It is a little late to be up but I just have so much to say.
As soon as I start typing it is like all the hussel and bussel in my head suddenly vanishes..
I do not know how I feel about the new year. Because for once it means more than a night that I stay out late and have a good time. For once, it is the opportunity to end and start all over. Thanks to the atonement I can do that anytime, but for some reason the year 2013 stings. It stings because I have grown so much this year. I have had so many big events happen that it hurts it is over. This year I fell in love for my first time, this year I defeated the end of my senior year and graduated, this year I spent my summer in love with the man of my dreams, this year I moved out and started life on my own, this year I stepped into Utah Valley University with my head held high and my dreams ready to take flight, this year I had my heart smashed and vaporized, this year I learned to stand on my own two feet and love myself, I learned who I am this year and what I want, this year I lost my hero Bob Koch (my grandpa/best friend), this year I made friends who have changed who I am for the better, and this year I have learned that the atonement can really take all pain. Even the pain caused from losing loved ones. I am a daughter of a king, and I need to look at the new year in the eye and be brave. I can do this! I can let go of this year and have faith for the year to come. I will love again and achieve greatness.
Here is another one of my guilty pleasures, Alicia Cards poems, because I loved it so much.
While the reason I began this blog was for the sole purpose of my communications class, not that I did not ever want a blog but not one about a dedicated topic like working out... Working out is a passion of mine hands down but I just do not find that any of my workouts are all that interesting or worth while to write about. So this post is a little unusual to this themed blog. This will be rather something similar to a vent. I need to just vent.. and let all my hot air out. After months of holding on to a hopeless hope I finally got the courage and strength to let go. Now this was not an easy task by all means but I had a lot of help! As Alicia Card one of my friends wrote a poem on her blog about it and this is something that was really helpful to me. This is one of the most beautiful poems ever.
"To let go doesn't mean to stop caring.
It means I can't do it for someone else.
To let go is not to cut myself off.
It's the realization that I can't control another.
To let go is not to enable, but to Allow learning from natural consequences.
To let go is to admit powerlessness which means,
the outcome is not in my hands.
To let go is not to try to change or blame another.
I can only change myself.
To let go is not to care for, but to care about.
To let go is not to fix.
But to be supportive to let go is not to judge but to
allow another to be a human being.
To let go is not to be in the middle.
Arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to effect their own outcomes.
To let go is not to be protective.
It is to permit another to face reality.
To let go is not to deny, but to accept.
To let go is not to nag, scold, or argue,
but to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.
To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take each day as it comes and to cherish the moment.
To let go is not to criticize and regulate anyone,
but to become the best I can be.
To let go is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.
To let go is to fear less.
Trust in God more, and freely give the love he's given to me."
The pain and patience that I went through during the last couple months of my life have become something I am so grateful for. Those experiences as well as the ones that have come to follow are building blocks to me reaching my full potential. These have also helped me to learn a lot so I can help others going through similar situations.
Letting go has created this new freedom for me, one were I can smile, laugh, breathe and really enjoy life. I can now feel how awesome I am and not base it off of someone else's feelings for me.
I am now enjoying dating again and meeting new people. Motivation to work and do well in school has struck my soul hard. I want to travel to learn and gain experience, not to run away anymore. My desire to date is not to fill my time so I'm not thinking about him but to meet someone new that I can give my love to.
With that being said, I use to think there was never going to be another that great. He is an extraordinary man that I will always love and respect. However ...(: I was absolutely wrong. There are others, who are incredible. And it is possible to love someone else.....
So..
I met this man, we can name him Phillip.
Phillip came from literally no where. We have really kinda no mutual friends. We have no classes together. We simply have the same major which causes us to cross paths in the hall when our timing is right time to time. I really had never noticed him before November 14. I guess supposedly he had noticed me often by my smile in the hall but never had the courage to speak with me until that glorious Wednesday of November 14.
Phillip and I passed on a flight of stairs in the LC at UVU. It was one of those moments where you make eye contact and smile at each other but keep walking. You both think to yourself, " Wow that person was super attractive. I really wish I knew them. Too bad my life is not a movie, therefore I will never see them again." and then you continue on walking as if nothing had ever happened. You usually tend to forget about it within minutes.
Phillip on this unusual day made my day one like no other. He made it a movie day. I passed him again right before the stairs walking into the LA. This time he stopped and got my number. We have been on two dates since then (both super fun) I really am curious to see where this goes. I hope more than anything it works out. Its so scary because I am so fragile right now and he is the first to make me twitter-patted since him. It doesn't help that Christmas is the most romantic holiday and there will be so much room this next month for growth.
Welp, I guess we will find out soon enough how lucky I am or if it is too good to be true!
Entwined All that we are is defined By each-other's shipwrecked hearts And I shiver to think What would have been If I wouldn't have seen you in time Would we pass by
Like parachutes and air balloons Or satellites and lonely moons We'd still be drifting far apart But thank the stars we are entwined
To educe last winter and some of the fun, made me think of some really great activities that can help you get that extra calorie burner in for the day.
As December hits in Utah, snow regularly fills the once hiked on trails. (unless it is like last winter, cough cough) This makes life really difficult for those of us who love hiking. However, thanks to the genius who decided to put tennis racket looking things on his feet, we can now enjoy hiking all year. Yes they are called snow shoes, use them. Last year this became something that I really enjoyed. Although "enjoyed" is a word to be taken lightly. It was fun don't get me wrong but it is a good warning to remember that snow makes the load a lot heavier so it is a little more work than your regular hike, but well worth it! The first time I went was for a date and we went up American Fork canyon. If you decide to go snowshoeing for your first time, I recommend that you do not dress too warm. The snow tends to play tricks on us and it is not quite as cold as it appears.
Snow boarding is another winter passion I have. For those who have never been it is hard the first couple of times and then it becomes the most fun thing you will ever do. For the workout aspect of it, you get a great thigh, glut, and abdominal workout. Beginners will also probably have an arm workout as well. If you are one of those people who have lived in Utah their entire life and still have never been snowboarding but still claim to be a Utahan, then I would advise you to take up this great hobby soon. As a college student, snowboarding may be out of the budget but Brighton does night boarding 2 for the price of 1 nights so we can all participate. The way it works is you go to your local Arctic Circle and get a ranch burger asking for the Brighton night boarding pass. They will give you a 2 for the price of 1 pass for every burger. Then 2 people get in for the price of like $34. It comes out to be like $17 each. I will be the first to tell you it makes for a great date!
Last but not least, our beloved sledding. Sledding will be my favorite past time from child hood for ever. The list of memories from sledding seem to appear never ending. I remember running in the door from school changing with my siblings into our beat up, hideous old snow clothes and busting back out the door to run to our neighborhood park where there was a huge hill. The hill would be covered with kids of all ages and we would all sled till our parents forced us home because we could no longer see it was so dark. The fun didn't end their though, we would take off the wet clothes and replace them with PJs so we could eat dinner, drink hot coco and watch movies.
Sometimes the best way to have fun while getting a workout is to do something you love!
I am a "do stuff" type of chick, I love to play sports and be active, even if I am not good at them.
My really good friend Adam Frogley played street soccer for a club in high school. He loves soccer and would like to still have it part of his life now that he is in college. Him and I were walking to my apartment one day and passed through the tunnels that go to UVU. He instantly thought of how much fun it would be to play street soccer in the tunnels. That night we grabbed all of our close friends and played street soccer, it was a blast. The vimeo above is a music video of it that my friend Sheridan made because she thought it was so much fun.
Since we all had such a great time it has become a tradition. Every Monday night at 9:30 we play street soccer in the tunnels. It has been a fun way to be active and spend time with friends making memories.
Our street soccer tradition has evolved a lot since we started it over 2 months ago. We now have little street soccer goals and many new friends. Every week is different but some weeks we have up to 20 or so players. That is the best part. UVU has a large Middle Eastern community and many of them have came and have joined the fun.
With there being 6 other nights in a week sometimes I need other fun activities to stay active. With it being cold outside people often tend to cling to the idea of movies every night. To my loss I have tons of energy and can not watch movies all day everyday. Lately I have been playing basketball at a local LDS church with my friends. This has also been something that I have enjoyed a lot.
So it has been awhile.. My cardio cut down has not been quite as successful as I would of wished for. I was doing really great and I was looking really great but then a couple weeks ago I got caught up with life and stopped doing the daily workouts. Not only did my gym determination fail but so did my great eating habits. I love candy and sweets as do most woman. I started compromising my healthy eating for sweets around halloween time. On top of all that I also ended up going for an 8 mile run the other day. I still have been doing some of the daily workouts just not consistently. Since I wasn't doing it perfect anyway that run was needed. The moral of the story is that... Well, this workout program from what I have done was a success, no one is perfect, it is just time to get motivated and keep doing it but the right way again (: The cool thing about eating right and working out is that it is never a waste, even if you do not do it perfect the first time or you mess up a lot. You always are better then the people who never tried and sit on the couch. You are always progressing if you are trying. Keep working hard!
Say what? Yes you heard me correctly, it is a cardio cut down challenge. From past posts its obvious to see that I love to run. Running has been a passion since age 9. This nine year old McKayla would run with her Dad from then till the day she moved out! As much as this hurts I have decided I want to test the waters with muscle building. So a week ago I started Jamie Eason's Live Fit plan. It is a free twelve week plan that will help anyone with determination get fit! I am already in good shape but I am lacking muscles like in my arms and places you do not reach with abdominal workouts and running. If you are brave enough I dare you to try it out with me.
WEEK 1 This week was kind of interesting, I have never skipped out on cardio and the first phase of this program says NO CARDIO. Me being the rebel that I am decided a little hopefully will not hurt. So along with her workouts she has for me I do like a 15-20 minute run. 12 weeks of not only a workout change but a meal plan too. Luckily for me I am already a pretty healthy eater, so I have not had to make any dramatic changes. The biggest change I have had to make is that I have to eat every 3 hours. This seems so odd to me, eat more but lose weight? Here is how it works: Unlike cardio, a muscle workout burns calories all day (even when you are deep in slumber) cool huh? So if your body is constantly burning and losing weight, it is important to keep something going in you so your body will keep burning. If you do not then your body goes into starvation mode and will stop burning calories and fat. But eating a lot does not mean eating what ever. My diet for the next 12 weeks consists of Oatmeal for breakfast, tilapia or chicken with veggies for lunch, three egg whites with fruit or veggies for a snack, chicken, potato and rice for the next meal. That is a lot of food and it is like 1/3 of what Jamie says to eat! The rebel that I am I still have sweets.. A cookie never hurt anyone right? I feel like I am always eating. Next comes the workout. The daily workout is on the website for your 12 week plan. Every day she works 2 muscles. As I have began trying them out I face the sad truth that I may be in shape but I have zero muscles in places like arms and shoulders.. The legs and butt muscles were on Monday and I still am sore from that workout! Ether way I am having fun and it never hurts to try something new! Here is a picture of Jamie Eason so you know her credibility!
Monday was a great day for a run, it was beautiful outside. Skies clear and crazy blue! Have you heard of a better October day?
Seriously though.. it was like 75 degrees!
As always I decided to take that as yet another opportunity to run. I'm a girl that likes to laugh, be embarrassed and have fun though. Solution: I had my best man friend Korey Sutton come running with me! Unlike myself Korey does not think running is the most fun thing to ever happen to this whole entire planet. But that is okay because this gives me the opportunity to make the run more fun! Korey and I decided that every half mile we would stop where ever we were at and he would do 20 push-ups while I did squats or jumping jacks. I hope you can all imagine how incredibly great we looked, me with my PURPLErunning shorts and Korey with his PURPLEshirt taking up the whole side walk at times to do push-ups and squats. It was the best thing ever to witness people awkwardly trying to get by, and then to top it off... Korey lives at Raintree which is fairly close to the BYU campus. This in our brains is a great privilege to take our goofy running techniques and show off on a campus where my shorts were way to high for the dress code! Now as we ran and did our silly techniques we had tons of people to surrond us and cheer us on as they walked around campus! I only wish I could of known what people were thinking, the looks on faces could be described as wow or do they know how dumb they look? Maybe even a couple, "They think they are so funny". Which we totally did, even if others didn't. Before long we had ran over 4 miles and did not even realize it because we were having so much fun! On our way in on the side walk across from Raintree we found some PURPLE hearts painted on the side walk. It was perfect so we took a picture!
Make your run a PURPLE run, it is a blast that makes time fly by. (:
Fall in Utah is SO extremely beautiful it drives me crazy. Matter a fact it makes me so crazy that I love to run in it.
It is common to not love running.
Running gives you endorphins though...
SO HELLO!!!!
What is the big deal?
Running makes you happy, it helps soothe and is a form of therapy, it helps weight control, it teaches a person endurance, it lowers blood pressure, and much more.
I use to be extremely into running for long distances out doors, but as many of you can relate... I got caught up in life, school, work, and so for some reason running inside seemed to take less time. Of course that is not true but it seemed like a valid excuse when it was snowing and I didn't want to go out or when it was 100 degrees.
But guess what? It is officially fall. The leaves are starting to change colors and the temperature has dropped significantly. Here is the best opportunity to appreciate the beauty and the smells. That means go for a run. I have lately been going on out door runs 3 times a week. Here is a little secret... I LOVE IT. Running outside has given me so much peace. Grab your Ipod and your favorite work-out outfit and go for a jog/run. Its fun to even turn off the music and listen to the sounds in your community or think. The smells are worth the run alone, then on top of it all you get the visual too. It is also a lot of fun to people watch while you run.
I personally run on average 5-8 miles out doors 3 times a week. Everyone is in different shape and can run different distances so it is really important to do your best but don't hurt yourself. Run as far as your comfortable with doing and slowly add more into your run.
After I run I like to stretch so the lactic acid in my legs do not build up. As soon as that is out of the way I will do a small abdominal work-out.
ABS:
40 CRUNCHES
50 BICYCLE CRUNCHES
60 PLANK ROCKS ( Get in plank position and rock your body back and forth with your feet. Keep your core tight while doing this. Do this in 2 sets of 30. This work-out will get you your lower abs.)
40 "C" SIT TWISTS
Tips:
1. Switch sides of the road as you run to help prevent shin splint
2.Try to run on the left side of the road as much as possible on main roads so drivers can see you
3. Run through your side ache
4. When breathing, make sure you push all your air out before you suck more in. Often times people panic while running and breathe in and out really quick. When you do that, you only get 40 percent of your air. So make sure you push all your air out of your stomach before sucking in tons more.
5.Keep your arms relaxed and don't ball up your fists! Pretend to hold small pieces of paper with your thumbs and pointer finger. This keeps your muscles open so air can circulate through them.
6. Don't eat or drink anything with acids or milk before a run
7. After a run drink some chocolate milk, cool down and stretch really good.
8. Another way to help prevent side aches is to work out your abs lots. Since your abs can help your breathing, you need to take good care of them.
Rolling Stone says it best, "I've got the bell bottom blues, It's gonna be the death of me.
It's the graveyard watch, Running right on the rocks, I've taken all of the knocks."
I am sure men and women, every shape and size, know what this is about. One feeling caused by many: HEARTBREAK. As I have recently felt this I can now relate, and I can now say its not always a negative thing. More importantly, people can be heartbroken from more than just love. Just remember this advice from Marilyn Monroe, "...just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.” Now lets get started improving ourselves and our confidence. Zumba is a great way to do that! On Saturday, September 1st, an outstanding Zumba event was held at UVU in the UCCU center. Starting early in the morning, free Zumba classes were held all day. I attended the Zumba Toning and the Zumba Sentao. They were both really great, but it was the first time I had ever even heard of Zumba Sentao. If you are like me and are unaware of what exactly Sentao is then here is the scoop: Sentao is Zumba with a chair. Zumba was a blast, such a great way to release endorphins. It's so motivating to work your bottom off to fun music and let out all your emotions. The cardio in Zumba is incredible, I felt so much better about myself and life.
Moral of the story, if you don't like working out but want a hot body or need to work out for therapy then check out Zumba!
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