3.27.2008

Across the country in 8 days

It's crazy where basketball has taken me.....places I would never go otherwise. Atlanta more times than I can count, California, New York City, Little Rock, and now Tampa and Spokane, WA. Last weekend we had a whirlwind trip to Tampa. The team lost in their first game to some random team from upstate New York. They don't know how to play basketball up there!! At least I got to get a tan (well, sort of) and to have my first Chipotle eating experience. It was way warm and sunny and amazing. Well, amazing minus two consecutive days of 5:30am departure times. I'm all about waking up early, but that's just taking it too far. I was also really bummed because we had purchased tickets to the Yankees-Blue Jays spring training game on Saturday. When the team lost, we had to head back to Nashville and we missed the game. That made the second weekend in a row that we lost on a Friday and I paid for tickets to a sporting event I wasn't able to attend. Awesome.

This weekend we are going to Spokane, Washington. If anyone has tips on things we can do there, we would appreciate them. We're having a difficult time figuring out what there is to do in this place. As of now, it looks like we're going to rent a car and drive to Idaho. Woo!! (?) It's going to be quite the long traveling experience....and I'm counting on a two and a half hour layover in the Seattle airport to catch the Memphis game. They'll be dealing with one upset girl if I miss that game. Especially when we were really supposed to leave this morning instead of tomorrow night. I'll update about Washington when we get back, which hopefully won't be until Monday (after the team makes it to the ELITE 8!).

Countdown to Opening Day: 3 days!!

3.23.2008

It's about time!

1 WEEK TIL OPENING DAY!

That is all.

3.15.2008

Taking March Madness to a whole new level

This weekend, I was in Atlanta for the Men's SEC Tournament. Vandy played on Thursday, beating Auburn. We then advanced to the quarterfinals, where we had to play Arkansas. The game resulted in our second straight quarterfinal loss to Arkansas. I think our team was immensely disturbed by their "Calling those Hogs". That's where I believe our problems lie. It matters, but not as much as it could. We should still have a pretty nice seed in the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday.

Having the opportunity to see all of the games was amazing--this tournament has been incredible. If it's possible, though, the weather overshadowed the amazing basketball. After our loss, we stayed the night in Atlanta to come back early Saturday morning. We stayed downtown instead of going back to the hotel to wallow in self-pity. After walking around downtown Atlanta, Meg, Doug, and I went back to the Georgia Dome to see more basketball (mainly with the purpose of watching the Kentucky game against Georgia). I wanted to experience Kentucky basketball at it's finest. After hearing the "C-A-T-S, CATS, CATS, CATS!" cheer no less than half a dozen times on the street getting to the Dome, I started to get a feeling of what it would be like. We got to the Dome, and there was blue EVERYWHERE. It was crazy.

We found some seats and settled in to watch the end of the Bama/MS State game, which was amazing! They ended up going into overtime on quite the incredible Bama 3-pointer. I didn't have very much invested in the game, but was excited nonetheless. With 2:11 left in the overtime, we heard a really, really loud rumbling sound. At first, we thought there was a helicopter just flying too close to the Dome. The ceiling was rippling and the catwalks/displays were swaying around. That's when stuff started falling from the top of the Dome. My ears were popping and we thought that maybe a hole had been punched in the top of the Dome, which Doug said had happened before. Then, we realized that this wasn't the case.

If you know me, you know how much I dread tornadoes. It was more than a bit traumatic because many of my friends were next door at the CNN Center/Omni Hotel, which was even more damaged. Everyone I know is okay and wasn't physically hurt. Emotionally was another story, though. Here's a pic of the damage to the Georgia Dome from inside:


Not that bad (until the water main burst), but scary! And they canceled the UK/UGA game, so I didn't even get to experience Kentucky basketball! I'm really happy that everyone is okay, and know this is one tournament I won't soon forget.

I'll keep you updated on our NCAA adventures!

3.10.2008

I love to laugh!

Cute kid story.

Today, they were finishing up maps they made of fairy tale lands. One of the groups had creatively made a lake out of bubble wrap. It had little tiny poofy orange balls on it. I asked the group if the poofy orange balls were meant to be there. This is the conversation that followed:

Girl: "Those are goldfish, Ms. Croft." (very matter-of-fact)
I smile and chuckle--I thought it was imperceptible.
Girl: "Why did you smile?"
Boy: "She just laughs alot."

Pretty much sums up my life. :o)

3.09.2008

Positivity

I'm getting really close to my last day of student teaching (it's 3 days away), which means I'm getting really close to what I have been dreading since I was a sophomore: Graduation. In order to keep myself from getting embarrassingly sad about "the day", I just keep thinking about all the great things that will come after I grow up. Here's what I focus on the most:

1. Affordable laundry. Yes, I am writing this as I wait for my load to dry after the dryer ate $1 of mine, and then I had to go get more quarters.

2. Readily accessibly laundry. I know that the machines are just down the elevator, but it's still a pain and prevents me from washing clothes as often as I should.

3. Slightly more counter space. The current 2 square feet in the kitchen are no longer cutting it.

4. Dishwasher. I hate washing dishes almost as much as I hate doing laundry. Despite the impression my dislikes may give off, I do quite enjoy cleanliness.

5. Parking. If you've ever tried to park at Vandy, you know what I mean.

6. Schedules. Student teaching has given me a schedule, but that's all about to go away. I get much more done when I wake up at the same time daily (and have a reason to do so).

7. Oh, yeah. Income.

The only problem with this thinking is that I begin thinking about all the things I will miss about college. It's inevitable. But, for now, I will enjoy what's left and keep thinking about the positives, as sparse as they may be.



Opening day countdown: 21 days