damn you LDSLinkup!

I have a guilty pleasure. It's LDSLinkup. Believe me, I'm trying to stop. I loved it for so many reasons... up until the other day when I found out they've added a new feature- "Who is checking out your profile?" I hate them for this. Hate. This is the exact reason I haven't joined* any of the other** LDS dating sites. I just don't need that kind of pressure!

Seriously! How am I supposed to stalk people without looking crazy and desperate if they can now see who's checking out their profile?! I mean, c'mon! Sometimes a gal's gotta gawk at photos of hot mormon guys (and laugh at the crazy ones). I had my favorites whose photos I'd check out every few days just for fun. I used to be able to do that at will without the worry of them thinking that I was a crazy stalker (even though maybe I am).
Furthermore! I'm totally obsessed- OBSESSED!- with seeing who is checking ME out. I mean... I don't want people to think that I'm checking them out BUT I WANT THEM TO CHECK ME OUT!

OK... I know I'm crazy. Just please tell me I'm normal crazy.
Please. Lie if you have to.

*or maybe I HAVE joined the other sites using a "fake" profile... a lovely gal named tami who is divorced with one child and works as a secretary. ha!
**that linkup is a dating site is debatable even though that is 99% of what happens there

so what if i'm a mashochist

On the heels of the SLC 1/2 marathon I'm looking forward to what comes next. To be quite honest with you, even though I'm very happy that I DID the 1/2 (without training), I'm not satisfied with my time AT ALL. I want to finish a 1/2 in 2:30. That's my goal. So I'm kicking the training into gear starting TONGIHT. My time is just bugging me and I HAVE to have a good race so I can feel better about life. So what's on the agenda? I'm still looking for a good 1/2 to do in may then another in july or august. But in the mean time here's what's definitely on my plate:

May 3rd- The Susan G Komen 5k. No problem. This will be a fun race I'll be doing with a bunch of my Relief Society girls. I'm not going to worry too much about my time since these races are usually too crowded to run at pace for the first mile.

June 20-21- The Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay. I put together a team. You can check out our blog. I'm so excited for this race. It's going to be killer (in pain and fun). My only worry is not doing the race right. I'm not talking about the running part. I'm talking about the everything else part. Anyone done it that has advice? Also, we need 2 more guys and some alternates if anyone is interested.

July 4- The Provo Freedom Run 10k. This is where the madness all began last year. The race that got me addicted to running. Can't wait to do it again. It's just a fun one. And cheap! $15 for a 10k!

October 4- The St George Marathon. I've registered for the lotto. We'll see what happens. Thinking about running 26.2 miles in one go makes my entire soul hurt but I have to do it. I HAVE TO DO IT ONCE IN MY LIFE AND IT HAS TO BE THIS YEAR! I just have it in my head that this is the year to do it. So I'm going with it.

December 7- The Las Vegas Marathon. Regardless of whether or not I do St George I'm doing Las Vegas as well. It'll be pretty cool to run this race in my own city. I blame Chloe for my committment to this race. Her enthusiasm (masochism?) has rubbed off on me.

conversation killah!

you know what's really funny?
when someone asks you if you're married and you say "no".
they never really know how to follow up.
i like watching them squirm.

Race Report: SLC 1/2 Marathon

didn't train at all
didn't have any friends to run with
didn't get enough sleep the night before
didn't do much running during the race
didn't make it to mile 10 before the first marathoners passed me
didn't feel like running at all during the last few miles
didn't even care that it took me 3 hours to finish

did care that i finished at all
oh yeah. hell yeah.
i. am. awesome.

ps- i like to pose for the cameras

ran.dom.

well let's just get this out of the way first of all. ww-week 4. up 3.7lbs. i don't even want to talk about it. ok, yes i do. i had an ok week. not the best, not the worst. i blame my big gain entirely on being a girl, if you know what i mean. so fingers crossed for a huge loss next week to make up for this week (or else i'll be pissed). needless to say, i'm depressed.

i'm heading to utah in 2 hours. i registered for the slc 1/2 marathon months ago. i booked a flight weeks ago. factor in no training, lots of good stuff going on in vegas and 1/2 my fam leaving ut for the weekend and i big time struggled with the decision to go or not to go. each side had a valid arguement so 12 hrs before my flight i was still undecided. i started packing just in case. arranged for my pops to pick me up from the airport. still undecided. but this morning i said- why the hell not. utah here i come. dear 1/2 marathon, please don't kill me.

this week has been a sort of spiritual awakening for me. maybe awakening is too strong of a word but i had countless gentle reminders that i need to get myself better aligned with the spirit. it was a week in stark contrast to my weekend which, while outrageously fun, was not spirit filled (more on this in a future post with pictures). i finally listened to general conference. just listening to it reminded me that i love feeling the spirit. realized that pres. monson's stories aren't just stories, they are stories of real people. i went to institute and was taught the importance of loving that which is holy- the scriptures, the temple, the sacrament. i went to a stake r.s. training last night. not much training but lots of love and encouragement. remembered that i need to love my girls (not hard most of the time) and show them that i love them (hard most of the time). i felt the weight of my calling to a degree i haven't felt in a while. overwhelming. time to get off of autopilot (again).

consumer and i booked our flights to europe yesterday. leaving in less than a month, staying for 2 weeks. i should be super excited about this but i've been stressed about it all. the money. missing work. leaving my calling. etc. hopefully as our departure date gets closer i'll be more pumped. it's europe after all! going to all the same places i've already been which is fine but sad that i'm not going anywhere new. guess that's what next year is for. the itin is- rome, venice, paris, london, edinburgh, dublin. actually, this is going to be amazing. i'm brushing up on le francais.

have an awesome weekend everyone!

WW-Week 3

Down one more pound this week!

you know i love to be:

LITERARY TAGGED! by Amanda

This is what you do:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

"You see, fear has had an effect on him." ~The Inspector General of Prisons

From chapter XIV: The Raving Prisoner and the Mad One of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Everyone I know who has read this book says it's their favorite. Already, I'd recommend this to anyone and I don't even know how it's going to end! I'm on page 839 of 1243. Almost there! When I first picked up this behemoth book I feared it would take me the entire year to get through it BUT it is so captivating! It's taken me about 3 weeks to get this far and I suspect I'll finish this weekend. I cannot wait to see what happens!

Oh, and I tag whoever feels like being tagged.

that lady

i finally became that lady. the crazy lady. proof?
yesterday at the grocery store i realized i was singing out loud to the overhead music. and dancing. with no shame.
i think i'll go buy a cat and just make it officially already. altho that might cross the line from eccentric crazy to just crazy crazy.
i'm ok being eccentric crazy... in fact, i aspire to that. i'm not, however, ok with crazy crazy.

sorry y'all

Sorry about being a big ol' blog slacker!
As soon as I download my photos I'll tell you about last weekend (full of awesomeness) and the upcoming weekend (full of more awesomeness).
Yeah, you should pretty much be jealous of my life.
Have an awesome day everybody!

WW- Week 2

Luck. It had to be luck this week. There's no logical reason behind the weight loss. My fam was in town all weekend and we ate out once or twice a day. I tried to make good choices but I also used the excuse that it was the weekend and a special weekend because I was with family so it didn't matter if I counted points or not. So I didn't. But come tuesday morning I began to worry a little about how fast friday morning was coming so I tried really hard to have 3 good days following the 3 bad days. I like to think I was shocking my body into losing weight by mixing things up a bit. Well, it worked. As I stepped on the scale this morning I was just hoping for any tiny loss or at least to stay the same. But! I'm down 2.6lbs this week!

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to everyone who has been so supportive! You have no idea how much your encouragement means to me. No idea.

hellz yeah

Oh man! "Spoon" radio on Pandora is freakin awesome! I've given a thumbs up to every song they've played. Well done Pandora. Well done.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about then you need to get your freakin (just wondered if I could use that word twice in one post) act together and CHECK. IT. OUT.

i think...

i want to wear scarves in my hair more often. what say you?