Merry Christmas!

Hey Force family and softball fans! Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas :) We have many Birk traditions but one of them is making Christmas cookies. Here's one I made :)

Off-Season

The end of our season seems like a blur. Three months become pictures on my computer that I look back at now, wishing it were still summer time. I sure do miss Allentown and my summer family, the Force. It's weird how you grow so close to people but once you're separated it's like they hardly exist. I try keeping in touch with teammates but it just isn't the same as living in a dorm with all of them. Sho and I continued colored headband day for a few weeks... but the past few we've forgotten :( It just makes me sad; only getting to do what I love for 3 months out of the year while the other 9 are spent in the real world.
The dreaded nine month off-season is here. Well, it's been here since September but I've been so busy I haven't had time to blog about it. Sure, there's still a little time for fun like Tuesday Night Movie Nights, but for the most part it's all work and class. My "real life" right now consists of grad school, working as a grad assistant, writing a thesis, and training for the summer. I'm a grad assistant for Graphic Communications, which was my undergrad major and I'm getting my masters degree in Project Management. This semester I only attend one class but I also have an independent study and thesis credit hours. I work 20 hours a week and train five days a week. I'm pretty much always have something I should be working on. It's rather stressful but I am looking forward to next semester when I'll be helping coach softball for Normal West High School again. Not to mention, it will be closer to summer :) For now, the only taste of softball I get is the Alumni game we had a few weeks ago and slow-pitch one night a week, which I like to consider a separate sport entirely. I’ll be counting down the days until summer (6 months, 3 weeks, 5 days) and until then you can check out my other blog about my “real life” here.

Belle

No one really guessed, but I'll tell ya anyway, Megan and I were in the Belle costumes :)

Kimberly

me, tory, tat ___________ spence dancin'

playing at the mall - me, rocky, tory - me, rock

em and her little man - "emily marry me"

me and vanessa _________ team pic

Who's Belle?

Happy Birthday Jodie and Shannon

August 14th was Jodie’s and Shannon’s birthday! We went to Rookies and did karaoke, very entertaining!

Redbirds Reunited

For our last home series we played the Akron Racers. For those of you who don’t know Shannon Nicholson, she was my teammate and other half at Illinois State. Shannon and I came into ISU together as freshmen and for the most part pitched as a duo throughout our career there. It wasn’t until our senior year when Shannon tore her ACL that the duo was temporarily split up. Shannon took a few weeks off to recover and with a knee brace was back in action! She did not play in the NPF last summer because she had surgery but we trained together all year long and she signed with Akron. We joked about pitching against each other but our NPF experiences have been quite different from college and neither of us saw the mound the entire series, cwap. Buuuuut we did take a picture together! Haha.

Rockford

A few weeks ago we played a series vs. the Rockford Thunder. I got to start the third game of the series and my family came to watch! Here are some pictures of my cousin Isabelle and I at dinner after the game ☺

Move Out Day & Happy Birthday Clare!

We moved out of the dorms right before we left for Rockford and it was almost sad. Although the Cedar Crest staff often gave us a hard time, that tiny little campus was our home for three months and leaving our twin-sized beds was nearly upsetting. We took down our Dunkin Donuts sign, packed up our stuff, played in our abandoned forts and then left for the Holiday Inn. What a bummer.



To celebrate Clare’s birthday we moved out of Cedar Crest and went to Olive Garden for dinner!

New York City

After playing 16 games in 18 days, we had a few days off and a group of us went to New York City. We drove up one night, got all dressed up and went out to a club called Café Wha?. There was live music and we got to sit down at tables. It was really fun! Since dressing up is a special occasion we took lots of pics! The next day we went all over the city! Here’s what we saw:

Bame's visit & Happy Birthday Roo!

My oldest sister Jamie came to visit me and she got to see me pitch yay!!! We took a picture after the game ☺

















Happy birthday Roo! For Margo’s birthday, July 26th, we went to dinner at Red Lobster and then bowling. Here are some pics!