Call Me Superstitious

Oh my my! It's been 6 months!! But for the first time in my blogging life, I actually didn't write on purpose. I have never really considered myself a highly superstitious person. In college soccer I ALWAYS washed my socks, win or lose, I ate something different before each game and I have never had any sort of good luck charm of any sort...but for some reason, now that our livelihood depends on the outcome of a game, I have become superstitious. Around the time I stopped writing, the Raiders started putting together a string of great games and great wins that were just to perfect to disrupt! I started wearing the same clothes for each away game and the same boots & pin for each home game. The same group of wives came to my house for each away game and we ate chili and corn bread regardless of whether or not the game started at 10am or 1pm. I wore the same Raider necklace night & day and basically felt like if I changed a thing, the whole season would go up in flames...and it would be ALL my fault for not sticking to my superstitions:-) Included in the superstitions was writing on my blog. I was afraid if I blogged I would talk about the Raiders and how well they were doing and that would SURELY jinx them. Crazy, I know.

Then, John and I got the most exciting news of our lives in November when we found out we're pregnant!!! And I became nervous about jinxing that as well. The start of a pregnancy is such a delicate thing and I didn't want to talk about it too much or even get too excited until we were in the relative clear. Of course, even now at nearly 25 weeks pregnant, I still don't feel like we are in the clear but I feel a lot better than I did in the first trimester.

I told myself I would start blogging again once the season ended and once the

first trimester ended and here I am, pushing the THIRD trimester and I still haven't blog. Truth be told, even though I intentially didn't blog between October and January, I have no real excuse for why I haven't in the last 3 months except for that I just fell out of the habit. So, I am getting in the habit again...starting TODAY!

I'll play a quick game of catch up with the major highlights: As I already mentioned, the largest highlight for us is that we are having a little baby!! Here is a picture of me at 22 weeks:-)

The Raiders finished their season narrowly missing the playoffs but posting a very respectable record of 8-8. My Dad got a new knee. We had wonderful visits from family over the holidays, including John's Mom & Dad and my lovely little sister Lucy. John's little brother Mike and his AMAZING girlfriend Lizzie got engaged. Remember these two? They are the BEST!

We got a new contract with the Raiders and were beyond thrilled to know that we would be in our beloved Bay Area for another year. Then in February my same lovely little sister, Lucy got engaged!!! YUP!! LUCY IS ENGAGED!!! I couldn't be more excited!! As her big sis, I am of course protective of her but I can say with 100% certainty that her soon to be hubby is the best of the best and will treat her with the love & happiness that she deserves. That is a VERY comforting feeling for a big sister. I am just so proud of the woman that she has turned into and I look forward to the day that we can soon live closer to each other. I love you my Lulu!

Shortly after my sister's exciting news, my best friend since age 4, Meghan, came out for her first visit since we moved out here! I was excited for her visit for weeks!! And even though it was short, it was certainly sweet. We packed tons of quality time into our 1.5 days with lots of lounging, chatting, eating, story telling and laughing...just like the good old days. We were even able to organize an afternoon & evening with our dear dear friend Kiki. It was so great to have Meg here. It always warms my heart when people can get together after not seeing each other for a long time and they don't miss a beat. Of course I expect nothing less of my friend of 25 years...WOW That is the first time I have done the math on that. How about THAT Meg?! 25 years!! Longer than most married couples:-) I love you Meggaroo!

In March we had both ups and downs, but thankfully the ups outweighed the downs. We started the month by finding out that the little bambino that we are brewing is a little BABY GIRL!! This was definitely the best news ever and basically no matter what happened for the rest of the month, nothing was going to bring us down. We started planning her nursery, picking out her name and dreaming big dreams for all the wonderful things we wished for our daughter. Still so hard to believe...that John & I are going to be blessed with a daughter! Wow...blows my mind on a regular basis.

The only real down of the month is that the NFL is now in a lockout so that means no football for Johnny this off season until it gets resolved. What a bummer!

Later in the month I had another first time visitor...my big brother Danny & his wife Selma!! My amazing big brother works SO hard and rarely takes time off so for him to take his precious time off and spend it with us here in California was an amazing honor. And Selma had never been to California let alone San Francisco, so I was very excited to show them around. I wanted so badly for their trip to be absolutely perfect, but unfortunately Mother Nature had a different plan in store. It rained at some point during each of the days for basically all but one of the days that they were here. Even with a little precipitation we definitely made the most of our time together. We toured the major hot spots of San Francisco...

Went to the Jelly Belly Factory, did some hiking in Muir Woods followed by taking in some AMAZING views of San Francisco from Marin.

We finished off the trip with a breathtaking trip to snow covered Yosemite! I have been to Yosemite twice before but I have never seen it quite like that! Unfortunately the snow closed some of the places I wanted to take Danny, Selma & John but the experience we got in seeing the park like that was pretty amazing! I have never seen so much accumulated snow in all of my life!

The weekend after Danny & Selma had to go back to New York, John & I headed to Denver to spend some quality time with the family. It was a very fast trip but the boys got to start their precious golf tournament and the girls got to shower Ms. Lizzie with lots of love during her bridal shower.

We had some amazing weather on Saturday with 80 degree sunshine followed by a Sunday with cold damp snow! Denver weather is sure wild!! Sadly for the boys, they had to cut their golf outing short because of the snow, but the tournament will go on in the next couple months. Let the trash talking continue:-)

So, that basically brings us back up to speed and I will be updating more and more as the pregnancy progresses and of course when our little girl joins us this summer! She is kicking up a storm these days which is the most wonderful feeling. I was never able to imagine what a kicking baby would feel like but now that I have experienced it, I will never forget it. During our ultrasounds we were able to see her squirming around and kicking, so now I can visualize what she is doing in there each time she kicks and I LOVE it. Can't wait to meet you little girl:-) Your Mommy & Daddy love you so much already!

Today's song of the day is for our lovely little girl:-)

Find Your Inner Rock Star

I want to give recognition to an amazing accomplishment of my friend Angie! This past Sunday we participated in the San Jose Rock n' Roll Half Marathon together. I have done a few half marathons in the past but this was Angie's very first half marathon. In fact, this was only her second running race EVER. She was awesome!! She pushed herself beyond our goal and showed incredible mental toughness to push through some discomfort toward the end to complete the race in 2 hours 38 minutes and 38 seconds!! This averages out to about 12 minute miles!! For someone who never considered themselves a runner and really only started working toward this goal a little over a month ago, that is so amazing! WHAT A ROCK STAR!! Above all things, we had so much fun! This was by far the most fun I have ever had doing a half marathon and I think the reason is because I got to complete with a friend next to me! If you have a goal like this, share it with someone and put your minds to accomplishing it together! Today's song, "Right Now" by Van Halen always pumped me up and inspired me before each of my college soccer games. I hope it pumps you up to go out and get whatever goal you are going for! God Bless:-)

It's a Beautiful World

All the noise and the voices are screaming what they have to say

And the headlines and sound bites are giving me demons to hate

And the man on TV, he tells me it's ugly

But if you ask me, it's a beautiful world

There's tears and there's fears and there's losses and crosses to bear

And sometimes the best we can do is just whisper a prayer

And press on because there's so much to live for and so much to love in this beautiful world

Say what you will, but I still believe it's a beautiful world

And I know I'm not dreaming

I just choose to believe it

I hate that I sometimes miss what's right in front of my eyes

And I know at the end of my road I'll be wanting more time

Just another sunset, one more kiss from my baby, a smile from a friend

It's a beautiful word

Say what you will but I still believe, it's a beautiful world.

These are some of the lyrics from a fantastic song by Dierks Bentley, appropriately titled: "It's a Beautiful World". It provides me with some excellent perspective when I get discouraged. Last week there were a number of times when I really felt myself getting down. Each time I heard this song, I couldn't help but smile. I am sorry it isn't available to put on my playlist for you. Try to find it on iTunes though. Hope you enjoy! God Bless:-)

One Day at a Time

Ever notice when you start getting anxious and overwhelmed by various "stressers" in your life, you start to wish your days away in order to know or get to the end result? Whether it was waiting for the news about what colleges you got into, finding out if you got that next big job or promotion, waiting for news from a doctor, or even just getting through a weekday in order to get to the weekend...we've all done it. I sure have! I am most guilty of this in about January/February when all of the football coaching jobs begin their shake ups and we are all left wondering, will we be kept with the current team? Where will we go if we aren't? Will we have ANY job? Luckily, at the moment, we are a long football season away from that lovely part of year, but I have still found myself wishing to know the outcome of other things that I know can't control.

No matter how much you wish the weekend would just get here already, or to know if you will ever meet Mr./Mrs. Right, have babies, be the inventor of the next big thing, or if you are going to be Vice President of your company someday, the only way to know is just...to...wait. Wait, and enjoy every single second on the road to getting there. There are some times that this is easier to see and keep in perspective(and we are ALL guilty of losing sight of it), but every day on this earth is a blessing. No single day is guaranteed. I think this is a sobering thought. Sometimes we wish to "fast forward" through the difficult, or "boring" things in order to get to the "good stuff", like Adam Sandler's character in the movie "Click". But for anyone who has seen this movie(which is actually has a great message, so watch it if you haven't already), you know that if you spend your life wishing to get to the good part, you will very quickly get to the end of your life and realize that you actually missed all of the good parts and that you fast forwarded through the very best days of your life. Today's reminder is: be grateful for today, but thankful for the now, slow down, and take it one day at a time. God Bless :-)

It Feels Like Fall

Who is excited for the start of COLLEGE FOOTBALL?!? I woke up this morning and by 10am there were four different college football games for me to choose from on my television (this is a large perk of living on the West Coast). A lot of the match ups aren't all that exciting since it is only the first weekend (with the exception of Notre Dame v. Purdue), but I can't help but feel like the fall has really started to arrive. I know that the calendar says that the first "official" day of fall isn't until September 23rd, but I don't really think it is dictated by the calendar, I think it is dictated by a few of those tell-tale signs.

College football on Saturdays, NFL on Sundays, the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks, a little chill in the air, the smell of fresh cut grass on the soccer field, a plethora of apples to choose from at the grocery store, school supplies in the stores, fires in the fireplace, the changing tree colors, the smell of the leaves, the list goes on and on. Of course we are only at the VERY beginning of these signs on September 4th, but there is a definite warm fuzzy, comforting feeling in knowing that the rest are coming.

Some of my favorite memories growing up were from Saturday afternoons in Bedford, NY. After playing in town soccer games, complete with fresh cut orange slices at half time, we would ride to the Deli with my Dad and get a sandwich and a Nehi Grape Soda (since soda was not something we had in the house, it was definitely a treat that became one of the driving factors in my continuing to play soccer as a kid). We would head home in the early afternoon and play outside with our friends. In the late afternoon we would head inside and do homework while my Dad made a fire in the fireplace and watched college football and my Mom made dinner. Sometimes on Saturdays, if the schedules matched up correctly, my Dad, big brother and I would head up to West Point to watch the Army Black Knights in action at Michie Stadium. I never much paid attention to the actual game because I didn't really understand it, but LOVED the atmosphere. I loved the smells, sounds and sights of the games. The hot dogs, the cheers of the cadets, the sound of the band, and that crisp fall smell. To me, those kinds of days were the definition of fall.

What are the things that make you feel that the fall has definitely arrived?

You Choose

The other day I came across another section of Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike" that I wanted to share. I thought it was good to post on this blog because a) it provides an excellent perspective on how to live your life and b) it has to do with the namesake of of my blog. As you have seen in the past, I have shared moments of my day to day life...mostly things that shape me and make me who I am. I also share things that I believe....things inspire me, have special meaning to me, and things that I hope will inspire others to live their most positive life.

I believe that optimism is a choice. You have the ability to choose every day if you want to let your life be driven by doom, cynicism, and negativity or if you want your life to be driven by hope, happiness and optimism. I know it is completely unrealistic to believe that ALL bad days can be beaten by a simple outlook, because there are some days NOTHING seems to go your way...but I also realize on those days, that however bad my day is going, there are people in this world going through something much harder and much worse than me. The truth is, that I am, and you are, truly blessed. It is my choice each day to realize and focus on the blessings and be thankful for them. Do you choose to focus on the positive? Or do you choose to focus on the negative? If you find yourself focusing on the negative, it is a great internal challenge to reverse that habit. Challenge yourself!

Armstrong wrote: "Without belief, we would be left with nothing but an overwhelming doom every single day. And it will beat you. I didn't fully see, until the cancer, how we fight every day against the creeping negatives of the world, how we struggle daily against the slow lapping of cynicism. Dispiritedness and disappointment, these were the real perils of life, not some sudden illness or cataclysmic millennium doomsday."

Keep your spirit, keep your hope, and live what you believe.

Chances

I am currently in the middle of reading an EXCELLENT book called, "It's Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong. If you haven't read it, please, please, please do. It is an awesome book that provides an incredible life perspective. Because John & I are both athletes, (and especially with John being a 3-time Ironman), this man is the ultimate inspiration for us. He is the picture of fight and determination...not just on the bike, but also in the battle with his own cancer, and the battle that he continues to fight millions of others who are dealing with this horrible disease. Although I haven't finished the book yet, I came across a part that I wanted to share because it had such a profound impact on me. While Armstrong was talking about it in terms of his cancer prognosis, I think it can be applied to the every day life of a dreamer.

Armstrong wrote: "What are my chances? It was a question I would repeat over and over. But it was irrelevant, wasn't it? It didn't matter, because the medical odds don't take into account the unfathomable. There is no proper way to estimate somebody's chances, and we shouldn't try, because we can never be entirely right, and it deprives people of hope. Hope that is the only antidote to fear."

What are YOUR chances? What are the chances that YOU will achieve all of the things that you dream about for YOUR life? It doesn't really matter what your chances are because the logic of those dreams doesn't "take into account the unfathomable"...it doesn't take into account all of the intangibles that we each carry inside us. So regardless of your chances, keep on dreaming. Keep on hoping....because hope is "the only antidote to fear."

Thank you Mr. Armstrong for your contribution to our lives as an incredibly inspirational man, your contribution to the world of cycling and endurance sports, and most of all your continued dedication to the fight against cancer. LIVESTRONG and God Bless :-)