Day 2: first day of LT training

Keeping it short today, with my 3 moments:
Proud- Camp Rainbow team had a camp prep to-do list on the board that they made together last week!
Funny- 3 full grown women in an auto with backpacks and supplies :)
Productive-working dinner to prep for tomorrow while eating pesto pasta prepared by our very own Sofia Rasini!

An added bonus today was stopping by Rochelle's house and seeing her family, including her two boys, Yokato and Tokito and little girl, Lovi.

Day 1 of the Great Asian Adventure

Having slept off and on throughout the 24 hours of travel, I actually had a decent nights sleep and woke up around 730 this morning. We kicked off the day with breakfast and a review of the leadership team training schedule, going over each of our roles and trying out some icebreakers. Around 1230 we headed out for lunch where we enjoyed diet water...see proof below...and different masalas with naan. In the afternoon we did some prep work for our sessions and Tim and I took much needed cat naps. At this point, my body clock should be good...we shall see! In the evening we walked down by the beach and went to an Italian spot called Bella ciao. The beach was hoppin' and there were carnival games, fireworks and lots of folks in he sand. At Bella ciao a few of us had brick oven pizza, very good and my potato pizza could give Sally's a run for its money. Already finding commonalities between new haven and chennai! It's off to bed so i'm ready for the first day of LT training, here we go Camp Rainbow 2013!!

My Hartford family

This weekend was filled with basketball games and reunions with coaches, teammates and fans from college. On Saturday I went to Hartford to watch the girls take on UVM on senior day. It was a tale of two halves with the girls dominating in the second half and winning by 20+. In the evening I got to spend some quality time with my coaches and caught everyone up with my travels as they caught me up with the season and playoff expectations. Today I carpooled to Easton MA with our former manager and friend Cedric and assistant coach Kea. My college teammate and classmate Jackie coaches at Stonehill and they had their first conference tournament game against Merrimack. Even cooler, my high school friend Jackie plays for Merrimack. It was a close game for the full 40 minutes with Merrimack winning 77-72. Fortunately for Stonehill, they have had a phenomenal season and will get an at large bid to the DII tournament! Overall, a super nice, relaxing weekend with my Bball family, who will always be a huge part of my life. Check out www.hartfordhawks.com and cheer them on during the America East tournament starting Friday at noon against Binghamton!

Love & basketball,
Mary

From Dubai Int'l

First leg of the journey complete! We have full tummies and too much time to kill in Dubai's ridiculously modern airport. On the flight over I watched Life of Pi and Searching for Sugarman. Having read Life of Pi, I think the book really lets your imagination go whereas the movie plays it out in one way-still worth it though! And Searching for Sugarman was a recommendation from a friend that was very good. Everyone should look up Rodriguez and listen to his music (70s).

Back home, the storm has calmed down. But not before Watertown took over everyone's television screens and was the site of the arrest of one of the two marathon bombing suspects. In such a global world where people and information can travel so efficiently, anything can happen anywhere! It is both a strength and weakness of the world we live in.

Facebook posts updated me on the manhunt and police chase in Boston, Flying Horse Farms' successful campfire event and sadly, the loss of one of the most delightful people and most dedicated Hartford Hawks WBB fans. Lots of emotions and the distance certainly does not make it easier. I am sending my love and prayers to everyone back home.
Hugs,
M

NOLA: round 2

About a month ago, I was in New Orleans to run a half marathon. This past weekend I was back there for the womens final four. It was a wonderful weekend reuniting with teammates and my coaches. We definitely did the 'New Orleans thing' and my body is paying for it now. But more importantly, I got to enjoy old friend's company and enjoy the food, art, and gorgeous weather; even went for a couple runs along the river. My palate experienced shrimp creole, crawfish, and of course beignets! Lucky for me, an extra ticket came my way on Sunday and I was able to attend the two semifinal games where Louisville got past cal and uconn finally got their win against notre dame-perfect timing! On Monday I went on a swamp boat tour which was so awesome; gave a good feel for the culture in many parts of Louisiana and I saw gators within arms length of my body! Many wonderful and ridiculous stories were born this paat weekend, certainly making it one to remember :) Now it's time to prep for the 6 week trip to Asia...

York PA!

Nothing beats a weekend with the girls! Jackie, Weaver (first name is Amanda), and I are teammates from college and best friends. It's been a few months since we were all together, so this weekend has been really nice. Jackie and I drove down from CT on Friday and we started the weekend with some Chinese food! Around 930 (so it was dark) we did our first training run in preparation for the electric run we're doing together in August. On Saturday we went to a tea room in East Berlin PA. The food was delicious, bacon baked crackers, quiche, scones and sweet potato cream soup. We tried 6 different kinds of tea including hibiscus, chocolate and strawberry teas. Everything was homemade including the butter and peach jam. In the afternoon we got our nails done, then picked up a snack on the way home. I finally got a shamrock shake which I've been waiting for all month! Once again we surprised Weaver with a 'kickin' chemo's ass party!' Diagnosed in June, this week is her last week of chemo! We played pin the tail on the donkey (ass) and had a goodie bag of ass kicking gifts including a Jillian Michaels kickboxing video! At night we watched The Hunger Games and some March madness games. My bracket is a mess thanks to Gonzaga! This morning we had a yummy breakfast, complete with cinnamon rolls...then we went for another run to work it off. Lots of snacking, hanging, reliving old memories and laughing-great weekend :)

Visit to the Capital

On Thursday evening I headed down to DC for Team SeriousFun's run in the Rock n' Roll Nation's capital half marathon. We woke up early Friday morning to be part of a TV interview. Danielle, our director of Team, had a chance to talk about the program and share contact info. Afterward, Tim, Haley, and I grabbed breakfast at Eastern market-delicious pancakes and grits! From 10 to 4:30 we worked the race expo and ended up with over 250 leads over the course of 2 days. We had quite a few people with SeriousFun camp connections stop by, as well as a bunch of people say they saw us on the morning news! From the expo, we went to the team hotel to get ready for the pasta party. All the participants seemed to have a nice time and Haley told a wonderful story about a camper from Campuka in Paraguay.
Another early morning on Saturday, out at mile 2.5 at 7 am and cheering our hearts out...straining vocal cords, too. We cheered at mile 10 and then went to the finish line. All of our participants finished and had smiles on their faces. Post race, we sacrificed a nap and rallied to go to brunch. It was a nice reunion with old and current New Haven friends at a Belgium place near DuPont Circle. Saturday afternoon also included a delicious chorizo empanada and Krispy Kreme donuts :)
Finally with the chance to sleep in on Sunday, we took advantage and got about 12 hours sleep! Then it was another amazing brunch (they like their brunches in DC) before a walking tour of many monuments and memorials, including: Lincoln, Washington, Korean War, WWII, MLK Jr., and the White House. It was chilly but after having no rain and even some sun on race day (not the forecast), there is no reason to complain about the weather! The trip home (happening as I type) may be the worst ever...bus left DC an hour late and now on a train that doesn't get into New Haven until after 1am. My fellow train passengers aren't making it any easier...