Y'all know I went back up to Manhappiness (aka Manhattan), my old college town, to visit friends and go to a KSU football game last weekend. HAD. MUCH. FUN!!!
Manhattan is just different than any other town. It's weird. It's like you've entered into a-whole-nother country. But don't need a passport. Only proof of legal drinking age. Which I totally have.
Friday night started off kinda poopy as we were hoping to go to our favorite restaurant...and where I practically lived during college...for 6 years, but that's a different story...Hibachi Hut:
But due to some electrical power bullshit outage, we had to resort to this other bar. Which is not even worth typing the name or linking, because it wasn't Hibachi Hut. I did eat really good though and was so proud of myself....fish tacos with a salad. And I just ate one tortilla and picked out the meat of the other 2. However, we ended up going back to The Hut for some very tasty malt beverages served by my favorite bartender Marc after dinner, so that almost made up for the lame-o power failure.
Saturday Ryan and I woke up pretty early so we went to breakfast at a nearby place. I tried really hard to do good on the food and ordered an omelet with veggies and chicken and wheat toast. But I'm pretty sure those eggs were fried in a bucket of butter. Which was not great for the upcoming......
In my infinite wisdom I decided to go on a little 2.5 mile death run around the park after we got back from said greasefest. Yep...no genius text found in this book. First off, it was a little rainy and all I had on was shorts and a T. Smart. Second....Manhattan is located in the Flint Hills....HILLS people. Me no do hilly's. Me no do at all. About 1 mile in, my local flat Park Shity was looking like freaking paradise. Not to mention I had left over beverages from the night before and a dumptruck of melted butter rolling around in my stomach. Not good. I'm pretty sure I looked like a cross between a giraffe and a 76 year old 'I've smoked my whole life and have beer for breakfast every day' trucker waddling up the mountain. Somehow I managed not to hurl chunks into many finely manicured lawns, despite the numerous overwhelming urges. Still think that's a miracle from above.
Once I got back to the house, I got dolphin claps from my friends John and Lori. They're all like, "You did so great! Way to get up and be motivated." I was going to let them go on and on and on and on and continue to think that I'm a billy bad ass, but...I have a conscience....so I told them the truth about almost calling them to pick me up.....from just down the block...because I was face down on the sidewalk horking my lungs up. Pathetic.
Anyways, at least I tried...right? Right.
From that moment on, life did a 180. I showered and got all fancy (aka blow dried my hair and threw on mascara) and put my KSU duds on, packed the cooler, packed the truck, packed the husband, and went in search of the perfect tailgating spot. See, we lunatic fanatic KSU fans don't just show up a few measly minutes before kick off. Oh negative Nancy we do not. We show up 5 hours before kick off. Because we got shit to do people. Important shit. Like grill.
And stuff our faces. And drink truck beds full of beer. And talk shit on the opposing team.
Yes, yes. Important shit. That takes 5 hours. Normal.
Give you two guesses as to what IS in that mug though. Bet you don't need two.
Those incredibly good looking people to my left in the photo are our bestest friends in the whole wide world John and Lori. Oh, and that handsome devil on my right is my husband. We gave him giant pills before we got there. Clearly they work.
Once we filled our bellies with the buffet of dips and mint brownies (btw, I refrained and only had a chicken leg and some veggies...that I brought....bow to me for I am the eating queen) we hiked around the extensive parking areas looking for other semi-drunk people. Didn't find a single one. Weird.
But we did find some other really good friends Will and Jordan (what up Jordan...totally made the blog, but sans pic because I'm a loser and didn't take any of us) and my extended family.
Normally there's about 20 of us standing out here. But most of them bailed.
It's ok, we're still cool without them. (haha Kelly)
Then it was time to go use our CLUB HOUSE tickets!!!! Oh, did I forget to mention that?! We had CLUB HOUSE tickets baby! (Thanks Uncle Bill and Aunt Linda!)
Walking up to the stadium.
View from our seats. Nice.
You know what you get for prime seats....cup holders....with alcoholic beverages in them.
I'm in heaven.
Really John? Really? You're killin' me Smalls.
And to top it off, it was a blowout! The Wilcats won by a ton. The poor Kent State Flashes (Flashes, really? You can't think of something a little more, uh, fierce?) had zilch.
I have also learned a semi-valuable lesson: Getting wasted all day at a tailgate when you're 30 years old is NOT the same as getting wasted all day when you're 21. Not the same at all.
I'm still trying to recover. Seriously contemplated stapling my eyelids open at work today, but thought people might look at me funny.
That's it for the exciting weekend! Hope y'all's was great too!
This is my cute outfit for today. I am just head over heals for belts and feathers right now it's ree-dic.
Well, hello there extremely large forehead. WTF camera angle?
Anyways, just wanted to show you all, cuz I thought I did a pretty bangin' job putting myself together today.
Moving on....
I did a bad thing this morning. Actually, two bad things this morning.
First one: I weighed myself. Yes yes, I know that's not bad like running over a turtle bad (don't you always feel horrible when you run over one of those little guys by accident??? They can't get out of the way, they have mini legs, and they like the slower things in life, no reason to run them over), but stepping on that scale was still a broken goal. I wanted to wait until Oct. 1st to weigh myself because that naturally thin ho-bag (aka scale) had a psycho hold on my mentality. So, it makes perfect sense to torture my mind by not giving into my little weighing obsession....it's fine.
I couldn't hold out any longer. It's been 15 days since my last weigh in. I just wanted to see. I've been trying to pay attention to my body and how my cloths fit and my endurance on the pavement and blah blah blahbity blah.....but that's just not cutting it people. I need numbers. I need to read my satisfaction on a little LED screen. I think I need my head checked. So, I gave in. Gave up. Oh the lameness.
And you know what that bitch displayed on her little screen???? The same weight I weighed two weeks ago. F*ck you very much Weightloss Gods.
I eat oatmeal. Plain. And chicken. Plain. And copious amounts of veggies. Nearly plain. No cheese. No milk. No yogurt. No cookies, popcorn, Sour Patch kids, no NUSSING really worth shoving in my piehole.
And I've ran twice this week. Ok, I know that's not stellar. But at least it's better than nothing.
WHYYYYY, Scale, WHYYYYY???!!!
And because of my immediate realization of my depressing non-existent weight loss, I promptly went to work and bulldozed a glazed chocolate donut. Bad thing number 2. Enter Mrs. Shame. She's nasty hooker too.
I went two weeks without processed chemical sugar crappiness. TWO WEEKS. It's gotta be a record or something. Can someone call Guinness (the record book, not the brewery, but the brewery might be a good idea too)? Do they have a record holder for 'Normal (questionable) Hormonal Woman Withholds from Sugar for ________ Weeks'? Nope? Then, it's all me baby.
But I could have gone longer. Much longer.
I didn't need that donut. I didn't even want that donut. I, like so many of us, associated a 'bad' moment with food. Again. Fiddledicks.
And really, why did a 'no number change' in my weight have that much impact on me, in that way??? Numbers really aren't that important....in the long run anyway. Who the poop's going to care if you weigh 152 vs 140 but yourself? (Writing to myself there.) No one's going to be able to tell whether that 'extra' 12 pounds is muscle or blubber. It's TWELVE pounds! Not a thousand. I've been at 152 for months. I'm pretty sure my body has decided that 152 is where it's going to stay. I have an average BMI. I'm at an average weight for my height. My weight is perfectly all around average...aka normal. So why mentally obsess about something as insignificant as 12 pounds?
I need to realize that I. AM. HEALTHY. That was my very first goal anyway. I don't eat pallets of cupcakes, or a wheelbarrow of tortilla chips, or frozen pizza's every night, anymore. I eat really, really healthy. And I don't fluff around on the couch and watch The Proposal 37 times in 2 days, anymore. I vacuum, or do sit-ups, or play with the dog.....and watch The Proposal 37 times in 2 days. And I run. I run so much more now than compared to one year ago. One measly little year ago I wasn't running, at all. Now I'm running 5K's like I'm an Olympic athlete or something (well maybe not Olympic).That's what matters. Being HEALTHY matters. Not numbers.
Now comes the rebuilding part. I've gone through the guilt, the depression, the shame, the sadness, and the anger part of my mistakes. Now I gotta pick my pooper up and move on from my little mistakes. And learn from them.
And that's exactly what they are! LITTLE mistakes. Is one donut going to wreck my entire mostly (still drink beer people) healthified life? Only if I let it. And I don't want to. Starting now, choices go back to heathland. And if I want a 'cheat' item, that's fine. But not fine when I'm wanting it just to fill a stupid depression-induced void.
I'm going to a football game this weekend. We will tailgate. There will be fried wings, cookies, chips, crackers, cheese, and other junk. But you know what I'm bringing.....veggies and hummus. And grapes. Yup, that's right, high five for me. If I'm going to be looking at all those temptations, I'm gonna want to shove something in my mouth that's not supposed to be there (try to not read that as a sexual innuendo.....Ronnie, Stephanie, Draz, Jen, Dawnya, etc), so why not prepare myself by keeping some 'good' things within reach.
It's a start. And a finish, really.
Shit happens. You don't always get what you want (even though I really do most of the time, hehe). And you're not always going to be 100% super-happy. You just have to face what life is dishing out. And you gotta deal with it, accept it, and move on.....sans frosting topped baked goods.
Whew, I feel better. Damn this writing crap really is amazing.
Ok, enough of that jazz.
Vanilla Ice, Ice Ice Baby just came on my radio. Life just got so much better.
Peace out, gotta dance.
VickyD nominated me for the Liebster Award. So freaking sweet of you!! Just made my little morning!
Liebster means ‘beloved’ or 'favorite' in German and it’s an honor to receive this award. The Liebster Blog Award is designed to bring additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 200 followers. If you receive the award, you should link back to the blogger that nominated you and nominate five more blogs. Also, don’t forget to let them know that you nominated them.
My Nominees for the Liebster Award are:
1. Miss Angie from White House Blog. She is so stinkin' cute that I heart her long time. We have a obsession-induced-kindred-spirit for Pinterest. And she's running in the Race for the Cure soon!!! She's so creative and has the best bubbly personality evah!
2. This chick Sarah....at Thinfluenced....yup, straight up Bad. Azz. She is one strong and lovable person that you just can't help but like. She's a fantastic, phenomenal, down right glorious mom to a wonderful little guy named Cole. She works her tush to the breaking point, on the treadmill and in life in general. AND, she is one of the funniest people I know. I think she was the first one to use the term, 'amazeballs'. I knew right then and there we were soul mates.
3. And then there's Beth Ann at Beth Ann's Never-Ending Quest for Something. That chica is one mountain of inspiration. When I first started blogging she 'followed' me first thing and we promptly started bloggy-stalking each other. She kicks ass at Cross-Fit, which I'm pretty sure I would face-plant in a dead faint if I ever tried to do that mess. And she has the best positive attitude ever.
4. Miss Tessie Rose at Band me Baby is just a cutey patooty. Right away I'm totally jealous of her because she's from the Cajun South....which is one my favorite places. But she has this amazing look at her life that I so envy. She's a winner winner chicken dinner in my book!!!
5. At last but not least is Miss Read at My Trek Downward. Her freaking personality is like none other. That girl can talk about anything, like her gyno appt. to her two boys, and make you fall off your chair laughing. But she also has a semi-serious side and gives great advice and has excellent insight. Oh my her insight. A.Maz.Ing. I freaking stalk her blog for new posts like 15 times a day. Totally normal.
Thanks again to Miss Vicky for thinking of me! I just gosh darn heart her so much it's nuts. And I can't wait to meet her in NOLA (along with Miss Tessie) in Oct. Fun times!!!
Hello my little Twinkles!! You know what day it is....Ten Things Thursday!!! (Even though sometimes, I complete forget. Or post it on a day that is not Thursday.)
1. I am OB.SESSED. with Pinterest. Yuppers, can.not.get.enough. Borderline scary stalkerish. Have you been on there?? Oh, don't go. Its so Hotel California. You'll get suckered in and never able to leave.
Fo Real.
So because of my new little compulsion, I have determined that the decor in my entire house needs to be undated. Like, now. I mean, really, it's been the same for like 5 years. Time for a little changeroo, don'tcha think?? Of course you do. I need all the support I can get.....because the hubby thinks I'm crazypants.
We have this big wall in our living room, and I have determined, in my infinite wisdom and because of Pinterest, that it needs to be a gallery wall. Like so:
You completely agree, I know. Even though you have no idea what my living room looks like. It's fine.
2. Because of the above decor transformation decision, I need a 'W' right? Because of Wiksten. You just can't have all pictures up there, you need to shake it up a bit. (I love how I'm 'writing' to y'all like we're having a normal conversation. Completely not mental. At all.) And this is where this idea came in:
I got a wooden 'W' at The Hobby (lobby), with some brown twine/string.
Start at one corner and use a hot glue gun to attach the end of the string. Wrap around, gluing on the back and sides of the 'W', and in the front, a little.
Keep wrapping.
And TA DA!!! Purdy en'it?
I'm so excited to hang it up!!! And I'll post cool progress pics on the re-decorating thing on a whole little bloggy post when I'm finished. Y'all can't wait, I can feel it.
3. The new dishwasher.....IS IN! Remember how we bought a new dishwasher and it came in broken and I had to make poor little salesman Ron poop his pants because I was so hot about the issue? Well, little Ronny finally came though. I must say, there have been numerous people very impressed that we got free delivery and free installation out of the deal. It's all in how you word things folks. And I can be a pretty frightening bitch when I put my mind to it. Sad news....we washed dishes last night and they didn't get all the way clean. Most where freaking spotless squeaky clean. Yippee! But there was a bowl that was kinda grungy, but it had caked on oatmeal, so I'm chalking that up to nothing cleans caked on oatmeal. And a fork was pretty much not clean at all. *Sadface* But, it was the first wash. Maybe the next one will be better.
4. Ryan AND I are going to a KSU football game this weekend. See, normally, football season is in hunting season, so he's always hunting and unable to come par-tay with me and my KSU fanatic-fan friends. But it's still too green out to see the critters, so he's able to make it this game! Woot Woot!! And you wanna know what else??? We got the Club House seats!! You wanna know what happens in the Club House?? You get to drink beer. And have a 'special' elevator to use. And have seats with backs on them. And are on the 45 yard line. Best weekend of my life coming up. (Well, besides getting married and all.) I will totally take a buttloads of pictures and do a little weekend recap!
5. I ran my best 5K time on Tuesday night! New PR (personal record, didn't know that's what PR meant for the longest time, and I still forget and have to look it up). 32:33! It was so weird because I was dying. Really, thought my lungs were going to shrivel up and just disintegrate into my bloodstream. And my legs felt like blocks of concrete. But I just kept trudging on. The beginning was down hill and I ran that first mile in 9:20. 9:20 people!! Me likey likey my new downhill course. Then Mile 2 was 10:20. Not bad and it was mostly uphill. Then the last mile...can you say 'broken record'....was almost 13 minutes. Lame. But it's just because my endurance hasn't built up yet. Maybe if I got my jigglebutt out more than once a freaking week. Gawwwd.
6. On that note, about running more, I've set my alarm every morning, EVERY morning this week, to get up at 4:30am to get my run done and over with pre-work. And every morning when that little blaring beast chimes off, I've reset it for 5:30. Epic. Fail.
7. Didgya know that Kirstie Alley has lost 100lbs since starting DWTS? You go girl!!
She's from Kansas. Wichita, to be exact. So I've always kind of liked her. But when I saw her struggle with her weight it was just so unfortunate. I just wished she could figure out what was causing that rollercoaster. I'm glad she's found whatever is working for her and sticks too it!!
8. Clean Eating is still going well. Last night was the weekly Wed. Night Cousin Gossip Fest, complete with pizza...again....and beer. When I woke up yesterday I had full intentions of not drinking or eating bad.....then I got to work. And a shitstorm erupted. Eight hours later that frosty Bud was like reaching the gates of paradise. But, I had only 3 beers at the bar and 3 beers at home, not a 12-pack, like normal. Lush. I had one small piece of pizza, not 3 pieces, like normal. And had a few chips and salsa. Not bad. Improvement in my book. Maybe if I slowly weed out the booze and junk....it'll eventually not be a problem to say, "Nope, this gut does not need more empty calories." We'll see.
Other than that I'm still keeping to my regular diet of dust. I'm really missing cheese. We were best buds for so long. And milk. But the 'no dairy' part of the diet is only for 2 more days. Then cheese and I can become friends again. But only in limited quantities. And all the veggies I'm consuming are giving me the worst toots. I'm tellin' ya. Not good. Not good at all. Probably should break down and by some beano. I'm officially a middle aged man with uncontrollable gas. Fantastic.
9. This is glorious:
Just glorious.
10. My mom posted this on my FB wall and I wanted to share with you all. I think i've mentioned that she and my dad Mike raised service dogs from 8 weeks old to 2 years old, for years now. They taught the basics, like sit, stay, etc. And took the pups on trips to football games, and restaurants, and the grocery store, to aclimate it to public. It was something that my dad was extremely passionate about. He always said that it was hard to give those dogs back to KSDS to get formally trained, but it was ok, because he knew they were going to help someone in need. Well, here is a little video about one of 'their' dogs, Elf. Elf helps Callie out with her day to day living....and so much more. This made me cry. I know that Mike is living on in the wonderful things he did for other people.
I think I have done pissed off Satan. Yup. That's the only explanation.
Because he sent his most annoying blood sucking pests to rain down upon ONLY me last weekend.
Ticks everywhere. Some smaller than a mosquito turd. Very yucky.
And Chiggers. I HATE CHIGGERS!!! Oh my giddy aunt, worst pain of my life.
Don't know why my ankle is that misshapen. Weirdo.
The misery! The misery!
Ok, pitty party's over.
Yes, last weekend I spent all day Saturday in the woods. I went with the Hubs, a work friend of mine and another guy down to the owner of my company's ranch to hang tree stands for bow hunting season (deer). It was a ton of fun. The ranch is incredibly beautiful and very big. We crashed around in four wheelers and six wheelers and just hiked all over the woods. There were 7 tree stands to check and make sure they were still stable, or if they needed to be moved, or reinforced.
I took pictures. Of tree bark and dead leaves and flowers. Very exciting. No, really, I'm working on a light study for my photography so what a perfect place than outdoors with natural sunlight!! I'll work on the pics and put them up later.
But those boys were worse than a pack of chicks in a shoe store! Couldn't decide where to move this stand, and does that pencil thick branch need cut because it's in the line of the shot, and do we need extra straps to tie the stands better, and blah blah blah. I bet we stood for 15 minutes waiting on them to decide which tree is the best for the stand to be. I mean, picture this: WE ARE IN THE WOODS! Trees everywhere! Just pick one for fart's sake.
But noooo, it had to be the all that is Holy tree. Very straight, with enough 'cover' around them to camouflage them from the deer's sight, big enough that it could hold them and not bend over like one of those cartoons, and of course, near deer paths or bedding areas or the deer convenience store (you know, where there's food, water, potty's). Very tough to find. In the woods.
Even though I make fun, it was really funny just to watch them. Now I know what Ryan feels like when he goes with me to the grocery store, or the mall, or mini-mart....I have to weigh all options before I make a decision. Does this lettuce have more nutrients than that lettuce? Are the snow peas more expensive prepackaged or not? Does no fat in Sour Patch Kids make up for the 389 ounces of sugar? Choices people.
Anyway, got a little side-tracked there, but that's me, you all know that. After the ranch-tree-stand-adventure, we went to the owner's other ranch to do some more dove hunting. When we pulled up, the electric fence was down and there was a huge branch covering the road. Weird. Apparently there was a badass storm while we were gone. Good thing we had a chain saw, two pole saws (saws to cut high up branches), and 8 hands to help clean up. AND to get the moo-cows back on the other side of the fence.
Ok, I'm not afraid of cows, despite my other post (those cows had horns, these cows DID NOT, big difference), but there was a big ol' Bessie that I swear to Little Debbie's she had to weigh 2000 pounds. Yes, two THOUSAND! (Sarah, I am sure this is totally normal to you, you badass little hotty.) And she did not want to get back on the other side of the fence. Ryan, Josh (other guy) and Ramsey (work buddy) were all trying to corral her from the front, and I was at her ass. Normal. All the sudden she bolts around and starts to kick up her feet. RIGHT. AT. ME. I might have sharted a little (that would be a mix between a shit and a fart). But being the little farm girl that I am I just wave my hands, yell a little bit, all while my mind is going, "oh shitballs, oh shitballs, oh shitballs", and move her back in the other direction. I deserve a farm trophy. With a cow's ass on it. Painted purple. With pink hearts.
All in all, pretty busy weekend! But it was so nice to have a weekend at home to be busy!
Oh, and I had tortilla chips on Saturday, just a few, for lunch. Bad Laura. BUT! We went to my aunt and uncles to watch the most pathetic display of athletic ability ever (Chiefs game, Lord we suck), and my uncle cooked steaks, baked potatoes, corn, and shrimp. I had a steak, lots of corn, and a small potato with sour cream only, and a few shrimp. And when the carrot cake came out with a truck load of cream cheese frosting on it....I just had one small bite of Ryan's. Thank you. Thank you very much.
I did, however, drink beers all weekend. Oh well, perfection is so over-rated.
And now I'm having the most delicious coffee, French Vanilla made from whole beans, brewed at my lovely abode. I think I could totally pass as a Barista. (**Normally I put a prepackaged filter full of already ground coffee in the pot and turn it on, no measuring, no NUSSING, so no room for error. Easy peezy. Making it from 'scratch' is a little nerve racking. But I did it!! I know, y'all are like, 'Laura, coffee is the simplest thing to make on the planet.' But I swear to you, me being the person that I am, I could screw it up.)
What does a normal, everyday, bloggyfool girl do on a Friday night to spend a little QT with her hubby????
She goes dove hunting with him and their 'child'.
Can you spell H.i.c.k.?? I can....sans spell checker. Amazingly enough.
***And Dawnya: I'm cuunt-ree. Meaning I hunt. BUT! We eat everything we kill and it is soooo much better than the processed chemical filled crap that's in the grocery. AND! There's like a billion doves. Just on our property. Way too many. They need to be brought down. I hope you can still love me long time. I am your boo, remember!
Heading out, we ran into some little thunderboomers which produced this gloriousness....
Not the sad dead corn stubble....the rainbow. Very Purdy.
We parked at the farm and found new friends....
Well hello there Horns.
Then we did a little tour of the bean fields. Very nice.
If you'd like, you can tour it too. For $23.50 a pop. Hey, blogging doesn't make me any moola, something has to.
After the tour we settled down to wait for the doves to fly. Well, Ryan and I settled down. Wyatt ran all over God's creation and back. But as luck has it, he stopped for a millisecond because he knew I wanted to take a picture.
"That germ infested cow porta-potty looks yummy Mom! Can I swim?? Can I??"
NOOOOOOOO!
Yup. That's not normal mud people. Not normal at all. It's poo. Cow poo. Just fantastic.
Still waiting for the little birdies, our friends came back to see us. Apparently we are beyond fascinating to them. Why? I.DO.NOT.KNOW.
Ummmm. No. Stay away. Stay far away.
I mean, I'm a country girl and all, but when multiple four legged, 586 pound freaks with horns come within a beer can throw's distance.....I'll pass. Thank you very much.
Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed them though. Cautiously walking up to sniff....things. Not a good idea. Charging is the word of the day.
But that didn't sway the little pup. After they wondered off he continued to sniff. As in nose in a very fresh cow patty (that's shit, in case you didn't know). And as my husband eloquently put it, "Stickin' your nose any sooner in that and it would have been steamin'." I'm officially in Hell.
But alas. The Almighty does shine down upon thee. This was the last thing we saw before the sun set....
It was like the sky was on fire. So. Beautiful.
Wanna know what I sooooooo wanted right then??? My super bad ass 'good' camera. Oh yeah, could have 'possibly' made millions of dollars from the images the clouds and sunset was producing. Ohhh, don't get me wrong, I'm not the worst professional photographer and forgot the damn camera. Oh no. I brought it. But without the battery. Some days I even shock my self with my stupidity.
And to top the evening off....only 3 birds. Totally blaming this on Ryan. If I would have had my gun....dozens. Dozens, people.
**UPDATE**Apparently, I forgot a very convenient point in the whole 'only 3 bird thing', which was graciously mentioned by my adoring husband: We had to leave early so we didn't get to shoot as many birds as we wanted. Because....a huge storm (which didn't produce near the amount of impact as I had thought) was getting ready to break right over our heads. I mean, what chick wants to be in a field when it starts pouring.....not this one. So, it is my fault there were only 3 birds shot. Totally my fault.
Dove hunting in Kansas. In a nutshell. Aren't you glad I post amazing bullshit. Literally.
