Kittehs: How my love for cats may have turned me into a hippie

Over the last two years I have procured two wonderful cats: Disco and Dr. Unagi. Right now they are all the children I have, which I am totally cool with! However, in the wonderful glow of kitten love eyes (cat owners will know what I'm talking about), making 'biscuits', and the most awesomely soft bellies ever I was struck by how much I absolutely love these little creatures.

Fast forward to Sept 2011- Scott and I are going on a road trip. As we're driving towards Yosemite we come across these lovely farm lands. Rolling green hills, silos filled with grain, and the smell of sweet grass were intoxicating. We stopped and admired the area, when a beautiful black and white cow came meandering over. I thought to myself "happy cows com from California." This looked like one happy cow!

I was met with a different view on our return from our road trip. As we drove more towards the central portion of California I was met with the site of miles and miles of cow in overcrowded conditions. The smell was bad, and those cows did not look happy.

I thought of my cats at home, so cozy, and warm, wondering where their owners were. How can I love one animal, and kill another. How can I offer living conditions to one animal while another one is living in pretty heinous conditions?

So I'm debating going vegetarian, eating only organic (eep Organic is still sooo pricey). This will be very difficult for me.

2012- year of the sneaker

Hey, back after a long reprieve, and realized that my desires to make this into a food blog may have been lofty, so now this will be just a whatever blog with some food thrown in the mix.  With that being said 2012 is going to be a busy year for me: Wedding (me and the Mr. got engaged in October 2011), teaching graduate classes, trying to get my licensing exam (MFTI to LMFT), and trying to run a marathon (two if I can). Today we did the first long run of the year : 16 miles, with a bitch of a head wind. I started noticing a pain in my hip on mile 13-14, soreness like i haven't felt ever, but i figure you can't run that long without something bothering you at some point.  I hope to update this more through out the year, but no promises!

I leave you with a few things that help me get motivated to run and stay running

1. New workout gear. I love buying a new work out shirt/shorts and rocking them. The brighter the better

2. MUSIC! This is super imperative for me. I have a music playlist called the Ass Grind that I listen to when I jog. Here are some songs that is allowing me to visualize the LA marathon

(Sweet Disposition-Temper Trap: I can see myself running through downtown LA)

(Florence + the Machine: "Run Fast for you mother. Run Fast for your father.  Run Fast for your children, sisters, and brothers. LEAVE ARE YOU LOVING, AND LONGING BEHIND YOU CAN'T CARRY IT WITH YOU IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE. Ain't that the truth Flo)

Eminem - Cinderella Man- "Screamed shut up thunder, flipped the world upside down and made it rain upward" (not the real video)

3. Inspirational thoughts or images I try to sustain in my head. I try to avoid "thinspiration" because I think it's really unhealthy to look at other people's bodies hoping to attain it.

4) You want to run a  marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10k, or 5k- SIGN UP FOR IT, trust me, the fact that you paid for it will give you incentive to train. 

(this one begin registration on Jan 18th 2012, and is a lot of fun)

5) And my last one that I tell myself when I don't want to run: The only thing getting in the way of you accomplishing your goal is YOU. (unless you want to be an astronaut, then the person standing in the way is NASA).

"Sorry, we reject you on the basis of you sucking."

Good Luck, and Good Runs!