Penn State

Tailgating with my Jawbone

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

When I got my Jawbone back in August, I was really excited to see how many steps I could get while at a Penn State home game. Well the battery life of my UP got in the way. So the first time I had an opportunity to wear my UP for a game was last weekend.

I knew I walked a lot during Penn State weekends – particularly on game day.  A bulk to the walking is to and from the game.  If I had only parked a little further away – I probably would’ve hit 16,000 steps.  🙂

photo (19)

This helps explain why during the Fall – I still eat and drink what I want while I tailgate and really don’t gain any weight – lots of activity! 🙂

Winning is AWESOME

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Some of you may or may not know – I’m a huge college football fan. I have season tickets to Penn State and I go to most home games. However, I was not looking forward to the drive on Friday night after work. Work has been super busy and I was stressing out.  Even as I was getting into the car Friday night – I still wasn’t in a Penn State football mood.  And as I was making the drive Friday night – it didn’t get much better – my 4 hour drive took over 5 hours (with some torrental rain that added to some stress).

So in case you missed it – unranked Penn State (coming off an embarrassing loss to Indiana the week before-which I witnessed first hand) defeated #18 MI in front of almost 108K screaming fans in a ‘WhiteOut’ in 4 OTs. I’m a proud 10+ year North End Zone Season Ticket holder – and pleased to say both OT wins I’ve seen in Beaver Stadium have been in the North End Zone. So in case you missed the game – here is a view of the winning touchdown (and Bill Belton is from NJ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9W6Rr-bx3U

As the announcer stated – a game that will not be forgotten – we all stayed in the stadium after the Alma Mater savoring the victory. The drive home on Sunday was much better – I’m so glad I made the trip – well worth it to see this team come out on top!  And I will never get sick of watching this video either!!

PS:  My voice is still recovering!

Never a Prouder Moment…

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Never a prouder moment to be a Penn Stater than on THON weekend.  This year THON (the largest student run philanthropy in the world) raised $12,374,034.46 for the Four Diamonds Fund in a hope to find a cure for pediatric cancer!!  Since 1977, THON has donated over $100M to the Four Diamonds Fund (with this year’s fundraising).  To learn more about THON or to donate to THON14 go to http://www.thon.org!

Inspire Tomorrow's Miracles

Inspire Tomorrow’s Miracles

THON has grown throughout the years.  When I was at Penn State it was held in the White Building (the same place where I took my aerobics gym class), then it moved to Rec Hall (where the Volleyball teams plan now) and then moved to it’s current location – The Bryce Jordan Center.  There were times this weekend where the wait to get into the BJC was over 3 hours long and this morning due to capacity issues they stopped allowing people to enter – pretty amazing!

I followed posts throughout the weekend, watched the live stream online and then spent the last two hours watching THON today – I caught Family Hour – which is where the families who benefit from the Four Diamonds Fund share their stories – about their kids who are in remission and the ones who are now angels.  So very moving – not a dry eye in the BJC nor at my house!

For the Kids! (FTK)

Where you can find me in the Fall

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I write this post with a heavy heart (and tears shed today).  On any given Saturday in the Fall you will find me at a Penn State football game in Beaver Stadium – ‘The House that Joe Built’ or avidly watching on TV at a Football Watching party.

I’ve been a fan of college football for as long as I can remember.  I remember hearing on the radio – ‘The Bear is dead’ – 1981 referring to Paul, the Bear, Bryant, former Alabama head football coach (I was 12).  I remember watching Penn State win the National Championship game in 1982 – and I knew at that point I would go to Penn State!

I started at Penn State in the fall of 1987.  It was the best 4 years of my life.  I made lifelong friends and in many aspects, became the woman who I am today because of my Penn State (and of course my parents had a big impact on who I am too) experience.  Of course, I haven’t come to realize this until recently (I’m sure I knew deep down before this – lots of reflection of late).

Joe Paterno had a greater love of Penn State than any of us.  He taught us that family and school were more important than football.  He showed us how important it was to give back to Penn State and your community. 

I had the opportunity to hear Joe speak at the Quarterback Club before the 2010 Michigan State game.  It is something I will never forget.  He was full of life, joking and typical Joe – when someone asked him about an article written about him in Sports Illustrated – he was very humble (it was never about him).  I received the Captains’ Letters to Joe for Christmas.  I read it and there was a common theme – he had a positive impact on each and everyone of their lives – no matter the graduation year.

Joe Paterno was by no means perfect, but then again none of us are. It is my hope that Joseph V. Paterno will be remembered for all of the great things he has done and taught us since his arrival at Penn State.  I know I’m a better person for ‘knowing’ him.

“Believe deep down in your heart that you’re destined to do great things.”- Joe Paterno

Joe – you made a difference – Angelo is proud!

And lastly, my thoughts and prayers are with Sue and the entire Paterno family as they go through this very difficult time.

Toys for Tots & Silent Auction

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Looking for something fun to do this Thursday, December 1st and an opportunity to give back to the community and get a little shopping in while you are at it?  Join the Central NJ Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association for our 4th Annual Toys for Tots Event and Silent Auction at PURE Princeton (formerly BT Bistro) (Route 1 South, Princeton, NJ) from 6:30 – 9:00 pm.

Bring an unwrapped toy or two to make the holiday a little brighter for a child in our area.  If you don’t have a chance to pick-up a gift, drop by the event and we will have a donation can (the chapter will purchase additional gifts).

As an added bonus this year, we are holding a silent auction to benefit our Central NJ Chapter Scholarship fund.  All procceeds of the Silent Auction stay locally and assist an incoming freshman during the fall semester.  Last year we provided a $1,500 scholarship to help defer costs.  Pictures are posted with the Silent Auction items.  We have a week’s vacation in Williamsburg, VA, Golf Foursome at NJ National in 2012, Body Project Fitness Bootcamp, 2 Private Sessions of Yoga, Manicure / Pedicure, Gift Baskets, PSU and PSU Alumni Association items.  Check the following album on Facebook for more details:  http://tiny.cc/kb6cf

Hope to see you on Thursday!

 

 

Some of my FAVS

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I thought I’d share some of my favorite blogs / internet sites that I visit on a regular and not so regular basis.  They are in no particular order.  Check them out (I tried to do the fancy links…but you get the webpage and if you roll-over you get the name I provided…something for me to work on).

Fitness:

http://bodyprojectfitness.com/ – This is where it all started for me!  It is a muscle – mind connection thing for me…and has changed how I think about food and working out (and many other things).  A site related to this is an internal site (Facebook for bootcampers…I utilize it a lot…a great forum for all of us during our transformation).  Thank you Lindsay and BP Fit Pros!  And if you live in the West Windsor, Robbinsville or Bordentown areas of NJ…check out bootcamp…it will change your life! 🙂

http://kbellqueen.blogspot.com/ – I love this blog as I fell in love with kettlebells the first time I went back to Body Project bootcamp. I even bought the DVDs…take a look at Lauren’s abs. She has some great tips and I enjoy checking it out once in a while.

http://www.findyourwarrior.com/index.html  A plug for a very dear friend of mine who has transformed herself with Yoga.  Her HOT YOGA class is fantastic!!  Schedule included on the blog.

Food = Fuel:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/about/  Put an ingredient = get some suggestions

http://www.elanaspantry.com/:  Use this when I was on the Clean Program – used some of the soup recipes.  I do want to try the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe around Christmas time to see if anyone notices a difference…shhhh…don’t tell anyone.

http://my.cleanprogram.com/  The site I used daily to support my detox.  I do need to get back to reading.  They have some great recipes out there (the Hummus Chicken recipe came from this site)

http://clarksvillechefexpress.com/index.php  I order my food from this site every week.  Love, Love, Love the food.   It changes every week.  Some of my favs:  Spicy Turkey Meatloaf (and I’m not a meatloaf lover), Tilapia Tacos, Salmon Ceasar Salad, Chicken Salad to name a few.  I order side salads and extra veggies to add to the salads.  If you are in Central NJ, check out the Jersey Girl Cafe on Route 33 in Hamilton – signature sandwich:  Chicken Salad and the Cranberry Shortbread Cookie.

For Fun:

http://thriftygoodness.blogspot.com/  Rebecca is the first of my friend’s to blog.  She is so creative…and I’m not at all…I love looking at what she creates, her adventures in thrifting or read about her swaps.

www.gopsusports.com:  Everything PSU sports…do I need to say more?

http://www.pennstatecnj.org/:  Everything PSU in Central NJ (shameless plug for our Central NJ Chapter of the Alumni Association)…WE ARE…

www.pennlive.com:  To stay up-to-date with happenings in my hometown

http://gothamgirl.weebly.com/1/category/purses/1.html:  A friend posted this one…one of these days I’ll post what is in my purse…right now it might scare you all away.

http://lindsaylately.weebly.com/  The friend who turned me onto Gotham Girl.  I like her + / – blogs (which she got from another blogger)

http://crazysexylife.com/about/  This is a little bit of this and that