Chick'd!

First off, let me say thank you to all the comments made on the Maui post! You guy are so awesome it blows my mind. 


For example. Sophia from Raven Waves sent me the sweetest package, and it arrived today. It was full of healthy snack goodies, and some other fun products. She is an angel, and I am so grateful! 


I also received two other packages in the mail, one from my guy best friend Patrick who sent me a Timmy Tebow Denver Broncos jersey. If you remember from my Three Tangent Tuesday post, I am obsessed with Tebow. I am so excited for this! :) I now have a Tebow Gators jersey (though it doesn't have his name since he was in college) and a Tebow Broncos jersey. I'm so happy. 


My girl Melanie who is currently stationed in Japan also sent me some Japanese goodies. Not so healthy, but worth every bite. Yum. She also sent me a cute top, some oragami paper, and a gorgeous mirror with a Japanese scene on the cover. She is the same gorgeous girl who sent me  the Valentine's Day package a few weeks ago. I'm seriously getting spoiled here. Here's a group photo of all my stuffs!

Now. On to the important news I have.


Yesterday I said I was going for a run, and boy did I. I ran outside, in Africa heat, with the sun beating down on me. I only ran 2.25 miles, but here's what made me so excited. I ran, at my natural pace, the first mile in 8:40, and the second mile in 9:13. Without a treadmill making me. In those conditions! 


I mean, don't get me wrong, I felt like I was going to die that last 1/4 mile, but I did it. I used to struggle with a 10:00 minute pace, and I now I ran 2 miles at roughly the pace I want to finish my half-marathon in! (Now I just have to sustain it for 11.1 more miles...) I have improved so much. It's proving to me that speed work and intervals do work. 


I even chick'd a guy. Oh yeah. One of the Japanese guys here on base. I just ran right past him. I felt so awesome. (Now, to be completely honest... these Japanese guys are no joke at running. They are fast, so this guy was probably on like mile 15 or something. But I will pretend he wasn't, and feel better about myself.) 


Afterwards I sat down on the soccer field in the shade to stretch. I sat there for like five minutes just enjoying the breeze and the immense runner's high I was feeling. I think it was the best I've felt since coming to Africa. 


So awesome.


Tomorrow is back to intervals, and I have to say, for once I am actually looking forward to almost making myself puke. Yesterday totally filled me with the motivation I've been lacking lately. :)

Me, post run, all red-faced and happy.

Romantic Maui Vacation

The lovely Angie is always asking for posts about Shane and I, so I figured I'd oblige. This isn't how we met, that will be a story to come later. This is about the romantic birthday long weekend he swept me off to Maui for.

My boy is amazing. Hands down.

We had been dating a few weeks, and my girlfriend Ally was dating one of Shane's really good friends at the time. They had decided to take a weekend getaway to Maui (we were all stationed on Oahu at this time.) and it just so happened to be my birthday that weekend. :)

So Shane asked if I wanted to go, and we asked if they minded. Ally was super excited, and I got approval from my teacher (I was in a special school for my job at the time.) and Shane made all the plans. What an amazing boy. We hadn't even been together a MONTH!

I was super excited since I hadn't been to any of the other islands yet, (and still haven't...haha.) plus the relationship was still so new and exciting! I felt like I had won the boy lottery (and I still do!), especially after recently ending a very stressful relationship.

Here are some pictures from the trip. :)

One of my favorite pictures of us.

Shane and I at the beach.

 

Kissy water picture. What a wonderful day.

 

Goofing off before dinner.

I love this picture....

He's my other half.

 

My girlfriend Ally-pants. Love her.

 

 

Shane and his friend Michael. They are soooo funny.

Me and my girl.

We love each other!

Me at one of the stop on the Road to Hana.

Shane and I at the red sand beach. It was so neat.

This was my favorite weight ever. I think I was a great size for my height, though I needed more toning. My goal is to get back there. :) Preferably in time for my honeymoon! :)

Now. Here's an interesting story about our trip.

There is a long mountain road on Maui called "The Road to Hana". It's beautiful, and has a few black and red sand beaches. It's super curvy, and is about a 7 hour round trip drive.

My girlfriend Ally and Shane's friend broke up right before this trip. Seven hours in one car with a couple who just broke up. (Ally also spent the last evening in our hotel room. Haha.) It was super awkward, and Shane still talks smack to Ally about "ruining" our romantic vacation. (He's joking.) I didn't think it was ruined, though. That trip was so amazing, and it was such a wonderful time spent with the man who would become the love of my life, that I don't think anything could have ruined it. Shane does say he won't go on any more trips with Ally... Haha. (Ally is now happily engaged to another one of Shane's friends (he has a lot of single friends...I'm just saying... haha.), and they are expecting a beautiful baby boy in April!)

We had so much fun, and I can't wait to go on many more trips. So far we've been to Maui, and taken a cross-country road trip together (Los Angeles to Jacksonville, FL), and went to Orlando (where he proposed - which will be another story for another day!). We should be making one more trip to Disney this summer, before our HONEYMOON! in October.

Needless to say, the boy rocked my birthday hardcore. :)

Greasy Hair, Don't Care

So February has been my total slacking month, apparently. 


Way to not go, Katy-girl. (Yes. I talk to myself. And have a nickname for myself. Being an only child for 17 years does weird things to you....)


I feel so bored. Not with you guys, I love you guys like long-lost BFFs. I think I'm just bored with Africa. Six months of the same exact thing, will do that to you. It's not that it sucks out here (I mean, it does. Just not in the same way Afghanistan does. Bombs and stuff. Not cool.) it's just so frustrating. And I only have like 5 weeks left, which to most people would be awesome. But it feels just out of reach, haha. 


Anyways. Enough moping about stuff I can't control. Whatevs. I'm here. I'm almost done. Get over it. 


So yesterday was super busy. And by that, I mean I. SLEPT. ALL. DAY.  And then went out and enjoyed sushi wonderfulness with a few friends (yes. I do socialize occasionally. It is rare, though.) Sushi was delicious. Then came back to base and had a couple beers and shouted over the insanely loud music chatted until midnight. Haha. It was awesome. I never hang with girls, since, well, I don't really hang with anyone outside of work, and that's all dudes. Haha. So it was nice to have some estrogen around for a little while last night. :)


So at the sushi place last night, it was amazing, but super pricey. So, since one of the people we went with knew the owner, we got a deal, the catch was, you got a certain meal, and couldn't choose the sushi. (If you wanted, you could pick and choose which rolls you wanted, but it was ridiculously expensive. Third world country, and we're still getting ripped off for good food.) 


So I ordered the meal, and they forgot about me!!


So the owner brought me a free roll to make up for it. I love free. Especially free sushi. :)

Free tuna roll.

I'm on a boat!

OMG. Please ignore how awful I look. It hurts my eyes..... Haha.

No. I didn't eat all of it. But I gave it my best shot. Haha. 

Today I slept a little less. Not much, though, haha. I did manage to get my hair cut. Now I have less dead ends, and closer to one color. Still have a ways to go. Please excuse my greasy hair. I can't believe I post these pictures. I realized when I took the first picture, my face is broken out like whoa on the right side of my face. I guess I only wash one side.... Weird. SO I took another.  

I only wash my hair with Crisco, sometimes.... Promise.

Anywho. I have been seriously lazy about working out. I mean. I still do it. But it takes a lot of effort to get my booty in workout mode. So I'm going for a run tonight. And some abs, then I will shower. Promise. Tomorrow morning is pt, then work. My goal is after department pt (gag me), to run the trail two lengths, which makes about 4 miles. But I work tomorrow, so I would have to leave my shop to do so. 

So I need to find motivation. Haha. Wish me luck. Anywho. I'm out. Have a great Thursday! :)

-Katy

Three Tangent Tuesday

So, according to today's workout on my schedule (I'll post pictures tomorrow), I was supposed to do the elliptical and work my back on the weight machine.


Except the more I thought about 30 minutes on the elliptical, the more depressed I got. All I wanted to do tonight was run. No lie. And since I was having a sorta bad day (made way better by getting to talk to my Loverface on the phone) and I was coming off a twelve hour shift, I said What the heck. So I ran. And even though my hunk o' burning calves took me out at mile two, I still felt a thousand times better. 


Will I regret this decision tomorrow when I have speed work scheduled? Probably. Do I care now? Nope. :)


I felt awesome. I also found a new fun way of reading while running. Usually all the bouncing makes it super difficult. But I brought out my trusty Kindle (this thing is my favorite ever.) and just increased the text size. So I felt like an 80 year old woman, but it kept me entertained! Woot! :)


Now, following once again, in the wonderful and inspiring Janae's footsteps, we have another edition of Three Tangent Tuesday. Here goes!


+ Shane beats me in his sleep. Ok. That's mostly a lie. He more wrestles alligators flounces around and whatnot, but there have been a few times when he has lashed out and struck me awake. Usually it's a smack in the back or something, though once he did elbow me in the eye. I thought for sure I would have a black eye, and get asked all kinds of questions at work. (I didn't. I am SUCH an over-reactor..) So I did what any sane person would do. I elbowed him in the ribs, waking him up, and proceeded to glare at him and guilt trip him for twenty minutes. I thought this was an effective revenge strategy, though I think he's usually so confused as to why I woke him up it doesn't work as well as I hoped. He also told me tonight he can't see the glare in the dark. (Yes, I told him I was outing his abusive nature on my blog. I think he is getting way too used to my crazy antics, as he just shrugged it off.) Needless to say that took the wind right out of my sails. Hmph....

+ I never sucked my thumb as kid. I always sucked on my bottom lip. I say that like it's past tense. It's totally not. I still do it all the time. I try to make myself quit, but most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it. I have no idea why I started, but it's the truth. I also never took to a pacifier. Ever. Totally weird. 


+ I am 3/4 in love with Timmy Tebow. Shane knows and accepts this, though I don't think he likes it.... Haha. But Shane comes first. As long as he doesn't step in front of the tv when a Florida game is on. He learned that lesson. Anyways. I think TT is not only an amazing quarterback that did wonderful things for my team (Go Gators!), but an inspiration and wonderful role model. He makes no qualms about his beliefs, and I respect that. Especially in a world where he could take ridiculous advantage of his status. I respect him as player, a human being, and a Christian. I hope he goes far, and does well. He's also from my hometown. 

Anyways. That's my TTT for this week. Y'all have a wonderful day!!! I'm off to bed here in a few minutes! 
-Katy


P.S. A few of my favorite ladies are having a blog giveaway!!


+Bess at BessBeFit is having a Valentine's Giveaway!
+Janae at HungryRunnerGirl is having a super sweet Swedish Fish gievaway!
+Kristina at Life As Kristina is ALSO having a giveaway! 


GO check them all out. They are super fantastic! Love those girls a whole bunch!

Intervals and Shape-Ups

I am in love with intervals.

It's true. Don't worry, Shane, I also hate them, so you still reign supreme in my eyes. I tried this interval workout that I stole borrowed from the ever beautiful Sophia, and it kicked my trash so hard. I literally thought I was going to puke. I still kind of have heartburn....

Anyways, here is the workout:

During the first two sets, I was like Psssh. No big deal. This easy. Then for the third, I was like, holy cow, this is starting to seriously hurt. The last set? All I could think was, Don't throw up, don't throw up, don't throw up.

I was ravenous afterwards, and I'm sorry to say I didn't eat very well. May have had a few too many pieces of candy, and a slice of blueberry cheesecake... Bad Katy. Oh well. Tomorrow is a new day, and a new start. :)

My girlfriend Ally was super upset by the Kim Kardashian Shape Ups Superbowl ad. She said that it's false advertising, and KK pays a butt ton of money to have her body look like that, and if she fired her pt she would get fat. Haha. I personally think her advertising is now contradicting itself. Are you skinny because of the QuickTrim diet pills you push? Or because of the ShapeUps? Both? Hmmmmm.

Anyways, this girl is ready for some bed. Tomorrow is Three Tangent Tuesday! So stay tuned to learn more about all the ways I'm the biggest nerd you've ever met. :)

How do you feel about KK's Superbowl ad?
I think it's ridiculous, but I've come to expect silly endorsements from the Kardashians. Anyone remember the Kardashian Kard? I still love them, though. Haha.

Would you buy ShapeUps?
There was a time when I would have, but no. Not now. I have to come to realize the best and only way to get in shape is to work hard and eat right. It may not be fast, and it sure isn't easy. But it does work. I hope... Haha.

New Dedication

Hey y'all!

I have really been disappointed with my motivation efforts lately, and in turn my not getting my butt into the gym. I can see the results of this in my, well, lack of results. Haha.

So.

I am renewed in my goals. One, I am going to start blogging my food again. I obviously need to be held accountable. Haha. Also, I have decided to take the lovely Kristina's advice. She said to write down my workout, so I can physically cross it out. I love this idea. So I took some pretty construction paper, and made a February training plan. I'll post a picture of it when I get home.

Whew. I feel better already. Having a plan and then just making myself stick to it is much better than "winging it". At least, I think so. Haha.

I'm also working on February's playlists. I know. I'm way late. I'm a professional procrastinator. :) I'll be back later with a recap of my workout. I decided to switch to hills every other week, so today will be intervals.

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday to my SnuggleBoo

It's the boys birthday today, and sadly he is out on missions so I couldn't even sing off-key in his ear. So instead, I will dedicate a post to him.


Happy Birthday to the Love of My Life.

Thanks for sticking with me through many hair colors, you're the best. Here is to many more birthdays, baby. I love you. :)