Life is Good.

It seems so easy to me to say that the past 7 months or so have been the best few months I've had. Even through stressful work and school days, I've been genuinely happier than ever. It started with Thunder rugby. I met a group of 20 girls who had the same passion as mine, and for 2 hours a day I got to do what I love with those awesome girls. The fun post-game parties, where I met the hilarious guys from the men's Thunder team, and where I met my amazing boyfriend. We won a bronze medal, and I have some amazing friends now that I love very much.

Although hangouts with my original best friends were sparse, each time I saw them it was as though no time had passed, girls nights in with Jill and Erica, a trip to Montreal with Jill, movies and brunch dates with Bekah. I truly love these girls, but life often gets in the way of us hanging out.

I'm in the midst of completing my Canfit certification, which means I can get a job as a personal trainer sooner and get my life going. I'm planning on taking part-time courses while working as a PT.

I'm hoping to move by the end of the summer, someplace close to school and work. Having everything in different parts of town right now is absolutely exhausting!

While writing this I stopped for a moment to see if I could think of the bad things that happened over the past months. I can think of so many, my grandmother has been ill, my car died, I had plenty of injuries, work sucks, and I wasn't such a great student. When I think of it, I still look at these months as being amazing. Why spend your time dwelling on the bad? Be positive, and happy!

Well that's whats going on in my life right now. I've been so busy with life right now that blogging wasn't even close to being on my mind. I've been living and loving, I wish the same for you.

Some pictures of the past few months:

The Underdog

Yesterday we lost. We lost our opportunity to win the league championship. We lost to a team that we made fun of. They are fatter than us, uglier than us, less skilled than us. They wanted it more than us.
We had a six point lead in the first half. Six points.
They scored 17 points in 5 minutes.
Seventeen fucking points.
We finished second in the league.
I cried over a rugby game that day.
I cried over it today too when my coach yelled at me while we were watching the video from the game.

We still have an opportunity to win provincials, but we are the underdog.
This Saturday we will play the defending provincial champions. They have not lost a game, and they score an average of 50 points per game.

Being an underdog means you have all the odds stacked up against you.
F*ck the odds.
Being an underdog means you have an opportunity for greatness.

I have never wanted something so bad in my entire life.
I will show how great I can be.
WE will show how great WE can be.

Here's the thing that makes life so interesting. The theory of evolution claims that "only the strong shall survive". Maybe so, maybe so. But the theory of competition says, "just because they're the strong doesn't mean they can't get their asses kicked". That's right. See, what every long shot, come from behind, underdog will tell ya is this: the other guy may in fact be the favorite, the odds may be stacked against you. Fair enough. But what the odds don't know is, this isn't a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion, has a funny way of trumping logic. So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows, and the clocks start ticking just remember: out here the results don't always add up. No matter what the stats may say and the experts may think and the commentators may have predicted, when the race is on, all bets are off.
Don't be surprised be if someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling "Uncle". And then suddenly as the old saying goes, "WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A GAME".

Rugby Has Taken Over.

My life right now is rugby. 

Best looking team.

What I'll do if you try to get past me.

Scrum down. 

SHOOT THE BOOT!

Quitting is easy.

I first met Coach Boyd when I was about 15 and playing for OIRC during the summer season. I have honestly never met anyone with the same intensity as her. She won't stand for anything less than excellence in practice and  certainly not during a game. 

When I was 17 she invited me to go Ireland to play rugby with Ashbury College. Not only was the team on a three year OFSAA championship winning streak, but I was going to travel and play in Ireland!!

We played some games, went to some pubs, and saw everything that Ireland had to offer. 

There was one moment that felt like it was a scene from a movie. It was right before a game, the weather was awful and rainy, and Boyd was off in the distance leaning on an old wooden fence with her back to us. She screamed for us to go over to her and as we got closer we realized she looked as though she had been crying. 

"Look where you're standing" 

We looked past the rain and fog, there was a drop right after the fence. We were playing rugby on a cliff. Now I can't remember the speech she told well enough to quote her, but not one girl was left with dry eyes afterwards.

When I found out she would be coaching the Algonquin team, I was excited and terrified. Excited because I knew we wouldn't lose a game, but I will always be a little terrified of her intensity. Practices started 2 weeks ago, and it's been unbelievably amazing so far! Intense and hard, but still so much fun. I can't believe how much I missed hearing her yell FRANCO at me (she prefers calling people by their last name).

Today was an especially hard practice of tackling and fitness. Push ups, burpees, and tons of core work.

"I'm about to get cheesy" she said as we were doing core work. 

I knew right then that it was going to be another moment that felt like a movie scene.

"There's a quote the marines use 'Pain is weakness leaving the body' and it's true. You wont get stronger if it doesn't hurt. 

You can always give up.

You can quit.

Quitting is easy, quitting is always an option.

Humber, Seneca, and every other college is sitting on their asses watching TV right now, but look at where you are right now.

When you feel pain, when you hurt, you become a better rugby player, a better sister, friend, daughter, or anything. You become a better, stronger person.

November twelfth at 3pm. That's when the season is over, because the championship game is at 1pm. I know I'll be there, because we're sure as hell not going to lose a game, but you wont be there if you quit. 

On November twelfth at 3pm, when you drink your 'juice' or go for a victory lap around the field, it will be because you didn't give up. You didn't quit."

I really want to

Get rich, so I can buy everyone in the world a pair of shoes, and maybe a jacket as well.

I want a baby girl.

Not now, but when I'm married and absolutely in love.
I want to name her something pretty, like Lily, Rose, or Ella.
I want to play dress up with her, sing with her, and play sports with her.
I want her to live and learn, to love and be heartbroken.
I want to teach her how to do her makeup and look natural.
I want her to play sports and be healthy.
My daughter will have a 50% chance of having PKD.
I will drag her to the doctor for testing every two years.
She will have to drink more water than her bladder can handle.
She will hate it.
We will fight for our cause.
She wont take life for granted.
She will be beautiful.

Polycystic Kidney Disease is one of the most common life-threatening genetic diseases. It affects an estimated 1 in 500 people, including newborns, children and adults regardless of sex, age, race or ethnic origin.

A normal kidney is the size of a human fist and weighs about a third of a pound. However, with the presence of PKD, cysts develop in both kidneys. When many cysts develop, the kidneys can increase in both size and weight, sometimes weighing many pounds each. There may be just a few cysts or many, and the cysts may range in size from a pinhead to the size of a grapefruit.

There is no cure for PKD.

http://www.canadahelps.org/gp/13951

The battle against addiction

Now I'm a pretty healthy girl, I don't smoke and I hardly ever drink.
My addiction is caffeine. I've watched myself grow dependent on it to a point of extremes. I work at a very popular coffee chain, where caffeine is the solution to all of life's problems. On a day with a full 8 hour shift, I have caught myself drinking over 6 cups of coffee. Yowzers.
I decided that a three day weekend was a good time to start my detox from caffeine. I started on the Saturday and found myself not really being myself for the weekend (although it was still a really good weekend). I`m on the fifth day right now and I`m noticing that I`m slowly becoming my cheerful self, without coffee!!
They say it takes 2 weeks to fully get over a caffeine addiction, so I`m really hoping I can stick to this!