Four

Today is our official four week mark of being in country.  Blows my mind, it's absolutely flown by and been a blur.  Realizing that today was indeed 28 days, I decided to pause for a moment and do a little bit of general reflecting, which I shall divide into two categories.  I realize these lists might come off as somewhat superficial, but don't lie to yourself you would have some sadness about moving somewhere without Targets too.

Things that don't really bother me that I thought would:

1. Lack of my familiar stores.  I basically lived NEXT to Target back in Baltimore, and made several quick runs there a week since they literally have everything.  So Target, followed closely by my favorite grocery stores such as Trader Joe's, Whole Foods - I really thought I would have separation anxiety.  Don't get me wrong, I miss them... but there are more options here than I realized, and it forces me to explore the smaller shops that I wouldn't necessarily go into if I had a big Target-like store out here, close by.

2. Making friends.  My past two moves the process of making friends semi-consistently broke me down into tears; I HATE the slow-moving process of it, I'm just not very good at it.  I still don't love it, but have learned to be more patient with it, and I think I'm a little better at it the third time around.

Friends at the beach last week :)

3.  Lack of a car.  There have been times when I wish I had one, sure.  But walking around the city has taught me a TON, forced me to be more active, and in general probably gotten me more comfortable, more quickly.  Our car is being shipped over here - eventually - but we most likely won't see it until mid-November at the earliest.

4.  Shabbat.  When I say I thought it would bother me, I don't mean the religious practice itself, I mean the fact that roughly 75% of the city shuts down from sun down on Friday to sun down on Saturday - a large chunk of our weekend.  I thought that would really limit us in regards to making social plans and outings, but so far we've found way more options of things to do/ways to be creative than expected; and I've actually kind of come to love the slowness and quietness of Shabbat.

Things that kind of bother me that I didn't realize would:

(let's define the word bother super mildly, these things aren't ruining my day, more so I'm just surprised that I even noticed them)

1. The cats.  Soooooo many stray cats.  Now don't get all up in arms, I'm not like a cat HATER (well some of them really piss me off because they hiss at Kai and get all aggressive with her and she's like what I just want to be your friend!?) but there is always cat food scattered everywhereeeee. Which is cool right, because there's this crazy organized effort throughout the city to take care of all the stray cats, but not so cool when your dog is obsessively hunting down the cat food, occasionally eating it, and then getting awful gas.

This guy guards the gate to our apartment, I've named him Kelly

2. A lack of fall.  I was well aware that there wasn't going to be a 'fall' out here in the sense that the leaves aren't going to change, and it's not going to get cooler until closer to November.  But I think even more than the temperature change, I miss the celebration of fall, and all things pumpkin.  And I'm not going to lie I did this today:

Secret Tel Aviv is an awesome Facebook group where you can pretty much find out about anything

3. LaCroix.  LOL SO BASIC, I know, but I miss it.  There are a few sparkling water options in large bottles, but minimal flavors, and DAMN I just miss grabbing an ice cold can of LaCroix and crushing it when I'm thirsty.

4. The time change.  I want to cheviot this with, I actually kind of like and dislike our time zone difference from the U.S. - so this could have made both lists.  Mornings are nice because they are super quiet, my phone doesn't typically light up with any alerts (unless it's another Israel-resident) until late afternoon.  I get a lot done, and can kind of be disconnected when I choose to be.

However, I am big on keeping in touch with people, and doing it well.  So when my Baltimorians start waking up around 2 pm, Chicago around 3 pm, and Colorado around 4 pm, it's sometimes waves of texts/facetimes/snapchats all at once.  And evening for me is typically workout time, dinner time, and then Andrew time, so I can't always be on my phone a ton, depending.  Which is where I've found frustration that I wasn't anticipating.

I'm not saying this at all to discourage anyone from reaching out to me - I love hearing from everyone, and being thought of.  

So there they are, my four-week thoughts wrapped up in two lists.  I hope they aren't read as me sitting here complaining, I just enjoying sharing the randomness of some of it, and wouldn't be surprised if I re-read this six months from now and laugh at myself.

Enjoy your Friday Eve my friends, I'm off to the dog park with hopes of avoiding all cat food along the way.

Cheers - 

Kait

It's back

I recently got into a debate with one of my coworkers that fall things (including pumpkin things) should not be acknowledged until September. He disagreed and said the start of college football marks the start of fall for him.

You say Tomato I say Tomato.

My point is, for me September = Fall. I believe our calendars say that Autumn begins on Monday, September 22nd if we are being all official and stuff, but whatever.

You better believe I've already broken into some pumpkin beer.

Andrew had the brilliant idea that we should head to West Virginia after work on Friday and do some camping - something we had never done as a couple. The weather was perfect, our campsite was beautiful, I'm still so happy that he suggested it.

I snapped some cool shots, ate some s'mores, and we both tried hard to maintain an impressive fire which quickly became unimpressive.

The s'mores got cooked, that's all that matters.

While I sat there watching the sun fade and reflect off the water, all cozy in my sweatpants, I couldn't help but think about why fall is one of my favorites (cliche, I know, I know). I don't know what it is, but I feel a slight shifting in my soul with the onset of fall. It's a little bit of calming down as crazy summer starts to wave goodbye, mixed with excitement for the relaunch of football, beautiful colors, crisp cool runs, and of course the impending holidays.

Then there's the whole planning to switch from a Miss to a Mrs. That's pretty cool to look forward to I guess...

(263 Days. The Knot counts down for me I swear I don't have it memorized)

Anyways, this is just my obligatory "welcome to fall" post. We've got a busy three weeks coming up -we are traveling/on the road 8 of the next 18 days. It will be amazing to see my future bro & sis in law say

I do 

out in Cali, as well as to make a quick trip out to CO to do some wedding stuff of our own.

In short, hang tight. Fall is coming in hot (or hopefully cool, if mother nature figures it out) and it's looking to take our breath away.

Cheers - 

Kait

Snoozin'

Happy Hump Day!

I very much hope that it was happy. This morning began a little frantically for me, as I woke up and glanced at my phone to find that it was 7 AM on the dot.

What?!

I had set my alarm for 5:40 AM as I do almost every morning... yet apparently the volume on my phone was down so low that I just kept on snoozin'.

I never do that. Ever. I honestly think it may have been the first time I slept through an alarm. 

Thankfully I had showered the night before, so I did absolutely nothing to tame my hair, threw on clothes, and was still at work by 7:45.

My wild, just-woke-up-and-did-nothing-to-tame-it hair

Impressive, eh?

I even took a quick second to snap the trees on my street before hopping in my car, which are currently an array of beautiful colors.

Let's talk food for a bit, shall we?

I failed to mention that this past weekend I threw together a hodge-podge recipe for paleo crockpot cranberry applesauce. It came out well and I've been nibbling at it all week.

In case you are a manic cranberry lover like myself, here is what I threw in the pot:

-Two large apples, chopped
-1 bag of fresh cranberries
-1-2 TB of cinnamon
-Two freshly squeezed oranges
(I just squeezed the juices and then left two slices in the pot to marinate)
-1 cup of water
-1/4 cup honey

I turned the crockpot on high for about 3-4 hours, stirring on occasion to help it all breakdown. Now, I like my cranberries a little tart, so if you like them on the sweet side, throw in a bit more honey, honey.

Good stuff.

I also have a large butternut squash that has been sitting up on the counter now for at least a week, and I decided tonight that I want to do something with it by the weekend.

Let's play a game called help Kait choose which recipe to use for her butternut squash. Vote in the comments below, would ya?

1. Butternut squash chili

2. Butternut squash lasagna

3. Slow cooker chuck roast & butternut squash

All 3 recipes are paleo because that's just how I roll these days. Check out the three fairly simple recipes and let me know your thoughts.

Is 7:30 an acceptable bedtime? Because I would be lying if I said I wasn't lounging here in my giraffe pj's... again.

not sorry.

I've got a WOD planned for the morning, followed by a long day of work, followed by a little coworker happy hour. I sure wouldn't mind if Thursday flies by, Friday's are much more fun, don't you agree?

Cheers!

K

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

Thankful Thursday Part II

I'm pretty sure I've done this before, this whole thankful Thursday thing. Nonetheless, I was heading to work this morning and observing the beautiful leaves, and I realized how thankful I was for such a beautiful Maryland fall. 

It really hasn't gotten that cold here yet, and the colors are to die for. Sorry I wasn't able to snap the best of pictures - it turns out when you walk out of Starbucks at 6:30 AM and stand in the parking lot taking pictures of the leaves/sky, people look at you funny.

Sorry I'm not.

Speaking of Starbs, those red cups are back. Oh the joy a little red cup can bring me....

I'm thankful for my roommate. Both of them actually, but Megan gets a shout out tonight, because I work with her and we get to spend an abundance of time together...

She puts up with a lot from me on my moodier of days (WHAT Kait you're moody?!) and I'm thankful for her patience and understanding.

I'm thankful that I have naturally curly hair. This sounds a bit absurd, but I love the fact that I can throw product in my hair after getting out of the shower and go to work with it half wet.

Biiiig time saver. Waaaay to lazy to do my hair most days. Sorry for the horrific pic.

Currently I'm thankful for my bed. I've been having some hard, wonderful sleep in it this week, and am about to do it again.

Last thing. I'm SO thankful that I'm heading home tomorrow to see some of my closest college friends, teammates, roommates, you name it. One of my best friends, Lyndi, is getting married on Saturday, and it's going to be a Bradley Athletics reunion for the books.

Can't wait! Congrats Lyndi and Mikey!

OK, bed time. Sorry for the semi boring week. Looking forward to doing some more writing while I'm home through Tuesday morning.

Cheers -

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

Eggcited

What a horrific title. I'll try harder next time.

I'm not sure if this is possible, but I may actually love fall here in Baltimore more than I loved summer. Favorite things so far have included:

Open windows

My pumpkin candle

 Chilly long runs on beautiful flat trails

not the best quality, but there was no time to stop for pictures.

Throwing on a hoody after 18 miles…

Speaking of 18 miles, they went well! I knocked them out early Saturday morning when temperatures were barely hovering above 50 degrees, and I could actually see my breath. It was marvelous, held an 8:18 pace. Saturday night entailed this:

Sunday I woke up overly excited about life. So naturally I started cooking egg muffins, and they actually turned out awesome. Want the recipe?

 Thought so.

Spicy Paleo Egg Muffins

Ingredients:

-6 eggs

-1 Cup of spinach

-3/4 cup ground turkey (or bacon)

-Salt & Pepper

-3-4 TB hot sauce

Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the ground turkey with the spinach.

Whisk eggs in large bowl with salt, pepper and hot sauce; add meat and veggies and stir well.

Pour into muffin pans (I use liners so that they don’t stick) and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

I’m a big fan; they are quick and easy snacks for on-the-go. Not to mention full of protein.

Following my muffin excitement, later in the day I departed on what was supposed to be a shakeout run. I once again got way too excited about the new shoes I had purchased the evening prior, and decided to push myself for six miles…

Sidenote- when running along the harbor, anytime the surface turns into a wooden dock I instantly become fearful of stepping on a rotten board and falling through, forcing me to run faster.

Another sidenote – Is this not one of the best-coordinated running outfits that you have ever seen? I mean come on, check out that color scheme…

I should have more to report on my switch into Newtons later this week, once I’ve broken them in a bit more. Until then, I leave you with this song:

Obsessed.

Busy week for me, in and out of training and then jetting home to Chi-town on Friday. Keep it real my friends.

Cheers -
K 

The Chase

My sister sent me this text this morning. I really couldn't agree more, and had to share.

She's biased as September is her birthday month... but I love the descriptor.

Onwards. I went to bed at 8:30 PM last night and it was beautiful. What was even more beautiful was getting up at 5:30 AM on a Monday without any hesitation or sadness. 8.5 hours of sleep night was exactly what I needed, and so I hopped out of bed cranked out the short little workout below:

5 rounds

-25 situps

-12 pushups

-15 jump squats

Short, sweet, and a little bit sweaty. Good way to start off a Monday.

So was this:

Commutes to work are way better when God decides to show off.

Something peculiar happened today. I got home from work and had to crank out a quick 9 miles before an event I had later this evening. So I shoved some raspberries and two semi-healthy cookies down my throat (what?) and called it fuel. Shot out the door with no pace in mind.

So I make my way along the harbor, right, my typical week day route. The brick isn't exactly forgiving on my feet, but I enjoy the people watching and the boat watching and the hustle and bustle of the city. My Garmin and I have had a love/hate relationship lately, but this particular evening I was watching it like a hawk, trying to sit in the 7:30's.

How do I say this without sounding like an A-hole? ... In my normal, healthy body, I'm not used to getting passed by other girls. I mean it happens obviously, I'm not the fastest grape on the vine. And when it does:

following my 17 this past Saturday..

So I'm uber competitive, sue me. 

Anyways long story short, mile 7 is coming in hot and I'm feeling decent. Holding in the mid-sevens, entering into the Fells Point neighborhood. I glance back as I'm crossing a street and literally did a double-take. Another girl is on my heels.

Like on my heels, hard. 

My instant reaction to run faster. I mean obviously, if she felt the need to keep a mere arms-length distance between us, she wanted me to know that she was there right? So my inner-athlete flared up and told me I better not even allow the concept of being passed by another girl cross my mind.

If I had to guess, it looked like a chase scene. For a solid mile or so, she was right on my butt all the way through Fells as we wove in and out of pedestrians. People were probably wondering if I had mugged her, or who was pissed at who over boy problems.

I'm not exaggerating; she never let more than 10 feet between us. And we were definitely moving compared to some of the other runners who were out for a leisurely post-work run. See mile 7 for proof:

She dropped off just outside of Canton to take a different route, hence why mile 8 and 9 slowed a bit. All-in-all, I got home feeling great, semi-thrilled that another fellow-female gave me a short run for my money. Fast runner girl in the pink: I like you, let's be friends.

You love the seflies.

And now ya'll think I'm a little unstable, but hey at least I'm being honest. Quite thrilling for a Monday run.

Bedtime for me. Keith Urban has a new album out tomorrow, so I'm forecasting this Tuesday to be well above the norm.

Keep it real, 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