Tuesday, March 30, 2010

3 Chicks I really dig. Plus Danny.

Because I have been such a grumpy gus these past few days, what with hating school so much and all, and feeling stressed about the million decisions i am currently making,  I have decided once a month, to randomly select four of five people to write about. This oughta cure the blues.

Jenni Wright- is pregnant first of all. That is a miracle in and of itself considering the fact that she is the size of a small child. Even though she has been so sick during most of her pregnancy, she keeps such a good attitude. I think she is one of the most relaxed people I know. She is way patient, adventurous, and really good at being a friend. She looks good as a blonde OR a brunette; a feat many girls can only dream of. She can sing and play the piano beautifully. AND she is quite the ballroom dancer. And i don't want her to leave for the summer.

Nicole Morin - has the biggest heart eevvveerrr. She always notices things that most people don't. She is very intuitive. She is super honest. She is such a babe and is has hot lady muscles. She always has cool shoes. She does anything she can to make other people feel good about themselves. She is the funniest person on earth. We used to wake up and just start laughing and wouldnt stop until we went to bed that night.  And she is getting married soon!

Emily Woods- Is there a sweeter person on earth than Emily Woods? I don't think she has ever offended one person in her whole life. She has beautiful hair and awesome style. She is the kind of person everyone wants to be like. She is a diver for BYU and can do hand stands for a million hours at a time. She has perfect skin. She is incredibly thoughtful. And.. she is getting married soon too!

Danny Masters- has a heart of gold. He is constantly doing dishes. He looks so cool when he rides his bike. He has sweet James Bond style. He always makes the bed. He has never been beat by anyone at 24 when he swims laps. He plays the guitar. He plays the piano. He sings. He is nice. He is nice looking. He is always up for any crazy adventure. He has the high score on bubble breaker. He is really good at tying things up. He usually wins when we race to the bathroom. He is my husband! and i am sooooo lucky.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Tribute to Momma Brown

Yesterday was my mom's Bday. Can i just tell you that my mom rules? She is the most amazing woman I know.
Here are a few reasons why.
In no particular order.

She is a babe.
She designed our house in Mississip. Most people get a degree in like architecture for that.
She had 7 kids. 7!
She folded ALL of our laundry (plus did alll of our laundry) growing up
I have yet to meet anyone on earth who can replicate her Heavenly Hash Brownies. She is famous for them.

She is always up for an adventure & really loves life.
She ALWAYS puts others first.
She lets me call her every single day and listens to my craziness.
She loves to laugh. She is one of the silliest people I know.
She's has beautiful blue eyes!
She is a pro chef! There is nothing like this lady's home cookin.
Not to mention her mad skills at making treats.
 
She loves her alligator cookie cutter. We have alligator cookies at every holiday or special occasion.
She taught us all how to appreciate the outdoors.
When she cuts up watermelon, she picks out all of the seeds. Everytime. Because she says that seedless watermelons don't taste as good. That is an example of how much she cares + her work ethic.
She is the best listener ever. And really is my best friend.
She forgives very easily.
She has put up with my dad and all of us kids for about 30 years.
She has an eye for detail.
She teaches by example. i.e. I don't recall her once telling me growing up to read my scriptures or say my prayers, but I always did it cause I would see her doing it.
She taught me how to read between the lines. You know, with the 3 fingers.
She appreciates simple things.
She gives Pete & Duaine a run for their money at hearts.
She is really good at being a mom.

Happy Birthday Mom!
I love you!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Filmore, Fun, Run, Friends, and Food.

Friday night Kim & her significant other took us to the Fillmore hot springs. They are about an hour and a half south of Provo, and boy. They sure are a good time.
We left Provo at about 9, and drove down while listening to the musical stylings of Lady Gaga, and planning summer adventures. When we pulled into the dirt road that is the parking lot for the hot springs, there were some pleasant drunk high school boys from the sticks getting out of their not too eco friendly oversized truck.
We decided not to park by them.
We walked the 50 yards or so to the hot springs. I fell in a mud puddle. Please bless it was all mud and none poo.
When we got there, all of the drunk boys previously mentioned were there with their 20 friends or so. Did I mention these springs are literally in the middle of no where? This had to be like the whole high school. And they were all drunk. And red necked.
Some highlights of the hot springs:
- one girl saying "I'll be 18 next month so my parents cain't say a thang about it
- a creepy guy in the shadows that was there by himself. Who Kim and Jesse made friends with
- an old couple in their late 50's who I am pretty sure were part of the high school crowd
- a passed out guy with a huge hairy belly on the side of the hot spring
- convincing said high schoolers that I do nothing in life but travel around to various hot springs. to which they responded I must be rich.
- accidently seeing one dude in his van in his whitey tighties changing into his swim suit while another dude in van watched. Way creepy. I wish I could wash my eyes.

Quite an adventure, thank you Kim and Jesse!

On Saturday, we woke up early to run the Rex Lee Run. I was proud of Dan for running seeing as how I have been training for a marathon, but he hasn't run in months. This is how we both felt afterwards.
Saturday afternoon Karilyn and Devon (our friends from selling in D.C. this summer) came down from Utah State to play! It was so fun catching up and seeing Karilyn's cute pregnant self. We hung out, went glow in the dark mini golfing, treated ourself to "The Cracken" (basically the equivalent of 4 large pizzas) and watched more Office episodes than is probably healthy.


At the pirate place where we ate "the cracken" :
I want you all to think about how big my head is, now compare that with the size of this platter. This was the bigget pizza I have ever seen. AND we finished it. Our waiter was like... I can't believe only 4 of you finished this. I just had a huge table of people and they took a lot of it home. He had clearly underestimated our mad skills.

Friday, March 12, 2010

My New Trainer

So, I am training for the utah valley marathon-- June 12!
The other day I was running on the treadmill next to this older guy. He had some mental disability, I think down syndrome, but was cruising at a modest 15 incline with a nice jog. Impressive. He started kind of talking to me. About things like bears. I was running at a 7.6 (about an 8 minute mile) which is the pace I want to run at the marathon so I can qualify for Boston. He said, you know, If you can run at 7.6 I bet you can run at 8.6.
I was like hmm. Thats a good point. I'll give that a try for a while. So I ran at 8.6. After a couple of minutes he was like, "Can you run at 9.6?" Oh boy. Uhh.. for a little while, so I started running at a 9.6. I was SOAKING with sweat. He was like "wow! I didn't think you would do it. I bet you can't run at a 10.5"
Sheesh dude. You are killing me. But I wanted to humor him... so 10.5 we go.
After about 5 min at a 10.5, I thought I was going to die.
Then he leaned over and was like, "this is the last time I will bother you I promise. Can you do 11?"
Dahhh. What is this The Biggest Loser?
But I couldn't say no. So I finished the rest of my run at 11 (which was just a little more than half a mile left). I shut off the treadmill. My legs were like jello.
And then I said, hey, thanks for pushing me (I don't really know if that was what he was trying to do, I think he was just curious) and he gave me a big grin and a thumbs up.
And I will probably remember him every time I am training-- to push myself to do a little better.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Enough is enough.

That is it people. If I hear one more person talk about being on the "lemon juice cleanse" diet I am going to karate chop some throats. How long is this trend going to last? Where is your dadgum common sense?

For those of you who may not have heard of said diet and may be at risk of hearing about it and trying it, here is the deal:

It's been around since the 70s. So its nothing new and exciting.
"The Master Cleanse is a liquid diet. It involves drinking 6 to 12 glasses a day of a lemonade concoction containing lemon juice, maple syrup, water, and a little cayenne pepper. The total daily intake is roughly equivalent to the juice of 3 lemons per day and 3/4 to 1 1/2 cups of maple syrup per day (does that last part sound intelligent???- Danny). Other than the lemonade drink, a herbal laxative and a salt water drink are recommended as part of the daily regimen."

SICK.

Further, you are suppose to stay on the diet for 10-40 days. In other words, YOU DO NOT EAT ONE THING FOR 10-40 DAYS.

First things first, maple syrup is nothing but sugar. For a 1/4 c serving, you are consuming 53 grams of sugar! That means you are getting basically 160 or more grams of sugar a day.. without ANY vitamins A, D, C. You are getting a tiny tiny amt of calcium and Niacin. That is it. Why don't you just eat a Costco sized bag of skittles and at least enjoy the taste! They probably have more vitamin C anyways. In summary, you are not getting anywhere near the amount of nutrients you need. The more nutrients you obtain, the better your skin will look, the hotter your body will be, and dang you will just FEEL better. You need da nutrients daily!

Now, 3 lemons a day? For 40 days? Say goodbye to your teeth. That is all I have to say about that.

Do you know what happens when you start eating like a normal human being again? You gain weight. Immediately.You get FATTER. Your body goes into starvation mode on this diet and the second you put some real food in your body, it is going to store it to try to save your body from the horrendous trauma you are putting it through.

"Most nutritionists advise against a prolonged fast or liquid diet. One of the most common concerns is the lack of nutrients, protein, and calories in the diet. Having 6 glasses of the lemonade beverage provides a mere 650 or so calories. One of the potential side effects of rapid weight loss is the formation of gallstones. The book mentions a person who passed gallstones on the 24th day on the Master Cleanse that 'he didn't know he had.' The gallstones were likely due to the diet itself." (Cathy Wong, Medicine Guide)

Common side effects to the diet: sores in the mouth, feeling tired or fatigued, and having body aches. Sounds fun. Go ahead and give that a try.

If you want to lose weight or "cleanse" yourself, the best thing you can do for your body is be nice to it. Stop eating nasty greeeeezy sugary fatty food and start eating some effing vegetables and fruit. And don't over eat! And don't feel bad if you need to have a bowl of ice cream once in a while.
Also, get off your A and go work out.
Also, get some dang sleep.
Quit drinking this nasty crap. It doesn't even work. You might lose weight while you are on it, but you will gain it back. Promise.

Good Grief.