For the WIN

Just got back from my Newport Coed soccer league and we finally won!!!!! And in quite high fashion I might add, 6-2. Who cares if the team started with 7 players, and played with 10 most of the game... Although I can't take ownership of any of those 6 goals, I did have a sweet assist! Off a corner even!! Let me give you a play by play... Ball goes out, I go run to take the corner and tell the guy who wanted to take it (he is over 6 feet tall btw) to get in the box as the likelihood of him scoring is slightly (only slightly) higher than me (at 5'4"). I don't get why the 6 foot tall guys always wants to take the corners, what the heck, you are tall, go score a goal dude! Can I get an AMEN!! Anyway, I send the ball in, just out of the Keeper's reach and over all the defenders to my player back post at the 6 yard box. Boom. GOAL. Insert Sam "SWEET!" So I am pretty sure I finally proved to those guys that I can send in a way better corner in than they can! I am pretty pumped (if you can't tell) and can't wait for next week's game. There is something so awesome about an assist. Although the goal scorer usually gets most of the glory and the highlights on SportsCenter, if that ball didn't come in at that perfect moment, at the perfect spot, the goal would have never existed. 

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen." ---John Wooden

Don't let the big picture get in the way of completing all the steps you need to get there. Don't let the amount of steps freak you out. And don't forget to celebrate the small stuff, even if it is as minscual and irrevelant as an assist in an adult rec coed soccer league. I like to think the small wins get me through the seemingly bigger losses.


Love & Smiles

sammi d


P.S. Me and my DC kids are going to a LA Galaxy game this weekend and I couldn't be more excited. I even get to see Becks play!! Post to come with some pictures from the game :)

Momma!

It was Mother's Day yesterday!!! I am sure everyone did some awesome stuff with/for their madre. This was my first Mother's Day I didn't get to spend with my momma in, well actually, ever, I think. I can recall in recent years celebrating my mom with Shane, Court, Dad and the guest of honor of course, by going to Rockies games and ROASTING (mainly my mom, lets just be honest--love ya mom), playing frisbee golf, weeding the yard then planting flowers, and seeing some movies. This year I sent a card, which hopefully will get there tomorrow... oops :) and chatted with my loving mom on the phone. I also got to spend some great time with both Grandmas, both of which have been so loving and supportive throughout my entire life, and two of my seven aunts. Needless to say, I have some awesome women in my life, all of which I love dearly. Since it was Mother's Day, I am going to focus on the one lady in the whole entire world who responds only to Shane, Court, and I as Mom.


I am sure everyone says their mom is the best, but let's be real here, mine is :). She is truly my best friend! This last year has been a crazy one, and my momma has been right there with me! From the lows to the highs, I can count on good old Judaloo to hear me out, give me advice, tell me its going to be ok when I got a D on a test, listen to my random stories about people she doesn't know, talk to me when I was lonely for the first 3 months in CA (I have grown out of that thank goodness) and be just as excited as I was when I got an A in biochem. And most all of this was over the phone, usually on my commute home from school. Even when I call her and it isn't convienient she always listens! She is seriously the best! More than anything, my mom is a great example. She is so loving to us kids and my dad. I couldn't have had a better model of what being a mom is, I have been so blessed by my family, that is something I am sooo extremely grateful for. I hope one day to be just as loving, faithful, caring, funny, forgiving, and full of life as my mom. Thanks momma, I love you!!

Momma and me at Coors Field, I think I got my love for baseball part from her and part from Daddy

So Happy Mother's Day to you Momma and all the other moms out there!

Love & Smiles

sammi d

P.S. Found a quote iPhone app while bored in x-ray this am... so here is today's quote.

"You can't push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb himself." ---Andrew Carnegie

I think Mr. Carnegie was telling us to get up and go for it! Carpe Diem

Hey You!!

3rd Term has officially begun! And CA has opened me with "warm" arms!! Not sure how to feel yet about the classes, but I know its awesome to be back with all the great people at LACC. Definitely great to know how many sweet friends I have out here in the OC. I actually went to a friend's house last night to watch some team who wears purple and gold play this sport where they throw a ball at an round orange thing and get points if it goes through the white part... (I prefer games that involve no hand eye coordination, although you are looking at the reigning LACC Half Court Contest winner, luck much?!) Unfortunately (for my friends, at least) they lost. Still fun to be able to be around great people before the term gets too crazy. 


Its been stinking hot here (hence the "warm" welcome) but I haven't been complaining because it snowed on the day I left CO and was stinking cold. Not sure which is better, I will take mid 70s this weekend though! Since it was so warm today (95!!) I decided to ride top down in Stella (that's my Saab's name) from school to Boot Camp tonight. I was waiting at a really long light and the man next to me says, "Hey, excuse me!" I turn down my country music and he asks, "What part of Colorado are you from?" I respond by telling him I went to school in Denver, but grew up in Loveland. He told me how much he loves Colorado and that he went to CU Boulder (GO BUFFS), then lived in the area for many years after he finished. We had a little conversation car to car and then said bye when the light turned green. I think his 14 year old daughter in the front wanted to become invisible for a few minutes, but the funny thing is that what she thinks is her crazy, old dad being weird totally MADE MY DAY! Only a fellow Coloradan would shout through his window just to share his love of the place. So thanks old man in the Land Rover, you made me smile! The most I had ever done was wave at other CO plated cars in CA. I better step up my game!

Last picture of the mountains as they faded away while driving to DIA...

One more thing. You all might not think this is as awesome as I do, but I have become completely obsessed with organization. It might be the only way I keep my sanity with 26 credit hours the next 3 months. Anyway, today during a long lunch I ran errands and went to Michael's to buy some card stock as a covering/backing to some notes I was going to bind together. I was lucky enough to find this...

SPARKLES!!

Yup, you saw that right... GLITTER!!!!! I know you are sooo jealous. Oh the things that being me joy! On that note I will leave you all! Oh and here is a picture of the mani/pedi me and my momma got on Saturday before I left! I had so much fun with her :) I may not be one for make up and getting my hair done, but I love painting my nails! I call it the girliness in me! (and maybe I like glitter too, what's it to you)

Thanks Momma :)

Oh, and I had to share this too! (thanks Mike for posting this one) Just some food for thought from the pioneer of chiropractic... 

"Following the path of least resistance is what makes rivers and men crooked." ---BJ Palmer

Remember that when people doubt you or think you are crazy for being different. Being crazy is more fun anyway!

Love & Smiles

sammi d

So Long Colorado

Welp, here I am sitting at DIA, flight delayed an hour (typical CO style). So I got a coffee and decided to blog for a little while. And Josh Turner just came on Pandora!!!! I absolutely love his voice, talk about a man's voice!!! I better move to the south to find something like that :)

With all my silliness aside, these last two weeks have been absolutely amazing! Besides my little sister, Courtney, I was able to see almost everyone I wanted to see in Denver/Loveland/Boulder. That includes my favorite boys, the Blake Street Bombers! (Rockies nickname for those out of town readers) I was lucky enough to get down to Coors Field 3 times over these two weeks. All three included one of my best friends, Kristina. (Check out her blog) She was even kind enough to share her bed 3, maybe 4 times when I came to Denver to hang out with people from college and didn't want to drive back to Loveland late at night.

Krissy and I typical Rockies pic :)

Great afternoon with my parents! Love them both so much!

Leaving Coors with Krissy and Kaylan (photo cred- daddy)

 I also got to spend some awesome time with Rachel, another bff!

Rachie and I after we Easter Egged a family friends house

and church at Flatirons in Lafayette with her momma

She came to pick me up and we went to the Rockies with friends old and new, it was a great time! I was lucky enough to be able to talk to Brittany, one of Rachel's good friends from Boulder. The girl is a KICK!! As we were sitting at Jackson's downtown before the game, Jes (DC school friend) and I were talking a ton about chiropractic school. Brittany expressed a lot of interest, as she was considering PT or PA school, but felt like chiropractic might be right up her alley. I think we might have her convinced about chiropractic, and it makes me so happy! Britt would make such a great DC and would bring so much fire, passion, and healing into any of her future patients lives. I hope she looks into it more! (that link on Rachel's name is to Rach and Brittany's blog, check it out)

Jes and I at Coors! In August I hope to be able to share the 

great state of CO with more of you DC kids.

This week I was also able to spend some awesome time with my mom at the gym! I was shocked that I actually made it to they gym at least 4 to 5 times per week. To conclude the week, this morning we did a kettle bell class at Fitness 19 in Loveland. I had done some basic swings with the bells before, but never a full blown workout. Those things are hard core! Cardio and resistance training at the same time. My legs are so fatigued, wow lets hope I can walk tomorrow! I am ready to get back to CA and start going to No Limit Boot Camp again! Anyone in the OC area, you should try it out! The Saturday classes are free for first timers, so if you want to join me, and get your booty kicked, please let me know! I am also excited to get back playing on my soccer team. I have missed the last two weeks, and am so excited to get back out there! I took a good 5 months off from playing soccer, and let me tell you it showed! But the last two games I played in, I felt like I got my groove back, nothing like schooling the 30 year old guy in coed who thinks he is Pele! 

One more thing, as an encouragement to myself and all of you! I read this on a friend's status update, and the quote hit home for me that day.

“Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak." ---Thomas Carlyle

When I read that, I thought, "That is it!" Not sure what else I can add to that one, but I hope to start 3rd term off on a strong note. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what God wants me to be doing with my life! What a blessing and sense of relief, of which I am so grateful for. Keep on, keepin on right! Have a blessed weekend! So long CO... OC, see you in 4 hours!!

Beautiful view on the drive to Boulder with my daddy!

Love & Smiles

sammi d

Emulating Love

So I have recently become a little obsessed with reading blogs. I was talking to my mom about a month ago about how I wanted to start one myself. So why the heck not! I am not quite sure what it will really look like, but I think it will be a miss match of me! Think.. faith, family, CHIROPRACTIC, sports (from CO and OC), working out, and anything else that seems appealing to me at any given moment! I am definitely open to suggestions though. 


The inspiration for the name of my blog is the fact that I am a California girl (born and raised in CA until I was 12), with a Colorado spirit (lived there for 10 years), living once again in the OC (Orange County for those of you who don't know) to pursue my life long dream of becoming a chiropractor. Its been quite the adventure so far, and with 8 more terms to go (yes, over 2 and a half years), I know the ride will be fun, hard, exciting, rewarding, exhausting, memorable and irreplaceable! 


Over Valentines Day week, my school brought in this awesome speaker. Her name is Dr. Martha Nessler. She was hilarious! But more than that, her message has stuck with me ever since! She talked about a lot of different ideas, ways of thinking and was extremely inspiring. One thing she really hammered into us was to emulate love. That really stuck with me. Over the next few weeks I really tried to think about how I do just that in my life, and how I could improve. 

em·u·late/ˈemyəˌlāt/VerbMatch or surpass, typically by imitation.

When I read this, I thought Wow, the one person I can think of who loved like none other is Christ. My next thought was Crap, how do I do that? There is no way I could even compare!!! (obviously) This idea of emulating love hasn't left my mind since that day 2 and a half months ago. Although I can't say I have the perfect plan of doing this, nor do I implement this plan always (but I am striving, right?!), I have found that for me its being positive, smiling constantly, and encouraging the people around me. I always try and think, Hmmm, am I bringing the people around me up, or are they thinking "Oh, Sam just showed up.. bummer." I am going for option numero uno, of course. I think we could all learn from this emulating love idea. I hope this has encouraged you to maybe flash that person on the street a little grin. In my opinion, smiles are contagious!! 

This is one of my favorite photos from a trip to Uganda that I took over 4 years ago. (has it really been that long!) These girls were walking home and literally had the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. With so little to smile about (at least in American minds) these girls brought joy to me, not to mention they looked awesome in their pretty pink dresses! PURE JOY

Love & Smiles

sammi d

PS- I think this smiling is the Colorado in me... People smile more here! So I am bringing it back to the OC, hence the name of my blog