Goodbye Marquette.

Mike and I drove up to my Marquette apartment yesterday to pick up my mattress (I refused to get rid of it since I’ll need one in a few months anyways…long story).  I also had some last minute odds and ends to take care of.  Paid bills, shut off my power, one last quick cleaning,take out Thai House dinner eaten on a cardboard box acting as a dinner table, and then in the morning we loaded the van and away we went.  It is hard to believe I moved to Marquette just 10 short months ago.  This is, by far, my favorite place I have ever lived and I can see myself moving back here.  Too bad there is no job for me on this peninsula at this time :( 

My year as a yooper was cut short, but life does go on.  Today was the last time I drove over the Mackinaw Bridge, not knowing when I’ll return next.  I hope surviving one of the worst winters in the recent history (10+ years if I remember correctly) has allowed me to be an official adopted Yooper!  

I am a North Farmington High School Raider, Michigan State Spartan, University of Wisconsin Badger, and an adopted Michigan Yooper!  Where will I end up next?!

Cheers to memories and stories I will cherish forever. 

Goodbye Marquette, Michigan (and Lake Superior, and awesome winters and random hikes and awesome running routes…).

…to quote Albert Soady “and if your looking for heaven, its north of the bridge.”

This is the official last post for this blog.  For future bloggings from me, check out www.thefieldjobs.com where I am a part of the blog team!

Moving Out

My mom drove up yesterday with the van to assist in my moving out.  Please don’t ask me why I thought it would be a great idea to move out the weekend of graduation and move-out weekend for NMU.  Oh well.  I went to Amy’s graduation yesterday morning and sat with her parents.  I’m so proud of her!  Graduating with your Master’s degree is a huge accomplishment!  The picture above is of her and I right after graduation. We had lunch at the Thai House with her parents and boyfriend, Ben, before I went to go meet my mom at my apartment. 

 

We packed the van, cleaned the place from top to bottom (gave Mariah and Colby some of the goodies in my refrigerator), and recruited some frat boys from down the street to adopt my love seat (aka mini couch).  They came down, moved it down the stairs, and carried it down the street to their frat house about 3 blocks away.  I wish I would have taken a picture!!!  Up early and away we went this morning driving a mini van and a focus load to store in my parents garage until the next job/adventures surfaces.  The only thing left in my apartment right now is my mattress and a few cleaning supplies.  One more trip left and then I’m officially closing the door on the Marquette, MI chapter of my life.  Picture below is of her and I at our last dinner at Stuckos!  

Last Week in Marquette

After taking 2 weeks out of Marquette after my last day of work, I returned this week to tie up loose ends.  The most important loose end, why, going out on the town with my girls one last time!  Arriving back in town yesterday evening, Courtney, Amy (pictured above), and myself accompanied my many others hit up the local spots that we have grown accustomed one last time together.  Remies, Doghouse, and Latitude just to name a few...talk about going out in style!  The rest of the week was full of packing and cleaning for me (with the occasional game of bocce ball!).  I knew I would only be in Marquette for only a year, but being cut 3 months short...my poster-sized to-do list isn't complete!  Oh well, this is out of my hands.

USTA National Campus Championship

My older bro (picture above with him in the front of my home for 3 days: tent, treatment table, fire extinguisher, and sign…what more does a girl need?!) is the National Campus Coordinator for the United States Tennis Association.  After hearing I was being laid off, he kinda shrugged it off and told me that I would land on my feet (cause that is what we Streets do :) ), and then he asked if I wanted to fly to Arizona for a few days.  The USTA National Camus Championship he was hosting in Surprise, Arizona just had their ATC back out and they were searching for one. Seeing how my schedule has opened up, I accepted and had an amazing time!  3 days (Thursday thru Saturday) of working from 7am to 11pm and it was spectacular!

I could not have asked for a more perfect experience.  It was exactly what I needed after the last month of working in Marquette!  It reminded me of why I went into athletic training and why I absolutely love what I do! 

Before heading to the airport on Sunday morning, Justin, his boss Glenn, and myself headed to the Ben AveryShooting Range.  This was my first time at a shooting range shooting Trapp and it was a lot of fun!!!  Needless to say non of us thought about how we were shooting guns for 4 hours before we all headed to the airport…whoops!  But nothing came of it…whew!  Before heading to the airport after a morning of shotguns, we grabbed lunch at the In and Out Burger.  This was my first, but will not be my last In and Out Burger experience..mmm :)

1st Day of Unemployment - Tigers game

Day One Unemployment:  My mom and I went to the Tiger’s game (she didn’t have work for some reason).  This morning she was at the Dollar Store looking for a few random things for work when she saw a tiger-printed rubber cowgirl hat that she bought for me.  Of course I wore it the entire game (with winter hat in my coat pocket), and froze my ears off…what else would a Die Heart Fan do :)   Go Tigers!!!!!

Officially Unemployed

This past week was very very interesting.  Granted, I don't wish the experience of being laid off and having to pick up and desert the athletes you had been working with for practically a year and having to pack up an entire Athletic Training Room/Clinic, but it was just that...an experience.  I learned an extraordinary amount about people this past week and it was quite interesting.  

I did my best to take it in stride, and keep smiling regardless because this situation was 100% out of my control.  Friday night Amy, Colby, and I (along with Amy’s parents, Mariah, Ben, and Courtney) went out for one last night on the town with Marquette.  One last Friday Night Fish Fry, one last drink at the North Star Lounge overlooking Lake Superior…

 

Going to be Unemployed?!

Found out last week that I am going to be out of work come April 10th.  This week I posted my desk chair and desk on Craigslist and actually got a bit!  Those items are sold...two less things to move!  Hoping to get rid of my boxspring as well.   Apartment is pretty packed up…talk about a turn of events!

Next week will be nothing but packing up the clinic and packing up the apartment...

What a Week...

Wednesday.  Drove with my Greco guys to Freedom, WI to host a duel wrestling match against Japan.  Next three weeks will be very interesting. 

Dani dragged me out to dinner on Thursday night which I just threw on an oversized sweatshirt and jeans…and ended up going to sing karaoke with a group of Correction Officers who just passed their certifying exams.  Needless it was a night I needed. 

Bachelorette Weekend

This weekend I drove down to Chicago where Dana and I threw my bestest friend (and Dana’s sister), Regan, a bachelorette party.  All but one bridesmaid was able to make it for the weekend (NYC is a far drive just for a weekend), we missed her greatly but still had a great time!

Everyone arrived throughout the evening on Friday night where we stayed at the Congress Plaza hotel on Michigan Ave.  Saturday was a busy, busy day beginning with a group Pilates class.  Regan, being the only expert at Pilates, sure made it look easy!  We all had both fun and a workout.  Working up an appetite, we stopped at a little soup shop for lunch before heading to get our nails done.  On our way to the nail salon, we enjoyed the St. Patty’s Day festivities in downtown Chicago, green river, parade and all!  Reservations at 3:30pm at the nail salon where we were greeted with a bottle of wine which we cracked open while we waited for the bachelorette party before to finish.  With wine in hand, we all got pedicures and manicures together! 

After nails, we headed back to the hotel to rest up, freshen up, watch some of the parade from our hotel window and then out on the town for dinner we went!  After powdering our nose and throwing on some heals we hailed a cab to head off for dinner!  Reservations awaited us at .  Pretty drinks, a delicious dinner, and a fun time, we were all beat and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Quick breakfast at Jamba Juice and off to the road in different directions to wherever home may be.  A busy, but fun and exciting weekend in Chicago!!!

 

Chad and I before he departs. We tried numerous times to take a picture where we both had our eyes open or not squinting. This one is the best shot, two squinters = eyes open...right?!

This past week was Spring Break for NMU and thus, we (Colby, Amy, and I) split shifts: morning, afternoon, or off. This gave me more time to myself than I knew what to do with. Had I know about the schedule for this week prior to mike arriving, I would have delayed his visit. Oh well…

Monday I finished studying for the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) course and sat for the exam on Monday night…and PASSED!!!! YAY! Now I am officially Jenna Street, MS, ATC, NASM-PES! So now that I have that completed, I decided to put knowledge into practice and worked on creating my own training program while at the same time organizing the 800pgs of information onto just a few quick reference pages.

Saturday night my younger brother, Chad, made his way over to Marquette. He is currently on Spring Break and came up to the U.P. with a buddy of his from the area. I was a great hostess and welcomed him to the U.P. with some mac and cheese for dinner (it was 9:30pm) and watched Escanaba in Da Moonlight. Sunday after letting him sleep in we went to the Pasta Shop for breakfast…er…lunch and then toured Marquette that included the following: the Superior Dome, my office, the wrestling room, the boxing ring, walking around the U.P. Builders Show, and then drove through Presque Isle, NMU’s campus, Downtown Marquette, and Lakeshore Drive. We planned on getting some desert during the mid-afternoon, but Gopher’s, Babycakes, Coco’s, Cookie Cutter, Jilberts, and the Up Front were closed!!! No desert, but had dinner at Aurbey’s Pizza (and sent the left overs with him to Deer Camp). After dinner he packed up and headed back to Deer Camp (that doesn’t have an address, but I have coordinates from the GPS…). Tomorrow they are planning on snowmobiling to Pictured Rocks National Forest. I am jealous; they are going to have a blast.

It was wonderful being able to spend some quality time with the little bro and show him around what has become my neck of the woods!!! Yay for 2 weekends of visitors…and next weekend is Regan’s Bachelorette Weekend in Chicago!!!!!!!

Mike's Visits!!!

YAY! I love visitors, especially this one! Mike came up on Monday evening and stayed until Sunday!!! Unfortunately, I had to work all week, but I could get used to coming home and having a freshly prepared lunch ready and waiting!

I realized how much of a creature of habit I am, especially when I’m in the groove of the work week. Oh well. Saturday went out to the Yooper Tourist Trap (picture) and then ate lunch at the Jasper Ridge Brewery, both which I had yet to explore. The Tourist Trap was HILARIOUS! So many little trinkets and things “yooperish”…it was splendid! Then across the street to lunch at Jasper Ridge where we got the beer sample (4oz of the beers they brew on site). Within the first 30 seconds of the waitress setting down the sampler I managed to spill 2 of them directly onto my lap. She was nice, brought me a ton of napkins and refill the beers. They were all pretty tasty. The food was good: I got a hamburger and Mike got the Man Burger (burger with mashed potatoes and gravy). Yes, it does sound a bit unappetizing, but it was actually good!

For dinner on Saturday night Amy joined us at the Up Front (where we got a big booth!) and then Colby and Mariah joined for a beverage. After dinner Mike and I went to the top of the Landmark Inn, a location I have been told by many I had to go with Mike, and had a cocktail. It is on the 6th floor, overlooking the harbor and had it not been snowing, we would have been able to see further. But, the view was wonderful, even with the big snowflakes falling. A romantic location if I do say so myself.

He left late Sunday morning to head back downstate. It was wonderful being able to spend the entire week with him!!!

UP 200 Dog Sled Race

Amy’s friends from Pennsylvania came up this weekend for the UP 200 Dog Sled Race!!! It is a qualifying race for the Iditarod.

Friday after I was out of work I busted home, quickly changed, and ran (yes, ran, literally) to the Landmark where I joined Amy and her home gang for dinner in the VIP area! I had quite the appetite after rushing over…it is not easy running in boots with fur in the snow! Then we walked downtown and watched some of the teams run by and then we went down to the start to see a few depart the gates! Run doggies run!!! Video above is from the start. Please be kind to the camerawoman (me), I took it with my digital camera and was being elbowed by cheering people I weaseled in-between to get in the front. It was an extremely unique experience watching dog sled races. Awesome.

Saturday I went skiing with Dany and then we headed to the Up Front to listen to the reggae band and hang with the peeps from Penn. before calling it a night.

Sunday I set my alarm because I was told the dog sled teams should return between 10 and 11am. I get there around 10.30 after walking from my house over a mile without sidewalks in the -15 degrees to find out they don’t expect anyone before noon. Then it was 2.30pm. long story short Mariah and I met up and made it to the finish line before the first team. We waited about an hour because they hit white-out conditions a town away and were slowed way down. After finishing, it was refreshing to hear how every single rider stated that the priority was to finish with healthy dogs and gave the dogs all the credit and took care of them like they were their kids. Picture below is me at the finish line all bundled up!

Michigan High School Golf Coaches Hall of Fame = My DAD!

(Picture to come shortly)

I took Friday off of work so I could drive down and attend a banquet where my dad was being honored. I drove down to Mike’s on Thursday night, met my mom at the outlet mall where we ditched a car and drove to Grand Rapids together. Just prior to going down to the banquet, my younger brother decided it would be a perfect time to tell our parents he broke his thumb skiing (of course I knew earlier).

Down to the main floor of the hotel was where the banquet was held for the Michigan High School Golf Coaches Hall of Famers. Yes, my pops was inducted into the Michigan High School Golf Coaches Hall of Fame!!! It was wonderful being able to make it down and support him for all he has accomplished in the world of high school golf!!! I drove back to Owosso to spend the rest of the weekend with Mike.
It was wonderful because we had the house to ourselves all weekend. Unfortunately, I got a minor case of food poisoning from breakfast and wasn’t feeling to hot for all of Saturday. Mike made an amazing dinner Saturday night (tenderloin with portabella mushrooms…mmmmmm). I took leftovers home and ate for dinner on Sunday in Marquette because my stomach was in no shape for it on Saturday night which was not fun. But we got to spend time together which is what matters most!

Drive back in Sunday was uneventful…whew!

Crooks Sledding Hill

Disclaimer: I did the same thing last weekend and this weekend so I decided to merge the enteries into one.

When I first moved up here, one of the first items I was told I had to put on my Marquette/UP Things To Do poster was to go sledding down the ice luge at Crooks Hill. This is a family run activity that a father created for his sons 15+ years ago to keep his young boys busy in the winter. Now, the popularity of it I know throughout the UP, and spreads by word of mouth. When someone mentioned to them that they should run an article, they all opposed. A local TV station once ran a story on it and the wait was well over an hour to take one ride, and the line was over 600 cars long down the street. Colby, Mariah and I went last weekend and this weekend Amy joined us. This weekend we were the last ones to leave and got to hang out with the locals for a bit. Have you seen Escanaba in da Moonlight? That is what it was…honest!!! Drunk men (young and old) hanging around a 25-square-foot bonfire with couches on 3 sides, and stories flying around. It was surreal. The picture above is me going down the hill this weekend. Last weekend we were unable to time the flash of the picture with my lightning speed down the hill!

Noquemanon Ski Marathon

skiers crossing the finsih line!

This weekend was the Noquemanon Cross Country Ski Marathon. Due to everyone setting up for this event, I had to park in the back of the dome. Little did I know that the empty parking lot when I went to work early in the morning would be turned into the finish line when I came out in the afternoon! Unable to pass up this opportunity that landed in my lap, I hustled to my car to get my camera (because after the Clydesdale incident, I do not leave home without it!) and captured some of the finishes! My favorite part was seeing the snotcicles that were over an inch long hanging off of beards!!! I was disaapointed in the lack of a crowd at the finish line for these amazing, crazy, but amazing athletes. Who in their right mind runs a marathon? Let along on a pair of skis in the SNOW?! Oh snowbirds are a unique breed!

WINTER

This weekend we had some lake effect snow make an appearance, dropping 8” during the day, 8” at night, and 8” more are expected tomorrow. Due to the extremely cold temperatures (-30 and lower), the snow is extremely light and powdery! I took advantage of the new snowfall to hit up Presque Isle and take some pictures of the clean, untouched snow! Being careful not to fall, I wandered out onto the breakwall until I noticed I was walking on pure ice and was alone. Slipping and falling into an icy Lake Superior was not on my list of things to do today. Right before I was ready to leave a few others came out with their cameras as well.

Pictures of this fun adventure can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Street.Jenna/MQTJanuaryWinter?feat=directlink

Doghouse and Learning to Snowboard?!

After a long week at work, Amy and I decided it was time to unwind and have some fun!

Saturday night: The Doghouse. A group of friends (Dani, Shane, Amy, Justin, me, and some new ones made that night), a deck of cards, and a table. These are the ingredients of a absolutely wonderful night. Whenever cards come out, others always want to join in…and who are we to stop them? A game of Kings that started out with 4 people ended up having 8 at one point! (me, Amy, Justin in picture above)

After a few rounds of Kings, we decided to call it a night. Justin, Amy, and I walked home, but first thought it would be appropriate to stop and make some snow-angels!

Sunday: I decided to take everyone’s advice and try to learn to snowboard the right way. I rented a board and signed up for a private lesson. I started out with my left foot forward and halfway through the lesson I did something and ended up going down the bunny hill with my right foot forward and that felt soo much better. So the second half of the lesson I was riding “goofy” which felt much more natural. After the lesson I went back on the bunny hill to show off my new mad skills to Amy and I bit it, I bit it HARD. And then I bit it HARD, again. And then I was done. Snowboard was put away and I pulled my skis out of the car.

The first time I bit it, I landed straight on my butt and it knocked the wind out of me. The second time I fell I landed on the exact same spot of my butt. Oh my golly is my bum in pain right now!!!

Overall it was an extremely fun, stress-relieving weekend!

Skiing

Amy and I met Colby at Marquette Mountain this afternoon to hit the slopes for awhile. They snowboard, I ski…on antiques. I have officially committed myself to purchasing a new pair of skis this winter! I plan on demo-ing some this weekend and hopefully making the purchase sooner than later! Nothing can replace the smooth feel of gliding with speed over pure white snow! I love skiing, but that chair lift ride could be safer…and the people in front don’t need to bounce so much! The picture above was taken from the chairlift. After skiing, we had pulled pork for dinner. I cooked it for 12ish hours in my crock pot...it was DELISH! I officially declare crock pot season OPEN!!!

Xmas and New Years with My Man!

What a week full of family, food, sleep, games, and presents! Christmas #1 in Ohio with my mom’s side of the family. 22 people, 3 labs, 1 house, endless chatter! Ice storm hit that night and thus we ended up having my grandparents stay overnight so they didn’t drive in the ice. We later found out the interstate was closed. That night was a house-wide slumber party: 12 people, 3 dogs, and guitar hero.

Christmas #2 on Christmas day with the family and the crooked tree! New ski gear from the parents and brothers…helmet, goggles, jacket…I’m ready to go!!! Wonderful dinner prepared by my father; what a cozy day!

Christmas #3 on New Years Eve with Mike. Prior to driving to Mike’s, my mom, dad, Chad and I went to the University of Michigan verses University of Wisconsin basketball at UofM. I called Henry who hooked me up big time with tickets…front row right behind the bench! Picture above is me and my mom in our seats. And yes, I have two red "W" on my cheeks! It was awesome.

After the game, I headed straight up to Mikes. We went out to dinner with the usual group, then split up. Everyone else headed to the New Years Eve party and Mike and I headed back to his place to do our Christmas. He made me a fireplace, hung stockings by the fire with care, and went jewelry shopping. Needless to say he had me at the fireplace, but pulling a little gold bag with a little box inside from behind the tree was completely unexpected!!! I placed the present in my ears and we headed out the party to ring in the New Year. Finally, I got to spend New Years with Mike!!! The first in 3 years!!! Me, Mike, Sadie in front of the fireplace!!!

Today I drove back up to Marquette in a HUGE lake-effect snow storm. My little red Ford Focus with its new tires did well…we (the car and I) arrived to my apartment in one piece.