Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving friends!!!

I'm totally going to be cliche today & make a list of 30 things I'm thankful for in 2013!  Some are obvious, some are completely materialistic, some are sentimental, but all are heartfelt & truthful!!  In random order...

1. My furry faced sidekick!  I know we're biased, but our pup has the best little personality!  He brings us such joy & is the sweetest little lap dog :)

2. Blazing hot showers.  The gym is freezing now that it's cold out, I like my shower to turn my skin pink!

3. CrossFit Pineville.  It's such a joy to go to work every day!!  To have this opportunity, to do what I do now, I really can't even describe my gratitude!

4. A fresh, perfect haircut!

5. DVR!  Lord knows I have zero time to actually watch shows when they're on.  And I love to skip commercials :)

6. WiFi HotSpots that allow me to catch up on my shows on the way to Atlanta!

7. My Ben cat!  He sleeps on my head every night, I wouldn't haven it any other way :)

8. Instagram.  It's totally my favorite form of social media!

9. Heated car seats.  Those things are the jam!

10. Pretty painted nails that make me feel girly :)

11. Seche Vite.  The world changing top coat for at home mani's!!

12. Lululemon.  I wish I never drank the water!

13. Starbucks!  My favorite weekly cheat!

14. Our beautiful home!  B & I count our blessings every day to be in a house we can grow into as a family!

15. Blogging!  I love having a journal to go back & reread!  And who would've thought I'd meet such wonderful people through this little community :)

16. Our CFP Athletes!  We've got such a great community at our box & we've met & become friends with some of the most wonderful people we may never have met, otherwise!!

17. Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, Nashville & 2 Broke Girls.  My current favs!

18. Sleeping in!

19. My health & strength.  I hope to never take this for granted!  And hope to only improve it over time.

20. My Panthers!!  What a season we're having!  So pumped!

21. My man!!  I'm so thankful to have married such a wonderful, handsome, disciplined, driven & loyal man.  I couldn't ask for a better mate!  I can't wait to see where this life takes us together :)

22. Panera salads.  Yum!

23. My wonderful, loving parents.  They mean the world to me!  I'm so thankful for their support & guidance!!

24. Target.  Pretty much my favorite store ever!  I have a problem, but at least I can admit it ;)

25. My faithful God.  His mercies are new every day & He is good all the time, even when He says no!

26. All our great friends.  You can't pick your family, but you can pick your friends & I think we've found some pretty awesome ones!

27. Our wonderful siblings & extended family!  They are our people, just wish we could see them all more!

28. This pretty lady!!  She's the newest edition to our Ford Family & I am still in shock!  Post coming soon :)

29. This weekend away, to spend with out cutie nieces & nephews!  It's rare to have my whole immediate family under one roof!

30. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes & beaucoups of desserts….in that order :)

Anniversary Weekend!

Hello blogland!  Yes, it's Tuesday & I'm just now getting around to recapping the weekend. Whoops! Yesterday was eventful & requires a post of it's own :)

However, today is just perfect!  The weather outside is definitely frightful, very cold & rainy slushy out, but inside I'm baking, the tree is glowing & Michael Buble Chrismas is playing on Spotify!!

We had a wonderful anniversary weekend!  It's so nice to set aside some time to be together & to celebrate another year!!  It started with these bad boys I picked up Friday afternoon…

Gluten Free Salted Caramel & Wedding Cake cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes!  So tasty & worth every calorie ;)  We snuggled this guy on the couch & watched some TV…

Saturday morning started early with a special WOD made by one of our members & former marine as a tribute to the Marine Corps for their recent birthday.  Hopefully I'll get around to making the video of their workout one of these days…

I just watched & then worked out with the 830 class, but the guys did an awesome job!!  After classes, B & I headed off for a little spa day!

We got a couples massage & mani/pedi's at a little spa near uptown.  It was still nice & very relaxing, but definitely not the nicest massage we've ever had.  Afterwards we stopped for a red cup & then did a little bit of shopping…

I told B it wouldn't be a date unless we took a car selfie ;)  And red cups must be documented! {Please excuse my hair in all these pictures!  Ughh, too. long.  I finally had an appointment with my favorite hair girl ever on Sunday & she worked her magic, as always!}  We had a little while until dinner so we stopped a World of Beer for a Tour of Thanksgiving…

So good!  We also tried a Blueberry Cobbler beer, so yummy!

We ate at Sullivan's & it was excellent!!  Great service & an even better steak!  On the way home we stopped off & got our Christmas tree!  We sure picked a beauty, so full & now our house smells amazing!  We did most of the decorating Saturday night & finished up Sunday.  This is our finished product…

It feels very cozy & I'm so pleased!  I still need a new tree skirt, but it took me 18 months to get curtains in our bedroom, so ya know.  Hopefully I'll snag one down in Georgia or at least before Christmas is over :)

For some reason, we like to punish ourselves & endure ridiculously long workout sessions on Sundays, so I went to Flywheel with a friend & B worked out with Warren, then we met them at the box for more weightlifting!  I left B home alone Sunday night & ended the day with a delish dinner & even better conversation at CowFish with Ashley & Rachel.  Love getting together with them!  We always just pick up right where we left off!  Down to earth people are my kind :)

It was a great weekend!  We were sad we couldn't work out a trip away this year to celebrate our anniversary.  But we work for ourselves & we're growing a business, so there's great work to be done & we wouldn't trade it for anything.  I'm just grateful to be celebrating another year with B!!  Here's to many, many more!

Five on Friday

Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday!  Happy to be linking up again with April, Christina & friends!  Join me!?

1 - I noticed over on my blog archive on the right side of my blog that I have a measly 50 some posts this year.  Womp womp!  I guess that's what you get for taking 3+ months off blogging!  :( Lesson learned!

2 - How delish do these look!?

Orange Chocolate Coconut Clusters

I just pinned this recipe to my Paleo Pinterest board & I'm pretty sure they just went on my "to make for Thanksgiving" list!

3 - Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm so, so excited for next week!

Brandon & I along with my siblings & their families as well as both of my grandmothers will all be down in Georgia at my parents house!  It's been a while since we've all been at their house together.  It will be loud, there will be 5 dogs, lots of air mattresses, and my heart will be full because we'll all be together eating lots of yummy food :)

It'll be nice to get away, too.  A mini family vacation couldn't come at a better time!

4 - Thanks so much for all of the kind words & SuperFit love!  I was definitely nervous going into my first competition, especially since it was sprung on me last minute & I hadn't been training too hard for it!  At the end of the day, it was a great experience & I felt so encouraged just to be in that environment!!

I shared my new Front Squat PR today on Instagram…

That was 115 lbs right there, almost my body weight!  For 2 sets of 5, so I was pretty pumped!  As I mentioned in the SuperFit post, I really am not sharing these things to brag, but to encourage anyone out there who might see them!  

There's a Facebook page called Women of CrossFit = Strong that posts tons of CrossFit stories from different women of all shapes & sizes who are doing something for themselves (for once!) and changing their lives, their bodies, their self image.  It's so encouraging!  And that's really what I hope to be, encouraging!

5 - Saturday, Brandon & I are celebrating our anniversary with a Spa Day, dinner & a little Christmas tree shopping!  I've never been so ready to have him home & for a relaxing day together, just the 2 of us!!

Happiest of weekends friends!

Our 3rd Year in Pictures

Today is Brandon & I's 3 year anniversary!!  3 years!  It feels like yesterday and forever ago at the same time!

B's somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania tonight, traveling, supporting our little family while we grow & develop our dream job here at home.  I'm so excited to celebrate with him this weekend! We have a fun Saturday planned!

I love going back & reliving our anniversaries, but my favorite is rereading each year in pictures!  Our 1st year is here (2011) and our 2nd year is here (2012).  So in keeping with my tradition…

Our 3rd Year in Pictures

December 2012
Our photo booth pics from B's work Christmas Party

January 2013
New Year's Day (barely) on the way home from the party - welcome to 2013!

February 2013
Little date night at the wing spot up the street ;)  Love to be silly with him!

March 2013
Spartan Sprint Finishers!!

April 2013
At our favorite spot in our favorite place - Lost Dog Cafe in Folly Beach :)

May 2013
Date Night on the patio at one of our fav spots in Ballantyne

June 2013
Goofy car pics are our speciality :)  B taking me on a date to the mall!

July 2013
Happy 4th!  Celebrating at our friends' awesome party!

August 2013
In the Mitten at the Double J Ranch getting ready
for a Rodeo  - we're so good at those silly faces!

September 2013
Back to our happy place, Charleston, for some wonderful friends' wedding

October 2013
Oktoberfest!  So much delicious pumpkin beer :)

November 2013
My very 1st CrossFit competition with my boo!

I'm blessed beyond measure to do life next to this guy!  Every year with him just gets better & better. He's the constant in my life, my encourager, my biggest fan, my rock.  I love you, Brandon!  Here's to year 4 & many, many more!

SuperFit Games - My 1st CrossFit Competition!

This past weekend I competed in my very first CrossFit Competition!!!  And I lived to tell about it!  :)

SuperFit Games

Brandon & Warren and Meagan & I participated in Team SuperFit Charlotte at CrossFit Steele Creek & it was an absolute blast!!

It was a very long day, starting at about 7am, with 3 total workouts.  None of us made it to the 4th & final WOD, but in the end, we were all ok with that :)  We all finished strong & are proud of our individual performances!

CFSC ready to go!

B & I - bright eyed & bushy tailed!

My awesome partner Meagan!

Boys getting warmed up

WOD 1 - 10 min AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible) of 10 Shoulder to Overhead (presses) and 20 Toes to Bar

The boys rocked it out!! They finished with over 8 rounds!

This is my "oh my gosh, have we started yet, I'm so nervous" smile.  And our fun friends from CrossFit Huntersville were in the lane next to us - Michelle & Lindsey :)

Meagan rocking the presses!

I was pretty proud of my T2B in the beginning, best I've ever done!  By the end, my grip was gone!

I love SOH!  It's my favorite!

Here's a video Brandon got of Meagan and me :)

We finished with 4 rounds + 9 more presses!  We wanted at least 4 rounds, so goal accomplished!

WOD 2 - 150 Double Unders (Single Unders for us scaled peeps), 50 Deadlifts, 25 Front Squats - 6 minute time cap

The guys did so great!  They had to complete 50 Deadlifts at 275lbs & 25 Front Squats at 185lbs!  Talk about heavy!  They finished in about 4 and a half minutes…strong men!!

I'm so proud of Meagan & I!  Meagan rocked that 135lbs deadlift - she got 20 right out of the bat!  We both cleaned 95lbs like it was our job & front squatted it like a boss :)  This was definitely our favorite WOD!  Us girls like to lift heavy ;)

WOD 3 - 10min EMOM (every minute on the minute) of 10 Hand Release Bar Over Burpees with max Power Snatches in remaining minute

Here's some video I got of Brandon & Warren getting after those Burpees & Power Snatches!

Warren took the burpees & B handled the snatches!  They finished with 72 total Snatches!

And here's a short video of Meagan & me!

I took all the burpees & Meagan rocked the snatches for us!  We had a total of 66 Snatches!  (Oh & yes, the lights powered down for a few just before our heat started.  GPP baby - general physical preparedness - we're even prepared to workout in the dark! Ha)

It was such an awesome day!!  I more than earned this beer :)

We treated ourselves to a big ol' gluten full, cheesy, delicious pizza as a reward for our hard work!

Who knows…maybe I have more competitions in my future!?  Either way, I'm so glad I did it!  I was never really an athlete growing up so competing is not something I'm used to, but it was such a cool experience!  I don't post these pictures to brag, but to encourage anyone reading!  Seriously, you can do anything you put your mind to, even compete in amateur CrossFit competitions!! :)

Happy lifting!