Happy Independence Day America

Otsego Lake

apple pie

fishing spot

full moon out my barrack

Cider Mill, 'Merica

Happy 4th everyone!!! Today I got up after having an overnight (if there are any girl players we take turns, as interns, sleeping in the barracks with them and get paid to sleep :) ) and I had the morning off.  I worked out, I still hate people looking at me and I miss the gym dearly but you do what you've got to do.  It's really humid here but I'm also getting used to that too.  After a workout Frankie and I took a trip to Fly Creek Cider Mill.  Pops (his name is Ron and he's an older guy that works with us) let us take his car so we drove there.  They have dozens of samples of lots of goodies like fudge, apple butter, syrup and other stuff from New York.  We ate there too and I have a spinach salad with grilled chicken, first time I've seen spinach since May.  It was yummy!!! We stopped at TOPS market so I good grab some berries and nuts and came back before I worked an afternoon shift engraving bats. I'm getting the hang of that too and have gotten to be pretty fast at engraving those and baseballs.  It was weird not doing anything special for the 4th.  All of your texts, calls, and pictures about the 4th were all so cute.  Wish I were with any of you to enjoy it but that's okay, I got to celebrate by living in a country that allows me the opportunity to have a job of my choosing!

Trevor and his Southern food on his birthday

just fishin'

    So this past weekend I went to the Farmers Market on Saturday. Frankie and I bought a whole wheat apple pie to split because it looked really good, we still have some too.  And a guy gave me a free, delicious peach.  Too bad I can't buy the produce and cook with it.  On Sunday I went fishing in the morning with Richie.  We just went behind one of the fields by the railroad tracks and listened to country music and fished.  My first cast of the season I caught a fish followed by 2 more fish that day.  Richie didn't catch anything.  Thanks dad for teaching me how to fish.  The whole morning the lyrics "she can't even bait a hook" were going through my head as a was cutting worms and baiting the hook.  That afternoon we hung out with Trevor and went to Cooley's, a pub in Cooperstown for lunch.  Of course I had french fries (half sweet potato and half regular).  We then ended up taking an unplanned trip across the Pennsylvania border and had Waffle House; I'd never been there before.  It was Trevor's birthday too so that's what we did while listening to more country music.

Richie's massive Waffle House dinner

       Yesterday I work I met the cousins of family friends of ours from Mississippi.  When I work the register in the souvenir shop I have to check IDs when people use credit cards and this lady had the last name of "Artigues" so I told her about the family I knew and she was like "those are our cousins."  Matthew Artigues came and stayed at our house 3 years ago for a baseball tournament that was in Salt Lake for the week.  He became another brother for the week and his parents were out too.  It's such a small world.  I also met a few boys from Denver, one of whom plays hockey for a 12U team for DU.  his goal is to play D1 hockey for the pioneers one day.  How crazy that he and I skate on the same ice? Being out here has really made me realize how connected we all are.  You might as well live a happy, peaceful life with no enemies because you never know who you're aggravating.
    Christian Bennett leaves tomorrow on his mission.  I'll miss my best friend.  I've known him since sophomore year when we did HOBY together and then MUN and then continued to be friends and were Coke scholars together senior year and throughout this past year when I visited him at Harvard.  He's always been someone to talk to and navigate this crazy thing called life.  I'll never forget talking on the phone till 3 in the morning on May 1, 2011 both trying to decide where we wanted to go to college.  He was choosing between 2 schools just like me and we eventually both decided our schools and couldn't have been happier.  Bye Christian!
     New things I've tried:  grits, had my first lottery ticket (didn't win), and Carolina BBQ pork.  

my trip to the grocery store

I continue to learn a lot about life being out here.  I have friends here who have never traveled out of the timezone.  That astonishes me.  I feel like traveling has played a major contribution in my life.  I'm so grateful to have traveled since I was little.  I know, I know mom "most people haven't been near the places I've been in their whole lives and they're your grandparents ages and you're only 19"; well I'm a very fortunate 19 year old and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I also know one guy here who's dad can't read or write.  That's something I never thought I'd know personally.  Just daily I'm continually amazed by the people I meet. Some little 12 year olds how have never seen a cassette tape or a portable CD player (I didn't think I was THAT old, ha.)
    Life is incredible.  I've definitely adapted to being out here more. Once you realize this is how it's going to be and you can't change it, you learn to embrace it.  Why not right?  It's such a learning experience for myself and others. Every day is like a case study learning new things.

Taryn's gluten free care package she sent

    God bless America.  I'm so thankful to live in this great country.  I'm so thankful for the men and women who are fighting for our country day after day in big ways and small ways.  Take the time to make new friends because you'll never know how much you can learn from them. Take time to give people hugs because you might not know how long it's been since a person has experienced one.  Take time to laugh, and snort :)   Thanks again for all the letters, gluten free good packages (Taryn), texts, calls and snapchats.  I really love hearing from you.  Life is beautiful! 

Boston: Red Sox Nation

  So Sunday is my day off and it happens to be Kyle, Phil and Trevor's as well.  We decided last weekend that we wanted to go to a MLB game.  Well luck would have it that the Red Sox were playing the Braves at Fenway at 1:30 on Sunday afternoon. PERFECTO!  We bought tickets off of Stubhub and drove the 4 hours to Boston yesterday morning for the game.  It felt like my Spring break trip all over again with the boys.  We stopped at McDonalds on the turnpike and I had a smoothie and oatmeal. I definitely recommend the new banana, blueberry oatmeal.  That was the first time I've seen blueberries in 3 weeks! Who new McDonalds could be so good?  The game was fun and our seats happened to be one of only ones in the shade which were actually nice. The Sox won and it was Kevin Youkilis' last game as he got traded right after he hit a triple in his last at bat.  They pulled him from third and the crowd went wild.  It was really cool to hear the crowd as he left.  He went into the dug out and reappeared after the roaring of the fans.  I got to meet up with Johnny Li, my Coke Scholar friend from LA that goes to Harvard.  We got to talk for an inning at the game. It was nice to see someone whom I've known for longer than 3 weeks.  After the game we went to a little restaurant on Beacon Street.  Everything looked so delicious, real food not served on a white, Styrofoam plate.  I had a turkey burger with lettuce and french fries.  Y'all know how much I love fries!  The boys made me try sweet tea because Trevor and Phil are from the South and they LOVE sweet tea.   It's not terrible but not something I'd want to drink daily.  Kyle was stoked to use his Boston accent as he yelled out the window "hey Youkilis, you know that guy? he's traded. No beers in Boooston tonight." We all were cracking up.  Then I said that I wanted to see the ocean so we attempted to find it which led us on an epic adventure full of screaming by all three boys.  We did drive past the ocean and then got on the Massturnpike to head back here. We listend to songs off the Now 5 soundtrack and now we're all excited to relive our childhood "Now That's What I call Music"days.  We made it back last night after a successful day away from this place just in time to work another 13 hours today in the retail shop.  It was freezing here today and tonight it got down to be 50 degrees with rain!  I guess I like this better than the 99 degrees last week where we were all constantly wet and nasty.  Tons of people run in to buy umbrellas right when it starts raining.  On Saturday there was a constant line of customers.  This is the most profitable I've seen it since I've been here.  People come into the souvenir shop and will spend $200 on stuff.  If your kid hits a home run I swear it costs you 70 bucks! There's t-shirts for the player, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. And then you can get the ball engraved for another 10 bucks.  Holy smokes can these people spend money. Oh and don't forget about getting the professional pictures that are $8 for a 4 * 6.  Welcome to the Cooperstown Monopoly.  It is really cool here and the experience is unforgettable for the players and coaches.  At night I come back and get on my laptop and then go to sleep so I can wake up and do it all again.  Night night :)  

And here goes my life in the middle of New York

       I finally have a computer so now I can blog.  I spilled water on my laptop in the middle of May at school and had to go without one until I bought a new one. Long story..... but now I have a brand new, pretty macbook pro that I will take great care of.

    So here I am sleeping in what pretty much looks likes a prison cell.  It smells bad too. There's no air conditioning or heat here and in the middle of the summer the temperatures can vary greatly. Some nights I get warm and others I'm freezing. I'm learning to adjust to living in 84% humidity daily. I work out and am just drenched before I've even done anything hard.  Here will be an introduction to my life in Cooperstown, NY for the summer....

               Cooperstown is home to the Baseball Hall of Fame and DoubleDay field where the first game of baseball is said to be held.  Decades again the Presutti family had a dream that every child in America would have to opportunity to play baseball in Cooperstown and thus the idea of the Cooperstown Dreams Park was born.  In 1996 the park opened and 12U teams from around the country came and have been coming week after week ever since to play ball.  There are 13 weeks that comprise the summer with 104 teams coming each week to play ball Sunday through Thursday when the championship game is held Thursday night.  I came to Cooperstown four years ago with my family when TJ played and my dad coached.  I thought it was a great place so when I was looking for a job this winter I knew I wanted to make money and have an adventure so here I am.  I am here as a paid intern working 60+ hours a week, living in the barracks where the 104 teams and 95 umpires live, eating food that is less quality than dorm food and having someone else do my laundry. I got here June 8 after flying into Albany and being picked up by a complete stranger and then driving here, moving into my barrack and literally meeting one other person.  The next day I worked in the retail store and folded shirts.  I was ready to cry; I didn't move to New York to fold shirts all day. The next day I had a day off so I took the bus into town and hung out all alone. I took a nap on a park bench, yep I sure did and woke up sweating. Thanks to everyone whom I called while I was walking around that day. It's a humbling experience to realize how much it means to have someone else around can mean to someone.  I'm pretty sure I cried that night too.  I worked 13 hours each day for the next 4 days and then 14 hours the day after. I started to meet people and adjust a little bit.  I thought I would hang out more with the other 20+ interns but we're all working so much and at such different hours that we don't really see one another much.  

        I never really thought I'd be 19 years old living 2061 miles away from home for a summer working 92 hours in a week.  I guess God has some sort of plan.  It really has been quite an experience the past two weeks.  I've started making more friends which is so helpful.  I really like Chelsea who is one girl I work with.  Some things I'll probably never get used to... the food, showering with bugs, having creepy, old umpires check me out when I run or jump rope, living in 84% humidity, not being able to walk out of the park, being looked at and harassed by the teams, the terrible internet connection, not seeing a couch for 2 more months, not skating, playing lacrosse or working out at a gym.  

       Like I said it's taken lots of adjusting. I have learned how to sleep through girls alarm clocks, golf carts, 12 year old boys playing tag, just  about everything.  I've learned how to eat turkey on top of lettuce every day for lunch.  I've really realized how important friends and family are.  The snap chats, phone calls, texts, letters, packages all are what keep me happy.  It's pretty easy here to get unhappy but whenever I have contact with a friend I feel better so keep it coming! My girlfriends from school...you are incredible. Thank you for making me laugh on a continual, daily basis and letting me cry to you on the phone.  My friends from home thanks for filling me in on all the news and keeping me in touch with my roots.  My parents are the most amazing people.  My mom sent me a whole wheat cookie cake, dried mangos and homeade granola among other goodies.  Thanks for pushing me through.  I guess it's hard because the last time I was here I was with you and we were having lots of fun together and this is the first summer that I'm not a Disneyland for Fathers day or watching my brother play baseball; we're not camping together or going on Sunday hikes.  I've really come to realize how blessed my life is.  One of my friends here had never been on a plane until he came this summer and I went on a dozen plane rides in the past year. I've seen the country; I've camped, hiked, skied, skydived, golfed, paraglided, snorkeled, fished, jumped off cliffs, water skied.  I'm nineteen years old and I've been to over half the states and 5 countries, been in the Opening & Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics and seen 10+ Olympic events, hiked a 14,000 foot mountain and walked across day old lava from an active volcano in Hawaii.  I'm blessed each and every day to be here and be healthy.  I thank God each morning and night for the opportunities I've had in my life.  This is yet another one that I have to look at positively.

    I make this place sound like prison, but it's not.  It's improving for sure.  I'm getting the hang of things and understanding it all more.  Now that I have some friends it's better too.  I'm making tons of money and am not really spending any of it.

  ---the shower

---  gluten free meal

   Here are some pictures and I'll post more later. There will be plenty more stories to come of my time here!

New York, New York

When I left home last fall for school I told people that I probably wouldn't ever be coming home again for long periods of time.  I didn't know if that was really going to be the case, but now it's reality.  Last week I found out that I got an internship at Cooperstown New York.  When we went with TJ to the Cooperstown Dreams Park for the baseball tournament in 2008 I thought it would be fun to work there and now that's happening.  I'll live in cabins so similar to my dorm now and probably eat food that's very similar. I'm not really looking forward to that part but I'm excited to work, meet new people and make quite a bit of money.  I hope it works out and I make friends or it could be a really long three months away from everyone.

      I can't believe that my freshman year is almost over. It's been such a whirlwind.  I don't think I've necessarily changed a whole lot but I do think I've learned a great deal.  I've learned a lot about what's important to me and what's important in this life. I've loved living with everyone because it teaches you a lot about relationships.  

many blessings

Moments.  All of life is effected by little moments.  You may never realize how much of an impact these moments can have. As cliché as it sounds life really is precious.

   What's brought upon my thinking of this is...yesterday I found out that a boy on our floor dad passed away.  He had four children and was in his early 50s.  I guess God has a plan for everyone; that's what I hope and believe anyway.  It's never going to seem fair when someone leaves this earth for whatever reason.  

    Yesterday a guy kept calling me from a number from another state and thought  I was someone different than myself.  He was looking for someone and I told him it wasn't me.  He kept calling and was convinced.  He texted me too saying sorry for the drama.  I didn't respond and had a friend of mine talk to him and tell him not to talk to me anymore but he still called.  Today he sent me a four page text message still thinking I was someone else and he said he was going to commit suicide and for me to have a good life.   This is the part of the story when I called the cops in the town where his area code was from, Minnesota.  The cops tracked him down using the phone number I gave them and he is from a mental institution home. The cops found him overdosing on pills.  It was scary when the cops called me back and told me. Then the man called me and said "thank you for helping [him]" and he just called me to say thank you.  I've never felt like I have saved a life before.  He texted me again so I called the cops and they went back to his house to delete my number and he said he just wanted to call me and tell me thank you for saving him.  How does a little 18 year old college student get connected with someone like this and have a situation occur like this?  For whatever reason when people told me to block his number I didn't and then in this case maybe his life was saved.  Hopefully this is the end of all of this and I hope this guy gets better.  Hopefully I don't have to deal with it anymore. 

   In any case as we are taking finals I'm extremely grateful for my life.  I love it even when times are tough;  there is ALWAYS someone facing a more difficult situation then you are.  There's always someone facing something alone.  I'm thankful for all of my friends and family.  

Friends and Family

I'm so happy to have the friends I do.  Everyone I am friends with has something different to offer.  This past weekend I played lacrosse at the Air Force Academy.  McKenna Kimball knew I was coming so she came to watch.  We played Westminster and Maggie is on that team.  It's pretty crazy to think that Maggie and I became friends freshmen year of high school playing lax and here we are playing against each other.  Giving Kenna a big hug is so comforting because she's one of the only people in Colorado who has known be longer than 8 months.  I've met so many new friends here.  Susie and I always have a ton of fun together.  SuSSSSSieeeee (that's how  I say her name and everyone can recognize it).  She's just  so down to earth and chill which makes her great.  Ali is my homework buddy and lax buddy always making us laugh.  Emma is one of my newest friends.  She always makes me smile.  All the girls on the team are fun.  Each person is so different.  On Saturday I went skiing with Irene, Annie, Hannah P. and Mitch.  We had a blast even though it was freezing.  We had a good time.  Mitch is a good skier so it was fun to ski with him.  We went to Village Inn for lunch and it was fantastic.  That night I coordinated a little get together dinner because it was Hannah's birthday.  We surprised her and Katie F., Katrin, Irene, Annie and I all went to Mod Market for dinner.  They had really good all natural, delicious food.  It was nice to be with people other than PLPers and just be with a group of girls.  We got fro yo after and came back to my room to sing "happy birthday".  I love Annie tons.  We went to church together on Sunday and had more longs talks.  Rachel is great.  Through any ups and downs we'll still be great friends.  We share a bond that won't be broken no matter what and I love that!  Britt was gone this weekend but it was great when she got back because we went to the gym together.  She always provides entertainment in my life which is much needed.  Beckster is always happy and nice which is so grand.  On Tuesday it was almost 70 degrees.  Lots of us hung out outside and played football.  It was fun to be with a mix of all kinds of people just enjoying the weather.  Tons of girls were laying out and looked like lobsters after and I just played football and got tan :) Today I had lunch with Mike for his birthday.  It's weird because here no one truly knows your backstory so it was nice to catch up with him about life.
      Angie is coming to visit in April and I'm stoked.  She's such a good friend.  This week is hard not being home because Ky is home with Disney on Ice.  I haven't seen her in 8 months and I just want to sing Ke$ha with her.  I also really want to hang out with Caitlin because her birthday is Friday and Tiff is getting married and I wish I could be at every shower and help with everything. In the end though I know this is where I'm supposed to be and my true friends will always be there no matter what.
    My family sent me a package today.  It's true when they say that family is all you've always got.  They are fantastic.  I honestly didn't think I'd talk to my family as much as I do but it's a good thing.  Momma baked a cookie pie with oatmeal and whole wheat flour.  Sooooo delicious and she sent various other goodies like a kids book :)
Life is good.

Boston Baby

Boston Baby…..

            Home of the Red Sox, Charles River, Celtics, and Harvard.   I had such a fun weekend at Harvard.  I decided before I came to college that I was going to live my life to the fullest and make the most of every opportunity that was presented to me. I said that I wasn’t going to worry too much about money because I’ll work hard and be able to afford it.  SO consequently about a month ago I bought a plane ticket to Boston.  I wanted to see Corbin Miller play basketball and since he leaves on his mission in May this would be the last time I’d see him play for two years. I also wanted to see Christian and he’ll leave on his mission soon too probably.  I have lots of friends in Boston who were all Coca-Cola Scholars as well.  I figure this was as good of a time as any to come out. 

            I stayed in Christian’s dorm with his roommates.  They were all really nice to me.  We walked around campus and the buildings are gorgeous.  It’s a lot like DU with the red brick Harvard is just older.  Harvard’s campus is a lot bigger too since most students live on campus for all 4 years. The dinning hall is huge.  Only freshman can eat in Annenberg.  There were gorgeous stained glass windows.  The food was really comparable to DUs. It’s dorm food.  Nothing fantastic but not terrible. We ate dinner last night at Kirkland (one of the upperclassman houses) and their food was better. It’s a lot smaller and the kitchen looked like a real kitchen in a home.  I got to go to 3 classes on Friday.  The head of the Congressional Budget Office was a guest lecturer so I got to listen to him.  I went to both basketball games, a multicultural performance hosted by John Legend, breakfasts with friends, a run along the Charles River, a party at a finals club, tour Boston along the Freedom Trail and just hang out.  The students were all really cool.  I’ve determined that yeah sure they’re all smart but they’re at Harvard because they’ve done something unique.  They’ve won physics competitions, started clubs, danced in touring groups, are champions of table tennis in India, skydived 9 times.  Everyone has something unique to bring to Harvard.  All the students were easy to say that the hardest part of Harvard is getting in, from there it’s not too bad.  Students still study like they do at most schools but they all have other focuses too.  Most are involved heavily in clubs and have a passion.  They are passionate about change and reform.  I was surprised at how many athletes there were.  I guess about 1/3 of the school are varsity or junior varsity athletes at school though. The athletes all really blend in though. 

            It was really interesting to see all of the tourists.  I guess people are constantly walking around and trying to take pictures.  The students are ordinary people and don’t really get why people are taking pictures of them.  At the party everyone was just hanging out talking and having fun.  People were all really genuine and kind when they met me.  I met a few athletes and they were nice.

            I was amazed at how many connections I had with people at Harvard.  Kids from Colorado who know people at DU, a girl from MO who knows one boy at DU and he’s on my floor (James McShane), girls who live right above me, a figure skater who did the grand prix who’s from CO, a boy who went to high school with Rachel who also knew a boy who I met at Gonzaga.  It was pretty crazy, but awesome every time we discovered the connections.

            Overall I’m so blessed to live the life I live.  My friends are great and I’m lucky to have friends all around the world.  I will never forget the experiences I have and how much they really do influence my life for the better.