More things I’m thankful for:

1. Restaurants who offer Unsecured Wireless. No time limit. No sign-in necessary. Your food can suck and I’ll still think you guys rock.

2. Stop lights with left turn arrows. This makes it so easy and brainless. The less I have to think while driving, the better. Green arrow means go. Red arrow means no go – and I have a minute to text someone I love.

3. Little sisters. I’m the oldest, so I am thankful for all of my little sisters. Therese, by 18 minutes. Stacey, by 2.9 years. Devin by 11.5 years. Kayla – Nate’s sis who’s like a sister and friend bound up into one! Heidi, Heather and Nicole – wish we could hang out more often! I love all of you girls so much – I’d do anything for you. And Melissa – you count, too. And Rachel and Kristen. And Abby. And Eleanor. And Maddie. And Sami. Jenn of course. Lindsey! Nellis! Mary! OMG – I am overwhelmed by the beautiful women in my life. Who are all younger – sheesh!

4. Parents. Mama. Daddio & Val. Mama Barbara & Mark. Daddio Storm and Mama Elaine. Grandpa Frentz and Sue. Grandma Frentz. R.I.P Grandma and Grandpa Bouis. Grandma and Grandpa Joy. Grandpa Storm. Grandma and Grandpa Fish. Grandpa Settlemen.You guys have made me who I am today. The good parts, the messed up parts – I credit you! Parents who aren’t related: Randy and Jeanette. Lona Rusk. Lidia and Rolando Martinez. Liliana and Enzo – even though you’re close to my age you’ve always helped guide me.

5. Josh at Pups Play & Stay. Thank you for coming from around the counter to sit in a chair – because you’ve discovered that’s the only way to make Trooper feel comfortable and loved before going to doggie daycare. You give my daughter special attention – and it melts my heart.

6. Wilmington, NC. I love this city.

7. My favorite things: Cheese, cider beer, the color orange, yo mama jokes, puns, Volkswagen Things, Cinnamon discs, laughing, pull-ups, Orbits gum, gerber daisies, funny-named nail polish, lasers, ninjas, pirates, knee socks, sports bras, vibrating mascara, compliments, honesty, Z’s!, the phrase “sure no problem”, the “No Rain” song by Blind Melon, cowboy boots, and YOU – if you are reading this right now… you are my favorite.

Frentz Sisters: Devin, Thera, Preggo Stacey, Therese

Thanksgiving Series Part II: Badass things I’m thankful for:

1. My health.
I am so grateful for all of the abilities I have. Sometimes I bitch about having to run (like today we ran a 5K) but… I was ABLE to run a 5K! I’ve never been seriously injured, I have my feet, arms and legs. I have strong lungs and a pumping heart. Because I am healthy I have the opportunity to explore new things and challenges…like carrying my friend Kevin through a workout.  I hope to never take this for granted.

2. My faith.
You can strip everything away from me. My car, house, husband, puppies… but you can’t take away my faith. And for that, I’m extremely grateful.

I don't know who took this picture... but they caught me flirting with Nate in church

3. My husband.
Captain Nathan Storm. Who is coming home soon!

Rooniez! Supportive, intelligent and indifferent about everyone but meeee.

3. My friends.
I have so many awesome, awesome friends. I’ll be highlighting some as the days go on… but for the moment I want to give a thankful shout out to Jennifer Czechlewski. This woman knows me. She even knows the dark side (I mean, we shared an office the size of a closet for 2 years at Thalian Hall… she knows all!)

TStorm & Beautiful JennCzech. She's kickass mommy, professional and most of all -- friend.

Sam - I did some stalking to find this pic. Sam is strong, honest, an amazing father and doting husband to his wife Tarrah. His leadership is assumed, not assigned.

Matt - his insides are even more attractive than the outsides. He's gentle yet competitive... I mean, he scored Lori -- who's like the most awesome girl EVER.

I’ll close with that!

Good night!

As an ode to Thanksgiving I’m going to take a the next few posts to write about Badass stuff that I’m thankful for.

1. Smiles.
I know it’s a weird thing to be thankful for… but I really appreciate the act of smiling. There’s not enough smiling these days. And an easy smile is a quick fix to make someone much prettier, don’t you think? If you want to meet someone with a killer smile that is genuine and takes your breath away — meet Elizabeth Bailey.

2. Nurses.
Anyone who chooses (or feels chosen, rather) to be a nurse automatically earns my appreciation. Coming from someone who faints during Grey’s Anatomy (no lie) has full respect for people who can have this career. When I was living in San Antonio while Therese was recovering from the bomb blast injuries, I got to meet a lot of nurses. In my eyes, they had angel wings. Matt Merrill, Sarah Lowry, Rachel Pflugradt, Dr. Ed Ricciardelli, Dr. Jenny Neighbors… these are a few beautiful people I know who are in the medical field.

I was at Brooke Army Medical Center the day Denzel Washington came and donated money to the Fisher House! I remember these nurses. They were amazing people.

3. Phizz’s future new mommy
I don’t know who you are yet… but I’m thankful for you. Thank you for taking Phizz off my hands and providing her a life full of digging, jumping fences, running, licking and pooping wherever her little soul-less heart desires!

Phizz as a rescue puppy - spotless, skinny and full of worms. If we only knew...

smiles!

<3 Love!

Licks!

I didn’t have Internet for 3 days… sorry for no posts!

I got new carpet installed in the hizzy Friday morning… so the installer guys had to unplug all the wires, etc. in the office. Which means I would have the task of re-plugging them back in… whenever I felt like it, of course.

So, I didn’t have WIFI for a few days…

Yeah, so new carpet  all over the house. It’s BEAUTIFUL!

Or it was.

Phizz decided new carpet meant that it was time to get sick again. Now beautiful new carpet is stained.
Poop stained Mohawk carpet.

I had 2 full days of a glorious home. Now it’s over.

Stain-free carpet was short-lived

I saw it and did 3 things: 1) cried 2) gagged 3) barfed (sick for many reasons)

I feel like such a fool for getting the house recarpeted. I guess I had more faith in this dog. I was so excited to have Nate come home from his deployment to a clean, fresh home with doting puppies and a muscled wife.

But, no.

The wind has been taken out of my sails once again. I’m a polly-positive idiot who is trying to make everything look perfect when it’s not.

I just waste time, money and energy.

What’s wrong with me that I’m struggling to love this dog unconditionally?
Am I broken?

——–

OK – so not very badass. I apologize. I am honest and live with my heart on my sleeve. Even if it’s a broken and confused heart.

Question:

Loving Phizz is difficult… Which makes me ponder – Do you love something despite it’s flaws? Because you know they need you more than you need them? Hanging on – hoping that your consistency and loyalty changes them?

Or do you love what is easy… a love that has no drama (or blog-fodder?) A love that is clean and pure and simple?

Today was a long day!

My undertards had group presentations today! They were so cute all dressed up and giving awkward powerpoint presentations.

Then I had macroeconomics.

No comment. Well, except that during this class I observed Julia, Dave and Tre play on their iPhones, Paul make origami, Kaitlyn clean out her purse, and my favorite – watched Patti play some kind of eyebrow game with herself – she’s very animated.

Then after class we had our Third Thursday event for the MBA Association. As the social chair, it’s my job to get badass raffle prizes to give away. We had some cool shit this go-round, if I must say so myself. Even a “spa day for your car” with $200 worth of detailing!

The unfortunate thing, however, is that we planned the social to be held at Fox & Hound, which is right outside the movie theatre at Mayfaire….

Duh… The second movie in the Twilight Series had it’s premiere midnight showing TONIGHT!

Crowded!

So, the MBA dorks are tooling around a crowded bar with Team Edward and Team Jacob fans…. a bit awkward… which means… I loved it.

At one point I went to order a Blue Moon… and I accidentally said, “I’ll have a New Moon, please.” and the bartender laughed and went to the tap. He probably figured I was a big fan.

<which… I am>

I didn’t post yesterday… why? I don’t know… frustrated, maybe?

I got into the gym at noon. I wanted to go at 9am… but at 8:30am I was dealing with a neighbor who rang my door bell. I reluctantly answered the door and he greets me with, “Thera, you know I love you…”

Which translates to… “I HATE YOUR DOG.”

He says, “My wife has a lot of elderly visiting all the time… and her friends are afraid to get out of their cars when they see Phizz outside…” As he’s saying this I see Phizz over his shoulder, running around the cul-de-sac, chasing after a car, hopping and licking their driver’s side door window as a terrified grandma drives through our neighborhood at 5 miles an hour.

I almost broke into tears. I apologized and said I’d feel the same way if I were my neighbor.

I’m so frustrated with this dog. She jumps over our fence and terrorizes our neighborhood. She goes out the doggie door, into the backyard, and jumps the fence. I hate not having control! The best way to get her back is to get in my car… and when she sees me drive by she’s like, “Mommmmmy! Take me for  a ride!”

I finally got her back home and had her chew on a busy bone while I searched the Internet for “Where to drop off a stray dog, Wilmington, NC”

I finally settled for search results when googling, “Shock collar for training the most retarded dog on the planet.”

I am not usually into shock-therapy-torture. I can’t imagine ever shocking my little well-behaved Trooper. But Phizz….. oh, I can’t wait to shock the shit out of her! I will press that button so fast every time I say the word “NO” as she jumps up on the fence to escape the yard.

What do you think?

Anyway…

I got to the gym at NOON only to start the warm up… get ready to do the workout… KELLY… the one benchmark I NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FINISH… to have my period and a nice case of diarrhea sneak up on me 1 minute before go time!

Workout of the Day
“Kelly”
Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

Always!

Can’t I have a normal day? One with a solid stool and no need for a tampon??!!

So, I go to the bathroom… discover I need a tampon, get out to have Zeke shout, “Okay everyone, outside! 3-2-1 GO!” I said, “I can’t start just yet… I started my period and I’m pretty sure I just pinched a liquidy loaf that’s not all the way done yet.”

And he said, “GO!”

So, I ran the first 400 M. Got back into the gym. Got my keys. Went to my car. Got a tampon. Went to the bathroom. He’s like, “You’re on the clock!”

And I’m like, “I don’t fucking care! I have to put a tampon in or I’ll bleed all over your gym!”

Okay… Let’s just face it… I turn into psycho hose beast when I’m working out.

Anyway… went to the bathroom… came out… and he said that I could start over again.

Bah humbug.

I started the jog over again. I muscled through the pain of the workout. And I finished.

That’s all I really cared about. Finishing. Since I’ve never been able to get through all 5 rounds before.

I was glad when it was all over… but it was just a frustrating day.

I woke up this morning

looked in the mirror

And discovered that my face was breaking out like a teenager working the fry section at McDonald’s.

I’m almost 30.

Now I have the awesome combination of wrinkles AND acne.

Why?

Maybe it’s because I do CrossFit and then go to class without showering then come home and go to sleep?

add this to the fact that I share a pillow with Phizz and Trooper.

I tried to cover it up with makeup – but this may be adding fuel to the acne fire. I even put lipstick on this morning – but now that just complements the other red-make-up-covered spots.

Hott.

Technically it’s Day 125… even though the day hasn’t really “begun” enough for me to officially report on how badass the day was in hindsight.

But alas, I’m awake and it’s 3:30am.

I just signed on to gmail and my friend HoaLy in Europe (9:30am there) messages me, “Why are you awake?”

My response, “Can’t sleep. Therefor, I eat.”

She asks, “What are you eating?“

Me: “Hot water with a bouillon cube in it.”

She says, “Wow. You’re so disciplined.”

Me: “No, I”m really that lazy.”

So, I finished my “soup” and now I’m feeling a bit sleepy again. I finished grading all of the essays from my undertards’ last exam of the semester. Yes, I call the undergrad students I help teach my “undertards.” It gives me a false sense of seniority and elite-ness.

I just looked in my fridge for something else to eat. Kind of like those commercials when the deathly sick woman wakes up in the middle of the night, goes to her cabinet and discovers a medicine that magically makes her coughing, sneezing, itchy-throat symptoms disappear. Does anyone else call the bullshit card on that? How do you DISCOVER something in YOUR cabinet? Do these people not do their own grocery shopping?

I digress.

I went to the fridge hoping food would magically appear and make my hunger/boredom symptoms go away… and the fridge is still very pitiful. There’s half a can of dogfood and a carton of eggs. The seltzer water from day 1 is still in there, too.

Maybe I’ll do my financial accounting homework. That usually makes me nauseous… which in-turn would keep me from wanting to eat.

Ever since Friday the 13th — things have been off.

I’ve had a nagging headache. It isn’t a migraine… but it wants to be. I keep popping Imitrex, Advil, and Aleve… and the little bitch of a headache is still there.

I haven’t worked out since Death by Pullups. It feels like my back is black and blue. It hurts to the touch. Good thing no one wants to hug me!!

I took a bath (I hardly ever take baths — it forces me to relax) and I finally got to break into the sea salts Nate sent me from Israel. Because I have a complex about relaxing… I brought all the bulk mail that I pushed to the side of the dining room table into the bathroom with me. I proceeded to assess each catalog and magazine and make piles of 1. read soon 2. read later 3. put in the orange bin in the extra bedroom for “my guests” to read 4. trash it

I bought a Nirvana CD.

I painted my nails black.

I went to a dinner party and didn’t tell any off color jokes.

The baby in the room kept me on my best behavior. Maybe I do have a filter!

I not only craved French Toast… but I MADE it… and ATE it. This is totally OUT OF CHARACTER!

I haven’t blogged or checked email in 3 days.

I cleaned my car out.

Hmmm…

I must take my life back. I must reclaim my journey to Mount Badass.

Yes. Done.

This was just a temporary blip.

I’m back and more badass than ever.

Starting tomorrow.

You know that face you make when you smell someone else’s fart?

Or you hear someone barfing?

Or you see someone eating bull testicles on TV?

That face…. the frown-like pursing of the lips, wrinkled nose and watery eyes of disgust…

That’s the face I’m making it right now.

I just pulled about 7 TICKS off of Phizz.

Workout of the Day
With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute… continuing as long as you are able. Use as many sets each minute as needed.

TStorm results:  18!

Zeke swore he was going to beat me — but he didn’t — so I made him buy me lunch afterwards. We went to Sahara’s though… and I’ve had insane gas ever since. Still worth it, though.

I’ll take a day off tomorrow from the gym. I have an exam tomorrow night in MacroEconomics.

I also need to pick out a new carpet color — just in case we need to get the house ready to sell, rent, etc. in the near future. Of course, Phizz should be a part of the decision making process… help me pick out the one that she prefers to destroy…

Aaah, yes, I choose a lighter color... with my ability to shit and pee everywhere, and mommy's love for red wine... this choice of carpet is sure to be the winner!

Today we did the CrossFit Total.

This consists of finding your MAX weight for:
Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Then you total the weights and that’s your score.

I got 505#
165# Back Squat (PR)
85# Shoulder Press
255# DeadLift (PR)

Not too impressive — until Zeke showed me that according to my body weight — I did really well, actually! Since I weigh right under 120# — I actually fall in between Advanced and Elite Athlete.

HOLLLLLAR!

CrossFit Total Rankings Men and Women

The picture of me doing the deadlift is super ugly… so I’ll post a pic of me looking pissed from yesterday’s WOD.

Chalk, sweat and tears = your typical CrossFit WOD

I meant to post about the coolest guy in my MBA program.

Well, there’s lots of cool guys… but this one dude moved way up the scale on badassness the other day.

We were in the middle of going over balance sheets in Financial Accounting class and all of a sudden there was this loud, horrible BANG! sound that came from the back of the room.

Matt Stone, the guy, must have been leaning in his chair a certain way — and basically the post that holds the swivel chair to the table just disintegrated.

The whole class looked back in shock, to find him flat on his back with the broken chair on top of him.

What would you do in this situation?

He screamed, “THIS IS MY NIGHTMARE!!!”

The whole class was laughing as he stood up with the broken chair in his hands.

I couldn’t even laugh. I was in awe of his cleverness at that moment.

He embraced the awkward situation. And he will forever be a badass in my books.

I bet after reading the title of this blog post, you thought to yourself, “Here TStorm goes again… bitching about her period…”

But, alas! No! All clean and dry in that area. I am just sad to see Sunday go. I’m sad to see the weekend go.

A re-cap of the weekend’s goals vs. results:

Goal: Muscle Up
Results: Fail

Goal: To learn how to dance from Rachel Martinez
Results: Embarrassing

Goal: 240# deadlift
Results: Got it, baby!

Goal: 10 double unders (jump rope) in a row
Results: Got it!

Goal: Eating healthy
Results: El Cerro Grande 6pm for dinner after church. Fail.

Goal: Doing Financial Accounting Homework
Results: Procrastinating

Goal: Cleaning house, recycling, cleaning front yard’s pond, getting car inspected, registering for spring classes
Results: Done!

Goal: Clean the kennel Phizz shat in — it’s still in the front yard
Results: Maybe leave that project for Nate — to help him transition back to life here?

Ahh well, you win some you lose some. I mostly lose. And I love it.

The muscle up = The thorn in my side

Today was beautiful.

It was the kind of day that you have to be outside and take advantage of the perfect weather.

Track WOD

A CrossFit crew got together at the UNCW track to do a workout this morning. We were encouraged to bring a friend. I invited my friend Kim along. She said, “I don’t want to… but I will.”

Yes! That is just the kind of badass I like. Someone who takes themselves out of their comfort zone to do something new and different. Nothing too horrible ever comes out of trying new things, right? I mean, even if you hate it… now you know! And knowledge is power!

Kim - Bear Crawling like a champ!

Being outside on a Saturday morning put me a great place… a place of knowing that I never want to spend my life indoors. I want to take advantage of this beautiful world. I want to live every second like it’s my last. I want to embrace life – the ups and downs – and have fun being active. I’m not sure if I want children… but if I do become a mommy – I want to show them how fun life can be without video games, T.V. and indoor laziness.

The thoughts about “living life” made me think about dying, too.

When I die – I don’t want to have regrets.

At the end… I don’t want it to be revealed to me that there were so many things I was capable of doing… that I DIDN’T DO – because of insecurities or FALSE senses of boundaries that never really existed.

What am I capable of?

I won’t know unless I try new things. Take on challenges and give every moment 100%.

Iron Gym and recycling in the background

I never thought I’d be doing pull-ups. It was something that I was NOT capable of… but I got there from trying something new and training. Hard.

What comes next?

A Masters degree. A career. A new business? A 300# deadlift?

Who knows. I just want to put myself out there. No one is paying attention to me — so why let others dictate the new things that I try? So I may fail. Actually, I know I’ll fail. I fail every day. But at least I’m moving towards a goal. And I’m finding the real boundaries of what I’m capable of.

So when I die… I’ll know I took advantage of every beautiful second God gave me.

I’ve avoided taking the recycling out for 6 months.

Today was the day I faced my fears of:
1) navigating through the mess in the garage
2) loading up what felt like 100’s of pounds of glass, plastics, cardboard and newspapers
3) driving Nate’s larger-than-life truck to the recycling center

If you look closely you can see Phizz trying to taste the trash from the inside of the truck.

I survived the trip to the dump….and I didn’t even get stung by a bee!

Big check on the to-do list AND the badass mission for the day: facing my fears of the dump.

I didn’t have time to make it to my gym yesterday (in-between Grad Assistant office hours and my Macroeconomics Class) … so I decided to try out UNCW’s Rec Center to do a CrossFit WOD.

Talk about feeling like a duck out of water.

The thing about CrossFit — is that you don’t realize how different you are until you try doing it in a traditional gym — with cardio machines and freeweights lining up every inch of available floor space.

I even called Tre up … “Plleeeeease come workout with me” — I just didn’t want to do it alone. (He couldn’t make it)

Grabbed this image off internet - imagine blank floor space filled with students

There were some olympic lifting bars, but they were somewhat attached to certain machines. You couldn’t bring the free weights or 45# bars to the carpeted area… There was literally NO SPACE.

I found a bar for pull-ups on the top of a Smith Machine thingy. I was able to grab it as my own, climb up there, do pull-ups, jump off, do some push-ups, then use that space for air squats.

I felt awkward (there were students everywhere and I’m pretty sure they were looking at me pretty funny) … but then I thought to myself, “What would a BadAss do?”
A badass wouldn’t give a fuck!

So, I had a great workout, despite the spacing issues… and made it in time for class!

The workout endorphins kept me from slitting my wrist during the most boring class I’ve ever taken.

Add ironing to the list of domestic things I suck at.

Huge Environmental Analysis presentation to client tonight. Need crisp shirt. One without burn holes from my awesome ironing skillz.

Tuesday my attitude got a little better.

Sorry about the negativity the past few posts. You know it is, yo! It’s a journey. Haven’t reached Destination BadAss yet.

I noticed I haven’t posted any pictures in a while.

Here’s one of me and Kristen at Halloween. I was a cowgirl — because I am cheap and didn’t want to buy anything new. Yes, I already own a flannel shirt.

Tuesday afternoon I showed up to the gym to find that “FRAN” was the workout of the day. Fran is arguably the most famous of all CrossFit workouts. It’s 21-15-9 Thrusters and Pull-ups. Women do 65# thrusters and men do 95# thrusters. For some reason the combo of Thrusters and Pull-ups brings pukie on real fast.

I didn’t puke, but I didn’t do the thrusters straight through, either. I took a lot of breaks… but was still able to beat my last PR by a minute. Total time 8:44. I want to get around 7 minutes one day – that would be awesome.

Not the best form, my back should be more upright with chest up

I’m sure the real-life Fran is a nice woman… but to CrossFitters, she’s a real bitch of a workout.

Day 111 sucked ass.

After the financial accounting exam I wanted to plant a tree. To erase my carbon footprint of WASTING THE EXAM PAPER I turned in.

Blah.

Feeling a bit sad and overwhelmed this evening.

I have 4,749 unread emails. I have dirty dishes in the sink. A meeting with a professor at 9am to go over financial accounting problems I haven’t done yet. A 6am WOD. Three unfinished projects… one due at 6am. Mid-term exam tomorrow night in a subject I don’t understand. A presentation to a client on Wednesday. A weird smell in my house. And a husband who is disappointed in my lack of email communication.

Not very badass.

It will be okay… but in an effort to be open and honest, I must say that at the moment, this little badass is feeling a bit poopy. It’s the ebb and flow of the psychological games I play to stay productive and un-lonely during deployments… Before I realize it, to avoid feeling sorry for myself I have actually avoided paying attention to the one person who needs and deserves it.

I’m consciously aware of my unawareness. Hmmm…

Damn, now it’s up to 4,750 unread emails.