Happy Thursday, Y'all

Oh hey there. Long time no talk! At least it seems like it haha. With the seasons end rapidly approaching, I haven't felt very motivated to blog. I do have some fun offseason post ideas rolling though, so stay tuned ;)

Another gorgeous FL sunset

Not much new to report here. Cy has continued to throw well, our host family continues to be awesome, Florida continues to be hot, humid, and lizard-filled. Cy and I did start classes last week though! I am taking my last 3 classes required to graduate in December.... whaaaat! After an extra (almost) year of taking just a couple classes at a time in order to stretch my senior year as long as possible... the end is finally in front of me. Cy is taking 17 hours this semester, and will do the same next fall to graduate in December 2016. S/O to DBU for having such flexible online programs!

Catherine and I had a fun little change of pace on Tuesday night, during game 2 of (yet another) doubleheader, the radio broadcast guys had us come join them on air for an inning! We had fun sharing a little bit of what baseball wife life has looked like for us this season. Unfortunately, I can't find an archive anywhere. But my mom was listening so that counts ;) **Side note- check out Catherine's jewelry business on Facebook and instagram - she makes incredible pieces!**

Dorks

It's crazy how fast this season has flown by! I'm sure I will sit down and give a full recap once we get back and settled in. The final game of the season is on Sunday, and we will be heading back to good ol' Texas next Tuesday for the offseason. We are renting an apartment with two of Cy's former teammates from college, so I'll be putting my mom/housewife skills to the test for sure! It will be a lot of fun though, we are pumped to be living with our friends :)

That's all I have for now. Hope you are having a great week! Here's a little music to get you through to the weekend- I am loving this song lately.

Love as always, Han

On the Road Again

This past weekend I hit the road and went to Dunedin for the weekend series! I usually don't go on road trips, since hotels and eating out gets really expensive really fast. However, there was an extra room for this trip due to an odd number of people traveling with the team, so Cy got to stay in the empty room which means I could come along without us having to pay for an extra room! (yikes how many times do I need to say "room" in one sentence?!) Anyway, it was nice to have a couple nights away together.

The left for Dunedin on Friday morning, and I headed out later in the afternoon in order to get to the game a little after it started. On the way, I drove right past Disneyworld. That was the closest I have ever been, and not stopping was tragic. One day!! Once I arrived in Dunedin, I stopped at Five Guys for a quick dinner before the game... I was craving a burger, and ballpark food generally just not the best (unless you're at the Timber Rattlers stadium, then go upstairs to the Fox Club where everything is delicious). At the game, I fortunately ended up sitting by a couple girlfriends and fiancee's from the other team who were super friendly, it was great to meet some other baseball girls and not sit alone!

On Saturday morning, we slept in nice and late, then walked a couple doors down the road to Lenny's, a fun little local breakfast joint. The food was good and the place was hopping, worth a try if you're in Clearwater! We came back to the hotel and just relaxed, our usual pitching day routine. After Cy headed to the field, I got some off-season planning done and ate a bite before heading to the game.

Cy had an incredible start! He pitched 7 innings, and only have up 1 earned run and 3 hits. He also tied his career high 8 strikeouts. He also got to pitch to his former college teammate, Boomer Collins, which was super cool. It is really fun to watch Cy in his element, super focused and intent on giving his absolute best! Being able to experience this season with him has been really fulfilling for me.

Sunday I headed back to Viera, I decided to come home earlier in the day instead of drive late at night after the game. Side note, if you're driving in Florida, make sure you have change on hand to pay for the toll roads! Anyway, it was a fun little trip and I'm thankful I got to go along and see Cy pitch.

He comes home tomorrow, YAY, and then next week they have another 6 day trip, and then just a few commuter series' to end the season... I can't believe it has gone by so fast!!

Hope y'all are having a great week :)

xo, Han

PS- Baseball girls, check out a project I have been helping a fellow baseball wife with, newgirlinthestands.com - A resource for baseball women to help get connected in any city baseball brings you to!

The Article

The title of this post makes it sound so dramatic. But hey, I'm not dramatic at all..... ;) Anyway, the ballpark here puts out a program each month that lists all the players and coaches bios, advertisements from sponsors, and includes an article or two. Cy and I were asked to be the featured article for August! This is the first time anyone decided to ask for my input on anything like this, so I was super excited for my 5 minutes of fame.... ha! Since this is a print feature and not online, you'll have to bear with me and read it from these (admittedly low quality) pictures. Hope you enjoy getting another perspective on our journey this season!

xo, Han

The Baseball Sisterhood

So on the 16th I turned 23, woohoo! Conveniently, that same weekend 8-ish other wives, fiancees, and girlfriends came to town for a visit- there is nothing like spending time with other baseball girls! Catherine and I are the only "full timers" here, but we do have a couple others who have made more extended visits, which is really nice. But having soo many girls come to town for the same weekend?! What a treat!

The girls started arriving on Wednesday, so between ball games and beach trips everybody had a great start to the weekend, but Friday night everyone arrived so we planned for the big fun to happen then! A local restaurant (Uno's) hosted a special ladies night for us before the game- great food and drink specials, and even fun DIY wine glass painting, such a treat! Uno's also donated a portion of our total to St Baldricks, since the team was doing a charity event with them that weekend. From there,  we headed to the game where the GM had set aside a suite for us that night. We had such a great time laughing and joking and cheering on our guys together over the weekend.

I feel like a lot of people probably think that every day in the life of a baseball wife looks like our big weekend did, but it really doesn't. We share the fun moments on social media and life looks like one big fiesta. The reality is, most of us spend most of our days alone, no makeup, in shorts and a tshirt. And the girls who are long distance and have careers have a totally different lifestyle too, being apart for weeks at a time and having to hold down the fort at home all alone. Plus, there is the constant fact that an injury, trade, move up or move down could happen at any time, so it can be hard to let yourself feel settled. That's why community is so important, to have those people you can open up to and be honest and vulnerable with when things aren't so fun, and celebrate with when things are great! This really applies to everyone, not just baseball girls- make friends. Value community. Don't let yourself be isolated.

It is amazing how there is an instant bond between us when baseball girls meet, simply because we *get* it. Even with girls I've only ever "met" online via twitter or the Facebook page have become such great sources of support and friendship, it is truly amazing and such a blessing. This lifestyle is weird and can get lonely, but being in community with other people who understand is so valuable. My advice to any girls new to the baseball life- just put yourself out there and connect with other wives and girlfriends! (seriously email me let's be friends) It makes SUCH a huge difference.

xo, Han

*PS- go to the "Baseball" tab at the top of the page, I have linked some resources for baseball ladies.

Here, There, and Everywhere

So if you didn't know by now, we are in Florida! Cy got promoted to the Brewers High-A team, the Brevard County Manatees. It has been a whirlwind!

Last Monday morning (a little over a week ago) I got a twitter notification from another Brewers girlfriend saying congratulations to Cy on the move up. And subsequently saw several tweets confirming said move up.

".....Uhhh babe... Looks like we need to start packing....?!"

The night before, Cy had been told it was possible that he would get the promotion, but there is nothing certain in baseball until it *actually* happens, so we didn't really think too much of it. So needless to say, we were pretty surprised- especially seeing as how we found out the news on twitter before the team actually even talked to Cy!

We scrambled to start packing up all of our stuff, and then headed to the ballpark for Cy to get his locker cleared out and get instructions on meeting the team in Florida. While Cy did that, I said goodbye to the wonderful friends I had made with the front office staff who was there at the time. (Still so sad I wasn't able to say goodbye to everyone, boo baseball)

When Cy finished up at the field, we headed home and finished packing, said a very bittersweet goodbye to our incredible host family (such a hard goodbye), and hit the road around 6pm. We stopped for the night in Terre Haute, IN and then drove all the way to Valdosta, GA on Tuesday, and met up with the team on the road in Dunedin, FL on Wednesday afternoon. Talk about crazy.

We arrived at our new home in Viera on Friday night, and got checked into the Holiday Inn, where the team would pay for us to stay 3 nights while we searched for housing. Boy oh boy, that was an adventure. Finding affordable short term housing in Florida is no easy feat. But since we were looking during the weekend of the 4th, we were at a bit of a standstill. Cy had his debut on the 4th, and we both had a great time experiencing our new home team!

Meanwhile, I sent an email to the pastor of a local church that is part of the same church planting network as our church in Texas and see if he might know of anyone in their congregation who might have interest in being a host family. 2 days later, he and his wife had invited us to stay with their family for the rest of the season! They are so nice, and we are so thrilled to have had our prayers for housing answered in such a wonderful way. Host family living is the best. We will be moving in next week!

Right now the team is on the road, so Catherine (the other full-time wife here) and I are having a week-long sleepover filled with chick flicks, beach time, and tasty food :) It's crazy to think about how much has happened in the past week, but that is the fun of baseball life! Every day is an adventure.

Thanks for following along with our crazy life!

xo, Han