Introduction: Peeking Into My Life
Hi! My name is Brooklin Blair. My sister's name is Brittan. My parents had the grand idea to name us both after places and then change the spelling so that no one can ever spell it.... fun, right?
I am a senior Advertising major with a minor in Sports Management. My absolute dream job would be working for a professional team (no particular sport, I am not picky) in their marketing department. A DREAM!!!
A seg way from my interest in sports: I played soccer for the majority of my life, it was truly my first love. Unfortunately injury plagued my career, so that career is dead and gone. Fun fact: I've had four knee surgeries. If you're into that kind of stuff, my most recent surgery included the surgeon breaking my femur and putting a plate in, and inserting a cadaver meniscus and cadaver bone tissue. -5000/10 recommend.
I am a huge foodie. If you are to comment on this post I request that you include your favorite Norman specific restaurant. I eat almost anything, except pork... well unless it is bacon then I cave but I otherwise live a porkless life.
This is my sweet dog Buddy. I don't think I've ever spent more than a year of my life without a doggo. They are the biggest comfort to me. In three days, I am actually heading to Kentucky (never been so if you have, please tell me about it!) to pick up a new puppy! Buddy needed a friend and we lost our other pup, Rio, at the beginning of this month.
I am so so sad that this is my last semester here at OU, it has been quite the ride!
Can't wait to get to know y'all!
Update: Here is our new puppy Bowie! He is a disaster as most puppies are, but I couldn't love him any more! Photo taken by me.
Hi Brooklin!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through your blog, it's actually kind of scary all of the things we have similar interests in – I'm a PR major (go Gaylord!) and used to want to work in the professional sports area for a career (I worked for the OKC Thunder my sophomore year), I also have a weird obsession with llamas and alpacas that I have no idea where it came from, probably just because they're so cute and fluffy. My favorite Norman restaurant is Tea Cafe on campus corner, as I could actually only eat their fried rice and green tea with boba for the rest of my life. Please keep us updated on your new puppy, and happy last semester!!
Hello Brooklin, awesome intro!
ReplyDelete4!?!? Hopefully not all on the same knee! Gosh that just makes me hope some crazy stem cell and cartilage regeneration therapies are on the horizon! Well my uncle used to raise (and race) camels and he had a few alpacas so I could have helped you out about 5 years ago lol!
Favorite places to eat: Winston, Tara Humaras, or home
Most frequented: Gyro Hero. It's close and a gyro is $5 from 2-7pm everyday!
Howdy Brooklin! I suppose I'll start by answering your question: my favorite restaurant in Norman has got to be the Cafe Saffron (Persian/Mediterranean) on campus corner (by the corner copy if you know where that is). They make excellent kebabs and pilaf. Moving on from there, I really feel your pain concerning the soccer injuries. I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say I'm in a similar boat with wrestling. Last but not least, as for the Alpaca obsession, I totally get that. I grew up just down the road from an alpaca farm (ranch? pasture? idk) and my sister and I would always make my mom slow the car when we passed on the way to and from school so we could wave at them. There really is just something about them.
ReplyDeleteHey Brooklin, sorry to hear about the knees... that's brutal and I can only imagine the amount of time you have spent rehabilitating after those procedures! My favorite places to eat in Norman include Fantasy Chinese Cuisine and a little mom and pop shop called Chipotle. FCC has remarkable portions for the price and Chipotle will always be a good deal as well. Good luck and hope you have a great semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Brooklin!
ReplyDeleteI love your name, I think the idea of naming kids after cities and then changing the spelling is super fun. You'll never be able to get a keychain with it, but who needs that anyways.
Also, I heavily relate to your knee problems. I did cheer for many years and my left knee has been dislocated 4 times and my ACL tore away a piece of bone from my tibia in a skiing accident on my right knee in 2017. I had to have surgery and couldn't walk on my knee or bend it for 6 weeks, absolutely no fun!
Also your dog is absolutely adorable. I have a Goldendoodle named Baker who looks very similar to Buddy!
Hi Brooklin, nice to meet you! I loved reading this post—you have a good writing voice. It's impossible to think of my absolute favorite Norman restaurant, but some that I always go back to are Taqueria, Kabobish, The Moon Sushi, and Neighborhood JAM. I'm sorry about your knee surgeries, hopefully you don't have more in the future! I love alpacas too—one of my friends in Kansas actually has some as pets that I love to visit. Also, your dog is so cute!
ReplyDeleteHi Brooklin!
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing all of these pictures especially the ones of your dogs! The explanation of you and your sisters name was so funny to me. I'm actually also an advertising major and I also think it would be exciting for you to work with a professional team because it seems like such a fun opportunity from an advertising perspective! (Best of luck to you doing that) I love that you're a big foodie because it also gave me a reason to read through the comments and find some good restaurants in Norman, thank you for that! I think my favorite pasta place in Norman would be Victorias and a really tasty breakfast place would be Carol's Kitchen.
Hi Brooklin, it is really unfortunate that you have had so many injuries throughout your life. I have also hurt my knee and ankles playing sports, but nothing came even remotely close to the injury you described. I really enjoy sports too, especially basketball, so I hope you get your dream job in the future. Good luck on the rest of your semester!
ReplyDeleteEnglish spelling is impossible, Brooklin, and having a name you have to spell over and over sure makes it personal! My name is really boring, but at least it is pretty easy to spell (although there are actually a lot of Loras out there too, so I end up having to spell my name a lot too!). And I hope you will get your dream job in sports: it's like the pandemic has made it even more clear than ever how important sports are in people's lives. I actually watched Ken Burns's documentary Baseball over winter break, and I gained so much appreciation for that sport that I had never had before.
ReplyDeleteI don't live in Norman anymore, but I still miss Pepe Delgado's. I used to go there all the time!
As for alpacas, I am sad to say that I don't know any alpaca stories! I know stories about lots of animals from lots of places, but I am completely lacking in alpaca stories. I do have a collection of folktales from Chile, though: I will look and see if there are any alpacas in there, and I will let you know!
And have you gotten your new puppy? Maybe you can add a picture. Everybody needs all the puppy energy they can get, even if it's from someone else's puppy! :-)
Hi Brooklin!
ReplyDeleteI could not imagine having that many surgeries on my knees, especially ones that are so intense like that. I have torn both of my ACLs and had surgeries on both knees and that was plenty for me. Were your all your surgeries on just one knee or both of them?
Side note, your doggos are so precious!!
I wish you well on your future career and the rest of your journey!
Hey Brooklin!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has only had one major surgery, I cannot even imagine having 4! And all on the knee? That must have been tough. If you're looking for good places to eat in Norman or OKC I recommend Tea Cafe on Campus Corner or Tamashii Ramen House in OKC! My favorite meal there has pork belly in it so you'll probably not like that one but there are plenty of other things to try! I also love dogs but funny enough I've never had one before because my parents don't like them. Hopefully I can change that when I graduate this May! Best of luck with your career it sounds like it would be a blast!
Hi Brooklin,
ReplyDeleteHa! You want to talk about misspelled names? My birth certificate had to be amended because the nurse spelled my name wrong (or rather, she ignored my parents and spelled it how she felt was correct). One of the reasons I use a pseudonym is so people will spell my name correctly, as I have went my whole life having to deal with misspellings (especially in class discussions, even though my name is right in front of people replying to me). My point is, I understand your struggle with that.
Hi Brooklin. I too have a weirdly spelled name after a city: Sydnee. So I was always sad as a kid because I could never get a keychain with my name spelled correctly. I too played soccer for almost 14 years, but like you I ended up having knee surgery. I do not recommend knee surgery, but thank God mine was not as bad as yours. I have two puppies of my own! They are handfuls but I love them dearly! I can't wait to read your stories! (this is Syd, sorry I am using my boyfriends laptop)
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteLol I completely get it people not being able to spell your name, my parents did a bit of the same to me. At least for yours they know how to pronounce it haha. Im a big foodie too! I am a little scared of dogs though! Advertising sounds fun and I love sports too! You seem like a very dynamic individual. It was a pleasure meeting you and I wish you the best!
Hi Brooklin,
ReplyDeleteYour most recent surgery sounds absolutely crazy to think about! Kind of makes my leg hurt thinking about it. I also am a huge foodie! My favorite place in norman was Tea Cafe!! I now live in Texas and my favorite place to eat now is called Los Tapatios. I honestly miss tea cafe and wish I could eat it now.
Hi Brooklin!
ReplyDeleteThe things our parents name us after can be quite comical! I am named after Saint Nicholas, Santa if you will. Regardless those are both great names despite the spelling change. Although I have never been a huge sports fan, I do enjoy a game of tennis now and then. But I have never understood why people play certain sports when it is so damaging to your body that you have to live in for the rest of your life. My sister was a gymnast for many years but was also taken by a career ending leg injury. To this day she has trouble doing strenuous activities with her knee almost 8 years later.
Hey Brooklin,
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you lol. That's really cool that you are trying to get into sports management. I think working for a NFL or NBA team would be a really fun job. That's crazy you've had that many surgeries done, wow! Your puppy Bowie is really cute by the way. Congratulations on graduating in May, I'm looking forward to it as well. Hope you have a great rest of your semester.
Hey Brooklin,
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you! Working for a professional team's marketing department seems like a really fun gig! I think an NBA team would be my preference if I had to run their marketing. That is a scary amount of leg surgeries, I would never be able to handle that. I fractured my ankle at one point but was a couple millimeters away from needing surgery.
Hey Brooklin! I loved reading your bio! I like the spelling of yuor name, by the way. This is coming from someone who has a name that 7 other girls had in my school growing up. (Not joking...7) So it's great that you have a different spelling to your name. I have read your storybook and one of your other blog stories, but just now getting to your intro. But anyways, on the surgery thing, I feel ya. I had spinal surgery where they fused all of my vertebrae (except my neck) when I was 13 and put in 2 metal rods...it wasn't fun at all. I hope your recovery is going well! I am sorry but I don't really have any restaurants to recommend in Norman...I live in Midwest City and usually only grab fast food when I'm in Norman. But if you ever head to Midwest City a great place is called Fusion Kitchen off of Air Depot. It's an Indian restaurant ran by a really nice family. The mother makes the curries everyday and they are always different but delicious whenever we go. Anyway, I hope you have a good rest of the semester/summer!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you, Brooklin! I think that my favorite Norman based restaurants would have to be The Mont or Tatsumaki Ramen. Both have delicious food! Alpacas are great, and their fur is so soft! I would love to have a blanket made out of it one day. Both your dogs are so cute too! Good luck with your finals!
ReplyDelete