28, Feelin Great.

My Birthday was last week and I had what everyone should have, a Birthday weekend! I know you've all been sitting at the edge of your seat to hear all about it, so here you go! Two of my closest friends had a Birthday on Friday and I knew I'd want to celebrate with me, so we had our mutual friends over at My friend JT's house and had a barbecue with some drinks and a fire. Did I follow my diet that night? No! I ate really good for most of the day, ran 5 miles and then I allowed myself to eat whatever was at this gathering. Let me tell you, I'm still not to the point where I don't hate myself for indulging a little. I took one bite of our ice cream cake and instantly felt guilty and I continued to do so until the next day at the gym. It's okay that I splurged, I know that. I'm better today about it because I got right back to the foods that do my body good. I'm over it! Friday was a day of catching up with friends over lunch and coffee, one was Steph, I met her through the gym and she never fails to motivate me to keep going. We talked about how life has been going, how out fitness is going and yes, Our dogs. Love her! Another was my friend Jason, I met him about 10 years ago working at Caribou! No, he didn't work there, our friendship is a reminder of why you should always strike up a conversation with someone you don't know, it could turn into something great! Saturday was AMAZING! My wonderful friend, Amanda, got tickets to the Twins game from work and took me with her!

The game was on a rain delay, so we wandered around and along the halls there, they have names of the lakes on Minnesota, I had to stop and take a picture of the white bear lake name. I spent weekends there as a kid with my grandma and grandpa. My grandpa was my hero, he still is even though I don't get to call him or see him anymore.

After the game, we met up with ladies from the gym and they were determined to make sure I was happy and having fun. They succeeded. I'm so lucky to have met this group of girls, and to think, I never would have met any of them had I not started working out with our trainer. That's crazy to me! My birthday felt incomplete until I celebrated with them, it was a night that will forever put a smile on my face!

They aren't in that picture, but my friends Mike and Kallie came out with us, Kallie joined in on the fun to find me a "Tommy" (listen to Trisha yearwood to know what that means.) They didn't succeed, but they will, I'm pretty confident in that. I love you all, thank you for making it an Amazing weekend and thanks to everyone who reached out to wish me a happy birthday, I felt the love that day and that feeling is still around today!

Back To Bou.

About three weeks ago, someone reached out to me to come help out at her Caribou store until I found a job back in radio. 

Well, I thought about it, got angry, cried a bit and then said "okay." 

 

This is what it's like to go back to your college job. 

I'm wasting everyone's time being retrained, as it turns out, making a latte is just like riding a bike, you never forget it. 

To the company and the suites, though, it doesn't matter. I was gone for almost a year, and I've spent the last two weeks filling out all the same books, watching people make terrible lattes and mochas and learning how to punch in the numbers all over again. If there's anything that pisses me off, it's wasting time and I've feel like that's what I've been doing. 

I have, however, enjoyed seeing peole who use to come into my old store, I've loved catching up with them! But there's also a negative to catching up with them..

The reason I didn't go back to my original store is because I can't tell the story of how messed up everything is anymore. I know that they want to know and that they care, but I've told it hundreds of times and I just don't have the strength to do it. 

I've had to excuse myself from the counter to go into the bathroom and cry. I cry because I'm so angry that this is how it's panned out for me. Where did I go wrong? This is not how it was suppose to go. 

I have that same meltdown every time I tell the story and after every shift on the drive home. That, my friends, is not healthy. 

I opened the arbor lakes store back in 2006 and worked there full and part time up until I moved to Montana. Never did I think I would be back. But here I am. And I'm not happy. 

And my goodness, I love my friend/manager, but she tells me to smile all the time. Guess what, that leads to tears, too. Never tell an angry person to smile or cheer up. Doesn't end well for anyone! 

And I can hear the voices out there telling me to just be happy it's a job for now. To those people, stop it. I get it.  I don't need the whole lecture saying "be glad they took you back. You made decisions that got you here. Money is money." Blah blah blah. See? Just have myself the lecture. 

Needed to get that off my chest, so thanks for sticking around, if you did! 

Angry notes aside, my friends. I've got an amazing group of friends surrounding me and that is one thing I know and and beyond grateful for. Some of them know when I need to vent, others know when I just want to zone out and forget for a while or if I don't want to talk and just need my space. I love them for that. I don't know what I did to deserve them, but man, I'm so lucky to know each of them. I should thank them every day, because 2015-16 has been quite the ride. Some friendships have been lost, and that's sad, but I'm more happy about the friendships that have gotten stronger through the rough patches, you guys know who you are (Including my dog) and I love you! 

 

 

Here goes nothing.

For a few years, people have kindly requested that I do a blog of some sorts and for those few years, I thought "yeah! That sounds fun!" But I never did. Why? Great question. 

You see, I'm not exactly the BEST when it comes to where to put the commas and such; it seems like a lot of effort to write the "perfect" blog. But as I'm laying here, unemployed, I am thinking "who the hell cares as long as I know the difference between there and their!?" So, you got it! 

Since this is my first post, I won't go into any deep, emotional or even inspirational crap, just an intro into who I am and next week we'll get into the good stuff. Cool?

I'm Katie. I absolutely love my dog, Mauer. I love and breathe for country music, Jason Aldean is the key to my heart. If I'm on my 5th cup of coffee, just think of it as my lifeline, or yours. And, the girl you see smiling and running in that picture, never use to be that way until I found the gym where I've managed to lose over 130lbs and am still working on it. 

What do I do for a living? Well, if you were paying attention earlier, I'm unemployed. Yep, 27 and jobless. 

Ever since I was 9 years old, I wanted to be in radio. I thought of nothing else every day of my adolescence, besides boys, of course. I got to college, got an internship, then a part time job for someone I dreamt of working for. Then, I was offered a job co hosting on a country morning show in Helena, MT with an amazing boss. 

I packed up my little dog and my clothes and we rode off into the mountains to a new life. 

That's Mauer on the long car ride to MT, what a champ!

I was alone in my first apartment with my dog and an air mattress. Eventually, I met some nice people who befriended me, but it still felt empty. 

5 months later, I was offered a chance to move home. I struggled with this decision only because I had an amazing boss, but I took the job in St Cloud, MN and here I am back home. Unemployed, to my surprise. 

What did I learn? Well, nobody has time for that list. 

Unemployment sucks, I'm bored and constantly stressed out. But I've got my dog, great friends, the gym and country music. Oh, and coffee, of course. And to those friends, thank you for putting up with me through this. I love you guys and I will never be able to express how you guys saved me from escaping into a very dark place. 

It's very easy to find yourself in a dark, scary place, but make sure to know who you can call when you feel yourself slipping, it's then that you'll realize who really cares. 

Enough sappy crap, right? On to the job hunt I go! 

Next week, I'll answer the question I get asked the most, what made me start my weight loss journey?