Its the first of April and it is only appropriate that the weather up here in the Emerald City is perfect! The sun is out, the air is warm and fresh, the birds are singing and to top it off... we got the last two days off! After a hard three weeks of two-a-days during this preseason my legs needed a good few days of rest. So I took the days to explore with my friends (my new teammates and my bike)!
It would be appropriate for me to pull some sort of April fools joke on you... but the truth is that I cant stand this day. April 1 should be a day of celebrating the beauty of spring time and lovely things and people made it into this really mean day where they make you feel really stupid for falling for things... and usually they are really intense things that arent prank worthy. Thats not funny. Excpet after the fact they make me laugh because every time I have been April Fools'd I have taken it so seriously and been genuinely concerned and then made to feel so dumb! And I hate that... but it makes me laugh at myself for being so serious! Even though the prankster was really kind of mean for doing such a thing! Its like when you are in a dodge ball game... and someone throws one ball straight up in the air getting your eyes to look up and then another pegs you right in the face... I literally fall for that stupid trick EVERY TIME and I cant stop myself... thats what April Fools is to me... people know I fall for it and so they peg me in the face! So I will not subject you all to any sort of nonsense and I hope none of you got April Fools'd, but if you did I hope it was a good one!
Anyways...Yesterday morning Keelin and I went for a lovely trail run/walk. We drove to St Ed's Park on Lake Washington to a system of trails and just got lost! We ran for a bit, stretched, then walked and jogged here and there until we found our way down to the lake edge and took in the beautiful peaceful view. Then we hiked this giant hill back up until we found our car! It was so fun to be in the woods, with the trees and the trails just running. It was perfect. And the way I know Kee and Elli and I are best friends is that we can go for a run and not say a word the entire time and leave feeling fulfilled by each other's company. Best friends are just.... the BEST!
Later in the day I went and had coffee with one of my new favorite people and teammates, Beverly. Let me just interrupt myself here and say that anyone who is a Seattle Reign fan needs to buy her jersey NOW! She is one of the best players I have ever played with and will be a huge part of this team! Not to mention she is just a great person! She has a lot of experience playing in the previous league in the WPS and spent the last two years playing for a top team in Japan. I watch the way she plays with the eyes of a student watching and emulating an expert. I am so excited to have the opportunity to play with her this season, so go buy her jersey... NOW! Anyways, we had coffee and just talked and laughed about nothing really! Thats what meeting new people and making new friends is all about! Old best friends and new great friends... this is what I love about being a professional athlete! Always meeting new people and always keeping in touch with the old ones!
Then to top such a wonderful day off... Carm invited me to join her in a meditation class with her. I willingly went thinking that it was going to be an hour long class. As I was driving up I was following my google maps and as I was driving by the place where I thought the little pin was pointing... I looked up to see a big church. I did a circle just to see if the mediation place was somewhere behind the church... but sure enough, the pin was pointing right to the church. So I thought... hmmm, thats peculiar... but what ever! I parked and went in. I walked through the chapel and the pews and met Carm in the back of the church in a little room with a dome ceiling. We grabbed our mats and laughed and shrugged our shoulders at each other... dont know what we are getting ourselves into but here we go!!!
The meditation yogi looked like a hippie santa claus. He had a scraggly gray beard, shimmering blue eyes, a button nose and a little jelly belly that shook when he laughed. It made me smile and feel comfortable with what ever the heck was going to happen in the next hour. Turns out... it was a two long hour class, SURPRISE! And we did all sorts of crazy things. He had us standing, sitting, standing, sitting, stretching, standing, laying on our stomachs, our backs, standing... then he turned on music and we did hippie dancing, flailing our arms around, moving all of our body parts, jumping, dancing... and then he had us make sounds... saying LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA at the top of our lungs, really high pitched as fast as we could. I was literally in tears laughing. It was such a joyful laugh, like I was a little kid having so much fun and not giving a care in the world. To be honest I dont even know what Carm was doing the whole time! She was probably laughing at me... but I was in my own world and I was having an absolute BALL!!!
I have never experienced a mediation class like that... but I LOVED IT! Made me laugh and I truly believe that laughter is the greatest remedy for clarity and happiness in life. Then today, we again woke up to beautiful weather and I decided I wanted to take my other best friend out for some exploration, my bike! I packed my bag and went down to the path around Lake Washington and rode down to the U District. I was having so much fun riding my bike and being in the sun. I challenged myself to ride the whole way without using my hands... I didnt make it though. I hit a few hairy spots with huge root bumps (you know how those huge tree roots make the pavement bump up with a big crack down it... and on a rode bike, those mini bumps are the worst!) I almost got bucked off my seat a few times... had to catch myself before I flew off the path! But I was laughing and smiling the whole time... Passerby's probably though I was crazy or on something. But I was just having fun in the sun! I explored the area, had some lunch and rode my bike home with the same cheesy smile on my face.
There is no point to this blog post except to try to make you laugh at the silly things that I subject myself to... and to tell you that as our home opener approaches, my hope is that you all are getting ready to come support us at Memorial Stadium. I cant say enough wonderful things about this team and the people on it and it would just break my heart if you missed out on the journey we are about to begin... SOOOO, get your tickets ASAP so that you wont be a band-wagoner at the end of the season when everyone else is talking about it!
Stay tuned for more insightful posts but for now... I hope I provided you with a smile!
Love,
Dani
It would be appropriate for me to pull some sort of April fools joke on you... but the truth is that I cant stand this day. April 1 should be a day of celebrating the beauty of spring time and lovely things and people made it into this really mean day where they make you feel really stupid for falling for things... and usually they are really intense things that arent prank worthy. Thats not funny. Excpet after the fact they make me laugh because every time I have been April Fools'd I have taken it so seriously and been genuinely concerned and then made to feel so dumb! And I hate that... but it makes me laugh at myself for being so serious! Even though the prankster was really kind of mean for doing such a thing! Its like when you are in a dodge ball game... and someone throws one ball straight up in the air getting your eyes to look up and then another pegs you right in the face... I literally fall for that stupid trick EVERY TIME and I cant stop myself... thats what April Fools is to me... people know I fall for it and so they peg me in the face! So I will not subject you all to any sort of nonsense and I hope none of you got April Fools'd, but if you did I hope it was a good one!
Anyways...Yesterday morning Keelin and I went for a lovely trail run/walk. We drove to St Ed's Park on Lake Washington to a system of trails and just got lost! We ran for a bit, stretched, then walked and jogged here and there until we found our way down to the lake edge and took in the beautiful peaceful view. Then we hiked this giant hill back up until we found our car! It was so fun to be in the woods, with the trees and the trails just running. It was perfect. And the way I know Kee and Elli and I are best friends is that we can go for a run and not say a word the entire time and leave feeling fulfilled by each other's company. Best friends are just.... the BEST!
Later in the day I went and had coffee with one of my new favorite people and teammates, Beverly. Let me just interrupt myself here and say that anyone who is a Seattle Reign fan needs to buy her jersey NOW! She is one of the best players I have ever played with and will be a huge part of this team! Not to mention she is just a great person! She has a lot of experience playing in the previous league in the WPS and spent the last two years playing for a top team in Japan. I watch the way she plays with the eyes of a student watching and emulating an expert. I am so excited to have the opportunity to play with her this season, so go buy her jersey... NOW! Anyways, we had coffee and just talked and laughed about nothing really! Thats what meeting new people and making new friends is all about! Old best friends and new great friends... this is what I love about being a professional athlete! Always meeting new people and always keeping in touch with the old ones!
Then to top such a wonderful day off... Carm invited me to join her in a meditation class with her. I willingly went thinking that it was going to be an hour long class. As I was driving up I was following my google maps and as I was driving by the place where I thought the little pin was pointing... I looked up to see a big church. I did a circle just to see if the mediation place was somewhere behind the church... but sure enough, the pin was pointing right to the church. So I thought... hmmm, thats peculiar... but what ever! I parked and went in. I walked through the chapel and the pews and met Carm in the back of the church in a little room with a dome ceiling. We grabbed our mats and laughed and shrugged our shoulders at each other... dont know what we are getting ourselves into but here we go!!!
The meditation yogi looked like a hippie santa claus. He had a scraggly gray beard, shimmering blue eyes, a button nose and a little jelly belly that shook when he laughed. It made me smile and feel comfortable with what ever the heck was going to happen in the next hour. Turns out... it was a two long hour class, SURPRISE! And we did all sorts of crazy things. He had us standing, sitting, standing, sitting, stretching, standing, laying on our stomachs, our backs, standing... then he turned on music and we did hippie dancing, flailing our arms around, moving all of our body parts, jumping, dancing... and then he had us make sounds... saying LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA at the top of our lungs, really high pitched as fast as we could. I was literally in tears laughing. It was such a joyful laugh, like I was a little kid having so much fun and not giving a care in the world. To be honest I dont even know what Carm was doing the whole time! She was probably laughing at me... but I was in my own world and I was having an absolute BALL!!!
I have never experienced a mediation class like that... but I LOVED IT! Made me laugh and I truly believe that laughter is the greatest remedy for clarity and happiness in life. Then today, we again woke up to beautiful weather and I decided I wanted to take my other best friend out for some exploration, my bike! I packed my bag and went down to the path around Lake Washington and rode down to the U District. I was having so much fun riding my bike and being in the sun. I challenged myself to ride the whole way without using my hands... I didnt make it though. I hit a few hairy spots with huge root bumps (you know how those huge tree roots make the pavement bump up with a big crack down it... and on a rode bike, those mini bumps are the worst!) I almost got bucked off my seat a few times... had to catch myself before I flew off the path! But I was laughing and smiling the whole time... Passerby's probably though I was crazy or on something. But I was just having fun in the sun! I explored the area, had some lunch and rode my bike home with the same cheesy smile on my face.
There is no point to this blog post except to try to make you laugh at the silly things that I subject myself to... and to tell you that as our home opener approaches, my hope is that you all are getting ready to come support us at Memorial Stadium. I cant say enough wonderful things about this team and the people on it and it would just break my heart if you missed out on the journey we are about to begin... SOOOO, get your tickets ASAP so that you wont be a band-wagoner at the end of the season when everyone else is talking about it!
Stay tuned for more insightful posts but for now... I hope I provided you with a smile!
Love,
Dani
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