We will never forget

The OSU Cowboy basketball team played Texas last night, the day before the 10 year anniversary of a tragedy that changed OSU forever. January 27, 2001 10 members of the OSU family perished in a cold, snow covered prairie in Colorado.

I would like to tell you that the game started with a moment of silence, that the family members in attendance of those 10 men were acknowledged, or the game was dedicated to the 10 and I am sure something along those lines occurred. However, you see Matt and I got to Gallagher Iba Arena 15-20 min before tipoff and waited in the will-call line until only 11 mins were left in the first half. As we sat down in our seats we were greeted with a t-shirt honoring all 10 men lost that fateful day.


Halftime brought an announcement acknowledging the families of the 10 men who were in attendance, followed by a 90-second standing ovation. Those 90 seconds brought back the memories from that day 10 years ago and the days immediately following. A campus in shock, friends in tears, and a huge group of people that became as close as a family.
Alums and fans alike stood and intently listened to the all of those brought back to Stillwater to share in this time of honor. There was much applause, a few tears and a couple chuckles as stories were told from former OSU players Andre Williams, Desmond Mason and Doug Gottleib in addition to the beloved coach Eddie Sutton.

Andre expressed how he could not believe that it had been 10 years.

Desmond thanked the families for allowing the 10 men to be a part of our lives. He expressed how much the men meant to him and how much they touched his live. Each man had a huge impact on Desmond and the entire university. He loved them all.

Doug jokingly played the blame game. He blamed Bill Tegins for putting him on TV, blamed Bill Hancock for fighting with Coach Sutton to allow him (Gottleib) to do radio and TV shows. Both men are to blame for Doug’s post basketball career. He closed by sharing a story about Nate…..Desmond was going to shave the heads of the entire team and Nate went to see a barber before the team haircut at the local Best Western. He got his hair cut as short as he could without shaving it, Nate told Doug that his sister would kill him if he were to shave his head.

As Coach Eddie Sutton was introduced it was mentioned that he lifted the entire OSU nation in those dark day, he was our John Wayne. Eddie quoted Bill Hancock ‘life is so precious, so cherish every moment of every relationship, hug the ones that are dear to you.’ Coach Sutton closed by thanking everyone for helping the team and the families heal up a little bit.

10 years ago Oklahoma State University promised to always remember and at OSU we keep our promises so last night in honor of those great men those 10 fallen Cowboys the number 10 was retired.

Kendall Durfey
Bjorn Falistrom
Nate Fleming
Will Hancock
Daniel Lawson
Brian Luinstra
Denver Mills
Pat Noyes
Bill Teegins
Jared Weiberg

We will always remember………

Love,
Jen


Some picture provided by Sarah Phipps

A reason to celebrate……

As mentioned in my last entry posted way too long ago for me to feel comfortable admitting I mentioned that I got sidetrack by a fire on my way home to get ready for an engagement party weekend before last. Well the day has come that I finally have time to breathe and share with you all the fun festivities of the night.

Before I get too far into the details of the night let me share a thing or two about this perfect couple getting married in March.

-They met during kickball last spring (there is just something about that sports that brings people together, maybe the little red ball is really cupid in disguised).
-Jack is quiet and Carolyn is a social butterfly.
-If you were to have the chance to pick a couple out of a catalog there would be no way to pick two people so perfect for each other.

Just look at this cute couple!


Back to the party…….

Amy (on the right)


Jane


Mandy (on the left if you should be confused)


Marla and


Matt (that hunk I happen to be so lucky to be pictured with)


Certainly know how to throw a party to beat all parties.

We had a table full of scrumptious finger foods.



More friends than we knew what to do with.





More fun than I have had in a while, wait who am I kidding I always have fun with this group.


It was a splendid evening.

What a day!

Saturday was one of those days; you know the kind I am talking about. The kind that cause you to forget to eat, the kind that are so busy you realize at 6pm that you have not even showered, the kind that even though there is an engagement party at 7:30 your bed seems so much more inviting. Well this past Saturday was that kind of day for me.

I was up pretty late on Friday night baking Strawberry Champagne cupcakes for the engagement party on Saturday and making Chicken Tortilla soup for my sickly man. So Saturday morning came way too early and way too abruptly for you see I was not woken up by my alarm I was woken up by a homeless man screaming outside my window. I jumped out of bed to see what was the matter (name that book) only to find a man simply yelling at himself…….the adventures of living in heart of urban Tulsa. Being I was up I figured I might as well get my day off and running. I trained Lindsay and as I side note while we were training were discussing the soup I made. I mentioned how I was going to buzz out of the house to run a few errands and leave the soup simmering on my stove, but at the last min opted to just turn my stove off (this will prove to be relevant later in this post). I got my hair cut and I finished the cupcakes. I headed over to Matt’s to deliver the magical get well soup and the cupcakes, for the party was going to be at his house.

As I scurried home to try to get in a quick run before I needed to get ready for the party my evening took a quick left hand turn. You see as I was tooling back to my place I saw some black smoke and because it didn’t look quite right……..who I am kidding, because I am an ambulance chaser I buzzed down a street in the hood to see where all the smoke was coming from. As I came up on the backside of a home I noticed the entire back end of the house was engulfed in flames…….I slammed on my breaks and called 911. I am embarrassed to admit that as I sat in my car calling 911, I thought is that all I have to do just call 911. For any of you (which I know there must be a ton) wondering that same question, yes that is all I had to do. The 911 dispatcher handed me over to the fire and ambulance department. I fumbled around as I was telling them what I was witnessing, for starters I had no idea what road I was on, I simply knew I was off 11th street near some street named Quincy, secondly fire is the one thing I fear the most. Anyway dispatch got it figured out and sent some fire trucks our way and when I say fire trucks what I mean is there were 9 of them. I began to drive away once fire and EMSA arrived and then I realize I have no idea what happened here, I don’t want to be seen leaving a potential crime scene, so I pulled back over and got trapped on that street among all the fire trucks.

Long story short an elderly man left something burning on his stove as he went over to a neighbor’s house, when he got to his house he found it going up in flames. It was quite possibly one of the saddest pictures I have ever seen as this man watched his house burn before him. Once I knew everyone was safe and I was not going to be questioned I thought I need to get going, after all I had not showered all day, even if I had I would need to shower again due to all the smoke. This needing to leave was great in theory, but the facts led to the truth….I was not going anywhere, I was trapped by 5 fire trucks on one end of the street and a hose being strung from the fire hydrant on the other end of the street. I realized I am stuck. I made a comment to a man in the neighborhood about really wishing I was not trapped, next thing I knew I was turning my car around in this very skinny spot in order to face the opposite direction and he directed me down the sidewalk and grass until I was able to hop off the curb at the other end of the street and finally find myself free. The irony is the fact I have only had to call 911 once and it happened to be on something that I am deathly afraid of, fire. I am so glad everyone was safe, but my heart still goes out to the man that lost everything.

The verdict is...

My friend went with a combination of option #1 & 2, with baby fine hair the layers of option #1 were a better fit.

Thanks for your help!!

Help!!

An urban, fun spirited, career driven, energetic girlfriend of mine is getting her hair cut tomorrow and she needs help deciding on which cut to choose. I was not sure what advice to give her being I like both styles so I am reaching out for you help.


Choice #1


Choice #2

I will make sure I post a before and after picture once I see the outcome.

Love,
JB

First Picturs of 2011

Saturday afternoon Matt and I ventured down the turnpike to Stillwater to watch some great basketball as OSU took on #17 Kansas State. My Aunt Mimi was gracious enough to donate her unused center court tickets to us and we embraced every moment of the generous donation.

I am not the typical basketball fan I have come to realize, in fact I am not typical in any aspect of life, but that is a discussion for a different day. When watching my Cowboys play any sport I like when they have a bit of a lead and when I say ‘a bit’ I am referring to 10 point or more. I am not one of those edge of your seat, nail biting, sports freaks. The larger the spread in our favor the more comfortable I am. All that said to tell you I was not all too comfy on Saturday at the game.

The only comfort was this good lookn’ man sitting next to me.


He gave me only the details I needed to know as I sat with my head in my hands unable to watch 90% of the game.



Yet at the end OSU was able to pull it together and go on a scoring run leaving the Wildcats in the dust.

Go Pokes!!

Time to lace up those shoes.

Well it is January, and what better time to lace up the shoes and hit the trails again after substantial time off, then when it is 30 degrees outside. There is no better time right? That is what I thought.

As I think about getting back in the saddle many things come to mind, how am I not going to die during my first mile out, how will I ever be able to run 13 miles in 12 weeks and how do I get the most adequate nutrition to not only sustain me but also to help me prevent injuries. Yes you read that right, a well nourished body will be better able to withstand serious training. And if I am going to run 13.1 miles in Dallas in 12 weeks there is going to need be some serious training, in fact I might start running in my sleep just to make more progress.

Thanks to Matt Fitzgerald I was able to gain needed guidance on nutrition, in terms of what to eat when.

1. I need to make sure I eat enough. This is tricky for me, because the more I exercise the less hungry I am so as a result I eat too few calories. I know, I know, my muffin top is telling you a different story. Don’t listen to her she get jealous when training season is here because she does not get much attention, in fact she often time retreats till the following holiday season. The fastest way to determine whether enough calories are being consumed is your workout performance, is it beginning to decline……then amp up the calorie intake (good calories that is)
2. Secondly I need to remember to not forget the fats. Ummmmm, I think I am safe on this one, after all next to photography my favorite hobby is baking. What? Oh I need to eat good fats? You mean to tell me, pink champagne cupcakes are not loaded with good unsaturated fat? That is breaking news….phone the press!! According to Mr. Fitzgerald roughly 30% of our daily calories need to be from fat, the right types of fat.
3. Calcium it does a body good…………so experts say, especially for runners. There are many sports that are low to no impact, yoga, swimming and even cycling however the pounding on our bodies from running is rough on our bones. It is recommended that adults consume 1,000-1,300 mg of calcium/day in the form of low-fat or non-fat dairy foods or supplements. Now I am disappointed to report that mint chocolate chip ice cream does not fall into the diet of a runner strenuously training for a ½ marathon in 12 weeks.
4. Time to eat! I am going to try this tonight after my run……to consume a meal containing protein and carbohydrate within 2 hrs after my run is complete. When you eat is just as important as what you in when discussing rebuilding and injuring prevention.

To read the non-cliff note version of this article with more of the scientific information please link to Matt Fitzgerald’s article ‘Eat to Prevent Injury’.

I hope I don’t fall out of the saddle tonight, wish me luck!!
JB

Resolution

A new year often times equals these things called resolutions; resolution by definition means ‘the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.’ I don’t know about you but that seems a little too formal for my life. Rather than an act of resolving, I choose to set goals and take steps to obtain those goals. With that said my goals for 2011 are the following:

1) Complete at least 3 ½ marathons.
2) Read a book a month.
3) Be kind in my actions and thoughts.
4) Take advantage of all photography opportunities.
5) Cook/bake something yummy weekly.
6) Keep you all updated my life by staying on top of this blogging thing.

Bring on 2011!
JB

Heaven help me!

I woke up yesterday morning and someone asked me what my New Year’s Resolutions were. Not to be rude, I mentioned that I am not one to set resolutions, I tend to not follow through on them, all the while thinking………I am sorry but resolutions tend be set at the start of a new year and unless I happen to sleep through the entire 2010 year it is not time to be talking about resolutions. As fate may have it I was incorrect it is in fact 2011 and I somehow missed an entire year, heaven help me I cannot begin to believe it is a new year.

As I look back on the lighting speed year that was 2010 I find myself smiling, it was certainly a great year, one I will cherish always. I was hired to be part of, in my opinion, one of the best non-profits out there……..Susan G. Komen for the Cure which allowed me to go to D.C. and participate in the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure and spend time with Chad and Ashley. I found a new enjoyment in the sport of kickball and as a result rediscovered a man who makes me so incredibly happy and has brought me back to life. I moved back to the pulse of Tulsa into a loft in the heart of downtown and began training a good friend for a couch to 5k race. The holidays were spent with my entire family and the year was closed out in the arms of the man of my dreams. To say 2010 was a great year may just be an understatement it may have been one of the best years yet. I am so blessed to be surrounded by amazing family, the world’s best friends, a strong and extraordinary man, a job that can only be described in one word……….exceptional, my passion of photography and more love than I possibly deserve.

Here is to a remarkable 2011 filled with love, laughter, vivid memories and wonderful health for you all.

Love ya,
JB

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne!