2010 NBA Champs/22 years later...

1988 Los Angeles Lakers

The team you see above, is the team I remember watching at the age of 8. My mother, who didn't give a rip for sports or anything on tv back then....was forced to "sit on the couch and relax and watch a basketball game" by my father. He just wanted her to relax, and enjoy the night. Well, I don't think he asked for this crazy-lunatic of an NBA fan to come out of her...and to this day when he yells at her for glass-breaking-you-jump-out-of-your-skin screams, I remind him that "you did this to her." It makes me wonder what my childhood, and my life would've been like without the Lakers... without the purple and gold...? I have no clue. What is awesome about my mom is, she isn't only a Los Angeles Lakers fan, she's an all around basketball fan. No matter who is on tv, she'll sit and watch, and she'll cheer.Male or female.
My mom, as you know is straight from the Philippines, and her english is broken up, and it takes an interpreter (her kids) to let you know what she is saying...but once you get used to her slang, it makes sense... Well, she doesn't read. But what she does read, every morning, is the Sports page. She must have her coffee (with sugar and cream) and her NBA news....or you will die. No joke.
I don't know what it is about this year, and these finals, that made me want the Lakers to win sooooo bad. Maybe being so far away from home, and missing my mom (and her purple & gold outfits on game day...) ....But when I watched these last 7 games, I felt like I was home. (Side note, I am a little thankful that my mom wasn't near me because every time I'm with her for a game, my heart jumps out of my chest with her out-of-no-where screeches.) Or maybe it was the constant banter from Lakers haters that I was getting all around me...even from back home. I don't trash talk. I refuse. I will defend my favorite team of all time 'til my dying breath, but not if they played badly (which last night, wasn't pretty) ...I learned that from my mom. If they lost, but they played well, if they played hard - then that's okay.
Being out here in Erie, really makes me feel alone. Everywhere I turn, someone was letting me know how much they despise the Lakers (except Erin & Leroy!) and they just could not see the Lakers winning. They have no chance. They hate Kobe, blah blah blah. Thankfully Neil hates the Celtics just as much as I do...so he was routing for L.A....which was nice to cheer along w/someone. Until last night. He had to get up early this morning, so he went to lay down in bed during the 3rd quarter. They weren't playing good basketball, and it was getting real frustrating there for awhile...and Neil came up out of bed to say "Dawna, I'm sorry but the Lakers lost this." I couldn't believe him. Doesn't he know they always shine in the 4th? So I screamed "It's only the 3rd quarter! How dare you. GET. OUT. OF. HERE!!!"
When I was 16, there was tons of news about this 18 year old kid coming into the NBA straight out of high school...and boy did I think he was good looking & an amazing athlete. Kobe Bryant. I sat on my living room couch in South San Francisco watching the draft, just praying he'd be picked up by the Lakers. Nope. Damn Charlotte picked him. Then within the hour, on the bottom of the screen, the rolling news states "Kobe Bryant traded to the Los Angeles Lakers." I screamed. Back then of course I thought I would eventually become a Laker girl, and he and I would get married. haha.... My mom dreamed this too by the way. Sorry mom! It didn't work out like we planned!!!! (And unfortunately 2003 was not a good year for him, he committed adultery. I was literally heart broken. This sounds so dramatic, I know...but being such a huge fan, you just can't help but feel disappointment.)
Last night, I thought I was going to vomit. The final few minutes were so intense!!!! But in the end, they won and I was jumping all over my house in the dark (our lights are on a timer, and they turned off just after 11pm) and I ran in and jumped on Neil. EEK!!! So fun. I am so happy!!

I then turned on my computer, and bought a couple items. Shhh, Neil doesn't know yet. (But in reality, I haven't pulled out my "fun" money yet....) I bought a Championship shirt, and a hat. I refused to buy any Lakers gear this year because I didn't want to jinx it. Since buying my car, I have been dying to purchase a license plate frame...but couldn't. I can now. Booooyaaah!!!!!

Not sure if 2010 can get any better than this....

Confession

I haven't been running.
There.
I said it.

Why?
No reason. Just no motivation.
Shannon - I have no clue how you can run on the treadmill. You are my hero. You cannot keep me on that thing past one mile. But I have a new goal, along with my previous goal of running 3 miles in 30 minutes..... Accomplish 3 miles on a treadmill. I refuse to run out in the cold, so I have to do this. I have to. (And yes, I have an ipod, and there's a tv attached to my machine...and I still can't stay on there.)

Push Up Challenge update: Last Tuesday was 55 push-ups, I took 2 breaks, but did it. And then I missed Thursday....which I'm assuming was 60 in a row. I'm in big trouble today, because that means an added 10 since I did them last....and I didn't do any over the weekend.

Crazy couple of weeks.
Braces - OFF! Waahoo!!!!!

And no, I am not constantly rubbing my teeth w/my tongue. That has been my #1 question. It's crazy because I'm not. It was probably the longest (almost) 4 years of my life...but it's like, I still have them on or something. I don't know, it's hard to explain. The hardest habit would be that I don't have to cover my mouth when I laugh, and to allow myself to smile. I used to hold back smiles. Can you believe it? The biggest surprise was that I wasn't an emotional wreck. I had tissues in my pocket just in case I had a break down. But I didn't. I did however, feel like a grown up. So strange.

Last week I was able to get all my post braces stuff done. He shaved down my fangs, and fixed my chipped tooth - all in a matter of 5 minutes. How awesome is that?! Neil and I had set money aside for whatever I wanted to get done, just knowing it wasn't going to be cheap. But guess what?! It was! $170. That's it. Neil, of course, was BEAMING after he heard the news. I also didn't plan on him doing the procedure right away. But since there was extra time, which is very rare for this extremely busy dentist, he said "let's do it right now! You ready?" Was I ready? What kind of silly question was that?

Here I am....

Now, with this extra $$ in savings - we have a few options...
a) Anniversary vacation somewhere we haven't been
b) New couch, w/some decor
c) Trip out to CA (this would entail an extra few days on a trip that will soon be in works...we heard some great news over the weekend. Our dear friend Carol is engaged!)

**Side note: Just last week, I completed my 3 miles - without a break. (Yay!) But, it still took me about 37 minutes to do. I'm sloooooow...
AND - this week, doing 50 push-ups in a row...moving forward w/this 100 push up challenge. I can't do them on my toes after 30, so I bring my knees down. I was supposed to work on this challenge over the weekend, to prepare myself for the 50 this week - but I didn't. I'm in trouble.