Maximus Keen, Superstar

Since this is the closest I’ll get to being a proud parent for several more years, I’m going to take this opportunity to tell you about my very own superstar!

Maximus Keen is my 2-year old Golden Retriever who lives with my parents. He’s basically theirs now, but I still like to note that I am his official owner. Since he has lived up there, my mom has gotten very into agility training with him and it is definitely paying off!

For his first ever competitiona few weeks ago, mom and Max tried their hand at Splashdog. While not actually an agility trial, it was a great opportunity to let Max do what he does best – jump after balls into the pool. Needless to say, this dog is a natural.

See, Mom and Dad love him. I refuse to comment on whether or not its more than me… Also, check out the team colors of the dog after them – classic.

Here’s the jump!

Lastly, the classic shake-off.  I’m pretty sure this is the only dog event with a Splash Zone.

More to come of his agility exploits very soon!

Camp Pendleton

I write this post as a survivor!  My roommate Kellie, former co-worker Kerry and I recently conquered the Camp Pendleton mud run and it was quite the experience!  This was my third mud run so far and I definitely feel the best about my performance this time around.  Not as many crazy obstacles requiring more than my T-rex arms can handle (i.e. Volkslauf) and unlike my last failed attempt, the weather was perfect! My recent “love” for hill workouts really paid off. I’m already (kind of) looking forward to next year.

Before:

Note my very nervous face…

Unfortunately, this run didn’t have a posse of photographers focused solely on us, but you can check out some real gems of me mid-race here:

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=53896&PWD=&BIB=5530

After the mud:

And finally, after the “showers”

Be sure to catch us next year, we’ll be sure to come in costume!

The long and lonely road

Over the last couple years, I have been getting progressively more into running.  Now this is a big deal considering up until halfway through college, the farthest I had ever run without a walk-break was a lap around a track – and that was a major accomplishment.  I had always wanted to be a “jogger,” I liked the idea of just throwing on some shoes and running down the road.

Today I reached a new level in my running career – 6.6 miles! The run was an hour and 20 minutes without stopping and still seems unreal to me.  I think my ability to let my runs get progressively longer has been coming from the crazy peace I feel when I’m out there, I crave it and want it to stick around for as long as possible.  I connect with God in new ways, whether through the worship songs that come through my earbuds every now and then, seeing beautiful sights along the way, or just pushing my flesh to new levels beyond what I think is possible.

So far my favorite place to run on Saturday mornings is the orange groves area in Riverside above Victoria. It looks nothing like the Riverside I’m used to and there are lots of long, tree-lined roads to enjoy. Here is today’s route:

Christmas is Coming!

Driving home with Kellie last night I heard the most beautiful thing, Christmas carols on the radio!  Normally I’d be totally annoyed by that but this year I’m pumped! I think its because Cristine reminded me that because Thanksgiving is so late this year, the normal time allotted for the official Holiday Season is shorter than usual.  We can’t have that!

 

I have yet to even think about decorating or, goodness gracious, Christmas shopping, but I’m just excited for the feeling of the holidays and can’t wait for the festivities to begin!

Not Quite Pillow Fights and Pajamas…

I was quite fortunate to get to spend Friday night at home with 20-30 of some of my favorite girls. SCU had a Girls Night In and we spent the evening sharing stories, baking and eating cupcakes, and playing games.  I learned all sorts of new things about friends old and new – such as the fact my own roommate has a thing for being upside down.  No joke! We love her anyway

One of my favorite moments of the night though was after most of the girls had gone home and we started up a game of catchphrase that moved to the trampoline out back. Yes, 4 college graduates live in a house with a trampoline. It is awesome. And 50% of the reason why I’m so sore today. (The other 50% has to do with a heated Wii Boxing match). On the way out back the girls discovered that the sprinklers had run, and rather than grab shoes they made a “bridge.” I am so proud.

Bound and Determined

Hello there blog world! I’m back in the game and have every intention of doing this more often.  Right now priority #1 is finishing Season 2 of Friday Night Lights. Vo and I have powered through the entire season in the last 3 days and we’re down to the last 2 episodes. Woot!

 

 

First though, a quick recap of what I’ve been up to… (not quite in this order)

Finally got my butt to Hawaii!

 

 

Went to the fair

 

Watched the teachers lesson plan some more…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And spent some time with my Riverside family…

 

Stay tuned friends!

Why hello there…

Forgive me my nearly four month absence and whatever may come of my attempt to hop back on the horse.

I’ll spare you the 40-page long description of everything I’ve done in the last month and a laundry list of excuses for why I opened this a thousand times and never wrote. Basically, I’m just not a blogger yet. But oh how I long to be!

I just have to say I had a lovely day at the Angels I mean Braves game today, such perfect timing for Father’s Day! I must say, my mom and I are pretty awesome for coordinating a local series for my Dad’s favorite baseball team on Father’s Day weekend. We would hire out, but that just wouldn’t be fair.

I had a lovely weekend of celebrating the graduations of some pretty awesome friends of mine too. Which immediately brought to mind the fact that its been an entire year since I put on my cap and gown and grabbed that lovely participation certificate. I’m pretty sure my diploma is in the exact same place it was this time last year too, safely stored at the Registrar’s office. I prefer to let them marvel over it, if I did it would just be vain…

Now that I think about it, time passes so strangely once you aren’t on the school calendar anymore. Its summer break now, but I’m still going to work tomorrow. Its in the 90s most days now, but I still wear sweaters to work. Time just sort of happens now, but the circumstances don’t really change. Now I’m not necessarily complaining about this, I’m just still finding the transition out of school life a strange one to get used to.

Well, as much as I’d love to stay and chat, I’ve got an early event to take care of in the morning. I tell you, for successful business people, sometimes I wonder about the decisions my clients make. Who has a groundbreaking at 7:30 in the morning? Trust me, when my giant building of awesome breaks ground, we’re having brunch.

The Namesake

I’m at my parents house today and started going through some old pictures. I found some pretty awesome ones from when I was a wee little thing and decided that since the blog is titled “Growing Up Keeno,” it would be more than appropriate to share them.

Looking through them gave me a lot of insight into what pictures are most likely to be appreciated 10 or 20 years down the road. I skipped right over the perfectly posed ones and couldn’t get enough of the ones that looked like the camera had just been sitting on the table.

I’ll stop talking now and let you enjoy the adorable that is Baby Keeno… Most of these pictures blow me away, not only because I keep realizing that I’m that baby in them, but that you can see the love on every person’s face so very clearly. These pictures don’t show you the deep complications that exist in ours and every family, but instead celebrate the love we all have for new life.

I’d love to see what you all out there have in the shoeboxes in your closets, its pretty humbling to see where you came from and who all has literally held you in their arms.

Enjoy, ya’ll!

Some of my favorites are ones of my dad and I. You can really see how much he is in awe of this new baby. Its not an expression I’m used to seeing on his face. I’m so thankful to realize that I’m pretty sure he still likes me just as much even though I talk back a lot more now…

Of course, Mom is pretty cool too. But may kill me for exposing too many more pictures of her from the 80s…

This picture surprised me. I had never seen it before but it blew me away at how a new baby brings so much love to the surface in a family. Also, I’m very glad I have absolutely no recollection of how short my uncles shorts were…

This picture is such a perfect description of each of my grandmothers to me. My dad’s mom is the one leaning over with the camera while my mom’s mom is holding me for the first time. I love that two such different women have been a part of my life at one point or another.

For those of you who may not know, I have a half sister. I haven’t seen or spoken to her in over 12 years for a number of reasons. Mostly now I think its because it has been so long and neither of us has updated contact information. I pray for her and would very much like a chance to see her again.

Here’s one more of some of the family in Lake Arrowhead when I was about 2. Yes, I’m related to the bearded man in the short white shorts. Don’t judge, it was the 80s… Your uncle probably owned the same outfit.

Few and Far Between

Thats what my blogs have been, and probably will be for quite some time now.

The holidays definitely threw me for a loop, and I’m surprised to say I’m glad I’m back to normal life now.  I never realized how thankful I should have been for having a real Christmas break when I was in school.  Having to really work between Christmas and New Year’s was definitely a struggle.  I had a lot of good times though, check out some pics from our New Year’s Eve party. We clean up well!

I’d say plenty of fun was had by all, and I greatly enjoyed spending all day New Years Day in my pjs… That is the way to celebrate, let me tell you.

As for the rest of life, things have gone back to normal.  I thought it would make me sad, and for a while it did, but I’m finding myself back in a new groove.

I’m working on journaling (sorry, not necessarily blogging) more in the New Year, and so far so good. I’ve told people its great for a long time, but this is the first time I’ve really stuck with it. Pastor Nathan challenged us to make some spiritual goals on Sunday and I’m working on my patience.  Its taking work and a conscious effort on my part, but I’m excited for the challenge.

Now its off to see some folks from work and then our late night Thursday meeting as usual. My week really isn’t complete without them, even though I loved getting to bed early when we were off…

Here’s hoping Friday goes quickly, and I can really soak in the three day weekend… I’m hoping for sun and perhaps a trip to the beach. California winters really are great sometimes…

So this is Christmas…

Merry Christmas Blog World!

I am home for the holiday and taking time to catch up on my reading (blog, novel and otherwise…). Also, I am attached to my computer as I have been moving all of my music from my former cassette-player-sized mp3 player to my shiny new iPod Classic. Check out the comparison:

See what I mean? Too bad there is no easy way to just pull the files from one and drop them in the other. However, considering how spoiled I am, I have absolutely no right to complain any further than that…

My Christmas has been uneventful as most holidays are at the Keen house. With 3 people and 3 dogs, there isn’t a lot of stress or to-do. Sometimes I envy the huge family gatherings, but at the same time I like that holidays are simple here and give me a chance to rest up. And watch Discovery channel in HD. Technology is a beautiful thing…

Finally, my blog wandering led me to find out that I was tagged by Cristine to do a little exercise where I post 10 random facts about myself and tag 10 more people. I’m bad at that, so here are my facts and if you feel so inclined, join me let me know…

1. I’m an only child. Technically.

2. I was an honors kid, in college.

3. I secretly (although less secretly lately) have a deep love for hip-hop…

4. I have been on a ton of dates, but never in a serious relationship.

5. Triathlons are becoming my hobby, I’m not good, but I like the idea of getting better one day…

6. I use ellipses almost more than I use periods when I type…

7. I clean when I’m stressed and eat when I’m bored.

8. My desires for the future are split between wanting to be a stay-at-home mom and a B-A businesswoman.

9. I’m passionate about a lot of issues, but never feel informed enough to argue for them.

10. I’m an overanalytical worrier. My brain amazes me with this ability all the time…

There you go. Those got pretty introspective, but that’s what I do. I’m off to shop on the internet and perhaps watch some CSI Miami with the parents.