Bears & Bites

First and by far most importantly, thoughts and prayers to our beloved Central Illinois who got slammed by horrible tornadoes and storms this past weekend. The region in particular is near and dear to my heart as my undergraduate school, Bradley University, is located in Peoria, IL which is nearby all of the current devastation.

source

There of course are already several sites and ways to donate/help - I found a few different resources listed on Bradley's website... if you're interested, click here.

In other news, received a pretty awesome surprise in the mail this past weekend for Andrew's mom. She knows me too well.

giraffe pants. obsessed.

No joke, I put them on late Saturday afternoon and did not take them off again until Sunday morning before heading to an early spin class, after a thorough internal debate as to why I could not wear them to spin class. It was a foggy gloomy morning, and I really didn't want to get out of bed.

the walk to the gym...

But my roommates and I hosted a Bears/Ravens/Friendsgiving yesterday and I had to be back early to help set up/cook, so early spin class it was. The day was a raving success... even more so for me after Chicago pulled out an OT victory over Baltimore.

The were such gracious losers.

Unfortunately I was too busy shoveling in my food post-game to take any pictures of our impressive assortment.  However, I wasn't too busy shoveling in my odd breakfast of acorn squash and eggs this morning...

It was actually delicious. Veggies for breakfast. #winning

It was in the mid-60's here in Baltimore today, can you believe it? I allowed myself a few miles after work along the harbor....

Followed by the below kettlebell workout:

10 mins, AMRAP

60 single-under jump rope

15 double arm KB swings (15 lbs)

10 KB upward rows (15 lbs)

15 single-leg bulgarian split squat (15 lbs, both legs)

All you need are these two things and a little bit of space:

artistic, I know.

A full week of work ahead of me, and for some reason it's very daunting. While the warm weather was nice today, I'm ready for the temperatures to drop and winter to start rolling in. I know, I know, I'm crazy.

One down, four to go. Make the week great my friends. Be thankful for the roof over your head, it can disappear more quickly than you would ever think.

Cheers -

K

L&M

Here, my friends, is the recap of my weekend that brought me a whole lot of joy. Better late than never I suppose.

As mentioned last week, I traveled home to Chicago this past weekend for one of my best friend's - Lyndi's - wedding. It was beautiful, tastefully done, and the best part - everyone was there.

some of the crew

I don't talk much about my college volleyball career on here. I should - it honestly taught me so much. I don't often mention my volleyball teammates who were my sisters, and the baseball and soccer players who were my brothers. Our class had a very solid camaraderie in particular, it was honestly pretty awesome. We were a tight knit group of athletes at an already small DI school, and damnit we were proud to be Division I. We worked hard and practiced hard and played hard and sometimes studied hard... all the while having each other's backs, always.

Fall 2009

Fall 2013

Impressive what a little makeup can do eh?

But that internship with the Olympics whisked me to Colorado the final spring semester of my senior year, and Colorado overtook my life for the next two years or so.  I went off the grid and fell in love with the Rocky Mountains and kind of let them swallow me up. Colorado stole me for a solid two years, before moving to Baltimore (almost two years now WHAT).

Three years was far too long to go without seeing some of my closest college friends. And it took this weekend to remember that.

It was a wonderful affair – the wedding ceremony, the reception, the dancing, the post-reception live music. I text Lyndi, the bride, the next day thanking her for hosting such a perfect weekend. Perfect, because we were all together again, and so freaking happy. The best part of the day, and I think she would agree, was the amount of love that was present. A whole bunch of Bradley Alum came together to celebrate two of our own athletes who had made it past our safe college bubble into the real world, and it was genuinely a joyful evening.

It’s hard flying back east after being reminded of the supportive friends I have in the Midwest. It made me excited to return in December over the holidays and see what kind of shenanigans we can get into. Thank you Lyndi and Mikey, for putting on one hell of a party wedding. And thank you x50 for letting me share it with you.

This is a cheesy post, I know. I just can't help but think, as I sit here writing this, how important my friends will always continue to be to me. I love sharing weekends like this, and it definitely helped give me a bit of encouragement coming back to Baltimore for the final countdown.

August 2006

November 2013

Treasure the relationships you have in your life; they are precious, and most likely bring you more joy than you even realize.

Cheesiness, done. Make today great my friends.

Cheers -

K