My Pups and Me

Through preparation of the arrival of our baby boy (which can be any moment these days), these precious pups have been through it all... the happy times I have, the tears I shed, the walks I take, the heat of the moment times I scold them to get out of the kitchen or off the new couches... all the highs and the lows of my life! 

Often times, I look at them feeling really sad that they won't have my undivided attention at home... especially because football season is here and we won't have our all day Saturdays to roam the streets! All I can do is try my hardest to tag team with the hubs and spend some good ol' QT with these pups during the daily hustle and bustle of being a first-time mommy to our sweet son. I'm sure they will be just as ecstatic as we are to share their home with their new brother!

After all... how can I not pay no mind to these sweet faces?

Football with Baby

As football season approaches us next week (YAY!), I can't help but think about what necessities I'll need as a first time mommy with a newborn baby! Granted the weather isn't too scorching hot or freezing cold, I WILL be in the stands watching our Huskers dominate this season!

Here are some goodies that are on my list to pack up for game day!

1. Boba Baby Wrap. This will be a MUST to carry baby around while I'm clapping and rooting on our Huskers! // 2. Herringbone Classic Diaper Bag. We scored on this gorg diaper bag that holds diapers, and wipes, and onesies... oh my! I love it because the durability of the material, and the thick shoulder strap on it. // 3. Mud Pie Football Blanket. Can't go to a football game without a sportful blankie. The best part is it's double-sided with the turf on the other side! // 4. Nursing Cover by Bebe au Lait. How adorable and cheerful is this nursing cover to stare at while feeding baby and covering the goods?! // 5. Football Coverup, Hat and Bib. Not only do we need a football blankie, but a football outfit to cheer on Daddy and his players!

What are some goods you pack up for baby during football season?

Convo Starters

{The Mill Gourmet Coffee}

As school begins and college students are moving into dorms, there are probably tons of things going through your minds: What classes will I like? Which friends will be rushing with me? How is my schedule looking between classes and practice?

In hindsight, I wish I would have had focused more on my networking skills during college... networking with my colleagues and networking with professionals within my field of interest! Not just networking in general (click here for a thorough post on networking)... but quick and easy conversation starters would have been extremely useful. This can also be referred to as your elevator pitch... but for the sake of this post, I'll call them CONVO STARTERS.

Some of you may be keen to starting up conversations with questions such as, "How are you?" or "What do you do?" or "What's your major?" or even, "Where are you from?" These are all great for opening up dialogue, but there are other questions that can grasp attention in other ways that might just be unexpected from the person you are networking with! Here are a few of my favorites:

// What's the last book you read?
This may give you some insight as to what type of personality this person may have. If you find any commonalities with this person, you might just be interested in things he/she may be studying.

// Where do you see yourself in 4-5 years from now?
This question can open up an entire world of dreams and insights with the other person you speak to. They may walk you through their "masterplan" of how school or work is helping them get to where they ultimately want to be in life. You never know... your paths may cross again in 4-5 years from today!

// Are you a coffee-drinker or a tea-drinker?
May seem like a random question, but you'd be surprised as to how people open up with their love of hot drinks! You can also use their response to this question later down the road when you ask them if they would be interested in grabbing some coffee or team some time... where you can chat even further about school/work interests.

// Who do you look up to?
This response always surprises me... from hearing relatives... to hearing famous people. While sharing the person he/she looks up to, it's always even more interesting to hear the story behind it all!

As you embrace the new semester, try asking some of your peeps these questions and reflect on how they respond!

What are some convo starters you like to ask new peeps?

Husker Baby Shower

Popped my diaper cake cherry

Cutest slice of soap pie that smelt DELISH!

Shower-happy at 37 weeks

The football wives of our Cornhusker team threw such a lovely breakfast shower for my sweet little boy! It was so lovely and I enjoyed the intimate setting we had with our little football family.

My hubs and I are so overwhelmed with all the love and support we've had since moving out here to Nebraska. Being that we worked with this football staff before when we were at Oregon State has helped SO much in feeling that we're back with family. We've even met some awesome NEW coaches and their families who joined us in Husker Nation.

Being around these ladies means so much to me. We all experience the long days and nights without our husbands as Fall Camp began... we all love going to practices and scrimmages just so we can spend time in the same vicinity as our husbands... we will all be with each other through the season, and well after. There's a bond amongst football wives that I am so blessed to share with this group of women!

Another celebration in the books for my love!If you missed the other shower I had with my family and friends back home, you can see those gorgeous photos here.

37 Weeks

I seriously could not handle holding off on these pictures to share with you all! The Hubs and I had an amazing blissful maternity photo shoot with Kate Florian Photography here in Lincoln, and she gave us a few sneak peeks! She was amazing, and completely captured these moments as I imagine they would be captured.

I'm 37 weeks today and am counting down patiently until we meet our love. As you may recall from this post, I've been having all sorts of different feelings waiting for baby to come. But today, in this very moment, I feel excited, calm and at peace. I keep telling myself that in order to be the best I can be throughout labor and the beginning of motherhood, I have to keep things cool, calm and collective. Labor will be such a beautiful thing that is about to unfold, and I want to cherish each moment as it comes (I'll have to report on that reality once I'm clear to share the birth story!).
Any tips you mommies out there want to share in these stages? I'm all ears!!

Nebraska Adventures

The Hubs and I have been here in Lincoln, NE for about six months now. Though the Hubs has been quite busy since day one in our move to Nebraska, I've kept myself occupied with family visits from our pleasant smoggy home of Cali! When they come to visit, I find myself asking the same questions around Cornhusker nation. If we don't have the beaches, mountains, or forest trails to explore... What's there to do in Nebraska?  //  Where can we take the kiddos?  //  How do we entertain ourselves?

We've done some exploring in this mid-west state, and Nebraska has been quite surprising to me. Some of our adventures include:

:: LINCOLN ZOO ::

:: OMAHA ZOO ::

:: BOTANICAL GARDENS ::

And of course, we can't leave out what we moved here for...

:: NEBRASKA FOOTBALL ::

I also stumbled across the Haymarket Farmers' Market, which was downtown Lincoln!

Nebraska has some of the most amazing friendliest people of all the nation. It's been such a pleasure to peruse around town and wave hello and strike up conversations with just about anybody we run into. For all these reasons (and for many other reasons to be unfolded), I'm grateful to be here today in Cornhusker Nation!

Have you lived here in Nebraska? What are some of the things you've been able to do?

Believe

FEAR. It gets the best of us in life! It can drain you from goals. It can strip you away from your passion. It can blind you from your vision. And the worse of all? It is totally an unpaid job!

Sometimes (more often than usual for me lately!) we let those negative thoughts cloud our vision. Believe it or not, I'm still coping with the news about the re-org at my previous job. My top 3 fears have been that...

... it'll be hard for me to find something in this new state I reside in.
... transitioning from motherhood back to the workforce will be soooo hard.
... I can't contribute financially to our family.

In reality, I realize that these fears are actually preventing me to believe. Believe in myself, in my future, in the unknown. I've been working really hard at creating the upmost highest vision for myself lately, and things have just been happening that is giving me the inspiration I need to overcome these fears.

In the past month, my paths have crossed with a few people that have opened up my eyes and doors of opportunity for my career. I met someone that is looking to start up a project around some of the same passions that I have: helping college students prepare for the "real world" (aka finding a career that matters). I also met someone that has his own consulting company and is looking for a thought partner (and potential business partner!) to bridge some of the gaps that exists in his operations. Great things are happening that are totally stimulating my mind and stimulating my visions.

I also have been out and about hanging out with some of the other coach's wives, which has totally helped with my homesickness. They have reassured me that I'm not in this football life alone (even though the hubs doesn't get done with camp until midnight these days). It feels awesome to have other strong and independent wives and mothers to help relate and talk to along this path.

I must say, these networking opportunities would not have come about if I let FEAR get the best of me. Instead, I had created amazing visions for myself... not only will I find my career path in this new environment, but it will totally be aligned with my passions... and also that I will establish great friendships that will help me get through the football season and throughout all of life. I am beginning to believe that I WILL be successful at any point in my life, as long as I want to be!

What are some of your FEARS in life? How can you begin to overcome these fears so that you can start believing?

Haymarket Farmers Market

I can't believe the first week of August has been checked off the list for 2015! I've been quite busy, productive and a tad bit lonely. Fall camp for football season officially started last week, starting off with UNL's Fan Day. For those of you who don't know, fall camp typically means the Hubs is out of commission for good family time until after the season. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE football season! But I do miss the Hubs... I'm just glad I get a few hours at night with him before he crashes and takes off in the morning to do it all over again (with endless energy!).

Time away from the Hubs means discovering more of Nebraska on my own (that is of course until my break-dancing son arrives in about a month... EEK!). This weekend, I discovered the cutest little Farmer's Market in the Haymarket district. The streets were filled with fiddlers, violinists, singers, a few dancers, farmers, bakers, gardeners, and of course Nebraska peeps! It was refreshing to be outside with a crowd like that... and it even stayed cool enough to not be sweating by the gallon while walking!

Does your loved one work his/her hearts away? What are some things that you do to stay occupied on the weekends?

Nebraska Fan Day!

It's been quite a busy week for me where time just completely passed me by! One of the many highlights was Nebraska's Fan Day, which turned out to be the talk of the town. It seemed like the entire state of Nebraska was at Memorial Stadium getting up close and personal with players and coaches. This is one thing that I am growing to love in our move to Nebraska... the entire state is pro-Cornhusker football in the most sincerest way you can imagine. People were coming up to the Hubs and I welcoming us with open arms into their state... it was just overwhelming to see all of the truly human people out there that are so genuine and welcoming.

I'll tell you what... it was a hell of a way to kick off our Fall Camp for Cornhusker football! I was getting hyped just watching the sea of red bombard the field! I can already smell the fireworks that's just 4 weeks away until our first game against BYU!

Networking is KEY!

{source}

How many of you have been in a situation where you might be... job hunting?... Shopping around for mechanic?... Looking for advice with your new baby (ME!)?... basically anything that may cause you to seek advice or find referrals to someone or something that would benefit you?

You may think first thing to turn to is online searching. But if you think about it, it's much more than Google searching something online. It's about personally knowing if someone or something is worth it. How else might you find this personal info out?... PEOPLE! We typically ask around for personal references and experiences. We learn from others, and others actually learn from us! This is just one aspect of what we commonly call NETWORKING!

Networking can also help you in the professional world to market your expertise, interests and strengths. Being a student-athlete can be a full-time job, but if you don't start to make time to meet new people outside of your team and coaches, it may hinder you once you graduate college and are ready to start your career.

Here are some tips on networking that may help you begin at your stage in life right NOW:

// Attend CAREER FAIRS or CONFERENCES
Take advantage if you're a student and attend these types of events that should be completely free for you! And don't just attend these... but take business cards and approach the professionals at the booths and introduce yourself by offering your time and willingness to help them in any way (whether paid or not!). Also, be sure you collect business cards from professionals, and follow-up with an email saying that it was nice to meet them at the career fair/ conference.

// Connect on LINKED
If you haven't created an account on LinkedIN yet, DO SO TODAY! You won't regret it... it's a great way to stay connected with professionals, follow the latest news and updates on companies, and apply for jobs all over the world! They have a live feed (just like you would see on Facebook), which you can scroll through to see any new updates. Comment, like, and follow conversations that help you become more involved in any specific community.

// Ask for INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS
You may hear people frequently say, "We're not hiring now." Well, don't let that be your end all be all! Approach someone you may know that works at an organization, and ask if you can set up a half-hour to an hour-long informational interview. In these informational interviews, you can ask questions that help you gain more insight into the organization, department, and job role. Be sure that you spend some time preparing questions ahead of time so you drive the conversation and gain information that will help you in the long run. In addition, professionals remember these conversations, and when something does open up, most likely they would think of you!

// Send monthly EMAILS
Spend a few minutes of your day and send frequent emails to professionals you have met (in-person or virtually). Let them know that you wanted to check-in and see how things are going with them, and to let you know if they ever want to grab some coffee or lunch with you, or have a phone conversation. Meeting with people is a great way to just catch up and see what's going on. You never know how you may be of help with someone, or how they may be able to help you!

Utilize these tips to help you expand your networking circle (or begin one). Our fellow peeps are the greatest gift you can ever ask for, and you can also gift someone else with!

If you are also working on sprucing up your resume, see this post about including sports on your resume.

How do you network?