1.11

In Israel (and many other countries) when writing out the date, they write the day first and then the month. I kind of like it... the 1st day of a new month is emphasized a little bit more.

A few weeks ago, I started a running list of things I want to work on in November. The list is random and ranges from topics like 'wear my retainer to bed each night' and 'find ways that I can use more natural products versus chemicals.'

I've also had this recurring voice in my head whispering that I need to find ways to start curbing my social media/phone time.

Here goes Kait writing another goal-setting post.

Naw, not quite.

I actually don't remember the last time that I wrote a first of the month post. And it hasn't been the lack of time that's made my writing more sporadic, or not having topics to write about. I told myself that when we moved to Israel last summer and I started writing again that I would write for myself, when I wanted to and about whatever I wanted to.

Yet I find myself hesitant to write about certain things, share thoughts, or even share blog posts at all once they're published. I can almost feel people reading this and rolling their eyes. And I'm kind of over tip-toeing around my posts, because honestly half of it them turn out to be horseshit, excuse my French.

I love social media from the aspect that I can see pictures of my friends/family, have interesting articles shared with me, stay easily connected, etc. But as this year has gone on, I've started to find that social media also brings me a good amount of anxiety and irritation.

And I get it, there's always going to be someone who disagrees with you or see things differently, there's always going to be someone who is somehow offended by something. But what makes it a little bit worse with social media is that people can hide behind their keyboards and be extra mean.


This post is already longer than I wanted it to be.


I'm retiring my blog. It doesn't feel relevant anymore, I'm not maximizing my time with it. I've sat on it for awhile and would rather write on the website Medium instead. The platform is clean, it's for writers, and I can choose to very simply write on topics and share - or not share at all.

(I also have the upcoming privilege of helping to run a soon to-be-launched blog with the company I work for, so I'll transition to considering that 'my baby', as all new blogs need love and nurturing.)

I've sat here with my hands on the keyboard for a few minutes now, not sure how to end the post. I found myself thinking this morning, "is the world getting shittier, or are we just overexposed to every single detail of what's going on?" I don't know, I don't have the answers and I'm not sure how to get back to finding joy through social media instead of pissy-ness, for lack of a better word.

However as a sidenote I did thoroughly enjoy all of the baby and pet Halloween pics yesterday.

So to start knocking November goals off my list this very first morning, I'm signing off good ole' Blogger. The platform is pretty outdated and crappy to be honest. If you haven't heard of Medium, check it out here.

Two months left of 2017 my friends. Make goals, be aspirational, do good things. Love someone well today. Don't just resign to the upcoming holidays and accept that you're going into hibernation and likely to put on a few lbs. That's way too easy.

Do something hard.

Cheers - 

Kait

Clean

I'm so tired.

Not just from hardly sleeping the past two nights due to a hacking cough that has sent both Andrew and the dog running to sleep on the couch (sorry guys) - but I'm so emotionally tired as well.

I'm tired of logging onto almost any form of social media and seeing hate being spewed everywhere. I'm tired of being bombarded with news stories and suggestions that we are all screwed, or one end of the 'spectrum' attacking the other. I'm tired of people choosing to consistently post negativity, instead of positivity.

I'm tired of being sick.  From a minor surgery earlier this month that majorly slowed me down, followed shortly by a cold that has now turned into a sinus, ear and eye infection, January has felt like a train plowed me over.  Health-wise, I'm not sure I've felt more defeated.

Lastly, I'm tired of being worried what other people think when they read my blog, see pictures I post, etc.  I shouldn't care, but I do.  I see all the mean comments out there on the world wide web, and I can't help but wonder.

So, here we are - February - my birthday month, the shortest month of the year.  And I'm wondering, maybe I can just start 2017 today? Because January sure didn't feel like a New Year.  It felt like being dragged through the mud behind a tractor.

A post caught my eye this morning, and it triggered a series of thoughts.  The blogger was explaining a Clean Slate Challenge she was participating in, and while most of her ideas are centered around health & fitness, it got me to thinking...

Clean Slate February has a nice ring to it.

So like Taylor Swift's song 'Clean' - that's my February theme.  My focus will be on all things positive - getting my health back into check, continuing to pursue passions and self-development, educating myself daily, healthy morning habits, pouring into healthy relationships  - all the while eliminating things that are dirtying my slate.

This includes a whole lot of negative thoughts, angry internal rants, poor self-talk, too much time on my phone, getting sucked into hyperbolized news articles, and worrying what others think about what I think. It's literally sucking the life out of me, and I'm over it.

So that's it.  This post may be complete crap because I don't write well when I'm tired - but man am I tired, and I just need to get this off my chest.  I would love if you chose to join me going into this short 28 day month - clean your slate, however you may need to.  I'll leave you with this, that was emailed to me earlier this week and is now my phone lock screen.  Whether you're a Bible reader or not, I think it's something we all need to strive towards.

Cheers - 

Kait

Fabruary

WELCOME my friends, to my favorite non-warm month of the year! May the month start off with groundhog Phil not seeing his shadow tomorrow (early spring) and a Broncos win!!

Last night a few friends gathered at our house where our fabulous friend, Chef Ben, whipped up an amazing feast for the ages to usher out January. Crab legs, potroast, veggies, salad and cornbread were on the menu, followed by some mind-blowing apple cobbler.

Yum.

Now, as I mentioned in my last post, January was kind of a wash for me when it came to workouts. Type-A Kait ALWAYS does better when she has some kind of schedule/challenge to follow. And since it's still a little too early to slap a race in the books and make a training schedule for that, I put together a fairly well rounded FABruary challenge calendar.

I'll be adding this in with my normal cardio/running/spinning - I followed a similar type of challenge in October and felt pretty great about it when it was all said and done. Feel free to tailor it to your own needs, and join in with me!

Cheers FABruary, not FLABruary  :)

-K

Five for August

Ohhhh August, you snuck up on me like a creepy, semi-aggressive cat.

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Currently, I’m feeling a little brain dead. It’s Friday so that’s awesome of course. But I have a lot going on in my head as well as my heart and haven’t quite been able to force it out of my fingers into written words yet. So that will have to wait, but I would expect something a little heavy coming soon.

Lucky for you all, my Portland blogger friend over at Babbling Brookelyn tagged me in a fun post, so I’m going to play along.

But first, things you should know about August:

I’m going to be following this ab routine on a daily basis for the month of August; I found it in an email that Active.com sent me. It's simple enough, and the plank will be progressive, so hopefully I can have my time back up near the 4-5 minute mark by the end of the month.

 

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I’m going to be following the 21-day sugar detox starting this Monday, August 5^th. The detox is appealing to me for a variety of different reasons, but the bottom-line is that I’m looking to feel better, and sleep better

On to the main event....

FIVE things I have a passion for:

•  Mornings. 2 years ago I wouldn’t have said this. But mornings are growing on me so hard – I     love getting up, being productive, soaking in a sunrise, with a cup of coffee in hand.
•  Health. This is a broad category, and as I continue to get older the definition continues to       change for me. It goes far beyond bettering your body, and getting that cardio/weights in. What are you fueling your precious body with? What are you doing to recover after you tear your muscles to shreds? And are you taking the time off physically, mentally, and emotionally; something you sometimes need more than anything else?
• Joy. It’s a beautiful word, and a beautiful emotion. Again, it has a broad range of what it may mean to other people. Yet one of my ‘mid-year’ self goals is to speak more of joy than darkness. There’s also a strong chance the word will end up tattooed on my foot at some point this year…sorry mom.
•  My friends. I like to encompass my family in this category, because of course my family are my friends. I want to clarify something… the song ‘I get by with a little help from my friends’ couldn’t ring truer. I would NOT get by without my friends – now, more than ever. I have amazing, beautiful, gracious, patient, loving friends all over the country, and it brings me so much joy.
• Music. I think the below picture pretty much sums it up. Music has the ability to bring me to tears, or put a stupid ass smile on my face, within minutes. It’s more than just music.

FIVE things I want to do before I die:

• Start a family, and raise them well.
• Own a dog. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.
• Have a home gym. I’m not talking like a gaudy, over the top gym, but just something reasonable.
• Travel more. This is vague, and I don’t have specific countries nailed down, but I will admit that the only time I’ve left the country is to do the typical Cancun trip. I really want to eat gelato in Italy.
• Run the Chicago marathon.

FIVE books or magazines I’ve read lately:

This is bad guys. I’m not sure I can come up with five. I read a lot of blogs, and online articles, but as far as books/magazines…

•     I’m prety sure I’ve read Andrew’s most recent copy of the ESPN magazine.
•     I’m still reading the Happiness Project. AKA I have barely been reading at all.
•     I WANT to read a Million Miles in a Thousand Years
•     I’m starting to read the book Strengths Finder 2.0 for work….
•     OK OK I promise I will read more. Gosh I’m a sucky English Major.

FIVE Favorite Movies:

I’ll save you all from having to read some thrown together, horrific list. I’m not a movie guru – I hardly ever watch movies due to my severe inability to sit still. I know this is probably breaking my movie buff friend’s (Kyle) heart, but I don’t have five favorite movies. I’ll leave you with this – I’m still obsessed with the movie Silver Linings Playbook. It will probably be a forever favorite.

FIVE Places I would Love to travel to:

-Ireland

-Italy

-Brazil

-Greece

-South Africa

I just pulled those countries out of my butt.

I think this is the part where I’m supposed to tag other bloggers to play… but sadly I’m not sure what bloggers consistently read my blog, so I will hold off on that. However, if you feel like playing along and writing a post about this, then tag you’re it!

Hope you enjoyed these fun little facts. I also hope you enjoy your weekend. Mine will be full of swimming, biking, running, and hopefully a little bit of sunshine.

Just how I like it.

Cheers!