A lot has happened since my last blog post … JULY 2016! I know, pitiful.

I posted on Instagram every so often, but just couldn’t get myself to sit down and actually type something up. Partially because I thought no one could really be that interested in my life or what I was doing to take the time to read about it. Most people are just here for the pictures. So, instead of giving a vague overview of the last two years, I’ll give a recap on the last two months. . .

I went to Anaheim, California December 7-10 to compete at USA Weightlifting’s American Open Finals. My coach at the time, Holley Mangold, couldn’t make it so she set me up with Mark Cannella. His flight ended up getting delayed so he wasn’t going to be able to make it in time for my session. Holley contacted some friends of hers and managed to get Courtney Batchelor to coach me. Snatch went good, hit 74/77kg then went for a PR attempt at 81kg and missed. At the start of clean & jerks, a lot of girls changed their opening weight which caught us off guard so we had to rush warm ups. I missed my first attempt at 94kg by getting red lighted and then made it on my second. After that, we went up to 97kg and I missed the clean. Overall, it wasn’t my best meet or what I was hoping for (and that was a PR C&J), but you live and you learn. It was a great experience and I got to see a lot of elite lifters compete in person. Now, I’m just grinding until my next meet, which will probably be the University Nationals which will be in Ogden, Utah mid April.

As soon as I got back from California, I had a huge interview the next day with L Brands (Victoria’s Secret, PINK, Bath & Body Works, La Senza, Henri Bendel) for a position as an assistant merchant on the international team. I was SO NERVOUS and was actually crying the day before (yes this means BEFORE THE MEET) because I didn’t feel prepared. I was graduating that weekend and had been applying to jobs for about two months and heard nothing positive back. So the fact that I had at least gotten an interview felt like this would be my big break and

SPOILER ALERT….

IT WAS!!!!! I had gotten a call later that day saying they wanted to bring me on as contract for the next six months! I accepted and it was such a relief finding a job before I graduated. I’M PART OF THE STATISTICS 😆

Life went on, I graduated, did the thing (arrived late without a cap and almost missed it, but that’s irrelevant). I stopped working at LOFT a week before I was supposed to start at L Brands so that I could have some sort of break before working the rest of my life away. Now is a good time to point out I had been living in Akron and when Holley was coaching me, I would drive down to Columbus about once a week to see her. When applying for jobs, I was specifically looking for something south so that I could continue to train with Holley. I had a few options and well, neither of those ended up working out which leads us to now… commuting from Mansfield.

Holley moved to Dayton and still wanted me to continue to train with her once a week, preferably a Saturday. Say what you want but the last thing I wanted to do after a two hour commute Monday-Friday was an additional four hour (to and from) to train on a Saturday. Luckily, Holley has an unprecedented number of weightlifting connections and hooked me up with Mark Cannella- Yes, the coach who’s flight got delayed.

Holley and I at the AO Series 3

As for life in general, everything is going really good right now- besides the fact I crashed my car into the median while driving – yes I am fine, but now no one trusts me driving- life is pretty great. I was hesitant about getting a real 9-5 job, but honestly this consistency is what my life was missing before that makes it so relaxing now. I love the job that I have and the team that I work with. There’s opportunity to travel the world to open stores or research for new markets. Three people on my team are in China stocking out a store as we speak. With this new consistency, I figured I’d pick up on some things that I’ve been wanting to get back into.

So the journey continues and I’ll leave this with my list of New Year resolutions:

• put more of a focus on my blog
• hit a total of 190+ kg 
• save money (see the next one)
• buy a house by the end of the year

If the last one doesn’t happen I won’t be super disappointed and if I keep up with the first, you’ll know how the rest go! 😉

XO,

nicole

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