Home

Man it's good to be back. Back on my blog, but also back home.

I've been thinking about the word home a lot lately, and what exactly it means to me. It's a word we all throw around a lot - "We are heading home for the next two weeks" - or - "It's good to be home" -  etc.

Since moving to Tel Aviv, I have struggled with the definition of home. When people here ask where I'm from, in my mind I think, "Where from as in most recently, or where I grew up? Please clarify." I usually say Chicago. Yet we did live in Baltimore for the past five years - it's where we are most recently from, and where we will eventually move back to.

Baltimore - 4th of July - 2014

Sometimes in conversations as a couple, I just roll with Andrew's response of saying that we are from Colorado. It's easier - I did live there for almost two years - and it's where eventually we want to end up. The Colorado flag still hangs over our bed as I put minimal effort into home decor and we both dream of the days when we will live next to the Rocky Mountains again.

Estes Park - December - 2013

I think home can mean a lot of things. Ultimately, my home in regards to my roots will always be the Chicago area, my favorite city in the world and where my awesome family lives. Yet my home is now Tel Aviv, where my husband and I reside, and it took up until the past week for that to really hit me.
It was interesting going home the past two weeks - and by home, I guess I mean the U.S. We hopped from Chicago to Colorado to Mexico and back to Colorado, and saw almost all of our good friends and family in the process; it was a fantastic time. Yet it was the first time when meeting someone new and asked where we were from, we both smiled and said Israel. Tel Aviv.

But to be honest I was kind of dreading coming back. I was being a huge whiny baby and was afraid to fly back without Andrew, acting as if I was being sent off to a third world country with no connections or friends. When in reality, I was coming back to our cozy apartment and some super supportive and amazing friends.

I was wheels down here last Wednesday evening - JFK to TLV is an 11ish hour flight - followed immediately by a three day competition that I'm really excited to write about next. And what I was sure would be a tearful, mopey return on my part absolutely wasn't. It was easy, comfortable, and above all else made me realize that Tel Aviv is now truly my home.

Tel Aviv - Yom Kippur - 2016

I'll wrap up by getting a little mushy. This spring has been absolutely insane - in both good and bad ways. We lost our dog daughter which will forever make our souls ache, but have figured out how to work through hardships together while friends and family rallied around us. We had several visitors come explore Israel with us, followed by a fabulous time back in the States. We have tallied 15 total flights between the two of us since March.

Fort Collins - May 2015

Today is our two year anniversary today and while at this point a low-key night of wine and sushi sounds perfect, I don't want to downplay the celebration of the past two years. It's been nothing and everything that I could have imagined, and I cannot and would not trade a single second of it - I think he would say the same.

We aren't necessarily following the cookie cutter timeline of how things should look for married couples... we won't own a house for awhile still, and don't plan to start a family while living overseas.  But I've really never been a cookie cutter, follow the recipe/instructions type of girl. I prefer to make my own odd, unique cookies. Even if they sometimes get a little bit burnt.

Cheers -

Kait

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

Keeping it Simple

Man, it’s been awhile eh? The holidays called for some time off in all areas of life, so I took the time to keep my laptop powered down and give my fingers a rest.

Let’s talk about this crazy cold weather everywhere, eh? I know Chicago has basically turned into a tundra, but Baltimore even got down into the single digits today -  my Civic wasn’t too eager to start up this morning.

But do you know who was eager to start up this morning? Beth.

My Christmas present from Andrew was a bike trainer, which was shipped in a large box from Amazon. It was a bitch blast to set up last night, but I’m in love. I plan to get a thorough sweat session on her tomorrow after work, and can’t wait until it gets a bit warmer to do run bike run type workouts.

To give a short and sweet summary of my holiday season – it was long, and wonderful. Much time was spent with family and friends; great food drink and conversation happened. And of course a few runs.

One of my other favorite gifts was this guy:

And my favorite blog shout out of the year was text to me from my sister’s boyfriend, who decorated a Christmas cookie for me...

RKR = Run Kait Run. Awww thanks Jase you're a gem.

And of course, once wheels were down in Colorado there were plenty of lights to fall in love under, trails to fall in love on, and mountains to take our breath away. 

Baltimore quickly swallowed us back up this past Sunday afternoon as we somehow navigated the absurd delays and cancellations at airports across the nation; we got away with just a one hour delay, landing at BWI right around 3 pm with eight bags in tow between the two of us.

New Years Resolution? Learn to travel lighter.

Kidding. Let’s get real for a minute. Last year I made a very elaborate New Year’s Resolution list. It included different categories, etc. Some things I achieved – I feel like I did a great job of being pretty proactive, all injury aside. Definitely have been flossing more too.

Others, like ‘stop chewing on my cuticles’… I once again failed. Maybe this year?

Anyways, listen up. This year I’m keeping it simple. Literally.

There were points during the past year that all of my resolutions, goals and what not literally stressed me out. I found myself having panic attacks over not becoming a taco connoisseur while I simultaneously tried to do a sugar cleanse for three weeks. I reprimanded myself when I couldn’t find the time to practice my violin, and cried when I realized I wouldn’t hit my goal time for my marathon… because my fifth metatarsal was once again cracked, and running was off the table.

My body is still healing. On my to-do list tonight is to create a viable fitness plan for myself these next few months so that I can get myself into true healthy running shape. Yes I’m running, yet not that much, and not pain-free.

My point is, as far as specific running/racing goals, body goals, health goals, life goals, here’s what I’ve basically wrapped into one for 2014:

Keep it Simple

Keep it Balanced

Do it Joyfully

I want to drink more lemon water. I think I’ll do that; at least I’ll try. One of my best friends reprimanded me for not doing sit-ups ‘the right way’ – this is coming from Mr. Crossfit himself.

that guy  ^^  (& my sis)

Ok, Ok, I’ll work on my sit-up form. I’ve been missing my abs these days anyways – the Christmas cookies buried them.

I want a stronger upper body. I can work on that. And eventually, when I sign up for some races, I will set some short term goals there. But I’m keeping it simple, I’m not stressing myself out, and I’m living 2014 as joyfully as I can. After all, I did tattoo the word on myself. 

Glad to be back my friends. Share some of your resolutions/goals with me, I’d love to hear them. Let’s make 2014 one to remember, what do you say?

Cheers –

K

Packin' and Jammin'

I'm not going to lie, this week in food has been pretty absurd, as I have slowly eaten through my fridge and cabinets to leave myself with basically nothing (but a few eggs) before I depart for 16 days. The most interesting would probably have to be this:

Cucumbers stuffed with spicy tuna salad.... sub par.

And most awesome would have to be this:

a microwaved s'more, made with nutella. Not paleo, yes delicious.

In other news, the hypochondriac deep down inside of me has convinced myself that I fractured or tore something in my shoulder. It really hurt today, and also didn't feel great on my 6 mile run.

Yet the subtle masochist deep down inside of me is telling me to continue ignoring it. I mean, even if something is actually wrong, I'm unsure that would hold me back from skiing some Rocky Mountains when I'm out in Colorado next week. If it's messed up, may as well jack it up some more right?

Kidding. Kind of.

The past two hours of my life has entailed mucho packing. I always become a bit panicky prior to leaving for long trips. What if we go to a fancy dinner? What if I decide to work out twice in one day and need extra sports bras? What if one day I want to stay in my pj's all day long? Do I need to bring all four pairs of my boots?

The answer is obviously yes. Let's see if I make it past the 50 lb weight limit. Taking bets, ready go.

It's way past my bedtime, let's wrap this up. The plan is to get up early and do a couple circuit workouts that don't involve shoulders (ya good luck with that). I leave you all with my new favorite song. It makes me really happy, and incredibly excited to spend time with both my Chicago and Colorado friends these next two weeks.

The Script - Good Ol' Days

Cheers to that -

K

Oct.Toe.Burr

Does anyone know where the heck September went? Holy moly, I don't know about you, but it FLEW by over here in Baltimore.

I'm really excited for October. I have a lot of super fun things planned, the highlight being the 7-day cruise to the Bahamas that I won coming up in the middle of the month. My sis and I agree that it can't come soon enough.

I haven't thrown a monthly challenge out there for awhile, so I figured hey why not throw three challenges out there? I stumbled upon all three of these bad boys on Pinterest of course, the magical land where I spend too much of my time before bed.

got butt cheek?

Simple enough, wouldn't you say? Of course they will get a bit more time consuming later on in the month, but they work three different areas of the body that can always use a little bit of improvement. Join me for one, two or all, let's tone sh*t up.

This past weekend I was up on Long Beach Island in New Jersey for a coworker's engagement party. She nailed it, it was beautiful weather, and I even took a minute to sneak off to the beach and check out the New Jersey sand.

I was impressed.

Sunday morning before heading back to Maryland I nursed a slight hangover up on the rooftop deck with my coffee. I had one of those 'this is exactly where I'm suppose to be in this moment' thoughts pop into my head, and I felt blessed with all of the opportunities and adventures the east coast has thrown at me so far this fall, both large and small.

Morning posts are always a bit rushed for me, because I desperately need to get to work. I think we should talk about running next time, don't you agree?

I also think we should list off all of our favorite things about October. Ready, go:

Cheers to a new month! Let's make it fabulous.

K

A Whole Row to Myself

I started writing a post on Sunday night, but after two consecutive 3 AM nights in a row, this is exactly how I felt at the time:

Jane and I were on the same page and were both ready for bed by 9 pm. And that's exactly what happened; it was glorious.

I then told myself that on my 6 AM Tuesday morning plane ride back to Baltimore I would hop back on wifi and come up with something witty to slap up here. Just so happens that this happened:

A WHOLE ROW TO MYSELF? That never happens.

So I slept on the plane instead, and here we are. Have I ever mentioned that the laundry room here in my Baltimore house is attached to my room?

Some people see it and are like 'Ohhhh that sucks' but frankly I don't really care. My roommates can trample through my room whenever they feel, I'm not home that much, and when I am it's not like I'm parading around naked. At least most nights.

This morning in particular I LOVE the fact that the laundry room is right there, as when I rolled out of be and felt cold, I threw a sweatshirt into the dryer before hopping into the shower. Get out of the shower and voila - a perfectly warm sweatshirt to bundle up in.

Anyways, back to my Chicago weekend. Friday and Saturday was a whirlwind of good times with good friends. I loved seeing my sister, high school and college friends all in a 24 hour period. And of course, there were many bachelorette shenanigans to be had...

I was blessed with 8 miles on Monday afternoon, including a quick lap around my middle school track. It took me back to my track & field days, when I ran the fastest mile (I'll probably ever run) of my life, coming in at 5:38. Those were the days.

I was also blessed with finding pumpkin froyo on my lunch break yesterday. WHAAAATTT???

This may be the end of me.

Would love to chat more, but I have to get ready for work. Hope your week is going well, and Happy Hump Day!

Cheers-

K

Falling into Fall (literally)

I’ve missed you guys.

I apologize for my shady absence, but I was out living pretty damn hard this past Labor Day Weekend.

And now my body is desperately trying to find normal again, whatever normal is these days. 6 AM alarms have felt like 4 AM alarms the past three days, but it was well worth it. Mentally, it was more needed than I could have ever realized.

Physically? Physically it confused my body. Today it’s still asking me if the abundance of drinks – umbrella beach drinks, coronas with tangy limes, shots of whiskey – if all that was really necessary. Confused as to why I was eating philly cheesesteaks for breakfast on the beach, and chasing it with a cannoli.

That’s not a joke, I promise it happened.

Asking if not one, but almost two nights of no sleep was really necessary.

It was.

Because laying in bed next to my best friends, ranting about our dreams and our fears and asking the hard ‘why’ questions outweighs any night of sleep. Because sprinting into the ocean in the dim moonlight, with nothing between the waves and our skin… that’s living like we were made to live. And sitting in that sand, hand in hand, watching our beautiful sun start to peak over the edge of the water and sprinkling sparkles over the waves… that will knock any amount of sleep out of the water.

 You can take my pillow, I’ll take the memories.

The memories of standing in a gas station parking lot the next day, having my knee scrubbed free of asphalt and sand while tears of laughter and pain run down all three of our faces. The asphalt that I met at 4 AM on the way to the beach, in a dead sprint. The lost skin was worth it. The scars that will form will bring me joy, not sadness.

Dancing to the point of perhaps reinducing stress fractures in my feet? Worth it. Waking up with sore ribs and abs from laughing late into the night will bring me more pride than any p90x you want to throw at me.  

There was a re-prioritization that happened in my head this weekend, slowly. My health is so important to me. But locking myself up in my room for 3 weeks straight in order to sugar detox? That isn’t as important as living this life that is so freaking short. Celebrating the gifts we were given, the friendships we are blessed with, this amazing earth we live on.

I’m not saying I’ve punted. I’m currently sipping tea as I type this, absent-mindedly making my paleo-like list for the grocery store. By the way, we did make some healthy pumpkin bars this past weekend … and ate the entire pan by noon that same day. They were excellent.

Recipe linked here

I’ll wrap this up, I could go on forever. I’m so blessed to have my wolves. I’m lucky to have this life I live, no matter how hard and shitty it may seem at times. I’m excited that it’s fall, and for what it brings; both the good and the bad. It’s a season of change, not only as the leaves color and fall, but within my own life.

Thank you all for doing life with me. I will always try my hardest to publish my full self on this tiny little domain, hence the semi-romantic rant I just went on. I’m glad I’m back, I’m glad football is back, and I’m so, so glad that tomorrow is already Friday.

What are the thoughts on the new layout? Props to my girl Kailyn, she worked her magic pretty dang hard. Get in touch with her if you're looking for a blog makeover.

Cheers my friends.

K8