Note: This was intended to be posted yesterday, March 28.

Hey all long lost blog readers,
Today is my birthday! I share this day with the likes of Keith Tkachuk and Lady Gaga. I know a few other non-famous folk who were also born this day, but I won't go into that. I already got a great present from Benny. He gave me a Nook Color. I have already put it to good use and purchased "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler. I love her books. They are so real and funny. Definitely makes my day. My parents are also giving me money towards souvenirs from the Frozen Fours.

Speaking of the Frozen Four...

As many of you know, BU women's ice hockey went to the Frozen Four last weekend for the first time in team history. They had to beat Mercyhurst in the quarterfinals to do so, whom they lost to in the quarterfinals last year.  They pulled off a 4-2 victory to clinch a trip to Erie, PA. Not much about Erie made it an ideal town for any Frozen Four, other than the beer bar next door to the hotel. And despite the fact that there were at least 10 high end hotels in town, all four teams were placed in two adjacent hotels. It made for many awkward moments.

So much happened that weekend, I'll just go in chronological order.

Wednesday: We practiced at our rink that morning and left that afternoon for Erie. As our cross town rivals, Boston College, were also participating in the Frozen Four, we had to share a charter flight with them. It was quite humorous to see them sitting in the far back of the rear plane and our team sitting in the front with at least 10 rows of seats separating each team.

Thursday: This day was really slow. We practiced early in the afternoon. We also received our tournament gear (zip up hoodie, baseball cap and hockey pucks). That night, we attended the Frozen Four banquet where we also received beanies. The food was tasty, especially the dessert. There were a few speakers that included the hosts from Mercyhurst. They made it extremely clear that they were none too pleased that Mercyhurst was not participating in the Frozen Four. Sorry? Jennifer Botterill also spoke on her Frozen Four experiences.

Center Ice logo at practice

Our own athletic training room

Friday: Friday was the longest day of the whole weekend. Our game wasn't until 8PM! There was an optional morning skate and the rest of the day was spent just relaxing at the hotel. My dad got into town in time for the 5PM game featuring Wisconsin vs. Boston College. I went over to the rink early with him to watch the beginning of the game. It looked like from the get go that Wisconsin would win easily. Much to everyone's surprise, BC came back to make it a close game, but ultimately Wisconsin pulled off the win. Our game couldn't have been any more stressful. Even though the scoreboard showed that we were outshooting them, every shot they took felt like 10. Cornell scored first. I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me. I thought, "This is better not how this games turns out. We tried so hard and had such a great season, only to lose now." But it didn't take long before we answered with a goal of our own. By the end of the second period, we were winning 3-1. In the past two seasons, we are undefeated when leading after two periods. That thought kinda comforted me, but I knew that 20 minutes is a long time in hockey and anything could happen. We ended up winning 4-1 to earn our first trip to the National Championship game. I got so many congratulatory texts that night that I just had to turn off my phone for a while so I could really enjoy the moment. I had so much adrenaline going that day, that I didn't eat much, so I went out for dinner with my dad that night. Unfortunately, not many places are open at midnight in Erie.

Motivational poster made by the team

Pre-game vs. Cornell

Saturday: Saturday morning, I went with a group of the staff to Tim Hortons for breakfast and went to the grocery store to buy ice cream cake. The coaches had promised the girls that they could have ice cream cake if they won the semifinal game. While we were at the grocery store, the girls were at a banquet to announce the Patty Kazmaier award winner. That afternoon, they had another brief practice. The coaches allowed the girls to spend the rest of the day with their families, so I spent the evening with my dad. We had dinner and went to the mall and Target to waste time while waiting for Benny to arrive.

Sunday: The big day that we had been anticipating all year was finally here! I have never been so nervous. I kept telling myself that it was ok and that just making here was a great accomplishment, but at the same time, I still really wanted to win. Being from Wisconsin, I had hoped all year that we would be playing Wisconsin in the NC game and now here we were. We left the hotel to a pep rally put on by the band and fans.

The fans!

BU hockey's biggest fan (One of the assistant coach's nephew)

The girls arrived at the arena and did everything that they have been doing all tournament for their pre-game activities. The whole warm-up and game went by so fast. We kept it close for a period, but then Wisconsin ended up just being too much and we lost 4-1. I'm feeling better about it now, but it hurt initially to think that we had had such a great season, and no championships to show for it. No Beanpot Championship. No Hockey East Tournament Championship. No National Championship. But it was such a great accomplishment be have had such a great season and to even make it to the NC game. After the game, the team went to a local restaurant to have one last team meal. It started off slow and quiet, but then the seniors started toasting to their teammates and the season and the group became their usual rambunctious selves.

Pre-NC game warm-ups

Even the restaurant didn't expect us to still be around for the NC game

To top off the weekend, we flew charter home. But it wasn't just any charter. It was U2's charter (yes, the band). When U2 isn't using it, the Boston Bruins use it. It was definitely the nicest plane I've ever been in. It is going to be really hard to going back to flying coach on domestic airlines.

U2's plane

Interior of U2's plane...the seats reclined fully to be used as a bed

Each individual on the team and affiliated with the team received  a miniature version of the actual second place trophy

A year after losing to Mercyhurst in the NCAA quarterfinals, the BU women's ice hockey team beat Mercyhurst to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time in team history. I am so proud of this team and I am so honored to have been a part of it.

I first took an interest in ice hockey by watching the Wisconsin Badgers men's team on TV. Since then, I have watched and been to many men's Frozen Four tournaments. I never thought in a million years that I would actually be working with a team, men's or women's, who would be participating in a Frozen Four tournament. Sure, I thought it would be cool, but I never thought it would actually be real. And I definitely never thought it would occur in my second year as a certified athletic trainer. This is all so surreal.

I think what I'll remember most about the game is not necessarily that we qualified for the Frozen Four, but how excited everyone was. The team was so happy. The coaches were so happy. The fans were ecstatic and loud. I was proud to be a part of it.

The Frozen Four is this weekend in Erie, PA. We definitely have our work cut out for us. We play Cornell in the semi-final round. Wisconsin and Boston College are competing in the other semi-final game. If we played Boston College in the final game, it would obviously be a big deal as there is a big rivalry between the two teams. In terms of the season series, each team has won two games, so the title game could easily go either way. Wisconsin is quite possibly the best women's ice hockey team, although their most recent games have been tight, so they are definitely beatable. Personally, I would love to play Wisconsin. It would be so bittersweet, growing up a Wisconsin Badger fan, only to face them in the National Championship game. Don't worry. I am 100% BU now, but I still have a tremendous amount of respect for the team and especially Mark Johnson. I didn't really know much about women's hockey until I worked with this team, but I have known who Mark Johnson was for a long time. It would be so unreal to be working for a team who was competing against Mark Johnson's for the national championship.

I am so excited and can't wait for this weekend to be here. The first game will be Friday evening. My dad is even making the trip up to watch the games. Ben will also be attending the final game, assuming we make it that far.

Go BU!

P.S. The BU men's basketball team also clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament by winning their conference tournament. Of all teams that they could possibly play, guess who they are playing in the first round? That's right. Kansas. Normally, I wouldn't care, but my brother is a freshman at Kansas. Its on like Donkey Kong!

Hey all,
I bet you didn't know that March is National Athletic Training Month? Well, now you know, so you have no good reason to lose at Jeopardy.

In celebration of this great holiday, the NATA is having a video contest for athletic training students. Needless to say, some students here at Boston University have put together a part cute, part funny video about what athletic trainers do to help promote the profession. It has recently come to a head that people are confused as to what athletic trainers actually do (they frequently confuse them with personal trainers), so clarifying it for the lay person has been a big initiative for the profession.

The video contest winner is based at least partly on how many people watch the video. Now, you don't need to watch the whole video. All they need are lots of hits. So please, please follow the link below. The video is about 7 minutes, but just clicking through takes 3 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8h5VzIXZ1A

Sorry, folks. I haven't posted in a month! I wasn't kidding when I said the past month would be crazy. On Friday, I turned in my big graduate paper. The hockey team also wrapped up the regular season with 10 games in three weeks. Thank goodness they had a bye week before the playoffs to recover from the intense season finish.

This weekend was one of ups and downs for the team. We were defending Hockey East tournament champions and we had just won regular season champs only to lose in the semi-final round of the Hockey East tournament this year. There was a lot of stress and nerves going into the NCAA selection show last night. We didn't know how much losing in the semi-final round would hurt us in our placement in the tournament. We were all ecstatic to find out that we were ranked third and will be hosting the first round. Even better yet, we will be playing Mercyhurst in the first round. This is a big deal as we lost to Mercyhurst in the first round last year. The team is excited to get another chance at playing the Lakers in the tournament.

The game is Saturday at 3PM. I am already bouncing off the walls with excitement. The weekend can't come soon enough.

Super Bowl means commercials. Here are my favorites as I see them.

Imagine Facebook without apps or a 10 page profile or pretty much anything except for the status, and you have Twitter. Twitter has made it cool to update the world in 140 characters or less. It has also made it possible for us lowly $9/hour human beings to "hang" with our celebrity idols. So many celebrities are notorious for their Twitter use such as the Kutcher couple.

Growing up, we rarely had snow days. Wisconsin was always prepared (too prepared, in my opinion) for the snow. I finally started getting snow days when I attended undergrad at Ohio State. But this year, I have gotten more snow days in the past month than I have the rest of my life combined. Not that I'm complaining.

Back when I used to have a car that I would have to keep parked outside, I would be one of those moaning about more snow. Now that I don't have to worry about cleaning up a car or shoveling a driveway, I have no problem with the snow. The more snow the better. I love time off from school. Although, I will have plenty of time off from school in 3 1/2 months. I like to think of it as practice. Anyways, I love being able to truly enjoy the snow, particularly before the cars start to abuse and pollute it. I feel like a child again when I kick up the fluff or toss it in the air.

Yet again, Hollywood wakes up to another Charlie Sheen story. This time, it turns out to be a hernia. But how many more times does this many have to be arrested/hospitalized/rehabbed until he gets his act together? I would hate to see one of my favorite TV shows, Two and a Half Men, go away because the star actor overdosed. Many people say addicts need to hit rock bottom before they realize they need help, but when everyone around Charlie Sheen coddles him so much, will he hit rock bottom before its too late?

Of course, he isn't the only celebrity who is resorting to drugs. Lindsay Lohan has been in and out of rehab many times over the past few years. Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson have recently died due to their drug addictions. How many more people need to die before agents or producers start making harsher consequences for celebrities?

I have never really been a big fan of award shows until my recent obsession with acting. I take that back. I was obsessed with teen award shows when I was, well, a teen. This was the first awards show that I DVR'd and watched from beginning to end.

To be completely honest, I was most excited about the fashion. I wish I could say I was more excited about the awards show, but I haven't seen 95% of the shows and movies that are nominated. Its hard to be like, "Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that win," or "WTF? That show/movie sucked!" Of course, any movie with Mark Wahlberg in it automatically has my vote. It has two of my votes if Christian Bale is in it too. I always think I am watching too much TV until I watch an award show and hear about all of the TV shows I have never seen or worse, have never heard of. Regardless, I am hugely biased against Glee or Twilight or anything hideously teenie-bopper terrible. Are people really so simple minded that movies or shows made for teens are far and away favorites?

Now, the fun part...a few of my favorite dresses:

Julianne Hough: Very Greek goddess. Ryan Seacrest did something right.

Eva Longoria: So simple, but so gorgeous. I wish I could rock curves like that.

Natalie Portman: That hump, That lovely baby bump

Worst dressed:

Angelina Jolie: What's with the shoulder pads? I was hoping we left the 80's in the 80's.

Anne Hathaway: Again with the shoulder pads

Helena Bonham Carter: Great actress, terrible dresser. You can get away with mismatched socks, but not shoes.

Jennifer Lopez: I liked the dress, but the shawl made her look more middle-aged than she is.

My favorite dress *drum roll*

Megan Fox: I'm not a huge fan of pink, but the pastel pink, the criss-crossing straps up top and a spritz of bling make this dress really beautiful.

Anyone else have any other favorites or glaring fashion faux pas?
Any thoughts on the award winners or who should have won?

I am a Mypoints.com member and have been happily for a couple of years, but recently they have been pissing me off.  For those of you who don't know what Mypoints.com is, it is a website through which you can do various activities or buy things online and earn points doing so. Once you have accumulated a certain number of points, you can redeem them for a gift card or you can donate them to one of the charities they support.

About a week before Thanksgiving, I redeemed my points for a $50 Express gift card. Now, they have had Express gift cards of other amounts, but not $50 until recently and I was holding out for it to become available. I cashed in the minute I saw it was available. They say on the website that it takes 3-6 weeks for the gift cards to arrive. Eight weeks (and much frustration) later, I finally received my gift card in the mail...well after all of the holiday sales. Thanks My Points!

I took my "winnings" and pranced right over to the nearest Express store. I try on a handful of dresses, take forever to make up my mind and finally decided on the dress of my dreams (it was the absolute last one in that store AND it was the perfect size...I never have that kinda luck) and another more casual spring dress. I stroll up to the register only to find out that my gift card is being declined due to a $0 balance. Keep in mind that I am a poor college student and don't exactly have $50 lying around to make the purchase anyways. I call the customer service people to find out that Express can't do anything for me until MyPoints can prove that they put money on the card. I put my precious dresses on hold and leave the store disappointed.

I called My Points twice when I got home just to have them tell me that the person that I need to talk to is "in a meeting" and "gone on lunch". I left my phone number and e-mail address only to receive not one, but ZERO emails or calls from this mystery person whom I need to talk to.

Ben called them today because frankly I was way past my boiling point with these people. It took them two weeks longer than they said it would take only for my card to not have any money on it anyways and now they are giving me the run around for their mistake. Not to mention that it took me like a year to accumulate enough points for a $50 gift card and I was afraid that I would be out all of the points and all of the money.  They tell him that they sent me an email with instructions. After re-checking my inbox and junk box, I state that I indeed did not receive any e-mail from them. They tell me that I have to mail my gift card back in so they can reload it with money and they will mail it back. Ben told them how disgusted I have been with their service thus far and how slow they have been and that I have dresses on hold. I kinda wanted to yell at them to overnight the card back to me.

Well, Ben and I went back to Express tonight as they were only going to hold the dresses until close tonight. We bought my dream dress and left the other one.

With any luck, I will have my gift card in time for 2011's holiday sales.

Welcome to the inaugural Famous Friday! In this section of my blog, I will be discussing different aspects of fame, some of which I will attempt to use as I strive for stardom myself. I always wanted to know how people went from nothing  to Kim Kardashian, so I will attempt to do it myself and write about it along the way. If all else fails, this section will at least be successful as a satire of fame.

To start, I will be discussing social media. More specifically, I will be discussing my use of them and my opinion of various social medias. I will also talk about how currently famous people use social media. I will go in chronological order starting with Myspace.

I had intended to update my blog daily while in vacation. I'm not sure if any of you have been to Las Vegas, but Las Vegas is different from any other vacation destination. While you are there, there is no time for anything, not even sleep. It is normal for Ben and I to actually sleep less on vacation than we do during a normal week, but our lack of sleep was a bit excessive the past couple of days. And let's not forget the travel excitement that marked the end of our trip.

We got into Vegas late Wednesday night. We spent our first three nights at the Mirage, where we lost a bunch of money. The last two nights we spent at New York New York where we also lost a lot of money. What amazes me about the hotels and casinos is how much detail they put into the architecture and decorations. They spare no expense to have the fanciest or coolest or grandest hotel. Aria is one of the newest casinos and is really gorgeous and modern. The Wynn and Encore are also fairly new and also have a very fancy and high end feel. Places like New York New York and Paris put a lot of detail in the architecture to make it feel like you are walking through New York or Paris. Other casinos that spend a great deal of money on expensive details include Caesar's Palace, Bellagio, the Venetion and Palazzo. The Luxor and MGM bring in the cool factor with the pyramid structure that is synonymous with the Luxor and the giant lion enclosure that is located within MGM's casino.

Another aspect of Vegas that I enjoyed very much is the shopping. The casinos like to keep your hopes high by placing many high end designer shops within the casino. I didn't spend much as we wanted to save our money for gambling, but it was nice to dream.

Unlike The Hangover, we survived Vegas. We successfully limited our booze intact. We survived the bombardment of "Girls of Las Vegas" trading card hand outs. We walked miles a day without serious injury.

Each night, we spent some time hanging out with Ben's friends playing slot machines. We won some. We lost some. We laughed a lot! We all went out to eat to Samba, a Brazilian BBQ restaurant, on Saturday night. It was the first time I have ever been to a Brazilian BBQ. I highly recommend it if its time for a splurge day in your diet. I do not recommend it if you are vegetarian.

On Saturday night, Ben and I went to my first ever fashion show. It was only about 15 minutes long and wasn't quite as exciting as we thought it was going to be. We were told it would show clothes that contained multi-colored and/or blinking lights in them that illuminate with body movement. In some clothes, the lights pulsate to the rhythm of music or sound. Two outfits were part of the new lighting line. The other outfits were standard clothing while the models carried hi tech objects such as iPhones. Following the fashion show, we went to the Xbox party where Benny played poker with Shannon Elizabeth. He literally talked her ear off. I'm sure he'll be posting pictures on his blog soon enough.

During the entirety of our trip, I really wanted to see Peepshow starring Holly Madison. I live and breath the original Girls Gone Wild. I am addicted to Holly's World and Kendra and never miss an episode. I have never met the girls in person, but I feel like we are BFF's. As the weekend began to draw to a close, I grew disappointed as we were running out of money and we had not yet gone to the show. At $56 for the cheapest ticket, it did not look like we would be able to go. When I had finally given up hope on being able to go to the show, we found out about a deal where we could buy tickets for $30 a piece if we took a tour and listened to a presentation about buying a time share in Vegas. They are amazingly gorgeous condos and may be a possibility in the future. Better yet, I got to see Holly! The show is about how Holly's character (Bo) can't find love. One night, she falls asleep and wakes up in a Peepshow fairy tale land. The Peep diva is trying to get  Bo to break out of her shell and be a little bit more "naughty" in her love life. She does this by taking her through a series of fairy tales. The characters in the stories strip, pole dance and sing remixed pop songs. In the end, Bo finds a man and even dances and strips herself. It was very Vegas-esqe.Overall, it was a really great show and I am so happy that I could go.

We were scheduled to leave early Monday morning. We wake up, check out of the hotel and arrive at the airport only to find out that our flight had been canceled due to weather in Atlanta. They tell us that we will not be able to fly out until Thursday at the earliest. They also told us that they could not refund us for our flight and that we may be able to receive credit towards a future flight, but that is not a guarantee. Also, due to the economy, they wouldn't transfer us to a flight with a different airline. To make matters worse, we did not have enough money to buy tickets for another flight or stay at a hotel three more nights. Fortunately, JetBlue had a direct flight to Boston late that night. My parents saved us and lent us money to buy the tickets home.

So we had 15 more hours in Las Vegas with very little money. We spent that time walking up and down the Strip going into each casino to say we have been to them all. Then I remembered that my cousin, Nicole, whom I hadn't seen in about a year and a half was in town. She works with Disney on Ice and they had just arrived for a couple of shows. We met up with her and talked and walked for a couple of hours. Then we went to a casino to watch some of the BCS championship game before she had to head back to her hotel. So in a sense, it was nice that our flight was canceled so I could spend some time with family.

And now, the best part. The pictures!

Wynn and Encore

The Venetian

Sugar Mountains

Mirage lobby

Bellagio lobby ceiling

Caesar's Palace

Bellagio Fountains

Well, we have survived 2 1/2 days of 2011. Quite an accomplishment. Go us! I hope everyone is still sticking to their resolutions. I'm pretty excited about mine. I finished knitting Ben's scarf. He hasn't seen the finished product yet. I'm sure it will look good on him. It definitely looks great on me. The yarn is a nice soft alpaca yarn and is a beautiful blue which is Ben's favorite color.

I am still a newbie knitter, so this was my first attempt at a pattern. I am really happy with how it turned out. Its a very simple stripe, but its perfect for a manly man like Ben.

The team is also off to a good start for the New Year. They had their first game back yesterday and won 4-0 against Brown University. I'm proud of our sophomore goalie for getting her first collegiate shutout. Our freshman goalie just returned from USA Hockey camp which is also a huge accomplishment. This is a huge plus for our team. At the beginning of the year, I think many people questioned how good our team would be, even with two Olympians, due to the lack of experience in goaltending. I think our goalies have really stepped up and have proven themselves which is evident by our 15-2-3 record, which includes 4 shutouts.

Finally, Ben and I are just two short days from going to Vegas. I have never been and am really excited to go. I hope it is as great as everyone says it is. Trust me, there will be lots of pictures and updating, so stay tuned.

Oh, and finally finally, I will be posting an update/race report from this past weekend's 10K on my triathlon blog (http://eliteodyssey.blogspot.com/) before we leave for our trip, so be sure to check in.

1. Get a job. Preferences: Work with a hockey team; Stay in New England, but the Midwest would be fine too. There are not a lot of job openings right now that are hiring for after May 2011, so this won't be more of an issue until that time gets closer.

2. Get back down to race weight (115 - 120 lbs) and tone up. I particularly want to change my two pack + 1 pint that is my belly.

3. Get better at triathlons. This means overcoming my fear of cold water. Just because its cold doesn't mean I'm drowning. I'm also not the only one in the cold water, so I should just suck it up already. My season one goals were to finish every race. My season two goals are to have a better times than last year. Another goal of mine is to finish top three in my age group for at least one triathlon. I also aim to PR in my marathon in February. My previous time is 4:59:11, so it shouldn't be too hard as long as I stay healthy and uninjured. I have come a long way from two years ago.  If I want to qualify for Boston, I should really run marathons more frequently than once every two years.

4. Put more effort into my hobbies, particularly knitting and acting. I let the stress of work and school get the best of me and I feel like it is increasingly more important for me to have "me" time. I have done a bunch more knitting this winter since school ended, but that will likely be left at the wayside once school starts up again. I would like to work on something for at least 30 minutes per week. I also want to put more work into my acting hobby. I do not necessarily mean taking more classes, although that would be nice. I want to get a headshot and resume together and submit them to various casting companies in town. The headshot is the hardest part as they are not particularly cheap. My goal is to audition at least once. That may be a lofty *cough* goal, but I got to start somewhere.

Plans for the new year:
January - Vegas, baby!
February - Survive the crazy hockey schedule. We typically have 2 games per week at a maximum. The first three weeks of February have us playing 10 games. We had a similar schedule last year, and everyone was drained/injured by the end. Hopefully, we all make it out alive and well this year. Plus, I have my scholarly paper due early March, so February would also pit me trying to survive school. Oh, and I'm running a marathon. I need a nap just thinking about it.
March - Hopefully, win a national championship! We deserve it after our February schedule. Happy birthday to me!
April - Go to Minneapolis for the men's hockey Frozen Four
May - Graduate. Yes, you may begin calling me "Master" now. Also, my personal deadline for having a job. Whether or not I start in May, I don't care. I just want to know that I have a job by May. Also, triathlon season starts!
June - NATA conference in New Orleans, Mooseman Half
July - Half way done dance
August - Start new job?
September - Two year anniversary (love you, Benny!), First ever Full Ironman!!! @Cedar Point Rev3
October - off season/marathon(?)
November - Thanksgiving...hopefully, with one of our families. Its been too long since I've spent Thanksgiving with family.
December - Christmas (already?)...again, hopefully, with family.

Anyone else have any big plans for 2011?

January - You know, the usual. School and work.
February - As you'll find out in my 2011 post, February is usually a crazy month for me at work. Thanks to the Beanpot, we have lots of games all at once in February leading to lots of burn out and injuries...and I'm not just talking about the athletes. Thank goodness it was the end of the season.
March - The Boston University women's hockey team wins their first ever Hockey East title. I still gets the chills when I think about the great overtime victory. I'll have to recap for you sometime my feelings during the game. As a result of the win, the girls also got their first ever NCAA tournament bid. They lost the first round, but it was still a great ride.

April - Went to the Frozen Four in Detroit with Ben, my dad and my brother. It was the perfect location in that it also allowed us to spend some time with Ben's family. We also got to see Wisconsin (Go Badgers!) make it to the final round, only to lose to Boston College (really?). All of the games were blowouts, which kinda stunk. But we did get to see Chris Chelios in person.

Yes, that's my dad high fiving him

 May - End of my first year of graduate school. It all went by so fast. I couldn't believe I was already half way done. I also participated in my first ever triathlon. I finished after almost quitting during the swim. I was having some serious issues with the cold and even asked to be taken to the ambulance boat, but just as I had said that, the boat sank forcing me to finish the swim anyways. At that point, I figured I might as well just finish the race.
June - Went to my brother's high school graduation. Following that, I helped my parents move from Wisconsin to Florida. I took turns driving the moving truck with my dad. We drove straight through and it took us 23 hours! Not to mention, I had never driven a truck before. I treated myself to a week in Florida which consisted of sitting by the pool, swimming in the pool and visiting my friend and former roommate, Brittany, in St. Augustine. I also finished my second sprint triathlon, which went much better than the first triathlon.
July - We celebrated the 4th of July in Boston which was crazy amazing. I also finished my first ever Olympic triathlon. It took much longer than expected due to flatting on the bike course. At that point, I had not yet learned how to change a flat, so I had to wait 40 minutes for the bike mechanic to arrive and change my flat. Ben and I also FINALLY went on our honeymoon to London and Paris. I highly recommend either place to anyone looking for a European vacation, but if I had to pick just one, it would definitely be Paris.
August - Ben and I both finished our first half Ironman at Timberman. I also started my second year of work/school.
September - Ben and I spent September recovering from Timberman and getting back into the swing of work and school. We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary...big success ;)
October - I got to travel to North Dakota with the hockey team. I definitely would never have paid to go there myself, but it was a great free experience. The weekend series marked the beginning of the hockey season.
November - I submitted a case study to NATA which is the first time I submitted anything professionally. I have yet to hear back if I will present at the annual conference, but either way, I view it as a success. Also, Ben and I celebrate Thanksgiving in Boston.
December - I finished my 3rd of 4 semesters of graduate school. I'm almost there! The hockey team is ranked #3 in the nation, which is the highest they have been ranked in team history. Ben and I celebrate Christmas in Boston, which is the first time either one of us celebrated away from family. We made this decision due to the limited time I had off from the hockey team. However, we skyped both of our families so it felt like we were there. We are planning on finishing the year by going to the Nutcracker (first time for me) on Dec. 30 and going out to eat at Legal Sea Food on Dec. 31.

This year really flew by and I'm looking forward to next year. I just hope it doesn't fly by as fast so I can really enjoy every minute of it.

Every Christmas, I feel more and more blessed. This year, I received a lot of great gifts from my family and friends. More than anything, I am grateful for the love and generosity of my family, but the material gifts are a great added benefit. Here are a few of the things I got.

Finished product

Got a Hollister gift card from my mom and cashed in big time today...got all of this for $25

Some Abercrombie and plaid

I love monkeys

Ben and I started collecting free rubber ducks...now it has grown  to buying and receiving them

This is the exact car I want...Union Jack and all

Guess I'll be busy baking cookies in the off season

Display case for my shot glasses

Ben and I love visiting lighthouses, so his parents got us these beautiful mugs

<3 Hockey

Who needs Dunkies when you have Timmy Ho's

Sock monkey ornament

Helmet signed by all my girls

This year, my husband and I will be spending Christmas here in Boston. It is our first Christmas away from home and away from our families. That isn't deterring us from sharing the holiday with our families. We have plans to Skype our families to watch each other open presents. For as much as I hate technology when it fails, we really can't live without it at other times.

On an unrelated note, has anyone seen the new Dolce and Gabana cologne commercial? You know, the one with Matthew McConaughey? I find it ironic that after all these stories about him not bathing or using deodorant that a cologne would want him in their commercial. Maybe its their way of saying, "Its so good, even Matthew McConaughey smells good wearing it."

Yesterday was my first day off AND home alone. So of course I spent the morning running to the bathroom. What's the point of having a day off if you can't be sick as well? Kill two birds with one stone.

Around 3 o'clock, the buzzer for our apartment went off. I went down to find the mailman just standing in the front hallway. I open the door and he says, "Are you a part of the Berry clan?" I chuckle and say, "Yes". He pointed to a pile of boxes on the floor by our mailbox, "Those are all yours. I didn't know what you wanted me to do with them." "Thanks! Merry Christmas!" I respond.

I grab the boxes and bring them up to our apartment and start to open them and put the gifts under the tree. As I got to the second box, I notice it says "To: The Berry Clan". Here this whole time, I thought the postal worker was being silly, but he was literally reading off of the top of the box. He probably thinks we have a literal clan living here. Maybe that's why we go through so many mail men.

Anyways, picture time...

Our work in progress...we have since added the topper and more gifts

My elfin legs

The view from our apartment yesterday

After much anticipation, it is finally snowing. And it is at a faster pace than 1 inch per year. It was supposed to snow last night for the Patriots vs. Packers game, and I thought it would. A little known secret is that they ship in fake snow to make Gillette Stadium seem more intimidating, but even the fake snow couldn't fall last night.

By the way, I am not a Packers fan or a Patriots fan, but I thought it would be cool to see a newbie QB succeed (even if he did play for LSU).  I felt so bad for the Packers. They were so close to pulling off an amazing win and they just couldn't make it happen. Matt Flynn just permeated frustration, especially after his almost interception. Poor kid. I hope he gets another chance.

Bravo! The play could have ended there and I would have been laughing for hours anyways.

But they didn't. There was an old nagging grandmother. There was a giant dancing dildo powered by Energizer [Playboy] bunnies. And there were pasties....LOTS of pasties. Not to be confused with pastries.


It was very artfully done and was not nearly as tacky as it could have been. They had ballet dancers who have been dancing for more years than I have been alive. The acting was great and the plot itself was hilarious while still resembling closely to the Nutcracker. The first scene was primarily acting out the storyline. The second scene was all glitter, stripper poles, dominatrixes (or is it dominatrices?), and pasties. Did I mention there were pasties in this play?

In conclusion, I suggest that you see this play next year (as I'm pretty sure its mostly sold out for the rest of this year's shows). I also suggest you take your least favorite friends' kids.

Yes, I am going to both. My lovely and talented husband surprised me last night saying that we are going to see the Nutcracker this year. In all of my 23 years of existence, I have not yet seen the Nutcracker. I have been nagging Ben the past couple of years to take me. I finally got him to cave.

Also, some girls from work and I will be going to the Slutcracker on Sunday night. Yes, that is a real play. It is a burlesque version of the Nutcracker. I first heard about it a couple of months ago from a girl in my acting class who is in the play.

Simply put, the title says it all. The skies have gotten a little flakey over the past few weeks, but always while I'm at work, so I have never actually seen it. All I really want is a substantial amount of white stuff on the ground, even if its just a dusting. This is Boston after all. If they can through down some serious fake stuff at the Patriots game, they can do it here.

Growing up, my family celebrated St. Nicholas Day on the morning of Dec. 6. The night before, St. Nick would come and put goodies in our stocking which consisted of the usually candy and various stocking stuffers. A part of that tradition included an orange at the toe of the stocking. I have continued the tradition with Ben. However, we had an orange shortage, so I placed an apple in Ben's stocking and he placed a sweet potato in mine.

Note: I am a terrible person and have not seen the classics in their entirety, so I don't feel its right to include them here. This list is merely a "Top 10" of what I have seen.

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
2. Love Actually
3. Muppet's Christmas Carol
4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Cartoon Edition)
5. Elf
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Wikipedia says its a Christmas movie, so it must be so)
7. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Claymation version)
8. Fred Claus
9. A Christmas Story
10. Home Alone

Ben and I are divided on whether or not Christmas lights should blink. I think blink. Ben wants non-blinking. Christmas is the only time of the year when you can decorate your house with multi-colored lights. Why not add a little more fun and have blinking lights? If you want a stagnantly lit light, turn on a lamp. Besides, when was the last time you saw a house on YouTube for having non-blinking lights? NEVER! Its all about the Vegas style Christmas.

"FINE! IF YOU'RE SO SMART, YOU RIG UP THE LIGHTS!"

First of all, Happy Hanukkah to all of my Jewish friends.

Second of all, CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!

But who didn't know that already. If you haven't heard any of the Christmas music or seen the sale ads during the past month, I would suggest you get out of bed now.

In honor of the impending doom holiday, I am starting the blog Advent calendar. A blip a day until Christmas about Christmas (or another holiday that occurs in December). I know I said that I was going to start other themes on my blog and all have failed epic-ly. But over the next 22 days, I will post a quick note relating to the holidays.

Today's Advent Calendar: It is my belief that the most exciting part about the holidays is the anticipation and not the day itself. People get so caught up in the gift buying, the decorating, the party going and the preparations.  I get more joy from the preparations than the experience of the day(s). Or maybe I just can't wait for school to be over.

I take one sip of the cold, juicy goodness. Yum. Second sip, its getting kinda chilly in there. Third sip, I can feel the numbing pain start and it shoots into my forehead.

I wince. I gently massage my forehead, hoping that I can somehow manage to rewarm my ailing brain.

But it is no good.

I start kneading more vigorously.

Still no relief.

Finally, I start pounding on my head and shaking it to get the pain out of there.

When after much turmoil, the pain recedes and I rest my head in my hands.  I look around to notice that everyone is looking at me in shock, like they had just seen a grand mal seizure. I casually grab my drink, flip my hair back into place and walk away.

*All events are purely fictional. I just felt in the mood for some creative writing.*

In honor of the recent royal engagement, I am proposing again my idea for an American monarchy. Most importantly, I am campaigning to be the first queen.

The news is all abuzz about Kate Middleton's engagement ring. They talk about how it used to be Diana's and how big it is. They are also saying how since the engagement, sapphire sales have increased. Let's be realistic folks. I had a sapphire and diamond engagement ring long before Kate. The royals didn't start the trend. I did.

Plus, as my mother-in-law pointed out, I also got married to my prince in a castle. I'm practically a queen already.

I am currently accepting applications for loyal subjects and k-nigits!

Philosophical thought for the day:

Why do they call it MENopause when it happens to WOMEN?

Why do they call it HYSterectomy whent it happens to HER?

I think it is because they were supposed to happen to men, but they shrugged them off on us women, like they do with everything else.

Where would the world be without women?

I originally thought about starting a new blog for this topic, but then I realized that two blogs is already too hard to maintain. I don't want to keep up a third. Instead, I am starting "Famous Fridays". On Fridays, I am going to discuss how to become famous and what to do once you become famous. It is also going to partially be satire of those who are already famous.

I got this idea from myself. I always threw around the idea of becoming famous myself. Ideally, I want to become famous the Kardashian way, sit on my [literal] fat ass all day and get paid. I figured that writing a blog about my trip to the top is slightly less lazy. My husband has a quote of me on his Facebook that I said once upon a sober time, "Not many people know you yet, but stick with me and I'll make you famous."

I know its a little extreme, only about 1 in a million billion people actually become famous, and even fewer than that are famous for legitimate reasons. What would be funnier than some random person who became famous for no other reason than he or she wanted to be famous so they wrote a blog about it? Hear me out, you stick with me and I'll make you famous, and I'll stick with you and you'll make me famous. Makes sense, right?

My goal for being famous is to be the only sane and real life person in Famous-town. I want to be the person that all the little people can relate to and look up to. I want to use it as an opportunity to make changes in the world that I can't do as just an everyday person.

And even if it doesn't work out, I still have athletic training (which I also love).

Next week, I will discuss Myspace and how it can (or cannot) be used to skyrocket one's career to stardom.

In California, they are close to passing a law that will ban fast food restaurants from putting toys in certain kids meals. The new law will say that toys can be put in kids meals only if it is less than 600 calories, has reduced fat and sodium, and has at least one fruit and vegetable. The toy will then act as a reward to the kids for eating healthy.

And the most confusing part is that there are people who are against this. My first thought was, "Under 600 calories? It should be lower than that. Do kids meals really have more than that?"

I can understand why the restaurant chains themselves would be against the law. They will be forced to make significant changes to their menu. Plus, they probably fear that they will lose customers. I'm not sure they would lose any more customers than they already are to obesity related health issues.

Another complaint that I heard on TV was that a toy is not motivation enough to get children to change what they eat. I don't know about other kids, but when I was a kid, I wanted to go to McDonald's for the sole purpose of getting a toy. I would easily be swayed to eat vegetables if it meant getting a toy. Ultimately, though, the parents are the ones making the purchase. Although, that could be a good argument against the ban as well. Parents are less likely to be motivated by a toy. They could easily say, "You will eat your saturated fat and like it...toy or not", but I don't know many parents who want to have unhealthy kids. What am I saying? Parents have been buying kids burgers and fries for years, so a lack of toy isn't going to stop them. As one person on TV said, there is nothing stopping the parents from going to a toy store to buy a replacement toy.

Besides, McDonald's doesn't make people fat. I don't know why people say this. It is a completely ridiculous comment. Until I see a study that proves that a plate full of saturated fat and cholesterol prevents weight gain or actually causes weight loss, I will always disbelieve this statement. McDonald's may not be the only reason why 30% of Americans are obese, but it is the most prime example of foods that cause weight gain.

This morning, I registered for spring semester classes. I have been registering for classes for years, so it didn't even occur to me until hours later that this would be the last time I would register for classes...ever! I can finally see a glimmer of light that is at the end of the seemingly endless tunnel that is school. I am 23 years old. I have been in school for 19 years. Its one of the few things that you can honestly say you've been doing for almost as long as you've been alive.

I have already spent much of this year checking things off of my list, knowing that the number of midterms, papers and projects that I have left to do are dwindling. For the first time in a long time (who am I kidding, for the first time ever) I have been working ahead on my school work. It makes me feel like I can make the end come faster by doing so.

Now, the real question is what I am going to do with my life once school is over. I still have to find a grown up job. At least I still have some time.