Spring Break!

Spring break is finally upon us here at Murray State! The town is buzzing and so am I :) I thought I would give you some insight as to what my plans are for the next 10 days or so, and then once I'm back I'll do a bigger post about all my adventures.

Today I am driving to Atlanta to meet Alex at the airport. It's about a six hour drive, and I'm hoping that traffic isn't too crazy so I can make good time. We will stay the night in Atlanta and make an early start on our drive to South Carolina on Saturday. The drive isn't very long so we've planned a few stops on the way through Georgia to see some sights!

We've rented a beach house on Kiawah Island, which is about half an hour out of Charleston SC and the weather is supposed to be so beautiful. We stay on Kiawah until Thursday, just enjoying the beach and whatever else there is to see! I'm hoping to do some kayaking, paddle boarding, and hiking but this make take some convincing on Alex's part ;)

Next Thursday, we have tickets to the Luke Bryan concert in Florence, SC. It's around a two hour drive, and I'm sure there is lots to see on the way up there! Next Friday, we'll be on the interstate again travelling to Greenville, SC to see ol' George Strait on his retirement tour (omg omg omg!).

On Saturday, once again, we'll hop in the car and head back West to Nashville. Alex wanted to experience all the wonders of Music City before heading back to snowy Canada. We have two nights planned there, until he flies back to Calgary on the 25th.

So excited for this trip!!

Sending love,

Elle

Blonde Moment

So something mortifying happened today...but I figured it might give everyone a good laugh.

The story begins with me at the gym-I was planning on doing a light run today because I'm pretty sore from my 15km long run yesterday. So after 30 minutes of running on the treadmill, I made my way over to the elliptical to cool down a bit. So far, this sounds like a pretty normal day at the gym...don't be fooled!

But then, I noticed over my headphones that the elliptical was making awful crashing noises; I began investigating and saw that the front swinging arm was catching on the side of the machine. It was at this point when the blonde devil on my shoulder decided it would be a really good idea to put my hand in there. Yes, you read correctly, I put my hand between a rotating arm and a stationary object.

I can't even explain how much it hurt! As many of you know, I handle pain relatively well...however, I can't stomach things that look painful. As I'm staring at my stuck-in-the-elliptical hand, I began to completely panic. I could not get it out and there was no one else around. After attempting to move the arm and realizing it only got tighter before it could get looser, I could feel nausea encroaching. After a few more seconds of me slowly maneuvering my hand out of the machine I could feel the blood rushing out of my face, the sweat pouring out of my body, and then...the vomit.

I was completely mortified. There I was alone in the gym, hand stuck in the elliptical with vomit on the floor; this was not my proudest moment. Clearly, my body overreacted and decided that going into shock was the best way to handle this situation.

In hindsight, I'm glad there was no one else around to witness this. I was able to get my hand out finally, take a few breaths with my head between my knees, pour some water on my face, wipe up the nothing-but-water puke, and continue (extremely embarrassed) on my way.

I just don't think I'm cut out for being a Belle...

Spring Fever

Today was such a tease! It was so sunny and beautiful outside that it made me feel like summer is just around the corner! I walked by the pool at our complex feeling like a caged animal, it was 14 degrees here but apparently I was the only one who felt that swimming would have been appropriate...
Tomorrow it's supposed to be even nicer and I'm so looking forward to doing my long training run out in the sunshine. It will be the perfect day! I must say this weather is making me very antsy for spring break :) One. More. Test. and then I'm free to soak up the sun with Luke Bryan and George Strait in South Carolina, woohoo!

 

Campus is always so beautiful on sunny days, so while I was waiting at the doctor's office, I snapped a few photos. A very cute and unique feature of the campus is the Shoe Tree (picture below). Basically, if you happen to meet the love of your life while attending Murray State, once you get married you attach your shoes to the tree! Such a cute tradition, and there's even some baby shoes on there that people put up once they have kids!

 

But have no fear! At this rate I will not be contributing to the shoe tree, and I will be returning to cozy Canada without a Southern cowboy (despite their intriguing sexiness).

 



 

On a somewhat eerie side note, the birds in Kentucky give me the heebee jeebees! This video is of a huge flock of black birds straight out of a Hitchcock film that gave me the creeps. The worst part was that everything was silent except for the birds and the bell tower...
 

 

March 7th