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

2nd on the 3rd

Well, well, well. Another weekend has flown by, and holy moly was it an active one.

(Note to self - never use the phrase holy moly again.)

But before we get into details, can I take a moment and brag about my favorite new creation?

Friday night a few of my coworkers and I had a 'craft night' and painted quotes that we like on boards. I picked the above quote based off of something that caught my eye on Pinterest... although the quote below was a close second.

Both pretty much sum one of my life mottos of 'Live Hard'.

Back to the weekend. Probably my favorite part of the past two days was the 5k that Andrew and I randomly signed up for a few weeks ago. I went into Saturday morning with pretty low expectations - I haven't been running much, certainly haven't been running for speed, and told Andrew that my hope was just to enjoy the race.

Yet when the gun went off I immediately slipped into my competitive mindset, and we were off. I was surprised how semi-easy it was to fall back into a sub-seven minute pace, and we stayed side by side as we ran through Harbor East to the edge of Fells Point, and circled back.

I was happy with the finish. I was surprised today when I found out I was 38th overall and 2nd in my age group? Not too shabby for zero training.

Needless to say, we immediately signed up for another 5k at the beginning of June. Yes.

This morning we tried out a new church, and then headed west to try out some new hiking. The trail was more challenging than some others we've done so far in the area - it was located in Cactoctin Mountain Park. I did a horrible job and only took one picture; better than nothing I suppose.

I write to guys you from the balcony of the beautiful Barnes and Nobles in downtown Baltimore. It's two stories, right on the inner harbor, and a must-visit if you are ever in town. To be honest, being up here on a Sunday evening kind of feels like the calm before the storm of a busy couple weeks. I committed to substitute assistant coaching for a club volleyball team in the area a couple nights per week through the month of May. On top of a busy work week and a long to-do list, it should be a real doozy.

I'm unsure I ever want to use that word again either. Doozy. No. Never again.

Reminder: link up starting this Tuesday for a sweaty May challenge, and find yourself some new workout moves to try out! Grab the button below.

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.Delipsch.com" title="May Challenge"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4_7NAGp9reU/U1ul0CHHOqI/AAAAAAAAAEc/XChm_Doq3bQ/s1600/may+challenge+2.jpg" alt="May Challenge" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

That's all I've got. Sun's going down and it's getting cold. Until Tuesday my friends -

Cheers

K8

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

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

snOMG

Another day another dollar. And another winter storm.

At this point I'm pretty sure that celebrating snow in March is sacrilegious, and instead I've switched to shnning it in an effort to lure Spring out from wherever she is hiding... (Spring is obviously a girl, right?)

The weekend was actually a lot of celebrating St. Patrick's day. I realize the holiday itself is still a good two weeks away,  but

1. I'm Irish 

and 

2. Baltimore literally celebrates St. Patrick's day all of March. I full support this.

Friday night a few of us made some St. Paddy's crafts...

instructions how to make the shamrocks can be found here.

 then of course, this happened...

My mom approved of the shamrocks, but not the rainbow. Fair enough.

Saturday there was a Canton Irish Bar Crawl, so of course there were a few car bombs to be had with our pals.

In other news, I ran 8 miles on Sunday, and the hamstring felt a lot better than it has so far this year. I literally just knocked on wood after I typed that. The last thing I need is to jinx the healing.

Sometimes when I'm bored I peruse the PaleOMG site because she's awesome and always full of killer recipes. I tried out a version of her blueberry pumpkin muffin bars yesterday, and instantly fell in love.

This week will be a short one - Andrew and I are Chicago-bound on Thursday for a long weekend with family and friends. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

Hopefully your week is looking solid, and snow free. Any fun plans?

Cheers -

Kait

Anuli & Juma

Howdy ho, it’s Friday, we did it. Last day of the work week, last day of the shortest month of the year! 

First thing’s first, how did Fabruary go? If you followed along, let me know your thoughts below, I’m curious. I think I missed a day at some point, but overall was happy to have something to keep me on track.  I’m currently in the process of making up some March goals, hoping to have them pinned down by Sunday.

there i am, writing my goals!

Andrew’s awesome roommate & GF signed me up for a subscription to Baltimore Magazine for my birthday, and the first copy came yesterday. Don’t worry, I was immediately informed via page twenty-something that the Maryland Zoo has TWO NEW female giraffes – Anuli and Juma.

More amazing info. on them here. Must meet them.

I really like prunes. Is that weird? I feel like the word ‘prune’ normally makes people wrinkle up their nose and scream ‘gross!’ but I honestly like them. I keep this bag in my snack drawer and usually eat a couple per day. Pruney and Proud.

In case you are interested, the Crossfit Open started yesterday. I didn’t officially sign up through the website or anything like that, but each week for 5 weeks they will post the workout of the week, and you can try it out and compare your scores to others, if you’re interested and want a challenge. Andrew and I are going to use it as an opportunity to compete against each other. Neither of us are officially crossfit gym members, but will hopefully figure out ways to complete the workouts with the equipment at our normal gyms…. That’s the plan at least.

Crossfit is actually on the docket for 4:30 pm this evening, followed by a fun evening full of green. More details to come.

I leave you with another #backthatazzup jam – one of my favorite songs from the new Dierks Bentley album this week. Nothing screams Friday like ‘Drunk on a Plane’

 

Cheers –

Kait

#BestFoot

Happy President’s Day! If you’re lucky (unlike myself) you’re still at home in bed, enjoying a warm cup of coffee. However I really can't complain, after two straight snow days (working from home in my PJ's) this past Thursday and Friday, I am ready to get back into the office.

This morning I’m linking up with #bestfoot forward 2014, and giving you a quick summary of what my past week of workouts looked like:

-Monday: Crossfit, 40 mins of spin, Fabruary

-Tuesday: Elliptical/row, weights, Fabrurary

-Wednesday: 60 mins spin, Fabruary 

(was supposed to go to the gym to run, forgot shoes at home. fail.)

-Thursday: Snowed in - 65 mins spin, Fabruary

-Friday: 60 min run around the park, weighted abs, Fabruary

-Saturday: SKI!!!

-Sunday: Spin 25 mins, Run 25 mins, Spin 25 mins, Faburary

Does skiing count as a workout? I want to know thoughts on this. We went up to Wisp near Deepcreek, MD, and the conditions were excellent. Like most mountains, they’ve gotten dumped on this winter, and it snowed the entire day we were there.

cold but happy, I swear.

I also decided this weekend that it's time to buy my own skis. Any advice on best time/places to find great ski discounts, please share!

In case you didn’t hear, this weekend is Restaurant Week in Baltimore. We are trying out Mezze in Fells Point tonight with some friends – it's Mediterranean food, and I’ve heard great things.

Enjoy your Monday, whether you have it off or not. Cheers to a great week –

K

Rev (up)

I continue to forget that nothing gets me out of a bad attitude toddler slump than a solid ass-kicking workout.

I remembered that tonight though, don't worry.

Last week one of my friends asked a few of us if we had any interest in doing a charity spin class at the new cycle studio that she works at. The event was to raise money for a Team in Training fundraiser to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in the fight against cancer.

90 minutes of sweat and yelling to beat cancer's ass? Sign me up.

The class/studio had everything I look for in a solid spin sesh - good music, good atmosphere, and a fantastic instructor. Since this class was a solid hour and a half they actually had two spin instructors up there.

The first - Esther - took the reigns for the first hour and got me so pumped up I wanted to head butt the girl on the bike next to me.... which happened to be my good friend Megan, so I restrained myself.

Any female spin instructor who has the balls to call the entire class the P word and consistently drop phrases like "Let's do this sh*t" is A-OK in my book.

The second - Jessie, was a little less intense but much more encouraging - exactly what we needed to finish out those last sweat-drenched 30 minutes.

All in all I was thoroughly impressed by Rev Spin Studio and am so glad that I went - check out their website here if you're an interested Baltimorian.

Now I promised you guys a recipe, and I'm going to share it because I don't break promises. These cookies are amazing, are (almost) paleo, and I may have housed two immediately after getting home from Rev.

I'm not even close to sorry.

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cookies

- 1 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup fresh blueberries

- 1 freshly squeezed lemon

Preheat to 375. Grease pans. Mix sugar, yogurt, vanilla and eggs in a bowl. Slowly fold in the coconut flour, baking powder and salt, followed by the blueberries.

Spoon decent sized blobs on the pans, take half a lemon and squeeze it over the uncooked cookies before popping those bad boys into the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, keep an eye on them.

Flatten em down with a fork, eat, you're welcome.

Last but not least, I'm linking up with Whitney over at I Wore Yoga Pants to Work for #Backthatazzup Friday. Here's on of my favorite jams of the week.




Cheers!

K

Spirit

The Christmas spirit hit me pretty hard last night, thanks to a visit up to Baltimore’s 34^th street with a group o' pals.

Baltimore has really, really grown on me the past few months. You would have thought that would steal summer my heart, but it’s really been fall and the beginning of winter that I’ve fallen in love with living in the city. The option to walk pretty much everywhere, and having friends just a few short blocks away is incredibly attractive to me.

I've also been lucky enough to avoid those horrific city traffic back-ups due to an accidents for the past five months… until today. I made the poor choice of not checking my maps app (I have two interstate options when driving to work) and chose the wrong one, which was at a standstill.

Luckily, I had made the correct choice of swinging by Panera on my way out of the city and grabbing a coffee.

That, and Luke Bryan kept me occupied as we crawled through the tunnel at a pace that I could have ran at.

Speaking of running, I’m at a bit of a standstill when it comes to my workouts. I feel bored (still) not being able to run very much, and to top it off haven’t been eating very awesomely with the holiday festivities starting to pile up.  For instance, today I dragged myself down to the gym after work with literally no workout in mind.

I put in a half-assed half hour of cardio on the elliptical, plodded along on the stairmaster for awhile, and then threw weights around until I felt somewhat sweaty. I’ve found that when it comes to training/working out, I do a lot better when I have a schedule/some kind of plan to follow.

Any suggestions out there? I’m open to it all.

Following work tomorrow, Andrew and I are headed west to Snowshoe Ski Resort in West Virginia.  He surprised me with the trip about a month ago when he was still gone so that we had something to look forward to. Man did he pick the perfect weekend, as it’s been snowing there almost all week.

I’m ready to spend the weekend tearing up some trails and getting some quality Andrew time. (Gag, I know)

Cheers my friends - 

K

Dreams Come True

Remember last week when I was crying about how I was ready for snow?

My dream came true.

Twice actually, as it snowed again today!

Other dreams that recently came true include hugging a near life-size stuffed giraffe -

Cooking an epic egg-casserole this morning when our office closed due to snow -

A cold frosty winter run this evening for about six miles...

Followed by this quick circuit:

-15 burpees

-15 (20 lb) KB swings

-10 pushups

-30 skaters

-12 tricep dips

 x3

Followed by this:

Andrew and I checked out Vaccaro's in Little Italy.
So. Good.

This is short and sweet, and possibly boring. My week is a busy one with training for work followed by a weekend away in West Virginia to ski - I'm pumped!

Cheers -

K