Brenner's Blog

School is Back

Laura — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:27:21 +0000

Summer is over. Now it’s time to put the brain back into action and get back to work.

I have mixed feelings about summer vacation. On one hand it’s good to have the break, but on the other hand, everyone stops thinking for the summer and everything learned during the school year is forgotten.

Hopefully everyone will work hard and try to get back into the swing of things quickly.

Running

Laura — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:03:27 +0000

I have gotten back into running again. I was walking uphill for a while. It just isn’t the same.
Mike (my husband) bought me one of those Nike+iPod things that goes on your shoe and counts how far you went, and how many calories you burned. It also uploads to Nike’s website, where I can share on Twitter and Facebook each of my runs.
The great thing about that is now I’m holding myself accountable. It’s hard to slack while everyone watches. I like this kind of public forum for my exercise. This way I can hold myself to a higher standard and get more accomplished.
Now I look forward to my runs, and trying to do better each time. (I do weights every other day, but there are too many exercises to write down each time.)
I have always been pretty good at working out. Now I just have to work on controlling my food so I can start losing some weight. My goal is to look as healthy and great as I feel.
We’ll see…

St. Lucia

Laura — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:20:24 +0000

We went to a wedding in St. Lucia. What a beautiful island!

Perfection

Laura — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:37:47 +0000

Perfection can be a daunting word.
It’s what we strive for as musicians. We seek it throughout our entire lives, knowing we may never achieve it.
Why do we bother? So many people are satisfied with mediocrity. What is it that makes us want something we may never find.
I think it’s a drive that happens to us. Either we see someone do something amazing and it inspires us to want the same, we’re born with it, or our parents or teachers wake it up inside of us.
No matter how it gets there, it lives inside of us for our entire lives. We constantly try to improve. I think it’s fair to say that this quality leaks into other areas of our lives. We spend so much time trying to improve our skills as musicians, that we also look to other ways to improve.

This great trait that allows us to become great artists is also an irritant of sorts. It isn’t easy going into a world of mediocrity and not feeling annoyed. How can people live their lives not trying to get better? How do they work for a certain amount of time at something, decide they are fine, and stop? It boggles the mind! I actually heard of someone quitting music lessons because they had been accepted into college! Imagine quitting a marathon at mile 20! Why not see it through? Why not work at improving throughout your lifetime?

I’m not sure I’ll attain all of my goals, but I’m sure going to try until I’m dead in the ground! I hope you will do the same!

Walking at Mammoth Cave Park

Laura — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:08:04 +0000

Camping Mammoth Cave

Laura — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:42:42 +0000

We just got back from Mammoth Cave! (Well, Cave City, KY) Beautiful part of the country! I highly recommend going to the cave! It is, well, Mammoth! I couldn’t believe that you could go 300 ft. under the earth, and still see HUGE caverns that you could play baseball in. Amazing! I’m very glad that I put my slight claustrophobia aside to take the historic tour. It was well worth it!

Here’s the entrance of the Jellystone park where we stayed.

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I’ll try to edit the video I took of the cave soon, but here are some pics from the drive down, and walks at the national forest. What a beautiful place!

Rocky and Hobo play

Laura — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:03:58 +0000

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My Husband’s Cool Job

Laura — Sat, 01 May 2010 20:22:08 +0000

Mike works at a stunt show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios called Lights, Motors, Action!

I went there last week with My Mom, my Aunt Lana, and my mom’s friend, Helen. It was a blast! Here are some pics…

We had VIP seating in director’s chairs!

The backwards Hero landing

Who doesn’t love Herbie?

Hero Jump

That’s a guy jumping off a building!

Moto jump

Burning man

Finale

Final pose

We hung out with some drivers after the show. (Backstage tour!)

There’s us with Half Herbie.

Royal Family 5k

Laura — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:11:48 +0000

Here is a pic of Karen, Mike, and I before running the Royal Family 5k at Disney. We ran the whole time (a first for me!) and had a lot of fun!

No More Excuses

Laura — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:41:37 +0000

So many times we set goals for ourselves. We work hard to achieve those goals.
One thing I’ve noticed a lot recently is the tendency to come up with reasons not to follow through.

It feels so great to push yourself to do things you never believed possible.

The feeling of accomplishing something you didn’t believe possible is an amazing feeling.

I have started jogging recently. I have done 2 5ks, and the second time I didn’t have to stop to walk. It felt wonderful to train and achieve my goal. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll be able to run a marathon.