Back In The Saddle Again...Only Until Thursday Though

So I'm back from the beach and I brought a little sumn' summ' back with me. Wanna know what it is? Nope. Not sand or seashells. Ok, ok. A few clothing items I picked up from the outlet but that's not what I'm talking about.

Give up?

I brought back some sort of string of the Bubonic Plague. Ok. Not really. But I woke up Monday morning feeling like I'd swallowed the fire of a thousand suns. And then I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a freight train.

So, I think it's safe to say that Katie is not in good health.

I knew this would happen though. And here's why. I'm flying out to NYC on Saturday for a mission trip with my parents' church. It's a choir trip. Which means there will be singing. Of which I will be partaking in. And I will be singing a solo in one of the pieces.

I always get sick before I'm supposed to sing somewhere big. Always. Examples? Don't mind if I do.

1. Tenth grade. First big solo in Colonel Classics. Had to relinquish it because I seriously could not get the notes out of my mouth.

2. Eleventh grade. Lead role in the school musical. Two weeks before I got sick and barely got my voice back by opening night.

I could go on. But I won't.

So, I'm pill-popping like tomorrow is the last day that the world will ever sell prescription or over-the-counter drugs. In moderation, of course. No habits here.

Whatevs.

On to the really good stuff. You people didn't come here to hear me whine about my sickness. You came to see pictures of the cuteness that is Sir William Charles Johnson, a.k.a, the nephew.

We got down to the beach (Orange Beach, Ala.) on Thursday evening and I left Monday evening to get back to work today. I got a great tan, bonded with the nephew and the fam, and relaxed somethin' big. I also found a new favorite place to eat. Ribs & Reds. Best royal red shrimp I've ever had.

Anyway, on to the pictures. I don't have any of me because I was too busy taking them of my nephew. I think my dad has a good one of me and William. Hope to get it soon.

This is my favorite thing ever.

This is such a classic picture. I used to love doing this.

This kid loves showing his teeth!

And of course, the beach picture. Please excuse the naked man at the bottom left. I promise he had shorts on and he totally crashed my picture party here.

Anyhoo. There ya go. I'll be back again this week with some bloggity goodness. Hopefully.

Thoughts Upon The Day

I'm just now getting to watch So You Think You Can Dance that I DVRed earlier this evening. We have bible study at our house on Thursdays so I have to DVR are watch it later. And so help me, if Brandon doesn't make it, I'm going to judo chop someone. They already killed me with the kicking off of Natalie. Oh, and the Broadway Brothers better make it too.

And please can I dance one of Mia Michaels' numbers please. The lady is weird but incredible.

But we all know that I can't just do one thing. I'm a multi-tasker. So I multi-task.

Anyway, first thought of the day is...praise Jesus, I don't have a bum eye. In the past two days, I've gone through three contacts in my left eye and eventually reverted back to the glasses only to find out that the crazies that are in charge of sending out the contacts from my eye doctor's office sent me the wrong box for the left eye. So praise Jesus, there is nothing wrong with my eye, because y'all, that's what I was thinking.

(P.S. I keep forgetting that I can fast forward through the commercials. I CAN FAST FORWARD THROUGH THE COMMERCIALS!)

Today, I decided I'm going to start playing tennis. No, really. All the running around, I'm sure to lose a few pounds, right? Anyway, see in Birmingham, people do one (or two or all) of three things -- run marathons, do triathlons and play tennis. Because I can't run more than 75 yards and I don't own a bike (frankly, I can't afford it), I've decided to go with the lesser of the three evils.

Now, for those of you who have been living under a rock, Katie doesn't play sports. I just cheer, watch and score. I got cut from the seventh grade basketball team because had couldn't get rid of my double hop on my layup. Not to mention, I couldn't even make a layup. I then thought about playing tennis but when I found out that my Pre-Algebra teacher was the coach and I was outta there. We didn't so much get along. My senior year of high school, they finally added a soccer team after much pushing by my friends and me but then I got the chance to be Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and well...you take a guess at what I picked.

So when tonight I was asked to come play tennis sometime with people, I quickly asked if they kept score. Ha. Luckily, they said no and went when on to describe how horrible they all are (except for Jordan who can clearly play any sport he wants and do anything he wants and be a rock star at it). I was told that it's basically a bunch of people trying to hit the ball back-and-forth while trying to kept in within the confines of the chain-linked fence. Good luck with that, Katie. 

So stay tuned for tales from the tennis court. This should be fun. If only I had my own camera crew...

We are started Daniel tonight in my small group and y'all, I'm telling you, I don't think I've ever been more excited about an Old Testament book. Just in the first chapter, there is so much packed in and we are going to have a little help from Beth Moore. I'm so excited. 

And lastly, please check out my friend Jody's blog. He's just moved down to the Dominican Republic to teach in a school there and I'm so excited to see how God is going to move there in and through the people that are working there. I've known this kid since he was in kindergarten and I couldn't be more proud of the young man that he has grown to be. PTL!

Well, both Broadway brothers didn't make it, but I guess one is better than none. I can't wait for next Wednesday! I love this show!

The Time I Walked 2.5 Miles To Feed A Dog

Today, I took an ambitious leap in my physical fitness. 

Let's start with the facts:

1. I am dog-sitting for former neighbors. Yellow lab named Spalding. Sports fans? Yes. 

2. The house is across the street from the house that I used to live it in Windsor Boulevard (not really a boulevard, but whatevs.)

3. Windsor Boulevard is approximately 2.5 miles away from the house that I now live in on Woodvale Lane (technically, it actually is a lane).

Around 5 p.m. today, my brain literally detached from my body and told my body that it would by "good fun" to run (ahem...slash walk) over to feed Spalding rather than drive over. I mean it's a two-minute drive for crying out loud. How bad could it be? Plus, Mom is about ready to strangle me if I don't start exercising again.

So, I laced up the Nikes and made sure the iPod was updated and set out on my 2.5 mile adventure. My only fear was that I would get stuck in the rain. Luckily, the rain held off until I made it back safely inside my house.

I headed out of the house around 5:30 p.m. and I began my journey.

But not without the motivation of Justin Timberlake and Sir Mix-a-lot.

Because y'all, when JT is telling you that you are bringing sexy back for four minutes straight, you start to believe it. Because when you are sweating like a beast, you need that kind of encouragement.

And Sir Mix-a-lot? All that talk about big butts is motivation enough.

The first mountain to climb was crossing Greensprings "Highway" which is a main thoroughfare where we are here in this little nook of Birmingham. It flows straight into UAB's University Drive and runs parallel to Interstate 65. Spalding's house is in a neighborhood on the other side of this busy street. 

About halfway through, I was ready to give up and pass out on the side of the street (seriously, I'm THAT out of shape). Then, just as God opened the sky and blessed His son, He made it so Dave Barnes started playing on my iPod and I immediately got an extra pep in my step. Somehow, Dave singing "Miles To Go" was just enough motivation I needed to get up that monster of a hill. And then Breaking Benjamin's "Dance With The Devil" came on, and I really felt like I was um, dancing with the devil. (Ok, enough puns.)

I made it to Spalding's house and instead of jumping up and showing how happy he was to see me like he usually does, he completely avoided me. I don't know whatever it could have been. (Um, probably that I smelled like Samford's football locker room.)

So after about 15 minutes of rest, I headed back out and made my way back. I thought the walk -- ahem, I mean run, cough, cough -- would be the worst part. I mean, there are some wicked hills on the way back. However, I underestimated myself and the way back seemed to go by quicker than the journey there had been. 

I did have the help of T-Pain, Chris Brown, Ice Cube and of course Justin Timberlake and Dave Barnes.

On the home stretch, I had to cross a bridge to get back to Greensprings. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that I stood there for a good three minutes contemplating whether or not to throw myself over the side into the water. It just looked so cold and refreshing. But I refrained.

An hour and a half later, I made it back to Woodvale Lane in one piece after crossing Greensprings without getting hit. So I celebrated like only I knew how. I turned on Akon's "I'm So Paid. Only Hollie will get this because only she knows that what this song represents is motivation enough to work out every. single. day.

And then I did Soulja Boy's Crank That dance.

Now, I have got to go figure out what that awful smell is in this house. I can't imagine what it could be.

Waking The Dead

Y'all, waking up for me in the morning is getting worse and worse by the day.

I remember when I was younger, my mom would spend countless minutes trying to get me to wake up in the morning. When she finally found something to threaten me with ("No Gameboy for a week if you don't get out of bed right now, Missy!"), I'd drag my hiney out of the bed and go eat breakfast.

BUT, as soon as I was done eating I would go curl up on the floor in my room, or on my completely made up bed, and "nap" for about 10-15 more minutes.

And I would always get in trouble for it.

I wouldn't really say that I was a trouble-maker by any means, except for my relentless hatred of getting up in the morning.

People keep telling me that I will grow out of it. Someone once told me that once you hit 25, you will never sleep past 7 or 8 a.m. no matter what time you go to sleep the night before.

Well, folks, I'm 25. And, no kidding, I could sleep for 12 hours straight, no matter what time I went to sleep the night before.

Lately, it seems as though my body has decided to revolt against me and go into a comatose state at night, causing me to snooze for an hour and half every morning, all the while cursing myself when I wake up two hours later than I had planned.

I use two (count 'em, two) alarm clocks. They are both set for an hour before I am supposed to wake up. Yet, I snooze. I snooze for TWO HOURS!

(At this point, I want to apologize to anyone who has ever had to share a room, wall, apartment or house with me because I know and have always known how annoying this is. It is a disease. I need help.)

It's like an outer-body experience. I know that I'm doing it, yet I don't.

I feel kind of like the Apostle Paul right now. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."

And I do. I hate this thing about me, but no matter how hard I try, and how hard a pray, and whatever, my body refuses to wake up earlier than 8 a.m. It's ludicrous.

Ludacris. He's actually appeared in some of my dreams.

Oh, Hollie says "Hi."

Everyone together, "Hi Hollie."

Bourne Ultimatum, My Little Daddy, and James Morrison

So my weekend was great. I got to go home and spend some time with the fam and see all the baby stuff that my sister has either registered for or gotten while being instructed on what I need to get ready to paint.

Well, usually when the family is altogether we go to a movie and then go out to eat to celebrate just being together. Although, mom and Anna and I would have loved to go see Hairspray, and from what I've heard it's fantastic, we did have to please the boys, so our choices were Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers. Dad picked Bourne and Ross, the bro-in-law, was itching to see it too, so that's what we saw. I'm pretty easy to please because I like any kind of movie, especially action. Plus, you can't argue with looking at Matt Damon from an hour and 55 minutes either.

So this movie gets four and a half stars from me. I can't say five full stars because not too many movies get that from me just because that's just impossible really. Anyway, it started out with action and never stopped. (Plus, I absolutely love Julia Stiles. I have ever since 10 Things I Hate About You. She's just good!) Anyway, the action never stopped. Being the third of a trilogy, there really was no point in set up, so the movie just started. It picked up right were the last one left of and I loved that about it. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it now.

Ok, on to subject number 2. My little daddy. My dad has been on a liquid diet since May. He's doing it through one of the hospitals in Jackson so it medically approved and monitored. I've found a website that explains what he's actually doing. I'll let the website say it all:

"The New Direction® Program is a medically monitored program designed for those who have 40 or more pounds to lose. This comprehensive program begins with a medical pre- screening to assess appropriateness for the program, which includes: a physical, behavioral health assessment, anthropometric measurements, body mass index computation, comprehensive lab work and an electrocardiogram.

During the first part of the program you will be on a very low calorie diet (VLCD), which consists of a nutritionally complete beverage as your sole source of nutrition. Medical monitoring is conducted to insure your safety while in the program. In the second phase of the program, the adapting phase, a dietitian and behaviorist will meet with you to help you transition back to whole foods both nutritionally and behaviorally. The third and most important phase is the maintenance phase. This is when you are eating healthy foods at a calorie level that will enable you to manage your weight for a lifetime successfully.

A key component to all three phases of the program is the weekly support/education classes. These classes cover important components to weight loss such as behaviors, nutrition and exercise. Our philosophy is based on learning and practicing healthy behaviors and getting rid of the “diet” mentality. For long-term success we will give you the tools needed to make those healthy life-style changes."

Ok, so along with the diet, Daddy works out and lifts weights whenever he can and the result has been incredible. He's two months away from the transition phase where he is able to start eating "real" food everyday. (When we go out to eat, we usually go to O'Charley's or some place like that has fish or chicken that he can eat. This is called the emergency meal. I think he's only had 3 emergency meals in 4 months.)

Since he started in May, he's lost 103 pounds! 103! I can't believe it! He looks so good! He looks like he's melting. He feels good. He doesn't have to take insulin or blood pressure medicine anymore. In fact, the amount of medicine he is taking now is, I think, half of what it was before. I'm so proud of him. This has be a very, very hard journey for my daddy and I'm so happy that he did it and has stuck to it and feels great. I know that with the 103 pounds that he had lost, he's added at least five years to his life. I think after the mild heart attack that he had when I was about to go into 8th grade that started a long line of crazy diets from doctors (the "No Meat Diet", "Just Salad", "All Pasta" diets) that only mad things worse, we all realized something needed to be done. Not only has daddy drop these pounds but he has a new perspective on life and can focus on other things now instead of worry about his weight and health. Go Daddy! I'm so proud of you!

This is me with Mom and Dad on graduation day. Just imagine my daddy 103 pounds lighter and you've got yourself a skinny daddy.

Ok, last subject. James Morrison. If you haven't heard this guy, you've got to go listen to him. Here is his MySpace page, the only way I know to listen to him without having to pay for it. I broke down Thursday night and bought his CD, Undiscovered, from iTunes, burned it to a CD and listened to it all weekend. I've about worn it out already.

This guy is a little mix of Gavin DeGraw, John Mayer, and Marc Broussard all rolled into one, with a little Stevie Wonder sprinkled on top. He's awesome! His music and rhythms are incredible and his lyrics are even better. Just a little shout out for one of my newest favorite artists. Yay for James Morrison!