Bartender Turned Personal Trainer

As many of you know, I play trivia on Wednesday nights. I have been doing this for about a year and a half or so. In that time, I have made, what I call, "trivia friends." Friends that I would never have known if it weren't for trivia. Some are creepy but some have become really good friends. (Even some cute gentlemen!) Two of my trivia friends to make note of are the bartenders. For the past year and I half my friends and I have been sitting at the bar chatting it up with the two studs known as Keith and JB. After a while, they became legit friends. One bartender even came to my Lawn Game Olympics that I hosted this summer. (That's topic for another post).

The other bartender, JB, is now going to be my personal trainer. When I told people at work this, I received belly laughs as a response. I guess I should mention that his other job is a personal trainer. However, there is one liiittttllle problem. I hate going to the gym. Oh no, I don't hate it, I loathe it. Throughout high school and college, I have tried. I'm just not motivated to go and once I get there I hate it. I feel like a hampster on a wheel, using the machines. I always say that I am a pack animal and do much better in groups. But I never found group classes to work for me either.

Since graduating from college, I learned to love working out, but not in the traditional sense of going to the gym. I started taking Bikram yoga classes. This was great for both my body and my mind. I also love the outdoors and can be found on the mountain skiing throughout the winter. As recently as this summer, I discovered Barre classes. I fell in love. It was exactly what I was looking for. I now do yoga and barre at least once a week. But I guess I am not seeing the results that I wanted. I mean, I'm 26. I should be in the best shape of my life right now.

Enter JB. He will now be my new personal trainer. With refusing to join a gym, he does has his work cut out for him but I have faith. When we were talking about my fitness goals, I mentioned that I want to be Ariel the Little Mermain for Halloween next year. So Ariel, here I come!

Fads-- They Come and The Go

As many of you know, I teach 4th grade. With that, I am able to see the latest fads amoung 10 years olds. For the past few years, I've seen tech-decks and Bakugon's, however now there are these things called Shoulder Buddies. In case you have never heard of them, there is a picture below.

 They are magnetic and come with a "magic coin." The magic coin goes under your clothes and the Shoulder Buddy goes on top so it looks like it is floating on your shoulder. At first I thought they were cute and harmless. One or two students would have these little troll-like creature on their shoulders. Well after 2 months after their introduction to room E213, they have multiplied. Almost all my students have at least one. The normal is to have 5-6 on your shoulder. This includes both boys and girls that are part of this craze. I am not going to lie. They are starting to drive me crazy!! For most of my students, they are not a distraction but there are a few who can't stop playing with these dang shoulder buddies.

Corporate America Friends--Have you seen/heard of these?

Growing Mold--Is this really my life?

I guess today I just want to share with you what I plan to do. Today, my 4th graders will begin to grow mold on bread in my classroom. Before school, I will be busy setting up stations of bread, zip lock bags, pipettes and water. I guess I am writing this post to share with all my friends in the corporate world. While you wear your business suits and travel in to "the city" (whatever city that may be) and tackle the business of the day, I am in suburbia teaching students about life cycles. The purpose of the this lesson is to show students that nothing goes waste in the natural environment. We are learning about producers and consumers and scavengers and decomposers. By setting up the experiment, students will have to work in partners, follow directions and use their observational skills. They will also need to make a hypothesis about while bread will grow mold the fastest--the one at room temperature, one in the refrigerator or one in the sun. I'll let you know how it goes.

 While yesterday I was blogging about my dating life, today I wanted to let you know about my professional life. Sometimes I sit and wonder, is this really my life? Yes! Yes it is!

Dating in 2012

As a 26, single, independent woman, my dating life over the past few years has been interesting. I tend to "date seasonally", as I like to call it. I have a summer boyfriend to play softball with and go to the beach, a fall boyfriend to drink pumpkin spice lattes and go apple picking, a winter boyfriend to go skiing and drink dark lagers with, and a spring boyfriend watch march madness and go to baseball games with. No man has transcended the seasons. In 2012, I am looking for a gentleman friend that transcends the seasons.

To aide in this, I bought Patti Stanger's book "Become Your Own Matchmaker." I have down the dating detox and now I'm ready to be on the prowl. I have been trying to make my list of 5 non-negotiables that I am looking for in a man. In case you are wondering (or know a single fella), here are my 5 non-negotiables:

1. Educated/Thirst for Knowledge
2. Athletic 
3. Funny
4. Ready to Settle Down
5. Good Credit 

I have also been known to describe my ideal man as a slightly overweight ex-athlete. I do want a strong masculine figure. Obviously I don't want a man who gives off too much feminine energy. Now my friend Andrea laughs when I talk about feminine energy but you can definatly sense it. Below are pitctures of my celebrity crush:

So have you seen him?? What are your five non-negotiables? 

Bring it on, 2012

New Year's Eve. I usually despise the holiday. It's like amateur hour at any bar you go to. It's always too hyped up. The only redeeming quality that the holiday has is the fact that it's perfectly acceptable to dress up in your sparkliest clothes possible.

This year, my college roommate, Carolyn had a gathering. It was a blast. I never took a full outfit picture but here is a glimpse at my sparkly shirt. Picture it with dark, bootleg jeans and black heels. It encompased the theme of the party--silver, gold and black. (I think only 4 people at the party were aware of the theme, but no worries).

Now after looking at my shirt, you're probably thinking, "Wow, Maureen. That must be the best part of the your outfit." WRONG! Check out my nails! I'm obsessed. By far my favorite part of the outfit.

I hope your New Year's Eve was everything you hoped for. Let's go 2012. Bring it on. I am ready for you.

Blogging Can Be Anything!

I have started and stopped this blog many times within the past few years. I was just about to be done with the blogging world. Between my new job and coaching, I never seemed to have time to update nor did I think people were actually reading this. However, yesterday, I hung out with my college roommates and Kim encouraged me to try the blogging thing again. I told her that I didn't always have time to take outfit pictures or sit and write a blog. Her response was "so don't do outfit pics. A blog is what you make it. It can be anything!"

And with those simple words, I'm off and blogging again. I've decided that this blog will be my journey through young adult-hood...as I hopefully move out of my parents house and become a "real adult." As I am not on facebook (to much dismay of my friends), you can find my updates here.

Enjoy*

And thanks Kim for the encouragement.

It's a Great Time to be a Husky!

I love March Madness. I have always loved college basketball way more than NBA basketball. I went to UConn, in part because I wanted to be part of the Husky experience. I love choosing my teams carefully when the brackets come out. In the beginning of the tournament, I always choose some upsets. Always rooting for my Huskies.

Sidenote--The year before I went there they were men's and women's national champions. The fours years I spent at UConn... NOTHING! Ed Nelson made a rap song about a pick-up truck. Oh and UConn lost to an 11 seed, George Mason.

However, I still love them. (I love them so much that I have a UConn tattoo) I am super looking forward to watching the Final Four this weekend. UConn is playing Kentucky Saturday night. Let's go Huskies!!!