Just feeling average…
Well, after the big “REVEAL” last week, wherein I told all of you, my closest bloggie friends that I wouldn’t be running in the half marathon, I’ve been feeling pretty okay.
You have been nothing if not super supportive, which I really appreciate.
I am fighting a bit with body image for the past few weeks, because I know that I’m the same weight… (I’ve weighed like, 144 for four months) but I’m absolutely, and undeniably losing muscle, which I hate.
I’m combating those softening feelings by going to yoga 2-4 times a week, as my doctor forbid me to do any weight bearing activities including walking, running, strength training, and pretty much all calisthenics. I can ride my bike though, so I had daron air up my tires yesterday. (THANKS, love!)
Anyway, I’m just feeling sluggish and less than my best. I’m not surprised to learn that I’m craving cardio… actually, yea. I am. 
Anyway, I guess that’s all I have to report tonight…
Don’t forget I’m giving away yummy snacks from buffalo nickel wingers…
Please verify that you’ve left a comment for EACH of the 3 possible entries! Some of you tweeted, but never left a separate comment.
Entries close at 9pm tomorrow (tuesday) night!
I leave you now with pictures of my FAVORITE cows. The cutest cows, I mean, the MOST completely cute cows in the whole world.
My Spanish bovine buddies. 
all images copyright 2009 kelseytoney.com all rights reserved
Review: Buffalo Wingers + Giveaway
I want to thank you guys for your support in my dramatic heartfelt post yesterday. Squishy hugs for all of you.
In honor of the big game approaching in a few weeks, I’ve planned this product review + GIVEAWAY to coincide perfectly. 
About 2 months ago (woops!) I got a GLORIOUS bundle from the precious Katherine @ Buffalo Nickel Wingers.
She told me, and I read on their website, that Buffalo Wingers are an all natural, potato snack that is a chip substitute of sorts.
She sent three flavors for me to try, which is great because, I am a recovering CHIP-o-HOLIC. I can go to town on potato chips, (and I have) but when I started counting calories, my regular trek to the vending machine was eliminated, as were my crunchy chips.
Buffalo Wingers are shaped like little chicken wings (legs? ) and come in a variety of flavors along the “heat index”. Here are my thoughts on the ones I tried.
First, I cracked open the No Bull Barbecue (heat level 1). Have you ever tried barbecue potato chips? They make me think of summertime, and I love them. These knocked those out of the park. Their shape made them VERY crunchy, they’re totally NON greasy (unlike their potato chip counter parts) and their flavor, totally awesome. Sweet and smoky, just how I like it.
Next was the Nacho Chilichanga (heat level 3), which, honest-to-goodness tasted like a cross between chili-cheese corn chips and nacho cheeze corn chips, but with all the crunch of potato. These were my favorite!! Doritos can bite me! These, were really good, a nice amount of flavor per piece, and of course, much less guilt.
Last (yes, I tried them in heat order because I was scared) was the Fiery Buffalo Bleu (heat level 5). These were my least favorite, but they still satisfied a snacky craving. The reason they weren’t my favorite was because there wasn’t as MUCH flavor as in the other, less spicy ones, probably so they wouldn’t over power, but I like my chips well doused in powdery-flavored goodness. So, good, but not my top pick.
Overall, I give these bad boys a solid 4 out of 5 stars.
If you’re mindful of calories, and are looking for chips that don’t pack such a caloric wallop, these could be your answer…
Don’t get me wrong. They aren’t “health food”, and they aren’t a staple in my diet. But I like chips, (I’m mourning the end of my chili chimichanga ones, and I CANNOT FIND THEM ANYWHERE!!!) But I definitely prefer to eat something that is natural to crap.
Maybe that’s just me.
So, if you want a brimming Super Bowl Stuffed Snack Pack, here is the deal:
You may have up to 3 entries for this giveaway. (US residents only, this time, kids.)
EACH ENTRY MUST BE MADE IN A SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU WANT MULTIPLE CHANCES:
Method 1 (Required): Leave a comment telling me your favorite flavor of CHIP!! <3 <3 <3
Method 2 (optional): Tweet about my contest including a mention of me (@kelsnotchels) and wingers (@BNWingers) + link to this page and LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT HERE once you’re done.
Sample: I want those wingers! @KelsNotChels is giving away a snack prize pack packed with @BNWingers! http://bit.ly/5pukEr
Method 3 (optional): Bloggers: link to this giveaway on your blog and LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT HERE once you’re done.
Entries will close on Tuesday 1/26/10 at 9:00 CST
**For more information regarding my review/giveaway policies, check my review page. I was sent a supply of Buffalo Nickel Wingers assorted snacks, free of charge, to sample and review…as always, my opinion is NOT for sale.**
365 Thursday! January 21st!
You know the drill, my week’s worth of photographs as part of my 365 project!
Know that you can also check out my PHOTO page on this here blog.
Okay… here’s the deal.
This is hard. Blogging is DIFFICULT for me sometimes… not because I don’t like writing, not because I don’t enjoy expressing myself, but because I get scared.
I get scared of being honest.
I get scared of putting my feelings out for the world to see.
I get scared of being thought foolish, or lazy, or false.
I get scared of what you’ll think of me…
I get scared that you’ll have no opinion at all.
One of my goals for 2010 is to care a whole lot less about what everyone thinks of me. To not measure myself against anyone else… to not measure my value in blog comments or @replies, or emails.
But I find myself sensoring myself, and leaving out details and information… experiences I’m going through, for fear of your reaction (or lack of reaction).
So, I’m going to take a page from heather and mish, (two girls who are so refreshingly candid that it makes me write posts like this) and work on being more honest with you, because, let’s face it. You’re my friends… my family… my accountability. If I can’t be honest with you, then I’m almost certainly not being honest with myself.
That being said, I need to come clean about something (probably several somethings, but one day at a time! )
I’ve been pretty quiet about my participation in the Dallas Rock n Roll half marathon.
In December, I went for an amazing 4 mile run. I felt strong and steady… like I could run for days. The following morning, I could barely walk. I brushed it off, rested for a few weeks, got on our dtreadmill and blundered through about half a mile before quitting due to pain. Two mondays ago, I got on again, and managed to run 30 seconds before literally falling off in tears.
I vistited the podiatrist, who confirmed that I have a case of plantar fasciitis and peroneal tendonitis. She’s told me that I won’t be running for a couple of weeks for sure, until my follow up appointment next week where we’ll “see where things are”. I still experience pain daily (hourly?) and I’ve got to keep it real. Even if she decides that the PF is better by March, I will CERTAINLY not be running 13 miles comfortably, not to mention that as someone recovering from PF, the idea of running/walking for 3 hours is, at this point, NOT recommended by my doctor.
I’ve cried, trust me.
But can you believe that my tears were because I would have to tell YOU? Cause I don’t want you, (many of you, strangers) to think that I’m weak, or quitting, or making excuses.
Girls like caitlin, for example, just seem to LAUGH in the face of injury… (Is she tougher than me? Is she made of stronger stuff than I?)
So, with a heavy heart, I have to be honest with you, and with myself. The 2010 Rock n Roll half is just NOT a healthy endeavor for me.
UGGHHHHHHHHHH.
I just have to be smart, and I have to stay healthy, and I have to get well so that I can run until I’m 90 years old, and part of that is making good decisions. There are a bajillion of other halfs, and when I’m well, I know that I’ll take one on. I know that it will happen, but I have to listen to my body and my doctor.
I’ve worried that I’m letting you all down. I’ve worried that you’ll feel like I haven’t earned your respect… that I’m not hardcore enough.
(I’m sure you won’t believe this, but there are girls, more than I ever expected, who have told me that I have inspired them. That I’ve encouraged them to be better, reach higher, work harder. And I’ve worried that I don’t deserve that admiration. That I don’t deserve to be in a position of influence, of guidance, of leadership.)
But, this is a passing of a torch. A closing of a chapter.
I just can’t care so much what you think, and I can’t wait on baited breath for your approval, and I can’t cry over your disappointment.
I’ve got to stop being so hard on myself, and start loving and nurturing my efforts and progress instead…
So, there it is. Time to click “publish”
xo
Make Your Blog Better-Episode 1: Creating An Auto-Updating Blogroll
This is the first in a new series on my blog, “Make Your Blog Better” (MYBB) where I’ll stretch my nerdy wings and share tech/blogging information that will improve the quality of your blog.
As bloggers, we all know about the pitfalls of having a blogroll… have you ever found yourself asking these questions?
- how can I have the feeds I follow in google reader show up as my blogroll?
- I hate that my blogroll is full of links that I read years ago, but I never remember to take old links out, even if I’ve removed them from reader?
- I add blogs to google reader all the time, but I never remember to update my blogroll, WHYGODWHYISTHISSOHARD?
Okay, maybe that last one was a little dramatic, but generally, manually listing blogs SUCKS.
Most of us are using google reader anyway, so did you know that you can use google reader to be the source for a list of links that you currently read? It is easy… Here is how…
1) Go to your Google Reader (You’re obviously logged in, right?) and click on Settings.
2) Go to the second tab called, Subscriptions. On the right side, next to one of the blogs that you’d like to add to your blogroll, click on the pull down menu and select New Folder
3) Name your folder. As you can see, I named mine “Blogroll”
4) Still in your manage subscriptions area, you can now check off ALL of the blogs that you would like to have listed in your blogroll PUBLICLY. **Remember, you can still have blogs that aren’t listed here in google reader**
Once you’ve checked them all, go to the more actions tab, and select Add to folder> *your folder name*
5) Now you need to go to the Folders and Tags tab in settings. Check the folder you created, and use the drill down menu to change sharing to PUBLIC
6) Now, it gets REALLY easy. On the right hand side, in the Folders and Tags setting screen, click on “Add a Blogroll to your site”. Once there, you can customize the title, choose one of the preset colors, and retrieve HTML code that you can implant in your sidebar, or on a links page (like I did here)
7. Now, in google reader, you’ll have a blog roll folder in your subscriptions list, much like a folder you might have in your email inbox. The best part, is that you can add and remove bloggers at your discretion from your reader. If you read a post that is particularly inspiring, give them the ole “clickclick” and they’re added to the blogroll folder, and immediately, instantly included in the list you’ve already added to your site.
Likewise, if someone in your blogroll folder stops updating, or otherwise loses the right to be on your roll (ouch!) a right click –or even a drag and drop- and their back in your unfoldered set.
Know that you could have all of them in the blogroll folder, but I personally have a few guilty pleasures that I’d rather keep off my blogroll. ;D
You could also use this, if you’ve got the time and patience, to make separate folders (aka GROUPS) of links. Like make a folder for runners, and foodies, and crafters, etc. Once you’ve made all the folders public, nothing is stopping you from grabbing several bits of code, and putting them near each other in a sidebar or links page. (I may do this sometime) Voila! instant categorized blogroll that is fully integrated with google reader!
Please share, link to, tweet, or otherwise share this story with friends, because this is good stuff!
2 Questions for you, dear reader:
Do you currently have a blogroll/link list?
If you don’t use reader, but something else, please let me know.
If you have questions, please leave a comment. I will reply here, so that I can keep those questions and answers in this post for the benefit of the community.
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