Road Queen

Take a look at this SA-WEEEEEEEET Felt road bike.

That's a picture of the 2010 Z85 taken right from the Felt bicycles site.

Now take a look at this even sweeter 2011 model of that same bike...SITTING IN MY LIVING ROOM!!!!

That's right, y'all. Home girl got hooked up!!! I pretty much have the best husband ever, right?

Just to list a few of its super rad specs...

Felt Superlite custom butted 7005 aluminum frame

Full carbon-fiber front fork and seat post

Shimano 105 front and rear derailleurs

FSA Vero aluminum crankset

Dual pivot brakes with cartridge brakes shoes

Don't know what any of that means? It can all be summed up in one word: TOTALLY BADASS!!!

Ok, two words. Whatevs.

But my favorite features aside from the anatomic road saddle with D2 double-density base to gently cushion my buns? The awesome matte black, red, and white color scheme! (Yeah, I'm superficial like that!) But, if that color scheme doesn't just scream HARDCORE AWESOMENESS, I don't know what does.

And of course, every hardcore machine needs a hardcore name. So as I was taking it for it's maiden voyage yesterday around Spanish Fork and Woodland Hills, I had a vision. The heavens opened and the clouds parted. Then it came to me.

Bobby Light

Yes. My bike will forevermore be known as Bobby Light, as in Bobby Light and the Chunky Boys.

Be jealous.

Productivity

After nearly 7 years, my time at BYU is coming to an end. Between completing my undergrad and working for the math department, I've been in the BYU community since 2003 and this August will mark the end of an era.

After next month, I will be resigning from my post as queen of the math department and I'll be taking on the duties of full-time stay-at-home mom

As I'm not very domestic and short on patience, I am kinda nervous about taking on this new roll of Susie Homemaker. I hope I don't go insane or kill my child. I imagine that for the first two weeks it'll be one big party.

Sleeping in.

Lounging around in my sweats 'til 2pm.

Actually having time to get Lolli's hair combed in the morning so she doesn't look homeless for the entire rest of the day.

Not having to go to work is gonna be AWESOME!!! That is, until I get bored and tired of my child. Still, there are a few big projects that I actually look forward to completing once I've quit work.

Organizing our house
Even though we moved back to Provo like 3 months ago, we've still got a whole back room packed with boxes. I'm excited to finally get everything unpacked and organized. Plus, the husband is kind of a pack rack, so I'm excited to go through his crap and either organize or de-clutter. I'm so sick of this house having piles of paper and folders lying all over the place!

Thrifting
Since I'll be out of the job and no longer raking in the Benjamins, I'll have to be more frugal. I'm stoked to start thrifting. I've been reading a lot of blogs lately whose authors are big on finding vintage clothing pieces at consignment shops. I've tried my hand before at thrifting, but I've never really had the time to fully invest in it so I've never found anything that great. You'd better believe I'll have the time to rifle through old digs next month!

Potty Training
Ok, I don't really look forward to potty training as I'm not a fan of poopy panties. However, I swore that I would not have another child until the previous one was out of diapers. Our plan was to potty train at the beginning of this summer, but with Lolli going to Grandma's house every other day, it would have been too hard to get her on a schedule. Though, Lolli's ready to potty like a big girl. Well, really she just wants those Dora panties.

Any big projects on your to-do lists?

A Major Award

Remember that horrific 10K fun run I did back in Vegas? And remember how I had placed in my division but they screwed me out of an award?

Well, I ended up emailing the race director to complain about not getting an award. I told him that I'm generally not bratty and whiney but since this will probably be the only award I EVER win in a race, I really really REALLY wanted that certificate to commemorate my awesomeness.

He emailed me back saying that he'd check with the other race coordinators and then get back to me. I didn't hear anything from him for about a month. Then last week, we receive a notice in our mail box saying that we had a package waiting for us at the post office. I go to the post office, wait in line for like 9 hours since they only ever have one employee working at any given time, and I finally pick up my package. I tear open the envelope and what to my wandering eyes should appear??!?!?!!???

MY AWARD CERTIFICATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's the Filly Division, you ask? Simply put, it's the plus-size division. That's right. It's a nice name for that fat girl division.

Out of all the females 160+ pounds, I placed 3rd. Woo hoo! Give it up for the Fillies!!!!

I don't care what division this award is from. I'll take it!!! It's sure to be the one and only award I ever receive throughout my entire running career. Ain't gonna see me running no 1 hour 7 minute half-marathons any time soon! Shoot...

*******SIDE NOTE*******

I don't think 160 pounds is fat at all. In fact, it's TINY!!! I would love to weigh 160! Though Ryan, bless his heart, said that if I were ever 160 pounds he'd divorce me 'cause I'd look too frail and disgustingly skinny. Not to worry, Ry Guy. These Polynesian curves ain't goin' anywhere!

Hobbler Half

Since completing the Ogden marathon, I've been addicted to running. I made it a goal to do at least one race every month this summer, and so far, I've done just that.

This past weekend, I ran the Hobbler Half-marathon in Hobble Creek Canyon. I had signed up for this race about a week or two after my marathon, while I was still on a my runner's high. Thinking I had plenty of time to recover from my full and then start training again for this half, I took it easy.

Well, turns out I took it too easy.

I've been running just about every day since Ogden, but I hadn't really been training as intensely as I had with TNT. Instead, I ran anywhere between 3-5 miles on the weekdays and then maybe 6 miles on Saturday mornings...if I happened to wake up in time. I never did any long runs and I never did any speedwork.

Then, I went to Powell for a week. I told myself that while I was there, I'd swim laps every day and do Ab Ripper X. I think I swam twice and did Ab Ripper once. By the time we got back from Powell, it was too late. D-day. Time for my race.

My goal was just to make it to the 10 mile mark because once there, I only had 3 more miles left to go. Piece of cake, right? WRONG!

I could barely make it to mile 6!! That's not true. Mile 1-5 were actually quite relaxing...except that I had drunk so much water that morning, waiting around for the race to start, that I had to pee like 19 different times along the way. (And no, I did not have to squat in any bushes. Luckily they had some port-a-pottys along the route.)

So after mile 5, my goal changed: I was just gonna take it a mile at a time until mile marker 10. If I took it easy up until 10, I figured that I would have recovered enough to finish strong through the last 5k. Not so.

I get to mile 10 and decide to pick up my pace. That lasted maybe about a quarter of a mile until I was once again exhausted. I finally made it to mile 11 where a kid with a hose sprayed me as I passed. I thought it would be ultra refreshing since it was like a bazillion degrees outside. Instead, it was miserable! The freakin' demon child blasted me right in the face with the full force of a water canon and then kept spraying me until I was completely drenched. My shoes squished, my hair was sopping, and I'm pretty sure my glasses broke.

By some miracle, I make it to mile 12 without chafing or getting any blisters from my soggy clothing. I rev up the engines and then pull out everything left in my tank. I'm finally about 1/4 mile out and I can see the huge, blue inflatable finish line. And of course, hearing all the cheers and shouts, I get motivated enough to kick it in to gear.

A few meters from crossing the finish line, I spot the Schoenstar, Lollipop, and my best friend Tara and her kids. They're all yelling and screaming and cheering me on. I get ready to sprint the rest of the way when little Lolli comes running out to meet me. She grabs my leg, mid stride, and squeals "I hold you!" meaning, she wanted me to pick her up.

So, as cheesy and as sickeningly sweet as it was, I gathered her up into my arms, with every last bit of strength I had, and ran with her across the finish line at 2 hours 41 minutes...then I collapsed.
I seriously felt more beat up after that race than I did after finishing the full. Even now, 3 days later, my quads still radiate with pain.

Being a procrastinator is going to be the death of me. Next time I WILL train before attempting to run 13.1 miles.

PS
The Kenyan who won the race, Patrick Rotich, finished in 1 hour 7 minutes. INSANE!!!!!!!!!! Though, if I weighed 114 pounds, I could run fast, too! Stupid skinny people.

It Means No Worries

My lovely readers, rejoice! For I have returned! After a week-long vacay on the Hakuna Matata...
...I'm finally back and rocking an AWESOME tan! (I seriously love being Hawaiian. My gams are perfectly golden!)

And while this post won't mean anything to many of you, I wanted to quickly write down some of our favorite inside jokes, experiences, and memories from this trip before I forget. But for those readers who did accompany me on this trip, you'll appreciate this list.

Pooping on the side of the freeway
Fish slap
Dancing by myself
Death pockets
Flying turtle and farting dolphin
P90X
Endless Nacho Libre references
Netherlands soccer
Mission stories
Rattle snake hike
Shooting bottle rockets
Booty poppin'
"You're like a baby, don't know what to do!"
Gale force winds
Henna
Squirt gun boy at the marina
Cliff jumping
"Come on, Blondie!"
Redheaded boy catching his first fish
Striper boils
Hat tricks
Speedo
Retard faces
Marina trucker girl
Kayak boobies
"He's schwimming out to schea!"
Houseboat ramming the dock

We had a lot of fun with our family and friends and we shared in a lot of laughs...generally at someone's expense.

But the best part of the entire trip? FINALLY getting up on the wakeboard. It only took 509,234,882,711 attempts...and that's with my cousin in the water helping me. I'm pissed I waited until the last day there to try, though. I could have been wakeboarding the entire week. Oh well. Maybe I should just find someone around here with a boat that I can sweet talk into taking us out on the lake so I can utilize my new skills.

Anyone??? Anyone???!?!!?

A HUGE thanks to the Taylor's for the awesome week at Powell!!!