Exhibition Game & Ten Stone

Last Friday we scrimmaged the CIty 6 All-Stars at Drexel University in Philadelphia. It started raining right after the game started so we were delayed about an hour in the middle of the 1st inning. We didn't let the rain get us down though; we played hacky sack, zoo, pssh, and cowboy/indian/bear in the dugout. After the delay ended, we played 5 innings to beat the All-Stars 2-1.

After the game we did autographs and some of the players stayed for a clinic. The rest of us headed back to our hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. One of our owners, Annie, invited all of us to Ten Stone, her favorite bar/restaurant in Philly. The food and the company was amazing! Not to mention, Ten! :)

Meet The Box

I'm sure you don't all read my "tweets" so I'm going to embellish on a recent one. As I said below, I have been training like crazy for this season. One of the workouts I have been doing is box jumps. I used to think running stairs was challenging, until I met the box. The box I jump on is 30" high and it isn't exactly new to me, but I have never experienced it at such a high volume. In the past, I would do sets of 5-8 jumps in some sort of circuit. So usually the most I'd do in a day is 32 jumps total. The workout I did on Wednesday was a total of 400 jumps. Let me tell you it is HARD! If you get lazy, you will pay! The box is not soft and it doesn't accept anything but 100% effort every time. The alternative is falling on your face when you miss! 9 days until spring training!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Pre-Spring Training-Training

Now that there are only however many days that countdown says ------------> left until spring training, I have been working out quite a bit. I've always enjoyed working out but lately I've seriously appreciated it, for it has become a "break" in my day. As of right now, I have about 4 days to finish my thesis in order to complete my master's degree (not including the defense). So needless to say, I've spent many hours writing, re-writing, researching, formatting, etc. My breaks from working on my thesis, who I've named Terry, include working out and coaching when my regular work schedule allows it. Everything else has become a luxury... like sleeping and hanging out with friends. I have had a few breaks, but only when I'm waiting to receive feedback from a member of my committee. Aka, I finish writing a section and then wait for my committee to tear it apart and tell me to re-write it. Terry is pretty needy and very particular about how he's written. I thought maybe if I named him that we would get along better. It's not working out too well. Anyway, enough about him, this is supposed to be about working out. I guess I just wanted to share with everyone that I am getting pretty excited to play this season! It keeps me motivated when I'm working out and pushes me through every lunge, box jump and stair sprint I have to do. 37 days!!!!!! :)

Sho Time!

Hey everyone! Less than two months til Spring Training! Woooo hoo!! I'm getting very excited, as you can see. For those of you who are familiar with the Force, I wanted to make a shout out for my former teammate Sharonda McDonald aka Sho. Sho is playing overseas in Italy and she started a blog. She'll be updating with her adventures over there so you should check out her blog!

Click Here. :)

Re-united with my Roo!

My Roo, better known to you all as Margo Pruis, is my roommate and philly force teammate! Anyone who has seen Margo and I together would probably tell you that we act like ridiculous 10 year olds. They're just jealous. It's been six long months since we've seen each other but last weekend we were re-united! We currently live about 8 hours apart but we managed to meet up in Kentucky for a day! Our activities included: starbucks coffee and chatting, 2 minute massages and a photo shoot in the mall, pizza hut and more chatting, and heeling in walmart. It was a short visit but it was so good to see my roo! Here's a short video of Margo heeling:

She's new at the sport but has so much potential! Stay tuned for more heeling adventures this summer.

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!