Happy Halloween!

I really wanted to dress up as something cute and creative for Halloween, and I wanted it to involve a tutu. I was given only one days notice for my ward's Halloween party however, and I didn't have enough time to create my "dream costume" (haha).  So I was an explorer.

On Halloween, my mom and I went to Old Navy and we found the cutest shirt for Nala.  She hated it.

Here is a video of her; watch her squeeze under the coffee table, haha:

When it rains, it pours...

After two months of searching, I landed a job.  A woman found me on a nannying website and contacted me.  She is a very nice LDS mother of four and her husband is a surgeon.  I was excited to meet her and she hired me on the spot.  She needs me about 8 hours a week, and her children are dolls.

That same day, my mom was sitting at a garage sale with her friend, and a man approached her.  He asked her if she knew a babysitter.  She gave him my contact information, and half an hour later I was meeting him and his family.  They hired me on the spot too.  I started the next evening with them.  The family immigrated from Romania about six years ago and have two young daughters.  Starting out they only need me about 12 hours a week, but towards the end of November, they will need me 25 to 30 hours a week, all in the evenings.

Two days later, I received a call from REI.  They hired me for a part-time Customer Service Position.  I am currently in the middle of the training.  I am really excited about this one.  The other employees are really nice, and this place has some good employee benefits and discounts.

This is the location I work at.

The day after that, the manager from DownEast Outfitters called me.  She offered me a temp job for this week.  A new store is going in, and she needed lots of help setting up the store.  I had no idea how much thought and creativity that goes into starting a store, not to mention the hard work.

I guess "when it rains, it pours."  I feel so blessed for these opportunities I have been given.

Ultramarathon Man

I entered my name into a raffle at the library and won a VIP ticket to see Dean Karnazes, and also gained entrance to the reception before the presentation.  I was totally excited.  I have read his book and seen the documentary that is advertised below.  At the reception, I waited in a long line and finally got the opportunity to take a picture with him.  He's kind of a short guy.

After the reception, Mom and I were waiting for the presentation to start and were taking pictures.  An usher saw us and noticed our VIP tickets.  She showed us to some much closer seats reserved for us.

Dean Karnazes has now written two books.  I have read "Ultramarathon Man."  I have seen the documentary that the other book is based on.  I plan on reading "50/50" once I get ahold of it through the library.

Can I say that the lighting at this presentation was awful.  Dean was in the dark much of the time.  

Now that is a runner.  Running does well for him.

I took some video at the presentation, but it didn't turn out very well.  I mostly liked his spot on the David Letterman show.  You can see it at his webpage.  The video below is also from his website.  Check out the site.  It is pretty cool.

Most of what he talked about was stuff I had read in his book, but it was really cool to see him in person.  He is a very inspirational person who advocates for healthy living.  I would write more about it, but I can't really remember what he said.  I should have brought something to take notes in.

One thing I do remember is:  He had everyone in the audience who had run a race raise their hands.  I ran a one-mile turkey trot race a few years back, so I raised my hand proudly.  Haha!  Then he asked everyone who has run a marathon to stand up.  He proceeded to say that 1/4th of the people in the US have a mental illness, and these must be those people.  Haha!  I thought that was pretty funny.

There have been many people who have inspired me to start running.  Dean Karnazes was one of them.  Also, thank you to Hannah Hopkin, Mindie Wirth, Rochelle Brecek, George and Kamian Gille, Heather Tanner and my mom.

My New Toy!!!

Pretty sweet huh?!  Do you dig it?  This is my new favorite toy...a brand new Buddy 125 Scooter.  I currently drive it illegally because I don't have a motorcycle license.  Shh!  Don't tell.

My dad seems to think that it is his bike...because he was the one who got it.  Whatever.  We know the truth.

Here is the Scooter in action.

Bye Bye

Hi Hi

In truth, my dad got this scooter for free through some reward points from his work.

A snake in the house

I walked out the door to work on finding a job. I realized that I forgot to get a water bottle. When I came into the kitchen I saw a snake, measuring about a foot long. I thought it was really cute, so I called to my mom to come see it. She started jumping around and screaming like a little girl.

She was terrified of it, so afraid that it would bite me or her. I just had to get a picture of it before we somehow got it outside.

I also got a video of it.

From further research, I learned that this little fellow is a baby rattlesnake. And now he is growing up in my backyard. I should have thought this through. Haha!

Who knew jogging could be dangerous...

Monday, September 28, 2009 7:00 AM (Approximate Time)

I was on a run with my mom and her friend.  They were both 20-40 feet behind me.  We were running up a hill just past the middle school, past the park and past the water retention basin turned into a field.  That was several feet below us down a steep rocky hill.

I saw a woman in her blue car drifting over the center lane coming around a turn.  And then I noticed she was slumped over her wheel, appearing unconscious.  Headed the opposite direction (the same direction I was jogging) was a woman in her truck.  She noticed the blue car headed directly towards her and started to honk to alert the other driver.  This was to no avail.  To avoid a head-on collision, the woman in the truck swerved into the bike lane.  The blue car hit the truck's back fender and continued on up over the curb.

I was standing 10 feet away from collision as it happened.  The crash left me dumbstruck.  I stood there and just stared.  The blue car was headed towards me.  My mom yelled, "MEGAN, RUN!"  I pivoted in place and started to take off down the rocky hill towards the water retention park.  The blue car was still close behind me.  My mom watched in horror as the blue car was headed right towards me, as if it were following me.  "RUN THIS WAY!" Mom shouted.  I changed direction and ran over towards the side walk, a right angle direction away from the direction the blue car was heading.  The blue car continued on down the rocky hill into the park and finally came to a stop.

My mom and her friend chased the blue car down the hill to help the driver.  She was unconscious still when they got down to her.  The airbag had deployed and the woman had received a minor cut on her lip from it.  This was the only injury from either women.  I believe this to be a miracle based on what had occurred.  When the woman in the blue car came to, she was very disoriented and claimed that she was not driving.

I called 911 as the blue car was still heading down the hill.  There were some other witnesses that were horrified at what they had seen.  The rushed over to me to make sure that I was okay.  There were surprised at how calm I was despite what could have happened to me.  It wasn't until about 15 minutes after the accident that I came back down to earth and realized what had happened and what could have happened.  I shook and cried.

I am very grateful to Heavenly Father for keeping me safe.

From couch to 5k

I know a lot of people who have been running races.  I used to be a runner in high school and my first couple years in college, and ran between 1-6 miles a day, but for me it was a chore, not really something that I enjoyed.  Through some research online, I learned that I had probably pushed myself to run too fast or too far.  I wouldn't doubt it.  It wasn't about the joy of being active and moving my body.  It was more about burning calories and staying thin.  In my opinion, that is the wrong reason.  I wasn't trying to be healthy.

Seeing all these people I know run races, I became interested in doing one myself.  I want to get back into running the healthy way, a way that works for me.  I searched the internet looking for a training program to help me prepare for a race.  I found the perfect one... "From couch to 5k."  It is designed for people who don't run, and since I haven't gone running in a couple of years, I would fit into that none runners category.  I liked how it eased people into running without overdoing it.  This one is 9 weeks.  After picking a training schedule, I searched the net for a race.  I picked the Turkey Trot: Six tunnels to Hoover Dam in Boulder City, NV.  It is on Thanksgiving morning, and only 20 miles away from my house.  There was another race in Las Vegas on the same day, but the one in Boulder City seemed a lot more interesting.  Instead of running around an outlet mall, I will be running next to Lake Mead.  I prefer fresh air.

 

I introduced the idea to my family and to my great pleasure, Amber, Jason and Perry are going to run it with me.  I am so excited.  I bought some new running shoes to get me pumped.  

Sabrina's (Cousin) Wedding in Seattle

This is the most recent photo with my whole family.  Taken at Sabrina's Wedding.

(Jason, Amber, Trey, Blake, Me, Mom, Dad, Rachel, Perry)

Rachel and Perry Stotts.  You can really see her prego belly.  Baby!  I am so excited for her.  In this photo she is 17-1/2 weeks.

Trey, my nephew, on the dance floor.  It is so cute.  Almost every time he hears music, he has to boogie.  He is a little stud.  

I think we are doing the macarena.

Blake, Dad and Trey.  It was really great to spend sometime with Blake on this trip.  I haven't had quality time with him in several months.  I love my brother so much.  

Amber, Trey and Jason Hall

Me and the big man.  Aunt Penny is trying to slouch out of the picture.  Haha!

I am so happy to be holding Trey.  He is transitioning from being happy too, to wanting to have someone else hold him.

The "kid" table.  We are hardly kids anymore.

(Tia, Rachel, Perry, John, Rochelle, Me, Jason, Trey, Amber, Blake) 

Rochelle (my cousin) and her boyfriend John

For the tossing of the bouquet, there were only three of us cousin who are not married, me, Tia and Rochelle.  She practically leapt to get the bouquet.  John caught the garter.  What a coincidence.  We'll see what the future brings.  

And finally a photo of the bride and groom.  

Sabrina and Jeff, who are now Mr. and Mrs. Wilz

Chauncy has a boo-boo

I was out in the valley looking for a job.  Sitting at a stop light, I saw a car in my rear view mirror slam into my precious Mercedez.  I was only a little shaken up.  The man who hit me ran to my car to see if I was okay.  I was.  He admitted to me that he wasn't really paying attention to the road.  Thanks a lot mister.  He suggested that we pull into a parking lot to get off the road.  I was afraid that he was going to drive away and it would be a hit and run.  So, I followed him until he stopped.  The police took their sweet time, and the man decided to tell me his life's history, which was fine.  He seemed really nervous, and I was just feeling inconvenienced.  The man's insurance company has to pay for everything, the damages on my car.  All is good, but Chauncy is hurt.  You could definitely tell whose car was of better quality.  Chauncy is a hunk of steel.  The man's Blazer suffered the brunt of the damages.

The trunk was pushed in.  You can see that the alignment is off.  It won't open now. 

The bumper is bent out away from the body of the car.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but the mirror is broken (the red on the left).

Very dented and the the bumper is falling off because it was pushed too far forward.

There is a silver piece that goes above the wheel.  I need to go back to the scene of the accident to see if if is there.

My mom told me that I may be a magnet for fender-benders at the fault of others.  This is my third accident that wasn't my fault.  

Utah Trip

Both my sisters and their husbands went to Utah.  My parents and I decided to meet them up there for a little vacation.  We stayed with the Waltons and the Westensees.  I quite enjoyed myself.

I know it has been a while since I have written and I apologize. I guess my problem is that I don't know what to write about. I had a successful recital and Graduated with my Bachelors. Woot! Since then, I have been looking for a job. Not so woot.

This is one of my senior portraits I used for my graduation announcements and my recital posters.

The day before my recital, Perry (Rachel's husband) was playing with his bluegrass band at a campout. We went to support him.

The Day of my Recital. My roommates and other friends gave me these lovely flowers.

Uncle Jim

A little snippet from my recital

Hey! She looks like me!

On my Graduation Day with my Yancey Grandparents.

On the big screen

On to a brighter future. I sail away!