Spartan Tough Mudder!!

Okay, these are two separate things. First of all, I have a gigantic life list, and I feel like I need to organize it before I should publish it on here, buuuuuuut.....I'm not feeling that right now. In the meantime, Michigan State University and the Michigan Tough Mudder 2014! Two separate goals, both currently in the works, so I'm slapping them together for the convenience of this evening!

One of my major goals in life is to be totally self sufficient, in every way, especially financially. I don't want my son to grow up to be a spoiled little twerp, but I don't want him to want for anything. That means -- duh, duh, duh, DUH -- GRAD SCHOOL!!! I am currently the proud holder of an undergraduate degree in speech pathology, but that amounts to nothing without a graduate degree. Can't get my Certificate of Clinical Competence (sounds fancy, right?) without a masters under my belt, aaaaand my top school just offered a place in their program for me! No big deal! (But totally a big deal!!! I CANNOT CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!!! Seriously, I could die of happiness right now!) So, yeah, Bud and I are going to be Spartans. Better go buy some green and white clothes! I'll probably be talking about MSU for the rest of my life, or at least the rest of this summer, so I'll spare you all the gory details for now.

New story: the Tough Mudder Michigan 2014. This is a fairly new development for me (actually, older than my acceptance letter from MSU!! Okay, seriously, I'm done now.) as I have a mama friend who is trying to get fit again after a recent addition to her family and mentioned the event, along with a "you should totally sign up! Me and Matt are going to do it! Etc, etc, etc," to which I responded with a "absolutely! No big deal! Count me in!" (And other exclamatory remarks of the sort.). I started running last week to  begin getting in shape, but haven't come up with many ideas for gaining upper body strength. It's not until September though, so at least I've got several months to work on that.

I finally just went through the website today with my workout buddy (who is also a party to the crime of convincing me to jump in over my head with this thing) to check out all of the obstacles and everything. It's CRAZY! Not what I was expecting. I always thought Tough Mudder was triathlon or something until she started telling me about it. You have to sign a waiver to participate (you have to do that for pretty much everything, but it seems way more serious for this shindig) -- I'll probably only make it a mile, MAYBE two before I die, but at least it will be a pretty exciting way to go.

I'm going to try to get a bunch of friends to sign up for it so we have a big team to get through the obstacles together -- main guy being rock star brother, Slim. If he's not deployed by then, he said he'd drive up to do it with me. Ka-CHING! I know who my battle buddy is going to be! I'll have someone to drag me through the obstacles while I sit back and relax. Haha! Just kidding..only, sorta. My brothers are both awesome -- I made what may have been the Greatest Worst Decision Ever while four months pregnant with Little Buddy and went hiking with them and our mom to our favorite bluff at the Indiana State Dunes. Oh my gosh, we went up the blowout and down the other side to the beach, and I like to died! We hung out at the beach for an hour or two and then were headed back up the blowout back to the trail and they literally towed me up the bluff! I felt like a watermelon. And a tomato. And a pumpkin. And a large, overly warm, overly winded maniac. BUT!, I made it out with my life, thanks to my sweet, grumpy, chivalrous turd brothers. Yep, they'd both be great partners for one of these dealios.

Beachhouse Blowout -- thanks for the help, guys!

In all their manly glory

Has anyone ever competed in a Tough Mudder? Was it as equal parts scary and fun as it looks? I'll really have to get my act together to do a decent job with this! Grad school? One and done. Tough Mudder? Not so much!

The Very Beginning

Welcome to the beginning of my brave new life!

Wow, this blogging thing is already intimidating! So, let me get right to it. I have intended to start this blog up since January but was stumped when it came to the title. I just couldn't come up with something that seemed to fit, and of course NO ONE can concentrate on writing a blog post with the absolute wrong name floating through her cranium! Or maybe that's just me? Anyway, I decided to keep it simple with something that seemed to describe exactly where I am in life and how I feel about it.

I am starting my life fresh- giving myself a blank slate. Everything that I am experiencing is new to me- I have always been a positive person, but I have never been brave enough to make the decisions I am now. Just a bit of background, for this first post, I graduated with my bachelors degree in speech language pathology, several years ago. If I'd had any sense, I would have immediately enrolled in a graduate program (a masters degree is a requirement for certification in this field of study); however, my partner at the time didn't want me to continue. So I didn't. I didn't take ownership of my life- I allowed someone else to do that for me. While I do sincerely regret that decision, I am doing my best to bravely turn things around.

I have a son who was born in January of 2013, and there is nothing more important to me than breaking the cycle he was born into and showing him how to grow, learn, and love sincerely and selflessly. It is my belief that there is no better way to teach than by example, so I am choosing to make my own happiness, show love to those I interact with, and treat my life as the grand adventure that life is. I heard a quote recently (I'm not sure who authored it) that went, "My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it." I love that! What better way to show a child how to view and interact with and love the world around him?! I want my joy of life to overflow, contagious. I want my son to love and wonder and strive.

Anyway. Adventures are the best way to learn. Plus, they make me happy! And that's what life is all about, right? I'm moving forward and upward, and I'm taking my son along on my journey. I will chase my goals and dreams, so that my son learns to chase his own goals and dreams!

While I wishywashed (if you don't like people using words like that, I can already tell you that we won't be friendlies) around trying and failing to come up with a blog name, I DID come up with a pretty extensive list of life goals. Some are big goals, and some are small. Some may take twenty years to accomplish, while others have already been checked off (I added to a previously existing list- one life goal was to become a mother. Check!).

I'm not certain how to go about presenting my bucket list on this site. It still needs to be organized/categorized, but I will save that for another day. I guess my next post (if not about some goals I'm currently working on) will be in regards to my life list (not a fan of the term "bucket list"- it makes me feel as though I'm going to drop dead the following day).

Here's to building my very own wonderful life!