If I had the Strength of a Pioneer! & Buckskin Gulch

Last Sunday my father-in-law invited me to go on a hiking trip with him and some of his family. He was going to leave on Friday and mentioned that since I didn't have a job I already had the time off. I agreed to go wondering if I was crazy. Oh I forgot to mention this hike is about 20 miles.

We left for Kanab, UT to stay the night and start out hike early Saturday morning. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to do our hike with all the government shutdowns and what not. This hike is called Buckskin Gulch and is part of the Escalante National Monument, even though it was seemed it would not work out we decided to meet in Kanab and if it didn't open up then we would hike somewhere around Kanab. Fortunately it opened up and we were able to do the hike (not that there were barricades or anything to stop us).

The hike was BEAUTIFUL! I'll post pictures as soon as I get some from my father in law. The first 13 miles are mostly slot canyons. There are parts that open up and there are little grassy/weedy sand bars. There were muddy puddles that we had to wade through and hope we didn't lose our shoes in the mud. There isn't much elevation change, except when you have to climb rocks. There are some parts that you have to find your way around, over, or under gargantuan boulders. The formations that the canyon walls make are amazing, sometimes they appear to be straight up and down while others times they are wavy and bubbly looking. After the 13 miles you have to wade up river for a little bit and then the trail ends up going from one side of the canyon to the other. Our group kept track and we crossed water 150 times within out 20 mile hike.

It was kind of funny, I could estimate how far we had gone based on the things that started hurting. Since I have done half marathons (13.1 miles) I knew which of my body parts start aching at certain times. About 10 miles my knees started hurting. It's just a little spot on the outside and below the knee cap. They always ache at that point and certainly after the race. Once my knees started hurting I knew we were close to the end of the slot canyons and I ended up being right.

The water was a little chilly and we were burning daylight. The way my feet are built the bottom of my pinky toes tilt in towards my "ring" toe so I often get blisters where they are squished and rubbed by my "ring" toe. I tried to help that with moleskin. With 20/20 hindsight it was pointless to put on moleskin before spending 7 miles walking in and out of water, but it helped for a little bit. Once we crossed the river a ton of times and with the water being the temperature it was my feet were slightly numb so any pain on my feet didn't bother me much. My only problem now was my knees. Both knees hurt but my right one hurt much worse than my left. As we trekked on the sun started setting, my right hip joined the painful club. It hurt to walk on land and it hurt worse to walk through the water. There was nothing I could do, I had already taken all the ibuprofen that is allowed according to the bottle directions. The only relief was to stop and stopping meant the trek would last longer so I forged ahead, bit my lip when it got really bad and held back my tears. I was going to make it through.

I wasn't the only one hobbling along, thankfully, my father in law had some pain in his foot so he needed the pair of hiking poles we had, that I had been using. My aunt (in-law?) was having her lower back tighten up with made it hard for her to lift up her legs. It got to point were I would tell my leg to lift so it could clear this rock that was sticking 2 inches up from the ground and it lifted up only about a 1/2 inch. That was kind of scary only cause I've never had an experience where my body didn't do what my brain was telling it to do.

As the sun disappeared behind the mountains, we were still in good spirits, however they seemed to fade as the sun faded. Once it was dark it seemed to make the trip harder. We couldn't clearly see where we were going and we had to make sure we were staying near the river. Each bend of the river we hoped would reveal the end of our hike. Part of our group went ahead to get the cars. They marked the place were we needed to get off the trail with a flashlight and a glow stick. I have never been so happy to see a glow stick in my life.

I am glad that I did it, and survived it. Will I do it again? I am not sure at this point. I am still healing. Most of my muscles are fine now, I can walk up the stairs like the average human being. My biggest pain now is one of my little pinky toes. I think if I were to do it again, I would go the other way. Start with most of the water wading and finish in the slot canyons. That way I could wear one pair of shows that get supper wet and muddy. Once I got to the convergence I would switch to another pair of shoes and socks so they can be dry for the rest of the hike. Well most of it, we went through water 9 times in the slot canyon and I am sure that number changes with each year.

After this hike I have a whole new appreciation for pioneers. I did a trek when I was in young women's. We had to wear pioneer dresses, aprons, bonnets, and used handcarts to haul our stuff. That was kind of tough. We were out for 3 days and I don't think the total number of miles we went was more than 13. For me I know it wasn't because I got some beastly blisters and they wouldn't let me walk on the hardest longest day. But to go 20 miles in one day I was done and to think they would do that, go to bed, wake up and do it again the next day, some without shoes! Props to the pioneers.

How do you do this?

I'm going on 1 week of being officially unemployed and 10 days being unofficially unemployed. This has nothing to with the whole government shut down thing because my job had absolutely nothing to do with the government. I am a graphic designer, and I was one for a pampering product place. I'm not going to get into details about how it all went down cause that is not what this post is about. This post is about how people survive being unemployed. I don't get it.

The first day I spent crying my eyes out because I was upset and scared. Here I am living at my parents house with my hubby, trying to save some dinero so we can have a place to call our own and I'm jobless (okay not 100% jobless I still work like once a month at a printshop that I have worked at for like 3 years but that's not exactly rolling in the dough & they don't really have a whole lot of work right now to give me more hours).

Day 2 I applied for some jobs and tried to stay productive. Basically all of the days since have followed that pattern. Day 10, I fell like a total bum and I cannot figure out how people do this often or live their lives like this.

When you have kids, an at home business, or have someone that needs constant care, that's something else. That stuff takes a lot of time and attention. I just have me, the house and my thoughts. Some 40 hour per week people may be thinking, "It would be nice to have 10 days off." And I would have completely agreed with them about 10 days ago. Wake up when I want, stay in my pajamas if I felt like it, do whatever I wanted all day. 10 day vacations are apparently my max. I've never had a vacation longer than maybe 5 days since I stepped into the real world of the workforce and graduated from college. I create task lists everyday but as the "vacation" continues I find myself getting more lazy cause if I don't get it done today, well I have all day tomorrow. If it doesn't get done tomorrow then there will be the day after that. I have been fairly productive, probably not as productive as I could be but I have moments where I feel really depressed about being unemployed and I just don't want to do anything but sit around and feel sorry for myself. Other times I'm thoroughly convinced that although this situation sucks, there is a blessing in it somewhere. Maybe the sheer fact that I am out of a job position that I was getting frustrated with is the blessing. I think part of what bothers me is not knowing when this "vacation" will end. Last time I was looking for a graphic design job it took 7 months, granted I had my printshop job full time while I was waiting for that. Right now I just have my once month, and I can't do any freelance because I no longer have the design programs, well unless I want to pull out my old laptop that is like 8 years old and freezes/crashes ever 5-10 minutes. I don't even know if that thing still works. I haven't turned it on in a little over a year. It's a great dust collector.

If you are a person that is home all the time with out a business, kids or person to take care of, what do you do all day? How do you stay sane? I've never thought of myself as a super social person but after only a few days I went to lunch with some of my co-workers and I just loved listening to them talk! And I felt like I talked quite a bit more than I normally do. I miss being around those co-workers everyday. They are awesome. I probably annoy my husband the most. Now that I don't have much human interaction during the day, the moment he gets home I'm all up in his face talking about whatever I can think about, most of it probably doesn't even make sense. If he has to do homework, sometimes I'll just stare at him, waiting for any break he may have. Kind of creepy, this is why I need to find a job stat.

Fat Girl Stuck in a Skinny Girl Body

I have come to the conclusion that I am a fat girl stuck in a skinny girl's body. Which I realize there are way worse things that I could be. I love food! But on the other hand I really like being in shape looking. In my what feels like my wildest dreams I would look like this:

And then I start planning how I'm going to get there. All determined and stuff then the next thing I know there are people that are like, "hey, want to come to my party, I have cake."

and I'm like, "WHAT?!?!? I LUFF CAKE!" and then I eat it all and everybody else just gets to lick up crumbs or frosting off the plate.

Okay, that situation never really happened. For the record, I do love cake but I would come to your party cause I like you, not just for the cake. The whole getting in shape and looking like a non-steroidal Crossfit queen is a true situation/dream. I've been reading this free ebook I got on Amazon called 'Fit is the New Skinny: The No-BS Truth about Getting Thinner, Leaner, and Stronger' by Michael Matthews. I'm realizing that diet (meaning what you eat) is a HUGE part in looking like the pic above (no, not the cake picture). Granted the book says that, like once per chapter, it's not going to sink in with me until I prove it to myself.

I've been trying to eat better. I started with drinking more water. If you have been there you know you have to pee like every 5 minutes for the first few days and your co-workers start worrying about you a little bit. On my eating better journey I've started using an app to track calories. I'm not in it just to find out calories but it helps me think about the things I am eating. Counting how many M&M's your are downing in one handful gets tedious and makes you want to eat less M&M's, well almost. Really though, this app has helped me and if you are on the same "eat healthier" journey I recommend you get yourself an app for that.

 This quote is me and my life (minus that kids part). I'm going to say being a creative mind sometimes gets in the way of the way I want my life to be. I have super awesome, on the ball, eat like a champ days and I love them. Then there are those days where jumping out of bed is all the effort I can muster but then I still have to get ready for work and do that whole adult responsibility thing. On those good days (that sometimes last a week) I am on it, I have dinners all planned out, food all bought for said dinners, I go to the gym, work it, and life is good. But it is usually followed by a day, or even a week, of what are we going to have for dinner, what am I going to do at the gym (which usually results in a not so satisfying workout), I don't want to run, etc. It seriously feels like my brain just got tired from being on top of things and forgets how to function in Awesome Mode. How do you overcome your brain fighting against you when it runs everything in your body? I haven't figured it out. That is why my workouts are still coupled with eating a Hostess Cupcake or two... or five. But I must be getting better because I am feeling changes in my body. My arms aren't quite as flabby, my running has become better (even though less frequent), and I can do more at the gym (when I am in Awesome Mode).

Sugar is my archenemy, will I ever conquer it? I don't know, but I certainly have gotten better at resisting it's temptations. I want to make it clear that I don't think I am fat and I know I don't look fat. I'm just skinny fat, meaning inside I just don't feel as healthy as I use to and that is why I am trying to make some changes before I wake up one morning and realize my only option in life is to be sumo wrestler. I've gotten to that point in life that adults always warned me about, you know where they say, "eat all that crap while you can, someday it will actually stick to your bones." There are a million different versions of that saying, but you get the idea. I can't just eat whatever and expect it to just slide through my system. It is a little depressing but it's life and most people have to deal with it at some point.

I hope to get better and being in Awesome Mode more often than not cause I'm sure consistency is a big factor. My mind and body can only be as strong as I give it fuel to be. I'm guessing 5 Hostess Cupcakes aren't the right kind of fuel. Sigh. Baby steps and maybe I'll get there someday, for now, just trying to what I can to keep my sanity.

Good Morning Ideas.

Sometimes in the morning I have really good ideas. Or what I think are good ideas then later in the day I wonder how I thought it was a good idea.

Example:
This morning I cracked open a can of tuna mixed it with some mayo and added some salt free lemon pepper. Then I decided that instead of slathering it onto bread and making an actual sandwich I was just going to put it in a Tupperware container and take 2 pieces of bread and then I could just scoop it out with my bread and/or crackers.

Now I'm sitting at my desk, the bread isn't scooping like I thought it would. There are crumbs EVERYWHERE. I'm fighting them off my computer keyboard. Why was this a good idea?

On the bright side, I am getting more protein in my diet by eat a whole can of tuna and some grain servings with my bread that is unadulterated with gobs of mayo that I always feel the need to put on a tuna sandwich. Yay!

What are some good ideas that you have had that did not turn out so brilliant in the end.

Mom Status

No I am not a mom, nor am I planning on being one in 9 months (sorry mom and mom-in-law and those that have bets regarding such an event).

I'm sure there are plenty of couples in the position of deciding when to start a family or if they even want to, decisions like that. I know I want to start a family, I have no idea when that will happen and there are a few reasons why.

#1) Here is where I throw my husband under the bus. He likes to be prepared for everything in every way, which I love, usually. In this case he wants to be financially ready to have a kid. I know I'm sure those of you that have had children are snickering inside or possibly laughing out and rolling on the floor. I've been told many, many, MANY times that if parents waited to be financially ready there would be no kids. My feelings, yes save and prepare, but don't let that be the whole deciding factor, I do have a biological clock, I can't produce kids the rest of my life. I only have like 15-ish years left. (whoa that's kind of freaky)

#2) There are times when I'm with my nephews and niece and I think, "I can't do this all the time. At this moment I would be done being a mom." And then I would want to leave my kids out on the porch and put a for sale sign next to them. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my nephews and niece. I mean they say and do really cute things sometimes.

#3) Sometimes children in public are screaming and crying and I wonder how I would handle such a situation. I have an idea in my head how I think children should behave and how I would like my children to behave but how do I get there? Each child has a different personality and thus you have to have different discipline tactics. THEN children eventually become teenagers and sometimes I see teenagers and I'm like what if my children do this, that, or the other.  Part of my worry here is that I don't consider communication one of my strong points. Confrontation? I would gladly avoid it, but I realize you can't do that with kids cause then they will just walk all over you and do what they want, break all your house rules and there will be a lack of respect for you as a parent and person. I am thankful that I have a husband that is better at communication than I am and I am working on this and I hope I don't screw up my children.

#4) I don't want to screw up my children.



Now there are 4 some what solid reasons. A few others are that I keep signing up for races. People are like, "hey, I'm going to run such n such race, want to do it with me?" and I'm like a starving child being offered a Milky Way candy bar, you don't say no to a Milky Way. I've asked a relative that has been a nurse and married to an OBGYN about running and being prego. She said you can if you feel up to it but probably shouldn't do more than 2-3 miles. From what I hear (from the world of pregnant horror stories) you don't ever feel like it. There is this nausea and lack of energy thing that kicks in, which sounds like an exercise motivation killer. Plus, you have this extra weight there to help throw off your balance. Have I mentioned that even though my name means one of grace I am not very graceful, I mean I broke my foot walking down the stairs backwards, really? Who does that? oh me. I'll probably be the pregnant lady that has gauze wrapped around her knees cause she keeps falling and scraping them every 5 minutes.

Have you guys ever had sushi? I LOVE SUSHI!! And the whole raw fish thing? Yea I've heard it is frowned upon in the pregnant society, something about mercury being in fish then getting to your blood stream and going to your baby. I dunno, but giving that up for 9 months it makes me a little teary just thinking about it.

I realize my last few reasons are on a selfish note but they come into play once in a while. Really I think it all comes down to being a parent scares me. I'm responsible for someone else, other than myself. I mean I feel somewhat responsible for my husband but if I disappeared for a weekend he would be fine (he might not even notice jk). I don't have to call a babysitter, or drop him off at his parent's and leave a detail "How to take care of Trevor" letter. I can just be like, "bye, love you, I'll miss you, see you Sunday night." My husband can take care of himself, he has been doing it for a really long time. But babies! they need 24 hour care, 7 days a week! I've never had a job that is 24/7 other than being my awesome self and that even gets tough sometimes.

Sigh.

Well I don't have to worry about this for at least 7 more months. In June I have Ragnar and a half marathon I pinky promised to do again. This statement will not prevent me from worrying from time to time. Anyway, we'll see what happens after that. Someday, when I do join the preggers crowd I'm sure I write a blog where I totally freak out. I have a feeling there will be a lot of nights where I will be sobbing uncontrollably and my husband will think I've lost a limb and I'll just be like "I can't do this, can we go backsies on this?" and there will probably be other times when I'm like the energizer bunny hopping around like, "I'm gunna be a mom, oh yea, you know it, I've got the belly to show it!" It's going to be crazy. I'm sure my blog posts will be just as bi-polaresque.

Did you have fears about being a mom when pregnant, or fears facing someday having kids?

Somedays it is Great to be an Aunt

Today was one of those days.

I was having a bit of a rough day. I listen to the Glenn Beck show in the morning sometimes and this morning he had radio/TV sound clips and people calling in talking about what was happening the day the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked 12 years ago. I was driving to work and I started crying, not a good idea since it was already raining. I couldn't help it though. That was a huge day in America, a day I will remember always.

Next up, getting a talking to, via email, at work. Not my fav, not everything in it was exactly my fault but I'm not going to play the blame game over it.

Finally, a month and a few days ago I lost my grandpa. It was unexpected and hard to handle. I've been doing okay most days, today wasn't one of those days. I'm not sure what triggered it all but I felt down in the dumps most of the day.

I didn't make it to the gym like I planned, I got off work later than usual in order to finish somethings that needed to be finished. I know it sounds funny but I didn't have a pony tail holder ANYWHERE and I wore my hair down so that was my last straw/sign that no gym today.

I moped through the grocery store and finally made it home. I started making dinner, on the menu? Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. On days when my nephew and niece come over I try to plan kid friendly menu items, thus the grilled cheese. The weather said it was suppose to be a rainy day and my mom needed to get rid of some older canned tomatoes so tomato soup was added to create on of my fav dinners.

I didn't expect the kids to eat the soup, I was never a soup fan when I was little. My nephew tends  to be the child that asks, "how many more bites?" as soon as his bum hits the chair at the dinner table. I knew he would be content with the grilled cheese when I mentioned soup he twisted his face in slight disgust. I told him he had to try at least a little bit. I spooned out about 1/4 of a ladle into his bowl. Once the soup cooled, he scooped some up and into his mouth it went. He smiled with delight, "MMM this is so good!" I told him that I liked to dip my grilled cheese into my soup. He tried it and loved it. He didn't ask once how many bites he had to eat and he ate most of his meal (also rare without a fight). He said it was the best soup he had ever had and asked Grammy if he could have it for every meal.

My niece is a character. Love her to pieces, she listened really well today, and she didn't scream/screech once (she is almost 2 and is starting the terrible two's). I sort of had a conversation with her. She asked, "trwevo?" (which is my hubby to her) I said, "Trevor is at school." she nods her said and repeats school. A pause, then, "bike?" I say, "his bike? No he didn't take his bike, he took his truck today." She repeats truck.

Probably my favorite thing about being an aunt today was when my niece and nephew were having races and at one point I was the goal. When they almost reached me, I took off running around the kitchen table. They were laughing and running and laughing some more. I love those little kids they made my rough day end up not so bad after all.

Being an aunt is great.

The Big Two Six

Yesterday I turned 26. The night before I couldn't sleep... well I slept but not very well. I am now confirming that my subconscious knew how awesome my birthday was going to be. It's been a while since I've been this excited about my b-day.

Awesome things about my birthday

• My hubby let me have the bathroom first. I don't think he actually planned it that way, he just decided to ride the recumbent bike first rather than his usual routine. BUT it was nice whether he planned it or not.

• It was Friday! Usually a pretty good day of the week.

• My co-workers took me to Tucano's for lunch. It started as only a handful of us then next thing we knew the WHOLE office was going. Phones "shut-down" (since no one would be there to answer them). It was kind of cool.

• At Tucano's ate my weight in delicious meat. Oh and I had to dance with a tambourine while the waiters sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese.

• My manager paid for my lunch. Which was very nice of him.

• When we made it back to the office there had been a power surge so we had no Internet, no servers, and no phones. We basically just had a party where anyone did what they wanted since none of us could do our jobs without access to the server. We danced, took pictures, named our cubicle islands.

• One of my co-workers made Death by Oreo Cupcakes for my birthday. They were DELICIOUS

• For my birthday dinner the family went to Buffalo Wild Wings. It was pretty good! 

• And finally, it RAINED! I love the rain, it was a great birthday gift for sure. 

All around I would have to say that turning 26 was one of the best birthdays EVER!

Oo-Rah!

It has been 11 days since my Grandpa John passed away. Some days I forget, but the flowers decorating my mom's kitchen table and living room remind me that it will be a long time before I see him again.

On the day of his funeral I had this song stuck in my head and felt, although from a children's movie, it expressed how I felt almost perfectly.

The day after his passing I woke up and thought, "this is the first day that I no longer have a grandpa."
No one to call me Lil Anna, regardless of how old I got, the way that only Grandpa John could. I guess with his 6 foot+ height I would always been smaller than him. He was a great man that always worked hard, and knew how to fix pretty much everything. I feel like the poem below, written by my uncle, says a lot about the man my grandpa was. He raised his kids to work hard. I know my mom has passed that on to me.

A tribute to my Dad as written by my uncle Steve

The boots on the porch were heavy and beat.
As a small boy I'd put 'em on - they were huge on my feet.

The miles and jobs those boots went through.
The blood, the sweat and the freezing too.

Those boots drove buses, semi's and worked in steel plants
The tops never got burned 'cause they were under his pants.

Up mountains, through rivers, chasing buck, catching fish.
Family camping in campers that were road worthy-ish.

Without hesitation, those boots went overseas
To fight for the country and be a Marine.

Those boots carried a big, big man
With a heart of gold, sledge hammer body, with huge calloused hands.

The boots on the porch were heavy and beat
And now I look down and those boots are on me.

I am part of a great legacy. I feel like I have a lot to live up to. When I get to the other side I feel that my grandpa will be waiting for a report what I have done with his name and legacy he left to me. I hope to live my life ready to help those that need it with whatever skills I have, just like grandpa. Continue to gain new skills so that I can help my family and those around me. No matter how long and full my days may be, come home and spend meaningful time with my family, like grandpa. Do better at working hard and making sure I teach my children to do the same, like grandpa. And finally,  make those around me feel like they matter to me, no matter who they are, just  like grandpa did to every single person he ever met.

I will miss my Grandpa John and his big grin. At his funeral there were many nice things said and great stories told about him. The Marines were there, Taps was played, I cried for the fallen Marine who readily served his country and all those around him. Oo-rah Grandpa.

 

Nostalgic Food

My nostalgic food is probably going to kill me one day because none of mine are healthy.

Here are my nostalgic foods:

 

 Whoppers! I love the sound they make as they roll around in the box and the fun little crunch in the middle of every chocolate ball. I could probably eat a whole carton (like the one pictured above) all by myself in one day. A confession, I just finished off a movie theater sized box that I opened about an hour and a half ago. Love these things.

 AbraCaBubble. I haven't been able to find these in years. Well I can purchase a 5lb. bag from the Brach's website but I don't really want that much. They are hard candy on the outside and inside is a piece of bubble gum. I would always get one from my grandma's house and try to have the bubble gum cracked out of its candy shell by the time that I arrived at my other grandma's house.

 Puffy Cheetos. I don't know what it is about these that make me love them so much. Whenever I had lunch at my grandma's house I would get a half sandwich and a small pile of puffy Cheetos laid on a paper towel along with a side of Pepsi or Coke (I think that is the only liquid my grandparents had in their house besides water and maybe milk). You be thinking that Pepsi is my next nostalgic food but it's not. Once in a while I like a few sips and those few sips remind me of grandma's but then I'm done with the soda.

Do you have any nostalgic foods?

Cubicle Pressure

About 2 months ago my work moved to a new building. I have a new Ikea "cubicle" (more like an Ikea desk with 24" partitions covered in cloth... not like any cubicle I have ever had). When I got hired I was told that the company would be moving. Therefore, I never decorated my desk. I never thought about it simply because I didn't want to take everything down and then put all back up. Well, 6 months later we finally moved. Now that we have moved I know I need to decorate my desk. However, I have been putting it off and putting it off. Why? Why would someone want to look at a speckled black, empty wall? Well I feel like there is a lot of pressure to have freakin' sweet looking decor for my cubicle. Why the pressure? Because I am a graphic designer, I can't have crappy looking stuff at my desk. That might reflect on the way that people view me as a designer. In addition to the pressure I feel that there is a lack of time. While I am at work there isn't much that I can do about it. I can't flip through pictures on my computer to find ones I want to print out. None of my pictures are on my work laptop. Once I am home...it is out of sight, out of mind. Really the story of my life. I'll get to work the next day and think, "BLAST! I should have thrown some things together. Ah MAN!"

I have hit a bit of a slow time at work so I finally looked through some pictures for ideas and organization ideas via Pinterest (cause that's basically the new Google for DIY, craftiness). I've found a cubicle idea that I like and I'm going with it. I just need to find a piece of paper that is the size of my wall and doodle up a cool drawing.

Well when I get around to getting it all put together I will take a pic and show you what my little brain and hands came up with. Don't hold your breath, it may take me a while because I have to brush up on my drawing skills.

Has anyone else experienced cubicle decor pressure?

Part of my World

I am a graphic designer, for those that don't know. Today while on some graphic design adventures on the web, I found this awesome history of printing, basically. If all history lessons were designed like this one I probably would have paid more attention. Maybe even science and math would have been more interesting to me.



Click image to open interactive version (via Printer Inks).



And if you are a big traveller take a look at this

It's Been A While

I survived my race. And it ended up being my best half marathon ever. Thanks for your prayers and karma. I also made a shirt that helped me during those times that I felt like stopping.

Karen Sue was basically my 2nd mom during what feels like most my life. I think it was a little over a year ago that she was told that she has ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease). Basically when you have this your body shuts down little by little. One day they may wake up and suddenly have lost the use of an arm or hand. I feel that the influence she has had in my life and seeing her smile despite all that she is going through truly inspires me to do better with the time and, well, everything that I have. 

A general life update:

Work is currently crazy. I'm not allowed to work a single minute of overtime yet the last few weeks I feel have too much to do that it can't possibly get done in 40 hours. Some how I have managed. Well one week I did a lot of work at home, unpaid, then it turned out everything was wrong and I ended up doing it over again anyways, so lesson learned no more work at home, staying up til 2:30 in the morning only to find out it was pointless. I also feel that there is a communication problem at my work (and I'm really not one to talk since communication is on my weaknesses and I'm trying to do better). It gets really frustrating especially when it's the week before a big event and everyone has a billion and one things to do. If we could all read minds it would be easier but we don't and that's when it gets frustrating. 

Church. One thing you never would think would get hectic or stressful cause it's church. I've been proven otherwise. I am in charge of teaching a group of young women that are ages 16-18 (they are called Laurels). I teach every Sunday but the first one of the month. I've taught YW's (young women's) before but it was a once a month sort of deal. This every week feels crazy to me. I manage to get it done. I think I've gotten better since I started. And its good for me cause I am still learning things. I mean I know the basics, I've been taught them since I was born but now I have to really study, and make sure I truly understand so that I can answer any questions that they have. The girls I teach are really smart, I feel like they are smarter than I ever was at that age. It makes me wish that I had served a mission. The people (like my husband)that have served missions can throw together a good message/lesson within a matter of minutes. However they spent 18-24 months of studying the scriptures and I have never been all that great at really studying. Now I have that opportunity and it freaks me out. In addition to teaching and preparing each week I have also been asked to be on out activities committee for the ladies of my ward. Which so far isn't that stressful, I've only had to design and invitation which is... well that's what I do I'm a designer and I have printing connections so the other ladies think I am the greatest thing next to sliced bread. Okay that could be that one of them has been my neighbor for my whole life and she just loves me regardless of how comparable I am to bread of the sliced variety. 

Everything else. Well all else seems to be well. I've been watching Dr. Who with the husband and I'm addicted (I even added a Dr. Who shirt to my Amazon wish list). I've been trying to read more but between planning lessons, making dinner, exercising, playing water polo, and being addicted to Dr. Who (which is also time I spend with my hubby) I don't have much time. Usually I read when I'm in bed waiting to fall asleep and I only get about a page and half further into the story before my eyes start drooping. I have to set time aside to read and when I do I often feel guilty cause I know there are things of greater importance (like having clean underwear for tomorrow, etc.) that I should be doing. Being an adult and taking care of adult responsibilities really makes me wish that I were a kid again. But then I couldn't drive and be done with school. Being an adult has it's perks, I mean I get to have ice cream for dinner whenever I want. 

The Butterfiles are Starting to Flutter.

In 12 hours I will be at my friend's house and we will be heading to the start of our half marathon (after picking up 2 other running friends). You may be looking at your clock, mine says 2:49 pm on Friday June 14. Yes, I will be up at 2 AM getting ready for a race. My stomach is already getting antsy. Although I have done half marathons before, this one feels different. Why? Well I haven't been able to shake my shin splints. They will feel better then come back with a vengeance. I have contemplated not going to the race at all but part of me can't handle that thought of not even trying. I haven't done much running this week just to let my shins rest. Other than this week I have put in a lot of work, and consumed more ibuprofen then normal for me. I'm nervous my shins will rebel before I can finish the race. Also, I never get up at 2 am so I'm not sure how my body is going to handle that disruption in it's schedule. I'm worried and I felt like posting it here. In 12 hours I will be on my way, I will be pumped and thinking positive thoughts. I'll have my new race shirt I made (I'll post pics later). I'm pretty sure I'll be okay. But if you believe in God, say a prayer for me. If you believe in Karma send some good vibes my way, I can't seem to shake this nervousness.

Thanks.

Matchmaker, matchmaker

While at work, designing away, I frequently listen to my Pandora "Seventy-Six Trombones" station. On this particular occasion the song "Matchmaker", from Fiddler on the Roof, started playing. At the beginning of the song one of the sisters says something like, young people can't be expected to make such a decision on their own. I laughed aloud. I started thinking about my own life and making that decision on my own, as most young people do these days.

This thought process led to, what if there were still village matchmakers that helped your parents pick out who you were going to marry? I started thinking about the people that lived in the neighborhood where I grew up. I would probably be married to someone in that neighborhood.. or maybe a son of an old friend of one of my parents. Thinking about the boys in my neighborhood, I mean they were pretty cool, most of them. Some of them I had a hard time with for one reason or another but the general population of the neighborhood thought they were super great boys. Weird, weird thought.

On the one hand I would have been saved from some of the heartbreaking dating experiences I had but because of those experiences I feel that I am a stronger, better person. What kind of person would I be without those experiences? I don't know, I don't think I want to know....Well I kind of do. I wouldn't mind having a peek into an alternate universe where I had an arrange marriage, see what I was like. I would also like to take a peek into the alternate universe where Mitt Romney won the last Presidential election just to see where America would be now. Anyway. Just some food for thought from my mind today.

Happy Thursday everybody. 

Moving with Haste

And running.

What? This topic again? I'm sure you're sick of hearing or reading about it but it is basically the only hobby of mine, for the time being.

Last Saturday I had a 10k race that I signed up for however it conflicted with my longer run in preparation for my half marathon I have in about 10 days. I decided to run 5 miles before the race and then the 6.2 miles of the race to get my 11 miles in for the day. I almost missed the last bus to the start line because I took my first 5 miles rather easy. One of my friends that was a volunteer for the race told me that she expected to see me in first place. I told her not to get her hopes up because I had already put in 5 miles for the day but that I would still try but not to get her hopes up.

Along the race path I'm pretty sure I saw Jerry Sloan (former Utah Jazz coach) walking his cute little dog. Or maybe it was just little compared to him. I did not make it past the finish line first but 13th. Whenever people passed me part of my mind would be like, "oh no you don't"! But another part is like, "um it's either pick up the pace just to pass them or finish, they have fresh legs you don't". I would contemplate it and then maintain the pace that I was going, an average of 9:30 per mile which is pretty fast for me.

My music choice for this race "shuffle". I don't have a huge variety of music on my iPod. A few workout mixes (each like 30 mins long), Brian Regan (stand up comedy), The Beatles & Les Miserables. I normally listen to Pandora but decided not to that day. What a little roller coaster. I would go from Les Miserables, passion with the urge to cry, to Brian Regan, laughing along the way. It was kind of funny but both helped me make it through the last little up hill bit of my race.

After the race my husband made the comment that I don't seem to bat an eye at 11 miles or half marathons anymore. I thought about it and they don't intimidate me anymore cause I know I can do them one way or another I'll get there. And I think part of it is from swimming, as I talked about here. But also after doing the Ragnar Trail Relay running on normal roads feels like a cake walk.. er run, even with shin splint issues. Ya running. I think I will always love it.

It will Always be Mine.

Yesterday I dipped my toes in the pool for the first time since last August. If you have ever been away from your home for more than a week, you know that moment when you get home you are glad you left but you are so excited to be back? That is what that moment felt like for me. Sitting on the edge of the pool putting on my swim cap and goggles with the smell of chlorine in the air. I love the smell of chlorine. If there were a car air freshener that smelled like it, I would probably use it. That chlorine smell brings back so many great memories that I wouldn't trade for anything. I played water polo all through high school and was on the swim team my senior year. Somehow I went from hating swim lessons (the one year I remember taking them as a child) and sticking my face in the water to being a swimmer. I think I learned the basics of swimming and I was done with swim lessons. I could swim enough to keep my head above water if needed. I didn't like to put my face in the water and never managed to grow out of that. I was the girl that couldn't jump in the pool without plugging her nose which also meant diving didn't happen cause I looked funny plugging my nose and trying to dive. However, in high school I had some friends that were on the swim team and they convince me to play water polo. I probably looked so silly trying to do any stroke other than freestyle but I learned to love that game, regardless of my previous dislike for having my face submerged in water and fear of drowning. 

If you have no idea what water polo is here is a good video to check out:

She uses some different words than I would but "The Pitch" is the playing area or "field" so to speak. The "Sin Bin" is the ejection box. And I think when she says that is it similar to football she means soccer. 

Another good video for it would be this one:

While swimming I thought about my swimmer and water polo player life and I came to the conclusion that it was probably the best decision I made for myself. I have always been a shy person with very little confidence. Playing water polo and swimming helped that a lot. There were days (sometimes twice a day) that I really felt like I couldn't swim another lap or do another pop up (a pop up is when you are treading water and then pop up as high as you can out of the water and no touching the bottom because that is not allowed in water polo. Also, coaches expected you to be about to get at least was it high out of the water). Through swimming and water polo I realized I could accomplish hard things. I always managed to swim that next lap and the next set after that one. Probably the most terrifying day was when my coach put me in as goalie in the middle of a game. Up until that point I don't think I had spent much time in the cage (the goal), maybe 5 minutes max. After that game I was the new team goalie. I felt so inadequate to be in such a position, the last stand of defense a team has against another team. Practices became harder because I had to work my legs, treading while holding a weighted medicine ball above my head and trying to keep my shoulders out of the water while doing so. It was tough but eventually my team started calling me The Wall. I came across this article (I think I already shared it on facebook) and in reading it over all I could think was, that is so true! I think swimming is great and on my team we had the super popular kids and geeks alike. I feel like it is a sport for everyone not just the "jocks". Based on my own personal experience I know that it helps build confidence and can change people for the better. 

5 Things you will take away from Swimming

1. You’re part of an amazing community. We are separated by a few degrees of separation. It’s a big, open fraternity, but even better as we all have the shared background of two-a-days and countless weekends in poorly ventilated pools. This community extends far beyond the pool, as you will see in the years to come.

Even ten years removed from competitive swimming I can go to a local meet and find a few familiar faces in coaches, and the younger siblings of friends and people I’d raced against. Even some of the officials remain, having stuck with the sport even long after their own kids had moved on. The next generation and the longevity of those who have no commitment to the sport outside of their love for it, and this is a testament to the bond we grow with this sport.

2. Exercise and Fitness will never intimidate you. This is something you probably already know. You’ve gone through your share of Hell Weeks, and New Years Day 10×1000’s to not bat an eye at any physical challenge. Swimmers have ridiculous cardiovascular fitness, and as such when athletes from other sports complained about their workouts the gripes typically fall on deaf ears.

3. That discipline and mental toughness you honed as a swimmer will serve you well. You will enjoy not having to get up at 4:30am for morning practice long after you leave the arena of competitive swimming. This I can promise you. But the discipline that got you up that early will always be within you, ready to be seized upon when you find something else you are passionate about.

4. ‘What if’ Syndrome will pop up when the Olympics roll around. I get this to the point I can barely enjoy watching swimming events that used to be my forte. Thoughts like “If my shoulder hadn’t crapped out…” bubble to the surface. Avoid this passing sense of regret by leaving everything at the pool so that you aren’t watching the Olympics ten years later wondering if you could get into good enough shape to swim in Rio in 2016. Regardless of the expectations you have for your swimming career, whether it’s going to the Olympics, getting a scholarship to your local college team, or just making this summer’s traveling squad, embrace the opportunities for travel, competition and camaraderie that swimming provides.

5. The pool will always be home. You will always be a swimmer. People play basketball, playfootball or hockey, but you are a swimmer. It’s a sport that most people don’t understand or appreciate until the Olympics roll around, and that’s fine. Let them have their sports, for swimming will always be profoundly ours.

It will belong to the age-groupers struggling to get that first cut. To the teenagers trying to get noticed by a university program. To the athletes competing at the Olympics just happy to be there. From age grouper to World Record holder the sport all belongs to us, and while we may throw a “every other sport gets all the attention” tantrum in once in a while, in a lot of ways we should be happy with our place on the sporting totem pole.

To this day swimming still feels “mine,” as impossible of a feeling that may come across as. The quietness of the pool, the stillness of an empty lane, the quiet stare of that black line, will always be mine. Yours. Ours.

(from: http://swimswam.com/5-things-you-will-take-away-from-swimming/)

Made it to the State Swim Meet, my team is on the far left

Yea I thought I was really cool. 

And just so you know the name on my swim cap is "Anna-mal"

And She was Running

This weekend I survived the Ragnar Trail Relay in Zions. Some of you may remember that about 6 months ago I did the same thing, sort of (if you don't you can read it here). This time it was the real deal, the first Ragnar Trail Relay! Thankfully Mother Nature was on our side this time. The sun was shining in a clear blue sky. It was windy when we first got there but it died down once the sun set. Our start time was at 1pm, I thought it was great weather for some running. I was runner #5 so my first run didn't start until about 5pm. I started on the yellow trail, on this trail there is about a mile of what feels like straight up hill. Not to mention that it was also sandy. It was like running on a beach while trying to run uphill. My 2nd run started about shortly after 11 pm. Running in the night in the middle of nowhere with only a headlamp is not my favorite thing but I survived. And my final run was about 9 am, 7.5 miles, it was a rough 7.5 miles. I felt good that morning, after some sleep, and started off running that red trail once I started hitting some decent incline my legs felt like they might give out. Speed walking became my friend.

On my 7.5 mile run/speed walk I had a lot of time to think and I thought about the "running community". About 90% of the people that passed me along any other the trails would always say something encouraging. Things like, "looking good" or "keep it up!" Whenever there was someone that was moving particularly slow, seemed to be struggling or were stopped all together they probably got asked a million times if they were okay. I know I asked everyone that I passed. It's like we take care of each other! It's nice, it gives me hope in humanity. It's not just at race time this happens. I am in a running club and the same thing happens there. Runners take care of other runners and cheer others on to keep them going. In my mind I like to think that runners don't just apply this to other runners but other people they come across everyday.

I love running, I'm no pro but I feel like I am a champ after doing 15.5 miles within 20 hours time. That is the farthest distance I have ever run and probably some of the hardest miles I have fought through. Trail running is a whole different beast from pavement and treadmill, which adds to how awesome I feel for accomplishing what I did. Since I have now done 15.5 hard miles I have toyed with the idea of doing a full marathon (26.2 miles for those that don't know). Only 10.7 more miles and that would be a marathon. I don't know, I'm not sure I'm that crazy, so far I'm only half crazy. I'm going to think about this marathon things some more and I will definitely write about it and probably the blood, sweat and tears that go into something of that magnitude!

I'm like a Mom

Only I have no children...

I don't even have pets that I claim as children...

I've had several friends tell me I am like the mom of the group. I take care of everyone and make sure that they have everything that they need.

To some they may think, "awe that's so sweet of you." My thoughts are, it's not bad but sometimes it feels like a curse. For example, in preparing for a road trip I went snack shopping. Staring at the shelf of snacks I wonder how much is going to be enough? There will be 4 of us on a 11-ish hour trip (depending on who is driving). I start putting things in my basket (had to get a basket because I knew it would help limit the number of things I bought), usually starting with a smaller package then thinking, "well what if everyone wants some then I need enough for 4 people to snack on." Trading the smaller bag for a bigger bag, I wonder if maybe this is too much, yet it stays in my basket. We'll need sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy and everything in between to make sure every one has anything they could possibly crave! Making my way to the checkout stand my basket full and a box of crackers in my hand because it wouldn't fit. On my way home I started thinking about all the stuff that I bought... this is too much. There are 4 of us not a family of 10, I think I bought enough for 10. Not to mention that the other 2 people traveling with my hubby and I are adults and capable of buying their own snacks, they don't need me to buy them for them like they are children. Thinking about it now I laugh and my husband laughed when he saw everything I bought. BUT we will definitely not go hungry, even if we get stranded for a week we would probably still have a sufficient amount of food on which we could survive.

This "mom factor" that goes on in my brain I always over plan things. If I have a get together I usually have too much food because I stress about running out of it and people not having enough to eat. Not to mention while people are over I want to make sure everyone is having fun and enjoying themselves. I have gotten better, I can actually enjoy a party now rather then spend the whole party time stressing about everyone else. There are still times when I can't seem to control it, road trip snacks is obviously one of those times, maybe next road trip I will do better.

Flossing February

March is here. I can't believe it. Last month, after a visit to the dentist, I decided to set a goal to floss my teeth everyday for the month of February and so I called it Flossing February. I even made myself a calendar with cute toothy letters on it so that I would have something to put stickers on for each successful flossing. My chart has maybe 8 stickers on it. I didn't do very well but I did better than I have in the past. I probably doubled the number of times I have personally flossed my teeth in my lifetime. Okay that's a lie, but I know I have never flossed my teeth 8 times in one month. Flossing is such a struggle for me... well proper flossing. In my mouth I have 2 permanent retainers, one on the bottom and one on top. In order to properly floss those suckers I have to get a "plastic needle"(that is made for such things), thread my floss through and stab it between my teeth. That is a little dramatic but my bottom teeth have gotten accustom to it my 2 big front teeth have not. It hurts and I don't like it and so some times I just don't do that part and just floss like I floss all my other teeth. Another thing I have is a fake tooth held in place by a titanium screw. It doesn't make flossing difficult but the gap towards the bottom of that tooth and the two beside it is larger than the others. It is amazing the things that can hide in there. Anyway Flossing February was a flop in the sense that I didn't floss every single day BUT It was an improvement which I am content with.

On another note, I was looking through my journal looking for the first movie my hubby and I went to see together (before we were even a thing, I mean his little sister came along). Once I found the info I was looking for (we went to go see Blindside fyi) I just kept reading. Next thing I know I am crying. I got to the part when we broke up for the first time and I felt so sad. Then I'm sitting there on our bed crying and I'm thinking why am I crying I know how this all ends, victory is mine in the end of this dating story. Maybe I should avoid reading my journal because whenever I do the emotions that were there when I wrote it always get stirred up inside all over again. After I finally put it away I just wanted to hold my hubby and tell him that I love him and grateful for where we are and all that we have overcome thus far in our lives together. I'll wait til he gets home =)

I'm Dying

Okay I'm not really dying but I am going on day 14 of being sick. For someone, like myself, that is a healthy person 14 days is TOO LONG. I feel like I have been sick forever and I am so sick of being sick! I miss working out and RUNNING! Oh my goodness do I miss running right now. Really, I probably could go running but the thought of snot flying out my nose does no appeal to me at all. During my sickness there have been times that I have started feeling better so I would try exercising and the next day I would feel worse. I didn't do anything major. One day I did just some squats and push ups, stuff like that. Another day I did some walking on the treadmill. It was so hard just to walk, I wanted to run but I stuck with 4 mph on the treadmill with an incline. I've read somewhere that exercise can be good to help bust a cold but you have to find that perfect balance between not enough and too much. I guess I did too much... but I felt like I did nothing in comparison to other, healthy days.

 I originally blamed stress from work for this horrid sickness but the last few days haven't been super crazy for me so it must be something else. Did I mention this is the second time this year that I have been sick? Last time I had a temperature of 101 the day before I was suppose to start my new job. My fever broke just before I left for work the next day but the first week was full of me being sick. Now, only 30 days later, I'm sick again.

Anything that you read online about being sick with common cold symptoms says that if it lasts for more than 10 days see a doctor. I called my doc and he is booked until Thursday! I still made my appointment. I don't know why I feel so disappointed about having to wait 3 days. It's not like my doctor has a miracle drug that will cure me in 24 hours so whats another 3 days waiting I guess. Honestly, I dislike going to see the doctor. I looked at Web MD, even though my hubby says I should never self diagnose unless it is a last resort. I could have sinusitis. Whatever it is, it just needs to go away. My sister-in-law just had a baby so I would really like to go see my new nephew but I probably shouldn't while I am sick. It's a total bummer. I am trying to do all that I can to get better, trying to get to sleep early, taking vitamin C, trying to eat healthier than I normally do but so far no long lasting luck.

Anyone have any great "cold buster" ideas?

Dejunking, Procrastination & Planning

Dejunking, Procrastination, and Planning....  One of these words has me written all over it. I'm sure you can guess which one.  =)

Today I set out to commence the dejunking of my office/craft/weight bench room in preparation of our upcoming move. I made it through one sack that had 3 items in it. Of those things 2 got put "away" and one is still out awaiting a destination. Whoo one thing down. The next victim is a typical white, plastic bag. Within its crinkly shell a "someday" project. DUM DUM DUUUUUMMM! It was suppose to be done by Christmas so our little tree would have a cute lil skirt. And next thing I know I'm working on it. This is how my dejunking projects usually go. I make a little head way then I run into a project I've been meaning to do and decide to do it right then because in my mind it shouldn't take that long.

As I pull all the fabric out, yay it is already cut, all I need to do is assemble it! But all I remember from the Pinterest post that sparked the project is a hot glue gun is used to attach material in a ruffly manner onto a circle shape. I shrugged and decided that it shouldn't be that difficult and sort of dive in. That's probably why I have never really been good at sewing. I don't always like the planning and precision part that has to go into a well done sewing project. I'm more of a lets-just-go-for-it-and-figure-it-out-as-I-go, usually. Anyway I did decide to sort of pin it onto my white fabric base before pulling out the hot glue gun. After doing one row I decided to use a basting stitch to make my ruffles and then glue them on.

This is what I ended up with. Not bad but it needs some more layers. I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought the material. Maybe I was planning on buying some other colors and never got around to it. So, next Christmas season I'll have to go buy some more cute material to finish it off. 

Lessons learned (that I will probably forget and have to relearn)

1- Do not procrastinate projects

2- If some unforeseen circumstances comes up and #1 cannot be done then I need to put the instructions and thoughts on the project in with the supplies for said craft. 

3-If #1 & 2 don't happen, think out the project all over again and make sure you have enough supplies to finish the project.

4- If none the above happen or I can't afford the extra supplies that a project may require maybe it is best to just throw the project away. 

Even though it is not finish, and Christmas was so 2 months ago, I still love my lil tree skirt and I wish I would have just taken the time to finish it for Christmas when my trail of thought on the project was fresh. Well I'm back to dejunking, after I clean up my current project mess =)

It's just the way I am?

I think I have faced the fact that I will never be the type of person that I want to be. I've always wished to be super outgoing and just love being around people. You know those people that seem to know someone everywhere you go. They are people, people and they always seem to be bubble and happy no matter what. Yea I've dreamed of being that type of person, I've tried to fake it (I mean not fake caring about people but being happy all the time). When that bubbly, self confidence (or whatever it is) isn't something that comes naturally to you it gets REALLY tiring. I think a lot of people that are like that just are so sure of them selves and have loads of confidence and they just don't care what other people think, which is pretty awesome.

I'm not entirely sure what people think about me. Well I know what some people think because they are closer to me or have known me for a while but those that maybe haven't actually met me or have only met me once (or for some older ladies in my ward, they have met me several times but just don't seem to remember lol). My guess is I may come off like a snob or something, especially if there isn't someone I know around. Just for the record I'm not snobby, I'm just really shy and I have a hard time around new people. And you know why? Because I care way too much about what people think. I wish I didn't but I can't seem to get it to go away. I have come a long way compared to my younger years. I remember in first grade I wouldn't even look people in the eye. I just looked at the ground when talking and stuff. I LOVED my first grade teacher and I still wouldn't look at her. Shoot, I sometimes wouldn't even look at my family and talking to strangers? Na-uh not happening unless my parents made me. At least that is what I remember. If I was any different I don't remember it.

Through the years I have tried to be better and braver. There was one girl I went to school with and I think she was more shy than I was (if you could believe that) and she didn't seem to really have any friends, she was practically like a baby deer. If she was approached she would practically freeze (deer in the headlights). I decided I didn't want to be like that all my life so I would try to get out of my comfort zone. I started taking piano and dance, because of those things I found myself in front of people performing. Eventually I tried out for the sophomore cheer group ( I never tried out for Jr high cause we voted for our cheerleaders which I thought was dumb) and I ran for SBO in high school even though I kinda figured I wouldn't win because other than the waterpolo team no one really knew who I was. But hey I made it past the primaries! Whoot Whoot.

I am a pretty big goofball and I think I'm actually pretty fun when I let it out but it doesn't come out that much in public because, like I said before, I find myself caring too much about what other people think. Today I just feel like giving up on ever being that bubbly, fun person all the time and just being a hermit for life, well a hermit within myself cause I do actually leave my house (if I didn't I would go out of my mind). I go through phases where I find myself caring less about what others think but I never seem to get completely over it. And I really just feel like I am whining today and I don't really care cause I'm really not in that great of a mood, although I'm trying to change my attitude. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get over what people think of you I would be interested.

Thanks for reading. Have a marvelous Monday.

Running Shirts

I have a few races coming up and I was thinking the other day and the thought hit me to make some new running shirts but with a specific purpose. One of the things that keep me going when I am getting tired is thinking of those people in my life that aren't able to run for one reason or another.

My shirts would say something like "I keep running because {insert name} can't" and maybe have the reason they can't run. OR maybe I could say, "I'm running for {insert name}". Would that be really weird? I don't know. I can't decide if I should do it or not. I am thinking of using a font similar to this one and making a shirt style kind of like this.

What do you think?

Anna Facts

I don't remember where this idea came from. I possibly read it on one of my friend's blogs or maybe I am just a genius and thought of it myself (jk). I am going to try to think of 25 things about myself. hopefully they will be interesting. 

1) My favorite color is blue, usually. I go through phases where I am obsessed with other colors but usually my fav color of the week has a blue base. 

2) With the super bowl coming up, I have a confession. I don't really care about NFL football as much as college football. When I do pay attention, or if someone asks, my fav NFL football team is the Greenbay Packers. Really I only follow BYU football. I love the Cougars.

3) I use to be flexible. I had the dream of still being able to do the splits when I turned 60 (because I had a drama teacher that could). Some days it's all I can do to touch my toes. I use to be able to lay on my back lift leg straight up to my head and then have my toes touch the floor. It was awesome. 

4) I miss dancing. And sometimes I even miss cheer leading. 

5) I am a graphic designer. Here is my portfolio. I love designing, I still have so much to learn.

6) I like learning and I am learning, after spending most of my life in school, I seem to learn better in a classroom environment. I'll have to learn to learn a different way since I'm not rich enough to go to college for life. 

7) I really enjoy cooking but I really hate the clean up afterwards, unless I have someone there helping me. I don't know why that makes all the difference in my attitude about dishes. 

8) I hate cleaning showers. I'll clean the rest of my bathroom but for some reason I really don't like cleaning showers. 

9) I feel awesome when I can name a typeface on something. For those that don't know a typeface fancy (and in my opinion correct term) for font. 

10) I'm obsessed with polka dots. 

11) Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong decade. I love most everything from around the 1950's. I have looked through old pictures of my grandma and thought that is a super cute dress I want one and maybe I could do my hair like that. You may wonder, could you live without all the great modern technologies? Well if I were born in the 1930's (so I could be a teens or in my twenties in the 50's) I wouldn't have a clue about them so you can't miss what you don't know about. Although on the other hand, I don't know if I could handle the strong encouragement to just grow up and be a mom and wife. I mean I haven't exactly studied every aspect of the 50's but college wasn't the highest thing for most girls. I mean looking at the movie Mona Lisa Smile, the girls went to college basically until they got married. Not saying I don't want to be a good wife and mom but I'm grateful that I went to college because I love the job that I have now.

12) I love movies. Not so much going out to the movie theater, I mean I will, but I would rather stay at home and watch movies. That way I can wear my PJ's and lounge across my couch without annoying strangers. 

13) I'm not a huge chick flick fan. Probably 95% of the time I will pick an action movie instead. 

14) I play the piano. I'm not that great anymore but it's tough to be good when I do not own a piano. I have an electric keyboard and it works fine but its nothing compared to playing a real piano. 

15) I like to sing... in the privacy of my home or with the congregation at church. I don't think I am that great but it hasn't stopped me from doing it. 

16) I play water polo during the summer. I am so excited for the season to start again, I should probably make my way to a pool to start getting in shape. I don't think I have been in a pool since last August.

17) I want to say I love reading. I mean I do but other things seem to get in the way, like movies, facebook or pinterest. Once I make myself start reading I love it and I think to myself, "why don't I do this more often? Well now I am going to." Then I start dreaming about all the books I am going to whip through. Next thing I know it's been a week since I last read the current book I am reading and I have to re-read a few paragraphs to remember what is happening. =/ So when I'm reading I love reading but when I'm not reading I tend to forget. 

18) I am a runner. I think I have done enough running to classify myself as one... well maybe minus this winter. I have had a hard time finding the motivation. I've regained some of that motivation and now it has become a time thing. Also, I really don't like running on treadmills and since it has been friggin' cold this winter I don't want to run outside. Now that it is starting to get up into the 30 degree area I wouldn't mind running outside but the smog/inversion/crap in the air makes me shy away from it. I have become desperate enough that I have clocked a few miles on the treadmill within the last few weeks. 

19) I love junk food. Chocolate, Pringles, cupcakes, candy, cake, cheesecake, etc. If it's probably going to clog my arteries then I probably love eating it. Therefore I have had to adopt a runners life to prevent the poundage from collecting. Yay getting older and metabolism slowing!

20) I LOVE BEING IN YOUNG WOMENS! And I will be sad to leave my young wimies in March when the hubby and I move. The new curriculum scared the crap out of me. Today I did my first lesson. I had my questions and stuff outlines on a paper. When I got to church I totally forgot that paper and kind of winged it. I feel like it went well but maybe it is because it was a lesson for me. Hope the girls got something out of it. Granted that's how I feel about them in general. I don't know that they are getting much from me but they are making such a difference in my life. =)

21) I have some awesome friends. Some of them have dropped of the map, for one reason or another, and we reconnected and they are just awesome people. One friend I've known for as long as I can remember, we lost contact in high school but ran into each other at a wedding and now we go get sushi once in a while. Another we met in 2nd grade, some things happened and we weren't friends anymore but she ended up being in my singles ward. There is even one that I have reconnected with in just the last year and the things that she is doing simply amaze me. It has been fun to have friends back from old times. Having people in your life that you can say, "remember that one time we...?" I don't know why it seems to make all the difference in my life. 

22) I love dogs. I miss my Abby even after 3 years. Lets be honest I miss all the dogs I have had in their own little way. I think why Abby means the most to me is she was (this may sound weird, dog lovers will understand) there for me through some tough times in my life. She was my baby, that always made me feel better because even when it seemed like no one cared, she loved me and it meant a lot. 

23) I love making things. I can sew but I'm not exactly good at it but at least I try. I've done some pretty craft things so that our newly wed apartment can have some decoration on the cheap. Yay Crafts and craftiness.

24) I love my husband. That's probably obvious since I married him. We have been through a lot in the time that we have known each other and I am grateful for him and all he has done for me. I'm glad he is so smart and patient. This probably should have been #1 fact but I wanted to put off stating the obvious as long as I could. 

25) I made it to 25! How interesting it actually was is up for you to decide on your own. I guess I'll finish off with this, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love it! I'm so amazed to see the little things that my Father in Heaven has done for me. I know there are people that think miracles no longer happen but I disagree. Miracles don't have to be some big grand thing, they can be small and it's the small ones I am most grateful for. I try to find them in each day. If you try, you can find evidences of God's hand in our lives everyday. Some days it seems we have to look harder than others. Today mine was my lesson. I shared this video because when I first watched it I just felt I had to share it with my young women. I love that my Heaven Father has given me the opportunity to communicate with him through prayer. I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful for the answers that He gives me, even though they aren't always what I want. I know He knows me. I know He loves me, more than I can comprehend. God is real. He listens to our prayers. He answers them and I know it!

Thank you for reading =0)