Introducing Julien!

My beautiful new bike! :) His name is Julien because it reminds me of an orange Julius. Ha! So creative.. ;)
I am a very blessed girl! My love my job, my running is going great (half marathon this weekend! woo woo!!), and my Dad and step-mom bought me this wonderful new road bike! I'm so thankful for all the blessings in my life. Julien gets to be in the house but KronStrong..(my other bike) has to stay in the garage.. haha!

I'll still use my other bike for trips to the grocery store or biking to class, it's my new commuter bike! :) This summer has been amazing so far, It's going to be a wonderful 3 months! I'll update soon.

1Corinthians 4

Paul's Preaching Ministry
1Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4Satan,the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."[b]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

i'm up

I've been awake since 5:22 AM. I tried to go back to sleep but I failed so I watched Kirk Cameron on TBN, drank some coffee, and here am I. Wide awake at 6 AM..with nothing to do.

summer.skin

First day of summer was cloudy, windy, & rainy.
Work starts tomorrow, thank God. I can't take this much free time, my head starts spinning and I have way too much energy. But it did give me some time to reflect on this school year and I'm starting to make some plans for my future. These plans are more like rough ideas.. that are subject to change. We will see, for now I just need to concentrate on this summer. I need to work hard and enjoy the simple joys of being home.

I'm looking forward to chatting with the regular customers at work, long runs in the summer heat, 30 mile bike rides, going for late night walks, speaking Spanish out loud to myself, waking up at 5 am and watching the sunrise as I drink my morning coffee while getting ready for work, yoga on Monday and Wednesday nights, listenin' to Owl City the majority of the day, driving with the sunroof open, starting a bible study, and worshipin' & lovin' my King and Savior Jesus Christ every single day of this beautiful summer. :) The makings of a good summer! I'm going to focus on enjoying every single day and not get too caught up in trying to figure out what direction my life is headed, *Proverbs 3:5*. I'm still going to finish up my undergrad at UWL in Spanish Education, but I'm not exactly sure if that's what I want to do. The field experiences and student teaching will help me decide that.. in the mean time exploring other options. I've got some good ideas, I'm counting on God to either kill them or cultivate them, haha! :)

BUT I am not going to stress about this now.. cause it's saawweeet summertime. OH update on the running: it's painful, heartbreaking, and I've seriously thought about switching to road biking for awhile. We'll see how next week goes. Here's what happened; my bum leg is weak therefore my good leg has been working extra hard to make up for the lack of work my other leg is doing. That has led to extreme pain in my "good leg" now. My knee is tight, my shins ache, and my muscles are in knots. I've taken four days off this week to try to get myself back to normal, this includes hours of stretching, foam rolling, icing, and 6-8 painkillers a day. I swear, after all these injuries are healed I'm makin' my comeback. So, Grandma's Marathon is out.. but I'm doing a half marathon on May 31st in Minneapolis. Come watch me suffer if you can! I'll be the one in tears, limping across the finish line and rejoicing in my suffering. HA!

Alright, it's bed time. Five A.M. comes quick, but here are some sweet things to check out:
OWL CITY - One of my favorites. His music is amazing.
TOM'S SHOES - I'm ordering a pair soon. For every pair purchased, a pair goes to a child in need! Awesome!!
G'night!
"Never give up on something you don't go a day without thinking about"

..It's like I wrote every note with my own fingers..

• My Junior year of college is almost done. I'm 3 tests, a presentation, and 2 papers away from sweet sweet summertime. Then it's work, running, & biking all-summer-long! :)
• I'm running the Minneapolis half marathon on May 31st. I'm still struggling with all my injuries but I'm racing it anyways..
• ..Grandma's Marathon on the other hand may not be happening until next year. I can't expect my body to run 26.2 miles when I've been injured all winter long. That would only lead to more injuries.
  
• Happy Mama's day to all the Mother's out there. I'm sitting here with mine sippin' coffee and watching the news. Our morning routine. :)
• Plan for today: Church, study, run, Sunday Night Worship, study, sleep.
  

paints me blue.

Good morning!
One week left in La Crosse then it's home for the summer. For the past month I've been counting down the days but now that it's so close I'm starting to get sad. I'm gonna miss the beautiful river, Hixon forest, Riverside, the bluffs, & my roommates. But home is good too, it'll probably just take a little while to get used to.
I've been keeping pretty busy with running, school, watching races :), hangin' with my Mom, and biking. It's been a pretty awesome last couple of weeks. Good news on my leg: It's no longer numb!! It's so exciting but my running is no where close to where it needs to be for the Marathon June 20th. I registered for the Minneapolis Half Marathon on May 31st, we'll see how the half goes then I'll decide if the full is a good idea or not. I increased my mileage 2 weeks ago and I paid for it last week. I was in so much pain, knots in my calves, tight knees, and shin splints. I backed off last week and did a lot of biking and I'll ease into it again this week. I'm excited to spend the summer running and biking in beautiful northern Wisconsin. :) My goal is to be injury free for a long time, my sanity counts on this. ha!
Spring is such a beautiful time, it seems like everyone is in such a better mood. I know I am! Spring & Summer are my busy time of the year due to finals and working and it's so easy to push God to the side. I can't let myself get so involved with my own things, I need to remember the importance of reading my bible everyday and prayer. I know it's normal to go through spiritual highs and lows but I was hoping I could avoid that. But, It just takes a work.. like any relationship. God has blessed me with a wonderful family, great friends, and the joy of running. He deserves my praises every single day, it's because of Him that my life is filled with so much love and joy.

Well I need to get to class but I'll end with one of my favorite verses. :)
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step.
- 1 Corinthians 9:24-26