Lessons Learned

People say you learn something new every day, which is true. There are also lessons that take a person longer to learn, maybe months or years. This year I learned a valuable lesson that did take me awhile to discover, it was not something I learned over night but throughout my first year of college.

This significant lesson reminds me of two of my favorite songs, one of them called The Hard Way and the other called Mountains. The song, Mountains by Rascal Flatts is a song that many people can relate to and contains a good moral to it.

The lesson I learned this year is about friendship. I have had a variety of friends, some that come and go and some that have been at my side since preschool. This year I learned who my true friends are, the ones that come to my games, support me no matter how I play or if I even play, and the ones that call me when they have problems and I can call when things in life are hard. These are the friends that I can tell anything to and trust, and believe it or not there are not too many people I can trust anymore. When it comes to meeting new people, I usually am not quick too judge. I have and always will respect everyone I meet until they disrespect me or someone close to me.

I have also learned by becoming a student athlete that there are people that will just want to become close to me because I am an athlete or for the connections I have with other athletes, and I have learned to look out for that.

Many changes occurred throughout my first college year and I learned that my closest friends will love me no matter what. Before coming to college I was told by many people how difficult it would be to stay close with my friends from high school. I learned that if you are close enough to your friends and you are willing to except the changes and remain friends, then there is nothing that can pull you apart from each other.

Every day I think about and miss my friends from home but I know that no matter what they will always support me as I will them.

How would you rate your '08-'09 college year?

School is running out the summer will be here before we know it! Part of me can't wait for summer but the other part of me goes back to the fact I will be at school all summer, training and taking summer classes. Although I will be home for the month of May, it will be hard not to be home for the whole summer.

Now that my freshmen year is winding down, I have started to recieve the common question as to how I would rate my freshmen year in college on a scale from one to ten. If this applied to volleyball I can honestly say it was in the nine/ten zone. Although im sure if I was asked this question before a 5:45 am workout I would have rated it a ZERO, but overall my freshmen volleyball experience has been great.

When it comes to school, I can say that my classes were not too bad, I have had a pretty light schedule which has been great. A few tough classes have kept me on my toes but overall I think my parents will be proud when they see my grades. Rating school would probably be a seven because I can't say I love waking up early to go to class or staying up late to finish homework. So school will remain average in my book!

Knowing my thoughts on volleyball and school, the only thing left to rate is the fun I have had during my first year in college, which I can say is a nine. I am only saying it is a nine because you can never have too much fun! Which is true an the song by Daryle Singletary can tell you that as well.

I think it is important to reflect on your years in college and know what you liked and what you didn't. Who you enjoyed hanging out or who you absolutely could not stand hanging out with. This is something that will teach you more about yourself and the things you enjoy doing and the people you like to spend time with.

This is my last blog unfortunately, thank you everyone for reading and I hope you all enjoyed it!

Accidents Happen

I have had two bad injuries in my lifetime (knock on wood), one when I was in 3rd grade and the other happened a week before my 8th grade year. When compared, I would say the 8Th grade injury was more memorable and familiar to me because I was older.
The day began with my sister and I hopping on our bikes and heading to a friend’s house for a day of swimming. We had a great day and before we knew it, it was time to start peddling home. Being a twin, everything was a competition growing up. You name it and I am sure I have a story about us competing to finish or win it first. As Liz and I began our two mile journey home, we began to race.

We started to approach a stop sign about 100 feet in front of us, which led to a big road that was not too busy, but if not playing attention a car could be flying by. Luckily there was no car in sight. I know you a probably thinking I got hit by a car, but that's not the case this time. As I began to peddle faster and faster, I didn't realize how soon I would have to slow down. At the last minute I grabbed the brakes, accidentally grabbing the left brake which stops the front wheel. With that being said, the front wheel stopped immediately and I kept going. I flew over the handle bars and my chin smacked on the road with the bike landing on top of me.

I can't remember it hurting but I do remember jumping up and asking my sister if I was bleeding. Her response was simply, “no, I mean it is bleeding a little but not much”. She then took off her shirt (she had her swimsuit on under it) and gave it to me to stop the bleeding. I rode my bike the rest of the way home.

When I got home, which seemed like hours, I showed my parents my “battle scar” and my mom took me to the hospital. I had gravel scratches on my legs, hands, and chest and ended up getting 6 stitches in my chin. As the doctor finished up the stitches, he pressed around on my head to check for any other injury. At that time, I noticed a spot in my head that was a bit painful to touch, so I let him know. He looked closely and realized that I had a gash in my head, probably from the spoke when the bike landed on me.

He ended up giving me two staples in my head. I left the hospital late that night with all my injuries and a bit lucky I wasn’t seriously hurt. But I’ll tell ya, starting my first days of school with stitches and staples was really a cherry on top of my 8Th grade year!

When You Want to Know!

Have you ever wanted to know something so bad it just frustrates you to think about it. Well that's the exact position that I am in right now. It starts with a person that knows two others and finds out something and tells one of them leaving the other not knowing the "source". Confusing right?

One of my classmates wrote a blog about gossip, saying those who gossip with you will gossip about you. Which is a good point. There are many people, and I will not say girls because there are boys that do it as well, that love to gossip. It makes them feel like they are better by putting another person down. When in reality I believe that the reason they are gossiping is because they have nothing better to do. Although my problem is not really about gossiping it is more about people thinking they know things and me having no idea where they came up with it or who told them.

The worst part of my problem is that I have no idea who did it. I mean I have a general idea but not a definate answer, which bothers me. Not that knowing will do anything for me, I just want to know.

I know I am making a big deal over nothing, and I will stop worrying about it now, but it is something that bothers me and maybe others when they just want to know something that they can not figure out!

"Study" abroad

Studying abroad, doesn't that sound amazing! Well, my brother is studying to be an architect and went to study in Australia. He went Ball State and is spending this semester enjoying the adventure of a school in another country. Andrew, my brother, has been having a great time in Australia, and although I have only talked to him about once sense he left, his girlfriend updates me on what he is up to and how he is. So far I believe he has going scuba diving, hang gliding, and has been stung by a jelly fish.

My oldest brother, Eric, did the same thing when he was in college. He brought back many pictures and had so many story's about the people he met and the things he did. It was all he would talk about. Eric didn't do much studying while he was in Australia and didn't get very good grades, but according to him, it was totally worth it. He says that the experiences are unforgettable and had the best time. Although, Eric was in Australia for six months, Andrew is only there for three.

We missed Eric very much, just like we miss Andrew now, we pray that his is being safe and gets home safe.

I think studying abroad is a great opportunity. As an athlete the only time I would be able to study abroad would be second semester my senior year. But by then, I think having the opportunity to be a regular student would be just fine as compared to going to another country. But we will see when the time comes.

Poor Bunny

I bet everyone in college is excited for Easter, I know I am, I get to go home. And although it will only be for one night, I can't wait. I am dedicating this blog to poor bunny that will not be celebrating Easter this year.

A couple days ago I was at some friends house ready to leave when the guys noticed a bunny outside and thought they should grab their guns to "take care" of it. Of course, the bunny didn't do anything wrong and was just out for an evening stroll, the boys ran outside with the gun in their hand. I stayed inside, discussed at the thought they would kill an innocent rabbit.

The first two boys shot at it and missed, thank goodness, but the last boy actually hit the bunny. They went over to get the bunny and it was still breathing. At this time I was heading out to the car with my friend to leave and I noticed the suffering bunny. I said to the boys, "you all are so mean, what is the point? and now the bunny is suffering!". One of the kids then picked up his foot and held it above the bunny (I thought he was just kidding around, he wasn't) he slammed his foot down on the bunny killing it.

I could not believe my eyes. It was a horrible sight and I instantly got a stomach ache. The rest of the night I could not believe them, how mean! One of the boys ended up taking the bunny home and was later going to eat it, but I didn't think it was worth it.

I feel bad for this poor bunny and hope that it is happy where it is now, celebrating Easter in heaven.

Dogs vs Cats

I have 3 dogs that I love and miss very much. I never knew I could miss them as much as I do until I moved to college. It sounds silly but sometimes I think I took them for granted. It’s easy to do when you can mistreat them and still rely on them to always be there for you.

I believe that dogs are probably the best pet to have; I don't think there is any pet that can compare. Although I have a cat and I like her, I don't really like other cats. I don't like that they rub their back on your legs, or the way they arch their back, or that they scratch people. They usually don't want to be by people and whenever I think of cats it reminds me of a message I learned in church that was related to cats verse dogs and their owner. The service said that dogs think they are humans and look to their owner as a God and cats think they ARE God. If you think about it, it is so true!

I think another main reason why I do not like cats are because I was bitten by one when I was younger. Growing up on a farm, we had many "barn" cats, meaning we
would find kittens all them time, not knowing whom their mom or dad was. The kittens would usually be born in the upstairs of our barn in between the walls. It was very difficult to get them out and sometimes my brothers, sisters, and I would have to use a shovel to get them out. I don't think we hurt them too bad but it was our only way to get them out.

Once we got the kittens out of the wall, we would play with them in the grass. But for this particular day we took the kittens into the house to play, I believe it was because my parents were not home at the moment. They were crying a lot so I figured they were hungry and went back out to the barn to get the cat I thought was the mom. As I was walking into the house carrying the cat, it bit me! I couldn't believe it! I was so angry and at the young age I was, I began to cry.

From that moment on, I have never trusted another cat and my dislike for cats has increased! Overall, I think this proves my point that dogs are better than cats, and although dogs can bit people as well, I think that they are more fun to have as a pet and have more qualities of a best friend!

Spring Season

This past weekend my team played in a tournament in Chicago. We didn't do as well as we hoped but we were there to get better and find things we needed to work on, and we did that. In college there is a fall season and a spring season for volleyball. Of course, the fall season is the main season and spring is the time to get better.

In the fall our main opponents are the other big ten schools and that is when what we work for all spring and summer comes out on the court. Many more people come to the games and the rankings are made by how well your team plays. In the spring, the team is usually smaller because of the seniors that left the team, and the incoming freshmen are not training with the team yet. In the spring it is all about getting better and developing a good connection with your teammates before the freshmen come and before fall.

During spring season, our team plays in 4 tournaments. Depending on how many people are at the tournament will determine the amount of games we will play. For example we played 4 games this past weekend.

So far I have really enjoyed our spring season. Although with the training, long practices, and workouts, it can get very tiring, I have enjoyed the attitude of the team. Don't get me wrong I love the fall season, but it is nice to have this time in the spring when things are more laid back.

Spring Break 09'

Spring break, the greatest time of the year, is now over. It is hard to come back to school after a whole week off. Students are trying to get back into the routine of getting up early and going to every class. Most people either went to Florida or went home, from the responses of my friends.

I actually was one of the many that spent last week in Florida. I had a great time and enjoyed the time off of school and volleyball. I went with one of my very good friends that I have mentioned before in my blog, Katie. Katie and I get along very well and even if we are in the worst situation, most of the time we make the best of it.

Our first couple of days were spent on Clearwater beach, we had a hotel and enjoyed the fact of eating, sleeping, and laying out all day. After a couple days in Clearwater, we traveled about 2 hours to an island my sister, Liz, was staying on. She rented a house that was 2 blocks from the beach and had its own pool. Spending the day with her was a great time. We went to the beach for most of the day, but it was just nice to see Liz.

The next couple days Katie and I visited her aunt in a small town. She lived on a boat so we got to ride on that although you couldn't go in the water, there were snakes and alligators. The last day we visited her cousin who is a baseball player and had a tournament around Orlando. We spent the day at the pool and before we knew it, it was time to head home.

It is never easy coming back to school after being at the beach, but the weather has been great here so I can't complain. I had a great spring break and look forward to spring break next year!

TV

I brought a TV to college this year, but to my surprise, I hardly ever use it. I never have time to sit down a watch TV although sometimes I will turn on CMT, the country music channel, as I get ready for class and such.

A television show that I enjoyed watching in high school was "the office". It is a great show and will make you laugh so hard you will pee your pants, ha not really, but it is very funny! When I was a senior in high school I would get together with my sister, Abby, and Heb, and we would all watch the show every Thursday. I am so busy now, I don't have the time to sit down and watch the show.

For one of our birthdays, my sister and I received complete season set of the show. We loved to watch those when we had time. I remember one particular day when school was canceled because of bad weather, which was a very rare occasion, and Ab, Heb, Liz, and I all watched the season, it was great.

It makes me sad to think that I don't get to watch the show anymore, anyone that has watched the show knows what I am talking about. My friend Heb went to Florida for vacation and found t-shirts for the show and bought us all one, I love that shirt, although one of my teammates "borrowed" it and has still not returned it.

My favorite character is Dwight, he is the assistant to the regional manager, if you didn't know. He is hilarious! I hope there are some people out there that enjoy this TV show as much as I do and if you have never seen it, watch it, Thursday night at 9 pm!

YUMMMMMMM

I look forward to many things when I go home, and one of them is the restaurants. I never thought that my hometown had a good variety of restaurants until I came to school. There are so many nice places to sit down and eat at home, and its something I look forward to!

My favorite restaurant is Bonefish Grill. Bonefish is a relatively new restaurant around my home. You can obviously tell from the title that it is a fish restaurant, although I don't really like fish. I don't mind crab, shrimp, or lobster, but fish seems to have no flavor to it, so I kind of stay away from it.


My favorite meal to get at bonefish is a bang bang shrimp. It is breaded shrimp that has the most amazing sauce on it. Although it can be spicy at times, it is still considered my fave. I also like Bone Fish's appetizer, Saucy Shrimp. Saucy Shrimp is not breaded but also has a delicious sauce on it. They put cheese crumbles on top, which really gives the shrimp flavor. I am not sure exactly what kind of cheese it is, maybe goat cheese, but it is good. If you live close to Bonefish or ever pass one while on the road or visiting a friend, you should stop for a great dinner!


Of course, when I don't have time to go out to eat, I love to grab Jimmy John's. It is so fast and easy although, I wouldn't consider it cheap, because when you get it as often as I do, the bill adds up. Ha!


I worked at Jimmy John's last summer for my first job! Since it was my first job and it was summer time I never really wanted to go to work so I often found a sub to work for me. The weird thing is that when people work at a food place, I usually hear them say that they hate the food they served. Now see, that is not the case with me, I could eat Jimmy John's everyday if I had to.


My favorite sub is #4 although when I am not "too" hungry I will just get a slim 5. I recommend both subs to everyone and anyone!

Confidence

I have always been a fan of quotes, my favorite ones being about inspiration, love, and life. I know that one of my classmates writes about quotes in her blog, so I enjoy seeing the quote she picks for each week.

A couple weeks ago I was at a leadership conference when a baseball player told us a quote. This leadership conference was about confidence, and how important confidence is to a student athlete. His quote was "practice like you’re in second, play like you’re in first." I really like this quote! I don’t know if it is because it can be applied to my athletics at the moment or if it is just that great of a quote.

Confidence is something that can make a big difference in an athlete’s performance. I believe that there is a strong line between confidence and cocky, and if you’re not careful it is very easy to cross it. Confidence is something that can really mess with your performance, especially when stepping up to the college level.

Obviously when an athlete comes to a college they most likely were considered very talented from where they are from, but college can either destroy your confidence or boost it. In most cases I think that confidence is something that disappears for a while until you become comfortable in your new home and with your new team. When a freshman enters college athletics, they are crazy if they think they can run the team right away. This can only place a negative effect on the athlete. Of course they can enter the team with the attitude that they are willing to do whatever it takes to play, but when they become cocky, they are most likely going to be put right back into place by the upper class men.

This quote is so true, an athlete wants to focus everyday and practice like they are in second place for a position, or for a team view, in second for the ranking. Thinking that you are in second, will make you work harder or make you push your teammates to become the best team possible. If you are already in first or have that mindset, then what are you work for? Also when the competition comes, you have to believe that you are in first, that you are the best, and play like it. If you have the mentality that you are in second then you are just handing the win to the opponent. And if you have trouble being confident in what you are doing, fake it!

Book Worm

I have never been much of a reader. My mom has always pushed me to read and when we went on vacations, she would always make my siblings and I take a book with us. Most of the time my book never opened. Reading has always been a tough task for me, although when I am reading something that I enjoy, I tend to like reading. My favorite books are the Chicken Soup for the Souls series.

These Chicken Soup books have all kinds of stories in them about lessons in life. The reason I have become so interested in these books is because of my 8th grade teacher. Everyday my teacher would start class by reading a story from one of his books. I had always had a couple of the books laying around the house from my older sisters, so I began to read them at night when I couldn't sleep. I also bought my sister a Chicken Soup for the Sister Soul, and although she never read it, I did.

I think it is hard to read anything, I think that if you are really interested in a book, then you will have no problem reading. Although, I think that it is hard for a book to interest me so I give Chicken Soup a lot of credit. The stories are true and are problem that people like you and I have faced. It keeps me attached to the book because there are so many different types of stories. I don't get burned out on one story the whole book, there are many small stories.

I advise everyone to try to read these books, I think you will enjoy them. They have stories to accommodate any ones hobbies or life.

Choices

I have never been a good decision maker. Although I did make the best decision to attend the college I chose to attend, in which I am happy with my decision. Right now the decision I have been focusing on is my major. It is never easy to pick something that you plan on doing for the rest of your life.

As of right now I am planning on getting a degree in business/management. I would love to grow up and run a business. Although, I can't say that I am certain that it is something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life. I enjoy communicating with people and can see my self in a position where I talk to people everyday. Of course the thought of coaching volleyball as crossed my mind, but I do not think coaching would be fun for me. It would be hard for me to watch volleyball and not be able to play or help out a team, I think that it would be very frustrating.

My mom is a dietitian and my dad is a financial planner, both my sister and brother have a degree in business and my other brother is studying to be an architect. I wouldn't mind working in a bank like my sister and brother did, but I do think that it may become boring after a couple years.

Choosing a major is no an easy thing to do, and I give a lot of credit to the people that get lucky enough to stick with their major and love what they do. I would always ask my dad if he like what he does and his response was always, "I don't necessarily love what I do, but I like what it allows me to do". Which is a good point, people say that it is hard to find a job well liked, that pays well but if you enjoy what the job lets you do, then it will be worth everything you put into it.

Movie Time

I very rarely make it to the movie theatre's often, although, I recently went to see a movie with one of my good friends. We actually went to the theatre to see, He's Just Not That into You, but considering it was its first night showing, the tickets were sold out. So we ended up seeing Taken. I'm not one that enjoys scary movies, so I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. The movie was intense but has become one of my favorites. The title made me get the impression that it was scary but it wasn't.

I have never really liked watching action movies. I tend to stick to the sport movies and "chick flicks". One of my favorite movies is Miracle. I have loved that movie from the time it came out. My brothers were both hockey players, my sister and I went to most of their games and enjoyed following the team to their tournaments. I think hockey is a fun sport to watch! The movie, Miracle, is a very inspirational story about a hockey team and their struggles to success.

Another one of my favorite movies is called, Dreamer. It is about horse racing, and a father and daughter with a dream that their injured horse will someday race again. Like Miracle, this story has similar struggles and determination.

This last movie that is probably my most favorite is Made of Honor. About a boy and a girl that have always been close friends, but when the girl is gone on a long trip, he realizes he loves her. When she gets back, he can't wait to tell her but is surprised at the fact that she brought home a fiance.

Throughout the rest of the movie he is trying to prove to her that he is the right man for her.I enjoy watching movies, although I don't watch them often. It is hard to find time to watch a movie, because when I am not playing volleyball or doing homework, I am probably sleeping.

I MISS

I miss high school. There are so many thing that I miss that I never thought I would. One of them being leaving the school. I went to a pretty big high school and after school there would be kids playing football in the parking lot or just standing around talking. My sister and me were never really on time to school so we would have to park in the lot furthest from the building. Classes were never really too hard, and by senior year, we were known well enough that we were trusted by most of the school staff.

In volleyball I miss the games, my position, and practices. The games were awesome! Although we never really had many fans, the people that meant the most to me were always there. I played a different position than I do now, and I really liked that position, although I am also happy where I am playing now. I was an outside hitter, I never really focused on placing the ball I just went up hand hit with all my power. There were two games that I always looked forward to, our arch rival and the school where one of my good friends played. Many fans showed up to the game when we played our rival school, so that was probably the game I looked forward to the most.

Sense my closest friends were teammates, I was always was excited for practice. Although at times practice was tough, it was nothing compared to now. The girls on my high school team were the girls I had the most fun with. Whether it was going to a football game together or waking up for 6:30 am workouts, we were a great bunch of girls that could have fun no matter what!

Another thing I miss from high school, is not having to worry about so many things. Yes, there was school and volleyball that I worried about, but that is nothing compared to what I worry about now. Days would be fun, seeing my friends at school, going to practice, and driving home. Never wondering what I will make or buy for dinner because my mom would always have a nice cooked meal at home waiting for me. It is hard for me to accept that I am not in high school anymore and it makes me sad to think about it.

Those are more of the drastic things I miss. I mean of course I miss my house, my bed, and my truck. I pretty much miss everything from home. When this topic comes up with friends they are always so confused as to why I miss high school so much. I don't really know why I do, and many people say that college is supposed to be the best years of your life, but it will be, I just don't think I have fully adjusted yet. I'm still not sure how long it takes to adjust to being on "my own" but I'm sure it will come someday, just hopefully not too late.

Vacation

Spring Break 08, would have to be my favorite vacation EVER! This trip consisted of me, my sister, my parents, and my friends Abby, Ashley, and Sara. Oh, and the beach of course. The vacation began in our good ole hometown, where we drove to a nearby airport. The plane took off around 8:30 in the morning which put us in Florida around 11.

The first day was spent at the beach, it was very windy, blowing sand in our mouth and eyes. The next day we were smarter and layed at the pool, which is where we ended up for the rest for the break. We had friends that came to visit us and spend the day at our condo. We designated one of the days to go to Disney World, where we met two other friends from our high school. It was fun to spend time with them, and we enjoyed going on the rides.

At night we would catch a bus into town and spend time in shops and resturants. One of the nights after the girls and I finished getting ready to go out, we walked outside and it started pooring down rain. There was absolutely no reason for us to get ready to go out because the moment we had stepped outside we were drenched. We still decided to wait for the bus, which ended up never coming. As we waited, one of our high school friends drove by heading in the direction we wanted to, so we called him and he gave us a ride. I know, crazy that a high school friend would randomly drive by on the same island we were on. But its not that unusual, I went to a very big high school, and for spring break, most of the kids when to a relatively similar destination.I don't remember how we got home that night, Im guessing my parents came to get us, because the walk would be way too long.

The last day of vacation was sad, like they always are. We hated the thought of leaving all our fun to go back to the cold weather and school, but we will carry the memories with us forever. I am looking forward to spring break '09, about 2 weeks, but until one can top '08, it will continue to be known as the best spring break ever!

Forever

As I grow up and become older, volleyball seems to take on a larger role in my life. In high school every weekend would be spent on the road with my parents, traveling to different states for tournaments. This is why most of my friends were my teammates. In high school my closest friends were on the team with me. During winter and spring, off season, I played club volleyball. Most of the girls on my club team were very close to me, although I didn't get to spend much time with them outside volleyball, because of the miles between us.

Three of my closest friends were on my high school team. We had the best times and spend almost every weekend together. During the off season my senior year I played on club team that didn't travel as much, which gave me a chance to spend more time at home on the weekends. Abby and Ashley lived down the road from me, they were about 3 miles away, which is close and considered a neighbor when you live in the country. My other close friend was Ali. She was a year older than me and ended up going to a school in North Carolina to play volleyball. The other two are a year younger than me and are seniors in high school now. When I go home I try to spend as much time with them as possible, although it is hard to find time to see everyone when I am only home for a weekend.

Katie is a friend that was never a volleyball player, she was a cheerleader. We have been friends since preschool but went to different elementary schools and met again in middle school. She and I attend the same college and still hang out. Sometimes it is hard to find time with our different schedules but we usually try to go to lunch together once a week.

Most of my friends have been my teammates, with an exception of one. Of course I have friends outside of my sport, but my teammates are the girls I spend most of my time with, it’s hard not to consider them my closest friends and practically part of my family. It was hard for me to get used to being away from my family, as well as it probably is for many. But I consider myself lucky to have a team that was my family from the day I stepped on campus. My roommate is probably one of the closest friends I have made here at college. We have learned so much about each other, and have been placed in many of the same situations being on the same team and coming from homes that were fairly alike.

I have learned that while transitioning into college, you have to be careful with who you trust. There will be people you will meet and think to yourself, "wow, I think I just found my new best friend!" and the next thing you know is that they are nothing like what you though they would be. College has such a large variety of people and finding one that could be your close friend is hard sometimes. Especially, when you leave home and the friends have spent the last years of your life becoming close to. But as time goes on, I have learned more about this school and myself. I have also realized that life changes frequently and it take time to get used to a change.

Live Life

The alarm clock usually goes off around 7:40 am, unless it is Friday morning and the lucky girl I am, I get up at 5am for morning workouts. On a typical day, Monday through Thursday I wake up, go eat with my roommate, or grab breakfast "on the go", from our dinning court. Then I am off to class. Depending on what day of the week it is I have from 2 to 4 classes a day, then usually grab lunch from "on the go", again. After all my classes are finished, which is usually around 1:20, it is time for my nap. My roommate thinks I sleep too much, but for the amount of time I spend in school, working out, or at volleyball, I think my sleeping habits are just fine. I usually will get a 45 minute nap in. Then I will head off to practice. I usually walk to practice getting mentally ready for the workout.

Sense volleyball is a fall sport, we are in the off season right now, which means we spend most of the time lifting, running, and perfecting the little details of our play. I am a back row player, also referred to as a D.S. which is short for a defensive specialist. This is my first year playing this position, so I have to concentrate very much to catch up for the time lost playing the other positions. I have played almost all positions in my volleyball career so far, starting off as a setter until sophomore year, then switching to an outside hitter, and now being a back court player.

When I get to the locker room, I get ready for practice then head up to the gym. We mostly work on passing and sometimes serving , but passing is our focus. After our practice, the hitters head up for their practice. All of the practices are finished by 4:45, and we go meet with our strength and conditioning coach for lifting or agility's. That usually last about an hour, then practice is over. Most players then go to the training room for ice bags or an ice bath.

Dinner is around 6:30, so we eat, then go to study table, which is a room in which we need to spend 7 hours studying there. I usually try to get my hours finished early in the week so I do not have to worry about them all week. I usually get back to the dorm around 9:30 or 10, depending on the day. My intention is to get to bed early, but that doesn't happen very often although my roommate and me are most likely sleeping by 12:30.

Country Livin'

Growing up in the country, I have always listened to country music. I have grown to love the music and if one were to go through my ipod, 95% of it would be country. Many people do not enjoy listening to my kind of music, for some reason. As a child riding in the car with my parents, I have always felt more comfortable listening to the music that would be playing on the country stations. I don't know why I would feel comfortable, maybe it was because the songs were less "dirty". Many people tell me that country songs are too sad, but the truth is that they are sad, but they are true. But there are also happy songs too.

My favorite song, at this moment, is called "Cowgirls Don't Cry" by Brooks and Dunn. It is about a girl that received a pony from her father at a young age and he continues to tell her that cowgirls don't cry. As the song goes on he repeats the saying to her when her marriage has troubles. The ending is sad, I won't tell you what happens but it has a good message to it. Listen to it!

The artist that I enjoy listening to are Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Kellie Pickler (I saw her in concert), Miranda Lambert, Pat Green, Sarah Evans. My favorite being Kellie and Carrie. I like Kellie a lot because she has short hair, like me, and I like her life story. Carrie Underwood is just as good as they get, she is beautiful and has an awesome voice.

When I came to college, I learned a lot of "Hip-Hop" music, if that's what you call it? In the locker room, we never really play country music to get us pumped up for the games, which I am fine with. I do love country music, but would agree that it is not really pumping up music.

Right now, I have been listening to a lot of music, I am "trying" to make a slide show for my sister, who is planning on getting married in August. I am trying to find the best songs for this slide show! Right now I have a few, but none that really yell out "perfect". Although one of the songs I like is called "It won't be like this for long" by Darius Rucker. Its a good song about a girl growing up. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to help me out!

Volleyball Attack

I have grown up playing volleyball, from 4Th grade until now, my life has been full of sports. In middle school I ran track, played volleyball, club soccer, basketball, and cheerleading (if you consider that a sport). My favorite sports being soccer and volleyball. When I entered high school I had to choose between soccer and volleyball because both sports share the same season. Obviously I choose volleyball. I began to play club volleyball in the off season and high school ball in the fall. I learned more in the off season. The club I played for was about an hour away, so my dad would usually drive my sister and I to practice. Most of the time we would carpool with our good friend and teammate who is now doing an awesome job playing at another BIG 10 school. My club team was pretty talented, we won nationals in 2006 and 2007. All the girls on my team had a scholarship to play in college. During club volleyball we traveled to many states including Utah, Minnesota, California, and Georgia. High school volleyball usually didn't travel very far. We went to state in 2004 and 2006 but never did great when we were there.

The summer of my junior year, after a lot of decision making, I choose to attend college on a volleyball scholarship. When I committed to play volleyball, I also committed myself to play a new position. I was an outside hitter, but because of my height, I was now going to be a back row player. I knew it was going to be a challenge but I was ready. When I first got to school August 7, 2008 our team began pre-season, which is practice 2 times a day for 2 weeks. The season began shortly after that. The season was hard and at times long, but the experience was great. Traveling to all the BIG 10 schools was enjoyable but the games were so exciting. The difference from playing high school volleyball to college volleyball is a million. Not just with practices but games! The fans are awesome and the game is played at a much faster pace. Practices are hard, but worth all the work you put into them.

Perfect Pets

My pets have always been very important to me, as well as they most likely are to anyone else. I grew up on a farm, my dad was never a farmer, but we leased our land to the farmers down the road from us who farmed it for us. I never knew what it would be like to have next door neighbors, because the closest ones we had were almost half a mile down the road.
When my sister and I were about the age of 10, my parents bought us a pony. Our pony was only an inch shorter than a horse, so he was pretty big. His name is Ice and we still have him today. My sister was always into horses more than I was so she began riding Ice, showing him in shows and at the 4-H fair. After about 3 years with Ice, my parents surprised her and bought a horse named gonzo. I showed Ice for a couple years but also showed a couple other horses that were at the barn. In the summer we boarded our horse and pony at a barn about 15 minutes away from our home. We enjoyed boarding because it gave Liz and I a chance to spend more time with the other kids at the barn. My sister and I enjoyed showing at the 4-H fair. It was a hectic week of waking up at 6 AM and going to bed at midnight. When Liz and I entered high school, volleyball tryouts were the same week as fair. I chose not to participate in the fair and just focus on tryouts but Liz wanted to do both, it was very difficult trying to make the schedules work out and after that year she stopped showing at the fair because of the conflict with volleyball, until the summer after our senior year. She was able to show in the fair because volleyball was done. I helped my sister the whole week and she had a great time!

My other pets are dogs, Phoebe, Titus, and Bruiser. Phoebe is the oldest, she is a cockapoo, which is a cocker spaniel and a poodle mixed. Phoebe is always at my moms side and follows her everywhere. Titus is a yellow lab, he such a good dog and loves to stay outside, although we bring him inside when it is really cold out. Bruiser is the smallest and youngest. He is a miniature pincher. We got bruiser on a weekend when my parents were out of town and my oldest sister really wanted a dog, so she bought him. My parents were very upset but now that my oldest sister has moved out of our home, my parents refuse to let her take bruiser.

The most recent pet addition to our family was our cat, Moose. We had a tough time thinking of a name so one day I just called her that and it stuck. I have never really liked cats. When I was younger we used to have many barn cats and one of them bit so ever sense that I have never been able to trust them. Moose has become an exception to me not liking cats. When we first got her we kept her in the basement of our house, just to give her time to grow before we put her outside because our dogs like to play rough with cats. But its been about a year and she still lives in the basement. Of course we don't lock her down there, she comes up when she wants to.

When I left for college, I had no idea how much I would miss my pets, or how important they are to me. I know, of course, they are part of my family, but I never realized how big of a part of my family they are. There are many people in the world that do not have pets, and I'm sure they have their reasons, but when people say a dog is a mans best friend, I know exactly what they mean now!

Double Trouble

In American there is a 3% chance of giving birth to twins, 1 in 33 births; in the year 2000 about 118,916 sets of twins were born. I was blessed to be born with a best friend at my side, my sister! My sister, Liz, was born 3 minutes before me, and we were actually born on my oldest brother’s birthday! He got the greatest birthday gift ever, TWINS! Liz and I were born on a January afternoon in my hometown. As we grew older we did everything together! We had the same friends and spent every day and every night together, it was like living with a best friend. Some people consider me crazy for calling my sister my best friend, but it’s different with twins.

My sister was into horses and loved hobbies like scrap booking and ceramics, while I stuck to sports. Although she played volleyball too, she also enjoyed the other activities. When the college decision arose, I had made the decision to play volleyball at a particular school, hoping she would attend the same school as me, but she had other hopes. She chose a college in Kentucky that has always been a dream of mine to attend, she planned not to continue volleyball and focus on school. When she first made the decision to go there, I was positive that she was going to change her mind until the day we both left for college, the first time ever being on our own. She was on her way to Kentucky and I stayed closer to home. The only thing I could hope for now was for her to transfer, but it turns out now that she loves the school and will be staying there for the rest of her college years.


I tried not to pressure her too much into coming to the same school as I, but I really wanted her here with me. Now that she has made the decision to stay, I have learned that it is okay to be apart for once, to make new friends of my own, and to no longer be known as a twin because I know someday we will have that back.

Volleyball kept me busy first semester so I never really had time to think about the changes I have gone through, but when my sister was having trouble getting used to her new home, she would call me almost every night. It was great to talk to her and when I did I realized that being a twin gives a special bond that other sisters will never experience. We know everything about each other and there is no one in the world that knows more about her then I do. I am by no means saying that we do not fight and argue sometimes, but no matter what we stay close. It was hard for her, as well as for all freshmen, to understand who you can trust and who you can't especially when you go to a college six hours away from home. It takes time, and for her about a semester, to feel like you know the people you are surrounded by. I was fortunate enough to have a team that became my friends from the day I stepped on campus.

Family First

Growing up playing sports, I have always been pushed by my father to do the best I can, my mother was always there for the support! I watched all my siblings grow up playing sports, my oldest sister played volleyball and went to a small school in North Carolina to continue playing, my brother played hockey and was on the club team at Purdue University, and my other brother played hockey and soccer in high school but in college concentrated on his major, architecture. My sister and I were committed to volleyball whether it was our high school team or club team, and my parents drove us all over the U.S. for tournaments, games, etc.

Throughout my years of sports my family has always been the people I turn to first. I have always looked to my parents and siblings for advice and as I grow older I learn more about what family means to me. They are the people that you call when you have a bad day or a bad practice, and the people that will be there for you know matter what happens in life.

Volleyball has always been a large part of my life!