Damn

My blog has screwed up. Majorly.

I spent a lot of time writing a blog post that I was pretty proud of. I published it, shared it on my Facebook, and received some positive feedback. I go back on my blog today, and much to my confusion, I see that the post was never technically published and what I shared on Facebook was only a draft. None of my work was actually published and now for some reason over half of the post is missing from the draft so basically all of my work is gone 😦 So, sorry readers if you wanted to read about my fame dreams, YA CAN’T. NO ONE FREAKING CAN. Damn WordPress.

I hate the feeling of hard work going to waste. I spent a long time working on that post and now its just gone with nothing to show for it! I mean, yeah I got my feelings out and whatever, but this isn’t a freaking journal its a blog and I wanted people to read it! Plus it makes me look lazy because now I haven’t posted since Monday… Wait is was actually SUNDAY! Ugh. Damn you WordPress!

Not going to lie I’ve gotten used to the feeling of hard work going to waste. You’ve read about my running woes numerous times. I’ve been working my ass off trying to get back into running but I always end up getting sick or hurt and have to stop. I’m used to that happy feeling of hard work being sucked away in one quick moment of vulnerability.

But, what I have learned is that you have to find positivity in those low moments. It may be cliche, but its true. So tonight, I may be pissed that my blog f***ed up, but I’m not gonna let it bring me down! I’m gonna finish this whiny blog post, and write another, 10X BETTER post! Plus, times where you are knocked down are the best times to whip out a good quote. And boy, do I love a good quote. I find this one appropriate…

Every setback is a setup for a comeback. God wants to bring you out better than you were before.

Okay, you may be thinking that the trashed blog post is not that big of a setback. Get over it. I’m dramatic and pissed.

Alright enough of this negativity, it’s time to write a new kickass post! I’m not gonna let this one glitch bring me down.

Until next time! (And by next time, I mean like an hour from now…)

xoxo Katie Lou

P.S. To make this whiny post just a little bit brighter, here is an adorable picture of my dogs 🙂

Time.

So I’ve been MIA lately and I apologize for that. I feel like I have been really busy lately, and exhausted on top of that. I haven’t found much time to blog, and if I did find time, I usually just wanted to lie down.

This summer I am working for the first time. Well, its technically not my first gig, but I don’t really count the first job. I worked at a country club, I ran the “Kids Night Out.” Its basically where the kids get dropped off while their parents attend the club parties. I worked two nights, and they were two of the most chaotic nights of my life. Twenty young children, unlimited marshmallows, and a bouncy house are not a good mix. After my second night, they never called me in again, due to my cross country schedule taking up the majority of my weekends. They never actually fired me, so I guess I technically still work there. However, I haven’t worked a single hour there since October 2009.

Anyway, this summer I am working my first long-term job. Its not technically long-term… But I have made it longer than two days. In fact, I’ve been doing it since the beginning of May. NEW RECORD 🙂 Anyway, I’m working as a nanny to two little girls, aged seven and five. They are a fun age, and they are both really sweet… But still, its hard trying to keep them entertained all day. When I get home, I am usually pretty tired. 

This week was particularly busy, because I took my first camping trip! Tucker and I spent Thursday and Friday night at Bear Creek Lake State Park. Not gonna lie… I was a bit nervous. I am not an outdoorsy person. The only things I like to do outside are run and tan. That’s it. But I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed camping! It was really quite relaxing. We went swimming, paddle boating, hiking… And it was just beautiful out there. The view of the stars was remarkable. Plus, we had access to a bathroom so it really wasn’t so bad 🙂

Tim McGraw

Then, yesterday night, I surprised Tucker with an early birthday present… tickets to a Tim McGraw concert! Tim McGraw has been his favorite singer since he was a baby, so he was very excited 🙂 He even got to high-five Mr. McGraw himself! And Tim was awesome! He put on a great show, and he can still really rock for a forty-six year old.

So, as you can now see. It has been a very busy week, and that’s why I haven’t been able to blog much. Or, at all, really. To be honest, I’ve also been a little down this week. The summer is going by really really fast and I just feel like time is slipping away from me. I’m excited to start up at JMU, but I just wish I had more time. Soon my time with my family and Tucker will be gone for a while.

Time is a difficult concept for me to grasp. Like where does it come from? And where does it go? And why, when you are waiting for something, time goes by achingly slow? But when you are in the midst of something exciting, something fun; time seems to fly by? And we all know that eventually, our time will run out. So we as humans are faced with the daunting task of making the most of the time that we are given. And that’s scary, because you’ll never know if you made the most of your time until its gone.

And this summer, that is the problem I have been facing. When the Fall begins, will I be able to look back at my summer and feel that I made the most of it? I just feel like there is so much to do: spend time with my family and friends and Tucker, work hard at my job, try to run, blog, relax, have fun… But there is so little time to do all these things! I don’t know exactly what I am trying to get at here… I guess I’m just struggling with the fact that my summer is quickly ending, and I’m really not ready for it.

One of my favorite songs is “Seasons of Love” from the musical, Rent. Throughout the song, the question is asked:

How do you measure, measure a year?

I always thought it was an interesting question. How do you measure time: a day or a week or a month or a year? I think it really is a difficult thing to grasp. For me, it sometimes seems like an individual day goes by slowly, but when you look back, time seems to have flown by. Its hard for me to believe that I have been living for close to nineteen years. It has gone by fast.

I suppose its an ancient struggle that humans will forever deal with. How do we measure our time here, and more importantly, make the most of that time? I didn’t mean to get so deep with this. Really all I’m wondering is how to have a fun final weeks of the summer… I tend to get a bit overdramatic. Nonetheless, I hope you all are making the most of your summers! I promise to blog again real soon 🙂

xoxo Katie Lou

One Month of Blogging!

As of today, I have officially been blogging for one month! And what a month it has been! When I first began, I had a goal of reaching 1,000 blog views in my first month. Well as I write this, I am standing at 2,576 views! I far exceeded my goal, and I owe that to those of you who have been consistently reading my posts. I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and encouragement  I have received from everyone. Not only my from family; but friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers. I have received so many nice comments and I am extremely thankful for that…it makes me proud of what I’ve done so far, and more motivated to keep on writing.

I had wanted to start a blog for years, but I always put it off because I never knew what to write about. I never knew what should be the central theme of my blog… Running? Sports? Music? Etc, etc? Well, I never really picked one particular thing; and I just decided to write about my life, my stories, and my thoughts. This blog really has no identity; its just a big bunch of randomness. I didn’t really think people would be interested in reading my stories, but I guess some people are, based on my success this month. It really means a lot to me that people enjoy reading my stories and can relate to them in their own right. That’s all I’m really trying to do… Write about things that will make people smile, think, and reflect.

I’m going to keep writing about whatever the heck is on my mind that particular day. BUT I would like to accommodate my readers. I am posting a poll, and I want to know which topics you would like to see more of. I’m featuring the topics that have been popular, based on views, likes, and comments. Anyway, I would really appreciate your feedback! Let me know what you want to see more of!

Again, thank you all so much for joining me and supporting me on this ride! You all have made this such an enjoyable experience for me. Blogging has become my biggest hobby, writing is the highlight of my day, and most importantly this has become an outlet for me to express myself. I can’t wait for many, many more months of blogging! I hope they are all as great as the first!

All my love…

xoxo Katie

 

Rest In Peace

I just posted two hours ago. But now I’m awake and I think I will be for a while. I just learned that the star of my favorite TV show Glee, Cory Monteith, has passed away.

I feel like I’m going to throw up.

I am absolutely devastated to hear about Cory’s passing. I’m feeling a little stupid that I am so upset about it, considering I never knew the man personally, or even met him. But I have watched Glee religiously since it first premiered. For four years I watched Cory every week.

Just the other day, my dad and I had a conversation about finishing books. I always get sad when I finish a book, because it feels like I know the characters, and now they are gone from my life. My dad commented that he thought the ending of a TV show was worse, because you follow the characters for so long.

So I guess that’s how I feel right now. After following the show so closely, I felt like I knew the characters, and that’s why it just breaks my heart that Cory Monteith is gone.

Cory Monteith was the heart and soul of Glee; the entire premise of the show revolved around his character, Finn. I always felt like Cory added another dynamic to the show. He was such a raw talent. Before beginning Glee, Cory had never received formal vocal training. His voice was raw and pure, and he brought innocence and freshness to the show. His voice improved throughout the run of the show and he had really become a formidable singer. So much potential untapped. So much life to live…

I’m afraid to watch Glee again or listen to Glee songs because I think I’ll just break into tears. I don’t want to watch and listen knowing that he is gone.

I’m sorry if I seem dramatic. I’m just really really upset and needed to get this off my chest…

From my understanding, Cory lived a pretty tough life. Hopefully now he is finally at peace. While I know his many fans, like myself, are devastated; prayers should go to his family and friends who lost Cory way too soon.

Rest in Peace, Cory. You will be so, so missed…

 

Teary Days

Two days ago, I had a day that my parents described as a “teary day.” All day, I just felt like crying… about everything. I was sad about Tucker going to the Air Force. I cried. My dad disagreed with me about something. I cried. They didn’t have steak flights at Outback. I cried.

Every now and then I have a teary day. I am what you would call… “a crier”. Crying is a frequent occurrence in my life. I cry about everything. I cry when I’m sad, of course. I cry when I am overwhelmed with happiness. I cry when I’m mad. I cry when I’m reminiscing. I cry when I’m proud. Sometimes I cry for no reason. It is rare, and I mean extremely rare, that I go a week without crying.

The peak of my crying habit would have to be my high school cross country career. Any athlete knows how much emotion goes into competition. I put so much emotional investment into all of my races, it built up so much leading up to the race, and after the race it would all just crumble. I cried after pretty much every race: good and bad. It would be for various reasons. Not happy about my race, too happy about my race… no personal record, big personal record… getting passed at the last second, passing someone at the last second… whatever. When you’re on a team, you spend so much time with your teammates that you are bound to get annoyed with them once and a while. I sometimes complained about my teammates, and I once asked my dad what he thought others on the team may complain about me. To this day I remember his answer: “Probably that you cry too much.” I couldn’t disagree, he is most likely correct. Any teammates reading this may confirm in the comments below. My parents and coach always tried to get me to kick the habit; I don’t think anyone ever knew what to do with me when I was in tears. But I never tried to stop, and never had much interest in trying, either.

I don’t see what so bad about crying. Society seems to believe that crying is an act that should be prevented at all costs, and certainly not  done in front of others. I just don’t see what’s so wrong with it. If you feel like crying, then cry! No use it holding it back. I never hold back my tears, and I don’t try to. For starters, it hurts to hold them back. You get that damn lump in your throat, your eyes start to burn and your lip starts to quiver; its uncomfortable. It feels much better just to let go and let the tears fall. Second, whenever I’m upset about something, crying is the ultimate healer. I get sad, I cry, I’m better. Simple as that! If I held back the crying, then I would never get over whatever upset me and would spend the rest of the day brewing over it. I feel like its much quicker and easier to just cry and then move on with life.

I’ve never been ashamed of my crying habit, in fact I am proud. So what if people think I’m a baby or embarrassing or whatever? I never hold a grudge. That’s because I let myself be upset and then get over it. There is nothing wrong with crying. Or teary days. I honestly believe that I am a happier person because of my crying.

So think what you want. What the heck, even comment. I don’t care. I’ll just cry about it and move on with my life 🙂

Until next time my friends,

xoxo Katie Lou

A Million Thank Yous

To be honest, I was really scared to post the link to my Facebook page. I didn’t know what people would think, or if people would even read it at all! But I posted anyway, and now three hours later I am absolutely OVERWHELMED with all of the support I have received! I really didn’t think many people would visit, but I have over 200 hits in only one night! I am so appreciative of all of you for reading, and especially those of you who sent encouraging comments! I am so much more confident in my blogging future after tonight and I have each of you to thank for it!

Again, a HUGE thank you, and I hope to keep entertaining you with my stories. Until next time…

xoxo Katie Lou

Come One, Come All

Hello everyone and welcome to katie lou & other things too! Just the fact that you even clicked on this link means a lot to me, so thanks for visiting! For those of you who don’t already know, my name is Katie or “Katie Lou” as the title suggests. Katie Lou is a name my family has called me for years… It comes from my full name, Kathryn Louise. I have always loved it 🙂 The title is something cute I thought of… My little brother, Will thinks it sounds like the title of the newest Winnie the Pooh movie, but I am totally on board with that. Who doesn’t love Winnie the Pooh?

I’m really excited about this, because I have wanted to start a blog forever. I absolutely love to tell stories. My poor family has had to deal with my constant rattling off of stories (most of which have been repeated numerous times) throughout my entire life. I guess its about time to begin sharing those stories with someone else! Also, I am very passionate for writing. I have always loved to write, but a series of great high school English teachers really helped me improve my writing skills. In the future, I hope to teach high school English while pursuing writing on the side. Maybe this blog will help launch my writing career? Or maybe it will just help me improve my writing further… Either way is a win for me 🙂

So why did I decide to start a blog now? Well, I am in the midst of some big life changes. This Fall, I will be transferring from the University of South Carolina to James Madison University. I’m essentially getting a fresh start, so there’s no better time than this to begin! In the past, whenever I thought of writing a blog I always struggled with what to actually write about. I live the life of a typical 18 year old girl, there is nothing too exciting or interesting about it. I never really thought people would want to actually read about my life. But then I thought to myself, so what? This blog could become the next internet sensation, and would enjoy writing just as much if not a single person ever read it. I’m doing this for myself, to make me happy, and that’s the way it should be. Who cares if its just a simple blog about my life? I think my girl Pam Beasley said it best:

There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?

Anyway, I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head that I’m just waiting to get out. And I’m really excited for this next journey in my life, and I’m hoping to share it with all of you (if there are actually any of you out there…) So if you’re reading, I hope you will join me on this ride! Until next time…

xoxo Katie Lou