today's wish: hooping weather, asap

yippeeeee! gosh, i really hope this means we're out of this stinkin' 30 degree weather. if it does, you know what that means...... hooping weather fo' sho. and this is gonna make for one happy erika. 

i've been getting more and more into hooping since i first picked up a hoop in october, thanks to jon stanley. i was at his apt, and he told me he was gonna help me learn how to hoop. i proceeded to spend over an hour outside in his yard spinning, dropping, and picking up his hoop and then starting all over. again, and again, and again. i did make some progress that day: i could keep up the hoop for longer than 10 rotations. i decided that there was, after all, a possibility that i could hoop.
[let me back up a bit- earlier in the fall, before i got into hooping, i was at the farmers market one of the days that people were hooping in the lawn. i had briefly tried spinning the hoop around my waist, with no luck. at that time, i got it into my head that i just couldn't hoop... and it wasn't for me. i definitely wasn't against it- at all, i just didn't think i could. i didn't put much thought into it, that's just the way it was.]
anyways, after picking up and trying hooping at jon's that day in october, i liked hooping. i wanted a hoop. i messaged liza, and got my own naked hoop from her soon after in november. i had so much fun taping my hoop, and ended up taping- then untaping- then retaping. i was pumped.
gonna move a little faster with this story now. i spent time practicing, and went to my first hoop jam in squires in the end of november. there was good music, good friends, and there were lots of hoops. a very good combo. met new hoopers, and spent forever working on being able to spin around while hooping. i succeeded.
in december i picked up a hoopnotica collapsable travel hoop at cvs, and my parents ended up giving it to me for christmas. also in december, my mom decided that she wanted her own hoop. she had been using mine to play around on every once in a while, so i got her a hoop from becca and john. i wrapped it up with wrapping paper (by wrapping strips around and using tape to hold it together), and then tied/wrapped it with ribbon. she loved the wrapping job (and the hoop, obviously), and i have to admit that i was pretty proud of it as well... see?! anyway, it's still wrapped now, in february. she hoops with it wrapped and says she will continue to until the wrapping paper falls off. it's starting to unravel a little- she can see about 6 inches of the hoop, but it's still pretty much together.
so in january i started going to shadowlake village's common house every other monday for winter hoop jams hosted by becca (wild earth hoops). it's great, we've been getting about 8 people each time, which is just about perfect for the amount of space we have. they're great to meet hoopers at, and very relaxed. we just hoop. last weekend i went to a hoop workshop at new tech fitness center that allison led, which was a blast- i got some tips, got to practice, and learned some new tricks and techniques. evan taught me the 'body twizzle', which is probably one of the simplest tricks in the book. basically you just twirl it up your body, which sounds kinda hard, but it's not. i got it on the first try. it looks awesome too.
in addition to all of that, i've been practicing and spending a lot of time on youtube watching hooping videos/tutorials, etc. and going outside on my deck and hooping to loud music when it's warmer. i love it. can't wait for spring so i can do that everyday.
at this point in time, my hoop collection consists of four hoops. and if you add my mom's, that's five. i have (in order, smallest to largest):
1. [name: tiny or baby (or something like that, not set in stone yet)] (my smallest, newest hoop) pink&green&black
2. [no name yet] (the hoop i currently use most, small/medium size) white&purple&yellow
3. [no name yet] (medium size, my 1st hoop, i taped it myself) white&red&blue&yellow&white reflective
4. [no name yet] (my travel/collapsable from cvs, heaviest/biggest hoop) turquoise&silver
i love my hoops. i need names for them though... any ideas? hahaha. i'll have to get a picture of them to post too!
once the weather warms up, i'd love to hoop with people outside at parks, etc. wherever! hit me up!
ok. that's enough for today. my hands are tired. off to hoop!
happy hooping!

hi. hi. HI! :)
gosh. this time it really has been a while since my last post... try about 8 months?! haha, too long.
so so much has happened since my last post. so much. i mean, it is september now... and last time i blogged it was january.
let's see... i've come home from cali (obvi!), i've met new friends, had a stressful but fun summer, i'm in a new semester at nrcc, and other crazyness as well! gosh. where to begin!?!
well, for one... i've been spending much more time with friends since i got back from camp. hanging out, going out, staying over. kayla and i have grown really close, and we see each other tons. she's at radford now (and unfortunately i'm not), but now that i have two classes in dubin at nrcc, i go much closer to raddy more often. also, jon is at radford as well. we have also gotten close, and i spend a lot of time at his apt in b'burg with him, ariane, and megan (his roommates). i've spent some pretty crazy evenings/nights there... haha.
kayla turned 21 on the 8th of september, and to celebrate, i went out with her, taylor, taylor's sister- whitney, lauren (kay's friend from rit, ny), and jordan even met us in roanoke! we drove out to roanoke to a gay club, called the park. it was most definitley the most fun i've had in a long time! we danced, they drank beer, i drank red bull... so so so much fun! i was the dd, which i didn't mind at all! then we went to ihop at 2:15am... left there at 3:30am. got back to kayla's at around 4:30am. i had to get up at 9 for work at church that morning... so i did not get much sleep... haha. her birthday party with her family was that next day in the afternoon. fun times!
what else?! lol. ooooooh, i got a job! i work with the three and a half year old boy with down syndrome who i've babysat for the past 2ish years as his aide at blacksburg montessori school. it's amazing to watch him grow. he's picking up new words and signs almost daily. love him to death!
well honestly, i'm getting a little tired of typing right now... so hopefully i will update more this week at the very least! :)
<3 little miss perfect sitting at the train stop, red nike high tops listening to hip-hop, while we were watiting started conversating, before i got her name along came a train... bruno mars <3

wow... it's been a long time since my last post...!! (not really, 9 days to be exact... :)
so... i am home now, and just started classes yesterday. and let me tell you- it was a long day. LONG day. :/ yuck.
this semester i have to get up earlier than i ever have in college- 6:30am. crazyness. reason being? i start class at 8am, so i have to leave at 7:30... :/ then, after my 8am class, i have a one hour break, then a 10:10 class till 11:05, then a 4(ish) hour break until 3:00pm. at that time, i start a 3 hr class... which is english, so that makes it even harder to sit through. so, when all is said and done on mondays, i will have started class at 8am, and i will be finished at 6pm... yikes. :/
but let me tell you about wednesdays... which are gonna KILL me. i start at the same time with my 8am class, have one hour free, go to my 10:10 class until 11:05... and then... i have two hours for a break, and at 1:15pm i start my 3 hr bio lab... and then get a break until 6pm, when i go to public speaking, which is also a 3 hr class. so on wednesdays, i'm done at 9pm... NINE. that's ridiculous. :P
anyways... enough about class! and next time i'll try to post sooner rather than later! :D

so... recap of the past few days... :)
saturday... woke up around 7am or something- had breakfast, showered, and waited for jacki to get up. once we were all ready, we left for shane's (jacki's bf) house. he lives on venice beach... not just near it, no... he lives in a condo pretty much on the beach. they have such a beautiful view of the ocean, it's incredible. :) so after parking, we walked down venice beach a ways. it was really cool! there were all these different street performers and such. for example, there was one man who had a bunch of broken glass and shane said that he (the guy) was going to jump/step on the glass... we kept walking though, i couldn't even think about it... :/ yikes! we ended up going to aardvark's, which is a funky secondhand clothing store with outrageous clothes... along with some everyday stuff- it was a lot of fun! jacki and shane tried on some wacky outfits! (i got pictures! :) then we walked back to shane's to meet robert, another one of their friends. we went back to aardvark's for a while, and then decided to go see avatar. we went to the 4pm showing... in 3d! it was awesome! long, but great movie! the effects and everything were beautiful! afterwards we went to mrs. fields and got cookies! then we headed back to shane's and walked over to gabby's from there. it's a mediterranean restaurant, and thier chicken salad that i got was huge! i have never seen so much chicken in one salad! :) then we headed home! fun day!
yesterday barb and i went shopping on 3rd street promanade. today i (just!) got to meet robbie's bandmates!
well all for now!!

come together... right now... over me... :)

soooooo... yesterday morning, barb and i went to the los angeles flower mart, though we got a little lost along the way! ;) it was really fun... there were so many flowers! i got lots of pictures... and barb bought a few bouquets of flowers for really good deals! there was also a crafty kind of warehouse kind of thing. they had all sorts of vases, ribbon, flowers, everything!
after we got back home, i spent a ridiculous amount of time sitting at the kitchen table making a gingerbread house... and when barb got home from her meeting, she flipped out (kinda!) because she liked it so much!
then last night we had mexican that john brought home... delicous!
now- i'm watching across the universe (the beatles musical) while barb is at her meeting. it's a really good movie!

the sun is shining in the sky...

...there ain't a cloud in sight, it stopped raining, everybody's into playing, and don't you know, it's a beautiful new day, heyyyy!!! runnin' down the avenue, see how the sun shines brightly, in the city on the streets where once was pity ...mr. blue sky is living here today, heyyyy!!
~mr. blue sky~

(i'm on the train, i'll publish this when I can!!)

~12:42pm (pst)~
So, as I said... I'm on the train right now, on my way up to Los Angeles! The train left Solana Beach at 11:24am, and I'm due to arrive at the LAX station at around 1:35pm... In about 50 minutes.
Yesterday after I went to the market, I went back to Caran's apt., and then we went back together. We got some produce, ate fish (smoked marlin) tacos, and watched the live musician. The woman playing guitar and singing was Lisa Campbell... She was singing all different songs (not just 1 genre, etc...), like she sang Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, some Otis Redding, and some Dixie Chicks! She was really good! After that, we walked down Girard Avenue again (we had done that Saturday, too) and walked all around down by the beach, and Prospect Street. We went to Coldstone, and Lucy, where I got a turquoise cottony sweater thing that's really comfy!! I paid just over $15 with tax. It was origionally $88!! I'm so excited about it, it's so soft! After walking around all day, I was beat!
This morning, I slept the latest I have since I've been here... 7:00am!!! That's 10:00 back home!! Both other mornings I woke up at 5am pst... Yuck! So now I'm on the train! :)

flyin' high... :)

so here i am, up however many ft in the air... about an hour (or even less!) away from san diego! ...and i'm pooped. :P i'm ready to walk, for one thing- it's been like 5 hrs. (not including the 30 seconds i walked up the aisle and back... ha!) i got to the airport at around 1:30pm, checked in, went through security, etc... then right as i was getting ready to board, a girl getting on the same flight asked me if i went to blacksburg, and of course i told her i had. truth is, i recognized her... it was lauren billingsley. we came to the conclusion that we had known each other as kids, and that our parents were probably friends. turns out, she was on her way out of the country for the semester... i keep forgetting where, but it's somewhere in eastern europe and it starts with a b. :) i'll remember it sooner or later! ;) it was cool to talk to her, though! we talked for a bit after we got off in dc, too!
i'm really hoping i have wifi while in cali, because i want to be able to post this asap!
also, i just started reading 'the last song' by nicholas sparks... i'm already on like the hundredth page or so... it's a great book so far! another thing i've done on the plane is i started to knit a black scarf. it's the pattern i got from barb for christmas in 2007... and i'm making it out of the same wool/yarn that i made all those hats out of last year or so. it's a super chunky yarn, so it'll be good! and then i'm going to edge it with something! :)
10:17pm est / 7:17pm pst - another half an hour or so left in the flight... :/ guess i should probably set all my clocks to pst now! geez- it feels like i've been on this plane for days! :P i really shouldn't complain though- it's been a really smooth flight, there have even been times where i sort of forgot we were in the air! there have been a few very minor rough spots though... but, i guess that's to be expected! :)

tomorrow, tomorrow... i love ya, tomorrow... you're only a day away!

so... tomorrow's the day! only problem is... they're calling for snow. :/ not much, but still... it hasn't started yet, though... so that is hopefully a good sign! and- my dad doesn't think it'll do anything, so we'll hope he's right! the thing is, though... that i'm flying roanoke to washington dc, then to san diego... and dc is supposed to get hit harder than us even. yikes! so i'm hoping it won't affect me and my flights. i'm crossing my fingers and toes!
i'm mostly packed, i just need to finish up adding a few things to my suitcase.
yesterday was spent out and about in christiansburg and blacksburg... doing last minute things before i leave, like getting yarn, and picking up a few other things. i left the house at around 11am, and got home around 4pm... might not sound very long, but it sure felt long!
right now i'm sitting at my grandmother's assisted living apt. in christiansburg waiting for my parents so we can leave.
i still need to pick up another skein or two of yarn, and also a book... i'm going to start reading nicholas spark's 'the last song'... erica said it was a great book! and, they're making it into a movie this spring! (starring miley cyrus, which why would i care?! ;P )