Kickin’ it Old School

I stole this from a friend’s blog and thought it’d be fun.  Like those old chain emails that would go out that no one bothered to read.  Well, since you are reading my blog, you MUST read this.  HA.
A: Age: 30 (when did I become an adult!?)

B: Bed size: Queen.  Someday we will get a King.  My favorite part of the bed is the middle of the bed, to which I have made up a song.  Ask Matt.

C. Chore you hate:  Ummmm, I hate cleaning.  I think my least favorite is cleaning out the tub.  And Dusting.

D. Dogs: WANT.

E. Essential start to your day: COFFEE.

F. Favorite color: I don’t really have one.  I guess purple if I had to choose!

G. Gold or silver: Silver or White gold.  Like my beautiful engagement ring!
ohhhh, sparkly.

H: Height: 5’5″.

I: Instruments that you can play:  Piano, many many moons ago.

J: Job title: GIS Tech.

K: Kids: None right now, please!

L: Live: at the beach!!

M: Mom’s name: MommaK

N: Nicknames: LK, LauraK

O: Overnight hospital stays: Pneumonia the summer between 4th and 5th grade.  Same summer I broke my wrist and had to wear a cast for 4 weeks. That was a super fun break.

P: Pet peeve: Chores.  Haha.  Loud chewers, bad drivers, people who are assholes for no reason other than to be an asshole.

Q: Quote from a movie: Big Time.

R: Righty or lefty: Righty.

S: Siblings: Sister and Half Sister.

T:Time you wake up: Between 6 and 6:30 depending on how pretty I want to look that day.

U: Underwear: I wear them.

V: Vegetables you dislike: Mushrooms.  ICK.

W: What makes you run late: Myself!

X: X-rays: Seem to get em every few years.  Last one was on my leg.  Next will be at the dentist!

Y: Yummy food you make: Tacos, Buffalo chicken dip.

Z: Zoo favorite animal:  Baby Elephant!

Bodybuggin’

A couple of years ago I signed up for a bodybugg.com account.  This is a method in which you wear a sensor on your arm which logs your calories burned and acts as a pedometer and you also log in any food you consume on the website.  Basically it’s a tool to track calories in vs. calories out.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been struggling with weight watchers lately.  I just cannot seem to stay focused for more than a few days at a time.  So I’m going to give Bodybugging another go-round.  Maybe wearing the sensor during my waking hours will help remind me of my goals.

Upon logging into the bodybugg website, I learned 2 things, good news and bad news.  The good news is that I am down 5 pounds from when I first joined in December 2008.  The bad news, I am only down 5 pounds since December 2008.  So basically I haven’t lost any weight in the past 2+ years.

I’m over it.  I’m ready to finally lose weight, get to a healthy weight and feel confident with my body.  Lets hope that the motivation I feel today lasts throughout the next week, then the next month and so on. I wish I could bottle it up sometimes!

Schtuff

Some big news out of Nags Head…Matt and I are going to be opening an art gallery/photography school!  Matt is an extremely talented photographer and a very passionate teacher, so I am sure that we will be successful.  My role will be master painter and to come up with marketing ideas, and basically just do what needs to be done.  I’m excited for this next adventure in our lives!  Make sure you check out Matt’s websites – http://www.matthewsgibson.com and http://www.obxps.com for upcoming announcements and to see the progress we make renovating the gallery!

In other news, I have sucked as a runner lately.  I am on the fence about doing the half marathon in April, mainly because I think we are going to be so busy getting the gallery ready for the busy tourist season.  I also had a bit of a scare the other night while I was running.  As I’m shuffling along, I see a car in the distance coming towards me.  I wear my reflective vest and headlamp so you’d have to be blind not to see me.  Anyway, car gets closer and turns its high beams on, blinding me.  (Thanks for that, asshole).  Car is about to pass me and doesn’t appear to be giving me any space on the road (there are no sidewalks) so I have to jump into the grass.  Well, as the car drives by me, it goes realllllly slow and a dude in the passenger seat gave me the once over.  As you can imagine, this made me feel a bit uneasy.  So I booked it on the way home, with my finger on my mace trigger.  Since then, I’ve been a little nervous to run at night.  *sigh*  Luckily daylight savings time starts in a few weeks so I am sure I will step it up.

This past week I had a work conference which was interesting.  The best part was that it was near my sister so I got to spend a bunch of time with her, her husband, and their 3 kids.  My nephews are so well-behaved!!  I really had fun with them and their baby sister!

Nothing else really to report – I’ve been keeping myself busy researching wedding ideas and maintaining my handy-dandy wedding ideas spreadsheet.  =)  I can’t wait to see how everything comes together in the next year and a half!

Acceptance

I think this is the main difference between this go-round of half marathon training and last time.  I’ve accepted that I’m not exactly the world’s fastest runner.  I know it’ll take me a long time to get through the half.  I know I’ll have to walk when I’m tired or do walk/run intervals.

But guess what?  I don’t care.  I’m having fun, doing something good for my body and I don’t really need to put pressure on myself to run at a certain pace.  The last time I did a half marathon I would beat myself up if I wasn’t running as fast as I thought I should be.  And I didn’t really enjoy myself on the actual day of the half.

Well this time I have no expectations.  Sure, I have a goal to beat my time from the last half and I am pretty confident I will do it.  But I’m not going to finish this half in 2:30:00.  And that’s OK.  Because I’m going to finish, I’m going to have fun, and I’m going to accept the 13.1 mile journey for what it is.

Wedding overload

This past weekend Matt and I went to the OBX wedding expo.  It was pretty fun and we got a lot of good ideas.  It was nice to get some ideas on prices, I experienced some sticker shock and some things I was pleasantly surprised at the price tag.  There are A LOT of things to think about when planning a wedding.  I am glad that we have so much time to get all of our ducks in a row and make decisions.

One thing that bothered me about the expo was how they handled their “Dream Wedding Giveaway”.  Basically they were giving away a wedding package and all of the brides who attended the expo could enter.  I entered, of course.  Who wouldn’t want a free wedding?  Sign me up!

Well when the time came for the drawing everyone filled the auditorium.  They drew a name and the winning bride went up front.  They were interviewing her and it appeared that she was happy she won.  Well,  I guess she wasn’t because as it turns out, she declined the prize.  Meanwhile, thinking they had a winner, the majority of the brides and families left.

So they drew more names until they found someone who was still there.  You had to be present to win, you see.  However we all thought there was already a winner!!!!  I was pretty annoyed at how they handled this.   First of all, the bride who originally won is kind of a jerk for entering in the first place.  It was pretty clear what was included in the giveaway and what date you had to have your wedding on.  So if it wasn’t for her, WHY ENTER?  Bug me.

Second of all, had we known that she wasn’t accepting we would have stayed.  I feel like since the majority of the people left, they should’ve just given it to the next name drawn, no matter if she was there or not.  My hunny and I were both pretty disappointed with the lack of communication and organization.

BUT, other than that, the expo was fun.  We talked to an amazing photographer for a good 20 minutes.  I was a little bummed because one venue I wanted to check out didn’t have a booth, but oh well.  Oh, and if we go to another one, we now know not to eat beforehand, because Holy Food Samples!!!!

So, lots of decisions to be made in the coming months/year.  I now have a handy wedding organizer courtesy of some great friends.  =)  I’m looking forward to filling it up!!

Run Forrest, runnnn

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to become a more dedicated runner and have a better attitude about it.  I’m slow.  I used to beat myself up about my slowness, but I think I have come to accept it.  Slow or Fast, I’m moving my body which is always a good thing!

Today I went out for my longest run in quite some time…5 miles.  I was surprised at how I felt.  I managed to run the whole thing in a pretty decent pace for me!  WooHoo.

I must say that my new Garmin ForeRunner rocks.  It shows me my current pace, time, distance.  I LOVE it.  There are tons of things you can do with it, like put in a goal pace/distance and “race” against yourself.  And I love the online features.  Love it.  Thanks to my wonderful fiance for the awesome Christmas gift!  =)

Reviews!!

One of my gifts for Christmas was “Wheel of Fortune” for the Wii.  I love “America’s Game” and was very excited to rip the packaging open and start kicking my hunny’s ass.  Little did I know that a thing called Wii speak existed, where you don’t have to point and click your letters, you can just say them.  It’s like Pat Sajak is right in your living room!

Ehhhhh, not so much.  I was so happy to snag this little doo-hickey at the local Wally World and came home and made my hunny play with me.  Well, the thing hates my voice.  I talk quietly it doesn’t hear me.  I shout, it thinks my Rs are Xs.  Of course 90% of the time it recognizes what my hunny is saying.  *Stomps foot*  NO FAIR.  So, my review for the Wii speak…save your cash.  It sucks at life.  I may Ebay mine but almost feel guilty for screwing some poor, unsuspecting buyer.

Review #2…the movie, The Fighter.  My hunny and I went on a little movie date the other day.  Everyone who lives in a seasonal tourist destination knows that there isn’t much to do in the cold winter months but play Wheel of Fortune on the Wii (“F”…Did you mean “U”?  *bangs head against wall*) and go to movies.  We see A LOT of movies in the winter.  Last year we saw 3 in one weekend.  RC Theaters of Kill Devil Hills loves us.  Our rear ends, however, do not love the over-indulgence of movie theater popcorn.  Seriously, why does it have to taste so good?!

Anyway, back to my movie review.  The Fighter.  I really enjoyed it.  I love me a good sports movie.  But this wasn’t just about sports (boxing in this particular flick), but also about family relations, drug addiction, etc.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and not just because Mark Wahlberg was the star.  Although that didn’t hurt.

I mean, really.  Ladies, can a movie be BAD when Mr. Good Vibrations himself is starring in it?

Also starring in this flick is the usually dreamy Mr. Christian Bale.  However…well, I’ll let the picture speak for itself…

yeeeeesh.  The sight of his scrawniness almost made me lose my appetite for my popcorn.  Almost.

All in all, I’d give the movie a solid 7.5.  Worth the $10 movie ticket, but don’t be devastated if you miss this one while still in theaters.

Happy Monday!

Reflecting on 2010

Well, 2010 was all in all a wonderful year.  We moved to the OBX in late 2009 and I was lucky to find a part-time job shortly after moving.  Well, the job turned out to be not quite what I thought it’d be and I wasn’t terribly happy there.  It is hard having a position that is totally un-related to your field of choice.  Luckily God blessed me with a great job in my field in July.  WIN #1.  I really love my job and my coworkers and despite the long (one hour) commute, I am very happy there.  Of course, I wouldn’t turn down a winning powerball ticket, but I am truly blessed in the job field.

The second WIN of the year was completing a half marathon in September.  It was the hardest thing I’ve ever physically done, but so rewarding to cross that finish line and be able to say “I did it”.  I originally was training to run the OBX marathon, but after the half I said “no way in hell” was I ready to do a full – I’d run the half offered over marathon weekend.  Unfortunately I was plagued with serious  shin splints and had to suspend training for a month.  So no 2nd half for me.  But that’s OK.  It gave me a new outlook on running – Not to be too hard on myself and just have fun with it. 

The third highlight of the year was the birth of my niece!  Leah is adorable and precious and I’m so happy to have this little girl in my life.  I love watching my sister and Bro-in-law as parents and learning from them.  They have three wonderful kids and there is certainly a reason for that.  I hope the hunny and I are as great parents as they are when the time comes.

And of course, the highlight of the year was getting engaged to my hunny.  He completely surprised me…I didn’t think it would happen for a while.  We were so lucky to go to Delaware a week later to celebrate Christmas and our engagement with our families.  I am on cloud 9 and every time I look at my beautiful engagement ring I feel such a sense of calm and happiness.  I remember dancing with a friend at his wedding and him saying that it would be me and my hunny in 2 years.  I guess he had a premonition because we had only been dating a few months at that point.  =) 

Wedding planning will be fun, because I am determined to make it so.  I am sure there will be disagreements about guest lists, menus, etc.  I think I will be pretty laid back about stuff.  I am sure I’ll get bride-zilla about some things, but I will just have to remember that it is one day of our lives, and while it is certainly among one of the most important days, it really won’t matter in the end what kind of wedding we have.  And if people are going to be judgey about the things we choose, well they can suck it.

Well, hello there.

This is probably my 9308th atttempt at a blog. I’m going to do it this time, I am! Because…..I have some exciting news to share! We are getting MARRIED!!!! My hunny proposed to me a little over 2 weeks ago in the rain in a gazebo overlooking the sound. It was perfect and wonderful and I’ve been on a high ever since. I cannot wait to call my best friend my husband – I am so lucky to have this man in my life.

No, we haven’t set a wedding date. No, we haven’t booked a place. We’ve only been engaged for two weeks, people!!! I found it quite humorous when so many people asked us, as soon as we announced our engagement, if we had set a date. Haha – yes, we whipped our date books out while he was down on one knee. I want to take my time planning, we want to save some money, and, most importantly, we want to enjoy this special time in our lives. So it’s going to be a while – probably fall 2012. Location, TBD. Size, TBD. All I know is that I will be wearing a gown and my hunny will be waiting for me at the end of the aisle. Our only plan right now is to make NO plans.

The other news in my life is that I am once again training for a half marathon. I think I have a very laid back attitude towards training this time, hopefully something that will help, and not hurt me.

So here I am blogging again. I don’t think I’ll post daily, but I thought it may be fun to share what’s going on in my little life. Funny stories, Running victories, etc. I hope this keeps you mildly entertained.

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