Hump Day Confessions - Official Part I

Welp, we're in that that awkward mid-week place again when we all can’t decide if we should start getting excited that the weekend is coming, or feel defeated that we are only halfway through.

I don’t have an answer to that, but I do have some Hump Day Confessions that may help distract from your confusion.

Vodka & Soda

When first moving into my lovely Baltimore house with my two other roommates, our landlords hooked us up by arranging a cleaning service to come every other month.

Confession: I LOVE WHEN THEY COME. Nothing makes me happier then walking into a sparkly – smelling house, and a perfectly made bed. It makes me feel like I'm living in a hotel... until I wake up the next morning and I've torn my bed to shreds once more.

Confession: I don’t have an opinion on crunchy versus creamy nut butter. None. I like both evenly. Is that some kind of sin?

Confession: I rarely ever ‘do’ my hair anymore. It’s long and curly and I don’t even own a straightener right now. Most days = throwing together some kind of sloppy braid and hoping for the best.

beautiful, just gorgeous.

Confession: I hate bras. I guess this isn’t really a confession...  what girl LOVES bras? I think they are annoying and the highlight of most days is when I can put on my sports bra instead.

Confession: I love group texts. Maybe too much. I’m kind of a group text slut, and any chance I get to start one, I do. Any friends reading are welllll aware of this one already.

Confession: More recently, I’ve become a fan of splitting my daily workout in halves. For example, yesterday I woke up and rode my bike for 40 minutes before work, then after work I went to hot yoga.  It seems I just find more joy in the occasional split up.. it’s kind of like, ‘Nice, I cleared out two chunks of time today to do something I enjoy instead of one.’

Last but not least, my current favorite phrase is ‘I am the champion.’ It can be used pretty much anytime and anywhere you want – ‘I had Chipotle for lunch today because I am the champion’, ‘That guy has badass shoes on, he is the champion’,  ‘Didn’t wear makeup today, I am the champion.’

It sounds dumb but it’s catchy and I can’t stop (like the song). Because I am the champion.

How’s that for some confessions? Give me some of your own, will ya? And remember -

Jetting to Dallas tomorrow morning, it may be a few days until you hear from me again...
If I haven't posted by Sunday night, someone phone the authorities.
(KIDDING)

Cheers –

Kait

New York New York

This is going to jump all over the place, just how you like it right?

First thing’s first. My sister got back from a week-long trip to Peru this past weekend, and I think it might be official that she’s cooler than me.

Bri, in her Bulls jersey, with a baby llama, before hiking Huayna Picchu.

While I haven’t traveled internationally recently (and probably won’t this year) we did go up to New York City this past weekend for my first ever visit! We just stayed the day on Saturday, saw all the touristy sites, and met up with my friend Leslie who was in town for work.

My favorite part of the day was probably seeing the 9/11 Memorial, which was incredibly impactful and so tastefully done. Runner up was our New York-style pizza and some beers. HOWEVER, let me make it clear that Chicago-style pizza will always be my favorite. Always.

the 9/11 Memorial

It’s a busy week over here – on Thursday most of my coworkers and I ship out to Dallas for a work event. I tried my best to get some solid food prep in yesterday for the days that I am here, including this delicious spaghetti squash recipe and then this (paleo) brownie recipe…

I doubled the recipe to make a full pan

Being a compulsive Type A-er, traveling sometimes stresses me out. Seeing that traveling is happening four of the next eight weekends, I’m trying hard to plan ways to set myself up for success – from packing healthy food, to saving all of those obnoxious (yet helpful) no-gym workouts we constantly see all over Pinterest.

Last but not least, I promised an update on oil pulling if I had anything to report. Really… I don’t. I haven’t noticed much, outside of that I kind of enjoyed the process itself (I found it relaxing) and liked the way the coconut oil felt on my lips. Maybe my teeth got whiter? Outside of that, I remained unimpressed. The price of coconut oil probably isn’t worth continuing to oil pull religiously… but I may still do it on occasion, assuming it’s a good oral health ritual. All in all, it was a fun experiment.

That’s all I’ve got. Stay tuned for some Hump Day confessions on Wednesday.

Anyone else have an oil pulling opinion? Got a great travel workout to share? I could use it.

Cheers –

K

Punting

You guys, I have some great news – it’s officially spring!

Baltimore weather cleaned itself up a bit yesterday and today, we pushed 60 degrees and are supposedly doing the same today. I enjoyed a solid 7 miles around the park after work, soaking up all the sun I could get.

I don’t talk about my boyfriend/best friend/better half too much on here, as he is boring prefers to stay out of the spotlight like the coy fox that he is. But I realized a fascinating trend this week, and just had to share.

I like to eat, a lot. We know this. I snack pretty consistently throughout the day at work – probably eating about every 90ish mins or so. I’m not talking like meal sizes, but snacks such as this –

dried cranberries, plantain chips, almonds

I feel pretty confident that I eat more than Andrew – he’s told me his ‘feeding schedule’ before, and he basically eats 3 simple meals, nothing in between.  He’s even told me before that when he’s busy he sometimes forgets to eat lunch, which will forever be a confusing statement to me…

After returning from Chicago last week, I vowed to clean it up a bit. Eating habits in regards to sugar/pizza/alcohol had basically been lax since the holidays, and my work pants were beginning to get angry with me. If we’re being honest, I can’t afford to buy bigger sizes in all colors of my pants, so I opted for the ‘stop eating like a truck driver’ option.

I was serious. I even pulled Andrew aside one night and told him not to tempt me with crap during the week. I EVEN TURNED DOWN HALF PRICE WINE ON DATE NIGHT LAST WEEK.

Food prep is and always will be key for me. The boy is slowly getting on board with that as well.

red pepper with egg/spinach baked into it, paleo pumpkin muffins. breakfast yesterday.

We often call each other Pete. He hates it but can't stop.
 He is also going to hate that I showed this to the world.

Anyways, rewind a few days to this past Tuesday. Weather was cold and crappy, work had been a handful, and the only rower at the gym was broken. On top of it all, traffic was a real gem driving home, and so in the midst of my fury I basically snapped and text Andrew –

‘Pizza tonight?’

He called shortly after, suggesting pizza on Wednesday instead, as Wednesday is typically our date night.

‘No, I want it today, today is officially a cheat day, I just decided.’

Needless to say, he caved without much further argument.

 

buffalo chicken pizza from Saute. so. good. so. bad.
the sauce honestly may or may not be butter?
ignorance is bliss.

I’ve read a few different articles basically stating that being in a relationship can cause weight gain. I mean, it's nothing earth shattering. You form new habits, you feed off of what the other wants to do, you get comfortable, easily cave in, etc. Yet the concept definitely became clearer than ever to me on Tuesday night.

“I hate you for making me eat that, I’m pretty sure I just gained 5 lbs.”

“Andrew, you can’t gain 5 lbs from one meal. It’s fine, it was a cheat day, just eat healthy the week.”

Angry glare.

I rarely drag him down with me. It’s normally the opposite to be honest (love you babe). Yet for one of the first times in a long time, I had shoved mid-week pizza down our throats, and actually felt kind of bad about it.

There is no moral of the story, just me thinking/confessing out loud I suppose. Does anyone else notice the correlation between their eating habits and their relationships – I suppose it could even go as far as friendships as well? It’s interesting stuff; I feel it’s hard for one to stay on track if the other decides to completely punt.

In other news, this weekend we are doing a day trip up to the Big Apple on Saturday to do some sightseeing (I’ve never been to NYC, I know, I know) and to see my friend Les who is up there for work.  It’s a three hour bus trip both ways; I see a lot of reading and Pinterest in my future. The next three weekends I have a lot of travel - New York, Dallas, then Indiana for a wedding.

Speaking of Pinterest, I shall leave you with these two gems -

yes.

Not a fan of pants.

.

Aaaand some #Backthatazzup Friday - a new fav of mine - 

Hope your weekend goes swimmingly, and Spring pops in to hello. Or even better, permanently moves in -

Cheers!

Kait

Guest Post

I had the honor of guest blogging for my pal Ashley over at Married to the Game today - go check out what I had to say!

Also linking that post up with Vodka and Soda for her hump day confessions.

Cheers!

Kait

Snowy Green Seagulls

In case anyone was confused, today is the real, official St. Patrick's Day. I know I was confused for awhile as Baltimore literally celebrates the holiday for 2.5 weeks straight (which I love)... and even this past weekend there were a couple more green beverages to be had. But alas, today is the actual day.

green champagne :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Currently, there are some very confused seagulls flying around outside the house, in the snow, wondering what this white stuff is in the middle of March.

I've been wondering that too seagulls.

Another Monday, another day of snow. My office has a delayed start, so I'll be heading in soon, crossing my fingers that most Maryland drivers are choosing to stay off the road.

We first were notified of a possible impending snow storm on Saturday, when the two below alerts popped up in my weather app.

A winter storm watch with a fire warning. Now that's new. 

Friday after work I arrived at crossfit and quickly learned that we (the beginners class) were going to participate in the crossfit open, but could scale down the weight if we wanted to.

Coach - 'Kait, I really think you could use the Rx weight'

Sigh...

Below is the workout, I made it through 20 deadlifts at 155 lbs, 90 reps, tiebreaker of 7:38.

source

Needless to say, it was a challenging workout, and I'm still sore today. So sore in fact, that Saturday AND Sunday consisted of hot Bikram yoga. Saturday I even dragged this guy with me -

whole foods coffee after.

He killed his first ever class; handled it much better than I did the first time I tried it about a year ago. Remember that?

Current snow aside, we had a beautiful Saturday here, and following yoga Andrew and I headed north to explore Rocks State Park. There were some pretty stellar views.

Later that evening, we enjoyed futher stellar view from my deck, which I can't wait to be back up on every day once it's consistently warm...

Cough Cough, scram winter.

I hope you enjoy your Monday. I hope it isn't snowing there. If you're feeling particularily blue, fill out a March Madness bracket and challenge a friend. Loser buys dinner.

Andrew and I love going head to head in March Madness. Anyone else enjoy bracketology as much as I do?

Cheers my friends -

Kait

I wanted to tell you guys

Do any other bloggers out there keep a weird running list of things they want to blog about?

Or even if you're not a blogger,  maybe a list of things you want to remember to tell people?

(I do that a lot with my boyfriend, not gonna lie)

Normally I either keep track by taking pictures, or keeping a list of random phrases in my ‘notes’ app in my phone that would make absolutely no sense to anyone but me.

Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you guys about….

How I’ve been doing Kettlebell swings wrong for the past year. Figured that one out at Crossfit on Wednesday night.

Apparently it’s all in the hips. I’m sore today everywhere, and it’s glorious.

I wanted to tell you guys about…

The fact that I reach a point every morning where my body basically rejects coffee. I would say that I average about 1 – 1.5 mugs of coffee per morning. My mug is big – maybe about two-ish measurable cups? Anyways, usually a few sips into my second mug my body is like ‘ok I’m awake, switch to water.’ It sounds weird, but I swear I feel it daily.

I wanted to ask you guys…

If I need this scarf from Target? Maybe? Probably not, because apparently Target sucks lately.

I wanted to bitch cry to you guys about…

yesterday....

The weather. (YA COOL KAIT YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE)

But seriously, enough is enough winter. Go home.

Pretty sure wind chills were in the teens this morning.  I wore a scarf to work. I literally cannot wait until all I wear to work is a short-sleeved shirt and I’m sweating through it.

Oh, and I wanted to rave about how my favorite TV show lately is House of Cards. I started season 1 a few weeks ago with my one month Netflix trial, and am hooked. So intriguing. Love watching it while I pedal away on my bike.

HAPPY FRIDAY!! You made it! Today is Jeans Day at work, Sunday is the start of March Madness, and Monday is St. Patrick’s Day!

PUMPED.

Linking up again for #Backthatazzup Friday - how 'bout a little fun.?

Am I the only one who struggled with KB swings? Anyone else excited for some March Madness action?

Cheers - 

K

Weird Wednesday - Banana Edition

Hold on tight, things are about to get weird.

First, let me quickly recap my workout yesterday evening, when it was – wait for it – 66 degrees. 

Amazing.

Workout = Run 20, circuit workout, bike 20, circuit workout, run 20, circuit workout.

(circuit workout = 10 push-ups, 10 squats, 10 sit-ups, 10 burpees, 2x)

Boom. This warmer weather is such a mood booster, and man did I forget how much I love doing circuit workouts in the park.

In case you are really into banana news (I know my coworker Cort is), Chiquita is going to to buy Ireland’s Fyffes Plc to create the world’s biggest supplier of the fruit for about 403 million euros ($559 million). Cool!

Bathroom squats are back in the picture for this girl. I forgot about them for awhile – I think I mentioned like two years ago that I used to do them – and I’m back on the bandwagon. Pee Use the toilet – 5 squats – wash hands – back to desk.

Does anyone else have moments like this?

(in reference to Steve Jobs)

Last weird fact – I’m trying out oil pulling with coconut oil. You can read a couple good articles/blogs about it – here and here. And here's one on coconut oil in general. In short, you swish oil (I am trying coconut oil, there’s also sesame and sunflower oil) in your mouth for 15-20 minutes, and it’s suppose to pull out toxins, whiten your teeth, and do a lot for your oral care in general. Make sure you spit it out. It’s interesting, weird, and I figured why not try it out?  I prefer to know firsthand my opinion on it, and it just so happens I have 20 minutes to spare every morning on my way to work.

I’ll report back if I find anything worth reporting.

I’ll leave you with this quote, because I love it.

And of course, a couple questions. Has anyone else notice a change in their commute with this Daylight Savings shift? It seems more people are jumping on my 7 AM – 4 PM hours, as traffic was crawling this morning, much more than usual.

Anyone else tried oil pulling? Thoughts?

Cheers to Hump Day – we’re halfway homies.

K8

Endearing

Man I'll tell you what. As convenient and cheap as the 6 AM Chicago to Baltimore flight may be (at work by 9 AM ish) .... I'm not sure that the 3 AM alarm clock makes it worth it. Ever.

Piled on top of the daylight savings time change, this girl is beat.

Of course, much of the tiredness is also due to a fantastic weekend back home. Because I'm tired, and my brain is fried, let's do the recap in pics, shall we?

Plane ride there. Runner's World and wine, a girls best friend?

Always Southwest.

Clark Street Dog. Yes.

Three Dots and a Dash - the coolest Tiki Bar in a basement I've ever been to.

\

NOW, this crappy blurry picture of the lobster taco does not even begin to do it justice. We did Mercadito for dinner in the city on Friday night with some friends, and the small plates of tacos were 

out of this world.

Comiskey sister sandwich - Danielle in the middle  :)

Saturday morning aftermath - train ride home  :)

 Chicagoland still has more snow than they ever should for March - and more coming this week I hear? Rough.

some awesome coffee from my awesome Aunt. because pumpkin never goes out of season in this girl's book.

My other little sis, Jane.

Chicago, you delivered again, big time. Thanks for the solid three day weekend. 

Now,  I leave you with two questions, and one more picture. 

1. I need some solid 'clean' recipes for the week - trying to stiffen up the diet with this impending warm weather and crazy travel schedule coming up. Any suggestions?

2. What's your favorite tiki-bar beach type drink?

And now, a picture of this endearing fox, credit to my sister whose coworker originally sent her. I'm obsessed with it... it may or may not be my phone background.

Cheers to the adorable endearing fox - 

Kait