Resolutions Are Still Going

By this time of the year any New Year's resolutions that anyone sets have been long forgotten.  That's not me this year.  I have stuck with every one that I had set at the start of the year.

1.  Lose weight (As is everyone's resolution).  I have lost 15 pounds since January, and I have no intention of stopping now.  I would like to lose about 20 more.  Hopefully it all comes of relatively quickly.  That would be nice.  I have done many things to make sure that this goal stayed in my life.  I have been eating better, and as lame as it sounds, I have been counting calories as well.  That has been a huge eye opener for me.  I never realized what I used to intake calorie wise each day.  I have also been working out pretty hard.  There are many different things I have tried.  Zumba is the main factor.  That has been a life saver.  In the mix there has also been P90X, yoga, and currently I am taking a kickboxing class.  That class is amazing!

2.  Read more.  I have been to the library many times this year.  I am happy to say that it is a habit that I plan to keep. I just finished reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  LOVED IT!!  Now I am reading the next book in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire.  I have heard that it is just as good, if not better, than the first book.  We'll see.  I am not sure what I am going to read once I am done with all 3 of these books.  I need to find something else wonderful that I will enjoy.

3.  Learning Portuguese.  This one I haven't done as well as the others, but I have stuck with it.  I now know more than I did at the beginning of the year, so that is something.  I recently got language CD's from the library. That way I can learn new things about the language in the car, or at work when I have nothing else to do.  I want to be able to have Portuguese conversations with Chris by the end of the year.  I hope I can pick up on everything okay so that can happen.

Those are the 3 major ones that I had set, and as you can see, I have not intention of stopping with them now.  How have you done with your resolutions this year?  If you haven't stuck with them, the year is not over yet.  You can always pick them back up and try again.  I think that that is allowed.  You won't be sorry that you tried again.

A Wonderful Day of Color

On Saturday Chris and I went to the Festival of Colors with our friends Bret and Kendra.  It was held on Saturday and Sunday this last weekend.  It was a really fun experience, and one that I hope to have again in the future.  It was held in Spanish Fork at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple.  I didn't even know that the temple was there, but it was really pretty and really fun to see.



We left our house around 3:45 to try and make it to the 5:00 color throwing, but we were stuck in traffic for an hour and a half.  Normally, it would have taken us 20 minutes to drive to the temple.  After the drive, we parked and then had to walk 2 miles to get to the temple.  We did not show up clean.  On the walk, there were people who were throwing color on us.  So this is how we showed up.



Needless to say, it was crazy packed with people.  The Daily Herald said that 80,000 people attended on Saturday alone.  So it is a really big deal, and people travel from all over to come to it.  If you have never been before, I would recommend going to it next year.  If you only do the Festival of Colors once in your life, it is worth the experience.  I will absolutely go to it again, and it will be just as fun if not better than this year was.  You get to throw colored chalk on people just because.  Who could ask for anything more??

Conversation Between Strangers

On Saturday Chris and I went to Glades in Spanish Fork.  While we were there I had an interesting conversation with a man that I had never met before.  It went a little something like this.

Man:  So, how is school going?

Katie:  Fine?  (At this point I am thinking to myself, "How do I know this man?"  Turns out I didn't know him.)

Man:  School is going fine?  That is good to hear.

Katie:  Yeah, school is fine.

Man:  What grade of school are you in?

Katie:  What grade?  Um... (Trying really hard to think what a sophomore in college technically would be, but there had been a long pause, so I just answered...)  I am in college.

Man:  You're in college?  Really?

Katie:  I sure am.

Man:  Oh, what are you going to major in?

Katie:  I'm not sure yet.  I have switched my major a few times now, so I am not sure if I have decided.

Man:  Well I think that you should major in something that is math based, so probably something with computers. 

He talked for a really long time about his own major, and what he thinks I should do with my life.  So I am just going to jump ahead to the end of the conversation.

Man:  (He looked over at Chris at this point)  So, you must be her boyfriend.

Chris:  No, I am actually her husband.

Man:  Her husband??  (He then looked back at me just to double check my age, which at this point we are convinced that he thought that I was 17 or 18.)  Well that's even better.  You make sure that she doesn't end up in Cosmetology.  Unless you own your own shop there is no future there.

Chris:  I don't think we need to worry about that.

Man:  That's good to hear.  Well, I'll let you two go.  That is your life lesson from a stranger today.

Katie:  Okay.

This is the point that our fries luckily were done, and so we just left.

Chris and I talked about it for a little bit after it had happened, and we're still not sure who he was, or why he started talking to me.  Also, I know that I look younger than I actually am, but I know that I don't look like I am still in high school.  It was a bizarre experience, but it now makes for a very good story.

My Favorite Things

I have been thinking about some of the things in my life that I love.  Here is a list of some of my favorites...

1.  Chris

2.  Warm, sunny days

3.  Family

4.  Living in a good city

5.  Buying clothes the next size down

6.  Staying up late talking with Chris

7.  Sleeping in

8.  Pictures and home videos

9.  Hair cuts

10.  Watching my favorite T.V. shows...  Here is a list of a few of them.

                   -The New Girl

                   -Up All Night

                   -Royal Pains

                   -White Collar

                   -Psych

                   -Project Runway

                   -Parenthood

                   -30 Rock

There is so much more that I can add to this list, but I figured that this is a good start.  I am very grateful for my life, and the wonderful people that are in it.  Thank you to all of you for making my life be as great as it is and for making this list possible.

Costa Rica is Pure Bliss

Well, we're home.  I already want to go back too.  I didn't want to come home to begin with, but life goes on so it was the responsible thing for me to do.  We had such an amazing time!  If you have never considered going to Costa Rica, I highly recommend adding it to your list of travel destinations.  It was a cheap trip and it was gorgeous all the time.  The temperature was 85 with 85% humidity all of the time.  Perfect weather in my opinion.

We stayed at Pachamama in a city called Punta Uva.  It is a small city about 4 miles south of Puerto Viejo.  I think I did a pretty good job at picking the best location in the country.  We were surrounded by rain forest at all times, and it was super green wherever we looked.  Pachamama was right in the middle of it all too.  This picture is the view from the front porch.  So as you can tell, we were surrounded by beauty the entire time.

We also had a really close location to one of the top 10 beaches in the world.  It was about a 5 minute walk from where we were staying.  So naturally, I wanted to be at the beach all of the time.  Every time we went to the beach we got pretty sunburned.  We were even wearing really strong sunscreen.  I am convinced that the sun is meaner in Costa Rica then it is here in Utah.  I didn't care though.  It was hot and sunny the whole time that we were there.  That is the kind of weather that I was made to live in.

We saw a lot of different animals while we were there too.  A ton of spiders, snakes, monkeys, and lot of birds and bugs.  We even saw a sloth or two.  It was fun to see different animals than what I was used to seeing.

 

One of the days we went zip lining.  That was amazing!  I was pretty nervous before we went, but after I was on the first line, I realized that the experience was going to be wonderful and I wasn't scared or nervous anymore.  There were 21 platforms for us to do.  There were some of the platforms that were 5 feet off of the ground, and others that were 102 feet off of the ground.  The line size varied as well.  If it was a longer line, you got up some speed near the middle, and that was awesome!  It was so much fun!  Chris and I almost did it a second time because we loved it so much.  That is something that I recommend everyone does at least once in their life.  It is an unforgettable experience.

(You can find more pictures on my Facebook page.)

The whole trip was such an incredible adventure!  I can't wait for us to go back again and make more incredible memories together.

Only a Few Days Till Paradise

This is going to be my last post for a few weeks.  Chris and I are leaving next Thursday for a much anticipated, and much needed vacation.  It is one that we have been planning for over a year.  We are going to beautiful Costa Rica for 2 weeks.  It is a trip that is finally here and I cannot wait to be on the plane and headed to paradise.

When we tell people that that is the spot we have chosen for our vacation, I just tell them to 'Google' Costa Rica, and then hit the images tag and you'll see why that is our destination of choice.  It is so beautiful!



We are going to be in Punta Uva on the Caribbean Coast.  Why the Caribbean Coast you ask?  It is because that is a less traveled area by tourists.  The Pacific side is the a very touristy area, and that is where most people go.  That is something that we wanted to avoid.  We wanted the true Costa Rican experience and be swallowed up by the culture.  The Caribbean side has not major hotels or resorts.  The hotels that are over there are small and personal.  Just the type of place that we wanted to stay.  We are staying at a place called Pachamama Caribe.

While we are there we will be zip-lining, snorkeling, laying on the beautiful beach that is a 2 minute walk from our hotel, hiking in the rain forest, and so much more!  We are really excited to finally have the great opportunity to go.  When we get home I will post pictures and tell of our adventures.  (I guess if I decide to come home that is.)

Inches Gone=Greater Happiness

First, I need to say thank you to my dear sister for introducing me to the wonderful world of "Lose It!".  It's a weight loss app out there designed specifically for you and your weight loss desires.  She introduced it to me 2 weeks ago, and I am so happy that she did.

When you download the app, it asks you for your current weight, the weight that you would like to be, if you're a male or female, and height.  It then asks you how much weight you would like to lose each week.  You can do as little as just maintaining your weight, or as much as 2 pounds a week.  After putting in all of the required information it will give you a calorie number that you can consume each day.  If you stick with that number, you will drop the weight with no problem.  The app will also give you a date that you should have all of the weight gone by too.  If you are serious about losing weight, then it is really easy to get started.  I get to eat 1,200 calories a day since I want to lose 2 pounds a week.  It sounded like a lot to me at first, but it is not a ton at all.  It is not unhealthy, but it is a definite cut back from the calories that I was consuming daily before.  It was also much harder at the beginning than I expected it to be, not only do I have to cut and count the calories that I am eating, but I have to balance out the calorie intake too.  Like I said, it was not easy starting out, and I was kind of a grouch about it, but I am glad that I have stuck with it so far.  I know that it is a lifestyle that I will stick with too once I am down to the weight that I would like to be.  It is a good habit forming way to make yourself healthier.  It is something that you need to be super dedicated to as well.  This is not one of those things that you can fake, you need to keep track of everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, you consume daily.  If you keep track and are dedicated to the process you will have no problems losing weight on schedule.  If you add in an extra step of working out at least 4 times a week, the you will lose weight and inches faster than you can even keep track of.  

Not only am I losing weight, but I am also losing an incredible amount of inches off of my entire body too.  Nothing makes me happier than looking in the mirror and realizing the clothes that used to fit me, no longer do and it's almost time to go out and buy some in a smaller size.

If you are looking for a healthier lifestyle, and an easy way to lose weight I recommend this option 100%.  As a reminder, it is called "Lose It!", and it's awesome.  It's going to be tough to change your eating habits at first, but once you do, and you stick with it, it is an amazing change to your life that you will not regret.