Saturday, January 31, 2015

"...happy girls are the prettiest"

I'm just going to start this off with saying sorry Rach, but I am totally jacking this from your profile because after I read it, I honestly cannot stop thinking about it. (P.s. everyone please check out my friend Rachel's blog!)

So here we go:

You probably recall my post from the other day about me struggling with finding myself, or really knowing who I am, and what my direction in life is. Well, a couple days ago I came upon a quote from the lovely miss Rachel and it really hit me hard. 

"...happy girls are the prettiest."

This makes me think of a few people in particular who, well, let's be honest, are pretty anyway, but their beauty just seems to radiate off of them because they have this happiness inside them that glows through. So here I go, saying it out loud....You, friends, make me incredibly jealous...but don't worry, it's jealousy in a good way, not in the I want to stab you in the neck kind of way...or is it?!

I used to think that I was one of those people, always smiling, just glowing with life and energy. Sure people comment that I smile a lot, but let me tell you, this is not necessarily the same thing. Yes, I am happy with my life, I have said this and I think proven it a million times before. I have a husband that I could not be prouder of or possibly love any more, and my family is always supportive of me, I have a good job, and good life. So, you ask, why do I not fall in this category? 

Well, because I am, shall we say, a cranky, neurotic, uptight, stress case most of the time. Sure I have my moments where I am bubbling with energy and a wicked positive attitude but, it's not something I am really known for. In my marriage, Mark is the optimist, I am the pessimist. I am always preparing, anticipating, expecting the worse case scenario, whereas Mark is the go with the flow, roll with the punches kind of guy, who just beams with life and energy. He is the epitome of, well the male version of "happy girls are the prettiest."

So with all of that being said, I would just like to take a special moment 
to let all those girls who just beam with happiness know that they truly are the prettiest. They may not be supermodels walking down the runway, or posing in magazines, but their beauty is literally indescribable because it comes from somewhere else. I envy all of you, and it is my goal to be able to be seen as one of those people. 



Keep on smiling!
-Linds

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

This is my second completed book of 2015. During my first book review of 2015, I promised to do better to try and capture some of my favourite moments from the future books I read. Well, guess what folks. I actually followed through! So this time, 1st will be my summary, 2nd will be my review, and 3rd will be some favourite moments/lines from the book. 


Summary:
This book is about the main character, Lennie's, struggle dealing with he sudden death of her sister, Bailey aka Bails. Lennie battles between finding comfort from two opposing forces. She is smitten by Joe, the new, upbeat, energetic boy who never even knew her sister, but she is also, mournfully bonding with Toby, her sisters boyfriend, who was going to marry and have a baby with Bails. This book is set for high school teenage years and dives into topics such as love, loneliness, heartache, and anguish. Part of the storyline also addresses Lennie's long lost emotional search for her mother, who has not been in her life for almost 16 years. 

Review:
The main character is a high school teenager so I probably should have anticipated that the story was going to read a little bit "young" for my liking, but that being said, one of the best things I enjoyed about this book was the desperation in the writing. There is just so much passion and agony throughout the entire book, that it was hard not to feel your own heart aching along side with the main character. It reminded me of when I was young, and no matter what I was feeling, I felt everything right down to my core. 

Overall the storyline was a little anticipated, but I thought the writing itself was excellent, and did a really good job of bringing me back to a more innocent, less tainted, mindset.  I would recommend this book for mid to late teen readers, more mature readers that are looking for an easy read, but with extremely passionate touches, or for anyone who has dealt or is dealing with loss.

Quotable moments:
"I've been coming here everyday at lunch, hiding out until the bell rings, whitling words into the branches with my pen, allowing my heart to break in private. I can't hide a thing---everyone in school sees clear to my bones." pg. 39

"When I get to the path, I take off, trying to outrun the heartache that is chasing me down." pg. 92

"...---she wants to dance wild and free all around the thumping room, but unfortunately, that girl's in me, not me." pg. 98

"I hurry inside, worrying about what Toby said to me and what I didn't say to Joe, as the rain washes all those beautiful kisses off of me." pg. 150

"I'm going to love it if you take off all your clothes there, I promise, or at least some of them, maybe even just a sock." pg. 161

"There are people everywhere standing in line at the movies, buying curtains, walking dogs, while inside, their hearts are ripping to shreds." pg. 168

"You can tell your story any way you damn well please. 
 It's your solo." pg. 185

"How to get used to being without a boy who turns you into brightness?" pg. 217

"Its as if everything around us stops to see what's going to happen next---the trees lean in, birds hover, flowers hold their petals still." pg. 228

"I wanted to punch him in the face, 
 but instead I started to cry 
 in a drowning kind of way." pg. 238

"Walking home, I realize it's the first time since Bailey died that I've written words for someone to read." pg. 258

"Love is contagious, everyone knows that, Lennie." pg. 273

Hope you enjoy!
-Linds

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Moving....again

It has finally come time when the current place that we rent is moving ahead with getting torn down in order for development to happen. Because of this, we have been given our notice and have to be out by March 1, 2015. This leaves us exactly 31 days from right now to find something else. 

Now normally this wouldn't be the toughest thing to do (I've done it before with less notice), but this time we have, not only our two cats, but also the 65lb 1 year old puppy to bring with us. Trying to find a place to rent, when you have a dog feels almost impossible. 

Thankfully we have had a lot of Marks co-workers and my family offer for us to stay with them temporarily until we are able to find something that suits us, but obviously we don't want to be a burden, and to be honest, and I don't want to have to move an extra time.

Mentally I am already trying to figure out what stuff I can chuck, donate, and sell before we actually pack up and get out of here, but at the same time, I am very resistant to the whole thing, because let's be honest, does anyone really enjoy packing? Don't get me wrong, I like the unpacking part: the fresh start in a new space, choosing where to put what shelf, which way to face the bed or the couch, etc., all of that decorating and organizational stuff I find fun and soothing to my slightly OCD brain. 

But, for now, it's the dread of looking at place after place, meeting person after person, and then the ultimate, lugging and hulling of box after box. 

Sorry folks, but this is all I can muster up with the energy I have today (plus I'm literally about to leave for work in like 10 minutes), but I will keep you guys updated, and I think I might even have a "packing up your place" post brewing, but honestly that all depends on how the whole process unfolds!

(This look on Captain's face describes exactly how I felt when I found out we have to move)


Take care
-Linds


Friday, January 23, 2015

Big, Wild, Bear Cat

Bear is the wild cat of the house. Mark surprised me with him about a month before we moved in together, so we've had Bear for about 5 and a half years. When we got him we had him and his sister as well, but unfortunately she has passed away since. 

Bear is very much a mostly outdoor cat. He prowls through the yard like king of the jungle. We probably should have named him lion, but Bear was just much more fitting, it seemed. 

He's a pretty independent cat, I mean, sometimes he has days where we literally will only see him first thing in the morning when we feed him, and then not again until about 11pm when we bring him in before heading off to bed. However, every once in a while he graces us with his presence and will spend an entire day inside with us. On these days I swear he acts more like a dog than a cat. Constantly pawing for our attention, rolling around on his back just anxiously waiting for us to rub his belly for him. Yes! you heard me correctly, he loves to have his belly rubbed!

I could probably type endlessly about this big guy but I think the pictures do him better justice so here they are:




Last time we weighed him he was almost 20 lbs, so like I said before, he pretty much is like a small dog! It's hard not to fall absolutely in love with this big guy, he roams like a wild cat, but is cuddly like a kitten!

Don't worry there will plenty more to come of this guy!

-Linds

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Finding myself...



If I'm being completely honest, I started this blog with the intention of self reflection, and a large hope that I would come into my own, and shall I say..."find myself."

I thought I'd experienced enough in my quarter century to figure out who I am, but honestly, I have days where I feel like a lost cause. Some days I will be high as a horse on life itself, and other days I won't even be able to look at myself in the mirror because I feel like I don't really know who I am or why I act the way that I do. This blog has helped me a bit already, taking the time to write my thoughts and reflect on the days past, but I'm still struggling to figure out who I really am, where I want to go, and what I want to be. 

I have a tendency to only see the negative side of things, doubt everything about myself and everyone else, and to always expect the worst, even if it is the most UNlikely of scenarios. Mark is definitely my saving grace when I get into these funks. He is nothing but supportive and encouraging, and really pushes me to see the brighter side of things. He is always quick to tell me how impressed he is with what I've accomplished in my life but, that doesn't always take away the booming voice inside my head that is sometimes telling me otherwise. 

So....here goes nothing, my attempt at being open, honest, and well......exposed.

I find myself browsing the internet, and I am awe-struck by other people who seem to have found their element. Yes, I know, what other people post is only a snippet of their lives, but still I can't help but feel jealous at their glorious photography, fashion sense, or developed writing. They just seem to have it all figured out. They seem to know exactly who they are and where they are going.

Lately I've really been contemplating what my element is. I, for instance, put a section on this blog for fashion, but let's be honest, when have I ever made a bold fashion choice in my entire life? So, who I am to expect people to want to check out my "fashion" page. I can only assume that volleyball is my "thing" since I've been playing for so long, and it's pretty much how my marriage started. But, I also find myself itching to be more adventurous with the outdoors, and with photography. Now granted, I have nothing more than my cell phone for photography, but I still love being able to capture some beautiful moments. And, as far as the outdoors are concerned, yes I go out everyday, but I find myself thinking every morning that I should just get up and go do a hike or hit up a lake, or something out of the ordinary. 

What's stopping me you ask?, absolutely nothing, other than myself. Everyday I find myself hesitating, making excuses, telling myself that I don't have enough time, or energy. Honestly, I think I'm just scared. For years, I have wanted to do something more involved with volleyball, i.e. start a rental facility to run leagues, tournaments, etc., or to coach, or start up a youth team. This year I've finally been offered a coaching opportunity, but why didn't I ever go searching for one before? How did I ever expect to get involved in the coaching community if I never put myself into it. 

Same thing with the outdoors, right now with my job I get five days off in a row. I should be taking every single day to go somewhere different, check out a new hike, find a new trail, pond or anything. And what do I do, I go to the same dog parks, the same trails and the same neighbourhoods as always. Sure it would be easier if I had a buddy that had the same days off as me for some motivation, but there's no reason I shouldn't go solo. But everyday I tell myself I'm to tired, or it's to far, or I don't know if I can bring the dog.....excuses.

As far as the photography goes, I'm not as concerned with this one....yet. It's something that I have only recently really really really started to enjoy, but I know I can't do anything too expansive with it until I build more of a portfolio, or let's be honest, get a decent camera. For now I will settle with taking random scenery pictures when I'm out and about with the dog, and maybe offer myself up if any friends are looking for some basic photography needs. 

Even after all this is said though, I find myself asking, how long will it take to be the me that I want to be? I think I'm a far way off from answering this question since I don't even necessarily know who the "me" is that I want to be. Sure if I were to say this stuff out loud, everyone would probably tell me not to stress, and that I have tons of time to figure it out, but the thing is, I don't want to wait to figure it out. I want to start now. I don't want to figure it out five years from now that I've been going in the wrong direction, but then again, is that what life is all about? Some people just know that they want to be a mother, and that's their plan in life. I, on the other hand, know that I don't want to end up a mother, but then what does that leave me with. Sure I have every other possible option in the world, but it's incredibly overwhelming, and how do you choose? 

I know I'm lucky that I get to wake up every day, happy in my bed, with a husband who I love more than life itself, and don't get me wrong, I am grateful for everything I have in my life, but I guess sometimes I just feel like I'm letting life down. I have all this opportunity sitting at my feet, but am I really embracing it? I'm just staring at it, and then wondering why my life is as it is.  

So I guess I will leave it at this....how do you know if the life you are leading is the direction you are meant to be going? How do you figure out if this is what was meant for you? How do you choose?

-Linds

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Lonely Two

When someone dies you are left thinking,
Why is it he was alone drinking?
Did he not know how I cared for him so?
You see, this was a horrible way to go.
He must have felt such torturous pain
For the cuts he made were deep in his veins.

How could he just leave me like this,
The last words he spoke, a soft single kiss.


I come to his grave everyday 
And wonder what has caused him such pain.
But I'll never know the truth behind his smile
Because now he is but a few words in a file.
"Deceased," it says, "another suicidal teen" 
But to me he was different, a boy full of dreams.

We talked about marriage and a house of our own
A place for the children to call their home.


I can't help but wonder if I lead him to this
I tried my best to keep us in bliss.
Problems arose but we talked them through
Is it possible we were a lonely two?
He's gone now and I'm filled with sorrow,
I don't know how I can live through tomorrow.
So the tears I cry are never ending,
All because our hearts befriending.


I never stopped loving him dearly,
But I guess now I can see clearly.
In love we were, but apart at heart,
It seemed his life was hit by a dart.
So now he is gone, but in my heart he lives through
And now I'm the only one left of the lonely two...


Volleyball Terminology: Ace


This term is used in reference to a serve. If you "aced" your serve, that means it was un-returnable. Either, the serve was not contacted at all by the opposing team, or it was contacted, but a shank pass was made and therefore the ball was not playable or returnable by the other team.





Friday, January 16, 2015

One-a-day Three year journal!

I'm really excited that my husband and I are working on this one a day journal!

Every day there is a prompt and then sections for each of us to fill out based on the prompt. It has spaces for both of us to write everyday for three years.

I'm not sure Mark and I are disciplined enough to actually follow through with this everyday, let alone for three years straight, but even if we miss some, it'll still be really neat to see how our relationship and lives progress together over the days, weeks, months & years to come!


(Ignore the ripped front cover - the puppy went after it)
It's funny seeing how on some days our answers are so far at the opposite ends of the spectrum, but then other days we will have incredibly similar thought processes. 

Generally speaking, in most aspects of our lives, Mark and I are total opposites, but in only 16 days, this little book is already proving that we've got a lot of common ground to keep building on! I can't wait to see where this takes us!

Are there any projects you and your significant other are working on together? I'd love to hear about them!
-Linds

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Volleyball Terminology: Joust

When two opposing players jump up at the net at the same time and both try to attack/defend the ball. 

It basically ends up being both players in the air, reaching over the net, each trying to push harder than the other player to force the ball down on the opposing teams' side of the court.
(Example of Mark jousting - typically both players are facing the net and trying to get both hands on the ball, but this one is a little sloppy on Mark's side)

Let me know if you have any questions!
-Linds

Saturday, January 10, 2015

"Not that Kind of Girl" by Lena Dunham

I just finished reading my first book of the new year. My parents bought it for me as a gift for the most recent Christmas.
I plan for 2015 to give a little summary/review of all the books I finish reading. Unfortauntely, as I am writing this particular post, I've realized that I've already made a big boo boo. Sure it is easy enough to give a summary and review of the book, but I was hoping to elaborate a little more by including some of my favorite moments/quotes from the novel. As I made my way through the book, I made mental notes of comments or life lessons that I was touched by, but I never bothered to take the time to write them down or, at the very least, mark the page so I could easily refer back without having to re-read the entire book again. I'm still going to give you guys my summary and review of it, and hopefully for future books I will not drop the ball so badly.

Summary:
This book isn't so much a beginning to end novel, but is a collection of stories from the author about her life's challenges, triumphs, loves, and a variety of life lessons. She touches on things like, falling in love, figuring out her body, frienships, career, family, etc.  The author is Lena Dunham, who apparently is the Creator, Producer, and Star of a show called "Girls." I had never heard of her before (my sisters, who also received the book as a gift, seemed to know who she was better than I did), but apparently she is pretty well know for her humor, charisma, and blatent honesty.

Review:
There were plenty of times while reading this book that I found myself laughing, sometimes out loud, other times just to myself. I would catch myself reminscising and comparing my experience on similar topics that she addresses. Being only three years older than myself, I also found a lot of the references in the book easily relatable to my years growing up. The book was also filled with a lot of valuable comments that really made me reflect back on emotional and physical struggles that I had growing up and I often found comfort in her words. That being said though, there were a few points that I didn't really care for in this book. Sometimes the tone used when she discusses topics, that I find particularly sensitive, comes across a little harsh and almost ridiculing, and sometimes a little too far-fetched. All in all though I would reccommend this book to mature readers that are looking for something funny, harshly honest, and a little bit "out there."

Hope you enjoy!
-Linds

Friday, January 9, 2015

Status update on New Years Resolutions 2015

I thought I would give a little update on how I'm doing so far with my 2015 new years resolutions. You will find comfort in this post for one of two reasons. Either A) you are doing really well keeping up with your own resolutions and so by comparison you'll feel incredibly successful, or B) you will find comfort in the fact that you are not alone in completely floundering even though it's only 10 days in.


Stop biting nails:
So far I have not bitten my nails, but I definitely have picked at them more than a few times. Not sure if it's a sign or what, but I always seem to snag them when I don't have a nail file or clippers around, and then I end up getting irritated by the uneven edge and end up picking at it to try to smooth it out. This is something that has been and will probably always be a challenge for me, but I think the fact that I haven't bitten them yet is a step in the right direction. Right?

Workout on my days off:
So far I am successful with this one. I worked on the 1st and 2nd of January so I was not required to exercise on those days. Then I had the 3rd and 4th off work, but my 24hr volleyball tournament fundraiser happened to fall on that weekend, so considering I played 15 games of volleyball between 9am on Saturday and 730am on Sunday I think it's pretty safe to say that I am keeping on track. And then, since the 4th of January I have been back at work again, so I am not required to work out just yet. These next few days I am on my 5 days off so it will be a bit of a bigger challenge.

Spend minimum 1hr outdoors every day
Sadly, I am floudering with this. I told myself working was no longer going to be an excuse for this, but unfortunately, I immediately did exactly that. I woke up new years day feeling a little groggy from staying up late playing board games, went to my grandparents 60th anniversary brunch (I was only outside walking from house to car, car to restaurant, restaurant to car, and car back to house), slept in the late afternoon/evening in preparation for my night shift, and then went to work. I should have gotten off my lazy butt in the evening and enjoyed the fresh air, but I just did not get myself motivated. I worked until 8am on January 2, came home, went to bed, then woke up at 2pm and got myself ready to go to work for 4pm. I worked until midnight, went home, straight to bed, then got up at 730 am on Saturday, January 3rd and went to my 24 hour volleyball tournament, where I literally did not leave the gym until about 745am on Sunday, January 4th. I then got home, went straight to bed again, woke up late afternoon, lounged on the couch all evening, then got ready and went to work for my night shift. Of course, in the midst of all this I took the dog out to do his business, etc. but I didn't take the time to just "be" outdoors and enjoy the fresh air. I'll keep working on this one! On the 7th I did a bit better. Before/after my shift, I took Captain to the South Surrey dog park, but aside from the car ride I was only actually outside with him for about 50 mintes. On the 9th I tried again, this time Mark and I took the dog out to the field near our house and played around with Captain, but we actually were only out in the field with him for aout 35 minutes before we got to cold and called it in. 


Pay off debt
I am continuing to make my usual weekly payments towards my school debt. I have a little under $10,000.00 to go! I pay minimum $300 a week towards the debt, but typically I contribute anywhere between $300-500 a week. At this rate I'm looking at about 5-8 months to have it paid off! I can hardly wait to get this burden off my shoulders! That being said though, we have just recently found out that we have to move by March 1st which means our rent is likely to double, potentially even tripple, which means until we get our budget balanced accordingly, the school debt might have to take a bit of a hit.

Knit
No simplier way to put it other than so far I have not even looked in to getting this resolution started.  

Blog
I think I'm about half successful yet half failing this one. I was hoping to publish more than once a week to this blog, but I am quickly learning that I think I will probably have to settle for only once a week if I am lucky. I am constantly contributing to my draft posts in the meantime, but I find I will spend days tweaking and editing, or trying to come up with the perfect photo to go with a particular post, which is why it takes me so much time in between each published post sometimes. I'm encouraged that I'm already spending a lot of behind the scenes time blogging, but I really would like to get working on getting my posts published a little more frequently.

Eat out less (i.e. cook more)
I am still allowing myself to get my Timmy's coffee and sometimes bagel before work, but other than that so far Mark and I have eaten out for two meals (pizza and sushi and the sushi was the day after our 24 hr volleyball tournament so I think that's okay right?) in 2015. I know it's only been 10 days, and most people probably haven't eaten out at all, but for Mark and I this is a step in the right direction, so I'm feeling pretty encouraged that it hasn't been to much of a challenge to nip this bad habit in the butt (so far anyway...).

Coach volleyball
I am pretty stoked, yet incredibly nervous about this. One of the guys that my husband plays against in his mens volleyball league happened to ask if he knew anyone interested in coaching. Lo and behold my coaching opportunity has been served to me on a silver platter, and not only that, but it is a paying gig as well! I'm not sure how involved the coaching will be, whether I will be running entire practices, just running drills, or just being a helper to demonstrate moves and to toss balls during drills, but no matter what I am thrilled that someone is giving me the opportunity! I am super nervous, because I don't really know the main coach very well, I have't coached in almost 10 years, and well, I get sick to my stomach pretty much any time I get myself into something new. All that being said though, I can't wait to see what this opportunity has in store for me! 

Stop swearing
I was doing pretty good with this one on the first two days of the new year. I think I only said dammit twice, and all the other swears I usually caught myself before actually getting the entire word out of my mouth. I had a lot of oh shhhhhhh... and awe fffuuuuuu 's! Unfortunately, at my 24hr volleyball tournament, the swearing was a little harder to control and a few did slip out, but this is definitely an improvement so I am happy with my progress so far. 

I would love to hear how you guys are doing with your 2015 resolutions!
-Linds

"M" for Mark

(Matching wedding tattoos done by Nick Wasko)
My husband and I have these as matching tattoos. I have the "M" for Mark and he has an "L" for Lindsay. Yes, we're "that" couple!

A couple weeks after tieing the knot (November 30, 2013), we got these tattoos to commemorate the wedding day. We had a wedding of only 30 people total (including bride & groom, wedding party, and four little ones) and the ceremony took place outdoors at Redwood Park in South Surrey. You can probably guess by now, just based on the design of the tattoo and the date of our wedding, we got hitched in a torrential downpour of rain, with nothing more than umbrellas to keep us dry, and one canopy to cover the table which had our wedding documents to sign.


(Wedding day: November 30, 2013)



Yes, we anticipated this, and yes, everyone thought we were a little crazy, but it suited us just perfectly.

We considered long and hard about getting tattooed wedding bands, or initials on our ring fingers, but after much deliberation and advice from our tattoo artist we decided against it. Once we ditched that idea, we started trying to come up with something else we could do. We both eagerly wanted to commemorate the day and after days tossing ideas back and forth and scowering the internet for some more inspiration, we decided on the umbrella, and we never looked back!

This tattoo definitely hurt more than I remember my first one hurting (I think the forearm is definitely a more sensitive area), but it was still easily tolerable. Nick was able to do the tattoos for us back to back in the same night so we both hung out with the each other browsing the internet, keeping each other distracted while getting inked. It was actually quite exhilarating getting to watch Mark get the ink, I mean, it's such a forever thing. It was pretty cool to see!

Now I know tattoos aren't for everyone, especially when it comes to matching ones with a significant other. But for me, it was a no brain-er. It was a no brainer to say yes to marrying Mark and it was a no brainer to put his initial permanently in my skin. This is just what was right for us.

-Linds

Monday, January 5, 2015

Wrestling match

Mark and Captain Axel having a good old fashioned wrestling match:

They truly are best buds!

-Linds

24 Hours

This weekend I played in the TFC annual 24 hour volleyball fundraiser tournament.  Now, let me guess, the first question you are thinking is: "Did you really play volleyball for 24 hours?" Answer: "No."

The tournament started at about 9:00 am (was supposed to be 8:30am, but there was some delays because the gym doors did not get unlocked at the proper time) on Saturday January 3, 2015. There were 22 teams, and generally speaking for the round robin, my team's schedule went something like this: play, ref, sit, play, play, ref, sit, sit, play, ref....etc. We played a total of 13 games in the round robin (which we finished around 2:30 am), and had a record of 9 wins, 4 losses. Because we had the best record of all 22 teams for round robin play, we got a bye for our first round of play-offs. This meant that after finishing out last round robin game at about 2:30 am, we had two games to sit, and then we had to wait for the hosts to complete the play-off draw, and then had the bye, so we didn't actually have to play our first play off game until about 5:00 am. This gave us a good couple hours to sleep/rest up. 


(From left to right: Jess, Mark & I, bundled up in blankets waiting for our next turn to play)
Thanks to Steve Dowler for taking the photo
Being stuck in a school/gym full of 4 games of volleyball going on at once, it was hard to get any real rest, but we did out best. Unfortunately after having such a long break and very little sleep, our play off performance was, shall I say, far less than impressive. We lost both our "double knock-out" play off games and ended up on our way home at about 7:45 am Sunday January 4, 2015. Overall, we were pretty happy with our performance, and honestly, by the very end of it we were just happy to get home to fresh showers, pyjamas, and beds.
I think this is the 5th year we've played in this tournament and over the years we have learned to become more and more prepared. We bring a cooler, snacks, water, Gatorade, an air mattress, blankets, pillows, multiple changes of clothes (it sucks sitting around in sweaty attire for that many hours). However, it still seems to be that every year, we always manage to realize we should have brought some other item. Hopefully soon enough we will have a complete list to help us survive this tournament.  

I love that this tournament always runs the first weekend of the January because it gives me a great start to the year. It's one of the rare times where I actually get to prove that I pretty much literally eat, sleep and breath volleyball! 

The Sunday when we finally wake up from what feels like a coma, we always question whether we should play in this tournament next year. We'll hum and haw about it while we nurse our achy bodies back to health, but when the time comes around we always end up signing up again. This year, Rex from TFC, will actually be putting on a second 24hr volleyball tournament in September. And yes, we are already planning on playing in that one!

That is all for now!
-Linds