And so it begins

Today I officially start Revolt Fitness.  To say I'm a little worried about how this first week is going to go would be an understatement.  There is probably going to be a Revolt update every day this week, in fact.  Sorry if that bothers you, but this week is gonna be a big ole deal.

I spent a good part of yesterday getting all of the food for the week prepared.  The program has a very involved diet program, with a one week detox at the start.  Step one was buying all of the food.  Ammon is doing the diet and exercise plan with me, at least to start out, and I was curious to see how much it was going to cost.

Our total cost for this first week was $110.  I'm pretty happy with that, considering the sheer volume of food that encompasses.  Yes, that is 12.8 lbs of raw chicken, 3.8 lbs of sirloin, 4 packages of spinach, 6 18 count cartons of eggs, 2 large bags of broccoli...  and much, much more.

The diet plan is simplified as much as possible, with the goal that you'll be more likely to stick with it.  Part of that is prepping all of your meals for the week the Sunday before your week starts.  In theory, this takes about an hour, but that depends on your cooking methods.  Our prep took longer than that, but I'm just glad to have it all knocked out.

The big question of the day is how this will actually work in practical terms.  We are in training at work for the next 2 days, and our access to food will be strictly limited.  This worries me, since I'm supposed to be eating every 3-4 hours.    With any luck, the trainers will give us a couple of 15 minute breaks, and I'll be able to wolf down my food on schedule.  Otherwise, I might be a little bit of a grumpy girl.  Well, even more grumpy than I am most Mondays ;).

What's going on in your world today?

Fit & Healthy Friday #2

Guys.  There was not a dang thing "healthy" about April.  So sorry to say.  Nope, I take that back.  Not one bit sorry.  April was dang hard for me.  But I'll still break it down and show you just how not productive this was.  And how May is going to be different.




1) Wake up at 5:45am M-F and do at least 3 miles running/walking each day.
Not even close.  Did it the first week, then my IT bands were unbearable.  Then I couldn't wake up.  Then I quit having the ability to breathe.  I've kind of rebounded and done 2-3 workouts a week the last 2 weeks, but I got way the heck off track for a week and a half, and it KILLED me.

2) Foam roll my hips, IT bands, glutes, hamstrings, and calves 2x/week after my workout
I do this about 50% of the time after working out, which is pretty good in my book.  But not 2x a week.

3) Do a 60 minute yin yoga practice every Saturday.
I totally forgot.  This didn't happen once.

4) 20 minute fun workout on Sundays.
Yeah, not so much.  It would be great if homework on the computer counted as physical activity.  I did walk to/from coffee with a friend on one Sunday, so that's something.

What's happening in TRL hq in May:

Big things are happening around here!  About a month ago, I was invited to do a 12 week review of Revolt Fitness. In exchange for my actual opinions, Ammon and I are being granted free access to 2 6 week "Uprisings", weekly diet and exercise plans.  This starts on Monday, April 29, and we are pretty stoked!  Last night we took our before pictures... and our weights.  The program asks that you also take measurements and body fat (caliper method), but I just wasn't there.  We will probably start that with the first or second week.  But for now, I'll give you a couple of before pictures to feast your eyes on.

Once a week, I'll be recapping our progress, favorite part of the week, and any pitfalls.  I know those recap posts can be dry for some people, so I'll do my best to make them fun at the same time!

Also going on, my work is hosting a 12 week walking program that started April 19, going through July 5.  My goal is to kick some butt and take names.  However, a week in and I'm in the middle of the pack.  Time to turn up the volume.

Additionally, I have to start half marathon training in May.  I have been awful about figuring out when exactly I need to start, but it's soon...

Do you get the feeling that I have a lot going on fitness wise?  Me too...

How was April for you health/fitness wise?

Not the direction I meant to head

Guys, we are a ball of hot mess up in hurrr.

And then I go onto Pinterest, just to find something snarky and funny to fit right after that sentence.  And instead, I find this:

And just like that, all of my hopes of making this entire blog post come off funny/snarky/sarcastic sink, and the tone of this post rapidly starts to hang in the balance.

I have written and deleted so many words here.  Words that I'm afraid to say out loud.  Words that make things more real.  That make life harder, and bigger, and scarier.  We are in the time of our lives that is supposed to be the most thrilling, the most fun, the most life-path altering.  Those aren't the feelings that I'm having, though.   I'm not in that good place where everything is great, and happy, and my biggest concern is the hemline of my wedding dress. 

But the truth is, I feel insanely guilty and awful about not being blissfully happy.  About letting the hard stuff get to me in the way that it has.  I don't feel like it's appropriate to share pain, when everyone around me is trying to help me celebrate my joy.  It feels selfish to be sad at such a time.  So I pretend it's all good.  I fake it, because that's what "they" say.  You choose your attitude.  Well, maybe.  But feelings are not controlled by the conscious and rational brain.  And when the two disagree, well, it's bad shit.

So please understand that if I seem less than enthusiastic, less than thrilled, less than anything, it's because I just can't do it anymore.  I've been trying.  I wanted to write something funny today, and it isn't there.  I've thought about taking a break from this space... stepping back from the pressure.  But by the same token, this is where I process, where I figure stuff out.  So stepping away could be really hard, too. 

I just started a bunch of sentences with conjunctions.  All you teacher types are cringing right now.  Be glad I just deleted a dangling participle.  You're welcome.

I don't know how to gracefully end this.  I feel like anything I say here is going to be abrupt.  My thoughts are kind of abrupt right now I suppose.

Fare thee well

Last night, we had a girl's night to celebrate one of my best friends, Emily.

She decided it was more important to hang with her kids wear yoga pants than it was to work a 9-6 schedule with me every day.  I'm so mad about it that it isn't even funny.  At the same time, she knows that she is submitting fully to all of my inane wedding projects now, so I suppose it's alright.

You know what sucks about working at a bustling apartment complex?  You know almost all of the servers in town.  It means that even on girl's night, you have to behave.

Emily, I know you're reading this right now.  So hear the things I couldn't tell you to your face:  I love you so much.  You are a fantastic friend, and the office will not be the same.  I will be knocking on your door all of the time, so you'd best be answering.  I'm going to sing the good morning song every day, and be absolutely devastated when nobody sings it back.  I'm going to miss your "take no prisoners" attitude, and your hilarious one liners.  Oh hell, I'm going to call/text/stalk you every day, and it still won't be enough.  I'm just glad you're in my wedding, since it means you can't avoid me.

After all, there are 2 very important dresses we need to snap a photo in :-).

In which I determine I'm like a polygamist

On our way to the brewery on Friday night, Ammon and I got to talking about how we would like to parent our future children.

This is where I disclaim EVERYTHING.  Neither of us are experts.  We know that we don't know everything about parenting.  We tend to have these conversations just to make sure we are on the same page in life.  Self-guided premarital counseling, if you will.

Ammon is big on both parents being completely equal, and on making joint decisions.  I agree, but I also think it is important for both parents to feel empowered to make decisions on their own and be supported.  What we both agreed that it comes down to is having a firm parenting philosophy and guidelines established before we are in that situation.

To Ammon, this means that once we're pregnant, we'll pick a parenting philosophy to work within.

To me, this means we need to start researching now, because 9 months doesn't seem like enough time to make such a big decision.  Also, hello hormones!  I seriously question how good at making decisions I will be while pregnant.  Unless that decision involves food, it could get dicey.

Oh, who are we kidding, I feel this way about big decisions most of the time.  Food is delicious.

After explaining my position, Ammon grumbled about how researching parenting techniques is way less fun than becoming a parent.  I gave him my patented glare out of the corner of my eyes.  He reluctantly agreed.

So now we're THOSE people who read parenting books before they're parents.  I saw that one of the polygamist families they documented on TLC did this, and I thought they were insane.  Who the heck am I becoming???

So now, I just have to ask... are Ammon and I the only people in the world who have these types of conversations?  Or are we less strange than we might assume?

That doesn't suck

Things that will not suck on this Monday:

1) I had a massage yesterday afternoon, and I feel fantastic right now.

2) Knowing that I eeked enjoyment out of my weekend... so much that I didn't bust the camera out.  Win.

3) My new work schedule starts today, and I will officially be spending half of my day working from the office on my property, 5 days a week.  I will finally get to give both of my properties equal attention.

4) Today is 2 months to the wedding!  We have the invitations, and they are almost ready to send, but my custom envelope seals haven't arrived yet.  Hopefully they are en route.

5) All of the blogging world is back to blogging today!  It's always fun to wake up and have a full blog feed to pick through and love on.

6) And when all else fails, I can turn to an epsom salt bath and a glass of Pinot Grigio.  That never, ever sucks.

What is not sucking for you today?

Crab Tree Brewing

Oh, hey Saturday.  Don't think I forgot to post about our brewery-tour adventures... nope, just been lazy/doing other things all day.  I don't know how many people actually read these posts or care, but as it is my favorite post that I do each week, I'm gonna keep them rolling.

This week, we visited Crab Tree Brewing in Greeley, CO.  Our first encounter with Crab Tree was well over a year ago.  It used to share a building with our favorite local distillery, Syntax Spirits.  We never crossed over to their side, because we noticed a lot of 17 year old kids hanging around, and that creeped us out.  We prefer to not be in locales that are regularly busted by the cops.  However, they had moved locations, and we are trying to be open-minded on this journey, and so we decided that last night we would give it a go.  One of our good buddies, Paul, lives in Greeley, and we dragged him out with us.

As it turns out, Paul is a true connoisseur.  I'm hoping he can be our new sidekick, he has some incredible insights into beer.  And he and I have the same taste in beer, which is anti-Ammon.  Thus, he confirms that I have much better taste in beer than Ammon.  Winning!

The Ambiance:  Outstanding.  The tables and flooring are all constructed from Colorado beetle-kill pine.  The light fixtures have a cagey, industrial look.  They have nice big tables, and lots of seating space.  Also, they offered free popcorn.  We ate 4 bowls.  It was epic and awesome.

The Beers:  We tried all 10.  Their beers seemed to almost always finish sweet.  Ammon and Paul really liked that about the beers.  Our notes about each:

• Head Turner Blonde:  Ammon described this as high quality Coors.  I call it beer for non-beer lovers.  It was not a hit with us.
• Deerfield Ale:  A strawberry ale.  We decided it tastes like strawberry gushers dissolved in sprite.  This is the sweetest, un-beerlike beer we have ever tasted.  Good, but undeniably gusher-like.  Tasty, though.
•  Serenity Amber:  Ammon's favorite of the bunch.  Both Paul and I were riding the fence on it.  Ammon liked how smooth it was, and sweet on the finish.
• Boxcar Brown Ale:  I liked this one the best.  The finish was a little lacking, though, I felt like it had a strong start, but it wasn't until I had been drinking it for a while that I could enjoy the finish.
• Oatmeal Stout:  This was a nice, sweet dark beer.  We decided it had notes of Arabica black coffee.  Paul is a stout drinker, and he was a fan.
• ESB (Extra Sexy Brewer):  We thought this was a miss.  I didn't understand this one.
• Rebel Rye IPA:  This was pretty tasty.  A little bitterness at the start, but with a good finish.  Paul and I dug it.  Ammon, in his usual IPA hating fashion, didn't like this.
• Otto-Bahn Saison:  We took issue with the classification of this beer.  We thought it was very clearly a sour ale.  And we wish it had a fruit note or something sweet to balance out the sour.  Our first impression was "Warheads".
• Barrel Monkey Brown:  A barrel-aged brown ale.  Paul had the strong impression of cherry cordials, and I would have to agree with that assessment.
• Eclipse Black IPA:  I had never tried a dark IPA, and I found the experience satisfying.  It was the best of an IPA and a porter, wrapped into one happy brew.  Not too bitter, but you could tell it was an IPA-style.

Our Overall thoughts:   They are producing some good offerings.  I have never before this brewery likened a beer to candy, and we did it 3 times in one tasting.  It wasn't overcrowded, and the service at the tasting bar was excellent.  They certainly have a beer for all tastes, and I could see us going back.  Price-wise, we were pretty happy as well.  So thanks for the great time, Crab Tree.  Let's do it again.

A few remarks probably best left unsaid

My head runneth over with allergies and congestion, so today I'll keep my remarks brief.  

First off, to the makers of Mucinex:  Your products are not strong enough for my spring allergies, and that pisses me off.

To the makers of NyQuil:  God bless you people.  Even if I'm not technically breathing while I'm sleeping, you knocked me out for 9 hours Tuesday night.  That is remarkable.

Via

To the makers of tissue:  I'm still waiting for you to deliver a product that does not turn me into Rudolph.  Is that really so much to ask for???

To the makers of Emergen-C:  Your tangerine flavor is no bueno.  Super Orange and Raspberry are bomb, though.


To the writers of "Community":  That's funny stuff.  I just started with the pilot a few days ago, and I'm sad that I never tried this show before.

Via

To my treadmill:  Sorry you haven't gotten any action lately.  Once I can breathe again we'll be changing all that.

To the weather:  You can suck a fish, okay?  This is nonsense.  It's April, for cripes' sake.

To early work shutdowns:  You kind of rock.  I had no idea.

To the old Asian man that makes my Pho:  You are a god in my eyes, and I just love you.

To the big knot on my leg:  Yes, it was not a good idea that I bashed my leg into the corner of that filing cabinet.  But really, you don't have to be so nasty about things.

To Friday:  You aren't coming nearly soon enough.  This girl needs some brewery time, stat.

3am

When I was in college, I was anti-sleep.  Not an insomniac, full on against the act of sleeping.  There was too much to fit in.  There I was, on arguably the most beautiful college campus in the nation, with a busy school schedule, work, and a social calendar to maintain.  Sleep was not mandatory.  In fact, my freshman year of college I usually only saw sleep once every 46-52 hours, and for no more than 4 hours at a time.

We fell over trying to go pay for the pizza.  I won't tell you if alcohol was involved, or if we were tired (or both).  It was hilarious though.
If you're doing the math, I would stay up for over 2 days, take a nap, and do it all again.  No, I don't know how I pulled it off.  No, I would not recommend it to anyone.

When you're up that long, you kind of learn to do things at really odd hours.  Food was only open during the day, so at night I drank soda and coffee for calories, or the security guard at the library would share his pizza with me.  What, you didn't date the library security guard in college, because he was the only dude you regularly saw???  I guess that's what happens when you spend that many nights in the library.

Another thing I learned to love was running at 3am.

Yes, I just heard all of your sharp intakes of breath.  I know all of you are tsking at me about safety.  And again, 27 year old Kristen doesn't condone this behavior.  However, she is really sad that she can't condone it.  Those runs were some of the best, most freeing runs of my life.  Those were the silent runs when I had my thoughts and the sounds of my feet on the pavement to listen to.  Those were the runs where I renewed my faith in all things good and positive.  Those were the runs where I took the time to figure out who I was, and where I wanted to be.  They weren't fast, and I will never know how far I ran most of those nights.  I had people join me a few times, but for the most part, I was on my own.  I never felt unsafe.  Not one time.

I went to a school that had never had a confirmed blitz rape.  That is a staggering statistic when you consider IU Bloomington had 40,000 students at the time, and is one of the biggest party schools in the country.  That is not to say that bad things didn't happen, it's more to say that a girl could walk/run by herself anytime and feel relatively safe.  Much safer than at a party, or on a date, or at a bar, or any number of other places.  The streets were safe for women, and there were call boxes all over the place.  For a girl who grew up learning about the dangers of blitz rape on the news, it was so wonderful to feel that safe.

I don't regularly see 3am anymore.  I hardly ever see midnight anymore.  But if I did, I would still yearn for those runs.  Sometimes I want to stay up extra late, just to go and clear my head.  Except that I no longer live in a world where that is even remotely acceptable.  Even having a GPS enabled phone, I feel intense fear about running alone unless it is broad daylight.  I live in a world where the police tell everyone in my neighborhood to not go certain places after dark.  Where people hurt random strangers for seemingly no reason.  I live in a world where people get seriously injured while reaching for their dreams.  It's unbelievable, and it's utterly devastating.

Yet I hope and I pray that someday, somehow, we can go back to a world like the one I lived in during college, a world where my daughter can go for a soul renewing run at anytime, and always feel safe.

Happy Spring?

So, listen guys; I know that most of y'all are posting pictures to Insta, showing the first flowers of the season, wearing your spring frocks in OOTD posts, and all that generally accepted spring crap.

I'm dealing with a forecast showing 20+ inches of snow in the forecast.  Count them, it's almost 2 feet.  It's Monday evening as I write this, and man... it's fun to get a snow day from work (we were sent home at 3 today), but shouldn't we be doing this stuff in February???

I have to say though, that on this 22nd anniversary of me being a Colorado resident, I am remembering that this is the same weather that greeted us all of those years ago.  My brother's birthday is April 30, and one of my first really vivid CO memories is of snow on his 3rd birthday, and my mom taking us out to make snow angels.  We had never done that before, seeing as how we'd moved from Central CA, where a "cold" day might have been 45 degrees or so.

Or how about how my mom and I got back from IN in May of 2007 after my college graduation, and it snowed 2 days later?  Or snow at 10,000 ft on the 4th of July (more than once)???

I guess I'm trying to talk myself into remembering that this is normal and natural.  That it's totally fine to have snow when everyone else is seeing flowers, because we generally have great weather up until Early November.  And then I look outside, and the grumbling starts all over again.  I long for the mornings where I won't have to scrape ice/snow off my car, and for the days when we will need neither the heat, nor the A/C.  I long to see delicate blooms pop up in cheery spring colors.  I long to drive past the college campus and see the sorority girls studying in their bikinis, just like I did.  Those are the signs of spring that I long for.

In the meantime, cross your fingers for me that I'm in the middle of another snow day.  Nobody wants to be driving in that mess.

I shouldn't be allowed to do this

I really shouldn't be allowed to write a weekend wrap-up.  If you guys really knew me, you might better understand.  We are so boring it isn't funny.  Yeah, we go to breweries on Friday nights, but that is typically the most interesting thing we do ALL WEEK.

Photographic proof that we aren't entirely antisocial.

And I should probably now admit to my antisocial boringness just so you fully comprehend why I don't tend to talk about my weekends.

I work most Saturdays.  This weekend I went into work 2 hours early.  Yup, 2 hours.  Willingly.

I don't even remembered what happened Saturday after work, except that I talked Ammon into buying me frozen yogurt at 9 o'clock at night.

Sunday I woke up dying of an allergy attack.  So I did what any person would do, and I spent 2 hours doing Accounting Fundamentals homework.  We got lunch at our favorite Nepali buffet, and then I came home and slept on the couch for 2 hours.

We rounded out the day with a couple of hours of Payroll Accounting, and now I'm doing a marathon catch-up of "1600 Penn".  It makes me so happy.

Source: 1600penn.tumblr.com via 1600 on Pinterest

I can tell that you are all jealous right now.  I can tell that you all want to come be my best friends, right?  Some days I don't know why anyone reads this blog.

Provided I get enough antihistamine and decongestant into my system, tomorrow promises to be much better.  Please come back.  I love you all.

Equinox Brewing

I've been a bad blogger lately, but I have not been a bad beer drinker.  While we took a week off of our brewery tour last week for the bridal shower, we were back in the saddle last night, and we took on a Fort Collins favorite:  Equinox Brewing.

I can't even pretend we disliked anything about this place.  They had live bluegrass playing.  It was the right amount of busy.  College professors were milling around, and proudly filling growlers to the brim.  The beers, all of them, had the right amount of flavor.  Ammon proclaimed it his very favorite place we have been so far, and while there are specific beers I might like slightly more at other breweries, I have to agree that for the overall experience and quality, I am sold on Equinox.

As per usual, we got the Sampler.  We picked their standard, and tried their 6 flagship beers.

From Left to Right:  Sunrise Golden Ale, Vernal Hefeweizen, Haver Scottish Ale, Night Ryder Munich Dunkel, Universal Porter, and Zenith IPA.

This is THAT tasting tray, where whichever beer you are currently drinking is your "favorite" beer of the tray.  The Golden Ale was a big hit with my gorgeous bridesmaid Emily, who tends to never drink beer, but when she does, she drinks Bud Light.

Ammon finally decided that his for real, no doubt about it favorite beer of the evening was the Scottish Ale.  It is the darkest beer he has ever loved, and I couldn't be more proud of him than I am right at this very second.

And for me, the Dunkel Ale won the day.  I wish I could say that I'm surprised, but this is my 3rd or 4th "dark beer favorite" now on this tour, and I think it's official:  I am a dark beer girl.

They offered the cutest little 10 ounce glasses of beer in the whole entire world, and Ammon and I couldn't resist having just a smidge more of our favorite beers while we held hands.  Okay, we didn't really hold hands for anything more than the picture.  But it sounds sweet, right?

The other upside to mini-beers is the price:  At $3 a piece, you feel like you're stealing from them a little bit, and it's honestly the exact amount of beer we crave.  Good call, Equinox.  Good call.

It might be a few months before we get back here, but we will be back.  They pass the "would we buy a growler here?" test with flying colors, and if it weren't for our relentless pursuit of trying all of the Colorado greats, this would be our new Friday night hangout.  So if you're in Fort Collins, and looking to give some delicious darker beers a try, call Ammon and I up.  We'd love to share a pint with you at Equinox.

**Disclaimer**  Equinox Brewing did not provide us any compensation for this post, nor did they even ask me to write it.  We're just big fans of what they're doing.

Sometimes it's okay to lie to yourself

I lie to myself several times a week.  Do you want some examples?  Yeah, I know.  Silly question.

The Lie:  Those won't really taste that good.  And you don't want to feel like crap afterward, so step away.

The Truth:  Those effing cookies are delicious.  And in the end, you won't mind feeling like crap, because you had a damn cookie.

The Lie:  Mmmmmm, salad.  Yum!

The Truth:  AGAIN???  You just had salad with lunch.  This is ridiculous.  Where are the cookies???

The Lie:  I'm only drinking wine tonight, so nothing can get THAT out of hand.

The Truth:  God Bless Ammon, he's going to have one hell of a night.  And I'm going to be useless in the morning.

The Lie:  I only need to run for "X" number of minutes, and after that, I can walk my remaining mileage.

The Truth:  Oh, who are we trying to kid???  As soon as you've recovered, you're doing it again.  Really, Kristen, you're too competitive to walk for that long.  And that's if you're feeling lazy.  If you're feeling good, you're running X+2, because you like bringing pre-algebra into your daily workouts.

There are more lies I tell myself, but these are some of the big ones.  What lies do you tell yourself?

Back to reality

Oops, there goes gravity.

That's kind of how I feel today.  Guys, my world has been all wonky these last few days.  Thursday learning about Heather.  Friday Ammon's step-mother and sister came to town.  Saturday Becca came to town and we ran around like crazy people.  Sunday bridal shower.  Monday taking Becca to the airport and playing catch-up on everything that had been neglected.  Tuesday back to work.  I'm tired just remembering how exhausting it all was.

But it was a good exhausted.  We literally climbed into bed at 7:30 last night, utterly exhausted by it all.  Ammon and I can't help but realize how lucky we are to have friends and family who support us so completely.  Half of our bridal shower guests flew in for the weekend from out of town.  We were able to get a lot of weding stuff done, with their help and support, including buying shoes for all of the girls.  That was a pretty big deal for me.  One huge check mark off of that list.

So please forgive my love hangover today.  I'm feeling a little off kilter as I readjust to our everyday life.  But I wanted to let you know that my life hasn't been all shadows lately.  There has also been a lot of good.  A lot of joy. 

And hopefully tomorrow, I can be in the mindset to talk more about the things that have been so great.  But in the meantime, know that I'm thinking of all of you, and thank you for your sweet words yesterday.  Heather was special, and I wish that you all could have met her, even just once.

Her Star burned bright

You know how you can be sitting at work, on a normal day and then everything turns upside down?  That happened to me last Thursday, in the midst of regular life.  While I was preoccupied with work, school, wedding planning, having people come into town, one of my dear sweet sisters succumbed to her battle with cancer.

It's funny the stages you go through when you hear that kind of news.  First it's just a numbness that just carries you through until you have time to think about what it all means.

And then you remember the good things.  Heather was my next door neighbor for my senior year of college.  I didn't share my room that year, and so she was my next best thing to a roommate.  Neither of us slept very much that year, and we spent many nights coming and visiting with each other for brief study breaks.  When I would have to be at work at 5:30am, I would come into her room and declare that I didn't know what to wear, and that I needed her help.  After a couple of months of that, I came home one day to find a ribbon that said "I can dress myself!" on my desk.  She said that she saw it in Michael's and thought of me.

She was always the first to throw a diamond in any picture.  That girl had more chapter pride in her pinkie than most of us had in our entire being.

Heather was a star that shined so brightly you couldn't help but be affected by her mere presence.  She was diagnosed with Adrenal Cancer while in college after having been misdiagnosed with PCOS, and from the first day she learned about her diagnosis, she was determined to not only beat cancer for herself, but to beat it for everyone coming after her.  She was an avid member of Relay for Life.  I donated to her relay team just a few months ago.  And despite odds that were so incredibly unfavorable, she believed wholeheartedly that she could win.

Heather:  you WON.  You lived a life worthy of acclaim.  You fought to make a difference.  You were a champion of cheer.  I have to smile when I think of you, even through the tears.  That's just who you were to me.  The friend who could brighten my day in an instant, the person I would go see when I hated everyone, because you could so easily restore my faith in humanity.  I know we drifted apart after I graduated, but you have never left my heart.  And you never, ever will.

So there is that

I fell like I should warn you all that I'm planning on taking a backseat approach to blogging this week.  I'm just not feeling it, we have a lot going on.  Even though that huge project at work is past, we are now totally behind on all of our other work  Yesterday at work, we were go, go, go all day.  Yes, it is rent collection week, but it doesn't always feel that hectic.  Also, my bridal shower is this weekend, and there is a ton of stuff to do in the meantime.  Ammon's sister and step-mom are staying with us, so our house needs to be wiped of all evidence thoroughly cleaned before then.  We need to make sure the air mattress works.  We need to clean out Ammon's car,  I have a bunch of wedding stuff to buy, and I need to get all of my homework done early so that I'm not being an awful hostess.

This weekend is going to rock, but the week leading up to it absolutely sucks.

Sorry blogland... I'm already over 150 unread posts behind.  The likelihood that I will ever catch up at this point is nill.  We'll try again next week after all of the madness has passed.

Don't run the morning after wine

Well, whoops.  It's Monday morning, I just got done doing a very hard 3 mile walk on the treadmill (this whole sentence sounds so wrong).  Hard, because we had one heck of an Easter at my parents' house last night, and my body seems to be angry right now.  Said awesome night last night involved a lot more of this

and this

than actual blog posting.  Golden Retrievers, cake tasting, and copious vino > blogging apparently.

My thoughts exactly, Tazzer.  Hope everyone enjoys their Monday!