Go Mean Green!

Before the race...

During the race...

After the race...

My biggest fans! My parents drove 5 hours to see me run!

I love you!

As you can see, it was a mud pit...to say the least.

But what a race! We took 3rd place which is the highest UNT has ever placed in a cross country conference championship race.

I took 17th...which sound bad but it's actually a very solid, good place.

I typically run around 19 flat for a 5k in cross country and

I ran 21:30...that is how muddy it was!

I think I was one of the first 5 Americans in the whole race.

Oh, and we were the first ALL American team.

(no kenyans or europeans on our team)

I am so proud to be a Mean Green Eagle!

-And guess who else was there...

Jesenia Sariana Guadelajara de Guadelupe Diaz...Naca for short.

Mansfield High Alumni now :)

Happy Sabbath!

-Sallie-

A Glee-ful Morning

Ater getting up at 5:00 am to run, I hurried to work to open up the gym for all the early morning exercise enthusiasts. And of course there was a crowd waiting to burst through the doors to get onto that treadmill! (people, its beautiful outside! Do me a favor and run outside!!)

Anyway...

I was rushing to get everything opened, lights on, cash in, computer on, towels out....and I found the most beautiful something on my desk.

Glee Soundtrack with my name on it.

I feel like Kris Kringle came early.

Thanks Brooke--you are a rockstar!

This came at the perfect time because the fabulousness of Glee has not been on for 2 WHOLE WEEKS because of some dumb world series. Come on...Glee is way better.

And speaking of Kris Kringle, I'm getting a headstart on my wish list. Simply a wish list because I'm getting a bridesmaid dress for christmas.
Thank you Keith.

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Enjoy the eyecandy:

This coat in Green...love it.

This cardigan is delicious

With the delicious cardigan

Still working on these...

And after work, I'm going home to spend the rest of the day with my mom.

I simply LOVE my mom.

-Sallie-

Reality:

He is so real.

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So many questions, so many decisions.

What should I do? Where should I go? Who should I help?

When will it be my turn?

Lead me, Guide me, Walk beside me...please?

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He always does.

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"But who shall seperate us from the

Love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

...For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

NAY, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

For I am persuaded that niether death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor power, nor things of present, nor things to come...

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to seperate us from the Love of God.

Which is in Christ, Jesus our Lord."

(Romans 8: 35-39)

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More times then not, it's hard.

But I know He is real.

I know He is there.

I know He knows and loves me.

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And you can know that too.

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Love you all!

--

Sallie

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*photo by Greg Olsen titled,"Lost and Found"

Day in the life...

I know you have been wondering what I do all day....so here it is.

6:30-8:15am: Get up, study for child development test, do some math homework

8:30-9:00am: Eat breakfast (oatmeal with brown sugar and 1/2&1/2 Yum!)

9:00-9:30am: Call EFY office...on hold for 5 minutes...walk to class.

9:30-12:30: Coaching track and field...learn about high jump. Biomechanics--8/10 on a quiz!

12:30-1:30pm: Study for test...

1:30-3pm: Run Run Run! Workout at the golf course.

3:00-4:30: Shower, get ready for class...keep studying!

4:30....WASPS in the kitchen where the food is! Tara and I escape to taco bell

5:30-8:20pm: Child development...test (easy since I studied this time)

8:20-8:40: Socialize with Jess

8:45: Make me some eggs...I am hungry once again.

9:00-10:30: Write Lesson plan for class tomorrow

10:30-11pm: Finish math homework, throw some laundry in the wash

11:00-11:30pm: Scriptures and bed. Romans 8 answered some prayers last night

Good night :)

The hay is in the barn.

In other words, we have done the work and its time for the fun to begin.

I am so excited for this weekend.

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Nervous...check.

Worried...check.

Excited...check.

Prepared...check.

Confident...check.

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It has been quite the season. I have done more runs in the mud then ever before in my life. It would be easier to count on one hand the number of runs on dry surface than the wet ones. We train on a golf course and for the past few weeks, it has been a growing marsh. Standing water around every corner becuase there is just no place for it to go. My shoes smell so bad that I can't even wear them. They are buttered in mudd and stench of mildewing water. Yeah...disgusting. Times have been weird cause you never know when you are going to get stuck in a mud trench...but it was worth it. Looking back, it was fun. And it prepared me for saturday. The Sun Belt Conference Championships will be held in Monroe, Louisiana. A very rainy muddy place. But I'm used to that, in fact, if it was dry, i would be worried.

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Its time to trust the work. Its time to push myself. Our team has never been in a better position to do as well as we should. We are healthy, ready and excited. We have been planning this race for a year now and the anticipation is extreme. What will happen, how will I run, who will I beat...can we do it?

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I'm ready. We are ready.

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Go Mean Green.

Did you hear?

My brother is getting married to Danielle Loftus on December 22, 2009 in Portland Oregon.

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I love Oregon so I'm super excited. Oh, and I love that keith has found a wonderful girl. Now, move back to Texas...please.

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You might recognize her from her grand appearance in the October Ensign article here.

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I am so happy for keith, now I don't have to worry about him being lonely the rest of his life and eating mashed potatoes and pudding out of a cup.

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I dreamed in numbers the other day. You know how they say if you dream in a foreign language then you have mastered the skill of knowing that language...well I still have not mastered Math 1010. I have done over 70 hours of math since the start of school and I'm still plugging away at it. I guess dreaming in numbers just means i'm crazy.

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I made the most deeeeeeelicious Taco Soup last night!!!!!

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Sweet Pea's Chicken Taco Soup

2 15 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz can tomato sauce

10 oz package frozen corn (I used 1 15 oz. can of corn)

2 10 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained (use mild if you don't like the spice)

1 15 oz can chicken stock1 small onion, diced

1 package taco seasoning

2 boneless chicken breasts (I used three)

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Toppings:

Shredded cheddar cheese

Light sour cream

Tortilla chips or strips

Diced Avocado (My favorite)

Sliced olives

Minced cilantro (my mother hates cilantro but i love it)

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Place the first 7 ingredients in the slow cooker and mix well. Place chicken breasts on top of the ingredients and cover the slow cooker. Cook on high 4-5 hours, or low 8-10 hours. Remove the chicken and cool on a cutting board while you prepare the cheese, sour cream and crushed tortilla chips. Once chicken is cool, shred or cut up very fine, mix back into soup.

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recipe compliments of my favorite cooking blog, rookie-cookie

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It tasted like fall. I am falling in love with fall. I went to Matt's Mom's elementary fall carnival last night and it reminded me of the wonderful J.L. Boren Fall carnivals back in the day. The cake walk was the best game, but guess what...I never won. I still loved the carnival.

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Ohhhh...and I made these and ate them all.

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Pumpkin Chcolate Chip cookies

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1 Spice Cake Mix

1 can of pumpkin

1 bag of chocolate chips

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Mix the cake mix and pumpkin together and then add the chocolate chips. Spoon cookie size mounds on the ungreased cookie sheet and bake @ 350 for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven.

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Soooooooooooooooooo Good. I would love to try them without chcolate chips but cream cheese frosting. Yes Please.

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I love you all my faithful readers even though I do not know who you are. Let me know if you make these incredible cookies!

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choosing to smile

Sallie

Choose This Day

I was sitting at work yesterday probably sporting my "sallie look" which has my jaw dropped slightly and the dazed of all dazed looks on. I just got finished completing 38 math problems and I was fried. I was vegging and probably reading a random blog. Then this one basketball guy who more times then not is out to annoy me, comes and moves my phone. Annoyed. Then he has the nerve to tell me that I should smile more, and that I always look so mad and annoyed. Well duh, I was. Not 5 seconds later, the poor guy on community service duty decides he wants in on some of this attack Sallie moment. He agrees with the annoying basketball guy..."Yeah," he says, "you do kind of look like your in a bad mood all the time." And guess what I said next...without skipping a beat, I looked at that poor kid and said in the most disgruntled voice..."Cause I hate community service workers." Yeah, I used the word hate. Was it necessary, no. I hardly know the guy and I don't even know why he is doing community service so for whatever reason, he could be some crazy kid who is gonna get me after work on my way to my car. I was so mad! How dare they accuse me of being disgruntled and grumpy and...a no smile kind of person! Those are my best traits, thats what i'm known for! I used to sign this blog as "-still smiling." I guess I lied. My apologies. But really, how dare they say such a thing.
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I was on the phone with my mom about an hour later telling her about these she-man-woman-haters and I have to admit, she put me in my place. "Well maybe they have seen you smile, but to them, you are always grumpy...maybe you should re-evaluate how you treat or react to them." My mother, I love her.
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So I began to re-evaluate my state of happiness. Most of the time I appear happy, i'm usually not super-duper excited to be doing whatever it is I'm doing, but most of the time I am. (i know, then when am I not) but I started thinking about why those guys would say that. I have been choosing to be mad and annoyed at them. I have been choosing to be grumpy at them and only at them because you know what, the next person that walked into the gym said, "Its sure good to see your smiling face!" So I know I've got it in me, but its like my selective hearing, I can turn it on and off lickity split. No wonder they give me a hard time when they come in. With my sour punch attitude I basically give them permission to treat me like their mom (bless their mothers).
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I propose that my state of happiness on the inside does not have to reflect itself on the outside if I so please. Therefore, If I have one of those sour punch attitudes, it is my choice to reflect that in my countenance or not. It is my choice to treat those boys how I treat them and it's my choice to love the community service workers despite their lack of enthusiasm for wanting to clean sweat off machines.
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Then I watched this: Choose This Day and repented and i am a new me...well, working on it.
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Trying to smile.
-Sallie