Sunday, October 9, 2011

*Celebrating Life of all ages*

Ok, so I haven't been so good at the blogging thing since I haven't posted anything in a month.......BUT I'm going to keep working on it and come to grips with the fact that football season is a REALLY busy time for me and if I can find a few spare minutes......I will do it!

The past few months Jason and I have been to a good amount of birthday celebrations. The youngest and first was for one of my closest friends baby boy Luke! Luke is probably one of the BEST, most behaved, and mild mannered 1 year olds I've ever met (Did I mention the cutest?!?!). What a blessing he is and continues to be for Chuck and Laura Beth in their lives. Jason and I had so much fun celebrating Luke's 1st birthday and are so happy to have the Overby's in our life.
Luke with his mommy and his TWO bday cakes!!

Trying the frosting on his bear cake while making his signature face!

Oh yeah....nice and messy!!

Modeling with his new toy!

If you would have asked me three years ago if I was going to develop a close friendship with one of my co-workers at Northeast Guilford High School, I would have said more than likely not. And I would have said that not because of the people, but mainly because of the endless hours that I worked there.........so when I had an ounce of free time....I wanted NOTHING to do with that school! Two years ago I was in a lateral entry program because although I had my Master's in Education, I did not have my teaching license in North Carolina. On the first day, I noticed that Laura Beth was there as well and she taught at my school. Since we had a commonality between the two of us we sat together and there began the start of our friendship. She is a great person who is very genuine and trustworthy......everything you want in a friend. I have noticed that as you "grow up" you go through so many life experiences and changes and not only is it important to have family and faith, but friends that listen and support you and she fits that mold. A couple weeks after Luke's birthday, it was Laura Beth's! The big 3-0! We decided since we RARELY get it.....that we were going to do a girl's day to celebrate with her. So we left the kiddos and hubby's behind and Laura Beth, Lori, and I went to Childress Vineyards for the day where were had a great lunch......and of course enjoyed the wine tasting :)
Enjoying our wine!


Fitting wine for the day with the "three" of us!

Outside the beautiful vineyards!

We ended up having a blast......which is not really that hard because it was much needed girl time! We all love our husbands (and kids)......but it is so important to maintain your friendships and get a little away time :) It makes you love your family more and get excited to see them again when you come home!

The last birthday we celebrated was our nephew Tucker's 5th birthday. Jason, Momma Smith, and I drove out to Forsyth County for his Dinosaur themed party. Here are a few pictures of the day:

Getting ready to open presents!!

Opening our present of dinosaur books.......

Really cool blanket one of the mom's made him.

The Smith fam: Mike, Lori, Jason, Momma Smith, Tucker, and yours truely :)



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Old friends....new beginnings :)

My best friend since grade school and I have been through so much together!! Soccer, soccer, and more soccer, haunted houses every year for her birthday, sleep overs that I always seemed to get sick at :), being shunned from her house unless Mrs. Reiniger had a seven day notice to make sure the house was spotless, countless time spent at Pittsford Plaza (yuck), 2 am Wegmans runs, railroad tracks in ER, numerous concerts, refereeing, wather authority, and of course the numerous times we got together whenever we came home from college and now.......when I come in town to visit home.

Lindsay is one of those friends that you can go six months without talking too (not by my choice but hers......and she will admit to it) and pick up right where we left off. She knows absolutely everything about me the good and the bad and accepts me for who I am. We have so many awesome memories, probably the most memorable and life changing so far is this past July! Who would've thought that after all of these years, we would get married in our hometown one week apart from each other. I guess that's just par for the course with our friendship and it couldn't have been more perfect :)


When Lindsay and Marc got engaged, Lindsay called me and said that July 16th would be their six year anniversary of dating and they were looking to get married that day. Since Jason and I had already set our date for July 9th, this would've meant that I couldn't attend her wedding because we would be on our honeymoon (which turned out hasn't happened yet!!). I was really disappointed at first because I wanted to be a part of their big day as much as I wanted her to be a part of mine!! They ended up changing their mind and setting their date to July 1st which meant that we could both be at each other's weddings!! What a crazy two weeks that was helping each other out and making sure everything was perfect......and it was for both of us! Lindsay was an absolutely beautiful bride and they were so happy together!
                                                                Getting her hair did!!!
                                      Limo bus after the ceremony.......getting ready to PARTAAAY!!!

                                                              The happy couple :)
                                              Linds.....in my wedding.....before the ceremony!

For twelve years I've been trying to get Lindsay to come down to North Carolina or Georgia to visit me since I moved down south in '99. All of my attempts proved unsuccessful......but there is ONE thing that could entice her to come down here.......and it finally did......BRITNEY SPEARS!! Ok.......so......anyone that knows Lindsay and I whether it is a casual coworker or close friend know about both of us being diehard Britney fans........yes even through all of her troubles! Lindsay and I have been to three of her concerts together and some others on our own......and I was SOOOO excited for her and Marc to come down and visit Jason and I.......even if it had to be a super short trip due to our schedules!! The four of us got to spend a lot of time together in the three days they were here and we had so much fun hiking (sorry J for having to work!!), going to dinner, and of course.....the concert!! Here are some pics of our adventures (and sorry hubbies......while I was posting this I realized we didn't take any pics with you!!)
Hiking at Hanging Rock :)

                                                                     Britney :)

                                                                     Finale!!

                        Of course we had to get a pic with Brit Brit before we left.....haha (yes we are dorks!!)

I am so glad that Lindsay and Marc made the trip down to NC to visit us! Jason and I are so blessed to have such great friends and people in our life.........old and new!! It is so important to have a great support network in addition to our relationship and we are very thankful of that........and of course.......Lindsay and I are both thankful for having hubbies that will go to Britney concerts with us.......haha :)




Saturday, August 20, 2011

It's football season.......AND time to educate everyone on what I really do!!

In January I changed jobs to work for Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Although I am an FMC employee, I work full time at East Forsyth High School. I am the Head Athletic Trainer and cover all sports.....practices and games that occur on campus. No, I'm not a horse trainer or personal trainer, and I don't train employees.....I'm an ATHLETIC trainer. The misconception of what we do and what we are trained to do is something this profession has been battling from the beginning. An athletic trainer must go through an accredited program in college, pass a national certification test to become certified, and then apply for a license if your state requires it. In the past.....especially at the high school level.....anyone would call themselves a "trainer".......chances are they were just a first responder (only required to be CPR and first aid certified) that didn't have near the knowledge and training an ATC does. When I was in college, my professors drilled into our heads to say  "ATHLETIC trainer".......so.....like Pavlov's dogs......I now correct all of my students as  well.......and not until I began working in the high school four years ago did I see why it is so important. There is a huge lack of education to the public as well as some not so specific laws that contribute to all of this. When I meet people and they ask what I do for a living, my response always is "I'm an athletic trainer at East Forsyth High School." Without fail, they come back with "Oh awesome! I need to lose 15 lbs and tone up my arms and legs, can you make up an exercise plan for me??" If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I would be a rich athletic trainer(and there are not many of those)!! Yes, we can do that, but no that's not what we spend the majority of our time doing and I do not work in a gym.

I am the first one to arrive, and the last one to leave.....always(unless coach stays to watch film)........we average 40-60 hours/week. Think about it this way.....when you are watching sports on TV......I'm working! We have to get water ready for hydration and get all of our equipment that we will need that day before the athletes even arrive. Once they come in, the AT room is flooded with athletes needing taping, bracing, cuts and bruises covered, heat, stretch, and numerous other things all before they even step on the field or court. I stand on the sidelines, sit in the dugout or on the bleachers, and wait.......for injuries. Yes, I'm that person that runs out on the field or court when someone gets injured. We are trained to be able to assess the injury and then direct the athlete in the right direction (tape, doctor, etc.). We also rehab the athletes.....although at the high school it's a little limited, but in the college......the first half of the day.....is all rehab. We are trained to do so much more than the public realizes.

In the Triad area, there has been numerous times when the news has done specials on "trainers" and actually interviewed a first responder. Or even worse......there have been two school employees in the area to get arrested for having relations with a student......and of course........on the news.......it said "trainer." In reality.......they were first responders paid by the school system......they do not have a certification or license(yes I searched for them to make sure)........and in fact......it is illegal now to call yourself a "trainer, athletic trainer, etc" unless you have both of those qualifications.

So, the reason why I got on this soap box is because the county I work in is finally starting a huge push to hire athletic trainers at every school AND educate at the same time. I know that this is one county, but hopefully it will become contagious.......and people will learn. Until then, here's a clip from last night's spotlight on Athletic Trainers (and yes, they still only put trainer)........and yours truly was interviewed!!
 Forsyth High School Coaches Praise Presence of Certified Trainers



Enjoy your weekend!! I know I will......it's my first Saturday off :)

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

New to the blogging world!

Ok, so now that Jason and I are married........we have decided (well.....maybe I have decided) that a very easy way to keep all of our friends and family up to date on the happenings in our new life together is to blog. As all of you know, I grew up in Rochester, NY......went to college in Greensboro, NC........moved to Atlanta for four years......AND.....then moved back to Greensboro where I met my wonderful husband :) Since I have lived in so many places and met so many amazing people.......I felt that this was the best way to keep everyone up to date on the exciting and sometimes not so exciting lives of these newlyweds :)

We can't wait to have access to all of our wedding pics.......to let everyone who could and could not attend see what a perfect day it was for us!! As for everything else........stay tuned :)