Giving Thanks 6/30

November 6// I am thankful for cross country. SO so thankful! I can't even believe that the season is over- time flies when you're having fun. I grew so much from cross country in so many different ways and I am grateful I got to experience something so great in high school. Even after all those nights of icing and struggling to even get up the stairs, it was so worth it. I feel so privileged to have had the best coaches and the most supportive team a girl could ask for. There is so much I want to say about how thankful I am for cross country and how much I loved it... I'm feeling a cross country season recap post coming very soon!

THAT'S RIGHT, VARSITY CROSS COUNTRY WHAT WHAT NO BIG DEAL OR ANYTHING

xo
Hannah

Catch Up Part One

I'm really upset at myself that I've been such a bad blogger lately. I don't mean to be, I just get so caught up in getting done what NEEDS to be done, I forget to go to my creative outlet every now and then!

So let's play catch up:)

It's been raining like crazy here in CO! Luckily, where I live has not been flooded, but most of my dad's family in Eastern Colorado and my mom's parents who live near Boulder have really taken the grunt of it.  I just can't even get over how all this rain came so fast! One of my uncle's lives 3/4 of a mile from a river that has widened over one mile in the last few days. When you run a mile, you know how long that is.  My grandparent's old neighborhood is flooded; one of their friends who still lives there had to be rescued and taken to dry ground in her husband's fishing boat. It is insane! But for now, I will enjoy all the rain that has thankfully not flooded where I'm at! It's the perfect Hunter boot, candle lit, warm tea, Mindy listening weather. :)

Speaking of Mindy, let's just take a minute and talk about how much I love her new album. I calculated the numbers of times I've listened to the album since I bought it on Monday night, and I'm 28 hours, or 40.9 times. Sorry it's just so perfect. Currently, my favorite song is Finding Home.

Now for a little XC update. These pictures are all from last weeks meet in the Springs. It wasn't my best race, and I was not a big fan of the course, but so be it. However, my runner's high afterwards was higher than ever! To say that Mackenzie and I were a party on the bus is the understatement of the century! This week's race was great! I loved the course so much (it was all flat and downhill, praise the Lord). The weather was cool and perfect. I took off a whole three minutes and ended up running a 28:36. Best day eva. Oh and just so you know, we don't cancel XC because of rain. We have practiced all week in the pouring rain, and it is the best feeling ever! To an onlooker, I'm sure it's hilarious to see all these kids soaked to the bone, running around a park, with their two coaches standing in the middle yelling at them.

literally right after we ran

pre post race high

hot bus + sweaty runners= miserable us

but sonic can easily fix that issue!

So for now, I'll leave it at that. Tomorrow will be part two of catch up, featuring Tri-M inductions, a surprise party, and the memories high school is made of.

xo
Hannah

A Brief Pause

I've been gone for a while on this blog. I don't know why, but life has been overwhelming now.

Overwhelmingly beautiful.

Last week was one of my favorite weeks of my entire life.
Monday, we had no school.
Tuesday was just fantastic.
Wednesday included Panera and a candy shop.
Thursday was perfect beyond words description
Friday was easy, exhausting, and exactly why I love high school.
Saturday I got to go to Sonic. And my car battery died there at midnight haha
Sunday was a day of studying and homework out the wazoo but managable.

This week has continued to be pretty fabulous.
Monday I did pretty okay on my APES test and I got Mindy's NEW ALBUM!
Tuesday Mindy retweeted and favorited one of my tweets, and replied back to me! (I died)
Today I got asked to homecoming.

So yeah, you could say life's been pretty good to me.

Here's a photo dump...

i love food. especially ribs.

seXC models

post race beauty-- don't you love how sweaty we are?

WE LOVE SONIC

SO MUCH

running in the rain oh running in the rain! representing rutgers!

yeah we're pros

somewhere over the rainbow

s/o to my homegirl mindy <3 best album yet!

i may or may not have screamed because of this. I LOVE MINDY MORE THAN MY MOM

presh

very hip, very modern

typical target shenanigans. you should see the other ten pictures

I will catch up tomorrow on all of these crazy events. Life is just the best.

xo
Hannah

It Was a Fantastic Day

I think having Mondays off every week would be the best idea in the whole world. Today was probably one of the best days ever. I probably say that about a lot of days on the blog, but this was just one of those ordinary days that was totally extraordinary.

Tuesday is a day I have classes all day. AP US History, AP Environmental Science, choir, and college composition. Most of the time, these days are sooo long and dreadful, but today was just perfect all the way through. History was easy (it usually is honestly), we watched a video in science, choir was just great as usual (ahh I love Honors Choir soooo much!!), and English was nothing horrible.

Then came cross country and it was a hard day, but today was my breakthrough day!!! Usually, when we run to the park, I hate every second of it. It's slightly uphill, and it's hot, and it seems long. In reality, it's like a mile and a half. Today though, I was able to run and talk and not even feel exhausted! It was a milestone!

Afterwards, Mack was oh so kind to treat me to Jamba Juice. She's the best! Brenden and Matt asked if we wanted to join them for some pho, and we gladly obliged. We ate some amazing noodle soup, and talked and laughed for a good two hours. It was a very Hollywood moment, two guys and two girls at a restaurant, laughing obnoxiously for hours. But heck, that's what I love about being a teenager. I love those cliche moments:) Oh, and an extra bonus?! Brenden paid for our food! Thanks for a free dinner Brenden!

Pho was followed by quite the dance party in Mack's car to Ellie Goulding, our favorite. She gets me in the zone for cross country, and just makes my life 9849238923 times better. This is our current anthem.

We ended up in the school parking lot, talking for another hour. Boys, if you want to date us, we are not high maintenance. Hit us up asap, we're the best homecoming dates you could ask for! Mackenzie and I specialize in long, deep talks, that leave us in motivational moods (hence this blog post)

So there wasn't some monumental event that made today better than the rest, but it just was. I hope everyone had the best Tuesday ever, because this one was one for the books.

xo
Hannah

OH! And Mindy released a new song off her new album (one more week people!) and I love it!!! It's a different style than the usual Mindy, and I think it's pretty perfect.

High Five for Friday!

Neglect (verb): to pay no attention or too little attention to; disregard or slight
      ...aka Hannah and her blog this week.  
Life happens, and when it comes down to free time, there's not much of it. But now it's Friday, it's raining, thunder is rolling, I've got my Quiet Spotify playlist playing, and a cup of hazelnut coffee by my side. I'm in my happy place. :) 

 1. Watching a classic when babysitting. I love that she has an early bedtime!

2. S/O to Amanda for dropping this off on a busy Monday! xo

3. IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!!!! You better bet Mack and I went and got them right after XC!

 4. First football game of the season. What a view! And we won!

 5. Ice ice baby. I just love us! H.A.M. foreva

And tonight guess what movie I am FINALLY going to see!!!!!! 

I AM SO EXCITED!

xo 

Hannah

SeXC Runners

Hello and happiest Saturday to all of you!

I feel like I talk a lot about cross country on the bloggity blog nowadays. But my life is basically school, cross country, and homework, and who really wants to hear about school and homework?

I love/hate cross country. I love/hate the challenge, I love/hate the pain. I know I love my friends, and I know hate the heat.

Running is simply the best. It's tough and I am NOT a natural born runner. I'm slow. I'm not very good. But heck, I'm getting myself into shape and as we always say when we're complaining and want to give up, we're lapping everyone on the couch.

Last week at lunch, Hannah, Kylee and I were talking about running and came up with what I think is a great analogy.

Running is like being pregnant. 

(Ok well none of us really know what being pregnant is like but stick with me here) 

At the beginning, you feel sick. You're tired. You're constantly hungry. You swell up. You're hot. It hurts. It seems to go on forever. The end can't come soon enough. During the race (aka labor), you never want to do it again. But then it's over. You're relieved. You have something to be so happy about. You feel sore, but accomplished. And you would do it all over again. 

That really sums it all up. I wake up in the middle of the night starving. I ice like it's my job, and drink water by the gallon. I get my sister to rub my legs super hard, and it hurts so good. I constantly want to get better.

ice ice baby

every. single. night.

Today was our first 'race'/scrimmage. The Grizzly 5000! I woke up so many times in the middle of the night, I kept thinking I overslept and my mom forgot and I missed the race! But then I woke up at 6:15 and was ready. I ate half of a peanut butter sandwich, a glass of milk, and drank a bottle of water. I was very anxious for it all the begin! When I got to the school, I met up with Mackenzie and we stretched, ate some 'sport' jelly beans, went to the bathroom twice, and tried to get in the right mental state. I wanted to start so badly and get it done with!!

At 9:10, we lined up, and Mack, Amanda, and I made our goals-
1. No walking
2. No talking
3. No stopping

During the week, I don't know the exact mileage we run, so I wasn't really sure how fast I could run 3.1 miles. My goal for the day was to finish by 36 minutes (remember, I'm SLOW). I beat my goal with a 32:30 (I think, I didn't stop my watch for a few seconds after I finished), and I am honestly pretty proud of that time! I'm a fairly new runner, and now I just want to get better!! Oh yeah, and I beat Riley's dad;)

h.a.m.

we <3 sierra the varsity queen!

beauty. don't you love my hair?

motha. i feel like a giant compared to her.

Afterwards, my body was just going. I had so much adrenaline! I wasn't actually very hungry, and I felt really good. I got new shoes on Thursday and good heavens, the difference is amazing! My shins and knees didn't hurt at all during the race! Up until about 3pm, my body didn't hurt at all!
     ...and then it started hurting all over, all at once. I popped some Aleve, and put in a movie for the little girl I was babysitting. I've had a ton of water and protein, and of course, am icing now.

Our next race is next Saturday and I am pumped! I'm sure I'll be anxious, but for now, I can't wait for the rush again:)

xo
Hannah

Friday I'm in Love

Probably the best thing about senior year is having three off periods.  On Wednesdays and Fridays, I only have ONE class. It's amazing! I sleep in a little, go to class, and I'm done!

Fridays are especially great because I feel like I get to start my weekend early:) This morning though, I didn't sleep in. I brought my brother to school, picked up some cookies for my mom, filled my car with gas, and leisurely laid on the couch and enjoyed some of The Office. It was great. The best part about being up before 8am is watching the sunrise and watching it's magnificent glow take over the day.

I was so drawn to the rays of sun, and how it warmed up all of the backyard. I snapped some pictures, just because. I am always drawn to the beauty of Heavenly Father's work.

After I went to my one and only class, AP Calc, Sierra, Riley, Mackenzie and I went to the movies. We first had lunch with Jess at Panda Express (yum yum yum) and we then went to see We're the Millers. It was my second time seeing it, and it's literally one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Then came cross country, which was killer in the heat, but as usual, now that I'm done, I feel very proud.  We ran into Livi and her friend when we were going back to the school so we made them take a picture of us, to show everyone how strong and hot we are!

meet h.a.m. - hannah, amanda, mackenzie. the hottest xc runners eva

Later, Amanda and I watched Mama and it was the scariest movie I have ever seen! I am still so freaked out by it! It left a lot of loose ends, and kept us screaming the whole entire time. We then had to watch an episode of The Office to make everything better;)

This first week back to school has been exhausting, but fulfilling. I am so excited for the rest of senior year!

xo
Hannah

The Second Day

The second day of school is 49350508002913 times harder to get up to than the first day. It's so so tough, you just keep thinking about how a few days ago you were sleeping in three hours past the time you now have to wake up. Oh life is rough.

So far school has been great! Sure, the homework has been minimal and the actual class work we are doing is simple but it takes time to transition! I love having three off periods- all the years of jamming my schedule full has truly paid off! All of my teachers seem tolerable and most of the material should be really interesting. But I am really loving cross country! (well, it's a love/hate relationship)

It has only been three days but I can already feel myself improving. So far, I know I love running on trails, enjoy the how I feel after hills,  and love ice buddy rubs with Mackenzie. Oh and popsicles at the end are pretty rad too. Feeling sore is amazing, it's proof that you really worked hard! I am extremely exhausted and hungry by the end though. I come home and carb up! I am anxious for the first race next Saturday... I'm running the course this weekend to make sure I actually run the 3.1 miles;)

I'm still trying to figure out what direction this blog is headed this year. It will probably be my random ramblings, but I'm trying to get my posting more structured and scheduled. The goal is 4-5 posts a week. We'll see how that goes:)

And here's the two pictures I have so far from senior year! 

first day of xc!

8th off- mack changing in the car for xc. with riley's dog kaleb. the usual.

xo
Hannah