Again, it has been way to long since I've posted; like a ridiculously long time to keep my avid readers (aka Mom, Dad, and brother) waiting. But, I have an excuse! It may not be a good one, but it's a legit excuse! As some of you know, Christa Harmotto, and Alisha Glass were once roommates of mine, and the internet and cable was under Christa's name and apparently you can't change the name on the account. SO, when she left to return to her professional team in Italy, we had to cancel the cable and internet to our apartment and Kindra and I have been too lazy to call and get it started up again. And now with only two weeks left of this training block, it doesn't really seem worth it. Good enough? Oh well. Anyways, since it has been so long since I've blogged, I made a list of all the things that have happened in the past 12 days. So, fair warning, this will probably be a longer blog. Welp! Here goes!

1. My brother Eric, has been bugging me for the longest time about putting up another blog. This has convinced me that he may very well be my biggest fan! He has asked me in the past, "Is it weird that my favorite athlete is my little sister?" NO! It's not weird! I talked to him the other day on the phone and I told him when my training block was over and instead of saying, "Oh YAY Kayla! I can't wait to see you!" The first thing he said to me was, "So, do you want to play in my adult volleyball league game?" Priorities bro :) And even right now I know he is just so anxious to read this blog! He probably keeps checking my website with the slightest hope that something new has been posted...well here ya go brother. And PS...I may be your biggest fan too. But, you really do need to quit that job...just sayin...seriously quit...okay I'm done.

For those of you who don't know him, this is my brother, Eric. 

2. Not this past weekend, but the weekend before (March 9th-14th to be exact) my mom and aunt Mary were in town visiting, or vacationing whichever you'd prefer. Every day consisted of at least two hours of sun bathing, along with a little bit of shopping. The most memorable night was Saturday. We (Me, Mom, Mary, and Liz) spent the night in LA at a BEAUTIFUL hotel called Vagabond. It was absolute PARADISE! Are you picking up on the sarcasm? It's kind of hard to get it across in typing. Anyways, honestly, it was a complete dump! Like I literally thought we were a part of the next Criminal Minds episode. After settling in at our hotel, we went to the UC Irvine men's volleyball match vs USC which turned out to be right down the street from our five star hotel. Perfect walking distance. After the match we went to a bar near the Staples center and eventually made our way to an Irish pub. It was there that more drinks started flowing and we all started to loosen up a bit. It was also there that I gave out a fake number to a guy who I couldn't shake off. Too harsh? Maybe. Anyways, after this bar we wanted to go to another bar that one of our waitresses from earlier told us about. So, we hailed a cab, hopped in and told the driver where to go. He informed us that the bar we wanted to go to was quite literally two blocks down the street. And as soon as we were about to confirm that it was in walking distance, he took off. I guess every dollar counts for these guys. Even if it was only the $3.45 that we paid the man for the ride. Anyways, by the end of the night we made our way back to the hotel thanks to a cab driver that was convinced we were all alcoholics. The next morning, we got up bright and early, and after a McDonald's breakfast we made our way to Laguna Beach. It was a beautiful day. We sat on the beach for hours catching some rays and watching some bad volleyball. And after awhile Mary got an urge to pepper, and when am I ever gonna turn down volleyball? Never. So, we played around and let me tell you, Mary's still got it! It was very fun and we got to work up a little sweat. Workout for the day? Check! We ended the day with a little shopping at Diane's and a nice dinner at BJ's. Then it was home and we were watching Criminal Minds for the rest of the night. I gave them a ride to the airport the next morning! Overall, a GREAT WEEKEND!

Me, Mom, and Mary in LA.

Shoot, I'm only on #3...okay...

3. The Friday morning that mom and Mary were in town, I received a missed call from my brother Eric. My mom actually answered the phone and from what she said, this was their conversation:
                     "Don't go to the beach today!" -Eric
                     "Why not?" -Mom
                     "There is gonna be a tsunami!" -Eric
                     "Aww! Does that mean you would care if I died?" -Mom
                     "No, I just don't want to have to take days off for your funeral." -Eric
                     "Well you'd get bereavement days for it, paid days off." -Mom
                     "Oh, in that case, I hear there are gonna be some sweet waves                                                                  
                      today!" -Eric
So, you could say I woke up with a laugh. I went to practice and all the midwesterners were freaking out because of the tsunami that was gonna hit! All the Californians there were like "meh

4. This past Wednesday, March 16th, we held an intersquad scrimmage. Red vs. Blue. I was the libero for the Blue team. Also on the blue team was Becky Perry, Carli Lloyd, Lauren Gibbemeyer, Naomi Johnson, Kari Pestolesi, Kaitlin Sather, and Julianne Piggot. We played at a local volleyball club called T-Street. This night was a success! The blue team won in 5 sets with the 5th set being 15-13. I was sooooooo happy with the way I played. I got into a passing groove that allowed be to feel comfortable covering more area that I normally would cover. I passed a 3.45!!!! No, that is not a typo. 3.45!! I was 80% perfect on 30 attempts. Let's just say that it is the best I've felt passing since starting this training block. It was such a fun match. 


5. The next day, (Thursday, March 17th) we held another intersquad scrimmage at Irvine Valley College. Same teams: Red vs. Blue. However, this night was not as successful. Red team won in another 5 set match with the fifth set score, again, being 15-13. However, I didn't play as well as I would've like to. I think I passed something like 67% perfect, and I didn't even bother looking at the other passing stats. I didn't think I'd like what I saw. The match was sloppy, uncomfortable, and ugly. One word I used to describe this night was embarrassing. We were representing USA volleyball and that was the best effort we could come up with? Maybe this is too harsh, but it was very disappointing. 


6. But, a disappointing match wouldn't dismiss the fact that we still had another three hour practice the next morning followed by an hour lift. I woke up that Friday morning and thought to myself, "I can't do this. There is no possible way that I have enough energy to make it through this practice." But, I got to practice and once again FRS (the most amazing vitamin energy drink in the world) had my back. 

I chugged one down at the beginning of the practice and then convinced myself that I had enough energy to do this. AND THEN I PEPPERED WITH KARCH KIRALY! That energy quickly evaporated. The King of Volleyball is still the King and he worked me, and potentially proved to me that even though I am much younger than him, he may still be in better shape than me. Well, after the pepper from hell I officially hopped on the struggle bus. And by the middle of practice, fellow libero Cami Croteau and I upgraded to an all new level of struggle. We came up with new struggle terms because we didn't think that the term "struggle bus" would do us justice for how much we felt like we were struggling at the time. We came up with "struggle plane", "struggle cruise line", and "struggle army fleet of tanks". So, I guess we reached a point of delirium as well. 


7. Even though I was super exhausted I felt like I had a good practice on Friday. Every play was an inner battle but I pulled it out nicely and played pretty well. So, every Friday we vote for who we thought was the player of the week that week and the winner receives a $200 gift card to Lululemon Athletica (the most comfortable yoga pants you will ever wear). Well, my teammates voted me player of the week last week! So, I got to take myself shopping! There is one more goal I can check off the list. 

8. Friday night I went to Santa Monica to see my good friend Prince Amukamara. I went to school with him at Nebraska, where he played football. He's an okay athlete. Okay he's pretty good. He may or may not be (but definitely will be) a first round draft pick this year. Yeah, he's kind of a huge deal now. It was weird to see him now that he's super famous because I knew him before all this. So as soon as I get to his hotel I call him to see what room he is in. He told me to walk down the the Adidas store (he's sponsored by Adidas now) which was two blocks away. So, I walked down there and as soon as I walk in he goes, "I have a $1500 dollar shopping spree and I'm not gonna spend it all. Go pick out what you want." It took me awhile to pick my jaw up off the floor. And then told him that if was serious then I was gonna get a pair of shoes or something. He told me that I should and after a little hesitation I went and picked out a brand new pair. It feels weird. I seriously couldn't get over how big of a deal he is now. And I'm pretty sure the people who checked us out at Adidas had to have thought that I was his groupie. After that, we went to dinner with his Adidas rep, and first round draft pick from last year CJ Spiller. He plays for the Buffalo Bills, and he was in town doing stuff for Adidas too. Basically, I was at a dinner with two superstars and a man who pays them just to wear his brand. It was bizarre! After dinner, Prince and I went for a short walk before I headed home. It was really good to see him and catch up. He's a fun guy to be around.

This is Prince backstage of American Idol with Steven Tyler. Yeah...I told you he was a big deal.

9. I don't really have a #9. I think that's it. So, there ya go brother. There is the update from my life. Hope you enjoy! And, my apologies. I will try to blog more often because I'm sure you will keep yelling at me if I don't. 


Kayla