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.

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

Cheers

K8

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

Crafty Kait

I have personal rules when it comes to the celebration of seasons. Fall begins in September, winter begins in December. I don't care what the official dates are, that's just how I operate.

Christmas music cannot start until Thanksgiving. However, my roommate is going to break the rules and start decorating our house for Christmas this coming week. So yesterday I broke my own rule and pulled out my snowman mug from hibernation. It had been a long week, and I needed some joy at work.

Wednesday was a particularly rough day for me, one of those a whole bunch of little things added up to a slight meltdown at my desk. So when Thursday rolled around our highschool intern strolled in and handed me two bags of these:

and offered apologies for my rough day yesterday. He sits kitty-corner from my desk for the few hours a day that he's in the office, and most likely thinks I'm a nut job. I am. Regardless, the gesture was precious and brightened my day.

seriously though.

Changing subjects, remember how I have been gym-less since moving to Baltimore in July, and have just been bouncing around on free trials like a sneaky little weasel? Well I scored a 30-day pass to Canton Club about two weeks ago, and have been LOVING the 5:30 AM Friday morning spin class.

The instructor has the potential to be my grandma's age, no exaggeration, and she kicks our asses. Repeatedly. Gets up there, plays some awesome jams, and screams motivation until my gluts are on fire.

Another awesome part of the class is that the studio overlooks the harbor, so we got to see a beautiful sunrise. I wasn't able to snap a picture of the sunrise itself as I was too busy sweating like a madwoman, but hopefully these help you get an idea...

My roommates and I are hosting a Bears/Ravens party tomorrow paired with a Friendsgiving (it's likely I will be the only Bears fan present) and therefore we felt the need to be domesticated and crafty last night with a few glasses of wine. Here's what we came up with:

Pinecone turkeys!

While I sat at the table tracing my hand I realized it had most likely been about 20 years since I had last made a turkey out of my hand. We all did it at some point in elementary school, and there was an odd level of joy that I found in the simplicity of doing it.

Or maybe it was the wine, I don't know.

I'm off to the gym. Today calls for the elliptical and a solid lifting session, I really haven't been giving my muscles enough attention lately. Hope your weekend is fabulous, Go Bears!

Cheers - 

K

Pushing 20

Well, if I’m not mistaken I owe you all a little bit of literature.

This was a very solid weekend, for really no reason at all. Perhaps due to excessive productivity? I found myself in a rare crafty state yesterday, and made this:

Two months after moving into our Baltimore house, I’m finally putting some finishing touches on my room. My jewelry (and race medals) have literally been sitting in a tangled mess all summer, and so yesterday I decided to do something about it. It’s amazing what $12 at Michael's will do for you.

I’m also happy to announce that I came out of this weekend with both legs intact. I wasn’t sure how my body would respond to an (almost) 20 mile weekend. Saturday morning was a beautiful cool morning in Baltimore, and I did 8 out and back along the harbor, followed by 5.1 around a nearby park…

Can you tell that the park was hilly? Time to start hitting those hill workouts a little harder.

On Sunday I was worried I would be too tight to do 6 miles at race pace, but I felt good by mid-afternoon, and flew through them (a little too fast) at a 7:33 pace.

Successful running weekend, not only because my body parts held it together, but I was also feeling good energy-wise. My race pace run last week was the definition of horrific; I had almost no energy, was over-heated, etc. I felt 500 times better the second week of the sugar cleanse, and I’m going to take a gander and say this is largely due to me finally finding my stride on the cooking front. 

Eats the past week have included:

Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins

Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

(I didn't include bacon, and it was still SO good)

Paleo Apple Banana Bites

I have continued to see positive body changes, and in general feel really good. I hate sounding like an advertisement on here, but my energy levels are up, my mood has improved and in general this style of eating (very Paleo-like) seems to agree with my body.

This is the final week of the 21 Day Sugar Detox, and my plan is to allow even less dairy, and no cheats. (The first two weeks I allowed one ‘cheat’ per week, for my own psychological well-being.)

I don't feel bad about that.

Does anyone know if the period goes inside or outside of the parenthesis? This is driving me insane, I can’t figure it out.

Last but certainly not least, congrats to my friend and coworker, Amy, who completed her first Irongirl Triathlon this past weekend. I had the chance to swing by and see her finish – it was an awesome event to spectate, and I’m super proud of her!

Cheers to a marvelous Monday!