Speech Speech Speech!

I had to give a speech on Tuesday (the day after I got back from OBX). Let me tell you, I was stressed. As I was preparing for the Women in Sports Awards Ceremony I kept thinking to myself, "Why on earth did you agree to do this? You hate speaking in front of people." You would think with the amount of times I've been in front of hundreds of people dribbling a little orange ball around, speaking to a couple hundred people for 15 minutes would be a snap. Not so much. I love to talk and inspire and try to make people see things that they don't normally see by challenging them to look at things from a different point of view. But for some reason, the second you put a mic in front of my mouth, I start to fear that my words will not be eloquent enough, or I will sound like a dumb jock to a group of people I really don't know or I will start talking and make absolutely no sense to whoever (whomever?) is listening.

I started writing the speech while I was at OBX and quickly realized why it may be a bad thing if I ever got to work from home. It is VERY hard for me to stay motivated and focused when I have things going on around me (people coming in and out of the house from the beach/pool, music playing, sun shinning... I mean really, how's a girl supposed to work?). Thankfully, one of my friends, Chuck, knew I had to work on this speech and he kept me a little more focused. He was such a help! He would listen to me blurt out ideas and brain storms of what I wanted to say and then he would come up with ways of how to organize them and or suggest ideas to give it a little flavor! He was a huge help to starting the process... THaNkS CHUCK! (this is Chuck)

I decided that I really needed to dedicate all Tuesday to finishing and going over my speech so I left OBX on Monday night instead of Tuesday morning (and boy am I glad I did that b/c I had more work to do than I realized).

I woke up Tuesday and got to work. I had hand written everything that Chuck and I had brainstormed about (he even had me outline most of my speech... thank God for organized people in my life) but I realized that my thoughts are much clearer for some reason when I'm typing. So I typed out what exactly I was going to say and then went over it outloud probably somewhere around 15 times (no exaggeration... I was nervous and when you're nervous the best thing to combat that is practice).

It was 6:00 when I left the house for the Ffx Co Govt center where the Women In Sports Awards Ceremony was taking place. This gave me 15 minutes, just enough time to go over my speech one last time, until I arrived. Finally, I was there, it was game time baby! I felt like I was going to throw up the second I walked into the building and realized just how many people were going to be attending. I had originally thought I would just speak without reading at all (being that I had gone over the speech so many times, I didn't think it would be a problem) but the little girl inside of me was panicking and decided I needed to take what I had written up with me to serve as a back up.

Mom ended up showing up in order to give me a little encouragement and support which was nice. Well, now was the time. I hear the M.C. (Coach Priester) start to talk about me and the path my life had taken. "There's no turning back now! Lord, help me...a lot!" And He did. I got through it, and unscathed at that. I may have stumbled over a few words or so and had to read a few lines of my speech from my paper, BUT from what I know, there were no boogies hanging from my nose, my skirt was not tucked into my underpants (you know how that happens sometimes after going to the bathroom? The back of it just gets caught and you don't even notice) and I think I actually got a few chuckles from the audience when telling some funny stories from my life when I played sports.

So all this to say, I still hate speaking in front of people. But, as a friend reminded me, it's so good for me b/c it stretches me and makes me depend on God to do something that I honestly am not skilled at doing. The fact that I could get through the speech is a testiment to the fact that God does not call the equipped, He equips the called! And I am so thankful for that!

oh and p.s.- Mom cried. lol.

OBX- A get away much needed :)

I got to go to OBX in North Carolina for the long weekend and here are a few pics! I will blog a little later but as for now, enjoy the pictures! There was a group of about 20 of us in this amazing house (with a pool, hot tub, pool table, ping pong table, fuseball and 3 hammocks)! It was a great time for a little r & r as well as adventure! I went jetskiing and HANG GLIDING!! Just call me little MISS Adventure! :)

He loves his Poppy :)

I love this picture! I took it when we were going on a walk around our pond in Virginia. Beckham was so excited to go on a walk outside with Poppy, we could barely keep up him. I love watching Beckham's face when Poppy walks in the room.... he gets this big grin on his face and runs over to him with his hands out! There's not a big story to this picture, I just really like it so I wanted to post it! :) Look at those baby blues!

More than a FREE MEAL!

A fun day. Yesterday (sunday) was such a good day. Not for one particular reason or another but it was just one of those days that when I get older and try and remember the good old days, I will think of this day fondly. It started off going to my church and they just happened to sing all of my favorite songs (well maybe not all but that's only b/c I have a million favorites). And the msg our pastor spoke on was diversity, another one of my favorite topics whether it's a spiritual conver (as mom would say- short for conversation) or just diversity in general. I think diversity is a way that a church can show God's love and power without even saying a word. When you see people of all different ethnicities and backgrounds worshipping together, it shows that Christ can bring different PEOPLE groups together through Himself that love and care for one another! Okay that was a tangent but it just was a great sermon and I love being a part of that church for many reasons, that being one of them. As if the worship/sermon didn't put me on cloud 9 already, as we walked out the doors there was cake celebrating some church members graduation for everyone!!!!!!!! Just another reason I love my church! lol.

Then I had a basketball game. Those of you who know me know that if I could I would play pickup all day everyday. I hurt my knee a little while ago and the doc said I shouldn't play anymore.. yesterday, my knee proved the doc right but b/c the team we were playing was not so stellar, I was still able to play and have a really good time! I love just being out there... I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time I was out there (other than when my knee would catch, not fun).

After that I went to pick up some stuff from mom and dad's which proved to be a little bit of a project. Luckily AJ was there to help dad with some of the lifting and such. :) And of course you can't go over to Mom and Dad's without them inviting you to stay for dinner... so we did. But Carrie and Sarah were also invited (two of my friends), and they can't invite one daughter and not the other. So they called amy up and told her to come too... which she then invited 3 of her friends! so it turned out to be quite the bbq!!! Us girls (minus Carrie, she helped Dad and AJ outstie with the grill... mainly they just sat around, talked and had a couple cold ones) helped mom inside preparing some side dishes and the meat to put on the grill. I'm trying to make myself more marketable by learning how to cook ;) lol.

When we finally sat down to eat outside (it was beautiful out), it was just relaxing and fun. Dad was in rare form and mom followed suit. My friends were saying how funny mom and dad are and I just kept thinking, "yeah, they really are. When did they become comedians?" By the end of the night we had all of mom's Nebraska paraphernalia on the table (I'm still not really sure why, but it was funny) and we had successfully discovered what everyone's favorite icecream, m&m color (why do people have favorite m&m's they all taste the same!), and random childhood stories. Oh and I can't forget to mention mom telling David to "holla!" randomly in the middle of dinner. I think I almost wet my pants.

When I finally got home, I was exhausted! I think I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I must've fallen asleep with a smile on my face b/c yesterday was a good day. There were ups and downs throughout the whole day but the tough parts are what make you enjoy the good parts so much more! I love my family and my friends. I wouldn't want to do life without them and I know that sometimes I take them for granted but days like yesterday make me realize my life is better b/c they are a part of it! I wish we could all live close together but I guess we just have to take advantage of the times we do have together and the many different ways God's given us to stay close! :) Food, Fun and Fellowship.... I guess I should add two more F's- Family and Friends (but maybe that goes with Fellowship. It sounds better with just 3F's!) Well, lunch break is ending... Guess I gotta get back to work. Thanks mom and dad, not just for the meal, but for the memories as well!

I've been tagged!

I have been tagged by "50 Toes" to list 8 random facts about myself. Here are the rules: 1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Here it goes:1. I am the 4th of 5 siblings 2. I love to PLAY basketball but my knee is busted so I've run into some problems doing that lately. 3. I love french fries. 4. I love the 3 F's (Fun, food, fellowship) together! 5. I love my family and friends. 6. I am a new golfer, quickly becoming addicted. 7. I am a rockstar on the inside (I love to sing and listen to music). 8. When I want something, I rarely ever give up (can be a good thing AND a bad thing!).

Now it is our turn to tag 8 other bloggers, (although I dont' know 8 bloggers. And the ones I know have already been tagged except Carrie.... so Carrie,You're It!)

Mom's having surgery

Last night we celebrated Amy's birthday and Mother's day together (b/c mom was supposed to be out of town on Mom's day, so we decided we would celebrate them together). We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant in Chantilly and then went home for some yummy cake. The whole night Dad kept telling mom she couldn't eat b/c of her surgery tomorrow (now today) and then she would proceed in telling him that she can eat up until midnight. But that got us talking about her surgery and she is so funny. I think she thinks that she'll be running marathons by next week or something. She had my crutches to take to the hospital for after surgery (so they don't have to pay for another set... we've seemed to collect crutches from all the injuries we've had). But then as I was leaving she said "well I probably won't need these will I?" And I'm thinking no, mom, you're only having some guy stick these hard objects in your knee to look around and cut off anything that may be hindering your movement. No surely you won't need crutches the SAME DAY OF YOUR SURGERY to get around. I mean, she's a fighter and you gotta love her for that. But I've had that surgery twice now and I think I remember using the crutches to get out of the hospital, so my guess is, she will probably need them. All that to say... say a prayer that the God is leading the docs hands and mom recovers quickly b/c if she doesn't she may be throwing her crutches at the people who convinced her to get the surgery... gulp.

Go Big Red!

I was going through some old pictures and came across my trip to Nebraska last October. For those of you who don't know, Mom and her side of the fam is from Nebraska. If you have ever met my mom I don't think that little tid bit could slip by you, especially if you've been to the house. There's Big Red paraphernalia everywhere. Even the bathroom. One of my guy friends came out of the bathroom one day and was like, do you guys know Barrett (I think that's his first name) Rudd? I was like, no why? He was like, "oh. I just wondered why there was a newspaper clipping of him on the back of the door." lol. But back to the trip.

This trip was extra fun b/c 3 out of the 4 Scott girls were out there (sorry amy). I love going to Nebraska for some reason. Maybe it's b/c it's fun to hang with the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents or maybe it's the football games, I'm not sure. It's probably both. None the less, I have many fond memories of good ol' Lincoln. Slots anyone? (only my siblings/cousins would understand that) :)

Every year that we go to Nebraska we try to make sure we get to a Corn Husker game and man are they fun. People are fanatics there! I love it! Megan and I ended up sitting next to each other b/c the tickets we got were grouped by twos. The game went into one or two over times and the Corn Huskers pulled it out. Thank God b/c we had to ride home with mom and she's just no fun after a Corn Husker loss. During the game Meggo and I were literally squished b/w these two guys that in a perfect world should've bought two tickets per person b/c they were too big for their spot on the bench. After we figured out how to sit just right so we weren't rubbing sweaty elbows with them all game or every time they cheered we were finally ready to root on those Corn Huskers. As you can see in the pictures, we were big fans of the blackshirts (that's what they call their defensive team) which is the sign Megan is throwing up in one of the pictures. I must admit for a few minutes we might've been more into capturing the moment than we were into the actual game (this was of course before the OT's) and found ourselves creating the scene for our pictures. Here are the pics from the game. Enjoy. I can't help but laugh when I look at these b/c if you look at the people around us, they aren't cheering and that's b/c when the game was actually exciting neither one of us wanted to be snapping photos of the other. Come on, we're athletes, we live for games like that and we definitely don't want to miss the excitement just so we can have some candid shots of us cheering. So we "recreated" the scene. Just thinking about our efforts to get our "candid" shots make me laugh. I remember that more than I do the game. I honestly don't even remember who Nebraska played that night. So here's to good memories, crazy sisters, Blackshirts, and Nebraska... GO BIG RED! N-E..B-R..A-S..K-A!!

Chocolate Lava Cake

I think I have discovered my favorite dessert that mom makes. Last night Mom and Dad had some business partners/old friends over for dinner and invited Amy and I too. It's always amusing to be there when mom and dad are getting ready for company. You would think the Queen of England was stopping through by the way mom stresses! Mom always seems to have some new trinket that she's bought in order to give the house just the right touch for their guests. As most of you know mom and dad are trying to down size b/c they are moving this summer so it gets at my dad's last nerve every time mom "finds a bargin." lol. I got to observe first hand the comedy of this little drama last night as I was helping. Mom asked dad "will you go get the mats I just got at the HomeGoods store..." Which dad responded, "Mats, what do we need mats for?? We're moving out remember, not moving in." "Honey they were on sale," Mom points out. "So I guess you saved us a bunch of money by buying something that we don't need because it was on sale," "Honey (for the second time in 30 seconds, she's really trying to convince him), they were both normally $40 and I got them for 7!!" "oh boy," dad says in the most apathetic voice he can. We all kind of chuckle as we know that it probably really was a great deal but did they really need the mats? One will never know. They found a place to put both of them and they look good. So, mom wins and they are keeping the mats. The funny thing is, is I think Dad saw the usefulness of the Mats and appreciates Mom's desire to make the house he comes home to a home. But he loves to give her a hard time, it's one of the ways he flirts with her. Kind of cute if you ask me.

So onto dinner and then my favorite dessert! Our guests, Dick Hewitt (I think that's his last name) and Jerry Ledzinski ('95) finally arrived and we sat, ate some appetizers and chatted. I've never met Dick before and only met Jerry ('95) at his brother's wedding a few years ago in Arkansas, which by the way I think we were the only people (my sisters and I) that didn't know either the bride or the groom. Talk about feeling like you're crashing a wedding! So as we were waiting for dinner to cook we got to know our guests a little better and had a few laughs.

Mom made lasagna and it was soooo good (did I mention I don't really dabble in the kitchen so a home cooked meal is Heaven to me). Then we sat and talked some more about different things, some funny, some business (these guys are part of a company that dad is an investor so they talked a little about that too) and of course some about sports (you really can't come to our house without talking about sports in some way or not). But ironically, it wasn't mom or dad who brought it up.

So then mom went back into the kitchen and brought out these Chocolate Lava Cakes and let me tell you, I couldn't believe how good they were. I almost passed on dessert b/c she said what they were and I thought they can't be anything like the ones in the restaurant. But I decided I would just try it and if I didn't like it I would leave it on my plate.... I think I practically licked my plate clean. These things were BETTER than the restaurant ones. So needless to say, I'm going to have to get that recipe (even if I do have to employ someone to make them for me). This dessert was amazing, so if you want the recipe let me know and I'll get it from mom. All in all it was a great night.

It's sad that soon, I won't be able to just drop by, say hello and sit down for a quick meal. It's fun having mom and dad close but I know they are going to love their new place in SC. Hopefully I'll be able to go visit them more than a couple times a year. But for now, I'll keep making sure their pantry doesn't get too full and enjoy witnessing them loving life and each other! The three F's are what their house revolves around: Food, Fellowship and Fun! I think I could do a whole blog on the three F's but I'll save that for another time. My lunch break (leftovers from last night) is almost over so I have to get back to work... :)

Celebration!

I got the chance to go to Virginia Beach this weekend and spend some time with good friends of mine! My friend, Janetta, just finished her Masters in Education at ODU.. Congrats J! The trip, in itself was a whirlwind starting at 10:30pm in Northern VA on Friday night when I started my trip down there. I was debating whether to leave Friday night after I got home from work and took a nap (I wasn't feeling well so I thought maybe a nap would help) or the next morning. Well I decided that I didn't want to risk hitting traffic in the morning and early mornings to me are like the plague, I try to avoid them at all costs, so I decided I would leave after taking a nap. Well... of course, I was exhausted but was too excited about going to see my friends and I couldn't fall asleep. So I talked to AJ about what I should do and he volunteered to come along for the weekend and drive me down there! Do I have wonderful people in my life or what?! The ride down there was pretty smooth, no traffic and just lots of music, talking and laughing.. which by the way, is so much better than having to preform live concerts to your ipod in your car alone just to keep yourself awake!

We got to Shal's at about 1:45am or so (we stayed with my friend Shalimar who has a cute little 3 bedroom house in Chesapeake, VA). His roommate, as Naval SWOs are so often, was gone so it was perfect! The next morning we all rallied and got ourselves ready for Janetta's graduation. But not before we stopped by the McDonald's to shovel some greese and more greese into our stomaches (which was the second time in 12 hours I was eating McD's... yuck). We met up with Janetta's brothers and they took us to where the fam was sitting. I must say it's been a while since I've been to a graduation... but I was glad that I could be there for this moment in J's life! She's worked very hard for this day and although to me it seems like just yesterday she moved up to VA Beach to start school, it's been a long two years for her and she deserved a lot of celebration for this achievement! We watched her walk accross that stage and cheered as she received that precious piece of paper. If you know Janetta, you can't help but remember her smile... And that's all we could see as she walked off the stage... And her little dance she snuck in!

We went to dinner with her family plus 4 (Shal, AJ, Nya and myself) and just sat and enjoyed Janetta's big day with her. It was nice. Of course the celebration doesn't stop there though! We all decided we would go to her friends partake in a few adult beverages (none for me, I was driving, just to be on the safe side) and then go dancing. Well, the night started to take a turn when we couldn't get into the establishment because one of Janetta's brothers, Steven, was wearing shorts and sneakers instead of being "dressed to impress." Janetta had to go to the bathroom so we asked if they would at least let us in for that... the lady at the door was not too friendly and turned us away. So Janetta did what any woman who had to potty badly would do... went around the back and popped a squat. Not the ideal situation but when you gotta go you gotta go. She had just finished and we (I was the guard and made sure no one intruded) started for the car and the owners met us half way there. I was thinking "oh goodness, this isn't going to be good." Well little did we know the owners must have heard the door lady telling us we couldn't use the bathroom and they were coming to apologize. They felt horrible and told us that if Steven would go change we could come back and get in for free!!! yay! So that's what we did. To make a long story a little shorter. We got everyone to their respective houses safely and have a lot of memories to smile about!

As I've gotten older, I've realized that it gets harder and harder to make time and go see friends. It's kind of sad but at the same time it makes the times that we do get to spend together very special. This was a special day for Janetta and I'm glad I got to help her celebrate it. I know that I will remember this weekend very fondly and I think she will too... I'm just glad I got to be a part of her "special" day! ;)

All in all, a great weekend. A lot of driving but a lot of fun. Looking forward to my next road trip.. not sure when that will be but I know the next "planned" trip will be in June... But planning means nothing, I'm single AND don't have a family, remember?! I can do what I want at the drop of a hat! That is a blessing and I have to remember that!

Grandma Jean

For all of you who don't know Grandma Jean, let me give you a little background. She can be a sweet old woman, but very stubborn at times (yes, probably where us Scott girls get our hard headedness). She loves to take care of her loved ones and one way she likes to do this is to make sure we're clothed for the season. It was always a joyous occasion when we would finally get to open that precious box from Grandma Jean on Christmas morning. I can remember one Christmas, not too long ago, that I unwrapped a present from Grandma Jean just wondering what T.O.B (thing of beauty) she had so graciously given me that year. As I peeled back the tissue paper, I sat in amazement... a Bright Pink, almost fluorescent looking, sweat shirt with a huge Tweety Bird on the front of it saying "Don't call me cute!" (thank you for the correction Megan) You can imagine my gratitude, being a 22 year old college girl at the time. All I could do was smile at the precious little gem Grandma Jean had given to me. And by smile I mean laugh uncontrollably.
So now that you know a little bit about Grandma Jean, you will be able to appreciate the spring outfit that she blessed my younger, 24 year old sister, Megan with! Vogue Meggo, Vogue! :)