Espana

Alright so I am back and blogging. The day after our last game in Karlovy Vary I was up at 730 to embark on my new adventure in Ibiza, Spain. I was leaving the day before my team so my agent offered to take me to the airport when he left. Our cab driver drove the whole way around 160-170 I kid you not. The drive from KV-Prague is supposed to take around 2 hours, we did it in 45 minutes. The roads you drive on are single lane highways and he sped into oncoming traffic to sneak around cars numerous times. I was sitting in the front seat bracing for impact.

When we got the airport I had quite a few hours to kill before I could check in so I hung out drank some tea and tried to pass time. All airlines in Europe are very strict about their baggage weight requirements, you are only allowed 23 kilos. Anything above you will be charged around 20 Euro's/kilo. While both of my bags were well under 23 kilos individually, together they added up to 40 kilos. The lady had checked one of my bags and sent me to another counter telling me to leave my bag there and she would take care of it. Reluctantly I left my bag hoping I would see it again later that night and went to pay my bag fine. The fine ended up being over 8,000 czech dollars, in Canadian dollars $475! After numerous failed attempts to pay with my visa, I was sent downstairs to find an atm and withdraw the money. About 30 minutes later I was back in line with my baggage fees paid.

My first flight was uneventful I was lucky because I had three seats all to myself so I immediately passed out. I had a 6 hour layover in Barcelona so I wandered around the shops and watched some TV. I made it to Ibiza around 11pm that night, greeted by Sho, our trainer and coach. Of course my one bag was missing turns out they only tagged it to Barcelona. My time in the air was 3 hours but in total my travel day was 14!

I have been in Ibiza for a week now we had our first game last weekend but I was unable to play, something about transfer papers. I don't understand most of what is going on around me but we have our first home game tonight and I am allowed to play!

I know it has been forever but here is a quick update. I can't believe it is almost May... time has been flying by! The biggest news is that I have parted ways with my old agent and am going in a new direction. I think this will be a very good thing, I have found a new agency and am getting ready to sign a new contract with them! I don't know what my future holds but I like the new agency and hopefully they can find me something good!
The drive in movie theatres opened up and I have been able to test out my new puffy coat for next winter. The days have been pretty warm but the nights are quite chilly which is great for me as I get to test out the new coat!

I am headed home May 18th as my tourist visa is up so I will get some good training time in before camp begins around June 20th. Ben and I will meet up with our amazing wedding planner at home and talk about when/where it will take place!

I am back in CT now enjoying the amazing spring weather! I love this time of year, not only is the weather turning but basketball is on tv all day! I filled out my first bracket this year, not sure how I feel about it. It was only 5 for a house pool but now I can't get swept away by all the upsets anymore as it ruins my bracket! I guess I am just not a gambler.

After spending a month enjoying home and SLC I knew my foot was going to hurt a little as I skipped physio for the most part. I was pretty pleased when I left home because while there was pain it wasn't strong enough to affect my workouts or daily living. A few days ago I went back to physio and was disheartened to hear that all was not good my hips were all out of line again (no idea how/why) he got them moving properly again and worked on my ankle which now all of sudden has no dorsi flexion. Every once in a while when walking I will experience a sharp pain so I am back in the pool for the next few days to see if I can get it right again. I read an article in Fitness magazine about being addicted to working out, I sadly answered yes to 8 out of the 9 questions. Apparently if you answered yes to just one you should re think your relationship with exercise! I am going to go ahead and call out my big sis... following in her footsteps!

We have a pretty good summer planned. We are actually getting two international teams to come play us in Canada!! For all you BC people we have Chile and Sweden coming in to play some friendlies. Pretty exciting we rarely get the opportunity to host and while I love to travel I am excited to play in front of my family and friends! Not to mention the long training camp will be so close to the comforts of home. Nothing like a real bed and home cooked meal to break up the month and a half of two a days! After BC we have two weeks off and then off to Kitchener Waterloo for a quick training session. We are off to France, Greece and then the Czech for Worlds!

With that summer planned I am working on getting my body right!

A few pics of Olympics in Vancouver and at the Smith household.

Engaged in Utah!

I have had a great February so far Ben and I were out in Salt Lake for about 12 days. We had an absolute blast the trip started off a little rocky with our flight being cancelled because of snow in Baltimore. So we wound up flying in a day earlier which worked out well giving us another day to hang out. The trip flew by I got to train with the Utah girls and workout in the old stomping grounds. Nothing like a little lung burning to bring me back to my time as a Ute. We saw the girls lose a heart breaking 4 OT game and a few nights later saw the men also lose in OT. Apparently we were not a good luck charm.

Ben skied almost most days and was pretty sore at the end of night! I got up to ski and had a blast, I can't wait to get back into skiing I wanted to buy all sorts of gear when I was up there!!

The biggest news of the trip was that Ben proposed! We were visiting friends and he told me he wanted to take the long drive back. He pulled into the parking lot at the U and we decided to go for a walk when we got to the steps where we first met he pulled me back got down on one knee and proposed. I didn't sleep at all that night! There were a lot of phone calls made the next day!

We just arrived in Mission after a long day of travel looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning! We are both pretty excited to take in some of the Olympics so we will keep you posted!

It has been a while since I last posted I had my first "cold" of the season. I guess I couldn't make it through the whole year without getting a cold but I am happy to say after a few days I feel great again.
I have booked a ticket to SLC and then home to take in a bit of the Olympics. Watching all this olympic mania on tv and youtube I can not even explain how badly I want to go. The amazing thing is I am one of the truly blessed who has an opportunity to do something about it! Maybe I should just start watching one of the clips before I go to train everyday.
Training has been going well I am always in a personal battle knowing that I am not in "game shape" but don't need to be right now. I spent the last 14 years of my life overtraining and my body has let me know it the last 3 years. After graduating from college I can't think of a time where I actually felt "healthy". My focus for 2010-2012 is to train "smart".

The business people on the top of my blog was a new template I was trying obviously I didn't know they came with the deal.

I have a presentation at the local rotary club on Tuesday (Ben's grandpa is a member) so I need to write a speech, procrastinating stops now.

Thinking about switching sports, how awesome would it be to check someone into the boards??? Ben tells me I look huge on skates. All the layers certainly mask my really skinny arms, yeah I have to get back into the lifting circuit. I have been doing body weight lifts but find that after experiencing my first "stinger" this summer my right elbow is not happy with any lifts really. I have turned all my focus into my shot which is feeling really good right now. Been working out at the rec center a bunch purchased a one month pass. Ben played one on one and I had people clapping for me when I made a basket (there is a track that runs above the court and so all the runners/walkers watch us play). It was pretty funny not really sure how one is supposed to react to that!

I have been looking up info on getting my masters feel like I need to start doing something with my life. Ukraine just didn't feel right/ not worth it so I continue to wait for what I don't know but hoping it comes soon!