The Invitation

The Invitation by Oriah

  It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry

I have not tried this yet - but I am really excited too.............. it looks so amazing and I have a recipe for naan too :)

Ingredients
 1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp mild madras curry powder (more or less to taste)

1 5-ounce bag pre-washed spinach, roughly chopped

1 14-ounce can lite coconut milk

2 large sweet potatoes , peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

4 naan breads (or 2 large, halved) halved & warmed (or make: whole wheat naan)



1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion; cook and stir 7-8 minutes until golden and softened. Stir in the curry powder and cook and stir 30 seconds.

2. Add the coconut milk and sweet potatoes and cook until just tender, about 15-20 minutes. Add the the spinach and cook 1-2 minutes until wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with naan breads.

Sweet Potato Fries make me happy :)

I found this recipe on pinterest

1 plump sweet potato/yam/orange-fleshed potato, peeled


1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large egg white

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste



Yogurt Sauce:

1/3 cup Greet yogurt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon olive oil

salt to taste

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Peel sweet potato and slice off the top and bottom points of the potato. With potato positioned north to south, use a large knife to slice potato into 1/3-inch potato planks. Stack planks in two piles, and slice, north to south, into 1/3-inch sticks. Fries!

The Next Chapter

When you finally decide to start chasing your dreams,  it can become absolutely paralyzing trying to decide what to do next.  But I can't tell you how good it feels to just face the fear and do it anyway! Some words of inspiration I found here http://www.justinmarantz.com/

Beck Chapel

Beck Chapel in Bloomington Indiana

Spring Motivation

"Being your best is not so much about overcoming the barriers other people place in front of you as it is about overcoming the barriers we place in front of ourselves. It has nothing to do with how many times you win or lose. It has no relation to where you finish in a race or whether you break world records. But it does have everything to do with having the vision to dream, the courage to recover from adversity and the determination never to be shifted from your goals."

Kieren Perkins (Swimmer)

Dreaming of This

Its March and I am ready for Spring and as much as I love the Ski Season I want the sun to come out (not just teasing) so it can be Spring sooner rather than later.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup pitted dates
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

TOFFEE SAUCE:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch round or square baking dish. Sift the flour and baking powder onto a sheet of waxed paper. Chop the dates fine. Place in a small bowl and add the boiling water and baking soda; set aside. In a bowl of electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Add the date mixture to the batter and fold until blended with a rubber spatula. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake until pudding is set and firm on top, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven to a wire rack. Toffee Sauce: Combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a small heavy saucepan; heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil gently over medium low heat until mixture is thickened, about 8 minutes. Preheat broiler. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the sauce over the pudding. Spread evenly on top. Place pudding under the broiler until the topping is bubbly, about 1 minute. Serve immediately spooned into dessert bowls. Drizzle with toffee sauce and top with a spoonful of whipped cream.

I have been here before

“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness; it is not excitement; it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love,” which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Life is full of setbacks - Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.

I start this post with the quote that is on the main picture. I love this quote it has so much meaning for me, especially recently. I feel like this semester, my second year as an Assistant Professor has been full of setbacks................ as in things don't progress as fast as I want them to. I am still learning, I can not do everything, I do not know everything, I don't claim to and to be honest, I am irritated daily by people that think they 'know it all'. Most of the time I hold my peace, sit back and hope that they become 'grounded' again and fall back into reality. I am in no way saying that I do not sometimes fall into this category, but I hope that I can remain grounded and learn from these experiences.

In addition to being an Assistant Professor I qualified for 'World Championships' in Half Ironman, which is coming up really soon. This is my second time, but this time has been a challenge for me because I am constantly in conflict with what comes first....... is it me, my work, my training or my relationship. Athletes are extremely selfish people, especially endurance athletes, they are happy to be alone!!!..... for a reason, but at some point you will realize that 'Life' is so much bigger than you are and your priorities begin to change. I love what I do, and I am thankful to be surrounded by people that share similar interests and give me immense support.

When you live each day racing against the clock to find time that isn't there, it is easy to lose yourself. Last night I was hit with sad news about an old friend of mine. Because of careers, relationships and life changes we don't always get to see or speak to our friends or family as often as we would like (mainly because of that race against the clock). Or maybe your priorities shifted too much in one direction............. but it doesn't stop you caring or continuing to think about them. If you find yourself suddenly 'brought back down to reality' thats ok....... reach out, lend a hand, share a smile, give a hug............ I believe my friend will be ok, she is a young, strong healthy beautiful woman and when I find myself struggling I will think once again about people that have a much bigger task that finishing a Half Ironman...... or completing some research or writing a paper and remember 'its so much bigger than that'.

Motivational Quote

I like motivational quotes, not only for my training and competitions, but for life too. Here is one of my favorites!! Feel free to share more :)

"Pain is Temporary,
It may last a minute,
or an hour,
or a day,
or a year,
but eventually it will subside
and something else will take its place.
If I quit, however, It lasts forever."
Lance Armstrong

Today my heart ached

Today my heart ached for someone I don't know.

I have a few friends that blog about their lives and so on, more often I read updates about their triathlon training and other adventures. I like reading these blogs, they inspire me, motivate me and keep me in the loop. I have this one friend down in Bloomington and I was reading her blog today, she is training for Ironman Wisconsin and I know she is going to be amazing. Her blogs are very upbeat and exciting and she allows her friends to experience the excitement via her blog. Today I read a new update and in addition to the usual there was one paragraph about a very close friend of hers being diagnosed with breast cancer - my heart ached, because I realized that this is a woman who recently lost her son to lymphoma (you can read the story here www.teamzachary.com). She now has her own story to tell and hopefully you will follow her here www.INgratitude.posterous.com. Why would you want to follow a blog by someone you don't know and have never met - because I truly believe that people become stronger knowing they have support even if they don't know you and may never meet you.

So today my original plan was to get up this morning and do what I like to refer to as 'the epic workout' - a 1.2 mile swim, 20 mile bike TT, 4 mile run, 20 mile bike TT and a 6 mile run. It takes a few hours but my plan was to get up early and just get it done. Usually if I wait until midday, I don't want to do it. Today though I got up, ate breakfast and changed my plan, I went to watch my friends husband compete in a Mountain Bike Race. We got there a little after it started, hung out with her adorable twins, checked out the parade. It was a really fun morning. We didn't get home until 12.30pm, I was hungry, tired and last thing Jesse and I wanted to do was the epic workout, Jesse fell asleep and I started to think of all these reasons why maybe I would wait until tomorrow and so on.

So instead of going to workout, I started playing around on the internet and read my friends blog.................. and my heart ached. I sat for a while thinking about it and then got ready for my workout. My whole attitude towards the 'epic workout' changed. It was 3pm and I knew it was going to take a while but I didn't care. I approached it with a different type of aggressiveness and I did not for one second of that workout today stop thinking about this person that I don't know.

Today when I struggled with the wind and wanted to come up out of my aero bars for a break, I told myself that some situations don't allow people to take breaks no matter how much their body is begging for it. On my runs instead of weakening with the distance I got stronger and faster, I battled my pain and kept going.

I don't know what its like to have a life threatening disease, and I am not going to pretend that my training pain comes close to that type of pain. But I do know, that today this person I don't know helped me get through one of my best workouts yet, she never left my thoughts and I hope you take time to follow the blog and show your support from afar because we all gain strength knowing people care.

My First job

I swam with a friend today who mentioned that she wanted to know more about life in academia. Initially it took me by surprise, no one has really asked me that before.... I needed some time to think and figure out a response.

I realized I rarely discuss my life as an assistant professor, its not because I am not proud of what I do, I am, I just don't talk about it. Partly because I keep my personal life close to me, partly because I don't want to force people to listen about life in academics, and partly because I am still surprised that this is the career path that I chose to walk down. It was never my intention to 'teach' or do 'research'.

I wanted to coach swimming, I love/d coaching swimming, its easy for me to coach swimming. I know it inside out, I can look at someone in a pool and determine in seconds what they need to do to be more efficient. I can look at someone standing on pool deck and know what their body position will be like in the water. I am at home in a swimming environment. Can I say the same regarding my position as an assistant professor? ......... the answer is to be determined I guess. It takes years of deliberate practice :) - for anyone to become an expert in their field.

Doing my PhD kind of happened by accident (whaaaaat), I stumbled upon it in my quest to find out who I was. Somewhere along the way I decided coaching would be for me, I interviewed at several school, was offered jobs at some of these schools, but something inside of me told me 'no' don't accept. So I stayed at IU to complete my PhD. I was close to finishing and I applied for jobs as an assistant professor in a poor economy. Luckily I found a great job at MTU - thankfully they liked me enough to give me my first real paying job - I know you graduate students know what I am talking about here.

Am I in my comfort zone - ha!!!! absolutely not. I am challenged everyday to be a better teacher, better advisor, I am still learning - I feel like a graduate student more now than ever........ I call my advisor from IU ALL THE TIME!!!!! - Do I still want to coach - absolutely, I think about it everyday, BUT, I like what I do now too. I like the diversity of the students, I like finding ways to make learning fun. I am not a professor that wants to make a students life difficult, I don't want to 'put them through hard times, just because I experienced it', in fact I go out of my way to make sure I don't do that. I seek those that avoid me, I want each of them to engage in the learning experience. Some 'wiser' professors tell me I will change - that I put in too much 'effort' but right now it doesn't seem like effort and I hope I don't change to that 'bitter' professor that forgot why they wanted to be in academia to start with.

I am gearing up for my second year at MTU, I am coming off a good year and I am hoping the second year will be better.......... one thing I have learned this year as much as I hate to admit this - it is a challenge for women in academia, is it better than it used to be? I don't know I am assuming so.......... its not something I have experienced until now and so I feel I can't accurately comment on it. I certainly haven't really experienced anything negative but I do listen and learn from other female faculty from MTU and other Universities. Do I think some of what I have heard is 'over the top'? Ha!! absolutely, but unfortunately there is merit to some things!! (more on this another time)

all in all, my life in Houghton is fun and exciting, my friends are fab and I like my job!!!!!

Memorable quotes

Sometimes life can be rough and you wonder 'why?' - after watching a 'Rocky' - yep I said 'Rocky' movie last night I thought about this quote alot - to some people it may seem silly, but for me it gets the message across.

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life."

Happy New Year (a little late)

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010, (sorry it’s so late). One of my new year’s resolutions – to update my blog more !!!, starting from now.

I travelled home to England for the Christmas Holidays, time always goes by so fast when I am there, I don’t have enough time to recover from the epic journey it takes to get there, and always wish I could spend more time there. This year more than anything I longed to live back in my home country. I miss my family, especially seeing new addition growing up, and I miss my friends. I miss the amazing countryside that I know I took for granted when I was growing up. I miss road signs that tell you when the next castle is (where do you see that here), I miss the history of what we have……………………..But, when I am there I miss this country too, I miss the convenience of having anything you need whenever you need it. England is not like that at all. The stores all close at 5pm, rarely is anything open 24 hours (it’s amazing what you suddenly want and absolutely can’t wait until 9am the next day when you find out that you really can’t just go and get it). I missed not being able to go to the pool for 4 days because come December 24th everything is closed until the 28th. I miss the laid back everyday life of American culture. I wish I could make the two countries just a little bit closer so I could back and forth easier.

Anyway, Christmas and New Year came and went, and I am back here in Houghton, Mi……………………….. I came back to snow, lots of it, but there was lots of it when I left. It’s really not that cold here which surprises me every day. So far this year I have hiked with my dogs (lots), they both like the snow now which makes it more fun, although I think Blue (my chocolate lab) would rather have green grass to play on that white fluffy snow!! I have downhill skied at the ski hill we have on campus……………. Yes MTU has their own ski hill. It’s fun, I had a good time……………………. Well minus a little hiccup I had a good time. I bought boots and bindings for my snowboard, which I hope to test out next week!!! Oh and work, I started work again, teaching Motor Learning and Development. I am still getting used to the fact that I am no longer a grad student, I have my Ph.D. …………….. It’s weird and it took me a week or so to get back into professor mode, but once classes started again, it was ok.

This week I have two grants to draft for a February submission, and sort out my research lab!!! 2010 is off to a flying start.

P.S. still training, planning a race schedule………….. more to come on this!!!

Ph.D

So back in August 2001 I left my home country (England) to come to America and study for my masters degree in Motor Learning and Control. The university of choice (Indiana University, Bloomington) - well maybe not choice, I originally was set to go to Florida State, but the professor I was going to work with there was leaving to be the Chair of the School of Health Physical Education and Recreation at IU, so I enrolled at IU instead. Anyway, soon after arriving there I realized I wanted to get my Ph.D in Human Performance.

What did I do with my time since arriving in 2001

1. Had a great time
2. Made new relationships with really great people, bought my first house
3. Coached IU swimming for 4 years (part of a team that won Big Tens twice - go Hoosiers)
4. Got my masters degree
5. Experienced some life changing moments - lost my way for a year or two
6. Found my way back :), sold a house and bought my second house
7. Completed my Ph.D

• After a year of anticipation my defense was finally upon me, along with the worst cold I have had in years (argh), I drove back to Bloomington, Indiana on Monday October 19th feeling feverish and awful. I finally arrives almost 12 hours later!!. Jesse and his roomate JJ had made dinner :), so I ate and went straight to bed......................... the next morning I felt worse but with a presentation to prepare i forced mysefl up and to my old office I went. I did get to spend some good time with my advisor and all in all thursday came around, my defense went good. Well, it was good after the nerves subsided, after I presented and after they told me I done with no revisions to make .... Yippeeeeee

8. Accepted an Assistant Professor position at Michigan Tech University

My time at IU definitely had its ups and downs (as all graduate students will understand), but that was my home, I had friends in the student system and I had friends from the community. I love Bloomington, it has everything you need, great University Town, good restaurants, wonderful surrounding countryside..................... and more to the point a fabulous triathlon community (hence being named as one of the top 20 places to live and train as a triathlete). I didn't think anything was ever going to be like Bloomington (part of me still doesn't). However, my new home (Houghton, MI) is definitely growing on me, I like it here and I am meeting some really great people (who also do triathlons and such- yeah). I am looking forward (still with anticipation) to the winter and snow that is coming (probably very soon).

The Three Sports

When I swim I become immersed by a feeling of security, I move through the water and I can lose myself for a moment in time, I count, I know my stroke from one wall to the next. I know if I am swimming well based on a number, on where my body sits in the water…………… swimming allows me to reconnect with myself.

I have experienced many conversations with various individuals about why I swim. I start to tell them but I am usually cut off mid way through because they want to let me know how sad they think it is that some people only ever choose to do one sport and how they don’t agree with that lifestyle. I am never usually given the opportunity to finish what I was saying because when this happens my instinct is to be quiet, smile politely and listen to what they have to say.

Their questions are usually:

1. Why would I only want to swim?
2. Why would I want to restrict myself to only being able to do one thing?
3. How could my parents not allow me to participate in other sports?

I choose not to respond because my instinct is to defend my life as I know it, I don’t like to get into such discussions because I understand that this is their opinion, but what I don’t think they understand is that they are negating what I have done, negating my families choice for me as a child, negating the choice that I made to continue when I was older.

If they had allowed me to finish they would have heard me say that:

I swim because I can, because it makes me feel good, because it is what I do. Swimming wasn’t my parent’s choice for me; I had never been in a swimming pool until I was nine. It was my choice because I wasn’t allowed to join in school swimming lessons unless I could already swim. So I went home and I asked to be taken to swim club. I loved swimming; I couldn’t wait to move up to the highest swimming squad, to be allowed to start strength training, to finally get to do morning practice (even though it meant getting up at 4.30am). I swam because it was my release and my relaxation.

The questions don’t stop as you get older. I still train, A LOT, but now I have added cycling and running into the equation. I probably train at the peak of my season more than when I was a full time swimmer. I do it for the same reasons I did as a swimmer. When I ride I lose myself in the outside and take in things that I never noticed before. It’s not easy for me, I struggle on the uphills, but I thrive from the challenges. When I run I zone out, I think about triathlon, I think about family, friends, problems, I right the world when I am running. These three sports combined give me my sense of well being; they improve my overall quality of life. I may not play team sports, I may have chosen sports that can be considered somewhat isolating, but that’s ok with me.

So next time you get into a conversation with someone and you feel like its heading in that direction, remind yourself that they just made different choices with their life and that’s ok, but it doesn’t mean that yours were wrong.

Louisa

Welcome to my Blog

I am starting a new adventure in my life, a new chapter that is different to anything I have experienced before. I am now an assistant professor at Michigan Tech University. In addition to that I continue to strive for success in something that I started doing a couple of years ago (triathlon).


As with anyone that ends one era to start another I will be writing about my transistion from graduate student to young professor, and of course my quest to become a successful triathlete. I am wondering how my transition from full time graduate student into the full time working profession will be.


Similar to competitive sports most athletes don't have a transition period and will experience many highs and lows as they try to figure another meaning for themselves. As a swimming coach I would watch seniors graduate and see how excited they were to be 'free to do what they wanted', only to see them come back around after the 1st month feeling slightly disillusioned because the world they thought they wanted wasn't quite what it seemed, and all of a sudden they are searching for a new identity. When I was told I was 'done' swimming I went through years trying to figure out who I was without it. What I came to realize (through my coaching, and observing my swimmers) is that you don't have give up that part of your life. It was so important, why would you act like it didn't exist . That part of your life is what helped mold you into who you are today................. without continuing to express that part of your life you fail to show people you meet or associate yourself with who you really are.


It took me a long time to figure this out when my competitive swimming ended, I wish I had someone who could have guided me through it more. I feel like this is where alot of great coaches fail. The coach/athlete relationship is suddenly ended, and many times the athlete still needs/depends on that guidance. Graduate school helped me figure this out, coaching elite college level swimmers helped me see this, experiencing one of the hardest and biggest changes in my personal life made me seek something that would give me my identity back. Completing my Ph.D and re-training myself to find and become again what I had lost (an athlete) has helped me find a way back to a life that I am now happy with.