So, should I blog about this or not? I could rant and rave on my facebook page, but why clog up your news feed with my dirty laundry? So I thought, why not write a blog, get my feelings out and not feel ashamed. The people that want to read it will, the people who do not, will not have to. This is a situation that actually happened last week. A "old" boyfriend requested me as a friend on facebook. I am not going to mention any names, but it seriously had me baffled. I mean sure, the curious side of me, wanted to accept and see what they had been up to, I mean I did check to see if his profile was private, and of course it was. But just as I couldn't see any info on his profile, I remembered duh....we are not friends in the "real" world so why I am I going to be friends in the "virtual"? So I immediately hit IGNORE, although I have to admit it's been on my mind all week. I hit IGNORE, not because I don't think about you, wonder, pray, and wish the best for you, but because I love, pray, and wish the best for me as well. I forgave you a long time ago, the part that was hard was to forgive myself. I hated who I had become, and continue to work to not ever be that person again. I hate to hear about the negitive things that have happened in your life, I wouldn't wish that on anyone, and I do want you to know that I have said a prayer to the big guy up above that things will get better in your life.
Not only do I look different, I am different, and sometimes ones past needs to stay there. Your not forgotten, but your not welcome here anymore. I know that sounds harsh, but I gave you a piece of my heart along time ago, and I'm sorry you do not deserve any more.
~It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finished chapters, it doesn't matter what you call it; what matters is to leave behind us in the past those moments in life that are over~ Paulo Coelho The Zahir
Til next time, ~Love and Peace KT~
Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
My One Year Plan!!!
On May 21, 2011 at 7:51 am (central time) I Kathryn Victoria Neeley, am writing down for the whole world to see; my one year plan.... Actually more like my 1 year, 4 month, and 24 hour plan (it is always nice to get in the moving truck early!)
Sept 2011 My 30th Birthday, I am taking a cruise, and buying myself a fabuloso piece of jewlry in St. Thomas
May 2012 I will be out of my loft in East Point, GA. I will put my things that I want to keep in storage.
May 2012-Aug 2012 I will commute from my parents house in West Virginia. I will spend quality time with my family over the summer, as I have taken for granted in my younger years!
Sept 2012- I will finally travel Europe as I had wanted to straight from college...4-5 weeks backpacking
and when I return I will start looking for places to live in Grayton Beach....
disclaimer: I do know that things can change in a 1 year, 4 months, and 24hours.....But this is my plan, of course I have to make sure that I still have a job as a Southwest FA, that I pass all my training, and all that boring adult stuff that pays the bills! But I have decided I am much to young to not be in a place that I want to be!! Life is way to short! And look at this view that I have been missing all this time!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Mystic Fish 2011
Mystic Fish definition for me: Some cool ass people preserving southern tradtion in a not so "stuffy" way!
So where do I start this blog? I guess I need to give you a little history.. Approxamitly 4 years ago I moved into what is known as a "crashpad" by people in the airline industry in a city called East Point in the Atlanta perimeter. A "crashpad" for those of you that are not in the airline industry is a house that is rented out to flight atttendants and sometimes pilots. They normally have anywhere from 1-4 bunk beds in a 2/3 bedroom house. The idea being that you pay anywhere from $150-$300 a month and you have a place to stay before trips, inbetween trips when there was not enough time to fly to your "real" home, or when you could not make your commuting flight home. A "crash pad" lets you feel like your not always living out of a hotel, and gives you such ammentities as a kitchen. See the thing is, I kinda turned mine into my full time home. I seemed to be there more often than others, so I decided to get to know the neighbors. I don't remember exactly how it happened but I went over one day and knocked on the neighbors door and introduced myself. I met what I now know to be the "cool ass married couple" named Stacy and Tracy. Yeah I know what you are thinking......It was really hard in the beginning to remember which one was Stacy, and which one was Tracy especially for someone like me that forgets names so easily! From there on out I seemed to build a relationship with this couple that reminds me of a family away from my family. Sometimes people forget how hard it is to be in the airline industry and be so far away from home and on the road all the time. They, Stacy and Tracy introduced me to some "cool ass" art, food, drinks, wine and also some front porch fun on Linwood Ave! I introduced Stacy to jager bombs (in which I was sent home early that night by Tracy) They were even nice enough this past Feburuary to go and pick up prescriptions for me when I left a voicemail in which Tracy said "I sounded like I was dying or in trouble." All I needed was someone to go and pick up prescriptions for me since I was not able to make it out of bed. There was even some freshed squeezed orange juice and chicken noodle soup outside my door. When your momma is 8 hours away in West Virginia, it sure is nice to know that you have people like this to count on! So this is the part that I get to the Mystic Fish. Over the years of getting to know Stacy and Tracy I have learned that they are from Mobile, AL originally. I also learned that they were involved in a group known as the Mystic Fish and it had something to do with Mardi Gras. I had said for the past 3 years that I was going to make it to Mobile and see what this Mardi Gras was all about. This year I finally scheduled my vacation around Mardi Gras, recived my invitation from the Mystic Fish, made no excuses and planned a solo road trip to Mobile, AL.
I learned that Mobile was the "Original Mardi Gras". As stated on the website squidoo.com: Most people associate Mardi Gras in the US with the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is true that New Orleans hosts the largest and most popular Mardi Gras, but they were not the first to celebrate the Carnival season. That honor goes to their smaller neighbor to the east: Mobile, Alabama. Mobile hosted its first Mardi Gras celebration in 1703, long before New Orleans.
This was my first expierence with any Mardi Gras ever, and man it was awesome! The first day when I arrived there were already tents put up for the dinner feast we were going to have that evening! My first shrimp broil! And I tried crawfish for the first time! We called them craw daddy's where I am from and I used to catch them with my best friend Chad. When I say catch, I meant that I lifted the rock, and if we saw one, I would take off running while the boys tried to put them into an old drywall bucket! But down south they are a delicacy!
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| My first crawfish! |
There was a liquor bar with just about anything you wanted! Although the rain and storms moved in the first evening it sure didn't ruin our Mystic Fish Party! I was able to meet some "cool ass" people from all over the country and I have to admit I was looking forward to the next day when the "peoples parade" would take place! I was even given a look at some of the floats that were going to be in parades that I was going to miss, and man they were cool! From what I learned this is a year long process and they get started on next years float right after Mardi Gras is over. They hire professional people to make the floats and all! Who actually gets to say when they are little "When I grow up I want to make floats??" This was no St. Albans, WV parade that is for sure!!!
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| Theme "Slow and Steady Wins the Race" |
The next day consisted of some more Delicious food and some tailgating before the parade! Lots of tailgating before the parade. Up to this point I was still a little confused as to what was taking place.. What were the Mystic Fish and what were they going to do in the parade? The only expierence that I had with parades was when my Brownie troop dressed up in our local Christmas Parade. That is a whole other blog since I was dressed as a Christmas present (made out of a cardboard box) and I kept tripping over it and falling during the parade..Needless to say that parade could not have been over fast enough...
When the "Mystic Fish" were ready to leave and head to the parade everyone got dressed, and the energy was high!
When the "Mystic Fish" were ready to leave and head to the parade everyone got dressed, and the energy was high!
The time was now.... It was time to head to the People's Parade. The band led the Mystic Fish followed by Mr. Hartley
It was a blast to walk to the parade following the Mystic Fish. I still was unsure if we were the parade, or what exactly was going to happen. And then we came upopn the main parade. There were thousands of people watching and collecting beads, candy and moon pies! The Mystic Fish have some special powers I tell ya. Once they came upon the parade route the gates were opened just for them to get onto the parade route! They get to dance and party like it 1999 for a good 15 minutes! It was a site to see, and peolpe standing along the parade route loved it!
The whole parade was an experience in itself. We headed back to the house, drank, ate some more food, and socialized throughout the night. When the kids decided to put on a parade for the adults, it was a highlight! I think we may have some Mystic Fish in training!
I can not say enough about my exposure to this Southern tradition. It was an honor to be invited and be surrounded by all these "cool ass people" that called tehmselves the Mystic Fish. The food was to die for, the drinks delightful, and the company as warm and welcoming as you would expect from the South. It's hard not to get into the spirit of Mardi Gras, even the statues do!!
It was a weekend to remember!!!
til next time, peace and love ~KT~
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Running...pretty similar to life....
Running to me has a great deal of ups and downs. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes not so much. One thing for sure I am always trying to improve on it. It kinda sounds like my life! Since coming back from my "no expectation vacation" in October I have been quite the busy girl. I had decided to take a bible study class to enhance my knowledge of Christianity in which I really enjoyed and met some pretty cool people along the way. I liked the weekly meetings and the going to church on Sunday routine. I was kinda sad when it ended. Nothing forces me to go to church, it is just willpower at this point. And I have to admit the flying schedule has not been real conducive, and I am sure I can come up with a couple other excuses as to why I have not attended regularly. Goal this weekend...make it to church....note to self!
I have trained and completed my first half marathon.WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! For anyone that knows me, especially my soccer buddies from college, know that I HATE...HATE...HATE running! Playing soccer is a different story. I love chasing the ball, but all that pre-season run bull crap I HATED and quite frankly I was horrible at it. Maybe that is why I was a defender?I slow the fast people down! So the idea of running a half-marathon has never crossed my mind, that was until my friend Shari said that she and her daughter Michel were running the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. She told me that I should and that it was going to be a lot of fun. 13.1 miles fun???? The only thing in common with fun and run is that fact that they rhyme. That is it! Somehow I talked my friend Renee (whom I fly with) into the idea of running as well. I told her it was going to be "FUN" and it would give us a goal to work out on our layovers. Our training plan??? After Thanksgiving we said "We have to get serious now!", after Christmas "No really, We have to get serious!" and than after New Years we said" Oh Sh** we have less than two months we for REAL have to get serious!!" We were given all kinds of suggestions for training but we did what worked for us. I have to give us credit, for training we ran in the rain in DC, the snow in MI, even on an 80 degree day we decided to run our longest training run of 10miles past the Donald Trumps MANSION in West Palm Beach. We sometimes ran 2 miles, sometimes five, sometimes for 40 minutes, sometimes less. Depending on the day and how we felt. I came down with a severe sinus infection at the end of January the first part of February. I was down for the count for almost 10 days, no training, barely eating, and feeling like crud. I was sure that I would never finish the race. Our only goal was to not walk, which after my sickness seemed like a hell of a goal. But race day finally approached
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| My shirt that I made for the race in honor of new beginnings and tribute to a dear friend of mine that died in 2004 |
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| Renee making her shirt! |
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| In Honor of DAD and Joe |
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| 300am bus ride to the race! Tiara's and all! |
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| At mile 6 near the castle! |
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| Mile 10! 3 to go!! |
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| Getting ready to cross the finish line!! |
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| Getting my Princess Medal at the Finish Line |
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| Renee Getting her Medal |
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| Katie is D.O.N.E!!!! |
From:
EAST POINT, GA
Age:
29
Gender:
Female
Bib:
#12550
Distance:
13.1 miles
Clock Time:
3:16:38
Net Time:
2:47:57
Overall Place:
7184 / 13797
Gender Place:
6794 / 13114
Division Place:
1361 / 2371
5K Split:
35:20
10K Split:
1:20:36
15K Split:
1:57:42
My official results from the Disney website!! Yes I finished and I achieved my goal of not walking. Besides the 10 minute restroom break and the short stops for pictures, we ran the whole time! The whole 2hours 47 minutes and please do not forget the 57seconds. I do not know what possessed me to run a half marathon but I did learn a couple of things.
#1 I do not get runners high, I get runners HATE!
#2 Running is a little more enjoyable when you don't have your college soccer coach yelling "Katie you better take 30 seconds off your time or the whole team is running again" Thanks Greg! and please emphasize the "Little more enjoyable part"
#3 Bathrooms are a hot item while running...just say'n
#4 You chaf in places that you didn't know was possible
#5 There really is no feeling as good as when you cross the finish line
So you see running is alot like life. It has it ups and downs. For example, as I write this blog I just scarfed down 3 Samoas Girl Scout cookies in less than a minute flat. All in the name of supporting our Girl Scouts ( I was once a top seller you know) All kidding aside: LIFE NEEDS BALANCE. Running has reminded me that goals are possible to achieve, some days are good running days, some days are bad running days. When my pace was not what I wanted or days when I wanted to quit, I kept reminding myself of the many people, I could run in honor of. That helped put things in perspective. In life you have to take the good with the bad, as in running, constantly strive for improvement. I guess the real reason I ran the Princess half marathon......I finally got to wear my tiara!!! Til Next time Peace and Love ~KT~
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