My audacious 30s

Tuesdays. I wake every Tuesday excited to come to work. I absolutely love working at the University. I like my faculty/staff parking pass, my glamorous staff ID badge, and of course-- my exclusive University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Doctor of Education polo shirts....and .not to mention my super official business cards.. I think it makes me feel important. I walk into my office and it feels fresh and full of opportunities. Books, books, books-- everywhere. I want to read them all. Even the ones that have less than exciting titles like Educational Law or Persist and Publish. There must be 200 books in this room. No doubt each of them would add some ribbon strand of intelligence to my cortex, but I am daunted by my less exciting required reading list. I guess we always want what we can't have.
Summer around here is rather quiet. There are few professors in the office and the more "seasoned" GAs are gone this week. I have more or less stared into space (with the occasional check of facebook) for the greater part of the day. I interrupted my trance with a brief nap and an emergency trip to HEB to get some gummy worms. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. So now, I sit waiting for the clock to strike 3, while the real thing on my mind is the severe beating I will be taking today as I emerge at Crossfit after a month off. I could have gone back last week, but I was clever enough to find an excuse every day last week to grant myself one more evening away from the beast. So, today is the day. I cannot remember why Crossfit is fun and addictive. Hopefully, I can somehow make it there today, survive, and ambitiously desire to return tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, Crossfit is pretty amazing when you are in the routine. Once you have to skip a few days, it is like dragging a ball and chain to an execution. I know this is necessary. My clothing keeps shrinking (damn laundry detergent) and I seem to have taken a deep liking to junk food. So....no more junk food starting this morning, with the exception of the many chocolate chips and gum my worms I ate. Those didn't really count because I only ate them to keep me alert and not passing out on the computer keyboard. So I plead to the Crossfit beast....I am willing and will not fight you....take me gently.

Yes, it's true. I am not exactly 30. 33 to be exact. If I had to "hash tag" my last three years, #audacious comes close to summing it up. I am Jacob's wife and mom to two pit-bulls (not the singer), Peyton and Brooklyn, and then there is an evil-possessed cat, Witten the Kitten. I have a complicated family including many siblings and "kinda" siblings, and a variety of parents-- or rather adult patriarchs/matriarchs, including my beautiful creator, God.

I have run two half marathons. The first one was great. I couldn't move for several days, but I finished. I did not train...it actually was not a planned run. I thought I would just run a mile or two and then stroll over the finish line at my leisure. Then, I found out that if it takes you more than 3 hours to cross the finish line, you have to ride the "loser bus" to the finish line. That wasn't going to happen. In that moment (or possibly the painful two days following) when I learned I could do anything. Yes, anything.
I looked back on the 3 major things on my30s bucket list and decided some how I would accomplish them all.
1.) I want to be a runner.
2.) I want to get a Master's degree
3.) I want to learn Spanish
Though I would not consider myself a runner, I felt like 2 half marathons were enough to cross it off my list.
The master's degree was next. I filled out the application and dove in. It was quite the quest. I would not classify myself as smart....just really stubborn. It was on the list, so it had to be done. A challenge to say the least, but I did it. Half way into the program, I decided to dabble into item 3.
Spanish.
It would take way too long to explain the back story of Guatemala, but I am sure I will revisit the topic occasionally during this e- journey. The short version: my kinda sister, Tarah and I spent 3 weeks in Guatemala learning Spanish, experiencing the Central American culture, and hanging out with Oscar, our new life-long amigo. The adventures of Guatemala could take up a whole blog of its own. We commemorated our trip with some memorable "Que Rica" tats. In one word--unforgettable.
Following the Central American adventure, I completed my Master's degree. My sense of accomplishment was quickly overshadowed by the need to take on a new adventure. It felt like the day after Christmas, when you don't quite know what to do with your self. On a whim, I applied to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor for the doctoral program. After being accepted, we decided that I could only take it on if I became the graduate assistant and awarded a full scholarship. As these things were granted, I took on the ultimate adventure and quit my job as a Kindergarten teacher. Which brings me to today....I am a full time doctoral student working part time at the University as a graduate assistant. #futuredrcole This is only an introduction. The good stuff will follow soon. Feel free to visit my other blog Dreams and Faded pictures. http://dreamsandfadedpictures.blogspot.com
It is a collection of a more artistic style writing.
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