Thinking Outloud Thursday

I'm wondering if I've ever used this blog title before, but I'm too lazy too scroll back and find out.

Oh well.

I swam at the outdoor pool this week at Patterson Park. I’ve never dared to go there after work because it’s typically over run by neighborhood kids… so my coworker convinced me to go early with her when it opened; 6 AM. Per usual of 6 AM, I dragged myself there in a very crabby manner, but left feeling glad I got in a solid 30 minutes of cardio. Outside of the dead cockroach floating in my lane, I think I like swimming laps outside better than inside.

Also, morning swims = shower, right?

Driving to work with windows down = blow dryer, right?

I'm curious as to who made the call that new music is consistently released on Tuesdays? Whoever it was, I like them. Tuesdays are literally worthless outside of new albums/singles being released. 

THIS GUY, is killin' it.

I’m back to eating pumpkin in the mornings –I made a weird pumpkin chia pudding and kind of loved it. Don’t know what chia pudding is? Check this out.

I’m also back to chewing on my cuticles like a savage. I swore I would stop once I had a pretty ring on my finger AKA a legit reason to keep my hands looking nice. Yeah… that lasted about a month. Does ANYONE have ways that they’ve stopped chewing on their nails/cuticles without paying for gel manis on a bi-weekly basis… because I can’t afford that.

Crossfit was last night. My weird shy self is slowly making friends. I wrote about it over here. 

Anyways, there’s some thinking out loud for your Thursday. Make it great.

Cheers –

Kait

Selfie Nation

 It seems Weird Wednesdays are slowly turning into random Wednesdays but hey, no harm no foul right?

I want to talk about three specific things, none of which are related.

1. Meryl Davis' arms. Holy. Ripped.  In case you didn't hear the amazing news, our U.S. superstar ice dancing pair - Meryl Davis and Charlie White - won Gold for the first time ever for the USA on Monday. Outside of the fact that the couple absolutely killed it, can we talk about Meryl's arms really quick?

Seriously, google image her. She's ripped. It's impressive.

2. Speaking of superstars (yet going down a completely different avenue) this song came on yesterday in my car on my drive home -

It made me realize that I miss the days when Miley was normal and sang nice normal songs and kept her tongue in her mouth. I'm not looking to open a 'let's bash Miley' forum - I would be lying if I said I didn't love Wrecking Ball when it first came out. But back in her 'Party in the USA' days, man did I have a girl crush on her.

Those days are gone now.

Long. Gone.

Last but most importantly, I got a badass box in the mail today.

For those of you who have never heard of Warby Parker, in short, you select 5 pairs of frames from their website that you think you may like. They ship them all to you, for free. You have five days to try them on/test them out (the lenses don't have a prescription in them) and then you ship them back. If you like a pair, you buy them. If not, then no hard feelings. And they come out pretty inexpensive, compared to normal eye docs.

Help me out, would ya? This girl snapped her glasses in half back in December, and is desperately in need of a new pair. Feedback appreciated.

#1

these may be my favorite...

 #2

                                                    #3

 #4

have some blue spots on the frames

#5

Jet Black is a little too intense for me.. it was still fun to try though.

Vote in the comments, pretty please?

Cheers to Wednesday - 

K

Soup, Tunes, and Living Room Camping

Alright, let's get this show on the road.

First off, Happy Monday. You made it through the second hardest day of the week. What's the first hardest you ask? In my humble opinion, it's Tuesday. So buck up people, it's right around the corner.

Probably most importantly, my poor pathetic knees are healing. I took Friday off from working out in order to basically allow them to scab up. Instead I took the morning to hit snooze a few times, and then listen to this gem on my way to work...

Did you hear? Eric has a new album coming out February 11th. Not that I've been counting down since November or anything.

In other news, one of my new favorite Trader Joes snacks is this bag of delight:

It's literally dried cranberries. Not another ingredient to be found. I had about a handful a day all of last week, and finished them off today. A nice addition to my almonds.

My lunch for the week is a paleo buffalo chicken soup that I stumbled upon on pinterest. Preparation wasn't too bad, and the result was a whole lot of spicy soup.

Following the cooking of the soup, we tested out one of Andrew's Christmas presents.

It seems to be working just fine. Can't wait for some potential camping adventures this spring.

All this talk of food reminds me, I've been meaning of to tell you guys about a cool app that my friend mentioned to me - TwoGrand. It's basically a simple app that let's you keep track of the food that you're eating - and to follow others as well - by taking pictures. The purpose of the app is basically to encourage healthy eating and pick up on trends/ideas from others, who may have similar goal weights as yours. Now, I'm not necessarily trying to lose weight - I actually haven't weighed myself in months - but regardless, the app is a great way to keep track of what we're putting into our precious bodies, in a day and age when everyone has their phone on them... pretty much always.

Check out their website here, their blog here, or just search TwoGrand in your app store. It took me about a minute to create my account, and I can definitely see myself using it during weeks that I'm trying to really hold myself accountable, etc.

Give it a glance if you're a food/meal tracker kind of person.

It's looking like one of those 9 pm bedtime nights for me. I'm gonna finish the rest of this peppermint tea and dive under the covers.

Cheers -

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 

Last Night

I would be lying if I told you I'm not already in my pajamas. Ahhhh marathon training, it's a beautiful thing.

I had my Friday Panera date with myself again this morning, but not before a quick WOD in my own home gym. 

50 reps of each:

-Air Squats

-Burpees

-Butterfly sit-ups

-High knees (50 each leg)

-In & outs (suitcase sit-ups)

-Tuck jumps (knees must hit hands)

-Pushups (some were knee pushups, I'm weak)

-Russian twists

-Lunges (25 each leg)

It took me just over 17 minutes to complete.

While we are on the topic of my home gym, look what came in the mail for me this week:

Not necessarily a workout accessory... but kind of, as it will soon start coming with me on runs when the days start getting shorter. I love you fall, but I hate how you start stealing our daylight.

Want to see a few of my first-ever triathlon pictures?

Copyright of ChessiePhoto

Cool eh??

Last night was one of those nights where I really didn't get much done. It felt rather lovely; sometimes productivity can be exhausting.

I turned on this music documentary-type movie when I got home from PT, and instantly got sucked in. The music in it is awesome.

Bucket list for 2014: see Mumford & Sons live. Has to happen.

Sometimes it just feels so damn good to get off task.

I danced/ jumped around my room for awhile as the bands sang me sweet nothings. Jumping around without a care in the world, completely alone.

Goal number something or other of my mid-year goals is to do just that; dance alone in my room more often.

In the midst of my mindless musical dreaming, I spotted my violin sitting in the corner. Dusty and horrifically out of tune.

So I decided to tune that bad boy up and see what my fingers remembered. I used to be fairly decent in Middle School - I took lessons for almost seven years or so...

Add caption

I think I'm going to keep playing, and maybe even start teaching myself some new music. Running/health may be my #1 passion, but music isn't too far behind. I may even break open the case again tonight.

13 miles on tap early tomorrow morning for me. Mornings have been fairly cool here in Baltimore all week, I wouldn't mind if that stuck around through the weekend.

Hope your's is great, full of things you love!

Cheers!

speak more of joy than of darkness

Do you like that title? It's another one of the mid-year goals that I made. They are slowly being revealed on here.. they aren't all to share but most are.

This is a hard goal for me. So, instead of b*tching, I'm going to do something simple. I'm going to talk about recent things that have made me very happy.

Free coupons from Starbucks. Because when I ordered an orange spiced coffee and they were out of the orange slices to put in it, they wanted to make it up to me. 

Let's just say I'll be stashing this bad boy away until the pumpkin spice lattes hit the shelves.

Grocery Shopping. Especially in the mornings, when the store isn’t crowded. It's simple, and I love it.

Free boxes in the mail:

This came about two weeks ago if I recall. LOVE what Kona Kase does, they've never let me down. I tried a couple of these delightful treats pre-sugar detox, and can’t wait to dive back in afterwards. I can say that I LOVED the Garuka Bar – check out their badass website here. Honey at its finest.

 Mr. Luke Bryan ladies and gentleman. In case you live in a hole, he released a new album today, and hot damn is it sexy. Listen and weep - I know I did.

In other news, my lovely roommates are slowly and brilliantly decorating our house. Look at the masterpiece gallery they created on Sunday night. I take zero credit, I literally stood there agreeing with everything said until I was excused to my room to go to bed at 8 PM. 

(this was post-triathlon + 5 miles, sue me)

My far away lover who I currently miss like no other sent me an awesome quote today. I'm a quote girl - particularly on Pinterest - but this one definitely hit me today. It's beautiful. I can't expect other people to be as enticed with sugar detoxes, running miles upon miles, etc., for the same exact reason that I have zero interest in interior decorating.

To each their own grind.
I like it.

I hope this post made you happy, if nothing else. I'm going to stretch, ice, and pass out. It's been real.

Cheers!

Catchup

Good Morning from Crystal Lake, IL! The past two days have been extremely rainy, so much so that our street turned into a small lake for awhile yesterday...

Note my mailbox where the street is suppose to be...

Needless to say, although it was a hassle to get out of the driveway, Jane definitely enjoyed some splashing around in the street. She even managed to find a floating beer bottle and retrieve it from the newly-made river. She was psyched. But even more psyched to spend the evening with me last night.

pre-bedtime kisses

I have a very special, literal Throwback Thursday picture for you:

This gem lives in my parent's basement, and I hopped on it for a little bit of interval work last night after my run. It's incredibly uncomfortable and sounds like a jet taking off, but hey it got me sweating. What would you guess, 40 years old?

I've missed you guys, it's been an insane non-stop five days. Friday-Sunday was Delaware, which was way too much fun and music. Firefly definitely did an impressive job of putting on the second year music festival, and I'm surprised to say that my favorite artist of the week was the Avett Brothers. Their live performance was honestly moving.

Our home for 3 days

The roomies & me

Rain coming in during Matt & Kim - stolen from here

Monday morning we were on the road out of Baltimore by 6:30 AM, and drove all day to arrive into Chicago on Monday evening. We actually got in right in time to skip down to Wrigleyville and watch our beloved Blackhawks clinch the Stanley Cup. The streets quickly transformed into one big party, and I was one tired lady at work on Tuesday.

Tuesday evening I hopped on a train to my hometown of Crystal Lake to see the fam and the pup. And here we are. 

I actually ended up taking a 4 day break from working out, Friday - Monday, which is pretty rare for me. My body was probably appreciative of the extended break, but it felt good to pull my running shoes on again yesterday.

The plan is to do some crossfit this evening after work with my friend Greg, and then assuming that I wake up sore tomorrow morning - which I always do after crossfit - perhaps a yoga video before work. My grandma has also offered up her pool for the week, so some swimming may be in the cards. Who knows, it's nice to have options even when I don't have a real gym while I'm at home.

I try.

Currently I'm behind on all areas of life - as you can see from my lack of blogging - so my hope is to write again tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Hope your Thursday is swell. It would be awesome if the storms steer clear today, I would love to catch some rays on my lunch.

Cheers!