FACT OR CRAP!

Hydrocyclone

2010-06-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

HAPPY FRIDAY FOC!

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! Are you watching the South Africa vs. Mexico game at YOUR office right now? We set up a projector screen at ours. World Cup kicks off today! Who are you rooting for? Speaking of which, I'll be in Houston this weekend. Maybe I'll see you around? I believe we will be going to a bar somewhere to watch the USA vs England game on Saturday as well. Call the FOC Master if you are out. I'd love to have a beer with you!

So yesterday evening all of my wildest dreams came true, kinda. It's no secret if you know the FOC Master well that I LOVE to eat. Eating is probably my favorite thing to do. I aways like to try new restaurants when I can in Austin and people usually call me if they are like, "Hey, I'm in Austin..what's a good place to eat sushi." or whatever. And of course my childhood nickname was "hungry"..because I was always hungry. Anyways,so yesterday I get home from work and Focker Katie is like "Call me ASAP!" and I'm thinking something is wrong so I go call her, and she's all nonchalant like "Hey do you want to come to Hudson's on the Bend with me and my mom and sister?" Ok so let me explain. Hudsons On the Bend is a famous Austin restaurant. It is the one place here that I've ALWAYS wanted to go to but never have been to (its not cheap) and I'd always say...one day...I'll go there. So she asks me and I'm like, "Yeah..I don't know I had plans to do some laundry and I'll have to check my schedule.........Ok I'll come!" So I go throw on a cute sun dress and hop in my car and head out there. They are friends with the owners so we ended up eating with one of them and this is totally serious, I think it was the best meal I've ever had. We ordered like everything on the menu. I had bacon and jalepeno wrapped duck, sesame and almond crusted crab cakes on top of goat cheese and avacado, venison prosciutto wrapped scallops, and for my entree i ordered this espresso-chocolate- chili rubbed smoked elk back strap topped with crab meat. Aaaand then for dessert we had the creme brulee trio, caramel pecan pie dipped in belgian chocolate, and some peach buckle stuff. It was ridiculous, and I was a VERY happy person last night. I would say that I was stuffed after that, but it was so good and I was so excited that I really just kept eating and never got full.

Have you seen this, "BP spills coffee" video? If not, you should. It's funny. Click here to see it.

What are YOU doing this weekend?

***BOOM BOOM POW***

See above. Boom Boom Pow this week obviously goes to Fockers Katie, Jodie, and Coley.

Ok let's play! Wednesdays FACT OR CRAP was, "Michael Jordan earned a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina, where he majored in cultural geography." That is a FACT! Jordan returned to the university, after entering the 1984 NBA Draft, to complete his degree.

I believe I can fly....I believe I can touch the sky!

Lauren R

Sara

Bea

Julia

Weston

Larry

Sue

John W

Raymond

Erin

Ingrid

Steve

Ashley S

Teresa & Ron

Meghan D

Lucia

Karen

Cindy C

Cindy S

Brett

Stephanie

Courtney & Dennis

I think about it every night and day...spread my wings and fly away!

Josie

Lauren G

Dana

Ann

Lindsey

Blake

Maggie

Courtney

Brooke P

Rob

Jane E

Aaaaand your FACT OR CRAP for today is....

"A hydrocyclone is a device that separates sand from water."

Have a safe and fun weekend,

Michael Jordan

2010-06-09T10:12:00.001-05:00

Happy Hump Day FOC-

3:30 in the morning, not a soul in sight. The city's lookin' like a ghost town, on a moonless summer night. Raindrops on the windshield, there's a stoooooorm movin' in. He's headin back from somewhere, that he never should have been. And the thunder rolls. And the thunder rolls. The thunder rolls! And the lightening strikes! Another love grows cooold, on a sleepless niiight, As the storm blows oooooon, out of control, Deep in the heaaart, the thunder rolls. Noooope..nope, I didn't write that one. Garth Brooks did. But the thunder is definitely rolling on in Austin today, and it did all night last night. It's actually flooding in New Braunfels right now. Hope no one had a river tripped planned for the next few days, as it will probably be closed. Weather intrigues me so much. Last year you couldn't even get in Lake Travis and the river was barely flowing, this year, its flooding. Whatever.

So I'm feeling rather chipper today! Heres why- 1) Had a nice 5 miles run with Focker John last night 2) Relaxed and watched a movie on the couch 3) Got to listen to the thunderstorm all night (i love weather, see above) 4) Had a dream that I met and hung out with Oprah last night 5) Sitting here eating a nice breakfast and having some good coffee when one of my all time favorite cheesy country songs came on my pandora- What A Beautiful Day by Chris Cagle 6) Getting my hair cut at 5 today. I love the hair salon.

So did you get a chance to read/see the heroic story that Focker Raymond sent to me yesterday of the dog that looked just like my Nugget? Pretty crazy, huh? Well, Nugget of course posted a response to this on his blog. Check it out here.

So I've been on a morbid/depressing movie streak so far this week. Tonight if I watch a movie I'm going to have to mix it up and watch something uplifting or funny. Last night I watched Taken with Liam Neeson and some other people that I've never heard of. Have you seen it? It was about this dad who is an ex-CIA badass and his daughter goes off to Paris and COINCIDENTLY gets kidnapped by sex traffickers. He then boards a plane to France and just so happens to kill like every person involved and gets her back in less than like 72 hours. The movie was pretty bad. If you've seen it, you will know what I am talking about. He like finds her friend and just leaves her there and he kills all these people and nobody seems to care. Then he finds his daughter, saves her, and brings her back to the US and she's SO happy. The thing that just really bothered me was the friend. Even his daughter doesn't mention her at the end or seem to care that she's still over there being sex trafficked. Whatever. The movie did spark my interest in the alarming number of people, mainly young women and children, being kept as sex slaves and sold around the world. There are millions of people that fall victim to this every year around the world, not just in poor countries. This is modern day slavery, and the fact that more is not being done to stop it is an outrage. Every government in the world should be ashamed. Anyways, sorry for ranting about this, I just get particularity upset and angry over sex crimes against women and children. Here are some organizations that you can donate/learn more/or get involved with!

http://www.polarisproject.org

http://www.ijm.org/

http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/

http://www.ungift.org/

Which brings me to my next point. I've followed the Natalee Holloway story for years now. She actually disappeared in Aruba days before I left with 10 other girls to travel to Greece for our Senior trip back in 2005. You can imagine how worried that made our mothers before we all left! I'm so glad that the worthless pos Joran Van Der Sloot is finally behind bars. He should have been convicted of the Holloway crime years ago. I hope he rots away in a Peruvian jail cell for the rest of his life, even though the most they could keep him is 35 years. WTF!

On a lighter note, let's play! Yesterday's FACT OR CRAP was, "William Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army, was originally a Catholic priest." That is CRAP! William Booth was a Methodist minister when he and his wife began the work of the Christian Mission, which was renamed the Salvation Army in 1878.

Is William Booth Catholic? No...no he's not.

Courtney & Denns

Erin

Larry

Josie

Sara

Ann

Rob

Jane E

Dates

Lindsey

Ashley T

Lauren G

Cindy C

Ashley S

Brett

I'm pretty sure it was Santa Claus that started the Salvation Army. I always donate to the bell ringers at Christmas.

Lauren R

Sue

Courtney

Brooke P

Julia

Meghan D

Raymond

Steve

Lucia

Teresa & Ron

Ingrid

Blake

Dana

Weston

Ashley L

Cindy S

Heather

Justin

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand your FACT OR CRAP for today is............

"Michael Jordan earned a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina, where he majored in cultural geography."

Good Luck,

William Booth

2010-06-08T10:32:00.002-05:00

Happy Tuesday FOC!

How was your weekend?! Mine was lovely but I'm paying the price now with a nasty sunburn on my lower back. I've decided that's the worst place to get a sunburn because no matter how you sit, you can't avoid it. On Friday I began the celebration for Focker Katie's birthday, where Focker Richard boiled us up a feast of shrimp and crab. I normally don't like to peal crab, as it is such a pain in the focking ass, but because this could be the last summer of enjoying crab from the gulf (Thank you, BP), I decided I needed to have some. Then on Saturday we swam, boated, drank, and ate a feast of ribs and brisket and sang Katie Happy Birthday! It was a perfect day. Theeen on Sunday I went fishing with my dad, caught like 20 fish that we had to throw back, ended up with 3 good trout, and made a trout feast for dinner. Perfect weekend!

Last night I was EXHAUSTED from all of the sunshine over the weekend so I decided to watch movies on the couch with my Focker Roomies. I wanted to be sappy and watch a love flick, such as the new hit "Dear John", but I was quickly vetoed by Roomies John and Jonathan. Perhaps because they were jealous of the John in the movie, I'm not sure. Anyways, we ended up watching The Road..which was by the same author as No Country For Old Men. It was a good movie, but quite possibly the most gloomy, morbid, depressing movie I've ever seen. It really had me excited for the week! It was basically a post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive. Definitely worth checking out. Have you seen it? What did you think?

**New Focker Alert**
You know when you go to get your hair did and one of the best parts is just sitting there chit chatting with your sylist/cutter/whatever you like to call him/her. That's kind of like what the FOC is! Just a bunch of fockers, sitting at our computers, chit chatting over whats new in life. Well, now we finally have a real life hair stylist with us! We have lawyers, teachers, doctors, salesman, nurses, and now someone to hook us up with some great hair. Like I've always said, the fockers would definitely have no problem surviving on an island. This is not just any hair stylist, let me add, shes been doing my moms hair for like 20 years or something crazy and I'm pretty sure she hooks up some other fockers in the group. When I lived in Galveston she would cut my hair, and I think she had trouble distinguishing me from my Motherfocker, as she would often give me the exact same hairdo as my Mom. Haha. That was my favorite memory of her, looking in the mirror when she was done and seeing my Mom in the reflection. She gave top notch service, and would even sometimes take me home after my haircut. Aaaanyways, I'm rambling. Let's all give a warm focking welcome to our new Focker, Stephanie Hernandez. Stephanie, here are the rules- 1) DO NOT CHEAT 2) DO NOT HIT REPLY ALL 3) DO NOT USE THE WORSE TRUE OR FALSE

Ok let's play! Friday's FACT OR CRAP was, "A hydathode is a type of secretory tissue in leaves." That is a FACT! Water is released from the top in order to transport the nutrients in the water from the roots to the leaves.

All the leaves are brown.....and the sky is grey...

Kendall

Sara

Erin

Ashley C

Lauren R

Lucia

Jane E

Meghan D

Josie

Jane M

John W

Bender-Thiel

Blake

Ashley T

Brett

Cindy C

Cindy S

Courtney & Dennis

Heather

California Dreamin..

Larry

Weston

Justin

Ann

Lindsey

Dates

Lauren G

Ashley L

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand your FACT OR CRAP for today is..........

"William Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army, was originally a Catholic priest."

Good Luck,

Siopao

2010-06-04T10:08:00.003-05:00

TGIF FOC!!!!

Finally the weekend. I would say that the 4 day week went by fast but I'm not so sure that it did. Update on the tupperware war. I crumbled yesterday. I just couldn't do it. I had a salad for lunch and then I met a friend for happy hour after work. I guess tupperware is just not for me. That's ok though. At least I know? My strategy for next week will be to NOT cook 3 days worth of food at one time. I'll just cook a little bit at a time, enough to eat in one sitting.

**FOCKING ANNOUNCEMENT/REMINDER**

People! People! This is just a focking game! There is no need to cheat! So yesterday I got a response from Focker JOSIE ARCIDIACONO saying, "CRAP. It is called salapao in Thailand. Siopao is a Philippino dish." I was so impressed! I was like man, has Josie traveled to the Philippines or Thailand? Does she eat eat at really cool mom and pop Thai or Philippine restaurants in Houston? Normally I don't give the answer away before the next day but I had to ask. I was like, "Wow, Josie! How did you know that?!" She responded with, "Okay Okay....Really...I googled Siopao. It told me everything I need to know about it. Slow day at work!!" Wtf? It's just a game Fockers! Don't cheat!

**HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY**

Whiskey river take my mind!!!!!!!!! That one goes out to one of my bestest friends, Focker Katie Williams, who is celebrating her 23rd birthday tomorrow! It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating her 13th birthday running around in her backyard as Tropical Storm Allison dumped rain and crazy wind on us the entire day. We will basically be doing the same thing tomorrow, running around in her backyard, minus the Tropical Storm. Woohoo! Happy Birthday Katie! You can send Katie a happy birthday email at kwillia1@trinity.edu OR call/text her at 409-789-2793!

**BOOM BOOM POW**

It's time for the BOOM BOOM POW! The Player of the Week! This player deserves a focking prize for getting me off of the focking couch. It's so boring running alone, and we are now running partners! Just like Forrest Gump and his posse. Watch out everyone running the Galveston Half Marathon in November, because we are going to SMOKE YOU! The Player of the Week, my new running partner, the POW, is Focker Roomie John W! Congrats John!

Ok let's play! Yesterday's FACT OR CRAP was, "Siopao is a standard dish in Thailand made of pig's blood and spices, left to congeal before being consumed." That is CRAP! Although you already knew that, because you Josie cheated.

We are cheaters just like Focker Josie Arcidiacono.

Lindsey

Larry

Lauren R

Ann

Courtney & Dennis

Ashley T

Josie** -Cheater

Cindy C

Dates

Elizabeth

John W

Blake

Jane M

Cindy S

Thank you to everyone that informed me that this dish would make for a nasty leftover. The FOC Master DEFINITELY does not eat Asian leftovers, as they produce nasty smells.

Brett

Kendall

Rob

Brooke P

Sara

Lucia

Lauren G

Bea

Dana

Ingrid

Sue

Ashley C

Erin

Weston

Jane E

Raymond

Meghan D

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand your FACT OR CRAP for today is..............

"Nelly Furtado is Canadian, but also holds Portugese citizenship."

Have a safe and fun weekend!

A Shrimp's Heart

2010-04-29T10:09:00.002-05:00

Top of the morning to you FOC!

I am dragging this morning. Can't seem to wake up. I made a very laaaarge pot of coffee when I got to work though and I plan to drink the whole thing. T-Minus 4 hours until I embark on my 9 hour journey to New Orleans. If I had a dollar for every mile that I've driven in the past few weeks..I'd probably have like....$5,000. Fortunately I'm only driving Beyonce to Houston, where I will meet up with Focker Ashley Lamb, who will be bringing her car, which happens to be the exact same car as mine, so I think to make things less confusing we will call her Kelly...Kelly Rowland..of Destiny's Child. Oh, and Tanya, she is also taking a car to New Orleans and she drive a new Black Nissan Maxima, which I have nicknamed Solange, after Beyonce's younger sister. Just in case you were wondering.

Fockers, I am in desperate need of a food intervention. Just wait until Monday when I get back from Louisiana. Yesterday you heard about my breakfast taco saga. Well, around 3pm yesterday, Focker Weston came in to my office and asked if I wanted to go to The Yogurt Spot. It's one of those places where you get to pick your flavor and put any kind of topping you want on it and they just weigh it at the end to see what you owe. Well, I went a little overboard, I don't know what got in to me, and I had a cup of Cookis N Cream mixed with Cake Batter yogurt...it gets better...topped with chocolate chips, KIT KATS, it gets worse....POP TARTS....AND FRUITY PEBBLES. INTERVEEENTION!!!!!! :(

I got an email from Bridezilla and What's His Name last night! Here is what it said:

"Dear sister,

quick email

we are having a blast!! we went to a bull fight, i got a henna tatoo of a turtle....tomorrow ziplining!!

Miss you and nugs

love,
Lindsey and Justin"

Sounds like they are having a good time! Sister always goes a little crazy with the henna tattoos and hair braiding when in Mexico. And I feel sorry for the pour tour guide that takes them ziplining. She wasn't so brave at jumping off of the trees in Costa Rica.

I will probably be hungover tomorrow morning ad preparing for a long day of eating and drinking, so don't be expecting a FOC. Perhaps I will shoot you all an email, just without the actual FOC part of it, that takes too much time.

Ok. Let's play. Yesterday's FACT OR CRAP was, "Goat milk is easier to digest than cow milk." That is a FACT!

FOC Master KD was allergic to milk when she was a baby. FACT.

Preston

Nina

Rob

Weston

Sue

Lauren R

Brett

Courtney

Jane E

Larry

Julia

Sara

Troy

Teresa & Ron

Blair

Steve

Erin

Cindy C

Blake

Ashley S

Dana

Courtney & Dennis

Donnie

Cindy S

Heather

"You can milk anything with nipples." - THE MOST HONORABLE FOCKER OF THEM ALL- GREG FOCKER.

Ann

Lauren G

Joy

Elizabeth

Chance

Meghan D

Lucia

Kara

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand your FACT OR CRAP for today is.......

"A shrimp's heart is located in it's head."

Good Luck,

Project FOC Ellen

2010-03-30T15:59:00.003-05:00

This week I launched an initiative to have a celebrity join the FOC. Ellen was the obvious choice! I want Ellen to be a Focker. I feel as though she will understand. She convinced Oprah to let her be on the cover of O magazine, and now she is trying to conquer the world.

Well, Ellen, I'm trying to get you in the FOC! We are calling this project "FOC Ellen." If you are a Focker and are reading this, click on this link and tell Ellen why she should be a Focker.

Ellen- if you are reading this- which you are probably not- come get in on the focking fun!

Today's FACT OR CRAP is.......

"Mont Blanc is the highest peak in Austria."

Peace out,

KD

FOC

2010-03-26T10:20:00.008-05:00

Here's a story about what is now the highlight of my day.....

I love to email, and I'm quite infamous for sending friends and family members stupid emails, all day long. It used to make my family think that I had too much free time and no life..which is questionable. So, Christmas 2008 my sister, who we will refer to as Bridezilla, thought it would just be SO funny to buy me one of those desk calendars that you tear off a page every day. The one she got me is from the game, FACT OR CRAP, so each day there is a different FACT OR CRAP and when you flip it over the answer is on the other side. When I returned to work in January and put the calendar on my desk I thought, I can play this game AND still send a million emails.

So, on January 7th, 2009 it began. I emailed 12 of my friends and family members and shared with them that day's FACT OR CRAP and asked them to send me back their answers. Each day I would send it out, I would write to them about what I was doing, what kind of coffee I was drinking that day, how my morning was going, etc. and I would give them the answer from the day before.

What started with 12 people quickly grew to 90 people over the year, and we developed our own little email community. We developed our own lingo, the game is referred to as the FOC, if you are a player you are a Focker, I am the FOC Master, and each week there is a POW (the Player of the Week). We have parties (FOCTOBERFEST), we take FOC photos, and we are all one big FOCking happy family. I have no clue why 90 people are interested to know what I ate for breakfast or what TV show I'm currently in to or what stupid thing my dog, Nugget, did that day, but it is a FOCking pleasure to write it and it really is the highlight of my morning. Here are some FOCking photos...

Fockers Kendall, Boston, Heather, and Debbie out FOCking in Las Vegas

Fockers Julia, Elizabeth, Lucia, and Jane M spell out the FOC at a dinner party!

The human FOC at a party in Schulenberg, TX

Today's FACT OR CRAP is........

"The first Starbucks opened in North Beach, San Francisco."

Peace out,

KD

FCKN Rollerbladin

2010-03-23T17:27:00.006-05:00

Ok so it's almost rollerblading season so I'm going to tell a story about rollerbladin. One day around this time last year, some good friends were in town and we were looking for an outdoor thrill. I used to be a master roller blader as a young child so this seemed like the obvious choice. I was like, "Hey guys..why don't we just go FCKN Rollerbladin'?" And thus began our new business venture.. or just a venture..whatever. So we got off the couch, headed to the nearest Academy, bought some FCKN blades and bladed right out of the store to our favorite neighborhood- Hyde Park.

What happened next was a disaster, but we developed a bond and a love for FCKN rollerbladin that can never be broken. We were really FCKN bad at blading and the day ended with bruises, cuts, and bumps on heads (not mine because I wore a FCKN helmet). We were determined to get better at rollerblading and ignite the same love for it that was going on in the early 90's. This is where our company, FCKN Rollerbladin, Inc. was developed. We make FCKN Rollerbladin t-shirts, gear, and we will pimp your blades. It's the one year anniversary of the FCKN company, and I'm hoping that 2010 is a brighter future for us.

Our FCKN T-Shirts

The FCKN Big Cheese, FCKN FCK Up, FCKN Brains (Me), and FCKN Piss Pants

The moment of truth...

2010-03-18T10:16:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again. The moment that you work for all winter..well really like January-March. The time to find out if all of the extra workouts you've been putting in and healthy meals paid off. It's the time when you pull out your jorts, dust them off, and make sure that you can button them AND breathe. Today I'm going to an outdoor concert... and that my friends...most definitely calls for jorts. These are fancy jorts though. I didn't cut them myself so I'm somewhat of a jorts poser. I purchased them pre cut and ripped from Fossil. Later today I'm going to try them on for the first time this year. Check back tomorrow and I'll let you know how it went...

P.S.- That is my BFF Katie Williams sporting the bedazzled jorts overalls that I made her last summer for her graduation. I bedazzle jorts on the side. If you wish to have your jorts bedazzled, just send me your finest pair of denim or lenim (lenim = light denim), $50, and I will gladly bedazzle you something special.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T11:18:00.002-05:00

I love festive holidays. Any occasion to wear something different, do something out of the ordinary, etc. I'm going to indulge in some green beer today. Why? Because green is my favorite color (next to blue). Here's the meaning of green-

"Green is the color of nature, fertility, life. Grass green is the most restful color. Green symbolizes self-respect and well being. Green is the color of balance. It also means learning, growth and harmony. Green is a safe color, if you don't know what color to use anywhere use green.Green is favored by well balanced people. Green symbolizes the master healer and the life force. It often symbolizes money."

Umm...herro!? What more justification do you need?! Cheers!

lululemon

2010-03-11T16:04:00.003-06:00

I finally gave in and made a trip to lululemon yesterday. Apparently this is the official uniform of CrossFit Central. I went in there just planning to get a pair of shorts..buut I'm a sucker for good salespeople and these ladies had me SOLD. They were like "The 6...why are you wearing the 6!? You are a 4. Definitely a 4. You look way better in a 4!" Psshh. How can you turn that down? Anyways, I came out with two outfits and plans to return for more later. I'm preeeetty sure they want to make me an ambassador soon. Look out Carey Kepler and Lindsey Smith...bc I be lookin flyyyyyyyyyyyy in my new outfits.

SICFIT- Swimsuit Season Is Coming. I need to get FIT.

2010-02-25T10:59:00.003-06:00

It's close. I can taste it. I figured I would stick with my Will Smith kick. It's time to sit back and unwind soon, but first, I need to get my berdy "swimsuit ready". I can't sit back and unwind yet. Big thanks to Jeremy Thiel, Big Mike, Lisa Bender, and Travis Holley for staying on me to keep up with my workouts more. The recent sunshine, Will Smith, and these lovely CrossFit Central coaches were just the motivation that I needed! Not to mention the size 4 dress that I ordered for Bridezilla's wedding is just a liiiittttllle too toit (like a tiga).

Bienvenidos a Miami!

2010-02-18T21:25:00.002-06:00

So, Lisa & Jeremy Thiel, and Carey Kepler are currently in Miami, Fl for the CrossFit Affiliate Gathering. I thought I was invited...had my swimsuit and shades packed...waited for them to pick me up for a few hours today but they never came. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

My new BFF, Tony

2010-02-16T22:33:00.004-06:00

Anthony "Tony" Robbins, or "Tone-Tone" as I like to call him, is my new best friend. We go to the grocery store together, road trips, work, Starbucks, etc. I prefer the latte (as you know I do like them a latte) and he usually gets an Americano.

So, me and 15 others from the CrossFit Central crew are currently doing a 17 day Tony Robbins workshop together. We each listen to our Tony Robbin's cds every day and get together once a week for discussion. I will be honest- not too long ago I wouldn't have been interested in doing something like this. I thought it would be cheesy. I didn't think it would work. I didn't want to switch out my Jay-Z album in Beyonce (my car's name is Beyonce in case you weren't aware). Etc.

I was WRONG! There are a ton of reasons why I love listening to his cds, love being a part of this group, and love how it's already improving my life, but I won't get in to that. The MAIN REASON why Tony is my new best friend is because no matter what he says, it gets me thinking about life in a positive, forward moving way. How often do we take the time to think about our lives and how we can improve them?

Thanks, Tony! Your half of our Best Friend heart necklace is in the mail!

So...what exactly do you do again?

2010-02-15T18:19:00.004-06:00

Well, this is the only photo I could find so far of me working. I'm now over a month in to my new job at CrossFit Central. I've been traveling back home to Galveston quite a bit recently to attend various functions for my sister, Bridezilla's, wedding and each time I get asked the same questions. "Kelley- how's the new job?" and I tell them that it's going well and keeping me busy. Then, they say that's great and quickly change to a much more curious tone and ask, "So...yeah...what exactly do you do again?" What I've found is that if they don't know what CrossFit is... it's pretty hard trying to explain to them about CrossFit Central. "CrossFit...yeah...so that's like a gym right? Are you a Personal Trainer!" Ha! Do I look like a Personal Trainer? If I embody what you think a trainer should look like than you need to set your bar a little bit higher.

While I would love for my friends and family to continue to think that I sit in my pjs, send out the FACT OR CRAP or Kitty So'Pretty emails, and play with Nugget all day, I wanted to finally end the curiosity and take you through a typical day in the life of me- CrossFit Central's new Marketing & Events CEO. Here are some of the things that I did today:

- Coffee and my weekly pep talk from Jeremy Thiel. In this meeting it varies from Jeremy telling me to SMILE more to time management to Social Media to what's next. There's always something next.
- Email time- There's ALWAYS an email to respond to.
- Central Southern Texas Sectionals planning meeting.
- Meeting with my new friend and mentor- Nicole Hughes. So much to learn from Nicole! Nicole is teaching me everything from managing the CrossFit Central homepage to how to plan a Level 10 CrossFit event.
- More computer time in the afternoon. Posting, emailing, reading, learning, etc.

That's what I did today! I'm thinking that if I can finally do a pull up one day they will ask me to Coach...until then...I'll stick to Marketing.

Brush your shoulder off

2010-02-07T23:59:00.002-06:00

Ahhh life lessons from Jay-Z. There are so many. Have you ever actually tried doing this? Next time you are feeling like a pimp (yes, ladies is pimps too), go and brush your shoulders off. It will make you feel so good! DO IT!

Organization

2010-02-02T21:04:00.002-06:00

I'm on a mission to get organized. Here's something pretty ridiculous- I've NEVER owned a planner in my life...up until a few weeks ago. I was always one of those people that was like, "Yeah, it's cool, I'll remember.." Well, that line worked when I was younger and had little to worry about other than showing up to school on time and my weekend plans. I also was never the type to take notes. In classes and meetings, I just sat there and listened. I'm a good listener and I preferred to learn that way in school, but when it comes to getting the job done, I've learned that you have to write things down sometimes. On top of all of that, if you were to open my backpack as a college student, you wouldn't have seen ANY folders or binders. You would have seen tons of papers shoved in my bag. To the average human eye they would have thought it was a horrible unorganized mess, but I knew where each and every paper was, or at least I could find it for you in a few seconds. These were all HORRIBLE things that I did, that didn't seem like a big deal at the time (in fact I thought I had it all under control), that have set me up to be bad at organization and time management. One of my 2010 goals is to step up my game and erase these bad habits. If you have any tips, or would like to come help me get organized, let me know!

Just keep swimming....just keep swimming!

2010-01-21T15:01:00.003-06:00

Well, I figured I would keep going with this trend of finding inspiration from stupid movies. Not that I think any of these movies are stupid... just probably not where you would expect to be finding inspiration. I think it's just my way of making sure that I don't take life too seriously. Anyways, I love this quote. I often forget about it, but when I do remember it and it gets stuck in my head, I love it! Sometimes life brings us down and we start to lose sight of whatever it is that we are working towards. We can be working so hard to get to a certain place, and then a bump in the road occurs and we want to quit. Or maybe we get frustrated and think we will never get there. So......what should we do? Just keep swimming just keep swimming just keep swimming! Even if you aren't quite sure where you are going, just keep swimming. You'll at least get somewhere that's better than where you are right now.

This is a picture from my first triathlon that I did last spring. When my sister (on the left) was studying to take her MCAT, I would always come in and bug her when she was stressed and say, "Just keep swimming just keep swimming..", so she made me this sign to cheer me on! Hopefully I have this stuck in your head by now too....

"I eat because I'm unhappy...and I'm unhappy because I eat..."

2010-01-18T15:12:00.002-06:00

...it's a vicious cycle! This is so true. Eating bad can become a vicious cycle and I had quite a bit of trouble snapping out of it after I returned from my Christmas break. How many times have you eaten bad for a few days and you start to get down about yourself and somehow justify just one more bad meal? Or you think, I've eaten so bad the past few days what's one more meal going to hurt? Aaaaand then this goes on for several days. It's ok if I eat this cookie or some pizza tonight because I'm going to start eating healthy tomorrow! My diet starts on Monday! I've heard that one many times before..

The best thing I've learned to do to break this cycle is to just start with one meal. All it takes is one healthy meal to get going to start a new cycle of healthy meals and working out consistently. It's not that one healthy meal is going to somehow erase what you ate the past few days or instantly make you lose the extra weight you gained, but you have to start somewhere. You have to break the cycle at some point, so you might as well start with your next meal.

Some of the best advice I've been given in regards to this topic came from Coach Lisa Bender when I first started her boot camp back in June. I was pretty good with eating and working out during the week, but as soon as the weekend hit things went downhill. Late nights on Saturday led to lazy days on Sunday filled with laying on the couch and eating unhealthy food. She didn't try to talk me out of the Saturday night fun, but she did tell me that on Sunday's I needed to GET UP and GET MOVING! No matter how sleepy I was or how lazy I felt like being or how much I wanted to get a big Mexican breakfast, the best thing I could do was to just get up, eat something healthy, and do something active. She was trying to get me to get back on track rather than continue to fall in to the vicious cycle. I took her advice yesterday. As much as I wanted to sleep and be lazy all day, I got up and did a track workout. It was not easy and I was going pretty slow, but I did it. I broke the cycle!

Now if you'll excuse me, there's someone I have to get in touch with and forgive........myself.

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

2010-01-14T13:53:00.003-06:00

When I graduated from high school in 2005 my senior English teacher, Mr. Riddle, gave each student a quote that he thought was fitting to our personalities written down on a note card. This is the one that he gave me. At the time I was a bit confused because I wasn't the most studious kid in the class....especially my senior year. I kept the card posted on the wall of my freshman year dorm room, but I'm sad to say that I lost the original note card that he gave me. I pretty much forgot about it until recently.

Fast forward a few years to 2008 when I graduated from college. It was the best feeling turning in my last project before graduation knowing that I would never have to do this again. I was SO excited to get out in to the real world where I could just come home, veg out on the couch for a bit, and then go to bed with no worries of what assignment I had due the next day. I quickly discovered that this feeling does not last. A few months ago I was sitting in a coffee shop on a Monday evening because I needed internet access, and when I looked around I saw tons of college or grad school aged people reading, writing, taking notes, highlighting, etc. I was instantly reminded of late nights in coffee shops studying for a final or writing a paper. I missed it!

I didn't really understand why Mr. Riddle gave me that quote back then, and I didn't think I would feel this way when I was celebrating my graduation from UT, but I've realized now that you should never take learning for granted. I'm learning a ton of new information for my new job and although I'm not enrolled in "school" right now, I feel like I have a ton of new projects and assignments to take on. I'm writing this post from Quacks 43rd Street Bakery as we speak- one of my favorite places to study!

Surround yourself with people that inspire you!

2010-01-12T09:37:00.004-06:00

Ok so it's day seven of working at Crossfit Central and I'm already more motivated and inspired then I've ever been. It's not that these people are beating me over the head telling me to be more productive, workout more, eat better, and make positive changes to my life (they do it in a much more subtle way..), it just kind of comes natural. Yesterday I did a workout in the gym that has my legs in paaaaaaaaain today, and I wanted to quit several times while doing it. Why didn't I quit? Because I was in the gym doing it as people like Jeremy Thiel, Carey Kepler, and Crystal McReynolds were doing their own workouts. I wasn't trying to impress them, because I think it would be pretty hard to impress 3 of the fittest people in the world, and I wasn't worried about looking stupid (because I'm pretty sure I already did), but I didn't quit the workout even when my legs were giving out because these people inspire me to work harder.

I think people get the impression that these Crossfit people are crazy, or that some of this stuff just comes natural to them. After 7 days of working with them I can already tell you that's not true. They just work hard. Oh, and I've never heard a negative comment come out of any of their mouths, at all.

Ode to my Keurig

2010-01-09T19:06:00.002-06:00

It's amazing how small things can make BIG improvements to your life! For whatever silly reason I considered making a pot of coffee in the mornings to be too much of a hassle (because making coffee is just sooo hard) and I hated making too much and wasting the rest. I even had a really nice coffee maker, but the problem was that it was too nice and had too many buttons. When it comes to the kitchen, I prefer to just press a button and BOOM- it's done. As a result I was a regular at all of the Austin coffee shops- Lift, Emerald City Press, Einstein's, Dominican Joe, Starbucks, Austin Java, etc. The baristas at Lift, Emerald City Press, and Einstein's actually knew me by name. Sad. I would literally go every single day. I literally would spend $100's of dollars at these places over time.

Then, on Christmas this year, the Keurig One Cup Coffee Maker entered my life (thanks to Santa) and has changed it forever. You take the pod (as seen in the photo above), stick it in the slot, close the clamp thing down, and like 2 minutes later BOOM, a fresh cup of coffee! Whoooooa. Sure, maybe you've heard of the Keurig before, but do you have one? Do you go to the coffee shop just for a cup of coffee every morning? If so, you should consider bringing the Keurig into your life. Just this week I've probably saved like $15-20 already. I'll miss my friends at Emerald City Press and Einstein's because they brought such joy to my life every morning, but the excitement that I get every morning when I put the pod in the slot, close the clamp thing down, wait 2 minutes, BOOM- coffee is worth distance between me and my friends at the coffee shop.

So, from now on, I will only go to these places A) if it is an emergency B) if it is for a business or social meeting or C) if I want a latte, because the Keurig can't make a latte, and I like them a latte.

Life lessons from Forrest Gump

2010-01-08T17:44:00.002-06:00

So today I was showing my new blog to my new boss, Jeremy Thiel, and I could tell he looked at my title quote on here, "Sometimes..there just aren't enough rocks," like "Whaaaaaat??" just like most people probably would. Forrest Gump is by far my favorite movie and I believe one of the best movies ever made. As silly as it may sound, "Sometimes..there just aren't enough rocks" can apply to so many situations in life. To be quite honest I'm not really sure what Forrest was getting at in the movie, whether he was trying to convey to Jenny that sometimes you can't solve all your problems in life or maybe he really did mean that sometimes you just run out of rocks to throw. Who knows.

The reason I like this quote so much is that it really doesn't make much sense and is somewhat open ended. You can make what you want out of it. For me, I think of it every time I'm trying not to get too worked up about something in life. If I get too busy and stressed and think that there aren't enough hours in the day I just think to myself, "Hey...sometimes there just aren't enough rocks." OR I use it to avoid making excuses or letting something bring me down. Jenny could have thrown a thousand rocks at that house and it wouldn't have made the bad memories go away. There weren't enough rocks in the world to fix that. Maybe none of this makes sense to you but I think that's the beauty of the quote. It can have as little or as much meaning as you want it to.

Other Forrest Gump quote that I like to laugh AND ponder about (besides the obvious chocolates one..everyone knows that):

"And cause I was a gazillionaire, and I liked doin it so much, I cut that grass for free."

"Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!"

"Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don't have to worry about money no more. And I said, that's good! One less thing. "

That's all I have to say about that!

The eyes of Texas are upon you!

2010-01-07T17:19:00.001-06:00

Hook Em' Horns!

KD gets on the bus...

2010-01-05T14:29:00.002-06:00

Today was my second day working for Crossfit Central and I can already feel myself getting faster, leaner, stronger, etc. I've heard the coaches tell clients that they maintain such a great bodies by Crossfitting 3-4 times per week, following a strict Paleo diet, and hard work, but I'm here to tell you that as soon as you start working there full time you instantly pop out new muscles and your body fat melts away. I'll post pictures of my new Crossfit employee body soon.

For the past two days I've been learning the ropes from Nicole Hughes and figuring out what I'll be doing for the next year or so. I thought they were hiring me to help coach their elite athletes but so far I've just been learning website information. I haven't officially been introduced to the group but I'm very excited to start working for such a motivating group of people. I can already tell 2010 is going to be an exciting year!