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!

Lately

So here's what the Shuck's have been up to lately....

We started off the 4th with a Hero WOD at CFP!  We had a great group that morning, 19 people!! We did the Hero WOD Morrison.  Hero WODs are named for fallen soldiers, police, fire & medics. We thought it was a great way to start July 4th!

4th of July is seriously one of my favorite holidays!!  It ranks right up there with Christmas & Thanksgiving {& my birthday, which is not in fact a holiday, but I prefer celebrating as if it was!}! About a week out we still didn't have plans & a new box member/friend, Lauren, invited us over to her and her husband's neighborhood pool & house for some holiday fun!

And fun was definitely had by all!  I didn't take a lot of pictures, but there was sun {and rain}, food, friends, drinks, laughing, new friends, & lots of fireworks!!  I mean LOTS!  Lauren's husband Rich is a bit of a firework enthusiast!  Let's just say that when there was a buy 1 get 2 firework sale around Memorial Day, Rich stocked up!  We had an awesome private show that did not disappoint!!

Just a little CrossFit bonding with Tom & Warren!

We even convinced Lauren's husband Rich to come try CF out :)  {Some people are so skeptical ;)} We have a good little community going on at the box!  It's really one of the best parts of CrossFit!! I'm loving making new friends & how encouraging and supportive everyone is!

Speaking of the great CrossFit community, last weekend was CrossFit for Hope.  Hope is a fundraiser {and a workout - read more here} for St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  The Charlotte edition is actually this weekend at CrossFit Steele Creek.  Brandon & Warren are in the 12 o'clock heat and we're really excited to be apart of it!

This is sort of the first CF event where we can put a face with the CFP name since we're the newest box in town!  We're getting a group together to go cheer Warren & Brandon on, it should be really fun!!

Happy almost Friday friends!!

2012 in Review & Looking Forward to 2013

2012 was a great year!!

Of course, it had it's ups and down, but thankfully more ups than downs and the ups were pretty great :)

I tried to keep my year in review shorter rather than longer.  But, let's be honest, we all know I'm long winded ;) I have noticed I have a few more followers, though, so hopefully this will be a better way to get to know me, and I'm looking forward to "getting to know" all of y'all through your pages!

In 2012....

I turned a quarter of a century in March!

In April, we went on a cruise...

And then came home & closed on our house!!

In June, I was one of the MOHs in my cousin Erin & Ryan's Wedding!

And July brought lots of beach trips...

July 4th Week in Virginia Beach!

And my family beach trip in Carolina Beach!

Then at the end of July, we brought this cutie home!

It's hard to believe he was ever this small!!

The fall brought fire pits, football, & B's 29th birthday!  My MIL came in town & we took a trip to Biltmore to celebrate that weekend!

October brought Baby Fever!

My nephews, baby Abel & Wells :)

Sweet Maggie, my friend Rachel's baby girl!

In November we toasted our 2nd Anniversary!

And I got my first tattoo!!

Looking back, I can't help but be thankful for a year of health and happiness!

Looking forward to 2013, I can only hope for the same!

I set a few goals last year.  We didn't achieve all of them to the level we may have hoped, but that's ok.  I'm not huge into resolutions because I think people don't stick to them.  But a goal, you have to work toward a goal.  So that's what I like to set!

In 2013, I hope to...

1 - Finish the Spartan Race.  My goal is finishing!  Haha, I'd like to finish around the 2 hour mark, but I'm not going to be hung up on the time.  (See B's Spartan Race Recaps here & here.)

2 - Complete the Cooper River Bridge Run around the 56 minute mark!  It's a 10K, 6.2 mi, so I think 56 minutes is totally doable, I just need to continue with my running and work on my speed a bit!

3 - Stick to Paleo as a lifestyle.  Of course, I can't do Paleo 100% all of the time.  I mean, I had to have a piece of cake at the gender reveal this past weekend.  But I do want to make sure I'm eating Paleo at least 85% of the time or more!

These are my main goals.  Brandon and I have a few house goals - furniture for the guest bedroom, maybe an outdoor patio this year?  A few spiritual goals - visiting the church that meets at the high school near our house, continuing our devotional.  Some financial goals including paying off my student loans!!  We have a few professional dreams on the horizon as well, so we'll just have to see where 2013 leads us!

I'm so looking forward to a new nephew & niece this year, hopefully a few vacations, a lots of great new memories!

Here's to 2013!!

Insanity Update

Since I'm rather transparent on here and for accountability purposes, I thought I'd do a quick Insanity update on the blog!

I started Insanity on Monday, June 11th & I was super faithful and didn't miss a workout for 3 1/2 weeks...that is until July 4th and VA Beach curtailed my workouts.  Leave it to sun, sand, and cocktails to screw with your workout mojo.  

Never fails for me, daggumit!

I missed 3 workouts that week, so in an effort to attempt to make up for it {and punish myself} I tried to do a few two-a-days the next week.  It was mildly successful.  All the while, I was prepping for yet another beach vacay with my family.

Since I knew we had another week of vacation approaching, I stretched out Month 1 an extra week so my "recovery week" would fall during our Carolina Beach trip.

In theory this was a great idea - doing a relatively easier video the week I was away.  Except, this theory requires follow through and actually doing the video on vacation.  

I did it twice.  Whoops!!

So now we're home & I'm back in the routine.  I've started Month 2 and it is NO JOKE!  Sweet Caroline holy Moses, if these Month 2 workouts don't kill me - then I better be Jillian Michael's ripped!  If not, I want a refund!!

Post one of the Month 2 workouts - that's one sweat soaked Dirty D hat right there!!

I'm still running, but I'd like to be running more.  I'd also like a maid and a personal assistant to run all my errands, but we'll just have to see about all that ;)

So here's to completing Month 2 with fidelity, being completely Insane, pushing myself a little harder, and getting Spartan Race ready!

Happy Working Out & Happy Friday, y'all!!!

P.S. - Berkley comes home tomorrow!!  I'm so excited I could pee!  I mean not really, but we're really super excited! ;)

Outtakes

Some of my favorite parts of our July 4th/VA Beach Trip were the all the pictures with my bff and friends.  No, not the great pics I posted last time.  I'm talking about the outtakes :) See for yourself...

Hey Justin...open your eyes!

Up close and personal.

What?

Hahaha....no words.

Are you taking a picture!?

Thanks for the hand, sir.  Rude.

I'm full...

Ok I'm ready...

Ughh...Justin!

Great right??  The best!

Love my peeps :)

July 4th & VA Beach

Tuesday evening, B's travels landed us in Virginia Beach at our friend Justin's house, just in time for July 4th!!  Ok, I lie, it's not really Virginia Beach.  His place is actually right near the Bay {Chesapeake that is} and our friends Kelsey and Aaron live just a block from the Bay!  It's quite a good set up :)

**Warning, yet another picture heavy post!  And if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen several of these already!  But you know I have to document it all on the blog :)**

Tuesday night, the 3 of us set out for Chick's for dinner!

It's any Oyster Bar so I wore my "get shucked" shirt, only appropriate :)  

Coincidentally, non of us actually like Oyster's, but it's still an awesome restaurant/bar right on the water!

after dinner :)

Andrea wasn't in town yet.  Such a shame, that pic had good potential!

We watched Act of Valor that night to prepare for the 4th!  Such a cool, intense movie about Navy Seals.  Real life, active Navy Seals were even in the movie!

We woke up Wednesday and got our workout on, and then enjoyed this delish breakfast inspired by my friend Danica & this pin.

We made ours French Toast Style and felt super patriotic eating it!!

We beached it for the day - it was H. O. T. hot!!  I think that was the theme of the week!

These skanks stole my phone while we were getting ready for dinner.

Word to the wise - you steal my phone and take pics, I will post them!! :)

Red White & Blue baby!!
RIP Andrea's poof.  I cut it off!  Oops :)

We got Mexican for dinner.  Very American right!?  Ha and then went and watched some fireworks on the beach!

at dinner

I'm such a good photographer!

Thursday, the boys worked.  So us girls, Andrea, Kelsey & I, beached it for the day.  A little reading, relaxing, lots of sweating, and some cool H2Ohyeah on the beach!

That night, Justin took us to one of his client's restaurants, Coastal Grille, where the owner promptly stuffed us silly!!  Dinner was SO good!  I had Shrimp & Grits, yum!

After dinner, we let all that good food settle, and then we were in for a treat.  A treat known as the 80's Cover Band, The Deloreans.

They were absolutely fantastic!  They sounded just like each band they covered, absolutely dressed the part and provided the most entertainment - seriously so, so fun!!  I'm going to find a way to bring them to Charlotte!

Then we can all have an 80's party!!  Deal!?

Anyways....Friday, we brunched it at Citrus with to die for mimosas...

...and then it was back to the beach for the day and back to Chick's for the night :)

Sun-kissed beach babes :)

We planned to stay until Sunday, but the heat of the beach, the lack of breeze, and our Ben Cat were calling us home!!  :)  We packed it in after a few short hours on the beach and headed back to Charlotte.

We had such a fun 4th celebrating America & creating all sorts of wild new memories!!  Hope you did, too!


P.S. - I'm am so dead serious about bring The Deloreans to Charlotte!  If anyone has a venue/bar that would be interested in bringing them down, please let me know!  They stay rather booked, but we'll get 'em here!  I'm determined!