So much to be Thankful for...

I will continue my month of Thankfulness here on my blog instead of on facebook...

Day 7: I am thankful that I have a boyfriend who will listen to me complain, and even cry, when I am tired of life.
Day 8: I am thankful for my health. I may not be in the best shape. But I could run a mile. That's more than a lot can day.
Day 9: I am thankful for the junior girls who eat lunch in my room. They make me laugh.
Day 10: I am thankful for new friends. And old ones. And that they can mix together for a night of fun.
Day 11: I am thankful for the Veterans who fought for my freedom. Thank you Grandpa Arensdorf, Grandpa MacDonald, Dad, and Cousins Breck, Mike and Troy.


My grandpa Arensdorf who served in WWII


Day 12: I am thankful that I have found my passion. I can't imagine going through life not knowing if I was doing what I loved or what I was supposed to be doing. I have found my life's calling.
Day 13: I am thankful for the opportunity to give back. I have been blessed beyond measure and I want to share some of it with the world.

Bear I made to send to the Methodist Mission Home in Waco, TX

Day 14: I am thankful for my apartment. It may be small but it is dry and warm.
Day 15: I am thankful for music. And I am thankful that I am able to fill my life with music.

I hope you are keeping track of what you are thankful for this month. And the whole year.

Love Always,
Cynthia

30 Days of Being Thankful...

November is for being thankful and I have much to be thankful for this year. I have so many blessings in my life that I want everyone to know about...but I am REALLY bad about posting stuff on facebook...so, I will post it here. That way if you want to read it, you can. If you don't...well, just close this page now. :)

Here is my list so far...

• Day 1: I am thankful that I have only worked ONE fourteen hour day this year. Not NINE like last year. And I am thankful that November 1st is done.
• Day 2: I am thankful for my awesome co-workers who have turned into friends.
• Day 3: I am thankful for co-workers who will give up their Saturday to work because what we do is important.
• Day 4: I am thankful for my best friend who I am lucky enough to have in my life.
• Day 5: I am thankful for the opportunity to go to school and that I have the means to pay for it. Even if I complain about all the work it takes.
• Day 6: I am thankful that I live in the USA and get to VOTE for my government representatives.

Happy Election Day!

Love Always,
Cynthia

The irony is not lost on me...

It's been a CRAZY past 7 days...

Last weekend Greg and I went to New Braunfels to hang out with one of my friends from college and run a race on Saturday morning. I had been looking forward to this weekend for MONTHS. I was excited about getting away and relaxing for a few days away from Dallas. Unfortunantly, it did not turn out the way we wanted...

Friday started out great. Greg and I got out of town around 10:45am. We got to the outlet mall in San Marcus around 4pm. I was in HEAVEN shopping there and Greg was great about just walking around to whatever store I wanted to go to. He's pretty fantastic.
When we finally got the lake house we were staying at, it was about 6:45pm. We met Evie (my friend from college), her husband Corey, and a couple of Evie's coworkers/friends at the house. They were waiting for us to go over to another one of their co-workers house for a while. We stayed there for a couple hours. We then went back to the lake house had dinner and went to bed.


It was a little cold at the start line on Saturday.

 Unfortunantly, the house where we were staying had dogs (a Golden Retriever) that lived there normally. This was NOT good for me. I am crazy allergic to dogs, which I don't really like to tell people and I try and deny, but when you start sneezing and itching and not being able to breathe, its pretty hard to hide. I didn't sleep well on Friday night, I woke up with a allergy headache AND I was having trouble breathing on Saturday morning. I knew, IF I survived the race, I would be misrable the whole time. But I got ready and went to the race anyways. Greg drove me to the start line and stayed until I started (first time he has done that) but I knew about .5 miles in I wasn't going to make it so I stopped and called Greg in tears. I felt like a failure. Greg was great and just came and picked me up and we went to breakfast. After talking about it with Greg, I decided that I set myself up to fail. If I had trained correctly, if I had been excited about running the race, if he had not been there, if I had slept in my own bed, then I probably would have finished. But I didn't. And that's that. But I have decided I WILL be more prepared for my next half.

After breakfast, we went back to the race to see Hope and Evie finish then went back to the house showered, changed and decided to come back to Dallas a day early. It turned out to be a great decision. We watched TV until late on Saturday and went to the Dallas Museum of Art on Sunday. The weekend turned out to be relaxing anyways...once we got back to Dallas. The irony is not lost on me.

Fun at the Dallas Museum of Art

This week has been full of classes, work, tests, volleyball games, and homecoming hallway decorations. But because I was so relaxed to start with, its been easy. Tonight I am off to the homecoming football game.



Chaos.




It finally came together...around 10pm




Done at 10pm


I am crazy lucky that I have a job that I LOVE and a boy who loves me...



Me and a few of my seniors.

 Life, my friends, is good.
Love Always,
Cynthia

Who knew Fairview had so many hills?

This past Saturday I ran my first half marathon in 7 months, The Showdown Half in Fairview, TX. And there were many differences between this one and the first one. Some were good differences and some were bad...

1. I was definitely less nervous about this one. But I still didn't sleep all that well the night before. I dreamed about forgetting stuff and getting stuck on the course. (neither of which happend, by the way)

2. I was NOT in as good a shape as I was for the Rock 'n Roll one. I didn't train the way I should have and did pretty much none of my mid-week runs. And I only trained to 8 miles. And I felt every bit of my lack of training on pretty much every mile.

3. I carried my own water this time. It was so much better than having to depend on aide stations.

4. Because I didn't train past 8 miles, I miss judged my food. I was crazy hungry by the end of the race. Not good. But definitely a lesson learned.

5. Heidi and I stayed together for most of the race. In the Rock n Roll I went ahaed and finished about 10 minutes ahead of her. Not this time, we finished together. She might have even beat me. But it was good to run together. We pretty much kept each other going.

6. This was a much smaller race. It was easy to get to, easy to park, and easy to grab lunch right after. I LOVED that part of it. Not sure I will ever do a big race again (okay, I MIGHT do another one, I just really liked the size of this one).

7. Greg met me at the end. I loved seeing him at the finish line after I had just ran 13.1 miles AND he gave me a kiss even though I looked gross and I didn't even want to touch me.

8. I finished 30 minutes slower this race. That's not good BUT it has given me motivation to get in more training (and maybe loose a few pounds between now and my New Years Day half)

9. Hills. I hate hills. I pretty much stay away from hills on all training runs and I don't look at elevation maps before races because its never been an issue before BUT I was mistaken this time. Who knew Fairview had so many hills? I do now. Because I ran EVERY. DANG. ONE. of them on Saturday.

Elevation for Showdown Marathon

 And since I was fooled on this race, I thought I would look up the elevation for my next half in two weeks...

Elevation for Chosen Marathon

AND now I am officially scared for the Chosen Marathon in New Braunfels. Maybe I will 'injur' myself between now and then and I can just cheer Evie on rather than have to run it myself? It's not like I get a medal at the end. Hmmm...

I have made the decision to not run the Dallas Half (which I had sort of set my sights on before Saturday) and drop my training all the way back down to 6 miles before training up to a New Years Day Half.

In other news...

I am still in grad school (and beginning to have lots of assignments due)
I am still a high school teacher (and beginning to drown at work)
I am still dating Greg (and it just gets better)
I am still trying to loose weight (this will be a life long struggle)
I am still hanging out with my fantastic friends (although not nearly as often as I would like)

That's all for now...

Love Always,
Cynthia

This Weekend...

Okay, friends, my first half marathon in 7 months is TOMORROW. I am nervous, scared, and really, just praying that I finish. So, please join me in that same prayer. I AM excited about the meal after though.

Here are the statistics for the weekend...

Goal: FINISH

I will write more when it is over. :)

Happy Friday!

-Cynthia

My heart grieves

When a young person dies, my heart grieves. It grieves for memories not made, loves not realized, fun not discovered, and a life not lived completely.

This school year has been like no other. 2.5 weeks ago we lost a senior boy. He was a member of the Varsity football team and was popular around school. I didn't know him but I knew his sister and many of my students knew him and were friends with him. I grieved for him, as the school grieved for him, but I wasn't as affected by it because I didn't notice the absence or quiet in my class that day, or any of the weeks that have followed.

Then, this past weekend, I got the news that one of my own students had committed suicide. A life cut short too soon. A death that could have been prevented. And I ask why.  Why did he think things were so bad that he needed to end his life to escape? Was he looking for attention? Did he really understand what he was doing? I don't think we will ever know. And we are left to question what we did to affect this kid. What was the last thing I said to him during 4th period on Friday? Was he thinking about what he was going to do while sitting in my class doing his work? Did I spend enough time getting to know him and too much time teaching geography? Because when it comes down to it, my job is about people and relationships. Have I invested in my students enough? There are so many questions.

And because I don't have answers, I cry. Because I don't know what else to do, I cry. I can't bring him back and have a chance to help him seek help. I can't make the hurt any less for those he left behind in his classes, in his school and in his life. I can't cure the silence that now haunts my 4th period because they all know he is gone. So, I cry. Life has been put in perspective. And things that used to matter don't matter as much. Is it more important to count calories or just enjoy the company I am with when I eat? Is it more important to get up and work out at the sacrifice of spending time with the people I love the night before?

So many questions. Not enough answers.

So, I cry for two lives lost too soon. And I cry for a group of students who have been confronted with the reality of life in a very real way.

And I pray. For the administrators, counselors, and teachers that work with a school that is grieving. I pray for Jesus to wrap his arms around Creekview HS. I pray for this to make us stronger. I pray for us to be able to seize these teachable moments that have been given to us. But mostly I pray for comfort and peace. For that is what we all need right now.

But I know, at least for the next few weeks, my heart will grieve for two high school boys lost too soon.

Love Always,
Cynthia

The Stats:
# of workouts: 6/7
# of days eating right: 2/7
# of lbs lost (total): 8

One Week Later

Hello Friends!

This past week has been full of ups and downs since my post last week.

Let's first talk about the low points...

Eating. This is always the hardest part for me and again, I didn't eat well this past weekend. There were times that I got so hungry and tired that I just ate whatever I wanted. Not good. I can excercise all I want but if I don't eat right, it doesnt matter. Ugh. Must. Do. Better. This. Weekend.

Working out. I didn't work out Sunday-Tuesday of this week. Must do better on this next week as well.

BUT...there were some high points...

I worked out 6 days in a row last week and was really good on food for 4 of those days.

After my last post, my friend Heidi emailed me and offered to run with me on Saturday (because she is training for the Showdown Half) and I took her up on it! We met at Celebration Park in Allen and put in 8 miles. 8 miles, people! That's huge for me right now. And while it hurt while we were doing it. And we did walk for a bit, I felt good afterwords. No soreness at all. I was on cloud nine all day on Saturday. Well, until I crashed around 10pm while having a conversation with Courtney and Greg. Oh well. It's a good thing they understand.

My friend Evie also contacted me and shared with me that she is in the same place as me mentally preparing for this Half. The 27th should be interesting. But we will survive together.

In other news, Greg and I had a fantastic weekend laying low and just hanging out together. Friday night we went to a local concert in Lewsiville and enjoyed good food and good music. Then on Saturday we just hung out and grilled for dinner. Well, to be real, he grilled and I played on pinterest. Then on Sunday was church, lunch, and a Sunday afternoon nap. My kind of weekend.

I also went over to my friend Courtney's mom's house on Sunday evening for an awesome dinner and good company.

Overall, it was a great weekend for me. I hope it was for you too.

Love Always,
Cynthia

The stats...
# of Workouts: 6/9
# of days eating right: 5/9
# of lbs lost: 4