WKU Meet Wrap Up and Birthday Weekend!

Saturday's meet was an absolute BLAST!! I still had a small case of the nerves, beforehand, but I managed quite well (thanks to Katie's good humor)! I am disappointed that the video camera had a SNAFU, so we didn't get any footage. I think I may have figured out the problem, and hopefully it's not broken. I'm proud to say that I swam faster than I ever have at this meet! I ended up taking 2 first place events (200 medley relay, I was backstroke leg, and 50 Breaststroke) and 2 second place events (50 Freestyle and 50 Backstroke). I am the most proud of my 50 Backstroke! I'm still dropping time! The entire team did REALLY well too! We all had a great time!

Another boost on Saturday was the local paper had an article on the team. They decided to take the pictures last week, and everyone is still on winter break. So, I was the lucky photo subject. The article and the pictures both turned out really nice, and I'm really proud of them. Here's the shot that was included in the article.

Here's the link to the article, written by my really good friend, Nancy DeJennaro.

Swim into shape | The Daily News Journal | dnj.com:

'via Blog this'

After the meet on the way home, Casey took me to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday dinner. Katie and her boyfriend Matt came with us. We had a REALLY good meal and a REALLY good time! I was so tired that after dinner we headed straight home, so I could promptly fall out!

Yesterday was AWESOME too! After a great church service and many well wishes, Mom took me out birthday shopping. That's the first time I've been birthday shopping in years!! She bought me a new sweater, top, and pair of GREAT birthday boots! Yes, I'm wearing them today, even though it's in the 50's here! Some things just don't change with age! HEHEHE!! In a few minutes, my new coworkers are taking me out for a birthday lunch! This birthday is just getting better and better! I can't wait to see what the next few minutes bring!

Happy New Year!!

WOW!! I can't believe that I didn't post once throughout the Christmas season! It WAS really crazy. We had a death in the family the weekend before Christmas, so that week was just jam packed with relatives and visitors. It was great to see everyone, but I wish that it had been under different circumstances.

Now, let's see..the Christmas wrapup. We had a GREAT Christmas! Mine actually started the weekend before in Atlanta. Casey had bought me tickets to USA Swimming's Duel In the Pool. The entire Olympic Team was there competing against Team Europe! It was SO much fun! It was really nice to see them all in person. I managed to get Rebecca Soni's autograph and also Chloe Sutton's! Casey also bought me an event t-shirt to wear! I couldn't have asked for a better gift! Here's some shots that I made at the meet.

Team Europe(In Blue) and Team USA (Red)

Missy Franklin getting ready for her event.

The closest I could get to Ryan Lochte! HAHA!

As you can tell, I had a GREAT time!

The rest of Christmas was wonderful too! All spent with friends and family. Casey gifted me with a really pretty swimming themed bracelet, which I LOVE!

The dogs even had a big Christmas! They received a HUGE box and many more Christmas cards than me in the blog holiday exchange! They were so cute opening their presents. I'll post those in the next few days.

The next big thing on the agenda is this Saturday's swim meet at Western Kentucky University! This was by far one of my favorite meets last year. It didn't hurt that I took home my first swimming ribbons there too! I've registered for 3 events, the 50 Backstroke, the 50 Freestyle, and the 50 Breaststroke. All of my practice pools have been closed over the holidays, so it's definitely going to be a "wing it" meet. I'll post later on how it all goes!