I Knew You Would

V1:
Ever since the day we met,
I felt such a deep connection
Seemed like I'd known you a long time
Wasn't long before I called you mine

My friends didn't get it,
Didn't see what I could see
They said you'd leave me in the cold
But you were always there for me

Chorus:
They don't know you like I do
You're complicated, misunderstood
They said he's not gonna be there
But I knew you would

V2:
You're always so forgetful
They said you'd forget 'bout me
But you were right there waiting
Exactly where you said you'd be

Then when things went wrong
We got off track, into the woods
They said you'd never come back
But I knew you would

Chorus:
They don't know you like I do
You're a mystery, misunderstood
They said he's not gonna be there
But I knew you would

V3:
Eventually I start to see
I know you all too well
Your dreamin's and your demons
And the things I'll never tell

You said you'd never leave again
You said "I'm here for good"
But I can read between the lines
And I can see it in your eyes
It should come as no surprise to me
I knew you would

Chorus:
They don't know you like I do
You're a mystery, misunderstood
You said "I'm not gonna leave you"
But I knew you would

2015 Resolutions

I didn't think I was going to make New Year's Resolutions this year, but the more I thought about it, there are a lot of things I want to accomplish this year. I actually really like goal setting because I'm very goal oriented. But for me, it has to be something I can check off and be done with it. In the past, I've made certain goals like "drink more water" or "go to the gym 3x/week" or "read my Bible every day" and I always fail at those goals. So this year I'm trying to set specific goals with a deadline so that when I complete them, they're done! I'm excited to see how many I can accomplish this year!

Running

1. Run a race every month or 12 races total (I wanted to say 12 half marathons, but that might be too much for my body to handle. Hopefully quite a few will be half marathons though!)

2. Run a sub-2 hour marathon. This has been a goal for awhile. I've broken the 2 hour mark once, but haven't been able to beat that time since. I'd really like to do it again. I'm hoping to incorporate some speed work into my training this year.

3. Run 60 miles a month. I want to run more times per week, and run more consistently, but I didn't know how to make that a goal. Then I read a running article that suggested choosing a weekly or monthly mileage goal. I like that idea. I picked the monthly goal so that I can rest some weeks if I need to.

Strength/Gym

4. Do 5 pull-ups. One of my goals at the end of last summer was to be able to do a pull-up (after failing to do one on a ropes course). I bought a pull-up bar and after months of practice I can do about 3, but I can't seem to get past that. I'd like to be able to do at least 5 if not more.

5. Bench 75 lbs.
6. Squat 75 lbs.
7. Deadlift 150 lbs. This is the year I want to get in the gym and finally start working on upper body strength. Instead of having a goal of going to the gym 3x/week, I thought it would help to have specific weight goals. I tried to set very reasonable goals, but I have no idea how realistic these are since my upper body strength is practically non-existent.

Personal

8. Read a book a month or 12 books total. I enjoyed it when I made this a goal in 2012, so I'm doing it again!

There are so many more things: go on an epic hike, learn how to take better pictures, learn how to do better make-up and hair, eat healthier, get more sleep, go on more fun trips. I couldn't come up with specific things for these goals, so I'm leaving them on the back burner for now. If I accomplish any of these, I'll consider it a bonus.

Lastly, this isn't really a goal, but I'd like to spend less time on my computer/phone/internet. I LOVE information and can literally spend hours looking stuff up, but I waste way. too. much. time. I really want to limit my computer time in the coming year, so that I can be more active and do more things.

Highlights of 2014

The last year has been a good one! It's also been full of changes. Most notably, I quit my full-time job and started travel PT. After moving across the country, starting a job in Colorado, and feeling quite lonely and unsure for a few days, now I can honestly say that I'm loving it! My patients are really sweet, my co-worker is awesome, and I only have to work 32 hours a week! I'm also learning a little more about management stuff: scheduling, billing, Medicare reimbursement, etc. Every facility has slightly different ways of doing things, and I learn something different at every job, which I think is one of the benefits of being a travel PT. I'm so glad I took the chance to step out of my comfort zone and try something new! I also loved the opportunity to take some time off and do some traveling of my own between assignments.

Here are my highlights of 2014:

Started the year off right with a weekend ski trip to Snowshoe.

Ran 4 Spring half marathons with Tristan!

Took road trips to half marathons.

Quit my job.

Had an awesome summer.

Started training for my second full marathon.

Ran two more half marathons.

Hiked Mt. Katahdin.

Moved back to Lynchburg and started a job in Bedford as a travel PT.

Met some awesome people: some running friends and Taylor Swift friends.

Got to play with my adorable niece, Lilli.

Continued to train for MCM.

Ran the Marine Corps Marathon!

Taylor Swift's cd 1989 was released.

Halloween Party.

Ran the Richmond Marathon.

Went to Nashville.

Went to Colorado.

Skied at Vail and Breckenridge.

Moved to Wray, Colorado.

2014 was a great year for running: 7 half marathons, 2 full marathons, a 10 mile race, a 20 mile race, and a 5K. It was a great year for traveling: Myrtle Beach, Raleigh, Dominican Republic, Nashville, and Colorado. I hope to continue running and traveling even more in 2015!

Book series with disappointing sequels

Ever read a good first book in a series only to discover that none of the following books measured up to the first one AT ALL? This has happened to me a lot recently, so I thought I'd make a list. For each of these you may want to read the first book, but skip the sequels. *This post contains (minimal) spoilers for all books mentioned*

Game of Thrones

This is definitely an adult book with adult content (just a disclaimer). The first book is mainly about the Starks and the events that surround them: Bran's fall, Ned's journey to King's Landing to serve as Hand of the King, Jon's initiation as a member of the Knight's Watch guarding the wall, and glimpses through the eyes of the Stark girls. We're introduced to the Lannisters, and their scheming and plotting as they play the "game of thrones". Far away, Dany is in exile, waiting for the day when she can reclaim the kingdom that should be hers to rule.

Each chapter is told from a different characters' perspective, but the story flowed very well, and each character had an interesting point of view, as well as something to contribute to the story as a whole. I was surprised that I was actually excited to hear from each character. The story was woven together seamlessly and didn't get confusing or boring despite the multiple perspectives. In the first book.

In the second and third books, Martin adds even more narrators. The most notable is Jamie Lannister. It's interesting getting into the mind of the "villain" and discovering that he may be more empathetic than you first thought. The problem is there are so. many. characters. We become familiar with Robert's brothers, Renly and Stannis, and the key players in their entourages. We get to know Varys and Littlefinger, and other members of the King's Court. We meet all of Jon's "brothers" in the Knight's Watch. Not to mention Robb's bannermen, Arya's crew, the Tyrells, the Martells, and many more minor characters. It becomes difficult to keep track of them all.

Also, in the first book, there was one main story (the Starks going to King's landing) with two side stories (Dany across the sea and Jon at the wall). In the second and third books, the characters are all over the place: the Iron islands, Winterfell, Riverrun, Harrenhal, the Twins, the Eyrie, Dragonstone, Storm's End, and various places in the woods/villages in between. I had to keep looking at the map to figure out where everyone was and why it was taking so freaking long for anyone to get anywhere!

There is just too much going on in the books: too many characters, too many places, too many narrators. Yet not enough is actually happening: there's a lot of plotting, but not enough action. In the second book, everything basically sets the stage for one big epic battle at the end of the book. In the third book, nothing really happens until the last third of the book: then there are three weddings, two dramatic murders, a lot of people die, and Dany gets an army. The ending of the third book almost makes up for all the text you have to plow through to get there, but not quite. It just takes way too long for the story to culminate in something meaningful, and a lot of insignificant things happen along the way.

I really think Game of Thrones could have been great if George R.R. Martin had a better editor who had weeded out some of the extraneous information. And maybe if he'd stop killing off all my favorite characters.

Divergent

I like dystopian novels. I'm willing to suspend reality and delve into a futuristic world created by the author. In Divergent, I liked the idea of factions and the division of people into separate parts of society based on their strengths. However, Divergent was less about the dystopian society and more about conquering fears. In a way, it was more like Harry Potter than the Hunger Games. The main character, Tris, joins a new faction, the Dauntless, which is basically a whole new way of life for her. She discovers she is special ("divergent"), makes new friends, deals with adversity, and discovers strength and courage that she didn't know she had. Plus she falls in love! The first book was a fast, fun read.

I don't know if I've ever read a series where the books go downhill so fast. In the second book, Tris leaves the Dauntless compound, and kind of travels around to the different factions, trying to figure out what the antagonist is planning. Tris, and the book, are aimless- with no clear direction driving the decision-making. It also becomes clear that the factions don't make much sense. The dauntless are the protectors, the erudite are the leaders, the abnegation are the servants, but what real purpose do amity and candor have? Being peaceful and telling the truth don't exactly qualify them for any type of position. This dystopian world just starts to seem really dumb. Add in characters needlessly dying, Tris's poor decision-making, and a character's unlikely and unbelievable betrayal, and the story just starts to fall apart.

The third book just gets even worse, if that's possible. Now Tris and a few of her friends venture outside the city. It turns out the factions only exist in Chicago (and a few other cities), and there's a "normal" world without factions outside the walls. It seems fairly easy for them to get out, which begs the question, "why has no one done this before?" But let's not question it too much. Tris and her friends get to a compound of sorts, where they learn that scientists in the real world have set up cities with factions as a genetic experiment. In the real world, there are genetically pure people and genetically damaged people. The experiments, over time, are supposed to create a genetically pure line ("divergents") with all the best genes for a perfect society. Don't think about it too much, because it makes even less sense in the book.

The third book was so stupid, I just stopped caring. I almost didn't finish it, but managed to pull through to at least find out what happens to Tris and her love interest. It basically comes down to the fact that the factions are about to go to war inside the walls of Chicago (they still don't know inside the city that they're all part of a big experiment), and the only way to stop them is by releasing a memory-erasing serum from the genetic compound. However, the serum that will save the day is guarded by a death serum, which will kill anyone who gets inside the chamber to release it. I'm getting bored just typing this. You can imagine what a struggle it was to finish this book.

*Major spoiler* To sum up the ending: one of the main characters sacrifices themselves to release the serum and save the city, but by this point, you won't care. Usually when a character dies at the end of a book, I will cry, or get mad, or be all emotional at the unfairness of it all. In this book, I can actually say I was glad that the author made me stop caring, because I had no emotions at all at the tragic ending. Except disappointment at the stupidity of the book. And relief that the series was over.

Maze Runner

This was definitely a weird book, and it took a little bit of reading to get into it. The book starts out with no real context, and you start out as confused as the main character (who's had his memory wiped, so he's quite confused). As the reader, you figure things out along with Thomas; basically he has been dumped in a place called the Glade, which is surrounded by a giant maze. The only way out is to find a way through the maze; however the maze is guarded by Grievers and the doors to the maze close each day at sunset. You don't want to be trapped inside the maze at night with the Grievers. Thomas must help the other Gladers find a way out of the Maze before it's too late.

So the first book was initially kind of confusing, but as the book goes on, you pick up more information, get more clues, and have some idea as to what's going on. The second book is so all over the place that I can't even begin to describe the plot, except to say that there's a disease called the "Flare" that they're all infected with, and for some reason they have to race across the desert to get a cure. Random things happen that don't make sense: the Gladers discover tattoos on the back of their necks, friends that Thomas trusts act strangely and tell him to stay away from them, Thomas has "memory dreams", Thomas sees words printed on a brick saying, "Thomas, you're the real leader", creatures/machines attack out of nowhere, and finally friends betray Thomas, but then it turns out through some ridiculous explanation, they didn't really betray him. Huh? By the end you still don't know what's real, what's part of the experiment, who's good, who's bad, or what the heck happened in the last hundred pages.

The second book was pretty confusing and brought up a lot more questions than it answered, but maybe this series could have been redeemed by a final book that made sense. No such luck. I never actually read the third book, but my mom and sister told me not to bother. They said the third book is just as convoluted as the second, and that there's no satisfying explanation for anything that happens. I trust them and I didn't want to waste my time on another disappointing book.

~~~~~

The sad part about all of these, is that the first books were so GOOD. I was excited to read the next book in each series. Unfortunately, I think some authors do not have a clear game plan for their stories and haven't thought them out much past the first book.

Flipside

By far, my favorite place to eat in Nashville was Flipside!

Flipside is a restaurant that serves chicken with different toppings. Each entree is a thinly pounded breaded chicken breast, and they have about 15 variations of toppings. My mom got the Popeye, which is spinach, tomato, and mozzarella with balsamic drizzle. I got the Memphis, which is bacon, cheddar, and BBQ sauce. There were so many good options, it was hard to decide! I'm a somewhat picky eater, and usually only like one or two chicken dishes on a menu (usually because the majority of dishes are either spicy or contain mushrooms -yuck!), but there were so many at Flipside that I wanted to try!

My mom and I split our meals so we could try both kinds. I loved them both! The restaurant itself was really unique and had a retro feel to it. I loved it! It can be a little hard to spot from the road, but this was a hidden gem. It was so different and delicious!

Another fun thing: they had trivia cards at each table. Then we noticed that they had a trivia question on the chalkboard, and if you answered correctly, you got a free dessert. My mom and I ended up getting a free cookie for dessert. :)

This place was so unique, with a cool atmosphere and delicious food. I also thought it was pretty healthy compared to a lot of restaurants. I will definitely come back if I'm ever in Nashville again!

Nashville

My mom and I only got to spend two days in Nashville, but we managed to do almost everything I wanted to see and do. These are the highlights:

Parthenon There is a full scale replica of Athen's Parthenon in Centennial Park in Nashville. It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Inside the building, there are pictures and information about Tennessee's Centennial Exposition. It sounds like it was a lot of fun! I wish I could've gone to it back then. The Parthenon is the only building left, as most of the other buildings and stands were temporary structures that were later taken down.


Country Music Hall of Fame I really wish I had come when they had a Taylor Swift exhibit, because that would have been awesome! As it was, I just missed the Miranda Lambert exhibit Platinum, and I was bummed about that too. They had a lot of stuff about older country artists, and I'm more into modern country music, but it was still a cool museum. And I did get pictures with every Taylor Swift outfit/award that I could find.


Show at the Ryman Auditorium Apparently in the winter, shows move from the Grand Ole Opry to the Ryman Theater. When I was looking up stuff to do in Nashville, I realized that there was a concert at the Ryman with five different country artists. I bought tickets even though I didn't know half the performers! The highlights ended up being the two I knew: Parmalee and Maddie and Tae.

Maddie and Tae- blurry pic from the balcony

Honky Tonk Row One of the quintessential things to do in Nashville is go to one of the bars downtown and listen to live music. We wandered past a few of the bars and ended up going to Tootsie's- probably the most famous of the honky tonks. The band playing in the front room downstairs wasn't very good, so we headed up to the second floor where a second band was setting up in the back. It was kind of weird to have two bands playing at once in different parts of the same bar! We liked the upstairs band much better, but for some reason there was a bigger crowd downstairs.

Grand Ole Opry Like I mentioned before, it closes in the winter, so we just went into the gift shop, explored the grounds a little bit, and took some pictures. I think if I went back to Nashville I would explore Opryland some more. I think there used to be a museum near the Opry with country stars' memorabilia, but it closed down a few years ago.


Radnor Lake This is another spot I would love to come back to visit, in warmer weather! I found this place because Taylor Swift had mentioned it as a favorite spot to go in Nashville. We only walked a short distance to the lake, but I think it would be fun to go on a hike there.


Bluebird Cafe Unfortunately, the day we went to the Bluebird Cafe, it was closed. It's a "listening room" famous for introducing songwriting in the round. Many famous country songwriters have performed here- including Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift! It would be cool to come back for a show.

We also wandered around the shops in the Vanderbilt Area (including going to Fido Cafe- a place Taylor Swift recommends), drove down Music Row (not much to see, except that recording studios are in cute little houses), and drove around downtown Nashville.

On our last day, we were going to see Fontanel Mansion, but discovered we'd have to wait 2 hours for a tour since the earlier tours had been booked. We didn't stick around since we had a long drive ahead.

Things to do if I go back: Fontanel Mansion, a show at Bluebird Cafe, tour the Grand Ole Opry, possibly Belle Meade Plantation. I would love to walk along the riverfront and hike at Lake Radnor in warmer weather. I also would love to go back to the Country Music Hall of Fame and see new exhibits!

Colorado Adventures

My mom and I took a road trip to Colorado Springs. Here are some highlights from our trip!

Garden of the Gods  This was probably my favorite place in Colorado Springs. It's free, the scenery is gorgeous, and there's a few short hiking trails where you can climb up on the rocks. I got some of my favorite pictures here.

Pike's Peak  I've always wanted to hike Pike's Peak. Except we didn't hike, we drove up to the top. But the scenery was still gorgeous. It's hard to capture it, because we were in awe going around every bend. There were such amazing views of the Rockies and the photos really don't do it justice! (PS. I was glad I brought my coat. It's cold at 14,115 feet!)

North Cheyenne Canyon  The next day, we took a little drive through North Cheyenne Canyon. There was no one around, so we were able to stop in the road to take pictures!

Also fun to see in Colorado Springs: Adventures in Odyssey and the Olympic Training Center.