Quick Hits: Summer Funnin' Edition

The typically busy end-of-school-year and laid back beginning of summer means that I have not checked in here in quite a while!  I think about it often, just never seem to find the time to sit down and crank out a blog post.  So how about some quick hits, summer funnin' style?

Life on the patio

Back In The Saddle

School was out on a Friday afternoon and I was at the Mesquite Rodeo Ride bright and early on Saturday morning.  It felt great to hit the open road again and I was missing my bike, Johann, as I had not been on it much at all this spring.  The folks in Mesquite always put on a nice rally with a well marked route, officers at the intersections, precious little chip seal, and delicious food at the end.  I was ready to be done by the end of the 40 mile route and very thankful that I was not riding the 60 mile route that day.

The next Saturday brought another favorite, the Collin Classic.  I had memories of last year being hot, windy, and miserable at the end and I looked forward to getting that monkey off of my back.  It turned out to be a great day with lots of cloud cover and the occasional rain shower.  Hard to top that in June!  Once again we were treated to a great rally with a nice route and terrific food at the end.  This time it was 45 miles and I was ready to be finished and grateful that I was not riding the longer course.  I think I am finally starting to realize that I don't have to chose the longest route every single time.

Leaving My Comfort Zone

I got up super early on the second day of summer and headed towards Mesquite again, this time for an open water swim clinic put on by Tri-Now Endurance.  I was so nervous and excited and I knew that I was taking a big step out of my comfort zone - which is exactly why I should be doing it.  I have taken to swimming fairly easily in the pool and I spent countless hours in Lake Texoma growing up, but it had been many years since I had set foot in a lake.  I took a moment to collect myself upon entering the lake, and then I was off.  I did not swim too far away from the shore as I had trouble seeing with my non-smoked goggles and I had not taken the clinic yet.  I swam around for a while, getting a little farther out each time, before the clinic began.  Coach Frank taught us some of the finer points of open water swimming and gave us a chance to practice these things in the water.  I was having so much fun, I didn't want it to end.  I can't wait to get back in the open water again; however, the lakes nearest to me are still extremely high due to the record rains this spring.  I am looking forward to getting back out to an open water swim with Tri-Now very soon!

Open Water Swim Clinic - I'm one of those bodies in the water! (Pic: Tri-Now)

Half Ironman Training....and go!

Soon after my hugely successful second triathlon in April, I decided to take a leap and sign up for Redman 70.3 in late September.  You can only imagine how sweaty my palms were as I hit the "enter" key on my registration.  Training started on the first Monday of summer vacation and I have really been enjoying it.  I really am a geek for training, I love the process, the hard work, and the nitty gritty of it all.  I was able to focus just on training during the first two weeks as there was a break between regular school and summer school.  I am excited that most of the training will fall during the summer months so that I can treat training like a part time job.  I've been swimming twice a week, riding my bike 3 times a week, running 3-4 times a week, and hitting the weights a couple of times each week.  The workouts will increase in time and intensity over the coming weeks and I'm very much looking forward to it.

No swimming...or running...here for a while!

Frundraising

If you have followed me for a while, then you know that I like to chose one big race each year to "give" to the American Music Therapy Association.  I am happy to announce that I will be tri-ing for music therapy this year at the Redman 70.3 Triathlon.  My fundraising is already off to a strong start and I look forward to reaching my goal in the coming months.  I would love it if you would check out my page here and pass it along to those who may be interested.

Of course...Rangers baseball

I can't leave out baseball!  I was lucky enough to catch a Rangers game last Thursday and I hope to get to some more games soon.  I love a summer weekday game, it is so worth the sweating just to feel like you are "getting away with something" while everyone else is working.  

I can hardly believe that June is already behind us and I am hoping that July passes by a little more slowly!  I am already looking forward to Liberty by the Lake 5K and El Scorcho 25K and many more adventures on the bike and in the water.

AMTA Conference: Here's to the Frundraisers!

Mid-November brings what is easily a highlight of my year, the American Music Therapy Association Conference. I always say that I'm lucky enough to work in a field that feels like family with conferences that feel like family reunions. I find this to be more true with each passing year as friendships grow and evolve. This year's conference was held in Jacksonville, Florida -- a perfect warm escape as Texas was blasted with a nasty cold front.



We were treated to this spectacular view each night

We arrived in Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon and immediately found ourselves in a shuttle with some of our favorite North Dakotans -- Meganne, Natasha, and Emily.  Texans and North Dakotans...sounds like an unlikely pairing, who knew we would be the best of friends?  Turns out that running and music therapy also go hand in hand as we have established a diverse group of Music Therapy Frunners.  We scheduled runs each morning of conference and I made it a goal to be at all of them.  This would be quite a feat with sessions starting at 7:30 and evening activities stretching long into the night. 

Kicking conference off frunner style w Meryl, Deb, & Emily (photo: Meryl)

My conference started before the official Opening Session as I serve on the Student Affairs Advisory Board (SAAB). Sounds pretty fancy, right? I will spare you the long explanation...the SAAB is made up of a student and professional from each region of our association. I have served on this committee for many years now and I LOVE it. I always tell the students to find their "niche" and serve it the best that they can. This is totally my "niche". This has to be one of my favorite committee meetings of the year. If you want energy, go to a music therapy student meeting. These kids are so smart and so tech savvy and I am thrilled to know that they are the future of our profession.

SAAB Committee -- you are looking at the future of music therapy

I love the energy that opening night of conference brings.  It is hard to believe that conference is finally "officially" starting as I have been in meetings and busy all day.  This might have been the latest night with festivities scheduled until 11:00 pm and beyond.  I could already tell that this was going to be one of my favorite conferences.  I had the honor of serving on the official conference Social Media Team.  It was so much fun to live tweet various conference events under the official conference Twitter handle.  I loved this opportunity and I hope that they continue to have it at future conferences.

These statues were a hit!  Thanks to CJ for one of my new favorite pics.

The MT Frundraisers were buzzing with excitement on Friday morning as we had a very special announcement to make at the business meeting.  As you know, I have decided to "give" my annual marathon to AMTA via fundraising.  This idea came about last year when the Chicago Marathon was the same week as AMTA conference, which was also in the Chicago area.  I would have never dreamed of running to raise money for AMTA until Andrew, who was also running the Chicago Marathon, brought it up one day.  We had a spirited "competition" between regions (which I won) and ended up raising $3,338 for AMTA.  Click here for more of that story and a hilarious video.  Our efforts were such a success that Andrew had the brilliant idea to expand our efforts and create a team of frundraisers (frunner + fundraiser = frundraiser).  We amassed a team of 16 dynamic, creative, and energetic music therapists and raised a total of $6,670 between our kickoff in August and our conference in November.  This brings our two-year total to just over $10,500 -- I am so proud and a little overwhelmed!  These projects are ongoing, so be sure to check out FirstGiving to see who is still hard at work and give them your support and watch Andrew's video to meet the Frundraisers and hear a little of their stories.  It was an honor to work with and get to know these Frundraisers better over the last few months.  I can't wait to see what is next for our group!

"What They Didn't Teach You in College" with Stephanie, Mary, & Carolyn

On Saturday morning Mary and I represented our internship in the Internship Fair.  It is so fun to see so many music therapy students shopping for their ideal internship experience.  We met so many students who were interested in our program and eager to come and intern with us.  I hope that they all apply, but it is going to be hard to pick just one!  In the afternoon Mary, Stephanie, Carolyn, and I presented "What They Didn't Teach You In College: Internship and Employment Tips" to a full house.  We had a great time sharing our experiences with students, young professionals, and interns -- we hope that they learned a little something and had fun too.

A visit with Touchdown -- the Jacksonville Jaguar

Our frunner group had a great time too.  I managed to make it to all of the morning runs, as many in our group did.  It is amazing how I can feel so tired when the early alarm goes off and then so alive once I start running.  I think that the daily runs really helped me to feel more alert and "with it" and I plan to continue my conference run streak in the future.  It is a relief  to know that we have established this great network and I will never have to hit the streets of a unfamiliar city alone again.  Jacksonville afforded us some terrific running and we visited Touchdown, the Jacksonville Jaguar mascot, twice during our time in Florida.  I should note that the notoriously bad Jags have gone on a 3-game win streak since we visited Touchdown.  I'd like to think that we had something to do with that. You are welcome, Jacksonville.

One conference run with Andrew, Meryl, and CJ (photo: CJ)

The whirlwind that is conference always seems to come to an end too soon.  It is a blessing and a curse to have created such great friendships with music therapists from all over the country.  I am so lucky to know all of these people, but I always start to miss them before I even make it home.  It just seems unfair that we only see each other once or twice a year.  Until then I will look forward to our Southwestern Region Region conference here in Big D in late March and, of course, the next AMTA conference in Louisville, KY.