Growing Up Ginsburg — try to ignore the weird

Race Recap: Oilman Texas

by Christa on November 9, 2011

in Daily Digest, Race Recap, TNT, Weekenders

Why a 70.3? Because a 70.4 would just be silly!

I can’t believe it – I finished my first half ironman on Sunday! That’s right, you sillies. I swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles, and ran 13.1 miles (a half marathon, mind you) – and, unbelievably to me, I did it within the official time limit of 8 hours. HAH.

Oilman Texas (formerly Iron Star) was held in Montgomery, Texas – about an hour north of Houston. I stayed in a hotel in Conroe 10 miles away the night before so I wouldn’t have to drive 50 in the morning instead. Luckily for me, it was TIME CHANGE – hallelujah, an extra hour of sleep on race day! My parents came in town and I was also giving them an evaluated tour of the Holocaust Museum (my Junior League placement) – that took up a few hours. We went to Yia Yia Mary’s for dinner, which turned out to be the perfect pre-race fuel. Those Greeks know how to do it.

I didn’t even have time to get nervous. I took half a Benadryl at the hotel and was knocked out til 5am, when I got my wakeup call and packed up my gear to head to the race site. I took an anti-stress tablet and those things must work because I was shockingly cavalier about the entire thing. I kept saying to myself…ok, go for a swim, and then you’ll go for a long bike ride, and then a run. I wasn’t concerned about my time. Goal 1 was to finish. Goal 2 was to finish in under 8 hours. And my final goal was to finish in under 7 hours (spoiler: didn’t happen).

Walking out of transition to the swim start – ready to go!

Ok, ok, prayer, national anthem, blah blah – let’s go! I’m somewhere in there with the rest of my pink-capped friends…

Swim (49:30): I wish I had a long-sleeved wetsuit. The officials said it was 70 degrees, but there’s no way – it had to be at least 65. It was SO COLD – I didn’t warm up the entire time. I felt really bad for the girls not wearing a wetsuit at all. Compared with previous races and yards/minute, this was a rather slow swim for me. Eh, well – whatya gonna do?

Done with the swim!

T1 (6:06): Wetsuit strippers did their thing – first time I’ve had my wetsuit stripped off of me, that was weird. And it works! That thing flew off! Then, socks, cycling shoes, and I was off on the bike.

Bike (3:53:25): Well…since I was shooting for 3:30 on the bike…we can see that didn’t happen. Yes, this is a pretty bad time. Keep in mind I could barely ride a bike in June, when I joined the TNT Tri team. At least a vast improvement? Also…I fell at mile 52. Ah, I was so close! I knew if I could just finish the bike, I would finish the race no problem. One foot in front of the other for the run (read: jog/walk). The bike course was a big loop in Montgomery and Grimes counties, with a short out and back near the halfway point. Approximately 10 miles of new chip seal – my teeth almost rattled out of my skull. No matter. Glad I didn’t get a flat at least. That would have taken more time than the fall.

This photo was taken about a mile after I got back on the bike – spot the war wounds. Dangit.

T2 (4:24): Had to take a potty break. I’m sure my mother was very proud that despite my deliberate attempts, I couldn’t pee while riding a bike. It isn’t ladylike, after all. The whole time on the bike, I kept saying to myself, “Run=race belt, run=race belt.” I have a tendency to forget about my race belt, which you’re supposed to wear or something. Change shoes, Garmin on. Why I felt the need to check and make sure that I was indeed at a snail’s pace, I don’t know.

Run (2:56:02): While this pace is laughable for me, I take heart in the fact that it would be a pretty decent half marathon for a lot of people. I cut myself some slack – I really felt like I was giving it everything I had after that bike.

I look pretty stoked to be running a half marathon. Stupid.

Mile 13 behind me. Ironic foreshadowing.

It was a 3-loop course, so I passed my adoring fans several times – The Shanester, my parents, and Patrizia and her boyfriend Scott came too! They kept me pumped up. I’m not gonna play it cool – I walked a LOT, esp through the gravel area. So silly. And here I am running through grass – just a midday frolic. Random terrain, it was.

Finally, FINALLY – I clocked in at 7:49:29. Much like my first marathon…YES, I could have pushed harder…but I just wanted to finish. That’s it. Guaranteed PR. Next time I’ll be quicker. And well, I obviously need more training on a bike. Hook ‘em!

I finished 16 out of 19 in my category, exactly like at the US Open Tri – and two of these were DNFs. I was the next-to-last finisher out of females age 25-29. Oh wait, hold on – I don’t care.

It was a great day. I did every single one of those 70.3 miles and I’m a half ironman!

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Race Recap: Toyota U.S. Open Triathlon

by Christa on November 4, 2011

in Race Recap, TNT, Weekenders

This race recap is long overdue (like a month), but cut me some slack, I’ve been working on my super fun new blog that’s gonna be allllll about races and TNT and my quest to maybe one day be faster and not fall smack in the middle of my division all the time. Or, if it’s this particular race – at the bottom of my division.

Anyslow, let’s talk about the Toyota US Open Tri. It was in my hometown of ROCKWALL, TX! It was pretty strange because the high school dance team I was on(the Stingerettes) was volunteering – all of the girls looked so young, and I swear I did not feel that young – or even feel like I looked that young – back then. It’s strange to think I’m 8-10 years older than all of them; sometimes it feels like yesterday.

They were tickled when I told them I was a former ‘rette. One of them even recognized my name because, “Your sister was a senior when my older sister was a new girl!” Great, that doesn’t make me feel old at all. So my sister, who is 4 years younger than I am, was a senior when your OLDER sister was a sophomore. Super.

I digress again. Let’s race.

Pre-race – This was the first time I haven’t had to drive over half an hour to get to a race! It was only a few miles from my parents’ house, at the gorgeous Rockwall Harbor. Thank goodness I got to leave a little later, because this was also the first race for which I did not get good sleep the night before. It felt like I woke up every half hour and looked at the clock. My stomach was also in knots, so I only ate half of a Clif bar for breakfast (mistake). I got to transition to set up my stuff, and chatted with TNT gals Jessica and Jordann – I was really glad I knew a couple of people there because it helps to chit-chat and be distracted before the race. This was the last race of the Toyota series, and while there were quite a few pros present, there were only 19 in our division (female age 25-29). We were in the 5^th wave, and before I knew it – we were off!

Swim (36:59) – If you’ll remember, the 1.5k (almost a mile) swim was cancelled at Nation’s Tri, due to the Potomac being a dirty post-hurricane mess. So while I had swum the Olympic distance quite a few times in practice, this was the first time in a race! There were boats out on Lake Ray Hubbard and the chop was pretty bad. Almost every time I went to take a breath, a wave gave me a mouthful of water. I was feeling pretty bloated towards the end. The lake is down so much from the drought that people were walking the last 100 yards. That was hard. I realized I was expending more energy trying to march through the mud – sucks.

I was allowing myself 45 minutes to finish the swim. I knew a sprint swim took me between 13 and 14 minutes, so I just multiplied that by 3 (since the Olympic distance is 3x the distance of the sprints I had done) and gave myself a little padding. Imagine my surprise to learn it only took me 37 minutes!

Super sexy photo of me in a wetsuit! Hope you weren’t eating lunch.

T1 (4:13) – That’s actually a pretty slow transition. Granted, I had to get out of my wetsuit. I noticed Jordann’s bike was still racked so I kind of watched everyone running up the path from out of the water, to see if she was coming. So I putzed around with my bike gear; why’d I do that? Oh well. She got to the rack just as I was leaving with my bike (of course she passed me on the bike – I think most people do).

Bike (1:46:15) – The 40k (~24 mile) bike course kicked my ass. It chewed me up and spit me out. Immediately coming out of transition, there’s a steep hill to ride up to get on the course – everyone was falling. I tried to get my bike going and of course fell, so I hung my head and walked my bike like several others were doing. Between the hills and the wind, I just could not pick up any speed. This time is a full 15 minutes and then some longer than my bike time at Nation’s. Some of the roads were rough – gravel and potholes, railroad tracks. But it was the hills that got me. I might have driven those roads every day in high school, but somehow you don’t notice the hills when you’re in a car. It didn’t help that on one stretch of the road, we rode downhill, U-turned, cranked up the hill and then had to loop around and do it again! What were they thinking? That sucked. I was spent. My dad caught a picture of me coming back to transition and about to dismount. I was DONE with the bike. The last 5 miles I was just saying to myself, “Get me the hell off this course!”

T2 (2:26) – Pretty fast transition – I was ready for this race to be over.

Run (1:13:43) – A slow run for me – at this point, I knew my times sucked so I was mostly concentrating on having fun and talking to the other racers. Of course, what’s the first thing you have to do? Just like the bike – straight up a hill out of transition. I had started to run but once I hit that hill, my legs were like…um, no. My family was waiting at the top of the hill and I heard my sister saying, “Can you at least pretend to run? We’re taking pictures.”

Before I hit the hill:

After:

Does that look like the face of someone who wants to run 6.2 miles? Luckily, I was enjoying the run/walk and talking to other people. This one guy was hilarious. He was decked out in his University of North Texas Tri Team gear and I caught up to him so he started running faster and pulled ahead. Then he slowed to a walk. Again, I caught up to him – and again, he took off. I was thinking, “Wow, this guy REALLY doesn’t want to get chicked.” I guess what he didn’t realize was that he was in a wave before me, so even if he was physically AHEAD of me, I was still AHEAD of him. Finally he turned around and said, “Want to run the rest of the race together?” Sure! So we jogged the last couple of miles together – here we are crossing the finish line.

Time – 3:43:38. I finished 14 out of 16 finishers in my division. 2 DNF’ed (did not finish). I don’t know what happened to #19.

Hmph. Welp. That sucks. But I still had a great time and I’d rather be DFL (dead….last) than not finish, any day!

This race was hard. The bike really mentally got to me. Yes, my legs were burning (definitely need more hill training) – but my mind was like WTF?! These hills suck! This wind is blowing people off their bikes! DO NOT WANT. At the end of the day though, it was fun, I repped TNT, and I got a taste of a tough course. Huzzah!

So I better suck it up and have fun at Oilman this weekend, because I’m gonna be stuck on that bike for a loooong time. Coming soon.

Post race shower, trip to Grandma’s house where I pretended I wasn’t so hungry that I was about to eat her furniture, then to SNUFFER’S to have some cheese fries and beer. Delicious.

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erm…halloween.

by Christa on October 31, 2011

in Daily Digest, Holidays Happen

We had 2 trick-or-treaters. Teenagers not in costume.

I threw them a passive-aggressive, “And what are YOU supposed to be?” – but not too snarky, I’m scared of kids between the ages of 12 and 19. I mean, what if they wanted to bust a cap?

So…yeah. But at least I made chili and cornbread muffins. And we had Oktoberfest beer! And Halloween candy!

Hmph.

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On tri, being a housewife, and vegging out…

by Christa on October 13, 2011

in Daily Digest, Haus Ginsburg, Internets, Just Nothing, Just for Fun, TNT

I really appreciate everyone’s kind comments on my last post. It’s inspiring to know that there are people out there fighting for this cause every day. I’m not a stellar athlete: I do this for a reason. Do I get enjoyment out of it? Sure. But my motivation comes from somewhere else, too. TNT is rapidly becoming a defining chapter in my life – I’ve made new friends, gotten back in shape, and raised more money than I thought would be possible for this cause….with no intent to stop.

I can’t express my gratitude enough to those of you who have been inspired to donate to this worthy cause – the money you donate WILL help find a cure.

I’m ready to get back into “marathon shape,” (remember the part where I didn’t really train all summer? IT WAS HOT OUTSIDE) but first… my final triathlon this season is rapidly approaching – Oilman. Shoutout to my buddy Alex for encouraging me to go for it!
It is not an official Ironman branded race, but it is a half iron distance (70.3 miles: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). I’m excited! The swim is actually not that much further than an Olympic distance, but the bike and run are a little over double.

Do you hate triathlon? So does this guy. Like, a lot. SkinnyRunner posted this on her site and he’s gotten tons of new comments. Mazels.

Make no bones about it – I’m a smug, rich asshole but that has nothing to do with sports. I kid, I kid. I totally have the Hyundai of bikes. But I get what he’s saying. It’s hilarious to pass these out-of-shape guys who think they’re the shit on their $3k bikes. I might actually LOL if they’re wearing one of these bad boys:

YES, I KNOW THAT’S PHOTOSHOPPED.

Anyway. Shane cooked dinner tonight and cleaned up afterward – he’s the best. He just got back in from 10 days in Austin, New York/New Jersey, and Memphis – oy. I did all the laundry while he was gone, but that was the extent of my housewifeliness (it’s a word). I’m just so busy.

Here’s a dumb pic of me doing Shane’s laundry when he lived in Beaumont and we were just crazy kids – boyfriend and girlfriend, wooooooo. He probably thought he had hit the jackpot and that I’d wait on him hand and foot. He was sure in for a rude awakening. To be clear – if we can afford it, I’ll stay home when we have kids. I negotiated that shit up front.

Between a demanding full-time job, training, Junior League obligations, web design projects, responsibilities around the house, plus trying to scrap together a social life, I feel like I’m burning the candle at both ends. I’m ready for a BREAK. Know what I mean?

I have to learn to say NO to people. Just a simple, “No, I can’t make it.” Followed by vegging on the couch with the dogs! A Shiner Oktoberfest never hurts either.

What do you do when YOU need a break?

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And then…

by Christa on October 10, 2011

in TNT

My heart’s heavy posting this. I sat on it a few days, not really knowing what to say or how to make it actually go onto the page. Basically, Nevaeh has lost her battle with leukemia. I think my friend Alejandra – also a TNT participant – said it best: she didn’t even get a chance to live yet. Her mother wrote today, “I don’t see God’s plan. I don’t see any good in this at all.”

It’s not fair.

Saturday was Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement, and the holiest day for Jews. I kind of struggled with that. I don’t even know if I believe in any sort of God (my thoughts on that could take hours to write), but what kind of God lets something like this happen? If there is a God, she should know that we are not on good terms right now.

And then I really start to get frustrated. I’ve raised approximately $6,675 for LLS in the past 8 months, and it’s my goal to hit $30,000 by the time I turn 30. It would be an understatement to say that it sucks that there’s not a cure. But then I think about drugs like Gleevec and Tasigna, funded by LLS, that help blood cancer patients live better lives. Help them live, period. And I know that the efforts are worth it every time.

My friend Kristen is running the Nike Women’s Marathon next Sunday, and she got us the coolest shirts to wear to cheer her on. I teared up when I read the back of them – it’s so true.

And…well, the front is just pretty cool.

So, in short – I’m feeling torn right now. Not too inspired, but I’m trying. I really, really am.

Please keep Nevaeh’s family in your thoughts – I can’t imagine the pain they’re going through right now. I never want to know that kind of pain.

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The Reason.

by Christa on October 6, 2011

in TNT, Uncategorized

People always seem impressed that I sign up for marathons and triathlons – again and again. It’s not that impressive. I’m not remotely fast, and I’m not even that experienced. But I am motivated. And I won’t stop, no matter how frustrated I get with whatever or whomever I’m frustrated with that week, I can’t stop.

Here’s why. I race to spread the mission of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Every race I run, people see my jersey and think, “Huh. That’s cool. I wonder what they do.” We raise money – that’s what we do. And some of my friends might be frustrated with me continuing to ask for their cash, but it’s not like it’s for my shoe fund. Wanna know where it goes? Let me break it down for you (thanks Kristin for the info):

A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.
A donation of $50 makes possible a family support group with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.
A donation of $100 helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.
A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.

I received an email today, and my heart broke. A 4-year-old honored teammate of the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter has a few days left to live, according to doctors. Leukemia has taken everything from her. She has nothing left to give. This is the story her mother wrote on Saturday:
I have decided not to post for a while unless God performs a miracle. I enjoy reading all your comments of Love and support. you just dont know how much it helps me. But it pains me to see what is happening before my eyes so I am going to spend my time begging God to heal my daughter. Yesterday was a crazy emotional day. there was so much anger and frustration and confusion in me. First the doctors came in and said they needed Fili [her father] here and they wanted to have a meeting with us both. Then they came in again and checked her bottom, what pain she had and her eyes said it all! She screamed and screamed and asked for my help. I was helpless….I could not do anything for my daughter except watch her i pain. i could not stop crying my whole entire being ached, from my head to my feet to the inner deepest part of my soul. They then decided they would do emergency surgery on her again! So then the surgeon comes in and says we need to check her too, they wanted to be sure surgery is the right thing to do. So I Was so angry! I told them no I was not going to let them hurt her anymore. I asked why they didn’t come in with the other doctors at the same time. Then quietly Nevaeh whispers its okay mommy let them check me. So I did. And while she screamed in pain I cried and was so angry I snapped. They said she didn’t need the surgery and they had no idea why the doctors wanted to do surgery again… I was so confused… during the meeting the doctors talked to us about Nevaeh’s progress….It was not good. They let us know that Nevaeh was not doing well, this is bad!! She is only getting worse and worse. They believe that the cancer has came back and is in 20% of her blood. There is nothing they can do with that because they have tried everything and the strongest meds they have and if it hasn’t worked yet it will not work. Apart from that this infection is taking over and the pain has consumed her. They raise her morphine pump a lot and are talking with pain management to see what they can do. Everything that they are recommending is dangerous for her because of her immune system but they feel like she doesn’t have a choice. The goal is to make her as comfortable as possible even if it means she will be sleeping most of the day. They have let us know that they don’t think she will survive this. they asked us if we would consider that if her heart stopped not to resistant her. they said it would do her more damage than good. What are you suppose to say to that??? They want me to say ok I stop fighting for my daughter?? Fili and I both cried and our souls ached with pain .and uncertainty. We talked about what we wanted and what the right thing to do was…. we believe that if God wants her I won’t interfere…I will let him have her. we talked about Abraham and how he was willing to sacrifice his son. And I yelled I don’t want to be Abraham! I wannabe selfish and say No you cannot have her! But we all know I have no choices Its God’s choice. Its all in his hands. How selfish am I? I don’t want to give her up, And I truly believe I will die with her…The whole reason for me existing is my children, my family. Taking one away is taking who I am away…I beg God with all that I am to heal my daughter and to allow me to keep her. I cannot imagine my life without her….So the plan remains the same, we continue to do the white cells and pray for a miracle. The doctors don’t know everything, they don’t know that my God is bigger than this cancer….. As soon as I have something good or bad to say I will post again… Thank you all for your love, prayers and support. But my heart aches more than you can know and I am drowning in tears and suffocating in pain.. I need time with God. Please keep praying, Imagine her being your daughter and pray with all your heart and might that God heals her…

The reason I take time in my life to raise funds is so that no child or family like Nevaeh’s will have to endure this anymore.

Please consider making a donation. A cure is needed now more than ever. As always, you can click the Team in Training link in my sidebar. Or consider joining the Team – we need people like you.

Please also keep Nevaeh and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

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In burrito news…

by Christa on October 5, 2011

in Just Nothing

A married mom sent a love note to a teen – via breakfast burrito.

Everything is soooo a) legal and b) romantic in Oklahoma!

It’s 4:10 and OU still sucks. Yeah, there’s no segue for this…they just suck.

The love note is disgusting….but burritos are still awesome. Shane, take note – future love notes sent in my Freebirds, pls.

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Race Recap: Houston Triathlon

by Christa on October 4, 2011

in Race Recap, TNT, Weekenders

The morning after BeachPalooza, I woke up bright and early at 4:45am to grab my stuff and drive to Cypress for Houston Tri. I decided on the sprint (good call, in the end) since I knew I’d be doing Olympic at US Open Tri the next weekend. I was so dehydrated (and sunburned) from BP. I tried chugging water and Gatorade, but it was a little late.

The 500m swim was easy, and I breezed through in 14:17. That’s fast for me!

Bike leg – fine except for a) a lot of wind, and b) the triple loop of down, back, down where you could see all the cyclists ahead of you. Mean.

Obviously, I wasn’t impressed.

Run: I forgot sunscreen. How do I forget sunscreen? I was still sunburned from the day before! Sunscreen is now my #1 priority in life. Swearsies. BUT a) I finished and b) I beat my time from Clear Lake Tri (not surprising since I had a flat at CLI but let’s ignore that, a PR is a PR).

So glad that my sis Steph came in town and that this was the first tri my husband and sister-in-law got to attend! It’s a lot of fun, huh, guys?! Kinda makes you wanna tri? Yes??

*For the n00bs….why do I do triathlons, marathons, fundraising events? Check it out here. Gimme your lunch moneyz.

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Race Recap: BeachPalooza

by Christa on September 30, 2011

in BEDS, Race Recap

Red Frog Events, I think probably known best for Warrior Dash, also hosts BeachPalooza, so I drove down with co-workers (and fellow TNT participants) to check it out in Galveston.

Alejandra made sure that we were decked out in our devil costumes – can’t leave those behind. She asked me to wear all black, but I was all…..yeah, that’s not happening. I have a hard enough time staying cool. I don’t know how they did it!

Let me also mention that prior to driving to Galveston, I had run close to 8 miles – the combined 11 miles is the longest I’ve run since the San Diego Marathon in June (no, really – I did not train this summer). It was a hot one out last weekend and our wave was set to start at 2:30pm. Major oy.

BeachPalooza is an obstacle 5k, though I did underestimate the difficulty of running on the sand. I had thought we would stick together, but after I had been running for a couple of minutes, I turned around and the girls were nowhere to be found. I waited and probably 50 or so people passed me until I saw them walking. I gave them a “what the hell?!” look and was told that it was hot. Yes…yes, it was. So I decided to just go at my own pace and see where that got me.

The obstacles included things like a Noodle Forest, walls to jump over, these horizontal ladders to get across, and a tall cargo net climb. Pretty stupid, just like Warrior Dash – in my opinion. The best part was the Arctic Plunge – freezing water to crawl through before the famous fire leap at the end. It was truly hot outside.

I ended up finishing in 41:46 and placed 211 out of 700 in my age group. Sounds good to me. There were people doing sub 8min/miles in an event called BeachPalooza? Get a life. Hahahahahhhhh…really though.

After I finished, I walked back up the course til I saw Alejandra coming. I knew Patrizia couldn’t be far behind and told the announcers their names – how fun! Then we got our reward – Mike’s Hard Lemonade! I got the raspberry flavor and it was delicious, even though I couldn’t finish it. Too dehydrated for booze. They’re still in their devil outfits, but I changed in a corner – I’m ne’er scurred of public nudity.

I was exhausted. And dehydrated. And wondering how I was going to do Houston Tri the next morning…

I don’t think I’ll do it again next year. It’s too expensive, for one thing – $55 got me a stupid pineapple hat, a crappy plastic medal, a t-shirt, and a hard lemonade. I’d rather just go for a run in Memorial and come home to a beer, thanks!

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my 9.

by Christa on September 27, 2011

in BEDS, Daily Digest, Just for Fun

Agh! Ashley hit me with a Blissful Blogger award!

The rule: Write 9 things that most people don’t know about you.

1) My childhood nickname was Sweetie Doll. The woman who took care of me every day til first grade said I was sweet and was as tiny as a doll. She was my “adopted grandmother” and I knew when she died in 2006 that the nickname would likely die with her. I was, for the most part, right.

2) I live with (hate the term “suffer from”) chronic depression and (perhaps consequently) trichotillomania. I’m very self conscious about my hair.

3) I use humor as a defense mechanism. I try not to let anyone too close. Actually, everyone probably knows that.

4) I won the district spelling bee in 5th grade and went on to take runner-up out of all the 5th-8th graders (…bitch). I respect people less if they use poor grammar and/or spelling. Not kidding.

5) I have a scar on the inside of my right wrist from when a family friend pushed me in the pool. I hit it way too hard on the tile that separates the pool from the hot tub – I think that was about 12 years ago.

6) My hand-eye coordination SUCKS. I can dance something fierce and am fairly athletic but give me a sport that involves balls (no jokes, please), and it’s over. Basketball is hopeless, volleyball hurts, and softball is just downright depressing. Bat AND ball? Trouble. I’m glad nobody at work has invited me to play ping-pong in the break room (I work in HR, they all hate me).

7) I am fiercely loyal. Talk shit about me all day long if you want to, but don’t talk shit about my family or friends – I’ll rip your throat out. Treat them badly and you’ll have to answer to me (and Best Friend J, who aids and abets in all sabotage).

8 ) I was painfully shy until about 12 years old – I wouldn’t talk to people I didn’t know, I was easily embarrassed, and didn’t have a whole lot of friends. That all changed when I went to performing arts camp in New York and they MADE me come out of my shell. New Yorkers are like that, yknow.

9) My life is just not where I thought it would be at 26. In certain aspects, at least. I always thought I’d get married in my 30s, if at all, and have some sort of satisfying career, maybe be in the Peace Corps or work for a non-profit, I dunno. Instead I’m the girl that married early (hey, no complaints on finding my life partner at the ripe age of 19!) and has no clue what to do. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Who to tag?