Bucket list add ons

Stay in a tree house like this one

Go back to Spain
Ride an elephant
Go on a trip via train
Visit Redwood National Park
Go to a big quilt show

Park City

My friend Aubrey invited me to the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup Moguls Competition in Park City.
It was free and looked awesome so I invited my friend Kyle and we headed up with Aubrey Friday night. Brenda met us up there since she works up there and we all had a great time. As we walked in we passed the Columbia table where they were handing out free hot chocolate. We obviously weren't going to pass that up and lucky for me we stopped. They gave us beanies and it probably saved me. I had meant to bring a hat but forgot. It was SO cold and that hat was seriously a gift from heaven. The moguls were really cool. I can't believe people actually do that! I also got to see my friend Devin who I haven't seen since high school so that was fun too!

After the moguls we went to dinner and then headed back to Draper. I stayed the night at Aubrey's and we stayed up WAY too late catching up. You'd think living 30 minutes from each other we'd do better at seeing each other, but no.

Saturday I got cancelled from work (hurray!) so I was able to clean my house in preparation for Brenda's goodbye party. I also made cookies and dip and took a much needed nap. The party was a success and over all it was an excellent weekend.

Cathy turns 30

So it's my birthday in just over a month. I'm going to be the big 3-0. I go back and forth with freaking out and it just being another day, another year. 30 is a third of your life! That's kind of a big deal. A good time to reflect on what you've done and what you still want to do.

I've decided to celebrate this birthday as my "golden" birthday since my golden birthday was when I was 3 and I barely even knew what a regular birthday was. I figure 3+0=3 so it's basically the same ...

For my thirtieth year of life what I would like to do  is make myself a quilt. Shock and surprise. How can you help with this? I'm asking that instead of any gifts you may have had in mind (very presumptuous I know), that you send me 1/4 of a yard (9 inches) or a fat quarter of cotton fabric. Any color or pattern. I'll take all the fabric and make myself a birthday quilt to celebrate being alive for 30 years. Kind of weird, but I feel like it will be a good way for me to celebrate my own life as well as those of the great people in my life. To have a little piece of the people I love in a quilt I will have forever. If you don't want to participate, that's perfectly fine with me. Know that I love you all and I'm grateful for your love and friendship the last 30 years.

If you don't have my address you can facebook me or text me or ask my mom or use your other stalking skills. :)

Made it

Most of my New Years resolutions from 2014 were a bust, but I did this one. I ran in the freezing cold. I ran two a days. I ran on the last day of the year with a cold, but I finished it. Hopefully I can come up with some quality resolutions for 2015 and make them happen like I did this one.

Single thoughts

Holidays as a single person can really be the pits. I love my married friends. I think they are great. I know they have their trials and they are doing their best. I know they love me and want the very best for me. They have beautiful families, their children are adorable, if not a little bit monster sometimes. :) And at Christmas this year, I just don't really like to see it. I don't like their adorable family pictures and have thought more than once about blocking or unfriending them. It's not something I'm especially proud of and I'm working on it. It actually makes me feel like a very terrible person. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm completely exhausted and everything makes me either cry or want to hit something. Hahaha, this sounds so pathetic, but it's very honest. To all you single people out there feeling the same or something similar, you are not alone. You are not a terrible person. Keep going. Christmas is about Jesus Christ. Lucky for us he came for just such a reason. To take away our anger and pain and give us hope. For that I am very grateful.

Merry Christmas

Who decided this was a good idea?

December 12th. Status: almost dead.

In October I applied for a part time job at Joann fabric. I've had some serious dental work this year and I'm still working on paying it all off and figured a seasonal job would be just the ticket. Who knew that working 60 hours a week, trying to make your 600 mile running goal for the year, working a temple shift, taking a class and trying to get Christmas gifts done could wear a person out so completely?

Needless to say something had to give and it's been the class. Lucky for me it's independent study and although I was trying to finish it with BYU's semester, I actually have until August so it's not that big of a deal. Also my big Christmas project for my grandma is definitely not going to happen. That one is not actually my fault and I guess it could be a blessing in disguise since I just don't have the time anyway.

I have had so many angels in my life as I struggle through this mess I signed up for. I've had friends bring me dinner, save me spots at devotionals, text me to say they missed me at church and last night one of the temple coordinators took my turn to stay late and close the temple. I may have cried over a few of these.

I'm also very grateful for the testimonies this last week that helped me remember what Christmas is really about and feel a bit more of the Christmas spirit despite our glaring lack of yuletide snow.

Merry Christmas :)

Ragnar Las Vegas

Running addles your brain. That's the only conclusion I can come up with for why people would pay to run a ridiculous number of miles, "sleep" in a van, really be going on no sleep at all and then call it fun, but I have now signed up for this insanity twice. Four times if you count Ragnar trail, which was marginally better since we had a tent to sleep in, but still.

This time it was Las Vegas. My friend Leslie had a few people drop from the team she was on and asked if I wanted to go. The registration fee was already paid so I'd just be responsible for food and gas. That makes me less crazy right? I didn't have to pay extravagant amounts of money to run like a crazy person? At any rate we had a great time.

We got down to Vegas Thursday night and my cousin Rick came and picked me up for dinner. It was lucky I had called him the day before for my November grateful challenge, since I forgot he was living in Vegas. It was nice to chat with him and he won the prize for best cousin when he brought be sunscreen before my first leg and then stayed the whole time, moving along the route to cheer me on.

Friday morning we got up at 3:30 to get ready and head out. Sadly I hadn't really slept. I guess I was sleeping, but it wasn't a sound sleep and I didn't feel rested at all. I was runner 6, so it was kind of warm by the time it was my turn to run. I thought it was going to be awful, but it turned out to be not so bad.

We went back to the house to shower and nap, but again I was "sleeping" but didn't feel rested when I got up. We headed out for our second legs and I must say this was the most entertaining part of the trip for me. Two of my teammates were high school boys. They were so funny as we waited at the exchange for leg 2. I just laid on my seat in the van and listened to them sing their hearts out. Super Tramp of all things. It was very entertaining. My night run was my longest one. It was decent. I like running at night, but it was mostly in residential areas with lots of street lights so I couldn't even see the moonlight for most of it. Lame. My phone said I ran an 8 minute mile. Just shows that the GPS tracking on your phone isn't always very accurate. :) After leg 2 we headed to a hotel. I slept like a rock there, but sadly it was short lived as we had to get up 2.5 hours later to go run. I was feeling pretty awful at that point and I'm pretty sure I would have died if we hadn't had the van that I could sleep in for a couple more hours.

This is what we looked like a lot between runs and in the end. Completely wasted, sore and smelly. After my last run we headed back to the house and I showered super fast so I could go to lunch with my friend Casey. I don't think I have seen him since he moved in June so it was fun to catch up with him. We even did a little shopping which turned out to be very entertaining as well.

We decided to skip the finish line since we had to drive back to Provo. It was a long drive and I was very tired, but when we hit the rumble strips a couple times, I decided I better stay awake and help the driver stay awake. Better tired and alive than dead. :)

It was a much better overall experience than Ragnar Colorado. Having a van makes a huge difference. I was nervous about having two 17 year-olds on my team, but they turned out to be one of the highlights of the team. For only knowing one person on my team going into it, I was pleasantly surprised and would definitely do another Ragnar, provided I don't have to pay the entry fee and we have a van.