Glory Night

Apparently, many-a-year-ago, long before I joined my co-ed soccer team, our team was comprised of many more players. Somewhere along the way there was a nasty breakup between two of the team members, and the ex-girlfriend happened to not get along with the team captain, so she (the ex-girlfriend) took most of the best players and formed her own team in the same league - the Llamas. Over the last couple of years the two teams (The Llamas and The Green Team) have met multiple times but The Green Team has never managed to beat their arch rivals, The Llamas.

Last night, my 3rd soccer game ever, we faced off against The Llamas for the Civil War 2008.

No-one scored in the first half, though we went back and forth intensely the entire 45 minutes. The Llamas pulled ahead in the second half with two goals scored by men (in co-ed ball, men's goals count for 1, women's count for 2). 2-0 Llamas.

Then, about twenty minutes into the second half a miraculous thing happened. I was at the right place at the right time, Stephanie passed me the ball, and GOOOOOOAAAAAAALL!!!!!!! Game tied. (There may have been mild amounts of screaming, jumping, high-fiving, hugging, squealing, chest bumping etc.) Seeing the ball off your foot into the net is quite the addrenalin rush! Ten minutes later our amazing Norwegian soccer feind Toralf scored a goal from about 35 yards out (wow!), putting us up by one.

In the end, we managed to keep The Llamas from scoring again and won the game 3-2!

But, readers, what's important to note here is not the exciting and historical win for our team... what's important is: KENDRA SCORED HER FIRST GOAL! (just making sure we were clear on that.)

Go Green Team!!

Scars

I had my first adult bike wreck this week. It was all because of my foolishness. I was wearing impractical (yet very attractive) shoes and a pencil skirt, and was riding in a construction zone. Not the smartest thing in the world to do, right? To top it off, I tried to jump up onto a curb while paralleling that curb, something my biking instructor (Tim) told me explicitly not to do. As I was about to attempt the parallel-curb-hop I was thinking, "I really shouldn't do this; Tim said it wasn't a good idea...SHOOT!" CRASH, SKID, BRUISE! Fortunately I fell away from traffic and only sustained scrapes, bruises, a small gash and some road rash on my knee. I felt like such a child, limping back to work and cleaning my owies.

Tim calls my road rash "Reminder Burns". Not to get all philosophical or psychological, but our scars and road rash, whether physical or emotional, do serve as reminders of past mistakes and foolishness. I, for one, will not be attempting the silly sideways curb jump anytime in the near future!

Elsewhere in the life of Kendra ... work is going great! We have hired a person to take over the front desk/general office duties, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I am now moving into my office upstairs! I have several cases of my own, and am retaining several new clients every week. I think it's fun that I have clients from all over the world, not just Mexico. So far I have clients from: Nigeria, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Thailand, The Philippines, Peru, Laos, and Mexico. I love it! Now I'm in the process of turning my new office into a welcoming and professional space. Truth be told, my office needs to be on a home/office makeover show. But I'll see what I can pull out of my bag of tricks without the help of professionals!

Drawing to a Close

There are many indications in the valley that Summer is drawing to a close and Fall is rapidly approaching. This week our dorm-like apartment complex has been overrun by large trucks, U-haul trailers and parents galore. The school year is about to begin.

The Country Club pool closes for the summer today. While Tim's pool staff is thrilled to be done, I am sad to see the fun at the pool and on the tennis court go away. Just another indication that the beautiful Eugene summer will be gone before I know it.

Though the mornings and evenings are getting cooler, the 80 degree weather we had this last week gives me hope that all things summer are not lost. We've squeezed in a few boating trips, a hike up Spencer's Butte, and morning jogs in the last couple of weeks. My biking trips to work in the morning are getting rather chilly, but Tim is riding to the Honors College now too, so we can commiserate. Soon the evening bike rides home will be as cold as the morning.

But there is a lot to look forward to as Fall approaches. Tim won't be working crazy hours as the manager of the Country Club Aquatics. He will have regular hours at his part-time tech job and late hours only a couple days a week at EMT classes. I just started a fall co-ed adult soccer league with practice one night a week and games every Monday. I've never actually played soccer, but this league has been quite fun already. They keep asking me if I played rugby... does that mean I'm too rough? ;)

Eugene Celebration

I just got back from the Eugene Celebration with two of my girlfriends. It's like a big hippie fair, and it was soo fun! I had a very tasty Gyro with falafel, and we got some "drinking chocolate" (YUM!). There was plenty of live music of all sorts to enjoy, and people dancing in the street. If you enjoy people watching like I do, this is the place to be.

We also got free "Women for Obama" symbols painted on our arms. A good day.