Wipeout…

****Posted by Nicole

Last night we turned the Harsha Wines Warehouse into Harsha Hot Wheels Skating Rink! I’ve been a little embarrassed lately to strap on all this gear to do what little kids do so easily and without fear. So Kyle and I put on some Black Crows and I got my skate on while he did some paperwork in the office. I skated around the delivery van, pallets of wine, and shelves of bottles but my wheels kept getting nicked by little rocks and pieces of wood. So I grabbed the massive broom we have and started skating and sweeping at the same time. When I came around the last corner the broom got caught on a rough patch in the cement and stopped while my skates continued to skate. The next thing I knew I was looking up at my feet and falling down hip and hand first, fast and furiously. Uh oh, this is going to suck.
All Kyle heard sitting in the office was some commotion and a loud “OOOF” followed by some moaning. He came into the warehouse to find me rolling around on the floor grunting something about my wrist and sweeping. After sitting on the floor for about 3 minutes I was able to get back up on the horse and keep going. It did shake me up a little and my wrist and hips took a beating. I thank God that I had my wrist guards on and didn’t have to finish the night in the emergency room. Phew! I came out of my first real wipeout with no broken bones. Win!

The Meet and Greet

****Posted by Nicole

Monday night was the first of three meet and greets that the roller derby league set up for the girls that want to try out. It was held at the Rock and Rollarena in Arnold and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if we would be doing drills, just skating, or learning new tricks. My stomach was in knots not only because I was nervous but also because I thought there might be a squirrel making a nest in the middle of my guest bed upstairs. (Another story for another day)

So I walked in the rink and thankfully found some other girls that were just as lost and freaked out as me. As I strapped on my knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards I noticed that little kids started pouring in and this was just a regular skating rink. I honestly thought they were extinct! They did all the normal activities that we used to do as kids; the hokey pokey, limbo, and couples skate! I was in heaven! I had stepped into some kind of time warp. Back when things were simple and all I had to worry about was not hurting myself and if they were going to play my favorite jams Walk Like An Egyptian and Who Made Heaven a Place on Earth.

Overall I had a great time. I didn’t fall once! (Wobbled a lot, but no wipeouts.) I met a ton of really nice girls and am still really excited to do this Derby thang!


The rink!







The only thing that bothered me when I got home were my shins. Ooof! So I listened to Kyle and put ice on them. The next morning I felt great!!!

Butterflies…..more like angry little elves!

****Posted by Nicole

Tonight is my first meet and greet with the derby girls and my stomach is all a flutter with little mean elves. It feels like they have a gymnastics competition going on in there! I know I’ll be fine once I get there, but for now I want to just throw up. You see, I have a little something called social anxiety. It’s not so bad that I won’t do things, but it’s just enough to make me really nervous before I do something new by myself. I had to take an Excedrin Migraine too and I think the caffeine might have just fueled the fire. If anyone reads this before 5:30 please pray that my stomach stops flipping out enough so I can skate without having to run to the bathroom!

It’s ALIVE!!!!

****Posted by Nicole

One night in June or July Kyle was roasting a chicken while watching TV. All of the sudden our oven started beeping crazily and flashing F1. Ever since that frightful night the stove top worked but the oven did not. We would be sitting in the living room all nice and quiet and out of nowhere it would start beeping and yelling at us again. It’s been difficult to live without an oven mainly because a lot of low fat recipes require baking, but we have managed. Well Thanksgiving is upon us and we have a turkey to cook. So in order to participate in one of the most glutinous holidays in America, we bought an oven to cook our turkey in.

I am so excited to use our new toy because it’s gas not electric! A wonderful, trustworthy, neighbor and friend helped us set up our kitchen to have the option to use gas. (side note: While he was doing this he also found a gas leak in our basement. Yikes!)

Big thanks to my parents for funding the purchase! They had given us trips to Mexico for Christmas, but Kyle wasn’t able to go. So they let us keep the cash and spend it on whatever we needed. Also another huge shout out to our neighbor Will that spent many hours in our basement and kitchen. It would have cost us at least a thousand dollars to do this with a professional so we are so grateful for his help. It’s so much fun to see how God blesses and provides for us with the people in our lives!

So proud of my Hubby!!!

****Posted by Nicole

Last night Kyle and I got to go to a launch party for a new local golf magazine called Avid. Through some contacts, and his Sippin blog (http://www.sippinstl.blogspot.com/), Kyle got tapped to write a couple of articles for their release!





The party was in full swing when we got there and had a lot of very fancy people, that I did not know, hobnobbing and schmoozing. I met the one person Kyle knew in the room, ate some shrimp, had a couple drinks, snagged some magazines, and then left to have our own launch party a couple doors down at the Fatted Calf. I gotta say, the food there was much better! We had surprisingly tasty humongo burgers that were not very Ninja friendly. I did make a conscious decision to switch coke for water and also to share an order of fries and mushrooms. We finished the night at our favorite place, 33 wine bar, and called it a successful launch/celebration night.

I am super excited and proud of Kyle for always looking for new ventures and never being afraid to put his name out there. Love you sweetheart and bravo!


Kyle with one of his articles!

















Me with my burger!

Yes, I said Roller Derby …

****Posted by Nicole



Last night I found myself in a meeting with women named Stitches, Enya Nightmare, Bare Knuckle Smack, and The Punctuator. Yes, I was checking out the Saint Louis Arch Rivals roller derby team. A couple months ago Kyle saw the movie Whip It and decided that was the perfect thing for his shy bride to get involved with. He talked it up, I saw the movie, we watched a documentary, and I checked out the Arch Rivals on the internet. Slowly I began to cross over and think, maybe I can do this.

I signed up for the information night to see if it was something that I really might be interested in, or if it was me just wishing I could be that bad ass. Come to find out these chicks are crazy serious about their….sport? It is very physical and a lot of work and time. To even be considered you have to first go through three weeks of Booty Camp, which is basically your try out. Then you are picked to be a newbie and go through extensive training. Aften you get smacked around for a few months you get drafted onto a team. The entire process takes about 6 months to a year, and that's only if you are drafted. They train you for a long time because the better in shape you are, the better off your body will survive the shoving, falling, bumping, tripping, and sliding.

I’ll keep you updated on my adventures and I am super excited to try this out. I have until December 13 to get my skate on and kick some butt! Wish me ….lots of padding!

http://www.archrivalrollergirls.com/

Walk it off

When we were first starting to figure out how to lose weight and live in a healthy manner, I was directed to the Dr Oz book "You, On a Diet". This book has some good stuff in it, even though it is written in a manner that is often silly and irritating. One of the things that the good Dr. says is that we all need to walk 30 minutes per day, no excuses. Now, I'm not going to claim that I have done this since we began this monster of a project. Heck, I didn't even walk most of the days last week. However, today I did and it struck me- This is a really easy way to benefit your body. Here's why you should be walking:

1. It's Free. You don't need any special equipment, trainers, memberships, or dvd sets to do it. You have shoes- put them on and start walking.

2. You get to know your area. I mean really get to know it- not just knowing the names of your neighbors, but rather you start noticing things as you are strutting along about peoples houses, likes, schedules, and yard upkeep. One thing- make sure you look up. Don't just stare at the sidewalk in front of you. Notice the trees, buildings, etc that are all around you.

3. It starts your day off right. Walking is a great way to get you into the mindset to be successful today- you break a little bit of a sweat, and you loosen up your muscles.

4. Walking is easy. With the exception of about your first year of life, you have been walking for a long time. You are probably pretty good at it already.

So, kick your excuses out the door, put on your shoes, and walk. You'll be glad you did.