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!!