moving

today was move out day! Tyler went to the Uhaul to help me rent the Uhaul. Holly and Wendy met me back at my apartment. It was quite the ordeal. All my belongings didn't fit into the truck! We left a few things at my apartment. I then drove to Oak Park to Alona's to store the Uhaul and sleep over at Alona's. It was nice to spend that night with a family and have a home cooked meal! Thanks so all my friends for helping me make moving out possible!!

The next morning I woke up really early and took the train back into the city. I did some last minute cleaning and then Tyler and Jenny came over with there car and took a load of stuff that didn't fit into their car. However, one chair wouldn't fit into their car so I ran that over to Mel's to store it there. The check out went well- I got my whole security deposit back!!

I then went over to Alona's. Alona had made a fiest of salmon, corn on the cobb, chips and guac, cole slaw, and apple crisp. Yumm. I was so relieved to have the move out complete. I slept like a rock.

new film trailer

New film trailer. Check it out. I love the background music.

http://wendycitypro.com/

off to pick up my Uhaul with Tyler.

10 W. Elm

I am feeling sad. I will miss 10 W. Elm! It has been my favorite apartment I have lived thus far in my live. 2 blocks from the water, 1 block to grocery, 1 block to starbucks, 3 blocks to church, view of hancock, 5 minutes to running store...french doors, huge bedroom, light and open....ahhhh I will miss it! This is the end of the "living alone, working for Corporate america" chapter. Now I have a one year chapter of "student (hopefully), roommate, living simply, planning wedding, training for marathon." Then there will be "first year of marrage chapter/ residency" So you can look forward to the next few chapters of "Engi-Runner Girl" :)

new and exciting

This has been quite the month of learning for me. I thought I grew out of "the joy of learning" phase of life around 5th grade but apparently it goes in phases and I find that I am really enjoying learning new things every day at RIC. In addition, working with people makes for very entertaining days. Here are some of the interesting things I have seen so far: a man who lost his legs due to H1N1, a lady who lost her legs due to toxic shock, the cutest one year old from Greece which we fit with an upper arm prosthesis, a bilateral AK (above knee) who has done several Ironman Triathlons, a little hispanic boy who was born with his foot at his knee, a man who lost his leg working on the turbine of a powerplant (the equipment I was designing in my last job!), a man with a shoulder disarticulation who we made a nerve impulse controlled shoulder and arm unit.......the list goes on…

RIC P&O Picnic

Well I should be cleaning my apartment but I got distracted with food coloring...I think I am ready for our Rehab Institue of Chicago Picnic tomorrow

A2 weekend

I had a great weekend with Jeff. We went to the Tiger's game on Saturday night. There was a firework show after the game which was really good! On Sunday we went for a nice run on the trails and then went to Church with Jeff's mom and sister and then went out to lunch. That afternoon we hung out at the pool. Ted, Jeff's roommate, had made a Korean Feast with his girl friend the night before and let us taste all of his interesting and delicious food. yumm!

moving

Jim Gibbons 5k

Tonight I did the Jim Gibbons 5k. I always like the week night races. It was fun because the weeknight races bring in a lot of people that work in the loop. Considering I used to work in the loop I hadn’t seen a lot of these people for awhile. At the start of the race I stayed by the first girl but after about a half a mile the pace felt so slow so I moved ahead. I always don’t allow myself to look at my watch until after the first mile but the first mile never came! They didn’t put the mile markers on the course. That really through me for a loop. I think my first mile was a bit slow though. At the turn around I heard a familiar voice yell “GO PUNK!!!” I turned and looked and it was Mel! That had me running with a smile on my face for the rest of the race. I am pretty sure I sped up the last mile because I was passing a lot of people. There was a small hill at the finish and then right when you get to the top is the finish. I won by about a minute and a half with a time of 18:07. Not a very fast time but nothing beats the feeling of breaking the finish line tape. Afterwards I caught up with a bunch of folks, had some food, and a free beer…and I left with a check that will pay for my bus ticket to Michigan and back this week, and food. Nice!

Diemer Run .. Couples Shower

Morning came to early. I was definitely sick when I woke up but I was already registered for the race so no backing out. I did not run fast but I did run fast enough to get me 60 dollars which made for a break-even weekend : ) It was very fun to see so many old friends. After the race I met a girl who participated in the paraolympic games. She is going to go to train at the Olympic Training camp in Colorado for the summer. When I got back from the race I had a facebook friend request from her so now I will be able to keep in contact with her and see how her Olympic training is coming.

(with Coach Diemer and Bergstrom...I go back to Grand Rapids and I feel so short : )

After the race we went over to Ben Hammers and watched the World Cup. Jeff came and picked me up later and we went to Dan and Karyn's couples shower. They had lots of yard games out and I had a great time. but- I lost my voice! This made it difficult to communicate : )

Dan's Wedding

I left today with Jenny, Lisa, Tyler, and Jesse to drive to Grand Rapids for Dan’s wedding. We hung out at Lisa’s parent’s house for awhile and then headed to the wedding. Dan’s wedding was neat. It was in downtown GR and they left on horse drawn carriages. The reception was at one of the Grand Valley buildings that was next to the river. The wedding ended at midnight at which point I was not feeling so great but all the people I drove with were not ready to go home so we walked to a Karaoke bar and stayed there until in closed and then went home. Dan had planed his wedding so that the whole bridal party could do the Diemer Run tomorrow. We will see if Dan actually shows up after his wedding night : )

great news!

Today I got a letter that said I passed the Fundamentals of Engineering test! horary! I also received my last two letters of recommendation for the Northwestern Prosthetics program so I turned in my application, essay, and letters. That felt great! However now I am sick. It was like my body and mind relaxed and therefore all the exhaustion and stress was released in the form of a bad sore throat. Pretty smart of my body to keep me going strong until everything was finished. This week was the first week of my Psychology class as well and today I will leave for a wedding in Michigan. The only thing that is left is finding a new roommate by July. I am excited to have a little more relaxed July and to have more energy for running and racing and hanging out with friends and MY FIANCE! : )

Tomorrow I am doing the Brian Diemer run in Michigan. Don’t expect anything good from me but I am excited to race with Calvin College friends and also for the extremely good competition at that race. My goal: Beat Coach Diemer : )

Miles and Trials: Running Towards 2012

Hi All,
Don't forget to check out the film that I am part of every now and then. There are a few new posts:
http://wendycitypro.com/film-trailers/ Also- my new roommate is Alona. Check out her introductory trailer if you want to know more about her.

I had a really busy week of job shadowing, volunteering, babysitting, and getting ready to move to a different apartment. However, I did have a relaxing Saturday where I started and finished a scrapbook from Jeff and my Utah trip, watched the movie Precious, and had breakfast with some friends.