New Year's Eve was fun... but left me feeling pretty rough this morning... haha! Gearry and I woke up at 9:00 a.m., ate breakfast, and then fell back asleep, finally waking up again at 1:00 p.m. I think I'm done with the whole sleeping thing for the day, but you never know... a nap might creep its way into my schedule later.

The rest of today is to be spent packing for Tampa! I leave tomorrow for our winter training trip and have a lot of packing to do since we'll be gone for 8 days. It's going to be an incredibly busy trip, but I am hoping that we get in lots of good water time, mileage, team bonding, etc., etc. It will be the first chance I've had to work with the novice when they are not fixated on the stresses of school since we are between semesters, so I'm thinking it should be really productive and hopefully fun! And WARM :) Yay! Coaching in shorts and a t-shirt beats coaching in two layers of pants, four layers of tops, gloves, a hat and a scarf any day!!

Happy 8 Years... Dang!

Today marks 8 years since Gearry and I went on our first date... incredible. Eight years? That doesn't even seem possible, but I've stopped trying to understand how time passes so quickly.

We spent Wed., Thrs., & Fri. in Columbus, Ohio visiting Hillary, Chris, hanging out, shopping, and going out to eat. Therefore, staying in tonight seemed most appealing, so Gearry is cooking a tasty dinner and popping open a bottle of wine, and I'm pumped for the IU basketball game and The Hills finale! Haha... yes, I'm serious. We need a chill night, 8 years or not.

Break has been going well so far, although I've kept busy. I'm still helping one of my undergrad professors with research and I've been doing lots of cleaning, organizing, cooking, and shopping... pretty much catching up on everything I neglected this past semester. Oh yes, and sleeping!

It's hard to type because Bailey is passed out in my lap and has his head laying over my right arm. Little guy had a big day... he had a vet appointment this afternoon because of his allergies. He probably didn't mind too much though, because I went through the Starbucks drive-thru on the way and he got a "puppy latte" and then I went through the bank drive-thru and he got a dog treat. And no shots at the vet, so I don't think he would complain too much, if he could.

Heading home to spend a few days with the family tomorrow afternoon... If I don't post again before Christmas, enjoy the holiday and enjoy every moment with your family and friends!

Is it Christmas Yet?

Hmmmm... Know how I said I needed to spend all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday working on various final papers and projects for school? Well... I didn't. And I am paying for it today with a hellacious, labor-intensive Sunday. But that's my own fault. Nevertheless, today's post is short.

Gearry and I had a great day yesterday. After Gearry went for a run and I finally got out of bed, we went to town to grab a few things, chiefly among them Christmas tree ornaments! Thanks to Gearry being decisive (since I am the queen of indecisiveness) we finally walked out with a variety of brown bulbs (glittered, dark brown, light brown, textured, milk chocolate brown), which fit right in with our usual decor and look very subtle and awesome on the tree!

We even played Christmas music while we decorated. Cheesy greatness! Later we watched a movie (a great documentary I've been waiting on to come out on DVD, Spirit of the Marathon), took the puppies for a long walk, made some tasty dinner (nothing like grilling out in November) and capped the night off with the second in the Jason Bourne trilogy that we bought a few weeks ago. A lot more sitting on my butt than I'm used to, but it was a nice, relaxing day.

And today... Well, let's move past today. Eww.

Ahhhh, the Holidays Have Begun :)

Just a quick note to say that my Thanksgiving with my family was wonderful and I hope that yours was too! I got to see many of the family members that I unfortunately see for the most part only on holidays and spend some quality time with Gearry's family as well. I also got in a nice bike ride with Josh on Wednesday, a good run on Thanksgiving morning and a couple sweet naps.

Now it's time to go back to reality: Writing papers and studying the rest of the weekend.

Gearry is off tomorrow and needs a break after a very hectic Thanksgiving week at work, so we're planning on hanging around the house, taking it easy and decorating for Christmas! I got new stockings for us and the puppies tonight, as well as new stocking holders for the fireplace, so I put those up tonight, but we'll put up and decorate the tree tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll post pics!

Love you all!

I'm baaaaaack... For today, at least.

Don't freak out, but, yes, it's true: I'm updating our blog. But it's going to be short.

It's Thanksgiving break and although my "break" consists of finishing a project, putting together two portfolios, and writing a paper, I don't have practice, office time or class to contend with, so I thought I'd use a little bit of time over these next few days of semi-freedom to provide some brief updates on the various aspects of my wonderful but crazy life.

Let's structure today's entry with the 5 top questions I've been asked recently:

1. How are Bailey and Zoey???!! (From the way people ask it, I think it deserves to be number one on the list and deserves three question marks and two exclamation points.)

Answer: Great! After finally making it through a recent bout with fleas (eww), Bailey and Zoey are just doing what they do best: chilling and being spoiled. They both got haircuts a couple of weeks ago and look way cute. As winter quickly approaches, they're making great little snuggly cuddle buddies on cold nights! Zoey usually goes to sleep by our feet in bed and Bailey somewhere in the middle or under the bed. But when we wake up every morning, it is pretty much guaranteed that they are both cuddled up in between Gearry and me, often using our pillows just like they were people. Now that it's too cold to keep them on the back deck, we've been keeping them in a huge kennel is the guest bedroom when I am at class or practice and Gearry is at work. Gearry trained them in about two days to get in the kennel on their own. Now you just say "get in" and they literally run in and sit, expectantly waiting for a treat.

2. How is grad school?

Great! Stressful. But great. I definitely over-committed myself this year. But the program is good and I love that it's structured in a cohort, so I do all of my classes and field experiences with the same 23 people the whole year. Having friends in the program makes it a little easier to get through the rough patches. Right now I am in a placement in a sixth grade class at Childs Elementary. I love my supervising teacher, although I am realizing that sixth grade is not for me. I've always worked with first grade, and I definitely like the grades 1-4 range. Not sure what my placement is yet for the spring, but next fall I'll be doing my student teaching, most likely in second grade at Lakeview Elementary, which should be awesome. I am taking 14 credit hours this spring (ewwww) and then two classes next summer (perhaps both of them online so that I can do a lot of traveling next summer!). Student teaching in the fall of 2009 and then getting licensed shortly thereafter. Gearry and I aren't sure how long we're going to stay in this area (warmer weather is continually calling our names), so I haven't thought that far ahead on where exactly I want to teach in the future. But I'm just letting life roll the way it wants to...

3. How is rowing?

Rowing is going well, although I have never been more physically exhausted in my entire life than this fall. From the first week of September until the week before Thanksgiving break, we were conducting three practices a day (5:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm) in order to accommodate all the crazy schedules of our walk-on athletes. Because I have class during Monday evening practice and all day Wednesdays, that meant I was doing 11 two-hour practice sessions a WEEK. That's insane. That's incredibly insane. Now we are down to one practice a day from now through Christmas break and I'm slowly starting to regain a bit of my sanity. Sort of. My hair has been falling out hardcore... literally. That's how stressed I've been. But it's worth it, because I do love it. The novice that I am coaching this year are an awesome group of young women and we have a really, really good chance of doing very well in the spring, so I am excited to see how the year progresses.

4. How is Gearry?

Good, as far as I know. He has been working day hours for the last few months and we both LOVE IT. So instead of getting home at 11:00 or 12:00 at night, hours after I've already gone to bed since I have to be up at 4:15 a.m., he is typically home between 4:30-6:00 p.m. We actually get to make dinner together, watch movies, go out to dinner, play tennis, or, if I'm studying as usual, at least be in the same room together! They were having some issues with quality of service for breakfast and lunch, so they asked Gearry to kind of step in and take charge of daytime service and get everything smoothed out. He's doing a great job and although I know I can't expect these awesome hours forever, I'm enjoying them while they last!

5. Anything else exciting going on in your life?

Depends on what your definition of "exciting" is. In an effort to make the cold weather go away, I've been trying to plan our vacation for next summer. We're strongly leaning toward Mexico, but a few other wild card spots keep popping up. We'll see... For now, just imagining laying on a beach with a drink in my hands helps.

We got a new TV -- 42" flat panel LG LCD. I'm LOVING it. Too bad all my favorite football teams (IU, Colts) haven't been much to watch on it this season :(

I also got a new trainer for my bike so that I can use it indoors this winter in anticipation of next year's triathlon season! It's not the most exciting thing pedaling away for hours without actually moving an inch, but at least I have my new TV to watch while I do it!

Alright, that's all for today. As usual, I have stuff to do, including finishing cleaning the house. Tonight I am hosting a game night for some of my cohort friends... Board games + food + drinks + stressed out grad students finally on break = what I'm imagining to be a really great time.

Miracle of All Miracles

I am actually updating! But a very short post, because I need to get back to studying. My goal is to have my homework all complete by Saturday night so that I can have Sunday just to myself... I spent ALL of last weekend studying. My goal is not very realistic, but I'm at least trying to get as much as possible done as early as possible so that there is a fighting chance I'll have five minutes for myself come Sunday.

Mostly, I wanted to post pics from our Hilton Head trip and also let everyone know that despite the fact I am running around like a crazy person and, with three rowing practices a day (waking up at 4:40 a.m.) and 11 grad school credit hours, barely getting any sleep, I'm happy and excited and feel semi-fulfilled for the first time since I graduated from undergrad. I love what I'm doing... it's just a lot. A LOT. And I'm a spazz-tastic perfectionist, so I try to give everything my all. So forgive me if I'm absent for this next year or so. And still love me even if I don't call you or write you as often as I should :)

OK, here are the links to the two photo albums from our trip. I didn't take a ton of photos because I was really trying to just enjoy the moment for myself, but I got some great ones and I think they really capture what the week was like:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2495244&l=46398&id=6807128

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2495283&l=8b3b6&id=6807128

Love you all!

40 Hours...

In about 40 hours from now, our plane will be touching down in Savannah, Ga., just a short 45 minute drive from our home for the week: Hilton Head.

Hillary and Chris headed down a couple days ahead of us, arriving today. And they sent this picture with the caption "See You Soon!!"

Can't wait!! I'm trying to finish my packing tonight, but I keep getting distracted by the Colts game. Tomorrow I have to spend the day on campus: Buying books. Getting my student ID card. Picking up some books at the library. Meeting with a professor. And then, from 3:00-5:30, mandatory orientation for my graduate program. Then... Off to Indy to spend the night at Ashley and Jeremy's, and off to HH in the weeeeeeee hours of the morning.

I'm sure I won't be updating until we get back, and even then it's probably not going to be too often. Between an insane amount of classes and rowing, my little free time is probably going to be spent sleeping! But I'll try to pop on here as often as possible.

NOW, the most exciting part of my post. Stebby came in for the weekend from OSU. We took lots of pics, but I'll have to wait for Colleen to post them. YES, COLLEEN! As in Colleen Ryan, my bestie that I haven't seen since last November because she lives in Maryland. She flew into Columbus and drove over with Stebby and their friend Alli, who is also, oddly enough, the rowing G.A. at Ohio State. Apparently they've been planning to surprise me for sometime now, and it was a GREAT surprise. I couldn't believe it when I opened the door and she was standing there! Sooooo great! We went out to dinner Friday night, then out to the bars, where we introduced Alli to the fabulousness that is "Sink the Biz" at Nick's. (If you like beer and don't know the game, I highly suggest discovering it.) On Saturday we slept in, made a late breakfast and then went swimming in the lake. That evening we hit up Domo for some sushi, walked around campus and took pictures, had ice cream at Jiffy and then headed back to mi casa for a late night of raspberry margaritas and chick flicks.

Today we got up at a slightly decent hour and enjoyed a late breakfast at Village Deli, made a pit stop at T.I.S. for some IU gear (I got the puppies two really cute IU bandannas/collars that are crimson with cream IU symbols and bones). Back at the condo, the girls and the dogs enjoyed a little nap before the 4 hour drive back to Ohio. Yep, it was a snore-filled scene at the Young Caudell house around 3:00 this afternoon:

That's Stebby on the far right, snoozing with Bailey cuddled up in her lap. Those are sleeping Colleen's legs with a dozing Ollie (Stebby's dog) holding down the fort. And that's Alli rocking the sit-n-sleep on the couch.

I love my friends.

Two of My Favorite Things: Family & Food (Not Necessarily in that Order)

Josh headed back to Purdue to start his junior year on Thursday, so on Wednesday the Young family gathered at the lake for a last little family get-together picnic. It's not very often that our schedules work out so that Mom, Dad, Josh, Gearry and I are all able to be together at the same time. The weather was gorgeous, the food was delicious and the football tossing was atrocious, but fun. (How QBs get the football to spiral like that is still beyond my realm of understanding.) I LOVE MY DAD BEING RETIRED!! I think I've seen/talked to him more in the past couple of months than I have in the past couple of years. Looking forward to doing a lot more family stuff in the future.

Mom took some good pictures of our little picnic, so I'll let those tell the story of the day:

There is a reason Josh was a lineman and not a QB in football... He throws a football about as well as I do. I do a lot of things well, I'm not modest about that. Throwing a football is not one of those things.

Peyton Manning, watch out. Stacey's coming for your job.

That sign that said "No Dogs Allowed on Beach"? Yeah, we pretended like we didn't see it. Zoey and Luke LOVE to swim; Bailey is more of a wader.

Awwww, Luke. I heart him. And he's lost weight! For real, you should see him.

Ah, what a great day.

Munchkin #1

Munchkin #2 (In no particular munchkin order)

Who wears short shorts? Josh wears short shorts. (Hey, Josh, Nair called. They want you for their next commercial.)

Gary David and Gearry David (I know, creepy, right??!) dig into the scrumptious feast.

Du'in it.

Look at those big smiles at 7:00 in the morning, fully aware that we're getting ready to torture ourselves for approximately one hour and 35 minutes (me) and one hour and 28 minutes (Lanie).

The inaugural Tri Indy Triathlon & Duathlon this past Sunday, August 15th, was a BLAST! I finally got over my fear and managed to battle through my stupid knee issues and finish my first multi-sport event, and I am HOOKED. I'm pretty sure that I will never be doing the distances my cousin Chris does (Ironman) -- actually, I'm positive -- but sprint distances are a blast and Olympic distances aren't even all that bad. I think I'll stick with those ;)

Lanie and I both did the duathlon, because we hadn't really had time to train for swimming. Our race started at 7:45 a.m. in front of the NCAA Hall of Champions downtown. The first run (2 miles) followed the pedestrian path up the White River toward the zoo, across the bridge, and back down the other side of the river on the IUPUI campus.

From there we transitioned into the bike event, which was a 12.5 mile loop through seemingly every imaginable part of Indy. I didn't have a speedometer (that was dumb), so I had NO clue how far I'd gone or where I was. I just kept biking my heart out and feeling giddy every time I passed someone. The bike course was pretty good, with lots of police protection at every intersection and lots of volunteers shouting out sharp turns and such.

I felt pretty good when I arrived back to the transition area after the bike, knowing I just had to conquer the last 3.1 mile run. Unfortunately, my knees had been acting up for the past several days, and although I had them taped, the combination of sweat and biking had loosened the tape to the point where I just had to rip it off. I have illiotibial (IT) band issues, which are pretty common in people who run, bike, etc. a lot. They tend to flare up when I'm training for any kind of event, and sometimes the pain is bad enough that it keeps from competing (i.e. the Susan Komen 5K in Columbus back in May, where I had to walk the last half of the race). But, somehow, I convinced myself on Sunday that I was NOT going to let me knees stop me, and I didn't. They starting hurting pretty horribly a mile into the second run, but I was determined to finish. And I did!

It was an amazing feeling running through that finish line. The announcer said something like, "Here's Stacey Young-Caudell, from Bloomington. Hopefully you're going to go celebrate at Nick's later!" (Nick's, for those of you that don't know, is a well-known IU bar in B-Town.) I immediately sat down in the grass and drank a cup of Gatorade, in lieu of passing out, and waited with Lanie for the results and watched all of the sprint and olympic distance people finish.

One of the best parts of the whole thing?? I won my category!! Yep, first place. One of the funniest parts of the whole thing?? I was the only one in my category!! Instead of entering my age category, I entered the "Athena" category, which is women 150+ lbs. Now, a majority of the women in the duathlon looked to be 150+, but they all opted for their age categories instead. So, I won! I got a kick out of that, especially since I got a trophy:

Needless to say, I will continue to enter the Athena category in the hopes of accumulating more trophies :) Lanie actually won her age category, 21-24, and so we went home exhausted and satisfied with matching trophies.

Lanie finished 38 out of 77. I ended up finished 51 out of 77. My only goal for the race was to finish ahead of the 72 yr. old man, and I did that, so I felt fulfilled. Can't wait til next summer to get some more races under my belt, definitely including the swimming portions.

In other -- more important news -- my newest little cousin was born on August 18th, but I was just informed yesterday. Apparently I was supposed to know that she was going to be born on August 18th since it was a scheduled c-section, but, umm, I forgot? And Mom gave up trying to call and tell me after I didn't answer the phone twice. Anyway, I believe her name is Alexandra Helena Day (but I could be spelling that wrong) and I don't know height, weight or any of that fun stuff yet. But I will update when I find out!

Stebby is coming in town tomorrow for the weekend! Can't wait! I need a weekend of mayhem. Then Monday is my graduate school orientation, and then super early Tuesday morning we fly to Hilton Head for a week of fun in the sun!!!

I did it!!

I finished my first duathlon today! Such a blast. More to come after I take a loooooong nap, and after Lanie posts pictures from the event online so that I can put a few of them on here. Soooooo tired.