things around here

some randoms for you:

i went to a softball buddy's birthday

and i made fruity pebble bars. so yummy! 

 st patricks day came upon us.

the day before, at work, we had green bagels :)

they were REALLY green

from bruegers

 then, on st patty's day i went to beaver days in the little town of willard again with my trina!! it was lots of fun and it was beautiful out. actually, it was hot! 70+ degrees on march 17th? should not happen in minnesota. we dressed our selves up like crazies, drank quite a bit, played on playgrounds, danced the night away and had a blast! as usual.

 with our teacher friends :)

and here's the video trina made of our day light time of beaver days :)

i have a couple of cameos and even got to try my hand at camera woman :]

i love good times and friends that like to dress up crazy as much as i do! 

life :: a move :: al's job

well, there is new news for us oleson's.

although, it's not really new news for us.

here's the storyline:

may 2010: al applies for a cop job in wausau (at the same place where his dad works) and we prepare ourselves for a possible move to wausau as networking and knowing someone is usually the only key to getting a job these days.

may 2010-june-ish 2010: al does the testing and first interview for the wausau job. after which we learn he is #20 on their eligibility list.... for the 2 jobs that are open. ok, we un-prepare ourselves for a job/move to wausau. we put wausau out of our minds and al continues to apply for cop jobs in wisconsin.

--------- jump ahead a ways---------

november 2011: al receives an email from wausau job asking if he is still interested in a job with them. um, what? after a tiny bit of thinking and realizing that it had been almost 2 years that al had been applying for jobs with no results, we decided, yes, we were still interested in the job/move to wausau. we'd be stupid not to take it.

december 2011: a month goes by and we don't hear much from the wausau job. so we sit and we wait (and i stress out about moving to wausau...)

january 2012: we still don't hear much from wausau but get insider info from al's dad that there are 3 + positions open and they are on #19 (al is #20) so we are likely to get a job offer. also, al's dad puts in a good word and al actually knows one of the interviewers thus "he'd have to give the worst possible interview to not get the job offer." we also learn that hr at wausau is short staffed and thus slow. al interviews. we re-prepare ourselves for a move to wausau. meanwhile, al continues to apply for jobs including a chippewa (eau claire area) job which he does the testing and first interview for.

february 2012: al gets a job offer from wausau. it is contingent on him passing physical and psychological testing. he accepts and has to fill out and pass a back ground check. then we wait a while for the remaining testing to be scheduled. al does the next round of testing/interviews for chippewa and they say to expect 6-8 weeks before hearing from them (we know at this point al is in the top 8 for 2 positions for chippewa). 6-8 weeks is a long time, sure would be nice if we could hear from them earlier as we'd rather have chippewa since it's closer to minnesota, my family and our friends.

march 2012: al's testing for wausau is scheduled. he goes to one by himself. then chippewa contacts al (we later learn they knew that wausau offered him the job and so sped up the process for al) and asks to do a background check. we then both go to al's second day of testing in wausau together to look for places to live. later a leiutenant from chippewa stops by our house to explain things to us including their areas & scheduling. the next day (a friday) in the morning, al gets a job offer from chippewa. that same afternoon, wausau calls to give al a start date, and he has to tell them he's going to take the chippewa job instead.

end of march 2012: al has testing for chippewa 2 days. we go together for the second one to find a place to live. we wait and wait for an official start date (which means he for sure has the job). we finally get a start date (first week of april!) and we can get things set in stone.

so, after 5 months of stressing and worrying and wondering what was going to happen for us, we are moving to eau claire. again. :)

now i'm just worrying/stressing about al's new job as a cop, his new schedule (will likely not be nights for the first year!! yay!!), where we're going to live, if we're ever going to see each other, if we'll have enough money to cover all our costs & pay off loans, etc...

one nice thing i learned right in the middle of all that stressing was that my job will allow me to stay on part time until july!!! i asked to go part time when i originally told them we'd be moving but was denied. then, after some further thought and my needing a date for something, i asked again how long they thought they could keep me on to help train the new person and maybe cover for one or two maternity leaves. and they told me i could stay on part time until july! it was such a huge, needed relief! i plan on living up here in the cities monday-wednesdays and down with al the rest of the time so that i can play my softball and do my crossfit still. this schedule obviously will not work forever, but will hopefully work through this year's softball season (until october) and next year we can re-assess.

this is going to be a huge transition for both of us, but i'm confident it will be good! and hopefully will be the large stepping stone we needed to truly start our "adult" life! i'm so proud of al for sticking with his dreams and continuing to go for and apply for jobs even after 2 years of nothing!!

i'm ready for us to be moved (and unpacked). al to have a couple of weeks of work under his belt. us to have our schedule figured out. and me to see how my up-in-the-cities busy schedule is going to go. here's what it's looking like as of now:

sunday: drive up to the cities in the afternoon. play softball at night.

monday: crossfit in the am, work 8-430, softball at night

tuesday: crossfit in the am, work 8-430, softball at night

wednesday: crossfit in the am, work 8-430, softball at night

thursday: crossfit in the am, drive back to ec, volleyball at night.

friday & saturday: hang out with al, relax, sleep :)

it's going to be a crazy ride!

my food story

food.

my want and need.

also, my enemy.

i often say i'm a food-a-holic.

and i worry that it's true.

but when i take a look at where i've been

and how far i've come in regards to my food choices

i'm astounded.

and also shocked and appalled that i didn't make any changes earlier.

case in point:

i used to eat fast food a lot.

as a kid, getting fast food was a "treat" for us.

which made me crave and want it more.

as a teen and once i could drive, my fast food intake increased.

then as a twenty-something, i would go in spurts:

i would go months where i ate it almost daily

then i'd get sick of it, and go months without it.

over and over. and over.

now after changing my eating habits to trying to eat clean,

i haven't eaten fast food (other than their chicken & occasional arby's roast beef)

in years. YEARS!

and i'm ten times happier and my body is too!

and now i shutter as i walk by my pregnant co-worker's cube every morning.

she either eats mcdonalds or a donut for breakfast.

that poor baby, it's going to start off it's life without knowing what real food,

real energy, real feeling good is.

i wish i could tell her/talk to her about it without offending her.

but i'm not good with my words, especially in speech.

i have a finicky stomach.

i come from a long line of finicky stomachs.

i used to get stomach-aches ALL. THE. TIME.

and they were BAD!

almost every time after i ate, i'd have a stomach ache.

ask my husband :) when we first met, we'd have to derail plans

or he'd have to deal with my whining after just about every meal.

i don't know how i put up with it.

well i kinda do: i didn't know any better.

i just thought that was how life was going to be for me and my stomach.

then one day something clicked & i thought "there is no way everyone lives like this. i HAVE to change something."

enter: crossfit, isagenix and paleo/malia.

gina introduced me to isagenix.

it's a cleanse/game way of eating which uses meal replacement shakes and cleanse juice with a focus on not snacking and eating only when you're supposed to eat. it also requires you to drink LOTS of water, exercise and get plenty of sleep. it also requires you to work on yourself and your other life habits by making you choose a good transformation and a bad transformation each game you play. (changing one bad habit and creating one good, new habit). the first time i did isagenix i was hooked! i lost 11 pounds in the 11 day game and felt fantastic! however, i was started to go to crossfit more and i had little to no energy for the workouts. and i would get dizzy doing 1 hour of zumba. i definitely didn't like that feeling. so the next couple of games i played i tried to throw in a couple of extra little meals/snacks and haven't really gotten a handle on the isagenix game since then. this was a year ago.

then, after getting engaged, starting a full time job and finding some crossfit buddies who were as committed to it as i was, i began going to crossfit even more. like 5 times a week. i loved it! but i needed more energy and needed to fuel my body for the intense workouts. and recoveries (being sore for 4 days after a workout while trying to do more workouts just wasn't cutting it). so i kind of gave up on isagenix (i have come back to it since a bit but have more research to do on their new game cards/eating regimines).

so i started looking into heathly and clean eating on the internet and started discussing it with al. he then proceeded to send me (and still does, bless his heart) articles of people's transformations from bodybuilder.com. they were helpful but still didn't make me change. i also started discussing eating and nutrition more with malia, in particular paleo (the caveman diet as it's called and the way a lot of crossfitters eat). i learned a lot and got a lot of great tips and tricks to put into action. but i still didn't feel right.

then malia created a wonderful paleo challenge for our gym. we were to log what we were eating on a blog and she and luke would review it. this was just the jump i needed to really try out paleo. and it worked! well sort of. i felt great and my body felt great except i still didn't have much energy like i had heard that people did while eating paleo. so i read some more on it (and in particular, iceland annie's take on paleo (she's my favorite!)) and she eats paleo-like but with some whole grains/wheat thrown in and it works for her. so i did just that. i started to throw in grains as my carbs (the carb part was what i struggled with with paleo/zone). i began eating a lot like the people in the body builder articles al sent me (huh, guess it all kind of comes down to the same thing; eating clean).

and i feel great! when i eat the right/clean way. :) i have energy. i sleep well. i don't need caffiene to keep me awake. i'm addicted to cold water (a very good thing!). as gross as it is, i poop well. i can see/feel muscles growing in places i hadn't before. i don't have stomach-aches any more and on the off chance i do have one it's no where near as severe as they used to be.

now, i'm no where perfect with my eating habits.

and my body tells that story pretty well.

but my eating habits have changed a lot.

and i feel great!

especially on the inside!

i still emotional eat like it's no body's business.

especially when i'm stressed (which has been the last couple of months for us).

i still have many times that i regret what i ate or how much i ate.

i still can't pass up a treat at work especially when it's free.

i still crave chocolate and sweets from time to time.

i still get a hankerin' for potato chips (really just something crunchy).

i still want fast food every once in a while.

but everytime after i eat those, i feel not as great and i try to take that as a lesson learned.

and, i still drink diet pop. particularily diet coke.

that will be my next feat to re-conquer once life is a little less stressful.

i have developed some good habits too tho:

i love and crave cold water like no other. if i am thirsty and can't have cold water, look out because a panic stricken vanessa is about to go crazy. :)

my body will crave veggies if i don't eat them for a while and i'm ok with that because i LOVE veggies (course, i always have).

i can recognize when my body doesn't feel well and why.

i haven't had a cold or gotten sick (other than allergy stuff) in over a year!

i'm saving money by not eating out as often.

someday soon i hope to have before and after pictures to share here.

but for now, i'm happy with the way i feel

and i know what i need to do to progress further.

i just need to implement those.

but i have the determination and drive to do it so i know i'll get there!