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What I’m Doing This Wednesday…

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Cait — 9 Comments ↓

Happy Wednesday everyone! So I’ve noticed that tons of people take part in some kind of ‘What I…’ themed post on Wednesdays. (Why all the love to Wednesday, is there a reason this day of the week seems to get so much more attention than the rest? Jk.)

I have yet to take part in any of them for a few reasons: 1) At first I just didn’t catch on to the whole acronym thing, I started to see it popping up everywhere, and it confused me. Yes, I’m lame, but then when I did figure out what the things stood for it again took some time for it to sink in that there was a trend and not something specific to just one blogger.

Yes, carrots make the cut! (pic is from a design i sent to...duh, new seasons market...lol.)

2) I don’t do the ‘What I Ate’ thing because really, if I posted up what I ate each Wednesday it would take everyone about two weeks to see that I basically eat the same thing all the time. It would be boring, and to be honest I might just be tempted to make a template and repost it every time since the odds that it would still be the truth would be stacked in my favor.

3) I don’t do the ‘What I Worked Out’ one because again it’s typically the same thing. I know I need to mix it up, it’s a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

4) Maybe I’ll just toss this in and pretend that it’s because I’m a rebel without a cause. Nah, but the truth is that I’d probably just forget after a few weeks.

Although, I thought I saw one about ‘What I’m Thankful For Wednesday.’ I could be wrong, but let’s roll with that one. I can do that and at least for today, who knows what next week holds, like I said I’ll probably end up forgetting.

*I’m thankful to not be living in a box. Bwahaha…it was iffy there for a bit (juuuust kidding) but I am one of those people who is always really paranoid about just being flat out broke. I get nervous when I spend a lot, even if I know I have enough saved up and need whatever I’m purchasing. (Here, I’m not even going to say what I think constitutes ‘a lot.’) My mom rags on me for being a cheap-o but I like to just think I’m cautious? The thing though is that the only time I don’t feel as guilty is when I’m buying something for someone else that I care a lot about.

This princess is my sis!! (i made this card for her bday awhile back)

*I’m thankful to be closer to my siblings/family. Actually, they are probably the top two ‘get out of guilt free for spending’ cards for me.

*I’m thankful that I just found some gift cards that I forgot about. They are to Borders and since they are going out of business I need to use them fast, and I just got emailed another coupon…I’m all over this. If anyone has any book or movie suggestions, let me know!

*I’m thankful that now I have my own treadmill and TV viewing space. There is nothing worse than not being able to get on a machine at the gym, getting stuck with a treadmill that is at a wonky angle and you can’t see the TV, get a treadmill at the opposite end of where a fan is located, or being stuck watching something you really don’t care about or like on the TV. Now, I get to be the selfish kid who always gets their way with the remote. I also can place a fan right next to me that staves off my crazy sluggy salty sweat-fest self. Wow, I paint a pretty picture.

In my typical sarcasty self way, I’m going to add in some things that fall under the category of ‘What I’m Hoping for in Wednesdays to Come’:

*Be rid of some pesky blisters on both of my big toes. I usually don’t get really bad blisters all too often, so I guess this was a long time coming. They’re the ones that are mutants between blisters and calluses, I seriously should hire the 7 Dwarfs to go in there and mine, maybe they’d come up with some diamonds??

*Google Reader to stop hating me. I keep hearing that people aren’t getting my new posts since the Blogger transition. I guess I peeved off the wrong people, and I’m sort of scared that Google is tied up in it. I mean should I expect more forms of punishment forthcoming?

*Just randomly be granted a lifetime supply of: running shoes, running clothes, a tad of fashion sense, a scanner and computer that get along, a freezer and fridge large enough to hold limitless quantities of my staple foods, limitless quantities of all my staple foods, and to never have to worry about my stupid hair flying into my face while I’m running. I don’t know how the last one would work out, I don’t want to be bald, but maybe I’d just have that hair block type thing you see in cartoons???

I’m sure there are other things, I know that they are, but all in all I’m pretty thankful this Wednesday. The goods outweigh any of my snarky remarks and right now I know that I’m lucky. There are others having much worse Wednesdays, my heart goes out to them and can only say, “Get through life’s shiznit…stay the course!”

1) If you do any type of ‘What I … Wednesday’ what is it and do you feel like you have to be ‘on’ and make it extra interesting?

2) What’s something you’re thankful for this Wednesday?

3) What’s something you’re hoping for in Wednesdays to come?

4) What are some book or movie suggestions I should spend my gift card on?

Fear Factor Recasting – Overcoming the Fears We Battle

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Cait — 2 Comments ↓

Cue Joe Rogan. So I am bringing you this post as a major alert: CHECK OUT DIS CHIC CHICKPEA…do it now!! Haha, now I usually try not to bust out the all caps in multi-word format that often because it is annoying, but Amy over there posted a poem she wrote that really is too amazing to ignore.

It’s about fear. It is ever-present but needs to be pushed out of our lives. She really puts it best, but it also got me thinking about fear and so now, as always, I can’t just shush-up and will ramble on with my two cents.

I think pushing fear from our lives in sort of like an ongoing battle, you shove one out the window and the door knocks with another. Sometimes I think it’s almost impossible to avoid opening the door, or I guess rather the door gets thrust open against your own will. So then, it’s up to you to rid yourself of the intruder.

There is also the little fear spectrum, or rather a speedometer. Worries and fears sort of blur together in my mind sometimes, and it’s a matter of placing a particular worry/fear on that odometer. Is it running at a 4 minute mile pace or is it walking at 20 min/mile pace? Sometimes it looks like a speed demon but when you stop and actually clock it, it’s going much slower than you thought. Sort of like that red sports car vs. the cops thing.

Amy’s poem also comes at really, a perfect time for me. I’ve got my own little knock-knocks on the fear door and actually, should I be completely truthful they’re already sitting in my lounge sipping coffee. I don’t like to really admit some things, I like to either be positive or make enough jokes out of it that I laugh it off, but then again I don’t like to lie or feel like I’m being a hypocrite either.

I would sort of feel like a hypocrite if I posted up this amazing poem about giving fear the finger and then not put the disclaimer that I’ve got my own fears and worries. I’m not sitting in an empty room, I’ve got Fear Nasties too. But, I also have other people in it besides fear and worry. Those people are there to help me oust Nasty Thing 1 and 2 out the window. In some cases those people are actually battling against the very same fear as you.

Our Fear Nasties Graveyard

The tough thing I’ve learned is that those ‘good’ people are sometimes hard to find, the Fear Nasties can really crowd the room and the ‘good’ folks can get buried in the back. Here are the sticky points: 1) Identifying there ARE actually other people in the room besides you and the fear dudes 2) actually believing that they are there (yes, this is another step) 3) reaching out to them and saying you need their help and 4) actually getting the fear thangs out the window.

The Fam

Getting back to the fear speedometer, if the things are more just worries, sometimes you can take a step back and realize that you’re making them ‘faster’ than they really are in your mind and if you start thinking more rationally or logical you can come up with some sort of solution. If there IS no solution than your solution is that whatever it is may be out of your control, so the best you can do is accept that it is out of your control, then distract yourself until the thing works itself out or you learn something new about the situation. Push it out of your mind as best you can.

Lots of my ‘fears’ are actually just my over-worrying. Fear in my mind is more gripping, heart-stopping, or it’s an enormous weight that is pressing down on my chest. Fear seems shorter, or like a climactic eruption. Worries to me are the slow build…I think they can lead to the gigantic fear eruption as the weight just builds to a point where it feels like it’s crushing you.

Worries are more my problem. I’ve briefly brushed on that fact that I’ve got OCD where I made fun of myself, and if I told you all of my worries I’d laugh right along with you as I said them out loud. But laughing them off inside is far harder, and it’s a matter of forcing myself to discredit these worries. Of course I’ve got actual ‘real world’ worries too, like we ALL do…and there are becoming more of those, so that adds to my lounge room of folks with Starbucks cups.

As I again catch myself in an epic ramble, I don’t want to make this too personal, my intention was to identify that this particular poem is something we should all read, digest, then read again. Because it’s a reality check: do you want to keep living with Starbucks sipping, uninvited, fear nasties with a speed rating taking up space?

I know I don’t, and I know I’ve pushed plenty out of my room before with the help of the other ‘good’ people in the room. I think the digesting part for me has also been admitting that there will always be new fear/worries or whatever knocking on the door, some of them the very same worries I already pushed out before, and I need to really listen when they start knocking. When the knocking gets louder, barricade that d*** door and if the door bursts open anyways, rally the troops, open the windows, and get to chucking!

Bummin on no Froyo and Training Logs are A for Awesome

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Cait — 11 Comments ↓

Do you see it? It’s my curmudgeonly, scowly look of utter disappointment. Why? Well, for reasons that I can’t fully explain (one, because it’s a long backstory and telling it might wind me up with one of those cyber-faux pas where the thing you write about gets back to people you don’t want it to…second, because it’s sort of ridiculous to the amount you might not really believe me) I missed out on a chance for a real, live, in the flesh froyo date with Margs!!

Margs, you may recall has shot to worldwide celebdom for her role in TO YOGURTOPIA WE GO (how many times am I going to link that fairy tale, well for the time it took me I’m gonna milk it for all it’s worth…haha) and I was excited to learn that this SoCal living bunny was bopping around my neck of the woods for the weekend. But thanks to crazy events we weren’t able to make it to froyo bliss. 🙁

Don’t try to get all smart and figure you’ll pester Margs for my lame reason, partly because she’s got WAY cooler things to think/talk about than me, and second I pulled a Men in Black move and her memory is partially erased. I will say I was happy we at least did get to phone chat, and I hope my fast-talking chipmunk voice hasn’t left her deaf in addition to having a memory fugue.

Why so late a post? Sorry folks, internet still wonko on this side but I’m able to mooch a quickie blog post off of the internet at my parents’ house.

Next on the agenda, so I’ve spent quite a lot of time these past few days working on a project for my old high school’s cross-country and track teams. It’s a running log, something I think is not just really fun to have so you can look back on and track your progress, but it really is important to keep. Why you ask? I’ll tell you…

Even if you aren’t necessarily training for any big race, logging what your workouts are and what you’re doing can keep you on track and motivated to actually DO your workouts, you can reference it when you are feeling sore/sluggish/overly tired and look back at previous weeks’ workouts to figure out why. If you wind up injured you can look for signs of overtraining, then later should you come down with another injury you can look back to what you did then and do your best to cross-train and stay in shape.

People write all kinds of things in their logs, to varying degrees of detail, some people write how much sleep they get, when they feel sick, if they changed a workout their reasons, how they felt in their workout, replay a race, of course PR’s…the color of their poop…just kidding, just wondered if you were still with me. But all of this is useful and important info…oh, and making notes of when you switch out for a new pair of shoes so you remember to change them!

Anyways, anything I do I like to try and make it unique or at least a little better than the bare bones, so I have included lots of articles, quotes, and so forth. So I got to thinking, if I were back in high school, what would I have liked to read about, learn, or hear tips on? I put in things about stretching (when to do it/dynamic vs. static), mental ways to trick yourself into believing that it really doesn’t hurt as much as it does, things on goal setting, refueling right and such.

I think one of the best quotes I’ve ever gotten was from a coach whom I respect to no ends is this: “Stay the course.” Ya, there are tons of other quotes that I really like and are classics, you’ve got Pre’s quotes and other words from legends that are longer and more colorful, but I like this simple one because it is so true in running and in life.

In running, there are ups, downs, sideways, and stallouts. But what separates those from quit or lose their love of the sport from the people who are runners into geriatric years are the ones who just simply keep doing it. They know and accept there are going to be tough times that suck, but getting through those makes the sunny periods all the more special.

Sucks to be that dude.

In life, it’s the same thing, and we all get dealt some shiznit, but you just gotta stay the course. I’ve said this to myself tons of times, and not going to even try to lie, usually when I’ve said it I’m: 1) on the verge of a mega-girly-style breakdown and about to cry…one time that comes to mind was when I was on this horrid stair gauntlet climber cross-training and had been injured forever 2) fuming at the mouth because I’m SOOO irate at whatever 3) feeling so hopeless I have nothing else to do but just hope that things will in fact get better. So for me it’s not even about necessarily always believing at first that staying the course is the right thing, but knowing it’s the ONLY thing to do.

Wowza, so didn’t mean to turn this post into a preachy thing, really I tend to just sit down and type and see what spews out. Winding back to the training log I’ll ask you guys some questions:

1) Do you keep one?

I do, and now it’s a habit, I mean I tend to do really the same sorts of things (I know I need to mix-it up, really I do!) but I guess you can’t fight a habit.

2) What is a piece of advice you would have liked to hear about running/working out when you were younger?

3) What’s one of the best pieces of advice you’ve ever gotten?

4) Can’t end sappy, what is one the funniest random quotes you’ve heard? And do feel free to take it completely out of context!

This one leaps to mind because it just happened, and I’m blanking at the moment. I didn’t want to post it because I don’t want to seem like I’m a perv, but this was said dead-pan and in total seriousness by my mom: “I don’t know what a cat penis looks like, I’d have to Google it.” Later common sense took over and the realization set in that *duh* if you Googled that you’d definitely regret it!

To Yogurtopia We Go — Part III where all things get tied up in a nice little, sugary licorice bow

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Cait — 9 Comments ↓

*****Here is the ending to our fine fairy tale, but in case you need to be caught up, check out Part I and Part II, there are also some pictures of our lovely ladies that even if you’ve seen already are still worth a second glance at…unless of course you’re some pervy old man. 😉
******

Cait was about to go on and list the rest of the array of flavors when suddenly from the top of the peanut butter flavored yogurt serving vat sprang up a person!

“What is the…?!” Vanessa couldn’t even finish her thought on that one.

“Hey there, Julie!” Cait nonchalantly greeted the woman licking peanut butter fro-yo off her…well, everywhere. Apparently this was just business as usual at Yogurtopia.

“Thanks for letting me take a dip, I think I’ve just about satisfied my craving,” Peanut Butter Fingers Julie replied, a big smile on her face. Amazingly her hair had somehow managed to avoid getting fro-yo-fied and fell in loose waves around her shoulders; the runners also noticed that PB Julie certainly had some wicked fashion sense.

“I’ve gotta check out what kind of shoes that girl’s wearing,” Katy muttered under her breath, for only a split second distracted from the Biebs, but just as fast turned her attention right back to him.

“I have the peanut butter chips and chocolate chips on hand if you’d like me to toss a few in?” Cait continued addressing Julie.

“I think I’m good, for now,” Julie had emerged and worked her way to the counter and group of runners. “Hi, I’m Julie, nice to meet you all!”

“Hey,” SkinnyRunner was the first to speak, “I like your dress.”

“Thanks a bunch,” Julie replied and then from out of the chocolate fro-yo vat a dog suddenly popped up, leaped out of the vat and in a second was at Julie’s side licking the sweet treat from the tip of it’s nose. “And this is Sadie! I promised her a walk, so I’ve got to get going, but it’s been great meeting you all!” Julie smiled and with that the pair walked out of Yougurtopia.

“She’s a regular,” Cait turned back to the runners. “Don’t worry, we take care of our vats so that you can always take a hop into them if your bowls just aren’t quite big enough. Feel free to let me know if any of you would like jump in.”

“Ya I would, but I wouldn’t be so hip on all those freaking calories,” SkinnyRunner said what all of them were thinking.

“Oh, don’t even worry about any of that, all the calories in everything here have been sucked out. Actually, this stuff is all Leanne Rimes has been eating lately,” Cait answered back.

“Where do all the calories go?” Julia asked the obvious.

“Well, it varies,” Cait explained, “we have a calorie shunt that sucks them out, but they do have to go somewhere so we pick a ‘worthy’ person to donate them too. Right now we’ve managed to wrangle up Bentley…”

“THE Bentley from The Bachelorette?!” Margs shouted in most apparent glee. Actually, all of the women smiled at that and even Riley barked in approval.

“The one and only,” Cait smiled back. “We have our guests nominate people they feel are worthy calorie recipients and then everyone votes on them. Over there behind the bus we have the ballots, so be sure to cast your votes for the next candidate on your way out.”

“So can I board the mix-in bus now?” Hungry Runner Girl asked, unable to wait a moment longer…mix-in’s were of course her favorite.

“You got it! Load those bowls up and let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. The bus really has anything in the world you can imagine, so pop over to the spigots, fill up on the fro-yo and get to scooping!” Cait could barely finish before all runners were off in fro-yo fueled mayhem.

By the time they were done the yogurt spigots had been through a beating, the mix-in bus abused, and everything inside Yogurtopia was bathed in excitement. “I can tell you that’s the best bus I’ve even been on, and that’s saying a lot, I’ve accompanied students on plenty of field trips,” Hungry Runner Girl professed as they all collected around one of the tables.

“So you finally decided to join us?” Christina asked as Katy took a seat to her right.

“Well, he said something about Selena not being all too thrilled having to finish up her fro-yo with me sitting on her boyfriend’s lap,” Katy replied with more than a hint of disappointment in her voice. “They also had to go because he’s got a concert to get ready for…but look who scored tickets…this girl!!”

“Do you guys mind if I take a seat?” from behind the runners a sweet voice rang. “My name is Emma, I hope it’s okay, but since I take it you guys are big running fans, I’d love to meet you.”

“But of course!” Vanessa warmly greeted, some of that Southern Georgia charm obviously rubbing off on her.

“Thanks,” Emma smiled and took a seat. “Is this your guys’ first time to Yogurtopia? It’s mine, I live in another kingdom but I’m seriously considering on moving! This place is like heaven!”

“Ya it is,” Margs agreed between bites.

“I’m glad it’s all you could imagine,” Christina replied with a shy grin on her face, “it’s what I dreamed up, and I’m happy you like The Athletarian Kingdom so much.”

“Wait, are you the princess?” Emma exclaimed.

“Ya she is!” Katy touted.

“I also hear you’ve got an obsession with oats, is that true?” Emma’s excited raised up another couple of notches if that was possible.

“Oh, Oatmania, I went there yesterday for breakfast!” Christina returned and then continued, “and lunch…and maybe a snack too.” She finished with a laugh.

“I’m obsessed with my oats too!” Emma shouted before raising a shovel-sized-spoon to her lips. After a lick she went on, “There’s no better way to refuel after putting Betty through a beating…”

“Betty through a beating?” SkinnyRunner asked a little alarmed.

“Oh, Betty,” Emma laughed, “that’s the name of my treadmill, sorry, I should have clarified that one!”

“Gotcha,” SkinnyRunner said before getting up to visit the mix-in bus again.

“The only day I don’t eat oats for breakfast is on Sundays when I have pancakes. But even then I usually work a serving or two, or three in during the rest of the day,” explained Emma.

And so, our band of runners had made it to Yogurtopia and we leave them to polish off whatever they can fit into their bellies. And after SkinnyRunner’s report of 16.83 miles that certainly calls for plenty of fro-yo and mix-ins! We’ll leave them to their treats, but as we do we will catch one last glimpse of each fabulous character in our story.

Margs laughing just a wee bit maliciously as she stands in front of the now morbidly, overly-obese Bentley tied to a pole. As she spoons more fro-yo into her mouth she watches his ever-expanding waistline get bigger and bigger.

SkinnyRunner, upon her trip to the mix-in bus, met up with Leanne where she told her that if there was ever someone who should be sporting a SkinnyRunner shirt it would be her waifish self. Leanne agreed, forked over the dough, and joined the masses of other runners donning said shirts.

Julia made her way to the chocolate spigot where Riley had been furiously licking since they’d gotten there. She pet the little guy on the head and sat down next to him to eat the rest of her fro-yo. She pulled out her phone and between bites decided this place was just too good of a place for her sister, Jenn, to miss out on. Never fear, Jenn would come running right away and be there shortly.

Katy caught up on eating the amount of fro-yo that she missed out on thanks to her Bieber distraction, doing so only while staring fixidly at the tickets in front of her. A bit of fro-yo happened to land unnoticed on her shirt but it hardly broke her gaze; still, she looked as fashionably glamorous as always. Later, when she did realize the drop she thought to herself that maybe it would then give her the perfect excuse to just ask Justin for his shirt.

Vanessa’s stove woes had long ago drifted from her mind. She relished every spoonful of fro-yo and decided that her house hadn’t yet been perfect, but she knew exactly how to take care of that. She’d merely ask Cait for an extra fro-yo spigot and some mix-in bins…she had a spare room that had yet to be furnished, and who really needed another guest bedroom?

Hungry Runner Girl had been able to put away the most mix-in’s, even making up a new ideal ratio of mix-in’s to fro-yo in her head. This would be posted later on her blog as well as the new record number of Swedish Fish consumed. Her husband Billy would be proud, the doctors just as proud that she was able to someone manage to avoid a sugar induced coma. No doubt it was due to years of building up a tolerance.

Christina of course welcomed the newest member to her Kingdom. She thought back fondly of Dream…err, Dean at the palace and decided that perhaps after she got back they would go to the park. No one was ever too old to enjoy a swing on the swings! Maybe she’d challenge him to a push-up contest, she’d been getting crazy strong these days and been busting them out like a champ.

Emma was just as excited to join The Athletarain Kingdom and was already making plans to have Betty shipped out ASAP. She made Christina promise to take her to Oatsmania first thing in the morning, of course she also made her promise the two would go on a run together. Come Sunday Emma would cook everyone chocolate chip pancakes…don’t worry, they’d be vegan. 🙂

Peanut Butter Fingers Julie had taken Sadie on that nice, long walk. They actually made their way to the lake and noticed the oven halfway in and out of the water. Julie smiled as it seemed that some baby swans had decided to make a jungle gym out of the evil appliance. Julie also grinned because the sight of the oven suddenly inspired her with the perfect dinner recipe she’d fix that night. Said dinner would of course be written up, photographed, and documented so all could enjoy. Sadie barked.

Cait, well, Cait was just happy she could spend yet another day in Yogurtpia. She always loved seeing who would stop by. Today was especially nice though, and she hoped all of these fine ladies would stop by again soon.

Thank you for getting your fill at the one and only Yogurtopia.

Errand Friday, Old People Lovin’, and I Seem to be Lucky!

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Cait — 2 Comments ↓

Did you think I forgot about my blog today? Like I was going to just not post? Well, if you were hoping for a break from me then I’m sorry to disappoint…and now I’m hoping that I can barely squeak in here before midnight and thus miss Friday! Hehe.

I have a few things that I’ve got rolling around in my head that I didn’t want to forget to put down, but before that, I have to explain my tardiness. I just got back from hanging out the parental’s house, before that hit up my Costco/Winco food supply tour of duty, and prior to that I was showing my treadmill some love. I’m now uber hungry, have foodage cooking up as I type, so will need to keep this short, so here goes.

Thanks Christina! 🙂

FIRST thing, I have to say I was more than surprised when I was greeted with a lovely Tweet from our fav fro-yo Princess Christina, saying that I won her contest!! Woot woot! I’m mostly surprised because when it comes to luck in these types of things I usually wind up with nil. So thank you very much random generator (I’ll pretend the real reason was because I’m just so cool like that) and I’m excited to be sporting my new Road ID band. 🙂 Once again, thanks to my one of my all-time fav vegans with an insane amount of energy and workout stamina!!

That's usualy my amount of luck.

Next thing, treadmill run today…wow, to coin a phrase from Katy, this one was a major gut rot day. I won’t tread the fine line between TMI and not, but I’ll just say that every mile felt much longer and I got an extra booty workout with some butt clenches.

I wanted to do another medium effort run like I did on Wednesday, and I am mostly proud that I made it all the way through the 6 miles medium without having to take a run to the loo. I HATE having to pause the treadmill, but got er did, and hopped back on to finish off the rest of the run. Came in at 9.8 miles, did arm weights, then had some dog sitting duties to fulfill.

On to Costco and Winco, nothing too enthralling to report except that for now my replacement for my beloved blueberry english muffins are going to have to be cinnamon raisin ones. Never the same, but is a Toaster Pastry sometimes all we can get in lieu of a Pop-Tart?

As for the fam, my mom and little bro came back from a trip they took up to visit my gramps. Gramps lives in Twain Harte and it’s in NorCal, there is a golf course for him and the thing to do is hang out at the lake. My little sis is still up there with a few other friends, but I got to hear some dish from the mommy-o and little Wes.

That's right, Mommy-O! 🙂

Funny how since everyone up there is working on 80 my mom comes back feeling about 30 years younger, nothing like a free option to a time machine and tons of plastic surgery to lift a girl’s spirits. After visiting, I keep surprising myself with new reasons to be so happy to live close to my ‘old house.’

*Being able to mooch off of their DVD supply. Before my dad got to downloading and burning nearly any and all movies and shows from the computer (FYI- he’s in some kind of select club or whatnot that he joined, it’s not the illegal stuff, so don’t send the troops in on him) they were into buying all the new releases. Cheapy me now gets to take advantage.

*I also have been able to borrow my sis’s car while she’s out of town…and since she’s staying longer I’ve got wheels for an extra day until I buy one!! No worries, I’m of course paying her for gas. Also, isn’t it fun to check out what other people listen to in their car, the CD’s they’ve got and such…you know you do it.

*I can steal stories from them and post them here. I’ve said I’m boring too many times to count so now I can just swipe from them. I could do the sketch thing and just pretend it happened to me, I mean who would really know, right, but I’m an honest girl and the guilt would eat away at me. Anyways, after a while you’d notice the sharp spike in the entertainment value and start to question any of the validity…I won’t lie, that’s how I roll. (PS-do I have a doosie one from my mom…let’s just say a dead bird, swirly girl written note, and my dad with a trash bag.)

No, my grandpa doesn't actually have a walker...but I'm sure some of his friends do.

*Juicy family gossip. We all have it, who doesn’t love it? Gramps, my grandma died a few years back, is now seeing a ‘new lady friend’…how cute is love with walkers and depends?!?

*More pix to steal. I don’t take many pix of myself, everyone else in bloggyworld does, so I feel like the loser at the uncool lunch table. Now I can at least promise you’ll be seeing more pictures of the people around me…I may or may not sneak in there. I also may or may not try to pretend my sister (or heck, even my mom) is me.

Wow, okay, so much for keeping it short. Again, the blog/site is still being worked on. The internet here at my new place SUCKS and is spotty, and if it works it is uber slow…hence my less than desired amount of commenting and blog trolling. I’m working on it though. Nighty Nite!

1) Funniest knock-off brand item you’ve seen?

I think the restaurant I saw in Podunk, CO takes it with Dairy King. They even had the same DQ style headerboard…I mean who are they trying to fool here?

2) Best thing about bulk style stores?

Prices, duh, but the fact that they carry some random things too. I saw a foldable mountain bike in there today.

3) If you lived (or if you do live) close to any of your family, is there something you always swipe from them? We’ll call it borrowing just so we don’t feel too bad about it.

If I Can Move From Blogger to Self-Hosted WordPress a Deaf, Blind, Mute Naked Mole Rat Can

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Cait — 6 Comments ↓

Yes, I’ve done it, I’ve officially switched to WordPressand I’m happy about it. No lost love amongst my Blogger buddies, though, I think the tipping point was really the whole personal comment reply issues that I’ve been having with Blogger. That and I kept hearing that they were deleting some of the comments readers were trying to post…and I will have NONE of that!!

That's kicking Blogger in the face.

Trust me, I know how frustrating it is to type out a whole message and have it deleted, I’m probably still the only person on the planet with a Hotmail account and I’ve been in the position of cursing the heck out of my computer when I lose a long email that I spent FOREVER typing. But I digress…here’s the story:
I’ve actually owned my own little domain name for quite a while, I was using it though as more of an art portfolio type thing for my freelancing. Well, the more I thought about it I figured that I might as well just combine all that I was doing into one spot. My reasoning was that I display lots of my work within my posts anyways and I can still have a separate page dedicated solely to more of my samples.

It would also make keeping up on both the site and blog easier, I was slacking on updating the website so I hoped that by combing them it would give me a kick in the rear to spruce it up. Now I hesitated because I’m not the most tech savvy person around, and even that is being generous. I get excited about the most ridiculously easy HTML coding things that I can muster so I assumed a blog move would be torturous…and I’m way too cheapo to pay someone to do it.

Then, Crazy Running Legs (If you might remember, not too long ago I just awarded her the One Lovely Blog Award!) did an awesome post about how switching over from Blogger to WordPress was NOT as difficult as I had built it up to be in my mind. (Isn’t that the case with so many other things in life?!) Now she moved blog platforms and isn’t self-hosted (that was what I was doing) but in her post she directed me to plenty of other places that had step-by-step directions on how to do it. I ended up at Katy’s blog and I got to reading and if anyone is interested, here is what I did:

*I had already owned the domain name and was self-hosted over at caitchock.com. I’m not doing some paid advertisement here or getting any what’s what for referring things, but I went to HostGator. I had signed up for the Baby Gator account…I got some deal at the time and it was $23 to start and $10 to get the domain name. Now I pay $10 a month and that’s it.

*I had WordPress installed to the site, I admit that was done over a year ago and by a friend of mine who was helping me out, but I looked at HostGator and there is a little icon that says: ‘QuickInstall WordPress to Site’ so I’m thinking it can’t be too insanely difficult.

*I’d already been using the WordPress (albeit sporadically) account but for my art, so it was a matter of then importing all of my Blogger content to WordPress. I was walked through most of that here:

Fit Blogger’s Guide – The Ultimate Blogger to Self-Hosted WordPress Transition Guide
This is AWESOME and not only with written directions, but scroll to the bottom and lots of the steps are on video too. I followed this single post up until Step number 4 (I struggled for a time with the whole FTP client thing…again I’m lame, but FileZilla was pretty easy to work with.) I’m also thinking that you probably don’t need to do the Step 3 in the first link because I think that is taken care of by the next one I’ll give you, I did it but I think it’s probably not necessary.

Is it okay to feel like a Superwoman for doing minimal tech stuff??

But for the part about redirecting Blogger traffic to your new site I actually found it easier to just do what was explained here:

ExaBytes – How to Move Blogger to Self-Hosted WordPress
and skip down to their way to do it. With this you only have a small bit of HTML to insert into your Blogger template, I was sort of scared to delete the entire HTML thing like the first link said, I’m sure it would be fine but I was just hesitant and I’ll tell you why.

When you import your Blogger blog to WordPress it will import posts and comments on posts, but it will NOT import any Pages or Page comments that you create. That is something that is in the newer versions of Blogger and at least from all of my searches and asking around there has yet to be a way to move those over easily. What I’ve done is just copied all of the HTML of the pages I made and pasted them into separate WordPress pages. The bummer is that the images of course won’t work and it will just be a matter of re-uploading those…annoying but it is what it is.

So the reason I was iffy on deleting all HTML code and also reverting it back to Classic Template in Blogger is because I didn’t know if it would delete my pages too. Of course I had them saved on a word document but you know me, I still didn’t want them poof and gone.

Finally, I finished up reading the second link about checking the slugs, but to be honest I checked the top of my posts and saw that they were already reading correctly as-is so I didn’t change anything. Maybe I’m wrong but it looked fine to me.

So I jumped back to the first link and read the part about Feeds, watched some more of the videos and that’s it. You can scroll to the way bottom and see I was the dork who posted the comment about the missing Blogger Pages! 🙂

Still, I have things to work out and trust me that will probably be slow going…the reason I went with Blogger to begin with was that I’m familiar with it! So bear with me…oh, and I’m bummed I guess I ‘lost’ my followers, does WordPress not have something like that? I feel like I just blew off the only kids on the playground who were willing to admit to being my friend.

You're invited to my WordPress welcome home party...can't promise it'll be all that great though.

Enough tech talk…I’m sick of it, but I’m also talk/typed out!! Haha. So I’ll just spurt out that I did my 9.2 miler on the tread, I’m super stoked because my dad ROCKS and is currently getting me am amazing array of shows and movies that you awesome readers suggested, and hopefully soon I’ll be working my way through all of those mile by mile…on ‘As the Treadmill Turns.’ It was also a core and abs day…and yes, Julia, really all I should have done was sit on that big red ball, I mean that is the REAL way to get a six-pack. 😉
———————————————————————————————–
I STILL want those ugly running shots, I’ve gotten a few brave souls but don’t make me start going all paparazzi on you guys!! 😉
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1) Lets have a blogger smack-down (does anyone remember that show Celebrity Death Match?) are you a Blogger or WordPresser?
2) Does HTML and all that jazz freak you out, and do you get proportionately way too proud of yourself whenever you do something in that arena?
3) What was one of your favorite toys as a child?
I had a PeeWee Herman doll that talked when you pulled the string…I seriously want to find that thing!!!

To Yogurtopia We Go — Part II

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Cait — 9 Comments ↓

When we last left our band of runners, they numbered in six…well six humatoids and one furry friend! They were well on their way to making it to Yogurtopia and already were salivating over thoughts of choosing their mix-ins.

“They’ll have Swedish Fish there, won’t they?” Hungry Runner Girl asked, just a hint of concern in her voice.

“Of course they will! This is my dream kingdom and being as such I wouldn’t imagine Yogurtopia any other way…don’t you worry!” Christina assured her sugar-crazed friend. “They’ve got anything you can imagine: fruits, all things chocolate, nuts if you please, peppermints for your pleasure, cereal for crunch, granola…well, you get the picture,” she finished off with a laugh.

“Awesome! Can’t wait to load that puppy up, but I’ll definitely be passing on the Whoppers,” quipped Hungry Runner Girl.

“Hey, do you mind if we stop at the lake to let Riley get a drink?” asked Julia as they neared glistening blue waters. By this point they had ventured out of the urbanscape of Athletarian Kingdom and were getting far into the country.

“What in the jank is going on over there?” SkinnyRunner exclaimed. All the harriers turned towards the direction she was pointing and low and behold there was a petite woman hucking what seemed to be an oven into the lake.

The runners all dashed towards the woman and as they neared they could make out what she was saying, “You darn thing, I waited ALL this time to get this house perfect, you included, and this is how you repay me?! I’m done with you!”

“What’s going on over here?” asked Katy.

“Oh,” this mighty pretty woman replied startled, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was here. My name’s Vanessa, and this stove has been working my last nerve! It’s suddenly given out and I’ve waited so long, wanted my new house to be perfect, and I love cooking…and…and…”

“It’s okay,” Katy moved to embrace the obviously shaken Vanessa, “stoves can suck it. But don’t waste any more time with it, we’re off in search of a much cooler treat. We’re going to Yogurtopia, you in?”

“That would be amazing!” Vanessa instantly replied, a smile working its way to her face, “Thank you so much!” And they were off, with another member in tow and the dilapidated oven disappearing in the distance. Well, after Riley was able to get his drink that is.

“At flipping LAST!” Margs shouted as finally the glorious sight of Yogurtopia appeared before them.

“Yup, another 16.84 miles in for the day. Rolling hills, no music,” SkinnyRunner succinctly summed up the run.

“Epic,” was the only word Christina needed to say and a with that, there was a collective nodding of heads from everyone else…even the pooch.

Hungry Runner Girl was the first to break the trance, the rumble in her stomach broke the silence and she lunged for the door. The second that it opened all seven of them were bathed with the cool breeze of euphoric yogurt bliss. From there it was a stampede of feet, paws, and Garmins; they dashed to the counter and were greeted with a chipper, “Hey there, welcome to Yogurtopia, my name is Cait, what can we get you guys today?” Cait’s smile was way too big for her face and she spoke so fast it sounded like a chipmunk on crack, but she was genuinely friendly and they forgave her.

“Holy smokes, look at this place,” Margs couldn’t help but say in utter awe. There were spigots lining the walls and there wasn’t just a toppings bar but a topping bus. The bus lined the entire left side of the place, with offerings in trough sized containers under each window…the expanse of Yogurtopia was indescribable. But to these runners it was akin to a teenage boy’s fantasies of the Playboy Mansion.

“Holy sh**, it’s the freakin Biebs!” Katy screamed at a decibel level that probably only Riley’s ears could pick up. She full on rocketed towards the mini-mogul with perfect hair and nearly toppled him over.

“Umm, she’ll be getting her yogurt after she collects herself a bit,” Christina laughed.

“That’s fine,” Cait continued from behind the counter, “here at Yogurtopia you’re free to do, eat, and be as you please. How it works is I’ll give you these bowls,” she slid across the counter not bowls, but rather containers that looked like buckets with bright pink spoons that could double as shovels. “Actually, we also offer bowls that come with waffle cones inside if you please, some are dipped in chocolate and have sprinkles or nuts on them. So let me know if you’d like any of those.”

The group was in stunned silence and could only nod ‘yes’ as their answer as ginormous waffle cones were slid into the bowls. “Alright well, from there it’s pretty self explanatory. The spigots on this side dish out the yogurt, we have really every flavor you could imagine: chocolate, vanilla, choc-vanilla swirl, strawberry, mint, berry bliss, peanut butter…”

DUM-DUM-DUM….come back next time for Part III!! And more pix of our new favorite fairy tale characters! 🙂

I Knew I was Random, But Lovely Too?! Thanks! :)

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Cait — 9 Comments ↓

So guess what?!?! I’m smiling because I have earned another blogger award! 🙂 These things can really do wonders for a girl’s self-esteem, but really now, no more because I don’t want my ego to get so big that it is weighing me down on my runs. 😉

I was awarded the One Lovely Blogger Award by two AWESOME people who have blogs of their own that I truly adore. I love reading Amy over at One Chic Chickpea because 1) I am in no way chic so I’m hoping that by reading I can somehow vicariously become a bit chic 2) she’s got mad photog skills and her pictures are stunning and 3) she’s not only got a refreshing and uplifting perspective on everything but every time I leave her blog I feel better and have a smile on my face.

Now Nikki over at The Worth of my Sole I love because she’s got a nice dash of snarky sarcastic wit about her, and I think in real life we’d have some nice banter going on. She also parlays this humor into her pictures…girl says it like it is and shows it like it is. She’s also heckbent on continuing this running journey thang, and since it’s the beset sport around, I, of course approve…hehe. So if you haven’t yet, got check these ladies out! And without further adieu, 7 random facts about me:

1) I’m always right…errr, left…no, I mean right! Okay, so you know how kids usually master the whole left and right thing by about kindergarten? Well, not this chick. I am constantly having a brainfart and saying right, meaning the other right, and making a fool of myself. In fact I’ve got a friend of mine who is by no means lacking in the whole brains department (the jury is still out on me) because he graduated med school and all (don’t worry he finally got his priorities in order and is now a cartoonist, hey you should check Ben out!!) and he too suffers from adult onset right-wrongness. We are starting a support group and are incorporating the little ‘make an L with your left hand as a reminder’ as our secret club sign.

2) I HATE meatloaf…I mean I hate it with a passion. This really isn’t fair really because I have some friends who can cook like a mofo and would probably make a kick butt meatloaf. The thing is, when I was little I had a series of traumatic meatloaf encounters…you did read that right. The first came when I was about five and my mom got really sick with pneumonia, like hospital style sick. So my grandma came and took care of my bro and me. She always made the same nasty meatloaf for dinner and would put a ton of ketchup on the top before putting it into the oven so when it came out it had that nice charred skin on top. Nice. This scarred my bro and I so bad that we refused to eat any kind of meatloaf after; cut to visiting my other set of grandparents and my bro and I were stuck sitting at the table for over three hours in an ‘I refuse to eat this stand off.’

3) That’s Po-Po not Poopoo. My dad is half Chinese-Hawaiian and so I call my grandparents on his side Po-Po and Gung-Gung. Po-Po is Chinese for grandma and I think you can guess the second one. My family throws these terms around so freely we forget sometimes that everyone else probably has no idea what the heck a Po-Po is, so it’s made for some pretty funny miscommunications. PS-My Po-Po is famous for her sweet monkeybread style cakes!!!

4) I’m REALLY afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West. When I was little, like everyone else, I saw the Wizard of Oz. The thing is, while I adored the whole Dorothy-Munchin thing (glad I missed the dead dude hanging in the background thing until high school) I was TERRIFIED of the witch. So much s.o that when my family got us tickets to see the Wizard of Oz on Ice I refused to go and see it because I was afraid the witch would come into the audience and grab me.

5) They took gullible out of the dictionary and put Cait in instead. I’m seriously one of the most gullible people around. Some of my close friends like to really take advantage of that and the things I’ve believed are hi-larious. I’ve gotten better thanks to their hazing but every now and again I fall like a sucker.

6) Say what?! That said, I’m also someone who probably kids around too much and with people I don’t even really know that well. I have a habit of saying sarcastic things or statements made in jest to anyone and everyone, even if it’s the man behind the counter of DMV. Sometimes people do take me literally and I have to go back and say, “Sorry, I’m joking. When you asked me my gender, Mr. DMV Man, I am in fact a female, I just was being a dork. I apologize.”

7) Yes I went to band camp, and yes I played the flute. Thank you American Pie for making any and all bandcamp flautists sort of say that and cringe, awaiting the reaction of the other people and the lame jokes that follow. I actually played the flute from 6th grade through 8th grade and went to bandcamp I believe three years. It was really fun, mostly because my best friend was with me and we’d take full liberty to act as fools. She once got really bored during rehearsal and so naturally started just chewing the heck out of the reed on her clarinet. Cut to an hour later when the instructor asked her to play a solo…hmmm, that reed chewing wasn’t such a good idea. But I actually did take the flute thing really serious and only gave up music to try this whole running thing.

And those are some rando facts about little old me! Now I get to nominate 7 other awesome bloggers to hear about some random stories from them…so here goes my little bloggy buddies:

Melissa at The Healthy Cupcake

Kristine at Running On Hungry

Jen at Run for Anna

Margs at Faster Bunny

Michelle at Crazy Runner Legs

Pink-Runner

Katy at Fit in Heels

1) What’s something random about yourself?

2) Is there something you were deathly afraid of as a kid that is ridiculously laughable now?

3) Brag on yourself time…anyone race? Kick butt workouts?

What? Me, Awesome? If You Say So…

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Cait — 11 Comments ↓

So, imagine my surprise as I’m scrolling down one of my fav blogs and BAM!! What do I see, but this chick right here getting an Amazing Blogger Award?!?! Say what? So after doing my little happy dance…

…it was my turn to answer a few questions and reciprocate the gesture. But I have to back up here first because I have my thanks to dole out. Don’t be pulling a lame Oscar move on me, I’m gonna get my time at the podium so no cuing the music.

First I want to thank the AWESOME Christina aka The Athletarian for presenting me with this award. Her blog was one of the very first I got ‘hooked’ on and she welcomed me with open (albeit crazy vegan…haha…totally jk’ing on that one!) arms and has been so encouraging. Who woulda thunk anyone would want to read my ramblings? I don’t even know if my mom reads this…haha. But honestly, Christina lives up to her Athletarian name in every way possible; she is a workout queen, but looks way too gorgeous while sweating it out, she makes all the rest of us feel like scuz-buckets! Her blog is always a blast to read and supplemented by drool-worthy pix of her top eats, hilarious shenanigans her and her hottie bf are up to, and plenty more. So if you haven’t yet, go check her out!

Second I want to thank anyone else who’s reading this. For anyone who’s commented and those brave enough to return. It always makes my day. 🙂 So now on to some Q and A’s:

1) My favorite cartoon character has got to be Tinkerbell!!

(from a break-up card I made a LONG time ago)

My family is well aware of this and you know how you have that person in the family where everyone buys them anything with their ‘thing’ on it, Tink is my thing. Over the years I’ve amassed a scary amount of Tink paraphernalia. Hey, at least I don’t collect ceramic pigs.

2) My favorite thing to photograph…this one is kinda tricky because I hate taking pictures of myself and I’m also notoriously horrible at remembering to bring my camera anywhere. I always plan to but forget. So I’ll go with my top pick here as running or action shots. Also good ol’ family pix.

3) My favorite thing to cook…wow, I’m going to be sucking on a few accounts. As I’ve stated many times I am a micro queen and have boiled water once or twice. I’ll do an easy out and say I can never tire of toasting up some Pop-Tarts…I’ve got mad skills.

4) My favorite way to exercise? Do I have to even answer this one? RUNNING!

5) My favorite movie…while I love Tink my actual favorite move is The Little Mermaid. Splash was up there as a kid too, and The Neverending Story.

I know I need to grow up, so outside of those I’d say Momento, Fight Club, and anything with John Cusack.

6) Favorite article of clothing…gym wear and screened tees.

7) My favorite flowers are pansies. When I was little I went through a phase where I named EVERYTHING pansy, I got a cat during this phase. Pansy was a vicious mo-fo though. I loved the scene in Alice in Wonderland with the talking pansies…but they were mean too, maybe that’s why I like pansies??

8) My favorite breakfast food are chocolate chip pancakes! But I usually have oatmeal and eggs.

9) Favorite books that I’ve read lately; I’m a big Stephen King and Dean Koontz fan, I’ve read nearly all of their books. I’ve been lame and haven’t been able to read much lately…does US magazine count?

10) My favorite place to be is with the fam bam! Love me my sibs…but not gonna lie I get abnormally excited anytime Disneyland is mentioned.

11) Then I’m supposed to add a question of my own. I’ll go with a talent I wish I had. I really wish I could dance crazy good…the fact I really suck hardly stops me though.

Alright so I now get to pass this award on to 5 other fab bloggers! There are MANY I’d like to give a shout out to, and actually a few of them I see have already received the award themselves so I’m going to have to spread the love.

Margs @ The Faster Bunny

Melissa @ The Healthy Cupcake

Emma @ Sweet Tooth Runner

Qiting @ I Bake Who Eats

Cait @ Cait’s Plate (she gets a double award for the cool name status)

Yay for awesome bloggers!!!

1) Fun factoid about yourself, what’s a rando (didja see this Melissa, I have fully stolen your word!) talent that you possess?

I can cram a freeze like NONE other.

2) A talent you wish you had?

3) Do you have a person in your family who collects certain things? Double points if the thing they collect is ‘old ladyish.’

I have an aunt who has a pig fetish. Kinda ironic because she used to be really Spartan about doing any and all fad diets. She had a pig magnet posted front and center telling her not to be piggy.

To Yogurtopia We Go

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Cait — 15 Comments ↓

It was one of those perfect mornings. The kind like in those cheesy cartoons where the birds are singing and that little ‘da-da-da-da-da’ interlude is playing in the background. We got butterflies flittering around, squirrels a’skittering around, the full shiznit. Oops, please disregard the cat that just attacked one of those squirrels.

Back on track; we cut to a slumbering princess. Princess Athletarian rises, greets the morning, gets out of bed and heads downstairs to find her hot Prince Dream…I mean Dean. He of course is in their palatial gym busting out pull-ups like a monster, she can’t help but smile at the enormity of his biceps, I mean, seriously?! Though she is equally as gorgeous, the two of them really should be a fitness model duo or something.

She hops on the treadmill as per usual and cranks out a few miles…er, I mean kilometers, dang that whole Canadian metric thing always throws me. That and they are always spelling favorite and color wrong. 😉

But she’s not feeling it, the whole treadmill things, the day is too perfect to be sweating it out inside. She takes it to the streets, waves at passersbys, but something is still off, something’s missing. She can’t quite place it but there is something that just won’t stop niggling at her.

AHA!! At last her stomach gives her the answer…it needs, it craves, it has an insatiable urge for fro-yo! Unfortunately, while her kingdom is amazing, the closest fro-yo stop is quite a trek. That’s okay, she has shoes, those darn shin splints aren’t acting up, and so she’s off to Yogurtopia!

It isn’t too long before she passes the front of Heels Delight, and who comes running out, well it’s Katy! How she manages to sprint in strappy cuties shoes is beyond me but she pulls it off, be careful not to be blinded by the awesome view she presents from behind. “Princess Athletarian, where are you going?”

“To Yogurtopia of course, are you in?”

“He** ya I’m in!” Katy exclaims. She ditches the swanky heels, changes into her running shoes and the two are off in a dash. Well, she does bust out into a New Kids on the Block song as they go, but we’ll let that one slide…she switches to a Bieber tune later.

A few kilometer-miles later they come to the front of Cafe Rio and who do they find face-first in a mountain of produce/salad ginormous deliciousness? Well Hungry Runner Girl of course! “Hey guys, where are you off too?” she asks wiping the guac from the tip of her nose. Astonishingly she’s still able to make anything look cute…don’t hate, appreciate! 🙂

“Off to Yogurtopia,” the two harriers answer back not missing a step.

“Hold on…I’m in!” HRG quickly replies. Splickity split she licks her fingers clean and in a second falls right in stride. Thankfully in this kingdom everyone is blessed with titanium femurs so HRG can run for eternity and never have to worry about any stupid bone troubles.

A while later they spy a fleet footed friend approaching running in the opposite direction. As they get closer they see she’s with a too cute little pup and know it must be Julia and Riley! (How Riley’s tiny little legs are able to move so fast is again beyond me, sort of like one of those hummingbird wing things I guess.) “Hey guys, where are you off to?” Julia the biped of the duo questions.

“Off to Yogurtopia of course, are you in?” the trio answer in unison. There obviously is no need for an answer and soon the trio becomes a quad, or whatever that would be. Actually I guess it more correctly becomes a quartet with little Riley.

Talk naturally comes to that of reality TV and The Bachelorette. “Thankfully that a-hole Bentley finally got the f-you he deserved!” states Julia.

Suddenly at that, from out of nowhere comes another voice, “Holy crap you don’t even know! I was SOO pumped when Ashely let him have it!” Why it’s Margs…apparently talk of The Bachelorette was something akin to her sailor’s siren song. (Just messing, Margs, you know I love obsessing over that stuff with you just as much! hehe.)

Well, Margs was on her training run for some kind of relay or whatever that’s getting all this hoopla. 😉 She finds out that that Yogurtopia is the quartet’s destination and naturally finds it necessary that a course change is in order. And so these six awesome runners are off.

This kingdom is quite expansive and it’s also one hot destination for anyone and everyone. It’s not too long until they turn onto the block that’s one of the biggest celeb draws around; by night it’s got the spread of all the best bars, clubs and restaurants. By day you can shop until you’re more broke than a childhood star has-been on the Surreal Life and of course lounge by the pool and soak up some rays.

It’s here they find one particular fit fashionista on a lounge chair, frap in hand and laptop on, well, her lap. As the runners get closer they can clearly see what is displayed on the screen that has her so enraptured. “SkinnyRunner! What’s up?!” Margs shouts.

“Wow, Elle MacPherson and her pencil perfect legs just isn’t right. But don’t get me started on Audrina over there at the other end of the pool,” SR greets the runners nodding to the abstatic Aud indeed at the opposite end. Ironically, the celeb is engaged in one of fete or another and cutting a massive cake…one she probably won’t eat as it surely can’t be on her 1,100 calorie diet plan.

“Off to Yogurtopia,” Princess Athletarian says and adds, “You have to come with!”

“Well, I already ran 20 miles this morning but it’s no big thang. Ya, I’m in! But just so long as it’s not like that lame knock-off Yogurt Bar.” With that, SR joins the growing group and off they go. If it’s any consultation, they are able to run much faster than Aud ever could, as her newly enhanced breastestes bouncing around would never allow for such a pace.

So, what are we up to six now, six fab chicas and a pooch? You figure out what that would be, I’m pretty sure it’s a sextet but that just sounds too dirty to keep using. Don’t worry, because I’m sure there are more characters to bee added to this little fairy tale…and thus I must say…TO BE CONTINUED…

**Photo credits due to the fine ladies at their respective blogs. Also, this thing was getting to be epic, I have other peeps soon to be included, so don’t worry there are other targets out there. You’ve been warned and don’t think there’s any love lost to my other fav’s. 🙂