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	<title>WIRL Project &#187; Katie Lowe</title>
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	<description>What It&#039;s Really Like.</description>
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		<title>Observations and Contemplations of a Road Warrior</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/observations-and-contemplations-of-a-road-warrior/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/observations-and-contemplations-of-a-road-warrior/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2015 14:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Lowe]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Driving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=4606</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Please excuse my lack of focus. As my family and friends know too well, I have quite an hard time keeping my attention on one thing very long. I&#8217;m in sales, and because I have close to a 1000 miles of windshield time most weeks, I have plenty of alone time with my thoughts. So, here&#8217;s a snippet of what went through my head on my Monday drive. Good luck embracing my absurd stream of consciousness. Whoa, that was weird. Can&#8217;t believe that woman rolled down her window and asked what time it was. When is the last time someone asked a stranger what time it was? Between clocks, computers, smart phones, smart watches, and other devices. Even my FitBit has the time on it. Wait, doesn&#8217;t her car have a clock? Maybe she doesn&#8217;t know how to set it? Which I totally understand since I cringe at the thought of reading along in a manual myself. Blah, it&#8217;s like following rules. No fun. What was the deal with that guy who took the elevator at the gym this morning who was fully capable of taking the stairs? Reminds me of the people fighting for the closest parking spot at the gym so that they can go walk on the treadmill for miles. Personally, I consider taking the stairs part of my cardio. Have you noticed how fast you&#8217;re going through tissue boxes these days? Between that and the itchy eyes, running nose, and the daily pollen count, it&#8217;s quite obvious that springtime and allergy season are upon us. Unfortunately, that means I&#8217;m going to have to deal with one of my pet peeves more often which is taking that first tissue out of the new box which never comes out nicely. It always shreds and is useless. Don&#8217;t have a clue why this bothers me so much, but it does. Kind of like the last paper towel that is glued/stuck on the roll that is also useless. Just rips off in little annoying pieces. You know, I really love the look of cobblestone roads and sidewalks, but putting them in high traffic pedestrian areas near bars and restaurants is just trouble waiting to happen since so many girls wear high heels out at night. Lucky for me, I only wear heels out at night about twice a year now, so I am no longer one of those girls who looks ridiculous teetering around trying to keep her balance. I&#8217;ve become a &#8220;wedges only&#8221; girl. Hey, safety first. Wow, really, Katie? Listen to yourself. Before you know it, you&#8217;ll be shopping at Easy Spirit. Speaking of safety first&#8230; Why has every day care that I&#8217;ve passed for the past couple weeks had names that just sound creepy to me? Just Kids, Itty-Bitty Day Care, Lollipop Gang, Treasured Tots, Care and Share, Hold My Hand, Kid Oasis. Yeah&#8230;.if I was a parent, I would be terrified to go anywhere near those places with my children. Heebie-jeebies. I wonder if other people ever notice, or if it pains them too, that the older you get, the longer it takes to scroll to the year you were born when you fill out the year in your date of birth on drop down boxed online? It hurts me passing through the 2000&#8217;s, &#8217;90&#8217;s, AND all the &#8217;80&#8217;s to get to 1979. Like a little jab each time I have to do it. *as I toss a loose hair out the window* Gross, why is it that your hair is just fine when it&#8217;s still on your head, but the second it&#8217;s loose, it&#8217;s now just nasty? I wonder if I&#8217;m the only one who feels this way? Do other people struggle as much as I do to pick up my phone to do a simple task quickly? Getting so distracted between social media, googling stuff, and doing other things. And then 30 minutes later, I realize that I forgot the original reason I picked up my phone. Yep. There&#8217;s that ADHD kicking in again. Wow, really? They&#8217;re playing Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, and U2 on classic rock stations now? These are bands that defined my childhood. Pretty sure a little part of me dies every time I hear one. Just confirms my earlier point about getting older. And that my cassette tapes in my Doc Marten shoebox and my Case Logic cases of CDs are basically vintage now. Yep, I warned you. Sometimes I replay the things I&#8217;ve contemplated and mulled around in my head, and I can&#8217;t help but think about Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey. So random. Well, I&#8217;m off to google at least five different things I&#8217;ve thought of while I&#8217;ve typed this tonight.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Perfect Start to the Day and Breakfast of Champions</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/perfect-start-to-the-day-and-breakfast-of-champions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/perfect-start-to-the-day-and-breakfast-of-champions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 13:54:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Lowe]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Food/Drink]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[breakfast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daft Punk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kitty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lose Yourself]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[morning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nutrition...]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recipe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ritual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shake]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=4224</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the past two plus years, I&#8217;ve started my day by pleasantly waking up to Daft Punk&#8217;s Lose Yourself to Dance which quite possibly could be the best wake-up call ever. No more jolting awake to some terrible repetitive beeping sound. This tune starts slowly and quietly, and builds up into an awesome catchy beat. Definitely check it out. https://youtu.be/NF-kLy44Hls Then I typically scroll through checking email and social media before getting out of bed which also allows me to have some quality time with my kids, Polly Prissy Pants, William Douglas Baloney, and Stevie Kneadie Nicks. The daily ritual includes getting kitty kisses from all three of them. After I do few yoga stretches, push-ups, and planks, we head downstairs for breakfast. They, of course, expect to be fed first, and then I blend up my go-to breakfast protein shake. I&#8217;ve been making this nutritious and delicious quick morning meal since a guy I dated in college introduced it to me along with a solid strength training workout. The addition of greens was added about five years ago after a personal trainer told me to try it. It changes the color and lessens the sweetness some, but I love knowing I&#8217;ve already basically had a salad before lunch. But if you&#8217;re concerned about it being bitter, just use spinach because it doesn&#8217;t really change the taste. The actual measurements of each ingredient can be tweaked to your liking. So, here&#8217;s the list of goodies: Vanilla whey protein Dash of cinnamon Half of a banana Frozen berries PB2 powder peanut butter Ground flaxseed Chia seeds Coconut water Unsweetened almond milk Handful of spinach, watercress, and/or kale Blend until it&#8217;s a smooth consistency, and enjoy it!]]></description>
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		<title>My Last Minute Teeny Weekend Guests</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/my-last-minute-teeny-weekend-guests/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/my-last-minute-teeny-weekend-guests/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2015 17:00:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Lowe]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weekend Foster Puppies Pets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=3507</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, what was supposed to be a nice, productive Saturday and Sunday turned out to be quite a busy and crazy weekend. After just celebrating the one-year anniversary of my fun side project, Thought Out Twinkles jewelry line, my plan was to spend the weekend diligently in my studio/guestroom/foster pet room working on new pieces for spring. But with a quick one word &#8220;sure&#8221; text response to a foster request on Thursday night, my plans quickly changed. Because I&#8217;m in medical sales and drive close to 1000 miles a week in the Carolinas, I typically spend Friday afternoons working from home. But last Friday after working in Columbia, SC, I made the trek to the very sad animal shelter in rural Chesterfield, SC to pick up two itty-bitty pug mix puppies who had been surrendered by their owner. I wasn&#8217;t supposed to pick them up until Saturday, so I had left the house Friday morning without a crate. Now, let me tell you that over the 2 1/2 years since I started fostering and transporting shelter animals, I have accumulated five cat carriers, and a small, medium, and large wire dog crate because often it is a last minute trip, and I end up having to buy something to transport the foster babies home in. Well, I have now added a bright red nylon foldable soft-sided crate to my arsenal. After swinging through Walmart in Camden, SC to pick that up, I drove on to Chesterfield. When I arrived and walked into the shelter trailer office, I am immediately started squealing the second I saw the two teeniest little faces staring out at me from a crate with their tails wagging.  After talking to the volunteers, and learning about how these two precious babies ended up at the shelter, I left with mixed emotions. Angry and upset that the person who surrendered the puppies refused to surrender the mom or allow the shelter to spay her for free, but very grateful that the puppies would not be spending a single night in that dilapidated, cold, dark shelter. The first half of the trip, Levi and Alexi stared at me, wagged their tails like crazy, and talked to me quite a bit. Second half of the trip, they were passed out sleeping like babies. Once we arrived home, I set up my large metal dog crate in my guest bathroom with blankets, and gave the babies food and water. Well, I will tell you that the babies did not spend much time in the crate over the weekend. I mean, honestly, how could you say no to these little faces. I also quickly remembered about how small puppies&#8217; bladders are because these two little ones literally peed and pooped every 30 seconds the entire weekend. I have three cats of my own who spent most of Saturday and Sunday sniffing under the door trying to figure out what type of cats those were because they looked so foreign and different. We had lots of visitors on Saturday who came to &#8220;ooh and ahh&#8221; and cuddle with the little babies. During a catch-up with one of my friends who brought her new puppy to meet Levi and Alexi, she turned me on to the fact that TJ Maxx, Ross, and Marshalls all have entire aisles of awesome treats and toys for pets so I headed to TJ Maxx (the closest one to me because the needy kids didn&#8217;t like to be left alone very long), and picked up some goodies for them. By the time I finally sat down to work on my jewelry Saturday night, I had two zonked out puppies on my lap. They were so sleepy that even when I set them in their crate for the night, they barely let out a peep. Sunday was spent exploring the outdoors and having &#8220;berserkies&#8221;* in the quad in my development. Monday morning came quickly, and we started our trek up to Asheville to meet their two-week foster before they head to their rescue group in New York to find their forever homes. Levi and I had an intense staring contest for most of the drive. Again, the first half of the trip they bounced around like popcorn in the crate, and the second half they were spent and slept soundly until we pulled into the shopping plaza to meet their next foster. It&#8217;s always bittersweet saying goodbye to your foster babies whether you have them for a day or three months, but it&#8217;s such an amazing feeling to know you are part of the village who is working together to save their lives. If you love animals, I highly recommend getting involved because it is one of the most rewarding experiences and totally worth sacrificing a little free time to help those who can&#8217;t help themselves. And honestly, who doesn&#8217;t want to play with puppies and kitties from time to time! &#160; *Berserkie: 1) when a dog runs around like crazy like they&#8217;re showing off for their friends 2) One of of the funniest things to watch ever]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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