I just realized it’s Halloween today.

I mean, I knew today was Halloween all week… but I didn’t really plan for it. I’m so last-minute about everything.

I have been gone all day (6 hour Financial Accounting Saturday class then group meeting) and  I just got home… and it just hit me — little children may be ringing my doorbell for candy tonight. Dammit!

I looked in my pantry. I have dog treats, almonds and a box of cornbread from 2004.

Here’s keeping my fingers crossed that no one shows up.

Now I need to look in my closet for a costume… aaah, just like my pantry there’s mostly items from 2004.

Wish me luck!

It didn’t rain today. But it wasn’t dry, either. It was the kind of moist-walking-in-a-cloud type day that is just the right amount of condensation that doesn’t call for full-on wind-shield wipers… but does warrant a good swipe every so often.

Either way – today was running drills at CrossFit… outside, of course. (I’ve said “ta ta” to treadmills a long time ago)

Therese told me once, ” If it ain’t rainin’, you ain’t trainin’ “

So, we did sprints and worked on pose running skills. I’ve never really understood “pose” running until today. I’m by far no where near an expert – but I’m beginning to understand that I’ve been running the wrong way all my life. No wonder my knees always hurt and I’m soooo slooooow.

So, the WOD was 4 x 800M runs. I got all of mine in about 3:30 more or less. It felt great.

I strongly recommend checking out the videos here on pose running techniques — good for anyone wanting to run the most effective way  – faster, takes less effort and avoid injuries.

Being a badass risk-taker — I did a pretty crazy adventurous thing today…

I decided NOT to put Phizz in the kennel before I left the house this morning.

Mid-way through the day I got a weird gut feeling that prompted me to make a “quick trip” back to Hampstead to check on any destruction that may have incurred during my absence.

I got home — and with caution — sneaked into the house. To my surprise… everything was in-tact. The pillows were not shredded. The furniture looked normal. The already ruined rug still looked ruined – but not any worse than it had when I left the house.

The one weird thing though… was that Phizz had my underwear around her neck.

How?

She’s amazing. I’m not even mad.

So, I fed the dogs, did some last minute homework, put Phizz in the kennel … and then left for my night class.

Around 10pm or so when I got back home – I opened the door to my house and was greeted with a punch in the face. Not a physical punch – but the all-knowing punch of shit — the smell of dog shit that comes at you like a mighty fist balled up coming straight towards your nose… and then double-backs to karate chop your gag reflexes.

There Phizz was, standing in her kennel, covered in shit.

As crazy as she is… this incident has never occurred. My underwear from earlier must have made her sick to her stomach, poor thing!

So – I’ll skim over the details of my evening. It involved handling a dog that weighs just about as much as I do. Gagging. Hugging her in the shower as we washed shit off of ourselves. Crying. Gagging. Picking the heavy kennel up and chucking it outside — I hope it rains tomorrow. Swiffering the floor. Febreezing the hell out of everything. A glass of wine and a Xanax.

G’night.

Have you ever found yourself at the check-out counter buying some of the most random combination of items? If you’re like me, you do a quick eye sweep to the person behind you to see if they’re looking at your conveyor belt of oddities with judgment.

It reminds me of this joke I heard once:

A girl was checking out at the grocery store. She was buying a half dozen of eggs, a small pint of ice cream, a TV dinner and a half gallon of milk.

The cashier asked the girl, “So, you must be single?”

The girl curtly responded, “Is it that obvious from my purchases? How can you tell?”

And the cashier said, “Because you’re ugly.”

I remember when I was a teenager the most dreadful thing to do was to go to Walgreens and buy tampons. When that’s the only item you’re buying… you know that they know… The worst is when you have to buy tampons at the airport. That’s how they can charge you $10 for 4 tampons… It’s like upping the price of gas during a hurricane.

So, I’m at Target today and as I was loading up my items I giggled at being the ultimate consumer. I had a Hang-on-the-door-frame pull-up bar, Make-up with SPF, a tooth brush with a special polishing stone for extra whiteness and two dog toys.

Now, that’s not too bad. I remember one time Nate and I were at Food Lion buying a bottle of champagne, condoms and whipped cream. And although it looked like we were about to have a hot freaky evening – none of the items actually had anything to do with each other.

It’s times like these when you just want to get the hell out of store… and that’s when the cashier stops you and asks reallll slooooowly, “Would you like to donate a dollar to retarded children?” and you respond, “Yes!” and then they rip off a little hot air balloon thing and say reallll slooooowly, “Put your name on here with this marker.” Great, so now all the people behind us in line think to themselves, “Well, those folks are freaky, but they are generous!”

I had an awkward moment as Costco the other day (buying almonds for several people who put orders in) when the cashier candidly said, “You sure like nuts!”

Yes, yes I do.

Aah well… I’m not as self conscious as I used to be… but if I could just hear people’s inner thoughts… I’d have a lot more fodder for this blog.

I’m just sore.

My right knee feels crooked. My back and shoulders ache. I feel a mild pain every time I move my body. My heart even hurts.

But to avoid school work and dealing with other life issues… I went to the gym despite my body saying, “let’s rest, biatch.”

The workout included rowing and 75# push presses.

I think I cried a little.

Now I’m sitting here, aching, and using these last few minutes to avoid doing homework.

For the future: Should a badass push through the pain or take a rest?

Had internet/computer problems for yesterday’s Day 104 Badass Journey post. Here it is:

Today the WOD was “Cindy!” My favorite workout!

Goal: Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

I got a Personal Record of 19 rounds! I’m learning a faster kipping pull-up, so that helped increase my speed.

Then I went straight from the gym to school to get prepared for the class tonight. Don’t worry, I put perfume on. And it was raining today… so the sweat just looked like rain water that strategically poured on my hair, back and armpits.

I ripped another blister from the pull-ups, so that gave me something to pick at while the professor went over the beauty of balance sheets and income statements.

Now. Exhausted.

G’night!

I worked my brain all weekend.

I read a couple of chapters out of my macroeconomics book. I felt so dumb that I started asking Phizz for help.

Phizz Bitch. You're not allowed on the couch. And... do you know anything about the Federal Reserve's policy and functions for macroeconomics?

I read a couple of chapters out of my financial accounting book. Usually I’d hate this type of reading, but I actually enjoyed it for two reasons  1) the book was $212 and it felt like I was getting a dollar worth of knowledge with every page I read. 2) Compared to macroeconomics, this was the most exciting shit I’ve seen all week.

I got to take a “brawn” break to do a team WOD. My partner was Chris Montgomery. We did partner sit-ups, partner wall-balls, double-unders, pull-ups, sprints, push-ups, box jumps and medicine ball tosses. The hardest part was round 3 (there were 10 rounds total) when everything started getting sweaty. Throwing a sweaty ball around ain’t easy!

Our gym is clean, we always use Lysol to wipe our sweaty balls after each workout

More work to do – but tonight… I shall rest.

My BadassDar went off when I met Micah Vandegrift.

Since I’m failing everyday at becoming badass… it’s about time that I start highlighting people who actually ARE on a successful journey.

Requirements – You must be at least one of the following to make my badassdar go off:
a) you’re edgy or ahead of the curve in a certain industry or part of the country
b) must have a unique charisma and positive energy about you
c) you’re clever and rarely find yourself saying, “I’m bored.”
d) you take on challenges and push yourself to the limit (mentally or physically)
e) you’re confident but know you must rely on a higher power to achieve anything in life

Reasons Micah pretty freakin’ cool:

1. He’s married to one of my best friends on the whole planet: Abby Dunning Vandegrift. She’s amazing on so many levels – I’ll have to profile her soon, too.

Abby and Micah

2. He Crossfits and is a main driver to the success of Father Andrew’s Hot Body Gym in Tallahassee, FL

3. Micah blogs for both his gym and on his own website. You’ll realize in 4 seconds that he’s way smart.

4. He experiments with his facial hair. In may he grows a mustache  (competitively). In the winter he grows an Amish-style beard.

5. He has a masters in something so cool and unique that I can’t even explain it. It has something to do with the psychology of music, I think?

6. He has tattoos and rides a motorcycle.

So, Micah Vandegrift shall be deemed badass (per TStorm).

My friend Mary inspired me to dig up some old pics to show how far I’ve come on the badass journey. Seems like as good of a time as any — it’s day 100 for goodness sake!

Here is the email I sent a handful of friends on October 18, 2006

The "package" cover for the one-size-fits-all Wonder Woman costume

Please, do not forward this on.

love,
Thera”

Just need a couple of feet in height and size D breasts and watch out Halloweeners!

So… that was 3 years ago.

Um… look how far I’ve come??

Can you believe there was once a time that I thought this was pretty?

"model thin"

I absorbed the mass media’s depiction of beautiful women – the air-brushed images of celebrities inundating magazines, television shows and movies left me feeling inadequate rather than entertained.

In an effort to achieve that look, I joined a local gym. I weighed myself after every workout. I didn’t understand why I was not seeing immediate physical results after being on the treadmill for an hour. I was getting frustrated.

I tried different diets. Out of insecurity and a lack of understanding of fitness — I did some really dumb things to my body.

With extreme reservations, I joined CrossFit Coastal (I was so intimidated!). Surprisingly, the workouts were scaled to my level of fitness. I didn’t want to come in last during the class workouts, so I really pushed myself. It was hard. It was damn hard! I still came in last – so I kept coming back. I showed up and I didn’t quit.

It was then that I thought… I want to be a badass.

A year of CrossFitting has passed… and it’s been 99 days since I started my journey to badassdom.

Now I jump on the scale for different reasons.
Like, “Wow! I must have lost a pound from that massive dump!” Or, I see how much I weigh before trying a bodyweight back squat at the gym. I blog about my adventures – most of which I fail at becoming badass – but life is too hilarious to be taken so freakin’ seriously all the time.

I see a Cosmo magazine and instead of wanting to look like the cover model I think to myself, “I wonder if that ho can do pullups?”

I see a picture like the one that was taken of me today – and rather than cringe at the size of my thighs, I give myself a hearty slap on the ass. I say to TStorm, “Go girl! You’re building muscles that are making you fit for life. You may never be a superhero or a badass – but you’re doing things right.”

So, lately, when I second-guess myself at the narcissistic approach the blog has taken on… (I mean, let’s be real – I’m dedicating a blog to myself… how ego-driven is that???!) I remember where I’ve been, what I used to think, how I used to act, what I used to wear, how I interacted with new people, how I got stressed in frustrating situations… and that’s when I stop and take a moment to celebrate this journey. A journey of commitment and looking at things differently. Being proud of myself and the amazing people in my life. We’ve earned the right to show off a little, right?

So, Nicole Richie, when your baby runs out into a busy Manhattan street — Before you can take your stilettos off I’ll be the one that sprints in front of oncoming traffic, clean and jerks that baby overhead and then wall balls the brat back over to you…

I got a letter from dear hubby yesterday. He said, “I can’t wait to get back home to our clean house. It’s so cramped here in this little space on the ship. I love how we never have clutter in our home…you keep it so nice and clean.”

Little does he know…

I keep getting letters about FHA Loans... is that junk mail? or am I about to lose my house?

So I took the time to finally go through our mail. It’s not just a wife duty… it’s a life duty. Like paying bills. Most of the bills are auto-pay… but a few… oopsie…

I’ll call my credit card company and have this conversation: “Yes, um, I was late paying my bill because… I was too busy being a badass…”

____

So, I took the day off from the gym today. I did 3 days on with the last day being the WOD “Daniel.” Daniel is 50 pull-ups, 400M run, 21 65# thrusters, 800M run, 21 thrusters, 400M run, 50 pull-ups. What a great workout! I did it in about 25 minutes. I definitely ripped my hand again on the first set of pull-ups which sucked.

TStorm, that bar ain't gonna thrust itself!

I’m also working on my muscle-ups… I took a break from them for a while because I was getting so frustrated. I hope I get one by the time Nate comes home. That would be awesome… I mean… badass.

Nellis flew out at dark-o’clock this morning. It was an awesome visit. She keeps it real. I think she keeps a stack of bullshit cards in her pocket. I start talking shit or making excuses and she just whips out the BS card on me. Good friend.

TStorm, Nellis, LDC and Maddie (Right before this pic was taken Debbie asked me if the Martini I ordered her 'tasted good' and I screamed, "No, I ordered you a shit-tasting Martini!"

Surprisingly I did not wake up with a hangover on Saturday morning. I wasn’t even sore from dancing Friday night, either. Thanks to CrossFit, I can drop it like it’s hot air-squat-style at the club now – and no next-day soreness. Sweet.

Saturday morning I was able to make it to the gym and meet some visitors from CrossFit Myrtle Beach. I was also wearing my newest TStorm purchase – lightning bolt socks. They totally gave the illusion of me running faster.

Even Trooper came out from her hiding space to check out the new Storm socks

Then I came home – with a new air of badassness — when I drive up to my house and see (in the daylight) all these freakin’ mushrooms in my yard.

I looked around to all of the other neighbor’s yards… no mushrooms in their yard.

Embarrassing public display of "something's just not right here"

It felt like I had an STD that was on public display to our quaint community. I can just picture the old white people driving by looking for deer-named real estate — seeing my yard and saying, “mmmhmmm… someone’s got the fungus.”

Anyway! That wraps up Saturday and Sunday — I have homework to do. This will be difficult since I haven’t purchased the Financial Accounting book yet…

I also have decided that I’m going to start profiling the badasses I meet in my life. Now that I’ve been on the journey for over 90 days now, my “BadAssDar” is starting to be more aware of the badasses around me. Stay tuned!

What was I thinking?

The label wasn’t enough to warn me that these nuts would be hot going in AND out of my body?

The screaming face should have tipped me off that eating these hott nuts on the way home (without something to drink) was a bad, bad idea

Sorry for the delay in posts… I’ve been busy flaring up my IBS, hanging out with Nellis and going to class.

This semester is going to be super hard. Here’s a picture of my notes. Can you figure out what class I’m taking? Because I can’t.

Will post more later — gotta hang out with my ol’ buddy, Nellis!

AND, Thanks to everyone for all the great feedback on the video about Therese becoming a warrior… it’s been the best anniversary yet.

I finally finished the video about Therese’s journey to Fight Gone Bad IV…

And how appropriate… TODAY marks the 5 year anniversary of the day Therese was injured in Baghdad.

October 14, 2004 to today October 14, 2009

The video tells the story of the deployment, the bombing, the survival, perseverance, the Fight Gone Bad fundraiser for Wounded Warriors, shedding the armor, the workout, Therese embracing her scars and celebrating survival, strength, and beauty.

Rule: Badasses aren’t concerned with looking pretty in pictures.

63# does not warrant that face

Today we worked on weighted pull-ups, cleans, double-unders. It was a skill/form day.

After the skills I challenged Jay to a chest-to-bar pull-up ladder. I would do one, he’d match it. Then we kept going up until one person couldn’t match the number of c2b pull-ups. I ripped my hand on #3.

That's gonna burn in the shower

Boooo. Tim Caso stepped in for me. Then Jay ripped his hands. Then Tim ripped his hands. We were all a mess. Way to end a good skill day…

Now THAT is chest to bar!

Today the CrossFit WOD was the benchmark named “Karen.”

Karen is simply 150 wallballs.

Yay for 150 wallballz

Simply?

It took me just shy of 10 minutes to finish all of them. I think I could have done better if I had eaten today. I did the workout at 7pm with an empty stomach. Damn, Nate – come home! But if he’s here cooking for me, I’ll have to find another excuse… hmmm…

And I’m postponing my straight-edge lifestyle until AFTER my friend Nellis comes to visit. She is my best friend from college… where we met… in… 1998! Her real name is “Faith” but the sign on the door outside of her college dorm room said “Nellis.” So that’s what I called her. She just thought I was trying to be super cool by calling her by her last name…

Turns out, people would say, “Hey There!” to me, too. It took me several days to figure out that the my name on my door as “There” instead of “Thera” – -

So she called me “Hey There!” and I called her “Hey Nellis” — and we’ve been best buddies ever since.

After the presentation on Saturday morning, I took a nap. It was so nice. Our group survived the Thursday night exam, the Industry Analysis paper due Friday and the Marketing Analysis presentation on Saturday… whew – what a week! I was exhausted.

Then I woke up and knew the next thing on my agenda for Saturday – celebrate and get some fun social time in. This would involve drinking and dancing with friends.

The night started out innocent (Maddie and Thera)

We went downtown to TreBenzio’s, Pravda then Odessa. We danced.We drank. We danced.

Why I shouldn't drink

I’m not sure how much alcohol I consumed… but it was enough to make me 1) hump Matt 2) kiss Jenn on the lips 3) eat pizza 4) sleep with Maddie on Matt and Lori’s pull-out couch.

Let’s just say this morning was ROUGH. The over-drinking triggered another migraine so I’ve been sick all day. Not productive at all. Oh, and where’s my car?

I think I’m going to go straight-edge for a while. No drinking. It’s not worth the pain, calories and expense. So, I’m banning alcohol for a while. Micah at FAHBG (Father Andrew’s Hot Body Gym (CrossFit in Tallahassee)) suggested that I go straight edge. I’m going to try it.

The past few days have been insane. Not ultra-badass, just saturated with educationy stuff.

We had a 101 question final Thursday night, a 20 page paper due Friday and then a group presentation on a client’s marketing analysis today (Saturday). I have been practically living on campus.

We made it through the presentation today (only a few critical remarks from professor) and I’m so glad to have a BREAK for a day or two!

Group 8, creatively called "Gr8" = Catherine, Chuck, Justin, Michael, shorty TStorm

I napped like a rock star when I got home.

Now I’m heading out downtown!

Hopefully I’ll wake up in my own bed this morning… haha. Catherine’s been warned, though.

I was walking around my undergrad’s classroom today, picking up their business card assignment when a student reached towards my boob.

She pulled off a little sticker with an “s” on it.

The size sticker.

The most embarrassing part is that the shirt isn’t new. I’ve worn it and washed it twice already.

Nice.

Then she put the sticker in her backpack.

I’m totally going to hook her up with an “A”

Pots, pans, whatever they’re called – I bought some today!

My approach to cooking

I think it is the perfect incentive to have Nate come home and cook for me!

I also got some nuts and dog treats… crucial to keeping my little crew occupied while a significant other is slaving away at the stove. I guess I should have gotten the actual food that will go IN the pan… but at least I’m making a step into the right direction.

Speaking of buying things… I wish I could just pay the professor off for an A. I mean, I go to every class. I’m learning shit. Do I really need to be judged by an exam? I mean, now that my iPhone’s broken, I really do pay attention now.

Obviously paying off a professor is top of mind because I’m in full-on avoidance mode. We have an exam tomorrow night – and I haven’t studied at all yet. What’s my problemmmmm???? Ughhhhh….

I also sucked ass in the workout today.
WOD: Run a mile and a half. 50 high hang snatches (45#). Then run another 1.5 miles.

Question: What do you think about when you run?

I try to curb my hatred of running by saying the Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory Be prayers over and over again in my head. Guess this is the remnants of my Catholic upbringing…. the cheater’s way of saying the Rosary while on-the-go… say enough of these prayers and you kick a poor soul out of Purgatory!

You probably can’t tell these lovely prayers are being said in my head — because my facial expression while running is saying, “I hope a mack truck comes by and puts me out of this misery.”

I got home and found this weird brown thing in my bed today.

I walked up to it, and with caution… picked it up. It was a hard rope, brown thing.

Then, like a badass, I sniffed it.

Shit.

Dried up shit on a rope.

Phizz must have eaten a rope.

Shit it out.

Let it dry in the sun.

Found it later.

Brought it back inside.

And buried it in my down duvet comorter.

I gagged and ran with it pinched in between my fingers straight towards the toilet.

I threw the dried shit on a rope in the toilet.

Gagged some more.

Washed my hands.

And then checked my email.

Today the WOD was “Annie”

Annie is a CrossFit benchmark workout of 50-40-30-20-10 Double-unders and Sit-ups.

Seems easy enough… if you’re good at double-unders. They say if you have trouble getting the jump rope around twice in a single jump – then replace them with tuck-jumps over an ab mat (side to side).

In practicing, I was able to get about 10 double-unders in a row – so I decided to do the WOD as Rx’d.

Of course, immediately when we got started, I could only do about 2 in a row. I was getting so frustrated. I almost set myself on fire — then I realized I was getting bent out of shape – so I calmed myself down and started again. Then I got one double-under and the rope got caught on my shoe again. It was super frustrating. I finally got through the entire workout it in 13 minutes. NOT a gym record by any means.

I did, however, get one hell of  a butt sore. There were 150 sit-ups in all. I felt the burn when I got in the shower later. It’s like a strawberry that oozes out liquidy butt sore gunk and stretches across my butt crack. I seriously want to take a picture to prove it.

After the Annie massacre, I got to redeem myself by doing 28 pull-ups in a row. Personal Record.

Well I have a lot of work to do tonight! Gotta run!

You think Vaseline will help butt sore? Powder? Chalk? Some TLC? ugghhh

Day 82 – Sunday.

A day to honor the Sabbath and rest. Which means I should have been productive all of the other days this past week… instead of waking up downtown and playing at the beach, right?

hmmm.

Day 81 – woke up after 15+ hours of sleep. Still felt like crap. Still had headache.

Zeke called to tell me I better be at CrossFit Coastal’s Beach Day WOD. He said the workout was going to be an epic Viking battle.

I groaned.

I made myself go. I didn’t want to. The thought of any cardio exertion made my head start to pound again.

I got to Brooke and Jeff’s Barbie’s Beach Malibu Mansion house at Wrightsville Beach just a little late. I can’t lie – it was an absolutely perfect day – not a day to bitch about a headache and stay inside… The scene of the house, the people – it was all very beautiful. It definitely made me miss Nate… something he’d really enjoy.

Zeke told me I’d “sweat the headache out” — which made me roll my eyes and sigh at him.

We all did the workout… and my headache went away.

I hate when he’s right!

The workout was simulating a battle – so it included running through the water, running with sledge hammers, doing sledge hammer swings, push-ups, sit-ups and then a wounded-person carry to the finish line. My team was Siobhan and Shelby. It was pretty badass. (Pics probably coming soon on CFC’s website)

Then we ate. I stayed away from the carbs and the beer. I didn’t want to be sick anymore.

The best part about Friday’s migraine was that I lost a pound or two and my abs looked decent.

Top Vikings

The Beach WOD was perfect… except that it was really hard to chat with my friend Tricia who was there. You see, that night there was a big surprise birthday party for her… the big 3-0!  Everyone at the workout knew about the party (except Tricia) and every time I saw her I kept wanting to say, “I’m so excited about your surprise birthday party tonight!”

So I left to avoid her and start getting ready.

One of my CrossFitting buddies, Matt Merrill, came over to my house early so we could take one vehicle to Tricia’s party. He drove Nate’s truck! You don’t understand… it is part of my wifely duties to start Nate’s truck every so often to make sure it’s still running, the tires don’t get flat sitting on the same spot, etc. For some reason, I ALWAYS forget to do this.

Thank God it started right up and drove like a dream! Thanks Matt!

The surprise party was a blast!

Birthday girl Tricia and Jaime (sans Maddie)

Elizabeth and Nico did a great job with the surprise party. They even had a beer-tasting contest. I failed miserably. I was in awe of my friend Kate, though. Home girl would take a sip and with confidence write the beer name down on the list. She got 6/7 right! I have a sample of her tasting on video – it’s hilarious and creepy – she was that good.

Then… you’d think my badass day was over… nope!

MikeMiller insisted I meet his girlfriend Brittany – who wanted to go to the beach bars that night. So, out I went again – back to the beach. To drink and dance. Brittany totally got the TStorm-Stamp-of-Approval.

I think I tried to get in a fight at some point (?) A guy did a full-on butt rub. So I grabbed is forehead and pushed him back. Haha – Thera getting in a fight — bad idea.

Then we went to Slice of Life. Mmmm. Pizza at 2am is calorie-less. Did you know that?

Got home and went to bed.

That was my Saturday.

Day 80.

It was a beautiful morning when I woke up downtown.

Here’s the thing…

I don’t live downtown.

I woke up at 7:30 to the sound of my crappy little flip phone’s alarm going off. I sat up and my first thought, “Oh, shit. Where am I?”

I am too old to be waking up in strange places. AND I had gum in my mouth. I wish I could reinact this scene for you. Use your imagination. Girl in black dress wakes up – strange place – and continues chewing gum.

Catherine and Greg decided the night before (after little black dress party) that it was not safe for me to drive home that night – so I stayed at her place. She’s awesome by the way.

I did the walk of shame — a barefoot- jog to my car. I realized in the car that my bra was around my waist.

I got home. Trooper and Phizz were like, “Well, helllllloooo, mama.”

I told them, “I’ll take you to Pups Play and Stay!” They were cool with that.

I got ready quickly and drove back to Wilmington to the mall – right in time for my 10am haircut appt. with Jess at Carmen & Carmen spa upstairs from Belk. I waited outside of the mall with all the old people who are pounding at the doors right at 10am.

Was there an early bird special I wasn't aware of?

Got fabulous…

Then…

the migraine set in.

I had to go and administer a make-up test for some students at 1:30 at UNCW. I loved acting responsible and giving the test – while inside my head thinking, “Dude, I woke up downtown this morning… hahahahha!”

But, alas, the migraine got progressively worse. Damn alcohol. Will I ever learn?

I finally got home at 4pm – and went to sleep at 4:30pm.

I woke a few times to barf. I always puke and puke with migraines.

That, my friends, was my Friday.

Once I explain the past few days… you’ll understand why I haven’t posted in a while.

Day 79 started like any other badass day for me. We gave an exam in my Thursday undergrad class (I’m a TA). After that I stayed on campus and prepared for my MBA class. I even packed an outfit before I left the house that morning- because I knew right after class (9pm) I’d be heading downtown for my buddy Tre’s “Little Black Dress” event. He’s been promoting it for weeks and I said I’d go.

By the time class was over – I was not feeling the going-out-downtown thing anymore. Logistics included having to find a bathroom to change into “my little black dress,” put make up on, eat something, … blah blah…

I knew a badass wouldn’t bail on their friend… but I just wasn’t feelin’ it, ya know? Then my girl Catherine came up to me after class and said that I could get ready for the party at her house – she lived right downtown!

So, I made my way to her cute little historic basement pad. She and her boyfriend Nick fed me. We had a beer. She and I got dressed. I put on a fresh slab of deoderant and we made our way to the Reel Cafe’s rooftop bar.

We were two of the only white girls there.

BADASS.

we stood out as white girls AND Catherine wore green at the "little black dress" event

Let me tell you something about white people — When you’re NOT a minority in everyday life, you feel like a badass when you go somewhere and you ARE one!

We drank a lot.

We tried to dance.

We drank some more.

To be continued….

September flew by.

It began with a package and letter from Nate! (Note how he uses $ for the S in Storm)

Aww, look at my hubby's seriel killer handwriting

Had workouts, better eating, social outings, family visits, fundraisers and lots of laughing in the middle.

Devin was getting pissed at the delay on my camera - 92758294375 pictures - and not one with a bubble!

And ended with:

The unfortunate eyeball loss of Trooper’s baby, Alli-g8er, a gift from Nate. Thanks, Phizz.

The gator can't getcha if it can't see!